Hikaru No Go Fan Fiction ❯ The Extent of Denial ❯ Intimacy Issues ( Chapter 7 )

Akira shielded his eyes against the sun as he scanned the pool area for Shindou amongst the throngs of people. It wasn't too difficult to pick out those bleached bangs. The other boy was leaning against the wall beside the door to the changing rooms. He saw that Shindou was already aware of him and raised his hand in a conservative wave, heading that way.

 

Shindou waved wildly back, looking vaguely cool and mysterious again with sunglasses on. The other boy was in a yellow tank top and black shorts that were cut a bit too high, in Akira's opinion.

 

Thank goodness his rival wasn't a girl, otherwise he'd be scandalizing the entire neighborhood with his habits of dress. Scantily clad, with fashion sense so terrible that it was amazing that people didn't laugh when Shindou showed up in those godforsaken Go shirts. Some days he would swear that there was a `5' on everything his rival wore. He wasn't certain as to whether he should be thankful or even more pained that the other boy had tempered that tendency as they got older, trading innocent Go shirts for fishnet and torn up jeans, which were worse in their own way.

 

His dear friend wasn't so innocent anymore, it seemed.

 

Shindou greeted him with a warm smile. “Ready to get changed? Waya and Isumi aren't here yet, but I'm sure they'll only be a few minutes.”

 

Akira froze, staring intently at what appeared to be a trail of dark hickeys that started under the corner of Shindou's jaw and disappeared into his shirt.

 

Shindou noticed his gaze and self-consciously raised a hand in what appeared to be a futile attempt to cover them.

 

“Things warm up with Amari?” he asked coolly.

 

Shindou glanced away, shoulders hunching. “She…was worried that I didn't like her enough.”

 

“What did you do?” Akira asked softly, feeling an ache begin in his chest. He couldn't stop staring at the hickeys, the mark someone else had made on Shindou to lay visible claim to the bleach-banged boy.

 

Shindou hung his head, remaining silent as a couple of boys emerged from the changing room and walked past them. “Come on, Touya, let's change.” With that, the other boy slipped quickly into the changing room.

 

Akira blinked, following just as rapidly. He would not stop cornering Shindou until he had an answer.

 

The changing room was deserted but for their presence. Good. He wouldn't have to be concerned about anyone else hearing this. “Shindou. What happened?”

 

The other boy took off his sunglasses, giving Akira a slightly haunted look. “It wasn't…all the way. I couldn't…I didn't do anything. Too shy, I guess, for all my bragging. She…” Shindou mumbled the rest, blushing furiously.

 

“What? I didn't hear that.”

 

“…went down on me…” his rival whispered, looking somewhat disturbed. Then Shindou forced a smile, looking up at him. “But that's good, isn't it? I scored! Won't be long before we actually have s-sex.”

 

Akira stood staring, unable to move or say a word. He could see in his mind's eye Amari kneeling before a nude Shindou, and his imagination brutally supplied the noises the other boy might have made, the looks that might have crossed his face.

 

“Touya?” His friend's tone was worried.

 

“Yes…yes, that's…that's good for you, Shindou.”

 

But inside, he couldn't stop shaking. At some point he'd be doing the same thing with his girlfriend, so he'd better get used to the idea now. It must be a side effect of his repression that he had such issues with the sorts of things that Shindou did with his girlfriends.

 

But he felt angry. And sick. He couldn't admit that to his rival, who obviously knew more about what to do with girls than he did. But at least he wasn't the only one that was uncomfortable with it.

 

Shindou gave him a last wavering smile and unzipped the bag that contained his swim trunks, lotion, and whatever else the other boy had thought to bring. Carefully laying everything out on the bench, he removed his tank top first, then turned his back to Akira and began to slip his shorts off.

 

Akira was slow to turn away, as enmeshed as he was in contemplating his friend's slim torso and tanned skin. He was further intrigued by the attractive back that was turned to him, and didn't realize how far his eyes had wandered until he saw the shorts go down, revealing Shindou's disturbingly appealing backside that had always been vaguely covered or shielded before now, albeit by torn up or tight pants.

 

Choking and turning bright red, he was in the process of turning away when he saw something dark at the bottom of the curve of Shindou's right buttock. Unable to help himself, he paused to look - and could have sworn he saw the kanji for his first name in black before his rival pulled on his swim shorts.

 

Shindou turned to him before he could look away. “Say—“ The other boy paused, noticing that Akira had already been looking at him. “Touya! Why were you looking at me? That's embarrassing!” A blush had spread across those tan cheeks.

 

“I was about to ask you something, too, but you go first.” Good save. He struggled valiantly to keep his expression blank and calm, but it was extremely difficult, given the eyeful he had just seen.

 

Had that truly been his name on Shindou's buttock? But if so, why would his rival do such a thing? What did it mean?

 

“I…I was going to ask if you would want to eat dinner later with Waya, Isumi and I. I don't know when you need to be home. Since I'd be driving, I could always just drop you off.”

 

“I'll think about it.” Akira smiled disarmingly at Shindou, hoping to distract him from the awkward moments that had just passed before.

 

Shindou smiled back engagingly. “What were you going to ask me?”

 

Damn his rival's capricious memory. “Just…just how your mother feels about your not going to a university because of your Go career.”

 

The other boy's expression darkened. “Ugh. She isn't pleased, of course, but that's just too bad. University isn't what I want to do with my life. I have no desire to become anything other than who and what I am - a pro in the world of Go.”

 

“I'm glad that you're committed to Go. I don't know what I'd do without a worthy rival!” He made his tone slightly teasing, trying to draw his friend out of the strange mindset he was in.

 

Shindou laughed. “Terrorize everyone, no doubt! Well—“

 

“There you two are. Geez, you're like a couple of girls with how long it takes you to get dressed!” Waya was standing there glaring at them expectantly, hands on his hips.

 

Isumi appeared behind Waya and smiled. “Should I tell them about how you had a hard time deciding what color swim shorts to wear, the blue camou or the green camou?”

 

“Isumi!! You just did!” The smaller boy rounded on Isumi, taking a mock swing at him.

 

“Someone has to knock that soapbox out from under you periodically.”

 

“Isumi!!” Waya lunged and Isumi ran, the auburn-haired boy chasing after him.

 

Shindou suddenly favored Akira with a considering look. “Touya. We've been friends for a really long time, and rivals for even longer. Don't you think it's time you started calling me Hikaru? Everyone else does, and you just stand out even more than you already do when you call me Shindou…like the weirdo you are.”

 

Akira blinked rapidly, mouth dropping open. “I am not the weird one. But…if you would like me to call you…Hikaru…then, I will try to do that.”

 

“Can I call you Akira, then?” the other boy murmured, grass-green eyes searching his face intently.

 

“I-if you'd like. I don't mind.” For some reason, switching to first names like this felt extremely strange to him. But Shin—Hikaru had a point. He had been calling his best friend `Hikaru' in his mind now for some time, anyway.

 

“We'd better go rescue Isumi,” Hikaru said brightly in a complete change of subject, grinning as if he hadn't just been giving Akira third degree burns with his innocent green eyes.

 

“You will do the rescuing. I will live to fight Waya another day.”

 

The blond-banged boy laughed and tossed his belongings into one of the lockers. “All tactics, no risk! Akira, if it's the last thing I ever do, I will get you to live a little.”

 

“Hmph.” Akira refused to rise to the bait, but he followed Hikaru out of the changing room all the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hikaru threw his arms around Akira's shoulders for the sixth time that afternoon, laughing into the other boy's ear.

 

“Hikaru! You're splashing me!”

 

“And me, too,” Waya growled, eyes like laser beams on where Hikaru's arms locked around Akira.

 

“What's wrong, Waya?” Hikaru asked sweetly, in too good a mood to be annoyed at the other boy's snappishness.

 

“You're all over him, Hikaru! You are so flamey! Just how is he supposed to find a girlfriend if he's either in front of the Go ban or decked in uber-gay Hikaru?”

 

Hikaru felt Akira's shoulders tense under his arms. “We're best friends, Waya! Why shouldn't I jump on him and torment him? Besides, I'm not gay just because I bleach my bangs. You've been on about that for years. You are so mean. You're damaging my fragile self-esteem! And you're way too obsessed on finding gayness everywhere around you.”

 

Waya turned three shades of purple and sputtered violently. “I am not! I just can't ignore how gay you are! Your self-esteem is anything but fragile.”

 

As though confiding some secret, Hikaru said quietly near Akira's ear, “Don't get a girlfriend, Akira. They're really annoying, and they never leave you alone. How would you study kifu?”

 

He felt Akira shiver slightly within his embrace. Hikaru laid his face against the side of his rival's neck, yawning. “I am so hungry. And I'm getting tired. How long have we been here?” As he spoke, his lips were moving against Akira's neck, but it didn't disturb him in the least. He had no issues whatsoever with being near his best friend, but the other boy seemed more tightly wound than usual.

 

Waya reached out and slapped Hikaru's arm. “Let go of the poor guy. You're probably suffocating him. We've been here too long, apparently, because you just keep getting clingier.”

 

“But the pool is cold, and he's warm!” Hikaru protested, arms tightening around the very silent Akira.

 

“Dude, Hikaru, I've tried not to say anything, but where in the hell did you get those monster hickeys? They're all down the front of your body, and I don't even want to know where else you have them!”

 

Now he was the one that tensed. He did not want to have to keep explaining Amari's peculiar aggressiveness that ended in him being bent back over the bed and…taken advantage of. Or something like that.

 

“Girlfriend!” Hikaru replied, releasing Akira so that he could get away from Waya on the pretense of wanting to dive at the other end of the pool.

 

He really didn't want to talk about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waya watched Hikaru beat a hasty retreat. Obvious. What was so frightening as to scare the other boy away like that?

 

He turned his gaze on Touya, who remained quite silent and still. There was a blush that seemed permanent on the other pro's face, and the aqua eyes seemed dazed and inward focused.

 

“Hey, Touya. What did the girlfriend do to Hikaru? And you guys are on a first name basis now, eh? Well, it only took forever.”

 

Touya seemed to snap out of something, glancing after Hikaru before turning back to meet Waya's eyes. “I can't really say. That's something for Hikaru to tell you, not I.”

 

“He's right, Waya,” Isumi chimed in from beside him.

 

“Go play or something!” Waya shot back at the taller boy, making a face.

 

“I have to remain here to guarantee that you behave in a civilized fashion,” Isumi retorted.

 

“When did Hikaru get a tattoo?” Akira suddenly asked.

 

Waya whipped a sharp gaze on the aqua-eyed boy. “We went when we were drunk one night. When did you see that?”

 

“In…the changing room. I was just turning to talk to him, and I saw something. What was it supposed to be?”

 

“Dude! You saw it? Where is it? I figured it had to be in some weird place, since I never…hey! How did you see that? Just where were you looking??”

 

Touya blushed harder, looking away. “I thought you'd know…”

 

“What is it? Tell me what it is!”

 

The other boy shook his head stubbornly. “I can't. Not if Hikaru didn't tell you. Not if you weren't aware of it.”

 

Waya clenched his fists under the water. “It must be on his ass, since that's where you like to stare!”

 

“Waya!” Isumi chastised sharply.

 

Touya's eyes went very wide, and the boy looked as if he'd had a board broken over his head. “I…I don't! It's the…the terrible things he wears! Anyone would have to look!” His voice was thin and tremulous.

 

Waya narrowed his eyes. Perhaps Touya was just as gay as Hikaru, if not more so. How was he supposed to deal with this? He hated seeing Hikaru give in to the darkness of such a wretched relationship.

 

It seemed that he would not be told what the tattoo was. He was confident that it was something scandalous, in a scandalous place. Hikaru never did anything halfway, it seemed.

 

“I'm getting out. Isumi?” Waya turned away, knowing Isumi would follow him out of the pool.

 

He walked over to one of the tables with their happy little yellow umbrellas and threw himself into one of the plastic chairs, glaring at the pool with hooded eyes.

 

Isumi cautiously took the chair opposite his. “This again?”

 

Waya did not reply for a moment, occupied with watching how quickly Hikaru returned to throw himself on Touya again. This time Touya laughed, splashing water at his attacker.

 

“Look at that,” Waya muttered, tone laced with scorn and contempt.

 

“Why are you so obsessed with this? Most people would never take note of all the things that pass between the two of them.”

 

“What are you implying!” Waya barked, glaring into Isumi's concerned gaze.

 

“That you're way too sensitive to all this. You're overreacting. You've always been this way.”

 

“I don't want to talk about it,” he returned flatly. His tone was a clear warning to Isumi, his dear friend. He did not want to fight with him.

 

Isumi reached out to touch his hand, and he snatched it away, feeling threatened.

 

There were no further attempts to console him after that rejection. He sat there glaring at Hikaru and Touya frolicking like a couple of queers, Isumi watching him watch them.

 

Waya decided that he might have to pass on going out for dinner with everyone if Hikaru insisted on bringing his fag buddy. Each separately he could handle, especially Hikaru, but once Hikaru was with Touya, it was intolerable.

 

He hoped that Touya's daddy would make him go home. Dinner was worth passing on if he had to watch them make eyes at each other for one more moment.