Izaya wakes up sluggishly. Bleary eyes blinking at the sun peering in through the partially drawn blinds. He shifts to test and wake his limbs, feeling new restrictions around his left shoulder and right wrist as well as the full-body soreness from his running. Pain spikes through his right hand and up his arm with the movement, and Izaya gasps sharply.

"Oh good, you're awake." The cheery doctor notices, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. "Would you like something to eat with your pain medication?"

"You knew," Izaya spits back, ignoring his pain to glare at his so-called friend.

"About Shizuo? Yeah," Shinra answers casually, nodding.

The pain punches Izaya's stomach in time with the other brunet's simple admittance, sending a wave of nausea to flood his system. "For how long," he demands to know. For how long had he been foolishly trying to prove that a monster was indeed a monster? That Shizuo was no monstrous human but just a monster like any other supernatural creature that walks around Tokyo?

"Oh, hm," Shinra pauses to take a sip of his warm beverage, "since elementary."

Izaya's eyes narrow as his mouth displays a severe frown. He shifts again, attempting to move out of the bed and finding it too hard of a job with his injuries and exhausted muscles.

"You're going to want to take it easy, Izaya. Straining either your wrist or shoulder could lead to irreparable damages."

"That thing bit me," the brunet begins to foully hiss.

"You can't catch lycanthropy, if that's what you're worried about." Shinra helpfully provides, easing away some of Izaya's worries. "Shizuo's kind are all born as they are. It was so fascinating to watch some of his development and how it differs from humans! Just think of the regenerative abilities we might be able to harvest from just some of his blood!"

Izaya suppresses the urge to roll his eyes as he leans back into the makeshift hospital bed. "Where's that medication, Shinra?"

"Right, right! I'll have my darling make you a slice of toast as well."

Shinra darts out of the room to get breakfast and something for the other man's pain, leaving Izaya alone to scope out where his phone might be located at. Coat hanging on the back of the door, his phone luckily rests on the bedside table. Izaya struggles to retrieve it with his right hand, quickly switching to his left when it drops in his lap. Ambidexterity never failing to prove itself useful, the informant scrolls past his missed calls and texts to open a web page.

With nothing else to do but wait until he's rested and healed up, Izaya begins his newest research project.

"Full moon keep you up again?" Tom asks when Shizuo yawns for the second time in five minutes.

The blond shrugs as he shakes his carton of smokes for one. "Technically," he murmurs as he lights his cigarette. "Those jackasses I mentioned, like, a week ago brought their shit into Ikebukuro."

"Really," Tom stresses with astonishment. The other man can't count on his fingers and toes the amount of supposed Weres they've casually passed by over the years that would visibly panic when Shizuo walks past them down the street. The more respectful ones would bow or toss a pleasantry of some sort, while most kept to their lane while trying not to make eye contact. According to the little he's overheard and been told by Shizuo and a handful of others, Weres just weren't as stupid to encroach on another's territory like your typical human gangs were, though city life made it a necessity. No other Were claimed a whole district as their own, it was extremely unreasonable in their time, but no one was going to start a power struggle with Shizuo Heiwajima, especially if all they wanted was a quiet life as well. Shizuo's name and scent was enough to keep some peace, and some Weres had even flocked to live in the same district, knowing that their honest lives would be ignored by Shizuo.

"Yeah, but get this," Shizuo flicks the ash off of the end of his cigarette as he points it like a finger, "They were chasing the flea this time." With a shake of his head and another inhale, Shizuo says, "I don't even think he realized where he was running to anymore when I got there."

"Got there?! Did you actually save Izaya's skin?!" The blond frowns around his cigarette as Tom's expression widens further and further with surprise. "So he knows?"

"Yeah," he growls, sharply turning towards the metal trashcan standing along the sidewalk and kicking it. The can bends inwards from the impact as it flies across the street and into a brick wall, some of the brick crumbling when it forcefully connects. "Fuck!" Shizuo yells down at the pavement.

"H-Hey Shizuo, why don't we have a quick bite before our first stop? Some food might help take some of your edge off."

"Alright," the blond sighs heavily. "I'm sorry, Tom."

"Hey," Tom holds up his hands to wave dismissively, "that guy knowing any of my secrets would piss me off too."

"It's not him knowing that bothers me," Shizuo quietly admits as they begin walking. "No, that's wrong. It is him knowing that pisses me off. Izaya can't drop shit, especially if it's interesting to him. He's probably nosing through my shit right now, broken wrist or not." His teeth grit, grinding against one another as he easily imagines Izaya in full casts, still managing to rip Shizuo's clothes from his drawers as he hopelessly searches for something incriminating. "He could never fucking leave me alone before, now he's gonna be even more of a damn pest!"

Tom sighs, digging into his pockets for his smokes and lighter, as the blond next to him radiates with anger and annoyance. "Send him off to that older guy... what's his name?"

"Umezaki," he provides.

"Yeah, him. He'll be able to answer all of his questions, right?"

Shizuo pauses in thought. "I dunno," he eventually replies. "Human mates get enough scrutiny when they're brought in, and that's usually not until they're pregnant or something."

Shizuo absently scratches his cheek as he considers tossing the flea onto the older gentleman's doorstep and finds that his stomach sours a bit with the thought. Umezaki genuinely wanted to keep the peace and help others despite his old age. Even though technology has been making information easier to come across and share, the majority of Weres wanted their secrets kept to blend in and so, records stayed on paper and in heads.

Shizuo calms down, though only very minutely, as he realizes that the less Izaya knows, the better for the rest of them. The bastard's already made it his mission in life to torment Shizuo, any more of his typical bullshit won't really be too much for the blond, but for others? They'd just be more people Izaya has the secrets of, more people for him to fuck up the lives of.

"Nah, I can deal." He says gruffly, exhaling smoke as his cigarette dies between his lips. "It's not like much has changed."