Pairing: Slight Shizuo/Izaya or pre-slash.
Author's note: Hey, guys! It's been a while, but I finally got around to writing something. Hope you all like it, and feedback is always appreciated.
Fun fact: It took me longer to come up with a title and summary than to write the actual fanfic. ^_^; Yet both aren't even good.
Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara!
You Can't Predict a Cat's Actions
Shizuo was pissed off. It's not like that was unusual, but something was nagging him. Something more precise than just a bad day, or a failed test, or another damn detention due to his temper. He tried to brush it off; Shizuo found no use in going into some deep, philosophical soul-searching just to find out what was ticking him off. He was angry, and it had to be as simple as that. Yet, he couldn't really believe that himself. It was like a little needle pricking your skin, it wasn't exactly painful, but it was impossible to ignore.
"Hey, Shizuo, you're spacing out." Shizuo felt a prod at his shoulder, and looked over to Shinra who had his finger extended to give Shizuo's upper arm another poke.
"If you poke me again I'm going to break your finger," Shizuo grumbled halfheartedly, returning his gaze to the front of the classroom. Students streamed out of the room, all absorbed in their own conversations and each other's presences. Shizuo could see Shinra pout out of the corner of his eye.
"It's lunchtime. Want to go grab something to eat?" Shinra paused, adjusting his glasses to fit better on the bridge of his nose, "You okay?" Shizuo stood up, shoving his chair back and his desk forward.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Shizuo muttered unconvincingly, "I'll see you later." Shizuo waved over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.
"But there's still half a day of class left!" Shizuo heard Shinra call after him from inside the room. The teachers knew by now to never force an angry Shizuo to attend. If Shizuo was absent for a few classes, the teachers never said anything about it.
Shizuo spent his lunchtime wandering the mostly empty hallways. Lost freshmen occasionally skittered past him, obviously intimidated by being a lone and prone target for Shizuo Heiwajima's ill-temper. Shizuo inwardly groaned as the bell rang. Not because it meant class is starting- Shizuo knew he wasn't going back for the day- but because it meant the hallways would soon crowd with unwanted life. Which they did. The hallway buzzed with oncoming chatter and students trying to wrap up the loose ends of their drama-filled stories with a shiny bow. Shizuo had socialized with enough of his peers to know that most of the stories they told were much too exaggerated to actually be true.
Shizuo had stopped paying attention to where he was going, and allowed his feet to rein control. It didn't really matter where he went; he'd be fine with walking around in endless loops for hours if it meant calming himself down. Yet, Shizuo's feet brought him to standing in front of a classroom that never held any significance to him throughout his years at Raira. The class was really only for summer-school, so it was rarely- if ever- used during the school year. Shizuo never attended summer-school, despite what his teachers advised, so it's not like he had any lessons there, and the room was inconspicuously hiding in plain sight. He reached for the door knob, curiosity taking over, and was surprised to find it unlocked. He pushed it open, and the door squealed in protest. Shizuo took a step inside, shutting the door behind him, and let his gaze wander the room. It wasn't special, or really much different from most of the classrooms except for the thin layer of dust that blanketed the furniture.
Shizuo frowned at the open window across the classroom. They wouldn't keep windows open in here. He approached it cautiously, and noticed a black-haired figure sitting on the building's ledge that lined the window. Shizuo immediately recognized the lack of school-uniform, and the familiar burning of what had to be anger boiling in his stomach.
"Hello, Shizu-chan," Izaya called, although he kept his gaze locked on the horizon that was mostly blocked by the tall skyscrapers of Ikebukuro.
"What the hell are you doing?" Shizuo snarled as he stormed to the opening. As he got closer he could see Izaya swinging his feet back and forth, his heels bouncing off the wall of the school. Izaya finally looked over his shoulder to meet Shizuo's glare and challenged it with a grin.
"Join me, Shizu-chan." Izaya patted the spot beside him.
"No, I'm not fucking insane like you," Shizuo spat, and turned around, ready to get out of the room. Izaya was just going to jump, anyways. Shizuo froze, and the anger he felt before melted away. "What did you say you were going to do?" Shizuo asked carefully, like his words would somehow be the push.
"I never said what I was going to do, you protozoan," Izaya chirped. Izaya once again patted the spot beside him and grinned. Shizuo eyed the ground Izaya patted, and reluctantly lowered himself so he was also sitting on the edge. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't the tiniest bit freaked out as he looked below. It was a long way down.
"I'm not going to die," Izaya finally spoke. Shizuo's reassurance was soon drowned by irritation that he was actually glad Izaya wasn't going to kill himself.
"Then why are you sitting here?" Shizuo questioned, but his tone didn't hold the interest a real inquiry would. Shizuo now knew Izaya wasn't going to jump, so really no other questions held an importance to him. Izaya glanced over at him with a pitying look, and stood up. "What're you doing?" Shizuo snarled at him, "You're going to fall." Izaya balanced himself and walked the ledge like it was a tightrope. He swung around to the point a finger at Shizuo.
"Ah! That's where you're wrong, dearest Shizu-chan!" Izaya grinned, "I'm not going to fall nor die." Now it was Shizuo's turn to laugh.
"So, what? You're going to fly?" Shizuo scoffed.
"Precisely." Shizuo smile faltered into a scowl.
"You're not actually serious."
"I am," Izaya said much too calmly for the situation.
"Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something? Why are you such a dumbass all of a sudden?" Shizuo's irritation rang clear. Izaya sneered at him like jumping off a building was the most sensible thing to do. Because why the hell not?
"Because I was curious."
"Curious about what it feels like to collide with the pavement?" Izaya laughed.
"You're much too slow, Shizu-chan. I'm not going to jump." As if to prove what he said, Izaya sat back down.
"Then what the hell was with that flying shit?" Shizuo's irritation was brimming on anger.
"I was conducting an experiment," Izaya stated simply.
"What?" Shizuo's brow furrowed in part frustration and part confusion. Izaya sighed dramatically.
"Too slow, too slow, Shizu-chan. Allow me to elaborate: you do consider me your enemy, correct?"
"Yeah," Shizuo finally mumbled after he decided it wasn't a loaded question.
"Then why did you not urge me to jump?" Shizuo opened his mouth to protest, but Izaya continued, "Now, you might say that you wanted to do it yourself. You didn't want anybody else to have the joy of ending my life, and you certainly didn't want me to do it myself." Shizuo tried to interrupt, but Izaya gave no time to let him. " Well then, why didn't you push me when you had the chance? Simple; you want a clean fight, right? You want to end my life fairly, and pushing me off a building wouldn't cut it." Izaya stood, and maneuvered himself around Shizuo to step inside the room. "That obviously explains it, but then why don't you make a move to kill me now? I'm not suicidal, I'm not hurt. I could even run if it's a chase you want." Izaya smirked as Shizuo made no further approach besides standing up and coming inside.
"You don't want to kill me, Shizu-chan. That was the experiment. And I was right: I knew you didn't want to kill me. Those dog-and-cat chases are as simple as that. The dog gains nothing but some killed time from chasing the cat. The cat gains nothing but the sense of superiority when it outsmarts the dog. It's the animalistic instinct that tells us the other creature is a threat. It's the chase that attracts us both." Izaya laughed maniacally. "Oh, so much fun! So, so fun! Thank you, Shizu-chan, maybe you're not as unpredictable as I originally thought you to be. If it wasn't for that super-strength of yours, I would maybe even consider you to be human, after all. We both know you're far from one, though. Anyways it was a pleasure, Shizu-chan, may fate bring us together again in the future." Izaya turned and lifted his leg to skip out the door, but found himself tugged back by a strong grasp on his wrist. Izaya's eyes followed the hand holding his wrist up until his glare met Shizuo's.
"You're going to leave before I can get a word in? Damn, Izaya you never shut up, do you?" Shizuo all but yelled. Izaya didn't even try to hide the amusement that played across his expression. It just made Shizuo feel like more of an idiot. "I hate violence, that's all," Shizuo grumbled, his grip on Izaya's wrist loosened and Izaya took advantage of it by pulling his arm away.
"For someone who hates violence; you sure are violent, but you've probably been told that before," Izaya chuckled. Shizuo straightened up, and held Izaya's gaze.
"Shut up for once," Shizuo growled. Izaya meandered to one of the desks, used his sleeve to brush away the dust, and then leaned against it. Shizuo watched as Izaya's eyes flicked from corner to corner of the room, silence creeping its way between them. Izaya's eyes scanned the room, then found their way back to Shizuo.
"Well? This is your chance for your grand speech. I recommend you take the precious, and limited, time I've given you." Izaya smirked. Shizuo frowned in return.
"I don't have a freaking 'grand speech' to spend forever practically gloating on. I can't predict what people are going to do or say," Shizuo sucked in a deep breath, "I can't read minds or understand people's thinking processes. I don't perform weird-ass experiments on actual, living humans. I'm not you." A stretch of silence passed between them before Izaya spoke up.
"Have you wondered how I knew you were going to come to this exact room?" Izaya asked abruptly but casually with a slightly raised eyebrow. Shizuo was about to express his disapproval in what he thought to be Izaya evading the topic, but then he considered what Izaya asked. It hadn't really crossed Shizuo's mind, but now that he thought about it how did Izaya know he was going to be here?
"I didn't know," Izaya answered his unspoken question. Shizuo must have looked confused as Izaya sneered at his reaction. "I wasn't sure if you were actually going to come," Izaya stretched out his limbs, "But I figured if I waited here long enough you would eventually come. You always do."
"You would wait that long for one of your experiments?" Shizuo found his voice.
"Not just any experiment. An experiment on my dear Shizu-chan. I couldn't pass that up."
"I don't think I'll ever understand your flea brain."
"No, you won't," Izaya admitted with a content sigh and a smile to match it. His eyes, which had drifted closed, now reopened to study Shizuo. "You were really worried," Izaya observed. Shizuo made a face which he hoped expressed disgust.
"Tch, no. I don't have time to worry about a flea like you," Shizuo grumbled. Izaya raised an eyebrow that spoke a silent, 'Oh, really?', and eventually just shrugged the topic off.
"I won't wait forever, Shizu-chan, keep that in mind," Izaya concluded, sounding almost exasperated with Shizuo.
"Wait for what?" Shizuo asked, even though he knew he would most likely regret ever asking the question.
"Wait for you. I won't wait forever for you to come to terms with your feelings toward me," Izaya's tone grew into pure enjoyment, and finished with a sneer. Despite the amusement ringing through his voice, Shizuo couldn't sense or hear any sarcasm laced in Izaya's words. Shizuo scowled.
"I don't have 'feelings' toward you," Shizuo retorted, and he could instantly hear his own doubt. He couldn't even convince himself that what Izaya said was a lie.
Izaya slowly closed the distance between him and Shizuo until their noses were almost touching. Shizuo made no move to get away or to get closer, he stood frozen in place, with his eyes locked onto Izaya. Izaya's head tilted so his forehead was resting against Shizuo's, and he stared into Shizuo's eyes.
"Right," the sarcasm that was missing in Izaya's voice before was now clear. Before Shizuo could get his mind even thinking straight, Izaya took a step away from Shizuo. Izaya's grin grew. "Is the dog ready for another chase?" Shizuo's mouth tugged into a grin to match Izaya's.
"Only if the cat is ready to be caught." Izaya spun on his heels and sprinted through the door, with Shizuo following his exact movements close behind.
"When the time comes, dog, when the time comes," Izaya's call echoed back as he turned a corner and lost Shizuo. Shizuo stopped once he rounded the corner to find no black-haired teenager in sight. His heart was pounding against his chest, and he wasn't sure if it was entirely because of the exercise. Despite lack of breath, Shizuo was able to breathe out a few chuckles as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Damn cat," he muttered.
A/N: By the way, if Raira does not actually have window ledges or empty classrooms; this is AU where it does. MWAHAHA, I SHALL FORCE THIS FANFICTION TO WORK.
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