Happy birthday Shizuo! Here's a short little drabble in celebration~
Beta-read by my best and most awesome friend 2cute4lyfe, who recommends Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (movement 1) for listening material whilst reading.
I do not own Durarara, a really cool guy named Ryohgo Narita does.
Shizuo hated winter. Despite the inhuman strength that he possessed, he was highly susceptible to the frigid winter air, so he liked to stay inside as much as possible. However, sometimes he was forced to venture beyond the warmth of his home and out into the bitterly cold weather. Today was one such time, as his heating system had broken and he needed to purchase the part to repair it.
He dressed in a sweatshirt and some old jeans rather than his usual bartender uniform, topping it off with a scarf looped messily around his neck. He walked swiftly down the street, hands in his pocket and head down to try to avoid the biting chill of the wind. Snowflakes billowed in the breeze in flurries. The sky was a canvas of blended shades of pale gray and white. He had to admit that it was rather pretty, but the appeal of it was butchered by the cold. Shizuo loathed being cold.
Another thing he loathed pranced past him, skipping merrily as if he didn't realize it was only -9 degrees* out. Shizuo snarled and whipped around, clenching his fists. "IIIzaaaaayaaaaaa!" He growled.
Izaya halted and turned his head to look at him, a broad smirk spreading over his face. He looked comfortably warm, damn him, in that fur-trimmed jacket he always wore with only the addition of a ridiculous-looking fluffy pink handknit scarf around his neck and matching mittens. He waved with a mittened hand. "Hello, Shizu-chan. You look cold."
Shizuo grit his teeth. "Shut up, flea."
"Now, Shizu-chan. Be civil. New year, new you, yes? No, I suppose not. You're not the type to change, are you?" Izaya tsked, a playfully disapproving gleam in his reddish eyes. He danced a circle around Shizuo, not bothering to keep a wary distance.
Shizuo's eyes followed him sharply yet wearily. He really didn't have the patience to deal with Izaya right now. He just wanted to be on his way, buy the part he needed for his heating, and go home. He'd prefer it if he could knock the slippery little bastard dead right that moment, but that would require taking his non-mittened hands out of his warm pocket in order to do so.
"Mm, it's your birthday today, ne? Happy birthday, Shizu-chan! That is, if a monster like you celebrates such a thing." Izaya snickered and took a few steps away before pausing to watch and see what Shizuo would do next. He blinked, a little taken aback when Shizuo merely growled again and continued on his way, loping down the sidewalk to the hardware shop. Izaya watched for several moments longer, evaluating the situation, before making chase.
It was a peculiar sight, the man usually doing the chasing being followed by the man he usually chased. Shizuo seemed determined to ignore him however, and kept his eyes fixed on the gray cement before him. Each trudged step he made seemed a chore though, with Izaya's silent yet taunting presence behind him.
When he escaped into the store it was with a breath of relief that he was able to withdraw his hands from his pockets and slug Izaya in the face. Izaya hit the ground and stayed there, holding his bleeding and probably broken nose in his hand and gazing at him with a coldly calculating look in his eyes.
Shizuo stepped up to the counter after browsing the aisles and requested his sought-after item. With an expression that was more fearful than apologetic, the cashier explained to him that the item had been recalled for being defective. Go figure.
He turned and stalked out of the store, lamenting his wasted time that he could have spent warm and cozy. Izaya was no longer there, but Shizuo didn't put too much thought into the matter as he walked hurriedly home, almost trotting in his haste. The wind had picked up and he now walked against it. He ducked his head down further and hunched his shoulders, but by the time he reached his apartment he was almost completely numb with cold. To his horror, the apartment had chilled considerably. He made a strangled sound of anguish deep in his throat and drew his coat tighter around him, sliding down the length of the door into a sitting position.
"You're slow. No wonder you can never catch me." Teased an only too familiar voice.
Shizuo looked up in dread. Of course, there was Izaya lounging lazily on top of a table that Shizuo had never seen in his apartment before. Seriously, since when did he own a kotatsu table? Izaya adopted that sleazy smile that Shizuo hated so much and kicked his bare feet up behind him. He'd removed his jacket, scarf, and mittens and they lay in a neatly folded pile on the floor next to the kotatsu table.
"You know, you could say thank you." Izaya spoke up again. At Shizuo's bewildered look, he rolled his eyes and spoke like it was obvious, "For the table. It's your birthday present. Stupid monster. Hurry up, it's cold in here."
Shizuo slowly removed his coat and scarf, letting them fall to the floor in a heap. He took a wary step towards the seemingly-innocent kotatsu table. As harmless as it looked with the simple cherrywood and the sakura-pink blanket decorated with little white polka dots, Shizuo knew there must be something sinister wrong with it. Why else would the louse give it to him?
But Izaya slithered off the wooden top of it and crawled underneath. A second later his head popped out from under the blanket and stared at him. "Hurry up, ne? I didn't do this for you to stand there and freeze."
So Shizuo, perplexed as he was, joined Izaya under the kotatsu. Awkward eye contact ensued. Shizuo looked away after a moment of this and tried to ignore the tensely awkward atmosphere. Izaya, meanwhile, was smiling like an idiot. Creepy little bastard. Izaya surreptitiously moved closer and their feet brushed against one another. Shizuo jolted and glanced back at him, ready to grab the table and beat him with it. But Izaya had closed his eyes, lethargic and lazy in the warmth like a cat.
It was warm, Shizuo acknowledged, and as clearly suspicious as it was to receive a present from his arch nemesis, he had to appreciate it. Laying here, curled up and wrapped in a snug and cozy heat was just about the best thing he could imagine for a day like this one. Through the bit of kitchen window that he could see, he watched the snow swirl wildly in the wind. It had thickened into a storm and he felt oddly satisfied to know that while it was a blizzard outside, he was safe and warm inside. He watched the white flakes fly by against a slate gray backdrop and couldn't have felt more at peace.
He lay his head on his forearm and breathed out in a deep sigh of contentment. In the comfortable heat, it didn't take him long to drift off to sleep.
Izaya's eyes snapped open and he rolled onto his side. He stared fixedly at Shizuo's peaceful expression, an ugly look on his face. "Hey, don't fall asleep Shizu-chan. Stupid monster, don't fall asleep!" His protests proved fruitless; Shizuo was too far gone. Izaya's face softened as he realized this and he studied Shizuo's sleeping face. "Heh, you look dumb when you sleep. You're cheek's all squished..." An uncomfortable feeling of warmth that had nothing to do with the kotatsu settled in his stomach and he flinched, dragging his gaze away from Shizuo and rolling onto his back.
He inched a little closer. He could feel the warm puffs of breath escaping Shizuo's lips ruffling his hair. Izaya's eyelids fluttered shut and he breathed softly, trying to calm the raging emotions he always kept suppressed. A smirk stole over his lips and he grabbed his jacket, plunging a hand into the pocket and withdrawing a pen. He snickered softly, turning onto his side again to face Shizuo.
The next day he was admitted to Ikebukuro hospital and Shizuo made another journey to the store to buy a new kotatsu heater to replace the now broken one.
*- degrees Celsius. It's about 15/16 degrees Fahrenheit.