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answer_key[Salji]
Early Christmas Present
Akira’s birthday was an interesting affair, Hikaru found, in comparison to his own. Hikaru always wanted big parties when he was growing up, but Hikaru’s parents were never the sort to celebrate people’s birthdays, except for special years like Shichi-Go-San, with going to the temple and maybe having a quiet night at home with cake.
Ironically, despite the fact that Akira was more inclined to curl up with a good book near a fireplace on his birthday than socialise, Akira’s experiences were apparently the opposite, with his parents attempting to subtly hint that he should so something more social and Akira carefully avoiding the hints. Technically, Akira had been a recipient to more birthday parties than Hikaru. Although Akira’s usually consisted of some sort of lunch/formal dinner where friends of the family as well as having Touya’s father’s study group were welcome to attend.
Hikaru thought that all sounded rather boring. But so far his attempts to convince Akira to do something crazy fun for his birthday had all failed. Akira had vetoed the club idea, as he did not want to risk any repeats of the “cocktail incident”. Even Hikaru’s attempt to have Akira run off with him to the mountains to get an early start to the snow season was unsuccessful and resulted in what Hikaru thought was quite unnecessary snark.
Really, they would have snow fights, make snowmen, and go snowboarding down the mountain side – what wasn’t to love about it? But no, Akira was all “While a lot of people might like snow, I find it an unnecessary freezing of water” and other unnecessary comments. It wasn’t like being in Tokyo where frightful weather was a pain to deal with; in the mountains you were free to cry “let it snow”, and enjoy it on its own, rather than being a hindrance to getting from one place to another and an excuse to complain about how cold it is outside. Besides, they’d be back in time for New Years, so Hikaru didn’t really see what the big deal was.
So instead Hikaru had found himself this year resigned to contenting himself with a cup of coffee after a good meal, and listening to whateverwise creepy words of wisdom Ogata had to say. He’d been obsessed with youth ever since he’d heard about Hikaru’s plan to escape with Akira off into the mountains; right now he was saying something about how being an adolescent was a lot like snow and you shouldn’t ignore it?
Whatever. They’d both outgrown adolescence a few years ago. Hikaru was fine with ignoring those days from long ago now.
Maybe, he thought whimsically, maybe if he was lucky after Akira’s birthday he’d get to do something fun with Akira. Although… Akira had indicated earlier that his plan was to just enjoy good company in the evening and the most excitement he was up for was a rousing Go game. Oh well. Well, Go was always good between the two of them at least.
It’s just - not something that you would save for a special occasion? Go should be played every day after all. Hikaru couldn’t help but smile at that last thought, which was possibly the cause of Ogata’s next creepy spiel about summer ending? Hikaru honestly had no idea what went through that man’s head sometimes.
FINALLY. Looked like this night was getting close to ending and Akira was ready to head off. Hikaru couldn’t wait to make tracks, of course, since as soon as they had gotten close to Akira’s place the wind started to howl and sleet was starting to come down. Great, it would be terrible for Akira to get sick as a result from going home from his birthday party, and all Hikaru wanted to do was get in somewhere nice and warm – so he grabbed Akira’s hand and pulled him along quickly as he could through the empty streets, because the sooner they were out of the cold, the better.
They finally got to Akira’s apartment, then began rapidly shedding outer layers.
“Really, sometimes winter’s a way for nature to say ‘up yours’, isn’t it, Akira?” Hikaru couldn’t help but joke, as he stripped his wet jacket off in the doorway.
Akira rolled his eyes, but merely noted “It has settled in early this year.” His face was slightly red from the cold and running.
“Alright! So one game of Go, then I’ll head off?” Hikaru asked brightly.
“You don’t have to leave after if you don’t want to; it’s pretty cold outside. Stay and have a cup of coffee.” Akira called out before ducking into the kitchen.
“Haha, I’ll be fine. I’ve gone home in worse; I’ll splurge on a taxi since it’s not every day we get to celebrate getting another year older - it’s a special occasion!”, Hikaru laughed as he segued into the real topic at hand. “So odd or even for nigiri?” Hikaru said as he pulled some stones out of the go-ke, he’d just set down. “Odd”, Akira said quietly, as he set down his tea and Hikaru’s coffee on the table by the side.
…
Hikaru shook himself slightly from being engrossed in the game. “Ah, I really can’t stay any longer.”
“Are you sure? It’s still really cold outside. Why not stay the night? It looks like there’s going to be a terrible storm.”
“Nah, my mother’s actually expecting me to come home tonight. I might borrow a coat off you though, get a little extra insulation since it’s colder than normal for this time of year.”
“Hikaru, haven’t you heard the wind howling outside? You’ll never get a cab out there.” Akira looked straight into Hikaru’s eyes, gripping Hikaru’s hand tightly. “I don’t want you get pneumonia and die or whatever ridiculous things you would do to drive my life crazy.”
“Pfffft, even if I died you couldn’t get rid of me Akira, I’d haunt your ass for the rest of your life time.” Hikaru tried to laugh off Akira’s concern.
“Hikaru please stay?” Akira said looking deep into Hikaru’s eyes, holding Hikaru spellbound for just a moment.
“Well, I guess it is pretty cold outside… And I do hate going out in a storm. Alright, let me just give my mother a call, and then we can party on down just the two of us! You’ve got popcorn right, let’s watch a movie and entertain ourselves!”
“I’d like that.” Akira smiled, and moved a little closer.
Early Christmas Present
Akira’s birthday was an interesting affair, Hikaru found, in comparison to his own. Hikaru always wanted big parties when he was growing up, but Hikaru’s parents were never the sort to celebrate people’s birthdays, except for special years like Shichi-Go-San, with going to the temple and maybe having a quiet night at home with cake.
Ironically, despite the fact that Akira was more inclined to curl up with a good book near a fireplace on his birthday than socialise, Akira’s experiences were apparently the opposite, with his parents attempting to subtly hint that he should so something more social and Akira carefully avoiding the hints. Technically, Akira had been a recipient to more birthday parties than Hikaru. Although Akira’s usually consisted of some sort of lunch/formal dinner where friends of the family as well as having Touya’s father’s study group were welcome to attend.
Hikaru thought that all sounded rather boring. But so far his attempts to convince Akira to do something crazy fun for his birthday had all failed. Akira had vetoed the club idea, as he did not want to risk any repeats of the “cocktail incident”. Even Hikaru’s attempt to have Akira run off with him to the mountains to get an early start to the snow season was unsuccessful and resulted in what Hikaru thought was quite unnecessary snark.
Really, they would have snow fights, make snowmen, and go snowboarding down the mountain side – what wasn’t to love about it? But no, Akira was all “While a lot of people might like snow, I find it an unnecessary freezing of water” and other unnecessary comments. It wasn’t like being in Tokyo where frightful weather was a pain to deal with; in the mountains you were free to cry “let it snow”, and enjoy it on its own, rather than being a hindrance to getting from one place to another and an excuse to complain about how cold it is outside. Besides, they’d be back in time for New Years, so Hikaru didn’t really see what the big deal was.
So instead Hikaru had found himself this year resigned to contenting himself with a cup of coffee after a good meal, and listening to whatever
Whatever. They’d both outgrown adolescence a few years ago. Hikaru was fine with ignoring those days from long ago now.
Maybe, he thought whimsically, maybe if he was lucky after Akira’s birthday he’d get to do something fun with Akira. Although… Akira had indicated earlier that his plan was to just enjoy good company in the evening and the most excitement he was up for was a rousing Go game. Oh well. Well, Go was always good between the two of them at least.
It’s just - not something that you would save for a special occasion? Go should be played every day after all. Hikaru couldn’t help but smile at that last thought, which was possibly the cause of Ogata’s next creepy spiel about summer ending? Hikaru honestly had no idea what went through that man’s head sometimes.
FINALLY. Looked like this night was getting close to ending and Akira was ready to head off. Hikaru couldn’t wait to make tracks, of course, since as soon as they had gotten close to Akira’s place the wind started to howl and sleet was starting to come down. Great, it would be terrible for Akira to get sick as a result from going home from his birthday party, and all Hikaru wanted to do was get in somewhere nice and warm – so he grabbed Akira’s hand and pulled him along quickly as he could through the empty streets, because the sooner they were out of the cold, the better.
They finally got to Akira’s apartment, then began rapidly shedding outer layers.
“Really, sometimes winter’s a way for nature to say ‘up yours’, isn’t it, Akira?” Hikaru couldn’t help but joke, as he stripped his wet jacket off in the doorway.
Akira rolled his eyes, but merely noted “It has settled in early this year.” His face was slightly red from the cold and running.
“Alright! So one game of Go, then I’ll head off?” Hikaru asked brightly.
“You don’t have to leave after if you don’t want to; it’s pretty cold outside. Stay and have a cup of coffee.” Akira called out before ducking into the kitchen.
“Haha, I’ll be fine. I’ve gone home in worse; I’ll splurge on a taxi since it’s not every day we get to celebrate getting another year older - it’s a special occasion!”, Hikaru laughed as he segued into the real topic at hand. “So odd or even for nigiri?” Hikaru said as he pulled some stones out of the go-ke, he’d just set down. “Odd”, Akira said quietly, as he set down his tea and Hikaru’s coffee on the table by the side.
…
Hikaru shook himself slightly from being engrossed in the game. “Ah, I really can’t stay any longer.”
“Are you sure? It’s still really cold outside. Why not stay the night? It looks like there’s going to be a terrible storm.”
“Nah, my mother’s actually expecting me to come home tonight. I might borrow a coat off you though, get a little extra insulation since it’s colder than normal for this time of year.”
“Hikaru, haven’t you heard the wind howling outside? You’ll never get a cab out there.” Akira looked straight into Hikaru’s eyes, gripping Hikaru’s hand tightly. “I don’t want you get pneumonia and die or whatever ridiculous things you would do to drive my life crazy.”
“Pfffft, even if I died you couldn’t get rid of me Akira, I’d haunt your ass for the rest of your life time.” Hikaru tried to laugh off Akira’s concern.
“Hikaru please stay?” Akira said looking deep into Hikaru’s eyes, holding Hikaru spellbound for just a moment.
“Well, I guess it is pretty cold outside… And I do hate going out in a storm. Alright, let me just give my mother a call, and then we can party on down just the two of us! You’ve got popcorn right, let’s watch a movie and entertain ourselves!”
“I’d like that.” Akira smiled, and moved a little closer.
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Date: 2013-12-20 06:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-22 08:05 pm (UTC)Thank you!
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Date: 2013-12-22 09:06 am (UTC)Schnee
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Date: 2013-12-22 08:07 pm (UTC)