Notes: Sorry about this update being late; I'm going on vacation tomorrow for about ten days, so I've had a lot of stuff on my plate that's been keeping me busy and away from the internet. I'm sorry. D:
Title: Fragility
Pairing: Shizaya
Part: sixth part
Words: 5056
Prompt: Shizaya, cuddling... Just any IC fluff. ;_;
Disclaimer: It's not mine. It all belongs to others who I am in no way associated with and I make nothing from writing this, got it?

part six

He must have drifted off just a little, because it was his phone's alarm went off that jolted him out of the state of half-wakefulness that he'd been floating in. Luckily it had just been set on vibrate. With a sigh, he glanced down at Izaya who was still curled up next to him and fast asleep.

He's so cute...

With a small smile, Shizuo carefully untangled himself from Izaya and climbed out of bed. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was as well. Izaya showed no signs of waking up quite yet, so Shizuo quickly walked to the bathroom across the hall to run a brush through his hair quickly before he came back to change.

Contrary to popular belief, Shizuo did own more clothes than just his signature bartender outfits. He just chose not to wear them.

Shrugging out of his vest and unbuttoning his shirt, he pulled out one of his tees from his closet along with a pair of dark-wash jeans that were a little wrinkled but were otherwise perfectly fine. Discarding his clothes in the laundry hamper, he noted that it was a little bit on the full side.

Guess that means there's a laundry run in the near future.

He pulled his tee on over his head before reaching for his pants, unbuttoning those and tossing them into the hamper as well before pulling on his jeans. Izaya was still asleep, but Shizuo still figured that maybe pulling out something fresh for him to wear would be a good idea; which meant digging through the back of his closet for something. Eventually, he found an old pair of sweat pants at the back along with an older tee.

Maybe he would have to ask Celty to pick up some clothes from – or maybe just buy some new ones. That seemed like a better idea. As paranoid as it sounded, enforcing the distance was a good idea just in case.

Once that was done, he left the clothes at the end of the bed while he woke Izaya up. Gently smoothing his hand over his shoulder, he pressed a quick kiss to his temple.

"Hey, time to wake up. Celty and Shinra should be here soon."

The brunette's face wrinkled up for a moment before he just curled up into a tighter ball, murmuring something that Shizuo couldn't quite make out. He smiled but this wasn't a time where he'd be allowed to indulge him; Shinra would want to check his bandages and change them when he got there.

Plus, he had dinner that he had to prepare. Celty could cook but... not having a head meant her cooking didn't come out exactly as she would've liked it to.

"Come on. You can go to bed early, but Shinra will pester you until you wake up." He waited a few moments for his words to sink before Izaya grumbled out something unintelligible and nodded. "How are you feeling?"

Blinking blearily, Izaya rolled over as he rubbed at his eyes. It took a little longer for Shizuo's question to register, but when it did he just gave a little shrug in response and reached out for the blond.

Shizuo smiled and helped Izaya sit up, indulging him just a little even though he knew that the brunette could – with some difficulty – push himself up. This was just easier and it lessened the risk of Izaya injuring himself further; which was the last thing either of them wanted.

"Sleep alright?"

All he got was a nod in response.

"Here, I got you something clean to wear. Do you want to change now or later?"

Izaya took his hand and traced out his answer, Later. There's no point to get changed now if Shinra is going to be changing my bandages.

Shizuo nodded, "Alright. Is there anything you need right now?"

The brunette shook his head, but snuggled closer to Shizuo, who settled himself back on the edge of the bed, and yawned. Both of them just sat there in a comfortable silence until a loud knock at the door heralded the arrival of their dinner guests.

"Hang on, I'll get that. No moving." Shizuo gave the brunette a very stern glare at that as he stood up.

In response, Izaya just rolled his eyes and made a little shooing gesture with his hands that very clearly said: Just go and get the door you idiot.

With one more stern look, Shizuo left. He could clearly hear Shinra calling out to him to open the door, which was promptly cut off; probably because Celty had jabbed him in the gut for making a scene when it really wasn't necessary. He didn't particularly care.

Opening the door, he shot the underground doctor a bland look, "What?"

Shinra was, to his credit, a little hunched over and clutching his stomach where Celty had hit him. He gave Shizuo a little pout before he responded, "How's Izaya doing? Celty said she had a talk with him – he's alright I hope."

"He's fine; better than the last few days." For one, he's talking again... opening up again... that's good enough for me. "He's in the bedroom if you want to see him."

Chucking off his shoes and pressing his glasses back up his nose, Shinra disappeared down the hall to make sure that the brunette hadn't done anything stupid in his absence. Shizuo just blinked before he rolled his eyes and sighed.

Without the doctor there, that left Celty and Shizuo standing in the front hall. Shizuo stepped aside and let the woman inside, taking two of the bags that she was carrying.

"You went shopping?"

Celty shifted the remaining bag to the crook of her arm to type out her response. [ If we're going to be making dinner, I thought that it would be best if I bought a few things. Besides, I thought that you might be running a little low on groceries. ]

"Yeah, thanks." Shizuo glanced down into the bag, "Did you have any idea of what we're going to be making?"

[ I was thinking that we could keep it simple... I don't know how good you are in the kitchen and, well, there's something off about my cooking. So I thought that we could just do a simple stir fry. ]

"That's fine, I don't really feel like making anything complicated." Shizuo led Celty into his small kitchen and they quickly put away what wasn't needed and gathered together what they would need. From down the hall, Shizuo could just make out Shinra's soft voice rambling on about something to Izaya, and he just a little. Trust Shinra to talk Izaya's ear off, especially since he couldn't talk back.

[ What do you want me to do? ] Celty had discarded her helmet, the shadows coming from her neck flowing up into random shapes and puffs that reflected her moods.

They had set the rice in the rice cooker off to the side, leaving them to prepare the vegetables and the meat for the stir fry. Deciding that he'd stick with the safety, he set Celty to chopping vegetables at the one counter while he dealt with the meat and the sauce for it.

The two of them worked in peaceful silence; Celty's PDA and helmet sat on the bar-table that divided the kitchen from the living room. It was comfortable, the two of them working like a well-oiled machine as they prepared dinner for the four of them. Slowly, the kitchen was filled with the delicious smell of herbs and cooking meat and it eventually lured Shinra out of the bedroom.

"That smells amazing Celty!" Shinra said in a sing-song voice. "What are you making?"

The dullahan quickly wiped her hands on a towel before taking up her PDA. [ Shizuo and I are making a stir-fry. Although... he's doing most of the work. ]

"But you're helping! I'm sure that I'll be able to taste your touch in the food!"

Shizuo snorted but elected not to say anything. Instead, Celty simply jabbed Shinra sharply in the stomach before she responded.

[ I sincerely hope not. ]

"Celty...!"

A sharp glare from Celty – or what constituted one coming from a woman with no head – shut the doctor up immediately, but he gave her a goofy smile as he slid into one of the two seats at the breakfast bar that was Shizuo's kitchen table. He crossed his arms on the counter and set to watching Celty with a gooey look in his eyes.

"How's Izaya?"

"Huh?" Shinra turned away from Celty. "Izaya? His injuries are healing well enough, there'll be a couple of scars from the burns and a few of the others, but they're healing cleanly and he seems to be in a much better mood than last time..."

"I sense a 'but' in there."

"His leg. I think that it's a lot more severe than I first though. I'd like to take a better look at it but he would have to come see me for me to check. But... I don't think that... he'll be able to walk again. Not with the same ease as before..."

"You mean..." The words wouldn't come, they seemed to catch in his throat.

Celty finished the sentence for him. [ Are you saying that he would be crippled? ]

Almost immediately, Shinra was settling into his business mindset. He spoke in a near methodical tone of voice, "Not precisely... I can't be sure until I can get a better look at the bone, but I think that he might not be able to move with the same fluidity and ease that he was able to before. He'll be able to walk and run with some effort, but... anything more might be too much."

Shizuo let that sink in. It was as the last nail in the metaphorical coffin; Izaya would not be able to go back to how things were before. For the rest of his life, he would have to bear those scars and the knowledge that what had been done to him could never be undone.

While he was lost in thought, Shinra had continued, "... the damage is permanent. I can't tell yet what the exact effects will be, but from what I've observed I think that his knee has taken the most damage. It was dislocated and nearly completely shattered for one thing. I was going to–"

"Don't tell him."

His voice was deceptively calm, but his hands were shaking and tightened into fists. Sharp metal biting into his skin went ignored, not even the small trickle of blood from the crushed handle of the knife digging into his palm. It took several moments until the realization that he was bleeding kicked in and he released the mutilated knife, letting it clatter to the counter.

"Eh? Why not?" Shinra asked. "He deserves to know; it is his body we're talking about here."

The glare that Shizuo turned on him was dark and made the doctor cringe back, throwing his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Don't tell him. Not yet. I just got him to open up again – he's had enough setbacks already. For now, just let him recover a little more. If you need more tests, than fine. But give him some time before you tell him."

"Well, alright... I'll wait for a while, but you can't hide it from him forever."

Shizuo stared down at the counter, at his bleeding hand, and replied, "I know."

Running his hand through his hair, Shinra sighed and fixed Shizuo with a stern look, "I was going to say that the damage was so severe that it wouldn't be wise to let it heal on its own since I don't think it's going to heal properly. He's going to need surgery."

Celty swooped in to save the meat and vegetables from burning and quietly began to serve dinner.

"When?"

"Within the next few days; I wanted to make sure that he had stabilized and was somewhat more emotionally stable before the procedure." Shinra softly thanked Celty as she handed him his dinner before he continued. "Celty can pick him up and bring him to my place for the surgery; he'll have to stay there for a while after so that I can monitor him, but otherwise he'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

"It's not a serious injury – nothing like what you've come to me with – and it isn't life-threatening. I mean, no surgery is without risks but he'll be fine."

Shizuo sighed, "Alright. I'll tell him later tonight."

"But–"

The look that the blond shot the doctor could've killed; Shinra smartly shut up with a small meep and quickly turned back to his dinner and his... girlfriend. Honestly Shizuo wasn't too sure what they were sometimes.

When he poked his head into the bedroom, Izaya was lying down and looked as though he'd gone back to sleep. But he opened his eyes and looked over at Shizuo when the blond pushed the door open and came in.

"Are you hungry?"

-A little. What's for dinner?-

"Stir fry; Celty brought the ingredients." Shizuo paused before he asked, "Do you want to eat here or come and join us?"

-With you would be nice.-

"Alright."

Izaya almost immediately reached out to Shizuo as the blond smiled and leaned down to scoop him up off the bed and into his arms. The brunette leaned into his chest, curling close; the cast made his leg stick out at a bit of an awkward angle and navigating doors meant turning sideways, but neither of them cared.

As though she'd already known, Celty had set the table by the couch with their dinner and drinks. She'd also made up one half of it with pillows and a blanket for Izaya so that he'd be comfortable.

She held out her PDA. [ If you feel sleepy, it's alright; Shinra and I don't mind if you feel tired and want to rest. ]

Izaya nodded and let Shizuo set him down on the couch and make sure that he was carefully tucked in and propped up on the pillows. He only swatted his hands away when it became clear that Shizuo was just fiddling with the blankets.

-I'm fine. Really.- When Shizuo gave him a disbelieving stare, Izaya gave a soundless huff. -Don't worry about it. Just eat your dinner. If I need anything, I'll tell you.-

Shizuo gave him a skeptical look but settled down on the couch next to him with a quiet, "Well alright..."

Despite the brunette's reassurances, Shizuo was still worried about him. With the bomb that Shinra had dropped on him, he really couldn't help it. Just how was he supposed to break that news to Izaya? He'd already suffered through one setback and now another had dropped itself in his lap. Although, maybe he should have expected this one – Izaya's injuries had been horrible, it should not have been such a shock to find out that they might leave lasting scars.

Gentle was the way to go, obviously, but how to say it... Shizuo knew he wasn't the best when it came to words.

He sighed and turned back to his dinner; he'd worry about it later once Shinra and Celty had left. The last thing he needed was for Shinra to start running his mouth and just making things worse.

Unsurprisingly, he wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but he did manage to force most of it down. He didn't want to make Izaya worry about him when he was going to be telling him that he was going to be... crippled for the rest of his life.

He'll be able to walk; focus on that. It isn't the end of his life, this won't kill him. Internal reassurances weren't doing too much to quell the butterflies in his stomach; nor how the bottom had dropped out. It was only through sheer force of will that Shizuo managed to keep his expression neutral and his hands from shaking.

Dinner was quiet; since only two of those present could actually talk, conversation seemed a little bit silly since they would just have to read what either Izaya or Celty 'said' out loud. Once they'd all finished, Shizuo went about collecting the dishes – he'd do them later.

-What happened to your hand?-

Shizuo paused as he reached for Izaya's half-eaten dinner and glanced down at his palm. He'd forgotten about breaking the knife; the cut wasn't too large and had already started to scab over but it was still painted a bright red on his palm.

"Ah, it's nothing."

Izaya looked down at his hands for several long moments, weighing his phone in his hands before he asked his next question. -Is it my fault?-

"What! No!" Shizuo shot him a stern look, "I just cut myself making dinner; it's not a big deal. It's not serious, don't worry about it."

-It looks serious.- Izaya retorted, dropping his phone into his lap to reach out and grab Shizuo's hand and jerking it towards him so that he could get a better look at it. The brunette ignored the fact that they'd gained an audience.

Shinra pushed his glasses back up his nose, "Should I take a look at it?"

"It's really shallow; I hadn't even noticed it."

At that, Shinra just had to face palm. It was such a typical Shizuo response. "That's because you don't notice until you see the blood..."

Celty just shook her head and hopped off her stool and disappeared down the hall to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit that Shizuo had taken to keeping there. When she returned, she sat down on the couch beside Izaya and opened up the kit, but the brunette plucked the antiseptic and bandages out before she could.

He fumbled a little with the lid to the antiseptic since his fingers weren't as flexible as they usually were since they were still covered in bandages. Once he managed to get the lid off, he squeezed a small portion onto his finger and gently smoothed it over the cut. Shizuo didn't even wince – he was faring better than Izaya when Shinra had changed his – even when Izaya wrapped the bandages around it.

"Thanks."

Izaya gave him a small smile in response as Shizuo picked up the dishes, piling them on top of his own before heading back into his small kitchen.

Meanwhile, Celty had taken back the antiseptic and the bandages and was recapping the former and making sure that they were carefully packed away. She gently wiped the excess off his fingers, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze before she left to quickly return the kit to the bathroom.

[ There's some cheesecake in the fridge, would you like some? ]

Even though he wasn't particularly hungry, he did have a bit of a weakness when it came to cheesecake... -A small piece. I don't think that I could stomach much more.-

Shizuo placed the dishes in the sink, ignoring the blood and mangled knife lying there, and watched as Celty removed the cheesecake that she'd brought from the fridge and set it on the counter. He pulled a spare out of one of the drawers and handed it to her before he went to retrieve some more plates from one of the cupboards.

Leaning back in his chair, Shinra was rambling amicably to the both of them as Celty cut the cake into pieces and set them on plates while Shizuo slid one plate across to Shinra. He took his piece and Izaya's little sliver over to the couch and handed it to the brunette.

Again, he got a small smile and a nod in return.

"How are you holding up?"

Izaya set his fork down on his plate and swallowed his mouthful of cake before he picked up his phone to respond. -A little tired but otherwise I feel fine.-

Almost spontaneously, Shizuo reached out and tangled his hand in Izaya's hair and gently pulled him towards him and pressed his lips to his temple. He felt the brunette tense up just a little, but then he relaxed and leaned into the touch, although there was some hesitancy still there. Well, that he could work on.

"Sorry... too much?"

He shook his head almost frantically. -No! No... I just... I just need to adjust to it is all... You... I meant what I said earlier. I want to make you happy. I do love you. It's just...-

Shizuo placed his hand over Izaya's and squeezed it just as he gave him a warm smile, "I know. And I'm not expecting you to change overnight either. You have time, as much as you need."

The words just made that ache inside of his heart hurt more, somehow he knew that he could be responsible for crushing whatever Izaya had managed to cobble together to keep himself going. He could be there as much as he wanted, say whatever he wanted to, but it all came down to the brunette.

Don't let this pull you down, please. It would destroy me too.

The rest of the evening passed in quiet conversation, with some inquiries about how work was going for Celty and Shizuo – Izaya seemed curious about what Celty was doing lately since he had usually been the one to give her work. She'd been managing just fine; there were still people who could use her skills as a transporter and she was being paid handsomely for her services.

She made sure that Izaya couldn't see one of her messages but did show it to Shizuo. [ I've been trying to see if I could find out anything that happened to him and who could have been responsible. I haven't had much luck. I'm sorry. ]

He nodded; Celty was in a better position than him to investigate that sort of thing. Still, he'd kept his ears and eyes open to see if maybe he might catch something. And even though he was very rarely active on the forums, he'd made a solitary post to see if maybe someone else knew something.

So far, nothing.

-Has there been any excitement lately?- Izaya asked.

Shizuo shrugged, "Not really. There have been a couple of squabbles between some gang members but nothing else that I've noticed."

Celty also had a response. [ One or two disappearances; a young woman went missing in Ikebukuro a week or two ago, but nothing else besides that. ]

"Oh yeah, I heard about that," Shinra added. "A couple of my employers mentioned it. They think it's some underground organization but they're not sure either. She's the daughter of some important businessman or something."

Izaya's hands were shaking just a little. But he did manage to type out a response. -Has there been any word? Ransom demands?-

"Not that I'm aware of," Shinra replied a little absently.

Shizuo, though, noticed how Izaya was trembling and how wide his eye was. Very gently he placed one hand over Izaya's and slid his other arm around his shoulders and pulled him towards him. The brunette froze for a moment before he practically melted against Shizuo, his hands fisting into the fabric of the blanket that was draped over his lap.

He dropped his voice so that Shinra couldn't hear and whispered into the other's ear, "It's fine; no one is going to hurt you. They'd have to go through me first and I'm not gonna let them get to you – I'm sure that this has nothing to do with what happened to you."

Izaya was still trembling like a flower in a breeze, but he cuddled closer to Shizuo who tightened his arms around him.

A quick look at Celty and Shinra revealed that the two of them were regretting bringing up the disappearance; Celty looked as though she would kick herself and Shinra just looked horribly mortified.

Celty recovered quickly. [ I'm so sorry! This sort of thing happens sometimes, I'm sure that it doesn't have to do with you. We should've been a little more sensitive about it. ]

"Yeah," Shinra chipped in. "And we wouldn't let anything happen to you either."

Shizuo gave a little smile which went unseen by everyone, one hand gently stroking Izaya's back as he felt him relax against him. He might have still been trembling, but it wasn't as violent; his hands were clenching Shizuo's shirt tightly and he was practically in the blond's lap.

"We'll protect you. I'll protect you." I couldn't protect you before, but this time... this time I will. I won't let anyone hurt you; I won't let them near you.

Hesitantly, Celty reached out and slid her arm around Izaya's shoulders, giving him a comforting squeeze as she rubbed his upper arm. It was an awkward position since the brunette was wrapped firmly in Shizuo's arms, but he shifted Izaya enough to let Celty join the embrace. Shinra had to awkwardly reached between the two to lay a comforting hand on the slighter man's shoulder.

All three of them were willing to protect him and keep him safe, and it made Izaya cry. He'd been doing a lot of that lately.

Running his fingers through Izaya's hair, Shizuo gently rocked him in his arms and rubbed his back. It was just a little disconcerting for the brunette to be crying and making little to no noise whatsoever – he was so used to Izaya as never shutting up. The continued silence was just a little disquieting, even after experiencing it for so long.

The four of them stayed like that for what seemed like hours, or at least until Izaya stopped crying and eventually fell asleep. Shizuo carefully picked him up and went to tuck him into bed while Celty finished tidying up the living room and kitchen.

Pulling the covers up around him, Shizuo watched as Izaya rolled onto his side and curled up into a ball. It made him smile just a little and he pressed a quick kiss to the other's cheek. The dark thoughts he'd been harbouring earlier were pushed aside; he had other things that he needed to focus on.

When he returned to the main room, both Celty and Shinra were waiting in the hall; dressed and ready to go back to their home for the night. Shinra kept his voice down when he spoke.

"You'll tell him tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, he usually is awake when I leave for work; I'll tell him then or at lunch." Shizuo sighed; he knew that asking for a little more time off might be pushing his luck (his paycheck had stopped taking so many docks since Izaya was no longer continually pissing him off), but he had a huge chunk of vacation time saved up that he could use.

Personal reasons; he was sure that Tom would understand.

"Alright, you've got tomorrow to tell him, but the day after I'm scheduling him for surgery. Are you going to be there?"

"Yeah, I will. I'll try to get the day off."

Shinra nodded, "Well, I'll keep him for a few days after for observation and recovery, but after that you can bring him home."

[ I'll take those days off. ] Celty explained. [ That way, I'll be able to be home to look after him while he's recovering. You won't have to worry about him so much; I'll take good care of him. ]

He smiled at her, "Thanks."

[ It's nothing; he's important to me too. To all of us. ] Celty slid her helmet back into place, giving off a little puff of her shadows as she did so. It didn't escape his notice when she very carefully took Shinra's hand in hers. Well, at least they were moving forward too.

Shinra nodded his agreement, "Yep. He's a good friend."

The three of them said their goodnights – Shinra managing to extract a promise from Shizuo that he would talk to Izaya about the surgery and make sure that he was okay. Celty wound up pushing him along to get him to leave with Shizuo glaring after him from the annoyance.

Well, that was one headache out of the way.

Celty had put all of the dishes into the sink already, so it was just left to him to scrape them off and stick them into the dishwasher. He felt strangely relaxed but not tired; probably because of that little nap that he'd taken earlier. He'd do the dishes and put them away and than maybe read something or check his email before he went to bed.

It gave him time to think and relax; something that he hadn't had time to enjoy much of during the past few days.

The dishes didn't take him very long to rinse off and stick in the dishwasher – he'd turn it on the next morning – and tidying up the kitchen only took him a few more minutes. While he didn't actually own a computer, he retrieved his phone from the little table in the front hall to check his email.

Unsurprisingly, there was nothing new in his inbox.

Shizuo sighed and plugged his phone in to charge overnight before heading back to the living room and heading over to his small bookshelf. He hadn't actually picked up a book in a while – which kind of sucked because he'd actually bought a couple of new ones recently – mostly because of what was going on with Izaya.

With a sigh, Shizuo picked one out. He was a little nervous about leaving Izaya alone, so reading in bed sounded good.

Besides... Izaya was adorable when he was asleep.

.:-o-:. .:-o-:. .:-o-:.

Alright, so since I'm going to be on vacation, there isn't probably going to be an update next Friday (not unless I actually do get internet there, which is an unknown right now). I'm sorry about this, but hopefully I'll have enough time to actually finish up Fragility while I'm away and it'll be all finished and ready to go once I get back.

Reviews are much appreciated~

Twilight.