The loudspeakers screamed but hardly affected them.
"Lights out!"
In the dark Izaya snuggled and whispered softly.
"I'd rather be your bitch than anyone else's. And by the way, the temple got burnt down."
"What!"
"You're probably the only person that doesn't know this by now. But don't worry, I told you didn't I? The new version is more golden. But I got to warn you, nine out of ten people that hear about the Golden Temple are thoroughly disappointed when they see the real thing with their own two eyes. Even the narrator from the novel."
Shizuo patted Izaya's hair and back. It was almost like petting a large kitten.
"I guess it's okay if they made another one. But imagine they hadn't!"
Somehow, Shizuo could not understand why it would be such a tragedy but he felt that it would be so none the less.
"Surely the world would come to an end. But Shizu-chan, don't get too obsessed with the temple. It's unhealthy."
Shizuo was becoming sleepier by the second.
"I suppose I could always send a letter to the writer…"
Izaya chuckled.
"You'd need a medium or some kind of psychic for that. I'm afraid Mishima committed harakiri. And it wasn't my fault either. I'm into giving my opinion and that tends to lead people to jump off buildings. However, there is no necessitated correlation between the two."
"Bloody hell. I wanted to ask him."
"There, there Shizu-chan. The great majority of great authors just so happens to be dead. You'll get used to this sad fact of life. By the way, can I still have your chocolate mousse?"
"Sure. Be my guest."
Shizuo drifted asleep but Izaya remained awake for a while longer. Just enjoying the comfortable warmth and this cozy feeling of having someone to cuddle with.
"Shizu-chan, enlighten me. Why do these people spend so much time lifting weights?"
It was recess and the sun down on the exercise yard. Izaya and Shizuo sat on a bench that ran along the length of the sides of the massive wall that almost blocked out the light. Opposite of them a group of inmates was busy working out at the gym, metal shining brightly as they brought bulging muscles in what Izaya could not help but think was masochism.
"Dunno. Busy now, Jane's in trouble."
Izaya raised an eyebrow critically. Shizuo had his nose stuck in a book and was too intent on reading to pay much attention to anything else. Izaya was somewhat miffed.
"Jane? As in…Jane Eyre?"
"Yeah. Weird shit is happening. Ghosts it seems."
Izaya glanced at the cover for confirmation.
"Shizu-chan, I would never in a million years have guessed that you were a Charlotte Brontë fan."
Shizuo nodded and flipped a page. Izaya sighed, the dialogue seemed stalled for good. And then something occurred to him.
"I know how that book ends as well. Want me to tell you?"
"Don't spoil it. I like Jane and want her to tell me story herself."
"You know, this raises all sort of methodological issues about the status of first person narratives. As a side note feel free to call me Jane when we do it."
Shizuo shot him a dark glare and returned to the book. It was a good thing that they were seen in public almost at all times but somewhere along the line Izaya had realized that he wanted more than just having Shizuo sheltering him from danger. But pressing Shizuo into actually having sex was proving considerably more difficult than Izaya had ever thought possible.
"But Shizu-chan, you sure have a thing for picking books where buildings get burnt. I hope you won't turn into a pyromaniac like that guy in cell 500 that one fine day set fire to his cellmate."
"I'm not like that. Your burns…are they any better?"
Izaya lowered the collar of his garish orange uniform.
"Almost gone. See?"
Shizuo stole a glimpse and right away resuming his reading.
"Good."
"You know, Charlotte is not a bad writer but Emily Brontë is considerably more innovative. Especially if you like intricate narrative systems that coexist in the same novel. I am thinking Wuthering Heights here. It also helps that pretty much everyone in the cast is insane."
Shizuo spoke without bothering to look away from the book.
"That's more your thing. I like Jane because she's an honest girl and everyone's just rotten to her."
A/N: I am very much aware that it was Emily's only novel but that is beside the point. What Izaya is saying here is that the one novel was innovative in terms of narrative technique, which it was. As to being pretentious, those lines were of a character speaking and said character just so happens to be so. It fits into the text's inner logic that Izaya should speak (and at times ramble, actually) about many things and later it is explained why he would focus on literature in particular.