Thank you all for the lovely reviews and for everyone reading! I'm glad to be back writing again!
…~-~…
It was just a text message, but for Shizuo it was a triumph that had his heart beating hard in his chest as he realized what he was reading.
"[Nee, Shizu-chan~! I'd like to make it up to you for last night. How about you come over after work tonight and I'll cook dinner for us?]"
It was only a small victory in trying to get closer to Izaya, but Shizuo was ecstatic about the offer.
"[Sounds good. I'll be there.]" he responded, trying not to sound nearly as excited as he felt.
…~-~…
Moving quickly between the pans on the stove and checking the oven, Izaya worked diligently to prepare dinner for two while Namie sat on the couch, going through the emails Izaya had forwarded to her. She rolled her eyes every time Izaya cursed under his breath, clearly struggling with his rusty cooking skills after Namie took over the duty of preparing many of his meals when she began working for him.
"Shit!" Izaya muttered when he almost forgot to remove the vegetables from the heat. He quickly picked out some of the burned bits from the bottom of the pan before pouring the undamaged food into a serving plate. Shizuo was meant to arrive in fifteen minutes and Izaya wanted most of the cooking out of the way by then. After all, he hadn't cooked in a while and it would be a bit embarrassing if he screwed up while Shizuo was there. He timed it right so that the fish would be the only thing on the stove by the time Shizuo showed up—assuming he arrived on time.
"Need some help in here?" Namie asked, eyeing the burned vegetables Izaya was currently dropping into the trash.
"I'm fine," he grumbled in response, "Shouldn't you be leaving by now?"
"On my way out now," Namie said, rolling her eyes, "Enjoy your weird little date."
"It's not a 'date'," Izaya stated, "Just dinner as friends."
"Whatever you say," she replied, "Don't burn the place down. Or do. I don't really care."
Izaya let out a small sigh of relief when the door closed and only the sound of the food cooking on the stove could be heard. The moment was short lived, however, when the door opened again and Namie poked her head inside.
"Your boyfriend's here, by the way," she said, shutting the door again in a hurry.
"He's not—! Ugh!" Izaya gave up trying to say anything. It wasn't worth his energy when he knew she was intentionally trying to mock him.
"Izaya?" Shizuo's voice called from the door. Izaya turned to see the man standing halfway in the door looking uncomfortable, "Um, that woman said I could come right in."
"Yeah, have a seat anywhere." Izaya called from the kitchen, "I'm just finishing up in here!"
"Smells like something is burning," Shizuo said, standing at the entrance to the kitchen.
"It's fine" Izaya insisted, "I already took out what was burned and the rest is good. I just haven't cooked for myself in a while."
Shizuo let out a small chuckle which he tried to hide when Izaya sent him a sharp glare.
"Just go sit at the table," Izaya said flatly, "I'll take care of the rest."
Doing as instructed, Shizuo took his seat at the table realizing that this was the first time their first conversation of the night wasn't a complete social disaster—even if it was very short.
Less than a minute later, Izaya was going back and forth from the kitchen carrying plates with a variety of foods and setting them down on the table.
No wonder he burned some of it. That's a lot of food for one person to keep track of at once, Shizuo thought.
Izaya returned from the kitchen one last time with two large wine glasses in one hand, and an unopened bottle in the other.
"It's the sweet kind," Izaya said popping the cork and pouring a generous amount into the glasses, "Figured you'd like this better."
Shizuo accepted his glass with a nod, taking a sip along with Izaya who took a much larger drink from his own glass.
"Well, let's eat! I'm starving!" Izaya exclaimed.
Izaya watched a pleased smile form on Shizuo's lips as he took the first bite and felt relieved that his cooking had apparently come out decent despite the bumps along the way.
They began eating quietly as usual, but when the silence became too much for him, Izaya quickly finished his glass of wine between bites in hopes that it would relax his nerves enough to start a normal conversation.
"Nee, Shizu-chan, is this a date?" he asked with a small laugh.
Apparently he'd had a bit too much already.
To make matters worse, Shizuo froze at the question and looked as if he was in deep thought. What bothered Izaya was the fact that Shizuo did not look as if he was going to deny that this was a date. The blond wasn't angry at all.
Izaya had been joking when he'd asked the question. Clearly they had been enjoying going out as friends, right? What was that look on Shizuo's face…?
"I mean, do you think it is…?" Shizuo asked in response.
Just friends, right?
Izaya refilled his wine glass and took another drink before answering. "Shizu-chan's the one who wanted to start doing things with me in the first place. You tell me."
"Then I guess the answer is no." Shizuo said, quietly taking another drink.
Right. It's not a date. We're just becoming friends.
Izaya cursed himself for bringing up this conversation. It was difficult spending time alone with him like this. There was no one else for him to point out to move the conversation away from getting too personal. But here, there was no escaping it. And Izaya cursed himself once again for having this stupid idea for dinner in the first place.
But at least the wine was helping to make it bearable. After all, the last time he was alone with Shizuo like this was…
Izaya shook his head. He didn't need to think about those things right now. Instead, he decided to take another drink from his glass and forget.
When they finished eating and cleaning up the dishes, the two moved to the couch while Izaya continued to giggle like an idiot after Shizuo almost dropped a plate. The wine had gone to his head making the situation absolutely hilarious to the informant. Shizuo on the other hand was only a little tipsy by this point, watching with amusement as Izaya was reduced to tears from laughing so hard.
Within another few minutes the two managed to work their way to the couch where Izaya filled up Shizuo's glass again, daring Shizuo to catch up with him—a challenge which Shizuo decided to accept as he downed his next glass of wine.
Izaya continued refilling Shizuo's glass every time he finished half of his drink, and now neither of them were sure who had drank more, but one thing was for sure; for once they were having fun spending time together. Who knew all it took was a now nearly empty bottle of wine?
Soon they began talking about high school—stupid gossipy things that Izaya had absorbed from his years watching the students of Rajin from the sidelines. But Shizuo had lost focus as soon as Izaya started rambling about some girl he'd turned down all those years ago. It was probably because of the alcohol, but still, Shizuo couldn't stop himself from looking at Izaya's lips and how desperately he wanted to kiss them right now—especially when Izaya kept moving in close to talk about the "juicy" parts of his stories.
Izaya paused his rambling and moved over until his shoulder was pressed against Shizuo's shoulder. He had an eyebrow raised as he studied Shizuo's face for a moment.
"What're you thinking about, Shizu-chan?" he asked, "That's an interesting expression."
Before he could stop himself, Shizuo lost control. His hand reached behind Izaya's head an instant before his lips pressed against Izaya's.
Just friends. Right, Shizu-chan?