'Damn, what did she give me?' He wonders, frowning hard as he walked along the busy sidewalks of Ikebukuro. As usual, people were bustling about everywhere with excitement thrumming through the crowds.
There was a chill to the air, and soon he'd have to switch to his winter uniforms. Well, if he still had ant. Last winter Izaya had received some new knives from "Santa-san" (probably himself) and decided to test them out on Shizuo's poor clothes. Skin could at least heal itself, but cotton could not.
'Shitty flea.' He thinks, frowning. He's lucky to not have seen him around for a few days, and he prays the pest will stay away from Celty's Halloween party.
'Shit…I still need a date.' He realizes, frowning to himself. Checking his watch he see's it's already 6:24 PM and the sun is going down. He could try going to a bar Like Tom suggested...but a glance down at himself shows blood stains on his uniform and if he were going to try that he'd at least not want to be so obvious about who he is.
'I'm off tomorrow.' He decides. 'I'll try then.' Pulling out his cellphone, he shoots off a quick text to Celty. If he's going to try and pick someone up, he'll need some clothes and he has zero fashion sense. You'd think asking a headless fairy about fashion would be a bad idea, but she's got surprisingly good taste.
"Are you sure?" He asks, inspecting the fabric in his hands.
[Absolutely!] Celty replies on her phone, nodding her helmet enthusiastically. She takes a moment to type some more, fingers flying over the screen. [Simple is best.]
"It just...I expected something a little flashier." Shizuo says, because surely one shirt won't make that much difference.
[Flashy is bad!] Celty insists, shivering a little. [Flashy guys are always so creepy, they brag about the strangest things and try to touch you without permission!]
"Shinra is flashy." Shizuo says, staring at her. "And he does those things…"
[He's not flashy, he's strange.] She crosses her arms, shoulder tensing in an embarrassed manner when she flicks a shadow out to hold the phone close to his face, like she's afraid someone else will see. [And he has permission…]
"Do I really have to bring a date?" He tries, shifting his weight from one foot to another subtly. he [Yes! It's a couples Halloween party! You have three days, and wearing that you'll have no trouble.] She puts a hand on his shoulder, and he smiles back at her.
"Okay, I'll trust you on this. Thanks for your help." They head to the register together. He hopes it'll help, because he can't help but notice how the cashier's hands shake when she sees him and rings up his shirt. Poor girl looks petrified when she drops his change, but he assures her it's no problem.
[Good luck! Remember, just that and your usual pants, nothing else! ] Celty types to him when they part ways, waving as she hops on Shooter. He waves back and heads home, shirt bagged and sighing to himself. He heads to bed early that night, though his sleep is restless and filled with dreams of beetles and gold capped teeth.
'This is stupid.' He thinks, glaring down at his newly bought shirt. It's nothing fancy, just a navy blue button down, but he feels incredibly stupid all the same. It's amazing how a simple shirt can throw him miles out of his comfort zone.
He'd woken up that morning feeling fine, so whatever had been in the vial hadn't brought any ill effects. So he'd carried on with his day as usual, used the bathroom and brushed his teeth while still half asleep, fixed breakfast still half asleep, and spent the rest of the morning watching TV. Around 3:00 pm, he'd skipped lunch, he finally got up the nerve to throw on the shirt and head out.
Now, if only he could put the stupid thing on. He shouldn't be this nervous, really. It's just a shirt, and the hard part hasn't even come yet. Maybe it's a good thing Celty didn't let him buy anything else.
'I'll look stupid.' He thinks, frowning hard. 'They're going to see a monster playing dress up and laugh.' That thought makes him growl, and he finally finds it in him to tug it over his head and tug it into shape properly.
"Fine!" He snaps, grabbing his keys and putting his shoes on at the door. "Let them laugh, I'll bash their stupid faces in and then laugh at THEM!" He slams his door shut, startling his neighbor. The man jumps, looking more alarmed than usual as his eyes flick up and down Shizuo's form like he doesn't recognize him.
"It's just a shirt!" He yells, startling the man further. "Get the fuck over it!"
"Y-yes sir!" He bows, and nearly brains himself trying to get into his apartment. Shizuo just huffs and storms past him, fists clenched and taking deep breaths. Thankfully, it's different on the streets. No one pays any attention to him, and Shizuo is starting to think Celty was right when apparently no one even recognizes him. Usually people would be moving out of his way and staring blatantly, but now only girls seem to take notice of him. He sighs and looks ahead, spine straightening when he sees a familiar jacket swish with the crowd.
"III-ZAAA-YAAAA-KUUUUN!" He yells, rage filling him just like that. He reaches out, hand tightening on a nearby street sign and he tugs on it hard.
It's a bit of a shock when he falls flat on his ass, and the sign stays rooted in the ground. Several feet in front of him people are scattering, away from Izaya and the general area at the cry of a monster. He lets go of the sign to stare at his enemy and waits for the laughter. Surely that will make him angry enough to bash that fleas head in. Izaya is glancing around, and gives him a weird look when he sees him but...he ignores him?
"Oi!" He snaps, drawing Izaya's gaze again.
"Oh, my." Izaya smiles at him, stepping forward. He holds his hand out, smiling down at Shizuo in a surprisingly non mocking way. "You really should get up and run, a monster is coming."
"Fuck you!" Shizuo snarls, jumping to his feet and grabbing Izaya by the collar and raising his fist. Around them, people are still rushing about. Pain stabs through his side, presumably Izaya's knife.
"I wouldn't do that, you know?" Izaya purrs, knife still pressed to Shizuo's side where he's made a thin cut. It's small enough and discreet enough not to draw too much attention from anyone in the crowd. They both gasp when someone bumps Izaya, shoving the knife in deep.
Blood spills out, gushing around the knife and already Shizuo feels dizzy. It drips down, obvious he's actually injured now and he can't make sense of why it hurts so much more than it usually does. A scream pierces the air, and he lets go of Izaya to collapse to the ground. He crouches down next to him, pulling out his phone and giving Shizuo an irritated look.
"Great." He sighs, shaking his head. "Just what I need."
"Wha-?"
"Hey, Shinra?" Izaya speaks, glancing down at Shizuo's wound from time to time. "Yeah, I need you to send Celty. To Thirty-fourth vine, near that shoe store." He says, pausing when Shinra says something. Shizuo lays there, stunned that Izaya is actually helping him. 'What the fuck?! Seriously, what the fuck!?' Spots are swimming in his vision, and he groans when the pain doesn't fade as it usually does.
"I might have accidentally stabbed someone." He scowls at whatever Shinra says, and Shizuo can hear the doctor yelling something from his position on the ground. "Just send her." Izaya says, rolling his eyes and closing his phone. He looks surprised when he glances down again at Shizuo.
"Still conscious? Ne, you're a strong one aren't you?" He laughs, and Shizuo scowls.
"The fuck-?" He hisses, but he's too dizzy to say much else. Still, he glares as hard as he can.
"Look, I didn't mean to stab you that deep." Izaya says, bringing a hand up to push Shizuo's hair from his sweaty forehead. He looks pleased, like this is fun for him. "But to be fair, you did attack me first." He opens his mouth to reply, something scathing and mean, but Celty has already arrived.
When her helmet turns down to look at him, her shoulders jerk in alarm and shadows puff up angrily. His body reacts the same, stiffening in his little private pool of blood in reaction to hers when human instinct takes over. Of course Izaya would barely blink, oblivious or at least ignoring their shared panic.
"Celty-chan, we should move." He says, smiling cheekily at her. "This man is losing a lot of blood." It takes her a moment to move, and Shizuo has given up on talking when his vision is 70% black sparks at this point. He feels as he's moved, shadows wrapping around his waist to stop the blood as best they can and others molding together and stretching to create a flexible shadow bed of sorts. It slides underneath him with her help, and Shooter changes shape to take on a small car.
He lies in the back, shadows snug around him and Izaya and Celty in front. He doesn't remember closing his eyes, but some time passes and when they blink back open he's laying on someone's couch, red eyes peering at him much too close to be comfortable.
"Gah!" He gasps, jerking back as much as he can. Thankfully it isn't much, with the couch cushion right behind him, but it still hurts like a bitch. Izaya laughs right in his face.
"Careful, careful~" He coos, tapping Shizuo's nose like you might a child or a dog. "You'll pull your stitches."
[Are you feeling okay?] A phone is pushed in his face, and Izaya stands up and moves back to give Celty room to talk to him.
"'M okay…" He mumbles, glaring at Izaya when she moves to type something to the other man. Shinra doesn't appear to be in the room.
"As you wish~" He hears Izaya purr, leaving the room. He doesn't leave the apartment, though, and Celty is on him before he con ponder this.
[SHIZUO?!] She types, hands shaking and shadows puffing like cartoon smoke.
"Yes?!" He answers, leaning away from her as best he can.
[Why do you have two skins?] She demands, pushing the phone closer to his face. He blinks slowly at the message, brows furrowing.
"Excuse me?" He asks, trying to make sense of the words. "If that's an insult, I don't get it."
[You look like a tv with two different channels playing at the same time.]
"Ooh, burn."
[I'm serious! I can see you, but there's someone else….over you, and you're moving together. It's really confusing.]
"...I don't understand." He says, and her shoulders slump. Then she perks back up, shadows puffing around far calmer than they had been before.
[Maybe I can show you.] She turns her phone towards herself, taps a it some and pushes it back towards him. First he sees a young man, with grey blue eyes and brown hair. He doesn't think much of it, but his brain catches on faster than he can comprehend when the man frowns in the exact same time he does. Eyes widen in alarm, mouth falls open on the screen and on his face and if he had less pride he'd scream.
"No fucking way." He hisses, sitting up with Celty's help and taking the phone from her. It's on camera mode, and he's apparently in someone else's body. He doesn't look a thing like himself, with a younger face and shorter hair and thicker eyebrows and no fucking way!
The gypsy's face flashes in his mind, and his throat tickles like something is crawling.