X Marks the Spot
Title: X Marks the Spot
Characters/Pairing: Koyama/Tegoshi
Rating: G
Words: 3,100
Warnings: Fluff? AU? (Do I need to warn for that anymore? I feel like maybe I should warn for NON-AU)
Summary: Tegoshi makes magic maps, Shige is dubious, Koyama keeps getting the short end of the stick, or does he?
Notes: Happy holidays, Cait!! <3 Here's your sweet, fluffy KoyaTego. XD
-=-
"I’m sorry. You what?" Koyama heard Shige asking someone.
"It’s true," another voice insisted, and Koyama only saw the back of a stranger’s head and Shige’s very dubious face as he slid into his seat opposite Shige and next to the stranger. He must have come in while Koyama was in the bathroom.
"You’re trying to sell me something," Shige told him, with a shake of his head, and Koyama frowned a little.
"I’m not!" The man looked young, younger than Shige, which wasn’t really saying much, honestly, and was very pretty, face made all of precise angles with just the right touch of curve to keep it friendly, wide warm-brown eyes, and cheekbones high and sharp enough to cut. The little mole above his lips brought thoughts of Marilyn Monroe and Koyama had to shake his head when he thought of the man in that white dress, futilely trying to hold it down as it billowed up around him.
"Er… Shige?" Koyama asked.
"Oh, sorry!" the stranger replied, turning to face Koyama with a cheerful smile. "I’m Tegoshi Yuya."
Koyama smiled back uncertainly.
"I don’t know him," Shige added with a snort and took a huge bite of his lunch.
"Ahh."
"He insists that he has some sort of magical ability to draw maps that lead a person to what they need most. Next thing I know, I’ll probably find myself in some alley waiting to get mugged. Or in an electronics shop. No thanks."
Tegoshi frowned at him and then shrugged. "You don’t have to believe me, but I’m not lying." He took out a notepad and started sketching.
Unsure of what to do, Koyama stared back and forth between the two of them and fiddled with his chopsticks, really wanting to eat his lunch.
"Eat, Koyama," Shige told him, and he finally turned to his food just as Tegoshi ripped the page out of the book and pushed it across the table at Shige.
Shige just looked at the paper with raised eyebrows. "What is this?" he finally asked, tone mocking, and Koyama leaned forward to peer at the sheet. He couldn’t blame Shige for the tone; he thought maybe Nyanta could do a better job. Though he was too polite to say so to a stranger.
"Shige," he admonished quietly, but Shige just grunted at him.
"It’s a map." Tegoshi gave Shige a withering look. "Surely you can read."
Trying not to laugh ended up choking Koyama, and Tegoshi patted him hard on the back.
"And when should I go," Shige asked dryly. "Midnight? Between nine and five?"
Shrugging, Tegoshi returned to his sketch pad. "Whenever. It’s what you need. You’ll go when it’s there."
Shige made a disbelieving noise, but Koyama was watching Tegoshi stare at a giant X on his pad. "Hmmm. Strange." He pushed the paper toward Koyama. "This is yours."
"But… it’s just an X."
"Yeah. I don’t know. That’s never happened before."
"Run out of fairy dust?" Shige asked wryly, lips twitching.
Ignoring him, Tegoshi went on. "It must mean that what you need most is here somewhere."
Koyama looked around, eyes settling on Shige, and he smiled. "Maybe I need Shige the most. Good thing I already have him," he cooed, eyes glinting mischievously, and Shige blushed.
"Koyama, stop being so gross."
Tegoshi was sort-of quiet after his own food came, even though he kept interrupting their conversation to interject his own opinions. It didn’t really bother Koyama, especially because it kept winding Shige up, he and Tegoshi both laughing at the man’s reactions. He kind of liked how unrestrained Tegoshi’s laugh was, how loud and un-self-conscious, and he wanted to make him laugh more, so he mostly just goaded Shige on.
Shige had to practically drag him out of the restaurant.
A week later, Koyama reminded Shige of the map just as they'd left a shop, an X Japan t-shirt on a passerby making him think of Tegoshi and smile, and he had stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk and shouted, "Map!"
"Koyama!" Shige hissed, and pulled him off to the side and out of people's way. "Do you want everyone to know you're special?"
Koyama didn't bother trying to explain his chain of thoughts; Shige would just shake his head anyway. "Your map. The map Tegoshi-san gave you. We should do it now!"
"Hah." He looked at Koyama and stopped laughing. "Wait. You don't really think it's going to work, do you? Come on, Koyama." He continued to complain the whole way they followed Tegoshi's map, too. Which was less like a map and more like a vague sort of treasure hunt with obscure and weird measurements. Not quite "a hundred paces north" which had always left Shige wondering if a "pace" had an actual measurement or if people were just supposed to guess (no wonder treasures were hardly ever found on purpose) but bad enough. "Why are there no street names?" he complained.
"Relax. He said that it didn't really matter. It would be there when you got there. So as long as you follow the directions generally, you can't be wrong, right?" He ignored Shige when he made that sound like he was having an aneurysm, because he was so on to that one.
They ended up standing side by side in front of some small art gallery, heads tilted identically as they stared at it thoughtfully.
"Well?" Shige asked, resignation in his voice.
"Let's go in," Koyama answered firmly, and Shige sighed and followed him in.
A man turned from straightening a piece when they came in, the frame wobbling slightly as his fingers left it and he frowned and quickly fixed it before coming up to them. "Hello," he said cheerfully. "Welcome. You're a little early, but feel free to… Kato-kun?"
Shige started, looking at the man in surprise. "Ah. Takano-san?"
"Well isn't this a surprise! I haven't seen you in years, how are you?"
Koyama politely let them continue their catching up, moving around the room to check out the photographs. They were pretty cool, he decided, though he knew he didn't really have an eye for art. He thought Shige's were nicer, though. He would admit that he might be biased however.
When he returned to Shige's side, there was a lull in the conversation that Koyama felt the need to utilize. "Shige is a photographer, too," he said, and Shige turned to give him a weird look. "What?"
Takano laughed. "I'm not a photographer, I just manage this gallery. But I didn't know you were into photography, Kato-kun," he added warmly.
"Ah." Shige scratched the back of his neck. "I just started a few years ago. It's just a hobby. "
Koyama nudged him. "Show him your photos, Shige." Looking up at Takano with a smile, he added, "He just got them developed today."
Shuffling his feet a bit, Shige blushed. "Koyama. Takano-san doesn't want to look at my photographs. He's busy."
"No, no. I'd love to see them!" Takano said enthusiastically, and Koyama couldn't see any strained politeness, so he nudged Shige again, watching as Shige blushed harder and pulled out his packet of photos and handed it over.
Takano looked slowly and silently through each photograph and Shige glared at Koyama but he just smiled back.
"Have you ever thought about doing anything with your photos, Kato-kun?" Takano finally said, shuffling through the photos again.
"Er. No. I mean… I'm a lawyer. I just sort of do this on the side. It's not a very realistic profession for me to go after."
Takano smiled wide and looked up at him. "Maybe you should."
"Eh?" Shige said and looked so shocked Koyama had to laugh at him.
"The last week of every month, I have a new artist corner in the blue room. I actually had someone back out today for this month's corner. I'd be pleased if you'd take her place. Is two weeks long enough for you to prepare? If you come by tomorrow with hard or digital copies of your favorites, we can go through them pretty quickly and set something up, I think. Then you'll just have to get them printed and I have frames, so we can decide on sizes, too."
Shige stood there looking at him stupidly, so Koyama did what best friends do best. "He'd love to. When should he meet you?"
Two weeks later, Koyama and Shige ran into Tegoshi at the Docomo store, Koyama's phone having broken in half when he'd stepped on it while it was open which had something to do with fumbling morning fingers and Nyanta zipping between his legs just as he tried to take a step.
"T-tegoshi-san!" Koyama said loudly and blushed when Tegoshi and everyone else in the store turned to stare at him with varying expressions. But Tegoshi was smiling widely so he found he didn't really mind that the lady to the left of him was scowling.
"Koyama-san!" Tegoshi said delightedly (and more quietly) and made his way over to them. He proceeded to spend the next hour helping Koyama pick his new phone and sweetly mocking Shige's iPhone and ignoring him when he grumbled about Tegoshi butting in where he wasn't wanted.
Koyama didn't know what Shige was talking about. He rather enjoyed the whole experience, even though his new phone had way more features than he would ever need and none that he really knew how to use.
"God," Shige grumbled, as Koyama made his purchase, "I'm going to have to spend weeks helping you figure that damn thing out."
As a thank you, Koyama offered to treat Tegoshi (and Shige, he guessed, as a sort of pre-payment for all the phone help he was going to need. Maybe he would accept payment in installments…) to ice cream, and Tegoshi happily accepted.
Watching Tegoshi lick enthusiastically at his daiquiri ice cone was an unforeseen benefit that Koyama found himself heartily enjoying, and it earned him a kick under the table from Shige for not paying attention. "Eh?" he said, and then suddenly remembered the maps. "Oh! Tegoshi-san! Shige followed your map!"
Tegoshi paused and grinned. "What did you find?"
"It was just a coincidence!" Shige interjected.
"He met an old acquaintance who runs an art gallery and the man asked Shige to be in his new artist corner this month!"
"You're an artist?" Tegoshi asked interestedly between licks, and Koyama's 'yes' was a little distracted and less enthusiastic than it might have been and failed to drown out Shige's 'no, well… maybe.' "Well? Which is it?"
Koyama forced himself to look at Tegoshi's eyes. "He is! He's a photographer."
"I thought he was a lawyer," he replied, eyeing Shige critically. "I guess he looks like an artist…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shige asked suspiciously.
"He's a lawyer. But he's also a photographer."
"It's just a hobby," Shige insisted.
"But he's really good."
"Oh. Then I'll go see!" Tegoshi said and Shige frowned.
"Who invited you?"
"Well," Tegoshi said, and even Koyama couldn't miss the haughty lift of his chin (probably because Tegoshi's tongue was actually in his mouth), "it was my map. Shouldn't I get to see the fruits of my labor?"
"Your… look here. That was a coincidence. Your frufru magic mapmaking doesn't impress me."
"It's not magic! It's a talent."
Shige snorted. "You know what’s talent? How you always manage to dress yourself so badly."
"Shige!" Koyama admonished.
But Tegoshi just shrugged and then smiled slyly at Shige. "It's okay. Koyama-san could take me shopping sometime. He always looks so fashionable," he cooed, turning wide eyes on Koyama and making him go all melty inside.
Just before they left, Tegoshi took a napkin and turned it over to its blank side, pulling out a pen and moving it over the napkin. He pursed his lips and pushed it toward Koyama. "Sorry. I thought I'd try again, but it's another 'x'."
Koyama just smiled at him. "It's okay. Maybe it means I don't need anything. I'm pretty happy, you know."
Tapping his lips thoughtfully, Tegoshi nodded and then smiled. "You must be right."
Shige dragged Koyama away again, but not before Tegoshi snatched back the napkin and wrote his number on it before pushing it into Koyama's hand with a grin.
From: Tegoshi-san
Kei-chan! I just saw Shige in Shibuya and gave him something for you. Make sure you follow it!
From: Shige!
Could you please tell him (you know who I'm talking about) that I'm not his personal messenger? And also that his informality is grating and pink and orange are not meant to go together, I don't care if it IS a jersey.
.
.
.
.
I'll be at your place in a few hours.
It was a few days before Koyama could use the map Shige gave him, and he remembered it right after work, pulling out the crumpled sheet (he'd accidentally almost put it through the wash the first night but caught it before the machine actually started gyrating) and squinted at it. Shrugging, he followed it to the best of his ability and ended up in front of a small family grocery.
Pondering the map for a moment, he was distracted by a whiff of something delectable and he looked up to see a pile of pears inside and headed right in. They looked perfectly ripe, and the closer he got, the better they smelled. By the time he stepped up next to the display, he was smiling happily, but when he reached a hand out to grab a particularly delicious-looking one, he found another hand already on it. He was sort of disappointed - it had looked really really good - but there were more, and he moved his hand away with a small apology that died on his lips as he looked up right into Tegoshi's eyes.
Tegoshi flipped the pear up into his hand and held it forward with a small smile. "Here, Kei-chan."
Not entirely sure why he felt like this was some gravely important gift - he still had to buy it, after all - Koyama smiled shyly back and held out his hand to let Tegoshi place it gently in his palm.
"I followed your map here," Koyama blurted out, shoving the wrinkled paper toward Tegoshi who took one look at it and laughed. Smiling sheepishly, he ducked his head. "I accidentally put it through part of the wash."
"That's okay," he replied. "Why don't I help you look?"
They brushed shoulders as they looked all through the little store, giggling and making absurd comments about what Koyama could possibly need that was in this place.
"Kei-chan really needs rubber ducky slippers, right? You've wanted them forever!" Tegoshi said, laughing.
Koyama considered them for a moment. "They are pretty cute," he mused, and felt his arm tingle for a bit after Tegoshi playfully shoved him.
Twenty minutes later, worn out from all their laughing, they left the grocery in high spirits.
"Sorry," Tegoshi told him. "I was hoping that would work."
"That's okay. I got to see you and we had a good time, anyway."
The way Tegoshi looked at him contemplatively made him squirm a bit, and then Tegoshi finally said, "Kei-chan really is happy just like he is, isn't he?" And then he smiled sweetly and the squirming migrated into Koyama's stomach as he smiled stupidly back and nodded.
Dinner was delicious, and Koyama paid without even thinking, Tegoshi's bright smile and enthusiastic thanks payment enough, he thought. And when Tegoshi stuffed a sheet of stiff, white paper into Koyama's pocket with a sly smile as they parted, Koyama found himself blushing and smiling like an idiot. He was suddenly extra grateful Shige wasn't around, although if Shige could have told him the significance of Tegoshi's devious smile paired with the giant 'x' yet again on the paper, he would have gladly taken a little ribbing. He felt like he was missing something.
Shige dropped by Koyama's after work a week later and leaned against the fridge as he watched Koyama cook. "Tegoshi asked me to give you another map. It's on the counter."
Koyama gave a happy little jump and put down his chopsticks to go look at it. "Wait," he said, turning to look at his friend. "When did you see Tegoshi?"
Scratching his nose, Shige looked away, saying casually, "We have lunch sometimes," and pointedly ignoring Koyama's grin.
Koyama tucked the map into his wallet and went back to the stove, humming happily, and Shige looked at him thoughtfully before rolling up his shirt sleeves and opening the fridge and sticking his head in. "Urgh. I thought mine was bad. When did you last clean this, Koyama?" They bickered cheerfully and Koyama completely missed all the contemplative looks Shige gave him.
Koyama was so excited that he followed his map the very next day, Saturday, and he was a little surprised when it led him to an apartment building not terribly far from his own. He peered closely at the map and guessed that the arrow up a diagonal squiggly line thing meant to go up the stairs and then he stopped in front of the third door to the left. Holding his breath, he lifted his hand and knocked. The surprise he felt when Tegoshi poked his head out, eyes all sleepy but crinkling at the edges as he smiled sleepily at Koyama and pulled the door open, quickly gave way to a warm squishy feeling in his chest and he smiled back.
"Good morning," Koyama said, waving the map at him shyly and stepping inside.
"Good morning," Tegoshi yawned at him, jaw cracking it opened so wide. "I just woke up, but come in. Have you had breakfast?"
"I… I forgot," Koyama replied, blushing, and there was that cunning smile again and it made his heart flutter a bit.
"Maybe what you needed was breakfast?" Tegoshi asked, a hint of laughter in his voice as he stumbled into the kitchen and poked at the rice in his cooker and moved to make some instant miso soup, and Koyama followed him in.
"Er…"
Then Tegoshi was right next to him and leaning in, placing his hands on Koyama's chest and looking up with a sweet smile. "Or maybe," he continued, tugging on Koyama's shirt until he leaned down far enough for Tegoshi to stand on his tiptoes and whisper against his mouth, "it was me," before kissing him.
Koyama thought, as he wrapped his arms around Tegoshi's back and returned the kiss, that he quite thought it was the second, after all. Though, breakfast sounded pretty good too.
Characters/Pairing: Koyama/Tegoshi
Rating: G
Words: 3,100
Warnings: Fluff? AU? (Do I need to warn for that anymore? I feel like maybe I should warn for NON-AU)
Summary: Tegoshi makes magic maps, Shige is dubious, Koyama keeps getting the short end of the stick, or does he?
Notes: Happy holidays, Cait!! <3 Here's your sweet, fluffy KoyaTego. XD
-=-
"I’m sorry. You what?" Koyama heard Shige asking someone.
"It’s true," another voice insisted, and Koyama only saw the back of a stranger’s head and Shige’s very dubious face as he slid into his seat opposite Shige and next to the stranger. He must have come in while Koyama was in the bathroom.
"You’re trying to sell me something," Shige told him, with a shake of his head, and Koyama frowned a little.
"I’m not!" The man looked young, younger than Shige, which wasn’t really saying much, honestly, and was very pretty, face made all of precise angles with just the right touch of curve to keep it friendly, wide warm-brown eyes, and cheekbones high and sharp enough to cut. The little mole above his lips brought thoughts of Marilyn Monroe and Koyama had to shake his head when he thought of the man in that white dress, futilely trying to hold it down as it billowed up around him.
"Er… Shige?" Koyama asked.
"Oh, sorry!" the stranger replied, turning to face Koyama with a cheerful smile. "I’m Tegoshi Yuya."
Koyama smiled back uncertainly.
"I don’t know him," Shige added with a snort and took a huge bite of his lunch.
"Ahh."
"He insists that he has some sort of magical ability to draw maps that lead a person to what they need most. Next thing I know, I’ll probably find myself in some alley waiting to get mugged. Or in an electronics shop. No thanks."
Tegoshi frowned at him and then shrugged. "You don’t have to believe me, but I’m not lying." He took out a notepad and started sketching.
Unsure of what to do, Koyama stared back and forth between the two of them and fiddled with his chopsticks, really wanting to eat his lunch.
"Eat, Koyama," Shige told him, and he finally turned to his food just as Tegoshi ripped the page out of the book and pushed it across the table at Shige.
Shige just looked at the paper with raised eyebrows. "What is this?" he finally asked, tone mocking, and Koyama leaned forward to peer at the sheet. He couldn’t blame Shige for the tone; he thought maybe Nyanta could do a better job. Though he was too polite to say so to a stranger.
"Shige," he admonished quietly, but Shige just grunted at him.
"It’s a map." Tegoshi gave Shige a withering look. "Surely you can read."
Trying not to laugh ended up choking Koyama, and Tegoshi patted him hard on the back.
"And when should I go," Shige asked dryly. "Midnight? Between nine and five?"
Shrugging, Tegoshi returned to his sketch pad. "Whenever. It’s what you need. You’ll go when it’s there."
Shige made a disbelieving noise, but Koyama was watching Tegoshi stare at a giant X on his pad. "Hmmm. Strange." He pushed the paper toward Koyama. "This is yours."
"But… it’s just an X."
"Yeah. I don’t know. That’s never happened before."
"Run out of fairy dust?" Shige asked wryly, lips twitching.
Ignoring him, Tegoshi went on. "It must mean that what you need most is here somewhere."
Koyama looked around, eyes settling on Shige, and he smiled. "Maybe I need Shige the most. Good thing I already have him," he cooed, eyes glinting mischievously, and Shige blushed.
"Koyama, stop being so gross."
Tegoshi was sort-of quiet after his own food came, even though he kept interrupting their conversation to interject his own opinions. It didn’t really bother Koyama, especially because it kept winding Shige up, he and Tegoshi both laughing at the man’s reactions. He kind of liked how unrestrained Tegoshi’s laugh was, how loud and un-self-conscious, and he wanted to make him laugh more, so he mostly just goaded Shige on.
Shige had to practically drag him out of the restaurant.
A week later, Koyama reminded Shige of the map just as they'd left a shop, an X Japan t-shirt on a passerby making him think of Tegoshi and smile, and he had stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk and shouted, "Map!"
"Koyama!" Shige hissed, and pulled him off to the side and out of people's way. "Do you want everyone to know you're special?"
Koyama didn't bother trying to explain his chain of thoughts; Shige would just shake his head anyway. "Your map. The map Tegoshi-san gave you. We should do it now!"
"Hah." He looked at Koyama and stopped laughing. "Wait. You don't really think it's going to work, do you? Come on, Koyama." He continued to complain the whole way they followed Tegoshi's map, too. Which was less like a map and more like a vague sort of treasure hunt with obscure and weird measurements. Not quite "a hundred paces north" which had always left Shige wondering if a "pace" had an actual measurement or if people were just supposed to guess (no wonder treasures were hardly ever found on purpose) but bad enough. "Why are there no street names?" he complained.
"Relax. He said that it didn't really matter. It would be there when you got there. So as long as you follow the directions generally, you can't be wrong, right?" He ignored Shige when he made that sound like he was having an aneurysm, because he was so on to that one.
They ended up standing side by side in front of some small art gallery, heads tilted identically as they stared at it thoughtfully.
"Well?" Shige asked, resignation in his voice.
"Let's go in," Koyama answered firmly, and Shige sighed and followed him in.
A man turned from straightening a piece when they came in, the frame wobbling slightly as his fingers left it and he frowned and quickly fixed it before coming up to them. "Hello," he said cheerfully. "Welcome. You're a little early, but feel free to… Kato-kun?"
Shige started, looking at the man in surprise. "Ah. Takano-san?"
"Well isn't this a surprise! I haven't seen you in years, how are you?"
Koyama politely let them continue their catching up, moving around the room to check out the photographs. They were pretty cool, he decided, though he knew he didn't really have an eye for art. He thought Shige's were nicer, though. He would admit that he might be biased however.
When he returned to Shige's side, there was a lull in the conversation that Koyama felt the need to utilize. "Shige is a photographer, too," he said, and Shige turned to give him a weird look. "What?"
Takano laughed. "I'm not a photographer, I just manage this gallery. But I didn't know you were into photography, Kato-kun," he added warmly.
"Ah." Shige scratched the back of his neck. "I just started a few years ago. It's just a hobby. "
Koyama nudged him. "Show him your photos, Shige." Looking up at Takano with a smile, he added, "He just got them developed today."
Shuffling his feet a bit, Shige blushed. "Koyama. Takano-san doesn't want to look at my photographs. He's busy."
"No, no. I'd love to see them!" Takano said enthusiastically, and Koyama couldn't see any strained politeness, so he nudged Shige again, watching as Shige blushed harder and pulled out his packet of photos and handed it over.
Takano looked slowly and silently through each photograph and Shige glared at Koyama but he just smiled back.
"Have you ever thought about doing anything with your photos, Kato-kun?" Takano finally said, shuffling through the photos again.
"Er. No. I mean… I'm a lawyer. I just sort of do this on the side. It's not a very realistic profession for me to go after."
Takano smiled wide and looked up at him. "Maybe you should."
"Eh?" Shige said and looked so shocked Koyama had to laugh at him.
"The last week of every month, I have a new artist corner in the blue room. I actually had someone back out today for this month's corner. I'd be pleased if you'd take her place. Is two weeks long enough for you to prepare? If you come by tomorrow with hard or digital copies of your favorites, we can go through them pretty quickly and set something up, I think. Then you'll just have to get them printed and I have frames, so we can decide on sizes, too."
Shige stood there looking at him stupidly, so Koyama did what best friends do best. "He'd love to. When should he meet you?"
Two weeks later, Koyama and Shige ran into Tegoshi at the Docomo store, Koyama's phone having broken in half when he'd stepped on it while it was open which had something to do with fumbling morning fingers and Nyanta zipping between his legs just as he tried to take a step.
"T-tegoshi-san!" Koyama said loudly and blushed when Tegoshi and everyone else in the store turned to stare at him with varying expressions. But Tegoshi was smiling widely so he found he didn't really mind that the lady to the left of him was scowling.
"Koyama-san!" Tegoshi said delightedly (and more quietly) and made his way over to them. He proceeded to spend the next hour helping Koyama pick his new phone and sweetly mocking Shige's iPhone and ignoring him when he grumbled about Tegoshi butting in where he wasn't wanted.
Koyama didn't know what Shige was talking about. He rather enjoyed the whole experience, even though his new phone had way more features than he would ever need and none that he really knew how to use.
"God," Shige grumbled, as Koyama made his purchase, "I'm going to have to spend weeks helping you figure that damn thing out."
As a thank you, Koyama offered to treat Tegoshi (and Shige, he guessed, as a sort of pre-payment for all the phone help he was going to need. Maybe he would accept payment in installments…) to ice cream, and Tegoshi happily accepted.
Watching Tegoshi lick enthusiastically at his daiquiri ice cone was an unforeseen benefit that Koyama found himself heartily enjoying, and it earned him a kick under the table from Shige for not paying attention. "Eh?" he said, and then suddenly remembered the maps. "Oh! Tegoshi-san! Shige followed your map!"
Tegoshi paused and grinned. "What did you find?"
"It was just a coincidence!" Shige interjected.
"He met an old acquaintance who runs an art gallery and the man asked Shige to be in his new artist corner this month!"
"You're an artist?" Tegoshi asked interestedly between licks, and Koyama's 'yes' was a little distracted and less enthusiastic than it might have been and failed to drown out Shige's 'no, well… maybe.' "Well? Which is it?"
Koyama forced himself to look at Tegoshi's eyes. "He is! He's a photographer."
"I thought he was a lawyer," he replied, eyeing Shige critically. "I guess he looks like an artist…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shige asked suspiciously.
"He's a lawyer. But he's also a photographer."
"It's just a hobby," Shige insisted.
"But he's really good."
"Oh. Then I'll go see!" Tegoshi said and Shige frowned.
"Who invited you?"
"Well," Tegoshi said, and even Koyama couldn't miss the haughty lift of his chin (probably because Tegoshi's tongue was actually in his mouth), "it was my map. Shouldn't I get to see the fruits of my labor?"
"Your… look here. That was a coincidence. Your frufru magic mapmaking doesn't impress me."
"It's not magic! It's a talent."
Shige snorted. "You know what’s talent? How you always manage to dress yourself so badly."
"Shige!" Koyama admonished.
But Tegoshi just shrugged and then smiled slyly at Shige. "It's okay. Koyama-san could take me shopping sometime. He always looks so fashionable," he cooed, turning wide eyes on Koyama and making him go all melty inside.
Just before they left, Tegoshi took a napkin and turned it over to its blank side, pulling out a pen and moving it over the napkin. He pursed his lips and pushed it toward Koyama. "Sorry. I thought I'd try again, but it's another 'x'."
Koyama just smiled at him. "It's okay. Maybe it means I don't need anything. I'm pretty happy, you know."
Tapping his lips thoughtfully, Tegoshi nodded and then smiled. "You must be right."
Shige dragged Koyama away again, but not before Tegoshi snatched back the napkin and wrote his number on it before pushing it into Koyama's hand with a grin.
From: Tegoshi-san
Kei-chan! I just saw Shige in Shibuya and gave him something for you. Make sure you follow it!
From: Shige!
Could you please tell him (you know who I'm talking about) that I'm not his personal messenger? And also that his informality is grating and pink and orange are not meant to go together, I don't care if it IS a jersey.
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I'll be at your place in a few hours.
It was a few days before Koyama could use the map Shige gave him, and he remembered it right after work, pulling out the crumpled sheet (he'd accidentally almost put it through the wash the first night but caught it before the machine actually started gyrating) and squinted at it. Shrugging, he followed it to the best of his ability and ended up in front of a small family grocery.
Pondering the map for a moment, he was distracted by a whiff of something delectable and he looked up to see a pile of pears inside and headed right in. They looked perfectly ripe, and the closer he got, the better they smelled. By the time he stepped up next to the display, he was smiling happily, but when he reached a hand out to grab a particularly delicious-looking one, he found another hand already on it. He was sort of disappointed - it had looked really really good - but there were more, and he moved his hand away with a small apology that died on his lips as he looked up right into Tegoshi's eyes.
Tegoshi flipped the pear up into his hand and held it forward with a small smile. "Here, Kei-chan."
Not entirely sure why he felt like this was some gravely important gift - he still had to buy it, after all - Koyama smiled shyly back and held out his hand to let Tegoshi place it gently in his palm.
"I followed your map here," Koyama blurted out, shoving the wrinkled paper toward Tegoshi who took one look at it and laughed. Smiling sheepishly, he ducked his head. "I accidentally put it through part of the wash."
"That's okay," he replied. "Why don't I help you look?"
They brushed shoulders as they looked all through the little store, giggling and making absurd comments about what Koyama could possibly need that was in this place.
"Kei-chan really needs rubber ducky slippers, right? You've wanted them forever!" Tegoshi said, laughing.
Koyama considered them for a moment. "They are pretty cute," he mused, and felt his arm tingle for a bit after Tegoshi playfully shoved him.
Twenty minutes later, worn out from all their laughing, they left the grocery in high spirits.
"Sorry," Tegoshi told him. "I was hoping that would work."
"That's okay. I got to see you and we had a good time, anyway."
The way Tegoshi looked at him contemplatively made him squirm a bit, and then Tegoshi finally said, "Kei-chan really is happy just like he is, isn't he?" And then he smiled sweetly and the squirming migrated into Koyama's stomach as he smiled stupidly back and nodded.
Dinner was delicious, and Koyama paid without even thinking, Tegoshi's bright smile and enthusiastic thanks payment enough, he thought. And when Tegoshi stuffed a sheet of stiff, white paper into Koyama's pocket with a sly smile as they parted, Koyama found himself blushing and smiling like an idiot. He was suddenly extra grateful Shige wasn't around, although if Shige could have told him the significance of Tegoshi's devious smile paired with the giant 'x' yet again on the paper, he would have gladly taken a little ribbing. He felt like he was missing something.
Shige dropped by Koyama's after work a week later and leaned against the fridge as he watched Koyama cook. "Tegoshi asked me to give you another map. It's on the counter."
Koyama gave a happy little jump and put down his chopsticks to go look at it. "Wait," he said, turning to look at his friend. "When did you see Tegoshi?"
Scratching his nose, Shige looked away, saying casually, "We have lunch sometimes," and pointedly ignoring Koyama's grin.
Koyama tucked the map into his wallet and went back to the stove, humming happily, and Shige looked at him thoughtfully before rolling up his shirt sleeves and opening the fridge and sticking his head in. "Urgh. I thought mine was bad. When did you last clean this, Koyama?" They bickered cheerfully and Koyama completely missed all the contemplative looks Shige gave him.
Koyama was so excited that he followed his map the very next day, Saturday, and he was a little surprised when it led him to an apartment building not terribly far from his own. He peered closely at the map and guessed that the arrow up a diagonal squiggly line thing meant to go up the stairs and then he stopped in front of the third door to the left. Holding his breath, he lifted his hand and knocked. The surprise he felt when Tegoshi poked his head out, eyes all sleepy but crinkling at the edges as he smiled sleepily at Koyama and pulled the door open, quickly gave way to a warm squishy feeling in his chest and he smiled back.
"Good morning," Koyama said, waving the map at him shyly and stepping inside.
"Good morning," Tegoshi yawned at him, jaw cracking it opened so wide. "I just woke up, but come in. Have you had breakfast?"
"I… I forgot," Koyama replied, blushing, and there was that cunning smile again and it made his heart flutter a bit.
"Maybe what you needed was breakfast?" Tegoshi asked, a hint of laughter in his voice as he stumbled into the kitchen and poked at the rice in his cooker and moved to make some instant miso soup, and Koyama followed him in.
"Er…"
Then Tegoshi was right next to him and leaning in, placing his hands on Koyama's chest and looking up with a sweet smile. "Or maybe," he continued, tugging on Koyama's shirt until he leaned down far enough for Tegoshi to stand on his tiptoes and whisper against his mouth, "it was me," before kissing him.
Koyama thought, as he wrapped his arms around Tegoshi's back and returned the kiss, that he quite thought it was the second, after all. Though, breakfast sounded pretty good too.