Title: All The Wrong Reasons
Author: MistressKiko
Rating: M
Pairing: Shizuo x Izaya
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters!

THIS STORY CONTAINS MALExMALE RELATIONSHIPS. You have been warned.

"Mirads" are my made up creatures. A more in depth description of what a mirad is will be coming in future chapters.

Shizuo's POV

Izaya wasn't here.

I was panicking, pacing back and forth, staring at the jewelry box. I stopped, opening it again.

Still nothing. No bright lights, no Izaya.

The morning had started out fairly well. I woke up from a rather nice dream, feeling well rested. It was eleven in the morning, which was the perfect time to start the day, in my opinion. Then I had looked over and found Izaya's bed empty. After a quick search around the hotel, in which there weren't many places to hide in the first place, I came to discover Izaya was not here.

And when I opened the jewelry box to find nothing but the red velvet bottom, my heart dropped.

The box was here, right in my hands, so that meant he was still around, right? Mirads couldn't just evaporate into thin air!

… could they?

Aw, shit.

I paused when I heard a distinct thumping sound on the front door, too light to be a fist. I marched over to the door, swinging it open. The sunny sky greeted me, and I squinted my eyes, seeing nothing out of the norm until I looked down.

Izaya sat there against the wall right outside of our room, with a dog in his lap. The same dog from last night.

I leaned against the door frame in relief.

"Morning," Izaya greeted, though not looking up. The dog seemed rather content in Izaya's lap, sparing me a quick glance before focusing his attention on the hand petting him.

"I told you he'd hang around here if you kept petting him," I said, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart. And he was all innocently sitting there like he hadn't near caused me a heart attack.

"But look at him! He's just craving for attention. And he knows how to sit!" Izaya explained, hugging the dog against his chest, "I think his owner must have dropped him off. Did you have a bad owner, little guy?"

I stared, a painful sensation tugging at my heart. A 'bad owner', huh? Is that why you sympathize with him, Izaya?

… damn, I didn't care for dogs, but...

"Bring him inside," I muttered, shaking my head as I walked back in.

"Eh?" I heard Izaya ask, and turned to see him peak his head in the doorway, "I thought you didn't want him here?"

"He's filthy. Give him a bath before you let him run around in here," I ordered, throwing on a pair of jeans.

"Hear that? Shizuo has a heart~!" Izaya said in a sing-song voice, shutting the door behind him when he came back in. I grunted at that, but let it slide.

I turned on the TV, watching but not really paying attention, as I listened to the running water in the bathtub. Izaya was humming some bizarre song that I think he just made up on the spot. The dog barked a few times, but was fairly quiet.

There was a splash, a yelp, a yell, and when I heard little feet running across the tile, I knew it wasn't good.

Sure enough, the damn dog came running out of the bathroom, completely drenched.

"Izaya!" I yelled, watching in horror as the dog jumped up on my bed. Izaya materialized there in an instant, grabbing the little guy and hugging him to his chest, unperturbed about getting wet.

"He doesn't like baths," Izaya chuckled, stroking his head to try and get him to calm down.

"You just have to hold him down! He'll get used to it," I replied, glad Izaya had appeared before the little guy ran into my lap or something. He had been damn close.

"I didn't know he would react that way. Guess he just loved you too much to be parted from you!" Izaya smirked.

"He doesn't have an attachment to me, he has an attachment to you. That's why he's your dog, and if he tears anything up, you better grab him before I can get a hold of him," I muttered, frowning as I looked at the dog. He stared back at me, his tongue hanging out, looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

When I looked back up at Izaya, I noticed he was staring at me too, with an odd look I couldn't quite identify. I got the feeling something was off. Then he looked down at the puppy with wide eyes.

"Mine?" He whispered, itching the dog behind his ear again. The dog fell like putty into his lap.

"Of course he's yours. I don't want a dog," I answered, watching him closely. He stared at the dog for a while longer, before his facial features melted into an endearing smile that nearly took my breath away.

"Mine, huh? Guess I'm used to being the 'pet,'" Izaya said softly, "Never really had anything of my own before."

I had an incredibly strong urge to reach out and hug him. I had to bite my lip to stop from doing so. He suddenly chuckled, lifting the dog into the air, whose tail started wagging immediately.

"Hey, hey, that means I get to name him right!" Izaya asked, lighting up like a christmas tree. I smiled.

"I would name him Pain In The Ass, so yeah, I think you should do the naming," I said, chuckling when Izaya glared at me. I was taken aback when that angry look suddenly turned calculating.

"Hmmm. You know, his fur kinda reminds me of your pretty blonde hair," Izaya said in a tone of voice that made me brace myself for what was coming, "So I'll name him Shizu-chan!"

I nearly choked on my own spit.

"What?"

Bracing myself or not, I could never predict this guy.

"Shizu-chan, do you like your name?" Izaya asked, bringing the puppy close to his face. 'Shizu-chan' started licking his nose rather enthusiastically.

"You are not naming that dog... that," I said with as much force as I could muster in my shocked state.

"You said he was mine, so I get to name him! And Shizu-chan is such a cute name!" Izaya gushed, crawling over the bed until he could slide off it, "I'll go finish Shizu-chan's bath."

He was going to say that name as many times as he could because it annoyed me, I knew it. Gah, 'Shizu-chan.' How embarrassing. Or maybe I should just be grateful he never called me that.

The splashing sounds had returned, but there was no longer a dog running out of the bathroom. Hopefully Izaya could complete the task without another mishap.

"Hey, Shizuo?" Izaya called from the bathroom.

"What?"

"I've been meaning to ask... well, I have asked but you never answered. How did you get a hold of the jewelry box?"

"... some guys had it. They pissed me off, so I knocked one of them out, and the other ran away. I thought the jewelry box was something he was going to pawn off for cash," I explained.

"The guy who had it; was he short with spiky brown hair?" Izaya asked, sounding amused.

"Uh.. didn't really notice. But yeah, he was pretty short."

"HA! I would have loved to see him get punched!"

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he was one of Shiki's lackeys. Stupid as hell."

"... he was going to betray Shiki and steal you for himself," I said, and I could finally understand what the conversation from that night had been about. He wasn't going to pawn off the jewelry box to get money to buy prostitutes... he was going to control a mirad. Maybe he didn't know Izaya wouldn't have to listen to him since he was under contract with Shiki?

"That guy? He would have died," Izaya said, walking out of the bathroom. In his hands, Shizu-chan was poking his head out of a towel, licking the water from his chops, "But now I understood how they knew you had me. One of the guys got away."

Ah. That hadn't even come to my mind. Damn, I should have knocked his lights out too. Maybe I could have hit him hard enough to give him amnesia. But at the same time, I held a sense of demented gratitude for those two. After all, if they hadn't acted like complete dumbasses, I would have walked right by them; right by Izaya.

It had been a week, hadn't it? It was kind of strange. A week felt so long, yet not long at all.

I observed as Izaya sat on the edge of my bed, rubbing Shizu-chan down with the towel. My gaze traveled from the disarrayed fur to Izaya's face, and stayed there. Something still seemed off... different.

I almost gasped out loud when it came to mind, and I crawled across the bed, leaning toward him. He stopped drying the dog, and turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

"... what?"

"Your eyes," was all I said, staring into the crimson orbs. They were... darker. I remembered how bright and near-glowing they were when I first saw him, and compared to now, the glow aspect was almost completely gone. I knew something was off lately! Had his eyes gradually been losing their light, and I hadn't really taken notice until now? "They're not as bright."

Said eyes widened, and then he turned back to his job.

"Oh. Yeah. They do that," Izaya said vaguely, standing up and throwing the towel in the bathroom. He bent down and set Shizu-chan on the floor, who started sniffing around, getting a feel for the place.

"Why do they dim?" I inquired.

"Ever seen a mood ring?" Izaya asked, sitting back on the bed.

"Mood ring? Are you telling me your eyes change colors depending on your mood?" I asked incredulously. I couldn't bring myself to believe that. I had seen him in many moods, and it was not a matter of changing color along with them, it was a matter of gradually fading.

"Exactly. I'm going to take Shizu-chan outside," Izaya replied, heading for the door. He pat his hand against his leg, and Shizu-chan ran after him. Frowning, I grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, following him out.

"So what mood are you in now?" I asked casually, going along with his story as I lit up a cigarette and took a drag.

"Tired, really," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets as he watched the dog sniff around the grass.

"And when you're eyes are really bright, it means you're happy, right?"

"Yeah."

"Bullshit," I called him out, removing the cigarette from my mouth, "Your eyes were bright when we argued the day after I met you."

Izaya shot me an annoyed glance, and sighed.

"Let it go."

"No, I won't let it go, especially now that you felt the need to lie to me about it," I said, standing my ground. I wish I knew everything about mirads so I wouldn't be so useless in this situation. But the only source of information I had was the man standing in front of me, and he could easily twist and bend the truth to whatever he wanted me to believe.

It wasn't fair, really.

"It's really not a big deal," Izaya sighed, picking up Shizu-chan after he had done his business, "When you finish your cigarette, you should wish for some dog food. I'm sure this little guy is starving."

He left me standing there, frustrated as I stared at his back until he was out of sight.

I have reached over 100 reviews? :D Thank you guys so much~!

After writing this... I have discovered I really want a puppy named Shizu-chan... XD