"Yutaka still out there?" Shinji asked, not looking up from the laptop. Keita Iijima nodded, dropped the various items he'd found, and collapsed on the floor. Shinji glanced at him, one eyebrow quirked. "Tired?"

"It's hot," Iijima said. He stretched, elongating his body as far as it would go. "I don't know how Yutaka does it. He's bouncing around out there. Sweating, but still grinning."

"That's Yutaka," Shinji said. He smiled a little, and Iijima sat up, pulling his shirt away from where it stuck to his skin.

"Hey, Shinji," he said, trying to keep it conversational. He swallowed back a laugh and managed a grimace. "We're all going to escape, right?"

"Yeah," Shinji said. He looked a little confused, which was not a word one usually used to describe Shinji Mimura. "Why do you ask? Of course. I haven't told you anything else."

"No," Iijima said. He took a breath. "I'd-" oh shit, he was going to burst out laughing any minute now, damn that nervous laughing "-if I needed to, I'd die for you, Shinji."

Shinji looked shocked for half of a second before a grin spread across his face. "That's a fun thing to hear," he said. He abandoned his laptop, giving it a good-bye pat, and stood over Iijima. He nudged Iijima's thigh with his foot. "But whatever we're doing, we're doing together. You're not allowed to get the heroic sacrifice. Can't let you steal all the man points from me."

Iijima cracked a smile. "I mean it, though. I want to leave. Together. With you. I want to leave together with you more than anything, alright?" He giggled a little. "But I'd die for you."

"Don't go all girl on me, man," Shinji said.

"I'm not!"

"Sure you aren't."

Iijima stood up, noticing that he was just a bit taller than Shinji – an inch or so. He brushed his hair out of his eyes. He swallowed. The whole laughing-when-he-was-nervous-or-scared really made it hard to be serious, but he managed to hold it back. Shinji apparently saw something serious in his face and his grin turned into something awkward and weak.

He clapped Iijima on the shoulder. "You're not going to die, for me or otherwise," he said. His voice was still strong, thank God – Iijima didn't know how he'd react if Shinji wavered completely. "I said we're getting out together, and I mean it. You, me, Yutaka. Shuuya if he ever shows his damn face. Hiroki and whatever girlfriend he wants to bring along with him. But even if they don't make it, it's going to be us three. Together."

"Together," Iijima repeated.

Shinji nodded and turned to go back to his computer. As sure as Shinji was, and as much as Iijima wanted to believe him, there was something lurking at the back of his mind that told him that this might be the last chance he ever had.

"Hey, Shinji-"

Shinji turned around and Iijima caught him by the collar, barely believing the fact that he was taking control of a situation that involved Shinji Mimura, and kissed him full on the mouth. Then he broke away and laughed a little, trying to hold it back. "Just in case, right?"

Shinji recovered faster than Iijima would have liked but, then again, he was Shinji Mimura. "So you swing that way, huh?" he asked. "Or is it an exception thing? Gotta say, don't blame you. I'd go gay for me."

"I'm going to go find Yutaka," Iijima said, turning away before Shinji could really see how red he was. It hadn't been the perfect reaction, but, then again, Iijima would have been an idiot to expect anything else.

Shinji's hand caught his wrist, though both his hand and Iijima's wrist were slippery with sweat, and Iijima slipped away easy. Surprisingly, though, Shinji followed him – he hadn't been ten feet away from that computer since he'd gotten his hands on it – and, after a few steps, Iijima stopped.

"Don't run away," Shinji said. "I was kidding, right?"

Iijima took a breath, forced down a giggle, and turned. He stared Shinji straight in the eye. "Together," he said, affirming it one more time, and Shinji cracked a smile.

"Right, man. Together."

So, this was a request on Tumblr – a Shinji/Keita, and I really only ship that in the movie? So, movie!verse you get! Mostly because I actually really love Iijima in the movie, he got a completely personality upgrade while still keeping that "TOGETHER" thing he had going on in the book and manga. Shinji's maybe a little bit more manga than movie – whenever I write Shinji, he ends up more manga!verse than anything else, but I did try and tone it down a little bit.

Either way, here we go!