"Does he even know how to use technology?"
Izaya slipped his phone back into the pocket of his fur trimmed jacket, only remembering to check the forums just now, in case Shizuo had decided to announce their 'relationship' to public, even though he knew Shizuo had already left Dollars. There wasn't any, of course. He himself wasn't sure what to call this; a relationship sounded a bit too much considering he won't be reciprocating the love Shizuo will give to him, but there was no other suitable terms that he could think of. Plus, he knew he wouldn't be getting out of this anytime soon since he wanted to see just how far Shizuo was willing to go. And will he be swept off of his feet by these poor attempts of a monster at love, in the end?
"Ei, that just sounds so unlikely," he snickered to himself, shaking his head as he strolled down the streets of Ikebukuro, "What is this, Beauty and the Beast?"
With no postbox flying in his direction and the usual drawn out call of his name, he was able to blend right into the crowd— no one even noticed that the infamous Orihara Izaya was walking alongside them. It was what he wanted, to be this close to them, despite wanting to be above these mere humans still, somehow. However, it proved to be harder than he thought to make them give him the love he so desired. Instead, they threw glares and insults when things didn't go their way. He couldn't deny that it was rather adorable; just like a child throwing tantrums, that's how his humans were.
"Shizu-chan!"
It wasn't that hard to locate Shizuo's whereabouts when he'd always stuck out like a sore thumb, blonde hair in the midst of many raven heads, wearing a bartender outfit despite already quitting the job, and carrying various kinds of heavy objects; this time a bright red postbox, situated under his arm. Tanaka Tom and Vorona Douglanikov were by his side, one appearing rather worried the moment he saw Izaya running towards them, while the other immediately shifted into a fighting stance.
"Oh, you're here," Shizuo muttered, an unlit cigarette hanging off of his lips. He was calm and composed, which made Izaya feel puzzled by the unusual demeanor. Was it a trick? He could've sworn the postbox was supposed to fly to his head, unless Shizuo had just missed the timing since he seemed so into his chat with his co-workers just now. That wouldn't be enough to have him shrug this off, though, since he was well aware that Shizuo had certain instincts when it came to Izaya; he'd claimed that he could smell Izaya, since he always had that scent of trouble brewing (which to Izaya, sounded ridiculous— think about it, trouble don't have a smell and it wasn't like Shizu-chan was a superhero to be sniffing out criminals).
"I will not forgive you if it goes awry in the future," spoke a feminine sounding voice, but in a robotic manner.
Vorona didn't let her guard down, despite Tom persuading her not to irk Orihara Izaya, especially in front of Shizuo (it was better to be cautious despite Shizuo already telling him he wouldn't be so hostile towards Izaya from now on).
"What will?" he asked her.
"Orihara's relationship with senpai."
"Douglanikov-san, you sound so caring for this monster," Izaya responded, gesturing towards Shizuo when he pronounced every syllable of 'monster' with emphasis, "if I shut my eyes, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between you and the lady on Google Translate!"
His words clearly got to Vorona, as he'd intended it to. She lurched forward to land an attack on him, almost successful since he didn't manage to take out his switchblade fast enough, but with Tom holding her back, she couldn't reach him. He felt as though he should take that as an advantage and retaliate. And he would've, if his attention wasn't on Shizuo, who stood by as if all this wasn't happening around him, smoking his now lit cigarette.
It was frustrating— how Shizuo didn't react according to his expectations.
"Is this not the moment where Shizu-chan should wrap his fingers around my neck and strangle me to death?"
"You don't strangle someone you love."
He couldn't utter anything, his mind turning blank when he heard those words, his own nimble fingers gripping onto his knife tightly that it was almost starting to be painful. This way of acting from Shizuo was too unfamiliar that it was suffocating. If he couldn't figure Shizuo out before, this was even more confusing. What was Shizuo planning? He wanted to know. There was no way he'd go with the flow and risk being tangled up in this, just because he was too unprepared. Was Shizuo's definition of love merely 'not fighting'?
"You don't love me. Let's not fool anyone."
"I'm trying to, and that matters more."
"Ah~" he drawled out long, "If this is all Shizu-chan has, I don't think it'll be enough at all. As I thought, not only you don't suit me in the first place, you don't suffice either. Don't think I'd easily be swayed just by this, and by a monster, no less. Anyone here can see that there's no affection in Shizu-chan's eyes. They're only filled with violence, mm?"
Vorona was quick to react, noted Izaya; despite not saying anything and leaving it to her senpai, she was visibly getting more worked up over this than Shizuo was.
"Love can take time," Shizuo replied.
"What does Shizu-chan know about love?"
"What do you?"
Shizuo may have not wanted to fight, but he sure didn't mind arguing, Izaya thought as he attempted to brush the biting question off, opting to take a step back instead of argue further. If he'd stayed, this could only turn out to be taxing on his mind. There'd be another interaction another day, and by then, he'd have more cards up his sleeves to use against Shizuo (and hopefully there wouldn't be anyone to intrude their conversation, too). For now, though, perhaps he should visit Simon instead.
Izaya tucked his switchblade away, letting out a small sigh whilst shaking his head.
Heh.
Another step back, and the corners of his lips curled into a grin of malice, gazing straight at Shizuo.
"You make me want to throw up."