I am soooo crazy sorry for the long weight. College gets crazy and I get stuck in zombie mode. But its over now so I'm around until, like, September so I have no excuse to not write and upload.

I would just like to thank all those who commented. I love reading them and they mean so, so much. I will respond to them at some point. PROMISE!

Enjoy Reading

xxx

Next morning was…odd? The weirdness of last night had again, hit us at the same time. It had been easy and natural and at some points, even a little flirty and as nice as it had been in the moment, it was terrifying to think about it now. I could feel Izaya analysing every little moment probably looking for a plausible excuse.

"Erm, I think I'm going to do what you said. I mean, not Shinra but I will talk to someone…" he slid to the far end of the couch.

"Yeah, that's great" I coughed, looking away "It'll get things back to normal."

"Right" he nodded firmly.

"Right" I sighed, not sounding as sure.

…

"So, I'll see you around?" I said, standing up and sounding uncharacteristically cheery "I mean, when you next come to fuck with my shit."

"Yup, totally" he stood up too.

…

"Bye."

"Bye."

And that had been it. I had gone home and it was as if it had never happened. The only reason I was sure it hadn't been a dream was the way Shinra kept hassling me.

"Tell me about your secret girlfriend!" he demanded "What does she look like? How did you meet? What's her name? How long have you been seeing her? When can I meet her?"

I shot him a death glare, making him leap back and hunch his shoulders "Shinra, I am not seeing anyone. I was seeing and old friend and she thought it would be funny. This is the last time I'm going to tell you. Now shut up and learn how to walk and talk, would you? You're making us late."

Shinra had to jog to keep up with my long strides and was panting by the time we reached Russia Sushi. He was so out of shape.

Kadota was out front with Simon and his gang. Over the last couple months I had been putting more of an effort in with people and found it was kind of nice to have friends. Erika had suggested that we start hanging out every Saturday night and do something fun. And that's what it was: Fun.

Tonight we decided to just go out and eat but last week we had ended up in a karaoke bar with the three high school kids. After a small confrontation with the Kida kid about my shooting the previous year, I decided that I was able to tolerate them. I even liked Mikado, he was cute. Yeah, I called him cute, so what? And we had invited them to come hang out with us again, tonight.

"Hey, there's two of them" Walker nodded at us.

Erika whipped around and smiled brightly, realising it was me. The girl freaked me out. She had somehow gotten it in her head that I was gay and for whatever scary reason, that made her extremely fond of me. She was actually climbing her way up the list of people I found scary, and that was a pretty short list indeed.

"Hi everyone" Shinra greeted cheerfully, waving like a dork.

"Where's Celty?" Kadota asked.

"She'll be joining us a little later. She told me to go on ahead… wonder why?" Shinra shook away his curious frown, replacing it with a giant grin "girl stuff!"

"Hi Shizuo, how's things?" Erika beamed.

"I'm-"

"Pretty damn good apparently!" Shinra butted in.

I snapped him a stern look. "Shinra…" I growled a warning.

Shinra didn't get the point at all and continued to chant "Shizuo has a girlfriend~"

"A girlfriend? Good. It'll do you good to have a female. It'll relax you a little, eh?" Tom joined us, wriggling his eyebrows "even you need to let lose once in a while."

"He seemed to have let lose all over the city already" Kadota's eyes fell onto a crushed letterbox, which had innocently fallen into my path during a recent tantrum.

"…ew" Saburo muttered.

Erika and Walker burst into hysterics, while Kadota flapped his arms at his driver "Not like that!"

Tom rolled his eyes "Let's get some drinks in while we wait for the others."

I ended up sitting between Tom and Erika. Erika was sitting a little closer than necessary and I slid up to Tom to get away.

"Hey, what's up with this?" he hissed.

I kept quiet and used the menu to hide. I read the menu while the others chatted around me. They were used to me being rather quiet at these things and no one had thought to ask why. Or maybe they had and were too scared to ask? I didn't really like that thought…

I ignored all the weird fish combos and went straight to the dessert menu. I loved sweet things. I liked little cakes with pretty decoration. Especially if it was pink. Everything pink tastes good… except raw fish.

"Shizuo," Simon called "what you drinking?"

Why did I find ordering food in front of people so embarrassing? It's not like anyone would care but my childish tastes rarely fitted my hard personality and it did raise eyebrows.

"Just a coke" I said. Coke was okay, right? Everyone drinks it. Normal.

"You don't want a beer, man?" Walker asked.

"God no." Gross. So gross.

"Perhaps a cocktail" Erika suggested. It was a better suggestion but being a bartender, I was pretty picky about quality. Also, she was stereotyping and making assumptions, which I didn't approve of.

"Just a coke, please" I repeated.

As Simon walked away to collect drinks, he waved to the three teens who stumbled through the door "sorry we're late!"

"Make space," Kadota said "Erika shift."

Erika pouted as she slid over to make room for the kids. Miasomi made sure to sit between Anri and Mikado, the latter squashing up against me.

"Ah, I'm sorry, so sorry" he stammered; blushing as he pushed back against Kida, trying to give me space.

"It's okay," I said quietly. I smiled down at him. He blinked his wide, sparkly eyes and returned the smile.

"Thank you," he said softly "Sh-Shizuo."

I nodded.

I really was beginning to like Mikado. On a bad day I would undoubtedly find his timid personality frustrating but I enjoyed our quiet exchanges. He didn't force me to talk and seemed happy to sit in silence. He would occasionally glance at me to see if I was okay and I think he was starting to realise I could be just as shy as him. He saw what I was and that was comforting.

"Mikado, stop smiling at Shizuo like that" Miasomi pinched his friends cheek "you're making me jealous."

I was not so sure about Kida. He was loud and flashy. I mean, I was also loud and flashy with my bleached hair but this was way different. He was such a cool kid and it was annoying. He was constantly teasing and harassing his closest friend and I didn't get why Mikado put up with it.

I hadn't even bothered with Anri. She was just cold.

Celty finally arrived and as if Shinra had been waiting for everyone to present, he yet again brought up my non-existent girlfriend.

"Just give in and tell us!" he wailed.

"Yeah, what's she like?" Tom asked.

"I was seeing an old friend and she made a bad joke. There's no0thing like that between us" I grumbled.

"Why were you over there then?" Shinra pressed "it was late and it was just you two alone."

"Guys and girls can be friends without it being anything" Kida pointed out.

"But… but…"

"So what did you are this friend get up to?" Tom grinned. He knew I wasn't being completely honest but was zooming in on the wrong thing.

"We were just hanging out" I said a little too slowly.

"More like making out" Shinra giggled.

Celty smacked him [Leave him alone. He doesn't have to tell you anything.]

"She was having a hard time. She wanted… she didn't want to be alone. I happened to stop by and I offered to look out for her" I blushed "I mean, I did hold her I guess… but just a little and there was nothing funny about it. We're not even that close. In fact, I don't like them at all. They just fuck up my shit and make me mad and-"

Mikado's hand had slid over mine over the table. They were tiny compared to mine and a little cold but I appreciated the warmth of the gesture. I took several gulping breaths and relaxed my muscles. I stared at my lap to avoid the stares.

I was surprised to feel Mikado kick Kida under the table. Kida instantly burst into animated conversation and steered everyone's attention away from me.

I blinked at the pair and silently thanked them for saving me.

The evening was as pleasant as always and I managed to keep my temper down. The conversation was good and the food was… suspect, but still didn't spoil an enjoyable evening. I was as involved as the other members of the group but it was just nice being with company.

We were leaving the bar around ten. Simon was showing us out when I saw him tense and shoot an expectant look at me.

"Be cool" Tom said in a rather pleading tone, a desperate look on his tanned face.

I leaned around him and frowned. Izaya was leaning against the wall across the street, copper eyes locked onto the doorway, in which we stood. He cocked his head to the side and smirked, raising a hand in greeting. He had obviously pulled himself together; his hair combed and his skin bright. He was out of his sweats and back in his skin tight jeans. He had also had his signature coat dry cleaned and its fur trim looked fluffier than it had done before. Izaya was back.

I narrowed my eyes.

"Why have you…Oh! Izaya's back!" Shinra fluttered around my frozen frame and headed towards the informant.

Said flea pushed himself off the wall and met Shinra in the middle "Shinra, how's things?" his usual tone of voice was back too. A silky tone that let everyone know that he was several steps a head of the situation and knew something you didn't.

It made me shiver. I could feel rage bubbling within me. Just for tonight. He had stayed true to his words.

"Where have you been?! You could have been dead. Doing what you do, you could easily get killed" Shinra said.

"That isn't nice, Shinra" Izaya sighed, not looking at him. Instead his gaze was focused on me "Wha'up, Shizu-chan?" he grinned.

Everyone looked at me, taking large steps back and bracing themselves for what they thought would be the inevitable. I turned back to Izaya, taking a few steps closer and leaning forward to stare into his rust coloured orbs, getting my face up in his. He kept his grin plastered on his neat face but I saw something flicker in his eyes. The confidence was fake. His eyes, although steady had an unsure softness to them and what seemed to be a fearful undertone.

I folded my arms and shook my head "No, I can tell you're faking and I still can't do it. You should probably get out of here. When you've spoken to someone, come back."
I felt everyone's confused stares but most seemed impressed I hadn't charged yet "Shizuo?"

Shinra was interrupted by Izaya shoving him out of the way "That's not fair. I'm not faking shit."

"It's nothing to get pissy about" I smirked, raising a brow at how flustered he looked "you're so sensitive."

"Me?!"

I chuckled "But really, you should get out of here. Trauma."

"I am not traumatised. I'm fine, dammit. You said…" he trailed off.

"I meant, when you're back to being a trolling bastard. No way am I fighting you while you're in this state" I shrugged.

"What if I'm not the same? That's the end, is it?"

"I guess so."

"Well that's a little anti-climactic, don't you think? This," he indicated to the both of us "was supposed to be interesting. It was interesting."

"Too bad. I'm done… see you."

I turned to leave but Izaya grabbed my am "You went and ruined the moment again."

I couldn't help but smile at the softness in his voice "Ah, so we were having a moment, were we?"

"I don't know. Maybe" he said "but I got all the way out here just to see you. If we're not going to mess with each other, can we at least…I don't know."

"What's happening?!" Shinra butted in between us.

"Something happened two months ago and it was kind of…" I couldn't think of the words.

"Kind of a defining moment between us and it has altered the dynamics of our relationship…a little."

"A lot" I corrected "I really can't hate you."

"Huh?!" everyone said at once "what the hell happened?!"

"Some really fucked up shit" I growled, clenching my fists.

"So what now?" Shinra asked.

…

"Whatever, I don't care" I waved a hand dismissively.

"I guess I'll…" Izaya slowly began to retreating but I grabbed his wrist and yanked him to my side "Ouch! Sizuo-chan, so rough" he pouted.

"You're not going anywhere. It's late and you're alone."

"I can look after myself" he snapped, offended.

"You did an awesome job of that last time" I snorted.

"It's not my fault it happened."

I frowned and tugged him closer so I could get a better look at him "I know. I didn't mean it like that. I still don't think you should be alone."

"No one wants me here. I've messed with almost all of them…" he looked at them "all of them."

"We'll just hang out then. Just for tonight."

"Just for tonight. One last time."

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Shinra called after us.

"Thanks for this evening" I waved lazily.

The group was silent as they watched the pair walk away. Shizuo had shoved his hands deep in his pockets, hunching his shoulders, awkwardly. Izaya was chatting away, apparently happy to be back in Ikebukuro. He grabbed onto Shizuo's arm, leading him away while pointing at some store.

"I fucking knew it!" Erika erupted, making everyone jump.

"Don't do that!" Kadota clutched his chest.

"You shouldn't swear so loudly in public" Mikado said quietly.

He went ignored.

"They're doing it for sure" she said smugly.

"What? You think those two are fucking? No way, man" Kida snorted.

"W-wha…" Shinra looked scandalized and looked between Erika and Celty "Celty, tell her!" he whined.

[Tell her what?]

"Say it isn't so!"

[Don't be so dramatic. I'm sure they'll explain what's up eventually. We should keep our noses out]

They all looked at each other.

"Yeah right!" Erika snorted.

I liked this chapter. I mean, not much happened but yeah, I don't know. This story is crazy occ but what is fanfiction for? Hopefully I'll be able to present their actual personality traits too...

Anyway, I appreciate you reading! There shall be more to come... Although, I don't have any kinda of plan on this. I'm sort of excited to see where I go!

xxx