Oh Boy! (BL)

12 - Comradery (2/3)

"Holy cow, Clay Prescott is Tsubasa!"

Cooper took a sip from the coffee he'd picked up when I had left the note on his desk. After Clay and Evans had departed, the two of us returned to the office where Cooper had started pacing back and forth in front of his desk right away.

I, on the other hand, was sitting stiff as a stick on one of the office chairs and watched him. Cooper MacIntosh. GoldenBoy92. Who would've thought that I would find him through his email address?

GoldenBoy92@xxxmail.com.

It would've been one hell of a coincidence if Cooper hadn't been our GoldenBoy92.

Cooper looked at me.

Averted his eyes.

Back at me.

"And who's the girl who...you know...who would be desperate enough to spend a ton of money just to become his girlfriend?"

I hesitated, unsure if I was talking to GoldenBoy92, my guildmate, or Cooper, the journalist. I knew it was unfair of me to think that way. Cooper had never done a thing to me, but in times like these, I had trouble trusting anyone. Especially when excerpts of the gossip articles flashed before my eyes. I could already see the headline for our story.

And I'd do anything to prevent that from happening.

My inner conflict had to be visibly showing since Cooper held up his hands in surrender. "I won't say a thing, boss. We've been friends for years, and I know why you're doing this."

Still, I hesitated.

Cooper stopped pacing and came over to where I was sitting. Crossing his fingers over his heart, he vowed: "On my warrior's pride, Ken. You can count on me."

I nodded while nervously playing with the zipper on my jacket. "It's..." I closed my eyes. "It's Holland," I confessed in a quiet voice.

Lifting his fair eyebrows, Cooper fell into the chair next to me with an "Umph" escaping his lips. "Holland Demdike." It seemed that she was the last one he'd expected to be part of this deal.

After a moment of stunned silence, Cooper pursed his lips before he turned all of his attention on me. "What Clay just did...He did that because of...?"

"Yeah," I interrupted him. "He feels guilty."

Which made me feel guilty.

Cooper tapped with his fingers against the tabletop.

And stopped abruptly.

"Holland and Clay," he mumbled to himself and suddenly jumped up to stretch out his limbs. Standing with his back to me, I got a good look at the black marks the floor had caused on his white outfit. "I've never seen them talk or anything, Ken."

"Well...it's not going too well," I murmured. "I don't know how to talk to Clay about her. It's not like I'm friends with her...or him."

"Hmmm."

A careful knocking on the door ended whatever conversation would've followed. "Kenji-boy?" Even muffled by the door between us, I could hear that Evans's mood had darkened. He was alone. "Let's go, okay?"

Before I left, Cooper put a hand on my shoulder. "We'll handle this, boss."

Did he mean...

"Together."

That's what he said, but during the next day at the office, Cooper didn't explain what he meant by his cryptic "together." Instead, he showed me the editing process and announced, with a mischievous smirk on his face, that I'd be in charge of the gaming section from now on. "Now that I know now that you're a gaming pro..."