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Chapter 17: Doting Shizuo

-Izaya´s point of view-

Urgh- he felt hot.

Like a piece of meat that was getting roasted in an oven. Sighing the raven moved his numb limbs, trying to push the blanket off him, his eyes opening just a bit.

A hand found its way to his forehead as he tried to sit up. Crap, he was feeling so dizzy... the whole room seemed to sway in front of his eyes.

He closed them for a second a slight frown decorating his expression as he tried to adjust to his surroundings.

It was oddly quiet in his room.

Feeling a headache approach he opened his eyes once more, glancing around his room- turning his head the raven searched for a certain protozoan.

…. He- he had been here before right? He had been pretty sure Shizu-chan had visited him to bring him his stuff or something- and then...

Only blurry he remembered how he got back to his bed. But oddly there was no trace of the brute left now- did he dream after all? Swallowing drily the raven cringed.

His throat felt like a desert.

Twisting his upper body he pulled the covers off his body, he really craved for some cool and cold liquid sliding down his burning throat- if just his body would work accordingly-

Feeling another wave of dizziness overwhelm his mind the raven let himself slump back into the bed.

Honestly, he was feeling like shit.

It was only then that he noticed a piece of paper on his nightstand. Or rather- a sort of paper plane that was standing up, some not so neatly written words on it.

Focusing his eyes the raven leaned on his elbow to read the words.

Don´t get up flea. I will be back in a bit.

Ah- so he wasn´t crazy, Shizu-chan had been here after all. There was no one else in this household that had such a crappy handwriting or called him flea-

As if on cue a strange noise reached his ears, coming from the apartment´s entrance as far as Izaya could pinpoint it. Rustling was to be heard of someone who was undressing and hurried but steady steps approached his room.

The raven snapped his head towards the door, regretting the movement instantly as his surrounding started to sway again. At least he didn´t get nauseous from this kind of thing-

A blond mob of hair entered the scene, carrying something like a small plastic bag with him. His glance wandered straight to the flea´s bed noticing that he was staring right back at him.

"Ah, sorry did I wake you?" he asked, quickly closing the door to Izaya's room again. He had just been gone for a couple minutes- when he left the flea had still been sleeping peacefully. Now he didn´t look quite as relaxed anymore- his eyebrows were knitted into a frown and he had pushed the blankets aside, his eyes looked even glassier than before if he had to compare. He wasn´t even too sure if the raven had registered his question in the first place.

Putting the little bag onto the nightstand he reached out for the flea affirming his suspicions.

The raven´s frown ceased only the slightest bit when the fairly cool palm met his forehead again.

"Shit I think your fever went up even more," he heard the blond mumble, Izaya couldn´t really care less now though as long as Shizu-chan didn´t take that wonderful hand away.

"Would explain why I feel like crap," he uttered quietly, letting his eyes slip shut again. He almost whined when the cool hand slipped off his forehead and an odd rustling sound reached his ears instead.

Unwillingly he opened his eyes again, seeing the blond pull a little white package out of the plastic bag.

"What´s that?"

"Medicine. I thought you could use some." Opening the little package Shizu-chan pulled out a brown glass bottle, a piece of paper sliding along with it and dropping to the ground.

"Heh, pretty smart for a protozoan," the raven commented, now reaching with his own hand for his forehead- it wasn´t near where cool enough to bring him the same comfort Shizuo´s hand did.

"Well you aren´t going to get better on your own." Shizuo mumbled, while picking up the description of the medicine. Unfolding it, the piece of paper got larger and larger and the blond frowned a bit at the innocent sheet of paper. "The hell- where do I read how much I´m supposed to give you?" The description was annoying him before he even started to read it already.

A soft chuckle reached his ears and the raven reached out for him.

"Hand it to me, I know where to look." Handing over the piece of paper the blond shifted his attention to Izaya´s blanket instead, pulling it up to cover the raven again. Izaya groaned displeased by the action, eyeing the blond with a frown, the glare was entirely ignored though as the blond proceeded.

"Why did you take off the blanket?" he asked instead, making the raven sigh.

"Because I feel like I´m going to roast in here," was the short answer he gave as he tried to focus on the text he was reading. Somehow he kept re-reading some sentences, noticing that he couldn´t remember the beginning of them and they started to not make any sense anymore- seriously being sick and unfocused like that sucked. It was when he finally stumbled across some numbers that he realized this part was telling about the dosing.

"It says I just need one spoonful," he found himself mumbling and the blond leaned over to look at the part he was reading, just to check if he was right. Now that Izaya pointed it out though the blond could easily spot this certain part as well.

He took a little plastic spoon that was included in the little package and poured the oddly brown liquid onto it, filling it up till the 2,5ml mark. Shizuo had never been fond of medicines, especially since they tasted gross and bitter most of the time, and the way this poured out of the bottle with the consistency of snail slime only made him shudder more in disgust.

The poor flea, couldn´t those pharmacists at least make their medics look like they tasted good?

"There you go," he mumbled, holding out the odd spoon.

Izaya blinked for a second, seeing the spoon being held out in front of his mouth.

Ah, this was sort of weird-

To Shizuo´s great surprise Izaya didn´t even seem to mind the way this shit looked as he just swallowed down the gross liquid. The blond found himself swallowing drily as he imagined how this shit had to taste-

The raven snorted, having caught the blond´s grossed out expression. Somehow this was oddly fun- it wasn´t like Izaya minded the taste of medicine but for a sweet tooth like Shizu-chan was they had to be horrifying.

Having the blond sit here on his bed acting all doting and trying his best to take care of him, Izaya almost found himself thinking that it wasn't so bad to be sick after all.

Putting the spoon away and placing the glass bottle back into the package the blond glanced at the flea who was still watching him. Somehow he was getting oddly fidget at the stare.

"What? Do I have something on my face?", he asked, putting the package away. The raven shook his head just the slightest bit as a smile crossed his expression.

"Nah, this situation is just so surreal kinda- I´m wondering if I´m not dreaming after all."

Dreaming, huh?

Rubbing his neck awkwardly the blond glanced away. He did have a point there, this situation most certainly wasn´t anything he would have seen coming a week ago. Much less would he have thought he could change his mind to this degree about the flea...

Glancing back he had let his eyes slip shut again, the soft frown still interrupting his peaceful expression. Reaching out for the nightstand he picked up the towel and dunked it into the cold water.

He swore he heard Izaya purr when he placed the thing back onto his forehead. Well at least his expression relaxed.

It was odd after all for him to take care of the flea like this, wasn´t it?

...

"Ne, Izaya-" it was then that a sudden ringing noise startled the two of them. They looked at each other before Shizuo quickly got up heading for the door.

He didn´t even get to open the entrance, however, as the sound of a key opening the lock was being heard and the door was opened by itself instead.

"Iza-nii, we are home~!" Two little girls, probably no more than six or seven barged into the entrance, smiling and laughing, throwing their bags into the corner. One had a tad shorter hair while the other was wearing a long braid and glasses. They were wearing what Shizuo suspected to be elementary school uniforms.

Their eyes went wide though when they spotted Shizuo instead of their older brother-

One of the two took an instant step back while the other did the opposite, a glare settling on her face immediately.

"Who are you?" the girl with the braid questioned, the little sister hiding behind her.

"Scary man," was the only thing she mumbled- as the blond realized that the two were Izaya's sisters-

"Huh- no I'm not scary, I´m just-"

"Where is Iza-nii?!" one girl cried, not even letting him end his sentence as they glanced around, the bolder one looking angry while the other just looked at him scared.

"No no, I´m not a scary man, Izaya is here-"

"Iza-nii...?" The other girl´s eyes went wide, glassy-

Oh SHIT- she looked like she was about to cry-!

"Mairu, Kururi-" the savior´s voice reached the three of them, causing the siblings expression to light up again as they ran past Shizuo- Honestly, Shizuo had never felt more relieved to hear the flea´s voice-

Following the two he went back to Izaya´s room- the two girls were already sitting on the bed agitated talking about the blond and pointing towards him as he entered the room.

"Iza-nii, who is the bad guy?" the bespectacled one asked-

"Bad guy." The other repeated, nodding as she glanced at Shizuo.

He wasn´t a bad guy for fucks sake! But the raven didn´t even say anything and just laughed at the questions.

"That´s Shizu-chan," he chuckled, making the two not look any more friendly at him though.

"I´m not a bad guy, I go to school with Izaya," the blond tried, smiling to not look scary as they put it, apparently they already knew who he was though-

"Ah, you are the one that always chases our brother and throw things at him!" the girl complained loudly, the other nodding and hugging her brother protective.

Ah-

"Meanie," she murmured with an reproachful glance as if he had just murdered an innocent kitten-

That-!

"That- but-" he couldn´t actually say no to that could he?!

What the hell was he even supposed to say to that?!

Yes, because your brother behaved like an ass?!

The flea was close to no help at all there as he just laughed his ass of at the scene playing out in front of him. The siblings were still glaring at him so he chose to glare at the flea.

"You sure think that´s funny." The raven chuckled some more, nodding before he pat his little sister on the head.

"Today he took care of me today Mairu, he is a nice guy, not a meanie." The girl pouted a bit, crossing her arms as she scanned the blond once more.

"Took care? Really? He didn´t hit you?"

What the fuck- he wouldn´t start attacking Izaya when he was sick, what the hell did they flea tell his siblings?!

"Nope, he just tugged me into bed and gave me medicine." It was at that moment that a by now familiar sound of keys clattering against the entrance lock reached the blond´s ears once more.

With a groan Shizuo wondered who was going to arrive here now-

The little kids seemed to know though as they jumped out of Izaya´s bed, running straight for the entrance.

"Mommy~!" they laughed together, attacking the woman with a hug that just entered the room.

"Hello my dear little angels," she chuckled, giving each of them a kiss on the cheek. "Have you been good girls while I was gone?" They nodded, laughing as the mother tickled them by trailing her fingers along their neck.

So this was Izaya´s mother? He didn´t expect her to seem so… nice. Then again the flea was actually nicer than he had thought as well.

Glancing up the woman finally noticed him standing in the corridor.

"Ah, who are you?" she asked, the siblings immediately briefing her-

"Meanie!" the quiet one stated, frowning serious.

"No Izaya said Shizu-chan isn´t a meanie." The other scolded her quickly.

And the mother just tilted her head a bit confused.

"Shizu... chan?" that stupid flea for giving him this stupid nickname- Embarassed he had to explain now why they called him Shizu-chan he quickly spoke up.

"I-Izaya came up with that name- I´m Heiwajima Shizuo I just brought him his homework and stuff." One day he would fucking murder that stupid flea after all-

Just not today.

"Iza-nii said he took care of him." The glasses wearing girl spoke up, causing the woman to relax.

"Oh, you did? Sorry for the trouble," she smiled, taking off her coat and shoes as she stepped into her home. "Are you his friend?"

"Ah, yes," the blond mumbled- this was seriously too damn awkward.

"But shouldn´t you head home now? It´s getting dark, I bet your parents are worried about you." Oh-

Oh shit she was right, he didn´t tell them he would be late-!

"Judging from your face I guess I´m right arent I?" she laughed and for a second there she really reminded him of the flea a bit- "You should head home before they start searching for you." Nodding quickly the blond smiled guilty.

"Yeah, I should really head home after all-" Quickly glancing into the room he looked at the flea who was still watching him from his bed with that grin of his.

"Uh... see you at school, I guess." He mumbled quickly only waving at the flea as he hurried to the entrance, knowing pretty well that flea probably had already figured out how awkward he was feeling with his entire family-

Izaya chuckled all on his own as he listened to the door open and close. Food steps approached the room, it was his mother that came in now.

Somehow Izaya found himself thinking he wouldn´t have minded if Shizuo stayed some more.

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of his bed just like Shizu-chan had done making the matress shift just slightly.

"I´m fine, no worries." The raven smiled, giving his best to sound convincing, but of course his mum wasn´t up to believe that. She rose an eyebrow at him, in disbelieve.

"Fine, huh? Want me to take your temperature to see how fine you are?" she asked, making Izaya pout as she just chuckled. She took the towel that was resting on his forehead off to cool it once more. Upon dunking the piece of cloth into the water she blinked, "Ah, isn´t this my cooking bowl…?"

"Shizu-chan didn´t find anything else-" Izaya laughed softly causing the woman to giggle as well.

"This Shizu-chan seemed like a straight forward, honest boy. Not sneaky like you," she smiled, placing the cool towel back on Izaya´s forehead.

"Yeah, he surprised me in the afternoon. I think I kinda passed out on him or something." A worried frown crossed the woman´s expression as she heard that.

"Why didn´t you call your father? I told you he could stay home to take care of you." Ahh, Izaya knew she was only worried about him- but what a dreadful question.

"No, I didn´t want to bug him when he is working," the raven lied, having his father at home when he was sick already was definitely the last thing he needed. The woman´s frown eased although she sighed at the raven´s words.

"Such a mature son. But still, when you are sick you shouldn´t worry about burdening others so much." The raven blinked when a fingertip poked his nose in a playful manner.

At that moment the two girls barged back into the room, squealing as they jumped into Izaya´s bed. He bet they had played who was going to be in his room first.

"Is Iza-nii still sick?" Mairu asked their mother, switching between looking at her and her older brother.

"Yes Mairu, so you two gotta be good siblings and be quiet so he can sleep." She whispered, placing her finger on her lips as she winked at the two.

"Okay," Mairu whispered back, giggling beneath her hand and Kururi just drew her fingers across her closed lips as if she were zipping them shut.

The woman chuckled, getting up as she pushed the two out of the room.

"I will get you something to eat later, now just rest some more, okay?" she whispered before turning off the light and closing the door.

Silence being the only thing that filled the room again the raven rolled on his side, just for a second he thought about this interesting da. Shizu-chan coming over, taking care of him, yeah this was a really interesting day alright-

But it wasn´t long he could think about this day because his eyes slipped shut sooner then he imagined.

And after a few mintues he was tight asleep.

To be continued~

Daww, so ... apart from the dickhead father Izaya actually has a nice family, doesn´t he? C: Kawaii little sisters~ xD

Hehe, be happy Minna-san~! Izaya is gonna appear next chapter again C;

Guest 2: xDDD Ahaha that´s true, Shinra and his big mouth C': xD well he made it possible, that's true xD dawww yes C': it really did touch izaya xD even if he didn´t want to admit it C': oh also thank you for that age calculation xD now I know how old these two are xD ahahah oh gosh yes xD He really did realize that Izaya is attractive C': and of course he loves him hehe but pshhh xD

Also important info, you may have noticed, or maybe you didn´t, but my updating schedule is being changed xD just slightly though C:

Instead of SUNDAYS on which I update really late only always anyway, I will be updating my stories on MONDAYS from now on C: I just realized this fits way better with everything else I gotta do like studying and shit, and as said I end up posting only Monday so often anyway, it´s not even really a change xDD

And hey, that way the hated Monday has something good to it, no? xDDD

So anyway, just leaving this info here so you aren´t waiting each Sunday and wonder why there are no updates C':

Well then, with that being said, see you on MONDAY the 19th~!

On a tiny lil side note- I got nerve inflammation again ;-; fuck my life I swear- I will try to be on time this Monday though 3