Chapter Text
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Touya looked around the room uncertainly, trying to calm down while letting his gaze run past the fake chandelier, the satin-covered bed, and the bowl of brightly-coloured candy on the beside table. No. He squinted, and averted his eyes. Definitely not candy. He turned to the other occupant of the room. “Shindou,” he asked, “are you sure we should be here?”
Shindou, who was in the middle of pulling off his socks, looked up at his question. “People come here when they need privacy, Touya,” he said, putting on his most patient look. “It’s no big deal.”
"It’s a love motel."
"So? What’s your point?" Shindou asked, sitting down on the carpet and stretching his legs out, before he gestured at Touya’s feet. "Take your shoes off, Touya. We don’t have all day."
"Shindou, these places charge by the hour."
"I know. I made the arrangements, remember? Shoes, Touya."
Touya took off his own shoes and arranged them neatly on the floor. "Surely you don’t think that we can do this in only one hour?" he asked.
Shindou gave him an incredulous look. "Of course not!" he said. "I booked the room for three hours."
"Three hours?"
"Any longer than that, and it would have been cheaper to take the room for twenty-four hours instead." His eyebrows rose as he considered. "Hey, we could…"
Touya shook his head. "No!"
Shindou looked hurt. "Is it such a torture to play the night through?" he asked, putting on an exaggerated leer.
"Yes. When you sleep, you snore," Touya said primly.
"I do not!" Shindou sat up. "I just, er, breathe loudly."
"Yes, I’m sure you do," Touya said, sitting down in the only available chair in the room. He was disturbed to observe that there was yet another bowl of... not-candy, on the sidetable at his elbow, and shifted to the edge of his seat.
Shindou, in the meantime, had scrambled onto the bed and was bouncing on it, exploring the plastic flower arrangements fixed on the wall at the same time. "Hey, check this out!" he said, waving what looked like a television remote control. "This bed can vibrate. Cool!" He pressed the controls, and a soft buzzing sound filled the room as the mattress began to shake.
Touya stared at the vibrating bed, disturbed. "Shindou, switch that off."
"Come on, lie down and try it out!" Shindou said, suiting his actions to his words. "Feels like a message chair."
"No."
"Spoilsport," Shindou grumbled, wriggling on the mattress again as though to make himself comfortable. His bright yellow shirt, not to mention his hair, clashed unpleasantly with the pink satin sheets.
Touya tried not to roll his eyes. "I really think that next time we should try some place other than a love motel."
"Like where?" Shindou asked. "Your parents are home, Touya, and Touya-sensei has visitors coming over to talk to him all the time. Even the Go-salon is under renovation."
"Your place…"
Shindou sat up. "No way," he declared. "My aunt and uncle are visiting from Hokkaido, remember? They’d be trying to ask questions about Go all the time." He switched off the vibrating mattress, evidently annoyed at having to talk louder over the sound, and leant back against the pillows.
Touya shook his head. "Are you going to lie there forever? We came here for a purpose, Shindou."
"Okay, okay," Shindou said. He gave one last wriggle, before he sat up. "Dibs on the black!" he shouted, bouncing on the mattress again.
Touya, in the meantime, had arranged everything. The portable Go board was placed on the floor, and the two bowls of Go stones placed beside it.
Shindou slid off the bed with a thump and took his seat opposite Touya.
Touya studied the Go board and waited for Shindou to make the first move as black. After a few minutes in which nothing happened, he looked up.
Shindou was exploring the bowl of brightly-coloured condoms with a puzzled expression, as though he had no idea what they really were.
Touya sighed. "Shindou, stop…" he began to say, then shouted, "Don’t put it in your mouth!"
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