"A-ahh!"

"Shut up, don't be so loud," Hinata hisses, reaching over to cover Souda's mouth with his hand. He glances out the cabin window; someone's walking nearby, and a laugh floats in through the open window. Silence falls in the cabin, save for Hinata's breathing. The footsteps pass slowly.

"That was close," Hinata says, voice low. He's still straining his ears to make sure they're really gone. A hand scrabbles at the back of his. "Ah, sorry." He takes his hand away from Souda's mouth, who takes a deep breath, finally free.

"Wasn't that loud," Souda mutters. He glares at Hinata; it's not like he planned this.

It was right after the first trial. Everyone had been skulking around for days, jumping at the slightest sound, avoiding eye contact, splitting into small groups, barely speaking to one another – the death of Togami and Teruteru's subsequent execution had rattled them all. Then something had rattled Souda's doorknob, and, expecting the worst, he had opened the door, only to find Hinata standing there.

"No one else would answer their door," Hinata had said, and let himself in.

"Don't know what ya were expectin'," Souda told him. "After what happened to Togami and all."

"I guess you've got a point. But I promise I'm not here to murder you or anything."

"There's still time."

"You're being positive today," Hinata said, with the ghost of a smile. "What am I gonna do, stab you with my hair?"

Souda snorted. Then his face dropped again. He couldn't think of anything to say; the word 'stab' had hit too close to home, considering recent events. The silence between them grew, both thinking about their two late classmates. They looked at each other and knew what was running through their heads: Are you going to be next? Am I?

They sat for a little while longer, neither speaking, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. But it was a slight comfort; the bad things seem farther away when shared with someone else.

The silence was broken by a great, shuddering gasp from Souda. Hinata whipped around, scared by reflex, his calm shattered. Beside him, Souda was shaking, grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes from which tears were pouring. He seemed on the edge of hyperventilating.

Before Hinata could say anything, Souda's words came stuttering out.

"It's – it's just so fucked up, it's all fucked up, why the hell are we here? How could this fuckin' h-happen? What did we do to deserve this? First Togami, then Teruteru, are we all just gonna keep killin' each other until there's no one left? I-I just wanted a nice vacation, man, and now it's all fucked."

He was drawing rattling breaths, rocking slightly on the couch. Hinata stared. He had never been good at comforting people, but this didn't seem like a situation he could simply walk away from. Reaching out a stiff hand, he awkwardly patted Souda on the shoulder a few times, who continued to sob.

"Er.. there, there...?" Hinata ventured. "I mean, if it's any comfort, I don't have enough gel in my hair today to kill you with it. Cut you, maybe. Oh no," he said hopelessy – Souda was crying harder than ever, "Oh, shit, okay, I won't joke about killing you, that was definitely not well thought out on my part. Um."

Clearly having made the situation worse, Hinata shut his mouth and stuck to patting Souda robotically on the shoulder. Souda's breathing slowed gradually. Without waiting for permission, he slumped over onto Hinata, still crying. Hinata froze.

"All fucked up," Souda muttered once more into Hinata's shirt. Still tense, Hinata slowly wrapped one of his arms around Souda's shoulders, leaving the other resting on the couch. Hinata rubbed Souda's back methodically, his thoughts grinding back into action. Souda, shaking slightly still, relaxed into Hinata's touch, unaware of how little attention Hinata was giving him.

They sat that way for ages, minutes turning into hours, until the sky outside was crimson shot through with gold, pinpricks of stars beginning to show. Hinata shifted uncomfortably; his arm had fallen asleep, and so had Souda.

"I want to get back to my cabin before it's dark out," Hinata said, moving slightly to wake Souda up. He didn't think anyone would make an attempt on his life so soon after the disastrous party, but he didn't want to increase his chances by making it easier, in any case. "Are you going to be okay tonight?"

Souda nodded.

"Yeah. Um, thanks, man," he said. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Whatever," Hinata said, shrugging. He waved slightly and left without saying anything more, but after that, he visits regularly, and Souda stops hesitating to open the door.

Souda shifts on the floor, Hinata's weight on top of him pinning most of him down. Their last conversation – which had led to this situation – echoes in his head.

"You've been really tense lately," Hinata says.

"Yeah, well, who here wouldn't be?"

Shrug. "I'm just saying, it's not healthy to be so on edge all the time. At least, that's what Tsumiki says. You should loosen up a little."

"Oh, yeah? And how should I do that?"

Well, here I am, Souda thinks. Loosening up.

Or trying to, at least. Laying flat on his back on the hardwood floor, with a hundred and some-odd pounds on top of him, he gets the feeling that this is worse for his back than sitting hunched up out of anxiety.

"Remind me to thank that nurse later," Souda grumbles.

Hinata finally looks back at him, now certain that whoever was outside is gone. He smiles.

"You weren't complaining ten minutes ago," he says, and, before Souda can complain more, presses their mouths together again.

Souda wonders just what Tsumiki told him.

He doesn't stay mad for long, though; and – he doesn't want to admit it – he really can feel his body relaxing for the first time in days. Being able to focus on something, anything other than the fear of being murdered is the biggest relief Souda can imagine. Even though everyone started to go back to normal lately, bolstered by the fact that there haven't been any more murders, it's still a constant threat looming over their heads.

Right now, the only thing looming over him is Hinata. It's all he can do to try to pay attention to everything happening at once: Hinata's lips on his, his hands planted near Souda's head, the leg pressing in between his. Souda doesn't know what to do with his hands; he settles for wrapping his arms around Hinata's neck, which prompts the other boy to move closer.

He opens his mouth to take a quick breath and jerks in surprise when he feels a tongue touch his. Hinata stops immediately.

"Not okay?" He asks. Souda blinks, then shakes his head.

"Nah, s'fine, just surprised me," Souda says, going red. He grins. "Warn me next time."

Hinata smiles back.

"Here's your warning," he says, and leans down again.

Souda can't keep his hands still. Moving one up into the short, soft hair at the back of Hinata's neck, he trails the other down Hinata's back. Hinata hums into his mouth and presses closer. He takes one hand off the floor and unzips the yellow jumpsuit, pushing up the shirt underneath to touch Souda's bare skin. Arching slightly at the touch, Souda pulls Hinata to him to lay flush against his body.

With barely any space between them now, Souda thinks vaguely that, if anything, the tension he was feeling has only grown bigger. Hinata's thigh is pressing hard against his groin, making it painfully obvious how hard he's getting. He bites Hinata's lip – forgetting about his abnormally sharp teeth – and feels the soft skin break.

Hinata notices, too, and sits up. He wipes his mouth, staring at the small bit of blood smeared on the back of his hand.

And grins.

While still up, he whips off his tie and fumbles the buttons of his shirt, flinging it across the room. To Souda's dismay, his jeans stay on. Half out of his jumpsuit already, Souda works it down to his waist and strips off his shirt, too. Though all the extra fabric gets in the way, he doesn't want to take his jumpsuit off; that would leave him in only his boxers.

Hinata pulls Souda up onto his lap, where their bare chests press against each other, pale skin clashing with tan.

"You can bite me if you want, to stay quiet," Hinata says. Blood trickles out of his cut lip.

"Why would I need ta stay qui – AH!"

Souda stares at Hinata. His hand had pushed aside the jumpsuit and, lingering on the band of Souda's neon boxers, waits for permission. Going brick red, Souda fixes his gaze on his lap. Two boners and a hand stare back at him. He breathes in deeply.

"Go ahead," he mumbles, clenching his arms around Hinata's neck again.

Hinata beams. He kisses Souda hard, making up for it by delicately dipping his fingers beneath Souda's boxers. Souda shivers as Hinata drags his nails across his skin. With the way they're sitting, Souda can tell Hinata is as hard as he is; he shifts on Hinata's lap to line up their dicks. The pressure makes Hinata's hand slip, and his nail scrapes Souda's skin.

Impatient, Hinata grabs Souda's dick and wraps his hand around it in one clumsy movement. Souda cries out, and Hinata wants to slap his hand over his mouth again to shut him up; instead, he uses his free hand to pull Souda's face to his and kisses him sloppily.

He doesn't have much room to move his hand around under the boxers, but he tries. Even with the awkward angle, Hinata manages to get a bit of up and down motion going, and on each down stroke Souda moans lowly into his mouth. Focusing on both kissing Souda and jacking him off, his hand is slow and inexpert. Souda breaks the kiss first, breathing heavily, and reaches shakily to pull his boxers down. He smiles shyly, blood and spit mingling on his lips.

"Should be easier for ya now," he says. Hinata's head goes light for a split second.

With the boxers out of the way, he focuses solely on moving his hand up and down; he runs his thumb over the tip of Souda's dick and back down to the base, squeezing lightly. Hazily he can tell that those sharp teeth have cut his lips in every direction now that Souda's no longer watching out for them. Half of his kisses aren't even reaching Souda's mouth, but landing on his chin and cheeks and nose.

Souda's moans come more frequently and louder. He gives up on trying to kiss and presses his open mouth into Hinata's shoulder, tasting the warm nothingness of his tan skin, absorbing his voice. He's shaking, trying not to thrust into Hinata's hand. Hinata's cheek is pressed to the top of his head. His fingers are tangled in the pink mess of hair while his other hand moves faster, erratically.

Writhing on top of him, Souda sinks his teeth into Hinata's shoulder to block a particularly intense moan. Within seconds he feels the skin break again, blood trickling into his mouth. Hinata responds by yanking a handful of pink hair. He mouths the side of Hinata's neck, leaving kisses and sharp bites, marks that will definitely turn into deep, obvious hickeys. His nails graze Hinata's back with every stroke.

With one final rub over the tip of Souda's dick, he comes, soundlessly at first – but then Souda's voice cracks loudly and he nearly screams, biting harder into Hinata's skin and bucking into his hand. Hinata comes the second he hears Souda yell, warm and wet in his boxers. He's silent, as though making up for Souda's performance, but his hand is twisted violently in Souda's hair, mouth wide open.

They sit together, breathing heavily. Souda's dick twitches in Hinata's hand. Neither move for minutes, content to sit limply and catch their breath.

Then – it happens too suddenly to react –

pounding footsteps

the door slamming open

Three figures stand in the doorway, framed by the sun behind their heads. Nidai, Owari, and Sonia gape at the scene in front of them.

"Oh my -" Sonia says, followed by a familiar set of bells.

"A body has been discovered!" comes Monokuma's voice over the speakers all over the island. "Following a brief period of investigation..."

They don't hear the rest of the bear's words over the deafening silence. Hinata and Souda sit, frozen, staring horrified at the group in front of them. The group stares back; Sonia especially can't seem to tear her eyes away.

"Um -" Hinata starts, but Nidai cuts him off.

"...Well! We should leave! It's obvious we aren't needed here!" Nidai booms. He laughs, but it sounds forced, and only makes the silence worse.

More footsteps pound up. The group in the doorway – sans Sonia – turns around immediately, trying to block the inside of the cabin from view. Her eyes are locked with Souda's, who seems incapable of speaking.

"What's going on?!"

"Who was murdered?"

"N-Nidai-san, h-has someone else d-died again?"

The rabble at the door grows steadily. Hinata can't get his limbs to move, and he's not sure he could push Souda off anyway. His shirt is too far to reach from where they are. He's grateful beyond belief that he kept his pants on.

"No, no! Monokuma just, uh, made a mistake! It's all fine. GYAHAHA!" The fake laugh again. Hinata's face is burning, and he can feel heat radiating off of Souda, too; he's gone bright pink, flushed skin matching his hair.

"Let us in! We have a right to see for ourselves," comes a bossy voice.

Souda pales instantly. He and Hinata stare at each other.

"Oh, no," they whisper in unison.

Koizumi pushes her way into the room, followed by a few other students. To Hinata's horror, Nanami and Komaeda are among them. Silence falls again.

"Well... at least no one's dead! That's good, isn't it?" Komaeda. Fucking Komaeda.

Souda, finally regaining the use of his voice, shouts, his voice cracking.

"Someone's gonna be dead soon if you all don't get the fuck outta here!"