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Life has been terrifying these last few… well, Shunichi has lost track of time, but he can trace it back to when he and Eiji first met Ash. But regardless of how long it has been, the stress is almost too much to bear.
Right now, Shunichi sits on the porch of their temporary base at Cape Cod, too pent up to sleep. Behind the screen door, Ash, Shorter and Eiji sleep, two of them injured and all three exhausted after what they have been through. Shunichi can’t stop thinking about Ash’s father, wondering what would make a father say such cruel things to his son. And as he thinks and thinks about too many things, Max makes him jump.
“Hey, Shunichi,” he says, sitting beside Shunichi. “Are you okay?”
“Uh, not particularly,” he admits. “This has all become so stressful.”
“Yeah, I get that, man,” Max says, sighing. He slips his arm around Shunichi’s shoulders, pulling him into an awkward hug. “Still, at least we’re still all together.”
“Yes,” Shunichi says, and he smiles.
Max smiles too, and then their lips are pressed together. Max kisses him softly, and Shunichi—
“What’re you doing?”
Ash speaks and they pull apart.
“Um… it’s not what you think…” is what Max stammers out, blushing.
“Really?” Ash says, eyebrows raised. “Because I think you two were kissing. I guess ‘old friends’ isn’t the only way to describe your relationship.”
Just to make it even more embarrassing, Eiji appears beside Ash. “What is going on?”
“Nothing, Ei-chan,” Shunichi says, face burning.
“Yeah, nothing,” Ash says, smirking despite the obvious pain his injury causes. “Just Max and Ibe kissing on the porch.”
“Wh-What?” Eiji says.
“It appears they’re dating,” Ash says, and Eiji blushes.
“Really?”
Max sighs. “Yeah, we’re dating. Now go back to bed.”