Chapter 7

Shizuko was so used to being dead on his feet at this time of the month, that when he woke up Saturday and there was absolutely nothing wrong with him other than a slightly stiff back, he had to take a second and wonder why.

And then he remembered: Ijuuin had gotten everything in. Early, in fact. If he was perfectly honest, he still couldn't believe that the man had actually pulled it off. Shizuko had promised him a cherry blossom picnic not expecting that he'd have to actually keep his word.

And now he was kind of dreading it.

Because the fact was, he really wanted to sleep in. He had no reason to be in the office today, despite that it was near the end of the cycle and Hell Week was in full swing. But Kirishima had told him that since he'd gotten Ijuuin's things in, everything else as far as that was handled. It wasn't like Shizuko didn't have other authors to handle, but it seemed that despite the chief editor not knowing exactly what he'd done to get their star manga-ka motivated, he was going to reward him for it.

Just as he was considering going back to sleep and hopefully sleeping through the cherry blossom date, his phone started buzzing. He'd put it on vibrate the previous night so it wouldn't wake him, but now the constant buzzing and his phone making small progress across his nightstand was starting to annoy him.

"Hello?" He finally answered it when he was sure the person calling wasn't going to give up, not even checking the display. He was about ninety-eight percent sure he knew who it was, anyway.

"Kiwi! I'm right outside your door. Mind letting me in."

Shizuko couldn't help but groan as he rolled out of bed, managing, by some miracle, to make it onto his feet instead of falling on his ass onto the floor. When he looked at his alarm clock, he saw that it was barely eight o'clock. "Sensei," he said, noting that there was a constant knocking sound coming from the general direction of his door, "Why are you here? I said we'd have a lunch picnic. It isn't even breakfast yet."

"Well I figured I should probably get here early, otherwise you would find some kind of excuse to not make it." It seemed that Shizuko wasn't the only one who'd picked up on a few tricks in their short, professional relationship. "Anyway, I brought donuts. Let me in?"

"Fine."

Of course when he opened the door, he had to step back because Ijuuin immediately barged in, dropping the box of donuts on his coffee table and spreading himself across the couch like he owned the place. In a way he did, considering his sales paid for Shizuko's salary, but just looking at the man making himself so comfortable was getting on his nerves. Just a little.

"Sensei, I need to go take a shower. Make yourself at home." That last part, obviously, was said sarcastically. But given that Shizuko's emotional range was rather limited, it was kind of hard to tell that. "There's coffee in the cupboard if you want any."

Ijuuin yawned, putting a hand to his mouth like he thought that was going to help anything. It really, really didn't. "Can't you make me coffee, Kiwi."

"No." Shizuko gave him a very pointed look as he went to the closet in his room and pulled out some casual clothes for their picnic. "This isn't the office, and I'm not an intern. Either you make coffee yourself, or you go without."

"Why are you so mean, Kiwi?"

"Because it's eight in the morning and you're sitting on my couch." He still had that pointed look directed towards Ijuuin, but he sighed when he realized that it wasn't doing much, if anything at all. Then again, this man had been producing manga long before Shizuko had even thought of entering the industry. He'd probably seen it all. Dammit.

Rather than continue complaining, though, Shizuko ended up putting his clothes down on the washer in the hall and went about making coffee. He did kind of need a cup of his own if he was going to be dealing with Ijuuin all day, after all.

"Thank you, Kiwi," Ijuuin said, standing up from the couch and slinking over to the younger man, slipping his arms around his waist. "You know how to treat sensei."

"I also know how to punch sensei if he doesn't let go of me." And of course it was said in that usual deadpan voice. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that Ijuuin had actually frozen at that, and a second later, he let go of him and was a few feet away on the other side of the kitchen. "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure, Kiwi." As if he had any other choice.

xxx

The trees, Shizuko had to admit, were pretty beautiful. It had been a few years since he'd really spent time with the cherry blossoms, mostly because he'd always been working so hard. The last few years of high school he had cram school several times a week to prep him for entering college, and after that, he'd been so focused on being the best and getting through his classes so he could start his career, that he'd never really taken notice of one of Japan's favorite times of the year.

Surprisingly, rather than making Shizuko do all the work, Ijuuin was taking initiative. He'd driven them all the way to what he said was his favorite spot in Tokyo, where sakura trees lined the street and several were planted in a small park that no one else seemed to care about. There were cherry petals everywhere, to the point where Shizuko pitied anyone who was allergic to such things. It was an amazing sight, even from the shotgun seat of Ijuuin's car.

"I come here every year. It's one of my biggest inspirations," Ijuuin said as they parked across the street and he reached into the back, getting the picnic blanket and basket.

"One of?"

"Well, I have others, of course. Cooking shows, other artists, you." He said it so casually that to be honest, Shizuko didn't even try to hide the blush on his cheeks. He always tried so hard to hide things like that, mostly because his pale skin made everything ten times more obvious, but Ijuuin was too occupied with getting everything out and making sure he'd packed everything for their picnic that he didn't even notice.

Shizuko sincerely wished that Ijuuin could say such things more often. But the man was such an irritating pervert, that it was highly unlikely he would.

He was lost in his own thoughts at that point, and so he was pretty surprised when Ijuuin actually went around to his door and opened it, smiling down at him. "Come on, Kiwi. I know my car is nice, but we don't really have all day."

"Technically we do," he murmured as he got up, ignoring the hand Ijuuin held out to him in favor of simply leading the way into the park, despite that he didn't really know where Ijuuin himself wanted to sit. That didn't matter, though. He was just going pretend he was in charge so that the blush didn't come back.

Ijuuin, it seemed, had other plans.

"Let's feed each other, Kiwi!" Ijuuin grinned brightly as he spread the blanket where they'd stopped and sat down on it. It was a classic white and red checker blanket, and he looked absolutely content as he sat there with his legs crossed. When Shizuko didn't give him the dignity of a response, he reached into the picnic basket and pulled something out. "Look! I even got kiwi."

"…you know you're the only one who calls me by that nickname, right?" he asked, looking mildly annoyed. He was just going to sit there on the grass rather than on the blanket, because despite the fact that Ijuuin kept calling it a date, it most certainly was not one.

"Aw, but it's a cute nickname!" Ijuuin seemed insistent that he was going to feed his companion, even going so far as to hold the piece of kiwi up to his mouth, like he thought that the only problem had been proximity. "Besides, all those mugs you have in your apartment with the kiwi designs are pretty cute, too."

"They were gifts." Of course his mistake was opening his mouth at all, because as soon as he did, Ijuuin shoved the piece in, and he choked just slightly before his brain caught up and he figured out that he needed to start chewing.

"Well, this is a gift from me," Ijuuin said, reaching for his own slice of kiwi and taking decidedly smaller bites out of it than he'd afforded Shizuko. "Well, that and the picnic."

Shizuko just sighed and slumped down as soon as he'd swallowed the kiwi slice. It was actually really, really good, but he wasn't going to let Ijuuin know that. He'd probably start shoving more pieces into his mouth with that kind of encouragement. "You really didn't have to pay for all the food and go to this trouble, sensei."

"Oh, but I do, Kiwi." Ijuuin held a hand up, as if to wave away any other protests that Shizuko had. "I know I don't say this to you enough, but I really appreciate all the work that you put into me. It's hard to put up with someone like me, who constantly complains and gets things in late, yet always has the highest sales ranks. I'm untouchable!"

Shizuko frowned, and then he reached over, punching Ijuuin on the arm. "No you aren't."

"Kiwi, you have no idea how to handle metaphors. No wonder you're just the sub-editor."

Shizuko just sighed, pointedly staying there in his little patch of grass as he reached into the picnic basket and took out one of the sandwiches. "I might be sub-editor, but I'm pretty sure I do just as much, if not more, to take care of you as Kirishima-san."

"And that's exactly why I'm treating you today." He gave Shizuko one of the brightest smiles he'd ever seen, to the point where Shizuko actually had to turn away. He felt like he was looking at the sun, with how bright it was.

But that was going to go on the list of things he would never, ever tell Ijuuin.

Somehow, Ijuuin had decided that they were done talking, because as he bit into his own sandwich, he simply gazed up at the trees, a smile on his face. It was actually pretty nice, Shizuko had to admit, sitting there with this man. He was good-looking, after all; what ruined it was when he actually started talking.

The wind started blowing, and before Shizuko knew it, there were cherry blossom petals floating everywhere. He glanced over at Ijuuin, who was looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"You know, Kiwi," Ijuuin said, turning to fully face him. "If this were a shoujo manga, then this would be the point where the hero and heroine share their heartfelt feelings with each other, and probably kiss."

"If this were a shoujo manga, I'd have a better love interest than some perverted old man."

Ijuuin clutched his heart at that, falling over on the blanket like he'd actually been shot there. "That hurts, Kiwi. Right in the heart. I feel like you've shot me."

"Sucks to be you."