The doorbell rings once, then twice before Shinra finally pulls himself away from nestling against Celty's side to answer the door with an open pout. Partially verbalizing a greeting, the door slams open and Shinra's hand flies from the handle as it flings open. Celty jumps up from the couch, her tensed shoulders relaxing when she recognizes her friend.

"You're dead!" Shizuo growls threateningly from the doorway.

Hastily stepping back to avoid the blond's wrath, Shinra holds his hands up in surrender. He's been anticipating this encounter after hearing the news from an excited Celty, but there's little he can do to calm Shizuo's understandable fury. "N-Now, Shizuo, I can explain if you let me!"

Shizuo mindlessly grabs the door as he charges in, fingers gripping the reinforced wood hard enough to indent and yanking the door from its hinges with loud protests from the metal. "Explain after I kill you!"

"How?!" Shinra impulsively bursts.

Celty's past the couch in seconds, standing between the two as Shinra cowers behind her and Shizuo bares their front door like the awkward weapon he intends to use it as. "[Wait, Shizuo, why do you want to kill Shinra?]"

"The asshole knew this whole time, Celty!"

"[Knew what?]"

"About my son!" Shizuo's raised angry voice tempers slightly, his pitch hitching sadly with the mention of the boy.

Celty's grip on her phone falters as the smoke rising from the hole in her neck triples its density. Her shoulders shake as her body shares her friend's pain and anger. Neck expelling a rush of smoke, the shadowy substance smacks against and sticks to the ceiling, spelling out; "What?!"

The dullahan spins around sharply at the young man previously latched to her back for safety. "[How could you keep that from Shizuo!?]"

Shinra's eyes widen as he presents his hands again. "Ah, well, Celty, my love, you see, Izaya confided in me and it just wasn't my place to tell!"

Celty's fingers tap furiously against her keypad, auto-correct fixing her egregious errors. "[Izaya?! What's Izaya got to do with this?!]"

"He's Delic's biological mother, of course."

Celty's phone finally clatters to the floor, her hands raising as if she had a head or helmet on to clutch. With nothing to grip, her fingers twitch wildly as her mind whirls with the information. After a beat, one of her hands flies from her space to punch the brunet's arm as her shadows grope the floor for her phone. Forgoing how at the moment, she demands the more pressing information.

"[How could you?! I thought you considered Shizuo your friend!]"

"I do, my love! But Izaya is too and he also makes threats to my person!"

Celty's shoulders are still shaking when she turns back around to face Shizuo. Presenting her phone, she steps to the side. "[Make it count, but don't do permanent damage.]"

Shinra takes two fearful steps back as Shizuo advances on him, door raising above his head. "N-Now, Shizuo, if you knock me out or give me brain damage, I'll never be able to tell you anything you want to know!"

Shizuo has never been too great with pulling his punches, so it's an absolute miracle that Shinra only finds bruises, to his skin and a few ribs, when he gives himself a once-over. Celty drops a bag of frozen peas on his lap, earning a startled yelp from the brunet as he tries to relax on the couch. "Thank you, Celty," he whimpers.

"Talk," Shizuo demands, pointer finger aggressively poking Shinra's chest and pressing his sore back against the couch.

"Where should I start?"

"I don't care," he sighs, taking a seat in the armchair. "I just wanna know what the hell's been going on this whole time. What have I missed, how screwed up has Izaya made our kid?"

Shinra's head cocks, thinking over everything and placing the bag of peas against a growing bump on his scalp. "That's a little unfair, though totally founded."

"Delic's probably suffering some negative effects from absentee parents and emotional neglect, but probably no worse than some other children with a similar home life." Shinra offers his opinion easily as Shizuo clenches his jaw with a new wave of anger coursing through him. "I did try to persuade Izaya to tell you from the very start, I swear! But, you know how stubborn he is."

The blond exhales from his nostrils, but remains quiet, so Shinra continues unperturbed. "Let me think… I believe Izaya was aware of his pregnant condition a month in. He came to me ranting about this and that, but mostly you, of course. He was, without a doubt then, going to terminate it, but, well. Obviously he changed his mind somewhere along the way! And then he suddenly disappeared for about a year or so." Why the brunet had goes without saying.

Shinra stretches out his leg, resting his foot on the coffee table, as he places the warming peas on his knee. "That's really all I know, Shizuo, honestly."

Massaging his temples, Shizuo sighs and leans back in his chair. "Have you ever met my kid?"

"Oh no!" Shinra denies too cheerfully. "Izaya has told me, directly to my face, that he considers me unsafe!"

"He's right about things on occasion."

"Ooh, ouch," the brunet jokes. "I never wanted to get involved with your mess. This has always been between you and Izaya, Shizuo."

"Yeah," he murmurs. Shinra's not wrong there, even if a whole swath of issues could've been avoided had he blabbed.

"If you're asking my opinion, Delic really needs your intervention. Izaya's always bragging about his achievements and talents, but he'll still offhandedly mention things like Delic running off or getting in conflicts with the other schoolchildren instead of making friends."

With a dismissive wave, Shinra says, "Izaya doesn't want to emulate his parents' behavior with him, but he ended up doing so anyway, if you ask me."

Shizuo's unfocused gaze narrows with the blasély presented information. The little he does know about Izaya's childhood isn't great, but with the new perspective on their situation, Shizuo feels as if he's found the informant's weak spot. He's not going to utilize it to manipulate Izaya, that'd be something the bastard would do. But with it, he has somewhere to start discussion with and begin steering the brunet towards reevaluating his thoughts on their situation. Maybe if he highlights Delic suffering the same issues Izaya probably had as a child, he'll be more open to helping fix his mistakes or just finally step out of Shizuo's way.

Idly noticing the nearest clock, the blond stands back up. "I gotta go. I promised Delic that we'd go out to dinner before furniture shopping."

Celty taps his shoulder as he passes the couch towards the awkwardly replaced door. "[Let me give you both a ride.]"

"I'd appreciate it, thanks." Shizuo's lip twitches into a soft smile, dropping with a last minute thought. Tilting slightly to the left to peer over Celty's shoulder, he says, "Shit, do the twins know?"

From his spot on the couch, Shinra chuckles. "No way, Izaya would have a heart-attack if those two dragged Delic off somewhere!"

For better or for worse, life has been so rambunctious and lively ever since Delic changed his surname and dyed his hair. People seem to recognize him without him ever really introducing himself to them previously. He doesn't know how he feels about that, though it is kind of nice. Cool even.

"There he is!" One of them shout, hopping from foot to foot before taking off at full speed. The strange young woman yanks her cohort along with her, passing through the school gates despite the signs warning that only students and their guardians are allowed to enter the premises.

Delic's barely crossed the grounds when the two young women charge up to him, blocking his path. With one hand loosely holding onto his schoolbag, his nose crinkles with suspicion. They look familiar, oddly enough. From where is on the tip of his tongue, waiting for that little kick to fall from his lips.

"Hey there! You're Shizuo's kid right? You look just like him!" The one woman with braided hair says like a speeding train as the other with short hair quietly says, "Hello."

"Uhm, yeah?" He awkwardly responds, pulling out one ear-bud to hear the bigger breasted teen better.

"I knew it! We wanna meet Yuuhei, you can totally help us, right? We can give you something in return if you like! Candy, toys, electronics, I can even kick a bully's ass for you if you want!"

Delic's eyes narrow as he processes the talkative young woman with ease, never more grateful of his listening habits before. "Yuuhei?" He asks to clarify.

"Meet Yuuhei. Please." The other one calmly requests.

"Yuuhei Hanejima?" Delic tries to guess. "I don't know him, sorry ladies."

"What?!" The one with the long braid shouts as she grips her head between her hands, startling some of the children, teachers, and parents nearby. "Of course you do, he's your uncle right?!"

It's Delic's turn to scare the others, voice yelling with shocked surprise. "What?!"