The List (KoyaShige)
Title: The List
Pairing: KoyaShige
Rating: G
Written for ilanabean42 ♥ Betaed by mananeh.
On the day following his 18th birthday, Shige makes a list of things he wants to accomplish in the next year. As the list grows longer, he thinks better and gives himself an additional year, making it The 42 Things To Do Before 20 List. There is a lot of different stuff on the list: silly things he’s never done, things he’s always wanted to do but never got to or never dared to, and bigger things, more difficult, things that make Shige’s hand shake a little even as he writes them down.
In the first few months following the creation of the list, Shige accomplishes a lot. True, it’s mostly little things, but he is pleased to realise he has also checked a few relatively important things. After 6 months, 17 of the 42 things are checked and Shige is happy with himself considering an average of only 10.5 things per 6 months is needed. If he keeps this pace up, he’ll be done well before his 20th birthday. In his enthusiasm, he even thinks of adding a few more things to the list, but then he thinks better of it. One never knows, plus there are still quite a few important things to do on the list.
By the end of the first year, Shige’s reached 31 things and he feels quite content with his accomplishments. But then the list gets kind of forgotten in the midst of smugness and a constantly growing pile of schoolwork. It’s only in May, when he pulls out the list and realises he’s barely got any time left to do the 8 last things on the list, that he panics a little. He tries to reason that it’s not that important, that it’s just a silly list nobody except himself knows of and there won’t be any consequences if he fails to do a couple of things. Yet, a part of him refuses to admit defeat.
Two months exactly before his 20th birthday, he decides to ask for some help and, naturally, he turns to Koyama.
“Can I see the list?” Koyama asks after Shige has exposed his problem to him.
“No,” Shige shakes his head. There’s no way he’s showing that list to anyone, no matter how close a friend the person may be.
“Why not?” Koyama seems surprised, maybe a little miffed.
“It’s personal. The stuff on it, it’s personal.”
“Oh?” Now Koyama looks amused. He grins and wriggles his eyebrows suggestively.
“Hoi!” Shige hits him in the shoulder. “Nothing like that, you pervert!” he sputters. He’s not going to admit that maybe there are a few things that are pretty close to... that.
Koyama laughs, rubbing his shoulder. “There’s no way I could help you with stuff like that anyway,” he teases.
“There’s no way I’d want you to help with stuff like that anyway,” Shige huffs indignantly. A little too indignant maybe, considering number 39 on his list, but that Koyama doesn’t need to know that.
Koyama smirks, but doesn’t keep on teasing. “How many things left?” he asks.
“Ei-seven!” Shige answers and looks to the side.
Koyama raises an eyebrow. “Seven?”
“Yes, seven.”
They make plans. One thing per week, with only one week to spare. They climb Mont Fuji; they search for an old classmate of Shige’s so he can give him back a ball he borrowed 6 years ago; they build a dog house. On the fourth week, Koyama asks about the eighth thing.
“There’s no eighth thing,” Shige tenses and he makes sure to reply quickly, but not too quickly so as to not be suspicious.
“Sure,” Koyama smiles and nods, but looks unconvinced.
They finish the seven things a week before Shige’s birthday. Koyama doesn’t mention the eighth thing again, but Shige feels a pain in his chest when Koyama talks about celebrating. He gives a half-hearted answer, saying he doesn’t really want to do anything big for his birthday, and tries not to let the guilt he feels over lying to his best friend show on his face. It makes him feel a bit sick and the knowing smirk he catches a few times on Koyama’s face doesn’t help one bit. He is annoyed with himself, feels bad for lying, for making such a big deal out of such a silly thing and he grows so wary that he spends the rest of the week avoiding Koyama. Well, that is, as much as he can possibly avoid him considering they work together almost every single day.
“Hey, Shige!” Koyama corners him two days before his birthday. He looks concerned. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting strange all week.”
Shige stutters something about being tired and stressed, which Koyama doesn’t seem to buy, but doesn’t argue with.
“Maybe I’m not ready to turn twenty yet.”
Koyama looks surprised at this. “Really? Shige, being twenty is not really a big deal. Or is this about...”
But Shige doesn’t let him finish this thought. “Do you want to come over on Tuesday night?” he asks in a rush. “We could watch movies or something.”
Shige’s actual birthday is on Wednesday, but there isn’t anything planned for it until the weekend. They have a photoshoot scheduled early in the morning, but Koyama doesn’t hesitate one second before agreeing to Shige’s offer. Shige suspects that it’s because he is a bit worried, but that doesn’t really matter as long as he is coming.
After dropping by his place after work for a quick bite to eat and a shower, Koyama arrives at Shige’s around 8 on Tuesday night. He brings enough movies to last until midnight. Shige grabs the bag from him while he takes off his shoes and smiles at the choice of movies. It’s little things like this that reminds him why they are best friends.
They go up to Shige’s room and get comfortable on his bed. The atmosphere is so nice and relaxed that it’s not until the second half of the second movie that Shige remembers why he wanted Koyama to come over in the first place. He starts sweating a bit.
It’s stupid anyway and he really shouldn’t have put that on the list in the first place, he thinks. He can’t remember for the life of him what could have been going on in his head at the time to make him write such a thing. Yet a part of him, a nagging voice at the back of his mind, keeps chanting “Do it, do it, do it! You know you want to. You know you’ve been wanting to for a while...”
By the end of the second movie, Shige figures he can either sit there and overthink everything again, as if he hasn’t been doing it every day for the last two months, if not for the past two years, or he can make a move and be done with it.
“Two hours before you turn 20,” Koyama remarks and, to Shige, it sounds like an ultimatum, even if he knows it can’t possibly be.
Shige takes a short breath, turns around, leans in and kisses Koyama on the lips, just a quick peck, before shuffling back. He chances a glance at Koyama from the corner of his eye and sees him staring back with big round eyes, jaw hanging open a little. Shige feels himself blush bright red. For a moment, Koyama remains unusually quiet.
“It was to thank you, you know, for helping me with the list,” Shige says quickly, stumbling a bit over his words.
Koyama blinks, then laughs and suddenly leans in, slips his hand in the back of Shige’s head and pulls him in for a kiss. It’s nothing but lips pressing against lips, but it lasts a full 2 seconds and, when Koyama pulls back, he stays close and grins from ear to ear.
Shige’s mind goes blank and he stops breathing for a moment. Dazedly, he brings his hand to his mouth and touches his lips with his fingertips.
“Are you... Are you mocking me?” he asks, his voice husky, his tone unsure.
Koyama laughs. “No, stupid, I’m telling you it’s okay.”
“Oh,” Shige breathes, and then realisation dawns on him, “ooooh!” and he blushes some more, a large silly grin spreading on his lips.
“Are you going to mark that eighth thing now?” Koyama asks a little while later, smirking against Shige’s lips.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Shige replied, but the way he is smiling gives him away. Not that he was all that subtle to begin with.
Omake
“Can I see the list now? Koyama asks.
“No way.”
“Eh? Why not? Is there something about kissing other people?” Koyama teases.
“Shut up,” Shige rolls his eyes, “or I take you off my list of things to do before 25.”
Pairing: KoyaShige
Rating: G
Written for ilanabean42 ♥ Betaed by mananeh.
On the day following his 18th birthday, Shige makes a list of things he wants to accomplish in the next year. As the list grows longer, he thinks better and gives himself an additional year, making it The 42 Things To Do Before 20 List. There is a lot of different stuff on the list: silly things he’s never done, things he’s always wanted to do but never got to or never dared to, and bigger things, more difficult, things that make Shige’s hand shake a little even as he writes them down.
In the first few months following the creation of the list, Shige accomplishes a lot. True, it’s mostly little things, but he is pleased to realise he has also checked a few relatively important things. After 6 months, 17 of the 42 things are checked and Shige is happy with himself considering an average of only 10.5 things per 6 months is needed. If he keeps this pace up, he’ll be done well before his 20th birthday. In his enthusiasm, he even thinks of adding a few more things to the list, but then he thinks better of it. One never knows, plus there are still quite a few important things to do on the list.
By the end of the first year, Shige’s reached 31 things and he feels quite content with his accomplishments. But then the list gets kind of forgotten in the midst of smugness and a constantly growing pile of schoolwork. It’s only in May, when he pulls out the list and realises he’s barely got any time left to do the 8 last things on the list, that he panics a little. He tries to reason that it’s not that important, that it’s just a silly list nobody except himself knows of and there won’t be any consequences if he fails to do a couple of things. Yet, a part of him refuses to admit defeat.
Two months exactly before his 20th birthday, he decides to ask for some help and, naturally, he turns to Koyama.
“Can I see the list?” Koyama asks after Shige has exposed his problem to him.
“No,” Shige shakes his head. There’s no way he’s showing that list to anyone, no matter how close a friend the person may be.
“Why not?” Koyama seems surprised, maybe a little miffed.
“It’s personal. The stuff on it, it’s personal.”
“Oh?” Now Koyama looks amused. He grins and wriggles his eyebrows suggestively.
“Hoi!” Shige hits him in the shoulder. “Nothing like that, you pervert!” he sputters. He’s not going to admit that maybe there are a few things that are pretty close to... that.
Koyama laughs, rubbing his shoulder. “There’s no way I could help you with stuff like that anyway,” he teases.
“There’s no way I’d want you to help with stuff like that anyway,” Shige huffs indignantly. A little too indignant maybe, considering number 39 on his list, but that Koyama doesn’t need to know that.
Koyama smirks, but doesn’t keep on teasing. “How many things left?” he asks.
“Ei-seven!” Shige answers and looks to the side.
Koyama raises an eyebrow. “Seven?”
“Yes, seven.”
They make plans. One thing per week, with only one week to spare. They climb Mont Fuji; they search for an old classmate of Shige’s so he can give him back a ball he borrowed 6 years ago; they build a dog house. On the fourth week, Koyama asks about the eighth thing.
“There’s no eighth thing,” Shige tenses and he makes sure to reply quickly, but not too quickly so as to not be suspicious.
“Sure,” Koyama smiles and nods, but looks unconvinced.
They finish the seven things a week before Shige’s birthday. Koyama doesn’t mention the eighth thing again, but Shige feels a pain in his chest when Koyama talks about celebrating. He gives a half-hearted answer, saying he doesn’t really want to do anything big for his birthday, and tries not to let the guilt he feels over lying to his best friend show on his face. It makes him feel a bit sick and the knowing smirk he catches a few times on Koyama’s face doesn’t help one bit. He is annoyed with himself, feels bad for lying, for making such a big deal out of such a silly thing and he grows so wary that he spends the rest of the week avoiding Koyama. Well, that is, as much as he can possibly avoid him considering they work together almost every single day.
“Hey, Shige!” Koyama corners him two days before his birthday. He looks concerned. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting strange all week.”
Shige stutters something about being tired and stressed, which Koyama doesn’t seem to buy, but doesn’t argue with.
“Maybe I’m not ready to turn twenty yet.”
Koyama looks surprised at this. “Really? Shige, being twenty is not really a big deal. Or is this about...”
But Shige doesn’t let him finish this thought. “Do you want to come over on Tuesday night?” he asks in a rush. “We could watch movies or something.”
Shige’s actual birthday is on Wednesday, but there isn’t anything planned for it until the weekend. They have a photoshoot scheduled early in the morning, but Koyama doesn’t hesitate one second before agreeing to Shige’s offer. Shige suspects that it’s because he is a bit worried, but that doesn’t really matter as long as he is coming.
After dropping by his place after work for a quick bite to eat and a shower, Koyama arrives at Shige’s around 8 on Tuesday night. He brings enough movies to last until midnight. Shige grabs the bag from him while he takes off his shoes and smiles at the choice of movies. It’s little things like this that reminds him why they are best friends.
They go up to Shige’s room and get comfortable on his bed. The atmosphere is so nice and relaxed that it’s not until the second half of the second movie that Shige remembers why he wanted Koyama to come over in the first place. He starts sweating a bit.
It’s stupid anyway and he really shouldn’t have put that on the list in the first place, he thinks. He can’t remember for the life of him what could have been going on in his head at the time to make him write such a thing. Yet a part of him, a nagging voice at the back of his mind, keeps chanting “Do it, do it, do it! You know you want to. You know you’ve been wanting to for a while...”
By the end of the second movie, Shige figures he can either sit there and overthink everything again, as if he hasn’t been doing it every day for the last two months, if not for the past two years, or he can make a move and be done with it.
“Two hours before you turn 20,” Koyama remarks and, to Shige, it sounds like an ultimatum, even if he knows it can’t possibly be.
Shige takes a short breath, turns around, leans in and kisses Koyama on the lips, just a quick peck, before shuffling back. He chances a glance at Koyama from the corner of his eye and sees him staring back with big round eyes, jaw hanging open a little. Shige feels himself blush bright red. For a moment, Koyama remains unusually quiet.
“It was to thank you, you know, for helping me with the list,” Shige says quickly, stumbling a bit over his words.
Koyama blinks, then laughs and suddenly leans in, slips his hand in the back of Shige’s head and pulls him in for a kiss. It’s nothing but lips pressing against lips, but it lasts a full 2 seconds and, when Koyama pulls back, he stays close and grins from ear to ear.
Shige’s mind goes blank and he stops breathing for a moment. Dazedly, he brings his hand to his mouth and touches his lips with his fingertips.
“Are you... Are you mocking me?” he asks, his voice husky, his tone unsure.
Koyama laughs. “No, stupid, I’m telling you it’s okay.”
“Oh,” Shige breathes, and then realisation dawns on him, “ooooh!” and he blushes some more, a large silly grin spreading on his lips.
“Are you going to mark that eighth thing now?” Koyama asks a little while later, smirking against Shige’s lips.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Shige replied, but the way he is smiling gives him away. Not that he was all that subtle to begin with.
Omake
“Can I see the list now? Koyama asks.
“No way.”
“Eh? Why not? Is there something about kissing other people?” Koyama teases.
“Shut up,” Shige rolls his eyes, “or I take you off my list of things to do before 25.”