Ritsu knew that he needed sleep.

Mom and Dad were starting to worry about him and nothing good ever came from them worrying. When mom and Dad started so worried then they started to poke their noses into his business. That was the last thing he needed. As far as Mom and Dad knew he was perfectly fine. He was doing good in school, he and Teru's relationship was better than ever, and he was just having a little trouble sleeping but otherwise was fine. Sometimes, that was it. He would rather they took his phone away at night, or his notebooks, or just tucked him in like he was a baby. Then them being...concerned. When they were concerned, they came up with all kinds of ideas like checking up on him and sleeping all together on futons in the family room like Dad did when he'd been a kid or…or a lot of other things that would have meant spending more time with them or them looking in on him.

That was the last thing that he needed.

Ritsu couldn't imagine anything worse than Mom and Dad coming into his room in the middle of the night to check on him. They loved him and that was what your parents did when they loved you…but couldn't they just love him a little less or something? If they came in and found him gone then they'd panic and call the cops and look for him and then he'd either have to think up another lie or he'd just have to tell the truth…

So he'd have to lie….and then risk getting found out.

If he got found out that he would be in more trouble than he'd ever been in his life. Mom and Dad would take his phone away, ground him, maybe even make him live with Grandma. He loved his grandma. But he also had a job to do, and Seasoning City. Also, he kind of had to stay here because his boyfriend also visited...but that wasn't a very good reason, so he was going to leave that out. Not that he knew, exactly, who he was justifying himself to. It wasn't like Teru had any room to complain. Teru, had actually slept with the enemy, and that was way worse than staying up all night, hanging out with the enemy and then falling asleep in the middle of class.

Way worse.

The following in sleep in class hadn't been the best move either. He had managed to spend the day in the nurse's office, even though he hadn't had a temperature. She liked him, most adults did, and he could only use that to his advantage for so long period. Maybe he needed to get some sleep period. Maybe if show showed up tonight he would just have to close his curtains and say something like 'Sho go home' or "'Sho I need to sleep now' or 'Sho I think I'm in love with you, but I really need to sleep or my parents are going to get mad at me...'

Maybe not that last one.

Maybe that any of them. He could see red, now, in a good way. At the corners of his eyes he could see the red of Sho's aura, and he could sense it too. His passive range wasn't that good, better than Teru's, but not nearly as good as what it should have been if the Internet was to be trusted...but whatever. Sho was there and that was what mattered. Ritsu jumped out of bed and tiptoe to his window, careful not to step on the squeaky floorboards and wake. Mom and Dad. Ritsu was careful too, when he pulled his curtains open, careful not to make the curtain rings squeak. He had never noticed how many things in his room squeaked, and creaked before. It was like living in a funhouse without the fun….well it would be fun again soon enough.

Sho was hovering just outside of his window.

Ritsu felt his heart trying to beat out of his chest as he opened his window, again very carefully. He had to get Sho inside before the neighbors noticed. He didn't know who would believe them about the mysterious, flying, redheaded kid outside of his window but he didn't exactly want to take his chances. He opened the window, took a step back, and let Sho in. He hovered in and took off his shoes as he moved. Ritsu wished that he knew how to fly like that…he wished that he had been as strong as Sho was.

Maybe then he could have protected him.

Something had Sho all freaked out. Ritsu could tell. His aura was drawn inwards, he was crossing his arms in front of his chest defensively, and he was looking down. Something had him worried…this was bad. Claw? Was it happening? The internet had said that Claw was planning something big, there had been a bunch of explosions and…and maybe this was it. Was it happening now? But…but Ritsu wasn't ready! Also it was in the middle of the night!? Who in the hell took over the world in the middle of the night?! If you were planning on taking over the world that it made more sense to do it during the daytime when people would notice. What, did this guy just think that everyone would wake up and be all, what? 'Oh hey, you rule the world now or whatever?' Well that wasn't how this was going to go and…and…and Ritsu was ready!

He had to be.

"What is it? Something with Claw? Is it happening? Do you need me to-" said Ritsu as he took Sho by the arms and looked into his eyes. Instead of looking freaked out or something else that would have made sense Sho just looked confused.

"What are you talking about? And not so loud, you want your parents to wake up?" asked Sho. He didn't get why Ritsu was freaking out. He was the one who should have been freaked out. Mukai had her powers and…and it should have been a good thing but…but she was so little and if Dad ever got it into his head to put her through an Awakening and Sho couldn't protect her…

Sho had to protect her.

One thought had been running through his mind all day. He had to protect his little sister. He was the Big Brother and it was his job to keep her safe, no one else is, and he had to do his job... But what if he couldn't. Big Sis hadn't been able to save him and she…back then she had been twice the older sibling that he was. Now…not so much. She was being all weird with Shimazaki now….and she knew that he'd liked him. That meant that she wasn't ever allowed to like him, it was weird and kind of hurt, and she hadn't even though about him before she did all of this…but this wasn't about Big Sis. This was about him and how he felt….how bad he felt…he needed to feel better.

Ritsu always made him feel better.

"You're worried about something, I just thought that it was Claw stuff…but I guess you worry about stuff other than Claw stuff." Said Ritsu. It was difficult, sometimes, to separate Sho from Claw. Sho was a part of Claw but he was also his own person. He had all kinds of stuff going on and Ritsu's stupid brain…it kept on telling him to learn everything he could about Claw. It told him that every piece of information he had about the enemy could be the key to taking them down. His stupid brain….he needed to think about Sho as a person and what he was feeling and….and stuff like that.

The kind of stuff that was in the relationship books that Mom and Dad kept under their bed.

"It's not…well it kind of is. My little sister got her powers today, and don't tell me that it's great." Said Sho

"I wasn't." said Ritsu

"Because it's not. It's…it's not safe for her anymore. My Dad might try and Awaken her like he did me-" said Sho

"I thought you were a natural esper." Said Ritsu. He had said that he had gotten his powers from his Dad…but he had also said, before, that he'd been through some experiments too. Wait, so which was it? Were people born that strong or did everyone that strong get awakened?

"I am…it's complicated. I wasn't as strong as my sister and…and nobody's as strong as Big Sis. Nobody but Dad and….and he might not even care because she's a girl and girls can't inherit the world. But if he does care then I don't know if I'll be able to protect her and it's been driving me crazy all day…like….like if Dad came and got her tomorrow then there'd be no way for me to win and-and-and do you want to smoke with me?" asked Sho. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out Big Sis's cigarette case, the one she kept joints in. He needed to smoke. He had been saving these for an emergency and this counted as an emergency.

"What?" asked Ritsu. He had no idea what Sho was even saying. One second he had been worried about his sister and now he wanted to smoke….and they couldn't smoke, they were kids! Also smoking caused cancer and stuff. Why would Sho have wanted to shorten his life like that? People made no sense sometimes, even his own boyfriend.

"Do you want to smoke with me? I really, really, really need to smoke right now." Said Sho as he opened up the cigarette case. Ritsu made a face and pulled his shirt up over his nose.

"Did you get sprayed by a skunk or something?" asked Sho, his voice muffled by his shirt. He had only smelled something that bad once before, the time Reigen startled that skunk back when they went up to the mountains to find mushrooms.

"What, no, why?" asked Sho

"Because you smell like you did." Said Ritsu

"I…haven't taken a bath in a while…sorry. I just have this thing about water-" said Sho. Right. He smelled back sometimes, he knew it, and he just…he needed to take more baths. He'd mostly just been putting on layers of deodorant and body spray….but maybe that hadn't been enough.

"No, it's not how you usually smell. Right now it smells like you got sprayed by a skunk…are you sure those are cigarettes? Because Reigen smokes, he hided it but not well, and he'd never smelled like that before." Said Ritsu

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's just the weed smell…wait, you've never smoked before?" asked Sho. This stuff smelled pretty bad if you weren't used to it. It had taken him a long time to get used to it, back when he'd been a kid. Did Ritsu…had he really never smoked before? How did that work?

"I'm eleven." Said Ritsu. Sho was looking at him like he was the crazy one here. Where had he even gotten cigarettes, especially ones that smelled that bad, and why did he have them now? Smoking was bad for you, it killed you, and also once you started it was impossible to stop. Why would Sho have let something have that kind of control over him? Even Reigen had said, and been honest too, that taking up smoking had been the worst decision he'd ever made in his life.

"I know. I started when I was ten." Said Sho. Ritsu was looking at him like he was crazy or something. But he wasn't, Ritsu was the crazy one. Why didn't he smoke? This stuff made everything better. Well it made you hungry thirsty…and also if you weren't careful then your brain went to bad places and you thought about a lot of stuff that you weren't supposed to and you got sadder than you've ever been in your life…it was worth it.

"That's crazy. Why would you do that to yourself? Didn't anyone ever tell you that smoking kills you?" asked Ritsu

"No…it does?" asked Sho

"Yes! Didn't your parents ever-" said Ritsu

"My Dad just says that it's a nasty habit. He never tells me to stop. I mean I don't smoke that often since my sister is always telling me about moderation and stuff but she smokes all the time so that isn't really a fair rule and-hey!" said Sho. He was way too loud, then, but he didn't care. Ritsu had just stolen the cigarette case right out from his hands. If he had wanted to smoke then he could have just asked.

Or was this just have boyfriend's were.

The only boyfriend he'd ever met in his life was Shimazaki and he stole things from Minegishi all the time….but maybe that didn't mean anything. He stole from everyone, including Sho, and Sho was done looking into that. He was gone letting Shimazaki steal his food and hoping that it meant that Shimazaki had finally fallen in love with him. So maybe Ritsu just felt like stealing…like playing keep away? Or maybe he-

What was he doing!?

"What the fuck!?" asked Sho. He took a step forward, it was loud, but he didn't care. Ritsu had been opening his curtains and pulling his arm back like he had been about to throw Sho's, really Big Sis's, cigarette case out the window…and then he did. Sho caught them with his powers and pulled them back. What in the hell was the matter with Ritsu!? Did he have brain worms!?

"Shut up!" hissed Ritsu. He had heard…had that been Mom and Dad's door opening?! He looked around….he had to hide Sho…the wardrobe? No, Teru's futon was in there…but…under the bed!

"What are you-" said Sho as Ritsu grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the bed. It wasn't like he had never thought about it before…but not like this! This was…he didn't even know what this was.

"Get under the bed!" said Ritsu

"Under?" asked Sho

"Yes! Now!" said Ritsu. He pointed ten times before Sho got the message. He got down onto the floor and rolled under. Ritsu jumped into bed and closed his eyes just as the door opened. He heard the door open, he heard the floor creek a little as she stepped inside. He forced himself to breath like normal. He felt her getting closer…he kept on breathing. She picked up the blanket…and then she tucked him in. She brushed his hair off of his forehead, gave him a kiss, sniffed the air around him, then told him she loved him, and then left.

It had been the longest ten seconds of Ritsu's life.

"You can come out now." Whispered Ritsu after he was sure he'd heard the door to Mom's room close.

"No." said Sho. He wasn't coming out. This was where he was spending the night. He should have left, he felt like he wanted to leave. That had been a mom…not his mom but a mom….his mom used to do that when he'd been little and…and Big Sis still….but he was all alone here. No Mom, no Big Sis. He clutched the case to his chest. Now he really needed to smoke…really, really.

"She's gone, I can tell." Said Ritsu

"I don't care. I'm not coming out….I can't. It's just that….I don't know. I used to have a mom or whatever or…I don't know. I need to smoke. Do you want to smoke with me or are you going to be weird again?" asked Sho

"I'm sorry about your mom…and I wasn't being weird! We can't smoke. Do you have any idea how sick that can make you?" asked Ritsu

"No….and I don't care." Said Sho

"Well I do. I love….I like you a lot and I want you to live for a really long time. I want you to love long enough that he take Claw down and then….I don't know. Go on real dates together? Go to school together, maybe….we could work for Reigen together…have actual sleepovers….we cant do any of that if you're dead!" hissed Ritsu

"I'm not going to die." Said Sho

"You don't know that. I worry a lot…I worry about you getting compromised and then killed and…and I don't want you to kill yourself with that stuff." Said Ritsu

"I'm not going to get sick and I'm not going to die. I never get sick and even if I did then Fukuda could just heal me…but if it's such a big thing then I won't smoke around you." Said Sho. He had wanted to share this with Ritsu, he deserved to feel good too, but if he felt so strongly about this, so weirdly, then Sho wouldn't do it around him.

"Thanks." Said Ritsu. There, that wasn't so bad…and now they could…he couldn't even say it he was so nervous. This was the part where they slept next to each other…where they kissed.

"Can I come up?" asked Sho. He needed Ritsu, he was better than smoking. Kissing him, laying with him, even being near him was enough….was usually enough, to make him feel like he was walking on air. He just wanted to be near Ritsu and…and anything would have been….worth it.

"Ok…and thanks, for doing that for me. I know how hard it is to quit smoking….it's supposed to be impossible." Said Ritsu. Sho was going to do the impossible for him…and it was impossible. All the adult's he ever talked to had said so. Sho loved him…liked him so much to do the impossible. He put the case back into his coat as he got in bed with Ritsu. He leaned in and kissed him. This was…Sho was….Sho was there and he was great and Ritsu…Ritsu knew that he needed sleep….

But he could sleep when Sho was gone again.