I don't own Junjou Romantica or Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Nakamura Shungiku does. To be honest, I've been shipping these two together for a long time because I felt empathy for both Yuu and Ijuuin regarding their unrequited love situations (Yoshino and Misaki respectively) and thought they would go good together. So I was very happy when they became canon as Junjou Sentiment. I hope Nakamura Shungiku draws another story for them in the future.

As a forward warning, this is a censored version of the story. You can read the uncensored version at Archive of Our Own.

Not too many warnings, just slight-OOC and slight smut. I hope you enjoy.

Slow, Love, Slow

Chapter One

6:30

He hadn't moved from his position on the bed; facedown with one arm buried underneath the pillow his head was resting on, and the other arm draped over the side of the bed. I felt the urge to kiss him, but I was afraid that any contact would disturb his sleep.

Ijuuin had given me the lock password for his cell phone, which shocked me that he had so much trust in me, but it was another reminder of what our relationship was. When he gave me his password I impulsively gave him my own phone's password but immediately regretted it. Thankfully Ijuuin never asked to see my phone, and likewise I never asked to see his.

I only needed his phone now to set his alarm.

I entered in 11:00 on his alarm screen and carefully set the phone down to charge. I had written him a quick note on a post-it, and I stuck it to his cell phone screen. The note said, "Take your time getting up. Take a shower and relax before coming out."

To say that we had a busy day would be an understatement. Today was the deadline for the conclusion of The Kan's most recent story arc, and we needed to get everything done by 7 pm tonight for the chapter to make it to the printers on time. If it did NOT get to the printers on time, the backlash against both Ijuuin and the publisher would be monumental.

I won't let that happen.

I left Ijuuin's bedroom and headed into the main room. The table was prepper with eight seats; six for the assistants (myself included) one for Ijuuin's editor Shizukuishi Ryo and the last main seat for Ijuuin himself. It wasn't very often that Shizukuishi came down to help with the edits, but given the seriousness of the situation it was necessary for him to be here. Kirishima Zen, the editor-in-chief of Japun magazine, had also offered to come down to help but we told him we could handle it.

We CAN handle it because we have to.

I stood at the head of the long table next to Ijuuin's desk. I was dressed in sweatpants and a sweater; very casual and comfortable wear for the long day ahead of us. A neat pile of 20 storyboards sat on the desk before me. I checked my phone for the time and looked towards the kitchen. "I'll start the coffee."

7:00

Shizukuishi arrived first, and the usually stoic man looked surprsied to see me. "Have you been here long, Yanase?"

I've been here all night.

"Just under an hour," I lied casually. "Coffee's ready in the kitchen. We have plenty of milk and sugar."

"I'll take mine black," Shizukuishi said. He made a move towards the kitchen but I waved him off and hurried to get him a cup. "Which station would you like me to take?"

"We prepared the one for you at the end of the table facing Sensei," I called over my shoulder as I poured out the coffee.

"These are the storyboards?"

"Yes."

"And where is Sensei?"

I waited until I joined him with his cup of coffee before I answered. "Sensei is sleeping in until 11."

Shizukuishi arched a brow but didn't immediately say anything. "You probably heard that Sensei has been awake for 28 hours," I told him, sipping my own cup of coffee. "He—I heard," I quickly corrected myself. "That he didn't get to bed until 4 o'clock this morning. If he doesn't get proper sleep then he's going to end up in the hospital, and this work still won't end up done."

Shizukuishi nodded to this. "Good call, Yanase." He sipped the coffee and winced a little. "This is strong."

"That was the intention." I walked back over to the pile of storyboards. "How would you like to distribute these?"

At that moment Ijuuin's doorbell rang. "Here," Shizukuishi said, returning to my side. "I'll take a look and you answer the door."

I hurried to the door and answered it. I was relieved to see Ijuuin's five other primary assistants standing there waiting, but the dread in all five of their expressions didn't go unnoticed by me. "Ohayo gozaimasu," I quickly greeted them, and hurried back towards the main room. "Shizukuishi-san's here as well too. Coffee's ready, go and grab a cup."

The five entered the room and went to their stations to drop of their bags and coats. One of the assistants, Kimura, looked towards Ijuuin's seat and paused. "Where is Sensei?"

"Sensei is sleeping in until 11," Shizukuishi announced.

"EH?!" the five exclaimed.

"SHH!" I hissed. "Keep your voices down!"

"It's imperative that Sensei gets his rest and that he wakes up with as little stress as possible," Shizukuishi said. "Yanase told me that Ijuuin-sensei was awake for the last 28 hours. Is this correct?"

We remained silent. "Need I remind all of you of why we're in this position?" Shizukuishi asked. "We are 20 storyboards behind on the day of our deadline because you forgot to draw Uchida onto these storyboards. You forgot to include The Kan's rival on twenty pages of storyboard. This is a monumental oversight. One that should not have happened in the first place, and it is your responsibility to fix. You have caused more unnecessary stress to Sensei, and it will not happen again! Understood?"

"Hai," we chorused. Inwardly thought I couldn't help but bristle. I was still not a full-time assistant to Ijuuin, and I was certainly not present for the sessions where Uchida was forgotten from the storyboards. Had I been there, I most certainly would have caught the mistake. It didn't feel good to be lectured at for something that wasn't my fault.

But it is what it is.

"Go and get coffee because we are starting now," Shizukuishi announced. The five ran to get coffee and Shizukuishi counted out four storyboards. "Yanase?"

"Right," I said, walking over to him. "I want you to work on these," Shizukuishi said.

I nodded and accepted the storyboards, but Shizukuishi didn't immediately let them go. "That lecture was not directed at you, Yanase. I'm aware that you were not responsible for this mistake. I apologize that you were included in that collective lecture."

Hearing that did make me feel a little better. I kept an outward appearance of calm and accepted the storyboards. "Thank you, Shizukuishi-san."

Shizukuishi nodded. "We have twelve hours to redo 20 storyboards. We have no time to waste."

9:00

Two down, eighteen to go.

Despite the time sensitive nature of our work, Shizukuishi was thorough and methodical. Several of the assistants had approached them with "finished" storyboards, but he dismissed them and told them what to change or improve. Another assistant, Gotō, he outright told to redo his entire page. The only two storyboards Shizukuishi had accepted were mine, and out of the corner of my eye I saw him finishing the background on one of them. Not that my work was completely perfect; he rejected my third storyboard and sent me back to my station with changes that needed to be done. I looked towards Ijuuin's desk and tried not to sigh. Ijuuin was set to wake up in two hours, and he had three storyboards that he needed to personally draw on top of the corrections we had to do.

He needed the rest. His body and mind were ready to break. I glanced back down at my own work. I'll get this done and then work on Sensei's work personally if I must. We'll get this done, but we're not going to kill Sensei to get it done. Especially since this mistake wasn't his fault.

"FUCK!"

I quickly looked up. Gotō was pale-faced and standing up from his station. I stood up to see what was wrong, and what I saw on his desk made my heart drop into his stomach. Gotō had spilled black ink right in the center of the storyboard he had been working on.

Shizukuishi stood up as well. He looked surprised for a moment but quickly made his way over to Gotō. "It's fine, use the rough drafts to—"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Gotō shouted, pounding his fists against his desk. He looked ready to burst into tears. "We're never going to get this done on time!"

"Calm down," Shizukuishi told him. "We still have ten hours to—"

"Fuck this! I quit!" Gotō did burst into tears now and grabbed his bag. "I'm going home—"

"Oi!" I shouted, jumping from my seat and rushing to his side. "Cigarette break! You need a cigarette break!"

"Eh?" Gotō asked, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the table. "Give us 10 minutes," I told Shizukuishi. Shizukuishi answered with a nod.

Gotō was silently weeping as we rode the elevator down to the apartment's lobby. "I'm such a screwup. Why am I such a screwup?"

I didn't say anything, but grabbed his arm when the elevator doors opened and pulled him along with me. When we got outside, I directed him to lean against the wall. "You're a smoker, right? Have a cigarette, collect yourself, and then get back upstairs and back to work."

Gotō stared at me in shock for a moment before he fumbled with his pockets. His hands shook as he lit up his cigarette, and he blew the smoke out on a shaky breath. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "This is part of my mistake…"

"It's fine," I said, folding my arms over my chest. "It's good that you're owning up to your mistake. But you need to fix your mistake. Shizukuishi-san wasn't rejecting your work to punish you. This is a very important chapter and it needs to be perfect."

Gotō choked on a sad laugh. "And I ruined it by forgetting Uchida…"

"You weren't the only one," I reminded him. "But you need to get over it. Leave the mistake in the past and focus on moving forward. Focus on drawing the best damn chapter of The Kan that ever existed. This story arc was intense, and this chapter is intense. But we can do it."

Gotō stared at me for a long moment. "…How do you get like that?"

"Like what?" I asked him.

"Nerves of steel. Not once since I worked with you have I seen you panic. You've even managed to calm Sensei down on a few occasions. Yanase-kun…how are you so good at your job?"

I was shocked by his words. It wasn't something I gave a lot of thought to. It was easy for me to stay calm under pressure because I loved the work I did, and I wanted my artists to succeed. I wanted Ijuuin to succeed and I wanted Chiaki to succeed. Seeing the people I care about fulfill their dreams invigorated me in so many ways.

Well I loved Chiaki, and even though he didn't return my feelings he's still my friend. And Ijuuin…well, he IS my boyfriend. I certainly want him to succeed.

"I keep calm because it's a waste of energy to stress and panic," I said aloud. "Try meditating and taking deep breaths. And—" I gestured to his cigarette. "Consider giving THAT up. You'll live longer without stress and cigarettes."

Gotō laughed wryly and dropped his cigarette to stamp it out. "All right. Let's go back."

"Don't forget the butt," I told him.

We headed back up to Ijuuin's apartment, and Shizukuishi stood to greet us. "I'm sorry," Gotō said, bowing deeply. "I'm sorry for my outburst. It won't happen again."

"It's fine," Shizukuishi said. "Please return to work."

Gotō returned to his station and I returned to mine. "I hope this serves a lesson," Shizukuishi said. "To decrease your stress and to decrease Sensei's stress."

"Right," everyone murmured. I saw that Ijuuin hadn't come out of the bedroom when Gotō had his screaming meltdown. It was the biggest sign of how exhausted he was that someone yelling inside his apartment hadn't disturbed him.

We have to work harder to get this done.

11:00

Eight down, twelve to go.

We heard Ijuuin's alarm go off, but no one paused. The alarm went silent, and moments later we heard shouting, and several thumps. A minute later I heard the shower running. I set my pen down and stood. "Shizukuishi-san, I'm going to order lunch delivery."

Shizukuishi glanced up upon hearing that, and the other assistants murmured in delight. "What do you have in mind?" he asked me.

"Dim sum," I said, pulling out my cell phone. "It's filling but not overly filling, and it doesn't leave a lot of mess."

Shizukuishi nodded. "Sounds good. Tell me how much the total is and I'll send you money."

By the time I finished ordering lunch, the bedroom door opened and Ijuuin Kyou finally emerged rubbing a towel through his wet hair. Everyone stood to greet him. Ijuuin looked marginally better than yesterday but he still looked terrible; his face was pale and the bags under his eyes were so dark that he looked like someone gave him matching black eyes. He was dressed in pajama bottoms and a tight black shirt. "What's the progress?" his tone was breathless.

"We're just about halfway done, Sensei," Shizukuishi announced, nodding to him. "Don't worry about the redos and keep your focus on the ending."

Ijuuin's eyes widened. He quickly walked over to the tables and stood at his desk, where the finished corrections sat. "This…You guys did all of this?"

"Yes, Sensei," Shizukuishi said. "We have ten hours but we're right on track. Yanase made the right call."

Ijuuin quickly looked at me, and my stomach did flipflops when I held his gaze. He suddenly smiled at me and my throat went dry. It was an exhausted smile, but it looked almost radiant on his face. "Thank you, Yanase-kun."

I nodded and quickly regained my composure. "I'm happy to help, Sensei." I sat back down at my station. "I ordered lunch, it should be here in an hour."

"What did you order?"

"Dim sum."

"Haa, dim sum." Ijuuin's mood elevated as he sat down at his desk. "I was craving dim sum yesterday."

My mouth quirked a little in a smile, but I ducked my head to hide. "Okay, Sensei is here," Shizukuishi announced. "Everyone, back to work."

15:00

Fourteen down, six to go.

"AHH!"

I had finished my storyboards and was assisting Shizukuishi with backgrounds when one of the other assistants, Mura, jumped to his feet clutching at his right shoulder. "Haa…AHHH!"

SHIT! I jumped to my feet as Shizukuishi hurried to his side. "What's wrong?!"

"F—Flare up!" Mura grunted through gritted teeth. "Sometimes it gets like this when I…shit!"

Mura had shoulder surgery on that shoulder some time ago, and my stomach clenched at the thought that he aggravated his injury. I ran around the table to get to his side. "How many storyboards do you have?"

"T…Two—"

I snatched them off his desk. "I'll finish them. Go home and rest. Go to the hospital if you need to."

"I-I can't leave!" Mura protested.

"Do you want to have shoulder surgery again?!" I snapped at him. He slowly shook his head. "Then go home and rest your arm! You won't be helping anyone if you have to take time off again!"

"Yanase is right," Shizukuishi said, and I flushed slightly as I realized that I was overstepping him. "Go home and rest, Mura. I'll text you later when we've finished."

Mura looked distraught, but he was still hugging his shoulder. He looked towards Ijuuin. "G-Gomen nasai, Sensei—"

"It's fine," Ijuuin said quickly, not looking up from his own storyboards. "Please go home and rest, Mura-kun."

Hearing Ijuuin give him permission to leave was enough incentive for Mura to go. Shizukuishi and I saw him to the door and he apologized again before he left. I turned to Shizukuishi. "I—"

"Don't apologize," Shizukuishi said, tapping on the top of the storyboards I held in my hands. "Focus on getting that done."

"Right." I hurried back to my station. Everyone was now tense to be down one person, but that made me even more determined to focus on my work. We will get this done on time. We WILL get this done on time!

18:45

"We're done."

The assistants cheered tiredly and gave each other hugs. Shizukuishi looked exhausted but still stoic as he held up the storyboards with one hand and his cell phone in another. "Good work, everyone. Don't forget to email Kirishima-san about your overtime. I'm heading to the printers now."

"Do you need help, Shizukuishi-san?" I asked as I followed him to the door.

"I can manage it," he said, but then he did something unexpected and out of character for him. He turned around and gave me a half-hug. "We pulled this off because of you," he told me quietly. "And I'll make sure everyone in Japun knows it. Thank you, Yanase."

I stammered a little in shock, but Shizukuishi flew out the door before I could respond. I turned back around and saw Ijuuin sprawled against his desk and I looked at the other assistance. "Let's clean up and head home," I said.

"I'm not going home," Kimura said, sighing loudly. "I'm hitting the bar and getting drunk! I NEVER want to do this again!"

"Me either," Gotō said quietly.

"We just have to work harder to not make such mistakes again," I said.

We cleaned up our stations and the other assistants left after I declined their offer to get drinks. When the front door closed behind them I could feel the exhaustion sweep over me. I rubbed a hand over my face and exhaled loudly as I turned. "Sensei, do you want take—"

I gasped as I suddenly found myself swept up in Ijuuin's arms and his mouth pressed over mine in a passionate kiss. I yielded immediately and clung to his shoulders, feeling the familiar pleasant flutter in my stomach from the contact of his lips. Ijuuin broke the kiss and frantically pressed kisses all over my face before he kissed my mouth again.

His desperation unnerved me a little and I pulled back. "Are you all right, Sensei?"

"You saved my chapter," Ijuuin rasped, kissing me again. "I finished the story arc because of you. I'm more than all right, Yanase-kun."

"O-Oi," I said, leaning back a little. "It wasn't just me, you know. Shizukuishi-san worked really hard, and so did everyone else."

Ijuuin shifted me in his arms, and I found my legs wrapped around his waist. "Let me thank you properly for your help. I owe you everything."

I still felt that Ijuuin was giving me unnecessary credit, but then he began to kiss the side of my neck and a familiar fog started to coat my brain. I reached up and buried my hand into his dark hair. "…Okay," I said quietly.

The names of Ijuuin's assistants are fanon, as I don't know their names. Likewise the name of The Kan character they forgot to draw is also fanon