Is your seatbelt on?

Daiken and LS stakeout a new lead together.

Read it on AO3

Content warnings: None

Notes:

Alternate title (courtesy of Theo): Chasing Cars
Daiken: 15 | LS: 13

The warehouse’s doors were fastened shut, but if Daiken could see inside, he imagined it’d be dark and musty. The whole street was like a museum to lives already lived; dirty furniture lay abandoned on the side of the road, stray animals prowled freely, and street lamps barely flickered with power. After the fire on Fifth Street five years ago, the activity on this side of the district largely died down as people moved away.

That is, unless you knew where to look.

His father had heard rumors of stirrings in this area again, people and cars moving too innocently to not be suspicious. It provoked his ego for deals to happen without his prior knowledge and approval, so he sent Daiken to check it out with strict orders to come back with names and faces, or else.

Well. Daiken and one other person.

“Move, LS,” Daiken whispered harshly, elbowing the other teen in the ribs. “If you’re not going to keep an eye out, at least let me have the ledge.”

LS stuck her tongue out at him. “You can fight me for it, Mr. Goody Two-Shoes.” She hooked her legs onto the wall, stubbornly securing herself in place to spite him. “And no names in the field! With all your experience, you should know that by now. Shame, shame.” They wagged their finger at him in mock disapproval.

Daiken sighed with as much force as he could muster. “You’re such a child,” he told them. “I don’t know why I bother, Siren.”

LS pointed finger guns at him. “There’s that codename, Sun. Nice work!”

Daiken gave her the finger back.

He resigned himself to settling down against a metal railing on the ground, giving LS one last glare as he stretched his legs out. The two of them sat in companionable silence after that, watching the rundown warehouse from a hidden spot near an equally desolate building across the street. Every once in a while, LS would reach over to pull down the zipper on his jacket pocket or poke him for no reason, and Daiken maturely ignored her in the form of pelting her with gravel he picked up from the ground.

So, a usual stakeout for them.

At the three-hour mark, Daiken straightened up against the railing and got to his feet. He poked LS’s sleeping face. “Think it’s been long enough to call it quits?” he asked them.

In classic LS fashion, their eyelids opened calmly from where they had been slipping closed and they got to their feet naturally, like they had been wide-awake the whole time and only pretending to sleep. For all Daiken knew, she really was pretending. Or maybe she wasn’t. Who could tell.

“Sure, I guess,” they answered, pushing their long, blonde hair out of their face. “Doesn’t really matter to me.” LS looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “You gonna be okay going back empty-handed?”

LS’s face was a practiced neutral, not an ounce of emotion or concern leaking through—but after countless sleepless nights, shoulder punches, and boisterous jokes, Daiken knew it was there nonetheless.

“I’ll just tell him the tip-off was bad and he’ll probably leave me alone. Hopefully he doesn’t make me come back another day,” he said, stretching his arms high above his head. “I’ve got a chemistry test coming up.”

LS’s shoulders relaxed the slightest bit, imperceptible to anyone who didn’t know her. Then they rolled their eyes so hard it must have hurt. “You nerd,” she said, shoving his arm. “What every teen thinks about on a Friday night.”

“Sure, call me a nerd.” Daiken shrugged. “Whatever you wanna believe.”

LS stuck her tongue out. “I will believe it. C’mon. Let’s get outta here.” She held out a hand. “Keys, Moonstrike?”

“No way in hell I’m letting you drive,” Daiken told her, taking a step back. “I don’t feel like dying tonight.”

“Don’t exaggerate, Sun. It’s unbecoming of you. My driving is fine.” They paused, staring at something over his shoulder. “What is that?”

Daiken scoffed. “How stupid do you think I am, LS? I’m not falling for that.”

LS shook their head. “No, really. I just saw someone come out of the warehouse and get into that SUV.” They pointed, and this time Daiken turned to look. “See him?”

Daiken squinted. Sure enough, there was someone sitting in the car, crates stacked up to the ceiling on the passenger’s seat next to them. “And he came out of the warehouse on Fifth?” he asked cautiously.

“Yes, Moon, he did!” LS’s eyes widened. “He’s about to take off.”

“Shit,” Daiken whispered. He grabbed the keys out of his pocket and started towards the shadowy alleyway where their rickety old car was parked. “C’mon! We gotta follow him!”

LS swore under their breath. “I wanted to go home and play Bloodborne,” they mumbled, but they followed him to the car anyway.

Right as Daiken slid into the driver’s seat, the man took off with a bang down Fifth Street. He followed its receding bumper with his eyes as he pulled on his seatbelt and slid the key into the ignition. A left turn. Then maybe a right.

“Step on it, D,” LS said. “He’s not gonna wait up for us.”

Daiken was moving his foot to the gas pedal, ready to go, when he shifted his eyes to the side for a brief moment. LS sat leaning forward in her seat, face close to the windshield as her eyes tracked the car, too.

A little too close, maybe.

“Is your seatbelt on?” he asked, foot hovering over the gas.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw LS’s incredulous expression. “Are you insane?” she whisper-shouted. “He’s getting away!”

“Is it?” Daiken asked again.

LS raised their eyebrows at him in the mirror as they exaggeratedly grabbed their seatbelt and buckled it in. “Yes, goddamnit! Now go!”

As soon as Daiken heard the click, he took off.

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