This whole thing made him want to giggle, even though Izaya knew that that would take about five more shots before he'd do so for no reason—it was just the way Shizuo was lending a helping hand on a whim was the funniest thing he'd seen all day.
Shizuo didn't even know where to bring him to.
"I really don't want to bring you to my house," Shizuo grumbled under his breath, but he was already taking the keys out of his pocket, fiddling with them to find the right one.
"Then why are we here? Are you what they call a tsundere?"
Izaya was still on Shizuo's back, not making a comment about it since for sure, the moment he says even a word about it, it'll probably bring Shizuo out of his stupor and drop Izaya on the floor unceremoniously.
"What the hell is tsundere? I need to keep an eye on you before you wreck the whole city and their Christmas spirit."
"Why, I didn't know Shizu-chan was actually Santa! Anyway, there's nothing worthy enough to steal in Shizu-chan's house. Mine, however-"
"Glad to know I can expect everything to still be in place tomorrow."
The lock made a clicking sound once the key fit right in, then came a twist of the knob before the door opened to reveal a rather clean house– well, cleaner than Izaya expected. There was still some dirty laundry lying around, empty glass sitting on the coffee table and of course, a lot of cigarette butts in the ashtray. Did Shizuo think having things clean would make it up for the mess in his life and personality?
Izaya couldn't resist letting out a small bout of laughter, feet finally touching the ground once again as he got himself off of Shizuo's back.
"What the fuck are you laughing at?" Shizuo glared at him.
He couldn't figure out whether it was the alcohol in his system or everything was just funny. Perhaps a little bit of both.
"Nothing. Do you have hot chocolate here?"
"Since when do you like hot chocolate?"
"I don't if it's too sweet. I'll drink a bit and I'll spit it back out."
"I didn't allow you into my house to waste things."
"Well, it'd be good to feel what Christmas is like sometimes."
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Shizuo staring at him as soon as the words left his mouth, but Izaya paid no attention to it, reaching a hand out to drag his finger along the surface of the cupboard instead. A bit of dust left the pad of his index finger dark grey, causing him to grimace in slight disgust. He ought to call Namie to come and clean this place up. Well, with a bit of additional payment, of course. She wouldn't do anything for free, unless it involved Seiji or the humiliation of Izaya that she thought was amusing enough.
"Maybe you'd get to feel that if you weren't such an asshole," was what Shizuo decided to respond with. It caught Izaya off guard, a feeling of guilt washing over him.
"…Fuck."
Shizuo seemed to realize what he'd just said was wrong when Izaya didn't respond. Running a hand through his hair in frustration, he turned to make his way towards the kitchen to make the hot chocolate Izaya requested. Was he too direct? But Izaya had to get it through his thick skull that it was his shitty personality that made him this way. He brought this upon himself.
"You have a good heart, nii-san." rang through his mind on a loop while he poured the milk into the hot cocoa mixture, jaw clenching.
"I guess I do, Kasuka."
Izaya was going through his childhood album when he came back in the room, probably having a great laugh at all the pictures of Shizuo spending his days in the hospital due to broken bones. Shizuo snatched it from Izaya (where did the flea even get this from? Shizuo had been looking for this for ages) before holding the cup of hot chocolate out to Izaya.
"Here. I didn't add a lot of sugar."
Izaya didn't refuse the cup of hot chocolate, carefully taking it from Shizuo's hands as he took a sip. It was still a bit too sweet to his liking, but overall it didn't taste bad. He guessed that Shizuo probably drank it thrice a day, whipping up a cup so often that he could master the correct ratio by now.
"By the way, it's midnight," Izaya held a hand out towards the digital clock that Shizuo just bought a few days ago (the older ones got destroyed because they annoyed him in the morning), "Merry Christmas, Shizu-chan! I'm glad that we're spending the first few hours tgether. Despite it being special to most people, you chose to have this moment with me, and I know you're not happy."
"Of course, you piss me off whenever you're around."
"That's why it makes me happy that you're not having a very merry Christmas."
"Shit. I can't believe I didn't go to Shinra's for this," Shizuo made a gesture with his hand, making it seem as if he was referring to Izaya as he said the last word.
The rudeness irked Izaya.
"This? You're as sweet as ever."
Earning only a scoff from Shizuo, Izaya set the cup of hot chocolate aside, he spilled a bit of the hot liquid on his palm but it was nothing compared to how worked up he was over how Shizuo thought that Izaya was a nuisance when Shizuo was the one who took him in. Couldn't Shizuo use his head for once and see that not everything was Orihara Izaya's fault?
"Go on, then. You can just go to Shinra's still. I never asked for this as well," he mimicked Shizuo.
"Oh but I'm sure you feel much better that I'm here as a company, don't you, flea?'
His eyes narrowed into slits, hatred swimming in those crimson orbs and it only grew when Shizuo forced him to answer, pushing at his shoulder so roughly that his head collided with the wall behind him. It was more irritating than painful. But of course, why should he let Shizuo win at this game?
He would never prove Shizuo right.
The first thing that he did when he parted his lips was to spit at Shizuo, a smirk spreading across his face. It was hilarious to see the clear liquid dripping down the bridge of Shizuo's nose, with the usual knit of brows indicating that Shizuo's temper—no, or should he say, ticking bomb might just explode soon. This look suited Shizuo more, Izaya thought.
"I'd rather be alone than be with a monster," he chuckled as he tipped his chin up, dragging his tongue across his upper lip to get rid of the excess saliva, "Tell me, is there a pot of boiling water somewhere that you have hidden? I'm sure you're having me as dinner. Hm, though Shizu-chan would probably prefer the meat to be raw, the animal he is."
It seemed like he hit the right spot, because his head was then bashed into the wall, leaving a pounding ache at the back of his head. He couldn't suppress a snicker, which enraged Shizuo even further. Good thing Shizuo didn't expect a quick slash of blade across the cheek, though, which kind of brought Izaya back to the old times— the first time he did the same when Shinra introduced them to each other. Izaya leaned in to catch a trail of blood that came out from the wound in his mouth, his tongue felt wet against Shizuo's injured skin.
"Don't think of me as a mere weak lamb waiting to be eaten by the wolf."
That flame in Shizuo's eyes, it enthralled him to know that he caused that. The familiar roar came again, this time with the cupboard he was checking out earlier came hurling at him. He managed to dodge it in time, but not the chair that followed suit. A groan escaped past his lips when the hard wood hit his abdomen, making him double over in pain while he had the air knocked out of him.
"Do you really want me to bleed all over your furniture?" Izaya exhaled with much difficulty, a strain in his voice.
"As long as you die in the end, I'm fine with it. 'Sides, it's not like it's the first."
"Not the first, hm? How many victims have Shizu-chan killed?"
"Bastard! I meant you making me go home bleeding."
A glint shone off the blade of his knife when Izaya raised it, pointing the tip in Shizuo's direction and letting out a laugh, "Can't say I don't like the sound of Shizu-chan bleeding all over his own home. Shall we continue until that happens?"
How long did it go on for? He lost track of the time—only focusing on Shizuo's movement and the obstacles in his way of escape from the beast. Well, by obstacles, he meant the furniture which were scattered around in a messy order now, some practically unusable at this point. Not like he cared, since they all belonged to Shizuo. It would be a fun sight to see Shizuo stressing out over the money he had to spend to replace them with new ones later on.
By the end of it, they were both left breathless, leaning against the sliding door that led to the balcony. All the fighting raised their body temperature so much that Izaya actually considered sliding the glass door open to let the night air in. Maybe that'd cool them down a little. He didn't, though. They just sat there in silence instead, adrenaline finally dissipating as they stared at the ceiling mindlessly.
Shizuo chose to speak first.
"Shiro-chan didn't have to go like that."
"You're still thinking about that lump of snow?" Izaya angled his head to the side to have a look at Shizuo, whose expression appeared to be rather melancholic.
"It was something I made."
"We made," he corrected Shizuo, "and I killed him because he didn't want to talk to me."
Shizuo squinted at him then, giving him an incredulous look as if Izaya just uttered something ridiculous.
"You're still drunk. You better not throw up here."
"The first I'll throw up on is Shizu-chan. Anyway, in the end, I suppose I saw Shiro-chan as my only company, or was it my weakness—I can't even remember. But I disliked it so I decided to destroy him."
"…"
"All this talking is tiring. I can't believe I'm having a conversation with Shizu-chan right now. I'm going to sleep."
"No, you're going out."
Izaya ignored Shizuo's fingers encircling around his arm and the tug that came with it, only climbing into the bed and throwing the covers over his lower half. He'd hold on to the headboard if he had to, though Shizuo didn't appear to be so insistent on making him leave this time (because if he was to be honest, Shizuo would definitely chuck him out the window if he wanted Izaya gone, despite living on the third floor).
"Izaya— Shit. Whatever," he heard Shizuo mutter, and then there was a dip in the other side of the bed, "I'm not going to let you ruin my Christmas."
It wasn't like it was that easy for him to fall asleep, with his practically non-existent sleeping schedule. His body wasn't used to sleeping this early either. However, it seemed like that was not the case with Shizuo. Izaya didn't even have to wait long until he heard the sound of Shizuo's light snoring, which he thought he'd hate but strangely, he didn't mind it.
"Shizu-chan? Let's decorate a Christmas tree tomorrow, and I'll even let you put the star at the top."
No response came.
To confirm that the monster was really asleep, Izaya turned to face Shizuo.
"Even when you're asleep you look disgruntled. Ah, wait— that may be because of this," he put his finger (which he prodded Shizuo with in between of the brows) away, and true to his words, Shizuo's expression softened soon enough.
There was something else more interesting than Shizuo. Something that was red and green that Izaya almost missed, hung on the heardboard of the bed. It was a sock with Christmas pattern.
"That's so childish."
Was there something that he could put in it? Izaya may not be interested in the myth of Santa Clause, but he knew that monsters like the two of them wouldn't get any gifts, not even coals (which didn't seem much of a punishment since those could be used for the fireplace). After a minute of checking all of his pockets, he found several sweets in the right pocket of his fur trimmed jacket. He'd forgotten that he kept such candies on him in case he needed to get information from high-school girls. It was a method of coaxing the information out of them, since they seem to be fond a sweet guy. Most of the time, they actually accepted it. Hadn't they heard that they shouldn't be taking candies from strangers? How laughable.
Shizuo would probably like them, since they were strawberry milk flavoured, so Izaya dumped all of them into the sock.
"May Shizu-chan wake up and not be a monster tomorrow," he mumbled before settling back down in the bed, curling up close to Shizuo and fluttering his eyes shut. If he was in his right mind, he'd never be in this close of a proximity to Shizuo, much less snuggling into the beast's shoulder. Now, he could blame it all on the alcohol, despite how much he'd sobered up in the past few hours.
And as much as he hated to admit it, the presence of someone else next to him, instead of a mere cold bed (the warmth Shizuo's body was emitting was amazing) or bodies slicked with sweat attempting to entertain him, was comforting.
"Merry Christmas to us."