"Shizu-chan...Shizu-chan!"
The blond was shook. He groaned before forcing one eye open. "Wha...?"
"It's time to wake up. You have a meeting at 9, right?"
Shizuo was quiet before he lifted his head. "I had an alarm set for 7:45..."
As if on cue, the alarm started to blare on the nightstand. Izaya reached over and turned it off. Shizuo just groaned before burying his head in the pillow again.
"Come on, get up." The raven shoved him again.
Shizuo groaned again. He grabbed the pillow and put it over his head.
"Up, up!"
Shizuo didn't moved.
Izaya grabbed the blanket and pulled it off. The blond jolted. He reached down to grab it, but it was nowhere in reach.
"Wake up, sleepy."
The blond lifted the pillow enough to glare at the raven, then put it back down.
"Get up!" Izaya rested his weight on Shizuo's shoulders and started pushing on him repeatedly, bouncing him. "Get up! Get up! Get up!"
Shizuo rolled over, which made Izaya roll with him for a moment. Before the raven could escape, Shizuo put his arm around him and shoved him down. Izaya called out in surprise before his face was forced into the bed. The blond didn't let him get up, instead he lied on top of him, putting his pillow over Izaya's shoulders and head so he couldn't get up.
"Hey!" Izaya yelled, muffled. At the same time, he trying to push against Shizuo while kicking his feet. "Let me up!"
"Sssh! Beds don't struggle."
"Stop being dumb!"
"Sssh!"
"Don't shoosh me!"
"Bed's don't talk."
"I'm going to kill you!"
"Bed's don't kill people."
"Yes, they do! Have you never heard those stories of a bed falling off a balcony and crushing people?"
"That's an urban legend thing."
"It certainly happens! What do you mean?!"
"Sssh! No more talking. Bed's don't talk."
"I hate you!"
"Bed's don't talk."
"Let me up!"
"Bed's don't talk."
"The bacon's going to burn, you protozoan!"
That made Shizuo pause. He could certainly smell the bacon cooking. It smelt really good; it would be a shame if it burned. Shizuo grabbed his pillow and rolled over, freeing Izaya. The raven shot up immediately.
"You jerk!" Izaya glowered at him. "I'm doing you a favor by making you breakfast and this is the thanks I get?!"
"Thanks for the food." Shizuo said.
Izaya jolted. He opened his mouth to yell, but nothing came out. He was flabbergasted at the audacity of Shizuo's positive response. The blond found out he was actually really good at getting Izaya flustered. After living with each other for going on nine months, he knew exactly how to get under Izaya's skin.
"You degraded amoeba!" Izaya yelled. "Brain-dead neanderthal!"
Shizuo just chuckled. He inhaled deeply and let out a heavy sigh. He hugged his pillow to his chest as he stretched.
After their reunion, Izaya disappeared. He called his parents, and it was a very emotional moment for his family. Mairu and Kururi—both 25 now—were also surprisingly emotional as they arrived with their husband. One husband. Apparently, Mairu and Kururi decided on a polygamous relationship with a boy named Kuronuma Aoba. Shizuo didn't know him but Izaya did. If he disapproved, he didn't say anything to them or to Shizuo.
Izaya spent the next week at his family home. Shizuo didn't know what he did there, but he was out by the end of the week. His parents wanted him to stay longer, but Izaya insisted on leaving. They even contacted Shizuo to see if he'll convince him to come back. The blond did, of course, but Izaya said he needed to figure out his living situation. He was ten years out of the loop and he apparently had had huge plans before they went to Silent Hill.
The raven was gone for nearly two months. Six weeks went by before Shizuo got to see Izaya again. The entire time, the blond was worried sick. Izaya got a new phone and immediately texted Shizuo, explaining he had things to do and wouldn't be back for a while.
The two argued. Shizuo tried to convince him to go back home and even tried to convince him to let Shizuo come with. Now that the raven was back, the blond was so, so, so, so worried about him! He wanted to protect him. He wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to him. He already lost his legs because Shizuo failed to protect him, who knows what else could happen to him?
However, Izaya refused him there too. He promised he wouldn't do anything dangerous. He just needed to track some people down and find out what happened to certain items he owned. His parents had everything from his apartment, so Shizuo didn't know what Izaya was talking about. The raven refused to elaborate as well.
Nothing Shizuo said would convince Izaya otherwise. So, for six weeks, Izaya was gone. He promised to be attentive to Shizuo's texts, which Shizuo sent regularly. Every chance he could, he had texted Izaya.
It was during that time that Izaya convinced Shizuo to go back to work. The blond had been hesitating on whether he should or not, still scared he'd go too far. But Izaya had calmed his fears effortlessly. The blond was back to bodyguarding Tom by the end of that week.
By the time Izaya returned, the blond was back into the groove of things. The only thing still out of whack was the fact he was staying with Kasuka. He was, of course, still sharing a room with his brother, but most nights, he could sleep well enough. He would usually just text and talk to Izaya until he fell asleep. He didn't get it, but it calmed him enough to sleep.
When the time finally came, Shizuo was so happy to see Izaya again. The two went out for lunch and dinner, spending the whole day together. Izaya caught him up to speed on what was going on and he was doing. He admitted to having Celty's missing head and had been housing the one who originally stole it. However, after the Akane incident between Izaya and Shizuo, a lot of events were caused by Yodojiri Jinnai and Kuronuma Aoba. They all resolved in different fashions, involving Mikado, Anri, and the Kida Masaomi person who ordered that one asshole to shoot Shizuo.
His six week adventure was of him trying to find his secretary, Namie, retrieving Celty's head, and finding out what happened to Yodojiri. Apparently, very little happened with him. Because Izaya disappeared so suddenly, Namie also disappeared with the head. Izaya had plenty of contingency plans in case of that off chance. But since that chance did happen, the head was gone. So, Celty was only slightly involved with the things that happened to the Dollars, Saika group, and Yellow Scarves, and nothing about the dullahan head was brought into question.
Izaya easily tracked down Namie, and now he had the head again. When they were eating dinner was when Izaya decided to tell Shizuo that, and he had it in the bag that he had been carrying the whole day.
The blond managed to keep his temper since they were in public, but he barely did so. Once they were done with dinner, Shizuo marched Izaya to Celty's house to give it back. After a long discussion, it was decided that Izaya would keep it, since Celty didn't know what would happen if she became one with it and after living with Shinra for another ten years, as a couple, she didn't want to take a risk that she would leave.
After that, Izaya and Shizuo had their own long discussion. Izaya had been living in hotel rooms and safehouses he had across Japan. The houses were still in his name, although abandoned, so he still had them, luckily. His official bank account went to his parents when he 'died', but his parents had put it into a savings account and they had been using it for emergencies and huge projects, like Mairu, Kururi, and Aoba's wedding. They gave it back to him, of course, and he had been surviving off of that the whole time he was gone.
Since Izaya had a safehouse in Ikebukuro, Shizuo was in need of an apartment, and the two didn't want to be separated anymore, it made the most sense that they lived together. So, after another two weeks, Shizuo moved out of Kasuka's house and moved in with Izaya. Their friends were shocked to hear that, but for the two it seemed like the most natural course of action. And so, they'd been living like that ever since.
It was now almost nine months of them being roommates, ten-and-a-half since Izaya returned. Surprisingly, the two didn't bump heads as much as their friends thought they would. They had disagreements, a lot of them, but they were usually able to come to some kind of consensus. If Silent Hill taught them anything, it was how to pick their fights and how to get over their arguments quickly.
They returned to their lifestyles without clashing into each others. Izaya returned to his job as an informant—although Shizuo asked that he didn't deal with any dangerous customers, like yakuza's or assassins, which he agreed to. He did relatively simple requests that paid a lot. Mostly ruining someone's reputation or getting proof that a wife was cheating on their husband. It was honestly boring work, but Izaya would didn't want to upset Shizuo—for now. Shizuo and Tom rarely had customers that were also Izaya's, so the two usually had nothing to do with each other when it came to work.
"Shizu-chan, get up!" Izaya yelled. "Breakfast is going to get cold!"
"I'm coming." Shizuo grumbled.
"Well, come faster."
Shizuo glowered. "Don't ever say that again."
"Get your head out of the gutter, you pervert."
"Says the one who said it."
"It's not my fault your interpreted it like a pervert."
Shizuo rolled his eyes. He then sat up. He put his pillow down and stood. The blond scratched his stomach as he yawned. They lived in a 1LDK house, so Shizuo left the bedroom, went through the living room to go to the water closet. He went pee and washed his hands. He then went across the hall into the powder room, which hand another sink in it. Said sink was reserved for washing their faces, which is what he did.
He returned to the living room soon enough. Izaya had already made the dinner table with two servings of food. The raven put a cup of milk in front of Shizuo's usual spot, while there was a mug of coffee in front of Izaya's usual spot.
The two sat down.
"Itadakimasu." They both said.
With that, they started eating.
"What clients do you have today?" Shizuo asked.
"Nothing interesting."
Shizuo cocked a brow.
"Just a man who wants to ruin his CEO so he can take his place; a pregnant mistress wants proof that she's one of many lovers, so that she can get some legal consensus for him to take a paternity test, in which she'll get her weight in child support; a man wants proof that his brother isn't actually his brother, so he can be cut out of his father's inheritance. Nothing really interesting."
Shizuo glowered. He still didn't like Izaya's twisted way of thinking. But he wasn't going to say anything. At this point, Shizuo knew it wasn't worth trying to get Izaya to change his wretched morals.
"What time do you think you'll get done?" Shizuo asked.
Izaya shrugged. "Probably before you get done with work."
Shizuo nodded.
"I'll buy dinner. Where do you want to eat?"
Shizuo smiled to hide his annoyance. Izaya didn't make any food. He always bought his food from these expensive restaurants that were way above Shizuo's pay-grade. They were good, without question. But it was way too expensive. Shizuo was a pretty decent cook, so whenever it was the blonde's turn to make dinner, he'd cook; and when it was Izaya's turn, he'd just buy food.
Shizuo didn't complain. He didn't need to. It was just Izaya's lifestyle and although Shizuo found it a waste of money, he learned to deal with it a long time ago.
However, that wasn't what annoyed the blond.
"We're going to Shinra's tonight for a hotpot."
Izaya fell quiet, staring at Shizuo with a blank expression. "Are we?"
"Yes, I told you on Monday. Shinra invited us to a hotpot this Friday."
Izaya stared. Then he smiled. "Oh, right. I forgot."
Izaya's smile was forced. Shizuo could tell. After being in close proximity with Izaya for so long, he could see through a lot of Izaya's masks.
That was troubling enough. But recently, Izaya's memory had been...problematic. Everyone forgets stuff, of course. But Izaya was not one to forget easily. He was smart, as much as Shizuo hated to admit, so Shizuo knew this wasn't normal for him.
Yet recently, Izaya would forget common things that he should remember. Forgetting things like who's turn it is to do the dishes, or forgot his house key were common accidents. But things like forgetting when Shizuo gets off even though he asked three times, or forgetting that someone was coming over when he looked at the schedule twice were not like him at all. He was always punctual and organized. So, for him to forget that...It was disconcerting.
The only reason this development was a problem was because of the frequency of this scenario. It was happening all the time. Maybe he was constantly distracted? Or...Maybe...Izaya's mind was slipping...
Shizuo feared that notion. He didn't want to think about it at all. Izaya promised his madness was just an act before. He wasn't going crazy. There was no way.
The blond smiled at Izaya with reassurance. "Yeah, we're going to Shinra's tonight. Everyone's going to be there."
"Define 'everyone'."
Shizuo's smile was a little strained, but he quickly fixed it. "Kadota, and his friends. Mikado-san and his friends. Your sisters and Aoba-san. And I think that's it."
Izaya chuckled. "The fact that you're using 'san' for them..."
"What, they're older than us."
"They weren't before we went to Silent Hill. Mikado-kun, Masaomi-kun, they were all in high school."
Shizuo opened his mouth to respond. However, he didn't really know what to say. Izaya chuckled again then turned his attention back to his food.
"...Well..." Shizuo started, "They are...Older than us now..."
Izaya looked at him. Then held back a laugh. That was a pitiful excuse and Shizuo knew that.
"I guess that is true." Izaya said. "Not only did we cheat death, we got a little bit of youth back. Isn't that nice?"
Shizuo didn't know how to respond to that light-nature, morbid statement. So, instead, he went back to eating. Izaya chuckled and continued eating as well.
Soon enough, the two were done. It was 8:15 now. Shizuo needed to get ready to go. The blond stood while Izaya gathered up the dishes. Shizuo went to his wardrobe and went about changing his clothes. Izaya went into the kitchen and started washing the dishes.
Black slacks and white button-up on, the blond was in the process of putting on his waistcoat.
The silence of the house was broken as Izaya screamed before glass shattered on the ground. Shizuo jolted and quickly turned to look.
"What, what, what?!" The blond yelled as he ran into the kitchen. "What happened?!"
On the floor in front of the sink was all of the dishes they had just eaten from. They were all broken, shards of glass scattered everywhere. Izaya had his back pressed against the opposite wall of the kitchen. His eyes were wide and his face was pale. He looked terrified as he was breathing hard.
"Are you okay?" Shizuo rushed over to him. "What happened?"
Shizuo touched Izaya's bicep, which made the raven jump. He looked up at him wide-eyed. Shizuo could feel he was shaking.
"What happened?" Shizuo gripped him, as gently as he could. He gave him a soft tug to try and get him to look at him. "Hey, Izaya..."
Izaya opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out for a long moment. He then smiled. It was fake and forced.
"Y-yeah. I..." Izaya tilted his head down, refusing to make eye contact. "I thought I saw a spider. It really scared me."
'As if you would look that terrified over a damn spider.'
Shizuo wanted to say that, but he couldn't. If he called Izaya out, he would certainly just find another lie to say. For some reason, Izaya decided not to say the truth; he wasn't comfortable saying the truth, so if Shizuo pushed for it, Izaya would close himself off more.
He couldn't force him to be honest. But he wasn't going to play into the lie either. So, he just kept quiet, nodding instead.
"I'm sorry." Izaya said. "I broke the dishes your brother gave us."
"It's okay. You didn't cut yourself, did you?"
"No. I'm okay."
Shizuo nodded. "I'll get the broom."
"No, no, you need to get going. You'll be late for work." Izaya patted Shizuo's chest. "I made the mess, I'll clean it up. Besides, it's not like stepping in it will hurt me."
Shizuo didn't like that. But he wouldn't argue. He was right, after all. Izaya couldn't feel anything in his new legs, so he couldn't get hurt.
The blond nodded. "Okay."
Reluctantly, Shizuo turned away. He went back into the bedroom to finish getting dressed.
'He's been acting so strange lately.'
This wasn't the first time in the last month that Izaya's panicked over nothing, or lied about what he was panicking about. They went out to eat just the other day and Izaya loudly gasped in the middle of the restaurant when the waitress showed up. He looked at her like he saw a ghost before apologizing and placing his order. Izaya said he didn't get much sleep and thought he recognized her from somewhere, but he was wrong.
Multiple times, Izaya would have these moments. It was subtle and he brushed them off quickly. But today, there was no hiding that. There was no denying something scared him. And it wasn't a damn spider.
Finally dressed, Shizuo turned back around. Izaya had swept up most of the glass and was putting it into the non-burnable garbage.
"...Hey, I need to head out." Shizuo said.
"Okay. Do you have your keys?"
"Yeah."
"Do you have your wallet?"
Shizuo tapped his leg. "Yeah."
"Do you have your phone?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Have a good day at work."
"...Are you going to be going out at all today?"
"Only for one client."
Shizuo paused. "...Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, it's the mistress and we're going to a cafe, so nothing shady can happen."
Shizuo nodded. However, he didn't move. Izaya looked at him as he cocked a brow, that confident smile on his face.
"What's up? You need to go."
"...I know...I just..."
Shizuo glowered at the floor. He then looked up to make eye contact with Izaya.
"You know if anything's bothering you, you can tell me." Shizuo said. "We can work on it together."
Izaya stared at him. "...I know."
His brows furrowed. 'He knows but he still won't...'
Shizuo clenched his teeth under his lips. He then let out a soft sigh before nodding. "Okay. If anything happens, call me immediately, okay?"
Izaya smiled at him. "I will, I will. Now, get going before you're late."
Shizuo hated that Izaya was so lighthearted about this. But he chuckled and nodded all the same. "Alright. See you tonight."
"See you."
"Seeing you two so friendly with each other is still so strange." Shinra stated, smiling happily.
"I thought hell would freeze over before you two would become friends." Kida said.
"Well, we were in hell, so I guess you were right to an extent." Izaya chuckled.
Shizuo didn't answer as he sipped on some shochu.
"Neh, neh." Erika waved at them, "Is it true that you two are living together?"
"There's no way." Aoba said, "That's just a rumor."
"No, we are." Shizuo said.
Erika squealed while everyone stared wide-eyed—except for Shinra, Celty, and Kadota who already knew that.
"You are, you are?!"
"Iza-Nii is living with someone?!"
"Weird..."
"Right?! That's so weird!"
"It's not that weird, is it, Mairu-Nee?" Izaya smiled that condescending smirk.
"I told you to stop saying that." Mairu pouted. "It's weird having you call me 'big sister'."
"Well, by the causality of everything, you're certainly older than me now."
"You keep saying that," Aoba said, "But doesn't it make more sense that you just didn't pay attention to the time?"
"We did pay attention to the time." Shizuo interjected. "At least as best as we could. There wasn't really a day or night cycle in Silent Hill. Just the Darkness."
"And the Darkness didn't have a definite time." Izaya added. "Sometimes it'd be twenty minutes, other times it'd be hours."
"But it only felt like we were there for a few months."
"And from the fact that we don't look to be in our late thirties/early forties, we obviously haven't aged."
"Or you just have good skin." Aoba said.
Shizuo glowered at the blue-haired man. He was going to yell at him. However, he refrained because Izaya gently elbowed him in the ribs. Shizuo looked at the raven. Izaya shook his head then patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry about what Aoba-san says." Izaya said with a smile. "He and I have similar personalities, so we've always clashed."
Shizuo stared at Izaya with a glower. "By the same personality, do you mean the shitty side or the smart side?"
"Both."
Shizuo glowered even more.
"Eh, if you still don't like Izaya-Nii's personality, then how are you friends with him now?" Mairu asked.
"Well, being hunted and nearly dying multiple times does wonder with developing a friendship." Izaya rested his head on Shizuo's shoulder.
"Don't make it sound like that." Shizuo shrugged his shoulder. "We had a temporary truce before we went to Silent Hill."
"But that truce only came about because of my dreams of Silent Hill."
"...I guess that's true." Shizuo glanced to the side.
Izaya chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with the way our friendship blossomed. Considering how much we hated each other, it makes sense that it would take a terrifying and traumatic experience to bridge that gap."
Shizuo held back a laugh. "I mean, that's true. It would need to be an extreme situation for me to forget all the bullshit you pulled."
"Ah, come on, my bullshit was just playful banter."
"You got me arrested."
"And you broke my arm. So, we're even."
Shizuo chuckled dryly as he rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, flea."
Izaya chuckled too. "You want more shochu?"
"Yeah. Hand me the calpis too."
"Okay."
Izaya grabbed the glass bottle of alcohol. Shizuo held his glass out, in which Izaya poured the shochu in. Once filled, he put the bottle down and grabbed the small bowl of shaved ice calpis. He used a spoon to dump some on top of the alcohol.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Shizuo took a gulp of his drink while Izaya smiled down at his phone.
"Who are you texting?" Shizuo asked.
"A client."
"A—Oi!" Shizuo swiped at the phone, where Izaya dodged away. "You're here to hang out with friends, so hang out. Drop work for now."
"Eh, but what if it's a time sensitive request?"
"Sucks to be them. They shouldn't have waited till the last minute to bring it up."
Izaya chuckled. However, he pocketed his phone. "Well, entertain me then, you jerk."
"Converse with someone, you dummy."
"I wanna converse with you."
"Converse with someone else."
"Converse with me."
"There are ten other people in the room who you haven't talked to in months."
"Talk to me~!"
"You're such a pest!"
"Because it's funny. And I wanna see how much I can get away with."
"You get away with more than I should let you. You're lucky I still let you work that shitty job."
"What, am I supposed to be your housewife and you're my supporting husband? How degrading."
"As if, flea. You just need to work a job that's not scummy."
"Hey, I'm not working with yakuza right now. Isn't that good enough?"
"Right now?"
"Oh, come on!" Izaya shoulder bumped him. "Do you know how boring it is to just help mistress's and greedy businessmen? Let me have my fun!"
"Messing with peoples lives shouldn't be fun, flea!"
"Shizu-chan. Do you know me?"
"I do." Shizuo glowered. "Which is why I haven't bitched about it."
"Until now."
"I~za~ya~!"
The raven smiled at him. Shizuo glowered.
Izaya bumped Shizuo's shoulder. Shizuo bumped him back.
"It's so weird to see you guys acting like that." Kadota stated. "You guys went from natural enemies to almost brothers."
"It's an all around improvement!" Shinra called, stirring the hotpot with a pair of chopsticks. "Food's ready!"
With that, everyone started to dish up. Izaya waited, playing on his phone. Even when everyone cleared away from the hot pot table, Izaya didn't move, texting on his phone. Shizuo glowered at him. But instead of reprimanding him, he decided to just dish up for him. He made sure to grab what Izaya would like, a lot more noodles with pieces of pork without fat, topped with onions, scallions and a few mushrooms.
"Izaya." Shizuo held the bowl in his vision.
"Yeah?" His eyes never left his phone.
Shizuo glowered. He put the bowl in front of his phone. "Izaya."
Izaya smirked. He then looked up. "Alright, alright."
The raven pocketed his phone again. He grabbed the bowl. Shizuo huffed with satisfaction.
"Thank you~!" Izaya sing-songed.
"You're welcome."
Shizuo started eating, taking big bites like he usually did.
"Slow down, beasty." Izaya chastised. "Your shoveling again."
"Um mm nm." Shizuo glowered at him.
He bit off half of the food and let the rest fall on his chopsticks. He chewed and swallowed.
"It's not my fault your mouth is tiny." Shizuo said.
Erika squealed. Kadota and Walker made a face.
Izaya held back a laugh. "Just because you can fit a lot in your mouth doesn't mean you should. Smaller bites, you carnivore."
Erika had her hands on the sides of her face with a wide smile.
"Stop it, you." Kadota waved his hand in front of her face.
"They're smaller bites for me." Shizuo growled. "You're just tiny."
"I'm not tiny. You're just huge."
"I'm not that big."
"PHRASING!" Aoba yelled. "Oh my god, you two!"
"Hah?" Shizuo looked at the blue-haired man with a glower.
Aoba flinched under the stare but he smiled all the same. The same condescending smile that Izaya usually wore.
"I'm just saying, you two are starting to sound like a couple more than roommates."
"Innuendos." Kururi muttered.
"So many innuendos!" Mairu chuckled.
Shizuo stiffened as he blushed. "I wasn't talking about that, you perverts! We're talking about mouth sizes!"
Izaya held back a laugh as he tilted his head back, jolting with barely contained laughter.
"That doesn't help!" Mairu called with a smiled.
"How does that not help?!" Shizuo yelled.
Izaya put his bowl down on the table and bent forward, burying his head in his knees as he jolted.
"Why are you laughing, you damn flea?!" Shizuo shoved him.
"...Because..." Izaya's voice was thick with laughter that he was failing to keep down, which made him talk in a very quiet, nearly high-pitched voice. "Because you make it so obvious you've never received fellatio before and it's so funny."
Shizuo's ears burned with embarrassment as the cup in his hand shattered from his tight grip. "What do you even mean?! How is that obvious?!"
"If you had, you would know why comparing mouth sizes makes the conversation perverted."
"What are you..." Shizuo trailed off as he realized. His whole face went red and the bowl shattered next, making a mess on the floor.
Izaya tried to hold back the laugh, but couldn't. It came out as a mighty guffaw before he tilted his head down to laugh. The room joined in with the laugh, except for Shizuo who was surprisingly silent.
After a bit, it quieted down. Izaya was still laughing quietly to himself, tears in his eyes.
"I've never seen you blush like that."
Shizuo didn't respond. He shook the broth off his hand, glowering at the mess between his feet. Shinra stood and went into the kitchen. He grabbed a towel, a broom, and a dustpan.
"Sorry." Shizuo said.
"It's alright." The homeowner said.
The two worked together to clean it all up and soon enough, the floor was spotless.
"Ah," Izaya started, wiping tears from his eyes. "That was so funny."
"You're such a...!" Shizuo glowered at him, dishing up a new bowl of food. "I wasn't even trying to be perverted. Your minds in the gutter."
"Eh, but we gave Karisawa-san plenty of fan service." Izaya beamed.
Shizuo's brow twitched. "Wait, so you were doing it on purpose?!"
"And you were none the wiser!"
Shizuo glared at him. He then said in a calm voice, "I'm going to beat you. When we get home, I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life."
"Domestic violence."
"You deserve it."
Izaya just snorted with a barely contained laugh. "Ah, stop making me laugh. My sides hurt."
"Good."
Izaya chuckled again.
"Just shut up and eat your food."
Izaya laughed through his nose as he nodded. He grabbed his bowl and chopsticks. Without looking at his food, he took a bite.
His face then soured. The smile disappeared as a look of disgust cross his face. Shizuo cocked a brow at that. Izaya looked down at his food.
Without warning, Izaya jolted and dropped his bowl. It clattered to the ground, but didn't seem to break. The raven leaped to his feet in a mad dash. Hand over his mouth, he ran down the hall.
"Izaya?!" Shizuo put his bowl down on the table and quickly followed.
"What just happened?" Shinra asked, jumping up as well.
"Are you alright, Izaya?!" Kadota stood as well.
"Orihara-san?"
"Iza-Nii?"
Shizuo led the way down the hall. The bathroom door was cracked open and they could hear Izaya puking. Kadota took a step back, seeming hesitant to get involved since vomit was on the table. Shizuo and Shinra walked right in.
"Izaya!" Shizuo rushed over.
He put his hand on Izaya's shoulder. The raven was in the process of shoving two fingers down his own throat to make himself puke. Shizuo's eyes widened.
"Stop that, what are you doing?!" The blond grabbed his wrist and yanked it away from his mouth.
"Izaya, what's wrong?" Shinra asked. "What happened?"
"There was maggots in the food!"
Both their eyes widened, as well as Kadota's.
"What are you—There was no maggots in the food!" Shizuo yelled.
"There was, there was, there was! The meat was raw and bloody and everything else was maggots!"
"No, it wasn't!"
"Food doesn't move!"
"It wasn't—Izaya," Shizuo's tone softened, "I'm telling you, the food was okay."
"And I'm telling you, it wasn't!"
Shizuo rubbed his back soothingly. "Come back to the living room. Lemme show you."
"I'm telling you—"
"It's okay." Shizuo let his wrist go to squeeze his bicep instead. "It's okay."
Izaya glowered at him, saliva on his chin.
"Let's get you cleaned up first." Shizuo pulled him gently.
He coaxed the raven to stand and guided him over to the sink. Izaya washed his hands and face then gargled some mouthwash. Shinra flushed the toilet then left the room. Kadota followed the underground doctor down the hall.
Soon enough, Shizuo was guiding Izaya down the hall. The raven had his eyes on the ground and was breathing a bit hard. Shinra had swept up most of the mess into a neat pile. The blond guided him over.
"Look, see? It's just normal noodles."
The two looked down at the ruined noodles, meat, and onions.
"Noodles don't move!" Izaya yelled, glowering up at him as he backed away.
"It's not moving, Izaya."
"It is, it is!" Izaya grabbed Shizuo's shirt tightly, looking up at him with horrified anger. "Can't you see?!"
"Izaya, I'm telling you, it's not maggots! It's just normal food!"
Izaya glared at him for a moment longer. Then he looked back down at the food. He scrutinized it before he pressed the palm of his hands to his eyes and pushed on them. He rubbed them furiously. He took his hands away and looked at the food again.
His eyes widened. Then his brows furrowed. He took a step back to press himself further into Shizuo.
"I...I'm sorry..." He said. "I'm sorry."
Shizuo's expression soured. 'There's no denying something is wrong now.'
"It'll be alright." Shizuo squeezed him in comfort.
Izaya didn't respond as he frowned.
"Iza-Nii, what just happened?"
"Are you alright, Orihara-san?"
"Do you need sleep? Maybe you drank too much."
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
Izaya was silent, his head downcast with a look of defeat. Shizuo knew this was probably terrible for him. Izaya was such a prideful person, so for everyone to see him like that...
"I think we should go home." Shizuo said, giving Izaya a small tug. "Okay? Let's go home."
"...Y-yeah." Izaya looked up at him. "Yeah, we should—"
The lights started to flicker. Their eyes widened and instinctual fear sparked in both of them.
"Ah, a power outage?"
"Is there a storm going on?
"The weather forecast said it'd be clear skies."
"It wasn't raining when we got here."
"I'll check the breaker box real quick."
No one went anywhere as something scratched against the glass of the sliding door. Both Izaya and Shizuo stiffened as goosebumps lit up their skin.
"What was—"
In the next moment, the glass shattered. Screams of shock filled the room as people jumped from their seats. Shizuo wrapped his arms around Izaya and turned him, shielding him from the flying glass.
All was quiet before something stepped on the glass. Shizuo's heart started to hammer in his chest. The two looked over their shoulders.
In the flickering light, they could see a person. No, not a person, an abomination. It looked like a woman, but it was grotesque. Strips of flesh on her stomach and chest had been peeled away with chains hooking into them. It had a bra made of leather—barely considered a bra since it wrapped around her ribs more than her pale breasts; if anything it just hid the nipples and nothing else. The bottoms were also make of leather. It looked like it was a pair of pants once, but most of it had been cut away to look like leather wraps around her legs and a pair of leather panties.
From the elbow down, its arms were hooked blades. What's more, the creature was bald with no nose and no eyes. A pair of saw blades were stabbed into the top of her head to come over her eye sockets. Another pair was embedded into the side of her head to pierce under those empty holes. She lacked eyebrows, but they weren't needed to get across the permanent scowl.
She let out an inhuman call. Screams filled the room as everyone scrambled to get away from it. Everyone was yelling with shock, confusion, and fear.
The lights flickering made it hard to see the monster, but luckily it wasn't moving. That didn't do anything to stop the panic that was filling Shizuo's chest.
"Shizu-chan." Izaya pushed on him to try and get him to let go.
Shizuo stared at it, wide-eyed with terror. He was frozen to the spot. A monster of Silent Hill was here. Why? The monsters hadn't shown up before. Just in Izaya's dream. Were they dreaming? Had Shizuo fallen asleep at some point? Is—
"Shizuo!" Izaya elbowed him in the chest.
It didn't hurt but it made him jolt and register Izaya. Registered that a monster from Silent Hill had come for them. And if they stood there, it would eventually charge them. They had to get out. Now!
'We have to run!'
Shizuo quickly let Izaya go. He intended to grab his hand and run, but Izaya stepped away from him instead.
The creature lifted its bladed arm. It pointed at Izaya. Shizuo and Izaya's eyes stretched wide.
"Come back to Silent Hill." It hissed.
Shizuo's chest tightened. 'She was sent by Alessa!'
The blond looked at Izaya.
'No, no! He can't go back! I won't let him go back! I—'
Shizuo's thought fell off as his eyes widened in horror. Black began to flow from Izaya's hand. It poured forth at an alarming rate and wisped around his feet. The ground began to peel away, raising up and burning away like paper. The veins in his hands were black, along with the veins around his eyes. His eyes...they were just like Alessa. They were pure black.
"Sorry." Izaya said. "But I'm never going back."
The creature howled in rage and charged. Izaya swung his arm up to meet it with his Darkness.
And done! 299 pages!
Hey, I just found out that Sukiyaki and Japanese Hot Pot are the same thing. Whoops.
So, before, I long-handed everything I wrote, then converted it to computer to post it. Halfway through this story, at chapter 15, I decided not to do that anymore. That was when this story went on hiatus because I lost motivation to physically write anything down. Converting it from written to computer was so tedious and I don't have patience for tedious things, thus why I lost motivation on all stories that were originally in notebooks (CaL, CaH, and some oneshots I planned to do.) Typing is so much easier, so even though I like doing things traditionally, I gave up on notebooks. For shits and giggles, the written format was at page 218.
Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger. I have plans for two more stories in the Silent Hill line-up, but I also don't know when I'll get around to writing them/posting them. I want to get White Rabbit and Fish Out of Water done before I start anymore big projects.
Thank you for liking this work for as long as you have. I don't know how I spent a year (maybe 2) having this story on hiatus. Sorry it took me so long.
Thanks for reading! Kudo's, comment, and all that jazz. See you in the next one.
KCK
