Ritsu had no idea how to care for hamsters.

Sho had shown him how to but, really, it had been a lot to keep track of. Normally he was good at learning, at least school stuff, but Sho had been going a mile a minute and, Ritsu suspected, had skipped a lot of steps. He got that way when he was excited. Whether it was taking down Claw, planning their life together, or taking care of hamsters Sho always got carried away when he got excited about something. Ritsu really liked that about him. The way his eyes lit up, the way his voice got all high, he was just so…cute…when he got like that. On anyone else it would have been annoying but on Sho it was just so cute and perfect. The kind of thing Ritsu never would have guessed that he'd want for himself.

But then again Sho was not the kind of person that he had ever imagined himself with.

When he'd been little he'd tried really hard, constantly really, not to imagine the kind of boyfriend he would have wanted when he got older. He never thought it would have even been possible. Boys didn't do that with boys and he had still cared what people thought. That had been before, of course, he knew about Claw and what they did to people like him…and what kind of person he was. Before he'd realized that there were bigger things in life than trying to force yourself not to have a crush on the second smartest guy in class, the only one you could hold a conversation with, or the older boy at the library who knew everything about everything. Who you could actually sit and talk about books and things with. Or the kinds of guys who were just so…together. Crisp uniforms, hair parted perfectly, older guys with student council armbands and things like that…things that he had wanted for himself even though he knew he wouldn't ever be able to have those guys, or any guys.

But that was then.

Back when he'd been a kid he'd always figured he'd wind up married to Tsubomi like everyone was always saying. For as long as he could remember Mom and Dad had called her his girlfriend and joked with her parents about having so save up for their wedding and what their grandkids would be called…things like that. Things that he had just assumed would happen, especially when he figured out that she liked him, normal things. He'd grow up, get a job in an office like Dad, marry Tsubomi, and then have some kids and a house and a mortgage and complain about the economy and the government like all the other adults did. Then everything changed when Sho came into his life…practically smacked him over the head…

He still had the scar.

Sho hadn't meant to hurt him, to smack his head into the side of the rocket ship when he caught him, and Ritsu had been too shocked and amazed to notice or care. Just to think that he had gone from one of the worst days of his life to one of the best…and the scariest. Because there were people who could do amazing things and he was one of them and because of something he never asked for he had a target on his back…still one of the best days of his life…but also one of the worst.

Kind of like today.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…and probably more things from that book. He only knew the first line. It fit, though. He was with Sho and Claw was gone. But his parents were liars and he didn't even do anything to stop Claw. His life's work meant nothing and he was only twelve. There wasn't anywhere to go from…at least it felt like it. Like he had nothing to work towards…nothing but a life with Sho. Sho who had been gone for hours. Sho who he was starting to worry about. Sho who had left him alone with all of these hungry hamsters.

Well, not really alone.

"Hi, sorry, I just need to borrow some clothes." Said Shigeko as she did that thing where you knocked on the door and opened it at the same time. Mom and Dad did that too…and now he was thinking about them. He was thinking about them while he was thinking about her, which hurt, but also felt weird since she and Teru were together now and…and that was just…not a normal thing to think about your long lost sister and your former fake boyfriend and current best friend doing.

He focused on the hamsters.

"Sho's not back yet." Said Ritsu

"I know, I can't sense him. I mean I can, I could, if I really tried to but I'm sure he's ok. He just goes places sometimes." Said Shigeko. Ritsu poked his finger through the air holes in the cage. A hamster tried to bite him. He pulled his finger back. Sho had said that there was a special way to pet them…Ritsu couldn't remember.

It would have been so much easier if Sho had been there.

"Can you try and see where he is? I mean if it's not too hard or…or whatever." Said Ritsu as he wiped his finger on his shirt. She stopped walking. She was standing right in the middle of the floor now. Did he turn around and say something else? Or did he leave her alone? He wanted to stare at her, to keep on staring forever until it became ingrained in his mind that she was there and she was real and not dead, but that would have been really weird.

He stared at the hamsters.

They started squeaking like crazy as her aura washed over them. He wondered if animals could see, or at least sense, auras. He knew that they were good at picking up on spirits and they sometimes left ghosts but he'd never seen an animal with an aura. That seemed like something that Claw would have researched. Maybe she knew…maybe he should have asked her. Maybe he should have asked her that and every other question he'd ever had about them or their powers or…or her…or anything…

He felt Teru's aura, too, and suddenly keeping her there felt like a bad idea.

"He's alright. He's really far away but he's with Fukuda and Fukuda wouldn't let him get hurt, that's the good thing about him, the only good thing…but I shouldn't be mean." Said Shigeko before she got back to walking. He heard some drawers open and close in Sho's room. That didn't seem polite but maybe that was just how sisters were. They went through your things and stole your clothes…he didn't know. The last time he'd had a big sister he'd been a baby.

He wasn't a baby anymore.

And he wasn't going to start getting all….all babyish over how things were now. He had Sho, Claw was gone, and he could finally breathe easy. He should have been able to breathe even easier since now he knew what his parents, what all parents, really were…and he should have been more than happy because Shigeko was back. That she was alive…he should have been happy right now. But instead he was…whatever this was.

Instead he was sitting on the ground feeding hamsters their food pellets through the air holes in their cage.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there for. There weren't any windows here, or clocks on the walls, and his phone was charging in Sho's room. There wasn't any point in looking at it. It would have just been his parents begging him to 'see it from their point of view' and 'stop this nonsense already' and 'come home where he belonged'…like they had any idea where he belonged. He belonged with his sister and his boyfriend. He belonged in this place where time meant nothing. He belonged here with Sho…Sho who did eventually come back home.

Ritsu sensed him before he saw him.

He didn't do that thing where you knocked as you opened the door. He just opened the door and kicked his shoes off…which made sense since it was his door. His hamsters all ran to the wall of their enclosure. Either they smelled him or they sensed his aura, either way it seemed like they were happy to see him. Sho…didn't look happy to see them. He didn't look happy at all, which made sense of course, his mom was nearly as bad as Ritsu's parents were. There was just something about becoming a parent that made a person into a lying asshole. It didn't matter, Ritsu was never having kids, it wasn't like they even could being two guys and all. He was just going to spend the rest of his life here with Sho.

Even if they were both completely miserable.

"They liked to have lettuce for lunch, not pellets. Pellets are dinner." Said Sho as he sat down next to Ritsu. His aura was small, closed in, guarded…not like him at all.

"I didn't know. Sorry." Said Ritsu even though he knew that it wasn't the hamster pellets that had Sho so upset. He just…he had no idea what he was supposed to do here. He didn't even know how to make himself feel better let alone someone else. He almost wished that Reigen had been there. He always knew just what to say even if some of it was complete bullshit.

"It's ok, at least you tried. That's more than a lot of people do for me…" said Sho. Ritsu balled his hands into fists. Sho wouldn't have felt like this if it hadn't been for his mom. She was the reason that he…he should have been happy. His Dad was finished, gone forever, practically dead if the rumors about esper prison were true. He should have been happy but instead he felt like this…and all because of her.

"You don't have to feel bad about your mom, you know." said Ritsu

"She's my mom and I'll feel however I fucking feel about her. You don't get it." Said Sho, crossing his arms. Ritsu shook his head. If anyone in the whole world got it, got what Sho was feeling, then it was him.

"I get that she lied to you and now you feel betrayed and like you can't trust anymore." Said Ritsu

"I know I can trust someone, I can trust you and I can trust Big Sis, and probably Shimazaki too since if he wanted to fuck me over he would have done it already and probably Mukai since she's little and Shibata doesn't even know how to fuck people over and Tsuchiya's kind of boring but she's a good mom so I think I can trust her." said Sho. He listed people off on his fingers like he was counting…but that other mom shouldn't have been on his list. Sho knew just as well as he did why you couldn't trust parents. What they were capable of.

"There's no such thing." Said Ritsu

"You don't know her. She's really nice and she cares a lot about people even though she's bossy about it and she doesn't even have to be Mukai's mom but she is. Like…like she picked Mukai out of all the kids in the world to take care of. So we can trust her…I can." Said Sho

"Ok, fine, she's probably ok…but you don't have to feel bad about your mom. She's not worth it." Said Ritsu

"That doesn't make me feel better, you know, telling me that she isn't worth it. So someone who isn't worth it ruined my life?" asked Sho

"Yeah, she did, but it isn't ruined, Your Dad is gone and we're together. That's something." said Ritsu

"But if she hadn't left and…and if she hadn't decided to have another family then I never would have been with Dad in the first place! You don't get it." Said Sho. That…hadn't helped….but it should have. Sho should have known that she wasn't worth getting upset over. She was just some jerk who had ruined his life…and not even. If she hadn't left then his, their, sister would never have stopped his, Sho's, Dad and the world would have ended…and also he and Sho would never have met, which felt like it should have been the end of the world.

"If she hadn't abandoned you then you never would have met me." said Ritsu

"Ok, yeah, you're worth it…but I still don't feel better. She…she has another family! Only like…like it's like she tried to start another save file in a game or something and-and-and that's not how it works! You get one family and you can't just leave when you don't feel like being their mom anymore." Said Sho, throwing his hands in the air. His hamsters all ran away back into their tubes. Ritsu didn't blame him. Sho was pretty much arguing with himself.

"I'm not arguing." Said Ritsu with a shrug. Sho put his arms down and at least looked a little embarrassed.

"And…and it's like…she's been gone for a while so I thought…I thought that I didn't care about her anymore but I do and…and I…I'm not running away! Not with her or Fukuda or anyone!" said Sho. His arms were back up in the air, he was back to being dramatic, but Ritsu didn't care. Not after he'd said…what he'd just said.

"She tried to make you run away with her?" asked Ritsu, his eyes narrowing. Who did she think she was? She didn't get to just take Sho away from him…away. She didn't just get to take Sho away because she felt like being a mom. He wasn't a doll, he was a person, and…and he had never liked her much anyway.

"No, she mostly just complained about my smoking. She said that I shouldn't because I'm too young and that it's bad for my health and stupid shit like that." Said Sho

"You shouldn't smoke, you are too young, and it's really bad for your health." Said Ritsu

"I do whatever I want and it's not like Fukuda can't fix me if I get sick or…or maybe I'll just deal with getting sick. It can't be that bad." said Sho

"I'm pretty sure that smoking will eventually kill you." said Ritsu

"Fuck! And fuck Fukuda! So now either I quit or I have to talk to him again! And I don't want to talk to him! He's in love with my mom and he's got their weird idea that she loves him too and she wants to run away with him and we can all be a family and…and it's so…so gross and weird!" said Sho

"And sick." Said Ritsu. He didn't know Sho's mom well but he did know his own mom and if some guy came up to him talking about how he'd steal mom and him from Dad and they could all be a family then…then Ritsu probably would have beaten him up. If it was some random guy. If it was someone he knew like Reigen…well he still would have beaten Reigen up but he would have thrown up, too, from how sick the whole thing was.

"Yeah! It's sick how he's been spending years…fucking years! Years thinking about banging my mom and making me his son and…and the whole time he was Dad's best friend! The whole time he was…he was taking care of me and…and…and-" said Sho

"Fuck him. Seriously." Said Ritsu

"Yeah! But not really because that's sick." Said Sho, sticking out his tongue. Ritsu nodded.

"Obviously." Said Ritsu

"But…but you're right. Fuck him. I don't need him anymore. I don't need Mom. I don't need anything but you….and Big Sis…and Little Sis…and my friends….and…and yeah! Fuck Mom and Fuck Fukuda! But not in real life because that would be really fucking sick!" said Sho

"Obviously." Said Ritsu

"And at least I have you and Big Sis-" said Sho

"She stole some of your clothes, by the way. I think that she gave them to Teru." Said Ritsu quickly, in case that was something he cared about and not something normal between siblings. He didn't know, he wouldn't know.

"Oh yeah…that's his aura hanging around…whatever. I don't care about my clothes and I don't want to even think about…about Big Sis and stuff like that. It's weird." Said Sho

"I know. I mean I don't even know her but I know." said Ritsu

"And if he makes her feel bad I'll make him feel worse! And you don't make him feel better, either, because she's your sister first and he's your friend last." Said Sho. Ritsu rolled his eyes. Sho was so ridiculous sometimes…and he loved it. He was so cute when he was ridiculous, when he was happy, so cute that he made Ritsu feel ridiculously happy.

"Whatever you say, Sho, whatever you say." Said Ritsu before he leaned over and kissed Sho. He smiled, then, which meant that he was feeling better. Ritsu had helped even though he wasn't entirely sure how he'd done it…and helping Sho…it helped him, too. He was smiling, too. Maybe just because Sho was back or maybe because they were kissing…

Or maybe because he had what he'd always wanted.

Sho was what he'd always wanted for himself, what he'd always wanted without realizing it, he'd wanted…he'd wanted someone who wanted to be with him. Someone who would put himself through hell just to save the world for him. Someone who would risk his life just to see him…and Ritsu…he could listen to Sho's problems and make him feel better even though he still felt pretty terrible himself. That was what this whole relationship thing was about, right?

At least Ritsu had some idea how to be in a relationship.