Fragile Happiness (MxM)

The Editing Department is HELL

Chapter 2: The Editing Department is HELL

***

Today is one of the busiest days of the month in the publishing company I work for. It’s the day when we have to hand over the manuscripts of the books to the printers. I bet you’re thinking ‘What’s so difficult about handing them over?’ To answer that question I will have to explain how things work here…

We work in a 20 day cycle each month. It starts with Editors (like me) that check the plot of the story that the authors have submitted to us. After we approve the work comes checking the outline then the rough sketches that they send to us. We make corrections if such are needed like the flow of the panels and positioning of the text bubbles. It goes back to the authors and they make the changes needed. Then when the final completed manuscript is submitted to us they fall into one of three categories:

 1.) Good Manuscripts * Those manuscripts are perfectly fine, there is no issue with them, they are approved and handed to the printers normally.

2.) Bad Manuscripts * Those that are not only handed in the last minute but need further work on them for completion. That’s what bad authors do.

3.) The Worst Manuscripts * I don’t even want to explain this. It’s the worst case scenario to happen at the office and I would rather go to an actual war zone than endure this. Thankfully it doesn’t happen all too often.

So now to answer why the end of the month is the busiest. We have a total of ten authors that submit their work in our department. Out of those ten only one has given us a good manuscript, there are eight bad ones and one missing. So now the entire department of five editors is all fighting their separate battles to survive… Including me.

One of my authors Dominic Laventon has successfully delivered his manuscript. His was the only good one.

But my other author Takano Masamune who is still a University student has not managed to deliver the manuscript at all. Usually at such a time a reasonable editor would just go and find a replacement. We had plenty of authors who wanted an opportunity to be featured in the monthly comic magazine we make.

However I am not a reasonable editor and I will get Takano Masamune’s manuscript even if I have to go to his apartment to ask for it!

***

And so I did… I am in front of the man’s apartment and ringing on the door for the past five minutes but there is no answer. I started calling the 20 year old prick but he is still not responding. This is seriously the worst day ever…

I don’t usually go out like this, I mostly stay in the office and do office work. Whenever I have to go and touch things even through my gloves I still feel a bit dirty… So I am even angrier right now that this kid has forced me out like this.

Luckily enough the student got back to his apartment soon after and I only wasted 30 minutes of my time total while waiting for him.

***

“Ha… Lois… What are you doing here?” Mason asked in an awkward voice.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing not working? And who’s that? An assistant?” I angrily asked while looking at the other student that was with him.

“Uh… no, he’s my boyfriend… kinda…” Mason said as he blushed heavily and looking at the ground.

“That’s exactly what I am! But it seems like you’re in trouble. Is that your editor?” The other student asked while wrapping his arm around Mason. So this prick has time to date but no time to hand in a good manuscript?!

“Yes, I’m Lois Patterson, the editor of Mason Taylor. I came all the way here to ask for the manuscript that was never delivered.” I introduced myself to the other student even though I didn’t need to.

“I’m sorry, my artist can’t make it. I can’t draw the comic myself either, so I informed you about this…” Mason said in a professional tone as he took out his keys to unlock the door that was behind me.

“That’s no excuse, is Lucas here?” I asked still in the hopes of receiving a manuscript. I cannot be the only editor without anything to show today to the printers.

“Yes, he’s here. But it won’t make a difference, if he can’t draw, he can’t.” Mason told me as he pointed to the room that the artist was in.

“We’ll see about that…” I said as I entered the room.

***

“What do you think he’s going to do?” Edward asked in an interested voice.

“Well… make him cry I guess?” Mason answered in a worried tone.

“Cry, really? Is he that scary?” Edward asked as he looked at the other student that was preparing tea in the kitchen.

“More like Lucas is that sensitive… I usually don’t bother him much because he easily gets demotivated from the smallest things.” Mason said while heating up water in the kettle. “Do you want mint or chamomile tea?”

“Mint, please. So how do you two even work together if you can’t even bother him to do his job?” Edward asked, he seemed to be genuinely confused by how things stood there.

“Well, it’s quite difficult, I won’t lie… Somehow though we make it through. Even though I have to make quite a bit of sacrifices in the process…” Mason confessed as he poured the water over the tea.

“Sacrifices?” Edward was interested to know more but the other student did not continue talking on the subject and it soon died out.

***

About 30 minutes later both Lois and Lucas walked out of the room.

“I can’t even believe I had to come all the way here to force you to work!” Lois said in a disappointed tone and the student behind him continued to apologize profusely. “Next time, I want the manuscript to be at my desk way before the deadline. Is that understood both of you?”

 “Yes, sir.” Mason answered in a carefree tone.

“Yes…” Lucas said with light tears in his eyes and sniffling sounds.

“Good.” Lois said as he left the young men’s apartment.

***

I can’t believe I had to waste and entire hour dealing with those children! Who would have know that a 20 year old BL author would become so popular so fast… I have to admit I like his stories as well… Also who would of thought my author was gay? It seriously shocked me to see his boyfriend.

Boyfriend huh… No… NO! Okay Lois just focus on your work!

I headed back to the editing department, double checked the manuscript, made corrections where it was needed. Afterwards I took it to the printers and luckily I was there before their closing time do it all worked out.

It all worked out because of my phenomenal amount of stubbornness. Even my colleagues are left bewildered each time they see me work like this. I just can’t help it however…

Even though that boy Mason annoys me so damn much, and his artist annoys me even more… Even so I still like the work they do. When they combine their skills it just seems that everything is possible. No wonder they’re best friends…

Sometimes I think I become quite jealous of my authors…

Dominic Laventon who is about my age, has a wonderful wife that coincidently is the rumoured legend of a secretary here in the publishing house we work at. Her name is Sara and she is the secretary of our CEO Charles Carelesse. It’s actually amazing when I think our top author already has a wife like that.

And now I find out that my other author Mason Taylor, pen name Takano Masamune, is now currently in a relationship… On top of it all he is the most popular BL author for his country.

So it’s not like I’m not happy for both of them reaching success in both professional and private lives. I just wonder if something like that is also possible for me…

God, I need to get my act together! I can’t be like this and call myself an editor!

I mean there are plenty of 27 year old men out there that aren’t in a relationship, right? So I shouldn’t really pay too much attention to that… Probably…

I will find someone when the time comes and that’s it… Yeah…

***

My excessive thinking and overworking has helped me quite a lot in this line of work. I always manage to defy other’s expectations of me and achieved the results I have set off to do.

So I’m not complaining professionally… Even though I’m not a star Editor or head of department, I am still pretty well known around here. Well I am most likely known as the mysophobic editor to most people. Everyone in my department knows about my condition. They’re all very accepting and don’t do anything that might trigger a reaction of me. So I’m really grateful to have people like that around me.

In my department there are a total of five editors, myself included. They are as follows:

Richard, who is the head Editor and oversees all our work before we send it to the printers. He also takes care of schedules and so on…

Daniel, who is my junior and just recently joined in the editing department. He’s a really fast learner and a very cheerful individual. Makes working with him really easy.

Kevin, is one of the senior editors, he’s 32 years old and knows this business like the back of his hand. He seemed to be very disappointed when he wasn’t promoted to head of department and instead Richard was chosen. But he soon realized that there was a clear distinction in their abilities. Out of which Richard was far superior to him, so he soon backed away from wanting the position.

And last but not least Brian who is a very silent individual. He only ever speaks when he needs to and never asks any unnecessary questions. I genuinely enjoy spending time with him the most. Because he is so understanding however, his authors don’t take him seriously most of the time. He handles it well however. I still don’t know how he does it…

That’s about it, it’s our editing department. We are all under Gentleman Corporation that has various investments, and the publishing house is one of the most profitable ones. Apparently our CEO Charles Carelesse is an avid reader of all kinds of comic books and graphic novels. I’ve never met the man myself but I believe the rumors about him to be true. Also the rumors that he doesn’t even come to work all that often and leaves most of the management to his secretary.

Honestly I enjoy my job, because it’s mostly office work, I don’t have to worry about doing anything messy. It really helps keep my anxiety in check. A bonus it that I also get excusive copies of books and they’re all wrapped up, so I don’t worry about them being touched by others… mostly…

There is this person from the financial department that is constantly on my case. I don’t know what his problem is but he always asks me to go out with him. I’m not sure if he knows about my condition or not because he’s constantly handing me things with his bare hands. I simply can’t take any of them…

That guy Kane… I wonder what’s up with him anyway? Does he think that just because he’s good looking he can do whatever he wants and treat people however? He’s even two years younger than me and doesn’t even address me respectfully… What a prick… Honestly I can’t deal with these youngsters anymore…