Chapter 3

Author's Note - Long chapter, sorry! Reviews welcome. People still don't belong to me, in case you were wondering.

Now I don't know how I feel, don't know how I feel tonight
If I've fallen 'neath the wheel, if I've lost or I've gained sight.

Hiroki hesitated before manoeuvring himself to face him. Shinji could tell, even with his school coat on, that his entire body was tensed up, ready for fight or flight. Some little part of him wanted to see him with the school coat off, but he ignored that. He walked up close to him, draped one arm round Hiroki's shoulders and placed his other hand on the small of his back, pulling him gently closer until their hips were touching. The electric feel of Hiroki's athlete's hips on his own spurred him on. This was what he was supposed to do. Hiroki relaxed a little, and Shinji began to kiss his neck, slowly caressing and massaging the warm skin with his lips, and sensing Hiroki's powerful, steady heartbeat through his tongue. Hiroki shivered in pleasure and sank into the embrace. Shinji felt him moan deep in his throat, low, breathless vibrations that sent a thrill running from Shinji's chest downwards. He gasped. Right down.

He eventually pulled away, remembering how he had promised Yutaka he wouldn't be long. "I have to go," he said, still breathing heavily.

Hiroki understood, and nodded. But then he grinned. "You're bright red!"

Shinji was slightly worried about that, but he didn't let it faze him. "So are you!" he taunted back.

"Ack, really?" Hiroki's hands flew to his face, and Shinji laughed at him. "At least I don't have to explain it away to Seto and Iijima! Whatever will they think?"

"Bollocks..." Shinji glanced behind him, half expecting one of them to come running down the stairs to find him. He looked back at Hiroki, eyes bright, the mechanisms of his quick mind spinning like flywheels. "When can you come back?"

Hiroki sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, that depends..."

"...on whether you find Chigusa and Kotohiki, right?" finished Shinji bluntly.

He shrugged apologetically. "Yeah."

Shinji wasn't giving up. "Can you make it tonight? The island's small enough."

Hiroki bit his lip. He didn't say anything for a while.

"If you can," said Shinji slowly, "then come tonight. But if not... I know how important Chigusa is to you. I'll understand."

"Takako's just a friend!" Hiroki told him firmly. Shinji raised an eyebrow. "No, really!" he persisted. "I love Takako, I really do, but not like that."

Whatever. But it was a nice thought, not to have to think about holding his own against Class B's track star. There was no way in hell Shinji would be able to compete with legs like that. He laughed inwardly at himself. Competing for Hiroki's affections? Weird. "Well, okay then," he answered Hiroki, humouring him. "Remember, come if you can. No pressure, right?"

"Agreed."

Shinji ran up the stairs, not even looking back at Hiroki. He was secretly scared that if he did, he would just stay there for a long time. Maybe not forever, but close enough. But he told himself he rushed because of Yutaka. He didn't want to worry him or anything, right? Hiroki watched as the door closed behind him, and he could hear the faint buzz of conversation, and then left.

----------------------------------------------------

There's so much that time, time and memory fade away
We got our own roads to ride, chances we gotta take.

Yutaka and Keita were playing cards when Shinji burst through the door. At least they hadn't gone looking for him. His eyes opened incredulously. What? What the hell am I thinking? "At least they didn't go looking for me"? Stop thinking about your damn love life. I should be grateful they weren't screwing with the laptop!

"Hey," said Yutaka, not looking up from his hand. "Go fish," he said to Keita.

"Gonna tell us what you're doing yet?" asked Keita casually.

Shinji just stared. Everything finally sank in, like some kind of delayed reaction. He practically exploded. "What the fuck are you on? How did you know it was me and not some maniac with a gun?" he roared. "For heaven's sake, I can't do everything for you!"

Even Keita had the grace to look ashamed, and Yutaka stammered at him. "I-sorry-we weren't thinking-"

"That much is obvious," he retorted, calmer now, but still annoyed. He told himself it was just because Yutaka seemed to think he was all-powerful or something. So what, am I supposed to be fucking flattered? "Well make sure you think next time," he muttered, and sat down in front of the laptop.

Shinji cracked his knuckles with a (somewhat annoyed) flourish, and began to type rapidly, thinking about Hiroki all the while. Did he really want to see him again? If someone had told me I'd end up in a more meaningful relationship with Hiroki Sugimura than I've ever wanted with any girl, I'd have beaten the crap out of them. Then again, had anyone told me I'd end up in this sodding Program, I probably wouldn't have believed them either. Words and figures flashed on the screen in front of his eyes, illuminating his vivid face with their unnatural glow. Wait, backtrack a few seconds. "Relationship"? So he now had a relationship with Hiroki? Just because of one kiss? Well, several kisses. Call it an encounter. One encounter makes a relationship? Well, yeah, thought Shinji. It always did with me. Ah. But what about Chigusa and Kotohiki? He was looking for them too, presumably to do the same thing. Chigusa was a very sexy girl, even if she did have orange-streaked hair and dress like a jewellery shop advert. She had the face, she had the legs, she had the proud, untouchable attitude that drives guys wild. It was no wonder Hiroki was into her. So were most of the guys in Class B, to some degree. Even Shinji himself had fantasised about Takako Chigusa. Hiroki swore blind that they were just friends. The hell did Shinji believe him. And Chigusa seemed to be into him too. Not that he blamed her. Hiroki had a certain... quality about him. Not to mention that chest...

Anyway, stop thinking about Hiroki's chest, dammit, you're straight... Oh God. Wasn't he?

Moving on.

What about Kotohiki? She wasn't exactly a looker, but then again neither was Izumi, and Yutaka was crazy about her. It was probably better not to ask. All part of the 'love' thing. That elite club where all Shinji could do was look in through the windows and wonder what everyone was doing. It reminded him of the time he'd watched a foreign movie without dubbing or subtitles and he had to guess what was happening constantly. It wasn't really a nice feeling.

As he hit the 'download' button and sat back to wait, he came to the conclusion that he would just be some kind of fuck-buddy to Hiroki (although it hadn't got that far yet) and he may as well accept it. Fuck-buddy. Damn, he hadn't heard that in a long time. Not since... what was her name? Mizu-something. Some girl he'd slept with anyway. Funnily enough, the only requirement of that relationship was that it was in no way serious. Strictly fuck-buddies. Her words. So Shinji had taken it literally and carried on as normal. He felt a pang of shame as he realised what she must have felt when she found out he was playing around with other girls. He hadn't done it out of malice or anything; the way he saw it, it was okay because she'd said it wasn't serious anyway. How was I to know that girls never mean what they say? he thought, with a touch of anger at the justification. He didn't have the experience. He was always the player, never the played. The Third Man never let himself get in deep enough to be played.

"Uh, Shinji?"

"Huh?" Yutaka was staring concernedly at him.

"Are you okay?" Yutaka may not have been able to swim, or type (or catch, he thought, half-amused), but he was a genuinely nice guy, and clueless as he was, he noticed when it counted. "Did something happen when you were gone?" he asked carefully.

Oh shit, he knows! But he shook that thought out of his head immediately. Of course he didn't know. He's Yutaka, he's worried. Is it really that unusual? "No, I'm fine," he answered, trying to keep his voice as normal as possible. "Thanks for caring, all the same."

"Are you ready to tell us this great plan of yours yet?" asked Keita. It seemed to have been all he'd talked about since he found out Shinji had one.

"As a matter of fact," said Shinji, grinning in self-pride, "I am." Okay, layman's terms as far as possible, or else Yutaka wouldn't understand.

"Right." He took a deep breath, trying to work out the best way to phrase it. "I'm downloading a little something that's gonna help us get out of this hellhole."

"And what would that be?"

None of your fucking business, Iijima, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. "Virus." His eyes glittered evilly. "It'll drive 'em crazy! It'll temporarily override commands, and disable the collars and danger zones for a while." Shinji sniggered, as he prepared to unveil his touch of unique Third Man genius. "And it'll play the Star-Spangled Banner on repeat. They'll love it!" Well hey, even the class basketball genius and expert hacker was allowed to be immature sometimes. He was a teenager after all. He decided to leave it at that; Yutaka wouldn't exactly want to know (or understand) the ins and outs, how he hooked up the laptop to his mobile phone to get the internet, etc.

"What do we do after that?" asked Yutaka. Thankfully, it looked like Shinji wouldn't have to explain any further. Yutaka appeared to have understood; or at least he was hiding it well if he didn't. You never knew with Yutaka.

"What do we do then?" he spat, for some reason suddenly furious. "We get our asses down to the school and pay that Sakamochi bastard back for all of this." For all the death. For all the pain. For all the sadness they'd have to live with for the rest of their lives, however long or short they may be.

For making Hiroki kiss him, goddammit!