Asahi Shimbun 朝日新聞 ⋮ Nanami Kento

Chapter 17

The scent of coffee fills the office. You stand at the counter of the break room as you pour yourself a cup of this liquid energy. It's too early for anyone to be here. Except for one other.

Nanami steps into the break room, "Good morning."

"Nanami!" You're excited to see him, he could hear it in your voice. You hand him the cup of coffee you made for yourself instead.

He takes it. It's routine, "Thank you."

"Of course." You smile. There was no need for him to thank you. After all, this has been a shared thing between the two of you since he started. You wonder how he did this past weekend after leaving your home, "Did you get home okay?"

"I did." He takes a sip of his drink and then he chuckles, "I was completely drenched."

"I was getting worried about you." And then you make a face that feigns disappointment. You pour some coffee into another cup and say in a joking manner. It's a playful scold, "I didn't get a text from you."

Nanami does a little thing with his head. He feels badly about it, "Ah, that's right. I'm sorry. It washed off completely by the time I got home."

You nod. Of course. It had been pouring. And then you smile, your tone is full of flirt, "That's okay. If you want it....I can give it to you."

Your words almost seemed suggestive of something else. Something more than just a phone number. Normally he wouldn't think anything past just that. Maybe he's hanging around Gojo and Geto too much lately. As a matter of fact, Nanami actually had memorized your phone number the moment you inked it onto his damp arm. He was just too shy to text you. Plus it was about 1 in the morning by the time he got home and he thought it too disruptive at that hour.

Nanami's words get caught in his throat from the things his mind is currently thinking. He remembers your wet shirt, "I...."

You see that he's uncomfortable so you save him the embarrassment of having to answer and you save yourself the embarrassment of possibly being rejected. You laugh, "I'm kidding! Feel free to not answer that."

The guy grows just a bit disappointed. Now he really can't text you unless he asks for your number at some point. God, you made him so nervous. Had he always felt this way? He tries not to dwell on it.

Nanami chuckles softly, "Right..."

"Oh!" You say after you take a sip from the cup, "I need some help understanding your stock tables. Yaga's been pressuring me on a project but I can't really start it without proper teaching and Shoko's too busy normally after hours. I also can't seem to find time during the day since he has me on all these sports interviews."

Nanami shoves a hand into his pocket and his other still holds onto his cup of coffee. He wasn't very fond of teaching but since it's you, he'll agree to it (just this once), "Sure, no problem at all."

Your hand goes to his arm. You lightly grab him at the bicep, "Thank you!"

Nanami tires not to look down at your hand. Because anytime he did look when you touched him, it would make you feel guilty. And that's the last thing he wanted to make you feel; bad for touching him. But he definitely feels it. Your hand on him that is. He takes a sip of his coffee and then he thinks about how warm it got all of a sudden or was that just him?

His voice is bland and unenthusiastic, but it usually is, "You're welcome."

"Maybe we can grab dinner afterwards?" You remind him of that offer from some time ago. The one where you were jokingly going to teach him how to be funny.