Takahashi Misaki to Takano Masamune no Baii

Chapter 7

After settling himself in next to Onodera-san's friend, Takano-san, Misaki glanced up at the intimidating older man. He was turning the laptop on with a bored expression plastered on his face, much similar to Usagi-san's whenever he was doing something he disliked. Like stopping short from sex with Misaki from too many protests to be enjoyable, or when Misaki rambled on about how much he loved The Kan and Ijuuin-sensei.

Misaki realized that he was still staring awkwardly at Takano-san's face, and quickly turned away, blushing slightly. Onodera-san sure knew a bunch of good-looking people; Kisa-san and Yukina-san from before were both extremely pretty in their own ways.

And Onodera is good-looking himself, too! Some people have all the luck… Misaki grinned slightly at the thought.

"Damn, this laptop is slow," Takano-san muttered, breaking the slowly growing awkward silence.

"Ah—we could use a different one, Usag—Usami-san has a bunch of them lying around here," Misaki quickly replied, preparing to get up from the computer chair that was squeezed under the desk along with Takano-san's.

But the dark-haired man flagged Misaki back down. "It's fine." He was beginning to look annoyed, not just bored.

The smaller man plopped back down into his seat and asked, "Is something the matter…Takano-san?" For some reason, he felt uncomfortable saying the man's name. It was a foreign movement on his tongue.

"Nothing in particular," Takano-san replied elusively. It was so obvious that it was a lie, but Misaki shut up, realizing that he was treading on thin ice that was thinning still with each word he spoke.

"Uh, so," Misaki continued, ignoring his gut instinct that screamed for him to shut up (because that just wasn't Misaki, was it?), "you're Onodera-san's boss?"

Takano-san tossed him an unnerving stare that looked more like a glare than anything else. "Yeah, I'm the Emerald editor-in-chief. Why?"

"Ah—well, um, just wondering."

And once again, silence engulfed the room. Misaki noticed for the first time that he had forgotten to turn the lights on, and the only source of light was dimly filtering through the blinds of the one window the computer room offered.

"Takahashi."

"Ah, yes?"

"Do you know anything about the time when Onodera was Usami's editor?"

The question caught Misaki off-guard. He didn't, in fact, know anything about Usagi-san's past career. He'd read some of his lover's books, but didn't really inquire about the past in which the author had written them. "N-no…I don't. I'm sorry. I'm sure Onodera-san was a good editor, in any case," Misaki added, not quite sure of what to say.

Takano-san sighed. "Of course he was…I'm just worried that he doesn't like working with shoujo manga and really wants to quit because he hates the job, and not because of…" he narrowed his eyes and trailed off, tipping his head back to gaze that the ceiling.

Misaki wanted to ask "Because of what?" but he was afraid of cracking the ice he was doing so well treading over. So he just replied lamely, "Oh."

Takano-san didn't take his eyes off the ceiling. "That guy…he can be such an impulsive idiot sometimes."

Misaki mimed Takano-san and stared up at the plain, eggshell ceiling. "Are you and Onodera-san good friends, Takano-san?"

A pause. The pause strangely reminded Misaki of the ceiling—empty, colorless. "Yeah. We've been friends for a long time…" he finally replied, but Misaki noticed that there was something different about his tone. He turned his head sideways to steal a glance at Takano-san, only to see the man's eyes narrowed not from irritation, but in a sentimental way. Seeing the seemingly hostile, guarded Takano-san look vulnerable made Misaki blush slightly. It reminded him of the times Usagi-san would truly smile at him, and break his expression free from his usual stoic appearance.

"You know, I was surprised that Onodera-san was working with shoujo manga, but you're even bigger of a surprise!" Misaki rambled, trying to keep the unbearable silence from returning. The laptop was slowly inching its way to turning on.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Ah, sorry! It was a compliment," Misaki laughed, scratching the back of his head unconsciously. "It's just that you seem like you could be doing anything you want, not just working with manga."

Takano-san paused at that. "I'm extremely glad that I chose to work with shoujo manga," he finally replied, sitting up and placing his chin on the heel of his hand. "I wouldn't be where I am today, or know the people I know now if I hadn't."

Well, that goes without saying, doesn't it? Misaki thought, but didn't dare voice his opinion aloud.

"Anyway, this damn thing won't start fast enough," Takano-san grumbled, tapping the laptop with an index finger. It had turned on and they were currently trying to get on the Internet, but it didn't seem to be connecting fast enough.

"Well, we could get another one like I—"

"Dammit, we can't get on the Internet! I think your laptop's screwed up, Usami!" Takano-san shouted suddenly, stunning Misaki for a moment. When he finally realized what was happening, Usagi-san was in the doorway and Takano-san was brushing past him, relief shining in his dark eyes. He saw Usagi-san whisper something, but didn't quite catch what his older lover had said.

"But we just got it to work!" Misaki complained, slamming the laptop shut. He pouted for a moment, and when he snapped out of it, Usagi-san was pulling him close—connecting their lips for a fleeting moment. Misaki widened his eyes, and protested fiercely at Usagi-san.

Usami just grinned back and hushed him, suggesting that Onodera-san and Takano-san might hear them from downstairs.

Misaki sighed. "Just get off me, Usagi-san!" Misaki returned sharply.

"I love you, Misaki."

Ah—idiot!

"I know that, get off me!"

"You love me, right, Misaki?"

Misaki stopped struggling to escape from Usagi-san's firm grasp and stared at his lover with a blank look. Hadn't he told this man more than enough times (for Misaki) that he loved him? Enough so that Usagi-san didn't have to worry? Why was he acting paranoid now? "O-of course I do, idiot Usagi… Why would… you ask that?"

Usagi-san confirmed Misaki's doubts by replying that he simply wanted to hear Misaki say those three little words more often.

"Fine," Misaki consented, and confessed just before pulling Usagi-san into his own gentle kiss. The cold temperature of Usagi-san's lips made his own spark like fire, and he loved the feeling. It was different from the spark of when they kissed in bed, it was simpler and full of love they couldn't put into words.

Idiot Usagi-san. Of course I'll always love you...because the love I have for you is special, Misaki caught himself thinking this as they pulled away from each other, jade meeting soft violet. Usagi-san smiled that smile Misaki loved, making him blush. Once more, Usagi-san pulled Misaki in, but for a hug this time rather than a kiss.

"I guess we better get downstairs, huh? We have guests waiting," Usagi-san said, getting up from the seat Takano-san had been sitting in only minutes before.

"Right!" Misaki chirped, jumping up from his own chair and following Usagi-san out of the room.

So. Err…sorry if this chapter wasn't full of plot, I feel like I just handed everyone a bunch of filler crap. I just felt like it was important to explain Takano and Misaki's moments up in the computer room together instead of leaving it a mystery ^^ But next chapter I'll have to look up how to make oyakodon, because I have no earthly idea how xD

By the way, I have recently been OBSESSED with the Kisa x Yukina pairing, so I decided to write a side story about it. Kisa Shouta & Yukina Kou no Baii ^^ (original, no?) it takes place a little while after Onodera and the gang leave "the bookstore" (I now know that the name of the store is "Marimo Books", but I didn't know at the time and throughout the whole fic I refer to it as "the bookstore".)

Also, since I actually attempted some smut again for that fic, I'm actually considering doing that for this story! Which means I'll have to change the rating but no matter.

Gomen if there are any plot errors in this chapter! Also, sorry for the errors last chapter that were pointed out to me; I should've noticed the Emerald/Marukawa error, but I honestly thought Onodera fled to America O.o I'll have to go find the episode/chapter it clarified this in! Nonetheless, I thank you for pointing that out to me,xRinYukix!

Edit: Ah, and thank you for the amazing reviews! Reading them really inspires me to write these chapters (: arigatougozaimasu!

I think I have the confidence in my time management skills to say this once again:

See you next week!