"So," PJ said, collapsing onto a navy beanbag and looking over at Dan, "how are you feeling after all that?"

"Confused," Dan said immediately. "How do you know about all this stuff but I've never heard of it?"

"I have my ways," PJ said. "Chris taught me quite a bit, before he left."

They both fell silent. Chris had gone to school with them, but had known rather too much about the real world for the Imperial Leader's liking. About four years ago, he'd begun to visit the clubs. He and Phil got rather too friendly with each other for PJ's liking, and one day, Chris told PJ he had to leave. He'd hidden on a trade ship, but the army had found out. PJ had no idea if he'd survived. He'd never admit it to Dan, but Chris was the person who'd both taught him about love and inadvertently made him realise his own sexuality.

"Anyway," continued PJ, forcing a smile onto his face. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"What's making out?" Dan asked immediately. "Phil came back before you'd tell me."

"It's like..." PJ struggled to find the words. "You know what kissing is, don't you?"

"Is it the thing that the Imperial Leader says is completely forbidden because it transmits diseases?" Dan asked, sounding as though he was reading from a textbook.

"Yeah, that one. Well it doesn't transmit disease that much, but it's a way to show you love someone, and because it's quite... enjoyable, people might do it for a long time, which is what making out is."

Dan nodded slowly. "So why did Phil offer to show me what it is?"

"There's a thing called flirting, which is where someone gives indications that they have a crush on you when in reality they don't." PJ's tone showed that this answer was final. "Is that it?"

Dan went crimson. "There is one more thing, but..."

PJ raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Why, um, why did my jeans end up so tight when Phil was- when Phil was hugging me?"

PJ stared at him for a second, then burst out into uncontrollable laughter. 'You really don't know anything about this sort of stuff, do you?"

They didn't stay away from the club for long. The next day, PJ woke Dan up at half past eight by jumping excitedly on his bed. "Daniel! Come on! We're going to the club!"

"Peej, could you shout any louder? I'm sure there are people in the Red district who couldn't quite hear you."

PJ rolled his eyes. "Aren't you excited too?"

"Excited? I mean, it'll be good to have something decent to drink, but..."

"Don't you want to go?" PJ's happiness had gone and all that remained in his voice was a kind of curiosity.

"I just don't know why I'd be excited," Dan answered, shrugging. "I'm gonna go for a shower, can you just move over? Just a bit?"

PJ rolled off Dan's legs and lay on the floor, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes. "Be fast, yeah? I want to get there as soon as possible."

Dan never took long in the shower anyway, so he was out and dressed in the obligatory blue suit before PJ had even got up off his bedroom floor. "Are we eating first?"

"I'm sure Phil will share a bit of food with us," PJ said with a grin. "Also, while you were in the shower, I realised something." He didn't wait for Dan to ask what, before continuing, "It's only the straps of our trackers that are implanted into our wrists, right? Let's take the actual tracker off the strap."

Dan stared at him. "PJ, you are a genius." He didn't mention his fear of not being monitored - being free to do what he wanted without the constant fear of being investigated because of suspicious movement. "How do we get it off?"

PJ tipped his head to one side. "Knife?"

They headed to the kitchen, PJ taking the stairs two at a time and almost breaking his ankle on the bottom one, Dan walking more slowly and holding tightly onto his tracker.

When PJ sliced through the straps and his tracker fell from his wrist, Dan squeaked and leaped forward to catch it. "Don't break it!" he hissed. "They'll be round to check on you if it stops registering where you are."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Give me your hand."

Dan watched as the device which had stopped him going anywhere new for the past ten years was cut off his wrist. PJ nicked the skin as he sawed through the thick leather, and when Dan lifted the tracker off, he saw thin cuts going vertically along his arms, almost identical to those PJ had accidentally given himself just moments before.

"Sorry," PJ said, pulling Dan over to the sink and rinsing the blood off Dan's arm. "The straps were pretty close to your wrist, I couldn't help it-"

Dan's face broke into a huge smile. "I'm suddenly very excited for today."

Eyy update time
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