Work Text:
You never plan to get caught during a heist, but when you were robbing some of the biggest mob bosses in the world, it was definitely a higher possibility. Lupin and Jigen were now cornered on the edge of a cliff overhanging the large lake that surrounded the building, hands held up in defense as a line of armed thugs blocked any kind of path they had back to safety.
“Lupin!” A blond man, maybe late 40s, stepped out from the line with a bright smile. “Thank you for the card, I would’ve never known to set up a surprise party for you.”
Jigen grumbled, no doubt wishing he could reach for his gun, but Lupin kept up a smile. “Well, I’m glad you appreciated it.” The gentleman thief smiles. “Though, I’m not too sure I like this party at all. There aren’t nearly enough girls.”
“I have a proposition for you, Lupin.” The man stated, ignoring the joke. “There’s something I need acquired for my … business, and I’m afraid I’m too terribly busy to get it myself.”
“Why don’t you send one of these guys to do it?” Jigen asked, shifting his weight. “Looks like you have a surplus.”
“Well, you see, they’re all very good at shooting, but none of them thrive in the realm of stealth, but that’s where you two come in.” He smiled. “If you agree to steal what I want, I’ll let you live.”
“That’s the reward? Sounds kind of boring.” Lupin hummed, unamused.
“I can always kill you now.”
“Lupin –“ Jigen started.
“Or I can kill your friend for motivation.” Stated the blond man. That caused both Lupin and Jigen to snap their jaws shut. The man smiled wickedly, giggling as if he had won some kind of game. “Well? Clock’s ticking.” He said in a sing song voice.
Lupin’s eyes darted this way and that, trying to stitch together some kind of plan, but there wasn’t much there to work with. Think, think, think. What could he do here?
“Perhaps I shall ask that Mine women instead. This is taking too long. You –“ He turned to the thug beside him. “Kill him.”
“Wait!” Lupin stuck out his hands in front of him as the thug pulled the trigger.
“LUPIN!” The shot rang off, and suddenly Jigen’s hand collided hard with his shoulder, pushing him enough out of the way to miss the bullet by inches. The bullet sliced through the top of Jigen’s hand, making him rear back with a shout of pain.
Lupin could only watch as Jigen stumbled back one step, two steps, and then have his foot go completely off the cliff with momentum he couldn’t stop. Jigen’s eyes peaked out from below his hat just enough for Lupin to see shock and fear mixed into his eyes as he fell backwards. He tried to reach out, but missed by mere inches as his friend suddenly went tumbling down the ledge. Lupin fell to his stomach, his hand still outstretched as if he could still catch Jigen. He watched as the man got smaller, collided against the side of the cliff, and crashed into the water below.
“Jigen!” Lupin yelled down the cliff. He watched the water with wide eyes, hoping to catch some glimpse that the gunman was coming back up. There were only ripples in the water, and the sickly sight of his hat bobbing up to the surface. Lupin almost immediately jumped in after his friend, but a sight stopped him in his tracks. There, far below and hardly the size of his finger from this height, were two figures.
One of them was shrugging off a large, tan coat and shoving it into the hands of his companion. Then he took off his hat and did the same. It took a moment, but those big gestures and muffled yelling told Lupin that it was Zenigata, so the man next to him must’ve been Yata. He didn’t even know the two were here. No doubt looking for them. Not even a second passed after Zenigata shouted one last order to the younger man before he took a running start and dived into the lake. Lupin saw him swim out to the place where Jigen’s hat was and dive down under the depths.
“Well.” Came a voice behind him. The thief stood up and turned his attention back up to the men before him. Guns still trained on his person. The blond man still smiled with a wicked kind of grin. “Lupin, you have two choices. You can either come with us and take up our offer, or you can join your friend.”
Lupin placed a hand on his chin. “Mmmhh. Let me think. Neither seems entirely ideal.” Then he placed his arms to the side a big, gestural shrug. “I guess this one is a no-brainer, right?” He smiled that big, cheeky smile at the men. In a sharp movement, he twisted his wristwatch, sending out a blinding flash of light. He quickly turned on his heel, leaping off the cliff as shouts of shock and pain erupted behind him.
The thief tucked in his arms across his chest and pulled his legs together, bracing himself for the impact below. It didn’t hurt too badly, but the sound of water rushing passed his ears was never a sound he enjoyed (unless it was rain). He broke the surface with a gasp, looking all around. There was no Yata back at the rocks, there was no Pops, and, most importantly, there was no Jigen. There was only a fedora bobbing softly above the water. Lupin quickly made his way over and grabbed it.
Had Zenigata gotten Jigen out while he was making a showy escape? If so, it was pretty rude of him to leave the hat behind.
Lupin didn’t have to wait long for the answer to his question, as a mere second later someone burst through the surface of the water. He turned towards the labored breathing and saw Zenigata. The sight that made his stomach drop was what he was holding under his elbow. It was Jigen. Limp, unmoving, and his black hair so drenched he looked like a drowned rat.
Drowned. Best think of a better word to keep his spirits up.
“Pops!” Lupin called, waving a hand in the air and giving off the best smile he could without looking too worried.
“Lupin?!” Zenigata’s concern expression changed to shock as he laid eyes on the other. “What are you -- !? Nevermind, we gotta get to the bank!”
Normally, Lupin would’ve made a joke about ‘Oh, which bank? Which one has the most money?’ but he’d save it for another time. He nodded instead, paddling ahead of Zenigata towards the lakeside. He got there first, cursing to himself that his red jacket was probably water damaged beyond saving.
Zenigata had made it a moment later, standing up and grunting as he dragged Jigen’s body up the bank. Lupin winced at the sickening thud as the gunman slipped from his fingers and fell onto the gravel. The inspector wasted no time in getting to his knees beside Jigen, and Lupin realized he was still holding his hat, so he quickly followed suit on Jigen’s other side.
As Zenigata busied himself with frantic movements, Lupin held his friend’s hat up.
“Hey – hey, Jigen.” He said with a cheeky (and very forced) smile, leaning slightly over the other. “Look, I got your hat. Pops didn’t seem to think it was very important, but I know how much you love this thing. See? I got it. It’s – it’s gonna be okay.” The last words caused his voice to shake.
Lupin had seen his friends after lost fights and in return they had seen him after lost fights too. They’d be asleep for days on end, passed out on a hideout couch or on a throwaway mattress. Injury was not something they were strangers to. But something was … wrong this time. Whenever Jigen got hurt, he was always scrunched up. His face was always twisted in some kind of pain, or annoyance, or discomfort. Even if he was hurt, Lupin still knew his friend was okay.
This was different.
Jigen wasn’t curled up, he was flat on his back with his hands sprawled to his sides palms up. His knee wasn’t doing a nervous up and down motion like it always was, it was still. The thing that worried Lupin the most was Jigen’s face. There was no crease in his brow, no gritting of his teeth, his eyes weren’t squeezed shut.
His face was so slack, so … devoid of any kind of emotion or movement. He didn’t even look like he was sleeping. He didn’t even look like Jigen.
“Jigen?” Lupin whimpered the word out as he earned no response from his friend.
Zenigata had been doing things he didn’t notice while he was looking at his partner. The old man now had Jigen’s wrist pinched between his fingers, after a huff he moved to place his head over the gunman’s chest. Lupin didn’t know why he was doing this. Of course, he knew why he was doing the actions, but he had no idea why he was trying to help. After a few long seconds, Zenitgata placed his fist under Jigen’s nose.
“Okay, okay.” The inspector drew back, not pausing before he placed his two hands on Jigen’s lower chest, one curled into a tight fist.
“Okay, okay?” Lupin repeated, clutching his friend’s hat close to his heart as he watched Zenigata get to work. One, two, three times he pressed down on the man’s chest before returning his ear close Jigen’s mouth. Then he returned to his chest, repeating the act.
Lupin felt like hitting himself on the forehead. Of course. That should’ve been his first thought. But it’s not like they had too many run ins with water. Well, they did, but it never got to be this bad. Quietly and nervously, Lupin watched Pops repeat the task of pressing his hands down on Jigen’s frail frame before checking if he was breathing. Soon, the inspector’s actions grew more irritated, more violent, or for lack of a better word, more desperate.
Lupin sank back, looking down at Jigen’s hat with wide, unbelieving eyes. To think his friend, the greatest shot in the world, would go out like this; waterlogged, instead of some grand blaze of glory. There was no way this was happening. They didn’t come all this way for Jigen to die in a lake.
“I’m gonna kill them. I’m gonna kill every last one of them – “ Lupin wrist was grabbed as he tried to stand. Zenigata was looking at him with stern eyes. Eyes that told him ‘No. You’re needed here. Your friend needs you here.’ The anger he felt bubbling inside of him burned behind his eyes and came tumbling out as tears.
“Jigen … Jigen!” Lupin lurched forward, possibly getting in Zenigata’s way as he resumed, but he didn’t care. He grabbed both sides of Jigen’s limp face with his hands, the hat now discarded on the pebbles. “Jigen! C’mon! Please, please!” He shouted; his voice raw with the wave of emotion that suddenly washed over him. He felt like he was drowning alongside his friend. “You can’t do this. I can’t do this without you!” He’d never seen Jigen’s face so limp before. He looked so relaxed, so calm and peaceful and Lupin hated it. “I can’t, I can’t. Jigen! Please! You’re my best friend! Please don’t leave me alone!”
Not after everything they’d been through together. Why did this have to be the moment that took his best friend away from him? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t okay. His mind suddenly thought of what he was going to do without Jigen by his side. There would be no calm nights in between jobs. No exciting car chases with smiles plastered onto their faces. No more card games. No more bouts of laughter that left them wheezing and clutching their stomachs. No more shared cigarettes. No more silly banters. No more sleeping close together in the fiat. No more stopping in the middle of their journey to just take in the scenery of a grassy field, or a sunset, or the stars as they glittered over the ocean. No more of Jigen’s cooking. No more Jigen.
“No, no, no! I know you can hear me!” Lupin was now shouting at the unresponsive man. “Wake up, Jigen!” At some point, Zenigata must have pulled away, because there were no hands on Jigen’s chest when he looked. “Jigen, WAKE UP!” With all the anger, sorrow, and strength he could muster, Lupin iii slammed his fists into his friend’s chest.
And Jigen immediately lurched forward and started coughing.
It was a nasty, horrible, unsettling kind of cough, but right now it was the best sound Lupin had ever heard. Zenigata reached over, grabbing the material of Jigen’s sleeve and pulled him onto his side towards him. Lupin took that as his queue to pat Jigen’s back as coaxingly and as firmly as he could.
Jigen coughed up what must’ve been a barrel’s worth of lake water onto the gravel next to the inspector. His hands clutched tightly to the ground, so Lupin reached over to hold one, hoping it would give his friend any kind of comfort as he almost hacked up a lung. But Lupin couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the twisted-up expression on his friend’s face. After minutes of coughing up most of the water out of his lungs, Jigen began to gasp. Greedily welcoming the cool night’s air into his lungs as quickly as he could.
“Hey, hey. Not so fast.” Lupin said, leaning down. “You’ll hyperventilate. Just try slowly. In … out.” He instructed, watching his friend take wheezing breathes inwards and outwards. He stopped a few times as the air got stuck in his throat, causing him to cough again, but he slowly got his breathing to a slow enough pace.
It was then, finally, that Jigen opened his eyes. Lupin shifted so that Jigen was once again on his back, he didn’t want the first thing his friend saw be lake water and vomit mixed together. As Jigen’s eyes flickered open, Lupin gave a great big smile.
“L – Lupin.” Jigen’s barely whispered out. His voice sounded more rough than normal.
“Hey, Jigen.” Lupin held his head with his hand, sitting him up a bit. The thief ran a sleeve under his eyes. God. He cried in front of Pops, that was embarrassing. “I – I got your hat.” And with shaking hands, he placed it on top of Jigen’s head.
“You’re … okay.”
“You’re glad I’m okay? Oh, God, Jigen. You should look at yourself. You look like a – haha! You look like a drowned rat! Hehehe!” Lupin began to giggle, his shoulders going up and down with his laughter, then they started to shake, and he once again felt the wave crash over him. The giggles turned to hiccups, and Lupin pressed his face into the soaked material of Jigen’s blue shirt to muffle his cries.
He felt a hand limply find its way to his back, rubbing up and down in some attempt at comfort. This wasn’t right. Jigen had almost drowned and he was trying to comfort him while he sobbed like a baby.
Lupin didn’t look up until there was a shift beside them. Zenigata had risen to his feet, looking down at the two with thought lining his brow. The old man took a very deep breath before giving a sigh of defeat. He looked tired. Lupin realized that Zenigata must’ve been having the same thoughts as him, given, of course, a much smaller scale. He had saved Jigen; dived into the darkness without so much as a second thought and dragged him onto the lake’s beach. Jigen was a criminal, someone Zenigata hunted for a living, and he still saved him out of the kindness of his heart.
Lupin sniffed, pulling Jigen’s head close to his chest and whispered “Thank you.”
“Yeah, well. You two have had a rough night. I’m gonna walk to the edge of this beach and signal for Yata. Whether you’re here or not when I get back is up to you. Plus, I think I have enough evidence to put those guys away for a long time.” Without another word, Zenigata stepped around the duo and went back towards the city.
Lupin gulped. It wasn’t often Pops let them go Scott free. Of course, this situation definitely didn’t feel like a Scott free time. Lupin looked down at his friend, still soaked and now shivering. The thief dug into his pocket, getting out a small tool that was thankfully still flashing red. He pressed the button in the middle and began to talk.
“Goemon –” He cleared his throat after a very embarrassing voice crack. “Goemon, we’re backing out.”
“Did something happen?” Came the slightly confused voice of the samurai.
“Yeah, yeah, Jigen got hurt. He’s okay, but we’re getting back to the hideout.”
There was a pause before “Very well. I will meet you two there.”
Lupin tucked the device back in his pocket as Jigen coughed under him. He held his face with his hand, looking him over. “Hey, I’m gonna pick you up, okay? We’re gonna go back home. You don’t have to talk, but try to stay with me.”
Jigen coughed a few more times, but nodded, leaning his head into the material of Lupin’s red jacket.
Lupin picked him up bridal style and quickly dashed his way back to where the fiat was hiding. He didn’t know how he would place Jigen in the car, but he’d figure it out once he was there. There was shifting within his arms, he looked down to see Jigen staring up at him with heavy eyes and a big goofy smile on his face. He almost looked drunk.
“I’m your … best friend?” Jigen asked with a shallow voice.
Lupin’s running slowed as they neared the car. So, he had heard that. Had he heard everything he said while he was sobbing? Normally, Lupin would say something cheeky like ‘don’t let it go to your head’, but he smiled softly down at the other.
“You bet.”