FicWad

Chapter 3: Learning to Love


Sexual Tension. This was inevitable for the two adult professional go players who, by all accounts, were soulmates, and attempted to live under the same roof.

Exhibit A was the first time Shindou walked in on Touya taking a shower.

Shindou had come home from an overnight trip for a game. Eager to be in his own bath, he waltzed in to the house, shouted that he was taking a bath, and opened the door to see Touya, from behind, totally naked and dripping wet. Akira turned, calmly, and met Hikaru's gaze. Except Hikaru wasn't meeting Touya's eyes, it was reviewing his entire naked body. It was really a beautiful body, thin and almost feminine. This went on for a moment too long, and Akira finally said "Shindou, you can leave now," and Shindou had never left a room faster.

This was the first time Hikaru had allowed himself to...enjoy himself...with mental images of his best friend. He did so quickly, before Akira came out of the bath. Because they shared a room, self-gratification was impossible at night when they went to bed.

This, however, was not a first for Akira.

Exhibit B was, unsurprisingly, the first time Akira walked in on a naked Shindou.

But it wasn't an accident. Though he hadn't necessarily come to terms with the act, Akira had accepted that the thought of Shindou did inspire excitement in him, and had first enjoyed himself to the mental image of Shindou over a year ago, before they moved in. So, several weeks later, after coming home while Shindou was in the bath, Akira took it upon himself to get even with Shindou's too-long gaze and barge in the bath himself. He planned to stumble in, cooly, to make it look like an accident, but when he opened the door, he found Shindou, bare and facing him, only a few feet away, because he was just getting out. Shindou hid a well-shaped, masculine physique, that was fully exposed. Another thing was fully exposed too, and so Akira found it impossible to maintain his coolness. He stole only the shortest glance before shrieking some incomprehensible apology and slamming the door behind him as he ran out. Shindou stared blankly at the space that Akira had occupied for a few moments, and then continued drying off as if nothing had happened.

Hikaru had surely won that round. But after that, things got out of hand.

"Shindou, for God's sake, even if I can't get you to do the dishes, would you just rinse them off? Seriously, it takes like two seconds."
Akira, Shindou had come to realize, was not the sweet, apron-wearing male housewife that Akari's fancomics would lead you to believe was the fate of the more feminine man in a household.
"I was going to, Christ, Touya, you don't even let me get out of the kitchen before you start yelling."
"I don't have to, Shindou." At this, Akira put his hands on his hips, and looked Hikaru straight in the eyes.
Hikaru wasn't sure why, but when Akira did this, he got kind of turned on. Unfortunately, this led to him attempting to leave the room as fast as possible, thus not doing what he was asked to do, and making Akira even angrier.

So this time he met Akira's gaze. His heat was stirred by that fact that Akira was not being gentle to him, but with a hip jutted out, in a solid stance of defense, and fire in his eyes, Shindou could not think of anything but jumping him. Of... turning this anger into passion.

"Shindou, you're turning red. Are you ill?" Akira hissed bitingly.
"Yes!" Hikaru squeaked, running to the bathroom to avenge himself.

Akira was having more difficulty at bedtime. He was the type to think for a bit before he fell asleep, and having the man who arouses you sleeping a couple meters away was a recipe for trouble. And erections. Once, he'd tried to relieve himself silently, but was majorly disturbed when Hikaru got up in the middle of the act to use the bathroom. He was sure he had been discovered, for a moment, but Hikaru stumbled back to bed, seemingly unaware that Akira was awake, let alone masturbating. He never tried it again.

So after about a month of this, the two were just about at their limit of tension. It was a particularly busy week, and the first time in six days that they had an evening at home together. Akira made dinner, and the two ate in complete silence.

Their cheeks were gently flushed in red, and in between the slurping of noodles, they would steal glances up at one other- sometimes hitting, sometimes missing. And when they hit, their level of scarlet went up a level. When they finished, they met eyes and almost immediately, simultaneously laughed something to the extent of, "Boy it's hot in here!"

Akira gathered up the dishes and ran the sink water. He rolled up his sleeves, and started cleaning. Hikaru leaned his elbows on the counter next to him...and just watched.
Akira was unaware for the first minute, but he soon became concious of Hikaru's gaze, without looking over to confirm it. He was being watched, and he suddenly felt extremely self-concious.
Hikaru was taking in all of Akira's actions. The rhythmic way he scrubbed the plates circularly. The way his hair bounced back and forth as he scrubbed. His bright red ears, knowing he was being examined. Hikaru was entranced.

But Akira was about to scream. He had no idea why he was being scrutinized, but, being already excited, having Shindou stare at him was pure torture. Being over aware of himself, he started to breathe long, drawn out breaths. This strained breathing and red face was too much for Hikaru, who moved in.

Hikaru positioned himself behind Touya and put his hands on his waist. Touya dropped whatever plate he washing. Hikaru moved himself close to Akira, pushing his front against Akira's backside. He moved his hands along Akira's torso, and wrapped them around his stomach. Akira, burning with anticipation, gripped the edge of the sink with both hands to keep from falling over and fainting. He had already been aroused, and now with Hikaru touching him, the erection that was being pressed between his body and the counter was becoming, well...
"Shindou," he squeaked, "it's not...it's not comfortable..."
Hikaru snapped out of his trance and backed away from Akira. He stammered,"I'm...so sorry, Akira..."
Touya blinked as Shindou ran out of the kitchen and into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. He was, in the end, displeased that their gropefest had ended before it'd even begun.
He dried his hands and followed him to the bedroom. When he slid open the door, he found Hikaru face down on his bed, head buried in his pillow.
"Don't come in," he whined.
"It's my bedroom too, Shindou, I'll come in if I like," he replied, walking across the room and sitting down on his own bed.

Several moments passed with Akira looking at Shindou from across the room.

"Are you gay, Shindou?" Touya asked, point blank.

Shindou's head popped up from his pillow. "What!? No!" he scoffed, red in the face. "I don't like guys like that." He said, turning away and quieting as he finished the sentence.
Touya's heart dropped for a brief moment, before Shindou continued, very quietly, "...just you."
Touya choked back a sigh of relief, and turned red as well.
Shindou turned his head back over to face Touya. "I'm sorry. I won't come on to you any more, though. I want to keep living with you, so I'll stop that."

Akira realized then that Hikaru had the wrong idea about his reaction. He thought he had been rejected. When he said it was uncomfortable, Hikaru thought he meant being touched by him at all. He panicked, unsure of how many seconds he had to recover the conversation. Quickly, Akira mustered up all the nerve he had inside him, and, with face red hot, he stammered "I...I don't want you to do that Shindou!"
"What...?" Hikaru asked.
"I...d...don't want you..." He babbled, embarrassed twice over that he had to repeat himself, "to stop it."

Akira had never seen Hikaru move so quick. In a single moment, Hikaru had thrown himself off of his bed, and across the room to scoop Akira up in his arms.
"Oh, God, Akira!" He shouted through forming tears, "Please, PLEASE don't be lying." He squeezed Akira tightly, "Please, please, tell me again. Tell me I'm not dreaming."

Akira was at his wits end at this point, having made himself vulnerable twice already, he was not prepared to do it again. He could not say it, so he used all that he had learned to say it in another way. He grabbed Shindou firmly by the shoulders, pushed him off of his neck and looked him square in the eyes, with brows twisted in unpreparedness. Then, determined, he brought his face to Shindou's and locked his lips in a forceful, awkward, crooked kiss.

Hikaru needed no further confirmation, and kissed back, with the force of a month of sexual repression.

The ensuing sex was fierce. After a brief period of not knowing who was going to insert what where, Akira won out by being both the firmer fighter and the longer deprived of the two, and ended up putting his what in Shindou's where, which was fine because Shindou still got to be on top, physically.

When the act was finished, the two collapsed on Akira's bed in a sweaty, sticky, half-clothed pile, which Akira immediately found revolting.
"Touya! Let me cuddle, you big jerk!"
"No, get off, you're sticky!"
"Whose fault is that?"
"Oh, wait, someone is at fault? Who started groping me at the kitchen sink?"

Once the bickering had ended, and both had bathed, they curled up on Akira's bed, Akira in a light yukata, and Shindou in his tracksuit pajamas. Well into the early hours of the morning, they shut off the lights and lay close.
"How long...?" Shindou asked.
"Oh..." Touya said, "Well, about a year, I think."
Shindou jumped up. "A YEAR? Are you kidding me? All that time?"
"Yes all that time, you unobservant jerk."
"Oh God," he sighed, flopping back onto the pillow, "all that wasted time..."
"All that wasted time? Shindou, you didn't start eyeing me up until a month ago."
Shindou grew quiet, silently counting the weeks.
"Akira. You're scary sometimes."
They drifted into a peaceful, relieved sleep. They now had each other- all of each other. Relationship nuances would be worked out over the next few months and years, but for now, they were wrapped in a perfect bliss of new romance, and total peace.


The first thing they did when they awoke was ask Sai for his blessing. When they moved in, they had set aside a small corner for a shrine to Sai, with Sai's goban, a fan, and some incense inside.
If anyone was going to be happy for them, it was him.

-End of chapter 3-