Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara!
They arrived at Sunshine 60 Dori in the middle of rush hour, the crowds flowing around them relentlessly in a swarm of puffer jackets and understated wool coats. Shizuo peered through the kaleidoscope of colors for the familiar black furry hood, unable to spot the informant among the bustle. He unlocked his phone to text Izaya again, but the previous messages after the first he had sent remained unread.
"He doesn't seem to be here," Shiki stated the obvious, irking him even further as Shizuo shoved the object back into his pocket before he could inadvertently crush it with his growing annoyance.
"He was though, not too long ago."
"Perhaps the culprit has his phone. Although, that will work in our favor as well." He incredulously watched Shiki activate some kind of tracking app, and the device took a moment to connect as the yakuza looked up at him. "I installed it on one of his phones when he was in the hospital," the man calmly explained to him like it was normal to invade someone's privacy in this way, but Shizuo was having none of it, stomping off away from the other. It took quite a large amount of self control to not grab the phone from the yakuza and hurl it into outer space.
"Heiwajima-san!" he could hear the other hurry after him, but he paid the man no mind as he continued his barely controlled rampage through the crowds. Luckily for the faceless pedestrians, his footsteps took him to the residential section of Ikebukuro, the lights from the restaurants and gaming centers replaced with smaller apartment buildings that lined the narrow streets. Shiki had not stopped him yet, so he must be going in the right direction.
He still could not believe that Shiki had planted a tracker of all things into Izaya's phone. What was worse was the realization that the flea must have let him. Izaya was much too good of an informant to not notice something strange going on with his electronics. He knew it was an irrational thought at the moment, but he had half a mind to crush the offending phone in question when he found the other.
Shizuo didn't know why everything irked him so much and stopped to take a deep breath before he did anything stupid with a yakuza executive in tow.
"Not bad," he whirled around to snap at the other but instead found himself staring at Shiki's phone screen, the blinking lights on the map converging on what seemed to be their current location if he was not mistaken. The yakuza nodded to the rather nondescript apartment building before them. "Do you have a tracker on him too?"
Shizuo looked away, suddenly feeling self-conscious. He had always attributed his past unfortunate encounters with Izaya to the flea's mechanisms, but perhaps he had a hand in their confrontations as well. "I can just tell, sometimes. That's all," he muttered, some of the rage leaving him in place of embarrassment.
The smile on the man's face gave him no solace. "Perhaps next time I can just ask you if I need to get a hold of Izaya. I'll be sure to get rid of the app once we find our informant, if that would make you feel better."
"Tch." Shizuo turned back to the building, deciding not to comment. He suddenly thought of how obvious his jealousy must have appeared to the other and honestly had no witty comeback for Shiki.
The man thankfully caught on quick and chose not to pursue the matter, at least at the moment. "I'll send for back-up. Ishikawa has a gun."
"Just don't get in my way," Shizuo growled, pocketing his sunglasses as he started to ascend the fire escape.
.
"You know, using me as a bargaining chip won't stop the Awakusu-kai from coming after you," Izaya commented as he watched Ishikawa from the heavy dining room chair the other had tied him to. His captor had his back to him at the moment, but the gun lay in plain sight on the table as a reminder of how he had ended up in this dirty old apartment. Izaya took the opportunity to test the bindings around his wrists behind him, but the other had done a good job with the knots. Unraveling them without his captor noticing would take some time he admitted grimly.
The man paused, setting down what looked like a vial before rounding on him. "You think that I captured you to use against the Awakusu-kai?" Ishikawa sneered, the man's revolting face much too close. Izaya considered spitting on the other just to elicit a reaction but decided against it at the moment. He needed to stall for time and had no desire for the other to test whatever substance that was in that bottle on him before help came. He did not, however, expect the other to cup his cheek, forcing him to look up.
Izaya gritted his teeth to prevent himself from flinching at the cold hands.
"Such a beautiful face," he felt the man's hot breath against his skin. "Pity they destroyed all of the evidence. I'm sure the tapes would have been splendid to watch."
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied nonchalantly. Izaya was beginning to slowly put together the pieces, and it took quite a lot of effort to hide his disgust.
Ishikawa smirked, apparently still assuming that he had the upper hand with the information he had supposedly gathered. "They say that Nakamura and his men were planning to sell you on the black market after they had finished with you. I can only imagine how far they must have gone to prompt the great Shiki to have shot him on sight."
Izaya swallowed thickly, wondering to what extent this pervert's mind had filled in the holes in the story. He knew of the rumors of course. It wasn't everyday that someone like Shiki acted so rashly.
"Whatever fantasy you've built up regarding my past is quite far from the truth, I assure you," he forced out despite the discomfort of hearing Nakamura's name. He needed to keep this bastard talking.
"Oh?" Ishikawa let go of his chin. "Well, truth or not, I'm going to enjoy breaking you. I should have aimed for your leg the last time so that you could not escape. Actually…" Izaya followed the man's gaze to the gun on the table, his mind racing with adrenaline.
"You don't have a silencer on that, do you? Probably not a very good thing to use recklessly in an apartment complex you don't own," Izaya managed calmly after a moment.
Ishikawa let out a bark of laughter. "So you are an informant! Just wait until I finish diluting this. I can't wait to see how it will take away that mind you treasure so much."
Izaya glared at the other. "So that's what it all came down to, huh? Because Awakusu-kai didn't buy into your little 'business' venture?"
"Shut up," the man growled, returning to the desk. "I'll show them what this drug can do. I'll show them with Shiki's little pet. Nakamura would have loved to be here."
"Don't you dare use Nakamura's name like that. He was nothing like you," Izaya hissed through clenched teeth. He remembered wide eyes, blood dripping onto him, the days the two of them had spent talking about dreams he had long abandoned. The binds dug into his wrists as he tried to maneuver them off. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears as Ishikawa raised the syringe to the light, expelling the air bubble as a drop of liquid dripped from the tip of the needle.
"Why would you defend someone who betrayed you?" Ishikawa asked him, stopping before Izaya with the needle in hand.
Izaya glared at the other, feeling the anger and fear churn inside of him. "You didn't know? I betrayed him. I am the reason he died."
This seemed to catch Ishikawa off guard as the other tried to make sense of Izaya's words. "Well, it matters not. I won't end up like Nakamura. You seem to forget what position you're in," the man finally spoke before reaching behind Izaya to expose his neck. "You think the ones who know are all dead, don't you? That Shiki would protect you forever."
Izaya felt the cold air against his skin when his ears picked up some voices from down the hall. "You've made a fatal mistake. He's not the one protecting me."
"Oh?"
Izaya let out his breath when he heard the voices again right outside the door.
"Heiwajima-san, are you sure…"
"Hey," he tried to turn his head to avoid the needle but a strong grip around his throat firmly held him in place, nearly choking him. "Have you met my bodyguard?" he managed to breath out through the pain.
Ishikawa snorted. "Nice try, but I'm afraid he's too lat-"
The door flew off its hinges with a loud crash just as he felt a small prick on the back of his neck, and Ishikawa disappeared from his view, thrown across the room with a well placed punch. He spotted the syringe on the ground, the barrel half pushed in.
"Amazing, Heiwajima-san." Izaya looked up to see Shiki stepping pointedly over the rubble into the room after Shizuo.
"Do you remember what happens to traitors?" the yakuza executive asked, eyes flashing dangerously as he approached Ishikawa with a gun aimed at the other man's chest. Ishikawa scooted back until he crashed into the drawer behind him with nowhere left to escape. "Not only do you betray us, but you had the gall to lay your hands on our best informant." Izaya likened the entire situation to that of a predator cornering its prey, ready to pounce in for the final kill. He had forgotten how Shiki looked in his natural element.
The informant was brought back to his own situation by the sound of ropes hitting the floor as Shizuo broke all of his bindings with an effortless tug.
"Are you okay?" He looked up to the other, a little disoriented at how muffled the bodyguard sounded. Izaya wondered if it was just the adrenaline rushing out of him as he tested his limbs to find them still somewhat responsive.
Izaya opened his mouth to say that he was fine as he stood up from the chair only for a wave of vertigo to wash over him. He gasped, tripping over himself, but like always Shizuo's hands were there to save him from crumpling into a heap.
His eyes trailed back to the syringe on the floor, his vision wavering as he started to shiver.
"S-Shizu-chan?"
.
"Easy there," Shizuo muttered, trying to pull Izaya upright when he noticed a thin trail of blood running down the back of the informant's neck. "Hey! He's bleeding!"
It was then he spotted what looked like a syringe next to one of the chair legs, and he made eye contact with Shiki from across the room.
The yakuza executive turned back to Ishikawa, eyes flashing dangerously. "What did you give him?"
"N-Nothing dangerous!" the man stammered. "J-Just my own compound, the one you didn't want to use. Its effects only last a few hours, remember?"
Shizuo turned away from their discussion as Izaya's feet seemed to fail the informant, and he tried to reposition his hold on the other when Shiki suddenly struck Ishikawa across the face with the butt of his gun before pointing it between the man's eyes. Izaya curled up on himself at the action, eyes clenched shut with his hands over his ears.
"Izaya?"
He guided the other to the ground, trying to find out if the other was injured anywhere else when he heard the smallest of whimpers.
"S-Sorry... I'm sorry... Nakamura…"
Shizuo turned to Shiki and Ishikawa, shaking his head at the yakuza when he realized just what Izaya was reacting to, the irrational fear likely enhanced by the drug's effects.
"Tch," Shiki spat.
"P-Please," Ishikawa begged. Shiki slammed the butt of his gun on the man's head with as much force as he could muster, and the other fell to the ground in a heap. The yakuza grabbed the stolen firearm from the table before walking over to them, picking up the abandoned syringe before looking Izaya over.
"Escort him back to his apartment for now and watch him for a few hours. I don't think much went in, but we can't be too careful."
"I'll call Shinra," Shizuo told him.
Shiki nodded. "That might be a good idea. I'll have one of my men outside drive you two back."
Shizuo picked up the informant gingerly, the other now shivering uncontrollably in his arms. Izaya's usual pale skin was flushed, and he could feel a slight temperature when he put his forehead against the informant's to check for a fever. He looked up to the motionless Ishikawa, wishing that he had punched the other harder earlier.
"My men and I will take care of this filth," Shiki said, seeming to read his mind.
An hour later, Shizuo found himself pacing back and forth on the first floor of Izaya's apartment, impatiently waiting for Shinra to complete his assessment upstairs as Celty kept him company.
"He'll be fine, Shizuo."
"I know," he groaned, forcing himself to collapse onto the sofa. "If only I hadn't said anything, then he wouldn't have acted so recklessly out of character."
"Did something happen?"
"I…" Shizuo stopped, feeling the heat rise up his face. "We were drunk and I kind of told him I liked him." He looked up when he didn't hear the other typing a response. Celty shook her head after a few seconds and continued.
"And?"
He blinked at the short message. "What do you mean 'and'?"
"Are you guys dating now?"
"N-No!" He stammered, suddenly flustered. Shizuo sighed as he scratched his head and weighed the pros and cons of telling Celty. He supposed there was no harm in it given how long her boyfriend had known the informant. "Izaya kind of just broke down crying. I had no idea what to do."
Celty put her hand up to where her chin would be as if in contemplation. "Shinra did say that he's quite fragile for someone so cunning."
"Yeah, and I didn't believe him."
"How did he end up like this anyway? Shiki's communication to us was rather sparse."
"He went to Ikebukuro by himself to look for me, but that bastard found him first. The one who shot him last month."
Celty clapped her hands together before typing. "So, you two were going to talk about it?"
"Huh?" Shizuo realized that she meant that he was going to talk with Izaya about his confession. "I guess."
"That's a good sign then. There's still hope." Shizuo sighed at those words, wondering if he should even bother getting his hopes up. Izaya still hadn't outright rejected him yet, so he supposed that that was a good sign. The two of them looked up when they heard a soft click from above them and saw Shinra descending the stairs.
"He'll be fine," the doctor told them. "Not much went in from what Shiki told me, and the effects are already wearing off. He does have a slight temperature at the moment. It might be from all the stress he's experiencing lately."
"I see," Shizuo muttered, letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding him. "Thanks for coming over so late."
Shinra patted him on the back. "You should probably just sleep over and make sure he's fine for the night. Just in case there's any weird side effects we've missed."
"Come over for hotpot when you two reconcil, okay?"
"W-What?" Shizuo stammered. "S-Sure!" he answered awkwardly, shooing the two away before Shinra could read her message. He sighed when the two were finally gone and went slowly up the stairs. He opened Izaya's door softly to find the informant resting in bed, a cooling pad tucked under the long bangs.
Shizuo quietly dragged one of the sofa chairs over to the side of the bed and sat down, watching the rise and fall of the informant's chest as the other slept.
So, I've always had this head cannon that Shizuo can sense (or smell lol) Izaya since he's a smelly flea~ Ahaha please forgive me. Anyways, I think we have maybe 1-2 chapters left at most. I hope you've enjoyed the ride thus far! As always, thank you for reading!