Written for a request for #27 from a 'the way you said 'I love you'' meme, which to be honest is just about the most Shindou-and-Touya prompt I think I can imagine. (Prompt in end notes.) Plus the Mousie asked for soulmates, if I could, and I mean . . . soulmate AU. Of course I was going to!
Waiting in the half-private back room at his family's Go salon, Akira frowned thoughtfully at the board. He was idly working through a few variations he'd come up with after his last official match with Shindou.
"Shindou-san!" Ichikawa greeted from the front of the salon, only just loud enough for Akira, who had been waiting for it, to hear.
He smiled slightly, clearing the stones off the board as he waited for his rival to make his way back.
"Touya!" Shindou called as he strode into the back room, too loud - though not so much as he had once been - and dropped a heavy jacket and a backpack by the side of the chair opposite Akira before settling into it. "Still chasing that middle game formation?" he asked teasingly, more than a little smug.
"Shindou." Akira huffed in response, collecting the last few stones. "I've thought of a few possibilities." he said archly, raising his chin. "For your newest crazy."
"Great!" Shindou grinned, reaching out. "Then let's play."
Akira smiled back and held out a goke. "Nigiri." he said softly, and Shindou reached in for a handful of white stones. Akira put down two black ones of his own and watched Shindou count out his palmful.
As he picked out the stones, he slowly revealed a familiar design on his skin, and Akira stilled. Familiar, yes, Akira had first seen it months ago, but now, suddenly . . . too familiar. Akira hardly realised he was on his feet, Shindou looking up at him with a confused, concerned expression, before he had to catch the side of the table to keep himself from toppling over his chair.
Akira opened his mouth, then closed it, a shudder running through him, and bolted.
"Touya!" Shindou yelled after him. "Where are you going?"
"Akira-kun! What's wrong?" Ichikawa asked, alarmed, and Akira darted through the door and onto the street, chest heaving as he hit the chill air. It stung at his lungs and the sudden chill rushing against his face made him feel a little more centred, though his head was still spinning.
"Touya!"
Shindou had run out after him; of course he had. Akira rubbed his face with both hands.
"Touya, what's wrong?" Shindou asked, touching his shoulder.
Akira jumped, spinning to face him. "Nothing, Shindou." Akira said evenly, though no matter how composed he might have looked or sounded to most people he was sure Shindou would notice he was lying. "I . . . needed some air." Less convincing, even for someone else. He'd run away.
"Is it this?" Shindou asked, holding out his marked palm and looking almost worriedly at Akira.
Akira swallowed convulsively, looking at it and then back up to brilliant green eyes. "Why- Why aren't you. . ." he trailed off, thrown off balance and not sure what he intended to say, what he had even expected. What was he looking for in Shindou's eyes? Upset? Anger? Surprise?
Fear?
"Touya." Shindou shook his head, then grinned at Akira. "Because I love you!" he said, far too loud for the public street where they stood. He raised an eyebrow and lifted his jaw in something that was almost a challenge.
Akira's eyes widened and he felt like his heart was stuttering in his chest. "Shi- Shindou." he faltered, glancing down at his own palm, where an intricate black design had spiralled into being a week ago, on his sixteenth birthday.
He'd known it quickly, of course - he had seen its twin several times most weeks over the past three months. He and Shindou had always watched each others' hands closely, and Shindou certainly didn't bother to wear a palm guard. Akira had recognised a familiar design in his own palm but he had not really thought that they were a match, not seriously.
Akira had . . . not been prepared for this. To actually see that yes, they were identical. . . Shindou shouldn't have been either.
"Shindou, how can you. . ." Akira flushed. "How did you know?" he asked in a small voice, because Shindou had looked surprised when he saw Akira's palm, but not- not shocked, not thrown, not anything that Akira had felt.
There is no way to know, not before the soulmarks appear. Everyone knew that.
"I didn't." Shindou admitted, leaving Akira on marginally more solid ground. "But Touya," he stepped forwards, reaching gently for Akira's hand and clasping it - his palm throbbed with a warm pulse as their soulmarks met, "it's you. You and me. How could it have been anyone else?" he asked. "We always match."
Akira's head was still spinning, but that made a dizzy, crazy kind of sense. "Shindou. . ." He shivered, squeezing Shindou's hand a little tighter, fingers woven between Shindou's.
"We always will." Shindou said simply, squeezing Akira's hand in return.
The rhythm of Akira's heart settled a little, and he nodded shallowly.
"You really were freaked out, weren't you?" Shindou asked, rubbing his thumb over Akira's hand and then pulling away. Akira made a tiny sound of loss without meaning to, but Shindou had already drawn his hands back. He shed his outer jacket and tossed it lightly around Akira's shoulders, the warm fabric closing around him and making him realise how cold he actually was. "It's freezing out here. Let's go back inside." Shindour suggested, rubbing his hands up and down Akira's shoulders and upper arms.
"We can play." Akira said numbly.
"Yeah, if you want." Shindou said, glancing at him sideways. "I don't want to beat you too easy, though, Touya, and you look kinda. . ."
Akira firmed his mouth and glared at Shindou. "You will not beat me." he said primly. "I told you, I have some ideas for that newest stunt you pulled."
Shindou grinned, like being told off was the happiest thing he could have been given. "I can't wait." he said brightly, dropping an arm around Akira's shoulders and leading him back towards the salon.
". . .Shindou?" Akira said, stopping before they reached the doors.
"Yeah?" Shindou asked, tipping his head to look Akira in the eye.
Akira met his eyes, silent for a moment. "Me too." he said, clearing his throat. Shindou frowned, and Akira grabbed his collar, leaning up to kiss him, soft and firm at once, their skin cold but their breath hot between them. Shindou made a tiny, startled noise, then grabbed at Akira, but he was already twisting away and slipping through the door of the Go salon.
He cleared his throat and kept his head high as he walked through to the back room where his and Shindou's board waited, and Shindou took the attention off him a moment later anyway, spilling through the door in his wake in a loud, active blur.
Akira hid a smile, glancing over his shoulder at Shindou - his eternal rival, his soulmate - and then leading the way to the waiting goban.
Shindou caught his hand before he could sit down, and the warm pulse returned between their soulmarks. Akira's lips curved into a smile before he could stop it.
"Touya. . . Did you mean it?" Shindou asked in a low voice, his eyes wide.
Akira tipped his head to one side and smiled a little wider. "Of course, Shindou." he said, shaking his head slightly. "After all. . . It's you and me. How could it have ever been anyone else?" He was still a little rattled, not quite settled with the fact of the match of their marks, but it was true.
Shindou grinned, bright like sunshine, and then leaned across the table and the goban between them, pulling gently at Akira's hand to bring him closer, and kissed him, eager and sweet.
"Shindou," Akira said, sliding Shindou's jacket from around his shoulders and seating himself with a flicker of a smile, "I love you. Let's play."
Shindou's eyes widened for a moment and then he grinned, punching the air lightly. "Yeah!" He dropped into his seat opposite Akira and scooted forwards, an intense look shading his face. "I'm going to murder you!"
"We shall see." Akira said pointedly, narrowing his eyes and giving a fierce grin as he placed his first stone.
Shindou matched Akira's smile, eyes sparkling with anticipation, and made his own first move.
The prompt was I love you said as "a taunt, with one eyebrow raised and a grin bubbling at your lips".
Submit a prompt/request of your own at my Tumblr (Kalira9)!
Bonus, after hearing me describe this story, my friend Mikkimouse (who has never read/seen Hikago) offered this as the summary:
M: IN A WORLD WHERE your soulmark appears ON YOUR SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY, Akira Touya is SHOCKED to see a FAMILIAR MARK appear on his HAND...because it is the SAME MARK HE'S SEEN FOR MONTHS ON HIS FRIEND HIKARU
M: read that in movie announcer voice