There was always someone stronger.

Ritsu didn't think that he was the best, strongest, esper ever. He had never thought that, he hadn't ever had the luxury of thinking that. From the moment he realized that powers were real, from the moment that Sho saved him that day, he's known that there was always someone bigger and stronger. He'd been a kid, then, and he hadn't even realized what he was…and even that took time…

He didn't have a lot of time left.

He was thrown to the ground. Hard. He felt the cold snow on his back, seeping in through his hoodie. Sho hit a lot harder than Teru did. Maybe Teru had been going easy on him all of these years…or maybe he was just weaker than Sho was. Sho was a Suzuki and they were, supposedly, the strongest espers in the world. That is if the internet was to be believed…and Ritsu wasn't so sure. He could believe that they were strong telekinetics but all of these other powers…

Ritsu got back up again.

Sho was just telekinetic, it looked like. He was just a normal telekinetic…a strong one but a normal one. Ritsu could lift something as heavy as a person with his powers, it just took time. Time was something that he didn't have, something that he'd never had. It felt like he'd been racing the clock since the beginning, since that day…not the one where they'd met but the one where they'd met again…where Sho had saved him…

He went down again.

"Weak." Said Sho as he offered Ritsu a hand. He pushed it away and got up on his own. He didn't need any help. He wasn't that kid anymore, he wasn't any kind of a kid anymore. He was twelve and a half years old, now, nearly an adult. Or a teenager…he still didn't see what the difference between him and an adult was besides height. He was stronger than most adults, and smarter too. He wasn't a little kid…but he wasn't an adult…

But he didn't need help, either.

"I should have had that." Said Ritsu as he pulled himself to his feet. Sho took his hand back and gave him a look, a worried look, kind of like the one Tsubomi gave him when he told her that he wouldn't be able to come to the rec center with her that day.

"You ok?" asked Sho

"Fine, now stop looking at me like that." Said Ritsu

"Like what?" asked Sho. Ritsu dusted the snow from his clothes. It stung his hands…maybe he should have worn gloves today like Mom had said…he didn't need them. He could stand a little cold. If he couldn't stand the cold then how could he stand whatever was going to be thrown at him when the day came?

"Like that…like you're worried about me. I don't need you to be worried about me. I should have had that." Said Ritsu

"It's not your fault that you went down, you've just never actually practiced against someone. It takes a while to be able to put up a strong enough barrier, trust me, I know." Said Sho as he took Ritsu's hand in his. Ritsu tried to pull away but Sho held both of his hands in his…held them right there. Ritsu let him. He didn't need the help but…but he wanted it. He wanted…not help but…but to be close to him. They weren't normally this close…they never normally spent this much time together.

They never had the chance.

"Teru and I practice all the time….I should be better." Said Ritsu as Sho blew onto their hands. It was warm…not just his hands but everywhere. It was like he was standing under the sun on a hot summer's day. One of those days when it wasn't too hot and wasn't too humid….one of those perfect days that only came along every so often. He looked up. Still grey, still cold, still January. Summer was a long time away…maybe they'd be together for it.

Maybe…hopefully…no, just maybe.

"No offense, or a lot of offense actually, but Teru isn't as strong as he thinks he is. I can tell from his aura." Said Sho, lacing their fingers together. Ritsu wanted to stay there, to enjoy the moment, that perfect summer's day moment…but it wasn't summer, it was winter, and he had a job to do. The sky was grey, the sun was pale, and there was snow on the ground.

"You can tell how strong someone is just by looking?" asked Ritsu, his fingers going slack in Sho's. He looked down at their hands and frowned. Ritsu wanted to stay there in that moment but he couldn't. He didn't know that you could tell how strong someone was just by looking. Sometimes he got a feeling off of a person but nothing like that…he needed to figure out how this worked. He needed to figure out…he needed to figure out how everything worked. It seemed like every single time he learned something new he got a million more questions to ask.

At least now he finally had someone that he could ask.

"No, it's more like a feeling? It's hard to describe. Sort of like when you walk into a room and you just know that you'll be able to kick someone's ass." Said Sho

"So you size people up with your aura?" asked Ritsu. He was no stranger to sizing people up. For some reason people had a problem with him being gay, among other things but the gay thing came up most often, and they took their problems out on him…or at least they tried to. A combination of the fact that he had powers, and a little bit of dirty fighting, got most people to leave him alone. Still, though, he always had to size people up before they could size him up. Teru was the one who liked fighting, really, Ritsu just liked ending them.

How ever he could.

"Kind of…like I said, it's complicated. It's not like looking at someone. It's more like feeling them. Sort of like how you can kind of feel your way around with your powers if you walk around with your eyes closed. Like Shimazaki does." Said Sho

"Oh…yeah, you told me about that." Said Ritsu. He and Teru had tried that a few times before. They had just wound up walking into walls and falling down the stairs. They'd had to stop once Reigen started asking if they'd been messing around in his desk. No need to get him to worry, and no need to practice a skill that he obviously didn't have. There were some powers that he had, some that he didn't, and like Reigen said you had to work with what you had…even if it wasn't much…

More than most people had.

"So, yeah, it's kind of like that. Just close your eyes and feel around for people or something, I guess." said Sho. He held Ritsu's hand tighter in his. Ritsu laced his fingers back together with Sho's. The wind whipped past them. It was cold as hell out here. The edge of the city, the last stop on the bus line, where the sidewalk ended. The old Seasoning City industrial park, right where the city met the forest. The best place to practice…practice things that he could do.

He couldn't do everything.

He had to accept that. As much as it hurt him he had to accept that he couldn't do everything. It wasn't easy, of course, since he'd always been the smartest and the fasted and even the strongest…for a while he'd even been the tallest. He had always been the best and now this…he loved Sho, or at least really liked him, and he wasn't jealous or anything that Sho was stronger than him and always would be. Sho had an esper parent, that was it, and Ritsu only had two normal people for parents…he was lucky that he had any powers at all.

He was lucky that he could do anything at all.

"I can't do it." Said Ritsu

"You didn't even try." Said Sho

"I did, before, and I couldn't. There's no point in trying to practice something that I can't do. It's just a waste of time and I don't have time to waste. Neither of us do." Said Ritsu. Sho nodded and got a far away look in his eye. He looked over Ritsu's shoulder and off to the old factory behind them. The was a giant chute, it looked like a big slide, but Ritsu knew better than to think that Sho was imagining sliding down it. He'd talked about doing that already. They would have broken their necks trying.

He didn't need to worry about Sho catching him.

Besides, he was the one who should have been there to catch Sho. Sho was…he was so…for someone as strong as him he could be so…so…Ritsu didn't even have the word for it. Soft, kind of? Sad? Or small…no, no, no. He just felt kind of like…like Ritsu needed to be there for him. Like he needed Ritsu to keep him safe.

It was kind of a good feeling.

"I think you can do it, if you try hard enough….I mean Teru does kind of suck as an esper and as a person so…yeah. Maybe you just need someone to practice with that isn't Teru." Said Sho

"Teru doesn't suck, not all the way, anyway." Said Ritsu. Teru was a lot of things. He was way too dramatic sometimes, and way too worried about how clean stuff was, and he cared more about his clothes and stuff then even a girl, but he was a strong esper and he was loyal, too. He was better at meeting people and making friends than Ritsu was. He easily could have taken all the guys that he'd already found, plus some other guys too since there had to be more than five unaffiliated espers in the world, and stopped Claw on his own. Hell, if Teru had been an asshole, if he had really sucked, then he could have sold Ritsu out to Claw in exchange for immunity or something. They made deals like that with people sometimes, or so he had read….Teru didn't suck all the way…

But, yeah, in some ways he sucked…but Sho didn't have to go on and on about it.

"Are we talking about the same guy? I spent a whole afternoon with him, once, and I can safely say that he sucks and I don't know why you or anyone else would want to hang out with him." Said Sho. He let go of Ritsu's hand and crossed his arms. Ok, now he was just being overly dramatic…and they didn't have time for Sho to be acting overly dramatic like this. They didn't have time for Sho to be acting all…jealous…like this.

Jealous was the word.

He just got that feeling. Like he looked at Sho and he just…knew. He felt it. He focused on Sho, on the reds that surrounded him. It wasn't just one shade of red any more than Ritsu's aura was just one shade of blue. That was the difference between a natural born esper and an artificial one. The artificial espers just had red auras, that same bright red all throughout themselves. Sho was bright red…but there was an undercurrent of maroon there…maybe because he was acting like a moron. He had no reason to be jealous of Teru. Ritsu watched the reds, the bright reds and the maroons…there was some rose there, too, though that was closer to pink, really, or so Teru had said…the things he wasted his time learning. Sho had nothing to worry about.

But, still, he was wasting his time worrying.

Ritsu flicked him over the head. He reached over and did it before Sho even had time to react, to put his barrier up. His eyes went wide as soon as Ritsu finished and he threw himself back. Ritsu managed to put up an aura before Sho's powers could reach him. He was a little unsteady on his feet in that moment but he didn't go down.

There. He could handle this.

"Seriously?" asked Ritsu as he let his barrier drop. He watched and waited, of course, until he was sure that Sho was done. He was on his back in the snow, his hair nearly white from it. He got up and shook it out, his face bright red. He looked kind of cute, there, cute and…kind of annoying. They didn't have time for things like jealousy. They had to get on with this. They had to work harder, get faster, do better, and be stronger. They had on choice, not if they wanted to end this thing.

"Seriously? Seriously me? What about you?" asked Sho

"What about me?" asked Ritsu

"You have to tell a person when you want to get back to sparring!" said Sho

"I didn't want to get back to sparring, I wanted you to cut it out." Said Ritsu

"Cut what out?" asked Sho, confused. His whole body, his face, everything looked confused about him…he was kind of cute…Ritsu looked away. He didn't have time to stand there and think that Sho was cute. The shadows were getting long again…Tsubomi could only cover for him for so long. Mom and Dad were going to be home from work soon and he had to be there when they did or they'd go looking for him and he didn't trust Teru to lie for him right now.

"Stop being jealous. You don't have to and it's annoying. We don't have time to be jealous." Said Ritsu

"I-I'm not jealous! I've never been jealous of anyone, ever, in my whole life!" said Sho

"That's a lie and you know it. You told me that you used to be jealous of your sister…and anyway that's not the kind of jealous that I was talking about. You were jealous of Teru and you don't have to be. I don't like him like that. He's kind of an asshole sometimes and, yeah, he sucks a little but he's still just my friend…so stop wasting time being jealous." Said Ritsu. Sho crossed his arms and looked away.

"I'm not jealous…you don't know what you're talking about…." muttered Sho

"Do too. I can just tell, sort of like I can feel it." Said Ritsu. Sho uncrossed his arms and looked up at him, his eyes wide and his aura practically glowing. Ritsu wished that he could have taken a picture so he could have remembered the way he looked for the rest of his life…damn it, he was supposed to be mad at Sho…or at least annoyed with him. It was like Mom said to Dad, sometimes. He couldn't stay mad at Sho…he couldn't stay mad at the person he loved…

Or at least liked a lot.

"Wait, you can tell how I feel just by looking at me?" asked Sho

"Yeah, kind of." Said Ritsu with a shrug. Sho blinked, smiled, and then the next thing he knew Ritsu was being hugged. He hadn't even seen Sho coming…Sho could move that fast? He didn't know how fast people had to move not to be seen, sort of like he had bent time, but he knew that it was faster than he could ever hope to move…

There was so much that he still couldn't do.

"See? I told you that you could do it. You just needed to practice with someone who actually knew what they were doing." Said Sho as he hugged him. Ritsu hugged him back after a second. He was fine. This was Sho and…and if he had been anyone else then he would have been dead by now. He had to work on his reaction time, and his speed, and…and his barriers. He had a lot to work on.

And so little time to do it.

"Yeah, ok, you did." Said Ritsu as he let go of Sho. He didn't break the hug. If anything he held Ritsu even closer and tighter. Ritsu mostly just saw red, orange really. He didn't know why people called this color red when it was so, clearly, orange…there was some yellow in there too. He had never noticed it before. He had never been this close to Sho before…during the daytime, at least. Sho was holding him so close…he had freckles on his ears, too. Ritsu had never noticed those before. He buried his face in Sho's shoulder. He smelled like body spray and fabric softener. It was really nice…

But they had work to do.

"Ok, ok, now come on. We have a lot to practice and not a lot of time." Said Ritsu as he took a step back and broke free of Sho's grip. Sho looked hurt, again, and Ritsu…he didn't have time to let himself care. He had to practice, to get better, to get stronger…he had a world to save and not a lot of time to train for it. He felt like he was running out of time…he always felt like he was running out of time, like there was an hour glass over his head or something.

One that he couldn't just flip over.

He didn't get any more time. He got one shot at this and he was going to take it. He got one chance at this…and if he lost then it was all over. If he lost then…then there were no do overs. He didn't even know what he was going to have to do…and that made it all the more difficult to come up with a plan…but he had no choice, he had to plan for everything. Luckily he had someone who knew what he was doing, someone who was stronger and faster and better to help him.

There was always someone stronger.