Reciprocal Stalking (Is More Fun Than the Regular Kind) (Saeki/Ashiwara)
Hikaru no Go | Saeki/Ashiwara | 1,800 words | PG
Summary: Ashiwara's being kind of obvious, he thinks. (This is a tag to More Than Meets the Eye.)
Dedication: I learned recently that there are people in this fandom who noticed that I was here? That's awesome. This is for you.
Disclaimer: The world and characters belong to Hotta and Obata. No money is being made from this fic.
A/N: Not beta'd. Typo spotting earns you grateful smiles.
Reciprocal Stalking (Is More Fun Than the Regular Kind)
Ashiwara spotted Saeki as he came out of the Go Institute. Neither of them was back particularly late, but it was winter, and night closed in early. Dusk was already coming down. Saeki's hair looked even more luminescent than usual as he stopped on the steps to button his coat tighter at his neck. The hair at his ears got fluffed up over his collar as he buttoned. He used long fingers to push it down again.
"Saeki-kun!" Ashiwara lifted his arm in a wave. He finished pulling on his gloves, pretending that he'd stopped on the street to do that, rather than to wait for Saeki.
Saeki looked up.
Ashiwara tugged on his glove again and hopped up a couple of steps, lifting a smile to Saeki. "Walk me home!" he said. "I don't live very far away, and I thought you could clear your head after that last game."
Saeki pushed his hands into his pockets, looking embarrassed. "I have to catch a train to get home, Ashiwara-kun," he said. He sounded uncertain, so Ashiwara just smiled more brightly. "There's a train station near my apartment," he said.
"I'm -" Saeki said. "I ... guess?"
Ashiwara felt a glow of warmth curl inside, and he ducked his head for a moment. He hopped up the remaining steps and grabbed Saeki's hand, tugging Saeki down the steps, gloved hand in gloved hand. On the street Ashiwara dropped his hold and settled in to walk beside Saeki instead. Their shoulders brushed together.
Saeki gave him a sidelong look. "I thought I was supposed to be stalking you," he said.
Ashiwara tilted another smile at him. "You're following me home, aren't you?"
Saeki laughed. The line of his shoulders relaxed as he settled into a looser stride, and that was a more familiar Saeki. For a second he was leaning close enough for their elbows to bump, the whisper of Saeki's down jacket sliding against the heavy wool of Ashiwara's coat.
"Morishita-sensei's off my case about following you around, actually," Saeki admitted, a faint flush on his cheeks. "He got distracted by Waya-kun failing to make the Japanese team for the Hokuto Cup again. He's concentrating on him instead."
Ashiwara bit his lip against the quirk it wanted to give. "Tell me he's making Waya-kun stalk Ogata-san?"
Saeki laughed again, shooting Ashiwara a lazily delighted grin. "No. But I would pay so much money to see that, you can't even imagine."
Ashiwara hugged his arms around his middle, aware of his breath huffing into white clouds in the cold air. The streetlights had come on, and they were walking between vaguely-defined strips of warm light and shadowed dusk. Their shoulders brushed again, Saeki's hands still pushed inside his pockets, elbows tucked against his body.
Ashiwara was being kind of obvious about this, but then he'd been being kind of obvious for a while now, he thought. He thought he might have been obvious since the first time he'd seen Saeki after he made pro.
Ashiwara had passed the pro test a year earlier. When there were new pros, he hadn't paid much attention to them. He'd come into the Institute not long after the ceremony, though, and found Saeki-kun leaning over a table, studying kifu. His improbable silver-toned hair had slipped over his cheeks, and his body had been a lean, easy line in jeans and a jacket, one socked foot resting on the other, his hands braced on the table. Then he'd looked up, not at Ashiwara. He'd pushed the spikes of fringe from his eyes, staring at nothing for a moment, frowning in concentration and biting his lip. His body had still been relaxed and loose, a casual sexyness in every line, but there were also slate-blue eyes narrowed in concentration, an unwavering inward focus.
Oh, Ashiwara had thought. He'd stopped, staring. Oh, that's ... I didn't think it would be like this.
His sister, he'd thought distantly, would have told him that it was ridiculous to just be in love with somebody, like that. Ashiwara had barely even been able to remember having a conversation with Saeki when they'd both been Insei. Ashiwara had been adopted by Ogata early on, and Ogata had had the ambition and charm to keep the circle around him very select. Ashiwara had stayed in that circle even after Ogata had shot into the pro world with a steel-eyed determination that still made Ashiwara blink.
Ashiwara hadn't even known who Saeki had been friends with, really. He'd kind of wanted to then, though. He'd sort of wanted to know everything about him.
Ashiwara had bitten his lip. He hadn't been sure what to do with this. He'd felt as though he'd been shoved hard, and would take a while to recover. But he'd thought maybe ... maybe it would be a good idea to wait. To see whether Saeki liked him, or could be brought to like him. They'd be pros together, and they'd probably see a bit of each other?
Saeki had shifted, then, and noticed Ashiwara for the first time. Saeki blinked, stiffening. Then he looked away, a bad attempt at vague, pretending he hadn't seen Ashiwara after all. He started tidying up the kifu spread out on the table, shuffling it together and preparing to leave the room.
Ashiwara's throat had hurt suddenly. He'd thought, with an unpleasant kick in his stomach, that maybe bringing Saeki around to liking him might take more time than he'd thought.
Saeki had turned at the door to give Ashiwara an uncomfortable acknowledging nod, apparently deciding at the last moment that he couldn't actually be as rude as he wanted to be. Ashiwara had leaned back against the wall. He'd let his eyes slip partly closed, feeling the press of the wall against his back, and he'd decided that it would be worth it anyway. He'd wanted to know everything about Saeki - including why Saeki had just done that.
Now, as they reached an intersection, Saeki pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and tilted his head at Ashiwara, an easy half-smile on his mouth. "Which direction?" he asked.
"This way," Ashiwara said, not quite a sing-song, and leaned his head left to gesture, swaying with his whole body. Saeki's smile broadened and he rolled his eyes, falling into step again.
Ashiwara understood a good deal more about Saeki now, including the loyalty he'd felt to the ridiculous rivalry between their study groups, which Ashiwara didn't have the slightest interest in. Although he did care about Saeki's Go.
"You could have won that last game with Shirakawa-san, you know," Ashiwara said as they turned into another street.
Saeki scowled. "I know," he said. "I got distracted by the upper right corner. That's such a novice thing to pull."
Ashiwara frowned. "You could still have recovered once you realised that, if you'd tried to connect in the lower third."
Saeki turned to give him an incredulous look. "That's crazy," he said. "If I'd wanted to be wiped out, maybe I could have tried that."
Ashiwara widened his eyes. "No, " he objected. "Here, look." He stopped at a street light, taking off one glove and tracing out imaginary lines on the pole. "This was Shirakawa-san's major formation here, yes? And you were ..."
Ashiwara traced more lines, still talking, and Saeki watched with his eyebrows raised, looking less and less convinced. Finally Ashiwara whimpered and made a face, pushing his fingers into his mouth. They were aching with cold.
Saeki rolled his eyes again and grabbed Ashiwara's hand, pushing his stiffened fingers back into his glove. Then he pressed Ashiwara's hand under Saeki's own elbow with a businesslike gesture, pushing it close to Saeki's side to warm it up. "You're an idiot," he said. He sounded awed, and as though he was a minute away from laughing.
Ashiwara shivered at the tingling warmth. He dipped his head for a moment, until he could get his expression back under control. When he looked up again, Saeki was looking at him, startled. He let go of Ashiwara's hand with an awkward laugh and looked away. He rubbed his gloved hand over the back of his head as they started walking again.
"I told you that was a crazy strategy," he said, not quite looking at Ashiwara.
Ashiwara made a noncommittal noise. When Saeki looked at him, Ashiwara smiled bright and said, "Well, you didn't try it. You'll never know."
Saeki's mouth quirked. He pushed his hands back into his pockets. "I also didn't just give myself frostbite."
They were nearing Ashiwara's apartment building, now. Ashiwara tried to subtly slow his steps as they turned the last corner.
"It was worth it," he said lightly. He could still feel the tingle in his fingertips as they warmed up; the phantom pressure where Saeki had pressed against them.
Saeki turned to look at him, quickly. He'd come to a stop in front of the wrought iron railing on the stairs up to Ashiwara's apartment. The street was empty apart from them. Darkness had fallen properly now, but they stood in the glow of the light mounted above the stairs, and Saeki's hair was all silver highlights where it touched the side of his neck.
Ashiwara was staring. He could feel himself getting flustered, but he couldn't drag his eyes away.
Saeki opened his mouth, then swallowed and closed it again.
"Er," Ashiwara said, finally managing to break eye contact. "This is ... my apartment." He smiled, a quick look up, and then down at his coat sleeve. "You probably remember, from when you were following me about. So." He moved around Saeki and took a couple of steps up the stairs, walking backwards with his hand on the iron railing. "Thank you for keeping me company, Saeki-kun."
Saeki shook his head, looking away and cupping his hand over the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah," he said. "No, it was - that's okay."
He looked back up, and Ashiwara smiled again.
Saeki stared for half a second, then jumped up the two steps between them and pressed his mouth against Ashiwara's.
Ashiwara sucked in a breath, and Saeki stepped back. His eyes were wide and panicked.
"I -" Saeki said. "Sorry. I didn't -"
Ashiwara put out a hand, tugging him back up until Saeki was close enough for Ashiwara to rest his forehead on Saeki's shoulder, his cheek pressed up against Saeki's neck. "Don't apologise," he mumbled.
Saeki shuddered, his pulse racing against Ashiwara's jaw. Ashiwara turned his head a little, his hair scraping over Saeki's neck. "So that was okay?" Saeki said, letting out a breath.
Ashiwara laughed, something in his chest coming uncoiled, warm and happy. He took another two backwards steps up the stairs, tugging Saeki after him, until they were pressed back against the door, in the shadow of the lintel. He lifted his chin, carefully, finding Saeki's mouth. Saeki's body was a warm contrast to the cold of the door at Ashiwara's back, his breath hot and uneven on Ashiwara's mouth. "You have," Ashiwara said, the laugh still curling inside him. He pressed his smile against Saeki's mouth, and away. "You have no idea," Ashiwara said. He couldn't even kiss Saeki properly because he couldn't stop smiling.
Fin
Summary: Ashiwara's being kind of obvious, he thinks. (This is a tag to More Than Meets the Eye.)
Dedication: I learned recently that there are people in this fandom who noticed that I was here? That's awesome. This is for you.
Disclaimer: The world and characters belong to Hotta and Obata. No money is being made from this fic.
A/N: Not beta'd. Typo spotting earns you grateful smiles.
Reciprocal Stalking (Is More Fun Than the Regular Kind)
Ashiwara spotted Saeki as he came out of the Go Institute. Neither of them was back particularly late, but it was winter, and night closed in early. Dusk was already coming down. Saeki's hair looked even more luminescent than usual as he stopped on the steps to button his coat tighter at his neck. The hair at his ears got fluffed up over his collar as he buttoned. He used long fingers to push it down again.
"Saeki-kun!" Ashiwara lifted his arm in a wave. He finished pulling on his gloves, pretending that he'd stopped on the street to do that, rather than to wait for Saeki.
Saeki looked up.
Ashiwara tugged on his glove again and hopped up a couple of steps, lifting a smile to Saeki. "Walk me home!" he said. "I don't live very far away, and I thought you could clear your head after that last game."
Saeki pushed his hands into his pockets, looking embarrassed. "I have to catch a train to get home, Ashiwara-kun," he said. He sounded uncertain, so Ashiwara just smiled more brightly. "There's a train station near my apartment," he said.
"I'm -" Saeki said. "I ... guess?"
Ashiwara felt a glow of warmth curl inside, and he ducked his head for a moment. He hopped up the remaining steps and grabbed Saeki's hand, tugging Saeki down the steps, gloved hand in gloved hand. On the street Ashiwara dropped his hold and settled in to walk beside Saeki instead. Their shoulders brushed together.
Saeki gave him a sidelong look. "I thought I was supposed to be stalking you," he said.
Ashiwara tilted another smile at him. "You're following me home, aren't you?"
Saeki laughed. The line of his shoulders relaxed as he settled into a looser stride, and that was a more familiar Saeki. For a second he was leaning close enough for their elbows to bump, the whisper of Saeki's down jacket sliding against the heavy wool of Ashiwara's coat.
"Morishita-sensei's off my case about following you around, actually," Saeki admitted, a faint flush on his cheeks. "He got distracted by Waya-kun failing to make the Japanese team for the Hokuto Cup again. He's concentrating on him instead."
Ashiwara bit his lip against the quirk it wanted to give. "Tell me he's making Waya-kun stalk Ogata-san?"
Saeki laughed again, shooting Ashiwara a lazily delighted grin. "No. But I would pay so much money to see that, you can't even imagine."
Ashiwara hugged his arms around his middle, aware of his breath huffing into white clouds in the cold air. The streetlights had come on, and they were walking between vaguely-defined strips of warm light and shadowed dusk. Their shoulders brushed again, Saeki's hands still pushed inside his pockets, elbows tucked against his body.
Ashiwara was being kind of obvious about this, but then he'd been being kind of obvious for a while now, he thought. He thought he might have been obvious since the first time he'd seen Saeki after he made pro.
Ashiwara had passed the pro test a year earlier. When there were new pros, he hadn't paid much attention to them. He'd come into the Institute not long after the ceremony, though, and found Saeki-kun leaning over a table, studying kifu. His improbable silver-toned hair had slipped over his cheeks, and his body had been a lean, easy line in jeans and a jacket, one socked foot resting on the other, his hands braced on the table. Then he'd looked up, not at Ashiwara. He'd pushed the spikes of fringe from his eyes, staring at nothing for a moment, frowning in concentration and biting his lip. His body had still been relaxed and loose, a casual sexyness in every line, but there were also slate-blue eyes narrowed in concentration, an unwavering inward focus.
Oh, Ashiwara had thought. He'd stopped, staring. Oh, that's ... I didn't think it would be like this.
His sister, he'd thought distantly, would have told him that it was ridiculous to just be in love with somebody, like that. Ashiwara had barely even been able to remember having a conversation with Saeki when they'd both been Insei. Ashiwara had been adopted by Ogata early on, and Ogata had had the ambition and charm to keep the circle around him very select. Ashiwara had stayed in that circle even after Ogata had shot into the pro world with a steel-eyed determination that still made Ashiwara blink.
Ashiwara hadn't even known who Saeki had been friends with, really. He'd kind of wanted to then, though. He'd sort of wanted to know everything about him.
Ashiwara had bitten his lip. He hadn't been sure what to do with this. He'd felt as though he'd been shoved hard, and would take a while to recover. But he'd thought maybe ... maybe it would be a good idea to wait. To see whether Saeki liked him, or could be brought to like him. They'd be pros together, and they'd probably see a bit of each other?
Saeki had shifted, then, and noticed Ashiwara for the first time. Saeki blinked, stiffening. Then he looked away, a bad attempt at vague, pretending he hadn't seen Ashiwara after all. He started tidying up the kifu spread out on the table, shuffling it together and preparing to leave the room.
Ashiwara's throat had hurt suddenly. He'd thought, with an unpleasant kick in his stomach, that maybe bringing Saeki around to liking him might take more time than he'd thought.
Saeki had turned at the door to give Ashiwara an uncomfortable acknowledging nod, apparently deciding at the last moment that he couldn't actually be as rude as he wanted to be. Ashiwara had leaned back against the wall. He'd let his eyes slip partly closed, feeling the press of the wall against his back, and he'd decided that it would be worth it anyway. He'd wanted to know everything about Saeki - including why Saeki had just done that.
Now, as they reached an intersection, Saeki pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and tilted his head at Ashiwara, an easy half-smile on his mouth. "Which direction?" he asked.
"This way," Ashiwara said, not quite a sing-song, and leaned his head left to gesture, swaying with his whole body. Saeki's smile broadened and he rolled his eyes, falling into step again.
Ashiwara understood a good deal more about Saeki now, including the loyalty he'd felt to the ridiculous rivalry between their study groups, which Ashiwara didn't have the slightest interest in. Although he did care about Saeki's Go.
"You could have won that last game with Shirakawa-san, you know," Ashiwara said as they turned into another street.
Saeki scowled. "I know," he said. "I got distracted by the upper right corner. That's such a novice thing to pull."
Ashiwara frowned. "You could still have recovered once you realised that, if you'd tried to connect in the lower third."
Saeki turned to give him an incredulous look. "That's crazy," he said. "If I'd wanted to be wiped out, maybe I could have tried that."
Ashiwara widened his eyes. "No, " he objected. "Here, look." He stopped at a street light, taking off one glove and tracing out imaginary lines on the pole. "This was Shirakawa-san's major formation here, yes? And you were ..."
Ashiwara traced more lines, still talking, and Saeki watched with his eyebrows raised, looking less and less convinced. Finally Ashiwara whimpered and made a face, pushing his fingers into his mouth. They were aching with cold.
Saeki rolled his eyes again and grabbed Ashiwara's hand, pushing his stiffened fingers back into his glove. Then he pressed Ashiwara's hand under Saeki's own elbow with a businesslike gesture, pushing it close to Saeki's side to warm it up. "You're an idiot," he said. He sounded awed, and as though he was a minute away from laughing.
Ashiwara shivered at the tingling warmth. He dipped his head for a moment, until he could get his expression back under control. When he looked up again, Saeki was looking at him, startled. He let go of Ashiwara's hand with an awkward laugh and looked away. He rubbed his gloved hand over the back of his head as they started walking again.
"I told you that was a crazy strategy," he said, not quite looking at Ashiwara.
Ashiwara made a noncommittal noise. When Saeki looked at him, Ashiwara smiled bright and said, "Well, you didn't try it. You'll never know."
Saeki's mouth quirked. He pushed his hands back into his pockets. "I also didn't just give myself frostbite."
They were nearing Ashiwara's apartment building, now. Ashiwara tried to subtly slow his steps as they turned the last corner.
"It was worth it," he said lightly. He could still feel the tingle in his fingertips as they warmed up; the phantom pressure where Saeki had pressed against them.
Saeki turned to look at him, quickly. He'd come to a stop in front of the wrought iron railing on the stairs up to Ashiwara's apartment. The street was empty apart from them. Darkness had fallen properly now, but they stood in the glow of the light mounted above the stairs, and Saeki's hair was all silver highlights where it touched the side of his neck.
Ashiwara was staring. He could feel himself getting flustered, but he couldn't drag his eyes away.
Saeki opened his mouth, then swallowed and closed it again.
"Er," Ashiwara said, finally managing to break eye contact. "This is ... my apartment." He smiled, a quick look up, and then down at his coat sleeve. "You probably remember, from when you were following me about. So." He moved around Saeki and took a couple of steps up the stairs, walking backwards with his hand on the iron railing. "Thank you for keeping me company, Saeki-kun."
Saeki shook his head, looking away and cupping his hand over the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah," he said. "No, it was - that's okay."
He looked back up, and Ashiwara smiled again.
Saeki stared for half a second, then jumped up the two steps between them and pressed his mouth against Ashiwara's.
Ashiwara sucked in a breath, and Saeki stepped back. His eyes were wide and panicked.
"I -" Saeki said. "Sorry. I didn't -"
Ashiwara put out a hand, tugging him back up until Saeki was close enough for Ashiwara to rest his forehead on Saeki's shoulder, his cheek pressed up against Saeki's neck. "Don't apologise," he mumbled.
Saeki shuddered, his pulse racing against Ashiwara's jaw. Ashiwara turned his head a little, his hair scraping over Saeki's neck. "So that was okay?" Saeki said, letting out a breath.
Ashiwara laughed, something in his chest coming uncoiled, warm and happy. He took another two backwards steps up the stairs, tugging Saeki after him, until they were pressed back against the door, in the shadow of the lintel. He lifted his chin, carefully, finding Saeki's mouth. Saeki's body was a warm contrast to the cold of the door at Ashiwara's back, his breath hot and uneven on Ashiwara's mouth. "You have," Ashiwara said, the laugh still curling inside him. He pressed his smile against Saeki's mouth, and away. "You have no idea," Ashiwara said. He couldn't even kiss Saeki properly because he couldn't stop smiling.
Fin