Chapter 3

Ritsu was required by his mother to greet An and her parents when they arrived. Masamune had offered to be there with him, but Ritsu had refused. He knew it would just compound the awkwardness of seeing his ex-fiancée's parents for the first time in so long- even though he had never taken the engagement seriously.

At exactly 2pm, Ritsu and his parents stood outside the large house, watching the Kohinata's car approach. Ritsu had quickly formed the habit of adjusting his temporary glasses when he was nervous, but he quickly put his hand down when his mother eyed him.

"Ricchan!" An was the only one to greet him; her mother and father quickly engaged Ritsu's parents in conversation. "I'm glad you're here." She was smiling so warmly that it almost broke Ritsu's heart.

Ritsu nodded and led her in. His extended family had moved into the backyard again, so there were only a few people in the house. An gazed at Ritsu as they took off their shoes until she finally said, "Ricchan, do you have someone now?"

"What?"

"Right there…" She pointed to his neck, where a dark patch could be seen. Ritsu, of course, couldn't see it, but he still blushed and covered his neck with his hand. Ritsu had plenty of love marks on his body, but most of them were covered by his clothes.

"I'm sorry, An-chan." Ritsu averted his eyes, rubbing at his neck.

"It's okay." An's smile was radiant again. "I'm just glad you found someone to help you move on."

Ritsu flinched at that. If only she knew.

The scene Ritsu and An encountered when they entered the kitchen was an interesting one. Mrs. Miller had started preparing the food for the evening but Annie was standing at the island, having an enthusiastic conversation with Masamune and waving a manga around.

And then she noticed Ritsu standing there, and her smile grew. "Ricchan!" she said, still waving the manga around. "Why didn't you tell me he's a manga editor?"

Ritsu bit back a remark about how, at thirty, he would've thought she had lost her interest in shojo manga. He knew the only thing that would earn would be Masamune throwing something at him, and since they were in a kitchen rather than a manga editing office, he had a lot more sharp objects than X-Acto Knives at his disposal.

Masamune's eyes went from Annie to An, who seemed preoccupied with greeting Annie and Mrs. Miller. Ritsu carefully sat down beside him at the kitchen island, eying the shojo manga volume that lay before him.

"You actually brought that with you?"

"What? It's Ichinose's most recent one." He picked it up and started flipping through it. "I'm not allowed to enjoy my authors?"

"You enjoyed her plenty on Christmas Eve." Ritsu laid his head down on the counter and closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at Masamune.

"It was just a couple drinks. And mostly for her. Apparently having your birthday on Christmas Eve is a big deal." He smiled when Ritsu grunted in what he probably thought was a noncommittal way. "We still got to spend time together."

"You showed up at my apartment at midnight and told me you wanted me for Christmas."

"It worked, didn't it?"

It had, and Ritsu wanted to punch Masamune for it. He'd been ready to give him the cold shoulder and had ended up on his hands and knees just beyond the genkan because Masamune was too impatient to get them both to the bed. That was, in hindsight, probably when he got the mark Masamune pointed out earlier.

Ritsu finally raised his head from the counter only to come face-to-neck with someone. That someone, Ritsu discovered when he looked up a little more, was An. He sat bolt-upright, even managing to startle Masamune. "An-chan! Is something the matter?"

An had a smile on her face, but she was fiddling with her long hair in a way that spoke volumes about her current state of mind. And that was, quite obviously, nervous.

"It's good to see you again, Kohinata-san," Masamune said, managing to bow even with the counter in front of him.

"And you as well." An didn't sound so sure, though. "I don't think I was told your name the previous two times."

It was only when Masamune introduced himself that Ritsu realized he had moved his stool right next to Ritsu's and had an arm around his waist. Even just a few months ago Ritsu would've noticed him doing it and pushed him away, but now, he was too used to it.

Before the situation could get any more awkward for Ritsu, his mother called him from somewhere in the house. He gladly bolted up, almost knocking his stool over, and ran for it. Instead of engaging Masamune in a conversation, An bowed her head and went to help cook.

xxx

Two hours later, Masamune found Ritsu up in his old room, just laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. He'd removed his glasses again, but he still reacted when Masamune stepped in.

"Leave the door open."

Masamune glanced once at the door, then at Ritsu. "Are you serious?"

"I don't trust you."

Masamune smirked at that. He, for one, had no problem if someone walked by and caught them in the middle of undressing each other. Ritsu really should've been aware of that by then. Therefore, he obliged Ritsu's request and immediately went over to him. "I thought we were supposed to be celebrating. What's the point of staying in here by yourself?"

Ritsu sat up and put his glasses on just so he could look at all the bookshelves around him. "When I was younger, I'd stay in my room a lot. My family members would threaten to set my books on fire if I had one around them while they were setting off firecrackers."

Masamune smiled. "I won't let them set you or your books on fire, if it helps." Masamune leaned down and claimed Ritsu's lips with no protest at all, something he relished after a full year of admittedly halfhearted protests. Ritsu's glasses got in the way, though, and so Masamune glared at them, plucked them from his face and continued, plunging his tongue into Ritsu's now-open mouth.

"And you wonder why I don't trust you," Ritsu said when his mouth was free. Masamune was moving down to his neck while sneaking his fingers up under the hem of his shirt. "Ma-Masamune! My parents are right downstairs!"

"We're grown men. They'll understand." He nipped at Ritsu's neck, leaving a small mark right out for all to see. He relished the quiet moan he managed to pull out of his boyfriend before moving his hand up, dragging his fingers along Ritsu's stomach.

That was about as far as he got before they heard the barking ascend the stairs and run straight for them. Masamune was pushed onto the floor as Tsuyu scrambled onto Ritsu's bed, licking at his face. Ritsu spluttered and tried to reprimand his dog, but ended up having to keep his mouth shut lest Tsuyu end up giving him a French kiss. Neither of Ritsu's parents were going up to take care of the dog, and so Masamune ended up pulling her by the collar. She immediately sat down on the floor, her tail thumping against the floor.

"I think your dog is trying to tell you something, Ritsu," Masamune said, eying the excited animal.

"I don't know what's wrong with her. She's never been this… affectionate before." Ritsu wiped the slobber off his glasses but still didn't put them back on.

Seeming satisfied, Tsuyu trotted off, jumping a little and picking up the pace when someone set off another firecracker in the backyard. Masamune smiled and put his lips to the mark he'd just made. "Maybe she's just trying to mark her territory."

"As if you don't do that enough." He flinched when Masamune ran his hand over Ritsu's stomach which, true to his word, had love marks in various stages of fading all over it.

"You never give up, do you?" Ritsu asked, only slightly flinching when Takano put his lips to Ritsu's cheek.

"You should know the answer to that by now."

"Ritsu! Come say hello to An-chan's parents!" And there was his mother, calling down the hallway as if actually going up to Ritsu's room and talking to him was too much work.

Ritsu buried his face in Masamune's shoulder and said something about not wanting to be thrown into Tokyo Bay before obliging.

"It's good to see you again," Ritsu said as he bowed deeply to the Kohinatas, ignoring Masamune's standing just behind him with an amused look. An-chan's father had already occupied himself with someone else, but the female Kohinata smiled and bowed as well.

"And you too, Ricchan. Your mother says you've been keeping yourself busy."

"Yes. I work for a monthly magazine now, and there's quite a lot of work that goes into every issue," Ritsu said. By this time Masamune was snickering, mostly at Ritsu's formal speech pattern. Wanting to get back at him in some small way, Ritsu turned and said, "This is the head editor of Emerald Monthly, Takano Masamune."

"Oh! I believe we've met before!" An-chan's mother looked excited at the prospect. "Marukawa has a deal to distribute electronic versions of some of their older manga through our company's e-reader." She laughed, as if someone had just told the best joke in the world. "And here I was thinking he was…" Then she eyed the two young men before her. "Well, Ritsu, your mother said you were bringing someone special and to not be alarmed."

And there it was, the invisible barrier that Ritsu had been afraid to cross the minute he stepped foot into his family's home. Unlike with An-chan, Masamune didn't wrap an arm around his waist, or take his hand, or anything. It seemed this decision was entirely his.

"Forgive me, Kohinata-san, but I think you were correct in your first assumption." Ritsu managed a smile. "However, Masamune wasn't the main reason I didn't want to marry your daughter, so I hope you won't have any ill will towards either of us."

The woman's only reaction was a slow nod, the kind one might use when they weren't going to protest an idea but would take some time getting used to it.

When she turned away from them, Masamune said, "And you were afraid they were going to drop us into Tokyo Bay."

Ritsu's only reaction was to hit him.

xxx

At around 11:55 that night, Ritsu's family and their guests were all around the grounds of the Onoderas' home, eating and talking and just waiting for midnight to come. Professional pyrotechnicians had been hired for the fireworks show, and some of the children were spending their time around them, trying to convince the workers to let them set off the fireworks themselves. Ritsu and his parents had made the mochi together earlier, and Ritsu was enjoying one as he sat on the driveway and just stared up at the sky.

At least until Masamune came running through, having gotten caught up in a game of tag with several of his younger cousins. "Careful guys, he's an old man. He can't keep up with you for long."

"You look like more of an old man than me!" Masamune yelled, finally getting a hold of one of the kids and picking her up, resulting in a stream of giggles. "If you frown anymore, those wrinkles will be permanent."

"Yeah, Ricchan," one of the other kids said. "Momma tells me not to frown 'cause my face will get stuck that way."

Predictably, this made Ritsu frown. It didn't last long, though, because the clock hit twelve. Children could be seen running out of the backyard, where the pyrotechnics staff had set up for the show, and Ritsu looked up just in time for the first few to shoot up into the distance and explode in bursts of white and red. The children were all busy staring up at it in amazement, but Masamune sat down and pulled Ritsu into his lap. Ritsu might have protested, but the Kohinatas were frankly the only thing still making him nervous, and they had left for their own celebration after dinner.

Everyone around them was cheering and making various other noises of celebration, but Ritsu could still hear Masamune say, "Is this what it's like every year?"

"Yep." Ritsu nodded, leaning into Masamune and resting his head on his neck. "Why? Didn't your family do things like this?"

"Hardly." Masamune snorted. "My parents wouldn't even bring me to a temple. They were too busy with themselves and fighting most years."

"We'll have to visit in the morning, then." Ritsu yawned despite all the action going on around him.

Masamune smiled. "Thanks."

"What're you thanking me for? We would've gone, anyway." Ritsu's eyelids finally drifted down. "Stupid Takano-san."

Masamune waited about a minute before saying, "What, no hime-hajime tonight?"

"Later," Ritsu murmured, still mostly asleep.

That was good enough for him.