Fraternising With the Enemy
Disclaimer: Durarara isn't mine.
"Hurry it up Flea!" Shizuo was standing just outside the front door of his flat, sucking on a cigarette and tapping his foot on the ground. He just wanted to get going already.
"I'm coming!" Izaya's voice echoed from back inside the building and he sighed.
"You said that five minutes ago!" We sound like a fucking married couple. They were starting to act like one anyway, with the way they helped each other in the kitchen and Izaya massaged his shoulders. And now they were going out for lunch like a normal domestic pair. It was almost sickening with how simple it was.
"I couldn't find the right shoes." Izaya finally appeared carrying one of his many pairs of plain, black shoes.
"They look the same as all the others."
"These aren't as scuffed."
"We need to get down there so we avoid the lunch rush!"
"Yes, sorry!"
We really are like a couple. Shizuo had never had any kind of relationship last long enough to progress to the moving in stage but he assumed this is very much what it would be like. It was… comfortable. He kind of liked having someone to come home to and someone to talk to whilst watching TV. There had been no one like that since he'd been in high school and still living at home.
And he was a lot less on edge about walking next to Izaya. The pair seemed pretty comfortable to be near each other nowadays and he had stopped paying attention to any kind of scrutiny they received from passers-by too.
"So where are we going?"
"Russian Sushi. We've… been there a lot of times." More specifically, Simon had dragged them there and forced them to eat after one of their brawls a lot of times but that still counted. Those guys were nice enough.
"Ah. It's not ringing any bells but I'm sure I'll like it."
"You used to I think? One of the guys who works there used to split us up when we fought and try to get us to eat together. He said we should be friends." Shizuo smirked a little and he saw Izaya smiling.
"I'm sure he'll be pleased then?"
"Simon? Definitely. He still splits us up when we fight sometimes."
"He must be strong."
"Very." It was almost irritating how strong Simon was. But sometimes Shizuo appreciated that he stopped him from harming innocent people. "He's kind though."
"It'll be nice to meet him? Kind of."
"I bet he already knows. Someone will have told him."
"Yeah… At least it sounds a safe place to go." Considering it was run by the Russian mafia it was one of the safer places to eat but Shizuo wasn't going to point this out. He was sure Izaya would realise this soon enough.
They'd left the house early enough that as they reached central Ikebukuro, the majority of lunching office workers were still stuck in their jobs and so the true rush hadn't yet begun. This, coupled with the fact that Simon tended to intimidate people who were a little nervous, meant that the restaurant was pretty much empty when they reached it.
As usual Simon himself was stood outside, passing out flyers and greeting people in his slow voice. When he spotted Shizuo and Izaya together, he paused, before giving them his usual grin.
"Ah Shizuo, Izaya, welcome."
"Hey Simon. You probably already know the Flea can't remember anything."
"Hmm…" Simon, in spite of his slow seeming actions, seemed to have quite a quick mind judging from the way that he looked at Izaya. And then he started to speak something that Shizuo recognised to be Russian.
This was about normal he supposed, but what confused him was that Izaya, in halting and very confused speech, responded in the same language. Now he had known that Izaya could speak other languages since it was involved in whatever weird job he had, but he was surprised that he could still remember how to speak the aforementioned language.
He didn't know what was being said since he was useless at even Japanese sometimes but he could tell that Simon was saying something serious. Especially as Izaya looked nervous, stumbling over words and getting a little flustered. After everything he said, Simon surveyed him for a while, taking in his response and thinking it through before he said anything else. Possibly he was questioning Izaya over something; if he were Simon, he would also be suspicious that this was some kind of act.
The conversation went on for some minutes before Simon, after a brief pause, smiled and continued speaking in his easy-going Japanese.
"Come in. Can get you good seats. Very good. Good deal on sushi."
"Thanks Simon."
"Thanks…" Izaya seemed somewhat bemused after this. As they passed into the building and away from Simon, he sighed. "I can speak Russian then?"
"I guess so… What did he say?"
"Questions mainly…"
"Huh." He didn't bother to ask about everything since Izaya obviously didn't want to talk about it. It seemed things had changed more than he'd realised; before he would have questioned him closely.
The pair of them sat at a small table in one of the corners, where Simon brought them over a couple of plates of sushi. Shizuo had his usual but on Izaya's plate he noticed a few pieces of (very expensive) toro.
"Why have you got that expensive shit flea?"
"No idea…" He started picking at it, eagerly cramming it into his mouth when he got a taste for it. "This is so good!"
"I guess?" He was mostly indifferent to it but he guessed Simon had known what Izaya usually ordered.
"Try some." He held out a small piece with his chopsticks just in front of Shizuo's mouth.
"What are you doing?" Holding out food to someone's mouth was something only a parent or partner would do, and he wasn't sure he liked either.
"I'm giving you some food? Say Ah." He was smiling, no cruel glint in his eyes just amusement. After a little hesitation, Shizuo opened his mouth and allowed Izaya to place the small piece of fish on his tongue. "What do you think?"
"It's… OK I guess?" It was only tuna, something he wasn't overly worried about. But he was feeling especially uncomfortable. His clothes felt way too much and way too hot. He was kind of tempted to take off his bowtie since it was almost strangling him; strange since it didn't normally.
"I love it." Izaya polished off the last of the tuna with a satisfied hum before he really got a good look at what Shizuo was doing. "Something wrong?"
"No! Just… It's hot in here!" He started undoing his waistcoat. Normally he was quite happy wearing it but today it was too much on top of the dress shirt so off it came.
"I guess it's quite warm?" The flea just looked confused about this behaviour but he didn't question it. Shizuo wasn't entirely sure what was going on himself if he was honest.
The food, even though it was infamous for using odd ingredients, tasted as good as it always did and Shizuo did enjoy that, even if he was odd. Maybe he had a fever? This had happened to him before. His stupid amount of resilience meant that he tended to walk around with a high fever for a couple of days before he suddenly realised that something was wrong and that he should probably take some kind of medicine. He attempted to test his own temperature with the back of his hand, but it was somewhat hard to compare.
"You OK?" Izaya was watching him carefully. "You're not feeling unwell right?"
"I don't know…" That had to be it. There would be nothing else that would have caused the weird temperature changes.
"You're ill?" And now concern.
"Shizuo is ill? It's not the food right?" Simon had heard that someone was unwell in this restaurant and had come rushing over to check it wasn't food poisoning.
"It looks more like a fever."
"I'm probably fine."
"Oh?" And suddenly there was a Simon in his face.
"What are you doing?!" This had not been what he'd expected, and when the man pushed his forehead against Shizuo's, he froze.
"Quite hot."
"So it is a fever?"
"Could be…" Simon and Izaya were surveying him carefully.
"I'm fine, I'm just a little hot!" And being watched was making him hotter.
"But you should be careful with your health. Maybe we should take you home…"
"I'll be fine!" Unfortunately, as this was followed by him reaching out and knocking his glass of water all over the place, it didn't seem quite genuine.
"Lack of co-ordination is a bad sign Shizuo."
"…Just shut up." What is wrong with me?
-Page Break-
"I said I was fine!" Shizuo was protesting but Izaya was still dragging him along a little by the arm.
"But I don't want you to feel unwell!"
Shizuo wasn't exactly always perfect but he seemed somewhat strange and so Izaya had grown concerned. He'd kind of ended up dragging him towards their home, with some help from Simon who had carried Shizuo out of Russian Sushi insisting that 'Rest is good'.
Izaya wasn't sure what he thought of Simon. The guy clearly cared for Shizuo since he had seemed concerned but the way he had looked over Izaya… He was no normal sushi chef that was for sure. Generally anyone who associated with his blonde haired friend could be considered to be far from average on the spectrum of normality so he knew something was different.
And the questioning… He spoke very differently in Russian to the amiable tones he used in Japanese. He'd suspected, as most people did that he had been faking and even when he was somewhat convinced, he still watched him.
I guess that makes me trust him more. Because anyone who was wary of the old him would probably be a decent person. Possibly? He still couldn't remember who he regularly interacted with so it was hard to say.
"You can let go of my arm Flea!" He noticed that Shizuo was still looking quite warm.
"Ah, sorry!" He released him and the pair continued walking normally. "You should get some rest when we get back."
"I will! I think I'm fine though so I don't know why you're worrying."
"It's not really worrying… I just don't want you to overdo it." Tom would be mad at him if he allowed Shizuo to push himself and get ill.
He hadn't shown any sign of illness before and he only seemed to have a slight temperature but the sudden onset had concerned him. He seemed the type to be hit hard by any kind of affliction he had, even if it didn't occur very often.
Shizuo very reluctantly went off to his futon whilst Izaya got on with cleaning up some of the mess they'd left in the morning. This kind of life was strangely peaceful for him and he did like it. He didn't really have to worry about anything in the same way; he didn't remember much and Shizuo looked out for him. And as for that head…. Well, he could forget about it for now. It probably didn't matter.
And living with Shizuo… it wasn't exactly perfect but he couldn't imagine things going any other way. It was almost the only thing he really knew at this point and it didn't feel wrong. Especially as they'd started to get used to each other. He'd felt the intense hate the man had felt towards him before slowly winding down until it had been replaced by an uneasy kind of friendship. It was still fragile but it meant a hell of a lot to him right now.
And I think he likes it too… He seems happy about it… He just hoped that he was making Shizuo feel happier. As he was one of the main issues in the man's life, he figured having him as an ally would improve things.
He's a good person. Even if he has got the anger issues. But he's pretty fun to be around when we're talking… Even if he really pisses me off. The glass in his hand fell and bounced on the carpet and Izaya cursed. Pisses me off?!
The thought had risen up from somewhere; he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from or why he had thought that but it had been there.
But he doesn't piss me off! I like being around him. I mean, I pursue him…. Pursue? He hadn't pursued Shizuo. Had he? What is this? What's going on?
He wasn't sure what was happening but it wasn't pleasant. Something felt very wrong. It'll be fine. Everything will be OK. I just need to stop thinking. Thinking was the only thing that was causing him any kind of problem. Especially as he couldn't work out where some of these thoughts seemed to be coming from. Or maybe, he just didn't want to work it out.