For the first time in his entire life, Orihara Izaya was actively glad for the existence of his younger sisters. Watching Ichigo interact with the two of them was an experience that Izaya wouldn't trade for anything.
It had been a couple of days since he had found the teenager and brought him home, and his sisters had come around every single day. Izaya hadn't seen so much of them since they had all lived in the same house. If it wasn't for the so-called Shinigami, he would have been glad to go on like that.
"Iza-nii! Let's go out for dinner!" Mairu latched on to one of his arms the moment she noticed him leaning in the doorway. Not a second later, Kururi had joined her, attaching herself to his other arm. Ichigo, who had been helping them with their homework (although Izaya doubted they needed it), stood up as well. He looked amused at Izaya's predicament.
It wasn't surprising, per se, Ichigo's endless tolerance for Mairu and Kururi – he had younger sisters of his own, after all. But it did make Izaya wonder. Did he have a soft spot for all those younger than himself? Or was it just the twins, and who they reminded him of?
And also, aside from wondering about Ichigo; why the hell had the twins suddenly decided that physical affection was going to be a thing? It was unsettling, to say the least. Izaya was much more accustomed to random attempts on his life than whatever snuggly bullshit they were currently pulling. He wished they would stop.
"Am I supposed to be paying for this dinner?" He asked, looking down into Mairu's innocent face. She grinned back at him.
"Obviously! You're the only one with any money here, Iza-nii."
"...loaded?" ('You can afford it, can't you?)
And that was another thing. Kururi's speech, which had been softer and slower than Mairu's ever since they had decided on their personalities, had regressed even more. This, Izaya suspected had been progressing for a while, because she didn't use the newer speech pattern all the time. He simply hadn't noticed, because he tried not to spend too much time with them.
He really didn't understand these girls.
"Ha!" Izaya barked out a laugh, gripping each of the girls' heads tightly. "That's a blatant lie, little sister. I know our parents give you both a pretty hefty allowance. Why don't you two take Kurosaki-kun and myself out for dinner instead, huh?"
The two girls squirmed away, Mairu pouting outrageously. "Wow, Iza-nii, I didn't know you were the type of person to take advantage of two young girls like ourselves! And family, at that!"
Kururi shook her head slowly. "Iza-nii… despicable."
They levelled him with identical disappointed stares. Izaya felt quite ganged up on, especially when Ichigo started laughing. "Kurosaki-kun, how can you be on their side?" Izaya asked plaintively. "After I was just trying to get us free dinner?"
"They're nicer than you." Ichigo said simply, shrugging.
"Not that that's hard!" Mairu piped up, sticking her tongue out at her brother.
Kururi eyeballed him.
Izaya threw up his hands. "Fine! I see how it is. I shall endeavour to earn your love, starting with dinner." He gave them his best smile.
Three sets of eyes squinted at him in suspicion. And then they all shrugged, turning around to clear up the homework mess they had created on Izaya's coffee table.
Pouting to himself, Izaya returned to his room to grab his wallet.
Life went on in this strangely domestic fashion.
True to his word, Izaya spent copious amounts of time following up leads on the supernatural world, and also thinking up mile long lists of questions to ask Ichigo. The former was slow going. The latter – well that was going swimmingly.
Ichigo was surprisingly compliant, strolling around Ikebukuro at Izaya's side, scowling impressively when required, and answering questions when asked. It was a little hilarious to the information broker, how much easier several aspects of his business dealings went now that he had Ichigo with him. As for the Q&A portion of their days, when Izaya had expressed his curiosity about Ichigo's willingness to share, the teenager had only shrugged and said, "A deal's a deal".
The day they ran into the otaku twins, Karisawa Erika and Yumasaki Walker, was a very fun one for Izaya. It was rare to see those two without Kadota and Togusa, and even more rare for Karisawa to not mention her unhealthy delusions about him and Shizu-chan. But both of those things had happened, and Izaya was of the opinion that it was the best interaction he'd ever had with the duo.
The fact that Karisawa had started with "A real life shounen protagonist! Can we take a picture with you?" had softened Izaya's feelings towards her quite a bit.
Ichigo stared blankly at her.
Karisawa blinked expectantly back.
Izaya, content to lurk in the background and observe, placed a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. His young companion looked utterly nonplussed; standing there in his black robes, with his oversized swords at his back and side, Izaya saw exactly what Karisawa was getting at.
"How do you know he isn't just cosplaying?" Izaya couldn't resist asking.
The two otaku shot him withering looks. "If he was cosplaying, we would definitely know who he's supposed to be. If neither one of us recognises him-"
"Then the character doesn't exist!" Karisawa clapped her hands together.
"Also, we've seen him walking around in mid-air." Yumasaki admitted, shrugging. "This is the closest we've been though."
"Still can't get used to that," Ichigo muttered. "I forget people can see me here."
Karisawa and Yumasaki grabbed onto each other excitedly, dancing in place.
"Did you hear that, Yumacchi?" Karisawa gushed.
Yumasaki nodded sagely. "Very nice 'stranded in another world' line."
Ichigo, once again, stared at the two of them. Izaya smothered a snicker.
"That's what happened to you, right?" Karisawa let go of Yumasaki and leaned up into Ichigo's personal space. "You were thrown into our world by a terrible accident and now you're searching desperately for a way home!"
The light in her eyes was alarming, to say the least.
Ichigo, without hesitation, placed a hand against Karisawa's forehead and pushed her back a couple steps. "How the hell did you two jump straight to that idea?" He asked, brow twitching.
Both otaku blinked.
"Isn't it obvious?" They replied in unison.
"No!" Ichigo snapped. "It's the least obvious conclusion that anybody should be coming to!"
Karisawa and Yumasaki exchanged bemused glances.
"Is it?" Yumasaki asked, stroking his chin. "It seemed like a clear assumption to make."
Izaya's favourite Shinigami just spluttered. Karisawa laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulders and dragging him down to her level. "Don't worry about it! We won't tell anyone, right, Yumacchi? Except Dota-chin and Saburo-san, of course."
Yumasaki nodded. "Exactly. What kind of otaku would we be if we sabotaged our chance at being a part of this kind of manga-worthy situation?"
Izaya could almost see the defeat settling into the line of Ichigo's shoulders. He covered his mouth with one hand, ducking his head to hide his ever-growing amusement. He would have to introduce Ichigo to the guys at Russia Sushi soon; the potential for hilarity was too good to ignore.
"Otaku, huh?" Ichigo's lips twitched in the barest hint of a wry grin. "Inoue would probably love you guys."
Inoue Orihime.
From Ichigo's initial list. He sounded wistful, and Izaya wondered if she was Ichigo's girlfriend or if the kid was just missing home more than he'd been letting on.
The other's must have noticed the change of tone as well. Karisawa, who still had Ichigo compliantly in her grasp, smiled and ruffled his hair, ignoring his responding scowl. "It's okay, young hero," she said, smile turning teasing. "We'll help you get home. There's nobody more informed about this subject than us!" She winked.
Izaya took complete offense to that statement, but Ichigo just shook his head, straightening up again. "Sure, why not," he said, brown eyes alight with humour. "The more the merrier, right? I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Nice to meet you."
Yumasaki and Karisawa high-fived, grinning manically.
"Nice to meet you, Ichigo-kun! I'm Karisawa Erika, and this is Yumasaki Walker! We look forward to working with you!"
Ikebukuro's greatest info-broker could only watch, and resign himself to dealing with these two on a much more regular basis.
AN: Remember, this has no over-arching plotline; it's just a bunch of character interactions and such. Might not even be linear after this either, tbh. Thoughts welcome!
- Kelly
