A/N: These stories are also over on my Tumblr. I just thought I'd post them here as well in a single story. Anyway, this is a collection of stories about those thirty days that Darius and Liam spend together at Tanz Industries while the 160 are in the Ark bunker.
Day One
Day one is hard. Even when it's clear that the nukes aren't coming, day one is hard.
They both have work to do. There is an asteroid coming and they've only just figured out how to solve the iron core problem. Implementing the solution will take time, but neither is able to focus much.
Liam can only think of Jillian, the anger and heartbreak on her face as he pulled away. He misses her but doesn't regret leaving for one second and not just because of the iron core problem. The thought of Darius alone, maybe dying alone in an invisible hail of radiation, had plagued him from the moment the President's speech was interrupted.
Darius thinks of Grace and regrets having fallen in love, having finally admitted to himself that he wants her more than anything else. For the past decade and a half, such love was the single thing he'd denied to himself out of fear of knowingly passing on his genes to a child. He forwent family and real love in favor of making the world better for others, for their children.
Perhaps even more, Darius regrets the glee, the comfort he took in seeing Liam flying down the hallway. Darius is accustomed to solitude, but in the past several weeks he has grown comfortable with, familiar with the younger man's company, his sarcasm, his energy. It makes the stresses and headaches bearable, but he knows his delight has come at the separation of Liam and Jillian. For that, he can never forgive himself.
But, both of them know above everything else, they are Earth's last best chance for survival. Those on the ARK are humanity's, but if there is a chance at saving Earth, it is them. Batman and Robin, defeating evil and saving the world but not today, because where is the fun in that?