Sho wanted to go to the park.

So that was where he was going to go. The snow was starting to melt so he had to get as much park snow time in while he could. He didn't know how much longer he would be here, sometimes they moved around a lot and sometimes they hardly moved around at all, but he knew that when it came time to move he wouldn't get a lot of head's up. So really he should get as much time at the park as he could. The next place they could have ended up living might have been in the middle of nowhere with no parks. He hated it when they stayed at those bases in the middle of nowhere. He liked it when they stayed in cities. There was always something to do in a city.

Like go to the park.

Sho didn't care if it was early. It wasn't like he had anything else to do with his time. Well he did have school work to do…and he had to take a bath at some point before big sis ran one for him…and he had to finish his drawing of a dragon fighting a train….and he had to get the candy out of his bed since he thought he felt ants on him last night…and also he had to figure out where his markers that smelled like stuff went….but all of that could wait!

It was time to go to the park!

He would have time for all of that stuff if he went to the park early. So that was what he was going to do. He was just leaving the house to go to the park. It had nothing to do with his dad had woken him up early in the morning by putting big sis back in her bed. He didn't care about that. Who would want to sleep next to dad? Who would want to spend any time with dad at all when they didn't have to? Not Sho. No, he didn't care if dad spent time with big sis and not him. He had someone to spend time with! Fukuda! Well not now, no, because….he was old and needed his sleep. Also if Sho woke him up then he would be all 'eat your breakfast' and 'take a bath' and 'brush your hair' and 'eating toothpaste is not the same as brushing your teeth' and stuff like that. Shimazaki never made him do stuff like that. He was the one who taught him about eating toothpaste.

If they didn't want him to eat toothpaste then they shouldn't have made it bubblegum flavored.

That was what Shimazaki had said. He was smart like that. He was smart and cool and all of that stuff. That was why he was going to wake Shimazaki up and ask him to come to the park with him. Dad might not have needed him that day. Sho didn't know what dad had planned for today but he did know that Shimazaki had said, before, that hanging out with Sho was way more fun than being with dad. Anything was more fun than being with dad.

But Sho still got that weird feeling in his stomach when Shimazaki had said that.

So he felt like he had a goldfish in his stomach whenever they were together. So what? That was a totally normal way for him to feel. That was just because…because he wanted to be his best friend. That was all. He just wanted to be best friends with Shimazaki and that was why he got the goldfish feeling in his stomach whenever they were together or when they were about to be together or when he thought about them being together…it was a normal feeling to have!

If he told himself something enough times then maybe it would be true.

It WAS true. He knew that it was true. This was the same sort of feeling he had been having his whole life when he really wanted to be friends with someone. He just never felt this way about girls because he had never wanted to be friends with girls. He had a sister, what did he need another girl to be friends with for? He had big sis if he wanted to play girl things with. He just liked being friends with boys more because he was a boy and…stuff. That was all.

He was normal.

He was normal and he was being normal and it was normal to want to hang out with your friend. So that was what Sho was going to do. He was going to wake Shimazaki up and then ask him to come to the park and feed ducks or climb trees or climb up high in trees and then throw pieces of bread at people like they were ducks and then when people got mad at them Shimazaki would say that he was blind and thought that there were ducks and that Sho was a kid and he didn't know any better and then it would be so much fun!

But first he had to find Shimazaki.

It was early in the morning. It was so early in the morning that Shibata wasn't even cooking yet. It was so early in the morning that Hatori had gone to sleep. It was so early in the morning that, thankfully, Minegishi should have still been asleep. They didn't get to sleep easily, Shimazaki had said, so they slept whenever they could. Shimazaki might be up though. He said that he'd always had a weird sleep cycle because unless he felt the sun on his skin he had no idea if it was day or night. The sun went down early these days because it was winter so Shimazaki could have either just gone to sleep or was about to wake up. Sho didn't know which. He just knew that he had to creep through the house very quietly so he didn't wake anyone up.

Like Minegishi.

Sho could see that their auras were really close together. He could tell…he closed his eyes. Sometimes people's aura just felt like they were close together even when they weren't. He closed his eyes and felt round through the house. Shibata on the couch, Hatori in his room….sitting up? Oh, he had fallen asleep at his desk again. Minegishi was…was with Shimazaki. They were having a sleepover again. Their auras were all mashed together. That was….if Shimazaki wanted to sleep over with someone then Sho lived right next door. He was way more fun to be around than Minegishi. He was way more fun and…and he was nice…and he didn't go around calling people by their given names and…and he was a much better best friend candidate than Minegishi!

Oh well, time to go back home….

But he didn't want to so he wouldn't. He had come over with a mission and that was what he was going to do, complete his mission, because…because he had to. He had to go and ask Shimazaki to come to the park with him. So what if he would be waking up Minegishi too? If they wanted to be left alone then they shouldn't have been having a sleepover with Shimazaki and…and stuff. They should have been sleeping alone or having a sleepover with big sis. Yeah, then if big sis had been here then dad wouldn't have had to carry her back to the room and Sho wouldn't have been awake this early in the first place!

So, really, he had no choice.

He went to Minegishi's room and opened the door. It had been locked but he could undo locks easily with his powers. He could have broken down the door too but then that would have woken everyone up and he didn't want that. If everyone woke up then Shibata would make breakfast and he would invite big sis over and then it would turn into a big group thing and he didn't want a big group thing. He wanted to just be with Shimazaki…because they were friends.

The goldfish feeling meant that they were friends.

Sho opened the door slowly. He didn't want to wake Minegishi up because then they would be all mean to him and stuff. He was just going to wake Shimazaki up and ask him to go to the park, he would of course say yes, and they could spend the whole day there…or at least long enough to have some fun before dad called Shimazaki and told him to do his job. Dad was a jerk like that….so really he had to wake Shimazaki up right now. Any minute now. Yup, any minute now he would cross this room and wake Shimazaki.

Any minute now.

It was weird being in Minegishi's room. That was it. That was why his feet were having trouble moving. He felt like their aura was all around him but that was just all of the plants. It was a jungle in there. How did they ever find anything? There were ceiling plants and plants on the floor and plants on shelves and just…way too many plants. Their aura was in everything. It felt like they were all around him and it was sort of suffocating and…and stuff….but he needed to wake Shimazaki up so he could get out of here. So that was what he did. He put one foot in front of the other, quietly, and made his way across the room. He was careful not to make any noise that could wake Minegishi up. They had so many books on their floor just in piles. Clothes on the floor too. The floor was not a hamper. Big sis was always saying that. She should have said that to her friend and not her little brother.

There were a lot of clothes on the floor.

He almost slipped as he stepped on a black shirt. That was….Minegishi never wore black. They wore every color but black. That was…why was Shimazaki's shirt on their floor? Sho looked over at them. Shimazaki and Minegishi were sleeping all curled up like big sis and he did, sometimes, when they shared a bed…only…more cuddled up it looked like. Shimazaki had his back to Sho but he could tell that they were very close…and it made him feel like throwing up and kicking holes in the walls at the same time. Sho…he didn't like this feeling. Like the goldfish in his stomach were trying to swim out of his body through his chest and belly button. He could see Shimazaki's back and…right. He never slept with a shirt on. He just slept in gym shorts no matter how cold it got. That was why he was sharing body heat with Minegishi like that….

He really needed to start wearing clothes to bed.

Or not. Sho…he liked the way his back looked…because it had that cool tattoos of a dragon. He had two dragons, one on his back and one on his chest. He had a bunch of tattoos. He said that he had gotten them for other people to look at…so it was ok for him to look. He just thought that they were cool, that was all, so it was ok for him to tug the blanket down just a little so he could see the rest of the dragon on his back…because it was cool. It was a dragon flying through a burning sky. The one on his chest was just sort of hanging out there but this one looked like it was escaping the burning sky…or setting it on fire. It was weird in some places. In some places the colors faded or didn't match. There were so many different shades of red, also someone had written 'if you can read this tattoo then you are literate' across his shoulder and then the name of a person, probably the person who had done the tattoo…or maybe work on it. Shimazaki said that he'd been getting these since he had been fourteen. A lot of different people had worked on them. Sho could tell.

That made it cooler.

The red went all the way down his back. The red and the dragon and the fire…and also the scales were cool. Sho had never been able to look this closely at it before. The scales looked sort of…scaly. Sort of. The closer he looked the more some of the red parts looked like…like stripes, almost. Like stripes of colored skin…but that made sense because that was what a tattoo was, colored skin. But…those looked like….

Sho hiked up his pant leg.

This was where the worst of it was, on his leg. Well he had been told that his back was pretty bad, and he was covered in scars, but the one that wrapped around his leg felt the worst. Shimazaki…but it wouldn't have made sense. He was a natural esper. He had gotten his powers slowly. First he learned to sense the world around him, then he learned to put up a barrier, and then he had learned to teleport. He had learned all of that on his own and hadn't had to have been Awakened….but….but then how did he get those scars. The more Sho looked the more he could see…but those were different. They looked different. Stipes. They were equal on both sides and also….also they didn't look like Awakening lab scars….

How had he even gotten so many scars? He was Shimazaki!

His barrier was so good that he could take a bullet to the face and live. He could teleport away from any danger. He could take on five guys at once and fight them without even messing up his hair. He shouldn't have had any scars at all! He was so cool! Nothing should have been able to hurt him…but then something had hurt him…or someone….and Sho wanted to find the person that had hurt him and then he wanted to do to them whatever they had done to his friend. Those were…the more Sho looked the more he could tell how many of those scars he had…and that was just…just something that was not…not good.

He had a lot of them.

Sho reached out to touch one. That had been a bad idea and if he had been thinking at all he would have realized how bad of an idea that was. Shimazaki couldn't always sense people when he was asleep. Sho had guarded him, sometimes, when he had been up all night and he needed to sleep on the job. He could sense people when they got really close, though…like Sho was doing now….

There was a hand around his wrist.

"What the fuck do you-oh. It's you. Sorry." said Shimazaki. He let go of Sho's wrist. He was…strong. Very strong. The whole thing had happened in one second but…but that second had been long enough for him to be able to tell how strong Shimazaki was. He had always known that Shimazaki was strong, he could do a hundred pushups without getting tired and he could even carry Sho around afterwards, but he had never been that strong….been strong like that…towards Sho. He felt his wrist. It hurt. His friend had hurt him…and he felt….not good….

"Fuck. Sorry, ok? Just…don't ever touch me when I'm asleep. Ok? You brought this on yourself and if you had been anyone else I would have kicked your ass for that…so feel lucky!" whispered Shimazaki. He ran a hand through his hair. It wasn't spiky. That was weird. Sho had never seen his hair not spiked up…well not usually….this was weird. He could see the dragon on his chest, too, and he didn't have any scars there. Sho wondered if this would leave a scar…well of course it wouldn't…and if it did he was covered in them anyway.

Sho was fine.

He just…his eyes were just watery was all. His eyes were all watery and…and stuff. For reasons. Reasons which had nothing at all to do with the fact that his friend had hurt him. Sho shouldn't have touched his back without asking. Sho knew how much he hated it when big sis touched the tree on his back. So touching Shimazaki on the back was the same thing…and he was sorry. He wanted to say sorry but…but also he knew that if he opened his mouth to say something he would have started to cry…and he didn't want to cry at all….

So he didn't.

"Kid…Suzuki….Sho. Sho, come on. I didn't mean to hurt you…and I barely touched you! Just…God, what the hell am I supposed to do to fix this?" whispered Shimazaki. Sho let go of his wrist and wiped his eyes. He was not going to cry in front of Shimazaki…and not about something as stupid as his own mess up. He was the one who had messed up and…and he was not going to just start crying like a baby about this. He wasn't a baby, he was ten, and ten year olds did not cry.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry." said Sho. Maybe he should have been whispering too but he couldn't think that far ahead. All he could think about was that his wrist hurt….but maybe his wrist just hurt because he was thinking about it. He'd had so many worse hurts in his life. This was not the worst of it, not even the hundredth worst hurt of it, so he should have been fine.

He was fine. He really was!

Even though now there was a hand over his mouth. If he had been big sis Sho would have just licked his hand…but he was not big sis so Sho would not be licking his hand. He was sitting all the way up now. His aura was focused on Minegishi. They had pulled the blanket up over their head. Sho wondered how the two of them could fit together in that bed like that. Really Shimazaki should have invited Sho over if he wanted to have a sleep over…even though the thought of it makes his insides feel all weird…

He feels weird but he is perfectly normal.

"Don't wake Toshi! Just….close your eyes until I tell you to open them again. Seriously. If you open your eyes before I tell you to then you'll be scarred for life and everyone's going to think that I'm a creep…again. So just keep them closed!" said Shimazaki. Sho nodded and closed his eyes. He felt the floor creek as Shimazaki got up. The floor creaked and the bed squeaked and then the energy of the room shifted…the plants kept on trying to reach over to Shimazaki for some reason, but for the whole time Sho kept his eyes closed. He didn't know why he had to keep his eyes closed but he did.

"My pants….Toshi's pants. These are my pants…good…now one of these shirts should be mine…everything smells like me." Said Shimazaki. Sho decided to risk opening his eyes. He knew where Shimazaki's shirt was and he knew that it would just be easier if he went and handed it to him. He could feel Minegishi moving, he could see their aura with his, and he did not want to be in that room when they woke up.

"Here." Said Sho. He only opened his eyes long enough to pick up Shimazaki's shirt and hand it to him. That wasn't bad enough to scar him for life…right? Not that he had any idea what Shimazaki was on about. He already had a bunch of scars, what was one more?

"Hey! I told you to keep your eyes closed. I felt them opening." Said Shimazaki

"Sorry. Why do I have to keep my eyes closed anyway? I've already seen the inside of Minegishi's room. I don't see what's so scarring about it." Said Sho

"Well you haven't seen me naked and I know that if you did then everyone would think that I'm a creep again…and also you'd probably end up describing this day to a therapist in, like, ten years. I'd rather not scar you for life thank you very much." Said Shimazaki. Sho…he had no idea what to say to that. He felt all hot and cold all over. He felt warm because…..because….because the only person he had ever seen naked was his own sister and that was ok because they were family….and that was why he felt all hot all over…because he was embarrassed….and also why he felt all cold all over too. Because he could have accidentally seen Shimazaki naked…and he had been naked…right there….with Minegishi….who was probably also….

Sho regretted opened his eyes.

They had turned over onto their side…and Sho really wished that he had never opened his eyes. They were naked. Yup. They were definitely naked…or at least not wearing a shirt…and they were a girl. Sho had been wondering what they were since he had met them and now he knew that they were a girl…because they had boobs…and he was seeing their boobs…which meant that Shimazaki had seen their boobs…and Shimazaki saw things by touching them with his aura and…and also for real…

He wanted to both throw up and start kicking holes in the walls.

He was….angry. He knew that he needed to get to a dark place and do all of his calm down stuff like he had read about in the book he had memorized. He knew that he needed to just…just not be there….but he was there. He was there and…and he didn't want to be there. He knew that adults did stuff together like that, gross stuff, but just…not because it was gross….because they…loved each other and stuff. That was what mom said. People came together like that in an act of love and…

And Sho wanted to start hitting people.

But he didn't. He didn't have a chance. He felt the world fall away and then reappear under his feet. He had been teleported. He had been teleported and…and he opened his eyes. He was in Shimazaki's room now. He was in his sleep sorts and a black shirt, the one that Sho had found…and he wished that he had never found it. He wished that he had never gone looking for him and…and he wished that he had never come into this knowledge…

He wanted to throw up, break something, hit someone, and also cry for some reason.

He wiped his eyes. Shimazaki cursed, Sho didn't feel like having a cursing match, and then he picked him up and sat him down on his bed. Sho didn't trust himself to say or do anything. He knew that if he said or did anything then he would have said or did something that he would end up regretting…and he was not going to act like a jerk towards his best friend. Even if his friend had…hadn't done anything to him. Why did he feel like Shimazaki had done something to him? He hadn't. He had just been doing all of that gross adult stuff because he was an adult. He was an adult and he was being a normal adult and doing all of that gross stuff that you were supposed to do with a girl. You were supposed to want to see them naked and want them to see you naked and also touch their boobs and…and also do that thing that mom had told him about that made babies….

Were they going to have a baby?

Sho…he loved babies. He loved babies so much and he loved to play with them and take care of them…but also…also he didn't want Shimazaki and Minegishi to have a baby. He didn't want them to have a baby because….because then….because then Shimazaki wouldn't want to be best friends with him anymore…and that was why Sho felt bad. How was he supposed to be best friends with him when that spot was taken by his…by…by Minegishi?

"Here, drink this…and listen to this. You'll feel better. Also…also maybe don't tell your sister that I let you drink this. You know what? Just keep this to yourself." Said Shimazaki. He handed Sho a little bottle from his desk with clear stuff in it. Sho got the feeling that this was not water. He didn't trust himself to say anything. He barely trusted himself to take the bottle from Shimazaki's hand and take a drink…

And then spit it right back.

"If you don't like it then don't spit it back in the bottle. Germs, think of the germs…can germs live in straight vodka? I have no clue…I'll ask Google later. Right now um…here." Said Shimazaki. He went into his desk and pulled out what looked like a really skinny cigarette. Sho wasn't going to smoke it. He knew he wasn't supposed to. Mom had said so when he was little. She had told him to never start smoking. Fukuda had been reminding him for years, too, of what mom had said so he knew that he was not remembering it wrong.

"I can't smoke. I'm ten." Said Sho. That was all that he trusted himself to say. He felt so…betrayed? He felt betrayed and…and he had no idea why. Shimazaki hadn't done anything at all to betray him. He was just doing what adults did. He was just being normal. It was Sho who was the weird one. Shimazaki was just doing the stuff that you were supposed to want to do with girls…Sho was the weird one….not him.

"So? I started smoking when I was your age…younger, actually." Said Shimazaki

"My mom wouldn't like it." Said Sho

"Fair enough, your life is your own and all, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do to make you feel better if you won't drink and you won't smoke…and Toshi just now forgave me for the coke thing so I'm not doing that again…for a while. Yeah, I'm at a loss." Said Shimazaki. He ran a hand through his hair. It was all limp and…and not spiky…and that was just…weird. This whole thing was just….Sho just felt weird…because he was weird.

"I feel fine." Said Sho

"I can tell that you're lying. You're about to cry, I can sense it, and…and I'm sorry I grabbed you like that, ok? I just…Toshi is pretty much the only person who can touch me like that and even then I still freak out if I'm not expecting it. Just…sometimes when I let my guard down, like when I'm asleep or fucked up or whatever, I just get jumpy. Ok?" asked Shimazaki

"Ok." Said Sho. He wasn't going to tell him that he had it wrong, that he was more upset that Shimazaki and Minegishi had been doing gross adult stuff together, because then he would have known what a weirdo Sho was and then not only would he not be in the running for being Shimazaki's best friend they wouldn't even be regular friends either. Sho….he didn't want them to stop being friends…so he would just keep this to himself.

"Just….here. This song kind of explains it. Just…here. Sighted people have an easier time with this shit. It's called veteran of the psychic wars. Your English is pretty good you'll get the gist of it. Just…that's the way I get sometimes and you do, too. I mean both of our dads are pieces of shit. I mean your dad never sprayed you with a hose and then beat you with a belt until…but he's a piece of shit in his own way. I mean he put you in an awakening chamber and, yeah, I've felt the scars those leave. So…yeah. Just…yeah." Said Shimazaki. He sat down next to Sho and handed him his phone. Sho did as he was told. He wasn't about to correct Shimazaki and…and he was still upset and all but…

But he also felt good, too, because Shimazaki was near him and telling him stuff….

He felt good and bad at the same time. He felt good because Shimazaki was near and telling him the sort of stuff you told you best friend….but also he had been like that with Minegishi…who was a girl. They were a girl and Sho could not compete with that. They had boobs. Sho couldn't compete with boobs…if he had been a girl it would have been different. If Shimazaki wanted to then Sho would have let Shimazaki kiss him and hold his hand and touch his boobs and all of that other adult stuff. If he had been Shoko, not Sho, then he would have….because that would have been normal. That would have been normal and…and it was not normal to think about this so he was going to stop.

Because he was being weird.

"See? This is kind of like…sorry. I suck at this. Just…it was a reflex. Ok? I would never do anything to hurt you, ok? I know how it feels when someone you care about and trust and shit hurts you and…and it's too early and I'm too sober for this. Just….listen to the song and shit and know that I care about you and shit, ok?" asked Shimazaki. He pulled a lighter from his shorts' pocket and lit the tiny cigarette he'd had in his hand. Sho pulled his shirt up over his nose. That smelled like the time that they had teased a skunk until it sprayed them.

Gross.

"I know you would never hurt me. I mean we're….we're friends, right?" asked Sho. He didn't look at Shimazaki when he said that even though it was pointless. Shimazaki's aura was on him and stuff. He was being looked at either way.

"Yeah. We're best friends, kid." Said Shimazaki as he exhaled. He offered Sho the cigarette but took it away when Sho made no move to take it. He couldn't. He couldn't move. Best friends. They were best friends. He and Shimazaki were best friends and…and he had wanted this for long….and he was so happy…but also he just…he just…he felt so…he didn't even know. He had wanted to be best friends with Shimazaki since they had met but…but there was something above best friends…and Shimazaki and Minegishi were that.

Sho wished that he had been born a girl.

That way then he could have been to Shimazaki what Minegishi was. Not his girlfriend, because he had said a million times before that he didn't do the girlfriend and boyfriend thing, just…if he had Sho…well Shoko…then he wouldn't have needed Minegishi…and stuff….and probably not while he was a kid but…but when he grew up and stuff….then he could have been with Shimazaki the way Minegishi was…and stuff…because that was normal. That was the normal way for boys and girls to be and…and stuff…

But Sho was not a girl, he was a boy, so he was not going think about this anymore.

"But…what about Minegishi. What are they?" asked Sho. He held his breath as he waited for Shimazaki to say something…but he didn't say anything. He just laughed. He laughed as he exhaled and Sho thought of a chimney when he did that…and he smiled because it was funny…and stuff….it made his insides feel less…like there was a confused goldfish inside of them swimming around trying to get out.

"Kid…I have no fucking clue what Toshi and I are." Said Shimazaki

"Are they…are they your girlfriend? I mean because they're a girl….because they have boobs…and not fat guy boobs. Girl boobs." Said Sho. He had never seen girl boobs in person before that day but he had seen plenty of fat guy boobs on the beach and those were not fat guy boobs. They were little but they were all…round…and stuff. He didn't get what everyone was always going crazy about…yes he did. Those were boobs and boobs were awesome and….and if they hadn't been attached to Minegishi he would have been happy to have seen them.

"First of all never call Toshi a girl. You get a pass because you're a kid….unlike some greasy morons….they're a 'they' and they are Toshi, ok? Second of all me and Toshi aren't like that. Neither of us does the partner thing. Third of all I told you to keep your fucking eyes closed! When I tell you to do something then you do it you nosy little bastard! Also just…never tell Toshi. Ever. You can NEVER tell Toshi that you saw their tits, ok? Ever. They have a big thing about only people who they've given permission seeing them naked…well everyone does….well not exhibitionists and nudists….but Toshi just has this thing about people seeing them naked and shit so, just, never tell them that you saw their tits." Said Shimazaki. Sho nodded. He wasn't stupid. He knew that no girl…or anyone with boobs…would want someone to tell them that you saw their boobs while they were asleep. Even if it was an accident. Even if you didn't even care. He was going to keep his mouth shut about that.

"Ok…I won't tell them…and I didn't need you to tell me not to tell them anyway. I'm not stupid." Said Sho

"You say that but then you went into Toshi's room without even knocking. God, you really are Mob's brother I swear. Anyway, are we cool now? You're not freaked out by me and shit?" asked Shimazaki

"We're…we're still friends. Best friends." Said Sho. He had waited for so long to say that….and saying that had felt so good….and he felt so good. He felt mostly so good. He was also worried, so worried, or just…nervous? He didn't know. He was having a lot of feelings and some of those feelings were opposites….but he also felt good….because he was with Shimazaki…and stuff….but also Shimazaki had been doing all of that adult stuff with Minegishi and…and they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend but…but still…..

"Exactly. Nothing is ever going to come between us. Especially not my stupid reactions to shit. God….I feel better. You really should try this. You're the most high strung person I know." Said Shimazaki. He offered Sho his cigarette. He shook his head. Best friend or not he was not going to smoke something that smelled so terrible.

Besides, he had to know something.

He had no idea if this was ok to ask. He had no idea if he was being weird for asking….but he had to know. Mom had said that it was an act of love, doing that adult stuff with someone, and Sho…he had to know. Did Shimazaki love Minegishi? Sho cared because…because if they were in love then…then Minegishi was on a level above best friend…and stuff. That was all. That was why Sho needed to know…and stuff…that was all.

"Hey….Shimazaki? Are you in love with….with them?" asked Sho. Shimazaki shook his head as he exhaled.

"Kid…don't ask me shit that I don't know the answer too. Toshi and I are complicated as hell. I care about them and they care about me…and I guess that's love? I don't know. Love is complicated. I care about them a lot and they care about me but it's not like…like in the movies. It's not like romantic love, the kind you're talking about. I don't even know if I can feel romantic love. I mean I care about them and shit but I don't want to marry them, I don't even want to be their boyfriend, and I don't care who they sleep with and they don't care who I sleep with…so it's not romantic love…but the thought of someone loving them and…and them possibly feeling it back…fuck. I can't believe I felt threatened by that brail faced nerd….but it's whatever. We're ok now and I just…care about them? I don't know. I really have no clue about this. I'll tell you when I figure it out, ok? This is heavy for a kid and…and yeah, it's heavy. So I don't expect you to get it. You'll get it when you meet someone…and get older. You're ten. You've got your whole life to worry about this shit. You just focus on having fun and shit. Ok?" asked Shimazaki

"….ok." said Sho. He had no idea what any of that meant. He focused on how he had said that he didn't want to marry Minegishi or even be their boyfriend. He felt better…because he would not be replaced. That was why he felt better so….so he felt normal….

Really, it was normal to not want your best friend to replace him.

"Anyway once I finish this joint let's go to the park and pet some early morning dogs. Then if we have time we can get go explore the tunnels under London. There is so much shit under there…literally because I want us to go down into the sewers. You up for it?" said Shimazaki as he nudged Sho. Sho swallowed. He felt so…so weird. Being near him and stuff. He was there and…and he was close…and Sho just….

Had a goldfish in his stomach.

"Sure. That sounds fun…if dad doesn't need you. We can go play in the sewers. That's what best friends are for. To hang out…and stuff." Said Sho. He didn't want to play in the sewers. He didn't want to go anywhere but this bed. He wanted to be on this bed with Shimazaki for the rest of his life….and he just…that was normal. He was comfortable and stuff and he…he had just become his best friend…and best friends were supposed to hang out together...because they're best friends…..

And he had wanted to go to the park in the first place anyway.