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Every person in the world is born with a pair of wings on their back, but not everyone is born with the ability to use them. Most people are though, so the world is designed for people to walk on the ground and soar through the skies. But for those unlucky few, all they have is the ground, their wings flapping uselessly behind them. Some people’s bodies are just too bulky and their wings too small, while others are just never able to get a hang of the motions necessary for flight.
And some people, people like Heiwajima Shizuo, are just born with wings that are too weak to lift them into the air.
He’d seen many doctors about the issue, and they always told him that his wings were the perfect size for his frame, the bones in them were just too weak to actually lift him skywards. He considered purposely breaking his wings. That way, they’d heal and be stronger, just like the rest of his bones did. But Shizuo had never intentionally broken one of his own bones before. He hated violence, even the idea of committing against himself. And his wings were so beautiful, even if they were useless. He couldn’t bring himself to damage them. He tried other ways to make them stronger; flapping them for exercise, stretching them using wing-yoga techniques, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t get them to carry him through the sky. His body grew stronger and stronger over the years, but his wings never caught up with the rest of him. By the time he was in high school, he could send a grown man flying with a single punch.
But he couldn’t send himself flying no matter how hard he tried.
His wings just lay limply behind his back, pretty and useless. They were large, pure white, almost angelic looking things. They were nothing more than a decoration. It was something he tried to keep hidden. He told anyone brave enough to be nosey that he just didn’t like to fly. He couldn’t risk someone like that damn flea finding out. Though, surprisingly, Izaya had never asked him about his wings or tried to taunt him into flying either. The flea was a flea through and through. He liked his jumping, his running, so he’d never taken flight during one of their chases before, not in the literal sense at least. If he did, it would be disastrous. So Shizuo couldn’t risk him discovering his disability and then flying out of his reach.
He couldn’t risk Izaya taking flight and leaving him behind.
So he kept the issue to himself. Only his mom and brother and the doctors knew. He didn’t tell his teachers or even Tom-san. And when anyone was stupid enough to ask why he never took flight, all he had to do was growl at them to get them to leave the topic alone.
To get them to leave him alone.
Shrina was different though. Out of the few friends Shizuo had managed to make, Shinra was the most annoying. He was the most observant, and he was the most persistent. He’d known Shizuo since they were seven years old. And sure, they’d lost contact during middle school, but Shinra’s curiosity hadn’t dimmed during that time. He always wanted to know more about Shizuo’s quirks, about his strength, about the large, white wings that he never unfurled.
And Shinra wasn’t afraid to keep asking.
So finally, in their final year of high school, Shizuo got tired of being pestered about it. He told him.
“So you really can’t fly? Not at all?”
“Not at all,” Shizuo repeated through gritted teeth. Shinra’s tone was too curious, was too annoying, and was far too lacking in sympathy. But he should have known it would be like that. Shinra was always like that.
“Well, that’s no big deal.” Shinra shrugged. “You can just get a wing-brace. Then you’d be able to fly.”
Shizuo had heard of wing-braces before. The doctors had been mentioning them since he was little. But his mother was a single parent, working a single job. A wing-brace wasn’t something that Shizuo could afford, at least, not at the moment. The metal used to make them were light weight and expensive. Plus, they weren’t something you could just buy at a store. Each brace needed to be custom fit to a person’s unique wing type and size, to a person’s specific handicap. Things like that cost an arm and a leg. Shizuo couldn’t trade the use of his functional limbs just for the sudden function of others.
But sitting on the school roof, staring up at the cloudless, blue sky, he really wished he could.
“You know, I could make you a wing-brace,,” Shinra said, his words barely audible around a large bite of his sandwich. “My dad makes braces for people all the time. I’ve watched him do it and it doesn’t look that hard.”
Shizuo turned to glare at him only for the words to suddenly register.
“You could make me a wing-brace?” Shizuo asked, not daring to hope.
“Pretty sure I could,” Shinra said with another shrug. “It’d probably take me a month or so, but I bet if we did the measurements today, I could have it done by summer break.”
Shizuo hadn’t believed it. It sounded too good to be true. But he’d let Shinra measure his wingspan. He’d let the little creep run his fingers all over Shizuo’s primaries and his wing bones. And then he’d waited, and sure enough, the first day of summer break had come with a clear sky and a flash of silver.
Shizuo stood alone on the roof of Shinra’s apartment, a slim metal structure attached to his wings. Shinra had taken five hours to install them, and he’d talked so much during the process that Shizuo had nearly called the whole thing off by punching him through a wall. But he’d managed to hold his temper, to be patient. Listening to Shinra talk for hours was worth it if it meant Shizuo would actually be able to fly.
Finally be able to fly.
The brace was secured under his armpits and looped over his shoulders, extending down and flaring out over each wing. It was thin and sharp, but it didn’t dig into his skin or feathers uncomfortably. It laid on the underside of his wing bones almost like a whisper, with little metal tendrils reaching out to press between each of his feathers. He could move his wings without even feeling them, and when he’d looked in the mirror of Shinra’s bathroom, they were hardly visible either. Just a flash of metal here and there through the gaps of pure white. It looked cool, but he’d refused to admit that to Shinra.
They’d planned to go to a park to test them out, to fly Shizuo around like a kite, Shinra had said. But Celty had met them at the door as they went to leave, and all of Shinra’s attention had been immediately stolen. With a cheerful “Good luck, Shizuo!” the door to the apartment had been shut, leaving Shizuo to stand alone in the hall.
And then he climbed the stairs alone to the roof.
It was one of those buildings that didn’t technically have roof access, but Shizuo could open any door, even those with a lock. Since people weren’t meant to be up there, the building's edges had no fence. He could stand right on the side and look out at the city below.
At the sky above.
Shinra said the braces would work. He was sure they would. He had assured Shizuo that he would be able to fly as long as he had the wing-brace on to support him, but how could he be sure that was the case? Should he just start flapping his wings? Should he actually jump for it and hope for the best?
Before he could make a decision, something large and warmed slammed into his back, right between his fully-extended wings. Shizuo topped forwards, his arms wheeling as he fell straight off the roof. Ice filled his veins and his stomach dropped along with him as he stared down at the fast-approaching ground. His wings flared out from the force of the fall, which slowed his descent, but only by a little. The street below was still growing closer and closer. It was so terrifying, he didn’t even think to try and flap his wings. After all, that motion had never helped him before.
“Fly, Shizu-chan, fly!” a familiar voice laughed, the sound soaring above him and then to the side. Shizuo managed to pull his eyes away from the ground and saw Izaya, falling directly beside him, with a grin on his face and the smallest wings Shizuo had ever seen extended above him.
This was the first time he’d ever seen Izaya’s wings.
Shizuo tensed his muscles and pressed downwards with his own wings, smacking them against Izaya and causing the flea to laugh even harder as he rolled away in the air. Shizuo flapped again, and this time he rose upwards a little, the terror in his stomach lessening as the ground grew further away. He flapped again, again, again, and soon he was soaring upwards, his great, white wings finally supporting him like they were always supposed to.
The braces worked!
He was actually flying!
Shizuo moved through the air, swooping through the very sky he’d always looked at with longing. The ground was now far below, his feet touched nothing but the clouds. Even the top of Shinra’s building was nowhere near him now. It was just him and the sky.
And the damn flea who’d pushed him into it.
Now that his terror was gone, and he’d had a moment to take in the wonder of it all, Shizuo felt familiar anger returning. He used it to flap his wings harder, to rocket over to where Izaya was flying in circles above him, taunting him like this was the best game the two of them had ever played.
It might be.
Izaya saw him coming and stopped his circling, flying away at top speed. Even in the air his body moved like it was taunting him, like every twist and turn that he made was an invitation for Shizuo to give chase.
So he did.
Shizuo flew after Izaya, chasing him through the sky and letting his wings truly stretch for the very first time. Izaya was just as fast in the air as he was on land; maybe even faster. His wings fluttered at an insane speed, giving him an even more bug-like appearance than his jumping usually did. Something about the movement was beautiful though. Not that Shizuo would tell the damn flea that.
Not ever.
They flew around in circles for what felt like hours, and it was a high like nothing Shizuo had ever experienced. Literally. But while the braces gave Shizuo’s wings the strength to fly, they didn't make his unused muscles any less sore from the activity. Eventually, with the sky growing darker, he was forced to land back on the roof of Shinra’s apartment, his wings drooping behind him. But for once they weren’t drooping out of despair, but out of exhaustion. The burn of it was something else that Shizuo had always longed for.
Izaya landed beside him with a graceful thump, hitting Shizuo in the side with one tiny wing tip before he danced gracefully out of reach. Shizuo didn’t chase him though. He was too tired.
He was too elated.
“Why’d you push me off the damn building, flea?” Shizuo growled. He might be tired, he might be happy, but he was still pissed off. That’s always how his emotions were around Izaya. “You were behind me. You saw the brace. You would have killed me if it didn’t work.”
“Would it be so strange if I tried to kill you?” Izaya teased, but there wasn't as much venom in his voice as usual. Instead, it was filled with a strange warmth. “Regardless, I knew I wouldn’t. Shinra made that brace for you, and I know for a fact that his wing-braces work.”
“How could you be so sure?” Shizuo asked, his eyes narrowed.
“Because he made mine too,” Izaya said, turning his back on Shizuo and fluttering those tiny wings once more. The motion wasn’t for flight though, instead it was to show them off. To show off the metal structure that was hidden amongst the feathers and then extended out from them. Izaya’s wings were almost the exact opposite of Shizuo’s. While Shizuo’s wings were wide and pure white with full, large feathers, Izaya’s were small and black and crooked looking. They hardly extended to his elbows, and they bent downwards in an almost unnatural fashion. The tiny feathers were black and grey, and they had an almost tattered appearance to them. They looked nearly useless.
Which was probably why Izaya had a brace on them as well.
His brace was also different from Shizuo’s. Instead of supporting the feathers and bones to give them extra strength, Izaya’s brace extended out past the length of his wings, adding additional length and extra metal feathers to his wingspan. His wings were still short, even with the brace, but it was obviously enough for him to be able to fly. And if Shinra had been able to give flight to a set of wings like Izaya’s, it was no wonder the flea had been certain that Shizuo’s own brace would work.
“We’ll be able to take our chases into the air all the time now,” Izaya said, spinning around to grin at the shocked look on Shizuo’s face. “We’ll be able to take them to a whole new level. I hope you’re prepared for that, Shizu-chan.”
“Stop calling me Shizu-chan,” Shizuo growled, stepping towards Izaya with his wings flared threateningly, something he never would have done before. Izaya’s gaze wracked over the wings, his lips curling into a strangely soft expression as his own, tiny wings extended, fluttering with excitement.
“If you want me to stop, you’ll have to catch me first, Shizu-chan.” With that, Izaya jumped off the building once more, soaring upwards as the last rays of the setting sun reflected off the metal extending from his wings.
And Shizuo, unable to resist the challenge, unable to resist the urge to fly once more, and unable to resist Izaya, jumped after him.