Hello! I had off yesterday so I'm updating a day earlier! Expect another chapter tomorrow!

I'm trying to get all the fluffy Halloween ideas in but to do that I needed this chapter to make them good to go for full on... well you know.

I don't own Durarara!

Warnings: cute conversation about feelings ahead

He finally shuffled in front of his door and undid the locks. "Shinra, I told you to call me firs-" he started while opening the door but stopped himself when he realized who was standing behind it.

An awkward silence ensued as Shizuo was speechless at the sight before him and Izaya was too stunned to speak.

There stood Izaya staring up at him, wrapped in a huge blanket trailing behind him, eyes puffy from crying, looking like he hadn't gotten dressed in days. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a tight black shirt, far from his usual attire. Shizuo felt embarressed seeing him in this state. He turned his head to the side and cleared his throat lightly. He could feel a tinge of pink color his features and was desperately searching for a way to break the silence.

Izaya just looked up astonishgly at the man before him. All he could think was how he had just decided to see him once he was ready but now... he was desperate to talk to him. Nothing had changed, it was the same old Shizu-chan. Bleach blonde hair, neat bartender's suit, looking embarressed. But somehow, he sensed his heart go a little faster and he couldn't tear his eyes away. 'Did he always look this...handsome?'

The raven snapped back into reality with the realization that he was just standing in his doorway gawking like an idiot. 'Crap, did I really just think that!?'

"Uh hey, Izaya.." Shizuo managed hesitantly. For all he knew, the flea was having some kind of mental breakdown and could snap out of nowhere.

The second Shizu-chan spoke his name, Izaya swore he felt a warmness start to pool in his stomach somwhere. 'All right, I'm going to sort things out. I can't keep sulking forever.' he decided.

"W-would you like to come in? Maybe have some coffee?" the raven said. 'Damn it, I can't be stuttering at a time like this!' he cursed mentally.

"Sure." the blonde replied. He was still a little hesitant, but mostly because he actually liked the idea of being invited into the flea's apartment. And a little of it might have something to do with how he thought Izaya's stuttering was kinda possibly just a teensy bit cute. 'Maybe we can work things out?' he thought but what he really meant was 'Maybe he doesn't hate me?'

X~X~X

Shizuo sat down at the small circular table in the apartment's kitchen space while Izaya busied himself with making coffee. He had out two cups and the pot was almost done brewing. The strong smell of coffee kind of woke him up but he still kept the blanket around him in case the inevitable talk with Shizu-chan didn't go well and he needed to go back to sleep. When the machine's light went from red to green, he poured the dark brown liquid into the cups and brought them to the table. He went back to the counter and brought the sugar jar before sitting down in the opposite chair.

"How many cubes would you like, Shizu-chan?" It felt really strange to casually serve the man who caused his mind to fall apart coffee. Izaya inwardly realaxed a bit at how quickly it had gotten significantly easier to say the pet name.

"Seven."

"Okay, you sure like your sweets don't you? I like mine black." the raven said in an attempt to make conversation while spooning the seven cubes of sugar into the other's cup.

"Hn." was the only response.

'Well that didn't work. Guess I'll have to try something else.' he thought before he blurted out, "So what brings you here?" He instantly regretted that, he wasn't sure if he wanted to get down to business just yet, in fact he was pretty sure he wanted to actually enjoy the other's prescence for a little while longer. It was really weird to see Shizu-chan in this new light but it was a pleasant kind of weird. It felt right.

"I came to... see if you were alright." Shizuo figured if he just apoligized out of the blue the informant wouldn't take him seriously. Also, he really did want to know how the flea was doing. 'Does this mean I care?'

"Oh. Well that's... yeah. I'm okay." Izaya said surprised, then under his breath he whispered so the other wouldn't hear, "now that you're here."

That answer didn't exactly satisfy Shizuo. "Are you sure? I mean you were crying and all.." 'Shit, I shouldn't have brought that up! Now he'll definitely kill me!'

Needless to say, it was Shizuo's turn to be surprised. All Izaya did was look at something else to avert his gaze and say in a quiet voice, "Yeah, I'm definitely better." He had the faint hint of a smile on his porcelain face.

Shizuo decided that if he was going to get some answers, he was going to have to push his luck. "So, why were you? Crying I mean."

The shadow of a smile disappeared but Izaya kept his tone soft. "I think I was crying because of you." As soon as he said this, Izaya knew it was the truth. He wasn't crying back there because of all the stress Toin caused him or how horrible a human he was for what he did to his sisters, but because he had been wrong about Shizu-chan. Then he was wrong again after he accepted his first error. It was too much failiure in one day so it had to come out somehow. His body just decided crying was better than lashing out at the moment.

But Shizuo took this as an accusation, he figured the flea blamed him. He felt his chest start hurting again and couldn't remember when it had stopped. But he had to know, had to be sure. With shaking hands he asked in a grave voice, "Do you... still hate me... Not just for what happened but..." he faded out because his frame had started shaking as well and he would rather focus on that.

Izaya took one look at the trembling protozoan sitting in the chair across from him and knew that what Shinra had said about never seeing him so down was true. He couldn't help but want to make the blonde feel better since he came to check up on him. It was only right to return the favor and Izaya had a feeling his subconscious would taunt him again if he didn't do something.

The best thing he could think of was to answer the question honestly and truthfully.

The informant considered the violent past he had with Shizu-chan and why he hated him. He couldn't come up with any substantial reason as to why he was filled with intense loathing before. He also noted that he thought the word 'before'. When it came down to it, they were the same. They were both disregarded by human society as monsters, even if it was in a completely different sense. They shouldn't have been enemies from the start but-

"Friends."

Shizuo looked up upon hearing Izaya say this. He was expecting something along the lines of "Of course I hate you, filthy protozoan." or "You are the cause of all my suffering. Hate is kind of implied, ne?" But he definitely wasn't expecting this fragment that made no sense coming out of the raven's mouth. "What?"

Izaya blushed a bit at how his mouth had taken over control for a second there but went on to clarify things nonetheless.

"I don't hate you. In fact, the more I think about it, I don't know why I ever hated you. We're so alike it's kind of scary. You and me, it should have been different. Now that I've seen a different side of you, I realize, we should be friends."

Shizuo's mouth dropped open and he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Will you be my friend, Shizuo?" Izaya asked. He was risking everything, his whole being was riding on this one answer. He looked up at Shizu-chan's face with hopeful eyes and held his breath.

And just like that, Shizuo Heiwajima's whole world shifted into a new outlook.

Everything about the man in front of him was different, but nothing had changed at all except the way he saw him. He finally noticed. As he stared into those sparkling, hopeful, sweet, eyes he noticed how beautiful the way his lashes framed them was. He noticed the creamy complexion and never wanted to mar it again. He noticed how his inky black hair framed his face in the most alluring way possible. He noticed the thin, slender frame underneath that black shirt and wanted to hug it. He noticed how cute, yes cute, he was cuddled up in that blanket.

This side of him that Shizuo had never seen before was reaching out to him. It accepted him, it wanted to know him, to talk to him. This man wanted to be his friend, something that would be a mystery to him if it weren't for Tom, Shinra, Celty, and Kasuka. But this was different. Those four were his friends, yes, but they seemed to ignore his faults. They turned a blind eye to his freakish strength and quick anger. Izaya wanted to embrace those qualities along with everything else. He knew their hideousness, saw them and stared them right in the eye, but still wanted to get to know Shizuo. No one had ever... This had never happened to him before. He had never felt this way before.

And he knew without a doubt in his heart that he loved Izaya Orihara.

Fat tears of joy rolled down his tan cheeks and his golden eyes shimmered with hapiness.

Izaya was about to turn blue in the face from holding his breath so long and was rapidly losing hope when he heard Shizu-chan sob. He registered that he was sobbing and smiling at the same time. His mind tried to process what it meant and he didn't have time to react before he was knocked out of the chair and enveloped on the floor by strong arms.

"Shizu-chan?" he said incredulously. "Does this mean...?" His poor head was trying to wrap itself around the fact that someone was hugging him. He didn't even feel the pain he should have felt from his ribs.

"Yes!" Shizuo sobbed into Izaya's chest. "I want to be friends with you more than anything!"

Izaya's face burst into the biggest smile it ever held. Teeth were showing and everything. He even felt his own delighted tears start to flow.

They both silently agreed to spill out everything they were feeling at the moment.

"I was so worried you would hate me because of what I did to you in the past. Or that you'd think it was all a trick. Or that I was still a heartless, horrible jerk. And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. For everything. I really am. I don't even have an excuse for framing you that one time or sending all those gangs after you. I'm so happy you want to be my friend!" Izaya half laughed, half bawled.

"Hey, don't worry about that, about any of that. None of it matters. The only important thing is right now. I forgive you. It was killing me inside when I thought you blamed me for almost dying. I felt so horrible for that. I thought you'd never forgive me and I was tearing myself apart trying to make it okay. Then I finally woke up to the other side of you. I can't believe I never saw that you were just like me. I just stopped denying how I feel and accepted that I want to be friends with you." Shizuo rambled on and on.

The two just laid on the floor and listened to each other, neither remembered when the blanket had covered both of them. They couldn't stop smiling.

X~X~X

After a while, they calmed down. The happy tears had stopped but the happiness glowed brighter than ever before in each of them.

After such an emotional experience, Izaya was feeling kind of tired. He couldn't stop himself from yawning right in Shizu-chan's face. The blonde just giggled and said, "Yeah I'm beat."

Izaya's heart swelled with the sound of that adorable giggle. It made him wonder, 'Is there any possibility we could be more than friends?' He didn't have time to consider the answer because Shizuo had stood and picked him up in the blanket.

"Where are we going?" the swaddled raven asked.

Shizuo looked down and tried to fight another blush. 'Izaya looks like a sleepy cat.'

"Just to bed." he answered.

Izaya felt his cheeks immediately flush before he told himself he got the meaning to that wrong.

They reached the bedroom and Izaya was gently set down on the bed. He realized he was too sluggish to protest a nap so he set to straightening the covers around himself.

Shizuo took off his bartender vest and slid the tie from his neck before undoing the first two buttons on his dress shirt.

Izaya's eyes bulged when he understood that Shizuo planned on napping in the same bed as him.

"Shizu-chan, isn't it a bit questionable to sleep in the same bed?"

"Not really. It's too much work to go back to my place and the couch here will be cold. This is something friends are comfortable doing after all." he said with a grin as he got into bed beside the flea.

"Right." Izaya allowed. He was extremely pleased that they could do friend-things now. His comfort only increased ten fold when he felt those warm, strong arms curl around him again.

He couldn't even stop himself from snuggling into his new friend's body heat.

But he wasn't the only one with involuntary actions. As soon as he did, Shizuo began to stroke his fingers through the other's soft black hair.

Izaya smiled into the touch and soon felt himself drifting off.

"Hey, flea?"

"Hm?"

"Is it weird that I think you're beautiful?"

Izaya's eyes snapped open. "Really?" he asked. He had only vaguely considered the possibility of 'more that friends' but this was real. If Shizu-chan felt that way enough to admit it, he realized that he had felt that way for a while too.

Shizuo looked at the wall of the bedroom and said, "Yeah."

Izaya lifted his hand and gently turned the blonde's face back to his.

"Then I think we can be a special kind of friends, Shizu-chan."

Shizuo was pretty confused by what he meant but trusted in the loving look in the flea's eyes.

The raven answered the questioning look on his face and said in a deciding voice, "Boyfriends."

They both blushed deeply and Shizuo murmured, "I'd like that."

"Now go to sleep, flea."

"You may be a monster, but your my monster." Izaya responded with a smile before snuggling back into the warmth.

X~X~X

It was a couple hours later when a man in a white lab coat strolled down the hall to a certain informant's apartment.

Izaya hadn't answered his cell phone and when he tried calling Shizuo to see if he knew where he was, he didn't answer either. To make things even worse, Celty couldn't find either of them around town. So Shinra had decided to drop by Izaya's apartment to see if he was there.

"He really should be resting with those injuries, even if he does heal fast." he grumbled to himself as he walked.

When he reached the door, he pulled out the secret spare key that even Izaya didn't know about and opened the door.

"Hello? Izaya? You home?" he called.

When no one answered he decided to search the house.

Shinra went through every room, finding nothing until he reached the bedroom door.

He pressed his ear against it and was surprised to hear light snoring.

'Izaya doesn't snore..?' he thought as he quietly opened the door.

He feasted his eyes upon the image before him and had to shove his fist in his mouth to keep from waking them up with his shizaya fangirling.

There lay Shizuo, stretched out on the bed and snoring with Izaya cuddled up to his side and resting his head in the other's arm. They both had the cutest little smiles on their face!

Shinra's thoughts raced with yaoi ramblings. 'OH MY GOD. IT FINALLY HAPPENED. MY DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE. YESSSS. I WONDER IF THEY DID IT? PROBABLY NOT SINCE THEY'RE BOTH DRESSED BUT THERE'S ALWAYS NEXT TIME! I KNEW IT. I SO CALLED THIS. DAMN IT I CAN'T BELIEVE I DON'T HAVE MY CAMERA. MAYBE I CAN COMEBACK LATER AND TAKE A COUPLE HUNDRED SNAPSHOTS. SUCK IT ERIKA. THIS IS AMAZING.'

He did a small dance that included a fist pump at the end before using all of his will power to leave them in peace while secretly plotting to risk getting pummeled by Shizuo for coming back later with his camera.

Ah, it feels good to finally write that.

I hope that was to your liking!

Like I said I'm trying to update again tomorrow with the fluff ideas having to do with Halloween. Tell me if you have any ideas!

See ya soon!