[Izaya's POV]
The informant sat at his desk once again, sighing as he looked over forums and forums of unneeded information for his current assignment. In the last month of trying to please his boss he'd only gotten to go out and do what he'd wanted to do about 5 times. Not his ideal life-style at the moment, but it was what kept him in his life of luxury and also his secondary life of actual joy.
The more he worked on set the more time he got to spend among very different humans, all of them trying desperately to work together to make something amazing. And from his still fresh memories of the premiere he'd gone to, he came to realize that with all of the various flaws they had doing it, the result was still what they wanted it to be. He found it odd to think that but comforted himself with the fact that their God was one of the main components in making the result, which made it about 20 times more believable.
But sadly they didn't have parties like the one he'd been to for every episode, that would make things repetitive and boring and he always hated things that were boring. That's why he was over joyed when Kasuka suddenly texted him in the middle of gathering information, asking if he could come over to his house and hang out for a little while. I'd rather have him here than be doing this all on my own.
[Yes, you can come over. But I am working, so sorry if it isn't the most fun you've ever had.]
[Perfect.]
Then suddenly the actor wasn't texting back, which confused him. That's odd. He usually babbles when texting.
But he blew it off and got back to work, thinking it would take the usual 20 minutes for him to make it to his apartment. Which he was also wrong about. There was a knock on his door in less than 10 and when he opened it, his eyes widened a bit. In all of his time hanging out with the actor, Izaya had never once seen him look upset about something. A little peeved, definetly, Dong-Yul had that effect on people. But never genuinely upset.
And the worst part was, the other wasn't even trying to hide it.
He had bags under his eyes and though they weren't red, the man looked like he was ready cry. Kasuka also wasn't really wearing anything proper like usual. He'd thrown on a pair of random of jeans and a hoodie, having it pulled over his head so he wouldn't get attention from anyone on the streets. Even if that part was normal, he looked generally disheveled under the hoodie as well, his brushed hair going into his eyes and making them look darker than normal.
The informant didn't know what to say, inviting the man in before joining him on the couch. "Kasuka, is everything alright?" Izaya asked tentatively, not used to actually caring if a person said "no". And that was the obvious answer. Fucking no he wasn't alright, he isn't himself and now he's just suddenly showed up and is acting weird!
Izaya, quit yelling at yourself, that's not normal...
The actor beside him just shrugged a little and looked up at him, smiling at him even if it looked a bit empty. "I could be better, honestly." Izaya just gave him a blank look at that.
"Yeah, you could be about a thousand percent better. Now what happened?" he demanded, wanting to know who did this. It wasn't every day someone like Kasuka suddenly shows up broken, and he didn't want whatever had caused this to happen again any time soon. It wouldn't do any good for their job or friendship if Kasuka suddenly did a 180 in how he viewed the world and acted.
Kasuka looked down at the table in front of them for a couple minuted, making Izaya think he wasn't going to answer before suddenly he opened his mouth again. "Shizuo came over to my house yesterday." was all he said, and Izaya stared at him, waiting for him to explain. When nothing happened, he bit his lip.
"Yeah, so? You love your brother, that should make you jump for joy." the informant huffed, hoping his usual stand-off-ish behavior would make the teen chuckle. It usually did, at least when they were alone. But it didn't. Kasuka didn't even crack a fucking smile. Izaya dropped his act again when he noticed it wasn't getting results, instead reaching his hand out unsurely to rest it over Kasuka's. He also wasn't used to having to comfort people - if they started crying or something he would laugh and take a picture or just sip on some tea until they finished and continue with what was happening.
Today sure is messed up, isn't it? When Kasuka didn't shake his hand off, he gave it a small squeeze. "Kasuka, what happened yesterday?"
Hazel eyes didn't look up at him until he started speaking again, locking with Izaya's red ones. "He found out that we're friends and I fucked up.. I don't think he'll ever speak to me again." the other finally admitted, shocking the ravenett beside him.
"Shizu-chan..? Well.. Look, I know he hates me, but the monster is surprisingly loyal. I doubt he'd go that far, you're family." Izaya reasoned out loud, saying it like it was a fact. From all that he'd seen, it was a fact. Over anything else the beast of Ikebukuro had kept a tight leash on all of his close friends even when not needed, just so he could be near them and keep them safe, Kasuka being one of the tightest Izaya had stumbled upon.
"You didn't see him yesterday. He was pissed before I even got home, he smelled you in my penthouse.." Kasuka trailed off, eyes getting darker again and Izaya genuinely worried that the man would start crying. Everyone had a limit, even the informant did, so he knew he shouldn't think it was impossible for this to happen. "He hates me.."
Without any other ideas, Izaya scooted closer to the man and let go of his hand, instead moving to wrap his arms around him and hug him tightly. The informant didn't even know if he was doing it right, never being used to hugs except for Dong-Yul's, which weren't very enjoyable in his opinion. But he knew that hugging helped some people, so he would still give it a shot.
He tightened his hold when the other didn't respond, resting his chin on Kasuka's shoulder as he waited for some kind of reaction. Any kind, even being pushed away from him. But he wasn't, and just when he was about to let go, Kasuka's arms found their way around the older man's waist, keeping him still as hands knotted in the back of his shirt as well. It didn't take long for him to feel his shoulder getting wet and he didn't need to ask to know that Kasuka was crying finally, letting him know he'd reached his peak.
The informant didn't move, just closing his eyes as he let Kasuka let out his emotions for once, pushing away the thought of needing to clean this shirt later as well. Instead, he focused on the question running around his mind that was pondering what this pain he felt was. Izaya couldn't place it, it was like his veins had went numb and made him feel empty, the inside of his chest burning uncomfortably and having that same hollow feeling even if he could still feel his heartbeat and every breath just made the feeling get worse.
He didn't like it and he wanted the feeling to go away, but he would question it more later. For now, he just had to keep holding Kasuka and make sure he didn't leave until he was back to being himself. Back to being the real Kasuka.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ !Chapter 21! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I loved writing this chapter, even if I was unsure of how to address Broken!Kasuka
I like how I ended it though, and I hope you guys do too ^^
So, in case anyone missed it since I almost forgot to add it in there at all - this takes place the day after the last chapter
Kasuka didn't sleep last night and had been trying not to cry before, which is why he looked so bad
But Izaya to the rescue! Him and his confusing chest pains..
I hope you liked it! Favorite, follow and review for more!