Chapter Text
She was an informant. That much Sabo knew from the moment he met her. She was smart, she was fast, and she was beautiful.
He hadn't realized the last tidbit, truly realized it, until the third time he ran into her. But he had realized it when she smiled at him, fire in her eyes as she gives him the information no one else had thought to give, of where the Marine Base he was to infiltrate had their laundry room.
Such a small, insignificant piece of information that gave him the easiest way to get a disguise. That was when he first got a look at her clever, clever mind. He fell. Hard.
They didn't exchange numbers, that would be stupid, but they did meet more frequently after that. All according to her plans, he mused. She had to be good at what she did, though why she didn't wish to be a Revolutionary contact, he'd never know. Later, he would laugh at the stupidity of that thought, but for the moment, she was just an informant. An. Informant.
Their relationship stopped being strictly business after the fifth “coincidental” meeting. He didn't care what Koala said about sleeping around, Sabo wouldn't change a single thing about their new relationship.
He was faithful, at least. But he dare not ask her to be. For she hadn't done so either. They shared no declarations of love, no vows, no promises. Only smoldering looks and gentle touches. He dare not overstep. And, perhaps, neither dare she.
Or perhaps, she knew exactly the power she held over him, his heart, his very soul.
Perhaps, one day, he might dare to love her out loud, but for the moment, all words were kept firmly inside his mind and nowhere else.
Secretly, though, he dreamed that she let no one else hold her the way she let him hold her. Secretly, secretly...
He wasn't even sure how she had gotten him to undress the first time, but the fact that there was no hesitance in her actions even when all his scars were in full view was enough for him to be swept up in her current. Only in the afterglow had he realized she had not reacted to his body in a negative way.
He kept everything covered, always. Not just because scarring like his was an easy identifier, but...
He had not been able to truly look himself in the mirror after... well, after.
He didn't like them. He hadn't thought he'd ever find anyone that wouldn't mind them, either. Not that he'd truly thought about settling down in any way.
Not until her.
Not until she looked at him, her eyes not straying from his face. Her hands trailing over every healed up wound, a soft look on her face.
“Scars are beautiful. They are beautiful because they mean you are alive. You are alive and stronger. They are your past, they are what have given you the present, and may just be what guarantees your future.” she explained, caressing every discolored part visible, before looking up into his eyes once more “Because if this didn't kill you, what possibly could?”
He'd fallen. Harder. And he kept quiet.
She often let more information... not slip, never slip, she knew exactly what she was doing, but she told him more than was agreed upon. More than the Revolutionary Army paid her for. And he had to think of it that way, rather than him paying her, otherwise he felt nauseous. Not that he thought any amount of money would make her think of sharing this intimacy with anyone. It still didn't sit right with him.
Besides, he had a suspicion that they were getting a fair discount for her services. He had no proof, but his instincts rarely lied. After all, information as accurate as hers was hard to come by... and rarely did it come cheap.
She was beautiful and she held some fondness for him. He knew that from that first time she'd tracked down Koala to save him from the cell he'd managed to blunder himself into.
The situation he found himself in now though... was a little worse than a simple cell.
He'd been hasty, he knew. He'd apparently been operating on sub-par information too. The building had had much more of a guard presence than he'd been led to believe. He'd already escaped the dungeon he'd been flung into, but he was already running ragged. It didn't help that he was wounded and had a twisted ankle. But he'd had to make a quick escape, lest he be present for his execution. And hadn't that been a fun revelation. As if the torture and interrogation expert hadn't been enough. He hadn't broken, though, so there was that.
He managed to hold out long enough to catch a glimpse of Hack before he passed out from the blood loss. He woke up on the ship on its way back to base, utterly confused but very relieved. He would, however, have liked an explanation for all the strange looks he kept getting.
The explanation came from their Leader when he entered the man's office for his report. After said report, the man sat there in silence for a moment, before speaking.
“What can only be assumed as the moment of our capture, I received a Den Den Call.” the man's eyes bored into Sabo's “From the Informant.”
Sabo choked on his inhale, causing him to cough.
Dragon-san raised an eyebrow as he stood up to look out the window “They ordered all units nearby you to go rescue 'my idiotic blond nightingale, yesterday' to quote them word for word. The Informant gave very exact instructions and your location by minute as you moved around.”
Sabo's eyes jumped from object to object as he slowly came to a conclusion no one else could possibly have come to yet. No one would know. No one but... her. His informant... The Informant.
It was her callsign for him. A specific melody from a song with that name in the lyrics. Well, at first it had been “Escapist”, but after they became... intimate...
She called him Nightingale. Sometimes, in the aftermath... her Nightingale.
Sure, the Informant could have found it out on their own... but he doubted they were a voyeur. And they definitely had no reason to want him alive so vehemently, not unless...
He then started to sweat as he realized he knew the Informant's true identity. Her face. Her voice. He knew her secret.
No one knows the Informant's identity.
He snapped his focus back to his boss as the man continued “You realize the magnitude of this, I trust? I don't know how you did it, but The Informant gave us your location free of charge.”
Sabo bit the inside of his lip, his thoughts still going in circles “... I... think I have an idea...” he admitted, letting nothing else escape from his mouth.
Dragon-san glanced at him, looking minimally impressed “Well, whatever it is, please continue.”
Sabo started sweating profusely, trying not to react to the unintentional command for him to continue sleeping with The Informant. Of course, the man had no idea that was what he'd said. And Sabo sure as hell was not going to tell him “Of course Dragon-san, in fact, why don't I get right on that.”
“See that you do.”
Sabo fled from the man's office, without actually looking like he was fleeing, of course, face red in mortification.
'I slept with the Informant! I know the Informant's identity! Will she kill me now that I know? How is this my life? Oh god, what do I do? Ohgodfuck I'm going to die!'
He could only hope the woman was feeling merciful...
but what a way to go...
no, bad Sabo! Be afraid of your almost certain death!
… he had problems and he had no idea if he could possibly solve them.
He didn't need to call her. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Or perhaps she had grown tired of waiting for him to get in contact and was instead waiting for him the moment he'd left HQ. Well, not literally, but he was given an envelope by a brown-haired man wearing white, who gave him the side-eye as he walked away. Ominous. Seeing the Informant's symbol on it... even more ominous. The card inside only had the name of the establishment on it, an inn, because of course it was, and a number. The room number to be exact. He wasn't even slightly surprised that she had somehow managed to get room 18. Because she was just not even trying to be subtle, now. Or perhaps he only noticed these things because he knew what he knew.
The inn was a little more upscale than their usual haunts, though he didn't exactly stand out, what with his hat, and people tended to ignore you if you acted like you belonged, so no one seemed to even notice the pipe.
Knock. Knock-knock-knock.
It wasn't as much of a code as an announcement, really. The pattern he'd knocked had just become a thing after one too many times of her humming the song in his presence, he wasn't quite sure why she did it or what the song even was. Mind you, he usually knocked a longer sequence but figured it would not do to keep the Queen of the Underworld waiting.
She was wearing a blue dress and he wasn't sure what that meant. It was a similar shade to his shirt, which he wasn't sure meant anything, but it was what he noticed first. Closing the door behind him, he stood there, waiting for her to acknowledge him.
She didn't.
Sabo sighed, scratching his neck “I suppose I should thank you for the rescue?”
She finally turned to look at him “I always thought you were too smart for your own good.”
Well, that sounded threatening. The COS started to sweat as he felt cold “What happens now?”
Please don't kill me...
She stood up, making her way over to him slowly, not meeting his eyes but looking him over. She started to fiddle with his cravat as she hummed “I, personally, don't wish to end this... but I suppose I cannot keep you if you do not wish to stay...” she mused, finally looking him in the eye.
The blond moved without thought, bringing his hands around her back, holding her close.
A devious smile played on her lips “Oh? Well then, we'll continue as we are, but now you know exactly what flame you are playing with... and I don't need to hide anything from you... but if you spread my name around you'll wish you had another sudden bout of memory loss.” she threatened.
Sabo shouldn't feel like this about being threatened... but he has always been reckless, he thinks as he kisses her.