I'm back! I know that you probably all thought I was dead. However here I am and I'm just gonna skip the stupid apologies for not having updated in almost a year to make it short.

Literally the fact that there are still People reading this and actually liking and me having a couple of time at the Moment, I figured that it was to write on a bit. I'm actually not that much in the fandom anymore, so I don't know if it's still going to be good or accurate. However I hope you are going to enjoy anyway!

Chapter 12

Izaya was casually walking next to Shizuo.

Despite his current situation, he was feeling rather well. This was not only thanks to the amount of sleep he had recently managed to get back, but also thanks to Shizuo.

The raven was pretending to not notice, but he could clearly feel the blonde's eyes on his body. Not only once or twice, but literally the whole time they were walking next to each other.

Sometimes he would turn his head and return a brief glimpse, but whenever their eyes met Shizuo's face would just heat up like a tomato causing him to look into the opposite direction immediately.

Izaya would just turn his eyes back to the street in front of him. But every time a slight smile appeared on his lips, that he just wouldn't be able to hold back. Really now, sometimes the blonde was just acting too cute and obvious that it couldn't be good for him. Just like a real child, the raven thought to himself still seeing the very red face in the corner of his eyes.

But Izaya didn't really mind. He had long given up pretending that the blonde wasn't making him happy. Shizuo was actually able to distract him a bit from the painful reality he was living in at the very moment. And for that he was more than grateful.

He had to oppress a little snigger, when he noticed the weird looks they were attracting of the other people on the street.

After all Shizuo and him were famous all around in Ikebukuro. Though not for walking casually next to each other like best friends. Probably everyone on the street was expecting to see them snap and fight any second.

Have to disappoint you with that, the raven giggled, gaining him a weird look of the blonde next to him.

"What's so funny?" The blonde asked having his normal face color back.

"Maybe you should stop staring at me for once and keep a look around~"

Shizuo gave the Informant a strange look, though he actually started looking around. Just then he noticed the rather high amount of people actually stopping in the middle of street to stare at them in disbelief. The blonde thought of it as rather crazy and swiftly turned his head back to the raven.

"What the fuck is wrong with these people? They are staring at us, as if we were something to eat."

Izaya laughed. "Shizuo`s expecting a zombie apocalypse now?"

"Stop making jokes about that. That's a real possible scenario." The blonde responded. A serious expression had settled on his face. Izaya just stared at him in disbelief for a second before he started laughing deeply. It took him almost a minute to calm down again. Tears had formed in the corner of his eyes from the laughter and breathing appeared to be hard at first. Shizuo was just watching the raven calm down again, not exactly understanding what had just caused the sudden laugh attack.

"Oh Shizu-chan, my mouth muscles hurt now" the raven said still smiling while wiping away the tears with his fingers.

"Isn't that your fault?" the blonde just responded, noticing that a few people had taken their safety distance from them when the raven suddenly started laughing like crazy.

"Shizu-chan, you are just so dense sometimes~ They are looking at us, because you are looking at me like I was something to eat while your face is getting as red as a tomato."

Shizuo's face immediately turned red again. Has he really been so obvious the whole time?

The raven on the other hand just laughed again.

"Nya, don't worry about it, Shizu-chan. I don't mind if you look at me like that." The raven smiled. He had never really cared about the things some unimportant people were thinking about him. If it was for fighting or for flirting, they were free to think whatever they wanted. Like that he might as well just tease the blonde a little bit more. This one was still bright red desperately trying to avert the raven's gaze. Izaya used the chance to bring his mouth closer to the blonde's ear and whispered: "And it makes me even more satisfied, when you like what you see~"

He didn't know if it was actually possible, but he could swear Shizuo's face just got a darker kind of red. When the blonde shot him an embarrassed glare, he just couldn't stop to laugh again.

"I could spend eternity walking with you like that." The raven said after his laughing had died down.

Who could have ever imagined that Shizuo Heiwajima, the strongest man of Ikebukuro, had such a nice and cute side to himself?

And who would have expected that it would be Izaya Orihara, his worst arch-enemy, who would bring out this side of him?

Izaya thought these ideas to himself. They were quite astonishing.

But reality is always going to throw you out of your dreams once in a while.

Simon couldn't have been more surprised to see Izaya and Shizuo walking into his restaurant together.

At first he expected some kind of game behind it. Maybe they had lost a bet and were forced by Shinra or whoever to spend time with each other. But after observing them for a while, he understood that these two were getting along pretty well. Thanks to whatever miracle or holy creature the two troublemakers seemed to have actually become good friends.

Simon couldn't understand their conversation from his position but apparently Izaya was making a couple of jokes, at least he was laughing whole heartedly, and Shizuo was most of the time flustered, sulking or joining Izaya in his laughing attacks.

It was a nice thing to see and Simon was happy that peace seemed to have occurred in Ikebukuro at last.

"Good to see that you are friends now" he said when he brought them their food.

"You think so, too? I bet most people on the street today are agreeing with you on that~" the raven chuckled causing the blonde in front of him to blush slightly.

Simon didn't really understand why Shizuo reacted in such a way. But he couldn't care less. He was just happy that those two were finally getting along.

"Izaya seems happy. You found your sisters?" Simon asked innocently. He had expected to get a happy smile of the raven. The Informant had been laughing the whole time. Naturally Simon thought that all problems were solved, but he regretted the question as soon as the lively atmosphere became dark. The raven's smile dropped immediately and also Shizuo was staring at Izaya with a worried expression.

"I'm sorry. I should not have-" Simon tried to redeem himself from his earlier mistake but the raven just interrupted him midway.

"Forget it. It's not your fault." Izaya said. His voice wasn't reproachful. It sounded rather sad, what made Simon feel even more miserable.

For a while no one said anything at all. The silence seemed to intensify the heavy atmosphere even more. Izaya was just staring at his plate. Maybe he was deep in thoughts not really noticing the others anymore. Or maybe it was his way to ignore the others and not cause them to ask any more painful questions. Shizuo and Simon couldn't know either. They were just staring at him worriedly, until Simon couldn't take the atmosphere anymore.

"So no new information?" He asked carefully.

The raven shook his head his eyes never leaving the plate in front of him. It was as if they were stuck to it trying to blend out his whole environment.

Shizuo changed a worried look with Simon, before his hand slowly wandered over the desk closer to the raven.

Carefully he put his hand on the raven's that was lying next to his plate. The touch immediately shot waves of electricity through his body, though the raven's hand was ice cold. What captured the blonde even more were the eyes that looked into his own as soon as his warm hand touched the cold skin.

He couldn't really define what he saw in Izaya's eyes. It most definitely wasn't anger, he could notice a shade of sadness in them but what mostly caught his attention was the determination they hold. The raven's gaze was strong, but it rather confused Shizuo. It wasn't what he had expected to see. What would the Informant be determinate for?

Suddenly Simon coughed. Both looked to the tall russian man in surprise though their hands never separated.

"Izaya, why don't you try trick? At Shinra you said, you have one week. When they call, just say, you have the money." The tall man suggested.

The raven hesitated for a moment while thinking about it. Then he shook his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Shizuo suddenly interrupted and their eyes met again.

"These kidnappers are not stupid. I already told them that I don't have that much money. And then suddenly a few days later I come in touch with such a high amount? What will they think? That I asked someone to borrow it? If they really observed me, they must know that there's no one in this world I'd trust enough to help me, let alone someone else who would trust me enough to give me the money without knowing what I need it for. And even if they don't get suspicious at the beginning, they'll at least be when I'll come there without any money. What will I do then?"

"I will just punch the shit out of these bastards!"

"And if they are pointing a gun at my sisters right at the moment, when we arrive? Don't get me wrong, Shizu-chan. I know that you're strong and that you could kill them in a hand fight without any problem. But you're definitely not faster than a gun. That would just end in the worst case scenario: Me losing my sisters and you."

Shizuo couldn't really say if it was scary or respectful that Izaya could talk about the whole idea so composed. His eyes fell back on Simon for a moment who was watching Izaya still worriedly. Maybe the man was thinking the same?

Though it made Shizuo happy to hear that the raven really cared about him that much, he couldn't care less at the moment. It was indeed strange that Izaya could talk with so much rationality about the possible death of his sisters. Maybe Shizuo was just mistaken and Izaya had just been so emotional at the beginning because of the shock that overtook him. The lack of sleep and the fact that he, the Informant, couldn't find out anything just put his mind into the extreme. But now after all the time that they had spend together the raven had finally calmed down being able to think again. At least that was the only logical idea Shizuo could come up with. The other one would be that Izaya actually gave up, but the idea alone was so unlikely, that it wasn't even worth thinking about it any further.

"You have other good idea?" It was again Simon who asked.

Izaya just shook his head after a while of thinking.

"Though I want to wait if the others are going to find out anything. I will keep your idea in mind, Simon. Thank you." The raven answered actually forcing a smile on his face. At the same time, Shizuo could feel Izaya's fingers against his own softly pressing them against each other.

The atmosphere eased a bit and Simon finally left the two alone to finish their meals. Shizuo felt disappointed though that he had to take his hand back for eating.

It was strange that he wanted to hold Izaya's hand so dearly. It was this typical thing to do for couples. Totally not suited for men, especially not in Japan. Though he really liked the touch. Gliding over his own fingers he just imagined him and Izaya walking through the streets like that.

What was he even thinking about?! Him and Izaya being a couple?! Shizuo blushed at the idea. It wasn't that he didn't like it. It was rather the fact that he would really like to do all the couple like things with Izaya.

Like walking in the street, holding hands, spending every free minute with each other, kissing, having se- the blonde blushed even harder when the thought hit him. He was so lost in thoughts, that he didn't hear the raven call his name at all.

"Earth to Shizuo! You still there?" The blonde blinked a few times when the raven started waving his hand right before his face.

"He?"

"Don't 'He' me! I was calling your name three times. What were you thinking about, that you'd ignore me?"

Shizuo felt like his mind was blank for a second before his thoughts from earlier came back. He just blushed again averting the raven's gaze. Looking into that beautiful face could just cause a heart attack for him now.

"No-Nothing! So what do you want to do today?" The blonde rapidly asked to distract the raven. Izaya just watched him curiously before just shrugging the whole thing of.

"I wanted to go into the chat room again to ask the others." He answered casually taking one of his Otoro and putting it into his mouth.

"The chat room?"

"Oh right. You don't know about it. Most of us joined a chat room where we are quite often talking about all kinds of things."

"Who is 'we'?"

"Celty, Mikado, Anri, literally everyone. Kururi and Mairu have been there, too …"

"…" Shizuo didn't know what to say. Though the atmosphere got kind of heavy again, he felt a little betrayed by his friends. How could it be that he had never heard of this chat room before? Literally everyone was there? Does that mean Simon and Tom, too? Though he wasn't the kind of person that liked to chat a lot, he'd have liked to be asked at least.

"Say, don't you have to work today?" Izaya asked suddenly when his eyes fell on the clock hanging at the wall in front of him. They had indeed taken their sweet time walking here and chatting until lunch.

"DAMN! I forgot to tell Tom!" The blonde shouted his hands running nervously through his hair. Izaya followed the movements with a smile on his face. "Listen! I'm sorry-" The blonde started while standing up from his seat.

"It's fine. Just go. I bet Namie is already waiting for me, too."

Shizuo gave him one last smile before running out of the restaurant in a hurry.

Simon curiously followed the man with his eyes, before they landed on Izaya who watched the blonde leaving with a smirk.

"Work~" He answered loud enough for Simon to hear, who gave him an understanding smile in response.

Izaya sighed.

Shizuo really could be dense and unorganized sometimes.

Shizuo was running as fast as he could to get to the place where he was originally supposed to meet up with Tom. He hoped that his friend would still be there waiting for him.

Though he was in a hurry, he just couldn't get the raven out of his mind, let alone the deep blush off his face.

How would he ever be able to face Izaya again after all the thoughts that had just occurred his mind?

Shizuo knew that there was no denying it anymore. The way he'd kissed Izaya, the way he always got attracted to his body and how he literally couldn't stop thinking about the raven every minute.

Shizuo was in love with Izaya.

As strange as it sounded at first, even the blonde couldn't believe the sentence, when it first popped up in his mind.

The fact, that he admitted it to himself, made it even worse. He couldn't stop staring at the raven without blushing because the idea always hit him that he'd really like to do more with the raven.

Shizuo didn't really care, what other people would think about his feelings. All he knew was that he had never felt anything that intensive before.

It wasn't that he just wanted to touch the raven. He rather craved his touch so much, that he sometimes had the feeling he couldn't control it anymore.

But this wasn't really the problem he had.

His problem was that he didn't know what Izaya thought about this whole thing between them. Would he even like considering them a couple?

Even if the raven had kissed him, Shizuo knew that most of their interactions had been during a period, where Izaya hadn't truly been himself. The raven had been confused, probably emotionally unstable all this time. But today he had seemed to be more natural, more back to himself.

What if something changed now? What if Izaya didn't really consider Shizuo someone to love? Maybe he considered Shizuo more of a friend now.

Shizuo couldn't really bear the thought.

After all, losing Izaya meant the worst possible outcome for him at the moment.

Izaya took his time on his way back.

He didn't really care for his work at the moment. Nor did he care whether Namie was waiting for him or not. Who was he even tricking? He knew she wasn't waiting for him.

Who knew if she still found something useful, that she could do for him? Probably not and she was just sitting on the couch watching TV.

It's not like she didn't know that he'd pay her anyway.

Izaya didn't even know if there still was something that he could make her do. He had neglected his work quite well the last days. His mind was way too preoccupied recently. First the incident with his sisters, that was still eating his soul, and then all the things that were happening with Shizuo.

Izaya couldn't deny that he really enjoyed the time being with the blonde.

He liked it when Shizuo laughed with him or got flustered so easily. He even liked the way the blonde touched him. Sometimes really passionate and then again really softly, when he just needed him to be close.

He kind of regretted that the blonde had to work now. It would have been such a pleasure to spend a little more time with him, tease him and god knows what else.

Izaya sniggered at the thought.

It didn't really matter. Shizuo would come back to him. That was the only thing at the moment he was absolutely sure of.

And then they would have a little more fun~