Learning to Win - G (58th Challenge)
Title: Learning to Win
Author: Lauand
Beta: Avierra
Warning: Worksafe
Prompt: Gojyo tops Hakkai - 15min
A/N: Exactly 15 min taken. It's the first time I don't fail horribly at the time limit. Thank you very much to avierra for the beta-reading and the awesomeness.
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It was so easy, really, and it cost so little... after all, it was Sanzo who wouldn't let go of his pride even for the most benign of reasons. He didn't have any such qualms. And in a life like his (the second one, that is), balance was such a sought for treasure, such a necessity, that a little concession was worth the result.
It was with millimetric precision, then, that Hakkai calculated the exact duration of his pause, the imperceptible hesitation after Gojyo's comeback (and last trump card, judging by his poker face), the silence before opening his mouth to start a sentence that died on his lips at Gojyo's triumphal "Hah!".
The most difficult part was hiding the satisfaction he felt at having caused Gojyo to beam. To show himself barely irritated - he shouldn't overdo that, either - while pretending he didn't care, in his typical "I'm a kind, reasonable man" way. But when he did it right, it was so worth it...
Gojyo's grin was wide and sincere. No malice in it. Gojyo had learned to lose before learning to win. Yes, Hakkai thought, totally worth it.