Chapter 6

Shizuko was up the next morning much earlier than Misaki, but that didn't really surprise him. He knew very little about the man, but he seemed sort of lazy. Sure, he was always happy to do work at Marukawa, but with how much he had to be taught, it seemed like he never really had to do anything for himself.

Well… Shizuko supposed that he did now, if he was taking care of Usami-sensei. But how hard was it to do some vacuuming and order takeout every night?

Even with him taking the time to shower and fix himself breakfast, there were still a couple hours until he had to be into work. He figured he should probably wake Misaki up so he could go back to his apartment and get ready as well, but before he could do that, he heard a rather urgent knocking on his door. Considering he hadn't been expecting any company and it was only six in the morning, he had every right to fear the worst.

And the worst came in the form of two men standing there in his doorway. One was Ijuuin-sensei, and one was Usami-sensei. To Ijuuin's credit, he looked incredibly happy to be there, grinning despite that he was never known to be a morning person. Usami, on the other hand, had fire in his eyes and immediately pushed passed Shizuko like he was a curtain blocking his way instead of a person.

"You're coming home," Usami said. Misaki had been startled out of his sleep when Usami came stomping through, but he was still trying to wake up, so all he could do was faintly protest and make Usami stop long enough so he could get his shoes back on in the genkan. As Misaki leaned down to tie them, Usami turned to Shizuko and gave him a dark look. "If you come near my Misaki again, it'll be your job. Got that?"

They left with Misaki protesting the threat, but Shizuko didn't get to hear how he defended him. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, in fact. Even if they had gotten a bit closer after the previous night, there was nothing Shizuko wanted more sometimes than for Misaki to drop off the face of the Earth. But then Ijuuin would probably mope around and complain that he didn't have his muse since Misaki was gone.

Shizuko had been about to go back into his kitchen to get a travel mug of coffee when he remembered that Usami wasn't the only one who'd come to his apartment. He frowned when he looked over and saw Ijuuin standing there at his coffee table, leaning down and picking up a copy of Za Khan that Misaki had pulled off of Shizuko's shelf to read at some point. "You buy my books?"

Shizuko didn't want to talk to him. He really didn't want to talk to him. But Ijuuin was looking at him expectantly, and there was really no use acting like a petulant child. Especially since he knew that he'd have to bring Ijuuin back home before he left for work or he'd never get there. "I get copies free from Marukawa's promotional stock." He had every single volume of Za Khan, and hopefully Ijuuin wouldn't wander over to his bookshelf and see that, because even he would know that it meant he was buying them himself long before he joined Marukawa. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Oh, right!" The wide grin was back on Ijuuin's face, and he sauntered into the kitchen to join Shizuko. "I was coming over here to apologize to you anyway, and then Usami-sensei pounded down my door and demanded to know where Misaki was. I guess he thought I kidnapped him or something."

That made Shizuko frown. So apparently Usami-sensei knew all about Ijuuin being attracted to him. Suddenly, Shizuko was very, very tired. He couldn't call in to work again, even if his star author had already gotten his materials in for the month. "Sensei," Shizuko said, putting the coffee mug back down before he poured any coffee into it. "I know you mean well, but I have to get to work in an hour, so you need to go home."

Ijuuin frowned at that, and Shizuko had to busy himself with starting water and scrubbing at the breakfast dishes. It was only a pan, a plate and some silverware, but at this point, Shizuko would do anything to not have to pay attention to Ijuuin. "But what about…"

"Sensei." Shizuko's voice was stern.

Ijuuin's frown deepened before he managed to shuffled over, and much to Shizuko's shock, drape his arms around him. "Kiwi, don't talk to me like that. I was worried about you."

Oh this was definitely the exact opposite of what Shizuko wanted right now. He reared around and presented his fork to Ijuuin, saying, "If you try to fuck with my head one more time, I'll stab your eyes out.
"Lesson learned!" Ijuuin backed off and held his hands up like a barrier. "But you still owe me a picnic for getting my color pages in before the deadline."

Oh.

Right.

Well uh.

Shizuko let a long sigh escape his lips, and he turned back to the dishes. "Fine. We can go this Saturday."

And then Ijuuin had grabbed his chin and gave him a firm kiss on the lips, licking them once before pulling away. "I'm looking forward to it, Kiwi."

xxx

Ijuuin didn't bug Shizuko all day, or at least until noon, as far as he could tell. Shizuko was currently on his lunch break, down in his floor's lounge and considering the options in one of the vending machines when he heard his name called.

"Ishi-san!" It was Misaki, and Shizuko didn't even try to stop himself from frowning very, very deeply. Misaki didn't seem to notice, though. Although that might have been because his vision was blocked by an enormous bouquet of flowers. Shizuko expected them to be a gift Misaki had received from Usami until the younger man held them out. "These came for you."

And then he scurried off, and it wasn't until he was gone that he realized Misaki had called him 'Ishi-san' instead of 'Shizuko-san.' Well, so much for the bonding they had done the previous night.

Shizuko glanced around, but the only other person in the lounge was one of the interns, and she wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. She had a tablet out and seemed engrossed in whatever it was she was reading. Well, at least some people around here worked hard.

Or she could've been reading smutty fanfiction. Knowing the people who worked for Marukawa, it was a very distinct possibility.

Shizuko sighed and went back to the vending machine, getting a disposable cup of soup and going over to a different table from the intern with the tablet. He still had the bouquet in one arm, and when he sat down, he immediately pulled the card from it.

It was from Ijuuin. Of course. The card was some long diatribe about how sorry he was and how he was looking forward to their picnic on Saturday, and how he didn't have to worry about bringing food or anything because Ijuuin would take care of all of it. That probably meant ordering from a restaurant but Shizuko found himself thinking that it was the thought that counts.

The bouquet itself was a ton of red roses, and Shizuko frowned at it. What the hell was he supposed to do with all this?

By the time he finished his soup and his lunch was over, he'd decided to just leave it on his desk and put it in water when he got home. Maybe he wasn't quite as mad at Ijuuin as he had let on.