"Now I have an excuse."

Izaya was the first to break the silence, the pad of his finger brushing across his injured lips; they felt chapped, with a bit of dried blood stuck to them. His body felt fatigued, and every part ached but he had to put on an act of nonchalant in front of Shizuo. He couldn't risk Shizuo (who was now walking alongside him) curling up into a ball and shut him out again. They'd end up being in that alleyway until tomorrow if Izaya hadn't succeeded in coaxing Shizuo to leave, especially before Haruhi wakes up.

"To meet Shinra," he continued when Shizuo looked puzzled.

"Can you go like that?"

Shizuo noticed the pain he was in despite his attempt to hide it. Well— that was probably because of the grimace on his face and the fact that he was dragging his leg across the ground as he walked. The rocky road sent pain shooting up his body every time he crunched the rocks under the sole of his shoes. It made him wonder if he should ask Shizuo to set the bone back in place, although that could attract attention to them since he was sure he'd end up letting out a scream. It'd be amusing to see Shizuo being accused of assault. That he couldn't deny.

"Do you want to carry me?"

He could see that Shizuo was definitely considering it, to Izaya's surprise.

"I was just kidding!" Izaya chortled, but his steps came to a halt anyway, "Is Shizu-chan feeling that bad? He'd never felt such remorse before."

"I'll carry you."

"Eh?"

"Here, just get on."

He could never understand Shizuo. What goes through his mind—what he feels when he's faced by complicated issues. Shizuo was complex in the way that he was too simple. Once Izaya thought he had Shizuo all figured out, Shizuo would just surprise him with an unexpected move. He could predict what others might do, but not Shizuo, despite the said others also being simple-minded.

Heh, the only difference is that he's a beast, he thought as he climbed onto Shizuo's back; arms circled around Shizuo's necks.

"I can't believe I'm on a monster's back! Scary!"

"Stop calling me that."

It was odd to be this close to Shizuo, to the point where their bodies were pressed up against each other, putting aside the rooftop moment evening earlier, which by the way, he'd like to forget.

"Don't make me drop you," Shizuo warned him further.

"Then what is the point of Shizu-chan carrying me? I'm like a sheep being sent to the wolf's home, anyway."

"Shinra's not that bad."

"…"

"Ah, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're right," Izaya let out a huff, running a hand through his hair, which felt stickier than he thought. Was his head bleeding? He didn't even notice, "What about me, Shizu-chan? I'm not that bad either, right?"

Hazel eyes stared back at him, and Izaya never noticed how the light made them appear gold, only then he had the time to actually scrutinize Shizuo's facial features— like the 5 o'clock shadow he had and the small scratch at the temple of his head, probably from Izaya's own nails when he attempted to freed himself from Shizuo's chokehold earlier.

"Yeah, today."

The answer brought him out of his stupor, causing him to be aware of how his fingertips almost grazed the defined jawline of the other that his gaze fell on before it trailed back up to Shizuo's eyes once he realized what he was doing.

"Only today?" he asked Shizuo, fingers retreating to rest against his own cheek in a casual manner.

"But only about 50%."

His nose scrunched up, Izaya leaned back as another huff slipped past his lips, hands now holding on to Shizuo's shoulders for support.

"How awful, Shizu-chan, to be biased towards Shinra but not me. After all, I've been keeping you company for the whole day."

"Heh," Shizuo decided against saying anything, only allowing himself to let out something akin to a half suppressed laugh; uncaring of how it ended up with Izaya pestering him, asking if Shizuo really did find his joke funny for once.

"Iza-nii!"

"Iza-nii… Shizuo-san…" (Iza-nii is on Shizuo-san's back?)

"There you are!"

The sight before him rendered him speechless. He hadn't even realized that they already reached their destination, the place he dreaded the most— or to be more exact, Shinra's apartment. Mairu and Kururi were there, with Kadota who exhaled a sigh of relief upon seeing them still in one piece (despite Izaya being on Shizuo's back, he was more glad to see all the limbs were still in-tact and Izaya was still breathing). It seemed like Shizuo had notified them. Why else would they be down here instead of partying back in Shinra's place, like he'd imagined them do even if the birthday boy wasn't there.

"Where have you been? You're always late!" Mairu stomped her foot on the ground, much like she did this morning. It almost made him smile, if he didn't know they were in on the plan as well.

"Miss…" (We missed you.)

Kururi was the first to take a step ahead and touch him, nimble fingers reaching out to tug at the pant leg of his black jeans, as she was too short to hold his hand.

"Happy birthday to me, eh?" Izaya tipped his head to the side, eyes forming crescents when he breathed out a gleeful laugh.

"I'm sorry, Izaya. It wasn't supposed to be like this and—"

"I know, Dotachin. I'll accept another coffee as an apology."

Kadota gave him a nod before flashing a smile. Truthfully, Kadota had always been good to him, which was why Izaya wasn't sure at first if he was also the perpetrator of this chaos alongside Shinra, but he'd figured that Shinra couldn't have done it all by himself. If it wasn't Shizuo… who else was close to Shinra?

You should always expect the worse even from the kindest people.

"You got it. Tomorrow I'll get you the latte one!"

"Why…?" (Iza-nii, why are you being carried?)

"Yeah! Kuru-nee's right. You have legs, Iza-nii."

"Mm? Shizu-chan was too rough with me."

"Eeeeh? What was Iza-nii and Shizuo-san doing?"

"Yaoi…" (Yaoi things like in the magazines back at home?)

"Yao— Ouch!"

The hiss naturally came out with the punch to his nose. It felt like his nose was going to bleed, but Izaya was unfazed by it, his index finger and thumb rubbing the bridge of his nose while he chuckled, shaking his head, "Haha! Can you see this? The proof is laid out for everyone to see!"

"Stupid shit got into trouble ten hundred times."

"Ten hundred times? Shizu-chan, I know you didn't know how to count but— Ouch!"

"Confirmed…" (Confirmed, it was yaoi.)

"Iza-nii didn't deny it! But ten hundred times? Kuru-nee, we need to consult those people who did the Guinness World Records! Shizuo-san should get an award!"

"What the hell is yaoi?" Shizuo's brow arched in confusion.

"It's what Shizuo-san always do with Iza-nii!"

"Right…" (That's right.)

"Huh? Fighting, then?"

It only took a glance at Izaya's smug face to know that that wasn't the case, that it was something deeper than that. Shizuo racked his brain to see if he could remember seeing the word somewhere else before, since the Orihara siblings weren't much of a help at giving him a definition of the word. What he could vaguely recall was Kasuka showing him something on the internet, claiming it was the craze among the girls at school, and on the images he pulled up was of two guys k—

"Fuck."

"It's not good to curse in front of children, Shizu-chan."

"Do you want to go home?"

Kadota, who'd been watching the little banter from the side, asked. It did worry him a little to see all the injuries on Izaya's fair skin. Those would take a while to heal, and judging from the last time he saw Izaya (Izaya was still free from scars then), he probably got them all after school ended. Had Izaya even rested before coming here?

"Home…" (Home would be nice.)

"But we haven't eaten any cake!" Mairu frowned at her sister's reply before turning to look at Izaya again, "Do you really want to go home, Iza-nii?"

There was still blood on the blade when he brandished his knife out in the public, flipping it open with a flick of his wrist; crimson gaze trailing from the presences before him to the windows which were opened (he recognized it as Shinra's), curtains slightly flying to and fro due to the breeze. He was sure some red got to his chin as he casually rested it on the blade, lips jutting out as though he was contemplating.

"Go home? The fun has just started."

.

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note: thank you so much for reading! you dont know how happy it made me feel to receive the reviews you guys left! and oh gosh i cant believe two thought the fic was ending, but to answer your question, no, it hasn't ended. it'll go on for a few more chapters so i hope youll stick with me through this journey ehehe (●´∀`●)ブハハハ thank you for being patient and waiting for a new chapter! 3