Disclaimer: I do not own Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi or its characters.
Ritsu had gone home first. Takano had convinced him to take a bath, and the hot water made him feel good. The dizzy feeling he had been experiencing all day was slowly disappearing. He was still bewildered by what happened at work, but he felt excited at the same time. It might be fun doing something new for the new magazine, and he needed all the experience he could get if he wanted to reach Takano's level some day.
By the time he was knocking in front of Takano's apartment, it was already 10 PM. He would not spend the night here, he kept repeating to himself. They had work tomorrow, and the last thing he wanted to do was think about Takano all day.
"You're late," Takano said as he opened the door. Ritsu wanted to reply, but the smell of good food distracted him.
Dinner had been good. Who knew something as simple as miso soup, grilled fish and rice would make for such a satisfying dinner? He felt calm after eating, and a little more confident as well. Takano was sitting in front of him with a can of beer in his left hand. Ritsu had refused to drink, his throat had been hurting somewhat and he didn't want to aggravate his health any further.
He slurped down the last bit of soup before looking at Takano. The man was staring at him with a glazed look in his eyes, "Takano-san?"
"Hmm?" The man replied before taking another sip from his can
"I-uh… thank you for the dinner. I think I'll be going home now." He bowed before quickly standing up.
Just as he was walking past Takano towards the door, he felt the man grab onto his shirt sleeve, "Stay."
"Huh? I can't. We have work tomorrow." Ritsu tried to pull at his sleeve, but the grip was too strong, "Also if I am developing a cold, I don't want to give it to you."
A sharp pull made him fall towards Takano, and before he could blink he felt the man's lips on his own. Ritsu tried to pull away. "Takano-san, I might be catching a cold!"
"I don't care." The man replied, "I've been holding back at work all day."
Holding back? Since when did Takano hold back?
"Takano-san!" Ritsu pulled himself back from where he was sitting on the floor, "You've been acting weird all day. Please don't tell me you invited me for dinner just so you could do this."
Takano looked bewildered; he loosened his grip on Ritsu's sleeve and leaned back in his chair. Hiding his face in his hands, he laughed softly, "That's not why..."
"Are you okay?" This strange reaction bothered Ritsu. Had he said something odd?
"Four days ago I was called to the office because someone reported me for indecency at work." Takano continued.
Ritsu reached for the can in the man's hands and tried to move it. Four cans down, Takano seemed drunk. He had never seen the older man like this. Reported him for indecency? Ritsu's fears had rung true after all, but then why didn't Isaka bring it up when they were in his office together?
Takano tried to pull the can away from Ritsu but the younger man grabbed on to it and took it away, "I think you've had too much to drink." With the can in his hands, he sat down again, "You told me you were going there to talk about the departments being merged." Takano had misled him again.
Takano removed his hands and looked at Ritsu. He was looking a bit flushed, "I was, afterwards."
"Takano-san!" Ritsu slammed his hands on the table, "How am I supposed to know what's going on in your life if you don't tell me?" He felt all the anger and confusion he had welled up inside of him for so long come out at one go, "You keep telling me I should tell you what's bothering me, but you never do the same. Why was it okay to tell Hatori-san about the new issue but not me?" He hated himself, he was somehow making this all about himself and he wished he had never opened his mouth.
Takano was staring at him, his mouth slightly open in shock, "I… didn't want to worry you."
"But I am worried! Who complained? Why? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I took care of it." Takano finished, sitting up straight on his chair, "Besides, I don't have to tell you everything about work."
Ritsu grew even angrier upon hearing this, "Of course. Because I'm your subordinate, I have to report every little detail in my life to you, but when something happens to you, I'm supposed to quietly sit down and accept whatever you say or do because it's not my place to talk."
"I…" Takano searched for things to say, but nothing came to his mouth
"Will you please tell me what happened?"
Takano sighed, "The first time he called me it was about what had happened in the storeroom. Apparently whoever had seen us had gone to Human Resources to complain. I was called and told that using the storeroom for our private use was unacceptable."
"But we were locked in!"
Takano nodded, "I explained that, and Isaka-san said he would look into it. However, it wasn't the first time someone had seen us. He told me to keep a professional distance from you at work." Ritsu stared on, so far everything seemed fine, "And then he docked my pay for this month because he needed to show HR that he had done something."
Ritsu felt severely guilty, maybe if he went and spoke to Isaka? A sudden realization hit him and he stared at the floor, was it possible that Isaka had covered everything up because of his father? That would explain why he didn't bring it up when they were in his office.
"And then he decided that as my punishment I should accept responsibility for the new magazine that was being discussed recently at staff meetings." Here Takano snorted, "It seemed like a good way to push work onto me. But then when he brought up the idea of bringing in people from another department to join Emerald, and that was the last straw. If I am going to do this, it's going to be on my terms."
"Uh, Takano-san, I think you got off pretty lightly." Ritsu looked a bit sheepish, he didn't want to admit that he had a vague suspicion as to how the man got away with it so easily, but he didn't want to bring up anything he couldn't confirm either.
Takano glared at Ritsu, "Yes, thanks to you." Ritsu stiffened where he sat. So Takano was aware after all.
"Oh…" Ritsu nervously looked away from the man. He had explained everything Ritsu wanted to know, but that didn't make him any less uncomfortable. Ritsu wondered exactly how much of his life his father was aware of. Did he know about Takano? At this at point, he wouldn't put it past Isaka to tell him. But his mother hadn't called enquiring after them, so even if his father knew he hadn't told her. But why hadn't he? The more he thought it about, the more unpleasant the idea of meeting his family for the New Year celebration became. He brought Takano's unfinished can to his lips and took a large swig. The new year was starting out horrifically for him.
"Onodera."
Ritsu looked at the man, he looked okay. Takano had not really betrayed any emotion over the past few days. If he hadn't come out and said it, Ritsu would have never guessed. The fact that he had now actually told him left him surprised as well. He was expecting Takano to steer the topic away and talk about something else.
"Stay with me tonight." Takano finished.
"Wh-what?" Ritsu got up to leave, "Maybe some other time."
Takano sighed and placed a hand over his eyes. He looked so tired, Ritsu felt bad leaving right then. The man seemed almost lonely.
"I'll stay."
Takano looked at him, his eyes betraying no emotion. Ritsu being indecisive was something he was aware of since they were in high school. He had changed far less than he thought he had. Sure he was more snarky now, and always saying things that infuriated Takano, but Ritsu was still Ritsu.
"What are you smiling at?" Ritsu was looking at him suspiciously, "I'll stay, but on one condition. We don't do 'that' tonight." Here his eyes narrowed.
"'That'?" Takano started laughing. How old was this man?
"Shut up." Ritsu snapped as he walked towards the kitchen. He poured himself a new bowl of miso soup and went back and sat down, "And no more drinking."
Why was everything so bright?
Ritsu groaned as he opened his eyes, had they forgotten to close the curtains the night before? He tried to move out of the bed, he was going to close the curtains before going back to sleep. Except he couldn't move. He tried wriggling his shoulders, but a dissatisfied grunt from behind him thwarted his efforts. Takano held on to him tighter as he struggled to break loose.
"Takano-san, how long do you intend to hold me like this?" He struggled a little more, but his efforts were in vain, "I'm not a side pillow." He yelped slightly as he felt Takano place his legs on top of his body. He wasn't going to be allowed to leave the bed any time soon. Ritsu yawned, he was still drowsy. With his free hand, he tried to reach for the bedside table. He needed to check the time, and thankfully Takano's phone was usually full of charge.
He flipped open the phone and screamed, "We're going to be late!"
Takano loosened his grip and stuffed his head under the pillow. "Takano-san! Wake up! Did you hear me?" Finally free from Takano's embrace, Ritsu leapt out of bed and started grabbing his clothes. So much for not doing anything that night. He should have known better than to trust Takano.
"I'm leaving." With his pants finally on, Ritsu turned to look at the figure still sleeping peacefully in the bed. He then promptly walked over to the window and pulled the curtains apart until the whole room shone brightly from the morning rays.
Takano's muffled groans amused Ritsu. He finally sat up on his head and placed one hand on his forehead, "My head hurts."
"Well, I told you to stop drinking," said Ritsu as he grabbed his coat, "I'm going home now."
"Hn."
Work was less stressful that day, the cycle was finally coming to a close. The news of releasing a new issue had initially sent Kisa into a small panic, but he eventually rose to the challenge. Takano and Hatori had already been working on scouting new artists and everyone agreed that they would wait to see how the first issue turned out before deciding on adding new members to the editorial department.
By the end of the week, Ritsu was on the way to drop things off at the Printers. With work finally over, he finally had time to call home. He flipped open his phone and stared. This was not good, Takano's birthday was one day away and in that entire flurry, he had completely forgotten about it. Well, not completely. He had thought about what Takano might want as a present, but the man hadn't brought up the day at all, and Ritsu didn't know what to say without being cajoled into spending the day with him.
His sneezing had gotten worse and he now definitely had a cold. He didn't want to spend Takano's birthday coughing into a white mask and praying the man didn't get sick.
By the time he reached the office, Takano was the only one there, "They left to get a drink. I told them we would join them after you came back."
"Takano-san, you could have just texted me and told me where to go." Ritsu's eyes narrowed as he stared at the man
"I still had work, so I thought we could go together." Takano looked bored, "And you haven't cleaned up your desk yet."
Ritsu looked at the mess of papers on his table; he didn't feel like cleaning it up. His head throbbed so badly that he just wanted to lie down wherever he could and go to sleep, "I think I'll pass on getting drinks." He said as he leaned against the table, he was feeling dizzy again.
Takano walked towards him, with his coat on and the room dark, he was already prepared to leave, "Are you okay? Do you want me to take you home?"
"I can go home alone just fine." Ritsu said, sitting down . He placed his head on the table, the coolness of it made him feel slightly better. The medicines weren't working, his coughing was a little more contained, but the headache just kept getting worse.
"Don't be silly, come on, I'll take you home."
"No." Ritsu instinctively reached out his hand to stop Takano from touching him, "They're expecting you to have drinks with them. What kind of an editor-in… ugh." He brought his hands to his head. He had just barely gotten back in shape. He should never have volunteered to go. Takano had wanted to, but it was originally Ritsu's job and he had had enough of letting people cover up for his mistakes that month.
He heard Takano sigh deeply, "Come on." The man placed two hands on his shoulders and tried to help him up, but Ritsu swatted him away.
"Not here. I can walk fine by myself." He knew they were under the HR's eyes and wouldn't give them even a stray chance of catching them, even if it wasn't anything strange. He stood up, his knees were feeling wobbly and promptly sat back down again.
"Sit down, I'll clean up your desk." Takano pushed Ritsu's swivel chair slightly back to make room for him to work. After he was done, he brought Ritsu's bag and softly called out his name.
Ritsu nodded and stood up.
It wasn't until they were on the train ride home in a half empty train that Ritsu felt himself relax. He wasn't sure when, but he had fallen asleep leaning on Takano's shoulder. A light tap on his head when they reached their stop woke him up from his slumber, and for the rest of the walk back home he felt Takano stick closely by his side.
Right as he was about to enter his apartment, the man stopped him, "Are you sure you want to spend the night alone?"
Ritsu nodded as he put the key inside the door lock. He really just wanted to sleep. Bathing, eating, changing his clothes and anything else his mind sent him to remind him of a proper nightly routine could be damned. He was grateful that Takano had not tried to stop him. He stumbled his way around the apartment, he would definitely get around to cleaning his place – someday. As soon as he found his bed, he collapsed on it and went to sleep.
By the time he woke up, the sun was shining brightly and his head felt ready to burst. His phone had been vibrating in his pockets for quite some time, and he was beginning to get fed up of it. He supposed he was grateful to whatever forces out there stalled this painful excuse for an illness till after his workload was finished, but that didn't mean that he wasn't ready to call quits on his life and spend the rest of eternity sleeping.
He slowly reached for his phone and flipped it open. Of course it was Takano. The phone started ringing again and he picked it up, "Hello?"
"I'm coming over now. Is your door open?"
"I don't know." Ritsu pushed his head into the pillow, "I'm sick, please don't come over."
"That's exactly why I'm coming over." Within minutes, he heard someone knocking on his door. Ritsu groaned into his pillow, he did not want to get up to let the man in. Why had he remembered to lock it?
He slipped out of his bed and went towards the door. Leaning on it, he undid the lock and opened it.
"You look horrible." Takano said when he saw him
"Well excuse me for not being pretty when I'm this ill." Ritsu glared as the man let himself in, "I'm going back to bed now."
"At least take off your clothes." Takano said, but Ritsu tried to not pay any attention to him. In his fevered state of mind, those words morphed themselves into something not very innocent and made him feel weird.
"You look flushed." The man was standing next to Ritsu, holding out a hand in support.
"It's just the fever!" Ritsu shot back before he realized what he'd said. His head was too muddled to make any sense of how he felt and he took Takano's hands. Together, they made their way to his bed where he lay down to rest.
Or at least he tried to rest. He somehow couldn't sleep with Takano in the room; he just wanted to watch the man. Takano hadn't done anything though, between checking Ritsu's temperature with a thermometer and handing him medicines, Takano had been pretty quiet for the better part of the day. Towards the afternoon, Ritsu had tried to read a book and Takano had taken it upon himself to clean the room.
Ritsu had tried to protest, but the thought of clean clothes that he didn't have to take the trouble of putting in the laundry himself eventually won him over. When he decided he couldn't read, he fell asleep again. Takano woke him up during lunch time, the rice porridge tasted good, and even though Takano made him eat more than he wanted to, his headache was slowly beginning to subside.
It was evening when Ritsu realized that Takano had no intention of leaving, "Are you going to spend the night here?"
"I'll go back after dinner if you want me to, but I'm taking your keys." Ritsu glared in response, "Or do you want to drag yourself out of bed to let me in, in the morning?"
In the morning… Ritsu felt his eyes go wide. Tomorrow was Takano's birthday! Forget about a present, Ritsu wasn't even sure he could leave his bed, "I'll be fine by myself."
"Don't be silly. How do you expect me to leave you in that state?" Takano's sounded as if he was scolding Takano
"But tomorrow is your birthday."
Takano looked surprised, "Is it?" He looked at the date on his cell phone, "So what?"
"You should be spending it getting pampered yourself." Ritsu hid his face under the blanket, "Not looking after someone else."
He could hear Takano laughing and it infuriated him. Eventually the laughter stopped and he felt the man moving his blanket to reveal his face, "If it makes you happy, then you can spend a whole day pampering me after you get better." Takano's face was dangerously close to his.
Ritsu stared at the man before saying, "Takano-san, you might want to step back. I feel like sneezing." He chuckled internally as Takano shrank back slightly after hearing that.
Takano looked a little peeved when the sneeze never came, "So I'm taking your keys then." And with that, the man quickly snatched the keys from where Ritsu had placed them on top of the drawer. Ritsu didn't have the energy to protest.
They mostly spent the day reading books. Ritsu had at one point started picking up the books Takano was going through, and old high school memories of how he used to do the same annoyed him. Between sleeping and watching Takano reading, Ritsu had a peaceful day.
They ate reheated rice porridge for dinner, and afterwards Takano checked Ritsu's temperature, "It doesn't look like it's gone down. Maybe you should see a doctor."
Ritsu waved the idea away, "It's just been a day." Takano hadn't looked happy at the idea, but he didn't argue. He gave Ritsu another paracetamol, and once was sure the man was sleeping, he moved towards the door leading out of the apartment. Just as he turned off the light, he heard the younger man whisper, "Happy birthday."
Takano felt a smile tugging at his lips as he opened the door and made his way into the light in the hallway.
Ritsu had a hard time sleeping. He kept checking his phone all night for reasons he himself could not begin to fathom. Was he expecting Takano to call him in the middle of the night? So he could wish him happy birthday all over again?
His illness increased his feelings. He wanted more than anything to give something to Takano for his birthday, and it looked like his old dream of exchanging presents across a table with a cake in between them had been shot to hell once more. He groaned as he stuffed his face into his pillow. It was true that he was feeling better than he had the day before, but even if he wanted to, he couldn't exactly leave the house in the middle of the night to go shopping. Even if he wanted to have something delivered, he was pretty sure no one was going to deliver on the same day, especially during the Christmas holidays. Damn Takano for being born at such an inconvenient time of the year!
He needed to stop thinking about it. He turned in his bed and tried to sleep.
After a few hours, he was furious. Sleep had abandoned him, and a dumb idea had just entered his head. He checked his head, it was 4 AM. Takano would probably be back by 7 in the morning, 9 at the latest. That gave him a little more than three hours to prepare his gift.
He sat up in his bed. Dare he try? He was a horrible cook, and he wasn't confident about baking a cake. Especially given that he hadn't fully recovered. But he wanted to do it, if for nothing else then just so that he could stop worrying and get some sleep.
Ritsu waddled over to his small kitchen. As expected it was empty, the bento he had been avoiding for days was now missing, Takano must have thrown it out during his cleaning spree. There was still a little rice porridge left though and Ritsu was feeling hungry.
Ritsu was grateful that he had decided to live near a 24/7 supermarket, or his plan would have failed miserably. Sure it was a twenty minute walk and the convenience store was much nearer, but he was willing to risk it that morning. He dressed warm, grabbed his wallet and left his apartment.
He wrapped his coat tightly around his body and grabbed a small basket near the entrance. He should be able to find something here that would help him make a small, basic cake.
By the time Ritsu left the store, he was carrying two bags full of food, and a third with a bottle of wine in it. He had bought doubles of almost everything, he had no confidence in his cooking, and he had never successfully baked a cake before. He could almost hear Takano shouting at him in the morning for not resting when he was weak, but he had tried, and in the end, his childhood self had managed to score one victory.
"This is not a cake." Ritsu stared in dismay at the final product. It looked more like a gigantic cookie than a cake. He glanced back at his laptop, what had he done wrong this time?
After two more tries, he had managed to make a decent sponge cake. He felt guilty about all the horror cakes that were piling up on his kitchen counters, he would make sure to at least try to eat them later. Or maybe not.
"Next." Ritsu mumbled as he went back to look at the recipe. He now had to finish making the cream that would line the cake. Also how was he supposed to turn a rectangular cake into a circle? He stared on in dismay as he realized that not having the right mould had made things more difficult for him. He could just present a rectangular cake, but he didn't want to.
After perusing over half a dozen videos online, he finally found something that might work. He just had to cut the cake so that they fit around each other. He could pull this off! But he felt hesitant, he just had one shot at this. Ritsu carefully cut the cake into the required proportions. He placed the smallest piece in the center, and picked up the piece he had selected to surround it. He smothered the sweet cream on one side and layered the sliced strawberries on top of the cream and carefully placed it around the center. Once he saw that it fit alright, he breathed a sigh of relief. He got to work with the rest of the cake. By the time he had finished, he had created a form of a Strawberry Sponge Roll Cake. Now all he had to do was liberally add cream all around it so that it covered the layers. He was grateful that he had bought more than what the original recipe required, it looked like things were going to work out after all.
He looked at his cake admiringly, it looked good. Sure it was a teensy bit lopsided on one side, but overall it looked like a pretty picture to him. The only thing left was to decorate the top of the cake with strawberries.
When he finally finished, he felt just a little bit sleepy. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly went to work with cleaning the kitchen. All the rejected cakes were going to be stored in his fridge until he got around the eating them. He pushed his cooking tray back inside the oven, it could wait there till later. The whisk, spoons, measuring containers and the oven-proof plate he had used to bake the cake were going to wait in the sink until later in the day. He quickly wiped the kitchen container. Feeling accomplished, he checked the time. It was 7:30 AM. It was a good thing that Takano was a little late that morning.
He yawned and slowly went over to his bed. He climbed on it, hugged his pillow and promptly fell asleep.
Something was trying to stab him, Ritsu was sure of it. He tried grabbing on to whatever was poking at him and opened his eyes, "Takano-san, what do you think you're doing?"
"Trying to wake you up obviously, now sit up. I need to check your temperature."
"Hah? I feel fine." Ritsu glared defiantly
"Yes, fine. Now open your mouth." The minute Ritsu opened his mouth to protest, Takano shoved a thermometer inside it.
When the thermometer started beeping, he pulled it out, "Well, it looks like it's come down from yesterday."
"Takano-san! What are you doing?" Ritsu glared
"I had to stop by work, I'm sorry if I'm a little late." Takano leaned in towards Ritsu and kissed his forehead
What was with this romantic lovey-dovey scene? Did Takano think they were some newly married couple where he needed to dote on Ritsu and fret about simply because he got a little sick?
"I can take care of myself." Ritsu looked straight at the man as his stomach started growling
"Yes, I can see that." Takano snorted as he walked towards the kitchen and started opening the refrigerator, "I left some food for you yesterday so all we have to do is heat it up and…" He stared into the refrigerator for several minutes before abruptly closing it.
"Onodera, just how many cakes did you want to eat last night?" He looked confused before noticing the cake on the kitchen counter.
"Ta-takano-san! What are you doing?" Ritsu screamed in protest as he scrambled to get out of bed
"Could it be, that… you made this by yourself?" Takano looked surprised
"That? Ah…" Ritsu quickly thought of things to say. Should he tell Takano that he spent his early morning baking a cake for his birthday? That sounded so cheesy, this was all happening because his daily life was full of shoujo manga! It was all because of work, he was sure, "Please don't misunderstand, I just felt like eating cake. That was all." Ritsu huffed and looked towards the wall. What was he saying? That was so obviously unbelievable.
Takano hadn't noticed the cake when he first entered the apartment, he had been concerned that he was later than he had expected and had rushed towards Ritsu to check his temperature. The more he started paying attention to the kitchen, the more obvious the signs became. The floor was dirty, Ritsu had probably spilt flour on it; the sink was messy and the refrigerator was the final proof he needed.
Takano walked towards Ritsu and pulled him in a tight embrace.
"Huh? What are you…?" Ritsu groaned as the older man overpowered him. He felt himself leaning against Takano's chest, his hands by his side. He didn't want to pay any attention to it, but he was sure that he could feel Takano's heart beating fast. Ritsu tried to hide his blush and hid his face in the man's jacket.
"Onodera, thank you." Takano whispered into his left ear.
"Huh?" Ritsu's voice came out muffled from the jacket, "What do you mean? I just wanted to eat a little cake."
"Onodera…" Takano slowly pulled away from Ritsu. He grabbed the man's chin with one hand and leaned in to kiss him. Leaned his head back and opened his mouth slightly. For that moment, his head felt messy and his body felt hot. But he didn't want the man to stop.
The next time Ritsu woke up, it was already dark outside.
The sounds coming from the kitchen betrayed Takano's location. The smell of cooked food made Ritsu's mouth water. He groaned as he tried to sit up, his hips were hurting even more than they usually do after their encounters. He still felt ill, but he had definitely improved from the day before.
"Good, you're up." Takano poked his head out from the kitchen, "Do you want to eat now?"
"Sure." Ritsu stared at the man. Where did he get that much energy from?
"Okay, take a bath first then."
"A bath?" Ritsu was definitely not in the mood for that, "Uh… maybe later."
"Onodera." Takano had come out from the kitchen and was pointing a spatula in his direction, "This is an order. Take a bath and get ready for dinner."
Order? Why was his boss ordering him to take a bath out of all things? It was unfair how Takano passed so many things off as 'orders'.
"Or do you want me to join you?" Takano smirked
Ritsu scrambled out of bed, "No need! I can take a bath by myself, alone!" He shouted as he hurried towards the bathroom.
The bath had left him feeling refreshed.
Takano had already set out the food by the time he came out. It looked like they were going to have stew that night. During dinner, Ritsu felt anxious. Sure the cake had looked fine, but did it taste good? He had tasted the batter initially after making it. But what about the final product? Did it taste good altogether? Was it sweet?
After they finished eating, he noticed that Takano was getting up, "Wait! I'll clean up."
"You?" Takano looked as if he didn't want to let the man do any work
"Yeah. It's your birthday, so you should just stay seated." Ritsu blushed as he grabbed the bowls from the table and walked into the kitchen. The floor was clean, the utensils in the sink weren't there anymore and… he opened the refrigerator, as he expected, the cakes he had kept there had vanished as well. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, he already knew that he probably wouldn't be eating them, he just felt bad about throwing them away.
Ritsu closed the door, picked up the cake and walked towards the small table in the living room. Takano followed him and sat down on the side facing the couch. Ritsu went back in the kitchen, grabbed some plates and a knife and came back. He sat down opposite from Takano and looked nervous, "Ha-happy birthday." He wanted to look anywhere but at Takano, but curiosity won him over and he turned to look at the man. He was staring straight at him. Ritsu handed him the cake knife and waited.
He could hear Takano chuckle as the knife bit into the cake. Takano cut himself a big size and looked at Ritsu, "Uh, smaller than that please."
With their plates set before them, Takano spooned up a small portion of the cake and bit into it. The look of surprise on his face alerted Ritsu. Was that a good sign? A bad sign?
"This is better than I expected." He teased
"What?" Ritsu glared, "I'll have you know that I can do anything I want to once I set my mind on it!"
Takano laughed, "I know."
Ritsu took a bite out of his cake. Takano was right, it was better than he had expected. He hadn't expected his payoff to actually taste good, but he was glad that it did.
"Onodera?" Ritsu looked up at the man, "Thank you." Takano was smiling at him. There it was again, Ritsu couldn't help but wonder why the man looked so lonely at times, even when he otherwise implied he was happy.
Ritsu nodded before taking a bite of his cake, "About the Year End party this week."
"You don't have to go. I've already informed Isaka-san."
"Wait. Why?"
"You need to get better!" Takano's authoritative tone was back again, "You need to be back at work on the first day! Remember almost everyone has more work now!"
"Hah? Takano-san, that is at least two weeks away." Ritsu looked confused, "I'm better now, I can definitely go to the party."
"You can go if your fever subsides." Ritsu felt like he was talking to his mother, "Are you going to meet your family for New Year?"
"Yeah, I have to go out of the city." Ritsu's mother had already sent the address, and he was not looking forward to it
"If you don't get better by then, I can drive you." That was sudden and Ritsu was not expecting it.
"You don't have to. I'm sure I'll be fine." The thought of having Takano with him at the celebration when his father might very well be aware of their relationship made Ritsu more uncomfortable than he cared to admit
Takano shrugged, "This is only if you're too ill to go by yourself."
"I'll be fine." Ritsu protested.
AN: I'm sorry I couldn't put this up before. Real life was far two intense these past few weeks and I've been away from my computer for a bit. But thank you for the comments everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Just one more to go! Please let me know what you think. :)