Chapter 8
Kawano was nothing if not good for his word, because he shuffled Yukina and Kisa out of the apartment and had them at lunch at exactly noon. With all the instructions he was spouting at both of them, you'd think that he was Kisa's manager, too. And perhaps that was partly true, because Kisa had learned not long ago that if he was going to date Yukina, then his manager came as part of the package.
Kisa had been in threesomes before, but this was absolutely ridiculous.
"The press is right outside," Kawano said as the two sat down. Given the mid-summer heat, sitting out on the restaurant patio had been vetoed, despite how romantic it would've looked in the various pictures. When Kisa gave him a look, Kawano added, "Only one magazine is officially covering this. They'll follow you around and ask questions for the article. The rest are just sharks."
"Gee how comforting," Kisa rolled his eyes, and when Kawano slapped him with a rolled-up newspaper, he whined. "Ow, what?"
"You're supposed to be cute."
"I'm fucking adorable, thank you very much."
"And no swearing." He turned just as the restaurant doors opened again, and a woman with a tablet and a man with a high-end camera came shuffling in. They stayed near each other like they were attached at the hip. Kawano waved them over and turned back to Kisa and Yukina as the waitress brought their drinks. "This is Kaneda and Yamato." He waved a hand to the woman first, then the man. "Unless Kaneda is asking questions, just go about your date. They need natural pictures."
"Natural my ass," Kisa muttered behind his glass of iced tea. When Kawano gave him a cold look, he immediately put the tea down and stood up, bowing deeply. "It's nice to meet you both. I'm Kisa Shouta." When neither of them were looking, he shot Kawano a glare that clearly said 'See? I can play nice.'
Kaneda bowed right back, putting her tablet down on the table. "We've heard about you, yes. It's amazing that you've got such a prestigious job at your young age."
"I'm not-"
"Yes, it certainly is." Kawano quickly cut into that conversation. "Normally twenty-year-olds wouldn't have a high position like editor in a company!"
This definitely wasn't amusing Kisa, but he kept that sparkly smile on his lips as Kaneda asked more questions. They were more directed at Kawano, though, and so he quickly sat back down and returned his attention to Yukina. "I'm definitely going to need a drink after this."
"It's not so bad, Shouta-san." Though Yukina did look a little surprised that Kawano was still going with the charade that Kisa was as young as he looked, he knew better than to say anything about it. There was no arguing with Kawano once he got an idea in his head. "And I guess I can understand why they'd do it."
"And why, pray tell, are they doing this?"
"Because it's cuter this way, Shouta-san."
Of course. It always came down to things being cute. Kisa knew that he put up that act when he was at work, but that was exactly what it was: an act. But he should've figured there'd be more acting when you went out with someone famous.
He suddenly realized that Kaneda had addressed him again, and Kisa pulled his eyes away from Yukina and blinked. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"How did you and Yukina-san meet?" She smiled patiently at him.
"…" Right. The questions. "Kou was hired to sing the theme song for an anime being made out of one of my titles. So my boss sent me over to the studio the day he was recording to thank him in person."
"Would you say it was love at first sight?"
Well, Kisa certainly would've loved to fuck him the moment he saw him, but he doubted that counted. And he'd likely get in trouble with Kawano for saying such a thing. So instead, he settled on, "I don't know about that. But he has a certain way of drawing you in the moment you see him. He's like a prince from a shoujo manga." Both Kisa and Kaneda looked over at him at that, only to see Yukina was sitting there contently, the sparkly aura at full force.
"Well, I certainly can't argue that." Kaneda laughed and shook her head. Yamato took a picture, and Kisa blinked against the harsh camera flash before turning back to Kaneda. The waitress had showed up to take their orders, so they did that before she went on. "Can you see yourself having a long-term relationship with him?"
"I mean, I'm a little old to-" Before Kisa could finish that sentence, he jumped in fear at the aura of violence that had flared up around Kawano over at the next table, and he laughed and cleared his throat. "He's not just Yukina Kou the famous singer. He cooks for me and meets me after work and stuff like that." He realized that his cheeks were turning a little red at that, and for once, it was entirely unintentional. He could give a guy head in a public bathroom and he'd be fine, but thinking about the little domestic things Yukina did for him embarrassed him to no end, it seemed.
At least it went pretty well with the image that Kawano was trying to pass off of him to the media.
xxx
Next on their mission was, apparently, shopping. Kawano was keeping his distance and so were Kaneda and Yamato, but as soon as Kisa started complaining that he didn't need anything, Kaneda was on him. A fairly high-end department store had been chosen for them, and it seemed that she assumed he was complaining because he didn't want a ton of money spent on him.
"Surely in your line of work you need to look nice?" Kaneda said, holding her tablet up and making it obvious that she was going to type whatever Kisa decided to answer that with.
It took a few seconds for Kisa to decide what Kawano wouldn't kill him for, and he ended up just shrugging and saying, "This is pretty much how I dress at Emerald. Especially during Hell Week."
"Hell Week?"
"The last week of the magazine cycle when everything's due and the artists decide they'd rather wait until the very last second." He rolled his eyes and turned to Yukina, who was looking at all the clothes. "Besides, places like this never have my size."
"I guess you are a bit short even for your age." Kaneda smiled and put her tablet to sleep. "You're young, though. You could have a last-minute growth spurt."
It took every ounce of Kisa's self control to not answer that how he really wanted to. On the other hand, there was one thing he could do to make this a lot more tolerable. So he reached over to a wrack he'd been going over, pulling out a suit that looked like it'd fit him before turning to Yukina. "Can you help me get this on?"
Yukina smiled at that and nodded, gently taking the suit from him and leading the way to the changing rooms. Kaneda and Yamato followed after eagerly, of course, with Yamato taking a couple pictures of them together. Kisa was smiling brightly and had an arm through Yukina's, so it made the perfect picture. Yamato of course turned the camera away when they went into the dressing room and locked the door behind them.
"Shouta-san what-" was all Yukina got the chance to say before Kisa pulled him down into a long kiss. He ended up dropping the suit onto the floor and wrapping his arms around Kisa's shoulders, sighing happily as Kisa pressed their tongues together. "What about trying on the clothes?"
"I don't need any new clothes," Kisa muttered as he fell down to his knees and started to unzip Yukina's jeans. "What I need is to suck you off so that I get at least one thing I wanted out of this day."
Yukina's cheeks went completely red at that, but instead of protesting, he leaned back against the side of the dressing room stall and watched Kisa work, pulling him out and gently licking the head before taking him in as far as he could.
At least until there was a knock on the door. Kisa didn't pull away, so it was up to Yukina to answer. "Yes?"
"I know what you two are doing in there and if Kisa doesn't change and get out here in two minutes you are grounded." Yep, it was definitely Kawano, and Kisa pulled back and snorted in amusement at how much he sounded like a parent right then. Yukina looked distraught, though, and so Kisa just sighed and went to change into the suit he'd picked.
Kaneda and Yamato were sounding puzzled as Yukina quickly put himself back, though it was obvious that he was still aroused. It was a good thing he wasn't wearing skinny jeans that day. By the time Kisa had changed and they unlocked the door, it wasn't at all obvious, thankfully. Yamato immediately took a picture of the two as Yukina tied Kisa's tie.
Of course, Yukina was smiling softly as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Kisa's forehead. "You look very handsome, Shouta-san. And you actually look your age." That last sentence was said quietly, because Kawano was hovering around them and would've punished him for trying to destroy the lie they still had going.
Kisa's cheeks were still red as he glanced over at Kaneda, who was rapidly tapping away at her tablet. "I guess," he said, staring down at his shoes. "I already have a suit but nothing wrong with having another one." Not that he had to wear a suit more than once or twice a year, usually for company parties that Marukawa threw and which they made his attendance mandatory. He was good at schmoozing to a extent, but he didn't like doing it.
Of course, it was better the editors do it than the manga-ka, he supposed. They were about as social as cranky two year olds depending on what time of the month it was.
Kisa sighed and turned back to the dressing room, ready to change back into his street clothes and fold up the suit so they could just get out of there. He didn't want anything else, and he was sure that Kawano had plenty planned for after this.
Kaneda and Yamato were talking among themselves, and apparently, Kawano decided to take that time to have a talk with Kisa. "I suggest you behave if you don't want your reputation ruined, Kisa," he said through the door, his voice a low whisper.
Kisa scoffed as he hung up the suit before putting on his clothes. "What reputation? I'm a manga editor. Most people who read my series don't even know my name."
"You'd be amazed what the media can do to unsuspecting civilians." He rolled his eyes and leaned against the door. "Just behave."
"Or what? Yukina's not going to break up with me just because you say so."
"Wanna bet?" Kawano left him alone before Kisa could say anything about that.
