He let the ball bounce a few times against the asphalt before taking a few long strides and capturing it again. It was hot, it was summer – and while normally on a day like this he'd be sleeping inside with his clothes off or finding Yutaka or Nanahara or Sugimura to screw around with, or maybe finding some girl to screw – but he was here. Alone, with a basketball and a hoop and he just wasn't feeling it.
But he couldn't help it. He needed to clear his head, even though it was hot as Hell out here and he'd already shed more clothes than he probably should have in a public place, and basketball was the best way to do that. He worked methodically around the court, taking jump shots and three-pointers and free throws and making every single one. Or, rather, only choosing to remember the ones he made, which was most of them. Every so often a hook shot would go awry, even after working at it, it was a gamble whether one of those would go in, but he did the same shot over and over until he did do it.
Genius, athletic, naturally gifted or not, some things you just had to work on.
But it had been at least two hours since he'd come out here and he was getting nowhere. Something simple like taking shots should have helped him work though things, but it wasn't, and he was still stuck. At least now he had an excuse for a shower, even though he'd taken one this morning. "Bad for your skin, Mimura," he muttered to himself, though his skin was perfect and one extra shower wouldn't hurt anything.
His phone buzzed and he headed for his bag, similarly hoping that it would be Nanahara and not. Nanahara, that was the root of his problem – Shuuya Nanahara, self-proclaimed rockstar and second-most popular guy in the class, was his problem. If he would have thought this even a year ago, he'd have laughed at himself. Nothing bothered him.
But it wasn't Nanahara.
"Yo, Yutaka," Shinji said. He held the phone to his ear with his shoulder while he packed up his bag. "What's up?"
Yutaka's voice came through faintly and static-y. "Are you busy tomorrow?"
"Go on the roof, I can't hear a thing you're saying," Shinji said, and he heard Yutaka mutter a little, but two minutes later it was better. "Better. And I might be busy, might not be. What's the deal? You busy?"
"Well, maybe, if you're not," Yutaka said. He laughed a little, and Shinji tilted his head away from the phone a bit. "Kidding. Sugimura and Nanahara are up for it-"
"Up for what, man?" Shinji asked, irritated. He liked Yutaka, he really did – the kid did have some balls, and he was good for a laugh, but sometimes he could be a pain in the ass. "And how do you know they're up for it? Am I seriously the last guy you called? Cold, man."
"Actually, it was Nanahara's idea-"
"Nanahara didn't even call me first?"
"Shinji, would you shut up?" Yutaka asked, and Shinji shut up. Normally he would have kept going, ribbed him a little more, got the old blood-pusher pumping hard, but Yutaka sounded a little pissed and Shinji himself didn't have the energy to do it. "Anyway, we're just gonna hang out. Meet up, eat something, maybe go wandering around-"
"Pick up chicks?" Shinji offered. The other end was quiet.
"You might," Yutaka said. Shinji sighed and flopped over onto his back, grabbing his phone just before he hit the ground so it wouldn't crack. "So, are you up for it?"
"Gotta check my schedule, little man," Shinji said. Yutaka waited, patiently, while Shinji did nothing but stare up at the sky and eventually sighed again. "Might be able to fit it in. When's this planned for? Or did you not decide yet?"
"Noon, about," Yutaka said. "But we could change it, if you can't come then-"
"Chill, little man," Shinji said. "I can make it. Meet you at your house, then? Eleven?"
"You won't be there until twelve-thirty," Yutaka said, and Shinji laughed, putting a hand up to block the sun from his eyes.
"You know me too well," he said, sitting up. He should get back to his place, shower up, and maybe go hang out somewhere. Pick up a girl or two. "But, nah, I'll be there at eleven. We can talk strategy."
"Strategy? For what?"
"The girls, Yutaka. The girls."
"Why do you need a-"
"You disappoint me, little man. You disappoint me," Shinji said, sighing so heavily that Yutaka would have to be deaf not to hear it. "But I've gotta go now. See you tomorrow, then."
He hung up and stood, slinging his bag over one shoulder and wiping sweat out of his eyes as he walked. School would be starting up again soon, and while he didn't really mind the whole environment of school, it got boring when everyone around him was so goddamned stupid. He wanted to distract himself from the fact that it was coming with sex and – yep, he had a few condoms stuck in the sides of his bag – even if girls thought they liked the look of sweat, none of them really liked the smell, so he'd go home and shower.
Except he didn't get the chance. He was walking, debating pulling out his headphones because he was still feeling pissy, when he ran into her. Both of them stumbled back, neither expecting the other, and when he saw who it was he could barely hold back another sigh. It wasn't like he didn't like looking at her, because psycho bitch or not, Mitsuko Souma's body was one of great sexiness.
"Well," Souma said, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't expect to run into you today."
Her voice made it clear what she was expecting, and while his body may have switched from wanting a shower to wanting Souma, his brain was still stuck on the shower. But if he stayed long enough, he'd end up doing it anyway, so he brushed past her. "Can't," he called back. "Busy."
But she grabbed onto his wrist and she pulled him into an alley – she was good at finding those, good at seeking out the seediest, weirdest places that people didn't look in out of principle so that she could do things like this in the middle of the day – and then she was against the wall and he was kissing her. You win this round, Little Shinji, he managed to think. Damn, you're a determined little guy.
It would have progressed, he knew that it would have progressed past his body pinning hers against the wall, but she stopped it. She grabbed his face and held him a few inches away, smiling a little at the power she thought she held. "What happened to being busy?" she asked, and he took a few steps back.
"Still am," he said. "And you're not my type, anyway."
"Your type?" Souma asked, glancing pointedly at his crotch. "I wasn't aware you had a type. Anything with a cunt and a pulse is what I thought – and is the first one even necessary? I've heard some delicious things about you and our favorite budding musician."
His blood ran cold at that, but he was nothing if not an actor, so he laughed a little. "Where the hell did you hear that?" he asked. He tried not to think about his erection, which was almost painfully obvious now – and painful in more ways than one, he'd never been good at holding back his sexual impulses and Mitsuko Souma had never made it easy.
"Did I hit a sore spot?"
"No," Shinji said. He stretched, felt his back crack, and almost leaned on where Yutaka would be on a normal day. "I just thought all of the rumors were about me and Yutaka. I mean, there's no way I'd be friends with him otherwise, isn't that what they say?"
"You don't look at Yutaka Seto the same way you look at Shuuya Nanahara," Souma said. She trailed her fingers down her body, and Shinji wasn't sure if she knew she was doing it or it was just part of her nature, to be as sexual as possible at all times.
"You mean, I don't have to look down when I'm talking to Nanahara," Shinji said, and Souma shrugged, her smile playing into a pouty smile. He tried not to think about it. He failed and sucked in a breath, crossing his arms. "And what do you want, anyway? Just trying to fuck with me?"
"Or fuck you, whichever comes first," Souma said. "I get bored so easily, you know. And while you're a little young, I've been trying to make the rounds through our classmates."
"Even the girls?"
"Oh, it's good to have those talents, too," she said. She pinned him with a look. "But I don't think we have any more business here."
Shinji responded by grabbing her and shoving her back up against that wall, kissing her and groping her, and he was fairly certain that she was laughing, but he didn't really care at the moment. He didn't feel bad about his conquests, but he'd never even thought about feeling bad about Mitsuko Souma. She was a bitch, she was a whore, and he was fairly certain that she was prostituting out Shimizu and Yahagi, so if he used her to get rid of some frustration, it was fine. He didn't give a shit about her, and she didn't give a shit about anyone, so he didn't feel bad when he pulled down his shorts, fished a condom from his bag, and went up under her skirt. She wasn't even wearing panties to get in the way, and he wouldn't have bothered with the condom if he wasn't worried about catching something from her.
But she laughed when he left, and he flipped her off. He'd been planning on taking a shower anyway, so smelling like sex and sweat wouldn't be a problem for very much longer. The one thing that bothered him was what she'd said about Shuuya. And not because it was weird – he could handle the rumors about Yutaka, laughed them off, encouraged them, even, because they were so damn weird to think of – but because it was true. Because that was his problem. That was his entire goddamned problem.
Shuuya Nanahara, and his feelings for the guy. It was stupid. It was the most idiotic thing in the world, because he didn't get crushes, he didn't have feelings for people, and the few times he had, he'd managed to get rid of them with a quick fuck with someone else. But his feelings for Shuuya hadn't disappeared, no matter how many girls he slept with or how many hoops he shot or how many times he jerked off, just trying to get it out of his system.
Nothing worked, and meeting up with him tomorrow would probably only make it worse.
So, I can't say how much this will be updated, or how long it'll be, or if it'll even be finished. It just hit me that I'd taken myself seriously whilst writing Shinji about once, and that was when writing a Shuuya/Shinji oneshot, and… well, I decided to write more of that. The oneshot's called Three Pointer, if you want to know. And… I may rewrite that scene and shove it in here at some point, but. Yeah.