To say Heiwajima Shizuo was having a bad day would be an understatement. In fact, it seemed that everything and everybody around him was trying their best to make him lose it.

His alarm on his phone had not gone off, and his backup alarm on his dresser decided not to function either. As he was hurrying through his apartment, he spilled milk all over the front of his dress shirt, but it was already far too late to change so all he could do was splash some water over it and rush towards where Tom was waiting.

Unfortunately, by the time he made it there the client that had taken weeks to track down had noticed Tom in the neighborhood and decided to skip town; they found his apartment empty. Now they'd have to track him down all over again.

Tom didn't say anything, but Shizuo cursed and blamed himself, knowing it was all his fault. He told himself he'd be better for the rest of the day, he wouldn't even lose his temper once, and then they'd both have an easy rest of their shift and could go home with full paychecks.

He broke that promise with the very next client.

In his defense, they had absolutely deserved it. They pulled a knife out of their back pocket and tried to stab on Tom, and Shizuo body reacted with a mix of protectiveness and rage that somebody would be stupid enough to try to hurt his closest friend.

After that idiot was dealt with, the fortified dam he had tried to build around his anger had been destroyed, and flooded forward in an angry torrent of stupid choices. He couldn't think, he just reacted. The slightest pushback from a client and Shizuo was set off.

By the time the sun had risen above them in the sky, he was practically seething and several buildings and bones were left broken in their wake.

Lunchtime was something that Tom and Shizuo did together, but instead of walking to their usual spot, his senpai looked at him with a concerned expression and asked,"Shizuo, is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." Shizuo automatically replied and then, at Tom's unconvinced frown, continued,"It's nothing crazy, it's just been a rough day. It feels like everything is going wrong and I can't calm down!"

His senpai gave an understanding smile. "It's okay, we all have those days, I know from experience. How about we cut off our shifts early today? You can relax the rest of the day and come back refreshed tomorrow!"

Shizuo's desire to agree was quickly overshadowed by guilt. He wasn't about to cost his senpai a full paycheck when Shizuo was the one causing problems. "No, it's fine. I'll be fine. I might just…" He motioned behind them. "Take a quick walk to try and clear my head. I'll meet you at the lunch spot, okay?"

Tom still didn't seem entirely convinced, but he respected Shizuo's decision and gave a little nod of approval. "Alright, if you're sure."

Shizuo hurried off before he could second guess himself and take up Tom's offer. Once he was alone, he lit a cigarette and strolled casually down the streets. He listened to the sounds of his city, the heavy footsteps and chattering of people around him, the bands playing on the street nearby for cash, and the sounds of advertisement boards were surprisingly relaxing after a stressful first half to the day. Slowly but surely he could feel his rage and stress melting away.

Eventually he noticed the time and decided to head back towards the agreed upon meeting spot, it would be nice to get some food before his lunch break ended. But just as he started walking again when-

"Oh! Shizuo-san!"

The loud, grating voice made him flinch and whip around to face the source. At a nearby cafe, he saw Mairu and Kururi sitting with coffees and a plate of cookies between them. Well, Kururi was sitting, Mairu had jumped out of her seat and was waving frantically in her direction.

For a brief moment, Shizuo thought about turning tail and running back the way he came, but he knew it was far too late for that. He'd already been seen by the twins, and there was a ninety-nine percent chance they would follow him if he tried to leave, and that was the last thing he needed. Better to humor them for a bit.

He let out a loud sigh and dragged himself over to their table, glaring at them. "Whatever it is, the answer is no."

Kururi slumped slightly as Mairu cried out in annoyance. "What?! But we didn't even say anything yet! You have to at least let us ask first! What if we were going to ask something completely different from what you thought?"

"You were going to ask me if I'd introduce you to my brother." Shizuo deadpanned. "The answer is still no."

"Ha!" Mairu pointed at him. "Jokes on you! That's not what I was going to ask!"

Kururi reached out to the stack of cookies between them. "Ikebukuro..." She took a bite and glanced at him. "Filming…"

The bespectacled twin quickly translated. "What me and Kuru-nee wanted to know was if that news article from yesterday was right! Is it true?" Her eyes sparkled hopefully. "Is Yuuhei-san going to be filming that new movie here in Ikebukuro?"

The answer? Yes, he absolutely was. But he wasn't going to tell them that and risk two rapid girls breaking onto his brother's set. Kasuka didn't deserve to deal with that with anybody, and he certainly didn't deserve to have to deal with the Orihara sisters.

Shizuo shrugged and threw his hands up. "How should I know? He's filming for so many things all the time it's hard to tell where he might be next."

Mairu stomped her foot. "I think you're lying to us so that we won't know where to go looking for him. You think that will stop us? As soon as the first photos of the filming location go up, we'll figure out where it is!"

"And I'll be there to make sure you don't get to see him." Shizuo quickly countered as he glanced at a nearby clock. Damn, he should have just kept walking. At this rate, he was going to completely miss lunch, and his growling stomach wasn't too happy about that thought.

His growing hunger was momentarily distracted by Mairu's whining voice. "Shizuo-san! If that's the case, just let us meet him! Just one time is all we all want!"

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "I already told you. If you want to meet my brother, I want Izaya dead at my feet. If you can't deliver on that, don't expect me to go through with my part of the deal."

"Iza-nii… slippery."

"Kururi is right! Iza-nii is like a snake, he slithers out of every situation he gets in! If you haven't killed him, how do you expect us to?" Mairu demanded.

Shizuo shrugged again with a smirk. "That's for you to figure out." Feeling rather smug, he reached forward and plucked a cookie off the top of the pile.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"You made me miss my lunch." He answered simply as he took a swift bite of the stolen sweet, chewed, and then froze. The cookie was… amazing!

His tongue was an explosion of delicious flavors. The chocolate chips melted in his mouth, the dough soft and was the perfect mix, not overly sweet, not too bland. It was probably the most delicious cookie he'd ever tasted. He finished the rest of it in two quick bites, and grabbed another one for good measure.

"Mm, I've changed my mind. Kill the flea for me, get me more of these cookies, and then I'll let you see Yuuhei."

Mairu, somehow, looked even more frustrated. "But Shizuo-san! That's literally impossible!"

"Oh yeah?" He asked as he took another eager bite. "Why is that?"

Mairu, for once, hesitated to speak. Instead, it was the stone-faced Kururi that answered.

"Iza-nii's cookies."

Shizuo didn't need a translation for that. The food in his mouth suddenly tastes like ash and he quickly dropped the cookie and spat out what he had nearly swallowed.

His temper flaring once more, he turned his angry stare to the girls. "What the hell?! Izaya made these?! Were you trying to poison me?!"

Mairu glared right back at him. "Yes he made them, and no we weren't! You're the one who stole them from OUR table!" She motioned frantically to the box of cookies. "Which is rude by the way! Iza-nii barely makes them for us anymore! We were trying to make a special occasion of it!"

"Shizuo-san… rude." Kururi muttered, sounding just the slightest bit angry as she moved a protective hand over the deceptively good cookies.

"I'm rude?!" Shizuo snapped. "You're the ones carrying around death cookies! How do you know your brother didn't mess with them? He messes with everything and everybody around him. He probably knew you would want to make a special day of it and waited for a day when I'd be on this side of town, just so he could try to kill me with them!"

Mairu gave him an incredulous stare. "Then we'd be dead too, Shizuo-san! And we obviously aren't! The cookies are fine, better than fine!"

"Iza-nii… Bake… Best…"

"He does bake the best cookies! And cakes! And pies, and everything else!" Mairu declared proudly. "It's one of the only good things about having him as a brother! And if you're just going to spit them on the ground, you don't get anymore!"

"I don't want anymore!" Shizuo kicked at the defenseless, half eaten cookie he had dropped. "I don't want anything that disgusting flea makes! Forget what I said earlier, and forget about meeting Yuuhei! It's never happening!"

Shizuo spun on his heel and stormed away, ignoring the stares and whispers of nearby onlookers and Mairu's angry voice calling him a 'big jerk'. He needed to get back to Tom, he'd had enough irritation for one day.


Mairu didn't stop yelling after the bodyguard until he turned the corner, and left her view. With an angry growl, she flopped back in her chair and angrily started eating cookies. "Stupid Shizuo-san! He thinks he can stop us from seeing Yuuhei! Deal or no deal, we'll see him, I swear!"

"Iza-nii… kill?" Kururi asked, daintily eating her own cookie in small bites.

The bespectacled twin paused, thought for a moment, and then shrugged her shoulders. "I guess we don't have to kill him now." She casually said as she stuffed another cookie in her mouth. "I mean, if we do, we can't get anymore of his cookies."

"Shizuo-san… Deal… bad?"

Mairu frowned. "You know, I think you're right. Maybe it was always a bad deal. Iza-nii's sweets are better than the ones at every bakery we've tried. I'd miss eating them if we killed him."

"Miss Iza-nii too?" Kururi gently prodded.

Her sister puffed her cheeks out, her cheeks a little red as she shrugged her shoulders. "...maybe a little bit." She muttered under her breath, and quickly shoved a cookie in her and Kururi's mouth to end the conversation there.

Not that Kururi minded the forceful silence. After all, Izaya's cookies always tasted like heaven on earth.


Shizuo must have looked either extremely angry, extremely exhausted, or a mixture of both because the instant he turned the corner to where Tom was waiting, his senpai immediately ordered that the blonde take a few days off of work, and left before he could argue with him.

To be honest, Shizuo wouldn't have argued against him anyways. He was still so upset over what happened, he should have known never to trust anyone in the Original family. He just wanted to sleep off whatever poison was in his body and forget about it.

Unfortunately, it seemed impossible. The sweetness on his tongue was still there, the smell was still in his nose, and the loud memory of the most heavenly cookie he had ever eaten refused to leave him alone.

He spent his few days off going to every bakery he could find in Tokyo, and spending most of his paycheck on cookies similar to what the flea baked. He tried to find something, anything that would match the flavor and help him forget about the delectable taste, but not even the tastiest cookies could compare to the heavenly goodness of Izaya's baking.

By the third day, Shizuo was ready to snap. He had chucked another failure of a cookie into a trash can a few alleys away from the latest bakery he tried with an angry sigh. He stared at the metal trash can silently, a moment of clarity hitting him.

"What the fuck am I doing?" He asked aloud, even more frustrated by his own question. He growled and pulled out his cigarettes, he needed a smoke to calm down.

Then, just as he flicked his lighter, a familiar stench wafted through the air. He jolted, and then whipped around to glance outside of the alleyway he was standing in.

Sauntering down the sidewalk, with not a care in the world, was the fucking flea. Instantly, Shizuo's blood boiled, his rage reignited in one fell swoop. Who the hell does the damn flea think he is?! To come into Ikebukuro after torturing me like this?!

His hand instinctively grabbed the trash can that was standing by, and lifted it off the ground as he stalked towards the opening. The flea had stopped, digging around in the shopping bag he was carrying with him.

Perfect, he was distracted, he wouldn't see this one coming. There was no way Shizuo would miss this chance. He raised his weapon, reeling his arm back to throw it, and-

The flea pulled a bag of chocolate chips.

Shizuo's heart jolted at the sight, the delicious taste invading his mind once more. He stumbled over his own feet, fell forward, and lost his grip, the trash can crashing into the ground with loud, violent clanging.

His head spun for a moment as he shook off the dizziness and glanced up from his spot on the ground. However, instead of a smirking maniac, he found the flea staring back at him with wide eyes, just as bewildered as Shizuo was. The trash can on the ground between them, and neither man spoke for a long, torturous second.

Then, all the anger returned to Shizuo at once, colliding with his embarrassment at his mistake. He never stumbled like that before, how the fuck had he managed to make him do that?!

"You stupid bastard!" Shizuo roared at him, pointing accusingly at the informant. "This is all your fault! I hate you so much! You fucking flea! Get the hell away from me!"

Too embarrassed to stick around any longer, Shizuo turned tail and ran away without even attempting to throw the trash can again. With every step he took, he cursed himself over and over again. What am I doing?! That was so stupid! Why am I acting like this?!

All this because of one stupid cookie.