The first thing Hiro was aware of when he woke up was that he was cold. He was pretty sure that hadn't been the case a moment ago, but he couldn't figure out why something would have changed. He knew he hadn't thrown his blankets off him in his sleep; he could still feel the sheets covering his body. At least, on most of it. His left half, the cold half, could feel the cool air circulating there.

He reluctantly cracked his eyes open and shut them again almost immediately after for two reasons. The first was the splitting headache that pierced his mind like a spear as soon as light hit his eyes.

The second was the naked girl standing directly in his line of vision.

He groaned in pain as the headache asserted itself as the dominant problem, pulling the thin sheet over his head in an attempt to block out the light. White sheets. That wasn't right either. He had dark blue sheets on his bed. Add that to the list of things that didn't seem right with the situation.

Once the light stopped feeling like it was stabbing him in the head with its brilliance, he peeked out from beneath them to where he had seen the girl. She was still there and still naked. Her long hair covered her abundant breasts and her bottom half was mostly hidden by the bed and sheets, but he could still make out the curve of her rear.

"Oh, you're awake. Sorry for waking you, I was just leaving, you can go whenever you want. I've got stuff to do." She snapped on a red bra as she spoke, seemingly unperturbed by him seeing her naked. "Your clothes should be around somewhere. I don't know where they went." Hiro immediately became aware that he was also naked. Which meant they had been in the bed, naked, together. Nothing was adding up.

"What the hell happened? Why am I here and why are we naked?" The girl laughed at his questions.

"Wow, I knew you were a bit drunk last night, but I didn't realize you were that bad. I didn't figure you for such a lightweight."

"Last night…" Hiro mumbled, trying to find his memories among his still agonizing headache. Things slowly started piecing themselves together…

Hiro was having an extraordinarily shitty Friday. First week of the semester and he could already feel his mind slipping. He had always enjoyed school and learning, some had even called him brilliant, but what had once been a passion for learning had become a poor imitation of his former enthusiasm. He was burned out. Life didn't have the same luster it once had, and it had been that way for a long time. And to make matters worse, he had an essay due in a week for two different classes and homework assignments in the other three.

And then his girlfriend broke up with him. She had said he wasn't exciting or interesting to be around. Their dates were boring and she didn't care about him the way she had before. Not that he could really blame her, but it stung all the same.

He was sitting with his long-time group of friends in their dorm hall when an excellent opportunity presented itself. "I hear there's this awesome party going on this house right down the block," Miku was saying. "Celebrating the start of the school year and all that. Anyone want to go?"

"Geez, what's there to celebrate? Eight more months of college? It's not like this is even our last year. We're sophomores, for crying out loud!" Zorome was quick to butt in. Miku shot him a sour look.

"Hey, if you don't want to come, don't come. No one's forcing you to." Zorome stuttered and mumbled something before shutting up.

"Well, I'll go. I think it sounds like fun." Goro, ever the team player, threw his hat into the ring.

"Yeah, I bet it'll be a great time!" Kokoro said cheerily. Futoshi was next to agree, barely getting his words out around the sandwich he was munching on. Predictably, Mitsuru and Ikuno declined, both citing 'better things to do,' even when Kokoro asked her boyfriend nicely.

"I think you guys are spoil sports," Ichigo said, turning to a pouting Miku. "and that it sounds like a good time. Count me in." Miku cheered up quickly, and Ichigo turned towards Hiro, who had been silent so far. "What about you, Hiro? Come out with us. It'll be fun."

Normally, Hiro would have declined, saying he wasn't feeling up to it. But this time, it sounded like just the thing he needed. A blessed distraction from all his problems and failures. "Let's do it," he said, more enthusiasm in his voice than anyone had heard in months. Everyone took it as a positive sign and quickly made plans to meet up later before dispersing back to their rooms.

Hiro and Goro hung out in their shared dorm for a few hours until it was time to head over to the party. A short walk later, the group was walking through the open door of the house. Music blasted from further back in the building, snacks and drinks lined the tables, and students were everywhere, drinking, chatting, flirting, and dancing. The group dispersed, promising to keep an eye on each other. Hiro's first stop was the drink table, where he grabbed something that didn't look too heavy and moseyed through the house.

As he wandered through the home, he found himself in the backyard, predictably full of people. Hiro's very slightly below average height and lean build aided him in slipping through the crowd to lean against the fence encircling the yard. From there, he watched as people milled around, greeting old friends and striking up conversations with random strangers. He sighed as he took swigs of whatever alcoholic beverage he had snagged, not really interested in anything other than staring at his peers as they enjoyed the party. "Maybe this was a bad idea," he mumbled to himself, unsure what to do with himself.

"I guess you're like me then." Hiro started at a voice beside him, turning to see a girl with pink hair and dressed in a form fitting outfit standing next to him. A white headband with two red protrusions sat on her head, holding some of her long hair back from her face. Deep teal eyes that almost seemed luminescent stared back at him.

She felt familiar.

"Huh?" he said, struck dumb by the girl that had snuck up on him.

"You're like me," she said again. "No one to be with, just on the outside looking in." Her captivating eyes switched back to the shifting crowd. "I know how you feel," she said, an air of whimsy in her voice. "Still, it's not all bad. This way I can find exactly what I'm looking for." A seductive tone had entered her voice, something Hiro was entirely unfamiliar with. He shifted nervously, not wanting to join the crowd to escape, but not wanting to stay where he was.

"Right," he said slowly, pushing himself away from the fence and walking back towards the house. "I'm just going to get another drink. I'll see you later."

"I'm counting on it," he heard from behind him before the girl got out of earshot.

The rest of the night, he kept seeing the strange pink-haired girl out of the corner of his eye. She never seemed to be talking to anyone, just standing aloofly against a wall or on the stairs or sitting on a couch. He tried not to pay her any mind, but it got harder and harder, especially as the alcohol started to set in. His normally keen awareness started to fail him, gaps appearing when he couldn't exactly remember what had happened. Somehow, he found himself sitting next to the strange girl, her hand tracing suggestively over his shirt as she licked his cheek. Another jump and he was kissing her. Another, he was walking side by side with her through the night. Finally, he found himself in a dorm room much like his own, kissing the girl again and falling into her bed. She looked down at him, victory in her eyes.

"Looks like you're my darling for the night," she said before jumping on top of him and his memory failed him.

"Oh gosh," he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut again, trying to remember anything else about he night before and coming up empty. Apparently, he had been too out of it to really remember what had happened. Which was a damn shame. "I seriously can't remember my first time..." He groaned again, pulling down the sheets slightly before realizing there was still a girl in the room. Even if she had seen him before, the situation was totally different when Drunk Hiro was replaced with Normal Hiro.

"Wait, really?" the girl asked as she pulled on a pair of shorts, hiding her bare skin from his view. "That was your first time having sex? Huh, it didn't seem like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiro asked, still coming to grips with everything that had led to him waking up in a stranger's room after having slept with her.

"It means," she said in the same seductive voice she had used the night before, leaning over him to get a closer look at his face. "I might want to have another go of it. How about it? Want to be my darling a while longer?" Her body hung over his, their eyes staring fixatedly on each other. As Hiro looked into hers, he once again had an odd feeling of familiarity, though he couldn't remember seeing her before. 'Surely I'd remember her,' he thought. Before he could say, much less do anything, the girl's phone rang, breaking their staring contest. The mysterious girl quickly snatched up the phone. "Time's up, I guess," she mumbled, before walking towards the door, grabbing a shoulder bag on the way. Hiro quickly called out to her as she opened the door to the room.

"Wait!" She paused, and Hiro didn't actually know what he was going to say. "I don't even know your name," he finished somewhat lamely. The girl turned and smirked at him, brushing her lengthy pink hair back, the headband he had seen the day before in place once again.

"My name?" she asked, her eyes gazing into the distance for a moment. "I don't know your name either, you know." Hiro blinked, surprised it hadn't come up. Though he wasn't all the surprised, given where her mind had apparently been.

"I'm Hiro."

"Hiro, huh?" She paused a moment before fixing her enrapturing eyes on his. "You can call me Zero Two then." And before Hiro could say another word, she closed the door and was gone.

"Where the hell were you last night? I lost track of you at the party and then you stay out all night? What happened to keeping tabs on each other?" Goro was pissed when Hiro got back to their dorm, which was, surprisingly enough, was in the same building as Zero Two's room. In fact, her floor was just a few above his own.

Hiro couldn't do much to lessen Goro's irritation. "I'm sorry, I had a bit too much to drink," he said, trying to stave off further questions about what had happened. His plan quickly backfired.

"You mean you were wandering around drunk? What the hell Hiro?!"

"No! I was…with someone. Inside, not wandering around."

"Who were you with? I talked to everyone, no one saw you after the party. Mitsuru and Ikuno said they didn't see you at all last night. So, who were you with?" Hiro could see the concern in Goro's eyes being edged out by curiosity.

"I was…. with a girl…." Hiro trailed off, a bright blush filling his face.

"A girl?" Goro said with no small amount of surprise. "A girl you knew, or just some girl?" Realization bloomed on his face as he connected the dots. "Wait, are you saying, you…"

"Yes, Goro," Hiro finally said. "I slept with someone. I was a bit drunk and out of it, so I don't really remember it, but I definitely slept with her. I woke up this morning in her room." Goro was too stunned to form a proper reply, but when the door swung open to reveal a wide-eyed Zorome and Miku, he didn't have to.

"WHAT?! NO WAY! There's no way timid little Hiro had sex before I did. I refuse to believe it. There's just no way." Zorome continued his enraged tirade, walking out into the hallway to continue spouting his outrage. Miku just stood where she was and scoffed.

"Well, I'm not surprised really. For someone to want to sleep with Zorome, they'd have to be able to deal with him for more than forty seconds. And I think we all know the likelihood of that happening." Quick as could be, Zorome swept back into the room, getting right up in Miku's face.

"I heard that, and I don't appreciate it."

"But you don't refute it," Miku said with a smirk.

"HEY!" The two went off on their own tirade chasing each other out of Hiro and Goro's dorm. A moment later, the rest of the group poked their heads into the room, looking at a still reeling Goro and a still embarrassed Hiro. Futoshi was the first to speak up.

"Wait, Hiro, you really had sex with someone last night? How was it? Who was it?"

"I bet it was that pink-haired girl at the party last night." Kokoro said, her guess spot on. "I saw her a few times and every time she was looking at Hiro. She was cute," she said with a wink in Hiro's direction. He was still too busy staring a hold in his bed to notice.

"Hmh, impressive," Mitsuru muttered. "You got with a hot girl and can't even remember it." Kokoro shot him a sour look, but he didn't say anything else, just stalked away to his own room. Ikuno gave him a sidelong glance before doing the same, leaving Hiro, Goro, Kokoro, and a still silent Ichigo in the room, Futoshi having wandered off in search of a snack.

"Do you think you'll see her again?" Kokoro asked, sitting down next to Hiro, who shrugged.

"Probably. She actually lives just a few floors up, so she definitely goes to the school. I haven't seen her before though, so she's probably new." He stared off into the distance for a moment before speaking softly, "I hope I do see her again." No one saw the twinge of pain that flashed across Ichigo's face before she finally spoke.

"Did you say she had pink hair?" A quick nod from Hiro was her answer. "I've heard a rumor going around the school about a girl that goes around sleeping with any guy that catches her attention. They say she's either standoffish or flirtatious and seductive. That sound familiar?" Kokoro thought for a moment before agreeing that at least part of the description fit.

"Interesting," Goro mused as the group lapsed into silence. Hiro, who had been quiet for most of the conversation, suddenly spoke up, his voice different from his usual resigned tone.

"You guys shouldn't judge someone too much based on rumors and stuff. You don't know what she's like."

"And you do?" Ichigo asked with just a bit of venom in her voice. Hiro blushed lightly.

"I didn't say that. Just that you shouldn't jump the gun. Maybe this girl isn't who you're talking about, or maybe those rumors are all fake. You don't know."

"Yeah, you're right man, sorry," Goro said, speaking for the other two as well. "Trust the philosophy major to call us out for being assumptive." They all laughed, finding the truth in his words. Hiro was the conscious of the group, a role that fell right in line with his personality and outlook on the world.

"Anyways guys, I'm going to get a bit of sleep. I'm still wiped from last night," Hiro said with a yawn. Goro chuckled.

"I guess I can't blame you. I bet you didn't have all that restful of a night." Hiro shot the taller boy a glare, who held up his hands with a laugh. "Okay, sorry, probably poor taste. Get some rest, Hiro. It is the weekend, after all." Goro and the two girls quickly filed out of the room, Ichigo pausing for a moment to shoot one last glance over her shoulder at the boy sitting on his bed before turning off the light and closing the door.

Hiro laid there for a few minutes, waiting for his spinning thoughts to calm enough for him to rest. The girl from the night before and that morning, Zero Two, danced around in his head, all of his thoughts twisting back to her. For the first time in a while, he actually felt the drive again. The urge to learn, to excel, to be someone other than a spectator in his own life. He found that, unlike the day before, he was looking forward to the coming school year, especially if it meant seeing Zero Two again.

Zero Two, as she preferred to be called, was wandering around campus, looking for something to do. In any sense of the word. She was reluctant to start on any of the menial homework she had been assigned, not seeing the point when she had the whole weekend to do it. Or rather, to put off doing it.

Instead, she found herself wandering around the school, trying to figure out where everything was. She had transferred to Jian University just the week before and hadn't had much chance to actually look around except to find her dorm, her classes, and, of course, the food court. The glorious food court, open almost all day and more akin to a massive buffet than anything else. She licked her lips at the mere thought of it.

As her tongue traced her lips, she caught a taste of her most recent conquest. 'Hiro,' she thought. 'Could he be…? No way, it couldn't be. It's a common enough name. Though he does have the same messy black hair. It's possible…"

She continued her musings, wandering the campus before finding a large tree and clambering into its wide branches. Unable to help herself, her mind drifted back to Hiro and how he had treated her the night before. She had plenty of experiences with guys that had a bit too much to drink, but Hiro hadn't treated her the same way they had. They were always confident and attempting to be cool, and always got worse when she started coming on to them. Then in bed, they were domineering and pushy. It made it all the more satisfying when she wrested control away from them and put them under her thumb.

But Hiro hadn't done any of that. When she was flirting with him, he had been embarrassed and twitchy. When he was buzzed, he wasn't much better, just a little bit more relaxed. He hadn't even been the one to start kissing her, she had to make the first move. Before that, he had been content to sit and talk. When she took him back to her room, there had been no control to take away since he had never had any in the first place, letting her lead the entire time.

And then that morning. Every other guy she had slept with had been unabashed the next morning, if they got the chance to be. Staring at her naked form, admiring her from the perch of their own egos. They had always asked for another go, to which she would teasingly lead them on before dropping them for the next target. Without fail, they were all the same.

Until now. Until Hiro. He hadn't looked at her with any of that. Instead, he was timid, unconfident, and scared. Which made sense, given that she was apparently his first and he didn't seem to remember it. But that didn't excuse the last thing he did.

He asked for her name.

It wasn't all that uncommon. Guys would ask all the time. But they used it as an opening line, a first step to get to what they wanted. So she would make something up, or dodge the question. After a while, they wouldn't remember or care. She knew, because she did the same with their names. A means to an end. Hiro had thrown all that on its head. Asking her name when he had nothing left to gain, introducing himself first. It all made no sense. He was so different from every other boy she has slept with.

It made her want to see him again, a feeling entirely foreign to her.

On the plus side, he went to Jian same as she did. He had mentioned when they were going to her room that he was living in the same building. Chances were they'd run into each other again. She smiled slightly, pulling a bright red lollipop out of one of the pockets on her oversized black hoodie and biting into it.

As she enjoyed her treat, a buzzing from her pocket jerked her out of her thoughts. Pulling her phone out, she saw it was an email from the dorm management. She scowled slightly as she read it. Her roommate, who's name she hadn't bothered to remember, had complained about her for some reason or another, and she was being made to change rooms. 'Prissy bitch,' Zero Two thought as she looked the email over again. At least she didn't have to go far, just down a few floors. She needed to be in the new room by Monday. 'I'll do it Sunday night. It'll serve that jerk right, having to deal with me as long as possible.' Turning her phone back off, she went back to her snack and the warm light of the afternoon.

Welcome, one and all, to the first chapter of Shared Wings. I find there is not nearly enough good Darling in the Franxx stories set in a more modern setting. I get why, it requires original stories, something not all of us are good at, being fanfiction authors. It's not just you, its me too. So I intend to amend at least a portion of that with this story. It will be DitF in a more modern setting. As for being good...well, that's the hope. If you think I've succeeded with this first chapter, please let me know with a saucy review. Or if you'd like to see where we go from here, give the story a follow. I respond to each and every review I receive and the give me extra motivation to write, so if you want to contribute to my fragile mental state, consider that.

Now, due to the nature of how I want to write this story and DitF in general, you are being advised now that sex will play a part in this story. It won't be for a while yet, but these are young adults doing young adult things. In college. It's gonna come up eventually, as will other similar topics. Now, I assume none of you have a problem with that (we all know we love DitF for very specific reasons), but just in case, this is your warning. It says 'M' on the label for a reason.

One last thing, I am currently also writing a large Legend of Zelda story, Revival of the Gods. If you like Zelda, I'd advise you to check it out, because who would I be if I didn't do some shameless self-promotion. I'm trying to finish that story, as I've been working on it for the past couple years, but I am very busy with having an actual life, something I would avoid if I could. Just want you all to know that I won't be updating this consistently. I've got the first...eh, 6-ish chapters of this story written, including this one, but after that, the next chapter comes out when I finish it, which might take a while. So while I promise that any story I start will get finished eventually, I cannot say when that will be. The next chapter will likely be out in a few days, so stay tuned. So read on and I hope you enjoy 'Shared Wings.' Cheers!

~Aro