Another work for Durarara Rarepair month! I wanted to try my hand at writing Tomzuo, and I'm always a sucker for Shinzaya, so this is what happened. Hahaha, Tom has pining down to an art in this... This is a canon divergent middle school au.
I apologize if anyone's out of character in this, but I did try my best dealing with both Tom and the situation!
Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara
(Be My Date)
Tom was hoping to ask Shizuo to the middle school dance coming up. Apparently the universe has other plans. Hopefully it will all work out in the end. Tomzuo, Shinzaya, implied Shinzuo Middle School AU, Canon Divergent
"Oh, I, uh, already asked someone." Tom isn't quite crushed at Shizuo's response when he asks his kouhai to the year three's fundraiser dance. A bit flabbergasted, yes, but he won't admit that he's crushed – even if he actually is. Surprised, truly, because – and this isn't to seem mean – he hadn't quite thought that someone would sincerely go with Shizuo.
"You did?" Tom tries his best to contain his surprise, and keep the hurt out of his voice. "Did they say yes?" It's not that he was looking forward to asking Shizuo and actually just maybe, maybe, going with Shizuo. No. It's just that… well, it doesn't matter. "Do I know them?"
"Y-Yeah," Shizuo hesitantly replies, "And, uh, no, you don't. He's a childhood friend of mine – well, more like annoyance, really. We went to the same Elementary school, but he transferred to Raira for Middle school."
"Is he nice?" Genuine curiosity, that's why he's asking. It's not jealousy, or anything else. He's not being protective over Shizuo or anything, he's just curious. Just curious.
"More of a pest, to be honest," His kouhai sighs, pressing Tom to continue asking:
"Then why are you taking him? I mean, because it seems you're not overly fond of him."
"He was complaining to me the other day about how we 'don't hang out enough', or something," Shizuo answered a bit exasperatedly, "Honestly I just asked him to get him to shut up, I didn't seriously expect him to say yes."
This. This makes something ease in Tom's chest, make him feel a bit better about the situation, but also makes him feel a bit worse. Shizuo should be going to the dance with someone who likes him, and who he really likes.
"Sorry," Tom offers for lack of anything better to say.
"Nah, it's fine," Shizuo rebuffed the apology. "I had it coming, honestly." He pauses, before adding hesitantly, "Hey, would you, um, want to meet him?"
That… wasn't something Tom was expecting.
"I mean," He continues, a bit nervously, "Shinra's been asking to meet you because he can't believe I have a friend here, and he's been wanting to show off this kid he met at Raijin. So I was wondering if you would want to meet him?"
And he agrees, because Shizuo asked sincerely, and Tom doesn't want to feel like an ass on top of everything else that he's felt today.
"So you're the famed Tom-senpai!" Kishitani Shinra is a little shorter than Shizuo, and has probably three times the self-confidence, at least. And, as Tom very quickly learns, not afraid to get on a first-name basis immediately. "Shizuo-kun talks about you non-stop, really!"
"Shinra," Shizuo groans, and not only is Tom surprised by the comment, but also the red decorating Shizuo's cheeks.
"Wow, does he?" Tom can't help a blush himself, because it is kind of embarrassing for Shizuo to seemingly hold him in such high regard.
"I do not," His kouhai very badly lies, before attempting to change the subject. "And where's this friend of yours, Shinra? Weren't you dragging him along?"
"Izaya bailed!" Shinra answers cheerfully, apparently not the slightest bit upset that his friend refused to come along with him. "Unsurprising, because he's allergic to most social encounters, after all. Especially when they're not orchestrated by him."
"Or you forgot to ask him," Shizuo bluntly accused Shinra.
"No, I did, I did!" Shinra insists, waving his hands frantically. "He told me he'd think about it, and then when I reminded him about it today, Izaya made up an excuse and refused to come with me!"
Shizuo looks like he's about to continue grilling the kid, and while Tom doesn't have a high opinion of Shinra at the moment, he can't let Shizuo actually hurt the kid.
"Come on Shizuo, let him be," Tom tells him. "Even if he is lying, it sounds like his friend is the one who actually didn't want to come."
"All right Tom-senpai," Shizuo backs off, and Tom pretends not to notice how Shinra is looking between the two of them like they're a curiosity.
Ten minutes later, as Tom's about to follow Shizuo into a sweets shop, Shinra stops him.
"So Tom-san," Shinra starts, a strange look on his face that admittedly makes the middle schooler slightly afraid of his younger, "You're not going to your school's dance with anyone, are you?" He says it with the utmost confidence that implies that he knows that Tom isn't going with anybody.
"No," Tom admits, because he's fairly certain Shinra would call him out if he tried to lie, before going on to do so anyways by saying, "I probably was just going to stay home that night."
Shinra laughs, "And leave Shizuo by himself? Well, I mean, he'll obviously be with me, but we both know there's a difference with being with a friend and someone you actually want to be with." There's a sly look on his face, and Tom knows that the other knows.
"So here's my offer," Shinra proposes before Tom can attempt to deny anything. "You take my friend Izaya to the dance with you, and I'll make sure you get to spend most of the dance with him."
God damnit, since when were second years this manipulative?
"Fine," Tom relents, not because he likes Shizuo how Shinra is implying but because can see why Shizuo thinks Shinra to be annoying, and he doesn't want Shizuo doing anything that he might regret. Yeah, that's why. Not because he likes Shizuo.
"Great!" Shinra beams victoriously, and Tom momentarily wonders what he just exactly agreed to.
Tom regrets agreeing to take Shinra's friend to the dance the moment he hears an unfamiliar voice shout through the door,
"I'm going to strangle you with this tie!"
Shizuo and Tom share a confused look, before Tom's hesitantly knocking on the door to the Kishitani residence, both slightly afraid for what's going to be waiting on the other side.
The door is opened by a slightly flustered woman dressed in all black with a yellow cat helmet. Tom doesn't recognize her, but Shizuo does, as he greets her politely with a, "Hey Celty. Is Shinra home?"
"Mercy, mercy! Celty, help me!" Shina wails in the background, Celty half-way through typing her response to Shizuo. Her shoulders droop and she nods tiredly as if she wants no part of what's going on.
[He's in the living room with Izaya,] She says instead of what she originally typed. [Can you guys separate them for me? I'm running late.]
Shizuo and Tom nod obediently, and Celty seems to brighten a little bit.
[Thanks,] And she does seem thankful. [Have fun at your dance!]
She holds the door for Tom and Shizuo to enter the residence, and then she's slipping out just as Shinra's shouting, "Ow, ow, that hurts!"
Both teens are skeptical of entering whatever scene awaits them in the living room, and Tom offers – both hopefully and in jest –, "We could always leave them – they probably don't even know we're here."
"We could," Shizuo surprisingly agrees, "But I'd never hear the end of it from Shinra if we did." He leads the way to the living room, Tom trailing behind thinking wistfully, well, I tried.
Upon entering the living room, they're greeted by the sight of a boy with black hair – most likely the elusive Izaya – holding Shinra in a chokehold. Shinra's ineffectively batting his fist on the other teen's arm, as if it will get him to release him. Both teens are red faced, Shinra more so than Izaya, presumably because his air supply is slowly being cut off. His glasses are askew on his face, his tie is crooked, and there's a second wayward tie dangling forlornly halfway off of the coffee table – most likely the one that was used in the earlier threat against Shinra.
"Shizuo-kun! Tom-san!" Shinra still manages to greet them merrily, despite the position they're in. Well, it's not a greeting, more of a plea for help, Tom thinks, especially when it's followed immediately by a wheezed, "Help me!"
"What'd you do to deserve this?" Shizuo asks instead, looking a bit bored with the scene, almost as if Shinra does things to deserve being put in a chokehold on a daily basis. Which, for all Tom knows, could be true.
Shinra gives a pathetic strangled noise in response as Izaya tightens his hold around the other's neck, and Tom sighs. Someone has to play the mature teen here, and apparently it's him.
"All right, all right, break it up you two," He adopts the most disinterested voice he can manage. "We're running on schedule here, and we don't want to be late to the dance."
They're actually not, and it doesn't matter if they are late to the dance or not, but Tom's hoping that if he imposes somewhat of a sense of urgency on the other two that it'll get them to break it up.
"I'm sorry," Izaya gives him what Tom immediately tells to be a fake smile, speaking with forced politeness. He doesn't release Shinra. "But I don't remember agreeing to going with anyone to any dance. Isn't that right Shinra?"
Tom picks up on what happened instantly and, with how Shizuo sighs at his side, his kouhai does as well.
"You're seriously telling me you didn't tell him about this until tonight?" Shizuo's voice is a mix of aggravation and disappointment, and Tom shares the sentiment.
"Right before you arrived, actually!" Izaya responds cheerily, tightening his grip around Shinra's neck, making him gasp for breath.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Shinra pleads.
Shizuo sighs, and looks over to Tom. For a moment, Tom thinks Shizuo is about to apologize to him for this, before he says,
"I'm sorry Tom-senpai," Which was what Tom was expecting, until he continues with, "You were right – we should have left these two idiots behind."
It lights a flare of hope in Tom's chest, and he's not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Why don't we?" He does his best to sound casual, like he's not really leaning towards one answer or another. "I mean, it does seem like these two have things they need to sort out. They know where the school is, don't they?"
"No," Shizuo shakes his head, an unreadable look on his face. For a second, Tom thinks that he's going to say they should wait for the two, but it turns into a grin that Tom loves and rarely gets to see. "Are you thinking –?"
He gets the message before Shizuo can finish the question, and he's two steps ahead of his kouhai in the race for the door.
"I'll beat you there!" Tom laughs, Shizuo right on his tail as he yells behind him,
"Sorry Shinra, next time!"
"Shizuo, wait, no! Don't leave me here!" Shinra wails in the background, halfway covered by the sound of the front door slamming shut.
They're laughing as they're racing down the stairs, and Tom thinks that Shizuo will have a better time at the dance with him, rather dealing with the fallout of that clusterfuck they left upstairs.
Extra:
As soon as the front door slams shut, Izaya releases Shinra from his chokehold, and flops backwards onto the couch.
"I can't believe a plan of yours actually worked," He says, staring at the ceiling.
"I know, right?" Shinra beams, before he fully processes what exactly Izaya had said. "Wait a minute, that was a backhanded compliment, wasn't it?"
"You're the weirdest wingman ever," Izaya deflects instead, "Seriously. Why didn't you tell Shizuo-san no in the first place if his senpai wanted to go to the dance with him?"
"Ah, that was then and this is now!" Shinra deflects as well, which Izaya interprets as a case of 'I didn't know they liked each other when I was asked and had to do something after I discovered that was the case'. "Who cares about why I said yes, who cares why I made it so Shizuo-kun would ditch me?"
"I care," Izaya replies, "Especially because it was me who made your friends ditch us, not you."
"Semantics, semantics!" Shinra waves Izaya's words off, leaning over the arm rest to peer down at his friend's face.
"Whatever," Izaya rolls his eyes. "We have your apartment to ourselves now, what do you want to do?"
"Hmm," Shinra appears to be thinking, but Izaya knows it's an act from the glint in his eyes. "Well, Celty won't be home for a few hours, and Dad's staying overnight at the lab." There's a wicked smile on his lips as he leans closer to Izaya. "I can always try to take your breath away like you did mine earlier."
"God, that is such a terrible pickup line," Izaya complains, but doesn't move away as Shinra puts his lips on Izaya's.
Yeah, it was a great idea ditching that dumb dance of Shinra's friends.
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