He had intended to get to Yutaka's by eleven. He really had – he'd even thought about setting an alarm before collapsing at about two in the morning and sleeping until one. He probably would have slept longer if Yutaka hadn't taken matters into his own hands.

"Fuck's sake," Shinji muttered, rolling onto his back. Yutaka paused the bouncing and got off of Shinji's bed. "'s the time? Ah, shit. Was gonna wake up. Forgot to set an alarm."

"Right," Yutaka said. He grabbed Shinji's leg and yanked, and Shinji just missed being castrated by a bedpost. Yutaka did let go of his leg at this, and Shinji sat up. He hated waking up – he liked being awake, he liked experiencing things and he just plain liked being awake to do what he needed to do, but waking up was the bane of his existence. His eyes felt gummy and his stomach lurched around, either from hunger or whatever else, and he wasn't fully awake until an hour after he 'woke up.' "Go shower. Shuuya and Sugimura and Nobu are waiting."

"Nobu, too?" Shinji asked. He swung his legs out of bed and stretched. Yutaka threw a pillow at him.

"Put some pants on, weirdo."

Shinji smirked a little and headed to the bathroom. He turned on the shower to let it warm up and was halfway through brushing his teeth when another thought occurred to him. He did wrap a towel around his waist in an attempt to preserve whatever was left of Yutaka's innocence, and then headed back into his room.

"Hey, that mean we're getting food on our own?"

"Duh," Yutaka said. He was digging around under Shinji's bed. Shinji watched him, more than a little amused.

"A little more to the right and you'll hit porn, to the left it's condoms. Keep going straight and I think it's a cache of panties."

Yutaka was out from under his bed faster than Shinji could cackle at him, and Shinji headed back to the bathroom. He spent at least half an hour in the shower – at least, it was long enough to take care of everything, the water to go cold, and Yutaka to get annoyed. He heard Yutaka pound on the door as water ran down his face, freezing him to the bone but at least waking him up a little bit, and called out a justification of the time spent in there and, after a pause, a request for some clothes.

Yutaka had, apparently, just grabbed whatever had been on the floor, because when Shinji opened the bathroom door, he was faced with his basketball shorts. "I meant clothes that look like someone should wear them while they aren't playing basketball, midget," Shinji said, and Yutaka made a noncommittal noise. Shinji sighed, grabbed his towel back, and shook his hair out of his eyes as he crossed to his clothes.
"You look different with your hair down," Yutaka said, and Shinji glanced over his shoulder at him. Yutaka shrugged, putting up his hands. "You do. You look younger."

"Which is precisely why I spike it," Shinji said. He dug through his clothes for a while, wondering if Yutaka would ever get uncomfortable. He liked pushing the kid's buttons sometimes, and he was running out of ideas. "Can't pick up an older woman if you're looking twelve."

"How many older women have you gone out with?" Yutaka said, and there was so much disbelief in his voice that Shinji was offended. He pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt that was a little big, slipping on underwear before turning around and responding.

"Gone out with? Zero. Picked up? More than you can count, little man," Shinji said. He buttoned his jeans and glanced around. "You seen my sunglasses?"

Yutaka handed them over and Shinji nodded thanks. He studied the shirt he'd picked for the day and tossed it aside, grabbing one that would look better on him. He could feel Yutaka watching him. If it was anyone else it would be creepy, but – it was Yutaka. He could take a shower with Yutaka and it wouldn't be weird. Close quarters, naked, wet… none of that would mean a thing if it was Yutaka. He was more of Shinji's adopted kid than anything else.

"You been texting Shuuya and Sugimura?" Shinji asked. "And Nobu?"

"I told them that you weren't at my place when they asked where I was," Yutaka said. He shrugged, and Shinji felt a stab of something – betrayal, disappointment, what have you – at not getting that text. But instead of saying something, even though it was right on the tip of his tongue and he had to bite down hard to keep it from escaping, he just turned and slid his shirt over his head. He took his sunglasses into the bathroom with him, feeling for the hoop in his ear. Still there. He'd lost it, once – he wore it to bed, he wore it to bed every single night, and one night it came undone. He'd been twenty minutes late to school looking for it.

It had become a bit of a nervous habit. But it was a justified nervous habit, not some shit like biting your fingernails. So it stayed in his ear, and he made sure it was there, because if he lost it he'd lose his uncle. He'd lose the last physical thing the man had left him – sure, he'd have the skills, the hacking and the basketball and everything like that, but he'd lose something tangible. Something to really hold onto.

It didn't take him long to spike his hair, in part because he was so practiced at it, but he took a while to hear Yutaka pound on the door again. He half-wished that his parents were home, so that they'd get pissed at Yutaka making a shit-ton of noise, but they weren't. They weren't on a normal day, and it was early afternoon. No way in hell they were anywhere near The Mimura Residence. Most likely his father was fucking some whore in a cheap motel room and his mother was sitting stick-straight somewhere with a plastic smile on her face.

"You take so long, and I'm starving," Yutaka complained. Shinji grinned, peeling his lips back in a sort of half-grin, half-smirk, and grabbed Yutaka around the neck. "Ack! Mim, can't – breathe-"

"Oh, stop being such a baby," Shinji said. "Can't believe you waited for me."

Yutaka's face darkened, though Shinji did think that was because of the lack of air, so he let go of Yutaka's neck and settled with mussing up his hair as they headed downstairs. He headed for the kitchen, because he was pretty starving, and he could grab something quick. Yutaka, who had been in this exact situation several times before, sat on the counter and watched him. It was calm. It was peaceful. It was probably the best damn time of Shinji's week, if he was being honest with himself.

He enjoyed being around Yutaka Seto. There were some people that you just clicked with, and Yutaka was one of those people. Their personalities didn't seem to match up, if you didn't look close enough – but, hell, they fit together perfectly. So Shinji made him food and they sat and they ate it and they talked and then it was time to meet Sugimura, Shuuya, and Nobu, approximately three hours late.

Shuuya looked like he wanted to be mad at them, but Shinji knew from experience that he'd stay mad for about five minutes and then be back at them with a grin. So Shinji just beamed at him, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Did you bring condoms? Because I'm not sharing mine."

Sugimura turned beet-red and Shuuya's frown melted.

"Why, scared I'll break them?"

"Oh, you wish," Shinji said. Shuuya laughed at this, and Shinji threw an arm around his shoulders. There was a strange heat radiating from Shuuya's body – something that Shinji was almost entirely sure he was imagining, something that couldn't exist, because Nobu was right on Shuuya's other side and he didn't look uncomfortable in the least. But Shinji was sweating, Shinji loosened his collar and Sugimura was looking at him like he knew what was going on and Shinji hated him.

So he took a few steps away from Shuuya and put his elbow on Yutaka's head.

"So, let's get this show on the road. What's the plan for the day? We got one, or are we just going to take it as it comes?"

"Us three saw the movie we were going to see," Shuuya said, gesturing to himself, Sugimura, and Nobu. "But now I've got nothing, so if you want to do something in particular it's on you."

"I'm cool with just hanging," Shinji said. He adjusted his sunglasses and looked down at Yutaka. "What about you, little man? You got anything special you want to do?"

Yutaka didn't have anything he especially wanted to do, either, and, after wandering a bit, they ended up in an arcade that Shinji had been in quite a few times before – the latest being with Iijima, that cowardly bastard – and had the high score on half of the machines. Today would be a good day to get a high score on the other half, he figured.

He ended up playing some racing game against Shuuya, who was better than Nobu and Sugimura but still not near as good as Shinji himself. "You need some practice, Jesus," Shinji said after winning his third race. He turned to look at Shuuya, who was bent over the controls, the tip of his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. "Hey."

Shuuya looked up at him, and Shinji felt heat rush to his face for some reason, some inconceivable, stupid reason, so he looked away and was glad for the sunglasses. "What?" Shuuya asked, and when Shinji didn't answer, he nudged him in the side. "Hey, seriously. You forget while looking at my beautiful face?"

"Oh, you wish," Shinji said. He turned back and smirked, shoving Shuuya back a bit. "Just decided that someone who can't beat me at video games isn't someone I want to spill my soul to."

"You have a soul?" Shuuya asked, his voice taking on a tone of mock horror. "I'm shocked! I thought you just sort of leeched off of Seto."

"Oh, you shut up," Shinji said. Shuuya did, but not after giving Shinji another half-grin that made Shinji want to beat him at the game again.

"Hey, so half the kids at the orphanage want to know when you're coming back. They love you. Apparently climbing all over me and Nobu just isn't the same."

Shinji had a vague memory of trying to stay in his position while at least five kids crawled all over him, their little hands grasping his shirt and pulling, stretching it out, sprawling over onto him.

It wasn't exactly an experience he was dying to repeat.

And, really, if he wanted this stupid-as-all-hell crush to go away, he should be staying away from Shuuya, not hanging out with him.

Fuck it.

"Tomorrow?"

This is fun to write even if I don't know where it's going. Agh.