The black rimmed glasses that fit perfectly on the bridge of Shinra's nose wasn't for show, not his way of showing that he was a nerd or a doctor (really, the lab coat he wore was enough for that). He really did have bad eyesight, after spending so much time under the light while he meticulously picked apart the corpse before him; sometimes with Shingen by his side, sometimes it was just him sat on the stool at ungodly hours.
It would've made sense for Shinra to not see without his glasses, but even with Izaya brandishing his knife right when the door swung open, he wasn't quick enough to notice it. In result, the first thing that greeted him wasn't Izaya's usual chirpy voice calling his name with the part 'Shin' being drawn out longer than necessary. It was a stab to the arm. He could only be thankful that Izaya didn't aim for the fatal spots on his body. Even then, did Izaya still like him as a friend?
That's right.
They were friends.
"Aha… welcome, Orihara-kun!" he couldn't express the small bout of laughter that fell from his lips, fingers calmly encircling around Izaya's wrist to tug the blade out of his skin before it penetrated even further.
The word peculiar had never been foreign when associated with him, but perhaps he really was peculiar for he was the only one who wasn't surprised by Izaya's move— the others had opposite reactions. There was particularly someone who lost composure the most, shadows shooting out of her being before Shinra could pull the blade out in a careful manner. Instead, she, Celty was too blinded by anger towards Izaya to notice how much pain she was inflicting on him. Shinra felt a jerk when those black coils got to Izaya, roughly throwing him to the wall with no regards as though the frail body was a mere ragdoll. While sympathy was definitely bubbling inside his chest (especially after briefly scanning over the wounds Izaya collected in just one day, which was, rather interesting), he couldn't help but be more focused on the fact that Celty was worried of him and that fact alone.
"Celty, you cared! Ow."
[ DID IT HURT? I'M SORRY ] Celty frantically typed, fingers hitting the keys on her PDA so fast it was a wonder how she didn't end up with typos. For once, she wasn't pushing him away when he went ahead and wrapped his arms around her waist. He'd love for Izaya to stab him every day if this would be the outcome. Although, speaking of Izaya, Shinra's ear perked up at the sound of joint cracking, Izaya rolling his neck with a groan. His friend didn't seem fazed by the treatment he'd just received.
"Is the party over?" was the first thing Izaya chose to say, smiling like nothing had happened between them.
"It hadn't started since we're missing the star." Shinra replied.
"Can I trust those words?"
"Of course. What do you take me for?"
"You sent gangs after me. How can I believe such person?"
"I was partially involved, but it was Orihara-kun himself who'd made too many enemies."
His clever retorts had Izaya almost seething with rage, he could see that; with fingers balling into fists and brows knitting in irritation. Was it something to brag about? The fact that he could make Orihara Izaya lose control. Though… Shizuo is way better than me at this, he thought to himself as he kept his gaze locked on Izaya, who was probably racking his brain to come up with a better reply, something that'd make him appear cool-headed and not affected by all this. As he'd said before, he knew Izaya well.
"I'm sure that feels good, hm?" Izaya gestured towards the stab wound on Shinra's arm, blood already noticeably seeping through the shirt.
"Certainly not the first time someone has stabbed me!"
It wasn't like Izaya had completely forgotten about the Nakura incident, but it certainly didn't cross his mind at the time. To see how collected Shinra was with everything, it felt unfair— he'd pay 50,000 yen to see Shinra suffer even a bit. He knew exactly how, but he wished he didn't have to resort to this cheap way of seeking revenge. It wasn't his style, but Izaya knew better than to lay a finger on Shinra again. He could really end up with more than one broken bone than he already had (his leg was starting to ache again once he paid any attention to it), and it was stupid to say but he still treasured Shinra after all. It wasn't like he had anyone else by his side to act like he was better than this.
"And you didn't even bother to call, Shinra! What a good friend you are."
"To be far, Orihara-kun, I thought you needed some time alone."
"Ha," Izaya breathed in, acting as though he didn't expect such reply from Shinra by now, "I feel like I should've stabbed you twice, to say the least."
"What else are you going to do?"
No one expected it coming— Izaya's hands reaching out to take Shinra's cheeks in his bruised, full of cuts palms as he pressed his lips against Shinra's in a rough, chaste kiss; feet drawing closer to the latter that he almost knocked Shinra over. There were gasps all around him but he took no mind of that, letting their teeth clash for a moment before he pursed his mouth in a self-satisfied smirk, taking a step back.
"Did you say goodbye to your first kiss?"
Shinra was left breathless, brows knitting in annoyance but he took a moment to regain composure, and soon enough he was smiling again, head tipped to the side.
"If I had a little warning, I would've," Shinra mustered to say.
Ignoring Shinra, Izaya left him to babble on his own, and he limped towards the sofa to lie down on it, taking up all the space on purpose. His hand naturally reached for the remote control to surf through the channel for a good program. Seriously, why did Shinra love 'National Geographic' so much?
"Well, I suppose I deserved that. At least I still have something Orihara-kun won't take."
That caught Izaya's attention.
Shinra couldn't read his friend's expression, and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to know. As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back— yet perhaps there would be no satisfaction if he found out, seeing as the grin playing on Izaya's lips had him thinking that there was more in store for him. With the topic they were on, he definitely would like to be left oblivious to it as of now.
"Are you satisfied now, at least?" Shinra pressed on, picking up a party popper he'd prepared before when Izaya replied no more, "Anyway, I guess the party can start, although it's so close to midnight already. Happy birthday again, Orihara-kun!"
"No, wait— what the fuck was that?"
"What was what?" Izaya turned to look at Shizuo (was it in his nature to react to Shizuo's voice? he really wondered this), his thumb which was hovering over the button on the remote control stilling.
"You took his first kiss?"
"Why does it have anything to do with Shizu-chan? Do you want me to take yours as well? I'm sure Shizu-chan hasn't had his yet, considering his abnormal strength! It makes the girls run away in fear of their lives."
"Kuru-nee! Film it, film it!"
Mairu screamed in excitement when her brother suggested on giving Shizuo a kiss as well, her little feet stomping on the floor while Kururi was fumbling with her phone, trying to locate the camera icon. Celty appeared to be shocked, still— so it was only up to Kadota to stop the twins from filming anything. He couldn't guarantee that Izaya wasn't going to pull off such a thing again. It was best to confiscate their phones before a video of all of them end up on social websites, and considering it involved the two Ikebukuro famous 'duo', it'd blow up for sure.
"No, you two!" Kadota quickly grabbed Kururi's phone before checking Mairu for hers.
"I'd rather die than let you kiss me."
Izaya's gaze turned menacing at Shizuo's words.
"Then die. Shizu-chan should stop having his temper does decisions for him, ne?"
"Can the party start?" Shinra let out a rather nervous laugh, wishing that they wouldn't start a fight in his living room and wreck all of his belongings and furniture. But little did he know that another shock would befall them, their movements halting and they were left looking like statues with their eyes glued on the scene before them— Izaya leaning in towards Shizuo, the way he did with Shinra earlier. It had everyone holding their breaths, anticipating to be witnesses in this history making moment, until those lips only went as far as to land on the cheek, which was disappointing yet still surprising… and of course, very puzzling.
"Why's everything with you complicated?"
Shizuo could only let out a sigh.
"That's what makes us different," retorted Izaya.
"I thought we were the same?"
It felt like it was suddenly so quiet that he could hear a pin drop, or was it just because his entire focus shifted to Shizuo? His breath hitching, he straightened his posture to take a look at Shizuo; the corners of his lips curled up into a faint smile. The smile looked genuine to anyone who was watching, which came off as a shock to everyone else (Kadota thought he really should start keeping tracks of how many times they'd been surprised by something Izaya did).
"Thanks for correcting my mistake. Now, let's go cut some cake before Shizu-chan gets grumpy!"
"I can't believe what I'm seeing! CELTY! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
[ I… I think I am… ]
"Is… is there an ulterior motive behind this?"
"Power…" (The power of yaoi.)
