After all, Shizuo should have thrown a fit and go ballistic but nothing of the sort had happened. Izaya spun on his swivel chair, slowly. He had to settle the matter in his mind. But somehow he kept getting entangled in troubling ramifications and becoming annoyed all over again.
The doorbell chime interrupted his reflections.
"Izaya-san! Izaya-san? Hello!"
"What do you want, Masaomi?"
Kida smiled widely and winked as he walked in.
"I want to know your secret! You're my hero now! So many girls, ah, it's amazing. Tell me how you do it! I'll take notes."
"Goodbye."
"Wait, don't just throw me out like this! That's so cold."
Kida made as if to try out the famous swivel chair but Izaya stepped on his way, his eyes burning with a sharp red glow.
"You touch the chair and you die. Understood?"
"Wow, so drastic. You should call Heiwajima-san and settle…whatever. Even I can see that."
"I won't have you, of all people, lecturing me on relationships."
Kida shook his head.
"Fine. But you'll regret it. Mark my words, you'll regret it."
"There's the door."
But Kida's warning lingered even after he was gone. Izaya had a triple date lined up for the night but he called it off. He was not in the mood of entertaining people or acting like he had at least a minimal interest in these girls. Instead he stayed in and caught up with his semi neglected work. Izaya often found himself zoning out. He would be sifting through rumor for hints of clues and for hidden leads and find himself thinking about Shizuo instead. Shizuo who stubbornly refused to call him. Izaya spun it into Shizuo being deliberate in an attempt to humiliate and hurt him. Seen from that perspective Izaya's subsequent actions had a ring of righteous indignation to them. Izaya quite liked that.
But somehow it did not stick. Bottled emotions clashed within him. Izaya went to sleep after a lot of tossing and turning. And he had a dream. He knew that it was a dream but that did not change anything. It still felt as if Shizuo was there and somehow Izaya could not help being drawn towards him. He woke up to a pang of disappointment followed suit by annoyance. There was something vaguely pathetic in having wet dreams at his age. Izaya sighed deeply. Then he noticed that he was not alone.
"What the- Shizu-chan? What are you doing here?"
"Still got the key."
Izaya tossed some sheets over himself.
"You can't just go barging into people's places like this."
"Like I said, still got the key. And you were calling my name just now."
Izaya dreaded this.
"How long have you been standing there? Are you a stalker now?"
"Long enough."
"Long enough for me to sue you for trespassing, this is private property and you're not welcome here."
"Long enough to find out that you think about me. I'm glad you're alone, I wanted to see you."
"What for?"
Izaya's bravado was a front. In reality he felt very much afraid. Shizuo could easily beat him to a pulp. Izaya flinched instinctively as Shizuo sat next to him in bed and became completely frozen as Shizuo hugged him. It was so unexpected that for a split second Izaya was sure that he was still dreaming.
"Do you hate me, Izaya?"
"I've got plenty of reasons to hate you."
"I'm sorry if you felt cornered or something but this- the way you've been acting, it hurt like hell."
Izaya had planned to put on his most victorious smile if it came to this but when it did, he found himself flailing.
"It was your fault anyway."
He made a weak attempt at disentangling himself from Shizuo's strong arms.
"Even if it was…you can't be happy doing this."
"On the contraire, I had loads of fun."
Shizuo shook his head.
"I can see you're not happy just by looking at you."
Izaya gathered his resolve.
"How can I be expected to be happy? You dumped me without even hearing me out. Just like that. So screw you, Heiwajima Shizuo."
Shizuo slumped.
"I just wanted to be with you. Don't think I don't know that I care for you much more than you care for me. All I want for you to actually give me a chance."
"Oh really? And how does marriage play into this spiel?"