"Toshi, guess where I am."

Minegishi was going to assume that he was somewhere in another time zone, one where it was daytime. Though of course Ryou had no circadian rhythm and no use for one. Minegishi, on the other hand, did. They slept during the night, and through part of the day, and they liked their sleep schedule just fine. Ryou had always had a habit of disrupting it. Matsuo, on the other hand, slept during the night like a normal person.

They had gotten a new appreciation for normalcy over this past month.

"What's happening?" said Matsuo. He tried to sit up but Minegishi put a hand to his chest and shook their head.

"It's Ryou, you can go back to sleep." Said Minegishi, their hand still on his chest. He looked up, their eyes met in the near darkness. The glow in the dark stickers cast a green glow around his face, dipping inwards at his Scar.

"What's he want? It's, hang on, three in the morning." Said Matsuo as he picked his phone up off of the nightstand. The green glow of the glow in the dark stickers, the stars and spaceships on his walls and bedposts, danced around him as he moved. It clashed with the scarlet of his aura. He looked like Christmas time…in June at three in the morning.

Damn it, Ryou.

They could see a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth, a narrowing of his eyes, and his aura was reaching outwards towards his spirit belt. They didn't blame him. It was way too early for this…for Matsuo, anyway. Minegishi…well they were used to this. They were used to Ryou…even if they had ben apart from him for weeks now. They hadn't heard from him in a while, too. He jumped on when Mob called them but he never called them on his own…this was actually…if it hadn't been so early in the morning this would have been sort of nice.

They smiled, barely.

"He's fine, he's just…being Ryou." Said Minegishi as they pulled the covers back. They kept their phone pressed to their chest. They could hear him talking, now, even though they had told him to hang on. He was going on excitedly about something or other, probably where in the world he and Mob had found themselves this time. So much for watching the Hongkong division. Suzuki was going to be insufferable when they regrouped. Doubly so when he realized that Minegishi had no legitimate work here…though then again he was loathe to contradict Mob.

Who could have? She was Mob.

They slid off the bed and went out into the hallway. If Mob was there with him, and she had better have been considering how many enemies Suzuki had made over the years, then she was going to want to talk. Probably more cryptic ramblings. Hopefully nothing…Minegishi had to hope that it was nothing. Worse case scenario Mob had gone ahead and found some cute boy and now Mob Junior was on the way and they were going to spend the rest of their life raising kids that they had never asked for and had no relation to…not that they didn't love Mob, they did, they had just never set out to have a kid…but they had never set out to have a boyfriend either and now they had two of them.

Life was funny like that, but not 'ha-ha' funny.

They made sure the bedroom door was closed tightly before, finally, pulling their phone away from their chest. Ryou was still talking, going a mile a minute it sounded like. There was some coughing in the background, Mob probably….great. Though Minegishi had nobody to blame but themselves. They were the one who had gotten Mob into this, well them and Ryou, but Ryou didn't know any better. As far as he had been concerned there was nothing at all wrong with getting an eight year old, or however old Mob had been back when she'd started all of this, stoned. That was just who he was as a person. Reckless, thoughtless, but also weirdly thoughtful in his own way.

His own very special, very Ryou, way.

"Ryou? You still there?" asked Minegishi as they put their phone to their ear. They brushed their hair out of their eyes…they needed to cut their bangs. Maybe they'd let Mob have a turn next time they saw her. She was getting old enough to cut her own hair, and maybe Minegishi's too. She coughed again. Maybe that was what she was after, being older, or at least being seen as older…and maybe Minegishi did baby her a little bit….

Well somebody had to.

"…my favorite person and my happy place, you know that? It's like…I don't know. Like you're a hammock. A warm hammock with a blanket in it but one of those electric blankets-" said Ryou

"But where-where would it plug in? And also what if you got caught and tangled up in the cord? You'd die, Ryou, and Fukuda wouldn't be around to save you since you don't like him and he doesn't like you." Said Mob. Minegishi frowned, just a little. Ryou. That was…something that Ryou wanted to be called. It was his given name and if he wanted people to call him Ryou then he could be called Ryou. They weren't in charge of his name and they didn't want to be. The last thing that they wanted was more responsibility in their life…

They were just worried about nothing.

That nagging feeling was back, the one that tugged at their corner of their mind. That was just their mind being their mind. It had always betrayed them, made them ruminate on things that weren't worth ruminating about, made them think things that weren't thinking about. They shouldn't have been thinking about this, the thought was absurd. Ryou was a lot of things but he wasn't an idiot.

And anyway Mob was too smart for him anyway.

"She has a point, Ryou, you really should think these things through. The last thing I need to do right now is plan your funeral, too much extra work, I'd probably just end up half assing it and then you'll end up haunting me for the rest of my life." Said Minegishi

"Toshi, don't be modest. I know that you'd plan me the best funeral ever. I mean I'd still haunt you either way since you're my happy place-" said Ryou

"Ryou…..I'm going to assume that it was Mob's voice I just heard and that I'm not losing my mind…though part of me wishes that I was. Then I would have had some explanation as to why you thought that it would be the least bit appropriate to-" said Minegishi

"I wasn't talking about being inside of you-" said Shimazaki

"Ryou!" shouted Mob. Her voice got tinny she had shouted so loudly. Good. They knew how sensitive Ryou's hearing was. He deserved it. Honestly. Mob was right there and he knew how squeamish she was…had been, about these things. She might have still been, they didn't know, they didn't make it a habit to discuss their sex life with their thirteen year old best friend.

"What, I wasn't! I mean if anything your pussy would be your happy place since, you know, it's attached to you and-" said Ryou

"Ryou! What the-" shouted Mob, not as loudly but just as incensed.

"Yes, I agree with Mob. Ryou, stop digging yourself in deeper." Said Minegishi with a sigh. Well now Mob was going to be upset and they had no way of comforting her. They were all the way in Seasoning City and she was…well last they had checked she was at one of the Disney Worlds. Still very far away.

"I don't know what you two are getting so worked up about, I just said that it wasn't sexual. Wasn't. Actually, you know what? Right now sex is the last thing on my mind….huh. Never thought this day would come. God, I feel like I just went ten rounds with-" said Ryou

"RYOU! Stop talking!" shouted Mob, her voice straining at the end.

"Yeah, listen to Mob. Come on, you know she doesn't want to hear about-" said Minegishi

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to but I felt like it and-" said Mob. Minegishi was glad that there weren't any plants near them. No, Matsuo had asked them to keep their plants to the living room and kitchen, not where he had his rarer posters. Something about humidity. They'd thought he'd been a little overconcerned but now…well now they could see he had a point. If there had been plants anywhere near them they would have exploded out of their pots. Ryou needed to learn to think before he spoke. Obviously Mob didn't want to hear about his sex life…and obviously Mob felt guilty about shouting at him…

And now came the torrent of apologies.

Mob had always apologized too much, ever since they'd met her, and it was about time that it stopped. She wanted to be treated like an adult then she should have acted more like one. Minegishi knew that they had taught her better. Sometimes you had to raise your voice to people, sometimes you had to be mean to people, otherwise they would just walk all over you. Mob couldn't let people walk all over her like that, she was…she deserved better. She was Mob after all.

Also, Ryou needed to be told, explicitly, when he had crossed a line or he would just keep on crossing it and crossing it until you were ready to kill him.

"Mob, stop apologizing." Said Minegishi, their voice echoing….oh, they were on speakerphone now. They could hear the ambiance better. TV…in English…but a different sort of accent. Either Mob was watching the BBC network, a welcome change of pace from her endless cat videos and makeup tutorials,

"But I….I'm really sorry and I need you to know how sorry I am." Said Mob. Minegishi had never gone for these performative apologies…and they hadn't taught Mob to do this either.

"For my sake or yours?" asked Minegishi, sighing again. This time maybe too loudly. They heard movement behind the bedroom door. Matsuo….hopefully. They didn't know if his spirits could escape from their prisons or not. They would have preferred him to have left his spirit belt literally anywhere other than the room they slept in but he needed it in case something went down and Minegishi…well they had seeds in their pocket so it was nearly the same. When you cared about someone you made all kinds of concessions for them, excuses, cut them a lot of slack.

Like when they were being just a little bit on the wrong side of annoying.

"What do you mean?" asked Mob

"You've been giving me these cryptic apologies all month and keep on telling you that whatever's happened, whatever's the matter, it's fine and I don't care. You say you believe me but then the very next day you do it again. I'm starting to think that maybe you're starting to doubt me." Said Minegishi

"I would never doubt you, Minegishi!" said Mob

"Yeah, how could anyone doubt you? Toshi, you're one of the smartest people that I have ever met in my life…I mean you're smart too, Mob, but Toshi reads more books. You were right about the books, by the way, reading them. I've been learning so much. Like, did you know that in a relationship-" said Ryou

"Ryou, I love you, but I'm talking to Mob right now…and anyway stop reading those books, I know you. When you're worried about something you obsess over it…kind of like me…and nothing good comes of either of us getting like that." Said Minegishi

"But Toshi, I have to many things I want to tell you! Like-" said Ryou

"Tell me after you put Mob back on." Said Minegishi

"Hi, I was always here…you're on speaker phone. I mean I put you on speaker phone since it's easier and…um….I don't doubt you. I don't think that you're lying to me or anything. I just…I feel bad, that's all. I keep on telling myself that it's going to be the last time but then I just do it again and…and I shouldn't do that…and I just feel like you're mad at me all the time." Said Mob

"Mob, you and I have known each other for about five years now. That's half a decade. At any point in that half decade have I ever been mad at you, or anyone, and kept it to myself?" asked Minegishi

"You don't tell my dad when you're mad at him." said Mob. Minegishi rolled their eyes. Telling Suzuki when they were mad at him…yeah, that would have gone over really well. At best they would have gotten some kind of long, weirdly phrased, lecture from him. At worst they'd wind up in a traitor hole.

"Well that's different. If I told your father about every single thing he did that pissed me off I wouldn't have any time to myself." Said Minegishi

"Oh…I guess that makes sense. You're really not mad?" asked Mob. Minegishi wondered if they could give themselves amnesia if they banged their head into the wall enough times…they could try when they got back to their own room. Matsuo wouldn't have been happy with the holes in his walls…though it would have been nice to startle him away from the wall. If he had wanted to eavesdrop then he could have just pressed his ear to their phone and took notes. Then maybe they could pour over the notes and figure out what was up with Mob. She had been apologizing like crazy lately but…well they knew one thing that she could have done that she had better have been apologizing for…but they didn't want to think about it. The last thing that they needed was anymore aggravation in their life.

"No, of course not. Not about that, anyway. Waking me up at three in the morning is a whole other story. I'd ask you if you had any idea what time it was but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you don't." said Minegishi

"It's not anywhere near three in the morning here! It's only eleven in the morning here, which sounds like it would be later but is actually…wait, no, I think I have it backwards." Said Mob

"I think Toshi's in the future…or maybe we're in the future. I mean time zones are so weird. Why can't it be the same time everywhere? I mean I know it has something to do with the Earth being round…or something." Said Ryou

"You should ask my dad, he knows a lot about outer space." Said Mob. Minegishi didn't know who they felt more sorry for in that hypothetical situation, Ryou or Suzuki. Maybe they would both drive each other insane….or sane. Maybe it would have been like two negatives cancelling each other out. They didn't know and they didn't want to test it.

"I'd rather pour carpenter ants and lemon juice into my eye sockets." Said Ryou

"But….wouldn't that hurt?" asked Mob. Minegishi pulled the phone away from their ear and stifled a laugh.

"That's the point." Said Ryou. These two were too awake for…eight hours difference, they had said….Minegishi started doing some math in their head….

"But I don't want you to get hurt. You're my bo-" said Mob

"Are you two in London right now?" asked Minegishi after doing some quick math in their head. Eight hours difference…Claw had a big presence in London, most major cities, but they couldn't think of any work that had to be done there…of course as Suzuki had stated numerous times they were getting close to the endgame here, all hands on deck or whatever.

"No, Liverpool. Ryou told you already, we're in his happy place. We went to the real Penny Lane….and it wasn't like the song but the song was written before even my dad was born, and he's very old, so of course things changed. But we walked across a bunch of roads and we found Eleanor Rigby's grave and we kept it company so she wasn't lonely. Also we listened to song on a loop for the whole plane ride here…which was ok because it got Ryou back to his happy place." Said Mob. Minegishi blinked. Well that was…unexpected. Somehow their travels had never taken them to Liverpool, or anywhere in the North of England really. They would have gone with Ryou, though, they would have made up some excuse if he had really wanted to go to the real Penny Lane that badly.

He had never said anything like that.

They knew what Penny Lane was to him. Penny Lane was the place where Ryou would go when he was a kid, deep inside of his head, deep in a place where it was less like the bedroom he had been locked in since birth…why in the hell had he wanted to revisit that hell? Penny Lane, as he had said before, smelled like vinyl and dust and piss…was he working through some stuff? Well they would have helped if he had asked…and he shouldn't have been putting all of that onto Mob. She was thirteen, she had enough problems just being a thirteen year old girl, she didn't need his thirty two and a half years of fucked up Ryou-ness.

But of course she would take it on…she was Mob.

"Somehow I doubt Penny Lane is your happy place." Said Minegishi

"It isn't, you are. You and Mob…you and Mob are my happy place and I miss you so fucking much and Mob misses you and…wait, hang on…we called for…oh! I called to wish you a happy week before your birthday and Mob says the same since we both know how much you hate your birthday." Said Ryou. If he knew how much they hated it then why was he brining it up now? Why did…they had been ignoring the date for a reason. It wasn't that they feared aging and dying, no, they just didn't like their birthday. The only birthdays they celebrated were Mob and Ryou's…and Mukai's, too, since they'd gotten roped into attending the party.

"Happy almost being thirty!" shouted Mob. Minegishi nodded and leaned against the wall. Right, right, their birthday. They didn't see how telling the two of them that it didn't make it any better, celebrating it this early, and actually made them think about it more…they were both clearly one something. Hopefully just weed but….well Liverpool was rough, they'd heard, and Ryou had a knack for ferreting out shady people for even shadier doings…worry, more of it. Worry that they didn't need. They were a week away from thirty, practically decrepit, their poor heart couldn't take this much worry…or whatever.

They needed to go back to sleep.

"Thanks, yeah, I beat the reaper another year…anyway we can discuss this when it's daytime in my corner of the world." Said Minegishi

"Oh right! You said it was early and-and you need your sleep! Goodnight Minegishi, we love you, but Ryou loves you in a different way than I do." Said Mob

"It's true! Also goodnight Toshi, and notice how not jealous I am right now." Said Ryou. Minegishi rolled their eyes.

"Yes Ryou, you're the most not jealous. Goodnight everybody." Said Minegishi before they hung up. They had no choice, they had to hang up before did ever ending parade of goodbyes started. One was enough. They had said their goodbyes and now they could go back to sleep...

As soon as they dealt with this.

They opened the door slowly as not to hit Matsuo in the head, they assumed anyway that he had pressed his ear against the door the whole time, even though he didn't have to. They weren't hiding anything from him. They had never hidden anything from him. There wouldn't have been any point. Minegishi didn't lie, they made a point not to lie. Lies just turned into more things that they had to keep track of, extra work for them, and the last thing that they needed in their life was extra work. They were Minegishi Toshiki and if whoever they were with could take them as they are, then they could just find someone else.

Not that they felt like it, of course.

"You know you can just ask me what's happening." Said Minegishi as they opened the door. Matsuo hadn't had his ear pressed against the door, no, his ear had been pressed against the wall. There was something funny about a man in nothing but his boxers and a vintage Ultraman t-shirt with his ear pressed up against the wall like a five year old. Something funny enough to get them smiling.

A little, not a lot.

"I-I wasn't…I was just worried, that's all. I mean he called you at three in the morning and he clearly sounded messed up. If he was bothering you then I could-" Said Matsuo. They had no idea what he intended to do. There was nothing that he really could do to hurt Ryou. He could sort of exorcise spirits but he was more likely to go after their master. After all he couldn't defend himself…and if it came down to a fight between their boyfriends then Minegishi wasn't going to be defending either of them. Ryou had been jealous, they had come to accept that from him, but from Matsuo…he and Minegishi weren't even that serious. They weren't even really living together…whatever. They would deal with this when it came up. There was no point in making extra work for themselves.

"He's Ryou, he's always on something. I'm used to him. He doesn't really have a circadian rhythm, he just kind of sleeps whenever he wants to, like a cat." Said Minegishi with a shrug. They didn't even care that much. He was always coming and going at all hours, that had just been one of the things that they'd had to get used to when they started sharing a room with him. If they could get used to that then they could get used to anything, even the wall to wall glow in the dark stickers that Matsuo had decorated their, his, room with.

"Cats are nocturnal, though." said Matsuo. Minegishi rolled their eyes.

"Are you nocturnal?" asked Minegishi

"Not since I was a teenager." Said Matsuo with a smile. They offered him one in return, the same one that they had been wearing since they entered the room. It had been for him, because of him, originally after all.

"Then come to bed already." Said Minegishi. They didn't wait for a reply, they just walked over to the bed and slid under the covers. Their pajama pants bunched up around their knees. They reached down to fix them but Matsuo got there first. He just straightened them out, he hadn't made a pass at them, and that was…nice. Ryou was always making little passes at them, even when Mob was around, and the lack of…well, pressure…that was a good word for it, was nice. Comforting. Comfortable.

They were comfortable.

They pulled the covered up to their chest as soon as Matsuo slid into bed next to them. They closed their eyes…but felt another pair. His eyes were on them, his eyes and his aura. They could see the red of it behind their eyelids. Metaphysical perception…they weren't actually seeing it at all. ESP was weird like that…

They got the feeling that he didn't feel like discussing the nature of their powers late into the night.

"What?" asked Minegishi as they turned around. They lifted their head and he slid his arm underneath. The other one crossed their body. They were the little spoon this time…they were always the little spoon even though he was about their same size….but this was still nice, though, very nice….warm, but in a good way…safe…

They were nearly thirty years old. There was nothing that they could have possibly needed protection from.

"I just….Toshiki, are you sure you don't want to talk about it? I mean it sounded like it was a lot…" said Matsuo. Minegishi sighed harder than they could ever remember sighing in their life. They didn't need him fretting over them like this. They were fine and everything was fine. All of that had been normal….for them. His definition of normal was a bit different from theirs. He spent more time in the real world, the world outside of Suzuki's orbit, the world where people followed actual social rules. The world where people didn't get called at three o'clock in the morning for nonsense. The world where people didn't get thirteen year old girls high, and thirteen year old girls then take you on trips to Liverpool to relive childhood traumatic events, and also...a lot of things that they weren't going to get into at this time of night or day or-or-

Whatever!

"I'm fine, it wasn't anything. Just Mob and Ryou fooling around….goofing off. Acting like kids, it's normal for them…anyway I'm going to sleep." Said Minegishi. They didn't wait for a 'good night' they just closed their eyes and willed sleep to come. It didn't. He was betraying them again. Keeping them up all night with this nonsense. This was the last thing that they needed. They had nothing to worry about, nothing at all. Mob knew better than to do…what people had been insinuating for a while and Ryou….he was smarter than that too. He knew that Suzuki would have killed him and if he hadn't, well, Minegishi would have finished the job…

Not that there was a job to finish.

What Minegishi had to be concerned about was Mob meeting a cute English boy and coming home with Mob Junior in tow. Mob had been on this baby thing for so long now…this was what they had to worry about…..and now they had succeeded. Another thought was racing through their mind, another worry, something else to keep them awake….

Minegishi assumed, if it was safe to assume, that this was going to be a long night….whatever. Bring it on.