Early One Morning

Yukina realized that it was close to press time for Emerald magazine; he was the one that had to decide how many to order for Marimo Books, after all. Still, he felt somewhat lonely as he woke up on the couch in his boyfriend's apartment and realized Kisa still wasn't there. It was almost three am, way too early in the morning for him to do anything.

Yukina had gotten familiar with Kisa's apartment over the last couple months. He'd spent a lot of time there; sometimes he could get away with three or four days, sometimes he'd just crash there for the night without even asking. Those were the times where Kisa didn't really have a say in the matter. For having been with so many guys, Kisa was really hesitant to just throw him out after sex. Yukina liked to believe he made an exception for him.

He also knew that Marukawa Shoten was actually pretty close. Kisa walked there every day, saying the slightly more expensive apartment actually cost him less, in the long run, than having to go on a bus or subway whenever he needed to travel between home and work. In the middle of the month, when things were supposed to be coming together for the new issue of Emerald, Kisa made a lot of trips back home. Yukina didn't know if that was something he always did, or if he purposefully forgot things when Yukina was staying over.

Yukina felt kind of sad, knowing Kisa was so close and yet they couldn't see each other. He was about to give up and go to bed when he saw a bag sitting over by the door by Kisa's slippers. Yukina kind of recognized it; Kisa would bring it with him to work sometimes. He went over and took a look in it, only to see it was full of a change of clothes, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, and, for some reason, a short-handled shovel.

As much as Yukina admired Kisa and the rest of the editors at Emerald, there were some things about the job that he didn't think he wanted to know about. Regardless, he grabbed a microwavable breakfast sandwich from the freezer and put it in as well before heading out.

Yukina had a vague idea of where Marukawa was. It wasn't like he'd be able to miss it; there'd probably be a big sign out front of the building. The streets were oddly quiet; it had been a long time since he had wandered around at that time of the day. Maybe his freshman year, when he developed a bit of insomnia. He could remember going to convenience stores at one am and buying new shojo manga right after the night workers put them out.

He did locate the Marukawa building eventually, and he looked up at it, vaguely hoping he could identify the window his Kisa-san would be behind. There were lights on in a few places, though. It seemed the Emerald guys weren't the only ones clocking-in overtime that night. The front of the building was unlocked, and Yukina looked at the directory before he headed up.

The office was chaos even that early in the morning. Yukina had thought that Kisa would be there, and probably the head editor Takano, but this was just ridiculous. He felt almost out of place, though not as out-of-place as the guy asleep over his closed laptop looked.

"Onodera, you're still waiting on Mutoh to fax you her pages! This is no time to sleep!" A haggard-looking man with dark hair and his glasses askew yelled profanities until Onodera jumped up and ran for it. Onodera pulled out his cell phone and started dialing as he took camp over by the fax machine, looking hopeful. The poor guy obviously hoped he wouldn't have to call up this particular author.

Yukina was ready to slip out after he saw Kisa wasn't there. His things were, though, and Yukina wouldn't have blamed his boyfriend if he had just escaped into the night. All eyes were suddenly on him, though. The only woman in the room just stood there, her mouth hanging open.

"I think I'm seeing things. I could swear there's a guy from one of the shojo manga standing right there," she said.

Yukina was a bit flustered, and all he could do was clutch the bag to his chest while he tried to find his voice. "I was hoping Kisa Shouta would be here. I have something for him."

"Give it to me and get out of here; we don't need distractions at this point." It was the man who'd yelled at Onodera just a minute ago. If Yukina had to hazard a guess, he'd say this was the head editor, Takano. When it was clear Yukina was hesitant, he sighed and readjusted his glasses. "Kisa went out to get us coffee. You can probably meet up with him if you head over to the café down the street."

Without thinking, Yukina dropped the overnight bag on Takano's desk and headed out again. Takano just rolled his eyes and looked around the office for his next victim. It was really the only joy he could squeeze out of three am overtime.

Yukina frowned as he got into the café and didn't see Kisa. There were only two people in the building: the guy at the counter, and a silver-haired man sitting at a booth in the corner, writing something down on a pad of paper. The guy at the counter looked like he was in shock; he didn't even acknowledge Yukina standing there in the doorway of the café.

It was the story of their relationship: they always managed to miss each other, even when they were two steps away. Yukina sighed and was about to leave when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He grabbed it up and opened it to see that it was a text from Kisa.

Thanks. I love you, too.

Yukina was positively glowing as he headed home.