Izaya POV

I glanced nervously outside the glass, watching as the dullahan and blonde walked inside the door. I looked at Shinra, who gave me a warm pat to the shoulder as he stood before me, but it didn't help. I hadn't seen Shizuo for a good while, and I didn't really know what I should've said to him. I watched the duo again as they stopped and chatted with Simon for a bit. I tried to think of what to say.

"Hi, how are you?"

"How's life?"

"Nice to see you again."

Really, I just didn't know where to start…plus there was nothing really to ask other than the basics. God…the ootoro was starting to look like it wasn't worth it…

I tugged at Shinra's shirt, almost like a frightened child, "Shinra…suddenly, I-I don't know about this anymore…"

He shook his head, "Nonsense. You'll be fine. Remember, Celty and I are doing the talking first, then after that we'll coach you guys on a little until you can hold a good, mending conversation."

I sighed. I guess it was too late to leave…

"Oh, and uh, maybe I should've mentioned this, but…"

I raised an eyebrow towards the underground doctor, who had that same nervous grin on his face.

"But what?"

"…There's no time limit on this, y'know," he said, "We're gonna stay here and beat this to death until you guys can get the hang of it, however long it takes."

"…Russia Sushi closes around 11:00 PM."

"I'm well aware, but Simon gave us full permission to stay here as long as we need to~"

I scoffed.

I guess he wants to make doubly sure we're not gonna bullshit this whole thing…dammit…

Out of the corner of my eye, Shizuo and Celty said a quick goodbye to Simon and made their way to our spot. The blonde didn't look like he changed much, maybe just a bit downtrodden. He probably wasn't expecting this either.

I made sure to stare at my lap when he sat down in the booth. I clasped both my hands together in a tight wad, nearly wanting to pray that this would end quickly. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Celty nodded towards her husband, and he cleared his throat.

"Well, good to see both of you again in the same place," the brunette chuckled, "I'm sure both of you know why we're all here."

Without look at each other, we nodded.

"Okay, now guys, I don't want this to become like an intervention, but it's about time that you two put everything to rest and move on. You may think we're jerks for tricking you into doing this type of thing, but if we didn't. you guys would've never done it on your own anyway."

Celty took over, typing on her PDA.

[Now, that also doesn't mean that we want to you go back into your "normal-normal" lives with all the knives and stop signs and whatnot.]

Shinra nodded, "That's right – we loved it when you guys were actually on good terms – caring for one another, talking, acting like adults."

[We want that, and we know you two want that, too.]

The dullahan turned to the blonde, who was reluctant to look back.

[Shizuo…am I wrong?]

I glanced up for half a second to see his response, and slowly, he shook his head. Celty's body language showed approval, but then she turned to me.

[Izaya…same goes for you?]

My breathing began to soften, and I nodded.

Shinra smiled happily, "That's great – we're somewhere, at least! Now…anybody up for something to eat? We're gonna be here for a while."

Don't remind me…I rolled my eyes, but I decided to follow along.

"Ootoro…a lot of it." I answered quickly.

The doctor grinned, "I wouldn't expect any less from you, Izaya~ And you, Shizuo?"

"Ah…yellowtail's fine…" the former bartender responded.

"Good, good. Celty, you think you can find Simon?"

She nodded, walking away to put in the orders. A while later, Dennis came by and put cups of tea on the table, but after that, it was just the three of us.

"Okay, listen," Shinra kneeled down to the floor, resting his head on his folded arms on the table, "Food's coming in a bit, so why don't we get things rolling now? Shizuo~"

The blonde blew into his cup, taking a small sip before answering.

"Hm?"

Those gray eyes sparkled, "Would you like to begin?"

Shizuo's shoulder's tensed, and he took another sip of the green tea. Setting the cup back down, he bit his lip.

"…S-Sure."

"Excellent~ Go ahead."

The former bartender cleared his throat.

"…I…Izaya."

Simply out of a quick impulse, I mumbled without lifting my head.

"Mm?"

He paused, shifting to scoot closer to the table.

"…I…I'm sorry."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "For what? You've said that a million times."

"…At this point, I really don't know anymore," he sighed, "I guess…for hurting you like that…practically lying to you…"

I shook my head, still not looking up, "I'm over it."

"…But I'm not. I still feel guilty about the whole thing, I worried about you the entire time, and it hurt that I was the one that caused you all that unneeded pain. I've been staying with Shinra and Celty all this time to think about everything that's happened, and it took me a while, but I finally came to a realization."

"Good, 'cause you can't stay with us forever." Shinra broke in, resulting in Shizuo giving him a death glare, "Oh, uh…sorry. Continue~"

"…a-anyway…Izaya, I just want you to know that…that I realized I want to be a part of your life. I want to become a person you can trust – a person that wants to protect you - not an enemy that you've known since high school or some debt-collector that rampages on 'Bukoro's streets just to kill you. I…I really care for you, and I can only hope that you feel the same for me."

…For some strange reason, I started shaking. I brushed some of the dark strands of raven hair out of my eyes to try to distract it, but I felt something weird stir in me.

I recognized this side of Shizuo..

This soft, warm feeling that he gave me when he spoke this way…it was him.

It was really him.

I shifted uncomfortably in my place, fidgeting. Shinra must've sensed my anxiety, and quickly shifted gears.

"Well, now, I'm glad you got that off your chest, Shizuo," he grinned. At that moment, Celty came in with two plates full of sushi. She placed the ootoro in front of me, and the yellowtail in front of Shizuo. Looking at the plate, I put my hands together to bless my food, but Shinra grabbed my hand.

"Not yet~"

I gave him a confused look, but my eyes widened when a few more sushi chefs came out with a cart.

Each rack held almost never-ending plates of fatty tuna.

Shards of red light danced in my crimson orbs as I scanned each dish holding piece after piece of ootoro. Shinra wasn't exaggerating when he said he'd give me as much fatty tuna as I wanted.

Every feeling I had in me drained out - I almost wanted to cry.

"Oh my God…" I closed my gaping mouth, "T-This…"

Shinra chuckled, "All yours~ And of course, Shizuo, I wasn't gonna leave you out of any special treatment going on around here – help yourself!"

Another huge cart came around the corner carrying stacked plates of yellowtail, making the blonde scratch his head.

"Uh…thank you?" he shrugged, but I ran over to the doctor, squeezing him tightly.

"Yes, thank you! Thank you, thank you so much!" I nearly squealed, rushing over to the cart and grabbing three more plates.

If it was gonna be a long day, I'll be damned if I didn't make the best of it.

Shizuo POV

This was…awkward…to say the least. One moment, the informant hardly lifts his head and the next, he's scarfing down loads of fatty tuna. I barely got through my first two plates of yellowtail, and he was rearing his sixth. We finally got through all the "Hello, How Are You?" stuff with almost no problem, but I was practically the only one talking.

As I watched him munch along, Shinra and Celty looked at both of us amusedly. Taking another bite of my food, I cleared my throat.

"U-Uh…flea?"

He suddenly stopped, swallowing the last bit of fish down his throat and ready to pick up another.

"Mm?" he mumbled.

I chuckled nervously, ruffling my hair.

"Y-You shouldn't eat all that raw fish at one time."

He rolled his eyes, eating another piece, "Why?"

"…Isn't it obvious? You're gonna end up puking all over yourself."

He shook his head, continuing to eat. I sighed, toying with some of the fish on my plate.

Then I heard his voice.

"…Did you really mean all that?"

I flinched, looking into his eyes. They appeared more innocent and hopeful, as well as a little bit sad. Celty and Shinra glanced at each other in agreement before heading out into the front entrance.

I guess it was time.

He shifted, "Did you?"

My eyes softened, "Of course. My wish right now is for you not to hate me, because I don't hate you."

The raven nodded slowly, "I know…and…"

"And?"

His head and shoulders sunk, and he started trembling.

"…I...I don't hate you…I don't, I just…"

"Izaya?"

"…I don't know what I feel. I don't know whether to still be angry at you because you didn't tell me, or sad because I thought I had a child when I didn't or…or lonely because…because you left me there. You just walked out that night without saying anything."

I nodded, "I understand."

He grunted, "That's sad. You of all people understand my feelings, but I honestly don't."

"Well, I didn't really mean it like that…"

"Yeah, but it's true. I'm sure that Mairu, Kururi, even my own parents couldn't make heads or tails of what this sensation is, and I can't either. However…"

"Mm?"

Little by little, a faint blush appeared on his face, following by a single, crystal-like tear rolling down his cheek.

"…You're the only one…" he tensed, his voice already starting to break, "You're the only one who really knows me…and I don't want you to hate me either…S-Shizu-chan."

He wiped his eyes, but gradually, he started to cry. I sighed, mostly in relief, but I pushed my plate to the side, grabbed a napkin, and hopped out of the booth. As he sniffled, I made my way to his side and calmly sat next to him. He kept his head down, making his tears fall onto his lap, so I lifted his chin with a careful finger, slowly cleaning his face.

He hiccupped, "Shi…Shizu-chan. I-I'm sorry…"

Smiling warmly, I gently kissed his forehead.

"There's nothing to be sorry about…Izaya-kun, I've missed you."

The informant looked dazed for a second, then he whimpered, tears welling up in his red orbs again.

"I…I've missed you, too," he said before collapsing in my lap, sobbing quietly. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tightly. His shoulder's jerked, and he tried to speak.

"Shizu-chan…don't leave me again. Please…I don't ever want you to leave me again."

"Shh…" I stroked his head, kissing it again, "Yes, I promise. I promise I'll stay with you…as long as you want."

He gripped his hands even tighter on my dress shirt, sobbing harder, but I just continued to hug him. I know he wasn't crying because he was angry or sad.

He was just lonely.

He understood how he felt, but he just didn't know how to express it. Being raised in such a cold, broken home and later having a child stripped away from him, he probably thought holding stuff in was the best thing to do, especially around someone like me. The informant's a control freak, I knew that much, so it must've confused him how much of an effect I really had on him. Now, it was all pouring out of him in heaps.

In all truth, it was as Shinra said – we were more alike than we thought.

Shinra POV

"Ah~ Told you this would work!" I giggled, passing a smirk along to my headless love. She sighed.

[Yes, yes – you've said that like four billion times…]

I laughed, rubbing her shoulder. We sat at the bar, getting a good glimpse of scene. Izaya was huddled close to Shizuo, while the blonde was patting his back warmly. I knew that the raven had stopped crying, but he probably wanted to be in Shizuo's hold again.

The plan was a success!

"Oh, this is wonderful!" I chirped, "I'm so glad this worked. I knew that the second Izaya stopped eating ootoro, everything was gonna be alright!"

Celty paused before typing a message.

[How'd you figure that?]

"Oh, please – you saw it yourself. He was practically gorging himself on all that fatty tuna, and when he stopped, that's when things started to unravel. It makes perfect sense!"

[…Not really. You basically bribed him with it in the first place, and even though he claims he could eat it all day, I don't think letting him eat that much raw fish was a good idea.]

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Shizu-chan! L-Let me go!"

Confusedly, I leaned back to look at the dining room where I saw Izaya struggling to get out of Shizuo's hold. He had a hand over his mouth and rushed to the bathroom, with a frantic blonde running after him.

"Oh…" I mumbled awkwardly before hearing the informant's loud retching, "I see…"

Celty nodded, showing me something on her PDA.

[I'll take care of it.]

I smiled thankfully as she got up and walked towards the direction of the restroom. I sighed, sitting up and taking a sip of tea. I was really happy that everything was resolved. Where those two would go from there, I had no clue, but I also had no doubts that they were going to be alright.

"Dammit, Izaya! I told you not to eat all that fish at one time!"

Izaya retched again before replying, "Sh-Shut up, Shizu-chan! Fatty tuna's just too good to pass up!"

I shook my head, chuckling.

"Yeah, those two are gonna be just fine~"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Simon walking up to the bar.

"Ah, Shinra~!" he said with a wave of his hand, slapping something on the counter, "I thank the doctor for all the fish!"

I raised an eyebrow, but then nodded, "Oh, the carts of fatty tuna and yellowtail? Oh, yes, of course – no problem at all!"

"Now…your bill~"

My eyes widened, and slowly, I grabbed the piece of paper and bit my lip.

I nearly died.

But…I did say I'd get those two to make up at any cost.

Okey-doke - good news and bad news. The good news is that I felt bad after not looking at this story for two months, and when I finally came out with a chapter, it ended on a cliffhanger. So, I chopped some time into my school schedule and finished it out for an early update~! There's bound to be some errors, but I'll correct them if found. I also tried to add a little humor in there, so you can thank me later~

Now for bad news: I'm sensing that this story's only got two more chapters to go. I know it's short notice, plus I thought I was gonna end it earlier last time (and I obviously didn't), but this time's for real. Sorry guys, but it'll have a happy ending for sure. Next chapter will most likely be fluff, and after that, everyone's favorite - an epilogue~

So hang in there, keep reviewing, and let's see this story to the end! Ja ne~