Next chapter! This is was a fun chapter to write too! It will have a sad part, so beware. I don't know if this is going too fast or just right. Some of the events seem to be going a bit fast but if you guys don't mind that then I guess it's alright :3 Anyway, back to the story.

It took about three days for me to recover from the gunshot wound and all those three days I hadn't seen Izaya at all. He hadn't even texted me during that time either. I was released to go home on Monday in the afternoon and I told Tom that Shinra still wanted me to take a few days off so I could rest, so I'm getting back to work on Thursday morning. Celty gladly drives me home on her motorcycle, all the while I can't help but notice the silence. I just hear the motor of the motorcycle running and roaring all the way. I'm not ready to continue on living in that damn silence; of hearing no words being said to me while at home. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want that damn flea back. I'm even starting to miss his damn nagging, his stupid smirk, his soft hair, and his smooth, pale skin…Gah! I'm becoming a fucking pervert…

"Thanks for the ride Celty." I say as I get off and hand her back the spare helmet she lent me.

[You gonna be okay? You look pretty down.] Celty shows me the PDA and waits for my answer.

"I'll be fine…But could you do something for me?" I ask as I grab my pack of cigarettes and take out a cigarette and put it between my lips before lighting it.

[What is it?]

"If you see Izaya…could you tell him that I want to talk to him?" I ask nervously.

[No problem. Shinra told me what you had said. I think taking the first step in accepting those feelings is better for you. Besides, Izaya talked to me and I can tell his feelings are sincere.]

"W-what…what did he tell you?" I ask as I feel a blush creep over my cheeks.

[Ah, well he was explaining why he left and whatnot. But he seemed pretty depressed when he said that you were still mad at him even though he apologized. He also said that he's gonna try to get out of the jam that he's gotten himself in, but he doesn't know how yet.]

"I hope he doesn't get himself in any more trouble, but then again, it's Izaya so I can already guess that he's gonna piss a lot of people off." I say as look for my keys in my pocket.

[You still love him, don't you?] I scowl at the message but then sigh before nodding.

"I can't believe that I loved him in the first place…and even after all the shit he's made me go through…I still love that fucking flea." I say as I throw my cigarette to the ground and crush it. "Thanks for everything, Celty."

[No problem. I don't really want to say anything cliché, so I'll just say that you know what you're doing.] Celty drives off after that, leaving me to go up to my empty apartment. I head upstairs and open my door to my apartment. Everything's as I left it despite that flea knowing how to get in. I check around to see if he's around, but I come up disappointed. I sit down on my couch and turn on my TV. I don't really watch TV, but I suppose it'll calm my nerves. I rub my temples as I check the news.

Flashback

"Wouldn't it be great if Shizu-chan and I got married and started living together? We'd do this kind of stuff all the time." Izaya says as I help him cut vegetables for dinner. "And we'd be able to be all alone in our own place." He says as he puts his head on my shoulder.

"Yeah right; how are we supposed to get that kind of money?" I say as I put the vegetables in the stew pot.

"I'll find a way." Izaya says happily. "It's one of my dreams to live together with Shizu-chan after we get married that is." He says as he pokes my ribs.

"I know, I know." I say as I kiss his forehead. "Maybe one day when you stop being an annoying prick." He glares at me and I laugh a little before I continue. "And when I can actually afford a ring."

"Shizu-chan is still a tease." Izaya says as he cuddles closer to me. He smirks and grabs a handful of cake mix, which he was stirring and throws it in my face. He laughs as I start fuming at him. "With that anger and heat you're emitting you could easily bake that mix right up." I smile and grab a handful of the cake mix too, but Izaya had already seen this coming so he runs away from me. I chase after him with the filled mixing bowl in my hand and start throwing the mix at him, but miss. "You're making a mess Shizu-chan~!"

"I don't care! You're gonna clean it all up since it's your fault for starting this." I say as I finally grab hold of his waist with messy fingers. I spin him around and spill the mix over his head and laugh as he shakes his hair. He suddenly smiles and tackles me and nuzzles his messy hair under my chin, which feels horribly uncomfortable. Regardless of how nasty the stuff feels, we're still laughing like idiots as we just lie on the floor.

Suddenly the door opens and Kasuka comes in with a bag of groceries. He dully looks at the mess and then looks at me and Izaya on the floor. I push Izaya off of me and nervously try to explain, but Kasuka just blinks and heads over to the kitchen to put the groceries on the table. Then he acts as if he's seen nothing and heads up to his room. Izaya gets up and looks at me questioningly.

"You two have fun; don't mind me!" He says after he closes the door to his room. I smack my forehead in embarrassment while Izaya just laughs and swings his arms around my neck, enjoying the expression on my face.

I can't believe I was such a dork, but as Izaya told me, love makes you do stupid things.

Suddenly my phone rings and when I bring it out I find that Izaya just messaged me. I hastily open my phone and read the message.

Are you feeling better?

Yeah, much better…thanks for asking.

Ah, you're usual anger banter seems to be missing. You don't seem to be mad at me anymore. Or am I mistaken?

I'm…I'm not mad at you…

Well that's good. I've been really busy lately and didn't have time to visit you again, but I have time off tonight since everyone's going out drinking. Want to meet up?

Can you really sneak by them tonight?

Yeah, I really want to see you again, if that's okay…

It's alright with me. I want to talk to you anyway, face to face.

Alright, we can meet up at the front of Russian Sushi tonight at 7:30. Is that okay with you?

Yeah, that's okay with me. See you there, then.

Bye.

This time around there was an absence of his incessant teasing and romantic talk. At what point did I start liking him sweet talking to me?

After receiving the text, I decide to rest a little bit since its only 3:30. I take off my shirt since it's kind of hot inside since its spring. I head over to my where my washing machine and dryer are and find the basket of my dirty clothes are gone. I look at the empty basket and find a note in familiar handwriting.

Ne, ne Shizu-chan really should learn how to keep his house clean. In case you get all paranoid about your missing clothes, I washed them and dried them for you. I also put them in the appropriate drawers; although you didn't have any particular order in which you place your clothes in your drawers and your closet. Sooooo, I decided to organize everything, in case you get paranoid about everything being so suspiciously neat. If you're the type of person who notices something missing, I should tell you now that you might be missing those panda boxers…because I took them for safe keeping~

Love, Izaya Orihara

I crumple the piece of paper and blush as I go to my room and check my drawers and closet. Yeah, everything's organized as if it was arranged by some neat freak (which I am certainly not, so the culprit could only be Izaya). I smack my forehead as I notice that my closet is arranged by color and my drawers are arranged by order of which they are put on and color, such as boxers are on the left (darkest colors are on the bottom and lighter colors are on top), then comes the shorts (same color order), and then pants (same color order). I usually just wear my bartender outfit, but I have different clothes; I just don't wear them too often.

I'm kind of disturbed that he was touching all my stuff, but it was nice of him nevertheless. He was always the one to arrange anything he got his hands on. I didn't like it when he did it with my stuff, but now I'm not so pissed off at it.

"Damn flea…" I say under my breath as I close my closet. I then flinch as I think of something. I quickly head over to my refrigerator and open it hastily. Everything is organized here too. All of the drinks are on the top shelf; the milk is in the back since it's the biggest. Leftover stuff is on the bottom shelf. Unopened foods are on the middle shelf. Condiments are on the door. The freezer is the same; very organized with larger stuff in the back and the smaller stuff in the front. I pound my head to the fridge after closing it all up and then feel my forehead as I notice a paper stuck on it.

Heh, I also organized your fridge. Sorry, I really couldn't help myself. It's actually Shizu-chan's fault for being so messy in all aspects. By the way, make sure you throw out the milk container with the red mark on the front; it's expired. Don't want you getting sick~

Love, Izaya Orihara

I then walk over tiredly to my book shelf and movie shelf I have in my living room and notice another note. I sigh and pick it up.

Yeah…you probably can already guess that I organized your shelves too. I put them in alphabetical order. If Shizu-chan doesn't know what that means (since you're such a protozoan) that means that the movies and books starting with A are first and the ones starting with Z are last. Okay? Good. By the way, you really should buy better movies. Those stink~

Love Izaya Orihara (who else would it be?)

He's everywhere, not just in my thoughts. His smell is lingering around here too. I bet while I wasn't here, he was stinking up my bed with his smell. I hope he didn't organize anything else. But then again, this Izaya I'm talking about. I'm pretty sure my bathroom is organized as well.

I'm done searching and reading notes. His handwriting makes me nostalgic and his scent is still on the paper. Did he rub it on his body or something? No…I shouldn't even be thinking that…

"I've saved my first time for you, like I promised."

God, if only he was here now…Deep down I supposed I was saving my first time for him too, unbeknownst to me. I just can't help but long for him. I can't deny it anymore. I'm still in love with him even after all this time…I sound like I'm in some romantic drama. Didn't I see this kind of thing in a movie once? The girl gets dumped by the guy, the guy then wants her back, the girl kind of still likes him but she's falling in love with someone else…Wait what?

I guess it's true that people get tired of waiting, but Izaya's been waiting for six years fucking years. He wouldn't give up after all this time. And today I think I'm gonna tell him; even my brain tells me that doing so will cause me a lot of trouble. My heart is just screaming at me, telling me that it's in pain because I won't listen to it and that I should just take Izaya back.

Our relationship won't be exactly the same since we're older now, but I'm sure Izaya still has his cute side that I like so much. Not saying I don't like his other sides, but they're just annoyingly tolerable. And his cute side is adorably addicting. But I guess a part of me (again, the stupid part) actually likes all sides of him because if I didn't it wouldn't be love (at least in my opinion). I miss his stupid smirk that gets me pissed off because it's kind of sexy. I miss the tricks he pulls on me because they're sort of entertaining. I even miss when we bicker because it's always followed by apologies and affectionate actions.

I head over to my kitchen again and heat up some ramen and then sit over at the couch to watch some more TV. It's all a bunch of boring stuff on, but I don't have anything else to do until 7:30. I could take a shower since I'm meeting up with Izaya. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

"Why don't we shower together, eh Shizu-chan?"

To be honest, he never said that, but I don't think he'd miss the opportunity to if given the chance. Also, I've already accepted that I'm a pervert. I mean, if I could accept the fact that I'm in love with Izaya, then I should be able to accept the fact that I'm a pervert.

I head into the shower after getting all my necessities and enjoy the warm water. As I scrub the shampoo in my hair I remember that Izaya usually smelled like peaches after he showered which was always pleasant to take in whenever he was near me (which was obviously all the time). Whenever he would nuzzle his head under my chin, the peach aroma always calmed me down and intoxicated me. He didn't (and still doesn't) like sweets, but he used to smell sweet—last I checked he still smells sweet—probably to drive me crazy.

I continue washing myself and then get out and notice that my assumption was right about Izaya organizing my bathroom. All the stuff in the sink cabinets are neat and arranged in a certain order. The sink is cleaned, the mirror wiped, even the toilet is sparkly. I can't believe I just said the word "sparkly" in my head. I'm becoming not only a pervert but a pansy. I swear I'm living in a nightmare.

After that nice shower I decide to go to the store. I know Shinra told me to relax, but I really can't sit still. I'm really stubborn and active. That's the only two excuses I really have, but that doesn't matter since they're pretty damn good answers.

The streets of Ikebukuro are pretty crowded during the evening (about four thirty), but that doesn't stop me from getting by. Everyone knows me as the strongest man in Ikebukuro, a title which I rather not have but since I do have it I don't completely dislike it. I rather not have this super human strength, but sometimes you're stuck with things you really don't like or want—like in-laws or something (I doubt that I'll like Izaya's father if Izaya and I do get married). Fortunately this title makes it so most people stay away from—well—most sane people stay away from me. Others like to swarm around me so they can pick a fight. I don't like violence though.

"Ah, hi Shizuo." I hear a familiar voice says behind me. I turn around and see myself face to face with my old schoolmate, Kyohei Kadota. "Long time, no see."

"Right…" I say awkwardly. I was never really close with Kadota, but we knew each other by name and occasionally said hi to one another whenever we encountered each other in the halls when we were in school.

"Ah! Shizuo-kun, Kadota told me how you and Izaya were once a couple!" This crazy girl again. Mental note: kill Kadota later. "Is this really true?" This girl must be one of those kinds of people that feed off the lives of other's because I feel physically and mentally drained already.

"Kadota." I say with a glare.

"She pried it out of me…" Kadota says weakly. "It's your fault for stirring her curiosity in the first place. The stuff you said a couple days ago when you were out here with Izaya really caught her interest. So, she remembered I went to school with you guys and asked about it. Trust me; she has ways to make someone talk…"

"'There's no point in trying to save what we had! It's over for good!'" The girl tries to mimic my deep voice, but doesn't even come close. "Kya, you were so harsh with your poor uke, Shizuo-kun."

"What are you talking about?" I ask furiously. I'm really annoyed by her babbling since I really don't know what she's yapping about. I swear that what I'm listening to is in a different language. It's like I'm surrounded by a bunch of lunatics. First Izaya, now this girl? I am living in a nightmare.

"Oh, was I wrong? Is Shizuo-kun the uke? Kya! A tough guy like you letting Izaya top is amazing! Unless, you don't let him and he forces you!"

"Erika, you're scaring him." Kadota says as he smacks his own forehead.

"I can just imagine what you guys used to be like as kids. Nowadays you must be living together secretly, am I right?" This girl, Erika apparently, continues to babble on about stuff I don't even understand, and quite frankly I don't want to understand. She's blushing like crazy which is scaring me.

"Look, I don't have time for this."

"Hey, Shizuo." Kadota stops me and gets to my side. "We heard that Izaya is in some deep trouble with the yakuza. Is that true?"

"Word travels around fast…who told you that?"

"Some guy off the street. He kept talking about how the famous Izaya Orihara was working with the yakuza. Ever heard of Haru Tachibana?"

"Yeah…Izaya told me he works with him."

"Well, this guy told us that Haru is known to be really violent; said that he was known to go freaking crazy if someone betrays the yakuza. Izaya isn't in trouble with that guy is he? He's okay, right?"

"I…I don't know…we haven't really met up for a while, but he said that he'll be able to meet up with me tonight, so I'll ask him then."

"Kya! You guys are meeting tonight?" Erika asks loudly as I look into her crazed eyes; I swear that I can see stars in them. "Ne, ne it must be a date, am I right?" Suddenly the two other guys in the group drag Erika away from me (thank god) while covering her mouth. She looks like some victim being kidnapped, to tell you the truth. She's struggling to get loose but they manage to shove her into the van, sort of…She kind of holds onto the sides of the door so they have to kind of push her in. All the while she's still asking me weird questions.

I shake my head in disbelief as they finally get her in the damn van. Kadota says that he wishes me luck and I tell him that I'll let him know if something is going on with Izaya.

After that strange encounter, I head to the flower store. I know its cliché and not like me to be all fucking romantic, but I kind of feel bad for accusing Izaya for sleeping with some guy. I really went out of line, so this is just an "I'm sorry" gift, nothing more. I look around and suddenly feel completely out of place in this small store. The store owner comes out of the back room and smiles at me.

"Can I help you with something?" She says with a kind of flirty tone. I glare at the way she's acting towards me, but decide to ignore her.

"I'm just getting some roses…for my lover…" I say hesitantly. Of course I only said that because I wanted this woman off my back, but when I said it, I felt kind of happy. I haven't used that word in such a long time and it makes me kind of happy that I might be able to use it again.

"Oh…Well…come right this way. What kind of roses would you like?" She asks awkwardly. I figure she's saying in her head 'Figures; all the good men are either taken or gay.' If Izaya and I were officially back together we'd be both. Damn it, now I'm beginning to notice stupid crap. That damn flea is rubbing off on me. Great…my perverted mind thought of something dirty again after I just said that…

"Red rose are fine." I say simply. The flea always mentioned to me that he loved roses because they were beautiful but dangerous, like him. He said that, not me. He also said that roses were the symbol of love or something; I thought that was just cliché.

"So, is this for your anniversary?" She asks as I hand her the money and wait for her to give my receipt and my flowers.

"No, this is an apology gift." I say simply as I take the flowers.

"Ah, well I hope she forgives you." She says with a smile. Something makes me want to correct her.

"Yeah…I hope he forgives me, too." I don't know what made me say that, but I'm hoping that she didn't hear me. I head out and decide to get some other gifts out of impulse such as chocolates and an apology card.

After a couple hours of browsing in stores to calm my nerves, I finally look at the time and see that it's almost 7:30 so I head off to Russian Sushi with all the romantic shit in my hands. I'm sure I look fucking ridiculous. Passing people glance at me and try to see if I'm really the Shizuo Heiwajima or not. When they do realize it's me gossiping ensues. I just ignore them and wait for Izaya to arrive.

I look at my watch and notice that it just turned 7:30. It's not late. Most people would worry if their date was like twenty minutes late or something, but I'm worried right now because Izaya is usually early to all his appointments. I check my phone and wonder if I missed a message by him, but nothing shows up. I look around and try to spot him, but he's nowhere to be found. I then head inside Russian Sushi and tell Simon to take care of my gifts and that I'll be back in a little while.

I head off and try to find Izaya, but I don't know where he'd be. I run into people as I hastily make it down the streets of Ikebukuro in panic. Did something really happen to him? Is it my fault? Why didn't he tell me something was wrong? Damn it, I should have known.

"You know, you shouldn't have screwed us over like that." I hear a guy say from an alley nearby.

"I didn't do anything. I just made a mistake." That's Izaya's voice. My heartbeat goes crazy once I realize it's Izaya. I look where the voice is coming from and notice that Izaya is on the ground and is pretty beat up.

"You've been making mistakes this whole fucking week. I know what you're up to, you little ass." The guy says angrily. As he pulls Izaya by his hair. I clench my hands into fists. My head is screaming at me, telling me to move in because he's touching him, he's hurting him, but I can't seem to make my legs move. "You're planning to escape, right? You signed a contract with us. You're not going anywhere. You can pretend like you're losing your touch, but we know it's all an act. You've been trying to find a way out since you got yourself in this mess."

"It's only reasonable. I've done enough for you assholes. I've repaid my debt."

"No, no you haven't. You don't get it. You belong to us now. And you disobeyed us." The guy smirks and pins Izaya against the wall. "You know we picked up some very interesting dirt on you too. You're not the only one who can dig up info. We heard you're still a virgin."

"That's none of your fucking business."

"So it's true? It must also be true that you're saving it for someone, right? How pathetic." The guy says with a laugh. "But that gives us the perfect idea for your punishment." He says as he suddenly grabs his pistol and has pressed up against Izaya's temple as his other hand goes to Izaya's belt and undoes it before undoing the buttons on his pants.

I grit my teeth and instinctively grab a traffic sign and step into the alley.

"Shizu-chan…?" Izaya says as he tries to escape the guy's hold.

"Don't fucking touch him!" I say as the guy turns his head and I swing the sign at him. A direct hit.

The other guys next to Izaya quickly pull out their guns shakily as they notice who it is they're dealing with. The guy on the ground gets up and holds his head in pain.

"What the fuck are you waiting for? Shoot him already!" I lunge forward before anyone of them can react and grab one of the guys and toss him into his buddies. I then grab the garbage bin next to me and throw it at them. They quickly scatter and run away as I pick up another garbage bin. A couple of other guys suddenly arrive in cars and try to attack me with bats and various other weapons, but I grab hold of another traffic sign and hold it horizontally and charge forward at them to push most of them against the shop on the other side of the road.

I punch some guy in the face and see him fly off before I grab a hold of two other guys and crash them into each other. I keep taking down guy after guy after guy for a while until they suddenly spread out as if by escaping some radius of danger, but it's not me they're trying to escape it must be something else. I take this moment to try to catch my breath, but then I hear a gun cock.

"Shizu-chan!" I hear Izaya's voice yell out as I suddenly notice the gun aimed right at me. The guy who had pinned Izaya is holding the pistol and suddenly fires it. I then feel myself being pushed out of the way and then see blood and before I know it I look over to my side and find Izaya lying there. Suddenly everyting seems to be happening in slow motion. Police sirens start howling in my ears, but then everything turns silent even though the yakuza members are running off and driving off in cars.

The gun shot, the blood, Izaya's lifeless body lying in front of me. At first I don't know what had just happened, but then I put things together and I couldn't believe it. He did that for me…

"Love makes you do stupid things." You told me that and yet it's still hard to believe you'd go this far as to die for me. No, you're not gonna die! I won't let that happen!

"Izaya…" I say as I put a hand on his head and then quickly pull my hand away as I feel the warm blood on my fingers. I bring him into my lap and try to wake him up. "Izaya, can you hear me?"

"Shizu-chan…" He says as he opens his eyes.

"Don't worry…I'm gonna call Shinra right away…" I say as I dig out my phone from my pocket and dial Shinra's phone number. "Pick up, damn it!" I say as I hold the phone against my ear. The police sirens are getting closer. Suddenly, as if the world was getting me back for me an asshole to Izaya, it starts to rain.

"Shizuo?" Shinra picks up finally. "What's going on?" He asks worriedly.

"Izaya got shot…" I say quickly. "I'm taking him to your place."

"He got shot? Ah, alright, I'll get everything ready for him. Please hurry." Luckily we're close by to Shinra's place so it won't take long. I look down at Izaya and I'm glad to see that he's looking back at me.

"Shizu-chan…you're not still…mad at me…?"

"No…I'm not mad…" I say as I pick him up. I start sprinting to Shinra's as I try to keep Izaya awake. "Izaya, you're gonna be okay. I promise."

"Shizu-chan…don't make promises...because you…you never keep them." Izaya says with a laugh. "You're still…a protozoan…you know that?"

"Yeah, I'm an idiot…You've always been right…I really fucked up." I say as I kick down the door to the apartment building. "I had the chance to get you back…and I didn't take it at the very beginning…I really fucked up…" I say as knock on Shinra's door like a madman. Celty and Shinra were already expecting me so they quickly let me in and told me to put Izaya on the bed where Shinra was going to patch him up.

I don't want to lose him. I want to keep this promise and a thousand other promises for him. I feel like I'm drowning, like I'm falling, like death is upon me because I'm losing something vital in my life. I'm worried about him because he's not just that damn pest I wanted to get rid of when we were kids. He became something more in my life. He became a part of my life and I don't want to give that part up because that's the good part.

For once in my life I'm not upset at anyone. Right now I'm just mad at myself for being an idiot.

A/N: TT~TT OMG Izaya is hurt! What will happen next? (you guys probably already know :D). Please, please review :) It makes me super happy.