Gonna Take Your Heart

Meetups

   Hinata sits on a bench, twiddling his thumbs awkwardly as he waits for the detective to show up. Nerves and excitement fought for dominance in his gut as he stares at the entrance gates for the park, waiting for Nagito to pass through.

   He can't help but worry he's going to make some huge mistake and slip up and somehow give away his identity. Like for example, what if he said something that Phantom Thief Hajime knew about him and not plain old Hajime Hinata? He would have to be careful.Yet another reason he took great care to make sure Phantom Thief and Hajime Hinata were two different people entirely; the only thing in common was their giant crush on Detective Nagito Komaeda. 

   "Hajime? Hello?" Nagito waves his hand over the brunet's face several times, snapping Hinata out of whatever anxiety-induced trance he was in. 

   Hinata blinks twice, jumping to his feet. "Ah, Nagito, sorry about that. Glad to see you made it, huh?"

   The other smiles. "This is a lovely spot for a nice walk," He offers his arm, "Shall we?"

   Hinata's eyes widen. "Holding onto each other like that?" He stammers out, surprised at the sudden gesture.

   The detective shrugs. "Sure! It's a date, after all, is it not? It'll be fun."

   Hinata sighs. 'Fuck it.' He decides, reaching out and linking his arm through his. Nagito smiles brightly, patting the brunet's arm before they set off.

   "So tell me about yourself, Hajime." He asks as a breeze ruffles through his wavy locks.

   "There's really not much to tell, actually. I work at that cafe, I live in an apartment, I was in the foster care system until I was eighteen, getting tossed from one house to the next, and I'm saving up for university." He hums, watching a bird flit from one tree to the next. 

   "That must have been. . .rough." Nagito observes.

   Hinata shrugs. "It's fine. Some of my friends from the orphanage, Sonia, Kazuichi. . .they had it rougher. They never got placed in a safe home. There's so many unreliable systems that don't care about the children out there. That's why I-" Hinata freezes, biting his tongue, "Care a lot! Yeah!"

   "That's awful," Nagito laments, "If there's anything I can do to help then. . ."

   'You could stop trying to arrest me so I can get the money and the attention.'

   "I will," He promises, "Well, how about you? Tell me about your life."

   Komaeda purses his lips. "My life? Alright. I was born into a rich family. I had a dog, Lucky, at one point but he got hit by a truck and got his guts splattered right in front of me. I lost my parents when our plane got hijacked and a meteor struck and we went down. Got their giant fortune, so really if there's something I could do. . .I was captured by a serial killer at one point actually, but after no one would pay my ransom I-"

   He pauses, noticing the look of horror on Hajime's face. "Heheh. . .I take it by your reaction you weren't expecting a story like that. . .Okay, um, I'm a detective. My partner and best friend is Shuichi Saihara. The redhead you saw us with, that's Mahiru Koizumi, and the one with the silver hair, that's her girlfriend Peko. I've been doing this job for years now, though I only made detective last year, ehe. . .That's all I can really think of right now."

   ". . .I would like to revisit all of what you said before that." Hinata grunts back, still trying to digest it.

   "Oh, that? Oh, just a lie-"

   "There's no way that was a lie," The brunet continues, "I would like for you to continue that story."

   Nagito pales. "O-Oh. Okay, um. . .After no one would pay my ransom, they stuffed me in a trash bag and let me go. And I found this winning ticket, practically tripling my fortune! I was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and lymphoma but the cancer in remission and their investigating the dementia for a misdiagnosis so it's fine." He waves his hand dismissively.