Disclaimer: Durarara! I don't own thee!
'Never saw that expression before,' Izaya managed to squeeze out of his thoughts before gravity snatched him away from Shiki's outstretched hand and his feet left the building altogether. His stomach began to lurch as the rooftop and the man who had dominated so much of his life moved farther and farther away from him.
It was the longest 2.2 seconds of his life, and all he could think of was the image of Shizuo in Tsugaru's memories as he fell. He would've cried if the air roaring around him didn't dry his eyes so mercilessly, yet he kept his mouth clenched tight so that at least Shizuo didn't have to hear him scream.
'Shizu-chan!' his mind yelled out for him regardless.
Instead of pavement, he saw a blur and a flash of dyed blond before the vertigo disappeared altogether, replaced by an almost unbearable pain both on his back and under his knees. He let out a strangled gasped, reeling from the fall.
"Izaya!" he heard the bodyguard's panicked voice through his confusion, and he grasped blindly for some sort of anchor, anything to take his mind off the parts of him that had absorbed the impact. If it had been the ground… he shuddered to think how painful that would be if he managed to live through it. "Izaya," the voice was softer, and he managed to control his ragged breathing, finally feeling the familiar warmth of the man who had caught him.
They stayed like that for a moment: Izaya grasping Shizuo's shirt with a vice-grip, shaking and trying to ignore the now dwindling pain, the bodyguard remaining still, waiting for the man in his arms to recover. The informant finally managed to slowly prop himself up but made no indication that he wanted to be put down. He found himself staring into warm eyes.
"Izaya," Shizuo repeated again, his voice filled with purely relief this time.
Izaya didn't speak and instead slowly reached out and touched Shizuo's cheek with an uncertain hand, finding everything still very real.
He wasn't dead. The fall hadn't killed him.
Unable to hold his relief in any longer, he threw his arms around the bodyguard, feeling the fast beating of his heart against the other's, desperate for more of the warmth that asserted that he was still alive.
'I'm alive…' He realized that Shizuo's pulse was almost as fast as his, faster even.
"Shizu-chan…" he hugged the other tighter when he felt his eyes start to burn, unwilling to let Shiki see what had become of him emotionally. 'So much for sleeping away my swollen eyes…' he thought with a tinge of sarcasm as he finally let the tears fall, products of a much needed release.
The large hand on his back moved in circles soothingly as its owner graciously remained silent.
.
Shiki finally let out the breath he had been holding in when he saw the informant move, barely noticing the door open behind him. He turned slightly to find Akabayashi panting against the frame, eyes darting about the rooftop. "Where is Orihara?" the other yakuza finally gasped, fearing the worst.
Shiki slowly nodded to the streets below, and the other moved nervously to edge of the building before collapsing when he saw the informant still one piece. "Damned bastard had to go jump before I got here!" He looked up and found the other as stoic as before, all masks back on. "Shiki…" he began, but his friend cut him off.
"You didn't think I pushed him," the yakuza stated, curiosity lining his voice.
"Why would you do that?" Akabayashi shook his head. "I admit, I think there were a few instances where you could've made better decisions, but I know you'd never intentionally harm him."
The other regarded the red-haired yakuza's statement for a moment. "Is that so?" he finally muttered, and Akabayashi swore he saw the trace of a smile on the other man's face. However, he wasn't able to verify what his eyes had seen, because Shiki stepped away from the edge of the building and began heading back indoors.
"It's over, you know," Akabayashi called after him, unwilling to take any chances.
His friend didn't turn around. "I know."
.
"That bastard…" Shizuo hissed when he saw Shiki leave. He took a step forward towards the building, clearly not thinking ahead of what he would do once he got inside with Izaya still recovering in his hold. "I'll…"
The arms around his shoulders tightened a little, stopping him. Izaya finally pulled away, trying to wipe some of the tears away before their eyes met again. The bodyguard felt his anger subside a little at the other's tear-streaked face, replaced by blatant worry.
However, the informant smiled reassuringly. "Let's go back," he said, his voice cracking slightly from all the crying.
The bodyguard looked back at the building hesitatingly. "But he…"
Izaya shook his head. "It's over." He rested his tired aching body against Shizuo's, clearly exhausted from the day's events. "We've won."
Shizuo sighed, pulling Izaya's hood over him to hide his tear stained face from prodding eyes. "Your place?" he muttered gently.
The informant shifted a little, and Shizuo realized that he was shaking his head under the furry hood. "I want go to Shizu-chan's. It's closer."
"Do you want to ride on my back?"
The hood shook again. "This is fine…"
The trek back to Shizuo's apartment was miraculously void of any curious spectators, and Izaya actually found himself drifting in and out of the dream world through the bodyguard's footsteps. He felt the calm rise and fall of the other's chest, the now steady heartbeat, and again the loving warmth he found himself drowning in. It was difficult not to sleep.
Finally, the click of the apartment door fully woke him up, and moments later he found himself inside the bodyguard's bathroom once again.
"Familiar," Izaya chuckled as Shizuo slowly lowered him down to the side of the bathtub.
"I'll get a towel," the bodyguard told him.
Izaya slowly washed his dirty feet, watching the slightly dark water tainted by the dirt he picked up at the apartment drain away before Shizuo promptly returned with the promised towel. The bodyguard bent down and began drying Izaya's feet before the informant suddenly stopped him, finding it a little too awkward. To his surprise, Shizuo shot him a playful grin before handing the towel to him and announcing that he would make some tea.
'What was that?' the informant thought as he dried his own feet before noticing his own reflection in the corner of his eye. He had definitely been blushing. Izaya sighed, trying to shove some of the thoughts away as he exited the shower and found the bodyguard brewing some tea in the kitchen.
"Feeling better?" the bodyguard asked from the stove, thankfully "normal" again.
"Cleaner," the informant answered before throwing him a lighthearted grin. His aches did feel a lot better though.
Despite the day's events, they spent the rest of the afternoon in a peaceful near-silence. Shizuo had ordered some Russia Sushi takeout for both meals, complete with fatty tuna, and the two of them went through the bodyguard's DVD collection through the day, letting the actors on the screen do all the talking they decided to put off. To be truthful, Shizuo had no idea what had happened with Shiki, so he decided to take things slowly and wait until the other was ready to tell him. After all, Kasuka was safe, and Izaya was here with him, quietly watching T.V. However, that didn't mean that the apprehension wasn't killing the bodyguard.
Izaya, on the other hand, didn't seem to want to bring up the issue yet, and his tired demeanor only worried Shizuo even more.
However, he knew they had time. He had already decided to take this slowly.
Evening came quickly, and Izaya had used Shizuo's shower and was now dressed in one of the other's oversized sleeping t-shirts and shorts, even larger on the informant. Again, Izaya found himself hovering in and out of sleep as he struggled to stay awake, but the other's warmth was far too comforting, and the way the other stroked his hair made the movie disappear from Izaya's immediate attention.
"Go to sleep," the bodyguard whispered before lightly kissing the informant's forehead. Izaya felt the heat on his face rush back. The informant grimaced inwardly; Izaya Orihara wasn't supposed to act like some lovesick schoolgirl.
Yet, the warmth around him was so…
'Wait, I am lovesick though,' a new voice in his head fought back, and a new-found strength seemed to push the tiredness away momentarily. He wanted more of that warmth, so much that he'd suffocate himself with it if that was possible. Izaya decided to kick his sleepy brain into action. It was now or… well technically he had plenty of time, but he couldn't wait anymore. It had already been too long.
Izaya shot the other a playful, albeit sleepy, grin. "You don't want to…" he attempted suggestively but a yawn interrupted him. 'Damn it…'
Shizuo chuckled. "You're tired," he said, trying to hide his blush and his understanding of the phrase, "and we have tomorrow, and the day after that and on so on and so forth."
"Then at least let me tell you now…"
Shizuo looked down at the sleepy informant, who returned the gaze with half-lidded sleepy eyes. Izaya managed to turn himself around until he was facing the bodyguard, their eyes leveled with each other. Shizuo brushed a strand of hair aside, enchanted by the other's gaze. The informant caught the hand, refusing to let the other's warmth leave his face.
Izaya took a deep breath before smiling. He was free to say it now, after all this time, to this man who had reached out to him and saved him, this man who he had come to care for so much he felt that his heart would burst if he held it off any longer. Enough with waiting. He had waited all his life for something like this, believing until recently that it wasn't possible for someone like him. Now, reality sat in front of him, waiting.
"I love you, Shizu-chan…" the words finally escaped from him, bursting and overflowing out of his heart. The arms around him tightened, and Shizuo leaned in to kiss him gently.
"I love you too," the bodyguard whispered as their lips parted momentarily before Izaya moved in himself, licking the other's lips. He got the result he wanted, and suddenly Shizuo deepened the kiss without thinking, drowning the both of them in heated ecstasy before they pulled away, gasping for air.
"Do you want it now?" Izaya whispered, enjoying the heightened blush on the other's face. 'Good… it wasn't just me…' He wanted this heat so much.
Shizuo sighed with an air of anticlimactic relief. 'So it was all okay after all…' He felt his possessiveness suddenly surge at the thought of the yakuza. The fire built up in him, yet so different from the usual anger he was accustomed to feeling.
"Damned flea," Shizuo growled, suddenly picking him up. Izaya found himself on Shizuo's twin sized bed, the hug pillow falling to the floor and the bodyguard hovering over him. "I was trying to be nice," Shizuo made sure he heard before he kissed the informant again.
Izaya grinned playfully from underneath him. 'I know,' Shizuo swore he heard the informant say.
.
Izaya woke up, blinking momentarily at the unfamiliar ceiling as he tried to gather his thoughts. His back still hurt a little, but he doubted that the effects of yesterday's fall was the cause of it, and the thought of it suddenly make him attempt to sit up to search for the bodyguard. However, he instantly found that the other was right next to him all along, arms wrapped around him.
"Shizu-chan…" He relaxed and moved closer to the other's heat, wondering if his head was cutting off the blood to Shizuo's right arm. It did make a good pillow though. He smiled and moved a strand of hair out of Shizuo's face, studying the other's eyelashes once again. It was so surreal, being here with the other. Just yesterday, he had been chained. Just yesterday, he had finally freed himself. Yesterday, he had fallen off an 8 story building and survived because this man snoring away in front of him had caught him. Yesterday, he had told this man that he loved him. Just yesterday…
Shizuo groaned and pulled him closer. The bodyguard opened a drowsy eye and looked down at the informant, finding a tear at the corner of the other's eye. "Izaya?" he asked worriedly, all the sleep gone from him. "Does it still… hurt?"
Izaya shook his head, trying not to laugh at the other's misplaced worry. He wiped the tear away and hugged the bodyguard under the blankets. "I'm just very happy."
.
Izaya took a taxi back to his apartment the next day wearing a pair of sandals Shizuo had bought from one of the shops near his house. The bodyguard had objected heavily, but both of them had to work, and Izaya made it a point that he'd rather not have his secretary yell the living daylights out of him for skipping another day of work when he had just skipped 3 months. He also needed to go through a list of viable excuses for his now super-swollen eyes.
He found the apartment empty, however, and a note on his desk indicated that Namie had decided to take another trip out to the hot springs to visit her brother and, grudgingly, Mika.
'Wait, visit?' Izaya hadn't even thought of the possibility that the pair was outside of Ikebukuro this entire time. After a few more seconds of thinking, he realized that it definitely explained why there hadn't been any complications with Celty walking around without a helmet these past few months. He sighed and tossed the note aside before turning on his computer.
Izaya took out the familiar pair of headphones as he waited for the computer to boot up, wondering if somehow he could reach Tsugaru, to tell the other of the life he had given back to him. To his disappointment, the plastic remained cold to the touch and silent. He sighed. Well, one couldn't get everything in life. He placed them back into the drawer gently and locked it once again before starting on his work.
The informant went through his emails quickly and finished the things he had procrastinated since the last time he turned the machine on, which seemed like centuries ago. It didn't feel any different than before though, since his thoughts constantly traveled back to the bodyguard between documents. What was Shizu-chan doing? He tapped his fingers on the table when he had nothing more to type, no more emails to answer or read.
The two of them had promised to have a late lunch together, but even that seemed so far away. Izaya sighed, resting his head on the table. It was quite strange really, wanting to be together so much.
A doorbell distracted the informant from his thoughts and he hopped up, wondering if Shizuo had finished early. 'Impossible,' he shook the thought away. Tom had many clients after all.
He saw Akabayashi grinning at him through the peephole and opened his heavy door to see the other carrying a pair of familiar looking shoes.
"You left these behind, and they looked quite expensive," Akabayashi commented as he eyed the sandals lying to the side.
"Thanks," the informant muttered, moving aside to let the other in. "So how are things?" he asked a few minutes later as he exited the kitchen carrying two steaming cups.
"Normal," Akabayashi replied as he stretched on the sofa. "You wouldn't even have noticed a difference if you went there now."
"I see…" Izaya said as he gave the other a cup of tea.
"What about you?" Akabayashi asked before taking a sip. "Any broken bones?"
"Hopefully not," the informant answered. "Wait, now that you mention it, I do feel a slight pain in my…"
"Bad joke," the yakuza cut in, yet the grin remained on his face. "You know how much they can fret."
Izaya chuckled. "True. That would be quite annoying."
He truly regretted his joke only 2 hours later, when another doorbell disturbed his morning peace, and he found himself letting none other than Shinra into his apartment.
"Why are there so many of you?"
"You mean visitors?" Shinra asked as he placed his suitcase down on the table. "A certain client of mine wanted me to give you a check-up."
"I thought I'm already cleared for the bullet wound," he feigned ignorance.
"Oh, no. From the little tumble I heard you had off the roof of an eight story building."
"I told you, I'm fine," Izaya insisted as he sat on the sofa, waiting for the doctor to take out his medical supplies anyway.
"It's a precaution. You do know that if it had been anyone besides Shizuo, both of you might've died?" He wrapped a blood pressure monitor around Izaya's arm. "Don't underestimate the power of gravity."
"Yeah yeah," Izaya waved his hand dismissively. "So did Celty have any problems with yesterday's job? I forgot to call her."
"None at all actually," Shinra replied as he adjusted the blood pressure monitor. "She said all the guys were gone by the time she got to Kasuka. Someone told them to leave apparently."
Izaya regarded this a moment. "Huh…"
"I know, huh?" the doctor replied before grinning. To informant's relief, Shinra found nothing wrong with his physical well-being, and he once again found himself alone, although his overly analytical mind was already working at full-speed from the information he had gotten from his friend.
The uneasiness continued to persist until he received an email from the very man he was wondering about right before he was about to leave to meet up with Shizuo.
"Stay out of Ikebukuro. They're targeting you," the short email read.
Izaya stared at the words for a moment. "Nice try," he finally muttered and picked up his coat.
However, the informant did a double-take before he reached the door and picked up another one of his switchblades, just in case.
Ah… okay so it is not ending this chapter… (whistles innocently) Maybe 1 or 2 more? T.T I'm sorry, I can't seem to get a good estimate for this story. I want to say I'm 80% certain that it will be ending next chapter though, unless sometime else happens.
Thank you for your responses! I'm so glad I haven't destroyed Shiki in your eyes. I really find him interesting as a character, and I really don't hate him at all. (It's just that my love for Shizaya is much greater than Shikizaya, and all the possible tension between the 2 pairings fighting with each other is just so fun to write about!)
To AnonSai: I just… realized that too! Ah! Um um… X.X I'll definitely remember in my future stories if I ever use OC Dullahans again. Haha thank you for telling me though! Although, for Celty, I'd imagine that she wears her head on her neck to avoid any stares, and she still hasn't gotten all of her memories back, so she's not acting like a real Dullahan at the moment. (Update: I have fixed the Dullahan in Psyche's time!)
As usual, thanks for reading!