"And that concludes the Editorial Board meetings for Diamond Heart. Thank you for your hard work, everyone!"
Takano breathed out an exhale of relief that seemed to echo from the very peripheries of his body. Even though he had enjoyed stepping foot briefly into the world of animation and doing something different for a change, he was nonetheless glad to get back to editing full-time. The screen may be a passing fascination, but books were his one true love.
"Good work today," he muttered a she hurried past his coworkers, nodding briefly to Yokozawa before he made his grateful exit from Marukawa Shoten. The cool air slapped at his face, doing a better job of dispelling the fuzz clouding his mind that the countless cups of coffee he's consumed through the night.
The morning air was crisp and fresh and cool, and he just stopped for a moment to wonder, as he often had, at the curious sense of rebirth buoying him at the end of every cycle when others were practically dead on their feet.
Takano just reached a state between sleep and wakefulness where both were overwhelming and neither manifested itself.
It sharpened his senses and made his moments flow in jerks, as he rode the train. He reveled at the momentary quiet inside his head as the static slowly cleared.
The mood prevailed, right up until he got to his apartment building and made straight for Onodera's door, banging insistently on it until he opened it, rumpled-looking and with his customary pissy expression in place, and a pissier "What?" directed at him.
God, Takano wanted to mess him up, suck bruises onto the collarbones that protruded from the huge sweater that clung to him just right, bury his face in the soft chocolate hair and just breathe in the scent of old books and wood that felt like home. He wanted to take him to bed, watch those shimmering eyes fill with tears and those cheeks tint sunset hues as the alabaster curve of his back arched in a deep bow of pleasure.
He wanted to make love to Ritsu.
So he sealed their lips together, swallowing his faint complaints, and kissed him slow and deep, walking him inside as the door swung shut behind them. He ventured a tongue inside, let it curl around Onodera's as he pushed him up against the wall maybe rougher than he had originally intended, but the low whimper that tore out of Onodera's throat told him just how much he liked it. He picked him up, mouths hungry, still devouring each other wet and sloppy and absolutely filthy.
When they broke away, gasping for breath, a thin line of saliva still connecting their lips, Takano seized the opportunity to tip the smaller man back until he was carrying him bridal style. The flush mixing with the lightness of his skin, dyeing it an enticing pink, deepened into a delicious carmine as he struggled ineffectually against Takano's hold.
"T-Takano-san, stop it! Why are you even-!"
Takano just pressed a kiss to the burning cheek. "Isn't it obvious?" he murmured into Onodera's ear. The voice that sounded out was so low and rough that the taller man could barely recognize it as his own. "I'm going to eat you up, Ritsu."
And the way Onodera shivered at those words went straight to his hips, eradicating any patience he had left.
"Shit…" he groaned under his breath, carrying Onodera as fast as his current fatigued state would allow, kicking open the door to the bedroom before throwing him onto the bed and caging him between his arms, their faces inches from each other.
"Come on, tell me what you want," Takano whispered teasingly. Onodera just clenched his eyes shut, looking away, until the older man pushed his hips down, making their arousals brush together. Then Onodera let out a gasp, trying his hardest to bury his head into the pillow. Takano forced his chin towards himself.
"Are you trying to turn me on?" he muttered darkly. His lover's trembling form, the blush now creeping down his neck, the helpless, bitten-back sounds he made when Takano pushed their hips together, all served to make a potent aphrodisiac that made his body so hot he could barely breathe.
Verdant orbs flashed open as Onodera finally found the strength to try and push him away. "N-no, stop saying such embarrassing things…"
"Shut up. Ritsu."
Takano reclaimed the lips of the man beneath him, hands making short work of the clothing that still separated them as their tongues reacquainted themselves with every crevice of the other's mouth with increasing fervor. Onodera gasped and arched as Takano tweaked over his nipples, followed by his tongue that laved over them and forced them into hard pebbles as one of his hands explored lower and the other found its way into that mouth so quick to negate and deny.
"Sensitive," he quipped with a smirk as Onodera's instinctive sucking on them was interrupted by a moan at the scrape of his teeth over one erogenous peak. Onodera made a muffled noise of indignant dissent even as Takano pulled his fingers out.
"Anyone would react if you did such… perverted things… haa—," the end of his sentence dissolved into a moan as Takano mouthed over his exposed desire, at the same time sneaking a finger behind to probe at the tight muscle there. He soon relaxed into it, sucking in earnest to distract his lover while he loosened him up. He was cursory with the preparation, knowing Onodera didn't really need it considering how often they did this.
Enjoyable as it was watching Onodera writhe under his ministrations when he curled his fingers to brush against that spot, Takano felt like he would spontaneously combust with the heat of his own desire if he didn't get inside the green-eyes man soon.
Pressing a final kiss to the base of Onodera's throbbing shaft, he lined himself up, bracing himself over the trembling man on his elbows so that he could see the look of pleasure-pain on his face, watch as the lines blurred for him until he couldn't tell which was which. See proof of what Takano had done to him, how utterly Takano had overwhelmed him.
"Ahh…" Onodera's voice hitched on a high keen as Takano pushed in to the hilt, giving him a moment to adjust before beginning to thrust. He loved seeing his movements play out on the jade screen of those eyes, see the face he made every time Takano thrust deep, and the naked desire flash in them each time he hit that sweet, sweet bundle of nerves deep inside him.
He was slowly losing his mind.
It was dissolving in the way Onodera's moans, the full, rich ones he couldn't bite back any longer, echoed in his ears. Melting in the way Onodera's hands scraped lines of oozing blood-red into the planes of his back as the pleasure threatened to sweep him away. Sublimating in the way, despite his pretenses, Onodera's hips twitched up to meet his, desire brushing against Takano's abdomen, desperate little whimpers leaving his throat on every stroke as Takano's thrusts gained rhythm and speed.
"Takano-san, no, not… so hard… ahnn!" Ritsu groaned from underneath him, but there was no way Takano could slow down now, hips pounding into him at a merciless rhythm, the slender body underneath him belying his pretenses, meeting him thrust for thrust as their moans built in climax.
Their fingers intertwined.
"Ritsu," Takano moaned into his ear, and a half-scream sounded in the gloom of the room as something warm splattered his chest.
"I love you."
And the edges of Takano's vision went fuzzy as white-hot release seized him and threw him into waves of blinding pleasure.
When he came to, the sun was nigh overhead, casting Onodera's room into a glowing orb. The scent of lavender soap and woodsy sprite that still lingered in the sheets mixed in with the musk of lovemaking, caressed him. He was slow to rouse, as if the golden sunlight had saturated the little room with viscous honey as he walked to the bathroom to wash up.
The red string of fate, as if taking on a physical quantity, drew him inexorably to Onodera, who was sitting on his couch, looking over manuscripts, hair askew and soft as the cashmere that hung off him looking seven kinds of sinful.
He wrapped his arms around him, ignoring the way the smaller body instantly stiffened. He took a fervent joy in that he could now, that it wouldn't dissipate like the elusive mirages of his dreams, and kissed at the pink that stained his cheeks deeper the longer his hands lingered.
"Hey, go on a date with me," he murmured into the gentle curve of Onodera's ear.
"Huh—?"
The fine skin beneath his lips heated and colored as Onodera, suddenly embarrassed, strove to break his grip.
Is he an idiot? Takano laughed softly to himself. He can never break this grip we have on each other.
"Go on a date with me," he repeated insistently.
"…." Onodera looked away in an agony of mortification, blush only deepening with each passing second. Finally, under Takano's unwavering gaze, an almost imperceptible duck of his head.
"Thank you," Takano brought his mouth down to claim the rosy one beneath his.
The kiss stole his breath away as much as it did Onodera's.
"Go get ready," he whispered in Onodera's ear as they broke away.
Takano had never cared about appearances, but Onodera as he leaned over the bride railing, scattering the scraps from their picnic lunch to the ducks, was a vision. His figure, stark white against the shadowy backdrop of the late afternoon mist, which enveloped the tops of tall trees as it blurred away the edges of bushes into a verdant vignette made a picture Takano wanted to lock away forever in the corner of his heart reserved for precious things.
A fragrant haze from its heavy-scented flowers hung over the secluded garden where Takano reclined on the grass. A rare smile graced his features as he watched Onodera's face light up when the snow-white birds flocked around to eagerly devour the food he scattered, creating ripples in the sparkling clarity of the little brook the ran under the bridge.
"Ritsu," he beckoned. Onodera looked up, familiar blush creeping up his cheeks at the use of his given name.
"W-what do you want?" he called back, letting all the leftover crumbs go in a fluster.
"Let's take a walk," Takano said, walking over himself to take hold of his hand, leading them over the cobblestoned little path out of the park, wooded with leafless Sakura trees.
Onodera flushed, but he didn't let go.
"Ummmm, Takano-san?" Onodera said from where he was snugly nestled under the crook of Takano's arm as they came down from their post-coital highs. "Could you let me go now?"
Takano simply held him tighter. "No can do."
"Takano-san, seriously! Please get off me!" he squirmed, kicking at the black comforter to no avail.
Takano just ignored him, reaching over to grab a cigarette from the bedside table.
"I'm not kidding. Do you not have anything else to do?"
"….."
"….."
"….."
"Oh motherfuck." Takano grabbed his phone off the table, checking the time before bolting out of bed, muttering curses as he hurriedly dressed himself.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, that bastard is anal about punctuality."
"Hmmm? Where are you going all of a sudden?" Onodera said, sitting up in alarm.
"I promised I'd meet Yokozawa for drinks today," Takano grabbed his coat from the hook. Normally, he wouldn't even bother, probably shooting off text to Yokozawa that he'd be running late and might not even show up at all, but he didn't want to do anything to jar the fragile equilibrium they'd managed to find.
He knew his life was fucked up when he walked on eggshells around Yokozawa.
"Ahhh… Yokozawa-san…" Onodera said, a cloud darkening his green eyes. Takano couldn't resist the temptation.
"Yeah, speaking of, since we've reconciled, I might even ask him to join us tonight. You know, in bed," he said, expression completely deadpan.
Onodera almost tumbled out of the bed in horror.
"No thank you very much."
Takano had to make a quick exit from the room to disguise his snicker of amusement. "I mean, he isn't bad looking,"
"Huh?! Takano-san, you will do absolutely no such thing! Do you hear me? Takano-saaaaan!"
With Onodera's panicked yells echoing behind him, Takano left the apartment, muffling his snort of laughter beneath his hand.
"And then he says to me, 'You're so cute, Yokozawa~'. Masamune, please explain to me how a 180 centimeters-plus man can possibly be cute." Yokozawa, downing his eighth beer of the night, groaned.
"It does seem rather far-fetched," Masamune replied smilingly. A drunk Yokozawa was always fun, seeing as he dropped his uptight persona and always spilled his secrets, which he could totally blackmail him with later.
He had to admit, though, that his relationship with Kirishima-san was of some personal interest to him. The matter of just how his contrary, intimidating friend had landed himself such a polar opposite as Kirishima piqued his interest.
"What do you even like about him? From your accounts thus far, it just seems like you think him an annoying asshole."
This gave Yokozawa food for thought, and he backed up, coloring.
"It's not… that…" he floundered, and Takano, well aware of his tsundere tendencies, only smirked at his discomfiture. "It's not like I hate him or anything. Sure, he is an annoying asshole when he gets it into his head to ease me, but he's also someone I greatly respect. I mean, his work his flawless, and he's a reat father to Hiyo at the same time. That can't be easy. Also, I don't entirely hate it when he sleep-talks..."
Yokozawa looked away, and Takano was sure that the flush on his cheeks wasn't just from the alcohol any more. Just for a moment, he could see where Kirishima-san was coming from when he insisted on calling Yokozawa cute.
"How'd you get to know him, anyway? You barely interacted at work before."
"….."
Yokozawa hesitated, the furrow back in his brow as if weighing his options. Jesus, do not tell him they met on Grindr or something.
"It was because of you, actually."
Well, that was unexpected.
"Because of me?" Takano repeated, thoroughly confused. He didn't remember introducing them.
Yokozawa deliberated for a moment, then took a deep breath, like a man preparing to take a plunge.
"It was the day you… gave me that ultimatum. I went to a bar and got drunk off my ass, and he happened to be at the same place. It was quite pathetic, actually. I literally dragged him down to listen to me whine about you," he said, forcing a laugh that seemed to be punched out of his chest.
A flare of irritation ignited in Takano's chest.
"Why do you always do this?" he snapped, alcohol-fed Molotov cocktail razing his patience. "Why do you always play it off like it's no big deal?"
The burn seemed to spread to Yokozawa's own incandescent annoyance. "What do you want me to do, Masamune?" he retorted bitterly. "Tell you all about how utterly pitiable I had been? How much I loved you, how much, how I deserve you more than Onodera because I literally dragged your stupid ass out of the gutter when he just left you, how I pined after you for ten fucking years?"
Takano kissed him.
These words, selfish, lashing, true, were so uncharacteristic of the Yokozawa who had stayed by his side all these years, had loved him and kept it in, that they struck all the more home.
Thing was, Takano knew how he felt.
He'd felt much the same way about Onodera.
So he couldn't. Couldn't stand that pain in Yokozawa's eyes as he laid his soul bare for Takano to see, his emotions spewing out like newly uncorked champagne, aided and abetted by inebriation. Couldn't stand the thought that he'd been the cause of it, that it was him who had pulled his proud man, his best friend, down into the hellish prison of unrequited love.
So he kissed him.
His hands held fast to Yokozawa's shirt as their lips pressed together chastely. Takano inhaled the faint scent of cherry blossoms that always seemed to cling to him now.
"Takafumi," he said, barely a whisper. "Thank you for loving me."