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Queen to...uh. Chess Pun! [Closed.]
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 19, 2016 23:39:29 GMT
It wasn't that far from school to Takahiro's apartment building. It was one of the taller apartment buildings in the area. He leads the way right into the building, and all the way up to the top floor! He takes the elevator of course. Are you kidding? More than one flight of stairs? No way, bro.
He pulls a key from his pocket and opens the door to a large, but simple apartment. A new TV is mounted on the wall of the sunken sitting area, with a kitchen and breakfast bar over to the side. Various doors around the room presumably lead to bedrooms. Music is coming from one of them, presumably Scout's.
"It's, um. J-just this way,"
Assuming the older boy follows, he'd find a fairly ordinary teenager's bedroom. A built-in closet, a one-man bed, thick carpeting and a computer desk in the corner. Nothing especially fancy. Takahiro turns on a desk lamp to provide some illumination to the room, since the sun sets earlier at this time of year. An expensive-looking chess set is sitting on the table. The board seems to be made of highly-polished white and black marble. The white pieces are also made of marble, whilst the black pieces are made of ebony. Expensive indeed!
Takahiro offers the comfy-looking computer chair to his senior, taking a folding stool for himself. Apparently it had just been hidden under the desk.
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Post by Shichiro on Jan 20, 2016 0:15:41 GMT
Shichiro looked back and forth between Takahiro and the chair; he was the guest and inclined to let his new friend (Were they friends? Already? He was so out of practice at this, he has no idea.) have his space. But Takahiro was offering, and now he couldn't decide if it would be ruder to accept or decline. So, after a quiet pause just long enough to be really awkward, he took the seat, bowing gratefully. "Thank you. I like your place. Is that your new set?" His voice was almost reverent, hushed a little as he reached out to pluck a white marble knight from its place on the board after looking to Takahiro to confirm it was okay.
The piece was... "Exquisite," he finally decided. "These are beautiful. Thank you for sharing, Taka-kun. Do you want to play?" He looked over to the boy, something like excitement or hope plainly written on his face. How long had it been since he'd had a friend?
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 20, 2016 0:24:42 GMT
“It is!” He smiles, giving a nod as he sits in the awkward seat he'd stolen from his brother's room several years ago, and just never given back. Takahiro smiles. 'Taka-kun'! That's nice. “O-of course!” He turns the board so that he'll be playing black, and that Shichiro will be playing white. “It's, um. Nice to finally have someone to use the set with. They're, uh. They aren't much use as just decorations, hm?”
“D-do you live, um. Is your house far from here? If you like, you could stay for dinner if it'd be more convenient for your family. That'd give us, um. We'd have time for a couple of games, as well,” And because the tense silences with Scout were unbearable, some days...
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Post by Shichiro on Jan 20, 2016 2:10:49 GMT
"Yeah, it would be a shame for them to just sit and collect dust. Your brother doesn't play?" He lifted the white pawn in front of his king, moving it a few squares forward. When Takahiro asked about where he lived though, Shichiro could feel his eyes burning. His shoulders hunched a little, and there was that hair falling to shade his eyes again. Come on, kid. Learn to face your problems. "Um. Yeah. Dinner sounds great. I'm, uh, not too far.. close by." He muttered something low in a tone like he was pleading guilty to sneaking from the cookie jar. It was just about too low to really hear, forcing him to say it again. "Society Hill," he sighed. "Our house is on Society Hill."
He risked a glance up at Taka. This was usually where the taunts or jealousy started. Here it goes. So much for the new friend.
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 20, 2016 2:20:36 GMT
“He's...um. Scout's tried,” Takahiro looks a little awkward, “He has pretty bad ADHD. He's the best, um. He's the coolest brother I could wish for, but, uh. He's not so good for board games. You'll probably meet him after the game,” He starts to move his own pieces in an...oddly familiar way. Like the dream?
“Oh, I know, um. Y-yeah. That's a nice area,” He nods, and that's all he really has to say about it. Heck, the Evans apartment is pretty upscale for urban Japan. “I think my dad, um. Dad looked for a house there when I was younger, but...they liked this place,”
Well, that's that then.
Takahiro's eyes meet Shichiro's as he waits for the purple-haired boy to make a move on one of his turns. He offers a smile. He's getting better at them!
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Post by Shichiro on Jan 20, 2016 3:00:23 GMT
The tension visibly eased out of Shichiro's shoulders. Takahiro was being nice. He didn't seem to care where Shichi lived or how much money his family had. Maybe this wouldn't be bad after all. His gaze, turned away and hidden by his hair while he pretended to be studying the board, raised a little. His hair was still over his eyes a little, but Takahiro could see them at least. He moved a pawn on his queen's side, responding to the oddly familiar black opening with a favorite tactic. There was something... very odd, about this game.
"Playing with Kiyoshi's kind of like that. He has a hard time focusing on something for that long. Actually, he has trouble sitting still that long. Is it just you and your brother?"
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 20, 2016 3:06:49 GMT
“Well, mom and dad too,” He grins, “But, um. Y-yeah, just one brother. No sisters,” Takahiro makes his own move. The pair continue to play, with Takahiro wasting no time making his own moves. A field where he's confident! Hey, his king is wide-open to attack from Shichiro's bishop! Just like, uh. You get the idea. The last match. He frowns, immediately realizing his mistake.
“Scout's the same, though. He, um. He usually spends most of his time running around, but...well. Um. I. I told you he's...depressed recently. Just stuff,”
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Post by Shichiro on Jan 20, 2016 3:26:11 GMT
"Is he okay?" Shichiro asked, a note of concern to his voice. He might have wanted to ask why, but that was rude. "I'm the middle child. My sister Tamiko is seventeen, she goes to the school too. Kiyoshi's nine." He looked back to the board, looking it over for a moment. That feeling of deja vu tickled the back of his mind, a maddening sense he'd played this before. He saw the opening and it hit him at once. Kouhei. This was their game, this was how it had- Shichi hastily reached out and picked up his last remaining knight, moving it to capture an exposed rook. It gained him little, failed to take advantage of the opening in black's defenses and left a glaring hole in his own. The knight rattled against the rook a little in his hand as he switched them out, like perhaps his hand had trembled just a little.
"You have a nice smile," he said sincerely and also totally deflecting attention away from his sudden panic. "I should uh. Probably call my family and let them know I'm, uh. about dinner."
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 20, 2016 3:34:53 GMT
“He's...coping. He went through some trauma, um. Some bad stuff recently, he just...needs time,” He eyes the piece moves and blinks. That's...an odd choice. He shrugs, and moves to take advantage of the weakness, “Check. Mate in three moves,” He calculated that pretty fast. Showing off for your new friend, huh? Pfft. Loser.
“A nice...smile?” He blinks, and...can't help but smile a little more, “What made you say that?” He doesn't address the phonecall. He's big enough to use a phone by himself, after all.
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Post by Shichiro on Jan 20, 2016 3:49:36 GMT
Oh god. His ears were burning. Was his hair covering them? God he hoped his hair was covering them. "Um, I don't know. It's the truth," he stumbled, thoughtlessly moving a pawn to block Taka's aggression and mostly just flailing ineffectively. "I'm sorry. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything." Smooth, Shichi. From cool chess master to panicked rabbit in half a minute. Must be a record. At least Takahiro was learning a good strategy to undermine his new opponent. Freak him out a little and he played like sh- "It would be cool if you joined the chess team. What else do you do for fun?"
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 20, 2016 3:54:36 GMT
Takahiro stares at him for a moment, “Well. Um. Th-thank you! You're not making me uncomfortable, or, um. Nope. I'm just not used to people complimenting my...um. The way I look,” Well, it's true. He gets 'cute' from relatives sometimes, but Scout got the looks. Ugh. Bast-- “I'd love, um. I'd like to join, y-yeah,” He nods, “I just...read mostly. Go on walks. Nothing exciting. As I'm sure you can tell, uh. It's obvious I don't have a lot of friends or anything else,” He grins, “How about you?”
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Post by Shichiro on Jan 20, 2016 4:05:30 GMT
Shichiro frowned a little. Obvious? "Why wouldn't people want to be your friend? You're the nicest kid I've met since-... well, in a while anyway. Anyone who wouldn't want to probably isn't worth the time." His eyes lowered a little, calming and coming down a little now he was on a more comfortable, familiar (and mildly depressing) topic. "I don't have much in the way of friends either. Most of the kids at school don't really notice me much. The ones the do..." he grimaced. "They don't want to be friends."
"I like to read too. I like stories about medieval knights and fantasy. Chivalry, history, that kind of thing. I've also been fencing since I was nine."
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 20, 2016 4:19:34 GMT
“Well, uh. I dunno. I'm quiet. Quiet people don't get noticed,” Takahiro smiles though, at all the compliments, “Thanks. That's, um. Sweet of, oh, uh, nice of you,” His cheeks tinge pink, slightly. Erk. Why did he say sweet? “Well...if you're okay, um. If you're okay with it, I'd like to be friends with you,” He seems sincere!
“F-Fencing! Wow, that's cool. I have, a, uh. F-family member who...practices sword stuff. That's so cool, though...Shichiro-Sama,”
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Post by Shichiro on Jan 20, 2016 4:39:15 GMT
Shichiro smiled a little. They had a lot in common. "It's like that for me too. I'm just... bad at not being noticed by the wrong kids. It would be... really, really nice to have a friend again," he admitted suddenly, shoulders hunching just a little at the frank admission of vulnerability. He really hadn't had anyone he'd talked to this closely in a long time. Not since Kouhei. The whole situation was so head-poundingly familiar the sense of deja vu was like to overwhelm him completely.
"What kind of 'sword stuff' does your family member practice? Is it your brother, or...?"
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Post by Takahiro Evans on Jan 20, 2016 4:43:56 GMT
The younger boy beams, “C-cool!” Eeee! A friend! He moves a bishop, and knocks Shichiro's king over, “Mate.” Well, there we go. You got beaten, Shichiro. Accept your fate as a loser forever! AHAHAHAHA!
“Oh, no, not my brother. Um. I dunno. Sorry, I, uh. Don't know much about swords. I'd like, um. Like to learn, though. I'll ask when I next talk to him,” Takahiro stands and stretches, “Dinner, then. Um. What would...what would you like to eat, Shichiro-Sama?”
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