Fraternising With the Enemy

Disclaimer: Durarara isn't mine.

Getting Izaya home had not been very enjoyable. Tom had gone to finish the last job of the evening, leaving the blonde completely alone with the flea. The streets were still busy in spite of it being quite late and Izaya simply stared at his surroundings with an air of befuddlement. Although he could walk, he seemed uneasy on his feet and had to grip the handrail to get to the bottom of the stairs outside the building.

If it had been anyone else, Shizuo would've gone over and helped them. As this was the bane of his existence, he didn't want to do anything. His conscience was not pleased and so was complaining loudly, but he forced it down. The idea of touching Izaya physically repulsed him. Instead he waited for the man to finish.

"Follow me." Clearly he was already doing that but Shizuo didn't have much of a way with words. Not to mention the fact that Izaya seemed to be finding it difficult to process things at the moment and so probably hadn't noticed the repetition.

The eyes were what bothered Shizuo the most. Normally they held a sort of mocking look with undisguised dislike; now they looked at him with a mixture of confusion and fear. For Izaya, this man had attacked him several times and so he was wary of the strange seeming blonde. At the same time, he didn't have a clue who he was, where he was and where he was going. He needed Shizuo and so was attempting to stay as close as possible.

Shizuo did not exactly feel comfortable about having this asshole so close to him and so without thinking, he started speeding up. With the volume of people and the difficulty he was having in keeping his balance, Izaya started to lose sight of him.

"Wait! Shizuo!" Shizuo knew that Shinra had told Izaya his name but hearing it spoken with that voice gave him chills. He did stop and wait though. Izaya was panting from the exertion and without thinking, grabbed the blonde's arm to steady himself. The sudden contact took him by surprise and Shizuo pushed him away.

"Don't touch me!" He knew he was being unfair. The man hadn't been told not to touch him and he was also suffering from brain damage. Shizuo felt like a twat but it was hard to get rid of eight years of deeply ingrained behaviour. Izaya nearly fell over trying to steady himself and was staring at Shizuo with a look of hurt.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled as he stared down at the ground. This demure Izaya was creepy.

"Whatever." Shizuo did not like this at all. Nevertheless, he did slow down so the man had no trouble following him. A few times Izaya walked into his back and it took a lot of self-control to avoid attacking him automatically. It was exhausting.

Shizuo's apartment wasn't exactly huge but was enough space for just him. With a second person it would be a little more uncomfortable. He only had one bedroom which was the main issue but he knew he could find a way around it. Although he didn't lose his temper as much at home, there were still some holes in the wall.

The apartment was made up of a medium sized living room with a small table, a TV and not much else. This opened out into a small kitchen. Through the door at the other side of the room was a short hallway with a toilet/bathroom on one side and the bedroom on the other. He could've afforded something a little better, but he was satisfied with what he had.

Izaya gazed around the room with some curiosity but mostly he was too exhausted to really pay attention. All he wanted to do was sleep but he was afraid to ask. The blonde was still pretty tense. Shizuo knew that Izaya lived in a large apartment in Shinjuku (as was typical of the showy bastard) and he glanced back to see what the flea's reaction would be. The man was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Ba-." He just managed to stop himself from insulting him. "Izaya." The wine coloured eyes met his. "Come with me."

Having that blank face looking at him creeped him out. Shizuo looked away and marched awkwardly into his bedroom, very aware of the figure stumbling down the hallway behind him. His room wasn't exactly messy but he had left a few empty cups in there and the futon was crumpled up. After pulling an old shirt out of the top drawer, he handed it to Izaya who cautiously took it.

"Sleep there, wear that." And he left him alone. There was a blanket he kept in the front room for emergencies so he could sleep under that. The place was a sauna since it was on the third floor. Sleeping knowing the hateful flea was only in the other room would be difficult but he would manage.

He stuck the TV on and sat on the ground, sighing as he did. This was a massive pain in the ass. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cigarette packet. He only had two left. Even better. With a frustrated growl, he stood up and stalked out of the front door. There was a twenty-four hour convenience store down the road and he needed his nicotine fix. Stress made him crave it more.

Several cigarette packets and a few pudding cups acquired, he wondered down the street with a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. Binge-smoking and binge-eating. Not a good idea but he needed it. He was comfort eating.

Back at his apartment, he had only just taken off his shoes when Izaya put his head around the door. He looked hesitant and Shizuo just stared at him. Stared for so long the cigarette in his mouth burned to the end and he dropped it with a curse.

"Um… Shizuo?"

"What?" He didn't want to snap at him but his voice still came out as harsher than he had originally intended. So much so that Izaya stepped back a little. "What do you want?" He softened his voice a little.

"Can you help me?" He didn't look happy to be asking Shizuo.

"With what?" He'd hoped that this was over for the night.

"I can't get my shirt off." Shizuo just stared. Izaya opened the door more and stepped out to show that he was still wearing his own shirt.

"Why?"

"My shoulder."

"Oh." He had hit it pretty hard so it was no surprise that his mobility would be affected. It suited that he would be the one to help him since it was his fault. "Ok…"

Back in the bedroom, he could see that Izaya had flattened out the futon and folded his jacket up on the side. He was staring awkwardly at the blonde. Considering how talkative he normally was, it was unsettling. Izaya considered the blonde to be a complete stranger and so it was hard for him to talk easily. Shizuo pulled his shirt up and over his head, sliding it off of his arms. Izaya's left shoulder was covered in a large purple bruise and his upper torso was covered in scars. Combined with the black eye also forming on the left of his face, he looked pretty terrible. Most of these old scars were likely caused by him and he ended up staring for longer than he should've done.

"…Is that ok?"

"Would you mind putting the other shirt on?" Izaya noticed the annoyance and quickly added a "please."

"Sure…" He didn't like the way the man was looking at him; with a particularly curious, partially wary look. Izaya obediently held his arms out when Shizuo picked up the shirt. Once this was done he stepped back. "…Good night."

"Night…." He almost ran out of the room.

-Page Break-

Shizuo didn't have a good sleep that night. The floor was harder than he thought and he kept thinking about the Orihara in the other room. In the end, he got up at six in the morning and quickly changed his clothes. Izaya was so deeply asleep he didn't notice the blonde moving in and out of the room. The flea was bundled up under the sheet of the futon and barely moved at all.

Before he left, he made sure to leave a glass of water and a few bits of toast on a plate on the table. If he was leaving for most of the day, he should leave him some food after all. For a moment he considered waking the man up to check he hadn't gotten worse (you could get serious damage from a knock to the head) but he stopped. It was Izaya, not a normal person. So he left to meet Tom.

"How's the new roommate?" Was the first thing he was asked by Tom who had a bit of a smile on his face. Shizuo just scowled. Tom was the closest thing he had to a best friend so he didn't get really angry with him like he did with others.

"I don't know. Still asleep probably."

"Did you leave him anything?"

"If you mean food, then yes." He lit up a cigarette. Just thinking about Izaya was stressing him out.

"How kind you are." Tom flicked through the messages on his phone. "I've got the first address on here."

"Let's go then."

Shizuo was worse than usual today. He was sleep-deprived and in a thoroughly bad mood from his enforced Izaya exposure so he was snapping more easily than he would have done on a normal day. Some of Tom's clients tried to feed him bullshit sob stories that really wound him up. Often he lost it at these people, but today he was punching then without even attempting to talk to them first. Tom just sighed and walked away from the carnage.

"You're pretty high strung today," was what he said to Shizuo whilst sitting opposite him in the restaurant. They were eating parfaits, Shizuo getting several since he was in such a foul mood.

"Sorry Tom…" And as usual he was in the pit of depression over losing it too much. Shizuo hated causing problems for his boss.

"Don't worry about it; I know how much those guys bother you."

"I know… Sorry, I just can't handle things today."

"Maybe you should just go home?" Tom wouldn't get as much done without his bodyguard but he didn't want Shizuo getting into one of his cycles of depression again.

"No." He slammed down his coffee cup a little too hard, smashing it onto the table. "…Sorry."

"…Take the afternoon off. Go for a walk or something; clear your head."

"If you'll be ok?"

"I'll be fine. Just sort yourself out." Tom did care about the blonde after all. The guy didn't deserve all of the bullshit he got.

"Ok… Thanks Tom."

Obviously Shizuo didn't want to go home. The flea would be awake and he couldn't deal with the awkward socialising with the man he hated. Instead, he walked around the streets kind of aimlessly. People weren't bothering him because of his reputation and as the only person who did bother him was currently in his flat, he had a very relaxing afternoon. Even Simon being his usual obtuse self outside of Russian sushi didn't wind him up.

Once he'd spent a few hours enjoying the relative peace and quiet, his brain decided to kindly remind him that he was currently responsible for a mentally ill person and should probably be checking on them.

Good mood ruined, Shizuo slowly made his way home, chain smoking as he went. When he got to the stage where he craved a cigarette whilst smoking one, he knew it was bad. The blonde scowled to himself at this and when he finally got to his apartment his mood was much worse. Really not a good thing since he needed to be as calm as was possible for him right now.

The sitting room and kitchen were both empty but the plate and glass had showed signs of use. The man was still alive then. Shizuo sighed and made his way to the kitchen where he began looking through the fridge. It seemed he had enough for now. Closing the door, he stood up and turned, only to find that Izaya had managed to walk into the sitting room in complete silence and was watching him.

"Don't sneak up on people!" Yelling was a little harsh but he had been startled and the black haired one flinched.

"I'm sorry." Most of his vocabulary at the moment seemed to consist of apologies.

Shizuo made a huffing noise and turned, opening and shutting cupboards around the kitchen. There was nothing that needed doing but it meant he didn't have to look at the man sitting down by his table.

"Shizuo?"

"What?" He could feel the veins on his temple throbbing already.

"Where were you?" Izaya was staring downwards and fiddling with the shirt he'd borrowed.

"You mean today?" It was hard to decide if the awkwardness was better or worse. Having to work out what he was saying was annoying, but still less irritating than having Izaya smirking at him. Izaya nodded in response. "Work."

"Oh… With the other man?"

"If you mean Tom, then yes." Eggs… I could fry some. He grabbed the frying pan and suck it on the stove. More time to avoid going and sitting opposite the psychopath. Shizuo didn't even want to go and get changed in case he was followed. "…You want any eggs?"

"Yes please." The politeness was so out of character that he didn't notice the fat spitting out of the frying pan that he had just started heating. The burning oil hitting his skin left a small burn on it. It seemed that as long as Izaya was like this, he was going to act like a moron.

Once he had finished cooking he dumped one plate in front of Izaya and carried the other to the farthest corner of the room that he dared. Even looking at him was weird so he switched on the TV and tried to focus on that. Although Izaya was silent, he did keep glancing at Shizuo and feeling that gaze was a distraction. After a while he got annoyed.

"Why do you keep looking at me?"

"…Sorry."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I…I wanted to ask some things." He looked hesitant.

"What?" Probably some bullshit to piss me off.

"How old am I?" Shizuo blinked. Apparently he didn't even know that.

"…23." He knew they were the same ago.

"Oh… And do I have a job, or…?"

"You do something involving information. That's all I know." Very vague but he'd never cared enough to ask for anything more.

"…How do we know each other?" He'd been expecting another question about Izaya himself so hearing one involving him was a surprise. The problem was working out how honest to be.

"High school." And after thinking for a moment, he added "we both knew Shinra?"

"Shinra?" The doctor hadn't given his name apparently.

"The doctor from yesterday." Understanding dawned on his face.

"Oh… So what was our relationship? I mean, were we classmates or friends, or something else?" There was an obvious answer.

"We-." He was interrupted by the phone ringing and he gladly took it. "Hello?"

"Hey it's me. Everything ok there?"

"It's fine." Tom really was a good friend.

"Would you be able to help me then? The next guy's kind of tricky."

"Text me an address, I'll meet you there." This was the escape he'd been praying for. He put the phone down. "I have to go."

"Oh… How long-?"

"A while." He grabbed his cigarettes and nearly ran to the door. "Bye."

"See you-." The door slammed shut, blocking out the man inside.