Can I Please Buy My BL in Secret?

Heavy breathing, elevated heart rate, a little flush around the face. All completely normal feelings for Noriko. Put a page of two hot guys staring longingly at each other and it wouldn’t take much for her to start losing blood over it.

Yet all of that energy wasn’t the reason, directly at least. More the reason for it, rather than the cause of it. Not confusing.

Noriko was almost out of breath as she stepped into the elevator. Her lunch was almost over and she sacrificed food for something far more important to her. The bag of books and doujin that just came in for her today. The owner of a bookstore that she knew very well was always kind enough to let her know when her purchases came in. Due to shipping and when stores opened, it was always while she was at work.

Giving up lunch every once and a while for her reward was enough. She didn’t need food when she could satisfy her hunger on glorious BL. Besides, a packaged sandwich and fruit awaited in the office. She could snack on that while doing a peer review on code. Noriko just needed to get back to her desk to rest.

Thankfully, there was no one in the elevator. Everything carried was hidden in the bag, so it should be safe. But she really didn’t want to be answering questions about what she was hauling. No one needed to see the half naked men on the cover embracing the other for a passion and dangerous kiss between enemies. Just recalling the cover sent her mind off to another plane of reality. “Oh Haru…”

“Haru?”

“Yeah Haru…” The glazed look from Noriko slowly came into focus as she panned down. It wasn’t the voice of Haru’s worst enemy pressing him down on the couch, but in fact Hiroyuki. Who should have been pushing down Tomio. “Hiroyuki?!” Immediately, she threw her hands behind herself to hide the bag.

“Afternoon, just getting back?” He smiled innocently down at her as red ran into every corner of her face. She could only manage a nod for him with her voice locked up like a rusted screw. “Did we have a new hire named Haru?”

“Huh? N-no, I was saying ‘How are you?’ You know, you got back from lunch too recently, right?”

“Oh, yeah, I got back like ten minutes ago, I think.” Hiroyuki became lost in thought for a moment as he seemed to be trying to figure out the timeline of events.

While it certainly wasn’t planned, she was winging it. The opening it presented her was too good to pass up. She started to drag herself along the wall of the elevator quietly and slowly not to grab his attention. If she didn’t move quickly maybe he wouldn’t notice. After the whole food stuffing incident, she really hated doing this to him, but more important things were at stake. He couldn’t know what was in her bag. No one could.

This was what the people call a loud secret.

Noriko unfortunately didn’t make it out of the elevator before he returned with an answer for her. He had to turn a little more than he expected, but found her looking even smaller against the elevator door begging her to leave so it could politely close.

It wasn’t being polite.

“Arata had a question for me when we got back. So I was helping him with that.”

“Great! He’s really working hard to get up to speed.”

“I think he just needs some confidence. He’s not making that many mistakes anymore.”

The pounding from the door on her back became too much to ignore and she pushed out. It closed with an exasperated sigh and a dirty look at Noriko as the elevator rang down. She still hung her arms out of sight, glancing around for help. No one noticed her. Were they all intentionally ignoring, trying to give her time with him? Was kindness her killer today?

“You able to pick up what you wanted?”

“Huh? What I wanted?”

He pointed at the bag that wasn’t hiding well between her legs. Noriko pouted in frustration, but realized she had to say something. “Yup! They close early, so I had to go out during lunch.”

“Oh? A specialty shop?”

“Of a sort?”

“Something you’re really into?”

“What makes you say that?”

“You left the office in a hurry with a smile on your face that I rarely see until you’re really excited.”

Her eyes widened in dismay that he actually saw her. She thought that she managed to sneak out of the office without anyone noticing her. Noriko even made sure to hide herself in the lunch crowd so that no one would be wiser.

Hiroyuki had a deep crush on Noriko, there was no escaping his awareness of the woman he was into having a glow like a solar flare about her.

She would have to be even more careful in the future.

She wouldn’t be any more careful.

The worst problem for her was that Hiroyuki was quite interested. He had that innocent puppy dog look in his eyes that he would get when he earnestly wasn’t to help or know something while being completely oblivious to reality or perceptions.

They were a pair.

Noriko couldn’t turn down that look. Not that hot steamy stare that could undress men from thirty meters away without touching him. She coughed and cleared her fantasy out. “It’s not that big of a deal. Just something I ordered.”

“A book?”

“W-why would you think that?”

“It’s on the bag.”

“Right.” She laughed nervously. “It is, I’m an idiot.”

“You’re not, you're just distracted.”

She nodded feverishly trying to let him paint the picture for her. If she could just keep handing him paints she wouldn’t stop. It was his canvas, she wouldn’t reject his artistic vision. No, she wanted him to see it to the end. “Y-yes! I was.”

“What was it?”

“Huh?” She blinked. He wasn’t painting. He gave her the brush. Noriko didn’t want the brush. It was his brush. He had to be painted. What the hell, why wasn’t he painting?

“The book.”

“Right.” She looked around the office for any help. They were still being too damn polite. Someone needed to be rude and interrupt them. She just couldn’t say it was smut. As long as she avoided that she would be clear. Though her brain wasn’t really functioning properly. An answer needed to come out, but a good one wasn’t surfacing. “Food!”

“Food?”

“Cooking!”

“A cook book?”

“Yes! That’s right. I bought a cook book.” Noriko felt even more exhausted than her run from the shop. She really wanted her desk.

“A rare cook book? Are you trying to make something?”

Panic completely flooded her head like a burst dam. All of the hamsters in their wheels were washed out to sea with the porn and hot men, and the half naked dakis. “For you!”

“Me? I didn’t know. You were keeping it a surprise?”

‘Let me crawl away into a corner and die!’ A chain had her imprisoned next to Horiyuki, which normally she would welcome. Today wasn’t one of them. And she couldn’t stop shoveling. She was going to end up in Europe at this rate. Noriko nervously laughed. “Caught me! I wanted to try something special for you.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin this for you. You were so excited.”

“Your happiness and enjoyment is more than enough for me!” She didn’t even know how words were coming out of her mouth anymore. It was just a reflex. A reflex she didn’t even know that she possessed.

A couple of workers came down the hall passing them. It immediately cut off any conversation they were doing. But it did give Hiroyuki a realization. “Lunch is ending, I shouldn’t keep you away. Sorry for causing you trouble!”

“No, you didn’t.” She waved to him as he merrily hurried off to his desk. Fantasies of him going to see Tomio couldn’t even be mustered by her. The whole fujo ship had been sunk by self sabotage. “I made it myself.”

Noriko finally made it back to her desk and dropped her head on the surface. It made a loud enough sound that it got Maiko’s attention. “Your shipment didn’t come in?”

“No, it did…”

“Then why are you so dead? Bad ending?”

“I haven’t read it yet. I’ve promised to make dinner for Horiyuki.”

“But you can’t cook.”

“I know!” The best she could do was boil water for ramen. She had to deliver a good meal to Hiroyuki that wouldn’t end in food poisoning. “Take away my shovel next time…”