Hikaru's winning streak ended at the hands of a middle-aged woman who played like Nase would in five years. He had seen her Go before and he shouldn't have lost.

"I'm very happy that I won," she said, incorporating just enough Japanese into her speech for Hikaru to understand. "Young people these days are rising so quickly, it's hard work for us older folks to keep up."

"Thank you for the game," he replied in his own unique mix of rudimentary Korean. "I learned a lot."

She smiled kindly at him. "Is something bothering you, dear?"

Hikaru thought of the way Yeongha had looked away from him last night, like it took every ounce of self control to walk away. He smiled back. "Of course not."

/

Choi Yoorin slid into the cafeteria booth across from him.

"Where's Yeongha?" she asked by way of greeting. "We were just getting used to have him around."

"I don't know." Hikaru cocked his head. "He doesn't usually eat here?"

"Us common folk don't get to see him a lot," she said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Hikaru's brow furrowed. "Just because he's a better player...?"

Yoorin stared at him. "Oh, you don't know, do you?" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Yeongha's mom heads a major sponsor of the Baduk Institution. He's out 'representing' most of the time."

Now Hikaru was not a big fan of gossip, but right around then he realized that he didn't know very much about the person he had played his heart out against night after night. There was a certain logic in determining who a person was through their Go, but then again, there was Sai, whose gentle nature belied his fearsome Go. So the next words out of his mouth were: "What can you tell me about Yeongha?"

He was a wonder, a prodigy who gained prestige very quickly in a very competitive field. His mother's involvement had opened doors his natural talent enabled him to walk through, but placed a barrier where his inherent aloof nature would not venture to change. He was not strong enough to win titles yet, but there was a chasm of difference in ability between him and others of his age group. He was admired as much he was resented, but most of all, he was respected.

"But-" Hikaru interrupted. "Does he have any friends?"

"He got along with Suyon, if only because Suyon was the only person who didn't take crap from him. And..." she peered at him. "I guess...you're his friend?"

His initial response was a vehement 'no thank you, definitely not', but then he thought about it.

Given his celebrity, Yeongha probably didn't have to wait for him to go to the game room every morning, or wait for him to finish his match so they could go eat, or take care of him when he was drunk, and he most certainly did not have to make an effort to actively try and improve Hikaru's Go.

"Yeah," he murmured. "I guess I am."

/

Hikaru stayed up (far) later than usual that night, and greeted a dumbfounded Yeongha with a smile. He motioned to the seat on the opposite side of the goban. "Come play a game with me?" he asked hopefully.

Yeongha hesitated for only a second before complying.

They play the first game without saying a word, with only the pachi of the stones interrupting the silence. Twelve stones into the second game, Hikaru finally spoke.

"I've never initiated a game," he said. Yeongha's pause before he placed the next stone was the only indication that he had heard Hikaru. "I also realized that you've done a lot of things for me that I've kind of taken for granted, so thank you for that."

They entered yose before Yeongha replied.

"I heard about you long before I met you," Yeongha said. "Suyon would often speak of a boy he played in Japan who gave him back his motivation to win. And made him cry."

Hikaru grinned with pride.

"Touya-seonsaeng mentioned you before too." Hikaru's eyes widened in surprise. "He talked about the importance of having a rival: that there would always strong players, but to have someone with similar age and level to measure your strength against, to be able to bring out the best in each other. His son had a rival, he said, and that is why his son would achieve greater heights than he could hope for. I didn't understand at the time because I've only ever won or lost." Yeongha smiled wryly. "I thought Touya-seonsaeng was going senile."

They had started another game by now; Hikaru had won by the Japanese standard of komi and lost by Korean standard.

"I recognized Touya Akira first, and from the way he interacted with you, I identified you as the rival," Yeongha continued. "And then Suyon called out to you, and I realized that the face of Suyon's hero and the face of Touya Akira's rival were the same; and I thought, what a shame that I won't be playing him."

And all the pieces fell into place.

"Before the tournament, there was a rumor going around that I was becoming complacent and unmotivated," Yeongha said. They had stopped playing completely. "My mother has...a fair amount of influence. I thought, what if I took a misunderstanding and...pushed it? The most exhilarating game I have played in a long time and three week later, you are delivered to me."

Hikaru's jaw dropped.

Yeongha leaned forward. "I have never once believed in fate," he said softly. "But you are someone who causes ripples. I intended to keep you close, I never imagined that..."

He stopped talking, but from the flush of his face, Hikaru flashed back to the previous night and felt himself turning red. But it was quite rude to take without giving and despite his occasional immaturity, Hikaru's mother had raised him properly. He summoned his courage, and asked: "H-how did that happen, anyway?"

"...you talk a lot." Yeongha finally said. "Before you knew I spoke Japanese, you had this tendency to talk right after a game. At first, it was mostly insults." He smiled at the memory. "You'd be surprised at what people say when they think no one else can understand them."

Hikaru bit his lip. He recalled an incident when, after a particularly brutal defeat, he had called Yeongha something that would've caused his mother to attack him with soap. Judging from Yeongha's recovered smirk, so did he.

"I wanted to tell you that I spoke Japanese," Yeongha said. "I kept waiting for the right moment, but the more you talked, the more serious you became. One day, you looked me in the eye and said 'even in a million years, you will not come close to touching him'. At that point, I didn't know how to bring it up without completely alienating you and...I didn't want you to stop talking."

Hikaru rocked back in his chair, stunned.

"So then..." he ventured, "where did that whole...other thing come from? That whole..."

"That whole...'I like you' thing?" Yeongha shrugged. "Is it so unusual? You are attractive, I am attractive, we have a common interest, and we spend a lot of time together. It's natural."

"But-" Hikaru sputtered. "How do you know that you like me?"

"Shindou," Yeongha sounded exasperated now. "I don't know if you've realized this, but I don't like people. If I can put up with someone, it's an achievement."

"But there's a big difference between-"

"I like you," Yeongha interrupted, simple and direct. "My feelings are not the ones in question."

Hikaru's face reddened further and he looked away, biting his lip. "I don't know," he confessed. "I've never thought about it…I've never thought about…that stuff. My life has been about Go since as long as I can remember."

"You spent the entire last month and a half sleeping in the arms of another boy," Yeongha said, straight-faced.

Oh yeah. Hikaru felt his face deepen in color.

"I'm not a person who will give up easily," Yeongha continued on bluntly. "If you give me any indication that your rejection is insincere, I will continue pursuing you until I get an absolute."

Hikaru trained his gaze on the goban, completely taken aback. This was too much to digest at one time, too much that he didn't know about himself. What Yeongha was suggesting, what he was implying…he had little contact with homosexuality, and while he maintained a polite apathy regarding the subject, he never thought he would be 'one of them' either.

"I…I'm sorry," Hikaru said truthfully. "I-I don't know. I can't say yes."

To his surprise, Yeongha smiled.

"Not saying yes is not the same as saying 'no'," Yeongha said, and it sounded like a battle cry. He stood up, stretched, and his following "Good night, Shindou" sounded like a promise.

[ / ]

t b c

Note A shorter chapter than I would like, but if I don't keep pushing myself to write, then I might lose inspiration and stop aaand...that would be bad lol. Hope you enjoyed. :)