Coffee: Then and Now

Disclaimer: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi is Shungiku Nakamura's masterpiece, not mine

Credit: I owe michanforever for her awesome beta reading

What to expect: sap overload with no citrus for this particular BL fic

A/N: A very happy birthday to you, madamada_chan; enjoy your present! ^_^

At 530.20 carats, The Great Star of Africa is currently listed as the largest cut diamond in the world. Having 74 facets and pear-shaped appearance, it becomes a part of the "royal scepter" that is being kept along with the other Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.

There it went again—the electricity. Ritsu clenched his jaw. Why was it only with Takano that he sensed an unstoppable course of electricity running through his insides?

The editor-in-chief of Emerald had just passed him a cup of coffee and, for formality's sake, Ritsu had to thank his superior regardless of how much he wanted to punch Takano upon noticing a smirk gracing the taller man's lips. Ritsu's gratitude could have been sincere had the giver not attempted to touch the recipient's fingers on the coffee cup. But then, would it be likely for someone like Takano to let such an opportunity slip?

'That bastard!' Ritsu cursed inwardly.

Together with the rest of the editorial staff, Takano and Ritsu were on their way to Osaka for the preparation of manga convention the next day. Of course, the fact that the bullet train was nearly full did help. This way, the super sly sexual-harasser Takano Masamune wouldn't try anything funny—like kissing his forehead when the junior editor wasn't looking.

Instead of sipping his coffee immediately, Ritsu watched the food seller pushing her trolley through the alley that separated Takano's seat from Hatori's. The thick steam swirling over the carton cup was enough indication that the liquid was still too hot for his liking. The man who sat next to him did not seem surprised, for he had learned Ritsu's habit since their high school days. He still remembered that the average time for his kouhai to wait for hot drinks to cool off was three and a half minutes—even though said kouhai himself wasn't aware of the fact that the sempai still remembered it.

Ritsu had, of course, intended to sit with anyone but Takano Masamune. Before he finished saying, "Kisa-san, may I sit next to y—," the editor-in-chief called, "Onodera, you'd better switch the order of these three parts in Mutou-sensei's schedule."

No matter how much Ritsu suspected that this "discussion" was no more than an excuse to secure Ritsu's seat next to Takano's, work etiquette gave the junior employer no reason to disobey his senior. Thus, the brunet took the window seat next to his taller colleague, though not without repressing a sigh. He had been doing that a lot lately—wishing his ex-lover to be by his side even just a second longer whenever they parted, but donning the mask of reluctance whenever they were together.

When the work-related conversation was over, the two editors pursued their own reading. However, it wasn't long before Emerald's youngest editor lost his mood for reading and started to stare at the blurring trees from the train window. His eyes were unfocused, owing to the ponderous weight of all the matters he had in mind.

Kisa had lent Ritsu a correction fluid once, over which their fingers came into contact. Ritsu's heart had not thumped harder or faster than usual. The other day, Hattori had passed him a bundle of manuscript, over which their fingers also touched. Again, Ritsu's heart had thumped neither harder nor faster than usual. When Takano's fingers gave him the coffee, though, it was an utterly different story. One did not need to become a shoujo manga editor to figure out that the reason had little to do with caffeine.

It was just like ten years before, when the fifteen-year-old Ritsu's world had still revolved around his much-adored boyfriend.

###

Back then, while walking home together after school, they passed a vending machine. The older boy stopped by and asked, "Is there anything you'd like to drink?"

Stammering as he answered, "B-black coffee, please," Ritsu convinced himself that knights in shining armor did not exist solely in fairytales. And when the fingers of such a knight touched his own, suddenly The Great Star of Africa did not feel so expensive.

###

The current Onodera Ritsu brought the cream-colored carton cup to his mouth, touching the coffee inside it with the tip of his lip. The temperature of the beverage was no longer too scalding to drink now.

How could he have been such a fool a decade before—thinking that Saga-sempai would answer his feelings with mutual affection!

'There's no such thing as unconditional love. Even if it's there, not a chance in hell it's happen to me.'

Ritsu stole a glance at the man sitting next to him. Once he was sure that the older man's gaze was still glued to the book, he continued the exploration. Takano's eyes were not slanted and were of the right shape. The nose was neither too small nor too big. The cheekbones were at the right places, as though they had been customized to suit Ritsu's taste. And those lips, those luscious lips … they were the ones that taught Ritsu how to kiss. When they had been pressed against his own, a decade before, Ritsu felt his body burning, tingling, and going limp. They did not possess the same effect now; rather, all those feelings changed into a single word: addiction.

The first time they met in the library, when the third-year student reached the book on the high shelf for him, the deadly combination of Saga's handsome features and kind gestures had rendered Ritsu speechless. As he had come to know more of Takano's personality in the Marukawa Publisher—and undergone the infernal experiences of what sort of devil Takano could turn to be when it came to work or stealing kisses—surely those were more than enough to blow away the image of angelic Saga-sempai from the times of old.

Well, they should be.

Except that they couldn't.

Ritsu had thought that reading literature alone would suffice to patch all the empty spaces in his life. Takano barging into Ritsu's life for the last few months proved how wrong his assumption had been.

'Takano-san, why have you offered me another love that would make me feel as happy as I was ten years ago?'

Ritsu would go on and on daydreaming had Takano's voice not interrupted him. Without taking his gaze off the pages, the editor-in-chief remarked, "Finish ravishing me with your prurient look?"

Ritsu balled his fists as a rush of heat accumulating in his cheeks. There was no way he would let himself fall for this cheeky bastard.

Ever.

Again.

So soon.

OWARI