Disclaimer: Durarara! I don't own thee!
'Shizu-chan?' The informant slowly put the phone to his ear.
"H-Hello?" Izaya stuttered as he tried to keep his heartbeat in check. He swore it was strong enough to vibrate the entire room, so he peeked over to see if Namie had noticed anything. She turned another page of her file, eyes glued to the document.
"Hey, Izaya," the bodyguard's voice answered him uneasily on the other line. Izaya guessed Shizuo was feeling more or less the same. "How are you feeling?"
"Well enough," the informant replied as he tried to sort out his thoughts. Shizuo's profile still stared back at him from the computer screen, and he closed it in a panic, hoping that his mind would continue to stay rational. It was all too sudden. "Uh…" he began, and finally grasped onto one coherent thought. "How'd you get this number?"
"Ah, sorry." Shizuo seemed to have gained a little more confidence now that Izaya had continued the conversation. "Celty gave it to me."
"Really?"
"Uh…" Izaya could almost see the other scratching his head gruffly as he thought of what to say. "Yeah, just checking up on you. It's kind of weird not seeing you run around Ikebukuro like you usually do."
The informant chuckled at this, feeling as if the weight had been lifted from him just a little. "As much as I'd love to, I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to dodge any vending machines that decide to fly my way."
The bodyguard paused for a moment. "What if there aren't any?" he suddenly asked, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Huh?" Izaya didn't see this statement coming.
"Would you come?" Shizuo continued, gathering courage once again.
Izaya on the other hand was starting to feel the weight the words bear down on him as his mind started working properly once more. "How can you be certain I won't do something to incite your anger?"
He thought of the jobs he had been doing since his return. Sure, most of them didn't involve leaving his apartment, courtesy of Shiki, but they were sure proof of his return to normalcy: the twisted kind that everyone attributed to him. To be truthful, he hadn't really thought about that until this moment; he had been so absorbed in his work, using it as a distraction from his life, just like he did before. The side of him that Shizuo had seen was merely a small part of his thoroughly twisted self. Who's to say things won't go back to the way they were before between the two of them? These thoughts threatened to bring all the chains back around him.
However, the bodyguard's next words nearly blew all of those distorted feelings out of him. "Don't worry. You won't," Shizuo replied confidently.
Izaya froze for a moment. "Are you insane?" he suddenly exclaimed, standing up so quickly that his chair rolled away, stopping dangerously close to the window.
Namie looked up from her spot on the sofa, eyes twinkling with curiosity. The informant bit his lip, sliding his chair back and sitting back down.
"Maybe I am," Shizuo answered. "Hey, last time I checked, you're pretty insane yourself."
Izaya sighed. What was this world coming to? "Even so, I'll need a reason to leave my office. Work's been pretty busy these days…" he half-lied.
"Want to go eat somewhere?" Shizuo asked, keeping his tone casual.
"Huh?" Izaya hoped his computer screen was covering his gape from Namie.
"My treat."
"You're kidding," Izaya muttered, numerous possibilities already running through his overworking mind. What if Shiki found out? 'Tell him it's just a meal between friends. He can't argue with that,' a voice answered almost instantly.
"Shinra said you have to go out and move around more if you want your legs to get any better," Shizuo continued.
'Just friends…' The phrase had a strange pain that went along with it. However, the informant sighed, defeated by the other's words. "Fine."
"So uh… are you free Saturday?"
'This soon?' His heart wasn't ready. "Are you off then?"
"Yeah."
"Sounds good," he replied despite himself.
He hung up feeling like somehow had pushed him off a cliff, and his heart was running a thousand kilometers per hour like it was trying to make up for all the beats it won't be able to produce after he hit the bottom. Didn't he already agree with himself that he wouldn't do anything? 'It's just food,' the voice from before said in his mind, but he knew what the gesture meant. Yet, the fact that the bodyguard actually noticed that he hadn't visited Ikebukuro and had asked Shinra about his health… Izaya felt an odd tingle at that thought. When had anyone cared so much?
He opened the drawer next to him and peered down at the headphones Psyche had left behind. Tsugaru had cared. Psyche had cared. He frowned and closed the compartment. But Shizuo… It felt different… loving… He immediately tried to shake that thought away as he felt his face heat up.
"You're making some strange expressions," Namie commented, bringing him back to reality.
"I'm perfectly normal," Izaya replied, swiveling his chair to face the world outside. He squinted at the light that poured into his office, making out the clear skies and distant clumps of trees from shrines and parks that inhabited Shinjuku. He sighed. "I really need to get out…" he muttered.
As if someone had heard him, his phone rang again, this time from Akabayashi.
.
"I really don't see why you had to come too," Izaya muttered as the two of them walked down the alley.
Akabayashi grinned nervously. "Well, it has been quite a long time since you've taken this sort of job."
"Not that long," the informant returned, still annoyed at the entire situation. He was more than capable of defending himself with words against this particular type of client: a salaryman who had some information that the Awakusu-kai needed. He didn't need a "bodyguard." Shizuo suddenly appeared in his mind. Izaya sighed, trying to curtail some of his annoyance elsewhere. "Did Shiki send you?" he asked, curiosity defeating the uneasiness he still held towards the man who had shot him.
"Yeah…" Akabayashi admitted. "Well and also…"
"I'm capable of taking care of myself, you know," Izaya interrupted, making the other step back a little as he felt the full wave of the informant's annoyance.
"But you're not at a hundred percent yet," the yakuza tried to reason.
Izaya crossed his arms indignantly. "You're implying?"
"What if something does happen? Like…" He paused, almost blurting out the last disaster with the meeting several months ago. He chose humor as a way out. "We really don't want to get a phone call saying you fell down the stairs or something running away."
Izaya thought of his own stairs back in his apartment and sighed. "Point taken."
.
"I can't believe you almost hit him!"
"He was fidgeting so much! I thought he had a gun or something!"
"There's more than one way to convince someone to give out information, Akabayashi!"
Shizuo stopped when he heard the voices and slowly peeked around the alleyway corner to find the informant and the red-haired yakuza in a somewhat heated exchange near a pile of discarded boxes. He slowly put out the cigarette in his mouth, crushing it under his feet, wondering if he should make an appearance or not, but decided to let the two argue it out before interrupting them. He guessed it was one of Izaya's many shady jobs.
"It's because you were there! You are intimidating!" Izaya articulated the last sentence slowly, overdramatizing every word.
Akabayashi waved his hands dismissively. "Okay okay fine! I'll try to keep a lower profile next time."
Izaya sighed. "I told you, I don't need a bodyguard."
"But Shiki said…"
"I don't care what he says!" Izaya suddenly snapped, all masks suddenly gone.
Both of them fell silent at this. Shizuo watched as Izaya looked away in the direction of the alley, most likely attempting to compose himself. 'Izaya…' The bodyguard wondered if the informant really still loved Shiki despite that rare display of raw anger. If not, at the least the yakuza still had a powerful impact on him, which didn't make Shizuo any bit better. Akabayashi seemed to be just as contemplative, staring at the informant and waiting for Izaya to catch his breath.
"Did he say anything to you about me besides telling you to go with me to the negotiation?" Izaya finally spoke, his voice quiet. Shizuo strained his ears a little more so that he could hear.
"Nothing," Akabayashi replied. "Did… something happen that time he visited you in the hospital?"
Izaya bit his lip, seeming to weigh the pros and cons of telling Shiki's best friend. "I told him I didn't love him." Shizuo flinched at this statement, grabbing onto the wall corner to keep himself from toppling over as Akabayashi stared blankly at the informant, waiting for him to continue. Izaya went on a little hesitantly. "And… he kissed me." The wall cracked slightly. "He told me to reconsider…"
Akabayashi sighed, scratching his head. "That idiot…"
Izaya looked up, meeting the yakuza's eyes. "Akabayashi… did he say anything about Shizu-chan?" he asked.
"Actually, he did ask me about him once."
Izaya held his breath. "When?"
"After that first time I visited you in the hospital."
"I see…" Izaya seemed to be contemplating this. "Did Shiki tell you to keep an eye on my personal matters too?"
"Well, no… That's not business."
"Good. Then I'd trust that you wouldn't tell Shiki about this exchange." His eyes were dangerous, like they had regained some of the power Shizuo had been so accustomed to seeing before all this stuff had happened, back before Psyche had come to their world and he had been ignorant to the informant's pain.
The yakuza looked unfazed but smiled and nodded nevertheless. "You have my word."
Izaya seemed a little taken aback. "That was quick."
Akabayashi shook his head. "I've seen enough already. Don't worry."
Izaya let out a breath of relief before finally smiling. "Thanks…" he muttered.
The two of them walked out of the alleyway back to Akabayashi's parked car.
Izaya suddenly examined the wall next to him, a frown forming on his face. "Was this here earlier?" he asked, touching the cracks.
.
Izaya tried to keep his usual air as he strode down Ikebukuro to the designated restaurant. He admitted, without Akabayashi, the voices were certainly a lot louder. It was funny how quickly people's ideas of a person can turn. The internet had spelled out many of the rumors already, so nothing he heard was quite new to him.
"I heard he was behind that gang war…"
"Maybe he got shot…"
He admitted, it was a little bit unnerving to know that his legs wouldn't be able to keep up with any trouble he may encounter, so he avoided the alleys, and kept his hands in his pocket, cradling his switchblade just in case. He wasn't quite used to this type of attention. What was like it before? They were afraid of him and kept their distance; he had a little invisible bubble of authority in Ikebukuro. Now, it kind of felt like everything was closing in on him, ready to suffocate him at the just right moment.
"He's limping a little."
'See? They're waiting…'
"Hope he doesn't run into Shizuo Heiwajima. It'd be a massacre!"
"Wait, too late!"
"Huh?" Izaya finally paid attention to his own surroundings, being so focused on listening to the voices around him that he didn't notice that Shizuo was already waiting in front of the restaurant.
"Beat you," the bodyguard commented as Izaya neared him, glancing at the spectators.
"Let's go inside," Izaya muttered, wishing he had tried harder to convince Shizuo to come to Shinjuku. They left the surprised humans outside as they entered the yakiniku place and got a seat in the corner, well away from prying eyes.
"So why yakiniku?" Shizuo asked as Izaya looked through the menu.
"Yakiniku is perfect for finding out how someone likes their food and also offers insight on their personality based on how they cook their meat," the informant replied easily, feeling a bit more relaxed now that he was with the bodyguard.
"Uh… is this an informant thing?"
Izaya realized what he had just said and frowned, wondering why he had chosen this place to begin with. He had just blurted it out when Shizuo asked. He grinned. Well, it was a way to add more to his file of the bodyguard, if anything.
"Guess it is," Shizuo concluded, his eyes focusing on the alcohol. "Hm… I want umeshu… Do you drink?"
"If I didn't, I'd be out of a job," Izaya replied.
"So umeshu too?"
"Sake," the informant corrected. "Umeshu's too sweet. Besides, it doesn't even taste like alcohol."
"But it's still alcohol," Shizuo retorted.
"Wait…" Izaya quickly sought for a comeback just so he could come out on top when he realized that the waiter had come over.
"Uh… so one sake and one umeshu to start?" the guy asked nervously. Izaya guessed he was probably a high school student working part time, just yet another of those normal humans he had passed on his way here.
"Yes," Shizuo answered for the two of them. "Hey, what do you want to eat, Izaya?"
The informant watched as the waiter scurried off to get their drinks and returned to his menu, wondering how much Shizuo would eat. They finally ordered when the guy returned, obviously after being given a push from his boss to toughen up and take the orders of the strongest man in Ikebukuro and the shady informant who had been missing for 4 months.
Despite the good start, to the discomfort of both of them, the meal continued in an awkward silence as Izaya and Shizuo watched their beef sizzle in front of them. The informant took note of the other's dislike of overcooked meat, but aside from that, he began drinking his sake more often than he'd normally do just to create some movement to hide his fidgeting. He mentally frowned. 'Come on, think of something to say, Izaya…' the informant, wizard of words, told himself.
"Do you have a lot of work?" Shizuo finally asked.
"The usual," the informant replied, surprised that the other would be the one to break the silence. He didn't quite approve of the subject matter, however. It only pointed out how strange this exchange was: former enemies dining in Ikebukuro together like they were long time friends. "The usual…" he repeated, thinking. 'It really is the same…'
Before, he had linked nearly everything to Shiki and masked his love for the yakuza with the love of humanity. He had manipulated so that he could assert his own control. Now, everything was still going on as usual, and it wasn't like he detested his line of work; he still found everything quite enjoyable to observe. He smiled bitterly at the thought. 'This is me…'
"I haven't changed at all," he muttered, wondering what this would make the bodyguard feel. He reasoned that Shizuo should know the truth though, before he falls any deeper. He felt his own heart drop at this thought. 'Then Shizu-chan and I would be back to the way we were before…'
However, the bodyguard grinned. "Well fleas will always stay fleas." Izaya glared at him, not expecting this answer. "It's… uh…" The bodyguard searched for a better explanation as he flipped his piece of meat. "Like my strength… It's just part of who you are."
"If you know that, then why are we here?" Izaya mused.
Shizuo shrugged. "Because I asked you out to eat?"
The informant laughed at this. Everything was so simple in the other's eyes. Yet, it was refreshing, comforting. He could feel the alcohol in his system and wondered if it was making him more relaxed than usual. Then, like a curse, he thought of Shiki again.
They were just friends, right? If Shiki felt like he owed that much to Izaya, then he could at least not take this away from him. Humans are supposed to be rational creatures… 'Most of the time,' the informant thought, particularly recalling his own actions the past years.
Shizuo observed all of this silently, and it was already too late when Izaya noticed that the bodyguard's countenance had changed.
'Since when was Shizu-chan a good actor?'
"Did Shiki ask you out?" the bodyguard asked bluntly as if he knew exactly what the informant was thinking.
"W-What?" Izaya stuttered, once again lost for words. He was beginning to get used to these little instances of uncertainty.
'How does he know?'
Yum I love umeshu (plum wine)! And the drinking age in Japan is 20! Yay!
For those of you who write, do you ever go back and reedit an entire story? I really want to do that right now for all my old ones, but it feels like such a daunting task X.X so many pages to reread! Maybe if I go through 1 chapter a day… slowly but surely…
Oh, and I posted a picture for Midnight Snow on my deviantart! X.x It's only Izaya, so… I wanted to do an epic looking one with everyone, but I lose patience very quickly. Maybe someday.
To Kurgy: A single word instantly popped into my mind after I read your question, so I shall give you that as my answer. During the entire course of this story, Kida and Masaomi were… chilling. (Smile)
Thanks for reading!