Hi! I'd like to start off by thanking everyone for their kind reviews. Especially Lolita Rafane! Your reviews have been so kind, and they motivate me to keep writing this story!

Now, I have a question for anyone who would like to answer. How... graphic (?) would you like me to write Shizuo and Izaya's relationship in future chapters? Should I keep it relatively innocent or would you like... details?

That's all! Enjoy this chapter! x

"Will you tell me what's going on now?!" Shizuo asked as their taxi pulled up at the airport's international terminal.

"If you must know my ingenious plan," Izaya began, "we're flying to Ikebukuro. And, before you start asking stupid questions, no it most likely will not be the same Ikebukuro, but I figure it might help us to figure out something about this mess we're in."

"I guess that makes sense," Shizuo admitted, gingerly, as the two walked in and joined a queue to collect their tickets. They waited in line for what seemed like forever, especially for Shizuo who impatiently clicked his tongue whenever the queue took longer than 5 minutes to move. When the finally reached the front of the line, Izaya put on his fake smile and took the tickets, earning a blush and a giggle from the woman at the desk.

"Tch" Shizuo said, rolling his eyes and accepting the ticket Izaya was handing to him, inspecting the details. "Economy?" He said, clearly disappointed.

"Even I wouldn't be so villainous as to steal even more money from some poor human. Is that all you see me as, Shizu-chan~"

Whatever, Shizuo thought. Although he wanted the extra leg room of a business class seat, he started to think that being in the tight quarters of economy class with Izaya wouldn't so bad.

The first problem arose when they arrived at the security gates. Having no luggage or personal items, the pair believed they would have no problems, until they remembered Izaya's knife. Shizuo suggested that he should just ditch the knife, but Izaya adamantly refused. This left Shizuo slightly confused.

He could just buy a new one, it's not like that knife's special or anything… Unless it's because I got it for him..? Bah, that's not how Izaya's mind works. He's probably got some ulterior motive, like taking over the plane or something… After all, he's only pretending to get along with me because we're stuck together… right?

They stopped for a moment, giving Izaya some time to think of a plan. It didn't take him long to think of something, and the two showed no hesitation in putting the plan into action. Shizuo took the knife and walked as far away from the security gates as he could. Izaya casually walked through the gates and positioned himself as far away on the opposite side. He turned to face Shizuo and signalled with a nod. Shizuo raised the knife above his head and threw it as hard and as high as he could, sending it a tremendous distance across the airport, only stopping when Izaya swiftly leaped and caught it. It flew so fast that you'd only be able to see it if you were expecting it, and it was high enough so that no one noticed. Something like this wouldn't normally be possible, but with Shizuo's monstrous strength, the limits of the human body are almost non existent. Once the knife was successfully past the metal detectors, Shizuo proceeded to join Izaya, who was holding onto his knife with a content look on his face.

The second problem came to light when the pair approached the passport checking booths. Shizuo looked at Izaya and raised an eyebrow as if to say, "ok genius, how do we get through this one then?" Izaya looked back with a smug smile which said "leave it to me." He told Shizuo to wait for him at an empty gate and approached the booth.

It didn't take long for the smug smile to be wiped clean off his face. Despite the flirting and the charming act Izaya was putting on, he was unsuccessful at convincing the employee to let them pass without passports. Izaya didn't take defeats well, but he didn't want Shizuo to think he'd lost, so he bounced back over to Shizuo cheerfully. Shizuo looked at him with a wow-you-actually-did-it expression on his face.

"Well~!" Izaya said, "Looks like we're not going to Ikebukuro anymore Shizu-chan~"

Izaya's all too cheerful tone was almost even more annoying to Shizuo than the news he'd received. In fact, the build up of his mixed feelings for Izaya had come to a point where just the slightest slip of the tongue could set him off into a rampage.

"IIIIZZAAAYAAAAA-KUN" Shizuo roared as he wrenched the row of seats he was sitting on off the ground and lifted it above his head. He was breathing loud and fast through his clenched teeth. The adrenalin was pumping through his body, a feeling he had missed for a long time. Although it was partly Izaya's fault, he was most annoyed at his own self for not being annoyed at Izaya.

Why hasn't this damned flea been annoying me!? Why, until now, have I enjoyed his company?! Dammit, why do I feel like this!? I could just smash his face in right here and now, so why aren't I doing it?

Shizuo was just about to release the row of seats, aiming at Izaya of course, when a security guard trudged over. Shizuo saw him and snapped out of his enraged trance, placing the row of chairs back on the ground while taking deep breaths in order to calm himself down. When the security guard approached them, he walked straight up to Shizuo and placed his finger on the parka Shizuo was wearing. He was a short, stubby man. He had a large nose and his eyes had a pinkish tinge to them. He was constantly squinting through them, as if he was having trouble seeing reality. He turned his head to Izaya and stated,

"This is yours, ain't it," his finger still pointing to the jacket. Izaya nodded, clearly confused by the security guard's reaction. The guard spoke again, "I know who youse are. Youse ain't no pretenders ain'tcha. Youse're the real deal. I heard ya conversation before this, callin' him Shizu n that. Whatcha doin' 'ere then boys?"

The pair stood in silence, glancing at each other - each wanting the other to explain what was going on.

"Yea, that's right. We've had heaps of 'em here. You lot. Them characters all be comin' to this airport. Seen some good'ns over the years. Had this one 'lil pinkette spewin' fire e'erywhere, the crazy bugger. 'Least youse ain't causin' as much damage as 'im. So lemme guess. Youse ain't got no passports 'cos you ain't from 'ere? Follow me then." He said before turning and walking through a locked door, motioning for the two to follow.

They followed him through the door, which turned out to be a door staff could use to get past the passport booths. When they were through the man nodded, then went back through the door. Suddenly, Shizuo burst out laughing. It was a genuine belly laugh. He held onto his sides and practically fell to the floor. Izaya stared at him. His face was really cute when he laughed, in fact, seeing Shizuo in a state of hysterics was really cute. HOLD UP. Really cute? He's not… that… cute… Izaya couldn't hold in his laughter any longer. Shizuo's laugh was just too contagious, and before long the two were practically rolling on the floor. In all his life Izaya had never really laughed like this. It was a new emotion, but he liked this one. The duo could have kept on laughing for hours, but their excitement was cut short by a last minute boarding call for their flight.

They arrived at their gate just in time, out of breath. They took their seats on the plane - the two seats next to a window. Izaya sat against the window and Shizuo sat on the aisle seat. When the plane took off, they both turned on the inflight entertainment systems, essentially ignoring each other, however, within 20 minutes of the flight the entertainment systems turned off. Roars of angered passengers could be heard when the pilots announced that the system had broken down, and that they'd have to wait until their stopover, in 14 hours, before it would be fixed.

At first, Shizuo and Izaya sat in silence, but eventually the boredom was too much and they began talking. Shizuo realised that he'd never actually talked to Izaya before, not about anything other than what involved him anyway. The conversation started with them reminiscing about their high school lives, occasionally bringing up Shinra and having a good laugh. Then they began talking about their childhoods, their families, and reciting funny or embarrassing stories of their past. Shizuo noticed something about Izaya during their conversations. When he as smiling, he was really smiling. Not that fake smirk he was all too familiar with, but a real, genuine, smile. It was a side of Izaya he didn't even know existed, but he definitely liked it. He even felt like he could actually get along with Izaya, maybe that they could even be friends. Or more than friends…

"You're blushing Shizu-chan~"

"I am not." Shizuo said, before excusing himself to use the bathroom.

Hours had passed during their conversation, and Izaya thought that those hours might have been the most fun he'd had with another person… ever. He loved humans, but he never really, directly, involved himself with them. This was the first time he'd shared stories with another person. He certainly hadn't expected to ever have a conversation like this with Shizuo. In fact, he didn't know if Shizuo was even capable of having a conversation. He was proven wrong. He never knew that Shizuo was actually a really funny and interesting person. Izaya always liked to talk about himself, but this was the first time he'd found himself wanting to listen to someone else talk about themselves. He was tired, and slowly found himself nodding off to sleep.

When Shizuo returned from the bathroom, Izaya had fallen asleep. He carefully sat back down, trying not to wake Izaya. Why does he look so sweet when he sleeps? Shizuo was just about to reach for a magazine in the seat pocket when Izaya's head flopped unconsciously onto his shoulder. Well, it wasn't exactly unconscious, but Izaya would never tell Shizuo that. Shizuo looked down at the head that was nestled so comfortably on his shoulder and smiled. He too was feeling tired. The pilot dimmed the lights of the cabin, and Shizuo found himself resting his head on top of Izaya's, before falling asleep himself.

Get excited, because here comes the romance! Thanks for reading!