I know this is super late, but I finally got the time and motivation to type.
Happy belated birthday to Izaya Orihara!
I own only Arlua.
"Hey, Teki, you're dating that information broker from Shinjuku, right?" Arlua frowned at the client whose support request she had just completed.
"Where did you hear something like that?" she inquired, keeping her tone even, silently thanking Tania for helping her learn to conceal her reactions better.
"Lots of people are saying he has a pet hacker. It's just this one guy on the Internet that's saying you're the one," the client replied. "But you're smarter than that, right? You wouldn't be with someone who's so…"
"So what?" she prompted when the client trailed off.
"So…you know. Twisted. Selfish. Dangerous. Psychotic." Arlua hid a smirk and shook her head, remembering her own first impression of Izaya Orihara. If only this client knew what she had planned for her informant… "He can't love anyone, even if he is dating the hacker he's got. He's just using them. He probably got on the wrong side of another hacker – so you'd be a good pick if he needed a hacker of his own, since no one in the underground here will cross you by hacking your people." The technician sighed. Forget what she had planned for Izaya. She almost wished she could inform this idiot of how wonderful her boyfriend could be.
"Thank you for your concern," she said. "But please pay no attention to rumors about me, and please refrain from commenting on my personal life. I would hate to have to drop your contract." Before he could answer, she left, letting her frustration show only once she was out of the client's building. It wasn't the first time one of her clients had said something about her relationship with Izaya, and it certainly hadn't been the worst thing anyone had said. She distinctly remembered a few people asking if she was sleeping with him to keep him from revealing information about her, or to get information on her rival companies.
"Something wrong, Lu-chan?" She blinked.
"Nah, my client was just being nosy," she replied.
"Want me to get rid of his nose? I mean, his nosiness?" he corrected himself. She laughed.
"I love you," she grinned, wrapping her arm around his and setting off down the street, pulling him with her. He blinked; by mutual agreement, they were rarely openly affectionate in public, due to the dangers of his occupation and the potential risk to her reputation. "Come on. Let's do something," she decided. He blinked again, then shrugged.
"Sure. I followed you today because for some reason, all my clients cancelled for today, so I have nothing to do," he agreed. She hid a smirk.
"By happy coincidence, that was my only client for the day," she told him cheerfully. "So where would you like to go? It's your choice," she added. Izaya tilted his head.
"Hungry? We could go get sushi," he suggested.
"Sure. It's your day," she replied. He paused, and she smoothly corrected herself. "I mean you have the day to yourself since you don't have any clients, right?" His eyes narrowed.
"You did this," he accused. Arlua smiled innocently.
"I don't know what you mean," she insisted.
"Yes you do. How did you…?"
"How did I what?" she replied, turning in the direction of their usual sushi place.
"You found out what today is and got my clients to cancel didn't you?" he demanded. She let her smirk show this time.
"Your sisters were very helpful when I asked them when your birthday was, since you wouldn't tell me," she told him. He grimaced. "I know you said you didn't want me to make a big deal about it, but Izzy, I wanted to spend today with you. So when I noticed you were booking a lot of meetings on your birthday, I just asked them to reschedule. Then I booked one client for myself so you wouldn't figure it out ahead of time," she explained.
The informant laughed.
"You really are unpredictable," he mused. "Thank you. It might be nice to take a day completely off for once."
"Of course it will be," she responded tartly. "You'll be with me."