Durarara! in its entirety is copyright to Narita Ryohgo-sensei; Miku belongs to me.

**edit:

{"word"} - text message mode

["word"] - Celty's PDA message mode

-Durarara!—3 Months Later-

Snow fell softly.

Even though she should be inside the sanctuary of her apartment watching TV with her cat curled up at her side on the couch with a cup of her favorite green tea in her hands, she liked snow. Ever since she was little, she loved the first signs of snowfall, the coldness that seized the usually-neutral climate of Japan.

With a quiet sigh she looked up at the bleak gray sky of the afternoon, sitting on a cold bench in the middle of the park, admiring the change of pace and scenery.

It wasn't long before she felt someone tap her shoulder; she blinked and brought her head back down from the sky, seeing a familiar black-clad biker standing to the side.

She smiled lightly. "Celty, it's been a while. How've you been?" She asked.

With a swift flick of the wrist, the headless woman typed away on the screen of her PDA, presenting the screen to her.
[Doing good, just working. What about you, how has your manga been coming along?]

She gestured she sit with her, shrugging aimlessly. "Same thing, and almost done with volume three, just need a couple more chapters." Her eyes softened as she thought back to that scene as of a few months ago, looking at the yellow-helmet-wearing dullahan. "I guess you're in better spirits than you were that night, y'know…" She trailed off and smiled weakly.

More tapping on the screen.
[That's good. And yeah, things were pretty hectic that night… But it's okay now. Kinda got used to it. :)]

She smiled again and nodded. "That's good, how's Shinra-kun?" She wondered.

Tapping again.
[Same as usual, though he's seriously dead-set on marriage now than he used to be.]

She blinked before chuckling softly, smiling at her friend. "I would imagine, but that's sweet that he wants to be with you. You're lucky to have him." Him and his mannerisms, she inwardly added, smiling again.

Her shoulders shook slightly with what she could only assume was laughter, gloved fingers tapping away on the screen.
[Yeah, I am. What about Shizuo-kun? I'd have thought you two were dating by now.]

Her cheeks colored pink and she coughed, looking down humbly. "I-I doubt it, his schedule is as work-affiliated as mine is. Besides, we're just friends…" She defended weakly.

If she had eyes, Celty would've rolled them at the girl's stubbornness. [You know he cares about you, Miku. Why else would he have wanted to protect you throughout high school from Izaya-san? Really, he does like you, a lot. He doesn't tell me straight out, but I can tell that he's soft on you, and not because of your looks either.]

The blush deepened. "Yeah, he mentioned that, one day a few months back when we had dinner. It was a surprise, really, to have him come to my apartment with sushi…" She smiled thoughtfully at the memory, sighing and banishing the memory away. "What else does he tell you?" She felt slightly jealous that he had been relenting his musings and feelings to the dullahan, but at the same time she was curious on what he said about her.

More tapping.
[He says you don't think of him like everyone else does. That you do care about him, even though he knows you're not ready just yet to tell him. And he also hates Izaya-san more than ever because he broke up with you a few years back.]

She smiled slightly, kicking her boots against the concrete beneath her absently. "That doesn't surprise me, he's always hated Izaya. But no, I don't think of him like the rest of society does: he's not scary. Not to me. And even if people call him a monster, to be honest, I like that part about him. I know that if it came down to it, he'd use his strength to protect those he loves, those he cares about. And I do care about him, I care about him especially moreso if he gets hurt or worse." She shuddered even though she wasn't cold, looking down.

[It sounds more like love than care to me.] Celty wrote.

Miku blushed and chuckled quietly, looking at the frozen pond and shrugging. "Maybe so. Either way, one day soon, I'll tell him. At least before Izaya puts his foot in the way or something like that." She added wryly.

[He mentioned that, said you were pretty upset. Is that the day you said he took you dinner?]

"Yeah, that was pretty hectic. But it was really sweet of him to care about my well-being." She smiled.

[That reminds me, his birthday is coming up, what're you going to do?]

She blinked and looked down at the screen of her phone to see it was nearly a week before said blonde's birthday. "Damn, is it that soon already? G-geh, umm… crap. I don't know!" She whined, slapping her forehead and shutting her eyes tight with a groan.
Stupid, stupid, stupid idiot!

Celty seemed to sweatdrop. [Why not just take him to dinner? Or bake him something?]

Miku opened a blue eye at her suggestions, her shoulders slumping. "I can't cook for shit, that's why I usually buy microwave food." She looked at the pond again and put a finger to her chin in thought. "Hmm… Hey, I know!" She looked at the biker dullahan and clapped her hands together in pleading. "Can we go on a double date with you and Shinra-kun? Please, Celty-chan!?" She pleaded, giving her the puppy dog eyes.

Her shoulders shook softly in laughter as she typed. [That's cute, but save the puppy-dog eyes for Shizuo-kun. I'm sure Shinra wouldn't mind doing that, it's been a while since he's seen either one of you.]

"Yay, thank you Celty-chan!" She threw her arms around her friend, making the dullahan stiffen slightly before she patted her shoulder, pulling away to smile at her.

[No problem, what day do you want to meet? Asking so that way I can let Shinra know.]

"Hm, how's the day before sound?" She wondered, seeing her nod.

[Sounds fair. Just text me what time you want to meet up. Russia Sushi?] She guessed.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's perfect. I'll do that."

He almost choked on the smoke coming from the cigarette in his mouth. "Y-you what?"

'It's not a date of sorts, just two couples hanging out. C'mon, it won't hurt! Please?' She pleaded on the other line.

"What in the friggin' hell possessed you to wanna go on a double-date with Celty and Shinra? And we're not even a couple!" He demanded.

She seemed to blush for the briefest moment before chuckling at his response. 'I know that, dummy, but Celty and I talked and we wanted to get out with you two. Besides, in all honesty, I wanted to do something for you for your birthday. Please, Shizuo?' She requested, seeming sincere this time.

It was a good thing she didn't see him blush at hearing her reason behind such a random idea; he exhaled. "Remind me to kill Shinra for letting you two get together… Fine, since you're so dead-set on this." He complied.

'You're the best! Wanna meet at my apartment at six tomorrow?' She sounded like she was beaming.

He couldn't help but smile for her at hearing her sound so excited. "Yeah, sounds perfect." He replied.

'Alright, well I gotta get back to work, I just figured I'd run this by you before doing anything else. See you tomorrow, Shizuo!' She sounded like she was still smiling on the other line.

"Well thanks for being so considerate." He heard her giggle quietly. "See you tomorrow, Miku." He closed the phone and looked at it for a second longer before sighing.

Good fuck what was he gonna do?

::::::oO|Oo:::::::

He sweatdropped at seeing the bespectacled doctor gushing over the quiet and more-peaceful dullahan, inwardly slapping his forehead as he rolled his eyes.

If anyone, he knew Kishitani Shinra could be more of a fangirl over Celty than any of those fangirls were of his little brother Kasuka. Now that he thought on it, it was downright scary…

"See you later, you two; happy birthday again, Shizuo-kun!" Shinra called, jerking him from his thoughts as he looked to see the odd couple already taking off on the biker's sleek black motorcycle, disappearing into the growing darkness.

Miku waved after them, smiling slightly. "Well that was fun." She mused aloud.

Shizuo nodded. "Yeah, really, once you got past Shinra's babbling." He chimed, tugging on her sleeve to lead her in the direction back to her apartment.

She rolled her eyes and smiled patiently up at him as he pulled out another cigarette, lighting it up. "Typical Shinra-kun, he never changes." She muttered, lifting her free hand to snatch his cigarette from his hand, taking a brief drag before handing it back, wisps of smoke escaping her lips.

"Since when do you smoke?" He cocked a brow.

She shrugged. "Kinda started when I was going out with Izaya. Kicked the habit after he said some bullshit line like 'I don't want my precious Miku-chan to get lung cancer and die!'…" She shook her head.

He bristled on reflex at the mention of that flea, snorting. "Ass-kisser." He muttered.

Miku noted his tensed body and looked down at his hand still holding her sleeve, maneuvering her hand to take hold of his own and twine her fingers with his, surprising the blonde.

Shizuo felt his cheeks blaze at having her hold his hand, noting the calm expression on her face and quieting, taking another drag from his cigarette as he squeezed her hand gently.

The rest of the walk was quiet even as he walked her to the door.

Smiling at his gentlemanly gesture, she reluctantly released his hand to fish inside the pocket of her jacket for her keys, pulling them out as he was just about finished with the cig. "I hope you'll have a lot of birthdays from here on, and that they'll be happy." She wished, looking up at him and smiling gently, turning to open her door. "Goodnight, Shizuo…" She began.

"Miku." He took her hand again, surprising her; he saw her look up at him with curious and strangely innocent blue eyes. He pulled the cigarette away from his lips, feeling his cheeks heat again; he couldn't believe he was doing this.

She felt her cheeks flare up to a shade of red as he inclined his head down to kiss her, gently crushing his lips to her own; 'he says he knows you care about him, just that you're not ready to tell him yet.' Her words echoed back to her.

Sliding her eyes closed, she lifted her hands to gingerly bunch in his blonde locks, kissing back and smiling against his lips as he folded his arms around her waist.

"Shizuo," he heard her rasp softly when he pulled back, looking down at her to see she was blushing as much as he was, something in the pit of his gut stirring at hearing her say his name like that and wanting her to say it again in the same way; she ran her fingers through his blonde hair gently, that same light smile he always liked most adorning her lips. "I do care about you. A lot." She admitted, blushing a darker shade of red if that was possible.

He quieted in surprise and smiled slowly, releasing her waist of one hand to run his fingers through her cobalt hair. "I'm glad, especially after seeing you go through hell with those other guys, and then with that flea…" Her lips on his quieted his sentence; he blinked once before smirking softly and kissing back, letting her pull away.

"Happy birthday." She hummed softly, smiling despite the taste of cigarette on her tongue at the pink blush that was fading from his cheeks and the happy light in his brown eyes she immediately liked, hugging him tightly before letting go to retreat inside her apartment.

"'Night, Miku." He declared.

She smiled fondly and nodded. "'Night, Shizuo. I'm glad I could give you a happy birthday." She replied.

He smiled back and chuckled quietly. "Me too; see you later, cat lady." He teased gently, seeing her pout cutely before he turned to head to the elevator with his hands in his pockets and his head on cloud nine.

-DRRR!—3 Months Later-

She blinked at the question, inwardly noting that this guy looked old enough to be her father, let alone that he looked like he'd seen better days. "Sorry, but could you run that by me again?" She asked politely.

The scruffy-looking reporter Niekawa looked down at the pad he had scrawled some questions on, looking up at the girl's blue eyes. "Could you tell me just what you know of Heiwajima Shizuo? An info broker acquaintance of mine said if anyone knew anything of him, it would be you, Miss Kazamura." He replied, seeming a bit sheepish and curious at the same time.

"An info broker? Oh… him. Yeah, look, don't go screwing with him; to be frank, he's an ass-kisser and a total jerk, so he can be pretty mean when he feels like it. But enough of that! Heiwajima Shizuo and I are high school friends, he's always looked out for me and on one occasion or two he beat the shit out of a couple of bad exes when we were in school." She smiled sheepishly, sipping her soda. "But when it comes to his strength, he's kinda scary… Well okay, pretty scary. And that's coming from his girlfriend." She chuckled as he scribbled down on the pad the key points to her relation to the aforementioned strongman.

"So he's not a monster like everyone else says he is, then." He didn't make it a question, taking a sip from his own drink.

She shrugged. "Not with girls; he's a softie on girls, though don't publish that part. If he knew you were the one who put that out for the rest of the world to see, he'd prolly end up killing you. No pressure! But no, he's not a monster. I really believe that if it comes down to it, he'll use his strength to protect those he cares about." She explained, smiling thoughtfully.

Niekawa smiled slightly at her answer, scribbling again. "This is kind off the record, but just how did you meet him? The info broker mentioned you were from Osaka…" He dared a look at her blue eyes.

Miku pursed her lips at the mention of that "flea", lifting a hand to run slender fingers through her bangs. "Well I kinda had a knack for having a big mouth in school, so he saw these girls gang up on me one day. My older brother taught me a bit of self-defense and anything related to hand-to-hand combat since I was twelve, so I kicked their asses. I guess he was impressed at my fighting skill." She smiled again, sheepish and proud at the same time.

He made a small note not to piss off the young manga artist, scribbling again and looking at her. "Well, I think this is all I need for my article. Thanks again, Miss Kazamura." He stood from the small table to take his leave, extending his hand to her.

She nodded and shook his hand, flashing a kind smile. "Don't mention it! Hope your article gets good reviews. Sometimes the critics can be pretty harsh." She wished.

Niekawa briefly wondered how the strongman of Ikebukuro had obtained the heart of a kind girl like Kazamura Miku, leaving the small restaurant.

*small note - next chap will mostly go with the Saika arc in the anime, just a head's up.

other than that, feel free to drop a review. thanks! ;'D