"Welcome!"

"I was afraid that you didn't get the note I left you, but looks like everything's going according to plan so far," the corners of Izaya's lips curled up into a menacing smile, his arms spread out with one hand gripping tightly to his knife that was pointing towards the boy next to him— his posture appearing steady despite standing at the edge of the rooftop where taking another step back would be suicide.

"What the fuck is this?"

Shizuo's growled at the smug expression Izaya had on, their usual brawl was on his mind when he read the note given to him, but not this. Definitely not this!

"Why, an experiment! I thought that I'd put to test a beast's compassion,"

"Can they be empathic at all? Let's find out."

The breeze on the rooftop had Izaya's lightweight frame swaying but unsurprising to Shizuo, it didn't seem to faze Izaya, seeing as Izaya had always been fond of high places when they had their usual rendezvous (at first Shizuo couldn't keep up with Izaya's parkour skills but now their abilities had grown to be almost on the same level). On the contrary, the other boy was shaking, attempting to contain the trembles in case he slips, and the fear of falling to his death was written all over his face.

Shizuo scrutinized him some more, and the badge was what stood out the most.

It was different from theirs.

"You don't even go here," stated Shizuo.

"He's an old acquaintance of mine. A special one, of course! The only person other than Shizu-chan that I won't mind dying! I brought only the best for this occasion, aren't you glad? You can even join Nakura-kun here, that's his name- it would be my pleasure to kill two birds with a stone."

"I'm not playing your game."

Izaya had foreseen this resistance from Shizuo.

"Too bad, mm, even though this is just a result of my boredom, I'm not taking no for an answer, unless you don't mind him dying."

The sharp tip of his knife nudged further against Nakura's neck where one swift move of his wrist could end Nakura's life in a flash, and he knew that Nakura was aware of that. It was the whole reason Nakura even complied to his wishes. Truth to be told, Nakura was probably in a bind now that he'd seen the other person who was holding his fate.

Heiwajima Shizuo could care less about someone he didn't even know.

"And here's the part where I say, make your choice," Izaya's shoes made a grating noise as the sole brushed across the granite, shifting back but not too far just yet.

"…but I think we both know what the outcome will be like."

The familiar anger on Shizuo's face excited him.

Would Shizuo give in to his temper and destroy both Nakura and Izaya? or would he save Nakura- since despite the violence tendencies, this monster often tried to act humane.

Those were the expectations that he'd set for Shizuo. He didn't really want to add the latter but he'd come to notice this side of Shizuo, and of course, he disliked saying he'd lost if Shizuo actually took that route (he wanted to gloat in front of Shizuo, singing praises of himself for being able to know exactly what Shizuo would do).

The thought of finally, finally able to predict Shizuo's moves was exhilarating. There was no way Shizuo would do something else other than the options Izaya had laid out for him.

"So I'll allow our main character to be in complete control today!"

"Quit it, bastard! People's lives aren't to be played with!"

"Choose who you wish to save."

Shizuo's pleas were ignored, and Izaya held a finger up to indicate the start of the game— displaying no hesitation as he destroyed the balance Nakura tried so hard to keep before leaning back himself to drop down from the rooftop. He'd chosen the highest building in their school for this, which added the thrill, well, for him, to say the least.

Nakura on the other hand seemed to be terrified.

"Let the game begin! I'll see you down there, Shizu-chan."

The first thing Shizuo did was curse, curse Izaya's very being, until his brain finally registered what was happening and he scrambled to the edge without a thought, jumping off because if he didn't- if he was a second late, someone could've died.

That person he had his arms stretched out for wasn't the one he expected, though, but it wasn't like he could care about that when he held a life in his clutch and carefully against his chest, acting purely on instincts.

Taking the fall for his enemy was the last thing he planned with his day.

And the same could be said to Izaya, who was taken aback when he missed his chance to save himself, all because Shizuo decided to add weight onto him, adding to the velocity.

His breath hitched, fingers inches away from the windowsill that he'd planned beforehand to grab, just grab and haul himself into the classroom— but he should've known that things were always unpredictable with Shizuo. That much he could think of while they pummel to the ground, heart racing behind his ribcage and gaping mouth eliciting gasps instead of his usual snide remarks.

"Shit, that hurt a bit. Hey, are you okay?" The landing was harsh, but if Shizuo had to compare it to being hit by a truck the time he first met Izaya, that was far more painful. Subconsciously, he'd managed to adjust their positions so that he was the one at the bottom to get hurt.

"Wh…"

Though words weighed heavily on Izaya's tongue, he couldn't get himself to even form an intelligible word for the shock was yet to fade.

"Celty?" Shizuo finally took notice of his best friend's presence after she'd placed Nakura down safely onto the ground -this time the grassy ground where he could no longer fall and crack his skull, much to Nakura's relief- and hurried over to him.

[ Izaya told me to be here in case someone needs saving. ]

Shizuo gave Izaya an incredulous look, clearly puzzled by this whole ordeal.

"You weren't serious? I knew you're batshit crazy, but-"

"Why would I kill a human? I don't mind him dying, but if I could control it, I wish to keep him around longer since he'll be useful to me," interrupted Izaya despite being barely able to get coherent sentences out of himself.

"and I have to ask- why did Shizu-chan settle for me?"

"I wasn't… thinking."

"You do know that if I didn't hire Celty, you'd have killed him, right?"

"It was just weird, seeing you fall felt like something big in my life was suddenly being stripped away from me."

"…"

"Take him back to his school," he didn't bother to look at Shizuo as he ordered Celty to return Nakura to where he was while he left the premise, a strange emotion stirring madly inside him, one that Izaya wasn't used to and he would prefer to be alone to assess said emotion than risk giving Shizuo a show of his cracked barriers.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Shizuo tipped his head to the side once Izaya's figure disappeared from sight, averting his attention to his best friend who'd probably been here longer than he was, confused of what she was supposed to do until a boy- no, three boys dropped from the sky.

[ I don't think there is a right or wrong choice, since both of them were going to live in the end. But I'm glad you're alright. I wasn't expecting you two to fall! Why did you save him? ]

"Maybe I got too used to him. After this, we should probably stop fooling around. This isn't good. I feel like I'm going soft on him without even wanting to," his fingers twitched, and he ran them through his hair, while his free hand reached for his pack of cigarettes.

"Heh. How did we even start in the first place?"

[ What if this is his plan? What if he's using you? It's possible that he thought by sleeping with you, you'd obey him more. :( ]

"That…"

Shizuo paused at that, as if he was contemplating the truth of Celty's guess until he lit his cigarette and placed it between his lips, taking a long drag to calm his nerves from the answer that slipped from his mouth that even him was uncertain of.

"No. He wouldn't do something like that."

"Disgusting. Disgusting!"

Hatred burned in his crimson eyes which were fixated on a certain blond, his fingertips skimming along his arm where he could still feel Shizuo's touch lingering there.

It was a first (they never stayed long enough for pillowtalk during their few special sessions where teeth are clashing instead of knives and fists), and confusion got the best of him. He couldn't figure out how to react to that when he could've teased Shizuo instead of having his heart skip a beat over the unexpected treatment towards him.

Such a shame that there was a high chance Shizuo didn't even realize what he was doing.

It didn't sit well with him— how the image of worry etched on Shizuo's face (which Izaya barely caught sight of right before the moment they crashed to the ground) were left deep imprinted in his mind. That, and the warmth that he felt from how careful and protective Shizuo was when he held Izaya in his embrace.

To receive such thing from his nemesis was…

"Awful."

"They're not even looking at me now? Why, after such incident, they have the decency to act like nothing major has happened. Those two truly are monsters."

He had to supress a chuckle at his own deduction, swinging his legs to and fro from the same rooftop he'd just fallen from, noting how hilarious it was that none of the two noticed him (different from humans who'd more often than not stare at a crime scene or such even if the issue has already been cleared up). An idea he would usually consider as something brilliant popped up in his head, feet no longer kicking about but he moved the right to rest 'atop' of Shizuo's back, where he should land nicely if he was to jump off and give Shizuo a surprise.

Izaya pondered over the scheme for a moment before letting his smile turn upside down, leaning back all the while keeping a close eye on Shizuo, expression relaxing into a nonchalant one.

"Never mind."

"He'll be disappointed if I wasted my life now."