Izaya half-heartedly laughed as he ran through the streets of Ikebukuro, his body instinctively dodging a trash can. His thoughts were on other matters, much more important the thrill of the chase. He had to make sure that he got this perfectly. Lord knows that Shizuo had to be played right and the slightest mistake would mean failure.
Izaya didn't like failure, even on his first try.
Glancing through the streets, Izaya made a left turn, jumping high before swinging himself on a street lamp. It would be quiet here, but not too quiet. The people in the area were quite used to the bellowing of the monster of Ikebukuro. When Shizuo yelled, they would not even bother to glance at them.
Shizuo followed the smaller man into the dark alley, grinning ferociously. "Nowhere to run now, flea. Prepare to meet your doom."
Izaya hopped unto a nearby dumpster, crossing his legs. He returned the grin, twirling his switchblade in his hands.
"Ah, but that is where Shizu-chan is wrong. You and I both know I can escape this dead end in seconds. I have to talk to Shizu-chan. A deal if you will."
"Well, too bad I don't have anything to say to you, flea! I'm not making any kind of deal with you," Shizuo stepped forward, raising his fist threateningly.
"I thought you'd say that, Shizu-chan," Izaya laughed, opening his arms and assuming another totally inappropriate pose. "Why not listen to the deal first? Who knows, it might make your life better."
Shizuo cracked his knuckles, tilting his head. "The only way my life will be better is if you dropped dead right now, flea!"
"Such crude words! I'm hurt, Shizu-chan." Izaya clutched his chest in fake pain. "But here's my idea. I want you… to go on a date with me." The man spreads his arms, his fur trimmed jacket enhancing the movement.
"No, I'm not sparing your li – wait what?" The blond stopped in his advance.
"See, Shizu-chan. I'm bored. Since I'm bored, I need something to do. Something exciting," Izaya paused. "Are you following this? I know you're a protozoan with a brain the size of a pea but do try to understand. Blink once if you do."
Shizuo blinked instinctively at the order. The other man let out a laugh, thrilled at the reaction from the otherwise frozen man.
"Now, this is where you come in. You entertain me, Shizu-chan. So let's go on a date!"
"What the fuck, flea?! I'm not your personal circus! And why a date?" Shizuo frowned, brows furrowing at the puzzling logic.
Izaya shrugged, his jacket dropping off his shoulders. "Humans are so interesting, ne? They have the strangest ideas. Think back, Shizu-chan. Remember when you welcomed me back to town?"
The blond scowled. He didn't welcome Izaya to town. It wasn't even his town! Izaya just bothered to come here every few days.
"Remember that Erika? The otaku girl who said we were in love?"
There was a brief silence as Izaya paused to see the other's reaction. The former bartender didn't move a muscle.
"Well, I thought 'Why not?' Why not spice life up a bit? Why don't I try giving Shizu-chan my love, like I do for my lovely humans?"
The taller man paused at the word 'love' before scowling again. "Tch. I don't need this shit. What I need – "
"Shizu-chan's so rude! He never listens to someone completely, does he?" Izaya pouted. He resumed grinning the next second. "Except I realized that Shizu-chan's a monster and doesn't deserve my love. Still, I thought, it doesn't have to be love. It can just be an act."
"I-ZA-YA, you faking little – " Shizuo was ready to crush the toehr into a pulp. There was a dumpster conveniently placed nearby too.
"Uh-uh. You gotta listen when people are speaking, Shizu-chan!" The smaller man leaned back on his hands. "As I was saying, I thought 'why not do something like lovers'? Why not go on a date with Shizu-chan?!"
"I don't want to go on a date with you, flea!" Shizuo practically shouted in the other's face.
"As I said, there's no option of refusal. What I want, I get, Shizu-chan." And that includes you.
"If I don't want to go on a date with you, I don't have to. There! Refusal!"
Izaya smirked. "Except I have ways of getting you to agree with me!"
"I'm never agreeing with you!"
"I understand that life is all a game of give and take. You go on a date with me to ease my boredom… and I'll tell you where's the little fairy's head is. What do you think? Fair deal?"
The blond growled and swallowed down his initial protest. That sneaky bastard. He was going to get Celty involved in this? He had to think through this carefully.
Shizuo weighed his options. He could say no, but then that would ruin the chance to know about Celty s missing head.
Celty had been worried about it since forever and the former bartender knew that she's been searching for it since she came here to Ikebukuro. And wasn't there that debacle with her head and the stalker girl and the guy who stabbed him with pens?
"What do you know about Celty?" Shizuo demanded.
"I am an informant, you know. It's my job to know everything and nothing about anything," Izaya smirked.
Information about Celty was sacred to come across. Of course the flea would have it.
"So what do you say? A date for some information on our favorite dullahan?"
The blond clenched his jaw. This was what Celty wanted for a long time. She would be thrilled if she could just get a sliver of information on the whereabouts of her head. It'll be a way to pay her back. After all, she'd gotten him out of so much trouble and listened to all his woes.
And Shinra did treat him for free whenever he went there.
But then again, this was spending a whole day with the flea. And he was pretty sure that the flea was going to drag him around and who knows what they'll end up be doing? Shizuo couldn't even last spending 15 minutes in the same room as Izaya. The whole day doing what the man wanted would be just torture. The blond didn't even know if the he could hold back from trying to kill the other.
The fortissimo of Ikebukuro took a deep breath, glancing back at the smirking man who was awaiting his answer.
"It's because Shizu-chan and Iza-Iza are in love!"
No. He wasn't going down that path again. He was not thinking about that. Though… going on a date with the flea would prove it wrong, right? There was no way he'd like the date.
The suit-wearing man opened his mouth.
But he didn't have any date to compare it to… he closed his mouth with a clack.
"I'm waiting, Shizu-chan. You have to give me an answer. A day off from yours or letting go of the chance to solve the whereabouts of Celty's head?" The russet-eyed man taunted.
Shizuo scowled, glaring at the smaller. Not having a date doesn't really matter, does it? He just knew that he wouldn't like it. It was the flea, after all. Of course he wouldn't like it.
If he accepted, he'd have a chance to prove the girl's theory wrong and can let Celty have info about her head. If he didn't… Celty would still be in square one and Shizuo… would be left with doubts in his mind. Although there was no way he could be gay and love the flea.
It would be a win-win situation. He just had to spend a day with the informant. He was sure he could control himself. Those anger management classes should come in handy right now.
"Fine. I'll go on a date with you," Shizuo all but spat. He really needed a nicotine stick right now.
"Oh. How interesting. I was sure you'd refuse," Izaya tilted his head, smirk widening at the reply. He really had thought Shizuo would refuse. He'd make sure that he had numerous back-up plans. This just shows how unpredictable the monster of Ikebukuro was.
"Ahaha. Shizu-chan's so interesting! I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow then!" Izaya bounded down from the dumpster, a slight skip in his step.
Shizuo frowned as his mind wrapped around the information. "I have work on tomorrow, you shitty flea!" And like hell he was going skip work and let Tom down because of a date with the bloody flea.
"Don't worry about that! I've got it all fixed, Shizu-chan! A certain Yagara Naro will be willing to pay up all his debts to Tom tomorrow. Just be sure to wake up early the next morning. Or I'll come wake you up," the raven-haired winked, waving his mobile around. "See ya!"
Shizuo watched as the last trace of the fur trimmed jacket disappear around the corner before lighting a cigarette. He really needed a smoke right now. He briefly wondered what he just agreed to.
I don't know Shizuo's thought process. Maybe he's not as reasonable when it comes to Izaya. I hoped this turned out well.
Also, in the last chapter, there was a little flashback about Kasuka saying Shizuo's gay. I don't know if this actually happened in the anime or not but I found it on the internet and it stuck.
I hoped the scene turned out well and you liked the chapter. Thank you for reading!
New Note:
If you oldies have read the new note in Chapter 15, I'm changing things starting from here. So it's Celty's head on the deal, not Kasuka. Either way, Shizuo goes on the date.
New people! Ignore this if you want. If not, you can just be confused.