Disclaimer: I do not own Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, all rights belong to Shungiku Nakamura.
Thank you to dendodge for betaing.
Thanks to Dendodge, MissMysty, and CatGirl93 for reviewing! Thanks for all the story alerts and favourites!
Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Onodera Ritsu placed a cold glass of water and two Aspirin before Kisa, who was laid back in his office chair with a hand on his head as he groaned.
"You should've known better than to drink heavily the night before work," Onodera scolded as he stood back from Kisa's desk. Kisa reached over and grabbed the glass; he tipped it slightly and rolled it against his forehead for a second before taking a sip of the cool liquid.
"Yeah, yeah." Kisa remembered waking up at 5 in the morning with a terrible hangover. He'd hurried on the train to get to his office for 6 and didn't even stop for a hangover cure on the way there. Onodera had seen Kisa walk into the office in his state and immediately got up to get water and medicine.
"You're not exactly young enough to do that kind of thing, despite how you look," Onodera continued, not hearing Kisa.
"I get it," Kisa muttered as he took a big gulp and popped the two pills into his mouth and swallowed. Kisa finished the water and placed the empty glass on the coaster beside his computer. "So, do you have any news for me, oh assistant of mine?"
Onodera smirked and grabbed the empty tumbler. "You have a meeting at 11 with Ichinose about an interview."
"Great," Kisa mumbled sarcastically. Kisa wrote the entertainment column for The Japan Times and, whilst he didn't exactly hate his job, there were moments when he grossly disliked it. Kisa sat up in his chair and began to log onto his computer.
"Something about a well-known author, but I didn't catch his name," Onodera confessed. Kisa looked up from his screen and gave Onodera a look.
"It's not that Usami Akihiko person is it?" Kisa asked.
Onodera shook his head. "No, I'd remember if they mentioned him."
Kisa nodded. That was true; before Onodera was hired as Kisa's assistant and fellow writer, he edited for Usami. "Well, whoever it must be did something profound. It's rare that I personally have to interview the writers. I normally let you have that job."
Onodera smirked. "I guess. Well, I'll be outside if you need me… How's the hangover now?"
Kisa didn't look up. "What hangover?"
Onodera left Kisa's office with a smile.
Ichinose Erika sat opposite Kisa in her office. She had a calm and relaxed composure as Kisa looked at her with annoyance.
"Oh, Kisa, don't be like that," she said, smiling.
Kisa raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me, Ichinose-san, don't be like what?"
"How you're looking at me now. I get that you're annoyed. I'm taking office time for you, I understand. However, this is a well-respected and famous author."
Kisa rolled his eyes but smiled. "If he's so famous, why do I not know his name yet?"
"Yukina Kou," Ichinose said leaning forward. Kisa's eyes widened dramatically at the name. It sounded familiar but Kisa couldn't quite place where.
"From your reaction, I assume this is good?"
Kisa wasn't exactly sure, but he wouldn't let Ichinose catch onto that. "Yes, of course. I'm more than willing to do whatever you assign me to."
Ichinose sat up straight and smiled. "That's exactly the attitude I was hoping for, Kisa! Now, the place of your interview…" She grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to Kisa. "You'll be eating lunch with him at Carta Bianca down in Shibuya."
Kisa looked over the paper and took in the information. "It says at 12…"
"Yes."
"I'll have to leave now, right?"
Ichinose's smile spread across her face. "You know me too well, Kisa."
Kisa sighed and stood up, bowing goodbye to Ichinose and turned around and promptly left the office.
Carta Bianca wasn't exactly packed with people, but it was filled with couples out for a romantic date. Kisa searched the restaurant hoping to find his author. When his eyes landed on the handsome man from last night, Kisa stepped back slightly. What was his name again?
Yukina was sat at the booth, reading his menu as if it were an intriguing novel. He looked up for a moment, and then back down to his menu. His gaze snapped up as he spotted Kisa at the doorway and smiled. "Kisa-san!"
Oh God no, Kisa groaned inwardly, but he did his best to return the eager smile Yukina had.
Yukina gestured over towards him and Kisa followed suit. Sitting down Kisa studied Yukina's features. "Forgive me, but I don't remember your name."
Yukina seemed slightly down heartened at that but his smile never left his face. "Yukina Kou, we met last night—"
"I know that part… Yukina Kou, did you say?" Kisa asked and Yukina nodded. It went silent for a second before Kisa stood up abruptly. "Yukina Kou! As in the author?"
Yukina laughed cheerfully. "You found that out, huh? So, who told you?"
"My boss."
"What?"
"I'm here to interview you, Mr best-selling author," Kisa said simply, grabbing his own menu and scanning through his choices.
Yukina said nothing and as Kisa placed his menu down after making a swift decision, he noticed that Yukina was staring at him opened mouth.
"What?" Kisa asked incredulously. Yukina stopped gawking and closed his mouth.
"You told me you went to TMU…"
"I say a lot of things that aren't true when I'm drunk. I probably tried to get you into bed too…"
Yukina went red at that. "So how old are you, exactly?"
"Hmm, what? Oh, I'm 35."
Silence. Kisa rolled his eyes and picked his menu back up, trying to avoid eye contact with Yukina, who was now staring at him in astonishment. After a few minutes Kisa slammed the menu down in aggravation. "Do you mind not staring at me like that?"
Yukina looked away and distracted himself by calling for a waiter. Kisa and Yukina gave their orders to the waiter at his arrival, who wrote it down with ease then flashed a fake smile and walked away.
"Kisa-san, I'm sorry about that…"
"Don't be. Listen, this is just business so let's keep this brief, yes?" Kisa pulled out a notebook and pen along with a tape recorder. "We'll talk now, eat, and then leave and forget we ever met. Clear?"
Yukina gulped and nodded, disappointment flashing across his eyes for a brief second before he returned to his cheerful self. "Of course, Kisa-san."
"Okay, well, first question up. What inspired you to write your new best-selling novel The Stolen Touch?"
Yukina smiled to himself for a split second. "You haven't read the novel yourself, have you?"
Kisa looked taken aback by the question, but replied honestly. "No, I haven't."
"Maybe you should. Anyway, what inspired me the most was a past relationship of mine. I had a rough break-up and I used all the emotions I could to write the novel. I never intended it to be published, in honesty, but my editor read it and insisted I get it published, and now here we are."
Kisa didn't smile but gave a nod of affirmation. "So, did this break-up happen recently?"
"Is that on your list of questions?" Yukina asked with a teasing smile on his face. Kisa blushed.
"Let's just hurry up and get this done."
"Sure thing Kisa-san, but you're the one asking irrelevant questions…"
Kisa looked up to see that their meals were arriving. He packed all his belongings away and told Yukina that the interview would be finished after lunch.
Once the interview was over, Kisa grabbed his bag and made a beeline for the door, until Yukina grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Kisa-san, how would you like to join me for dinner this evening? No business, no bosses, no awkward and forced questions. Just you and me."
Kisa stared at Yukina as if the guy was insane. He opened his mouth to say no, but he closed it again as he weighed up his options. Maybe he'd be successful in getting Yukina into his bed if he did so. "Sure, why not."
Yukina's smile brightened considerably. "Antibes in Chiyoda, at 8 o'clock. Don't be late." And with that Yukina got into a black Ford and drove off. Kisa stood still for a moment and took in what he had just witnessed.
"He didn't offer to give me a lift back to the office!" Kisa moaned out loud as he turned to walk back to the train station.
Kisa found himself in front of the mirror in his bathroom, testing two different ties against his shirt to see which matched better. He had no idea why he was bothering to make a big impression, but he had no idea what Antibes was like and he knew it was better to turn up well-dressed than casual. He had arrived home after receiving a text from Ichinose excusing him from work for the rest of the day. Kisa had gone straight home to find Morimoto raiding his fridge. Her fiancé, Abe Kazuma, was sat at the counter drinking a beer.
Kisa was disturbed from his train of thought as Morimoto banged on the door and opened it abruptly. "You have no food, Shouta!"
Kisa scoffed and turned to face his friend. "I have food, you just ate it all."
"Not true!" Morimoto objected, swinging the open door to and fro as she spoke. Kisa folded his arms, both ties still in hand.
"Really… Listen, if you and Abe are done ruining my home, I have things to do."
"Yeah, speaking of that, why are you getting all dressed up? Do you have a hot date?"
"I wouldn't call it that ex—"
"Kazuma! Shouta has a hot date!" Morimoto called to her fiancé, who ran down the hall and watched Kisa hold up his ties, flustered.
"Well, damn, Shouta, so what's she like?" Abe asked. Kisa stared at him for a second before he remembered that Abe didn't know his sexuality, and decided to play along.
"She's tall, blonde hair and brown eyes."
"Is she hot?" Abe asked, earning an elbow to his stomach from Morimoto.
Kisa hesitated before answering. "Yes… yes, she is."
Morimoto gave Kisa a knowing smile before grabbing Abe, saying goodbye to Kisa, and leaving the apartment. Kisa made a mental note to get a new lock for the front door.
The winter chill picked up and a cold gust of air ruffled Kisa's coat as he stood outside the restaurant, waiting for Yukina to show up. He'd been there for ten minutes and Kisa realised that the sandy blonde was five minutes late.
"Kisa-san!" Yukina called down the street as he picked up pace and began to run towards the older man. Kisa turned around and tried not to let his relief show on his face.
"You're late," he snapped at Yukina once the man stopped to catch his breath.
"I'm sorry; I managed to leave my editor's car before he deterred me from the restaurant."
Aah, that explained it. "It doesn't matter to me, let's go eat."
Yukina watched as Kisa entered the restaurant first. Yukina let out a deep sigh and followed suit.
They were placed at the window, despite the protests both Yukina and Kisa had put up to get a seat far away from the window as possible. The two sat down without any further objections and looked at each other for a moment before picking up their menus.
"May I suggest the charcoal grill and natural tiger shrimp scallops?" Yukina asked as he looked over his menu to see Kisa's concentrated face. Kisa looked up from the laminated object in front of him and smile softly.
"You come here often?"
"I like it," Yukina admitted, nodding. Kisa looked down and smiled to himself.
"I don't go out often." Kisa meant to eat, but Yukina didn't realise and just gave Kisa a sympathetic look as he placed his menu down.
"I'll order that for both of us then. So, tell me about yourself, Kisa-san."
"What's there to say? I work for The Japan Times. I have a mother and father, no siblings. I live alone. I'm 35, blah blah blah…"
Yukina quirked an eyebrow. "You're not taking this very seriously are you?"
"No, you're right, I'm sorry. I should. So… When were you going to tell me you were a famous writer?"
"The same could go for your actual age, Kisa-san," Yukina countered.
"Touché," Kisa hissed as he sat back in his seat. A flash from the corner of Kisa's eye brought his attention out the window. A man stood outside Antibes holding a camera and taking photographs of Kisa and Yukina. "He's taking photos of us," Kisa muttered, looking away.
Yukina looked over as well and waved towards the photographer, a dangerous smile on his face. The man waved back haphazardly and dropped his camera. He then walked away from the restaurant grabbing something from his pocket.
Kisa sighed in relief as the waiter arrived, promptly took their orders, and left along with their menus. "I didn't order a drink."
"I ordered us wine, Kisa-san, is that okay?"
Kisa mumbled something about having a choice, but didn't say anything.
The two sat in comfortable silence as they spared each other glances once in a while until the meals arrived. Kisa wasted no time in digging into the appetizing food before him, until he noticed a large crowd forming outside the window. Several photographers stood outside with their cameras raised and began to take pictures of the two as they ate their meal.
"They're going to be there all night. So just ignore them," Yukina advised as he began to eat his food more quickly. Kisa took one last look at the crowd and returned to his meal.
After escaping out the back way and taking a ride home in Yukina's black ford, Kisa and Yukina were outside Kisa's apartment door. They'd been taking a long time just gazing into each other's eyes. Then, Yukina lowered his head and captured Kisa's lips with his own. Kisa's eyes widened as Yukina's closed gently. Without thinking, Kisa wrapped his arms around Yukina's neck, bringing him closer, and Yukina put his hands on Kisa's hips. Yukina brought the two closer together so that their bodies were touching. Kisa gasped at the motion, and Yukina used this to push his tongue inside Kisa's mouth. They were stood there for long moments until Kisa's phone went off and Kisa pulled himself from Yukina. He looked at the ID on the phone and groaned when he saw it was Morimoto.
"I'll go home, Kisa-san. Thanks for coming out tonight."
Before Yukina could walk away, Kisa grabbed his arm and pulled him down for one last kiss. The kiss was short and sweet, and as soon as Kisa pulled away and said goodbye he answered his phone, walking into his apartment simultaneously.
"Kana."
"Yukina Kou," Morimoto stated simply.
"Yeah, what about him?"
"That's who you were with tonight!"
"How did you-"
"Gossip spreads fast on the internet. Heard of an invention called Twitter?"
Kisa grumbled under his breath as he locked his front door and sat on his futon, turning his television on. "So what?"
"You're dating Yukina Kou! I love his books!"
"You sound like a moronic fangirl. I'm not dating him; we went out for a meal."
"Is your relationship platonic?"
"It's not exactly romantic." Kisa avoided the question. Kisa lazily flicked through the channels before landing on a film that looked familiar. Kisa smirked when he realised it was When Harry Met Sally.
"So you are dating him?"
"No, I didn't say that!" Kisa argued as he heard Morimoto giggle over the other end.
"At least this is better than you sitting at home on your own watching When Harry Met Sally…"
Kisa didn't answer.
"Are you watching it now?" Morimoto asked. The accusing tone in her voice sounded more teasing than serious.
"It was on TV, so sue me!"
"So, are you going to continue dating Yukina?" Morimoto asked, bringing the original topic back up for discussion.
"No, it's just a one-time thing, Kana."
"You didn't like him?"
I did, that's the problem. Kisa sighed. "No, not really…"
"Aww, he seemed like such a nice guy, too." Morimoto sounded genuinely disappointed.
"Sorry Kana… Anyway, I'm tired and I have work tomorrow, goodnight."
"Night, Shouta."
Kisa threw his phone onto the futon as he laid down and watched the screen as the two characters interacted. It was the New Year's scene; as Harry relayed his speech, which Kisa was sure he knew off by heart at this point, Kisa promised himself that he wouldn't let himself get caught up in Yukina Kou any more—even if it meant avoiding him at all costs.