Days passed without the blonde being by his side. Eventually the days turned into long, hard weeks. Izaya had finally picked himself up and he was back to normal. The only thing that was different was that the two monsters of Ikebukuro didn't fight when they saw each other. The informant did his best to avoid the blonde while Shizuo did his best to protect Izaya without being noticed.
The brunette slowly opened his eyes and saw Shizuo staring at him, "What?! Shizu-chan, what are you doing here?!"
The blonde smiled, whispered a good morning and then leaned down for a kiss. Just before their lips touched, the illusion shattered. Shizuo disappeared and Izaya was left alone.
"Great…I'm hallucinating." Izaya mumbled to himself.
As he walked into the kitchen, he saw Shizuo standing in front of the stove wearing an apron. When that illusion shattered too, Izaya began to really miss the blonde. He sat alone while eating breakfast and muttered to himself, "I can't go back to Shizu-chan until I'm ready. I'm not going to cause any more trouble for him or for the people around me. So…until then…I have to endure it."
The informant prepared to go to work and then he felt someone's arms around his waist and Shizuo's voice whisper in his ear, "Come home safely." Izaya spun around to see no one behind him. The brunette felt an aching in his chest but he couldn't go back to Shizuo yet, no matter how much he missed him.
The blonde stared at himself in the mirror while buttoning up his dress shirt. He saw Izaya behind him sitting on the bed, laughing at how his buttoning was messed up. When the blonde turned, he was met with no one. Shizuo sighed and continued to get ready for his day. He ate breakfast by himself and then he heard Izaya yell, "Remember to put the dishes in the sink so I can clean them later!"
Shizuo smiled and lightly placed his dishes in the sink after he was done with them. Before leaving his apartment he reassured himself, "Izaya will come back to me, I know it. He's not going to forget me."
He locked the door behind him and walked into the streets of Ikebukuro to meet up with Tom and keep an eye on Izaya. As he passed the crowds of people, he felt a delicate hand hold his own. When he looked to his side, he saw Izaya who was cheerfully smiling and talking on and on about what he liked and disliked. Shizuo smiled and tried to hold the informant's hand tighter, only to clench a fist full of air. The blonde sighed and decided that he wouldn't push Izaya to hurry up and come back, no matter how much he missed him.
Izaya walked down the streets of Ikebukuro to meet up with a client of his. The client was someone he had given information to in the past (and had ruined his life), so Izaya tried his best to be prepared for whatever may happen. He wasn't much of a person who used guns, unless he had someone to do the dirty work for him; so he just carried around his usual pocketknives. The informant saw the blonde on one side of the street, walking towards him. Izaya couldn't figure out a way to avoid the debt collector so he just continued to walk forward, fearing that if he stayed to close to Shizuo, he would end up hugging him. The blonde noticed the informant but decided to not look in his eyes. The two passed each other as if they were strangers, but both were longing for each other.
Shizuo excused himself from work and quickly followed Izaya through the streets. He made sure to stay at least ten meters behind the informant, just in case the brunette turned around. Izaya twisted through many routes and finally got to a warehouse. He walked inside and noticed a man standing in the middle of the room.
"So, how may I help you?" The informant asked.
"I heard that you're dating the strongest man in Ikebukuro." The man said.
Shizuo leaned against the warehouse door to listen to their conversation.
"Yes, I am dating Shizuo. He has a name, you know." The brunette said calmly, "What do you want?"
"I want to ruin your life as much as you ruined mine." The man looked at Izaya with eyes filled with malice. The man's hand went to his pocket and so did Izaya's.
"So you plan on taking my life to ruin it?" Izaya asked.
"That's not enough torture. You have to feel more pain. What is it like to date that monster?"
"He's not a monster. What's there to tell about my relationship with him?" The informant seemed a little on edge as his fingers slid around his pocketknife.
"I just want to know, you know?" The man said with a playful smile.
"I don't." Izaya said bluntly.
The informant's past client moved forward a bit and asked, "Aren't you scared of him?"
The brunette browned at this, "No."
"Something is wrong with your relationship with him, I can tell." The man continued to shuffle closer while talking to Izaya.
When the brunette didn't say anything, the man continued, "Oh? I'm right? Well, that makes everything easier. You two must have gone through some trouble. Perhaps you should get a clue; Shizuo doesn't love you anymore. He let you go so easily. Don't you think people who loved you would hold on tighter?"
"You're lying." Izaya said, trying hard not to break, but his mask was falling.
"As much of a monster he is, he would never fall in love with a greater monster like you." The man continued to shatter Izaya and make him weak. Then he laughed and said, "You're full of holes, Orihara Izaya. Let me make some more."
The past client pulled his hands out of his pocket to reveal a gun. A loud noise pierced through the air. Izaya heard the loud noise but he was too stunned to register what had happened. He heard the warehouse door clam open and then saw Shizuo running towards him. The informant's hands covered his side and when he removed them, they were stained red. His past client ran off and Shizuo ignored him completely, only caring about Izaya's well-being.
Suddenly, all of Izaya's senses seemed to return at once. He gasped slightly as he felt the pain take over his body. The informant stumbled a bit, but was still able to limp towards Shizuo. The blonde caught Izaya in his arms and immediately ran towards Shinra's apartment.
"You're going to be okay, Izaya. I swear to god, if you sleep right now, I will slap you until you wake up. If you die right now, I'll kill you."
"Shizu-chan, that last one didn't make any sense…" Izaya muttered while holding onto Shizuo. The fact that they had separated flew out the window as the blonde sprinted through the crowds of people. He kicked the door open to Shinra's apartment and gently put Izaya on the bed.
"Shinra! Help!" The blonde yelled.
The underground doctor didn't need to ask what had happened, he got to work and started patching up Izaya. Shizuo stared at his hands which were covered in Izaya's blood, "Oh my god, Shinra, there's blood everywhere. Shinra…I…He…gun."
The doctor called for Celty and told her to calm SHizuo down and treat him out of shock. The dullahan washed away the blood from the debt collector's hands and sat him down on the couch.
When Shinra was done bandaging Izaya's wound, he let the blonde sleep by the informant's side. Izaya felt lost in his own mind and then he found his answer through a nightmare.
[author: italics describe his nightmare, by the way]
"Shizu-chan?" Izaya called out into the darkness, "Shizu-chan? Where are you?"
The blonde's figure appeared in front of him but the informant was unable to move forward. Shizuo began walking away from him and no matter how much he screamed his name, the blonde wouldn't turn around.
"Wait…Shizuo, don't leave me…please don't leave me." Izaya fell to his knees and was left alone in the darkness.
"Shizuo, I miss you. I miss you so much. I'm ready to start again, so please! Please, I'm begging you, don't go somewhere I can't follow!"
He felt something warm touch his hand and Izaya heard someone calling his name.
"Izaya? Oi, are you awake? Please answer me."
"I'm awake, Shizu-chan…" The brunette mumbled softly.
The blonde stared at Izaya and smiled, "Why are you always the one who ends up on the hospital bed?"
The informant laughed a bit, but felt a stabbing pain on his left side where he had been shot, "That's because you're strong and I'm not."
Shizuo's hand covered Izaya's as they both leaned in for a kiss. Both of them didn't want to pull away, but eventually they needed air. Izaya muttered against Shizuo's lips, "I'm back." To which Shizuo responded with,
"Welcome home."
Izaya was ready to go back to Shizuo for good.