Chapter 9 You're My Thrill

It was Thursday at 8pm. Maeda's manuscript was finished completely. The book designers were almost finished. In a few months it would be in bookstores and available for purchase online. It was either sink or swim at this point. When he'd switched to Marukawa this had been his aim; to bring out a work of literature that would be a blockbuster both in terms of sales and in accolades, and he could be there.

He was with Kisa at a bar having a round or two. Since he'd confided him when he left Takano every month or so they'd either go out for drinks or have coffee, whenever they could fit it in their schedule. It had to be when Kisa wasn't busy but his lover Yukina was. Kisa had brought Yukina when he'd invited him for dinner soon after he moved into his apartment, but he'd met him previously a few times at Book Marimo where Yukina worked part time. They were a cute couple. They looked genuinely happy together.

Kind of like him and Suzuki San. Wait. Not like him and Suzuki San, because they were friends, so it was different. And not like him and Takano San either, who he didn't have to think about. Yeah, right. Like he wasn't hoping Kisa would be telling him how Takano was doing.

"So, Ricchan, how are things with your athlete?" Kisa was an incurable gossip, and he'd loved hearing about this new man of Onodera's, and conveniently ignored the fact that they weren't a couple. Kisa was fun to be with, though, and he could also deliver the goods on what was up at Emerald, although at the beginning he'd called every time Takano had been in a bad mood, to ask him what Onodera had done, like he was responsible for every bad mood Takano was in even though he never spoke to Takano.

"Good. But he's not my anything. We're just friends, remember?"

"Oh, come on. You're sleeping together every time you see each other." Why had he told Kisa that?

"But really we're just friends. It's going fine. We get along and -"

"He's great in bed, right? Hahah. There's my answer. You're blushing." Okay. Time to change the subject.

"Any news at Emerald? It's been awhile."

"Hmm. Glad it's going well. In bed."

"Kisa San!"

"Sorry. So it's been good, but kind of a weird sort of good. For weeks now Takano hasn't yelled nearly as much as he used to. Even when his author managed to destroy her entire manuscript somehow and he had to find a sub the day we were supposed to go to printing. Before he would have screamed, but he just calmly warned her and found a sub."

"Wow. Well, that's good, right?"

"Yeah. It's just not what I'm used to, but yeah, who needs yelling? Let's see, what else… It's the same old same old. Oh. I found out a secret about Yoshiwara Sensei."

"He's a guy?"

"You knew?"

"I met him at one of the new year's parties."

"Well, did you know he's dating Hatori San?"

"Okay, that I didn't know. I thought he always drove him nuts because he's often late. I can't imagine dating one of my authors, can you?"

"Well, considering all my authors have been women, it's never been an issue."

His phone started ringing from his hoodie pocket. Maybe it was Suzuki San. They were seeing each other tomorrow. It made him smile to think of him. Suzuki Akira. He was so easy going. Or maybe it was Takano San saying he could prove to him he was better. He managed to retrieve his phone out of his hoodie pocket in time for it to go to voicemail. Oh great. Mother. With an omiai most likely. She didn't seem to get the picture.

"Everything okay?"

"It's my mother. Last time she called she was trying to set me up with somebody else."

"You haven't told her yet?"

"I did. Finally. I told both my parents. I was surprised. My father seemed okay with it, but my mother is acting like I didn't say anything."

"Like if she ignores it, it will go away?"

"Yeah. I should head back home and call her back."

"Well good luck. We need to get drinks more often. Just a second. Yukina's sent me mail. Kisa started furiously typing. Ah, perfect! He's finished early!"

Onodera went home feeling pleasantly buzzed from the sake he'd drunk. He took off his shoes and sat on the couch and allowed himself to think about the gorgeous man he was seeing tomorrow. Shit, this man was something else. Too bad, they were just friends. No. It was good, because Takano had obviously been trying to change. He was yelling less, because he was trying to change, and He loved Takano. He wanted to be in Takano's arms. His first love. They had miraculously been brought back together after ten years because they were meant to be together. Takano just needed to get some help and then he'd come calling and Onodera would be running into those warm arms again, being embraced by the only man he'd ever loved.

So why was he so excited to be seeing somebody else tomorrow? He always was by the time it got to Friday night. He already knew so much about Suzuki San. His father was from a wealthy family and his mother was had had been born and raised in California somewhere near San Francisco, but her parents had both been born and raised in Japan. All her family still lived in California, and Suzuki's family would visit every summer. His parents divorced when he was 11 and he ended up spending four years in California. When he had talked about that, they'd ended up speaking English and comparing accents last time they met. Onodera had been proud he could still speak English relatively fluently, and Suzuki had been so excited by his English accent, it made up for any communication challenges.

He'd told him his entire history with Takano, but Suzuki had told him about himself in bits and pieces. He knew he had started competing in Tennis seriously when he had gone back to Japan for high school. And somehow, he had gone from there to getting gold at the Olympics by the time he was 18. Of course, Onodera had googled him almost immediately after coming home from work the day after he'd met him, and the pictures from back then even looked familiar because he had been in the media all the time, and Onodera vaguely remembered feelings of annoyance, for when he'd turned on the tv and thought it's one of those arrogant athletes. Well, if he'd known he'd eventually become this close to the guy maybe he would have been more interested, but he'd never been all that excited about competitive sports.

He was so nice this guy. And brilliant. Tennis was his entire life until he got into a horrible car accident which robbed him of his car and almost his life, which is where he'd gotten all the scarring. He still wasn't so clear on how it had happened, only that his former coach had died in the accident. Maybe he'd tell him more, but he knew better than to push. He'd also heard all about his brother and sister who he was close to and his father who he wasn't. His father was a successful doctor and researcher but not nearly as brilliant a husband or father. His brother was also a doctor but a pediatrician who lived with his family in Nagoya, and his sister lived in Tokyo and was a physics professor at Mitsuhashi University. One of those over achieving families which always made Onodera feel like a failure.

As he thought of family, he remembered he hadn't called back his mother and figured he might always do it now. Thankfully his father picked up the phone. Their relationship wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't necessarily strong either. He wondered how well he even knew him. His father hadn't been home that often when he was growing up.

"Father it's me, Ritsu."

"Ah, you've called me back." Called him back? It hadn't been his mother calling? This was new.

"Of course. Sorry for taking so long. I thought it was mother who'd called." Oops. That sounded like he was purposely avoiding his mother, but his father laughed. He understood. Well his father had to deal with her going on and on about her plans to get him married a lot more than he did.

"No. It was me, although I should warn you, she is looking into another omiai for you."

"I wish she would understand it's never going to work."

"It's hard. You're her only son. She wants grandchildren."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's her problem."

"You're really okay with this?"

"Do I have a choice? Okay, I'd like grandchildren too, but what I really want is for you to be happy. Unfortunately, your mother is still deluded that you'll get married." Onodera felt himself blinking back tears. He wasn't expecting this level of support.

"What I called about is the company." Uh oh. "Don't worry. I'm not going to be asking you to take over, but I have some other ideas which do include you. If you're interested of course. No pressure and it's not for anytime soon. I just want to keep you in the loop. And I haven't seen you in a long time."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It's just been so crazy with moving and with my job. I transferred to the Literature department."

"Ah, I was going to ask about that next. You had a good experience in the manga division?"

"Yes. I did well but it was time to move on. I'm a little nervous. I worked on a project with a first-time author and it's going to come out in a few months."

"Sounds interesting. I want to hear all the details when we meet. Are you busy this Sunday or is that too soon?"

"No! We can meet."

He finished up the phone call with a smile on his face. Life wasn't too bad was it? If his mother was in denial his father seemed to be surprisingly supportive.

The next morning, he got up bright and early. He wasn't meeting Suzuki until 2pm. They were going to the park for a picnic and then to his place to chat, make dinner and have some glorious action in his bedroom. He kept on surprising him there. He'd never had done so many different things and had enjoyed most of it and had learned to speak up about the parts he hadn't.

If only he could have met him first. No, this was wrong. Friends. This was perfect for now. There was no way Suzuki would be interested in more anyway. Onodera wasn't in his league. But it was okay, because as friends they were perfect.

Suzuki was busy talking to one of his many friends, when he arrived at their meeting spot. That was another thing about him. Unlike him, this guy had many friends and they all seemed to know him well. They were so different and that was okay. He smiled to himself and then Onodera noticed him waiting a bit and waved him over.

"Jason, this is Onodera Ritsu, a friend of mine. This is my cousin, Suzuki Jason, who's visiting from California."

"Hi Onodera San. Well I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow at Fumi's house, Akira." Fumi. Suzuki San's older sister who was practically his best friend from the sounds of it.

"Ah. Alright. He's funny. I told him he could stay but he said he doesn't want to be a third wheel. I told him we're friends, but he's funny that way." Friends. This man was so gorgeous when he smiled. "You there, Onodera San?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

"I know. You're just getting lost in my insanely good looks, right? You don't have to answer that one." He laughed.

"You're funny."

"And you're delicious. Can I have you for lunch?"

"Uh, Suzuki San!"

"Sorry, I'm being obnoxious."

"Yes. Yes, you are."

"Ooh. I love when you tell me exactly what you think." His smile was infectious, and Onodera found himself laughing like he often seemed to do when he was with Suzuki Akira.

The more he looked at him the more he wanted him. And by the time they were on the subway to Suzuki's place he'd decided to surprise him. As soon as they had gotten comfortable on the couch he lunged for his friend and went for his neck.

"Onodera San are you part vampire- ah – AH!" Onodera grinned. Yet another first. He'd never been the first to make a move. Well that was going to change. He liked hearing the surprise and pleasure in Suzuki's voice.

"Let's talk later," Onodera managed to breathe out in as seductive a voice as he could manage.