Notes: One more part to go and then Fragility will have come to an end. Then I'll take a very short break before I start in on the sequel.
Title: Fragility
Pairing: Shizaya
Part: tenth part
Words: 2223 words
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 ten

Shinra poked his head into the room a few minutes later, drying his hands off with a cloth as he entered. He closed the door quietly behind him as he approached, discarding the towel into a nearby bin before coming to stand on the other side of the bed. Checking over the various instruments that Izaya was hooked up to, he gave a short nod to himself before he returned his attention to Shizuo.

"That went well." Shinra let out a sigh. "I was kind of worried that he'd have a panic attack or something, it's partly the reason why I didn't want to actually put him to sleep. I was worried it would bring back some... unpleasant memories for him."

"He hasn't remembered anything."

"I know, and he won't. But I mean that I wasn't sure if it would bring back something more like... an impression of what he went through. I'd rather avoid that."

Shinra sighed and crossed his arms, pushing his glasses up as they glinted in the light. "How is he taking everything else?"

"Fine. He's been rather relaxed lately and spends a lot of time sleeping." Shizuo let out a sigh, tilting his head a little to the side. "There are some days where I worry about him more than others. I keep thinking that there might be something he's keeping from me, just because he doesn't want me to worry."

"Mm... I suppose that's natural. I'm not a psychiatrist, so I really can't accurately say what's the matter with him or what's going through his head. The most we can do is be there for him."

Shizuo nodded, "I keep telling him that. Sometimes he seems to believe it more than others. It's sort of weird; his moods have been a little crazy lately. One moment he'll be happy and more cheerful than usual, and then there are times where he just doesn't want to get out of bed. It's frustrating."

"Yes, I expected that much. He might be difficult at times. You just have to be understanding – I really hope you haven't snapped at him."

The blond gave him an extremely dry look and Shinra's hands immediately rose in a pacifying gesture.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You won't hurt him. I'm just saying... you're temper isn't great Shizuo."

"I know that," he snapped. "Sometimes it's hard, but he just looks so sad and broken that I just can't stay mad at him for very long."

Shinra looked at him and let out a heavy sigh. "If you say so. Anyway, you're staying the night? Should I fix up the couch for you?"

"No, I'll stay here."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

It was already late in the afternoon when the operation had finished, the sun shining in from between the curtains that were pulled across the windows. Izaya was still asleep on the bed and Shizuo was hunched over in the chair next to him, holding his hand. He'd been dozing for a while, into the early evening, when he was startled to wakefulness by a soft knock at the door.

Celty opened the door and stuck her head inside, holding a tray of what looked like dinner in her hands. She wasn't wearing her helmet so the shadows which puffed from the stump of her neck in occasional spurts.

[ I brought dinner for the both of you. Are you hungry? ]

His stomach grumbled in response and he gave the dullahan a sheepish grin. She pushed a small table over which comfortably fit over the bed.

[ Do you want to wake Izaya up? He should eat something too; to keep his strength up. ] Celty placed the tray on the table and walked towards the door. [ Shinra and I are just down the hall if you need anything. Tell Izaya I'm glad that he's alright. ]

"Yeah, I will."

She shut the door behind her, leaving the two men alone with each other again.

With a small sigh, Shizuo straightened up, releasing Izaya's hand briefly so that he could stretch. Reaching his arms above his head, he heard his back crack just a little and his muscles released some of the stiffness which had permeated them as a result of his continued vigil. He hadn't felt so stiff since he'd spent those long days at Izaya's bedside waiting for him to wake up.

And those were pleasant memories that he really did not want to dredge up, not right then. They always filled him with anger and self-loathing for how he'd failed the other. He needed to think positively, not dwell on the past.

Smoothing his hand up the brunette's arm to his shoulder, Shizuo gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Hey, you'd better wake up so you can eat something."

Dark red eyes opened and blinked blearily a few times before they came into focus. The lustre in them was slowly returning, but they still weren't as bright as he remembered them as being before, but at least they didn't look like rusted blood any more. He'd count his victories as they came – that was one of them.

A small frown tugged at the corners of Izaya's mouth, but he said nothing – not like Shizuo expected him to – and weakly pushed himself into a sitting position. Shizuo wound up supporting him, telling him in a soft voice that he had to be careful.

To that, he got a particularly dirty look that didn't hold the venom that it should have.

He just chuckled, "Shinra will have both of our hides if you make your injuries worse just after he's operated on you."

Izaya just glanced around, spotting his phone on the nearby table. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite reach it.

Instead of letting him injure himself further, Shizuo picked it up and plopped it into Izaya's hands. He got a small smile of thanks in response before Shizuo settled back into his chair, picking up the extra bowl of rice from the table and the chopsticks that came with it. There were some steamed vegetables on top along with what he was pretty sure was an egg.

Glancing at the reminder, there were two cups along with a small teapot. Izaya's portions were smaller than his, but then again he hadn't been eating as much lately. He wasn't going to complain about it, so long as Izaya was eating then it was fine.

Izaya was looking over his dinner with a rather critical eye, occasionally poking at the egg and vegetables. The behaviour reminded Shizuo a little bit of a small child, which was both cute and just a smidgen bizarre.

"C'mon," he prodded. "You have to eat something or else you're not going to get better any time soon."

That got a small glare from Izaya, but he picked up the fork that had been given to him and his bowl. His hand shook slightly, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before. Shizuo wasn't as worried about it as he'd been before, over the weeks Izaya had gradually been growing stronger. The progress was slow and there were a couple of setbacks, but it was progress nonetheless.

Dinner was eaten in relative silence. Izaya did pause once to ask Shizuo where he was sleeping and he'd danced a little around the issue – he wasn't actually planning to sleep.

-If you're not going to sleep, then you could have just said so.-

Shizuo gave him a surprised look and Izaya just chuckled a little with a small smile.

-You're very easy to see through sometimes Shizu-chan~- Izaya set aside his phone as he took up his dinner, taking a bite and smiling at the slightly stunned look on Shizuo's face.

That look of shock quickly turned into one of mild irritation. Shizuo grumbled out something under his breath but didn't actually say anything. Even though he'd been getting a little more sleep lately, there were still dark circles under his eyes and there was a ragged look of exhaustion still clinging to his features. Izaya was nothing if not observant and he noticed all of that.

The guilt was still gnawing at his insides a little, affecting his appetite, but he didn't want Shizuo to worry about him anymore than he already did so he did make an effort to finish his dinner. It tasted a little bland – the vegetables probably had been cooked a little too long – but Celty had done a good job otherwise. Maybe there was some hope for the headless' culinary skills after all.

"Are you done? You can stop playing with your food."

Shizuo had already finished, setting aside his bowl on the tray and absently swirling the tea around in his mug. He downed the last of it in one swig and set it back on the tray.

Giving one more stab at the remaining rice clinging to the bottom of his bowl, Izaya set it back on the tray with a clatter. He winced a little at the noise and glanced over at his own cup of tea. It wasn't hot anymore – which he preferred – but he still sipped at it slowly, letting the lukewarm liquid soothe his throat.

"How are you feeling?" Shizuo had inched his chair a little closer, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. The posture made him look more exhausted than he already did; Izaya felt his stomach twist a little more.

Izaya shrugged. -A little tired I suppose, but I'm fine otherwise. The painkillers are obviously working because I can't feel anything from my knee. What about you? How are you feeling?-

To that, Shizuo just slumped back in his chair, "Worried. Tired. But I'll deal with it. Right now, you're my biggest concern."

-Shinra and Celty will be looking after me, you don't have to worry; I'll be fine. I want to know that you're okay. And right now you look like you're about to drop dead.-

"I–"

-I don't care if you're spending the night, I just want to know that you're taking care of yourself.-

It took a little effort, but Izaya managed to move a few inches over on the bed. Shizuo had automatically stood up, halting him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Hey! Don't do that! You might rip the stitches or something!" Shizuo gave him a hard look. "Just what did you think you were doing?"

Tugging on Shizuo's shoulders and arm, Izaya managed to get the blond to sit on the edge of the bed. It took him about that long to catch onto what Izaya wanted.

"What? No! Think about your injuries! I could make them worse!"

Izaya shook his head, frowning and pulling a little harder on Shizuo's arm. He was going to get the blond on the bed with him if it was the last thing he did. After weeks of sharing a bed with him, Izaya was just used to it; he wasn't sure if he could sleep without him there. Shizuo kept the nightmares away and made him feel safe.

After some silent arguing, Shizuo eventually wound up sitting on the bed. He was sitting with his back against the headboard and close to the edge of the bed. Izaya had curled himself up at his side, using Shizuo's lap as his own pillow.

His knee was still straight and locked in a cocoon of bandages. Izaya had managed to move without dislodging it and with the drugs numbing out any of the pain it meant that he couldn't really feel anything to do with his recent surgery.

But he was comfortable where he was and he wasn't about to move anytime soon. Shizuo was warm and his hand in his hair was comforting as he ran his fingers through it. It was a gesture that Shizuo had fallen into as of late, not that Izaya was going to complain. He liked it a lot.

"Are you comfortable?"

Izaya nodded. His phone had been set back on the side table along with the tray with their dirty dishes; it had been pushed away from the bed so that the two of them could occupy it without Izaya smacking himself on the table. Celty would probably come and collect it sometime soon. According to Shizuo, it was almost ten.

"You know, you're not gonna be able to do this every night."

With a sigh, Izaya nodded. He knew that Shizuo couldn't stay every night while he was stuck here; it wasn't right to impose that on Celty or Shinra. It was only a week, he could deal with that. He hoped.

Izaya was already drifting off, listening to Shizuo's voice as he spoke. He seemed to be talking more to himself than to Izaya, but that didn't matter. Eventually, Izaya fell asleep, snuggled up next to Shizuo.

"I don't mind, though," Shizuo continued softly. "It's... nice to be there for someone else... nice to have someone need you. That's a first for me."

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

Sorry that it's not as long as usual and sorry about updating late, but something came up and I couldn't update it yesterday... sorry. But you'll be happy to know that the next (and last) part will be much longer.

Reviews are always appreciated!

Twilight.