So, I may be back at uni but I've managed to shoot out another chapter. I absolutely love this story. I like a bit of angst. :3 Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Duarara
Option One
Izaya took another sip of some fruity drunk that had been put in front of him. He clenched him fist, he was getting extremely uncomfortable. All the blonde did was stare at him, like he was trying to fix his every feature into memory. So the only thing that Izaya could do was stare right back.
Shizuo was still blonde after ten years. He'd been dying his hair for twenty years, Izaya wondered if it felt brittle. He could reach out and comb his fingers through it if he wanted. Izaya shook his head, that was the drink talking. Izaya eyes tailed down to the black eye-patch that covered Shizuo's right eye. Izaya couldn't see a scar so he wondered just what had happened to Shizuo's eye. Little crow's feet showed his age as well as the small wrinkles on his forehead. Izaya looked down slowly, he licked his top lip. Shizuo's body looked great even under the long coat he wore. Izaya could tell that he hadn't let himself go like more middle age men did.
"Like what you see?" Shizuo asked.
Izaya's eye flashed up to Shizuo's face, a smirk was spread across it. Izaya narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "Don't be ridiculous. I was just checking for a beer belly. Shizu-chan is way too old for me anyway."
"Thirty-five is not old! And you're the same age as me." Shizuo snapped.
Izaya wagged his finger. "I'm forever twenty-one." The blonde moved forwards and took a sniff of Izaya. The raven moved backwards. "Don't sniff me."
Shizuo made a face. "I don't enjoy it. You stink." Shizuo reached and grabbed Izaya wrist. The raven pulled away suddenly, the last time someone had tried to grab his wrist he had ended up in a bar fight. Not that he didn't enjoy the fight. "Whose clothes are you wearing and what happened here?" He said as he pointed to Izaya neck.
Izaya didn't like this friendly Shizuo. Where was the Shizuo that threw vending machines? He would have wrecked the bar as soon as he realised Izaya was here. "Kida lent me some clothes. He said my others…smelt."
"So he bit you? Did you let him bite you?" Shizuo asked in a strange tone that Izaya couldn't distinguish.
"No. I didn't even know he was a vampire."
Shizuo raised his beer to his lips and took a swig. He raised an eyebrow at Izaya. "How? He was one of the first to turn. Where have you been? You also haven't answered why you look the same."
Izaya shrugged casually.
"He was kidnapped by blood-letters." A voice answered for him. Izaya turned to see another blonde, but this one was angry.
"Ah, Kida-kun. We were just talking about you."
Kida narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "I told you to be back before sundown. Instead I have to track you down."
Shizuo narrowed his eyes. "He doesn't belong to you. You can't let him what to do." Kida hissed at Shizuo's answer.
Izaya raised his hands to try to defuse the situation. "Woah boys, no need to fight over me."
"Shut up, Izaya." They said in unison.
Kida turned to the raven. "I was worried."
"Well as you can see I'm perfectly fine. I can take care of myself."
"Like you did for the last ten years?" Shizuo asked. "You're lucky to be alive. Most people that get taken don't come back." Izaya rolled his eyes.
He couldn't believe they were getting so worked up about it. He was the one that was technically still missing. If he was from the past then where was his future self? Having been 'missing' for the past ten years, Izaya could only think of three options that worked.
One, He doesn't get back to the past. Having been missing from that day and turning up ten years in the future. Two, He was the master vampire that nobody had seemed to meet or Three. He was dead or in the hands of blood-letters.
That would mean he gets back to the past only to be taken for the next ten years. Izaya hoped that wasn't the case. The best option seemed to be staying in the future.
"-ya? Izaya-kun? Are you listening to me?" Shizuo waved a hand in front of Izaya's face.
"Hmmm?" Izaya asked. Both blondes had frowns on their faces and their arms crossed. Izaya could feel the tension.
"As you were obviously not listening I'll ask again. Where do you want to stay? With us or the vampire?" Shizuo asked casually but Izaya could tell it was anything but.
Izaya raised an eyebrow and laughed. "I'm not staying with either of you. I'm going back to my apartment."
Shizuo shook his head. "I can't you do that."
"Why not? I'm not some fragile little girl, Shizu-chan." Izaya retorted.
Kida spoke up. "It's not safe. You don't know enough." Kida pointed his thumb at his chest. "You should stay with me. I can extend my protection to you. Plus, I look the same as when you disappeared. Wouldn't it be strange staying with someone when they look so different? Like a stranger." Kida smiled at him.
"I can see how staying with a vampire would be safe." Shizuo snorted and pulled the collar of Izaya's coat down to reveal his bandaged neck. "As for my appearance being different, well, he needs to get used to it. He can't live in the past forever. Staying with his friends who have known him for twenty years is what's best for him. Shinra's known his for almost twenty-five years." Shizuo narrowed his eyes.
Izaya blinked in confusion. Were they actually fighting for him? What bizarre would had he woken up in? He thought about what Shizuo had said. Shinra had known him since the start middle school, which was twenty-five years ago for Shinra but fifth-teen for him.
"I understand why Shinra would want me to stay with him. I can honestly call him my best friend. I can even understand Shizu-chan to a certain extent. But you Kida-kun, you're a mystery. Why are you so eager for me to stay with you?"
Kida folded him arms defensively. " I feel responsible after taking your blood."
Izaya snorted. "I didn't feel responsible after having your girlfriend's legs broken. Nor did I feel responsible when I convinced girls to commit suicide. Your argument is invalid. I'm staying here." Izaya decided, Shizuo grinning in victory. "Having to choose between monsters is so tiring." He pouted. "Where's my room? I want a bed, I am not sleeping on a sofa." Izaya demanded.
Erika appeared at the bar. "Iza-Iza is staying with us?" She said excitedly. "Good." She added with a glare directed at Kida.
Izaya was at a loss to what was going on. This never happened. Kida bared his teeth at Erika before he stormed out of the bar. "Would someone like to explain what just happened here?" Izaya popped another cherry in his mouth. Shizuo took the jar and looked down at it.
"Erika, did you give these to Izaya? Do you know how much they cost to import?" Shizuo sighed and handed them back to Izaya. "You've had your fingers in them. It's unsanitary."
"Do you work here, Shizu-chan?" Izaya asked a as he purposely dipped his fingers into the jar and licked his fingers if syrup.
Shizuo looked away from Izaya and drank his beer. "No, I own it. So I don't need you eating into my profits."
Izaya eyes widened. Where had Shizuo gotten the money to open a bar? After all the street brawls they had been in Shizuo should be in major debt. Then again, it had been ten years.
Shizuo got up from his seat and grabbed his riffle. "Come on. I'll show you to your room." Erika started to move the drinks that Izaya had acuminated to the back of the bar. Izaya grabbed one of the glasses, a colourful mini umbrella decorating the glass. Izaya took it out and smirked. He reached up and put it behind Shizuo's ear with a giggle. "How much have you had to drink?"
"I'm totally sober, Shizu-chan." Izaya answered. Shizuo picked up the near empty jar of cherries off the counter and read the label.
He sighed in annoyance. "Erika, you gave him the vampire strength amaretto cherries. These are soaked in alcohol and he's been feed on today." Shizuo scolded the barmaid.
Erika smiled sheepishly and ran off to serve someone at the other end of the bar.
"I'm fine. I'm not drunk at all." Izaya assured him.
"Give it half an hour. Then it'll really kick in."
~*~Line Break~*~
"Ne?Ne? Shizu-chan? What does this do?" Izaya asked for the umpteenth time. Izaya was pointing to a strange looking block.
"It's a clock. Would you just sit down? You're driving me insane." Shizuo growled.
Izaya had been rushing round apartment picking up everything and asking what it did. He was acting like a child. Shizuo felt like he was babysitting the man. Was this the reason Izaya had never gone out drinking with them before? Shizuo had always thought that the raven would be one of those touchy-feely drunks but instead Izaya was more like a hummingbird.
Izaya jumped over to where Shizuo was sitting on the sofa. "Shizu-chan, are you married?" Izaya asked with curious wide eyes.
Shizuo ran a hand through his hair. "No. I never married."
"Why?"
"I couldn't find the right person." Shizuo didn't look at Izaya when he asked his next question. "What did it feel like? Being in the hands of blood-letters?" He asked quietly. Even in his intoxicated state Izaya could tell this was a hard topic for Shizuo.
"I have no recollection of the last ten years. I'm still the Izaya of ten years ago." He shrugged. Shizuo relaxed into the sofa, making Izaya feel a sudden guilt for lying to the blonde. "Shizu-chan, who else was taken?" Izaya asked.
Shizuo froze. He still didn't look at the raven. Izaya felt like his heart was in his throat. "Many have been taken over the past ten years. We find some. Me, Celty and Shinra that is but we're not always in time."
Izaya felt himself sobering. "Shizuo, who was taken?" he asked again, serious.
"Five years ago Kasuka was taken. I shouldn't have let him go out on his own but he insisted." Shizuo put his face in his hands. "Your sisters went to search for him. I…I haven't seen them since."
Izaya mouth opened but no sound came out. He felt like a lump was stuck in his throat. The sisters in the past were fine, he'd seen them just last week but now they were dead? At the age of twenty? He hadn't been there to protect them.
In that moment Izaya realised that he wouldn't be getting back to the past or if he did he would die soon after. There was no way he would leave them unprotected.
Izaya's pale complexion turned sickly. His breath had sped up considerably. "I'm going to be sick." Izaya warned before he leant forwards and spilt what little he had eaten today.
Woo, that was a long chapter. I ate cherries in amaretto whilst I wrote this. ;)