Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was January, and negative 2 degrees. The sidewalk around the Tokyo Go Institute was iced over, and Hikaru wished he could wear his snow boots to work instead of dress shoes. His nose was running, his ears were freezing, and he was not in the mood to play a match against Ochi of all people, and at 9:30 in the morning!

However, as he entered the Go Institute, a thought occurred to Hikaru that cheered him up considerably, and that was that January was the perfect time to have some steaming hot ramen. As he looked around the entrance hall and caught sight of the back of a certain someone’s head, he also knew exactly who he was going to eat that ramen with.

“Touya!” Hikaru called out to the back of the suited figure. “Hey Touya! After our matches are over, let’s go out to eat.”

Slowly, the figure turned around and fixed him with a piercing gaze. As usual, his long black hair was impeccably straight and silky.

“I’m sorry. I have something to do after my match.”

“What!” Hikaru protested. “You totally just made that up! Come on! It’s fricking cold out! On a day like this you gotta have—“

But Touya had already turned his back again. “Sorry. Next time.”

“Oh come on!” Hikaru complained to Touya’s receding silhouette. “What a pain!”

“What a pain indeed. Before you start thinking about your lunch plans, don’t you think you should be preparing yourself for your match against me?” Hikaru whipped his head around to see Ochi standing uncomfortably close, the top of his head coming up to Hikaru’s shoulder.

“Uwah! Ochi! Why are you here!?”

“I’m here for the match of course. I’ll meet you in the room.”

Some morning this was turning out to be! But Hikaru hadn’t given up yet. First, he was going to beat Ochi soundly, and then, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve to try on Touya.

. . .

“…I have nothing,” Ochi said, scowling, as he placed his black stone back into the go-ke.

“Thank you for the match.”

Hikaru bowed his head in halfhearted politeness, but he wasn’t really interested in sticking around to enjoy the frustrated look on Ochi’s face. As soon as he could, he got up from his seat to check on Touya, who was sitting on the other side of the room, engrossed in his match. Standing from the closest distance where he wouldn’t bother the players, Hikaru strained to see the shapes on the board.

They were in yose. Touya’s opponent had launched a very complicated invasion, which Touya had just barely managed to defend against. The game was close, but Hikaru had a sinking feeling that things were not going to end well for Touya. As he watched the game near its end, Hikaru carefully reconfigured his own strategy in his head. If Touya lost the game, then it was unlikely that a simple invitation to lunch would be enough to win him over. He’d need to pull out the big guns…

“Five and a half moku,” Touya was saying. “My loss. Thank you for the game.”

Hikaru waited for Touya’s opponent to walk away. Then he approached Touya, who was still studying the game.

“You were close.”

No reply. Touya’s expression remained unchanged, just as though Hikaru had not said anything at all. What an annoying guy!

“Hey. If you’re not going to eat anything for lunch, let’s go to your dad’s Go salon really quick. I have something to show you.” Squatting down and reaching into his bag, Hikaru pulled out a sheet of paper marked with red and black ink. “It’s my latest game against Suyong Hong. You wanted to see this, right? It was a private match. This is the only copy of the game…”

Hikaru could see Touya’s eyes widening with unmistakable interest — now that was more like it! That was a sure sign that the bribe was working.  He nonchalantly let the paper slide back into his bag, and began to stand up.

“Only if you want to though,” he said unconcernedly. All right! All he had to do was wait now, and Touya would be following him right out the door. Then if he made a quick detour on the way, he could wrangle Touya into a ramen shop, and boom! Mission accomplished.

But after a couple seconds, Touya still hadn’t said anything. A little worried, Hikaru snuck a glance out of the corner of his eye.

“I told you I had something to do, didn’t I?” Touya muttered, his brows furrowed. He finished cleaning up the stones from the board and turned his back to Hikaru as he gathered his things.

“Hey!” Hikaru shot back. “I know you’re just making that up! I know your schedule!”

But again, Touya did not reply.

Whatever! Even if Touya avoided him all afternoon, Hikaru knew that they were going to have to meet again in the evening anyway. Between now and then, he had plenty of time to devise a new strategy.

Unfortunately though, Hikaru didn’t really feel like ramen anymore. It wouldn’t be the same without Touya.

. . .

Hikaru shivered as he made his way up to the event center, his feet slipping on the ice every few steps. Despite it being evening, the sky was a weird white-ish color, and it looked like it was going to snow. Hikaru had, of course, lost one of his gloves on the train. Even though he had won his morning match, the biting cold that had continued all day was putting him in a foul mood. All he had wanted was to spend some time with Touya! Was that too much to ask? Of course, it wasn’t as though Touya was exactly affectionate when they usually met at the Go Institute, and Hikaru didn’t expect him to be. But Touya’s show of indifference today was going too far!

This time for sure, Hikaru swore to himself. This time he would break through that ice.

“Good evening, Shindou-sensei” said the host as he guided Hikaru into the main hall. “Touya-sensei is at the back, over there.” He motioned with his head towards the large magnetic display board where they would be commentating. “Tonight’s match will be an exciting one, I’m sure!”

“Yeah,” Hikaru said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

From across the room, he could see that Touya was wearing one of his best suits. It was the grey one that made him look slender, with the blue and black striped tie. Touya’s hair was pulled back and tied neatly. As he chatted with one of the timekeepers, Hikaru watched Touya brush back a stray strand from his cheek.

“Well,” the host chuckled. “Both you and Touya-sensei always give such interesting commentaries!” Hikaru, realizing that his mouth had been hanging open, closed it promptly and smiled awkwardly.

“I’ll do my best,” he said.

“We’re counting on you!”

Hikaru walked evenly to the back of the room. Take it easy, he reminded himself. Don’t attack too early. Play it cool.

But when Touya’s dark eyes slid up to meet his, the words were already tumbling out his mouth before he could stop them.

“Hey. You look good in that suit.”

Touya’s expression turned immediately frosty.

“I look forward to working with you this evening,” he said shortly, and walked away to the bathroom.

Defeat. Complete and utter defeat.

Even Hikaru wasn’t stupid enough to follow him back there. Scratching his head, he sighed. Somehow he didn’t feel like he could get into the proper mindset to give a stirring commentary of the match.

. . .

When Hikaru finally got home to his apartment, he barely had the energy to turn on the heater and take off his coat. Two and a half hours. It had been two and a half hours of game commentary standing across from a 100% customer service mode Touya. The match had actually been really exciting. If it had been anyone else except for Touya, Hikaru would probably have come home feeling pumped up and full of energy. But every time Hikaru had made a point, Touya had responded so coolly, so calmly… his delicate hands reaching up to the board to gracefully place a stone… the fine line of his neck curving as he titled his chin to examine a shape…

This is what I get for having too much pent up desire, Hikaru thought wryly to himself. He turned the heater up another notch and was just about to get up and fix himself something in the kitchen when there came a sharp knock on his door.

You have got to be kidding me, Hikaru thought.

The sharp knock came once more.

No way.

Without even waiting for a response, Touya burst in, his long coat sweeping in behind him and his black hair dotted with snowflakes.

“Shindou!”

“Are you for reals?” Hikaru griped, leaning his head back to look at the ceiling. “Seriously!?”

“Shindou, what was all that about today?”

“That’s what I should be asking you! What’s the big idea, avoiding me all day like that!”

“I was trying to keep my distance. Like you suggested!” Touya retorted, slapping his gloves onto the table and striding up to Hikaru. “So why would you… intentionally…!”

“I said we should act normal, not go back to the fricking Ice Age!” Hikaru snapped, pulling at the fingers that had come round to encircle his waist. “But come on! No matter how you look at it, you were being way too cold, and if you actually… ow!”

“What are you saying ‘ow’ for! That was a kiss!”

“It wasn’t a kiss! You licked my shoulder!”

“I did not. I kissed you. And either way, it couldn’t have hurt.”

“You know, the problem with you is…”

“Shindou, let’s go to bed,” Touya whispered into his neck.

Hikaru squirmed. The problem with this guy was that he was way too good at everything.

“I thought we were going to… play a match first…” he managed to say.

“In the morning.”

“Touya! You…! “ Pushing away the hand that had crept under his shirt, Hikaru couldn’t keep himself from laughing. “You’re one persistent bastard, you know that?”

“Do you have any more complaints?”

“How about you stop trying to eat me, and have some real dinner, huh?”

“I don’t need it.”

“Yeah right! Every time you say that, you go to bed hungry and wake up in a terrible mood and I’m the one who pays for it!”

“But I…”

Finally, Hikaru was able to break free. He turned around to face Touya, who stared back at him steadily.

“Look, I’ll make you dinner. And then we’ll go to bed. All right?” He placed a kiss on Touya's temple.

“Shindou, I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hikaru said, laughing. “I love you too. Soy sauce or miso?”

“Soy sauce.”

“Good choice. In the winter there’s nothing like ramen, right?”

Touya smiled and sat down at the table. “Right.”