God made the distance between me and you
Contains a small but extremely significant spoiler for the October full moon.
Title taken from the 31 Days theme for July 15, 2006.
In their childhood, Shinji was always the leader and Akihiko was always chasing after him down hallways, across sidewalks, through tall grass. Puberty did not change things very much, beyond giving them triggers to pull against mind-eating monsters. Even when they used to shoot each other with their own guns to find strength, they were never one but two.
They could have been happy in the early and middle years of their adolescence because Shinji, ever the leader, finally declared that they were in love and gave Akihiko the best blow job he would ever have in his life to prove it. What Akihiko never bothered to tell him was that they had probably been in love with each other since they were eight, when they had tumbled into the creek and had to wait for their clothes to dry before presenting themselves to the matrons. The wrestling had been a little too friendly that day. They could have been happy, but life never did like to go the way one wanted it to. People died, they argued, and Akihiko ended up saying some things that he would regret for years to come. Shinji walked out, but sometimes Akihiko liked to think that he had left his friend behind first.
At the beginning of his senior year Akihiko thought that he would spend it watching Shinji from the distance between Shinji's favorite spot behind Port Island Station and the alleyway that was Akihiko's only entrance into punk central. It would sometimes occur to Akihiko that he really ought to tell Shinji how pathetic he was, but the dead look in the brown-haired youth's eyes always deterred him. They were mirrors, but Akihiko would never be the first to admit it. They still talked (argued) every once in a while, but it was Minato Arisato's entrance and Ken Yamada's unpredicted return that changed things.
Shinji's return was their last chance and miraculously, both of them knew it. It was a month that started cold, progressed with their fumbling towards something better, and ended with Akihiko staring at Shinji's grave.