Notes: Aside from the very last sentence, these are not presented in chronological order, or any order for that matter. I hope that everyone can enjoy some of the more subtle ties between the (ridiculous run-on) sentences and the challenge words. Trashbaes break my heart and we should all be suffering together. Xposted to Ao3.

Swimming
Dipping into the stale water of the city's once-beautiful canals served two purposes after the hottest of summer days; for one, it was as close to a bath as they were going to get for a long time, and two, neither of them could honestly say it wasn't a little bit enjoyable.

Peacocking
Shun was obviously in love with the shabby purple trenchcoat he'd found in the dusty remains of the mall, but Ruri couldn't help thinking he wore it just to show off for Ute, whose eyes indeed followed her brother's every movement that day.

Tears
Ute knew better than to leave his position, but it was so hard when he could hear the mournful wails of a brother who had lost his only charge.

Fondling
Shun's wandering hands had come as a surprise the first time; now, Ute couldn't help but anticipate the nights on which neither of them had to be lookout.

Resolve
He was hesitant to enter the building, but Ute's presence at his side gave him the will to push forward.

Breathe
The crisp air stung their lungs as they woke to find the windows of the dilapidated house covered in frost and their breath rising in tiny puffs before their eyes.

Sky
Weeks had passed, seemingly endless days and nights of smoke surrounding the corrupted cityscape, so Shun didn't dare scold the younger kids for sneaking out to look at the stars that night.

Contemplation
When he thought about it during his nightly patrol, Ute realized he hadn't stepped foot outside during daylight hours for much, much too long.

Copper
"I'm fine," Shun choked out to assuage Ute's fears, though the metallic taste in his mouth said otherwise.

Light
Eight months and three days had passed since the city's electrical grid went down, so the night Shun found an old gas-powered generator in the storage room of the old apartment building, along with enough fuel to run it, was first night they spent beneath fluorescent lights, finally able to see each other while they spoke.

Difference
Sometimes, Shun was astounded at how very different he and his best friend were.

Pallor
Ute had always considered himself rather pale compared to his comrades, but that was before he saw Shun's skin against his own.

Cat
The cat was clearly starving to death and terrified of them, but Shun still refused to move from the depths of the alley until Ute had made a spectacle of himself shooing it away.

Necessary
Ute hated the idea of Ruri going on solo missions for supplies just as much as Shun did, but with their dwindling forces and the need to protect their assets, he knew better than to argue with the girl's sound reasoning.

Escape
Ute would have fallen victim to the swarm of enemy forces that had poured into the warehouse had Shun not grabbed his arm at the last minute and pulled him to safety, refusing to let go as he led the way.

Burn
"Our house is gone, Ruri," Shun whispered so sadly that first night, flinching as his sister shakily wrapped gauze around his burnt hands while Ute dared not say a thing.

Filter
Ute found himself saying the most ridiculous things when he was alone with Shun.

Food
Shun tucked something under the blanket before whispering in Ute's ear: "Don't let any of the higher-ups catch you eating extra rations or we're both done for."

Blankets
Shun found it endlessly amusing that, no matter what sort of living space they managed to find shelter in, Ute always made it a priority to make himself a nest with as many blankets as he could find.

Shopping
"I found some deodorant," Ute said in what he hoped was a cheerful voice, only to turn and find Shun holding a box that read, in huge shining foil letters, Personal Lubricant.

Blackjack
"You owe me roughly five hundred booster packs now," Ute said while Shun sat across the table, fuming; "Are you really sure you want to keep playing?"

Technology
Shun hated the idea of using the weapons they had stolen from the enemy soldiers, but he couldn't deny the fact that the technology was much further advanced than anything in their own arsenal.

Pain
Shun simply held onto his friend tighter, trying not to listen to the disjointed strings of curses and whimpers Ute let out as he made his way back to camp, wondering how in the hell Ute had managed to stay so calm when their roles had been reversed less than a month ago.

Warmth
For months, Ute had been content to sleep under his own ratty blanket, but with winter in full swing, the warmth of a shared pallet and Shun pressed against his back was as close to comfort as he could get.

Phone
He knew he was stranded in unfamiliar territory in a strange city, but Ute still desperately tapped at the screen, the pain in his chest worsening each time a call failed to reach Shun.

Water
"We have to ration carefully, okay?" Shun asked, barely able to hide the unease in his voice as Ruri and Ute downed the first bottles of water he'd managed to find in the area.

Illness
Ute's fever hadn't fallen in days, the wound on his leg was still infected, and Shun knew better than to hope that anyone would find the antibiotics his friend needed in the ruins of the pharmacy – but he hoped, anyway, because he didn't know what else to do.

Tattoo
The members of the resistance army had to find some way to pass the time when they were waiting for orders, but Ute was still surprised when Shun came to bed with new markings on his shoulder.

Kiss
Ute wasn't sure what to expect when Shun finally closed the distance, afraid for a moment that his recent lack of dental hygiene would ruin the moment, but Shun stayed there anyway, gently working at his bottom lip until Ute relaxed and let himself enjoy the feeling.

Clean
Shun hated Reiji Akaba, he hated LDS, and he hated the whole agreement he'd gotten suckered into – but that night, as he scrubbed himself clean for the first time in years, he couldn't help but appreciate how good it felt.

Filthy
Shun knew he should have felt bad for loving the way Ute's mouth was working between his legs, but then again, Ute had been so eager to do this – so maybe he was the dirty one.

Flowers
Shun was surprised when Ute showed up at sunrise with a full bouquet of wildflowers, but when he asked about them, the only reply he got was, "She won't think they're lame if they're from you."

Strap
Before the invasion, Ute would have laughed at the idea of securing the straps of his backpack so carefully, but he had learned his lesson the night he lost a month's worth of food and had to tell Shun they'd go hungry for a while.

Eyes
Shun almost found himself envious of his lover's eyes at night, marveling at the way the dim light of the stars seemed to make what Ute called "boring gray" spark to life.

Bag
Shun's arms ached and his palms were blistering, but he dared not let go of the huge kit bag of food and supplies he'd gathered for his dear friend and sister.

Pillow
Sure, there wasn't much to Shun's chest after two and a half years of near-starvation, but Ute found the relaxed muscles there made for the best pillow anyway.

Safety
Ute had found the underground bar by complete chance, its entrance hidden away by the chunks of crumbled building that filled the alley, but when he saw the way Shun's eyes lit up, he knew he'd done something right.

Struggle
His arms trembled dangerously as he tried to claw himself out of the pile of rubble, overwhelmed at the loss, his loss, and the way Ruri had screamed before she'd been taken, knowing that he would have to tell Shun, he had to be the one to tell Shun, if only he could get up.

Idols
Ute dodged Ruri's question for the third time, refusing to tell her just how much he had looked up to Shun just months ago – and how much he still did.

Believe
Looking at the ruined city from above, Shun knew there was no way Heartland would ever be the same, but as long as he had Ute and Ruri by his side when it was all said and done, he could believe that something would turn out right.

Constant
Their lives had turned into a whirlwind of fighting, gathering, sleeping for two hours and doing it all again, but nothing was the same from day to day except the presence of each other.

Ambush
The three of them had been exhausted beyond words, too tired to stand watch just that one night, but the quietness of the restful morning was broken with curses of regret as they had to leave their supplies once again, chased out of their makeshift home by a dozen or more soldiers out for blood.

Sneak
Maybe it wasn't a big deal at all, and maybe nobody would really care, but Ute still found himself sneaking to Shun's side night after night, avoiding the watchful eyes of their comrades so that he could take comfort in his lover's arms.

Study
During their first few months with the Resistance, when Shun came back from his patrols, he would find Ute laying on the floor of the safe house, staring intently at the cards spread across the floor, and he couldn't help but feel his heart break a little more each time.

Hair
"I know I'm not as good as Ruri," Shun grumbled, "but if you don't stop moving I'm going to cut it all off."

Sorrow
Shun spent hours that night searching the desolate streets for any sign of his best friend, wasting what little battery life his scanner had in hopes of finding any trace of body heat from within the skeletal buildings, but when the sun had risen and Ute still hadn't contacted him, he broke down again – and the pain was just as real as it had been when he realized he would likely never see Ruri again.

Talent
Sometimes, Ute would sit in the common area of the base camp and watch Ruri's brother for hours, marveling at how he seemed to be able to do pretty much anything (except win at arm wrestling against the older soldiers).

Drinking
Ute understood that everyone had a breaking point, but seeing Shun curled up in the corner of the bar with a bottle of vodka they'd agreed to keep for the sole purpose of disinfecting wounds scared him more than any enemy soldier ever would.

Swallow
"D-do it, please," Shun begged, looking down into his eyes, and Ute obliged.

Hang
Though his fingertips were about to give out, he had no other option but to hang there, quickly losing his grip on the edge of the slippery rooftop until he heard Shun's voice from below – "You can let go, I've got you."

Rocks
After parting with the main Resistance Army, shelter became scarce, and there were nights that Shun and Ute found themselves clearing rocks and rubble from bare foundations and pavement just to have somewhere to sleep.

Sharp
The pain came quickly, intensely, shooting up Ute's leg while his mind raced to catch up to the situation, but before he could calm himself, he could see something jutting out against the leg of his pants and his surroundings melted away.

Dull
Shun spent hours with his arms folded over his abdomen, refusing to to move from the shoddy pile of blankets the medic had fetched for him as the heavy waves of pain came and went, pounding dully from his rib cage to his groin and back up again.

Time
Sometimes, Shun would go weeks without caring about the date, only asking around camp when he feared an important holiday or birthday had arrived; Ute found it odd that he would subsequently complain about how fast time was flying by despite their nightmarish living situations.

Blind
"Ute, look at me – I mean at me, for real," Shun somehow sputtered, unable to control the trembling of his hands when he saw the tiny scars around Ute's left eye and the way his friend tried to look somewhere, anywhere other than him.

Taste
Shun hastily ate the food he'd purchased in the cafeteria with the card Reiji had given him, his eyes watering as he remembered the smell of the kitchen back home and how good everything had tasted compared to this mass-produced junk.

Leading
When Shun learned of their leader's plan to create a decoy force, he became passionate about leaving the heavily-guarded base camp and forming his own Resistance, and later Ute would marvel at the determination in his voice as he led their ragtag group into the ruins of the city.

Pity
Ute gazed down at Sora Shiunin, unable to bring himself to hurt his enemy any more, painfully aware that if this were some other place, some other time, maybe that crazed look would be on Shun's face, and maybe he, himself, would have to take Yuuya's role as the fireman.

Rage
The first time Shun let his emotions get the best of him, Ute was there to hold him at bay, and he was also there during the fallout when Shun screamed at him, over and over and over again, that he should have let him go, he could have handled those Fusion bastards, they have Ruri, Ute, why did you stop me?

Corridor
Ute is hesitant to walk any further into the hallways of the LDS building, keenly aware of just how little Shun seems to trust Reiji Akaba's words, knowing that he's one wrong step away from being captured and studied and tortured, maybe, but he also knows that Shun's temporary bedroom is somewhere on the thirty-second floor, and so is Shun's warm embrace.

Quickness
Shun found himself flat on his back, taken off guard yet again by how quickly Ute had excelled at the basics of self-defense and completely blown away by how fast his friend had gotten.

Floating
The sun was rising, he could see through the half-closed blinds, but Ute couldn't bring himself to crawl off of the pillowed mattress on Shun's bed just yet, craving nothing but more of the lingering euphoria from his latest bad decision.

Alone
Shun had been unable to face the truth for days, but he could no longer ignore how empty his chest felt at the thought of spending his future like this – alone, with Ruri a prisoner of Academia and Ute just gone, probably for good this time.

Panic
When Shun collapsed, Ute didn't know how to react, panic welling in his chest as he tried to pull his friend to his feet time and time again.

Humid
Ute couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious when he peeled his shirt off of his sweaty back, but Shun was already down to his shorts and Ruri was in a tank top that concealed nothing and somehow he didn't think they would laugh at him anymore.

Embarrassing
Shun's face had more color than Ute had ever seen on it before, but he refused to stop his onslaught, telling the man each and every thing he had loved and missed in their time apart – yes, even your girly eyelashes, Shun, stop being so squirmy, no, they're not really girly, they're perfect you absolute ninny.

Wash
Ute stood at the highest point on the bank, carefully watching for any sign of movement while Shun hurriedly scrubbed their extra clothes in the algae-ridden water of the canal.

Home
Shun was sometimes alarmed at how comfortable he felt returning to their hideout to find Ute and Ruri waiting there, as if wading through the remains of a battlefield was normal and the bar was where he belonged.

Apart
Shun rolled over beneath the heavy blankets, unable to sleep well in such a comfortable bed with the knowledge that Ute was somewhere in this foreign city, most likely cold and hungry.

Burden
Shun knew he didn't have to look out for Ruri's friend, but he could tell by the way she was looking up at him that the boy didn't have any family left, so he wound up taking both of them beneath his wing, even though he wasn't sure he'd even be able to take care of himself.

Falter
Shun felt his heart skip a beat when Ute leaped in front of him and cut him off from the girl who had to be Ruri, wondering why – how – Ute could ever do this to him.

Guilt
A week had passed, the streets were eerily devoid of enemy soldiers, and Ute had refused to eat until Shun finally came to his side and told him that Ruri's capture wasn't his fault.

Family
He didn't know if he really should think of Shun and Ruri as family, but what he felt with them now was so much more real than the memories of the parents from years ago, so much more substantial than the hazy memories of a mother whose face he couldn't recall.

Wish
Ute wanted nothing more than to see a real smile on Shun's face again.

Book
"You shouldn't bring unnecessary things," the older soldier had scolded them, but that didn't stop Shun from retrieving the book Ute had found in the ruins of the library as soon as the man's back was turned.

Beginning
Ute watched, absorbing every bit of information he could as Shun demanded answer after answer out of the group calling itself the Resistance, but it wasn't until later that he realized this was the start of their new life.

High
He was sticky with spit and sweat and things that made his heart race, but Ute was still too comfortable to move from where he lay, draped over Shun's body with all the panache of a soiled tablecloth.

Improvise
Ute wasn't sure how Ruri had discovered that dumping a bucket of water into a toilet would magically make it flush and he wasn't sure he wanted to know the details.

Indolent
Lately, Ute had noticed that Shun was having trouble getting out of his bedroll when it was his turn to patrol, but he wasn't sure if it was because Shun was finally reaching his limit or something much worse.

Shatter
Ute heard the sound of the debris smashing into the lens of his goggles despite the surrounding ruckus, and though the blow landed just as solid a hit on his confidence as it had on his gear, he knew he couldn't let his enemy know he was wounded.

Lack
Ute felt useless any time there was nothing in his possession he could use to ease Shun's pain.

Ornery
"No," Shun insisted, "I don't need your stupid-," but Ute didn't back down, giving Shun his best no-nonsense look until the older man let out a string of curses and accepted the food with a final "you're an asshole" for good measure.

Pleading
Shun hoped that his voice didn't crack, because there was no way he was going to beg, but Reiji Akaba's cool indifference to his demands made a new kind of panic well in his chest.

Powerless
Shun wasn't certain at what point he'd become a prisoner, but it was an undeniable fact that he was no longer carrying out things on his own terms.

Quixotic
Shun is kinder than his other superiors, but even he has to take Ute aside later that night and remind him – yet again – "If you let them live, they'll just come back to kill us," and that's probably when Ute starts to doubt his own ideals.

Toxic
"But I'm not..." Shun tried to insist, but Ute gently closed the distance between them, and Shun knew he had fallen too hard, too wholly – afraid that if anything ever happened to the other, he would be left in shambles, broken in the aftermath of the only addiction he'd ever had, completely unable to function without this single constant, unhealthily reliant on everything that was Ute.

Sardonic
The smile on Shun's face was a scary thing that screamed confidence where there was none, and in that moment, Ute felt the last of his hope drain away.

Repentant
Shun and the few remaining members of their group tried, but they could not stop Ute from leaving every night to search for Ruri on his own, seeking repentance in his solitude.

Comfort
When Ute saw the navy tie from his grade school in the bag, he knew it was too small, but he couldn't help but wrap it around his neck and smile at the small embroidery on the wrong side that had proclaimed his proud rank as a fifth grader.

Drowning
A tiny part of him was screaming at him for letting his guard down in enemy territory, but he still pulled Ute's hips down to meet his own, drowning in the heat and the sight of his lover's naked body and the too-loud groans that Ute wasn't even trying to muffle anymore, unaware that the shoddy dorm-grade bed was threatening to collapse with each yes please don't stop fuck yourself on me bounce.

Pride
Shun couldn't go back on his word now, as much as it was killing him, no matter how much he wanted to get out, so he continued to go along with Reiji's plans and mourned his friend's absence in silence.

Hatred
Ute had cried for his family, ached for his city, and suffered for Ruri's loss, but he didn't know just how much he hated Academia until he saw his comrades carrying Shun's broken, battered body into the room.

Hope
Shun stumbled towards the girl, feeling his own features slack for the first time in ages as he struggled to comprehend – why, how, Ruri...?

Pleasure
"This room is definitely bugged," Ute whispered, but that was the only protest he could make before Shun had him bent over the desk and begging for more.

Threadbare
The tails of his coat were shredded, and the hems were all coming undone from near-constant use, but Shun loved it still.

Parcel
"You don't have to open this," Shun told Ute as he lowered the backpack to the ground, "but I thought you might want something from home... you know, after it's all said and done."

Feather
Shun couldn't help but smile fondly at Ruri and Ute when they gave him the small, worn-out box with the feather pendant inside, thinking that his fourteenth birthday somehow managed to be special even though the world had fallen apart.

Treat
Ute had started by saying that he knew they couldn't afford to eat more than the bare minimum at this point, but somehow they had eaten until they were too full to move, reveling in the blessing of hot rice for the first time in more than a year.

Acceptance
Though Shun's stomach was still roiling with anger and confusion, he still put his hand on Ute's shoulder, knowing that it was not his place to question Ute's decision to let yet another group of Academia's soldiers run free.

Denial
"He entrusted it to me," Yuuya Sakaki insisted, his eyes wide with just as much uncertainty as Shun felt, but Shun simply could not accept the truth before him.