A/N: ummm... hi
im sorry for the wait? ^^"
Anyway, here's the promised Izaya's POV. Have fun!

(I'll meet you at Nishiguchi Park then~!)

[Understood.]

(Pleasure doing business with you, Courier-san.)

A smile spread across Izaya's face after he pushed the 'send' button. As he expected, there was no further reply.

It was rather unusual for the Headless Rider to ask for a job herself. She hardly ever refused his errands but then again, she never asked for them. It was more than obvious that Celty wanted him in Ikebukuro for some unknown reason, with how clumsily she tried to find out if he was planning to go there anytime soon. Interesting. He actually had a couple of businesses to attend to in the area, so he decided to humor her, because why not? The informant would never refuse the chance to pay a visit in his favorite, precious Ikebukuro.

The raven stretched out in his swivel chair and put his phone back on the desk before he moved to his PC and opened a proper file to copy the set of documents into a flash drive. Shiki-san seemed to be pretty adamant in getting rid of a rival art gallery and of course Izaya would help him to achieve just that. That was how much he loved his humans. Duh.

The informant observed with a widening smile as the bar indicating the completion of copying was filling. The files he prepared were compromising enough to close the whole business and indebt the owners for at least few generations. It would be solely Shiki's decision how many of the files he will use. It was pretty disappointing to know that he probably won't use more than necessary, but who knows?

The yakuza executive didn't put any absolute urgency for Izaya to deliver this data but since Celty wanted to see him so much he could as well take care of it now. Aside from Shiki's request, he had another job in Ikebukuro - delivering a couple of discrediting photos from city's security cameras to a rather dull, one-time client. That one was pretty boring, so he could get Celty to deliver those. Two assignments at once. Good.

Humming happily, he unplugged the flash drive and pocketed it into his skinny jeans. The envelope with photos was already waiting in his drawer - he took it out and placed on the desk. The raven spun on his chair to face Namie, who was currently typing on her laptop, filling all the meaningless tasks he had burdened her with.

"Ne, Namie-san," Izaya sang, wallowing in the way she tensed with irritation. Her only answer was a glare in his general direction as she waited for his request.

"I would love to have some coffee, you know."

"Then go and make it," his secretary all but grunted in response and continued her work.

"If I wanted to make it myself I wouldn't ask my secretary," he purred, putting just enough emphasis on "my" for her to flinch with disgust. He chuckled quietly when she rose from her seat and with a loud ' hmph' stormed to the kitchen.

"No poisons, please!" Izaya called after her cheerfully. Still smiling, he stood up from his desk and went in the direction of his sofa. He sat heavily on soft cushions sighing with contentment as he sank in it. The raven couldn't help the building excitement at the thought that he was going to Ikebukuro. He almost felt restless.

Doing business in that part of Tokyo was thrilling for a couple of reasons. One of them being a certain monster. The mere prospect of bumping into the beast made his heart race.

There was one thing Orihara Izaya secretly loved about Heiwajima Shizuo.

He absolutely adored his undying hatred.

Maybe not precisely his hatred as in itself. What he got high on, was that exclusive, undivided, devoted, sweet attention he received from the monster each time he came across him. Izaya loved the lethal danger that came with said attention. Walking on the thin ice, flirting with death.

He slowly closed his eyes, inhaling deeply as the image of Shizu-chan appeared in his mind. The image of fuming, enraged Shizu-chan, approaching him, with a deep frown, a scowl written across his face, breathing heavily, with warm, brown eyes glued to his own, crimson ones. Izaya felt himself smiling at the image. He felt as his hands balled into fists, fingernails painfully digging into his palms as the unsettling excitement washed over him at the thought of infuriated, passionate monster getting closer and closer, promising danger; he thought about the low, deep growl of Shizuo's voice when he pronounced his name, purposely drawing each syllable in a manner that screamed danger; he thought about the way this voice was resonating through his whole body, producing shuddering shivers in its wake. He thought about those rare moments, those mere seconds before the blond would throw his first punch, those few seconds in which the debt collector was close enough for Izaya to see that burning fire in mocha eyes, that overwhelming passion; close enough to see how dilated his pupils were - like two supermassive black holes pulling him in - when Shizuo was glaring straight at him, straight into his soul, boring holes into his skull. He thought about the exhilarating surge of adrenaline that came with each successful dodge of a certainly lethal punch or ridiculously heavy projectile. Unconsciously, the raven bit his lower lip and a strong, warm, exciting shiver run down his spine and his brows slightly knitted together as he thought about how, in such moments, he became the centre of the beast's universe, the sole core of his existence, how there was absolutely nothing else that mattered in Shizuo's life beside him and him only. Izaya's inhales became heavy and uneven, and he slowly, sensually, crossed his legs in unconscious search of friction. He felt the copper taste of blood as the skin on his lip finally give in under the force of his pressing teeth.

A dull clink broke the spell and Izaya's eyes snapped open. He lifted his gaze, irritated by the intrusion, and was met with absolutely disgusted expression on Namie's face as she put the mug with coffee on the table in front of him.

"I have no idea what you were thinking about just now, but make sure you'll never make this repulsing expression if front of me ever again ," she spat coldly, her face contorted with distaste, "and your mouth is bleeding," she added before turning on her heel and coming back to her desk to resume her work.

Izaya slowly licked his lip clean before he smirked, "No one told you to stare at me, Namie-san!"

Okay, maybe he had gotten a bit carried away just now. He knew he should be more careful of his surroundings while indulging himself in those… fantasies of his. They were his weaknesses, and yet he treasured them - his guilty pleasures. He was aware that the obvious sexual nature of them should be at least disconcerting, but he was also aware that he wasn't exactly normal. If anything, he was twisted to the very core or his soul. So he simply embraced it.

If there was one thing that could accurately and distinctly describe Orihara Izaya, it was that he was a man who always stayed true to his desires. If he wants something, craves for something - he would get it. At all costs, no matter what. He would have never denied himself.

Still smiling, he turned on the TV and switched the channel to cartoons. He absentmindedly watched radiant images flashing on the screen while he sipped at his coffee, all jittery on the inside, waiting for the time to pass.

xxxxxxx

When Celty took off after receiving all the details of her delivery job, he still stood there for several seconds, looking at her receding back and trying to make sense of her altered behaviour.

She listened to him closely, nodding all the time, giving him all the regard she never had a habit of giving when it came to his person.

She asked questions, too, wanting to know about trivial things like 'how is work', 'any other business in Ikebukuro' and that kind of small talk. All that while fidgeting slightly, her treacherous body language giving away her obvious discomfort and agitation. He answered all her questions, along with to where he was heading next, simply because he was curious to find out why she would need that kind of information.

Temporarily shrugging it off, he left Nishiguchi park and went to stroll in the direction of a certain art gallery. The light was already fading from the sky, coloring it with vibrant shades of the sunset. Neon sign boards were slowly waking up to illuminate the streets with unnatural glow as the moon replaced the sun in its reign. The sidewalks were flooded with masses of humans and Izaya squeezed past them all, marveling over their namelessness, their empty, featureless faces only blurring together in front of his eyes. A fuel to keep the city running. The fuel, the nutrient; they were flowing through the streets like the blood was flowing through the veins. They were all just a substance that provided nourishment essential for the growth and the maintenance of this beautiful organism that is a city. It was sad, really.

Izaya loved their hidden individuality - he loved to squeeze it out of them, make their repulsion or beauty to surface in the most surprising ways. He loved to observe their hideous nature emerging, loved to paint their otherwise colorless faces with conflict, excitement, worry, bliss, disdain and all the other shades of what the humanity was.

And they all just let him do it. He loved them for that even more. They were always catching his bait, nibbling at it enthusiastically, following his guidance without the question, toeing the line of his suggestions with the utmost care, never failing to fit into his expectations.

Bittersweet smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

All but one.

He exhaled shakily at the thought of the monster, deep in the pockets of fur-lined jacket his palms formed into fists.

An unmovable object to his unstoppable force.

Heiwajima Shizuo was never playing along to his schemes, he never fitted into his expectations, he never took any bait Izaya prepared for him, no matter how enticing would it be; he never buckled under Izaya's charms.

He was the only person that had ever let him experience the sour, foul and burning taste of the outright rejection.

Izaya chuckled under his breath.

He rejected him mere seconds after he heard his name, after their eyes met for the first time. Izaya did remember those fury-loaded glare that bore into his own eyes, he remembered how he shivered under it, he remembered how his chest constricted upon hearing 'I don't like you' instead of 'hey, nice to meet you' which he expected. He remembered how he wondered if that was what if felt like for Shinra to be stabbed - such a harsh, numbing pain, centering in the area of his heart, because that was where Shizuo stabbed him with his instant repudiation.

Soon, Izaya learned that the only reaction he was ever able to elicit from the beast was all-consuming wrath. And Izaya succumbed to it, embraced this uncontrollable rage, he relished in it; he came to love it.

He fell in love with that fury, with that acrimony and animosity, always directed to him, focused on him and him only. He fell in love with the poisonous venom, with the acid that dripped from Shizuo's voice every time he pronounced his name, screamed it, and it never failed to make him tremble with exhilaration, with satisfaction, since in such moments he received pure passion from the monster, instead of dry indifference that would drive him insane, that would invoke the dull ache of being insignificant, rejected.

He brushed his shoulder with someone he passed and smiled apologetically at them, before he tsked at himself quietly. It was not the time to space out and be distracted. The informant quickened his pace to reach his destination sooner and get over with his job.

He stepped into an alleyway that he knew was a short-cut to Shiki's gallery. After few steps he lifted his head to better regard his surroundings and then his heart stopped, his eyes widened and his breath hitched.

In the middle of the said alleyway stood no one other than Heiwajima Shizuo.

Shizu-chan was leaning against the wall, one hand in the pocket of his pants and the other holding a phone, at which he was staring while smoking a cigarette loosely hanging from his lips. Grasping the opportunity of still not being found out, Izaya slowly backed away to hide behind the corner. When he was out of the beast's sight, he let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding and silently chuckled as he couldn't contain the excitement that bloomed in his chest. It was then when it all finally clicked - Celty's questions and Shizu-chan's presence in this particular spot. So it was an ambush, it seemed. But it was odd - the Dullahan never had before contributed to their fights in any way other than interrupting them. Frowning, he peeked from behind the wall inside the alleyway to take a better look at the beast.

His shoulders were hunched even more than usual and his hair was in chaos; he was disgustingly calm as he still read something on his phone. The smoke was lazily seeping through his parted lips, as if he didn't care enough to put an effort of exhaling it in one blow. There was definitely something entirely wrong with him, considering how he still didn't notice Izaya's presence at all. And Izaya found this fact rather irritating. The informant vaguely thought that he could use this obliviousness to simply walk away and choose a different route. But, oh dear , where would be the fun in that?

The beast wanted to ambush him, so he would be nice enough to at least let him try.

He hurriedly texted Shiki that he might be a bit late and his heartbeat was already quickened when he produced his knife from the sleeve of his jacket with a sharp tug of his wrist. The blade gently slipped into his hand, the coolness of the metal soothing the shake of his palm. He took yet another deep breath to calm the thrill that made his entire body tremble, before he smiled widely and stepped into the alley once again.

His crimson eyes glued themselves to Shizuo as he slowly began to approach him, the handle of his now opened switchblade gripped tightly between his bony fingers. He made one step, second, and then another and his smile faltered and his brows furrowed because Shizu-chan still didn't notice him. When he was less than five meters away from the blond he couldn't take it anymore, and he spoke.

"Well, well, what a lovely coincidence to see you here, Shizu-chan!" he could recognize that his own voice was strained, a little bit high-pitched, heavy with agitation and he knew he should modelate it better to mute the frenzy it conveyed but it didn't matter the second Shizuo's head snapped in his direction with the very first syllable Izaya had uttered.

The beast's eyes then widened close to comically and he stiffened completely, the cigarette slowly fallen from his gaping lips. And Izaya waited, anticipated the slow transition of this expression into that of pure rage, once the awareness of who stood before him would finally sunk in that ameba brain of his monster.

Except, it didn't happen.

Seconds passed and Shizu-chan's expression conveyed all but anger.

It didn't happen when the blond slowly pushed himself off the wall, it didn't happen when he snapped his phone shut and pocketed it in his pants, it didn't happen when he hushly uttered "Izaya…" under his his breath, all that while never taking his widened eyes of Izaya's frame. He skimmed his gaze all over the raven's body and Izaya couldn't help the shiver that run through him in the wake of that lingering stare.

The raven chuckled then, darkly, and made a step closer, insults and taunts ready to leave his lips but he halted to a stop when Shizuo made a step back. Izaya blinked, losing his composure momentarily, genuinely surprised and now knowing for sure that there was something acutely odd about the debt collector. Shizuo's eyes were still wide, his lips still parted and his face was as pale as a sheet. And all Izaya felt was frustration because he couldn't read this expression whatsoever. It looked like a mixture of surprise, nervousness and… fear, maybe? But Izaya couldn't put his finger on it, couldn't precise it, because it was so foreign on the beast's face. The informant could feel his smirk widening as his irritation began to seep through his own expression; he made another step closer and the monster seemed to snap out of whatever state he was in and his brows furrowed, his usual scowl emerged.

"The hell are you doing here?" it was supposed to be growled, Izaya could tell, but it wasn't. Instead, it sounded flat.

But he giggled, "Just work, Shizu-chan. But why asking, since you probably know that, don't you? I believe that Courier-san has already informed you." Shizuo's frown deepened upon that. "But really, Shizu-chan? An ambush? I must say I'm actually impressed, you successfully schemed something. Is there an actual brain budding in that thick skull of yours?" he smirked, trying to speak loud enough so his voice would dim the sound of his pulse thrumming in his ears. That should do the trick in angering the beast.

Except, it didn't.

Shizuo just stared at him, scowling, saying nothing, his fist were clenched at his sides; he was trembling slightly but that aside, he was awfully composed.

And that definitely did the trick in angering Izaya.

The raven's eyes squinted, his smile wavered, and he rose his arm, aiming his blade in Shizuo's general direction. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" He looked into the beast's eyes, trying to find any reason for this strange behaviour, but the damn blue shades were shielding Shizuo's eyes from Izaya's intense scrutiny. Gritting his teeth he made yet another step closer to his nemesis, only for Shizuo to make yet another step back.

Where is the rage?

Where is this fury?

Where is this passion?

What the fuck was wrong with this brute?

Not exactly thinking, the raven tsked and lashed out at the other and Shizuo jumped back, avoiding his attack . Avoiding it. He tried again. With the same result. Whatthefuck.

Blood boiled in his veins, he was pissed. "Why won't you fight back, you stupid monster?" he seethed.

"Fuck off, Izaya. Seriously," the blond hissed through clenched teeth, and Izaya felt excitement at the blooming anger that leaked from those words.

"Oh?" the raven smiled again, his hands shook, "First, you patiently wait for me to arrive and then you're telling me to fuck off? Where is the logic, Shizu-chan?" he cooed and then lashed out again, only to have his wrist suddenly gripped with such a force that his blade slipped from his hand.

"Fuck off, I mean it, Izaya-kun," Shizuo demanded quietly, right into Izaya's face, but Izaya barely heard him as he was startled by the sudden proximity and his eyes locked with Shizuo's and he couldn't tear them away for several seconds, marveling over the amount of exhaustion visible behind the blue shades. The monster broke the spell as he averted his gaze and tossed the raven aside, then simply started to walk away.

What?

He swirled on his heels and bore his gaze into Shizuo's back. And he was still walking away.

No one walks away on Orihara Izaya.

Especially not Shizu-chan.

He laughed out loud, without any trace of actual amusement and before he knew it, he moved to pick his knife, and he was standing in front of Shizu-chan again, cutting off his way out. "What gave you an impression that I'm done with you, monster?"

Confused, Shizuo blinked and stepped away from him, looking everywhere but Izaya. "Just leave me the fuck alone, will you?" he muttered gruffly, his eyes still shielded with that fucking glasses.

There was this one inanimate object that Izaya truly despised. He despised it to the point of nearly grimacing every time he lied his eyes on it.

That beast's sunglasses.

He hated them from the very bottom of his heart. The informant could very much guess the reason why Shizuo was so fond of them and so adamant to always wear them, even when it was already completely dark outside.

The monster was hiding behind them. He was trying to hide his hideous expression, twisted on pure rage, trying to hide his dilated pupils, that fire in his eyes, ashamed of his true, ugly nature. He was hiding everything that Izaya adored behind those horribly mismatched, blue shades. And it pissed the raven off, to a very great extent.

And now, he was using them to hide something Izaya didn't quite understand, something that Izaya wanted to study, to disclose. And that was aggravating, to tell at least. Izaya was seething with indignation as he extended his arm and simply took the glasses of him, to snap them in half between his fingers. "Well, I'm afraid that's not an option," he rebutted quietly, making sure there was just enough honey in his voice when he offhandedly dropped the remains of the sunglasses to the ground between them, before he stepped on it just for good measure.

This time, the desired change in Shizu-chan's expression finally occurred.

His brows strongly knitted together and his pupils were blown wide in instant; he bared his gritted teeth and there were veins pulsing visibly at his temples, and then he finally growled Izaya's name and when Izaya jumped back into the alley to avoid a metal-crushing punch thrown his way, he was laughing - he was laughing and giggling because he was fucking overjoyed.

He was in fact so overjoyed that he failed to compose himself in time and the next thing he felt was his back harshly colliding with the wall. His laughter died on his lips as his throat was now in the grasp of the monster. Izaya's own teeth clenched on the pain and his hands shoot up to pry lethal fingers away from his neck, but in no avail. He wanted to laugh again, wanted to burst with bellowing laughter at the thought that 'this is how it ends' - in the exact way he had always wanted; by Shizu-chan's hands, with Shizu-chan's strength, in Shizu-chan's rage. And he would definitely laugh, was it not been for his windpipe being currently squashed with unmatched power, causing his eyes to water as the flow of oxygen was suddenly cut out. He could already feel the excess of blood pounding in his head, his feet and hands became covered in pins and needles, weakened, lifeless; so he simply grabbed Shizuo's wrists loosely and decided to savour the moment of his own demise, spending the very last seconds of his existence with the unmovable object that managed to stop the unstoppable force. With all his remaining might he pried his eyes open and locked them on his beast, making sure that the last thing his brain would register before it shut down was going to be that monster's face. So he looked into those frenzied eyes that bore into him, he looked at the clenched jaw, at the pulsing veins - and he smiled, genuinely, and he tightened his hold on Shizuo's wrists. And then, Shizuo blinked.

He blinked again and the crease disappeared from between his brows, his jaw went slack, his lips parted and his pupils shrank, zeroing on Izaya's face before his gaze moved down, to where his clenched hands had rested. The raven observed as all the blood drained from Shizuo's face and in the next second the blond gasped, releasing the informant, and he backed away so fast that when he collided with the opposite wall, it cracked from the impact with the beast's back.

Instantly, Izaya fallen to his knees while grabbing at his neck, inhaling the large gasps of air into his oxygen-deprived lungs. It burned more than it brought relief, he noted, and then it dawned on him that he was alive. The realization almost made him giggle but his abused throat wouldn't let him produce any sound yet. He then moved his teary eyes up to look at the cause of his almost-death.

Shizu-chan was pressing his back to the opposite wall so hard, as if he wanted to sink into it wholly. His entire form was trembling with sharp spasms and Izaya was sure that never had he ever saw anybody shaking so violently. Shizuo's eyes were wide on terror, his mouth was agape and he was panting. The shade of his skin was almost greenish. He looked horrible - despite the fact that it was Izaya who almost died minutes ago, he was convinced that Shizuo looked worse than him.

Gathering strength, the raven pushed himself up to his feet, using the wall behind his back for the support and not taking his eyes away from the monster before him. Despite the adrenaline high he was experiencing due to the near-death experience, all he could feel was downright confusion. Standing on shaky legs and adjusting his jacket with shaky hands he started to move closer to the beast.

Shizuo's widened eyes were downcast, staring at some particular spot on the ground in front of him as he heaved. When Izaya apparently stepped into his field of vision, the blond's gaze shoot up, meeting that of the informant. Once their eyes met, Shizuo closed his own tightly.

"Stay… stAY AWAY," he screamed, his voice so heavy on desperation that Izaya actually halted and it was now his turn to stare at the other with wide eyes. Shizuo was trying to press himself even further into the wall, more cracks appeared on it and Izaya wondered if the whole building would collapse.

To be completely honest, the informant was at the loss for words. He couldn't quite comprehend what was actually happening in front of his eyes - what was happening with Shizu-chan.

"Shizu-chan," he tried after clearing his aching throat, "hey, Shizu-chan…"

And Shizuo's eyes opened, landing on Izaya's, and then his gaze moved to the raven's neck before his eyelids fell shut again.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, " he hissed then, and turned his back to Izaya to place his forehead against the wall, and he firmly pressed his fist to his mouth, loudly breathing through the nose. He slumped down to a crouching position, one arm around his stomach and the other still pressed to his lips as he gagged, obviously being nauseous.

And Izaya just stood there, few meters away, completely petrified as he observed it all in what could only be described as an awe. He couldn't tell if he was being so dizzy because of the deoxygenation or because of what he was seeing. He swallowed thickly.

"Hey, you proto-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LEAVE," Shizuo roared without even sparing him a glance, before he gagged again and his shoulders hunched. When he went down from the coughing fit, he added almost inaudibly , "...please."

Without the word, the raven turned on his heel and walked away on wobbly legs, his mind in disarray.

A/N:"Izaya is kinda fucked up" is an alternate title for this chapter.
Also, can one have a headcanon for their own story? If yes, then I totally believe Iza jerks off after each fight with his beast. Definitely.
With this update, the "topping from the bottom" nature of this story emerges, however it's my first time writing such a thing and tbh, I don't know if I can pull it off xD I'll try tho xD
Please let me know what you think, since I'm kinda anxious about this chapter, haha. See ya!