Hey, HarukaSakuke (I do need a new penname ^^|||) here! Surprised I wrote it so fast? Well, you're not the only one XD

But seriously, all those reviews I got are LOVE!! I love everyone who reviewed, every one of you! Some of you said you loved me, some said the story in general, and some said you loved my style. But, to tell you the truth, I don't ever have a certain style, but this way I'm doing suits me just fine :D

So enjoy this chapter, and anticipate chapter 4!

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Joshua was stuck in a bad state.

If mortification was a state of mind or being.

He should've known right then when Neku called him and said specifically 'Josh, if you don't get your scrawny little ass over here, I might have to do something to you' that today's event was going to be bad. He should've given in to his intuition.

But the fact that the last something involved the start of emotional distress made him compelled to not want 'something' to happen.

And so he came.

Which was the cause of said mortification.

And so here he was, getting his hair braided by Eri because his normally fluffy hair was now down to the middle of his back, whilst Shiki was laughing her heart out at the pool battle going on between Neku and Beat, though Beat was missing the usually beanie and Neku, also absent of his usual headwear, had his hair moderately flattened due to the moisture.

And, because of his current situation, he was lightly glaring at the perceptive little 10-year-old brat in a floatation tube.

Better known as Rhyme.

As everyone knows, Rhyme was very intelligent for her age (sometimes it makes you wonder if that's where Beat would-have-been intelligence went after she was born), and therefore caught onto things at its first implication.

Which was bad if Joshua ever actually fell for Neku.

"Eri, dear, please unwind my hair. I think I can deal with it," Joshua said, sighing exasperatedly.

"You sure," Eri asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I--" Before Joshua could finish, a certain little semi-red head had popped out from under the water. "Yes, please do, so the next time we get close, I can tangle my hand in it. It'd certainly be fun."

Before Josh could so much at blush at the numerous implications that sentence contained, Eri pushed him back down with both hands. "Shut up and drown."

Joshua swam away to the farther side and regained his composure. Despite the past implications, he found that the entire idea wasn't deathly mortifying.

Almost, but not quite.

And the fact of seeing a certain someone practically clothes-less didn't mortify him beyond repair.

Of course when he got there, seeing him shirtless with formerly spiky hair matted down to between his shoulder blades, grinning at the others then at him, he nearly drowned.

In an imaginary pool of his own blood.

But he had thankfully gotten over the whole ordeal.

Until it came to the part that Neku himself tried to undress him and give him swimming shorts (and no shirt, no less), only to have succeeded because Joshua was blushing too hard to effectively stop him. Then Joshua had the courage to convince him he didn't want to get in without a shirt. So what did Neku do? He gave him a shirt.

The one he had been wearing.

At first, he wanted to act childish by taking it off and throwing it at him. But then he had to threaten to do 'something' again.

And that's why he's the way he is right now. You'd think Joshua wouldn't be that easy to manipulate, especially by the formerly antisocial, former proxy of his.

But then you'd be wrong.

"Yo, Rhyme! Call it!"

Rhyme looked to his brother to see him having fully submerged Neku at least two feet underwater. "1…2…three--"

Right at the last syllable, Neku popped out and dunked Beat with both arms. "Shiki!"

On cue, Shiki started counting. "1…2…3! Neku wins the pool battle!"

Neku threw his hands in the air in triumph. "Ha! You owe me 25000 yen, Beat!"

Beat sure shot up for that. "Bwaaaaaah! Hey, man, you said 250 yen, yo!"

Neku stuck his tongue out. "I said 250 plus another two zeros."

Beat jumped. "Hey, no fair, man! Don't do stuff like that!"

Everyone just chuckled at the argument before them.

'How someone could bet yen on a pool fight, I'll never know,' Joshua thought to himself.

Then again, Neku was as much as a walking enigma as Joshua himself. No one could ever figure him out. Just when you get used to him one way, he changes on you.

"—Joshua?"

"Hmm?" Joshua replied lazily, not even glancing over to see who had been talking to him.

"I asked if you were ok. You seem…dazed."

Ah. He knew who was talking to him, so he smiled contently. "Yes, Rhyme, dear, I'm perfectly fine. Why do you ask?"

Rhyme looked to Neku, then back at Joshua. "Well, you're not over there having fun with the rest of us. Is it because of what Neku did earlier?"

Joshua shook his head and smirked. "No, I assure you. If it was, I wouldn't be even looking over there."

Rhyme spun around in the inner tube and smiled. "Well, ok, if you're sure. Just so long as you still like all of us."

'If I didn't like any of you, Eri aside, would Shibuya even still be here or any of you alive,' he thought pessimistically. Despite that, he pat Rhyme's head. "Now, run along and have fun. Don't want you missing out, now do we?"

Rhyme smiled and shook her head. "No, I guess not. Just promise you'll join us soon, will you?"

Joshua smiled warmly. "I promise."

With that, Rhyme turned and floated away.

Joshua smirked. 'She's not as perceptive as I thought. But still, you can never be too cautious.'

"Josh! Get over and have some fun before I submerge you underwater!"

His thoughts were interrupted as Neku called out to him. "Why? I'm not scared of going underwater, and threatening me with 'something'," he said, using the air quotes, "isn't going to work this time."

"Yoshiya Kiryu, if you don't get your scrawny little ass over here in five seconds, not only am I going to kick your ass, I'm really going to do something after I do!"

Joshua just placed his head on the concrete beside them and closed his eyes, smiling confidently.

Neku growled. "All right, that's it." With that, he dived under the water, not getting any response as of yet from Joshua.

Joshua lazily peeked open one eye to see a small spot of orange, but nothing more. He couldn't hear or feel if Neku was coming up on him, and he didn't care. He was just here, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

As he closed his eyes again, he felt an abnormal amount of water splash him as Neku came up and growled. "Josh, you didn't come here for nothing, so start acting like it."

Joshua hesitated to sit up, his head jerking down as he did. "Yes, whatever, dear."

Cue arm around the waist. "Joshua, dear, do you hate me?"

Josh was still too dazed to realize the situation. "Why does it matter?"

Neku gave him a pleading look, which, unsurprisingly, went unnoticed due to his closed eyes. "Because I was wondering if that's why you wouldn't have fun with me."

Josh peeked open his eye ever so slightly, though it was still too little to see. "If I did--"

Neku covered his mouth with his free hand and gave off an expression like he was struggling to come up with his next words. Then he said them only loud enough for Joshua to hear. "Because if it's about what I did yesterday, I'd do it again one thousand times more!"

…Minus one thousand and one times.

Joshua was still dazed enough not to decipher the meaning of Neku's words. "Yes, yes, whatever, dear."

Neku sighed and sweat dropped internally. 'I didn't think I'd have to do this so soon, especially today, but then again, that's what all of this is about…but, man, I hate the taste of soap!'

Yeah, remember when Neku said he needed a lot of soap? …He wasn't kidding.

He threaded his other hand in his dazed friend's hair and got a little closer, having a less-than-painful death grip on the back of his head. "Then do you like me?"

Joshua's head tilted over to the side when his head was raised and smirked lazily. "Why?"

As it seems, Joshua's vocabulary had become limited to 'yes, whatever, dear' and questions that either were entirely consisted of or started with 'why'. It wasn't easy to go on about finding a way to act and embarrass Joshua at the same time.

But then again, this is Neku who's doing it. He has a knack for humiliating people.

But unfortunately, if he's saying something he either doesn't mean or doesn't initially want to, it's as obvious as a flashlight in a pitch-black room with no windows.

Which he was doing right now. "Because I like you."

Joshua opened his eyes halfway, letting Neku note how glazed over they looked. "Oh, really? Then prove…" he paused, to sigh in slight despair, "Then prove it, if you're so confident."

Either Josh was out of his head or his instinct, whatever it was, was kicking in, Neku noted unhappily. He just hoped that he'd snap out of it along the way or he'd have to do 'something' again.

Neku sighed, the slightest tinge of a real blush on his cheeks. "If you insist."

"Good. Now can I go back to sleep?"

If Neku hadn't tuned him out to think of what to do, he would've gotten himself out of a lot. But he didn't, and he was going to do something.

Thank you, unintentional selective hearing.

He wrapped his other arm around his waist, pulled him closer, and buried his face in the crook of his neck, trying to give of the impression of an endearing hug.

He rose up and made sure he was looking him dead in the part of his eyes that were open. "Is that enough--"

"Beat, q-quit it!" Eri, being pushed back by Rhyme whom was getting her inner tube pushed by Beat, yelled while laughing.

You probably know what happened next.

Eri had been forced back just a tad too much, and she bumped into Neku, forcing him forward.

Though it was light and almost too forced to call real, he was indeed, though on accident, kissing him.

He didn't know why, but Neku was blushing. Truly, utterly blushing.

Oh, that's right. It was because everyone was watching. Except for Josh himself, who had closed his eyes completely immediately when Eri was in hearing range.

He forced himself away, which the other three (hey, they weren't paying the best attention they could) took as his take on the game. If Neku didn't sharply turn and violently snarl at Beat, he would've have easily pushed back.

It was at that point that all hell had broken loose. "Beat, I don't know what the fuck you thought you were doing when you did whatever the ridiculous shit was that you had, but damn it, if you ever do something like that, especially that in this place at this particular kind of moment, again, you fucking bitch, I will get so damn angry, you'll shit yourself at a glance."

Let it be known that Neku Sakuraba will never get this angry at anybody ever again, so this is momentous…but not in a good way.

"I never knew Neku could curse so vividly," Shiki said, barely being able to voice the awe that had struck them all (minus one).

"B-beat, I think you should just be lucky that we're in water and not on ground," Eri said, shaking almost vehemently.

Beat, having been the target of those words, still couldn't speak, more dumbfounded than ever. But for some reason, he wished that the last person in the group were awake.

"And you," he hissed, glaring at Joshua and clutching his shoulders, though without response, "wake the hell up."

With that, he dunked Joshua very forcefully under the water. Joshua's eyes shot open after a while, and he started reaching up for the edge so he could pull himself up despite the strength pushing him down.

When Neku let him up, his eyes were still a bit glossy, but not enough to say he was halfway conscious. "Why—wait let me rephrase that to how—did you fall asleep in a damn pool."

Noticing that Neku was more so making a statement than a question, he chose not to answer. Besides, he didn't fall asleep, per se, he just wasn't entirely conscious. One could mistake him for a slightly-less-than-normal human being.

Eri smirked evilly. "Oh, Joshua, dear…"

Joshua, compelled to listen to something besides Neku nagging even though he wasn't, sharply turned to her. "Yes?"

Eri twirled her little finger. "You know what Neku had done to you, right?"

"He hugged me, right," Joshua inquired, wondering why she could ask.

"That's not all," Eri said, winking and smirking in near triumph. Joshua couldn't place it, and when he looked to Neku, his expression was caught between looking away embarrassedly and glaring violently at Eri. "Well, what did he do?"

"He--" Eri started, but her mouth had been clamped as Neku covered it with his hand. "Let me tell him. I know how he chastises me on that sort of thing, so it's only right I take the blame."

Eri nodded, believing he'd be honest. Neku gave him a serious glance then glanced away just as fast, slightly blushing. "I cussed Beat out."

Eri slammed her head down to the water in disappointment and Joshua gave him that 'Oh really?' look of his. "Neku, dear, I've asked you--"

"Bad," Neku sighed out, rubbing the back off his neck in mild embarrassment.

"How bad, dear," Joshua asked inquisitively, truly wondering how much.

"Like half of the cuss words known to the human language," Neku said shortly, the blush now coming full on.

Joshua wanted to reprimand him in some way, but he did something none of the group had expected.

He laughed. And very cheerfully, I might add.

No one had ever heard him laugh sincerely. Just those giggles. It made everyone feel a little warm inside.

"Neku, is that all? That's to be expected of you! You have a dirtier mouth than most, despite how pure you really are."

Neku wanted to hide under the water, to say the least. He actually got embarrassed.

"But I wonder, is that everything you did?" Joshua asked, rubbing his eyes from the slight tears resulting from his euphoria.

"No, it ain't," Eri said, slightly, though unwittingly, adapting to Beat's language.

Joshua looked down in the water exasperatedly, reached forward and grabbed Neku's chin, pulling him closer and looking sternly. "Neku, dear, what else did you do."

That was a statement, as Neku had noticed. But Neku blushed lightly nonetheless. He had noted also that he'd been blushing constantly since the accident.

It was so uncharacteristically foreign of him, it was painful.

"None of your damn business, if you must know," Neku replied stubbornly.

Joshua sighed. He knew that he had hugged him because he was conscious enough to reply to his 'proving it', but had done nothing but felt an embrace that quickly faded away with his consciousness. Anything that happened after that, he didn't know.

"Just so you know dear," Joshua said, glaring on his eyes but cockiness on his expression, "I know you hugged me, so you can't warrant yourself with that certain excuse."

Neku flinched as Joshua tightened his grip enough to send a short jolt of pain through him. "What do you think I did? You're looking at me like I've done something incriminating."

Joshua just tightened his grip more, his impatience starting to surface. "Well, dear, while I don't know exactly what you did, I'm to assume you have."

Neku did one thing he thought he never have to do; he gave in. "Eri, give him the story."

Eri smirked. "Will do. See, Beat, Rhyme, and I were playing a game, and, long story made shorter, Beat had pushed Rhyme into me and I pushed Neku forward on accident, and you guys sorta did…" Eri paused, her embarrassment finally catching up with her, "you guys sorta kissed."

Now Josh wished he was underwater.

But at the same time, Joshua didn't know whether to do as he wished by going under or bringing his hand down just a few inches lower and strangling him. Talk about uncharacteristic.

Joshua gave the 'is-this-true' look, his heartbeat quickening slightly when Neku crossed his arms over his chest and looked to the side, blush covering some of the visible part of his face as he had hidden his eyes with his bangs.

Neku was truly enigmatic. You get used to one behavior and he changes it. But he did believe it was an accident by the way he was acting. If he couldn't memorize one thing about him, he could tell his emotions just by paying attention.

"I wish you had told me," Josh said, feigning a look of betrayal to see what he'd say.

Neku blushed and glared. "Do you know how hard it is to confess to something like that that had happened on accident?!"

Joshua didn't think he'd admit it, sure, but not because of embarrassment. Joshua always thought that if Neku didn't tell him something, he was just being overly protective and/or stubborn. Which used to be true.

Despite that, he no longer was as unhappy as he thought he should be. "Ok, as long as it was an accident."

Beat gave him a very forceful jab in the back, trying to make amends. "So, now that everyone kissed and made up--"

Despite how literal he knew it had been, he didn't know how literal he just made it.

When they came apart, they both glared ferociously at Beat.

Let's just say with the hole Beat has dug for himself in accumulation today, if he ever had anything worth taking in his grave, the robber would die from the sheer strain of trying to get in…

And not even be halfway through.

How do you like that! It's even more crack-tastic than either of the two combined XD

Seriously though, I don't know how I wrote this chapter so fast.

Oh yes, I'm going to be asking about the overall content of Chapter 5 at the end of chapter 4…whenever I write it *sweat drops*

Next chapter: Houston, we have a problem (I know, interesting title, ain't it XD)