"I didn't expect to see you here, flea."
He can analyze an expression in mere moments, and tones of voice are like an open book to him. He likes what he sees; when it comes to Shizu-chan, he almost always does. The monster's so easy to read, sometimes. Mostly because there's nothing there but violence.
He senses hostility, of course, but... there's something unexpected there, a note almost of relief. He knows that desperate times change people, of course, but he's used to Shizu-chan being easier to read than a children's picture book.
Then again, it's exactly how he feels as well. Seeing another person, even that goddamn monster, it's so... so...
"It's good to see you too," he says, feeling his face crinkle into that familiar grin. God, he's missed smiling. And humans. He's missed humans, and he didn't even realize how much until just now.
Shizu-chan just snorts, and picks at his nails.
He looks at Shizu and notices all the little details. How the mighty have fallen! His face is ghastly pale; hair, once the color of a streetlight at dusk, now the dark brown of a roach's back. His clothes, so neat in Izaya's memory, are shredded, the white shirt replaced with a black wifebeater. His nails are ragged, bitten to the quick, and a thin trail of blood leaks from his thumb's cuticle. The sunglasses still perch atop his nose, but one lens is shattered, and he can see a gray eye gazing through the gap.
Shizuo's eye...
He'd only caught a few glimpses of Shizuo's eyes before, and he never really had cared before. They're cold, he realizes. A little frightening. He doesn't know what it is about them- they're warm gray, full of life, not clouded. But the intensity of the gaze reminds him of dead fish eyes.
He can't meet his stare now.
"How'd you even find this place?" he asks the monster, clasping his hands behind his back. His fingers knot together like frightened snakes.
Shizu-chan glares at him. He feels like a butterfly stuck on a pin.
"You left a trail." The word moron is clearly implied, but left unsaid.
He must be in a good mood.
"I thought it was someone else. Of course, the world ends and you're the only person left..." Shizu-chan leans against the wall. The monster's breathing rather hard, he notices, and crusted, brown-red blood has spread over the torso of his shirt.
"Ah. I see." He fidgets restlessly. "You know, this is a good thing?"
"What if they spot us?" There's no explanation needed. 'They' are the ones that destroyed everything.
"It don't matter." His voice sounds far too quiet, even in his own ears. "They've already won."
Shizu-chan stares at him, like he's looking at a ghost, and shakes his head.
"You've gone crazy. Stone-cold crazy."
"Am I wrong?" He tries to stare right back at him. That cold gray gaze is hard to withstand, though, and he glances away after mere moments.
"...The Orihara I knew wouldn't give up so easily." Shizuo sounds like he hates to admit it, like he hates to admit that his worst enemy has any good qualities at all.
"The Orihara you knew doesn't exist any more." His voice is soft, quiet, almost hesitant. He hadn't heard anyone speak for so long. How long has it been, a year now?
Perhaps it's just that his voice is rusty.
Neither does the Shizuo I remember.
"Well..." Shizu-chan stares at him.
He can tell that the monster isn't looking him in the eye, though; looking up, he realizes Shizu's gaze is fixed on his left ear.
He decides to defuse the situation, as much as he can.
"Want a smoke?" he asks. The packet of cigarettes has been in his pocket for a year, as a peace offering of sorts. He knew that if he ran into Shizu-chan again, he'd want him on his side.
Shizuo's eyes brighten and he snatches for the box. The chemical smell of the lighter fills his nose as he watches Shizu-chan scrabble at the switch. He can feel a smile blooming on his face as he watches the monster grin.
"Is it any good?"
Shizu-chan takes a deep drag, the tip of the cigarette glowing with a faint, red light.
"Mm." It's half a sigh of contentment, half a noncommital grunt. "What do you want out of me,
flea?"
"To tell you the truth?" He tries to meet his gaze head-on. Easier, since the monster's eyes are closed. He's reminded of the old stories of gorgons whose gaze turns men to stone.
"I'm lonely," he says.
Shizuo's eyebrow raises, and he laughs. It's almost a barking laugh, but Izaya can hear the faint edge of tension beneath it, and it makes him... almost feel pity. He's so used to not feeling anything at all that it seems sharp and raw to him.
"You're human after all. Sometimes I wondered." Shizuo grins, and takes off his sunglasses. The full force of that cast-iron gaze is fixed on him, and he feels a little weak in the knees.
He tries to smile, meeting Shizu-chan's eyes.
"...And you're not a human or a monster. You're a person." It was the highest honor he can accord someone. They are neither a pawn in his games- though that's a joke now, really- nor an enemy he has to destroy. They are an equal to him.
Shizuo laughs again.
"A person, huh? It really is the end of the world." He takes another deep drag, staring at him.
"You know, flea... maybe you've changed into a person, too. A person I could be friends with."
Under the dead-fish-eye gaze, all he can do is nod.
He's going to have nightmares about Shizu-chan's eyes tonight, he knows he will.
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column...