A/N: Still alive (for now)! I feel like this chapter might be a bit rushed, but I really wanted to post something for this story... so voila. I'll look over this at some point within the next day to look for typos or anything weird.
I don't own Durarara.
8
Rin had no idea what to expect as she rang the doorbell, holding a box close to her chest.
It was the day before Christmas Eve; she'd simply wanted to give him the present she had made before tomorrow, as Christmas Eve had a more romantic connotation to it – as much as she wished she could say otherwise, there were no feelings of that sort between Shizuo and herself. Not on his end, at least... she thought, hanging her head.
She hoped Shizuo wouldn't be mad that she had just shown up, having gotten his address from a more than happy to comply Shinra. What if she was interrupting quality Heiwajima family time? What if he wasn't even home? Tears came to her eyes at the thought of having an awkward experience with his parents or something of the like. She lifted up one end of her scarf to wipe at her eyes when the door opened.
Rin held her breath; it wasn't Shizuo, but a younger looking boy with dark hair with an expressionless face. She remembered Shizuo mentioning that he had a younger brother, and despite the differences between the two at first glance, there was also an undeniable resemblance.
"H-Hello, um... you must be Kasuka-san. Is Shizuo-san home?"
The boy simply nodded. "You're a friend of Shizuo's?" His voice was as monotone as his face was; Rin would be lying if she said she weren't mystified by how different he seemed from Shizuo.
"Y-yes..." She sniffed.
He's probably never mentioned me... what if his brother thinks I'm a stalker? A stalker!
She was in the middle of thinking that this was a horrible idea, and was about to run home crying after making up some feeble excuse – when the boy opened the door wider, nodding at her.
Taking it as a sign to come in, she cautiously entered to see that her surroundings were surprisingly normal.
That being said, Rin wasn't sure what she expected. A warzone, maybe... She found herself studying a family picture framed on the entryway table as she waited.
It had to have been taken a while ago. Shizuo was considerably smaller and had dark brown hair instead of his trademark blonde. There was, of course, a sullen look on his face and a cast on his arm; the younger brother had the same expressionless face that he had on when he answered the door.
Their parents were also in the picture; they were the only ones smiling. Their father didn't look too much different from Shizuo now, though obviously older and with some gray in his hair. Their mother had her arms wrapped around the boys, a happy smile on her pretty face. Such good looking parents... I guess that's where they get it from.
The doorbell rang.
Wordlessly, the younger Heiwajima brother padded to the door; on the off chance it was a persistant salesman, it was better if the calmer sibling was the one to answer the door (as previous experiences had shown). There was a muted exchange of words, then:
"It's for you." Kasuka sat back down at the table to resume his dinner, as if no one had ever shown up in the first place.
If it's Shinra coming to nag me about blood samples again-
But it was Rin who stood in the entryway. She didn't seem to notice his presence, too busy smiling at the picture of the Heiwajima family on the table.
His parents weren't home, thankfully. They wouldn't have minded, no – but if they saw a girl come over to see him they would most certainly assume he'd been hiding a girlfriend from them. They'd probably be overjoyed, and ruining that was something Shizuo was not in any hurry to do.
"That's a really old picture, if you couldn't tell."
"Ah!" She squeaked, jumping up. "I-I figured... Shizuo-san was so cute, ahaha-" Rin paused, the color draining from her face. "I-I m-mean, not that you aren't n-now! I think Shizuo-san is still very cute! I mean, um-" She let out a sniffle.
"Um... I just wanted to... this is for you!" She said, her voice squeaky.
Shizuo, face feeling rather hot all of a sudden (he'd have to turn down the thermostat because that was obviously the cause), took the box from her.
"I m-made it myself, so it probably isn't the best..." She mumbled as he lifted the top of the box away.
Shizuo, a little stunned that someone actually made something for him, was silent as he blankly stared down at the gift. He reached into the box, pulling out the contents.
It was a scarf; just a simple navy blue scarf. Even if she hadn't said that she'd made it herself, he would have had a fairly good idea just from looking at it. One half was wider than the other, some of the yarn was a bit lumpy in places, and it was extremely long. However, after rubbing his fingers over the thick softness of it, he decided it was better than any store bought scarf he'd find.
"I-if you don't like it, I can-" She said hurriedly, not sure what to make of his reaction.
"No. I... thanks, Rin."
Rin seemed to take that answer as a positive one.
It felt a little unreal to him as he stood there, holding the lumpy scarf in his hands. He wondered how much time she'd spent making it; he also wondered why anyone would spend time making something for him in the first place. There was always a high chance that anything he wore was going to ruined in one of the many fights that plagued his everyday life.
"And d-don't worry about getting me anything, really! I just thought that it would be terrible if you got sick, since you never wear a coat or anything." Her face was red, her hands busy fidgeting with her hair.
"Are you hungry?" He scratched the back of his head, tucking the box under his arm. "Kasuka just made dinner, so..."
"Oh – Well, I-I don't want to impose or anything. I really should be going, before my parents start to worry... they're like that."
"I can at least walk you home, then." He said.
"T-That's okay! Really, just pretend I was never here! S-See you tomorrow, Shizuo-san!" And with that, she'd slipped her shoes back on, flung the door open and proceeded to race out – and almost tripped until Shizuo grabbed the back of her coat, keeping her upright.
"Are you sure you'll be alright walking home?"
He was rightfully skeptical about her making it home in one piece. However, she just mumbled something along with another farewell, then speed walked away with her hands covering her face.
"... What a weird girl." Shizuo said, not for the first time since he'd met her.
After staying awake all night agonizing over her embarrassing moment at Shizuo's house, Rin had dragged herself to school, eyes red and feeling like a zombie. She'd spotted Shizuo walking through the gates before her, and – to her joy – saw that he was wearing the scarf. It made her feel a little better, and she felt a little more energized and ready to take on the day afterwards.
The school day passed as usual; she'd spent lunch with Ayame (all the while hoping Shinra hadn't eaten Shizuo's lunch without having her backup bento to fall back on), who was being exceptionally nice to her today. Ayame hadn't even nagged her about asking out Shizuo – not that Rin minded. Rin wondered if there was something going on with her friend as she gathered her things from her locker. Ayame had already left, saying that she had something to take care of at home.
Actually, she thought as she walked outside and onto the sidewalk, Ayame didn't nag me once about anything! Not even crying... She decided she'd have to have a chat with her friend later, just to be sure everything was alright.
So consumed by her thoughts, Rin didn't even notice the three young men standing in front of her. Lost in her own little world, she kept walking until she bumped into one of them.
"E-excuse me," Rin blinked, going to move past them.
"Where ya going? Wanna hang out?" One asked, leering at her.
Rin dimly realized this had a very good chance of being one of the situations her mother constantly warned her about. "I-I have somewhere to b-be," She stuttered, fidgeting with her bag nervously.
They laughed. The shortest one stepped closer to her. "Might wanna tell them you'll be late."
She felt fear slowly begin to creep up her spine. She tried backing up, only to realize that the third had moved behind her. He pulled the ribbon out of her hair; her heart started to thump painfully against her chest. Is this really happening right now?
"Heh, that guy didn't mention that she was actually cute!"
"Yeah, it's a nice change from staring at your ugly mug..."
"Hey! I resent that! I got feelings too, ya know!"
As they started bickering, Rin's eyes sought an opening for an escape. She was hoping they'd be so distracted that she could just dart out and make a run for it – but when she tried, the short one grabbed her arm. It was rough enough that she had cried out, her bag dropping from her hand.
"P-please, let me go-" She tried to wrench her arm away, but it was futile. Physical strength had never been one of her positive traits. Rin was sorely regretting not taking any self-defense classes or accepting her mother's offers of defensive weapons or pepper spray right about now.
To her despair, most students around them simply kept walking, not wanting to be involved. Anyone... help! She thought, eyes squeezed shut. Tears were starting to stream down her face, and she resented herself for it. It just made her look even weaker than she already was, and (not for the first time) she mentally cursed her uncontrollable crying.
The one holding onto her lifted up her skirt, which made her try to wriggle out of his grip even more. "Pink! You know, I kinda figured that's what color they would be-"
Then the guy was no longer there, and was now tumbling down the street from a bicycle being thrown at him at an alarming speed. After he had tumbled out of sight, Rin tearfully turned around to see Shizuo stalking towards them, now with a stop sign in his fist.
The sight of him coming towards them made her want to sob with happiness – so she did just that.
Shizuo-san...
"Is that H-H-Heiwajima S-Shizuo?" They sputtered out.
"Oh, shit... is this Heiwajima's girl or something?! What the f-"
In shock at the menacing blond that was quickening his pace to them, the hold on her loosened enough for her to scramble out of the way.
"The hell do you think you're doing!"
To her relief, Shizuo had finally reached them. He pushed Rin behind him, his body serving as a wall between her and the group of young men. Without even waiting for an answer, Shizuo had swung the sign, sending one of two remaining flying over traffic to land on the other side of the street, knocked out.
"W-wait!" The only one left held his hands up in surrender. "I'm only doing this 'cause that Orihara guy paid us to bother her! We weren't actually gonna do anything, I swear!"
Orihara? Orihara put them up to this? Rin thought, confused. I know they don't get along, but why would he want to do such a thing...?
If anything, the mention of the dark-haired student only made Shizuo more volatile; that much was evident to her by the way his shoulders tensed up. He dropped the sign, grabbing the remaining thug by his collar and shaking him as easily as a rag doll. "You think that's a good goddamn excuse? Like any excuse would be good enough!"
Rin was faintly reminded of Shizuo serving a volleyball as he sent his fist flying towards the man's face, sending him skidding down the block.
"Good for nothings... piss me the hell off." Shizuo grumbled, still seething. Hearing a tiny sob behind him, he turned around.
"S-Shizuo..."
She didn't even realize she'd dropped the honorific in her distress. Before she knew it, Rin was hugging him, arms latched around him like her life depended on it.
"I-I'm so glad to see you, Shizuo!" She wailed, not seeming to care that other students walking home were now eyeing the two with curiosity. "But you had to fight because of me... I'm s-sorry."
Shizuo, most likely unsure of what to do considering the way she was holding onto him so tightly, could only awkwardly pat her back and mutter: "Your ribbon's gone." And then, a bit regretfully, "Think there's some blood on the scarf. Sorry..."
She finally released him, laughing and crying at the same time. Maybe it was the fear and adrenaline still pumping through her veins, or the fact that he was her savior – or that she had just had a terrifying taste of how easily things could take a turn for the worse. Whatever it was, it was enough to make her spit out the words that she'd been so scared of saying out into the open. She glanced up at him, eyes still wet.
"Please... go out with me."
It was probably a horrible idea.
Shizuo had never heard her sound quite so serious as she did at this moment, and couldn't help but be taken aback by her tone and the question she'd posed. He wondered if he heard her correctly – but he must've, because for once there was no stutter to disrupt her words.
Who was he kidding? Dating? Being in a relationship? Him? It was definitely a bad idea.
And with one of those morons bothering her mentioning Izaya being involved – because of course Izaya was involved – Shizuo should have known better.
Should have, but...
Any other girl that uttered those words to him he would've brushed off; figuring it was something stupid like a bet or dare making them do it, but Rin wasn't like that. At least, judging by the time they'd spent together, he couldn't picture her doing anything malicious on purpose.
And even though Shizuo would've been pissed off seeing any girl getting harassed on the street, the fact that it had been Rin somehow managed to infuriate him and twist up his insides at the same time.
It wasn't as if Shizuo had forgotten what a force of destruction he was. He hadn't forgotten what a danger he was to be around, either. Maybe it was a little selfish of him to think that regardless of those facts, everything against the idea would somehow smooth over eventually and he could actually have a taste of a normal, peaceful life.
When he looked down at her almost comically serious face, he realized he was fighting a losing battle with himself. That normalcy he desired – maybe it was within reach, and all he had to do was grab onto it. Shizuo nodded, cheeks feeling strangely warm despite the winter chill.
"... Okay."
A/N: Was it too sudden? I'd love to hear what you guys think. Were you all like "nooo why it's only chapter 8?!" or "it's about freakin' time!"
:)
