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"Captain's log," Hikaru narrated into the microphone on his chair arm. "Star date 1701.1 These are the voyages of the starship Honinbou on her neverending mission--"
"Five year mission," Touya corrected. His science officer and First Officer had a commitment to precision that was really neverending, and just as endlessly fun to bait. "We're barely out of stardock, Captain. I know you're capable of being serious, so try to put some effort into it at least until we're on the frontier."
Pressing the delete button on his log entry, Hikaru grinned at his old friend. "You can call me Shindou still, Touya. You know, like you did up to the moment when you accepted the commission for this ship?"
"Not while we're on duty, Captain." He raised an eyebrow at the ensign at the con and the navigator trying to suppress their giggles, making a predictable point about discipline on board a starship.
Hikaru cleared his throat and tried to sound commanding. "Lt. Tsutsui, Ensign Fujisaki, as you were. Heading 36 mark 17, warp three."
"Yes, Captain!"
He could never regret asking for Touya as his First Officer, even if he had an infuriating insistence on protocol sometimes. Touya was the best! And, what was more, they'd be charting the stars in furthest reaches of the known universe, spending years on this ship away from ports of civilization except for regular stops to refit and resupply. And the life of a captain could be lonely, always trying to stay just aloof enough from the crew that they could respect your authority. Was it so wrong to want his best friend along so he didn't go stir-crazy? He didn't think so. And once a week had passed in the cold, lonely reaches of space, he was pretty sure Touya would get the stick out of his butt and agree with him. The proper facade never lasted long once Touya got a fire lit under his ass. Then they'd have some real fun, despite being in a tiny tin (okay, titanium and steel and copper and glass, lithium and tungsten and porcelain) vessel dwarfed by the vastness of not-quite empty possibility. The only question was how to get a rise out of him, and that wasn't even really a question.
"Pssst..." he hissed at Touya, who glared. Naturally. But no one else gave any hint of hearing. "When the watch is over, can I interest you in a game? I brought my board and stones."
"I can't believe you'd use your luggage allotment that way," Touya growled, and Hikaru honestly couldn't believe those words had come out of his friend's mouth. Touya Akira, calling Go stones a waste of space?! But then Touya leaned on the back of his chair, whispering, "My board and stones are clearly superior, and you had to know I'd bring them," with a smirk.
Hikaru laughed, nice and loud, and long enough for everyone on the bridge to wonder what the joke was. "Come on, Touya! What if we want to have a tournament among the officers! We can't do that with just one board!"
"Let's wait until we can be sure the other officers play Go before we plan a tournament, shall we?"
"You and me, rec room, 1900 hours."
"My board, Shindou."
The grin on Hikaru's face couldn't have been bigger. "You're on."