Archive of Our Own

Takano was absolutely exhausted. Hell Week was just as bad as it always was, but thankfully it was over now, and the Emerald department had a day off tomorrow. All he wanted to do was eat dinner, take a bath if he had the energy after he ate, and pass out for the night.

The last thing he needed was the sight of a large puddle of water and soap suds pouring out into the hallway from apartment 1202 and into his apartment—1201.

“What the hell?” He muttered as he stepped off the elevator, taking in the sight.

This was definitely putting a wrench in his weekend plans. That was unforgivable after the blood (a single paper cut he got while quickly flipping through a manuscript), sweat (he hadn’t bathed in days), and tears (an eyelash got in his eye when he was rubbing it to stay awake) he had poured into getting this magazine issue out in time. This had to be fixed now, because the sooner it got fixed, the sooner that he could get some well deserved rest.

Taking careful steps through the growing puddle, Takano approached 1202 and rang the doorbell.

“Hello?” A voice, assumedly his neighbor’s, came over the intercom, and Takano could hear the aggressive rumbling of a washing machine.

“Hey, I live in 1201, whatever you’re doing in there, it’s going to flood the whole floor.” Takano got straight to the point.

“Eh? What could…ah! My washing machine!!” The intercom cut out, and Takano could hear the same voice, now far more distressed as whoever was on the other side of the door assessed the situation. “No! Not again!”

“Again?!” Takano yelled loudly enough that the neighbor unlatched the door, revealing a very frazzled brunet.

“Are you good with washing machines?! Every time I try to use it, this happens!” The neighbor stepped back and gestured at the mess behind him that was only getting worse.

“How much detergent did you use?!” Now with the door open, Takano could see the full damage, a huge stack of soap bubbles was pouring out of the machine, and only getting taller by the second.

“E-enough?” The man said, unsure of himself. “I hadn’t used a washing machine on my own until just this past week.”

Takano just stared at his newly discovered neighbor in disbelief, because he definitely looked to be at least in his mid twenties. Takano had been doing his own laundry since he was in elementary school!

“For now just turn it off!” Takano took a few steps into the apartment and jabbed the proper button aggressively, wanting this to be over with. “Whatever you did, you did way too much.”

“I-I’m really sorry, I didn’t realize at all! I got distracted…” He grabbed his stomach, clutching down on the fabric of his shirt.

“With how loud that thing was I’m shocked you could focus on anything else.” Takano stepped around awkwardly in the puddle below him, not wanting to get any more wet than he already had gotten. “So? Where’s the detergent you used?”

“Oh, um…” Ritsu picked up and gestured to the over half empty jug, pointing at about where it was filled to. “I’ve used this much for two of the loads.”

“All you need is a third of the cap, fill it up to the first line. You really don’t have to use that much at all.” He shook his head, knowing full well this kind of ignorance was something that couldn’t be fixed overnight. “For now, you probably need to get this thing serviced to make sure you didn’t break it. Who knows if all those extra suds got into the wiring or not.”

“Eh? But my laundry…” He hesitantly opened the lid to the machine, finding his clothes sopping wet and absolutely covered in suds. “I can’t dry my clothes like this…”

“...You can use my washer and dryer for now, just don’t start a load without me. I don’t need you fucking up my machines, too.” Takano sighed. It appeared his work for the day wasn’t over yet. “And this needs to be cleaned up, it got out into the hallway.”

“Eh, but how should I…”

“Do you have a mop? A fan? Sponges?”

“Um…” His neighbor got even more frazzled, turning in every direction, his indecision and confusion clear on his face. “I-I haven’t even finished unpacking yet, even if I did have any of those, I…”

“What did you do the last time this happened?” Takano asked, recalling that he had said this had already happened at least once before.

“Um, I just used a bunch of paper towels…it took a lot.”

Well fuck, his night had just gotten a lot longer.

After Takano grabbed supplies from his own apartment (where he found the water had only thankfully gotten as far as his genkan), he directed his neighbor, because he didn’t trust him to know how to clean either.

It took over an hour to get things even close to being how they had been when Takano had left for the office a couple of days ago, and even then, the shine on the flooring made him worry for the other few neighbors they had on the floor who had somehow not walked out during this entire process. Why did he have to be the one looking after this little idiot?

“Um, again, I’m really sorry about all of this. I can’t thank you enough for all the help you’ve given me.” His neighbor bowed his head forward, drenched sponge in hand.

At the very least, 1202’s inhabitant wasn’t a total ass and was actually apologetic about the whole situation. He was just stupid. It was a curse that some people just had to deal with, as Takano had become painfully aware of as he had gone through life.

“It’s fine, just please learn how to use a washing machine. That could’ve been worse.”

“Um, yes, of course…” Ritsu scratched the back of his head awkwardly, still looking down. “I haven’t even introduced myself to you yet and you’ve been so kind to me already…”

“Oh.” Takano, who had yet to strip off any of the clothes that he had worn to work, reached into his pocket, pulling out a business card. “Takano Masamune.”

“O-oh, hold on, give me a moment.” After taking the card, his neighbor raced into his own apartment, returning with one of his own. “Onodera Ritsu. It’s…nice to meet you, Takano-san.”

“...I’m going to go now. You can bring some of that cleaning stuff back whenever. Just reach out using the number on that card.”

“O-oh, of course, thank you again!” Ritsu bowed his head forward again as Takano retreated into his apartment, finally able to let out a sigh when he was alone.

While his neighbor had been an idiot, with the added context of his given name, something about that was suddenly endearing, as much as it annoyed him. It reminded him a lot of…well, his Ritsu. The one from high school that dumped him out of the blue for no good reason. In all the best ways of course, not in the kicks-you-upside-the-head-for-no-good-reason kind of ways.

The fact that they shared a first name, had similar mannerisms, and both obviously were from well off families (as far as he could guess, because why else would a whole adult not have done his laundry a single time until his twenties) were definitely just a coincidence. For sure.

And once he got his washer and dryer serviced and used Takano’s machines for a time, they wouldn’t really interact anymore past that. It wasn’t a big deal. There was no reason to think too hard about anything.

It had been weeks since Takano had first met his neighbor, Onodera, not Oda, as he had to keep reminding himself. After he had returned the cleaning supplies and gotten his washer and dryer situation all sorted out, their line of communication went silent.

It wasn’t as if Takano had been expecting or hoping for anything to come of it. It was just his resemblance to Oda and the way he had endeared himself to Takano in such a short time that was bugging him so much. He hadn’t seriously been into anyone since Oda after all, so why would some idiot making a mess of their apartment hallway make him like them? It was stupid, but thinking back on his high school love, he had only realized his love for Oda after a similarly stupid situation, so it unfortunately wasn’t too big of a stretch to identify his feelings as the start of something.

He was toeing a dangerous line. This was his neighbor after all. If things went poorly, it would be awkward. Surely since they hadn’t seen each other again since the laundry debacle it was due to their schedules not matching up properly. Upon taking a closer look at the business card given to him, it appeared that they were both editors, just at different companies.

Both being editors, you would think that there might at least be some overlap, but he had no such luck. The action of acknowledging such a thing being a bother to himself only made him more frustrated as he walked up the hill to their apartment building.

He didn’t have much time to think however, as he came face to face with an older couple camped outside of his residence.

“Hello, you wouldn’t happen to know Onodera Ritsu, would you? I told him to greet all of his new neighbors, so perhaps you’ve already met…” The woman gave him what he could tell was a fake smile.

…Over twelve floors in their building, and Ritsu was expected to greet everyone? He hadn’t even greeted Takano before the night that they had met, but he couldn’t exactly blame him if time wasn’t on his side.

“...He lives right next door to me, actually, I’m in 1201.” Takano bowed his head forward a bit, already noticing some familiar features in the couple before him. “Would you happen to be here to visit him?”

“Yes, we’re his parents, actually.” The woman, Ritsu’s mother, gestured to her husband beside her. “We brought a few things he might need now that he’s living alone. We tried calling him to let us in, but he hasn’t picked up his phone at all! Perhaps since you’re closer to age you’d be able to talk some sense into him, you keep in touch with your parents, don’t you?”

“Haha…” Takano gave his best fake smile, ignoring the sensitive topic that had just been brought up. “I can talk to him if you’d like. For now, why don’t I let you in and show you to his door?”

“Thank you, …” She paused up, realizing that she hadn’t even asked for his name.

“Takano Masamune.” He offered, noticing her hesitancy.

“Thank you, Takano-san.” She said, far more certain this time as they followed him into the building.

Boarding the elevator, Takano couldn’t help but note how quiet Ritsu’s father was. Did his wife always do all the talking? It wasn’t his business to meddle in though, so he just remained quiet as well, waiting out the ascent to the twelfth floor.

When they reached their destination, Takano pointed them towards apartment 1202, and would have been happy to retreat into his own apartment and for that to have been all of it, however the moment that woman rang the doorbell and Ritsu answered…

“Hello?” Ritsu answered over the intercom. “Ah, Mother, how did you-”

“Ritsu! Do you have any idea how long we were out there?! It’s too hot this time of year to be out there for this long!” She crossed her arms over her chest as if he were able to see anywhere below her shoulders. “You’re lucky that your neighbor let us inside!”

“O-oh, Takano-san let you inside?” The intercom cut out and the noise of footsteps approaching grew closer, until the front door was opened. “Come in.”

“Honestly, Ritsu, you’re going to inherit the company one day, you have to get better at these kinds of things!” She took long strides out of Takano’s sight and into apartment 1202.

“Thank you, Takano-san.” Ritsu’s father, who had otherwise been quiet up until this point, nodded his head in Takano’s direction before entering behind his wife.

“Um, see you, Takano-san.” Ritsu gave him an awkward wave before shutting the door behind him.

All this had done was put more questions in Takano’s head about his neighbor, about his situation, about why his surname was the same as the name of the company that he worked at, why his mother had talked about inheriting…oh. Oh.

He was neighbors with the heir to a rival publishing company.

No wonder he had never done a load of laundry in his life! What was a person like that doing moving out on their own when they could stay at home and live in luxury for the rest of their life?

He hadn’t gotten the impression that Ritsu was a total snob, just not all that experienced in the ways of living on his own and doing certain things for himself yet. At the very least, a few weeks ago when they had been cleaning together, he had gotten the impression that he was at least the type who was willing to learn.

From the way that his parents acted around him, it didn’t seem like he had been kicked out, so…what brought him to this random apartment building out here when it would’ve been easier to stay at home?

The question lingered in his mind for the bulk of the evening until a couple hours passed, and he found his own doorbell ringing. He stood up from his couch, book he had checked out from the library still in hand.

Checking the intercom, he saw that it was Ritsu, and skipped talking to him in such an impersonal way, and went straight to opening his front door, doing his best to appear disinterested.

“Hey.” He greeted him.

“Um, hello, I’m sorry if either my parents were of any trouble to you earlier…I’m sure you got an earful from my mother. That’s always how she’s been.”

“It wasn’t really a big deal.” It was a pain in the ass, but knowing that she was the wife to one of the most important men in the industry clicked a few things into place. And he couldn’t trouble Ritsu with it, since his mother’s actions weren’t exactly something he should be responsible for. “But I heard her say something about inheriting a company, what’s all that about?”

Takano wasn’t stupid. He had already put the few pieces that he had together. But he still would like to hear his neighbor’s thoughts on it.

“Oh, you heard that?” Ritsu smiled, but his eyes didn’t match his lips. “That’s actually a big part of why I moved here. I don’t want to keep relying on my family. Not to say that I’m not extremely grateful for all the opportunities I’ve gotten and all, but it’s a heavy burden, I guess…”

“So that’s why it was your first time doing laundry on your own, you’ve been in some fancy house with people to do it for you all this time.”

“I…” Ritsu’s face faulted briefly before falling back into his polite mannerisms, likely drilled into him by his mother if Takano were now to take a guess. “Yes, you’re correct. I’m sorry that I gave you trouble when I moved in. That wasn’t my intent at all.”

“Meh, don’t worry about it.” He wasn’t usually the type to forgive things like this, as he was an incredibly petty person under normal circumstances, however… “Anyways, so you moved out to be independent, but you’re still working at the family company?”

“...It’s complicated, I guess.” Ritsu’s gaze fell downwards and landed on the book at Takano’s hip, at which his eyes widened. “Um, I feel like a better explanation on why I haven’t left yet is in your hands right now, actually.”

Takano followed Ritsu’s gaze, bringing the library book he’d checked out on his way home today into view.

“This?” It was Sumi Ryouichi’s latest release. Takano had been intending to buy it for awhile, but since a copy had been freed up at the library, he figured he’d read it for free and then decide if he wanted to buy it later.

“Mm.” Ritsu nodded, looking…bashful? “I actually edited that release. The last few releases from Sumi-sensei from Onodera Shuppan were all edited by me.”

“Seriously?” Takano flipped open the cover and peeked at the credits and sure enough, Ritsu’s name was listed. “Shit, I probably have a few books you edited around my place, then. Any other big shots you’ve worked with?”

“Oh, um…” Ritsu played with his hands a bit. “It’s not really a big deal, if anything, my co-workers all just think I’m getting special treatment because of my father. I still do my job all the same, of course! It’s not as if I demanded to be given charge of editing for the authors I work with…it’s actually part of why I moved out. I’ve been thinking of trying to find employment elsewhere for awhile, but I have to talk with my parents first. I don’t even really want to take over the family business anyways, I just want to edit literature.”

There was something so familiar about every last thing that this Ritsu was doing that Takano almost forgot that conversations were a two sided exchange.

“I don’t know if you looked at my business card, but I work at Marukawa Shoten. I even used to be at Shuudansha for awhile. There’s other companies out there, and you should be able to make a mid-career move if your resume is up to snuff. It sounds like if you’re editing for authors like Sumi-sensei that you should be plenty fine.”

“That’s comforting to hear, thank you, Takano-san.” Ritsu gave what Takano felt was the first genuine smile that night, and his chest may have tightened just a bit. “I’m sorry, all I came over for was to apologize for my moth-my parents. I went and dumped all that on you…”

“It’s fine.” Takano leant against his doorframe. “If you ever need anything, feel free to see if I’m over. Our schedules don’t seem to match very well so we might not run into each other very often, but if I’m around I’d be glad to lend a listening ear.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly impose on you like that.” Ritsu began retreating back to his own door. “But thank you for the offer. Goodnight, Takano-san.”

“Goodnight, Onodera.”

Ritsu had kept true to his words the past few months and hadn’t come over since then. Their only interactions had been brief, and mostly came down to being too polite to just walk by without greeting him.

Today, however, as Takano returned from his Sunday visit to the bookstore, in a strange case of déjà vu, he saw someone standing at the entrance of the building. This time, it was a woman with wavy, chestnut colored hair.

He was about to greet her, when he noticed that she was talking to someone who had been just out of sight behind the wall surrounding their building…it was Ritsu. Was it a relative, or…?

“Oh, Takano-san, hello.” Ritsu smiled at him, and for the first time in months, he felt his heart squeeze. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Is this your neighbor, Ricchan?” The woman spoke up, smiling just as brightly as Ritsu had.

“Yes, I live next door to Onodera.” Takano smiled as well, attempting to be cordial. “I’m Takano Masamune.”

“It’s nice to meet you Takano-san.” She straightened up a bit, readjusting her purse straps. “I’m Kohinata An, I’m Ricchan’s fiancée.”

“...You never mentioned you were engaged, Onodera.” Yet another weird case of déjà vu settled in his stomach, and Takano was finding it hard to ignore. “You two don’t live together, do you?”

“No, it’s an arranged engagement…” Ritsu appeared to desperately want to change to a different topic, this discussion making him look incredibly uncomfortable.

“Well I wouldn’t be opposed to living together. I’m certain that you could use the help, it’s not like you ever had to do any chores when you still lived at home.”

“I-I’m perfectly fine on my own, An-chan!” Ritsu insisted, flailing his arms about. “Anyways, you know the way to the station from here, right? It’s still light out, so you should be able to find a way to get a taxi, just head towards the main street towards the station and you should be able to get home just fine.”

“My, don’t be too excited to get rid of me.” She teased, hitting his arm gently. “It was nice to visit with you, Ricchan. I’ll convince you to come with me on one of my New Years trips one day! It was nice to meet you as well, Takano-san.”

She waved to both of them before heading off in the direction of the nearest train station.

Left alone with just himself and Takano, Ritsu finally felt comfortable to let out a sigh, turning to head back inside.

“I’m sorry to trouble you again, Takano-san.” Ritsu looked down as the two of them made their way inside. “We may be engaged, but it’s just something our parents have had decided for us since we were kids, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about an additional neighbor any time soon.”

“...Don’t worry about it.” Takano had to resist the urge to swallow thickly. The similarities had piled on yet again without him being prepared in the slightest. He felt like he had to be the one to change topics this time, for his own sanity, so he held up the book he had gone to pick up from the bookstore. “Have you had the time to read this yet?”

“...Oh, I…you’re not going to believe this, but-”

Takano instantly flipped open the book to the credits page, and again, he found Ritsu’s name listed amongst the names that played a part in creating none other than an Usami Akihiko novel. What the actual hell.

“Jeez, I should just start checking every book I go to pick up at this point.”

“Haha, of course you don’t have to do that. If I recall correctly, your business card said you were the head editor of your department, didn’t it? Maybe I should be looking out for your name, too.”

“Unless you read shoujo manga, I don’t think that’ll be an issue.”

“Eh? Shoujo manga? That’s what you edit?” Ritsu cocked his head to the side, and Takano felt a major conflict between his heart squeezing and his brain screaming to abort from this new fiancée news. “Oh, I’m sorry if that came off as rude, I guess you just don’t give the impression of someone who would…ah, no, that sounds rude, too, I’m sorry!”

Takano was going to jump off the roof of their building at this rate. The likelihood of a bookworm Ritsu who had dark brown hair, green eyes, was just a couple years younger than him, apologized excessively, and had a fiancée since childhood not being his Ritsu was little to none.

But what the hell was he supposed to do with this information? The surnames still didn’t match up, so that was really the only remaining piece left. Those parents that had shown up months ago looked like the perfect mixture that would result in Ritsu’s features, so it wasn’t as if he felt comfortable betting on a divorce changing his last name. Especially when he was meant to inherit a company from birth, that would make no sense!

And perhaps this only intensified his growing affection for the person next to him who looked distressed by his lack of response to his babbling, but all the same he still held a grudge, even if feelings were there.

“Again, don’t worry about it, really.” Takano waved him off as they exited the elevator and onto their floor. “I’ll be seeing you around then.”

“Ah, yes, see you, Takano-san!” Ritsu was left alone in the hallway as Takano entered his apartment far faster than he had been expecting of his neighbor.

Up to that point, Takano had hardly run into Ritsu outside of their brief interactions. It was something that he had figured would continue so long as Ritsu was his neighbor, and had been what he had been hoping for specifically after his encounter with Ritsu’s fiancée. His feelings on the whole topic of Ritsu were still needing to be sorted out before they progressed, after all.

But the universe unfortunately had other plans for him, because specifically after he holed himself up in his apartment that afternoon, set on allowing himself some time to think about what to do next before proceeding, he ran into Ritsu on a near daily basis. It was absurd.

They would see each other at the convenience store by the station, they would run into each other at the bookstore, hell, they even ran into each other at the printing office a few times! And if a day went by where he was going to settle in for the night, or thought that he’d be at work too late to run into Ritsu, Ritsu would take it upon himself to text him.

It was stupid things like asking for guidance on basic household tasks, because at some point or another, Takano had become a tutor to him in that way without ever having agreed to such a thing...well, maybe he had agreed to it, he was just regretting it. Some days it concerned cooking, other times it was concerning cleaning, and at times it just came down to chatting about books.

He could never bring himself to just ask Ritsu to quit it and outrightly tell him that a lot of the time he was busy, because he knew that would quickly spiral into an endless amount of apologizing, and he didn’t have the heart to imagine all their little interactions coming to an end over something he did.

So he just kept their strange relationship afloat, answering Ritsu’s texts when he could, chatting with him whenever they ran into each other, and at some point or another, enjoying his company, at times even forgetting about the whole teenage heartbreak thing.

One day, however, when they ran into each other at the train station, Ritsu had some very interesting news.

“Takano-san, I got a call from Marukawa Shoten this morning, I’m moving on to the final stages of interviews!” His excitement made Takano’s stomach do a flip, sending him back to simpler times, to their high school relationship.

For the time being, he had still been working on wrapping up some loose ends at his father’s company, but he had been shopping around different employment opportunities for awhile.

“Oh, really?” He tried not to sound unenthused, but he knew that Ritsu wasn’t likely the type to be into dating his co-workers. Because he’d gotten to a point where the possibility of dating Ritsu was becoming ever present in his mind. “If you get a callback, we’ll have to celebrate.”

True to his word, when Ritsu excitedly called him with good news a couple of weeks later, Takano invited him over for drinks…with perhaps not the purest of intentions.

He didn’t know how well Ritsu handled alcohol going into the night as they had never had the chance to drink together before, but by the end he surely knew the answer was not well.

While he wasn’t obnoxious or anything, he definitely had begun to slur his words and become woozy. It was the perfect opportunity to ask some questions that had been burning away at Takano for almost the entirety of the past year. It wasn’t as if he was taking advantage of him physically or anything, so he could live with himself.

“Onodera, this is going to sound weird, but did your parents ever remarry or change names?” Takano asked from behind the can of beer resting against his chin.

“...No, my parents ‘ave been married since befo’ I wa’ born…” Ritsu answered, head resting against the coffee table in the middle of Takano’s living room floor.

“...Does the name ‘Oda’ mean anything to you?” Takano pressed further, so desperately wanting to put the burning question weighing his feelings down to rest.

“Mm…uh…oh. ’Eah. It’s a really dum’ story tho’...” Ritsu swished around the fourth can that he’d been nursing, allowing the liquid to swish around. “I wouldn’ wanna bother yo’ wit’ it…”

“Tell me, I don’t mind.” Takano pressed again, placing his own can down on the table.

“I wro’ tha’ name on library check ou’ cards when I was a kid…it was dum’...so dumb…” From across the table, Takano could see Ritsu’s eyes beginning to water. “I loved ‘im so much before he…”

“Loved who?” Takano asked, already knowing the answer.

“Saga-senpai…” Was the last thing that Ritsu said before passing out, beer can falling out of his hand and spilling its contents onto the table.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

God fucking damnit!

All sorts of expletives passed through Takano’s mind as he cleaned up, doing his best to fight the instinct to wake Ritsu up and kiss him silly. Of course that idiot had gone and passed out before he could tell him what the hell happened back then that made things go to shit! Because he hadn’t noticed who Takano was! He wasn’t burdened with the evidence that had been accumulating in Takano’s mind for months, piling and piling until he got his final confirmation just now.

He’d bet his entire wallet that Ritsu wouldn’t remember this by tomorrow morning anyways, so he wouldn’t be getting further answers to his questions anytime soon.

The worst of it was now that Ritsu would be at Marukawa, they would sure as hell be running into each other an even more absurd amount than they already were. He couldn’t avoid it. He’d have to address this at some point or another, or he’d go mad trying to hold off on telling the truth.

All sorts of thoughts swirling through his mind, Takano decided the best plan of action was to get Ritsu far away from him and into his own apartment before he’d do something stupid that he’d regret later. So he went through Ritsu’s belongings for his key, got him into his own apartment, into his own bed, left a note for him to read in the morning, then locked the door and dropped the key through the mail slot.

That left him on his own, with his own thoughts and nothing else. It was absolutely screwed up, Ritsu was next door blissfully unaware of the torment that Takano was going through just by him being there.

He wanted so badly just to pick right up where they left off, or at the very least to know what went wrong with what he thought had been the only good relationship he’d ever had up until that point in his life. Even if Ritsu had come to not love him anymore at some point for some reason that Takano still didn’t have the slightest clue about, maybe he could like the current him.

A lot of his behaviors these days as they had become closer reminded him of how he acted back then, so perhaps he had another chance as Takano rather than Saga, so long as Ritsu didn’t know he was the same person as back then…

…but he couldn’t in good conscience make a move on him without him knowing that.

Damnit! What a pain. No wonder he couldn’t bear to be in love ever since Ritsu left, it was a huge pain in the ass.

Ritsu woke up the following morning with a pounding headache, wanting nothing more than to curl up and go right back to sleep.

He remembered going over to Takano’s apartment last night to celebrate getting hired at Marukawa, but after the first beer it all kind of became a blur. He couldn’t for the life of him recall anything that had happened after that point. So how had he gotten back home? It wasn’t that it was far away or anything, but…

Rolling over, Ritsu spotted a small piece of paper with…strangely familiar handwriting.

‘Hey Onodera,

You passed out at my place last night. I hope you don’t mind that I went through your stuff to find your key so I could bring you back over. I’ll drop it through your mail slot after I lock up, so it should be in your entryway. No need to come over and apologize, it’s okay to get carried away and celebrate for an occasion like this. Make sure to drink lots of water when you wake up, I’m sure you’re going to have a nasty hangover.

- Takano’

Oh god, how embarrassing! Ritsu rolled himself up in his blankets, wanting to hide from the rest of the world.

Takano was the last person who he wanted to see him in such a ridiculous state. He wasn’t the type to drink much unless a work gathering called for such, but even then, he’d been told from past experiences that he was…a bit of a silly drunk.

When he had accepted Takano’s invitation, he had convinced himself that he’d just drink one can and balance it out with enough food that it wouldn’t get to him too badly, but it seemed that went out the window at some point or another and his better judgment escaped him.

He hoped that hadn’t put Takano off…he really didn’t want him to think poorly of him.

…he had perhaps started to…become interested in him. Not that he would be acting on such a thing, of course. Absolutely not.

“...The Emerald department?” Ritsu stared at the general affairs employee across from him, confused. “You said that they work with manga?”

“Yes, Emerald is one of our many manga departments.” She gave him her best customer service smile.

“Wait, but, I thought I made it clear during my interviews that I was a literature editor at my last job, so why would they assign me to work with manga of all things?” Ritsu’s mind was racing. This absolutely couldn’t be right!

“It says it right here, Onodera-san, employed mid-career, is to be assigned to the Emerald division of Marukawa Shoten.” She held up his paperwork, pointing at the relevant information before standing up. “I’ll walk you up to the department right now, please follow me.”

Ritsu followed after the woman reluctantly. He would have a lot of complaining to do when he got home. Maybe he could ask Takano if he knew a way to transfer into a different department tonight…or he might just have to hand in a resignation letter and start over from square one, as disappointing as it was.

He should at least find a time to slip away today and go greet him properly as his newest co-worker, but there was this weird feeling that he couldn’t shake that the name Emerald had been familiar for some reason.

“Ok, the Emerald cubicle is just ahead.” The general affairs woman gestured to the entrance, still smiling despite the stench beginning to overtake her senses.

Ritsu approached the entrance, shutting his eyes as he bowed his head forward just slightly.

“It’s good to meet you all. I’m going to be working with you from now on. My name is Onodera…” The stench began to hit Ritsu as well, and when he looked up, he was met with the sight of complete disaster, four men strewn about their desks in varying degrees of disarray amongst a total mess of books and manuscripts. “...!”

“O-oh, my apologies, Onodera-san!” The general affairs woman began backing away slowly, face faltering. “It seems they’re in that phase of their cycle!”

“Cycle?” Ritsu turned to her, unable to keep his own face in check. “What do you mean by-”

“Well!” She cut in, running off as she did so. “Do your best!”

Ritsu whipped his head around in a panic, looking for literally anyone who could tell him what was going on, or better yet, what to do. Anything would help! But everyone who was passing by would rush by before he could even get out a word, seemingly unwilling to help him at all.

He had to just suck it up and make his way into the cubicle, even if the smell only got worse as he walked forward.

He walked towards one of the living corpses at the bundle of desks, hopeful that he could get some sort of answers.

“U-um..I’m Onodera…” Upon receiving no answer, he reached forward, gently shaking the man by the shoulder, only for the stranger to collapse out of his chair and onto the floor. “Waaah!”

“What…?” The stranger sat up just barely from his place on the floor, not even bothering to look up.

“Um, as of today, I’ll be working with you…” Ritsu answered, unsure of if he should have even said anything.

“Oh, there was a new guy starting today…?” The dark-haired man turned towards the head desk. “Takano-san, new guy!”

…Had Ritsu just heard the name he thought he had?

“Takano-san!” The dark-haired man called out again, as if hearing Ritsu’s thoughts. “Takano-san! You awake? Boss!”

…Boss?

“Shut up!” An all too familiar voice yelled from the head desk. “I heard you the first time!”

“…Takano-san?” Ritsu stared at him, surprised to see his usually put-together neighbor in such a state. No wonder the name of the department had sounded familiar! It had been on the business card Takano had given him last year!

“...?” Takano put the book that had been resting on his head aside, eyes widening slightly when they landed on Ritsu. “Came to visit?”

“Um, no, actually…” Ritsu looked down, a sinking feeling setting in. “Like, um… he said.” He gestured in his new co-worker’s direction. “This is the department I’ve been assigned to…”

Oh. Well, then. He’d be seeing Ritsu far more often then he already knew he would by nature of them being in the same workplace. That kind of threw the idea he’d settled on of playing the long game out of the window.

Because knowing it was Ritsu was right in front of him every day, there was no way he’d be able to hold out forever. He was going to make a move sooner rather than later.

So when one of the editors called out from across the office to say that a ‘Satou-san’ had arrived with a replacement manuscript, whatever that meant, Takano stood from his chair.

“Onodera, follow me.” He pushed past him, patting his shoulder as he went by.

“Huh?” Ritsu turned to watch him, confused.

“Show me what you can do.” He beckoned Ritsu after him, setting his book aside amongst the mess of a department.

When they arrived in Marukawa’s lounge, Satou, as Ritsu understood from hearing his new co-worker, was waiting for them, toting a heavy-looking bag in her arms.

“Thank you for your work. I’m sorry I told you it’d be impossible to finish in three days.” Takano took out a copy of the manuscript, beginning to flip through the pages. “Did you bring your drawings?”

“Ah, yes.” The woman reached into her bag, pulling out her own original copies of the artwork.

“I looked through it.” Takano flipped to a particular page, turning the paper so that all three of them could see it. “Could you make this kissing scene more dramatic?”

Ritsu watched in surprise as the mangaka actually began drawing right in front of them-redrawing the scene in question.

“Um…like this?” She took hesitant strokes with her pencil.

“No.” Takano pointed a finger to himself and tilted his head a bit to the side. “More like you’re seeing it from this angle. You have kissed someone before, right?”

While there was a part of himself content, knowing that his neighbor-now boss-had been more capable than he was from the start, Ritsu couldn’t just sit there watching such this play out, especially after hearing something that was such blatant sexual harassment. The author was getting all red!

“Isn’t it fine as is? It’s already drawn very well. There isn’t enough time to get caught up on details like this.”

“But we can still make it even better.” Takano rested his chin in his hand, glancing at Ritsu at his side. “Amateurs should be quiet.”

“Ama-” Ritsu bit down on his lip. Takano was his boss now, he shouldn’t be snippy with him, even if he was frustrated with him. Honestly, in the time that they’d spent together outside of work, he’d never felt the need to be snippy around him, however, now…

“Ah, but you can’t see how you’re kissing someone when you’re doing it yourself, Takano-san.” Satou spoke up, blush having just barely faded.

“I suppose you’re right.” Takano stood up from his chair and approached Ritsu’s. “We’ll show you a sample right now, so draw it quickly.”

“Oh.” He seemed to be more reasonable now, so Ritsu jumped at the opportunity to help, standing from his chair as well. “Where are the samples? I can go get them.”

“Draw it from an angle where you can see the chin and add a kind of breezy feeling to it.” Takano ignored Ritsu’s question, continuing to approach him as he remained addressing the mangaka.

“Um, Takano-san, where are the sample papers?” Ritsu spoke up again. “If you’d just give me the title of-”

“Huh?” Takano turned to him now, eyes narrowing. “Who said anything about sample papers? Why bother with those when you can have the real deal?”

“...Excuse me?” Ritsu became completely still as Takano drew in closer, hand tilting his chin up until they were making direct eye contact. “Um, Takano-san, what do you mean by-”

Before Ritsu could say anything further, Takano dove forward, capturing his lips in a kiss.

Green eyes absolutely bugged out as Takano pushed his tongue forward, hand placed on Ritsu’s back as he was leant backwards. The hand that had been on his chin caressed its way up to Ritsu’s cheek so that it could guide him to the side, allowing Takano even further access to his mouth.

Was this really a thing that was happening right now?

His neighbor of the past year who he perhaps had a bit of a thing for was now his boss?  And he was kissing him? In the lounge of the workplace he’d only just started at? In front of one of the mangaka their department worked with?

Surprisingly to Ritsu, only the last part of that thought was bothering him.

The drafting of his resignation letter having been forgotten, Ritsu breathed in a gulp of air as Takano pulled back just slightly, before diving right back in again for more.