Chapter 7

Kisa scrunched his eyes once before opening them. The air conditioner was going, but he was warmer than he should've been with just the light covers he had pulled up to his chin. Once he had his wits about him, he realized he was in Yukina's arms. The man was cuddled right up to him, arms securely around his ribcage and chin on top of his head. The first thing that annoyed Kisa about this was that had to be the first time he had woken up like that.

The second was that they hadn't had sex the previous night.

Oh sure, Kisa had initiated it at least. They'd showered separately and changed into night clothes. Yukina had taken his shower last, and Kisa had pulled him into bed for sex. The furthest they'd gone, however, had been some extremely heated kisses that left them both flushed and dizzy. Kisa wasn't sure why they stopped, but they had, and for the first time in his life, Kisa slept with a man without sleeping with him.

This wasn't exactly the best way to demonstrate that he was only in it for the sex. He wasn't doing much to convince himself, come to think of it, considering he'd never woken up so early in the morning feeling so utterly refreshed. He tried to scowl as he reached out and shut off his alarm, but it was forced and he eventually gave up.

"Kisa-san."

Kisa turned and was met with a tender kiss. He was surprised at first but he ended up giving in. Yukina stroked his hair as he returned the kiss, but then the younger man pulled back. Kisa was reasonably disappointed, until Yukina smiled and said, "Don't you have work?"

He did, in fact, but all Kisa could do was flop over and hold his pillow over his face like he thought that would solve that incessant "being a grown-up" thing he had going in his life. Yukina smiled amiably and got up, offering to make breakfast. "Nah," Kisa said, finally taking the pillow away from his face and watching Yukina go to pick up his bag. He only had pajama pants on, and they rode a bit low on his hips. "Besides, I have work in twenty minutes."

"I don't see how that's enough time to get ready…" Yukina glanced over at the clock and confirmed that it was four-forty. The café opened at five, and since Kisa had an opening shift but wasn't actually opening the store, that's when he needed to get in. "Is this normally how your mornings are, Kisa-san?"

"No, Ricchan isn't always so cruel as to schedule me this early." Kisa yawned into his hand as he considered whether he wanted to put on street clothes and change at the café or just go in his uniform. It would probably be easier to just go in his uniform, and it was early enough so that he wouldn't get looks as he walked down the street. Emerald Café was about a ten minute walk from his apartment on a good day, and having people stop and glance at him was one of the reasons he usually left in street clothes.

"At least have some cereal, Kisa-san," Yukina said. Kisa turned to see he had stripped off his pajama pants and was putting on a shirt. Kisa looked slightly alarmed, but Yukina didn't seem to notice. "I can bring you to work so you won't be late."

Yukina's car was, Kisa had to admit, rather nice. Kisa didn't know much about cars, though, so anything that wasn't walking or public transportation pretty much amazed him at that point. So Kisa agreed, and he had a bowl of cereal before Yukina drove him over to the café.

When Yukina found a place to park, Kisa glanced into the café. Through the glass walls he could see some of the women from Sapphire Bakery. They must've decided to stop for a chat after delivering the day's bread. They were sitting at their usual table, leaning out a bit so they could look at Ritsu over at the register. One of them glanced out, though, when Kisa closed his door with an audible, if unintentional, slam. She then tapped her coworker on the shoulder and pointed.

Kisa glanced behind him, since they were looking over his shoulder, and noticed that Yukina was getting out of the car. "Aren't you going back to your place to actually get some sleep?"

"I slept very well last night, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile. "I thought I'd get some tea, since I have time. You don't mind, do you?"

As if Kisa had a say in whether Yukina went into the café or not. If Takano-san knew that Kisa had told Yukina to go away, his pay would probably get docked. So he just nodded, grumbling and feeling just a little itchy in his uniform. It may, of course, have just been because Yukina had squeezed his shoulder on the way past him in a way that made the Sapphire Bakery women stare at them suspiciously.

"Good morning!" Kisa called.

"Good morning." The only one present at the time was Ritsu, though Kisa supposed that Takano-san was in the back doing something or other. Chiaki dared a look out of the kitchen before he was dragged back in by an arm that looked like Ichinose's. When Ritsu noticed that Yukina was there as well, though, he straightened up and said, "Welcome to Emerald Café!"

"It's alright, Ricchan, I know what he wants so I'll go get it myself," Kisa said, his mouth going large in a yawn. He vaguely noted what table Yukina sat down at before going into the kitchen to get some Emerald Tea.

Yukina was used to women staring at him, though he couldn't help but notice the Sapphire Bakery women as they openly gawked at him from their own table. He didn't have his sketchbook or anything like that to distract him, so finally he caught their eyes and said, "Yes? Was there something you needed?"

"Why did you come in with Kisa-san?" the first woman asked.

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen him come in with anyone," the second said, looking just as interested but slightly less fangirl-ish than her coworker.

Yukina smiled and glanced over to the kitchen, where Kisa was just coming through the door with his tea. He stopped to talk to Ritsu, though, so Yukina answered with, "Um, I stayed with Kisa-san last night, so since I was there, I offered to drive him here. He has a bad habit of not giving himself enough time to get ready for work so…"

"You stayed with Kisa-san."

"Yes?"

"And he didn't kick you out?"

"Why would he?" Yukina looked surprised at the question. That had been the second time he was over at Kisa's place, and he hadn't been "kicked out" either time. The first might have counted because Kisa was the one to point out that it was getting late, but he hadn't actually told Yukina to go home.

"He tends to do that to guys he sleeps with. He's kind of a love 'em and leave 'em guy, bless his heart." The woman smiled over her coffee, which was so strong that Yukina could smell it from his own table.

"We didn't… sleep together," Yukina said. The women didn't look like they that believed that for a second, but fortunately, Kisa showed up with Yukina's tea. "Thank you, Kisa-san."

"No problem." Kisa was already in work mode, looking bright and sparkly. "By the way, when are you getting off work today?"

" I work until close, so a little after seven," Yukina said, taking a whiff of his tea. If he hadn't already been awake and aware, that certainly would have done it. "Did you want to go somewhere after that, Kisa-san."

Kisa was about to answer when there came giggling from over at the Sapphire table. He glanced at them and saw they'd been watching the exchange with rapt attention. He narrowed his eyes and, still looking at the women, he said, "I'll call you." Then he brightened as Takano-san came out of the back room and looked right at him. "Enjoy!"

xxx

Kisa's shift ended at two, and he'd gotten a text from Yukina in that time saying he was taking his lunch at that time. It wasn't like Kisa was specifically waiting for Yukina to show up or anything, but he'd packed street clothes to change into and rather than going home, he kind of just waited because he'd told Yukina that was when his shift ended and had gotten a reply that they could have lunch together at the café.

Another person Kisa recognized came into the café just as he was leaving the bathroom after changing. It was one of his friends, though only she would probably call it a friendship anymore. They talked from time to time, but they'd been in some mutual classes in college and Kisa had realized over the years that that was all they really had in common. Still, she did stop into the café and even call him sometimes, and it was nice to be in contact with people who weren't completely insane.

"Shouta!" the woman, Aika, said when she noticed him. "Aw, you're done working for today?"

"I've been here since five AM. I was done working at five-oh-one," Kisa muttered, rubbing at one eye like he was sleepy. It was mostly just for show, though. He was physically tired, but he'd still gotten a pretty good night's sleep. "So no, I will not be at your beck and call today. Feel free to bother Ricchan."

Ritsu jumped to attention when he heard his name, but Aika just waved him off and sat at the bar. "Did I tell you I'm getting married?"

"To that Kichida guy you've been dating?"

"Yep, Atsushi!" She grinned just at the thought, and for a minute, it looked like she was off in her own little world. But then she turned to Kisa and said, "We'll be expecting a present of course."

"Of course." Kisa rolled his eyes. Then he noticed that Aika's gaze was lingering on him, so he shifted a little, uncomfortable, and said, "What?"

"Just wondering when it will be your turn," she said. "You're thirty-four, Shouta. Don't you think it's about time you got a real job and started a family?"

"This is a real job." Kisa waved a hand around, indicating the entire café. "I'd like to see you work eight and nine hour days in this place."

"Yeah but…" Aika stopped, seeming to consider her words. "Don't you ever get lonely? With your inconsistent schedule, it must not leave a lot of time to be looking."

"Believe me, it leaves plenty of time." Kisa stretched his back a little and leaned against the bar. It was ten past two, and Yukina was supposed to show up soon. He was just kind of hoping Aika got bored with telling him exactly why what he was doing with his life was wrong and wander out of the café before he showed up.

"Somehow I doubt the type of woman you'd pick up at a bar on your day off are marriage material." That was right too, of course; Aika didn't actually know Kisa was gay. That would probably lead to a hilarious incident eventually.

Or right then, as it turned out, because Yukina chose that time to come in, pushing the front door open and calling, "Kisa-san!" when he saw him. He was sparkling as usual. Kisa had gotten used to it in the short time he had known the man, but Aika squinted like she was looking directly at the sun. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Who the hell is that?" Aika asked, shielding her eyes. Kisa at least took consolation that he wasn't the only one who had problems dealing with Yukina's sparkly aura.

Kisa got what seemed like a brilliant idea in his head. It was one that definitely wouldn't backfire on him eventually, especially considering they weren't actually dating. "That's Yukina Kou, my boyfriend."

It seemed that Yukina had heard, because without missing a beat, a huge smile appeared on his face and he put an arm around Kisa's shoulders. "Hello!"

Aika looked only slightly confused. It was Ritsu who reacted the strongest to the proclamation. He'd been drinking a coffee as he tried to cope with the rest of his shift, and as soon as he heard the word boyfriend, he did a spit-take right onto the counter. Takano-san, who'd been there as well, gave Ritsu a look and told him to get a rag so he could clean it up.

As Ritsu followed orders, Aika said, "Ah, you're gay. That makes sense, I guess." Then she glanced over at Ritsu, who looked like he was having a lot of trouble deciding which wash rag he wanted to use. "What's his problem?"

Kisa sighed and removed Yukina's arm from around his shoulders now that Aika wasn't paying attention to them. "That's just Ricchan. He does things like that."