Universal Truths

By Ju

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune but not a wife, must be gay.

Ogata Seiji wasn't too sure why this was so, but judging from the knowing looks that he had begun to receive ever since he'd dumped his last girlfriend, everybody certainly believed it. Touya-sensei had once asked him, his gaze delicately averted, if he could perhaps introduce Ogata to a 'special' friend of his. Of course Ogata had, just as politely, declined. Ichikawa-san, probably his only female acquaintance whom he considered a friend, often liked to discuss fashion and boyfriend troubles with him, taking for granted that he was actually interested in such things. And now, here was Ashiwara, blushing bright red and stammering nervously, wishing to know if Ogata would like to have dinner with him that night.

"Dinner." Ogata's voice was flat.

Although previously thought impossible, Ashiwara reddened even more. His cheeks were now a rather alarming shade of crimson as he stuttered, "D-Dinner… but if you're busy… perhaps another time, then?"

Ogata stared at the other man, unsure of how to put this politely, and unsure if he really cared to. "Ashiwara, I don't know where you might've gotten the idea that I'm… like that. But I'm not."

Wide brown eyes blinked up at him in shock, embarrassment, dismay; and although Ogata tried to convince himself otherwise, a flash of pity also crossed that flushed face.

"Look, if you're just asking me to dinner as a friend, I'd be perfectly happy to join you," he explained, at the same time wondering why he felt the need to do so. "But… I have had girlfriends before, you know."

And Ashiwara, lifting his head defiantly, retorted, "So have I! Even if it was a long time ago…"

"A long time ago?" Ogata tried to stifle a rude snort, but didn't quite succeed. "You're, what, twenty-two? You were still in diapers, a long time ago."

"I turned twenty-three two weeks ago!" Ashiwara responded somewhat defensively. Then his gaze lowered, and he murmured, "But you were too busy with the Honinbo league games to come to the party."

Ogata regarded the disappointed man before him, felt a twinge of guilt in his chest, and pondered how a man could have such absurdly long eyelashes. Even looking like a tomato with curly brown hair, Ashiwara was almost femininely pretty; Ogata could imagine himself kissing soft, pink lips such as those. Not that he ever would, of course, because the world and its mother could speculate about him until they were blue in the face, but they were still utterly wrong.

Weren't they?

So he muttered, awkwardly, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

And they stood together in the lobby of the Go Institute, looking everywhere but at each other, wondering why the uncomfortable silence wasn't shattered by the loud laughter of passing Insei. Finally, unable to stand any more of Ashiwara's feet-shuffling and hand-fidgeting, Ogata grabbed the other man by the elbow and dragged him out of the building.

"Where did you want to go, then?" he asked brusquely.

His answer was a disarming grin like the sun emerging from behind dark clouds, and a bright voice that declared, "There's an Italian restaurant several blocks away that's really nice."

"Fine. Italian it is." By this point they had reached Ogata's car, and after he was seated comfortably behind the wheel, with his jacket removed and flung to the backseat, he couldn't help but notice the younger man staring at him. "What is it now?"

Ashiwara blinked a little, studied his paisley-patterned shirt for a few seconds more, then whispered, "Ogata-san, are you sure you're not gay?"

:: Owari ::

A/N: …Forgive me, Jane Austen.