Hi. Sorry this took so effin' long. I've been reading other stories to gain inspiration and honestly, it's working.

The next morning, Yuu went over to Chiaki's place to deliver the finished scenes. He knocked on the door and Chiaki answered.

"Hey, Chiaki. I got to finish them by last night. And here they are, at the earliest." said Yuu as he held up a brown envelope.

"Awesome! Thanks, Yuu. You really kept your word!" Chiaki beamed.

"You're welcome. Though, we've gotta run through it first. Is it okay if I come in for a while?"

"Not a problem, Yuu."

The lighter-haired man entered the place, finding Hatori was there as well.

"Hello, Yanase. What are you doing here?" Hatori begrudgingly greeted.

"Hey, Hatori. Save your breath, I'm only here to deliver the finished scenes and run through them with Chiaki; I'll be out as soon as possible."

"No need to be so cynical, Yanase." Hatori snarked, which slighty angered Yuu. Chiaki intervened before any conflict could escalate.

"Ahahaha. So, Yuu, what are the things you need to show me?"

Yuu calmed down and showed Chiaki the changes he made.

"I fixed this scene a little bit since I felt that the feelings would be a little more heightened. I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all, Yuu. In fact, I think you made it a little better." Chiaki commented, with a big smile on his face. This made Yuu smile, but at the same time, made him kind of sad.

"Um, thank you, Chiaki. I just hope I didn't drastically change anything…. Anyway, I'll see you later." Yuu responded in a somewhat sad tone.

"Is something the matter, Yuu?"

"No, it's nothing. I just have other business to deal with." Yuu responded quite tersely.

"Okay, Yuu. So, I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Yuu said as he quietly exited Chiaki's place.

"What is it something I said?" Chiaki asked Hatori.

Hatori just shrugged "It's probably work and such. He'll be fine."

Chiaki just nodded and sat back on his couch as he continued to view the manuscript.

Yuu continued on his way home, still looking down.

"This isn't fair. This isn't fair at all. Why do I keep losing myself to that face?" the brown-haired man pondered angrily.

Soon, Yuu reached his home, immediately went to his bedroom and jumped onto his bed. Just then, he heard his phone ringing.

"Hello?" Yuu answered.

"Good morning, Yanase-san. Sorry for calling you so early."

"Ah, Ijuuin-sensei. Don't worry. It's not too early. In fact, I've been up since earlier this morning."

"Oh? Doing what?"

"Um, I was delivering the finished manuscript to Chiaki— I mean, Yoshino."

"Oh, I see. May I ask you something?"

"Sure. Anything, Ijuuin-sensei." Yuu responded.

"Would you like to have lunch with me today?"

Yuu started to blush and gulped out of nervousness.

"Oh God, is he asking me out?" he thought to himself. He didn't know how to respond to Ijuuin's request; but he didn't want to disrespect him.

"Well, that sounds…nice. But what for, though?"

"I'd like to discuss some business matters with you. I think we can only do that if we meet up face-to-face. Is that fine?"

"Of course it's fine, Sensei. If it's business matters, then I'm willing to meet up with you."

"Wonderful. The restaurant is a place called the River Café. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Oh, I think I've passed that place before, so I'll probably have no trouble finding it." Yuu assured, still blushing.

"Great. I'll meet you there. See you." Ijuuin grinned as he hung up the phone.

Yuu was standing on the sidewalk, stunned by Ijuuin's sudden request. His heart was rapidly beating. As he went on walking, he started talking to himself.

"It's a relief to know that it's not a date. It's just business, after all. But…"

Yuu paused.

"…Why was the first thing that came to my mind a date? I mean, I do admire him and his work. After meeting him, I've been feeling less depressed. He encourages me and he said I was interesting. It may not be much to others, but to me, it means a lot to me. After everything I've been through, the kindness from him is just what I need. However, does that mean…I like Ijuuin-sensei?"

Then he shook his head as another thought popped into his head.

"Nah, it can't be. It's impossible for someone to be in love with more than one person; I already love Chiaki. And besides, if I loved Sensei instead, what we know about each other wouldn't be enough to build a relationship on. It's ludicrous."

A few minutes later, Yuu reached the River Café, went inside, and found Ijuuin sitting on a table near a window. Yuu went up to him.

"Good day, Sensei. Am I late?"

"No, you're right on time, Yanase-san. I haven't even ordered yet, I was waiting for you."

Yuu almost blushed again, but this time, he kept his cool and took a breath.

"Sensei, you didn't have to wait for me." he snarked.

"Don't tell me that I don't have to do things, Yanase-san. I waited for you on my own will."

"Well, if it was on your own will…" the younger man said as he sat down on the chair across Ijuuin.

It wasn't long before they ordered their food. As they waited, the two men decided to converse.

"So Sensei, what did you call me here for?"

"I'm making you an offer you can't refuse." Ijuuin stated.

"You're making it sound like a scene from The Godfather."

"Am I? Oh sorry, that sort of slipped out. I admit that I'm quite the cinephile. Sometimes, I make movie references without knowing it. It's a quirk."

"That's indeed quite quirky, Ijuuin-sensei. So, what is this offer?"

"Oh yes, my offer. I would like for you to work with me."

"Really?!— I mean, you're offering me some work?" Yuu exclaimed excitedly, before swerving to stoicism.

"That's right. One of my team members just became a father and is away right now. I'm working on the next volume and it's going to be quite hectic. From what I saw yesterday, you're a really hard worker and I think you could be very useful. So, what do you say?"

Yuu was in a tight spot here. He loved working with Chiaki, since he loved him, but a big opportunity like this only comes once in a blue moon. He revered Ijuuin, so he was finding it very hard to refuse the job. He took a deep breath.

"I'd-I'd love to work with you, Sensei."

"Splendid, I look forward to it. Oh, and it appears our food is here." Ijuuin said as they saw the waitress bringing over the food.

Soon enough, they started eating and there was no awkward meal silence since they continued talking, though not with their mouths full.

"Sensei, picking up from what you said earlier, you said you loved movies?"

"Yes. When I'm not working, I enjoy watching movies."

"What kind of movies?"

"Well, I watch anything from classic films to independent films. How about you? Do you like movies?" Ijuuin asked.

"Yeah, you can say I do. I'm alone most of the time, so I have lots of free time to watch movies. Some of my favorites are Let The Right One In and Once."

The older man chuckled. "Yanase-san, you sound like quite the romantic type."

Yuu almost choked on his cola when Ijuuin made that statement. "I-Ijuuin-sensei, that's crazy! What makes you think that?"

"Your favorite films have romantic themes, you know."

"Ahem. I think you're forgetting that romance is not the main theme in those movies. Let The Right One In mainly involves vampires and Once revolves around music. Romance is just a supporting detail."

"Okay, that's your interpretation." Ijuuin grinned as he took another bite of his food.

After eating and paying the bill, they both went outside, where it was snowing only a little.

"Where are you headed next, Yanase-san?"

"I'm just going home. Probably just going to catch up on some TV shows I've missed."

"Oh. In that case, may I walk you home, Yanase-san?"

Yuu's cheeks became a little pink.

"I guess you may…if it's not any trouble."

"No trouble at all."

Later, they reached Yuu's house and Ijuuin was impressed about how nice it looked.

"This is a really nice house, Yanase-san."

"Thank you, Sensei. Would you like to come in?" Yuu invited him.

"I'd love to, but that will have to wait another time. I have some manuscripts that need some writing at home. But I can assure you, next time."

Yuu simply nodded. "So, I guess this is bye for now?"

"Yeah, for now."

But it was clear that Ijuuin didn't want to leave so soon. Although he had a lot of work ahead of him, he had a great time with Yuu and wanted to stick around longer. So he decided to give Yuu a little something before going.

"Hey, Yanase-san."

"Yeah?" Yuu asked as he opened his door and turned around.

Then Ijuuin brought his face close to Yuu's and gave him a tender kiss. Needless to say, Yuu was vey surprised and so was Ijuuin. He had no idea what was going on in his head, all knew was that he felt something deep for the younger man. Before it could get any weirder, Ijuuin broke the kiss.

"Sensei…" Yuu gasped, confused at what just happened.

"I'm sorry, Yanase-san. I just…um…let's forget this whole thing happened okay? I'll see you."

Then Ijuuin silently walked away, leaving a stunned Yuu.

"Oh crap. That was impulsive, but stupid. Why did I kiss him? He's probably not going to work with me anymore; I don't want that to happen." Ijuuin thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Yuu had gone inside his house and was lying down on his bed, thinking about what had just happened earlier.

"That was so freaky. Why did he kiss me all of sudden? It's weird…but I want him to do that to me again. What's happening to me?"

Author's note

- I hope that wasn't too fast, but yeah, I felt that it was time.

- Please read and review. And feel free to offer me some help. Trust me, I need it.