Sho had never run that fast in his life.

Or that far. His legs were killing him. His feet were killing him. His heart was killing him…though that may not have been because of the running. That may have been because of the person he'd been running with. Ritsu…his boyfriend. He had been running as fast as he could with his boyfriend. If this had been a movie or something then…then it would have been like they had been running away together.

Sho wished that they could have.

He wished that they could have run to some far off place together, a place where they could be alone, a place where they wouldn't ever have to worry about anything ever again. Not Ritsu being captured, not Dad hating Sho, not how they were kind of really close to the end of the world and Sho wasn't any closer to stopping it. How…a lot of hows. But they weren't running away together.

If they had been then Sho wouldn't have taken him to Shimazaki's house, of all places!

But he hadn't really had a choice. He had to take Ritsu somewhere before he got captured. How could he have been so dumb? Why did he have to plan his vacation right when everyone in Tokyo HQ was planning theirs? What even were the odds…Dad would have known, he was good at stupid math stuff like this. In fact Dad could explain it to him when he saw him again. This was…this had been a bad idea…

But letting Ritsu get captured would have been a worse one.

Sho caught his breath in the genkan. That wasn't a bad idea at all. He needed to catch his breathe and then he needed to…to what? Hide Ritsu until everyone went home? This was only a day trip…so he could have jus stayed here. He didn't know if Shimazaki was planning on coming home at all today. His shoes weren't in the genkan so it wasn't like Sho just wasn't noticing his aura or something. He really was gone.

He could have hidden here with Ritsu for a while, if he'd wanted to.

"We….we need to…to…" gasped out Sho as he tried to catch his breath. He hadn't been dressed for the weather. He should have listened to Shibata about the coat thing…fuck…Shibata was probably worried sick about him. He was a worrier, a lot like Big Sis was. Mukai might have been worried too…or she might have just been happy that she had someone to take her to all the boring baby rides she liked…ok, that was settled…he would just let people think he went off to the actually fun rides and…and it wasn't like he didn't do this every single time they went to Disneyland…

Either this was the best plan ever or his brain wasn't getting enough oxygen.

"Don't try to talk, you might suffocate." Said Ritsu. He felt fine…but then again he was just in shorts and a t-shirt. Sho was in long pants and a jacket, and it had been hot outside. Like Mom had said, Octobers were hot…Mom and Dad…damn it! He was dead. He was more than dead. Mom and Dad were probably worried sick…Teru was probably worried sick…and he was all alone too! Ritsu…he was in so much trouble…

But at least Sho was here….shut up, heart! Nobody needs you right now!

"Not….not going to…" gasped out Sho as he kicked off his shoes. He was perfectly fine. He just…he needed to think. He could always stay here and protect Ritsu but…but eventually Shibata was going to wonder where he went and then…and then he was fucked. Really, really fucked…

He was kind of fucked already, wasn't he?

"Really? Because it sounds like you are…please don't. I don't know what I'd do without you." said Ritsu as he slipped his shoes off. Right, this was…Sho's house? A house. This was a house and when you were inside of a house you took off your shoes.

He could almost feel Mom watching him now.

"I meant like….like I don't know where I am or how to get back or…or anything, that's what I meant." Said Ritsu quickly. Sho held up his hand and kept on breathing deep. His face was bright red, his hair was stuck to his forehead, and his hands were shaking…

"Ritsu…are you…a moron?" said Sho as he tried to make his lungs work again. He was getting better…less dizzy…but he needed soda. A lot of soda. Right now.

"Did you just call me a moron?" asked Ritsu. Well that…was not how he imagined this would go. The next time that he saw Sho. Actually whenever he imagined the next time he'd see Sho he was in his room and it was the middle of the night and Sho tapped on his window…and then they went flying somewhere…

At no point in his crazy fantasies did he ever imagine his boyfriend calling him a moron.

"Yeah…kind of…hang on!" said Sho. He held the wall and pushed his way out of the genkan. He didn't have to look for the kitchen, not like at that one giant house they'd stayed at that one time. This house was small, just for one purpose. The kitchen was right there. Sho made it there in one piece, careful not to disturb Shimazaki's piles of stuff…he would have been so pissed if Sho fucked with his stuff…pissed at Sho and Ritsu…

Ritsu who should not have been following him!

"I...I said hang on…" said Sho as he made his way into the kitchen. He walked past the sink and right to the fridge. Shimazaki liked soda, he had to have had some kind of soda, or even an energy drink or…Sho opened the fridge. Just beer, a lot of beer. He missed Hatori. He may have been annoying, and he may have been Dad's new best friend forever, but at least he always had plenty of energy drinks around. Shimazaki just had a bunch of different kinds of beer and liquor…and Sho didn't really like to drink…

But he didn't like water, either.

He took a beer from the fridge and opened it. It still smelled just like he remembered. Big Sis never drank this stuff, she just mixed vodka in with her milk sometimes. That stuff was even worse, at least beer didn't burn going down. He tilted his head back and drank. It was better if you didn't taste it. Shimazaki had said that it was the kind of thing that you got used to…but Sho didn't think that he could ever get used to this…

It was good for when you were thirsty, though.

"That's a beer!" said Ritsu, pointing at the can as if Sho couldn't already tell. He felt like an idiot…but also not because, yeah, Sho wasn't that much older than him! Kids weren't supposed to drink! It was bad for your brain and also…also it wasn't allowed and….and…

And Sho just kept on drinking it!

"Yeah? You want one?" asked Sho as he passed Ritsu a beer with his powers. Ritsu caught it and just…held it. Sho stuck out his tongue. It was going to get warm if he kept on doing that. The only thing worse than beer was warm beer.

"You're calling me a moron and you drink beer? And smoke too, I guess." said Ritsu. He had seen Sho smoke…that one time when they had been on top of the streetlight together. He had seen…Sho could do whatever he wanted to do, Ritsu knew that…but Ritsu also knew better.

He put his beer down on the counter.

"I'm thirsty, I did run all the way here you know." said Sho

"So did I." said Ritsu

"Yeah, but you weren't wearing a coat." Said Sho

"I…yeah, I guess…but what about water? That's the best thing for you." said Ritsu. Sho rolled his eyes and crushed his can with his powers. He crushed it into a cube, actually, which was pretty cool…but then he reached for Ritsu's beer…that wasn't as cool. Teru drank sometimes too. Ritsu didn't get why. It killed braincells and made you react to things slower. Also you could get alcohol poisoning and die, like they'd said at school. Ritsu didn't know why anyone would risk poisoning themselves like that.

Not that he had a lot of room to lecture people about being reckless.

"I don't like water." Said Sho

"But…it's water. You need it to live…you're made of water. How do you not like water?" asked Ritsu

"God, you sound like my sister, you know that?" asked Sho, opening the beer Ritsu didn't want. He didn't blame him. This stuff was gross…but it was better than water.

"I'm just worried about you, I guess. I don't know. I don't want anything to happen to you." said Ritsu with a shrug.

"Me? You don't want anything to happen to ME? What about you, dumbass!? Why were you even there? Couldn't you have picked a different day or month or year or whatever for your vacation?" asked Sho

"I didn't get a say in the day, my Dad just wanted to go because the people he works for now had some work thing…or maybe he just really wanted to ride the Jaws ride. I don't know." said Ritsu

"Well…it is a really cool ride…yeah, I'd say it's worth it." Said Sho

"It is really?" asked Ritsu. Dad had been really excited about that…and Mom had been really excited about the whole trip. She'd made up a whole plan, Dad had derailed it, but still…and Teru had really wanted to ride that Dinosaur thing…he'd really messed up….stupid heart. Sometimes he wished that he didn't have one, any feelings at all, since they got in the way…but then he thought about how much it would have sucked not to have felt this way ever again…the way he felt about Sho…about everyone he loved…

But this kind of love…well he liked it…but it made him really reckless!

"Yeah! There's this part where Jaws jumps out of the water, not the real Jaws obviously, and it attacks the boat…it's so cool! I only went on once because I don't like water but it was pretty cool. My sisters didn't like it, they wanted to go on the Minions ride which is…it's like, barely a ride, and then my little sister was talking like a Minion for the rest of the day…what?" asked Sho. Ritsu was giving him a look now, not a mean one, no. One that made the goldfish in his stomach want to jump out of his throat like it was a fantail in a tank full of common goldfish.

He didn't know what it was…but he liked it.

"Nothing. It's just….I like it when you're happy like that. Excited and…and stuff. It's…cute." Said Ritsu. He ended that on a whisper, that was all that he could manage. Sho was his boyfriend and it shouldn't have been weird to call him cute, he was cute, but he had never called anyone cute to their face….this kind of cute…it was kind of like…kind of good but also kind of like he wanted to go back to Universal and turn himself in.

"Thanks…you're cute too…but you're also a moron! Why in the hell were you…you must have been able to feel all of those auras in one place!" said Sho

"I don't get to pick where we go, I'm just a kid. If Mom and Dad say that we're going somewhere then we're going. I tried to get them to leave but they wouldn't and…and it's not my fault. Dad had some stupid work thing." Said Ritsu

"Work thing?" asked Sho. The only work thing should have been the company outing….but Ritsu's Dad was a normal person. No normal person worked directly under any branch of Claw. There were so many of them in the world that sometimes they were needed to fill in the gaps when Claw ran out of espers, mostly for business related things, but no normal person would have been invited to the company outing. No way. Big Sis had made the guestlist herself.

"Yeah, some big corporation contracted Dad from his job, that's when a client buys him from his boss, and now we're here…where you were…" said Ritsu. There were eighteen people he knew personally who were named Suzuki. He had googled 'Suzuki Conglomerate' and come up with forty different companies. There were also holding corporations, small businesses, big businesses, and a chain of pizza places with really low reviews all with the name Suzuki. It was a common name, nearly as common as Kageyama.

Made Googling Claw stuff a pain.

There was no reason to think…but…it would have made sense. The way Sho was looking at him…this was bad. He had noticed that there had been more Claw members in the city but he had just figured it was because their division had been finished and also it was one of their holidays. According to the forums Claw always celebrated Halloween…not that the Seasoning City Halloween Fest was worth coming out of the woods for…he had been such an idiot…or maybe he'd only seen the things that he wanted to see…

Oh. Damn. It.

"Fuck!" shouted Sho. That was….ok, sometimes they worked with normal people…even Dad had said that Claw didn't have the manpower to be everything just yet…and…and now Ritsu was all pulled into this and…and….ok, he needed to stop panicking and…and….ok.

In for four, out for four.

"Yeah…that." Said Ritsu. This was…ok. This was bad. He was definitely paying more attention when Dad told him things…ok, ok. He just…he needed to figure this out, that was all. He was good a figuring things out…at least that was what everyone had always told him…

"Ok, ok, you're…you're going to be ok. I'll just…um…you're going to be ok!" said Sho

"I'm dead….I'm really dead…" said Ritsu

"No you're not! I won't let that happen to you…I'll just…my Dad's out of the country!" said Sho. He knew what he would do. Big Sis was in charge and…and if told her that she had to say to leave Ritsu alone or…or all normal people and their families then…then she would listen. She would have to…right?

Right?

"I know, someone tried to blow him up in Europe…but what does that have to do with anything? I'm in so much trouble…my parents are going to kill me and…and if not then Claw is going to kill me-" said Ritsu

"We don't kill assets, not even on accident. Awakened people don't always make it but…but I don't like to talk about that. You're going to be fine if you get captured…but I'm not going to let you get captured or anything like that. My Dad's out of the country and my sister is in charge and if I tell her to leave you alone, not your name or anything like that, though, because she asks a lot of questions and she still loves our Dad…anyway….for some reason…but whatever! I can keep you safe and…and just to be even more safe then I can keep you here until everyone goes home." Said Sho as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"I…I guess…my parents are going to kill me if I'm gone all day…" said Ritsu. He could always have texted Teru and told him to cover for him…Sho was texting his sister right now…but if he told Teru where he was then Teru was going to come looking for him, Mom and Dad would be double worried, and…well if he told Teru where he was then he was never going to hear the end of it! Ritsu didn't feel like spending the rest of his life hearing about how he had no room to be mad at Teru for being honey trapped when Ritsu was in love with the enemy.

Or maybe just really deep into like with the enemy…enemy's son.

'Not captured. Cover for me.' That seemed right. He hit send. It was read…and then Teru asked him what the hell he thought he was doing.

"My sister asked why, I told her that it was none of her business, she sent me a smiling cat emoji….so I think that we're going to be so…so I guess that we can just hang out here for a while. This is my friend Shimazaki's house, well they're technically all my houses, but he lives here right now but I don't think that he'll be back for a while. He works during the day and goes out at night so…so he won't bother us…um…he's always got a lot of weed and beer and other stuff if you want some." Said Sho. That was polite, right? That was how people liked to have fun. Smoking and drinking…Sho didn't mind either, not that much…

Actually he could have used another beer, too.

He felt…not sick but…kind of floaty? Like everything was going to be ok. He knew what he was doing. He had this. He was Sho, of course he had this. People thought…Dad thought that he wasn't good at anything and Big Sis thought that he was a little kid but…but he was good at things. He was.

He was good at being a boyfriend. Or at least not totally bad at it.

"How about we just…um…hang out?" asked Ritsu. That was…all too much. He had to stay sharp. He had to be ready for anything. He always had to have his guard all the way up…and also he'd never really done that before. Because it was bad for you, like everyone had said…but adults did that kind of stuff….but he wasn't an adult.

He certainly didn't feel like one.

He wanted to run away, to jump out the window, to fall through the floor. He wanted…he didn't know what he wanted. To be with Sho, of course. This was what he had been hoping for since the last time Sho had left. He had spent so many nights imagining them on the run from Claw, like in a secluded mountain or a cave or a tree or something, and they were alone and they could just…be together. Being together on the run was still being together…

Being together in read life was a lot more real than being together in his head.

In real life…in real life he liked Sho more than he had ever liked anyone else before. In real life they'd kissed a lot already. In real life they…well they could do some of the stuff that only happened in Ritsu's head…but he didn't want to…he did and he didn't…he just wanted…

He just wanted to be with Sho, that was all.

"S-sure…ok. Sure." Said Sho. Smoking and stuff made him feel better and stuff. This was…this was the kind of thing that he'd spent so many minutes and hours and years…wall maybe not years, but a long time imagining. Him and Ritsu all alone together…without really having to worry…well he had to worry, he always had to worry, but now it was like…like different kinds of worries….

He couldn't fuck this up.

He wouldn't fuck this up. He had this. He was Sho and…and he had this. He had gotten…actually a lot of what he'd always wanted. Dad was mostly gone, Fukuda never bothered him anymore since he was mostly gone, he and Mukai could hang out all day every day doing whatever they wanted, and now he had Ritsu with him. He had this. He was going to be fine…for once in his life he knew that he would be fine.

Even though his heart was beating like he'd run faster than he'd ever ran in his life/