Title: A Baser State of Nature
Author: Neko-chan
Fandom: Durarara!
Rating: T, eventual M [placed at "M" from the start – see Warnings]
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya; Izaya/Shizuo
Disclaimer: Not mine~ I just like kidnapping the characters on a temporary basis.
Summary: "Oh, Grandmother~ What big teeth you have," Izaya murmured and finally glanced up to meet the wolfman's eyes, mouth curled into a silky-smug smirk.
Warnings: I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. OP requested Shota!Izaya and specifically wanted his age to be less than thirteen years old (he is eleven at the beginning of the story). Furthermore, Shizuo is Beast!Shizuo and not completely human (he is a wolfman). This story does skirt taboo subjects because of the characters' physical aspects and there will be sex at one point in the story. Please don't read any further if any of these story elements make you uncomfortable.
Author's Note: …for those brave enough to still proceed, I wanted to say thank you, and I hope that I manage to provide an engaging, psychologically explorative, fascinating, and touching story (yes, I realize that those are probably all impossible standards to completely achieve, but… OTL). One of the reasons why this prompt caught my attention was because I couldn't help but immediately think, "But what does it mean to be considered 'human'?"

Prompt from the drrrkink meme - Beast!Shizuo/Shota!Izaya - Angst, lots of fluff, shota
Soo...
Shizuo is a beast (wolfman preferably) who is locked up in a zoo, and each day is teased and laughed at by the people who visit. But one day a class on a field trip comes, and Shizuo receives his daily treatment of humiliation, but one of the students stays behind.
And he continues to come back each day, attempting to get Shizuo to talk to him.
Eventually, Shizuo becomes attatched to Izaya and starts falling for him, and agrees to go with him when Izaya suggests they run away.
Bonus
-Izaya is less than 13 years old (I want shoooota)
-Shizuo has animal-like features
-Takes place in Russia (fff idk)
-Shizuo doesn't wear anything while he's locked up
-Shotazaya and Shizubeast cuddling in Shizuo's cage at night

A Baser State of Nature

There was always a sense of freedom that settled around when the humans came to stare: it was a reconfirmation that he was, truly, nothing more than a mindless beast, a creature that needed to be locked away for other people's safety. With their wide, terror-filled gazes and their gaping mouths, they stood as a mirror for the horror that Shizuo knew that he was.

It was the acrid scent of fear that rose like a cloud bank around his cage, as thick as a dense fog, that always compounded the self-loathing that had been forever directed inward because Shizuo knew, instinctively, that what Man feared, Man also tended to hate. There would never be acceptance, never be understanding, in those staring eyes, and that acknowledgement was enough to make Shizuo huddle in on himself, arms wrapping tight around his knees to bring long, lanky limbs towards his chest to shield his nudity.

The distant, murmuring sounds of children eventually began to slip through the walls of self-hate and self-abhorrence that he had buried himself behind and Shizuo took a brief moment to make his way towards a corner of his paddock, as far away from the front of the cage as possible; children had always been the worst because they had the tenancy to throw whatever they had in their hands at the wolfman, thinking it funny to see how many objects would actually hit him.

There was one scent, however: one scent in the roiling, messy smells of Crayons and sticky sweets, child-sweat and synthetic fabrics, the sounds of their uniforms rubbing uncomfortably against damp skin loud in Shizuo's ears. The beast glanced up once he caught that scent, amber eyes scanning the crowd that huddled around the front of his cage-but the number of children were too many, and he could not narrow down its owner despite how he allowed his nostrils to flare in a gesture more feral, more bestial than he typically allowed himself to indulge in.

The group of children chattered amongst themselves, fingers pointing occasionally at Shizuo, and the wolfman kept away from the bars of the cage, kept away from them, and only lifted his upper lip in a silent snarl of rage when the first items began appearing in their hands. Shizuo was able to avoid the first throw, and the ones following were easy enough to ignore once he ended up slipping away into the part of his paddock that contained his bedding.

It didn't take long after that that the schoolchildren became bored; what was the point in lingering if the object of their torment had left? Some grumbled unhappily amongst themselves, but they all ended up leaving as a whole en masse, leaving behind trash and small school supplies that had dropped from their pockets.

All left… except for one child.

That enticing scent once more teased Shizuo's nose, and it twitched slightly as his blonde, shaggy head peeked out around the edge of his "bedroom," glancing towards the front to meet a pair of crimson-stained mahogany eyes. Those eyes were curiously frank, cold in a way that one normally didn't associate with children, and partially hidden beneath a mop of dark, borderline black hair. The child was all knees and elbows the way that the young tended to be, though Shizuo could still see the potential for hidden strength in the way that the boy stepped forward and wrapped his hands around the bars.

He was small enough to fit through.

Shizuo pushed back the sudden surge of disappointment that overcame him when the boy didn't.

They stared at one another for several long, drawn-out moments, deepening amber meeting a gaze that was ruby-flecked, and the boy finally broke the competition to turn his attention to the beast's overall appearance, taking in each detail with a gaze that had once more turned both interested and glacial. The child's eyes roamed from Shizuo's claw-tipped toes, up muscular legs that were dusted with a coat of dark gold fur, up thighs that rippled with hidden strength; he paused for a moment, lingering over the wolfman's naked groin, and the curiosity almost seemed to turn adult-but only for a moment, there and gone again-before the boy's eyes roamed higher: more golden fur, a broad chest, fingers that ended in nails that were black and dog-like, canines that were elongated and had a razor's edge, and it was there that the boy stopped.

"Oh, Grandmother! What big teeth you have," the boy murmured and finally glanced up completely to again meet Shizuo's eyes as his mouth curled into a silky-smug smirk.

"The better to eat you with, my dear."

As Shizuo's lips parted to speak, his words containing an edge of a low growl, the boy did not scream, did not run, did not look at the beast with horror-at the realization that Shizuo could speak, had at least some hidden, human aspects to him. Instead, the child's smile broadened and delight filled his eyes.

The child began to visit him every day in the afternoon.

Shizou didn't know why the boy continued to see him, moving past all of the other exhibits in the zoo to zero in on his own. And perhaps he should be pitied for feeling such things, but the wolfman began looking forward to the boy's visits: hiding away in his living area for the majority of the day until the first faint scent finally came to him on the quiet breeze, and it was only then that Shizuo slipped out of the bed-filled area to make his way towards the front of his cage.

"What is your name?" he asked on the second day.

"Orihara Izaya," the boy answered, crimson gaze bright as he never looked away. They stared at each other for several long moments, each challenging the other to look away first for some reason or another-Izaya because he hated losing and Shizuo because there was someone before him who did not look at him with disgust or fear in his eyes. "Do beasts have names?"

The wolfman glanced away at that stark question that managed to hit hard-and, oh, that knowing look in the boy's eyes let Shizuo know that Izaya had meant for the question and its insinuation to hurt-and it took a long while before the captive beast felt comfortable enough to reply, "They named me Shizuo when I first got here."

Izaya smiled at that, bright as the sun, and he idly rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Shizuo?" the brunette asked, though it was obvious that he wasn't expecting another answer. "Shizuo… I know~ I'll call you Shizu-chan."

It sounded like the name that a person would give to their dog, and Shizuo growled lowly in answer, teeth slightly bared in order to show his displeasure with Izaya's teasing. The boy, however, just laughed and lightly spun on one foot before again settling in front of the cage, hands wrapped securely around the bars. "Shizu-chan, Shizu-chan, Shizu-chan~ I think that it has a nice ring to it, don't you~?"

Shizuo did not reply to his pointed taunt, instead stepping up close to the bars so that he would tower over the child. He looked down and reached out, hands surprisingly soft and fur surprisingly silky as both caressed over the tops of Izaya's hands, where they clutched at the metal. "Why do you come back?" he asked, amber eyes so bright-so bright-as they met and held mahogany.

Izaya smiled at that, lips curling upwards into an expression that most would have termed a smile; but the wolfman knew that it wasn't quite that because no one should have that look in their eyes as their mouth tilted upwards: it was a cold expression, reptilian and distant-a crocodile's smile and, frighteningly, it suited the boy. "Why?" he asked in return, moving just a bit closer. "Why do I come back, ne…? Ah, well, I suppose it's because I think that you're interesting."

He laughed then and leaned forward to brush his mouth lightly against Shizuo's; the beast only had the time to catch the sugar-sweet scent of candy on the child's breath, soft lips pressing against his own, and strong fingers wrapping around his wrists to make sure that Shizuo didn't have the chance to jerk away-fleeting impressions, there and gone again, and it was over all too soon as Izaya stepped away from the cage.

"…why?" Shizuo asked, voice lower than usual, the word nothing more than a rumbling growl that burrowed deep in the center of his chest, echoing and distorting and putting on display his feral nature.

The boy's smile deepened.

"Because I wanted to. And because I could."

He traipsed away once the words had left his mouth, feet skipping lightly, playfully, over the concrete of the sidewalk-small scraping sounds that grew fainter and fainter as he headed back towards the entrance. Shizuo stood still for several long moments after the child had left before tilting his head back and roaring out into the sky: he knew that the boy was playing with him-he knew this, realized the danger of the game that he was skirting, was aware of the fact that it didn't seem to matter in the end. Shizuo still felt drawn to the child and hatedhim for it and for the acknowledgement that Izaya would leave once Shizuo stopped being so "interesting."

All the beast could feel was rage and despair and all that he could taste was candy upon his lips.

The boy did not come to visit for several days after the stolen kiss.

Shizuo continued to hide himself away from the hate and disdain and contempt-filled gazes of the visitors, holing himself up in the bedding area of his paddock-curled up beneath straw and scraps of cloth, he drowsed and did his best to try to close his awareness of the surroundings around him. It was hard to do so, however, and Shizuo discovered early on that there no longer was any freedom in the stares of most humans. The emotions embedded within most stares hurt, and there was freedom only in the gaze of one person.

It was pitiable thing, indeed; Shizuo knew that the boy would leave once he had grown bored with him.

And yet…

And yet.

And yet Shizuo still found himself slipping away from his "personal" area of the enclosure when Izaya's scent once more found its way to him. The wolfman padded on silent feet towards the entrance of the cage, stopping when he could go no further and bringing his hands up to wrap around the bars. He watched the boy with a muted amber gaze, perhaps too quiet.

Izaya had settled upon a rock formation not far from the cage's bars, but still too far away for Shizuo to touch-pointedly keeping just out of range, taunting the wolfman with his closeness without offering any sort of leeway or relief. It was a game to the child, cruel in the best and worst ways possible because he still looked at the beast with a surprisingly neutral, frank, interested gaze. There was no judgment in those claret eyes: knowing that Shizuo was both beast and man, and yet the horror of that fact did not strike him or turn his eyes harsh with misunderstanding.

"I didn't think that you'd come back. I thought that you'd have already grown bored."

The child grinned at that, bright and as sharp as a blade's edge-and did not come closer, a fact which had Shizuo's upper lip curling away from his teeth in a silent, displeased snarl. "I was always going to come back-will come back as long as you're interesting to me. But I wanted to see if you'd miss me if I didn't come back right away. Did you, Shizu-chan~?"

There was no point in answering. Izaya already knew that what he said would be a lie.

Crimson eyes brightened in delight, and that cruelly sharp smile just deepened a bit further. "Ne, ne! You did miss me, Shizu-chan, didn't you~?" Those eyes, that too-red gaze, almost seemed omnipotent, catching in every detail and analyzing it-processing information at a frightening speed, turning over reactions and expressions and gestures, picking them all apart to get at the core of what drove the external reactions to get at the heart, the internal, ever-present why?.

The snarl this time around wasn't quite as silent, instead rumbling low in Shizuo's chest; it was an incredibly threatening sound, deep enough, low enough in vibration that it pressed against Izaya's eardrums, pressure tightening around his head and torso-and it excited him, seeing the wolfman's rage and the very real threat that he'd pose.

…if he ever got out of his cage.

It was like finally coming across a new toy that he hadn't yet figured out, poking and prodding at things as a tongue would a sore teeth, finding sensitive areas, learning and mapping things out until Izaya had complete, intimate knowledge of what made his new toy tick. It was absolutely thrilling, and Izaya couldn't remember having this much fun in years! Everything else around him had become second-rate.

"Y'know, I could always leave…" The reminder was enough to cut the snarl off immediately, and Shizuo's eyes narrowed as they tracked each of Izaya's movements, breathing deep to take in the child's uniquely startling scent-so incredibly different from all the rest, and the thought of losing that scent so soon… it brought an ache to the wolfman's chest and he attempted to dispel it in a huff of breath.

And Izaya's eyes glittered with the knowledge of the power that he had over the beast, and his voice was the barest whisper when he ordered, "Sit."

It was… humiliating, having the body of a beast but the mind of a human-having another person know this-and still be treated as nothing more than a mindless animal. But with the child, there might be a chance at companionship, someone to brush away the darkness and the loneliness and offer the promise of a future in some sort of context-it didn't matter what, just as long as Shizuo was no longer alone-and yet… the child was equally sadistic in realizing all this and still treating him as all the rest: only the look in his eyes giving lie to his words.

…but none of that mattered at the moment because Izaya's threat of leaving was still a very real one. It was with that thought in mind that Shizuo closed his eyes, ignoring how his ears burned in shame and how the corners of his eyes pricked, and he sat.

Humiliation or loneliness: the choice was between the metaphorical rock and a hard place, but Shizuo had had enough of his forced solitude, and though his pride took a hit and his temper spiked at the base display that the boy was putting him through… the shame paled in comparison to the feeling that tightened the wolfman's throat as Izaya finally moved off of the rock display and closer to the bars-and stepped through.

His breath hitched as he watched the boy from beneath his lashes, tensing slightly as Izaya made his way closer-still keeping his head down as the human child ran the palm of his hand over the mix of blonde fur and hair upon his head, murmuring, "Good dog."

But then Shizuo darted forward, wrapping his arms securely around the boy's waist and drawing him down to tuck securely against his chest, and the wolfman dipped his head to press against the bend of Izaya's throat-and there, finally, there was the scent of home. He breathed deep, drawing in the scent to settle permanently within his lungs, within the baser, the instinctive part of his mind that screamed out 'mine!,' and Shizuo's hands smoothed down Izaya's back when the child struggled against him, trying to soothe away the acrid scent of sudden fright.

Long, long moments later, Izaya's fighting tapered off when he finally realized that Shizuo wasn't going to attack him, and it was with a slight shift of something in his voice as he whispered, "You're so warm."

And Shizuo just held him closer.

Izaya awoke to darkness and the unfamiliar sensation of someone holding him, of arms wrapped snugly around his chest and waist, tucking his smaller body against the solid warmth of a much bigger person-with legs tangled with the other's, his body pinned beneath a greater weight, a subdued sense of fear thrilled through his limbs, tensing and tightening in an age-old flight-or-fight response. But silky fur brushed against Izaya's arm, so incredibly soft and down-like, and he knew whose body he was held against.

Wiggling a bit to free himself as much as he could in the beastman's hold, the eleven year-old glanced over his shoulder, curious mahogany gaze taking in the mix of animalistic and human features upon Shizu-chan's face; not quite knowing why he was doing such a thing, Izaya reached out as best as he could to smooth his fingertips over the skin just beneath one closed eye, marveling at how delicate it felt beneath his touch.

Lashes slowly lifted and a pair of amber eyes met and held Izaya's own.

"Oh, Grandmother! What big eyes you have," Izaya whispered as he abruptly broke the silence, not bothering to struggle as Shizuo's arms tightened around his torso to tuck him closer still. The other's body heat was like a warm blanket that settled over the boy, comforting and familiar in a way that shouldn't be so and-even more disconcerting to the child-safe.

Shizuo growled a muted chuckle in response, easing his hands down to cup over the boy's slim hips before letting his head settle closer so that he might nuzzle against the bend of Izaya's throat. "The better to see you with, my dear," he murmured and licked over the fluttering pulse point of the boy's throat.

Izaya made a face at that sensation and pushed at Shizuo's chest, trying to make more room between the two of them-trying to get the beast to stop. "That's disgusting. Knock it off, Shizu-chan."

"Make me," Shizuo answered with a laugh as he nipped his way over the damp bit of skin, reminding Izaya just how dangerous he could be should he choose to indulge in baser instincts. In reply to that, however, the boy put his knobby knees and elbows to use, aiming for tender areas-aiming to hurt so that the wolfman would loosen his hold around Izaya.

The boy managed to wiggle his way to freedom as Shizuo nursed various tender spots, and he scrabbled to his feet before pointing at the other in an almost accusing manner. "I told you to stop, Shizu-chan. Obviously you need to go back to obedience school, ne."

"I'm not your fucking dog," Shizuo snarled back and his temper finally snapped now that Izaya was blocked from the front of his cage and the boy had no chance of running away as a threat. "I may look like a beast, but you know that I don't think or feel like one, you little brat."

"Still doesn't change the fact that you look enough like one, though, ne? And it doesn't change the fact that I'm not into…" here, the crimson-eyed boy floundered for just a moment, searching his memory for that one conversation that he had overheard from his sempais, the banter back and forth where one had said that he didn't want to have sex with his slightly overweight girlfriend because, and the rest of it came to Izaya as if he was still listening in, 'it'd be like fucking a whale and bestiality isn't all that appealing'-and, there, Izaya found the word that he was looking for: "I'm not into bestiality."

The words were said with a cruel glint to those claret-tinted eyes, and Izaya pointed to the wolfman's groin with a sense of triumph-where Shizuo's cock was half-hard, flushed a light pink and jutting partially away from his fur-dusted belly.

An emotion that Izaya couldn't pinpoint flared briefly in the wolfman's gaze, turning the amber to a burning shade of gold, but what surprised the boy the most was the fact that Shizuo made no move to hide himself in shame-no attempts to cover himself, as most would have, and instead left himself open, bared for ridicule from Izaya as he never looked away.

"I wouldn't have touched you," Shizuo answered with, words simple and unadorned.

And the boy reeled from beneath their force. The thought… the thought of this beast who looked like a man… the realization that he had a moral compass to live by when so many humans that Izaya had observed over the course years shallowly indulged themselves in gratification, in selfishness-doing what felt good to them, rarely considering the effect that their actions would have on others. Izaya had come to love humanity because of their flaws, and this was perhaps their greatest flaw of all: their lack of caring for other humans.

But here was this beast, this base animal who should live life to its fullest by only doing what felt good-it was here that all of the boy's expectations came crashing to the ground. And it frustrated him as much as it intrigued him, to see this duality of nature, of self, shown in this creature who should have been the lowest of the low.

"You weren't supposed to be this way," Izaya snapped angrily as he brought his hands up to cover his face, shocked at the fact that his fingertips came away wet with tears-crying silently, not knowing why he was crying, and that very fact was something that terrified the boy to his core. The heels of his hands pressed tight to his eyes, attempting to stem the tide of weeping, and for the first time in his life, Izaya felt truly lost: he bet entire outcomes on the situations that he could elicit from others, and this situation-which should have been so boringly simple that his interest would have waned within days-was nothing at all like he had predicted. And he hated knowing that he had lost the game, especially so early on.

Moments after realizing that he was crying, Izaya felt a pair of strong, warm arms come around him to scoop his smaller body up, tucking the boy against a solid chest that rumbled with something that might have been a purr if Shizuo had been more catlike. He felt himself being rocked as his cheek pillowed against the hard edge of a collarbone, and the tears began to slowly come to a stop as the steady throb of a heartbeat rhythmically pounded against him.

"…you weren't supposed to be like this," Izaya muttered quietly, and it didn't matter that he himself was a child-even the boy had to admit that his voice was sulky and petulant with foul temper.

"If I ended up being exactly the way that you thought I'd be, you'd have left after getting bored," Shizuo said in reply, still rocking the child against his chest as he padded further into the more secluded area of his pen, tucking them both into a corner away from prying eyes and resting his cheek against the top of Izaya's head once he had settled. "You'd have left, and you'd have left without ever looking back. And I don't want that. You're cruel and sadistic, but you still don't… look at me the way that everyone else does."

"Gonna look forward to breaking you into a million pieces when I finally leave," Izaya murmured under his breath, admitting aloud what they both knew-what they had both realized the moment that the child had looked at Shizuo without contempt and hatred in his eyes, the expression in his gaze almost seeming to force the wolfman into actually speaking aloud for the first time in a very, very long time.

"…yeah. I know," Shizuo admitted as he dipped his head to nuzzle idly against the bend of Izaya's throat, gaze darkening slightly at how the boy's pulse jumped at the touch. Lightly, he again licked the sweat-dewed skin and continued, "But that's not right now. Go to sleep, Izaya."

Rocked in the embrace of the beastman, Izaya couldn't help but succumb.

TBC.