A/N: Jeebus, I'm incredibly sorry to those that were waiting for taking forever to get this out. School is hell and graduation is looming ever larger in the distance. If you know of any conservation internships give me a heads up. Also, I'm sick right now, that's my other excuse. Though it's not a very good one. Hopefully Chapter 4 will be longer to compensate for the shortness of this one.

Acceleration

Chapter 3

Shuu found a flashlight somewhere in the pitch recesses of a closet. Seiji immediately took it, there was no argument. The darkness only served to magnify the vague sense of power Seiji emanated in the daytime. Ryo wanted everyone in the living room that night, in the event the Masho used the dark their advantage. Donning their underarmor, they began pulling mattresses down the dark stairs and halls. Shuu nearly leapt from his skin when he turned a corner and saw Seiji. Seiji seemed to stand out against the dark, hazy like a ghost, arms full of dim, pale sheets and pillows.. Shuu blamed it on his pale complexion, but something about the glint of his eyes made his stomach turn. The air around him felt chilled. Seiji gave an acknowledging nod of his head and moved on down the hallway, tails of blankets dragging behind him, but the icy sensation remained.

A cool hand on his shoulder made him yelp aloud. Turning, he could barely make out the form, but Touma's laugh gave him away.

"Jumpy much?" He teased.

"Seiji's scary as fuck in the dark," Shuu shuddered.

"Tell me about it," Touma agreed. "But he's also like my own personal nightlight, so I can't be mad at him for it." Shuu felt Touma's presence pull away, warmth returning to the air, leaving Shuu alone and puzzled in the hallway.

****

Downstairs Seiji was playing keeper of the light, sitting primly next to Jun who used the light to read a book with Touma. Ryo was sprawled across his own disheveled bed while Naste fixed her sheets next to him. Shin's own bed was also tidy, with Touma's in a state of extreme disarray next to it. When Seiji protested at the disorder in their room Touma explained that he subscribed to the chaos theory. Seiji didn't bother arguing anymore.

Ryo sat up as Shuu descended the stairs with his own mattress tucked under his arm.

"Meeting time," Ryo announced. Touma rolled his eyes. Ryo's meetings were more Ryo rambling disjointed ideas.

"What's the plan fearless leader?" Touma muttered, closing the book as Seiji flicked off the switch.

"I was thinking a couple of us could go into town tomorrow. I don't like not having power at night," he stated plainly. His face was serious in the darkness of the living room. They only had moonlight to see by.

"You want us to steal gas?" Shin questioned, sounding upset.

"It's not like they're using it exactly, Shin," Touma muttered.

"Besides, we've been stealing food for months." Shin sank into a guilty sulk.

"Touma, you and Shin will go," Ryo continued, plunging ever onward. Shin quietly accepted his fate, not even bothering to return the amused snide looks offered by Shuu. Touma protested loudly.

"How early do we have to go?" Touma whined.

"Before noon. I don't want you guys out there too late," Ryo murmured, already turning his attention away from them and back to Naste. Touma groaned again, and fell dramatically back on his bed.

****

Touma woke when Shin stumbled, his foot catching in the recklessly loose sheets on Touma's bed. He watched Shin creep to the porch, his skin corpse pale in the moonlight. He didn't move when Touma slid the porch door closed behind them. Shin's eyes were only on the lake, reflecting its movements back into the night.

"I'll go with you if you want," he murmured, not wanting to startle him, still Shin jumped. "S'not like we're going far. Ryo won't notice." Shin watched him awkwardly. Touma kept glancing away from his face, looking young and shy. Shin's hands lingered on the railing, taking careful steps on the stairs, the hard metal of the armor clicking and crunching the grass. Touma moved silently beside him. Shin resisted a shudder; both Seiji and Touma looked like ghosts at night. But where Seiji stood out of the murk, Touma all but disappeared, like a predator moving in and out of shadows.

Shin took a chance at conversation.

"How's your hand?" He whispered. Touma was so silent, Shin wasn't even sure he was there.

"Broken," Touma murmured, closer than Shin expected.

"Really? Can Seiji fix it?"

"He's still trying to figure out if and how to heal people."

"Ryo will be pissed," Shin offered.

"Then don't tell him, and don't tell Shuu."

"But it was your fault."

"I know, but he'll still feel guilty, it's Shuu." Shin was silent again till they reached the water. Touma watched him slide in without a word before he laid back in the grass, staring up at the sky. He could hear Shin's splash above the background noise of cicadas humming even this late in fall. Finally outside of the house, he felt he could breath. Relax. He often felt smothered by his thoughts, his feelings joining them in a bizarre cyclone. Without time to process them, without carefully forming them into graphs and charts in his mind, he said stupid things. Yelling at Shin had been stupid and immature, but the only thing he hated more than being irrational was admitting it.

Despite his relaxation, Touma didn't sleep. For awhile he watched the silhouette of his hand against the moon, aware of the tiny currents of air that flowed over his fingers. When he bored of that, he closed his eyes and let facts come to him, most of them tiny and useless things, but they were important to him. Eventually, this too bored him. Relaxing, he sank into a half sleep, attempting to see if he could detect the gentle current of Shin's breath against the breeze. A couple hours later, when the darkness of the night had sunk to its deepest, he waded in to wake Shin. Together, they walked back to the house, Shin stumbling alongside Touma, who guided him through the sleep haze and back to bed.

****

Much to his displeasure, Shuu, in exchange for not having to go into the city, was tasked with attempting to rouse Touma before noon. Grumbling he stalked into the living room after a distinctly unsatisfying and cold breakfast, and was surprised to find that Shin was also asleep. Everyone had assumed that he'd be in a bath by now, or in his preferred location of reading by the lake.

He grinned at the sight of Shin sprawled in a manner as graceless as Touma's. The sheets were tangled around his feet, head thrown back and his mouth slack jawed, hanging open and catching flies. Shuu shook Shin's mattress, nudging it with his foot.

"Rise and shine, gorgeous," he teased as Shin rolled over, gripping Touma's favorite pillow. Delicately he removed it from his grip, throwing it back onto Touma's bed. Shin's brow furrowed and he frowned furiously before his green eyes slowly cracked open. Unsurprisingly, he did not look happy to see Shuu's broad smiling face. Shin's clumsy hand reached up in an attempt to silence Shuu's unwanted good morning.

"S'time already?" He mumbled, finally sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Ryo's getting antsy, you should leave as soon as Touma's up," Shuu said, stepping over Shin to reach Touma's bed. Shuu kicked the bed, hard enough to move it a couple feet. Not even a flutter of eyelashes, or a shifting of positions. Shuu had never met someone that slept as deeply as Touma.

"Looks like I have awhile," Shin laughed, good humor already returned. "Try some ice, that always gets him up."

****

Touma insisted on driving, though Shin was nearly two years older than him, not that Shin had much say. Touma had beaten him to the car, scrambling to eat and bathe in under ten minutes. There Shin had found his smirking visage already behind the wheel, fingers laced over it. Shin had attempted to convince him to be content with being the passenger at first. He knew it wouldn't work though. Touma was a control freak.

"Touma, it's a stick, I can drive it."

"I know the theory, it's just a matter of applying it," he insisted. After a couple stalls, they were on their way down the blessedly empty roads. Touma drove silently. Shin had turned off the radio, skin crawling from the drone of the reporter on the talk show. Touma hadn't been as enthralled with the jazz station as Shin had.

"So do you get ready for school like that, too?" Shin teased. Touma shrugged.

"Sometimes. I normally try to just take classes in the afternoon and evenings," he offered awkwardly.

"Your high school lets you do that?" Shin asked, incredulously. Touma was silent for a minute, opting to turn on the talk radio again. Shin pondered. The jeep squeaked and groaned as the road became more battle scarred. Swatches of the rock by the side were flows of slag. It was hard to miss Ryo's damage.

"M'not in high school," Touma confessed. Shin was silent with surprise and did not offer any more questions, but did insist that Touma change the station. Silently, with an acceptable pop station coming in through the static, Shin observed the thinning of the trees as they neared the city.

****

Shin could hardly believe the city had been abandoned for only a few months. The pavement had begun to warp and crack and small seeps ran in rivulets down the road. Ailanthus trees taller than the both of them rose from sidewalks and bike lanes. Touma slipped from the car with a low whistle, hands on his hips. Kicking at small tufts of weeds that crawled across the road.

"How we gonna explain this to people?" He pondered aloud. Shin went around to the back of the jeep, retrieving the first of several fuel canisters and a hose. Touma wandered off, picking through the wreckage. Shin walked over to see him pick up a soggy hair dye container with the distorted smile of a lovely brunette on the cover. Touma looked from the box to the broken storefront nearby.

"Hey, Shin. We should get you some dye. Your roots are showing." Silently, Shin was appalled. He thrust the can at Touma angrily. "Nu-uh, I drove. Besides, you're better at sucking than I am." He teased, smirking. Shin fumed, dropped the canister at Touma's feet, and walked away.