"The thing is... I've had pretty bad depression my whole life."

Shin whipped a rock toward a moon-lit lake, hoping to skip it, but not quite able to get it to do more thank sink. He let his best friends words replay through his head for the millionth time. How did I have no idea? He sighed, as he continued to ponder to himself. We've known each other... man, 10 years? 12? And I didn't notice?! I gotta be the shittiest friend ever.

He picked himself off the ground he was sitting on and, after a quick dusting, started shuffling home. We used to be inseparable, and now I can barely find the time to walk her to school. And for what? Blood, guts and anime titties? Yeah, that was worth it, wasn't it? You're lonely and miserable, and so is your best friend, and you haven't been there to help her out!

"I'm scared that... that I like you more than you like me."

Fuck, and that's another thing. Shinsuke grunted. Was that... Sayori... confessing to me? Is she just scared that I don't want to be her friend anymore? He shook his head and softly chuckled. Don't be stupid, stupid, Sayori doesn't like you like THAT! Of course she's scared, what have I done to prove her wrong? He cringed, thinking of how passively mean he'd been to her. Sure, he knew that he was joking... but did she? All the times he called her a klutz, called her a dummy, an idiot... did she take it seriously? Fuck, I gotta apologize to her in the morning. Before he knew it he was home, but he kept walking. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep yet.

"You'll always be my dearest friend."

I wanted to tell her how I felt, but... I dunno man, it just didn't seem like the right time. Wouldn't it have been kind of manipulative to tell her while she was vulnerable like that? But the truth is, Shinsuke had a thing for Sayori. He didn't even know when it began, didn't even really come to terms with it until fairly recently. He chuckled again. How did I not notice every lyric I wrote was about her? That any time I made a song, I did it to see her smile? Man, I've gotta be the most dense person in the world, huh?

He stopped and looked up, seeing that he'd instinctively walked to Sayori's house. He started to laugh, but quickly cut himself off when he saw Sayori's light still on. A sense of guilt washed over him. Is she awake because of our talk today? It's probably depression-induced insomnia or something... I think I read that it's a side-effect in an article somewhere. His stomach sank. Is she okay?

He took a few steps back into the road to see if maybe he could see her in there (Well, this probably looks suspect as hell), but he couldn't see her. His face scrunched. A normal person would just walk home and talk to her about it tomorrow... but this isn't right. He sighed and, with a determined look, opened the gate and knocked on her front door.

Shit, no response... I wonder... He wrapped his fingers around the door knob and gave it a twist, to discover it was unlocked. He took a look at the neighbor houses to make sure nobody was watching and let out another sigh. Welp, worst case scenario, breaking and entering isn't THAT serious of a felony, right? He entered.

Xoxoxoxoxo

"Hey, hurry up ya big dummy!"

"Shin! You're going too fast!"

"C'mon, you're the one who wanted to go!"

Shin ran as fast as his 9 year old legs would take him, leaving his best friend in a cloud of his dust, laughing the whole way. After a while he finally stopped, Sayori finally catching up a moment later.

"Jerk!" She huffed. "You know... I'm not... as fast... as you!"

Shinsuke let out a hearty laugh. "Gotta make sure of that every now and again. Anyway, why did you wanna come here?"

He looked at the fountain before him. Even at a young age, he had to appreciate how beautiful it was. A large, stone basin with eight sides sat as it's base, with withered statues of turtles in each of the corners spouting water out of their mouths. In the center sat a stone column, with two smaller basins rising up. A magnificent jet of water shot out of the top of it.

"Because this fountain's special, silly!" Sayori chirped.

Shin rolled his eyes. "Lemme guess, if I flip a coin in, I get a wish, right?"

"Even better! ...wait, do you actually not know what this fountain is?"

"Umm... it's just the fountain at our local park, dummy."

Now Sayori rolled her eyes. "No, silly, this is friendship fountain!"

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shin slowly walked up the stairs to Sayori's room, thankful that her parents were out of town (What's new, there?), making this a little less awkward for him.

"Hey..." Shin spoke, trying not to be too loud as so not to startle his friend. "Hey Sayori, are you still up?"

That was a dumb question bro. He stopped in front of her door and took a deep breath before knocking lightly.

"Hey Sayori? Hey, I know this is weird, but I've just got this nagging feeling that something isn't right and... I dunno, I guess I just really want to see you right now." He looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of the words to say. She had to think he was crazy. "Look, I just feel really bad about how everything went earlier, and I just... I really wanna talk to you right now."

No response. He sighed and knocked again, a little harder this time.

"C'mon, Sayori, I know you're up and I know that you don't want me to worry about you, but I need to see you. I need to know you're okay."

Still nothing. He took another deep breath. She really leaves me no choice. His fingers wrapped around the doorknob, and he slowly creeked the door open.

"Sayo-"

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"Friendship fountain?" Shinsuke gave his dearest friend a puzzled look. He'd lived here all his life, played at this park a hundred times, but he'd never heard of this before.

Sayori giggled. "You're cute when you're curious, you know that?"

Shin's eyes darted toward the ground. "Shut up! I'm not cute, I'm a badass!"

Sayori gasped. "Shinsuke Tanahashi, you just said a swear!"

He rolled his eyes again. "Whatever, just tell me about the fountain, dingus."

"Jeez, how have you never heard?" Sayori's eyes lit up. "They say that if you and someone you care about a whooooole lot put a coin in here together, then they'll become friends for the rest of their lives!"

Shin's heart started beating a little faster. "Y-you care about me that much?"

"Uh huh." Sayori looked more serious than Shin had ever seen her before. "You're my best friend, Shinsuke. You play with me every day, and you always share your food, and you're always so nice to me!"

"I literally call you an idiot once a day."

"Yeah, but I know you're just playing around. I know under that big, tough exterior, you're the nicest boy in the wor- hey, are you blushing?"

The slight reddish tinge spread across his cheeks ignited into a tomato-hued inferno as Shinsuke looked away as quickly as he could. "No, badasses don't blush, shut up!"

Sayori laughed, but continued, this time a much lighter reaction on her face. "Anyway, you're my best friend Shin, and I want us to be best friends forever. Unless..." she brushed a lock of her pinkish-blonde hair out of her eyes, revealing that she was clutching onto a coin. "...unless you don't want to be best friends forever... never mind, why would you wanna be best friends with an idiot like me forever?"

Her eyes darted toward the ground as she went to put the coin back in her pocket, but Shinsuke's hand softly grabbed onto hers before she could. Her eyes darted up toward him, revealing a big, goofy smile that stretched from ear to ear, his cheeks still glowing red.

"Hey, you're an idiot, but you're my idiot!"

"Eh?" Sayori's eyes shot wide open.

"I mean, like... I guess..." Shinsuke felt the confidence fade as quickly as it had built up, but he couldn't back out now. "Sayori, you're my... I guess I..."

She looked up at him with puppy dog eyes glimmering with hope and Shinsuke inhaled deeply. "What I'm trying to say is... I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be best friends with forever."

"But Shin..." she looked away again. "Forever is a reeeeally long time."

"Good." He wouldn't understand the tight feeling in his chest, the butterflies in his stomach, or the warm feeling that enveloped him until later in his life, but he knew whatever it was, he only got that way with Sayori. "Because we're gonna be best friends for a million, billion years!"

He expected his best friend to break out into her trademark smile, but she looked up at him with an almost sad look in her eyes. "Do you promise?"

He lifted her and and wrapped his other palm around it. "Promise." He nodded toward the lake. "So... um, do we... do we do it together?"

"I think so." Sayori smiled weakly as they walked to the edge of the fountain. They each took an end of the coin before dropping it together at the count of 3 into the fountain with a satisfying "bloop". Suddenly, Sayori's arms wrapped around Shin, and she started crying.

"This is the happiest I've ever been, Shinsuke, thank you!"

He wanted to make fun of her for crying, but for the first time ever, he resisted the urge to tease Sayori. Instead, he awkwardly returned the hug. He wasn't sure how long forever was, really, but he was absolutely certain that this is who he wanted as his best friend for that time.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

He had no idea what was going to greet him when he opened the door, but the limp body of his best friend dangling from the ceiling sure as shit wasn't it. Every nerve and atom within him erupted in panic. His body began to shake, his eyes burned like a roaring inferno as tears began to flood from his eyes, but the reality of the situation quickly snapped back to him.

"No. No no no no no. No, not like this. Please, God, fuck no..."

His eyes darted around the room before spotting a knife sitting on Sayori's desk. He lunged for it as quickly as he could and flipped it open before setting the chair back up and wrapping his arm around Sayori. He lifted her up one armed enough to give the rope some slack- a feat that he would later attribute solely to adrenaline- and furiously sawed away at the rope.

"C'mon, c'mon, you mother fucker COME THE FUCK ON!"

Finally, he cut through the rope. He dropped the knife carelessly to the floor and quickly moved his other arm around Sayori, too, making sure that she didn't crash to the floor. He moved her to the bed as quickly as he could and started softly shaking her shoulder.

"Sayori... Sayori, please wake up..." He looked at her chest to see if it was rising at all, but he couldn't really tell. A sense of dread filled him.\

"Please wake up, Sayori. I can't do this shit without you! Please, I fucking need you!" Still nothing. He buried his head into her chest and began violently shaking, sobbing, screaming.

"GODDAMMT SAYORI, you agreed to be my friend for MILLION, BILLION YEARS! I love you Sayori, OKAY? I should have told you earlier but I didn't because I'm a fucking idiot but I love you and I've loved you for years and I need you so fucking much, and I just... Sayori, please..."

"Shin... suke?"

He looked up to see her eyes just barely open. The life in her eyes was flickering, but it was there. He made a noise of relief and hugged her like she'd float away if he let go.

"Sayori, I thought I fucking lost you, and I can't lose you! I can't do this alone. I thought you were..." he found himself unable to finish his sentence.

"I'm... I'm sorry Shin..."

He let go of the hug and pulled away to see tears beginning to pour out of Sayori's eyes. "You should have never met me, Shinsuke. Everything would have been better if you never met me..."

"Shut the fuck up!" Sayori gasped as Shinsuke's face contorted into a mix of rage and pain. "Just shut the fuck up, okay? I know I've been a dick and I know I never tell you how important you are to me, but you are my fucking WORLD okay? Do you have any IDEA what would happen to me if I lost you? Do you have any idea what you've done for me?"

He thrusted a finger toward the crumpled up noose sitting on Sayori's floor. "That would have been me a million goddamn times in middle school if it weren't for you? Fuck, that could have been me a few weeks ago until you forced me to get out of my room! You have any idea who I am without you? I'm just some mean ass punk fuck without a friend in the world, but you bring out the best in me, Sayori! You've always brought out the best in me, and I guess I've always been too scared to tell you how important you are, but you're the most important person in the world to me, Sayori, okay, goddammit?"

Shinsuke sharply inhaled before gesturing toward the window. "And hey, fuck, it's not just me that gives a shit, okay? Do you think Monika could run that club by herself? Huh? With Yuri and Natsuki's butting personalities, you really think we'd be able to go on without you? You think you aren't worth the time and effort, you think that you have nothing to offer this world, but the truth is everything would suck without you! Losing you would ruin everything, okay? Everything! The club, the school, the neighborhood, my life, you're the glue that holds all that together, Sayori, and I can't fucking lose you, okay?"

There was a palpable silence that hung over the room before a soft sob from Sayori broke it.

"Shinsuke, I'm so sorry... you must think I'm the most selfish..."

He cut her off by pulling her into a tight hug once more. "Sayori, I think you're an angel whose been going through hell by herself for way too long. I know you don't want me to care, but that's what a best friend is supposed to do."

"...you don't hate me?"

"Sayori, you could end the world and I couldn't hate you." He pulled back just enough to be able to look into her eyes. "I promised to be your best friend forever, and this doesn't change that. Your depression hasn't changed that, and it never will." His eyes darted toward the bed. "I know I haven't been the best about showing that, though-"

"No, Shinsuke..."

"No, it's true, Sayori. I've been a real asshole, letting us drift so far apart. Insulting you all the time, even if it's just a joke. I wouldn't be surprised if you honestly DID think I hated you, and I'm a real piece of shit for that."

"No you're not..."

"Yes I am, Sayori. God, what kind of a friend am I, to let you suffer alone like this..."

It was her turn to embrace Shinsuke, though she certainly didn't have the strength to hold onto him as tightly as she wanted. "Stop, okay? Stop being so MEAN to yourself! Please?"

Sayori started lightly coughing. Shinsuke pulled away and really looked at her neck for the first time, and he couldn't help but wince at the deep bruising he saw.

"Look, Sayori, we need to get you to a hospital."

Her eyes filled with panic. "No, no I can't..."

"You just tried to fucking hang yourself, Sayori." A grim seriousness that she'd never heard before rested in his voice. "Look, I can only imagine how scary this is for you, but I need to know you're going to be okay, okay? If not for yourself... can you do me this one favor?"

"Shinsuke..."

"Please?" He smiled weakly. "C'mon, I just saved your life, you owe me one."

She met his concerned gaze and he saw a fear in her eyes more vibrant and visceral than any he'd ever seen. "Shinsuke, I'm scared..."

He let out a light chuckle. "Yeah, well you're not alone on that, and you're not gonna be alone there, either."

"What?"

"Because I'm gonna be by your side the whole time. Ambulance ride, hospital room and whatever comes next, I'm gonna be right there by your side, okay?

"...why?"

Shinsuke felt his heart break a little. Man, does she really think that lowly of herself? "Because I..." No, no, now's not the time to tell her THAT! "...because you'd do the same thing for me, right?"

"Of course" she said without a moment of hesitation, which forced him to break out into a big, genuine smile.

"Because we're best friends. For at least the next million billion years, yeah?"

She giggled as best she could. "Yeah, definitely."

"So what do you say? Can I call an ambulance now?"

She glanced away. "Do you promise you'll be there?"

Shinsuke took Sayori's chin and lifted it so they were looking each other in the eye.

"Every step of the way"

A/N: Obviously, I don't own Smokie Dokie Get-Lit Club. I have plans to continue this story, since none of the fluffy stuff here really does it for me or remains unfinished, but I make no promises. I can, of course, be bribed with reviews and coin... okay, I'm kidding about the coin... unless...