Prompt: Autistic!Izaya
People, human beings, homo sapiens: there was no shortage of these in Tokyo and each and every last one was a barrier to Orihara Izaya. They were as so many atoms randomly assembled and dangerous in their unpredictability. Izaya often thought of them like virtual particles: mysterious and highly complex in their behavior that could not be comprehended. As he stood on the windy top of a skyscraper and looked down, he could discern order. Seen from above the largest intersection of the road was a mechanism of beautifully calibrated movement.
Masses of people flowed in a rhythm. Green lights ignited a human tide, red lights stopped it. Izaya loved this vantage point because it conferred an interpretative grid on chaos. It made visible a pattern and once Izaya was aware of it, he could follow it to a place of security. The entire city could be translated as a series of vectors and Izaya thought that if he could but gain a higher position, he could see how it was an all encompassing vector that could be properly understood.
Izaya hungered for knowledge as a way to bypass his inborn handicap. At first, when the world was swirling confusion, he sought refuge in his mind. As a child he had realized that he needed to tackle the panicky feeling of menace by tackling it in a way that suited him. And that could only be achieved by employing his reasoning powers on the outer reality instead of keeping them as a security blanket.
He had taken the advice of his doctors and devoured books upon books on sociology, psychology, anthropology. It was a relief to find a structure of knowledge readily accessible and catalogued. Izaya used it to the fullest, researching with all his might and slowly but surely gaining a foothold on reality. While other kids were busy playing Izaya delved in material that went way beyond his old years. But he ingeniously kept this hidden from his peers.
Izaya realized very early on that letting others find out about his condition was a weakness he could not afford. He knew that to become who he wanted to be, he had to eliminate chinks in his armor by projecting a flawless façade. More, Izaya had to make it all seem effortless for he could not accept compassion or even sympathy. Izaya did not want to fit in, he wanted to be on top of everyone else.
He chose to face his issues that he studied at length as a challenge more than a shortcoming. Izaya had trained himself to that effect. The school system worked to his advantage, the experiments in socialization that he undertook in middle school would not be known to the greater stage that was high school so he was free to try many different things without being overly concerned about future repercussions.
Izaya learnt how to always look people in the eye and little by little developed a smooth talk and suave interaction that carried him far. But he still carried marks of his condition as he called it, he simply incorporated them into his style. His silver rings, always the same and placed on the same fingers, the well-fitted black clothes and his fur fringed jacket: all of it very hip and part of a reassuring routine. He still enjoyed long periods of solitude on occasion, his personal items were neatly organized to the point of obsession and the innermost sanctum of his home, the bedroom, was off limits to everyone. He had pinned down the collective schedule of Ikebukuro and the individual ones of its major players so that he could always know where they were at any given point. Izaya scouted the streets at recurring intervals that only he knew of and according to an inner logic by avoiding prime numbered hours.
The world was a chess board, time was its squares.
He ate according to a never altering system that he could not help but obey. So long as he was aware of these unquestionable rules he remained in control. Knowing that they existed and understanding why it was so allowed him not to be lost or in subjugation to them. A million quirks defined him.
All and all, the closer he became to unlocking the riddle of human nature the more he overcame himself and climbed another step in a ladder toward supremacy. Izaya thought that he was well shored and perfectly assured in his abilities to bridge the gap and reign supreme.