Shizuo would often switch between feelings of normalcy and surrealism. His eyes slid to the side where Shizuko was sitting beside him on the park bench, casually swinging her legs back and forth above the ground. Her hair was in pig tails and she wore a denim jumper with blue and white sneakers. At the moment, her attention was mostly aimed at the bag of sweets Shizuo had bought for her. She would savor the flavors one at a time as she surveyed the passing people with eyes not devoid of interest. Izaya's daughter after all-but of course his as well; that was made obvious by not only her strength but her sweet tooth too.

It was just the two of them for the day, Izaya saying he had some business to attend to. Shizuo frowned because he knew all too well what that meant. He and Izaya had gotten into quite a few arguments already over his continued work as an information broker. While the flea insisted he had cut back significantly on his work, Shizuo countered that any involvement at all with the kind of people requiring his services could put both Izaya and Shizuko in danger.

Izaya didn't listen, he never listened. And because he didn't Shizuo had received a phone call a few months back that had almost made his heart stop. Celty had found Izaya with more blood pooling around him in an alley than flowing through his body. She took him straight to Shinra who in turn called Shizuo between frantic attempts to staunch Izaya's bleeding. By a stroke of luck, for which Shizuo would forever be thankful, he was a match and could donate blood to the frail, more dead than alive, stupidly stubborn love of his life.

He remembered wanting to be pissed when Izaya finally woke up; pissed because he hadn't listened, because Shizuko had cried when he hadn't come home that night, because, for one terrifying moment, he thought he had lost him forever. But as soon as those lids fluttered back to reveal tired ruby eyes, eyes that looked at Shizuo with a pain and apologetic guilt which Shizuo heard louder than if Izaya had actually said the words, as soon as he remembered every bruised and cut bit of porcelain skin which hurt him as much as if it was his own, he felt all the anger drain out of him. He was only able to gently hold the flea's hand and press their foreheads together in silence.

But the flea had gone right back to work as soon as the broken bones in his leg had healed enough to move without limping too much. Shizuo watched him continue to flirt with death both incredulous and infuriated-

"Daddy are you okay?" Blinking, Shizuo turned to Shizuko who watched him with curiously concerned eyes. He smiled-not very convincingly if Shizuko's increasing pout was anything to go by-and petted her head.

"Of course."

"No you're not, your temple's doing that thing again." Her tiny finger pointed to the side of Shizuo's face where he had passively recognized a familiar throbbing sensation.

"Ah, that. I'm just thinking about something."

Intuition like her mother. "About Mommy?" Before he could mumble some form of excuse which Shizuko would see through anyway, they were interrupted by a familiar baritone.

"Yo, Shizuo!" Shizuo turned to see Kadota approaching him, one hand deep in his pocket and the other raised in greeting.

He wasn't able to do more than open his mouth before another familiar voice broke in, "Shizu-Shizu! Is that Shizu-Shizu?! Where's Iza-Iza?!" Erica bounded excitedly in front of Kadota, Walker close behind with Togusa. Noticing the flea's absence, Erica visibly deflated. "You're not on a date with Iza-Iza? I thought for sure-"

"Who's this?" Kadota nodded to Shizuko and smiled. "She kinda looks like you. Like she could be your kid."

Shizuo's phone rang so his response came out as a distracted, "She is my kid," while he pulled his phone from his pocket. Kadota's faltered reaction of shocked disbelief and Erica's squeak of interest were ignored as soon as he read the word-the name-on the screen. Quickly but carefully, he plucked Shizuko from the bench and placed her standing in front of the four. Shizuko looked at him curiously.

"Go ahead and introduce yourself, I'll be right over here." He watched her long enough to see her nod and hear her say, 'I'm Shizuko Heiwajima. It's nice to meet you," before he swiped right, picking up the call.

"Ne, Shizu-Chan~! What took you so long to answer the phone?!" Before he could say anything, a feigned gasp of hurt met his ears. "You're cheating on me, aren't you?!"

The throbbing in his head came back with a vengeance. "Asshole. You know damn well I'm not."

Thoughtful humming from the other side. "Well maybe the excitement of an extramarital affair was too much for your protozoal brain to resist."

"Izaya." He warned. Shizuo knew he was teasing but there were some things he didn't want to hear his husband say. Izaya's answering laugh calmed him down-fucking oddly enough. "Where are you right now?"

"Ne~? Does Shizu-Chan want me to tell him that I'm naked in the bath waiting for him to-"

"Shut Up Already!" Shizuo yelled in protest though he knew (based on the burning in his cheeks) that Izaya had successfully achieved his goal of making him flustered. But it wasn't Shizuo's fault if Izaya was needlessly sexy and knew exactly how to use it against him.

"You're no fun~" A sigh. "I'm at home."

"Okay. Shizuko and I will head back now then-"

"Ooo pick me up some ootoro for dinner! 'Kay? Love you!" And the line went dead, making Shizuo's brow twitch. Though, his stomach flipped as well. Stupid flea. He smiled despite himself.

He walked over to Shizuko who seemed to be calmly fielding the barrage of questions posed by an increasingly incredulous Kadota, an Erica who seemed to be two mental images away from a nosebleed, and the comparatively calmer Walker and Togusa who were still no less intrigued.

"Ne, could it be that we're all just in a MMORPG and Shizuko-Chan's actually a computer program designed to help us mentally deal with the fact that we're all just stuck in a game-!"

"No way Walkerichi! Shizuko's obviously the ultimate yaoi miracle! She's-" Now was a good time to interrupt.

"Shizuko." Bright red eyes immediately turned to him. "We're gonna go back now." She ran up to him, bag of candy in hand.

"Mommy's home!" Not even a question. Shizuo nodded and knelt so that Shizuko could climb nimbly onto his shoulders.

"We have to make a stop for dinner, though." He informed, smiling as he stood and gently holding the tiny shins on his shoulders so that she wouldn't fall-a completely unnecessary precaution; she had Izaya's balance and reflexes too.

"Okay!"

Kadota was still in a state of disbelief when Shizuo said, "See ya," to the group before heading toward the park exit, Shizuko issuing individual goodbyes from his shoulders.

They had only gone a block when Shizuko piped up again.

"Ah, we probably shouldn't tell Mommy I ate all that candy, right?" Shizuo could picture the look of serious contemplation on that beautifully chubby face.

"I won't tell if you don't." A tiny finger was lowered down to him in presentation.

"Pinky swear?" His heart seemed to swell and, for a moment, he couldn't breathe-like when he would go through a pack a day before swearing off them for good because there were two lives now on which his own depended-

Linking his finger with Shizuko's, grinning so hard it almost hurt, he gave the ritualistic response, "Pinky swear."

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Hello once again everyone. As promised, here is the first one-shot companion to Goodbye is a Second Chance. Surely not exactly the honeymoon phase for these two. Ne, but when have they ever done things according to any kind of established linearity? All thanks to Novoux who I sincerely hope comes back soon. (The withdrawal is killer, ne). Thank you for reading.