Another update. There may be a few little typos; I wrote this one with one hand because the doctor at my MRI popped the vein in my left arm and it hurts really really really really bad. _;
Unvarnished Reality
At first, Shizuo was more than happy not to question Izaya's uncharacteristic silence, but after walking for a few blocks, it began to annoy him.
"So," Shizuo said gruffly. "Why're you doing this?
Izaya jumped a little at the sudden question. "Um...I was bored?"
"Try again, flea."
Shizuo knew that Izaya was going to give another lame response, so he gave him a brisk shake. Izaya winced and changed his mind.
"I have to get to my computer before some of my more…ah, unstable clients think I'm ignoring them."
Shizuo gave a biting laugh. "It would serve you right for doing business with people like that in the first place," he replied callously.
Izaya's arms suddenly tightened around Shizuo's neck. If Shizuo had been any other person, he might have thought Izaya was trying to suffocate him.
"Hey, flea, what's your problem?"
Izaya was quiet. Again Shizuo gave him another shake.
"My back hurts," Izaya ground out through clenched teeth. "Shinra took me off painkillers this morning 'cause he was afraid I'd get addicted."
"Oh." Shizuo was suddenly hyper-aware of how he was walking, how much Izaya was being jostled around. He tried to be more careful. After a moment, Izaya slowly loosened his grip and gave a shaky sigh of relief.
xxx
Shizuo kept to the alleys so no one would see him in such an embarrassing situation, so it took longer to get to Izaya's house. When they finally got to the front door, Shizuo stopped.
"Izaya, where's your key? Izaya?"
There was no response. Shizuo glanced over his shoulder and saw that Izaya's eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open. His first thought was that Izaya was dead, but then he realized that he could feel a heartbeat against his back as well as deep, even breathing.
Izaya was asleep? Shizuo was momentarily stunned, then he snapped out of it and quietly broke into Izaya's house by turning the doorknob until the lock broke and the door opened.
The house was pretty amazing, but Shizuo didn't focus on the decor so much as on the woman sitting at the nearest desk. She hadn't even looked up.
"He's not here," she said apathetically, still writing on a piece of paper. "Go away."
Shizuo felt his temper rising. This woman almost reminded him of Izaya.
"Yeah, I know. I brought him back."
Now the woman glanced up. Her cold eyes grew colder when she saw Izaya. "What a pity," she commented before looking back down at her work. "I thought he was dead."
Shizuo suddenly changed his mind. She wasn't like Izaya. Izaya was always laughing; this woman didn't even look like she knew how to laugh.
"Where's his room?"
The woman pointed, and, still not looking up, said: "Don't be too loud. I don't want a headache."
In spite of himself, Shizuo gaped, then he shook his head and carried Izaya down the hall. This woman thought he was going to rape her employer, and all she cared about was not getting a headache from the noise? What kind of people did Izaya have working for him?
The room at the end of the hall was dark but comfortable. Shizuo gently pried Izaya's arms away from his neck and laid Izaya on the bed. Izaya groaned in his sleep, but he didn't wake up.
It was incredible how innocent Izaya looked when he was asleep. Like a little kid. Shizuo found himself smiling, and he quickly stopped. Even so, he couldn't make himself hate Izaya when he was asleep.
If he were dead, he'd look like that, too.
Shizuo was surprised at the malicious thought. Was he still going to kill Izaya? And, perhaps more importantly, did he still want to?
It was something Shizuo had avoided thinking about for a long time. Right now, the answer to both questions was no, but what about when Izaya woke up? Shizuo thought about it, and finally decided he'd let his anger make that call.
Though there was a good chance that the answers would still be no. Since the day Izaya had apologized to him, Shizuo hadn't felt the murderous rage that he usually felt towards the flea. Except for when Izaya intentionally tried to make him mad. But even then, he hadn't been half as angry as he used to get just from one of Izaya's smirks.
Shizuo found his mind wandering back to what Shinra and Celty had said. Could he and Izaya be friends? Obviously not by any traditional definition of the word, but in their own way?
"I don't know anymore," Shizuo whispered, frowning. "I...don't know."
Izaya, unaware of this major breakthrough, just went right on sleeping.