Chapter 11

It was with a mild sense of déjà vu that Kisa woke the next morning. It was the start of a new cycle, morning light was filtering in through the half-closed blinds, and he had an obviously naked man beside him. The difference between then and about a month ago, however, was that Kisa remembered the previous night, he didn't have a sense of regret twisting his stomach and, he admitted as he yawned lazily, the morning sun seemed a lot more inviting.

Kisa's stirrings woke Yukina up, and he cracked an eye open. When he saw Kisa, a wide smile graced his lips. "Kisa-san," he said, sitting up. He sounded almost surprised to see Kisa there, but he was more than willing to work with it. Kisa found himself being pulled into a kiss, arms wrapped around his waist. "I'm really glad you're here."

"Yukina, in case you forgot, this is my bed." Kisa pulled away from the kiss but stayed in Yukina's arms. "Usually I kick a guy out by now."

"I doubt I'd let you do that by this point, Kisa-san." Yukina finally let go of Kisa and stretched. Kisa couldn't help but gaze as his muscles pulled taut, and he was suddenly glad there was no reason before for him to see Yukina naked in any capacity. He probably wouldn't have held himself back as well as he did.

"You have way too much confidence," Kisa said instead of any of that. He swung his feet over onto the floor, intent on getting his morning routine started. He'd have to make his shower quick, though. He'd never had sex with a guy in his own shower before the previous night, and now the scene was branded into his brain.

Kisa jumped in surprise when Yukina wrapped his arms around him from behind, hugging him tightly around his naked rib cage. When Kisa looked back at him, alarmed, Yukina kissed him and said, "I wish I could give you some, Kisa-san. You don't have nearly enough faith in yourself."

Kisa sighed and slumped into Yukina's arms. He was going through a lot of firsts that month, and this was another: sitting in bed, being complimented on something other than his sexual ability. As if Yukina could read his mind, though, he said, "You were amazing last night, Kisa-san."

"Of course I was." Kisa scoffed and pushed him away. His eyes softened, though, and he added, "Let's just hope you don't get tired of me."

"Does that mean we're dating now, Kisa-san?"

Bringing up an amazing amount of courage, Kisa turned and kissed Yukina full on the lips before saying, "Yeah, I guess we are." His eyes went wide as he was pushed down on the bed. Yukina crushed their lips together. Kisa lost himself in the sensations, more than willing to go for another round.

At least until his alarm went off.

Yukina stopped with his hands groping Kisa's backside, and they both looked at the alarm clock. Yukina looked like he was ready to tell Kisa to ignore it, but Kisa pushed him away and switched it off. "Don't you need to get home and get some new clothes?"

"I had some for the all-nighter that I didn't change into," Yukina said, and if Kisa didn't know any better, he would've thought Yukina had planned it. He didn't get to think about it long, though, because he found himself pulled into Yukina's lap and Yukina was reaching for his groin. "You're hard, Kisa-san."

"Yeah," Kisa admitted. He settled into Yukina's arms as the man jacked him off. After a bit, though, he batted Yukina's hand away and turned around so he could return the favor. Yukina went back to work once he was in position, and he leaned down and kissed Kisa.

Neither of them lasted long but Yukina was the first to finish, gasping out Kisa's name and barely able to keep himself from just collapsing. It didn't help that Kisa had been letting himself make as much noise as he wanted, even with his lips seemingly permanently attached to Yukina's.

Kisa had to admit, as Yukina got dressed and he himself got ready to take a shower, he wouldn't mind if more of his mornings could start like that.

xxx

In the few years since Takano-san had started as editor-in-chief of Emerald, the office had been transformed into a shojo manga paradise. Pink everywhere, all sorts of dolls and stuffed animals, all that kind of stuff. Over the month, though, the office slowly warped into what could only be described as a warzone, and the pink slowly faded from the walls as if it had never been there in the first place. Kisa never even really saw the floral print on his own chair.

As soon as the last manuscript for the cycle was handed-in, however, the office tended to recover. Kisa had never been around to see it cleaned up, stuffed animals and dolls replaced as needed and paint redone, though. He suspected it was done by some kind of magical beings that instantly knew when the cycle was over. It would be useful to have them around the entire month, but, Kisa supposed as he sat down in his chair and stared all around at the shiny office, there was only so much you could do even when you're magical.

"Good morning Kisa-san, Yukina-san," Ritsu said from his own desk. He looked tired, which looked out of place since the entire office had been reset for the start of the cycle.

"Good morning, Ricchan," Kisa said with a grin. His sharp eyes immediately zeroed-in on Ritsu's neck which, like last month, had marks on it just below the line of his collar. "Did you and Takano-san have fun last night?"

Ritsu blanched at that, pulling his collar back up and muttering something about Takano-san not knowing what's appropriate and what's not. He kept giving quick glances to Kisa, as if he were trying to figure out how to respond to that, before he finally said, "You're looking happier than usual. Especially with how bad you looked yesterday."

"I bounce back easily, Ricchan," Kisa said with a grin. Ritsu didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it anymore, so Kisa turned back to his work. Yukina hadn't been a part of the conversation at all, just sitting there at his desk and smiling. Kisa was about to ask what the smile was about when he heard giggling in the office doorway.

He turned, and of course, there were the Sapphire editors. They'd had their eye on him when he turned, and they didn't even turn away when he glared at them. "Did you have a good time last night, Kisa-san?" one asked. In her hand she waved around her phone, displaying a somewhat unfocused picture that Kisa couldn't really see from there.

Kisa glanced over at Ritsu, who seemed curious about what was going on, then over to Yukina, who just smiled and went back to what he'd been doing. Then Kisa stood up and went to snatch the phone from the woman's hand. She held it away from him but still let him see it. The assistant who also worked with Sapphire authors had, apparently, taken a picture when Yukina and Kisa were kissing in Okamoto's kitchen. Kisa went bright-red and shouted, "Delete that! Delete that right now!"

"Aw, Kisa-san, why would I do that? You two make such a nice couple!" the woman said, pulling away before Kisa could manage to snatch her phone. "Although when Toriko told us some of the things that were said in there, I was honestly shocked. You two had seriously only had oral sex by that point?"

It was at that point that Ritsu did a spit-take, spraying the coffee he'd been drinking on the floor. He was gasping for breath while Takano-san just looked alarmed that Ritsu had had such a strong reaction. No one else in the office said anything, though, and Kisa was just left blushing furiously and clenching his fists. He didn't do much in the way of intimidation, though, considering he had to look up to meet any of their eyes.

"Just get out of here," Takano-san finally said once he was sure that Ritsu wasn't going to choke to death or anything. The Sapphire editors didn't look happy but they still complied, and the one with the picture on her phone giggled and said she'd send a copy to Kisa.

Kisa just sighed and went back to his chair. "I should've known it would be all over the office by now," he said to the ceiling, as if he were talking to God rather than just himself. Suddenly his phone vibrated, and when he flipped it open, it was an email from that Sapphire editor, complete with a picture attachment. He had no idea what compelled him to do so, but he opened it and just stared at the picture of him and Yukina kissing. It was somewhat blurry as he'd observed, of course, but it was also at a bit of an angle. Clearly that assistant was better at drawing than she was at taking pictures.

"I kind of like it, Kisa-san." Yukina had come up beside Kisa without a sound and was staring at his phone's screen by that point.

Kisa just narrowed his eyes and snapped his phone shut. Then he took a deep breath, and the usual smile was back on his face. It would not do, after all, to be in such a sour mood on the first day of the cycle, after a night of such amazing sex.

xxx

Kisa was completely capable of cooking for himself, but he had found it hard to protest when Yukina offered to do it himself. So that night, Kisa just laid on the floor of his apartment, going through the contacts on his phone and deleting ones he didn't know as Yukina made some kind of noodle dish. Kisa hadn't much questioned what it would be, since he knew from experience that Yukina was a good cook and Kisa couldn't honestly say he was picky when it came to food.

Just as Kisa was deleting the last unknown number, a call popped-up. It showed a number instead of a name, so it obviously wasn't anyone of importance. In fact, it might've even been one of the numbers he'd just gotten rid of. Given that, Kisa had no idea what compelled him to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Shouta?" It was a man's voice, and since he was calling Kisa by his given name, it was most likely one of the deleted numbers. "You free tonight?"

Kisa jumped in surprise when he noticed Yukina right beside him. Yukina leaned over to the ear that Kisa had the phone up to and said, "Dinner is ready, Kisa-san." Then he smiled and went back into the kitchen.

"No," Kisa said, pulling the phone away from his ear, and he shut it without saying anything else. He glanced over to Yukina, who was smiling as he got servings for the both of them. His phone started ringing again, but with one glance at the caller display, he pressed ignore and dropped it onto the coffee table so he could have his meal in peace.