-๑-๑ ஜ ๑- Chapter 38: Sad reality - -๑ ஜ ๑-๑-

Stare hard, the blond woman was glaring at Shizuo still while Kadota and his friends were torn on which side they were supposed to be at.

Izaya wasn't stupid, looking out of the tent he knew already that he had managed quite nicely to make almost everyone there hate him.

Kadota and his friend were probably somewhat neutral, but the way Izaya told Namie about her brother sure left a salty taste. Vorona absolutely hated his guts, just like Celty even though she protected him before Izaya knew quite well how the woman thought of him. She wasn't like Shinra who foolishly kept forgiving him for everything he did- or maybe he was just smarter than he let on and had seen through the raven.

Izaya didn't know which option it was but either of those were acceptable.

And Shizu-chan…

Turning his head the raven glanced at the blond a somewhat uneasy feeling tying his stomach to a knot.

He probably didn't understand what he was doing- yet he kept defending him it seemed- He really wanted to know what was going on inside his head.

Especially now, after- after what he did with the antidote or not antidote.

Hearing the voices and the quarrels Izaya looked at his wrist, the noises blackening out for a moment as he looked at that tiny red spot.

The sign of where he had pierced his skin with the needle.

A hint of nausea assaulted his senses as the crushing reality, of what this tiny spot of red meant, doomed on him.

Images of the creatures, the usual and the fast ones re-appeared before his eyes, all in front Shiki. How he had started to run a fever, how he ran over- how he attacked him. Those white eyes the unnatural movement.

Izaya felt like suffocating.

He already realized it before- he wasn't stupid. At the time he set the needle against his skin he knew he could possibly turn into one of these creatures. He knew.

And yet-

He didn't really face the reality after all.

He ran away, ran away from Shizu-chan, from what he did, maybe it was just fight and flight he didn't know-

Feeling his hand start to shake he quickly stuffed it back into his coat´s pocket.

Calm.

He had to stay calm.

Panicking now was not going to help anyone, not Shizu-chan, nor Shinra or him- and so he slipped out of the tent.

"I don't want to interrupt your lovely conversation but we should get some sort of barrier up." Heads were twisted, the heavy atmosphere broke as the raven was met with an almost unsettling silence.

The group was staring at him, both confusion and anger still being the only emotions aimed towards him.

"Barrier? What for?" Vorona questioned not bothering to take on a friendlier tune as she was still clearly pissed at the raven for how he broke the news to Namie.

Then again that woman might have just hated him long before.

"For the fast zombies? Except you know how to fend them off," Izaya elaborated, and while doing so he already felt odd for having to explain what he meant.

Their lost gazes and the fact that they hadn't thought about putting up a barrier themselves made the raven wonder whether they had not encountered any of these fast creatures yet.

"What are you talking about?" Shinra asked, only proving the raven´s thesis.

"Fast zombies, strength rivaling Shizu-chan's," he explained quickly, summarizing the most important traits of his newest nightmares, "They run around at night and are able to see unlike the other creatures." Horrified gazes started to take over the confusion and anger and the raven saw how Karisawa and Yumasaki turned and glanced around their shoulders as if to expect one of these monsters to attack them this instant. "We met them inside the hospital you left your bloody note in," Izaya added turning towards the doctor in question.

He could spot movement from the corner of his eyes.

Shizu-chan was walking over to Shinra and consequently the raven.

"They almost killed Izaya," he added and for the first time this evening Shinra´s expression grew somewhat stern and serious- so unusual for the chirpy doctor.

"Too bad they didn't succeed," was the only venomous comment Izaya's ears caught from the blond woman that was now heading back to the tent they stored Namie in.

"Anyway, we need some sort of barrier," Izaya announced once more, hoping that the group would at least listen to common sense.

And they did.

At least Celty did as she turned around and called her shadows forth. Judging from her stance she seemed pretty tense, maybe scared, Izaya wouldn't blame her if she were.

And neither could Shizuo.

Watching his good old friend move the shadows up farther and farther forming something like a wall surrounding the tents she had already created and the group of nine he couldn't help but feel at ease. Not quite as much as back at the library but still. These walls were going to protect them at night.

Celty´s shadows in general were going to prove and be more than just a form of protection.

…. he couldn't help but feel his thoughts trail back to when he first saw one of these fast zombies. How it had rushed past him without any hesitation, how it pressed izaya against that tilted wall so hard he almost-

Averting his gaze he looked at the flea that was seemingly inspecting and appreciating the wall just as much as he was.

He knew Izaya wouldn't say it but that wound he sew shut was probably still nowhere near healed. It had been lingering on his mind- even the day before. The way Izaya refrained from taking off his shirt had caught his attention, even if only for a split second.

The bandaids, the stitches hidden underneath them- Shizuo didn't need to be a genius to know that they were nowhere nearly well done.

Moving forward the blond approached the only man that was not hating Izaya at the moment.

"Can you take a look at Izaya?" the words were spoken lowly, yet not too quiet. The surprise on Shinra´s expression and a confused blink was the only initial reaction he served though.

"What?" he asked, adjusting those glasses of his as he glanced at the raven not too far, only to trail back to the blond a second later.

Shizuo knew Izaya, that flea as much as he liked being the center of attention there was no way he would tell anybody about something as important as having had a rib stab his lungs and not having had it fixed properly to save his life.

"He was kinda almost dying," Shizuo started, not quite knowing where to begin, "I had to cut him open because his ribs had cracked and-" Now turning around fully the brunette´s eyes widened before casting one more glance at the raven that he supposedly expected to be dead after what Shizuo told him. "His ribs cracked?" he repeated in disbelief, and Shizuo couldn't blame the doctor for being surprised, after all Izaya was handling himself pretty damn well, not giving away even the slightest hint of something being wrong.

"Yeah, that's why, you know, can you take a look at him?" but Shizuo didn't even need to wait for the doctors response it seemed as the man already set into motion. His formerly white lab coat now partly covered in dust and dirt moved as he shoved his hands into his pockets and approached the raven.

Izaya had been watching the barrier Celty was creating at the moment certainly not paying attention to what was happening behind his back when the doctor touched his shoulder and made the flea spin around with a blink.

Shizuo couldn't really see what Shinra´s expression looked like since he had his back turned towards him, but he was able to izaya's and judging from the glance the flea cast towards the blond upon hearing what the doctor had to say Shizuo figured he was really asking him directly about the wound.

It seemed Izaya was trying to worm him way out of this one as one of his sneaky smiles decorated his expression, but SHinra knew Izaya way too long to not be able and see past it. it was just a matter of a minute, maybe two, until the raven followed the brunette into one of the tents Celty had created beforehand.

Moving himself the blond made his way over to the very same tent, seeing how everyone was still busy watching the barrier get built and unloading and unpacking the boxes.

"I'm fine." That was the first exasperated sigh that reached Shizuo´s ears as he stepped into the tent. Izaya had sat down on one of the boxes and Shinra was towering in front of him, arms crossed and expression stern, yet filled with that teasing smile he always wore.

"Strip," Shinra said and it didn't sound as if it were the first time he ordered the flea to do that.

Rolling his eyes the raven glanced at Shizuo before shrugging once more.

"I can breathe, I don't have a fewer, it's fine really," but Shinra wasn't taking that bullshit obviously.

"Show me, Izaya." A moment of silence followed, and for a second Shizuo thought the flea was going to protest even further- but no. Instead he sighed.

"You are not giving up are you?" he mumbled, finally reaching down to the hem of his shirt and tugged it upwards.

"Not really, no," Shinra agreed, adjusting his glasses as Izaya started to unwrap the band aids that were covering his skinny frame. The initial white had been chased away by red and a colour that was slightly too dark for Shizuo´s taste. Preparing himself for what he was going to see Shizuo realized the wound might as well have gotten much worse while izaya had been shutting up and not saying a thing.

But then the last layer came off, and even though the wound looked nowhere nearly as nice as Shizuo wanted it too, it also didn't look as worse as he had feared. The threads pierced the skin in a disarranged manner and redness was surrounding the wound in a way that sparked Shizuo´s fear of the wound having gotten inflamed.

It wasn't the worst he had expected, but it also wasn't looking good.

"See? It's alright," Izaya just said, trying to brush the two off, but he clearly also knew that his wound didn't really looked that okay at all.

"If you call this alright I might need to check your brain as well," Shinra scolded the raven, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Lifting an eyebrow at the doctor Izaya snorted.

"Earlier? Like five minutes before would have changed something?" Certainly. Seemingly noticing his own mistake the doctor blinked for a moment before sighing. To be honest Shizuo couldn't help but feel a hint of nostalgia hit him as he watched the scene in front of him display.

Seeing how the brunette was scolding the raven for not showing up naturally he didn't need to be a genius to know that he had done so in the past on a regular basis, and now, even in the midst of this zombie apocalypse he was still automatically doing the very same.

"Okay, so it looks a bit gross but still," Izaya started again trying to distract from the fact that they two should indeed be worried for the flea.

"Lay down." Shinra ordered instead while grabbing a suitcase from the left- Shizuo hadn't even noticed it had been there before but now he recognized it as the first aid kit he always carried with him.

"What, gonna cut me open?" Izaya questioned, using the two boxes as his new makeshift bed and let his eyes slip close. He almost seemed as if he were just going to relax for a while.

"I have to remove the wires, Shizuo meant well but like this there is no way this is going to heal properly, the opposite there is a high risk the wound infects itself," Shinra explained, his words functioning as a warning it seemed as he was hesitating to pull at the strings still.

"I will survive," Izaya shrugged, seemingly not scared of having the strings pulled from his still not entirely healed wound. Softly, yet not all too gentle from what Shizuo could tell, Shinra started to get rid of the unnecessary bindings.

To be honest he felt a hint of guilt when Izaya's brows furrowed for a moment. Because… wasn't it because of his shitty job that he was suffering again now?

Izaya was obviously trying his best to not let anyone notice that he was hurting but by now Shizuo knew the flea far too well. Just the fact that he had stopped to ramble about random bullshit and had ran out of teases was enough for the blond to know that he was trying to contain himself.

At least the doctor didn't take too long. With a satisfied grin on his expression he pulled the last from Izaya's skin.

Blood had started to come heather from underneath the skin in the places where the strings had been, but Shinra didn't seem to worried about that.

"Usually I would just leave the wound as it is now since it has already partly healed, but judging how you will probably have to run at some point I will add a set of strings to keep the wound from opening again by chance," he announced, causing the blond´s brows to furrow.

"Wait, aren't you going to check whether I fixed his rib properly?" Shizuo questioned- he didn't really know what he had expected Shinra to do, maybe cut the flea open once more and look? No then again that was a stupid idea- but just pulling those strings was too less for him as well.

"You did this three days ago, yes? Seeing how Izaya is still very much alive and breathing you did a good job Shizuo, trust me if there was anything odd Izaya would be dead by now," the brunette announced while a small hiss escaped Izaya's lips. He was setting five more stitches in the bloodiest spots- it looked gruesome to say the least, almost as if he wee torturing Izaya on purpose, but of course that's not what it was.

"Good, you better stay here for now, at least a while until the bleeding stops," Shinra announced after he was done, now wrapping a few layers of the white fabric that was band aid around the raven´s chest once more.

"Kay doctor," Izaya hummed lazily, "What if Namie comes to kill me though?" Grinning the doctor shrugged, "I guess Shizuo will have to prevent her from doing that," and with that he left the tent.

Silence hovered in the air once more. A slow glance was thrown towards the blond. Taking a few steps ahead the blond approached the flea. A creaking noise interrupted the quietness of the scene as the blond dragged another box over to sit down on it next to the flea.

He was itching to smoke one of the cigarettes Izaya had gotten him.

"I did a shit job after all, huh?" he started slowly, not quite able to erase the picture of the wound he saw a moment ago from his mind yet.

Instead of giving him an answer Izaya seemed more inclined to ask the blond a question of his own instead it seemed.

"Are you mad?"

…

Shizuo didn't need to be a genius to know what the raven was talking about. Before. Namie, how she tried to shoot him because of what he had said- it was quite obvious.

The question though-

"Yeah I am." The raven seemed surprised by his answer, his eyes widening just a bit as he swallowed hard.

The poker face he always wore was basically nonexistent to the blond. What did he expect? Izaya knew Shizu-chan was going to hate him for what he did. A soft laugh dropped from his lips as he hummed.

"Well, I guess you would be." Being this heartless there was no other option. And yet the blond surprised him just again within one more second.

"I'm not mad at you for making that woman cry." Directing his eyes that Izaya didn't realize he had averted he looked at the blond sitting next to him.

His expression was stern, almost angry, and yet there was still this hint of care lingering in his eyes. Izaya didn't get it-

"... enlighten me, why are you mad then?"

to be continued~

Hey people! I am alive x'D And I set a pretty shitty new record of not updating urgh. I'm so sorry people T^T

A lot of things were happening at once, me getting operated, then almost getting blood poisoning cuz doctors like to fuck me up apparently, on to moving into my new apartment and having a really important exam x'D

It's only today that i could finally actually settle down and write in peace again for the first time in like two months x'D Ahhh how I missed my Shizaya omg- And my book was on hold too lmao xD

Anyway~! I have no fully returned and I am very confident that I can update very regular and punctual from now on C: my new apartment is amazing xD way closer to my university and I have more free time than ever in my life so far x'D

Well then with that being said- the next sotd update WILL be out on September the 30th 2018 C: big promise 3 xD I love you guys for not dropping me and my stories btw- I received so many messages asking whether I'm fine and stuff- aw my gawd, my heart x'D I got mini heart attacks of cuteness each time xD you are all so sweet to me omg

I love you all C:

Well then see you in the next update~! C:

unknown: xD haha well let´s just say the gang will soon notice something is going on thre between Shizuo and izaya C: oh and you were quite close with your guess btw~! about Izaya´s motives of why he broke the news to namie like that I mean C:

duhllahan: xD haha I know I wrote Vorona that way on purpose C: after all a lot of time has passed and a few things changed C: and well there will be a small flashback later on anyway that will show what has happened to the group so far C:

Guest 2: Shizuo is protecting his lovely flea hehe, na seriously though we know Izaya in this story way too well by now to know he doesn´t do shit without any sort of reason behind it xD ohoho and of course you are just as perceptive as always xD yes someone might have a smoll little crush on someone here~ xD