I've binged the show in a few days recently, and like a lot of other people, I want Zero Two and Hiro to have some happiness. I've read some of the completed fics here and I'm not really satisfied. They're mostly little moments of cute one-shots which I don't feel portrays them well and not at all subtle.

This is my attempt at remedying that. I hope I've succeeded.

Walking down the hall, Hiro's mind raced, and he could hear his heart pouding. Sweat still dripped down the back of his neck.

Climbing down from the infirmary hadn't been easy, but he'd managed it. If it hadn't been so long ago, he might have been able to use it as an excuse for why he was reacting this way.

He was nervous. He couldn't deny it. He was going to Zero Two's room and had no idea how she would react. Still, he needed answers. Had she known that they'd met when they were younger? If so, why hadn't she mentioned it? What had she been thinking this whole time?

He had more questions, ones he wasn't sure he'd be able to find the courage to ask. And wasn't that ironic, he'd always been the one who'd bothered the adults with questions, now he was too afraid to ask them. He guessed that was one of the effects she had on him.

Here it was, the door to Zero Two's room. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Zero Two, it's me. I, um-

The door opened immediately. "Darling!" She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in.

"Darling! Darling!" Zero Two held him tighter and burrowed her down into his shoulder. His voice, his smell, his kindness, she'd missed him so much.

He pulled away from the hug, normally she wouldn't have allowed it, but after what she'd done to him, she'd do whatever he asked.

"Zero Two, we need to- He stopped mid-sentence and looked at her hands. He grabbed them.

"Your nails . . . " He gently rubbed one of her fingers. Then, he looked around the room she'd ripped apart. "And the walls, your bed too. Why did you do this?"

"Ichigo and the others, they wouldn't let me see you. I needed to and I couldn't. And I couldn't stand being in here, with the walls and that damn mirror. But where else could I go, darling? What else could I do?!"

"C-calm down Zero Two." He was afraid of her. No, no, this wasn't how it should be. Her darling, her wonderful, amazing darling had come to see her and she was scaring him.

"I'm sorry." She said immediately. "I'm just so happy you came. I feel like it's been so long. I've missed you."

"I . . . feel the same way." He replied, looking down at the ground. She saw him take a deep breath before he met her eyes with a hardened expression. "Zero Two, we need to talk."

"Of course!" She agreed immediately with a wide smile. "We'll talk lots and lots darling."

He winced at that, Zero Two gave him a concerned look. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Can you stop calling me darling? At least for a little bit?" He asked.

She narrowed her eyes. "Why?" She walked up to him, close enough that he was forced to step back. "Are you saying you don't want to be my darling anymore?"

"No, that's not what I mean. Just, please, it's hard to explain. It'll make things easier, will you at least do that much for me?"

For him. He looked at her as if he was afraid he was asking too much of her. He didn't realize that right now she'd do anything for him. After what she'd done, she deserved to be punished.

She stepped back. "Okay . . . Hiro." She grimaced and looked to the side. Damn it, why was this so hard?

"Thank you." He said with obvious relief. "Also, if we're going to talk, I need you to be honest. And I don't want you just brushing me off like before either."

"Got it." She nodded.

He tilted his head and looked at her strangely. "Really? Just like that? I thought you'd argue."

"I won't this time, I promise."

He smiled. "Thank you. Okay, first, did you know that we met when we were children?"

"No! I never would have done that if I'd known!"

"Done what? Use me?"

She remained silent, but he must have already known the answer.

He sighed. "How much did you remember?"

"Only bits and pieces. I tried my hardest to remember, I didn't want to forget it. I couldn't allow myself to forget it, but only the most important parts stayed." She looked up at him hopefully. "What about you?'

"I didn't remember any of it until our last battle. Then it all came back."

"That's all that matters." She reached out and held his hands. "We've found each other again. I'm so happy."

"You don't look happy," he answered bluntly.

She froze. "You're right. I did such horrible things to you." She bit her lip. "I called you fodder, tried to use you. How could I be happy after hurting you like that?"

"I don't care about that."

"How can you say that?" She said with obvious confusion. "If anyone else tried to hurt you I'd rip them apart! You should be mad at me! Yell at me, hit me, do something!"

Please, it would be better than the hurt looks he kept giving her.

"No, I love you Zero Two." He looked up at the ceiling. "You know, before I met you, I mean before I first saw you at Plantation 13, I was hopeless. I couldn't ride with anyone, and everyone else here either hated or pitied me. I was useless, a failure. But when I met you, I was happy. You let me fight, but more than that you were so full of life, so playful and fun. You gave me a reason to fight, a reason to live."

Darling looked back at her. "I remembered what the doctor said when our memories were wiped. I can only pilot with you since I ingested some of your blood. I wanted to ask whether you knew that when you were using me, but I guess I already have my answer."

"I'm sorry. It's my fault you suffered so much, if you'd never met me-

"I'm glad I met you." He interrupted her. "Even after what happened I still love you. If you want to use me, fine, I'll be there for as many fights as you need. I'm not going to die, not while I can still be with you."

"I won't use you like that again! It only happened because I was desperate and angry. Even though I didn't realize it was you, I still liked you. You were amazing, hard-working, and so kind. Remember when your chest turned blue, and piloting with me had caused you immense pain? You said that you still wanted to be my partner." Her eyes teared up. "I was so happy then and I thought to myself that I was so lucky to find someone like you."

"Zero Two . . ."

She picked up the mirror from the ground. "And this gift you gave me. I could barely control myself when you gave it to me. I should have treasured it, but I lost control of my emotions and smashed it. I'm such a horrible person."

"Don't say that!"

He was angry. Finally, he was angry. Zero Two lowered her head, she deserved whatever he was about to say.

"Look at me Zero Two."

She did so, and instead of the rage she expected, she once again saw the sad expression that tore her heart. "You're not a horrible person. When we became partners you saved me. You've made me feel things I never knew I could. Given me so much happiness.

"Besides, it's not like I'm a great person either," he added. "I'm selfish, and a terrible friend. The rest of the squad wants to keep us apart because they think it's best for me, and I snuck away here instead of explaining the situation to them. I risk my life without realizing how much my death will hurt them. You know, after what happened, it all seems so much clearer now." He said, thinking deeply for a moment.

"And it's not just that." He approached Zero Two and hugged her. "Instead of comforting you like I should, I'm here asking questions because I can't stand not knowing. Normally you're so full of life and whimsical. I love that side of you, and I want to see it again. But right now you're angry at yourself and feel guilty for what you did, and you need to hear that I forgive you. Listen, I do, I forgive you."

He let her go and his gaze was full of determination. "But I need to know. Do you really love me? Or do you think you do because I just happened to be the boy you met out in the snow?"

"I do love you darling." She said it with as much sincerity as she could, but he still didn't believe her.

He looked away. "I asked you not to call me that."

"But you are my darling!" She demanded, before calming down to explain. "Please, you don't understand. Before our last battle, I was so angry and scared. My horns kept growing faster, and my fangs and nails were getting sharper. I was turning back into a monster, and I couldn't let that happen. I didn't want you to see me, I needed to kill more klaxosaurs so it would stop. I lost control and got mad at anything that got in my way, and I said things I didn't mean."

"Okay, I believe you."

He was lying, she could see it in his eyes. Could she blame him? He didn't know what it was like, he didn't know that how much he meant to her.

She continued. "I love you. I'm so sorry for pushing away your feelings that day by the lake. I understand what it means now, and why you want us to do this and get to know each other better.

"You're my darling from back then, but there are more reasons why I love you. I saw how hard you trained after your failed piloting attempt, how sad you were. I wanted to change that. I fell in love with those parts of you and more. Do you think any other parasite child would have come up to my room and broken the window to let me see the outside world? You're curious, brave, kind, you're amazing."

After a few moments of stunned silence, he wiped tears from his eyes. "Sorry, I'm just so happy. You're right, I was wrong for doubting you. I love you Zero Two."

She felt tears in her eyes and smiled. "Darling!" She jumped on him and they fell down on the ruined bed.

He laughed, and this time he didn't say anything about her calling him that. He was her darling, and she was his. She'd done something terrible, and she'd need to shower him with as much love as she could as redemption. The rest of Squad 13 would need to be convinced that things were okay between them, and it wouldn't be easy.

But together they could do anything.

So yeah, that was my one-shot of Hiro & Zero Two. I feel like so many fics here are fluff with no substance so I wanted to change that. Although I may have gone overboard with the angst and drama.

One of the problems I have with the show is that Hiro was way too accepting of Zero Two basically using him. He called her a monster so they're even? Hell no. But goddamn they're cute together, so I wrote a fic about it.

I have another DitF fic in the works, which probably won't come out for a while. It's not a one-shot, and will probably have somewhere between 10 and 20 chapters. Which is a very wide range, but I'm not good at judging how many chapters I'll need.

Anywho, leave a review if you loved it. Or hated it. I need the criticism.