(A/N) This is it you guys,,, this is the final chapter. The ride has been incredible and even as I write this, I'm crying because I feel like this is the end of an era. I started this fic with two beta readers and now im finishing it alone and with one less friend. I'm gonna write something else all by myself, also for Shizaya once this is over, but I'd like to thank you all for sticking with this. You all really made this whole adventure worth it. Once again, thank you.

Blackfallstar9: you have no idea how much you have done for me. You were honestly one of my major motivations for finishing this story and i would get so excited for your reviews. I am honored that you read this for so long and im so happy that you made it a point to keep up with this, and I hope you stick around for what I churn out next.

Xx-xX

Christmas had come and gone with little more than a phone call between Shizuo and Shinra. Izaya was getting better, nursed almost obsessively by Shizuo who was hell bent on seeing Izaya's smile reach his eyes again. New Years was a little better. Some of Izaya's color had returned to his face, and he had spent less time sleeping, and more time humoring Shizuo's attempts at conversation.

Izaya settled perfectly into Shizuo's chest once the former was finally able to coax him into the same bed. Nothing had happened, as Shizuo was incredibly adamant on keeping his distance, however they would watch movies and nap together when the effort of conversation weighed too heavily on Izaya's mind.

It was almost laughable how much Shizuo still had to learn about Izaya. Shizuo never had any semblance of a preference with what they were doing- far more content to watch Izaya breathe and laugh at a distance where he could watch the way his hair fell, but Izaya's affinity for superhero movies (one that had seemingly started after all of this had begun), was absolutely precious to Shizuo. Izaya prefered Marvel to DC- thinking the characters were more believable in a town that actually existed as opposed to the additional fiction of Gotham, and was more than happy to offer his philosophies on such when Shizuo was willing to listen.

It seemed as though the comfort of physical proximity was all that Izaya cared about on his road to stability. Some days were still hard. Izaya was noncomplicitant in some factions, mainly in Shizuo's resolve to stay by his side as long as he needed. It was as though the toxicity of his previous relationships was bleeding into the way he saw Shizuo. He was guarded- constantly ready for this horrible idea that Shizuo would either grow bored or, in Izaya's own words, 'realize that he wasn't worth the effort'. It broke Shizuo's heart to see how low he saw himself, as though he wasn't worthy of love and happiness. He wished that Izaya could see himself the way that Shizuo saw him. Izaya was enigmatic. He was the smartest person that Shizuo had ever met, and he was funny, and kind if you were able to stick through the horse shit that regularly came out of his mouth. In addition to his character, which was far more three dimensional than Shizuo had originally given him credit for, he was beautiful. He was gorgeous even when his eyes were pulled down with the weight of sleep deprivation, and with the way the light had faded from them. Shizuo loved him so wholly that it almost frightened him how easily he was able to mesh what he felt for both Itzal and Izaya himself. They were so similar but so different, and the relief of knowing they were the same person was nothing short of indescribable.

Mid way through January, Izaya was insistent on returning to Japan, and Shizuo was running out of reasons to make him stay. As much as he would miss how quiet their routine had turned with in the month of Izaya's self imposed exile, Shizuo was starting to miss the exterior hussle and bussle of living in Ikebukuro. He liked drama, just when it wasn't his drama to deal with, and with the promise that Izaya wouldn't push him away once they got home, he helped Izaya pack up what little belonging he had brought with him and they had left.

Izaya wasn't expecting such a warm reception at the airport once their flight had landed. He was expecting maybe Shinra and Celty at best. However, once they made it through security, it was his sisters that got to them first. Shinra pulled Izaya into a bruising hug- one that Celty quickly joined in. The raira trio made a brief show of their welcome back, and Kadota offered a sharp pat on the back to both of them, offering both congratulations to Izaya and condolences to Shizuo. The most surprising however, was Namie, who tugged Izaya into a sharp hug and gave a kurt 'thank you' to Shizuo before leaving just as quickly and silently as she had arrived.

They all went to dinner after that. Izaya's recent ability to keep down solids made him absolutely ravenous, and he could think of no where better to eat than Russia Sushi. If Shinra's hug pressed into his ribs, Simon's forced the air from his lungs, but Shizuo's feet were also no longer on the ground, so at least Izaya wasn't the only one being embarrassed. Izaya talked about Romania- about the things he'd seen and the places he'd been prior to his personal isolation. He left out the blood and gore, but everyone had made a comment about how much weight he lost and how he looked a lot more tired. Shinra had asked him what he was going to do without working for the yakuza. It was a bit of an issue that he had talked about with Shizuo. He had other clients, and without the overwhelming workload from Shiki, he could take on more, lower priority clients. He'd be fine, and even if he never worked again, he would be fine.

The members of their party had trickled out one by one like a puddle drying until it was left with just Shizuo, Celty, Shinra, and himself.

"So, what happens now?"

Celty pulls her phone back to her chest and types again in order to clarify.

"Between you two... I mean."

"What do you mean?" Shizuo asks, clutching a bit harder at Izaya's hand on the booth between them.

"I think what my darling Celty means is," Shinra interjects, "Now that you both know about, well, everything, what do you do now? What's your next move?"

"I'm gonna go back to Shinjuku, and start working again now on my local turf. Maybe toss in a few dalliances with vigilante justice if I find the motivation," he purrs with a side eye toward Shizuo. "Maybe see if I can find that bear guy, and we can throw some rounds."

"Shut up," Shizuo growls, but it sounds more endearing then threatening even to his own ears. "We're going home, and we're gonna go to sleep and worry about all that shit later."

"Shizu-chan, that's hardly practical."

"Well neither are we," he snaps back with another squeeze at Izaya's hand. "And we're gonna figure this out, but tonight we're gonna go to bed and sleep off the jet lag."

If not for the way Shizuo's thigh presses reassurance into Izaya's, he would have thought for sure that Shizuo was being serious.

The door itself doesn't even close properly before Shizuo has Izaya pressed into it. Their lips meet with fever, all previous sweetness that was thick in their usual kisses was replaced with an overwhelming heat. Izaya's patients had been running impossibly thin with the way that Shizuo was keeping him at arm's length, and now that he had Shizuo's hands and lips in places that he had vehemently refused to touch, he wasn't going to take it lightly. Izaya's legs rose to the expectation of Shizuo's hands, open and lifting him till his weight was being supported exclusively by the bruising grip of Shizuo's fingers through his jeans.

Their kisses meld into something more twisted on desperation. It is Shizuo absolutely pillaging Izaya's mouth with his tongue, and Izaya nipping on his lips when his jaw aches from the intrusion. Izaya tastes like the same bitter sushi that he had eaten for dinner, but once Shizuo was able to lick past that, he tasted Izaya who felt like danger and love on his tongue. The heat was stifling- more so brought on when Izaya's hands dip from around Shizuo's neck to start with the buttons on his usual white button down. It lacks the regular grace that Izaya tends to bleed into all of his tasks, however with the way his hands are shaking in anticipation with what the promise of Shizuo's lips meant, Izaya was content to submit to the trembling.

Shizuo's hands squeezed into Izaya's thigh with a crushing reassurance. He is here and this is finally happening, and Izaya didn't need to know about how many nights Shizuo had spent alone thinking about seeing Izaya like this, and Shizuo didn't need to know about how many years Izaya had spent doing the same. The years of fighting didn't matter as Shizuo carries Izaya up the stairs and into the bedroom upstairs.

Izaya's breath is coming out in short puffs against Shizuo's mouth. He is pliant under Shizuo's ministrations, back arching for Shizuo to strip him, and legs opening for the assurance of his weight with little to no persuasion. Shizuo doesn't have the chance to realize where Izaya's feather light touches stripped him of his clothes, but he does notice how hot Izaya's skin was under his hands.

Shizuo's lips at Izaya's neck turn to teeth that sunk into his skin hard enough to break it. He doesn't like the idea of leaving Izaya with more scars, but the moan of his name that falls from Izaya's parted lips was more then enough reassurance. He knew Izaya was a masochist, and he knew that Izaya had a thing for feeling claimed, so the bite marks were more than enough to teeter him closer to the edge.

Izaya's hips push into Shizuo's with another gasp, and with that, Shizuo was reaching for the lube Izaya had left in the night stand. He slicked up three of his fingers and pressed his middle finger against Izaya's entrance with a returned fever.

"Tell me if it hurts," he groans, and Izaya wants to laugh because Shizuo was far from the first person to be inside of him like this.

Izaya's heat was almost unbearable. More than that, the pressure of just one knuckle breaking past the ring of muscle into him was constricting in a way that made him glance at Izaya's face to see if there was any hint of pain etched into his features. It isn't there, instead there is a warmth that Shizuo had seen every second from the time he kissed Izaya in Romania, now laden molten hot with in unmistakable amount of lust. Shizuo pushes a little further and a little harder with his finger sliding fully into Izaya's heat while the other's breath skids on a moan that he was obviously trying to cover up.

He is a lot louder than Shizuo had expected, and from the way that Izaya sucks his bottom lip between his teeth and chewed on self consciousness, he was being a lot louder than normal.

Shizuo presses another finger into Izaya and his nails scrape into the sheets beneath him. His skin is shiny with a sheen of sweat, and Shizuo is leaning forward to kiss the moans from Izaya's lips while he rocks his fingers further into his heat. Izaya is babbling- Shizuo's name is thrown into the mix among general expletives of pleasure, but he heeds Izaya's demand of "more" when it comes.

The third enters with much less resistance, and Izaya keens loudly to arch down onto Shizuo's fingers. Shizuo's lips trace his pulse point in his neck again, sucking until the skin blossoms with a bruise like the handprints on his hips. More teeth sink into his clavicle until Izaya's hand is shooting to grab desperately at Shizuo's wrist.

"Are you okay?" he asks, pausing immediately on all fronts of movement.

"I'm fine," Izaya chuckles breathlessly, "But if you want this to go any further than foreplay, you better get on with it."

His suggestion is spoken more like a demand, but Shizuo wastes no time in heeding the warning. His fingers pull out with another whine from Izaya's lips, and a flash of anger across his face.

Shizuo is smiling at him lovingly again, like he has been the past month. "Condom?"

"No?" Izaya asks, phrasing it like a question, but the speed to his reply left no room for reconsideration.

Izaya is laying down staring heat and expectation into Shizuo's skin when he slicks himself up and moves to line up with Izaya's entrance.

"Tell me-"

"If it hurts?" Izaya cuts in. "I will. Just put it in. Haven't I waited enough?"

His desperation is rubbing off on Shizuo when he presses the head of his cock against the resistance of Izaya's hole, but the first initial push yields no results for entry, and neither does the second.

"It's not gonna fit," Shizuo declares, more than willing to sink his fingers back into Izaya until he's stretched properly.

"Like hell it's not." Izaya growls, and that seems to be the only warning Shizuo gets before Izaya's hips are angling to flip Shizuo until his back presses soft against the mattress.

Izaya's hips come up to hover over Shizuo's and Shizuo is prepared to stop him until Izaya's left hand comes to grab firmly at the base of Shizuo's cock and drag friction and lubrication up to the head and back down the shaft. Izaya's eyes glance at Shizuo's with more hunger than he's ever seen in them, but Shizuo thinks he looks like some sort of animal with how turned on his is by the bite marks on Izaya's neck and his conviction about their current actions.

"You just need to use a little more pressure." Izaya is purring now, dropping his weight onto the head of Shizuo's cock until it passes through the first ring of muscle at Izaya's insistence.

Shizuo chokes on a growl that isn't loud enough to drown out the moan that falls from Izaya's mouth as he continues to sink. He's not giving himself a minute to adjust- too desperate to feel everything Shizuo has to offer to consider stopping to save himself the pain that will likely immobilize him with discomfort in the morning.

"Slow down," Shizuo gasps, hands reaching to clutch again at Izaya's hips.

"No," Izaya insists again, and in one final movement, their hips meet, tearing a scream from Izaya on top of him.

"Does it hurt?" Shizuo gasped once Izaya is fully seated.

His back arches roughly, the tension pulling his skin against the resistance of his muscles, with a gasp that is ripped so hoarsely from his throat that Shizuo thought it must have hurt just to produce. "Yes," he sweared, and his head was sweeping back up to stare at Shizuo with his pupils consuming the red that normally rests in his eyes. "God yes! Give me more."

And with that, his hips rise and sink back to seat himself onto Shizuo. He is unexplainably hot with a pressure that borders pain into both of their skin, but Izaya isn't stopping- isn't even pausing to smother out the pain he has to be feeling. Shizuo just keeps clutching at Izaya's hips to offer support that he keeps pushing past to run his hips down. Shizuo pushes up exactly once into the expectation of his weight before Izaya screams so loud, Shizuo is convinced that he has hurt him.

"Fuck me," he demands, staring down at Shizuo like a predator catching on the actual glow of the red in Izaya's eyes as he grins.

Shizuo presses his hands into stability at Izaya's hips and keeps them pressed firmly together as he turns Izaya back to laying down on the mattress. As much as he absolutely loves the way Izaya looks riding him, he knows that if he really wants to make Izaya feel good, and let him know how much Shizuo loves him, then that wet dream of his is gonna have to go on the back burner.

The pace he sets is merciless, pounding into Izaya hard enough to slam the headboard into the wall behind it. Not like that volume matters much, as Izaya is screaming a mantra of Shizuo's name and a plethora of swear words, some occasionally outside of Japanese. Izaya's hand reaches to tug Shizuo's into a hold that clutches into desperation more than anything loving. Shizuo's mouth crushes into Izaya's again as sweat begins to bead on his brow. For how hard he's trembling at Shizuo's mouth, Izaya is holding out for an impressively long time. His stamina has never been anything to sneeze at, however his eyes are starting to glass over while he clutches helplessly at Shizuo's hand and bicep.

And he looks amazing. He's incredible with the way Shizuo's marks bloom so deeply on his ivory skin with his eyes glowing bright as car lights in the darkness of the bedroom. He's begging for more- begging for Shizuo to come inside of him just like he's been waiting for, and Shizuo is in no position to deny that request. His hips push a few more times, shorter thrusts as opposed to the languid depth he was providing before, before he comes to a stop and comes hard and final into Izaya's waiting body, and the warmth that spills inside of him pushes Izaya over that final edge with a scream of Shizuo's name and the harsh scrape of his nails at Shizuo's skin.

They breathe together for a moment, Izaya purring around the feeling of Shizuo's come cooling inside of him, and Shizuo being too blissed out to laugh at Izaya for it.

That time will come later, years from now, when they have built an empire in Ikebukuro- cleaning it of its crime spree the way Shizuo had always wanted, but they go home together to Shinjuku at the end of every night. They find themselves wrapped in each others limbs more often than not, but there is no where either of them would rather be.

Izaya didn't miraculously get better, but now he isn't alone. Shizuo was there, and Shizuo swore that he would be there for however long Izaya was willing to keep him.