Hikaru no Go In Which Touya Hates Chocolate (And the Color Pink) But is Too Polite to Say So
Title: In Which Touya Hates Chocolate (And the Color Pink) But is Too Polite to Say So
Author: SVZ
Fandom: Hikaru no Go
Pairing: Touya/Shindou
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go.
Summary: Touya hates Valentine's Day more than anything else. Except maybe the color pink.

In Which Touya Hates Chocolate (And the Color Pink) But is Too Polite to Say So

"Um, Touya-san, please accept this as a token of my--"

This happens about three or four more times before Touya finally catches on, realizing with a start that today is Valentine's day and oh dear god, he remembers exactly why he hates Valentine's day. The lobby of the Go Institute is swarmed with girls, girls, and more girls, and Touya suspects hardly any of them have the slightest interest in Go which he finds even more disturbing than the amount of 'thank you' notes that he will have to write to reciprocate.

It takes him almost ten minutes to get through the crowded lobby; it seems like as soon as one girl confesses and pushes her gift into his arms, two others will appear out of nowhere to tap him on the shoulder. By the end, Touya can already feel the start of a headache building right between his eyebrows and meets Isumi at the elevator.

"You too?" Touya asks dully, seeing the small pile of gifts in the other's arms and he tries to tell the little voice at the back of his head that screams 'kindred spirit!' to just shut the goddamn hell up.

"Yeah," Isumi replies, looking sheepish. He makes a move as if to run his fingers through his bangs -- a move made impossible due to the boxes of candy he's holding. "I forgot what day today was, otherwise I would have used the back entrance."

"We have a back entrance?" Touya asks incredulously before he stops Isumi's answer prematurely with a shake of the head. "Actually, don't. I don't want to know."

The rest of the ride up is spent in silence and Touya is beginning to think that he should have just called in sick because all signs were pointing to a Horribly Bad Day. He's ready to turn to Isumi and tell him that an emergency came up and attribute it to his cat dying or something. Isumi's a nice enough guy and he's not the type to ask questions.

Touya's mouth is open and he already has a half-formed excuse about adopting a stray out of the kindness and tenderness of his heart when the elevator doors ding open and Shindou's friend Waya is there, waiting.

"Yo, Isumi," Waya greets cheerfully before he sees Touya and gives him the evil eye. Refusing to acknowlege his presence, Waya turns to Isumi. "Wow, get a load of all the chocolate you got. Plan on sharing?"

Touya knows when he's unwelcome and so he staggers to the foyer's cubbyholes to toe off his shoes. It takes him a few moments before he decides to dump the boxes of chocolate into Honda's and Shindou's usual cubbyhole. Honda doesn't have a match until tomorrow and as for Shindou, there's no guilt. First of all, it's Shindou. Second, it's not like Shindou will be here today either -- or at least, Shindou's not supposed to be here. One could never tell with him.

Nevertheless, Touya doubts that his rival would mind a little extra chocolate in his shoe locker, judging by how delighted he was when he found chocolate left on his pillow by the hotel staff at the last Go convention.

"Touya, good luck on your game today," Isumi calls to him and not-so-subtly elbowing Waya in ribs.

"Er, yeah," Waya says, insincerely. "Don't suck." He glares back at Isumi and mutters something under his breath that Touya doesn't quite catch and is probably better off not knowing.

Touya makes a beeline to the men's room and splashes cold water on his face. He gets an odd look from Kayashima 3-dan who knows better than to say anything and he wonders if this day could possibly get any worse.

---

An hour into his game, and Touya now knows the answer is a resounding yes. Yes, his day could definitely get worse because he keeps misreading Kanata's intentions, and this is not going to be one of those games that everyone is going to rave about. The most horrifying part of it all is that he's losing since the game has gone into an utter standstill. Well, actually, he's not losing quite exactly-- but he's certainly not winning either. He doesn't do that to anyone except Shindou and his father, and Kanata's merely a 4-dan.

Shindou's going to make fun of him for a week, at the very least.

It seems to take forever for Kanata to resign, and even then, Touya wins by only six and a half moku.

"Touya-san, would you like to discuss the--"

"I have a prior engagement," Touya ends up saying, watching all the hope in Kanata's eyes grow dim and his expression falter at his refusal. "I apologize, Kanata-san, -- another time?" he says, feeling something akin to guilt pawing in his chest at his lie. What he really wants to do is go back home and hide there for the rest of the day.

"Oh, of course," Kanata replies, composing himself. He bows and smiles, "Thank you for your guidance."

Of course, karma decides to get even with him ten minutes later when he gets ambushed by a crowd of teenage girls outside the Institute bearing doe-eyed looks and worst of all; even more chocolate.

As the girls close in, Touya can't help but curse inwardly. He should have asked Isumi about the back entrance when he had the chance. He gives the first girl a plastered on smile and listens politely to her stammering confession and accepts her delicately wrapped present.

At least one of the girls had been thoughtful enough to give him a bag to carry all of them.

Touya really hates Valentine's Day.

---

When Touya finally reaches the apartment, the first thing he sees when he enters is the back of Shindou's obnoxious head.

"Hey, you're back," Shindou says brightly, limbs sprawled languidly on their couch. His mouth is smeared with chocolate and a half-empty box sits on his lap. On the coffee table are even more boxes of chocolate in varying shades of pink, red, and even more retina-searing pink. "We have chocolate."

Touya practically dumps the ones he received onto the table. "I know," he replies, drily. "Are all the ones on the table mine?"

"Of course not, stupid." Shindou is silent for a moment as he thoughtfully chews on a caramel. "Some of them are mine too. I don't know how they got our address... but whatever. Oh, the one I'm eating though? Totally yours. It's Godiva."

"Great," Touya sighs. He doesn't even bother to warn his boyfriend before wearily sinking down on the sofa---Shindou yelps and barely retracts his legs in time. "I don't suppose you kept track of names or anything, did you?"

"Why would I?" Shindou snorts, examining a piece of chocolate with mild interest.

"So I can write them thank you letters."

Touya stares at Shindou and Shindou stares back, regarding him with his 'Oh hell, you're actually being serious, aren't you?' expression. "You write thank you letters?" Shindou asks incredulously, almost dropping the piece of chocolate held between his fingers. He saves it from hitting the rug just in time.

Touya already knows he's going to regret this. "Yes?" he answers. "Usually they leave their name and address so I just send them a note back by White Day."

"Geez, no wonder you always get so many," Shindou whistles. "I thought girls were just blind for liking you." He pulls himself up into a sitting position and leans forward, "Okay, let me let you in on a little secret... Touya, guys don't usually send notes back."

"I just figured," Touya mumbles,"it seemed like the nice thing to do."

"Yeah, but all you're doing is encouraging them. And when you encourage them, they give you more chocolate and then you get this 'I Hate Puppies And Rainbows and Bunnies with Pancakes On Their Heads' expression because you're practically allergic to the color pink." Shindou gestures to the presents Touya received in a way that could have been interpreted as either "see, I'm right" or "these chocolates are now mine". Whatever, Touya is too tired to even care.

When Touya rolls his eyes at his dramatics, Shindou arches an eyebrow. He frowns. "See. Next year, just accept the damn candy and eat it."

"Ah."

"Or," Shindou continues on, now grinning, "you can just tell them that you're gay--" he manages to duck just in time from getting brained by a well-aimed couch pillow, "-- then I bet the problem would just solve itself."

"All right, no thank you letters next year," Touya agrees, massaging his temples. "I won't send them this year either. Okay?"

Shindou nods approvingly and claps him on the back before shoving a box of chocolate in front of his face. "Hey, try these. You like dark chocolate, right? And green tea? God, these are perfect for you and your weird taste buds--dark chocolate with some weird green tea paste filling. I hate them. Try."

"Good," Touya admits after Shindou nearly forces them down his throat. "Not too sweet." He's surprised when Shindou's face completely lights up.

"God," Shindou declares cheerfully, wrapping an arm around Touya loosely (partly to steady himself when he reaches over to get another box of homemade chocolates) and smiling gleefully. "I love Valentine's Day."

--fin--

Comments and constructive criticism welcomed! (And yes, I admit to throwing this together really quickly at the last minute so yeah, there goes quality. This is why I shouldn't procrastinate.)