I didn't expect to write a new story - this was originally going to be in my drabble fic Nobody Else But You, but it had too much plot to be considered a drabble. I am marking this as complete for the time being. It may or may not become a multichapter fic in the future.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, sans the plot.

Ritsu changed tabs to check what song was playing on his Pandora playlist. The song title was American, giving Ritsu mixed feelings. There were a number of songs that came from America that he, personally, felt didn't earn their right to have air time. There was one song that was particularly ghastly - it seemed like it was about a fox or something of that sort with a number of other animals. The entire song was an unfortunate mishap to Ritsu. This song, however, proved to contradict his previous worries. It had a light piano melody and the lead singer had a soft, calming voice. He glanced at the song name as well as the band.

"'Boston' by Augustana," Ritsu read slowly.

He deemed the song appropriate and changed tabs, letting the music play. He was done with his manga editing for the night and decided to surf the Net for the rest of the night. It was a pleasant surprise for him to not be up to his elbows in editing. He remembered all too well the feeling he had last week when it seemed there was no end to his editing. He grimaced, just thinking about what had ensued the week before. Papers with red marks were strewn about the flat and by the end of each night, Ritsu would find himself curled up on the floor clutching an X-Acto knife.

He exhaled slowly, pushing the thought out of his mind as he logged into his Gmail account to check his mail. He found that the song "Boston" had made him temporarily lose control of his shoulders. He chuckled at himself for a bit, making sure to bookmark the song so he could download it to his phone.

While deleting the junk mail from his inbox, a particular email caught his eye. He didn't recognize the email address and was a bit wary when he opened it.

Dear Onodera-san,

This is Shinji Hasegawa, Sumi-sensei's assistant.

At this, Ritsu remembered exactly who the email was from. He read with more interest.

Sumi-sensei mentioned you liked to read and edit literature, so I thought I would recommend one of my favorite American novels. It is called The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It is a dystopian novel that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. It is truly one of the best American novels I have ever read. There is a website called where you can purchase E-books. If you sign up, your first E-book is free.

Hope you like the novel and hope to hear from you again!

- Hasegawa

Ritsu stared at the website which had a blue hyperlink on it. He had never heard of The Road before nor Cormac McCarthy. He was a bit apprehensive, since he was not one who was for dystopian novels. Dystopian novels, in his opinion, started and ended the same way; the society was under complete control by a totalitarian figure until one brave soul challenges said authority figure and causes mass hysteria and an extensive revolution that is responsible for more deaths than Ritsu could handle. In short, dystopian novels saddened Ritsu, but he supposed he could give the novel a read since Hasegawa recommended it so politely.

When he clicked on the E-book link, he realized the song he had been listening to had ended. He looked at the new song that began playing forlornly, preferring the sound of the previous song. He logged out of Pandora, typed "'Boston' by Augustana" into YouTube, and clicked on the first link that popped up. Once the familiar piano melody filled his flat, he smiled, satisfied.

Afterward, he opened up a new window and typed in the website, . The website seemed welcoming and easy to use to Ritsu. He clicked on the link labeled, "New to ?" Upon clicking on said link, he was taken to a nicely organized page that gave him all the necessary information to start an account. Ritsu was highly impressed with the website so far.

He navigated his way back to the homepage and typed "The Road" into the search browser and clicked on the first link he was given. There was a small summary of the book next to the picture of the novel. He skimmed through the summary for a moment, but it gave him about the same information Hasegawa gave him. He looked on the other side of the page and saw the price of the book, which was around twelve dollars. He bit his bottom lip, not wanting to spend twelve dollars on a book that he might not even like. Underneath the price, however, he saw a blue hyperlink that read "Preview (read now)." He clicked on the link and was taken to a new window where the book was displayed on his screen.

At that moment, he heard an incessant knocking on his door. Without opening the door or even going near the door, he knew who was there. He paused the music to go answer the door with the most unamused expression he could muster.

"What do you want, Takano-san?" Ritsu asked, dully.

The ebony haired man narrowed his eyes at Ritsu through the glasses he was wearing before elbowing Ritsu out of the way and inviting himself into the flat. Ritsu was all too used to this kind of behavior from Takano-san, but that didn't stop him from being a little miffed that his superior hadn't said a single word before walking in.

"You want to tell me why you're here?" Ritsu asked loudly.

Ritsu heard Takano-san walk into the kitchen and open the refrigerator, presumably to grab a can of beer. He watched him crack the can open and make his way to the sofa where Ritsu's laptop lay. Takano-san took a sip of the beer, glancing at the screen. His eyes scanned the screen before he gave the laptop a curt nod.

"'Boston' is a good song," said Takano-san. "It's really old, though. Have you just discovered it?"

"That's besides the point," huffed Ritsu, grabbing his laptop. "Why are you here?"

Takano-san leaned back, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Jeez, you're so rude. Do you speak to all of your superiors like this?"

Ritsu held his tongue at that remark, playing the song softly in the background and then switching back to . He chose to ignore Takano-san entirely and lose himself in the preview of the book he had just opened.

Takano-san glanced at the screen when the music started playing and saw Ritsu was reading a book on his computer.

"What are you reading?" He asked curiously.

"It's a book Hasegawa-san recommended I read," Ritsu answered, focusing his attention on the words on the page. "It's an American novel called The Road."

"I've never heard of it," Takano-san said blatantly, returning to his beer.

Ritsu chuckled softly, clicking on the arrow to turn to the next page. The book was impressing him so far. Despite being a dystopian novel, it had rich sensory details that really painted a picture to him. It was quite beautiful how descriptive the novel was. "Of course you haven't," answered Ritsu. "It's American."

Takano-san raised an eyebrow at Ritsu's tone but decided not to say anything of it. He watched Ritsu read for a moment, recognizing the glow in his emerald eyes from when they were younger. Back when their relationship was carefree and innocent.

Takano-san took a long swig of beer, remembering how bitterly their relationship had ended. It was right around the time he had discovered "Boston" now that he thought about it. The more he really listened to the song, the more he thought the situation melded perfectly with the lyrics.

"Oh, I think I'll go to Boston / I think that I'm just tired / I think I need a new town to leave this all behind..."

Takano-san couldn't help but glare at the laptop at the words. The lyrics only reminded him of how Ritsu had deliberately left him all alone, taking off without a single word of where he was going or if he would come back.

He shook the feeling off, however. He now knew that the lines had blurred and that they were both at fault. A silly misunderstanding was why their relationship had ended so prematurely. He was convinced that if they put the misunderstanding behind them, they would resume the same relationship they had before Ritsu had left.

"Oh what the hell?" Ritsu shouted exasperatedly, breaking Takano-san out of his thoughts.

Takano-san peered at Ritsu through his glasses, slightly concerned over what had angered the brunette. "What?"

Ritsu jabbed his thumb at the sample of the book he was reading. "This!" He shouted indignantly. "There is dialogue there, but the author didn't bother to specify who was talking or start a new paragraph! How on Earth is the reader supposed to know who the hell is talking?"

Takano-san blinked at the sea of letters, momentarily forgetting how much Ritsu loved literature. He read a few of the lines, finding it quite easy to comprehend. He glanced at Ritsu, peering at him curiously through the thick frame of his glasses.

"You can tell who's talking," he pointed out. "The way the dialogue is phrased gives it away."

"That's no excuse!" Ritsu shouted indignantly, waving his arms at the screen. "And even then, dialogue is always supposed to have quotation marks! This book is breaking so many grammar and punctuation rules! How the hell did this guy's editor okay this book for publishing?"

Takano-san leaned back, taking another swig of beer. "Stylistic purposes?"

Ritsu shook his head violently, promptly shutting his laptop off and standing up. He tousled his hair a bit as he walked toward the refrigerator, intending to grab a can of beer. He took a particularly big gulp of beer before rejoining Takano-san on the sofa.

Takano-san still watched Ritsu as he almost downed half of the can of beer in a mere five minutes. Ritsu threw his head back, moaning at the ceiling.

"I busted my ass editing literature for people, and that author is apparently one of the best in America? Bah, even a ten year old has the sense to include quotation marks and apostrophes where necessary," he lamented.

"You didn't say anything about an apostrophe," said Takano-san.

"Because the author didn't bother to include any!" Ritsu all but shouted. "The word 'don't' was there, but he didn't give a damn making it a contraction. He spelled it d-o-n-t without an apostrophe!"

"I didn't know you were such a grammar nazi."

"I don't need your sass, Takano-san."

Takano-san stayed silent, quietly sipping his beer while noticing Ritsu's attention was still fixated on the first two pages of the novel he had read. He said nothing until he drained the last few drops from his can. He stood, crushing the can in his hand and tossing it in the rubbish bin. He made his way toward the exit, taking a minute to glance over his shoulder. He took care to notice Ritsu's obvious distress.

"You're very passionate when it comes to literature. I've never seen you get worked up over anything like that. Maybe editing literature is the direction you should go in," said Takano-san.

Ritsu lifted his emerald eyes, watching Takano-san let himself out of Ritsu's flat. Takano-san's words hung in the air, creating uncomfortable tension for Ritsu. There was something different about Takano-san's tone when he spoke. It almost seemed melancholy and desolate, as if he was foreseeing the future.

Ritsu couldn't deny; he had thought about Hasegawa's offer to transfer to the literature department, but he couldn't simply leave the manga department. He had made so many friends and went through the trouble of learning how to properly edit manga. True, he was still learning the ropes, but he had made some significant progress since he started. To just run back to literature would be tossing this experience away.

But Takano-san was right. Few things could get Ritsu passionate like literature could. Hell, he wouldn't even be editing manga if Marukawa had not mixed up his preferences. If things went the way he intended when he transferred out of his father's company, then he would editing literature for Marukawa.

Ritsu liked editing manga, but his true passion had been for literature. Takano-san saw that, which was why he suggested Ritsu go back to editing literature.

Ritsu frowned, replaying the memory. There were still unspoken things in his relationship with Takano-san, most of them involving Yokozawa-san. Takano-san constantly insisted that there was nothing between himself and Yokozawa-san, but Ritsu wasn't an idiot. He saw the way Yokozawa-san looked at Takano-san, cared for him, defended him. Clearly there was something between the two men, even if Takano-san did not acknowledge it.

Ritsu glanced at the clock across from him, the time reading 8:45. He rose, putting all thoughts concerning his employment in the back of his mind and diverting his thoughts to dinner. It was no use though; even as he reheated leftovers from the night before, the only thing he could think about was how Takano-san spoke of transferring to literature.

It was almost as if Takano-san was speaking sincerely.

As if he wanted Ritsu to transfer to literature.