Her blazer, hanging nonchalantly on the door, was suddenly the gigantic man with the unfortunate haircut. A minute creak of the floorboards was somebody coming to get her - hungry for her body and thirsty for her blood. Splinters of light evolved into furious, glowing spheres: the deranged eyes of Saika's children.

It had been three hours since Anri had retired to Shinra and Celty's guest room, yet her mind refused to respond to her body's desires, ignorantly persisting to run amok. She knew that she should be relieved, for she was safe in an apartment with the strongest man in Ikebukuro, an exceptional doctor, and a dullahan - yet unease persisted to needle her mind, pricking her with the reminder that there were others out there.

Earthworm may have gotten away, but once Anri had gained control using Saika, she could easily do so again. There were more, and Anri couldn't rest until she freed those entrapped. She was in a position to assist them, yet she had never felt so utterly helpless. Her mortality had been exposed in the stark light of an abandoned warehouse, and knowing how close she was, how incredibly close to being used in whatever way her captors pleased made the blood drain from her brain.

The question remained as to what Orihara-san had been doing there, and Anri briefly wondered whether her captors' interests extended to men. Being sixteen years old herself, it was somehow unfitting that they would take Orihara-san (who must be at least six years older than her) for the same purpose. There was also the fact that his legs and arms had been tied together, whilst only Anri's hands had been tied up, and in front of her at that. Perhaps they'd expected Orihara-san to put up more resistance? But then, if they were going to use him in the same manner that they had intended for her, it didn't make sense that they would kick him so viciously.

Anri had heard all sorts of terrible things about Orihara Izaya: that he'd driven numerous people to their deaths and conned them out of their money; that he'd framed Heiwajima Shizuo, and had him sent to prison for his own entertainment. There were even rumours that he'd directly killed people. She wasn't sure how much of what she'd heard was true, but Mikado-kun and Kida-kun, especially Kida-kun, were very anxious around Orihara-san. Kida-kun would never admit to being afraid of him, but Anri knew that he was. Knowing that he had potentially done all of these terrible things, and judging from the events, it would make more sense if Earthworm and Nakura-san had some sort of revenge to accomplish against Orihara-san, and she wondered what he had done to incite their anger against him.

If she listened carefully, she could hear Heiwajima-san mumbling to (or rather, at) Orihara-san over the tune of the heart monitor and the hum of the ventilator. In another two hours, Celty-san would take over watching him, then Shinra-san, then Heiwajima-san again. It would be at least another ten hours before he woke up. Celty-san had said that they'd had to sedate him and put him on oxygen because the seizures wouldn't stop, and that he'd likely be very disorientated when he woke up. What that meant to finding out exactly what had happened in the warehouse, Anri didn't know - nor did she know if Orihara-san had any idea himself. It was all a matter of waiting, yet Anri couldn't help but feel that they were wasting time they didn't have to spare.

For the first hour, Shizuo was silent. He looked at anything but the Flea: the peaks and troughs of the heart rate monitor's lines, the stiff white cotton bed sheets, the packs of needles and tubes littered across every available surface, the slow drip of fluid running into Izaya's arm…

He looked everywhere but actually at the Flea, drumming his fingers blindly on the bedside railings. If he looked at what he was doing, he would see the tight wrap of bandages around Izaya's wrists, and the purple bruise forming at the underside of his elbow where Shinra had accidentally pierced the vein, causing the area to swell and blood to leak beneath the surface of the skin. Just thinking about it was enough to make Shizuo's eyes flit to Izaya involuntarily.

It was the small details that annoyed him, like realizing how hairless and translucent Izaya's skin was in contrast to his own. He couldn't help but roll up his sleeve and lean forwards, forearm adjacent to Izaya's as he compared their skin tone. It was odd, feeling their skin touching and moving the uncomfortable plastic chaircloser to Izaya rather than further away. Looking down, Shizuo couldn't help but note how his own arms were covered in a soft brush of light brown hair, and the occasional freckle or thin white scar where Izaya had cut him, while the only marks on Izaya's arms were grazes from that evening.

His fingers closed around Izaya's wrist, and he flipped Izaya's hand over cautiously, afraid of waking him despite the impossibility. There was a small plaster covering where Shinra had taken blood, and his nails were unexpectedly bitten, though nowhere near as short as Shizuo's. The stupid ring that he always wore was still there, and Shizuo twisted it around, searching for an inscription. There was none - nothing to give away whether Izaya had bought it for himself, or if it'd been a gift. The only people that Shizuo could fathom giving anything to Izaya were the twins, and even that didn't seem likely. As far as Shizuo was aware, Mairu and Kururi only spoke to Izaya when they wanted something from him. Unlike Kasuka, the girls weren't exactly the giving type, and Shizuo was certain that Izaya didn't have much of a relationship with his parents…or anybody for that matter. Even Shinra hadn't invited him to the hotpot party.

It's hard to know what's going on in his mind when he makes such an effort to keep people out of it.

He wants you to be close to him, but simultaneously strives to keep a distance from you, for fear of you getting too close.

Orihara-kun may do some terrible things, but he isn't as rotten to the core as you tell yourself he is.

Maybe if you'd given him a chance, things wouldn't be so difficult between you now.

Shizuo ran his fingertips over the bandages, glancing at Izaya with a frown.

"Are you such an asshole because you're lonely? Is that what it is?" He paused, half expecting Izaya to open his eyes and laugh at him. "I mean, is what Shinra said true? Do you really bother me so much because you want to be close to me, or is it because I never gave you the chance to be?"

Silence.

"I still fucking hate you, you know. You're the shittiest flea on Earth. When are you going to learn to stop pissing people off?" Shizuo squeezed Izaya's wrist firmly, a furrow forming between his eyebrows.

"You annoy me so much. I'm stuck here looking after your sorry ass because you annoy everyone all the time. What did you do this time, to end up like this?" He remembered what Shinra had said about Nakura and instantly felt ashamed. After all, was it so wrong to avenge a friend?

"I thought you were just a selfish bastard, but I guess you were really annoyed at that guy to hold a grudge against him for this long. It's the same with me, isn't it? Did I really annoy you that much when we first met?"

He squared up to Izaya, ready to attack. His fist flew at Izaya's face, a knife sliced a gash across his chest.

"You piss me off."

"'Spose it was the other way round." He muttered defeatedly, staring at the floor. "But you know, some people aren't designed to get on. I guess we never gave that a chance though, huh?" He paused, scratching his head absentmindedly. His eyes lingered on Izaya's hair, unable to look at his face just yet. He swallowed awkwardly focusing on Izaya's collarbones instead.

"You know, you call me a monster all the fucking time, but you're just as bad, and I think you know it. You've done so much shitty stuff to people. I can't forgive you for what you've done, but I don't want to be angry at you all the time anymore. It's exhausting. I don't want to be angry anymore full stop, but I can't help it. Maybe we're both gonna be stuck being shitty monsters forever, but we can at least try to change that, right? I'm getting too old for all of this bullshit." He finally gathered the courage to look at Izaya as though making eye contact, inwardly reprimanding himself for being such an idiot when Izaya was completely dead to the world anyway.

He took a deep breath and slipped his fingers between Izaya's, flinching slightly at how cold they were and how terribly awkward it felt.

"So let's pretend, just for now, that we're not terrible people. Like we gave each other a chance when we first met, or something like that…"

He glared at their intertwined fingers, feeling his face redden. What the hell was he trying to achieve?

"It's not like I want to change with you or anything by the way, before your ego gets even more inflated. It's...it's more like we have to. I mean, I'm not gonna stop being angry if you keep naggin' me all the time, and you're not gonna get any less shitty if you keep pestering me. Not that you care about that anyway."

He clenched his fist, trying to remind himself that he'd crush Izaya's fingers if he squeezed them any harder.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that you might think that you're dead lonely or whatever, but the world doesn't revolve around you. You can't keep punishing other people for the fact that you're shitty at making friends - you're not the only one who is! I have more 'friends' than you, but I still get lonely. I'd like to say that that's all your fault, but it isn't. I drive people away 'cause I'm scared too. What if I hurt someone I care about, or they reject me 'cause of my strength? You know, you have it easy, not being super strong or anything like that. I don't know what you're so worried about, but it's not doing anything to help you, is it?"

"Shinra told me about the sleeping tablets, by the way. I guess you've got no one to talk to about what's keeping you awake either. It's your own fucking fault, but I know how shitty it is to feel like that. Maybe that Nakura guy did you a favour, making Shinra have to knock you out for so long? Anyway, you don't have to worry about him anymore. I'm gonna get him back for what he's done to Shinra and Anri. And you."

Shizuo pulled his hand away and wiped it on his jeans quickly, his palm clammy with anxiety.

"It isn't as satisfying seeing you like this as I thought it'd be..."

He trailed off, cringing at the tube stuck down Izaya's throat. His face looked thinner than the last time Shizuo had seen him, and the green hospital gown absolutely swamped him.

"You look like shit, and I can't fight you when you're like this."

Let's pretend, just for now, that we're not terrible people. Like we gave each other a chance when we first met…