Chapter 6

A/N: Almost done . In response to Silver Salamander (my new best friend XD thanks for the encouragement!!) this is based partly on the film (Hiroki seeing Shinji and co.) and partly on the book (Shinji's big 'I hate Yutaka' thing and Yutaka's obsession with Izumi) As to the ending... alas, you'll have to wait :P

When Keita and Yutaka returned, laden with everything Shinji had sent them for, Hiroki's wound was cleaned and bandaged, and Shinji had (non-verbally) explained the microphone situation to Hiroki.

Hey Shinji," called Keita. "We got everything you said. Where do you want us to-" He stopped. "Um... Hi Sugimura."

"Yo."

Shinji gestured furiously for silence, and Yutaka elbowed Keita roughly, and he put a hand over his mouth and shut up. Good thing he didn't mention anything I sent him for. Although that might have possibly justified my shooting him...

"What are you doing back?" asked Yutaka. You could trust him to make anyone feel welcome.

Hiroki smiled sheepishly, but Shinji spared him any further humiliation. "He had an unfortunate run-in with Mitsuko."

Yutaka hissed in sympathy.

"Don't worry," he reassured him. "He's all cleaned up now."

This, as he'd wickedly predicted, made Yutaka open his eyes wide in curiosity and horror. "She hurt him???"

Hiroki grinned. "Yeah. I'm fine though."

Yutaka only looked slightly relieved. "Hey, did Hiroki-"

"Yes, Yutaka." Shinji had known Yutaka long enough to be able to recognise his well-meaning face. And to know that well meaning in this case would be to put two and two together and ask how Takako was.

Hiroki was aware too what Shinji had spared him this time, and shot a smile at him. Shinji wasn't looking, but it was the thought that counted.

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"We bomb the school?" wrote Keita sceptically. Up until now, Shinji hadn't thought it possible to write sceptically. He had been oh so wrong. Keita was so good at it.

He was explaining the entire plan to them all. They bomb the school. Simple. He had a detonator his uncle had left him, and Yutaka and Keita had just fetched everything they'd need to make a bomb. He'd decided on a rope and pulley system, launch the bomb and cut the rope when it was over the school.

"HOW?"

Your vote of confidence is overwhelming, Keita.

But he'd thought of that too. Tie a rope to a tree down here; use the handy mountaintop near the school and gravity would do the rest. Of course, the rope would snag on trees, so they'd use balloons to get it above the trees and pull it along.

It took a while for him to convince Keita that even if Keita himself didn't understand, Shinji had thought about everything and it would work. He'd given up on Yutaka a long time ago, as had Yutaka himself. Hiroki just sat and was quiet. Technical stuff and plans weren't his thing.

And then it was all sorted. Nothing for it now but to make the bomb.

Shinji even admitted to himself that he was scared to start. If he started, then he'd have to finish. And he knew somehow that this would be no bedtime story. The ending might be really really bad.

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There was only the quiet hum of the laptop. Shinji glanced over to the others, all curled up on the floor. He'd told them to get some sleep. Forced them really. Hiroki because he was injured. Keita so he didn't have to put up with him for a while. Yutaka so he didn't screw anything up.

But Shinji couldn't sleep. If he took his eye off it for one minute something would go wrong. He just knew it. Better to stay awake, though he was getting pretty tired. He wanted to sleep forever. But he knew that if he lost his focus for a minute, then he could.

Six feet below the ground.

But then again, if he worked while he was tired, he'd be more likely to make mistakes. Better to take ten minutes out than make a stupid mistake that might take an hour to put right.

No, dammit! He couldn't afford to sleep! So Shinji did what he always did when he wanted to do something that the sensible part of his mind forbade. He compromised with himself. He would take a break. But he wouldn't sleep.

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Hiroki opened his eyes. Damn Shinji, telling him to rest. Not like he could get comfortable anyway. Damn Mitsuko. He'd ended up on his back with his arm half twisted under him to take pressure off his wound. Damn Shinji, damn damn damn! Taking on all the goddamned work by himself. Idiot.

"Shinji!"

Shinji was watching him, lying stretched out on his side, his chin leaning on his hand. God, how long had Shinji been watching him??

"So, you're awake." Hiroki had never heard that voice sound so gentle. It suggested he was smiling. He wasn't, not in the explicit way, but his whole face was suggesting he was smiling.

"You were watching me sleep?" He was aware it seemed as though he was hung up on that. Shinji was watching him sleep. That was... weird.

"You're cute when you sleep, did you know that?"

Dammit, he could feel himself blushing. "You were watching me sleep!" He stopped. "For how long?"

There it was. That cocky, all-knowing, never-telling grin of his. "I came to see you to make sure you were okay," he murmured softly. "And then..." He had a way of trailing his voice off that made unspeakable thoughts rise in Hiroki's mind. And thoughts weren't the only thing rising. It was somewhere in the way his voice draped over him like silk and dragged across his bare skin.

"And then what?" His own voice was shaking.

Hiroki caught sight of the glitter in his eye, and knew instantly how he was feeling. And what he meant. "And then," he purred, "I couldn't tear myself away."

Then he was leaning over Hiroki, and Hiroki's body began to tremble of its own accord. Shinji kissed the tip of his nose.

Hiroki couldn't help it. He leaned up automatically, propping himself up on his arms, and reached in for a deeper kiss. And he wasn't disappointed; Shinji was only too happy to oblige, and surreptitiously sat on his stomach, placing a leg either side of Hiroki. Some part of him told him that this would look very suspicious to anyone who may happen to wake up, but the rest of him didn't care. Neither did Shinji, apparently.

His eyes widened momentarily as his shirt was slipped off by gentle hands, but relaxed luxuriously when he felt those hands running over his skin. No one had ever touched him like this before. He liked it.

Shinji was thoroughly enjoying himself. He thanked every god he'd ever heard of that Hiroki had trained in martial arts; the feel of those sure muscles beneath his sensitive fingertips quivering with emotion was intoxicating.

And Shinji was drunk on it.

Neither of them spoke. Maybe because Hiroki couldn't catch his breath long enough to form sentences. Maybe because Shinji was drowning in thoughts that at any other time would have been taboo. Maybe because actions speak louder than words.

"Shinji," panted Hiroki in between gasps. "Do you know what you're doing...?"

His answer was a finger to his lips, and a smile that would have shut him up anyway.

"Trust me," whispered the other.

It wasn't a trust issue. Hiroki wasn't worried for himself. He was discovering parts of himself he'd thought had either died or never existed. Hiroki was worried Shinji was acting on impulse, and he'd regret it later.

With something this good, there had to be a catch. But what was it?

"Stop thinking," urged Shinji. "Feel."

There was a point. Why ruin a moment that might be ruined later? And if it wasn't...

Hiroki put a hand behind Shinji's head, and another on his back, and pulled him down, so the other boy was laying flat on top of him.

When they both got up later, flushed and breathing heavily, a sheen of sweat and half guilty looks on their faces, Hiroki wasn't the only one missing his clothing.

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And it's a ride, ride, ride, and there ain't much cover,
With no one runnin' by your side, my blood brother.

Hiroki left the next day. Guilt had got the better of him, and he was going to find Kotohiki. She was just a helpless girl, after all. Even if he had already chosen, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he left her to die out there.

Shinji didn't fuss, or try to make him stay, just let him walk away to do what he had to do. He knew now. He knew that now he couldn't be alone, even if he wanted to. Hiroki had to find Kotohiki, just like Shinji had to see his plan through to the end. I have my path, he has his. Simple as that.

They barely said goodbye, but that may have been because every time Hiroki looked at Shinji, he blushed faintly. And when Hiroki blushed, Shinji imagined how it would spread down his chest under his clothes, as it had last night. And when Shinji thought about Hiroki's chest, he could find little room to think of anything else.

Yutaka saw him off, cheerful as ever, saying how when the school exploded he'd have to bring Kotohiki and find them again, so they could all escape together. Well, that's what he was going to say, but Shinji gave him a clip round the ear before he got that far. Honestly, why do I bother telling them these things? he thought, not really angry. Not like they listen to me. And what if we're sabotaged now? Keita remained his usual annoying single-minded self. Remind me to shoot that guy before the game's over, thought Shinji grimly.

He should have known better, there was no doubt about it. Things like that have a habit of coming back and biting people in the ass. But he didn't know that yet.

Hiroki waved once, before disappearing into the undergrowth. "Do you think he'll find her?" asked Yutaka wistfully. He was still thinking of Izumi, wondering whether he'd have done the same thing for her.

Shinji flashed a lopsided grin at him. "He will. Thinking about Izumi?"

"Yeah."

"She's happier now, I bet." Much as he was a fuck-up, Shinji really liked Yutaka. Seeing him upset was upsetting; like kicking a puppy. "She'll be watching you too."

That perked him up. "You think?"

"Does the Third Man think? He knows."

The cheesiness was worth it, just for the look on Yutaka's face.