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•Uncertainty•
The day had finally cleared; just a few clouds wandered on the sky. The main streets were crowded. The avenues were infested with cars and pedestrians. Even the alleys usually deserted were occupied. Action, movement, velocity.
No peace.
Shizuo had arrived at his apartment. He entered his domain walking straight to his shower. He had an hour to get ready for his job. He undressed pulling away all his clothes. Shizuo stepped in, closing the curtain of his shower; the pouring water washed his hair and skin.
Ten minutes later Shizuo finished.
Shizuo dried his hair with a towel and walked to his room.
Shizuo's apartment was simple, one living room, one small laundry area, a kitchen area and one room with a bathroom. The furniture was just the indispensable. Though, Shizuo did use his savings and bought a huge plasma TV.
The professional wrestling was important after all.
Shizuo was adjusting his necktie when his cell phone rang.
"Hello. Ah, Good morning Tom-san, yes I'm on my way."
Yea, this day was going to be an uneventful day.
Everything was going to follow its routine.
Because nothing had changed.
•••••
It happened as Shizuo had predicted. The course of the day went as it normally did. They recollected debts from idiots who couldn't administrate their money. Shizuo got angry more than once. Tom calmed Shizuo, and many people had fainted due physiological injuries… as well as physical injuries.
Many of Shizuo and Tom's clients had to go to therapy.
Yup, the day was normal, nothing had changed.
Yup, that was until the morning of the next day came.
•••••
-Shizuo had a date.
"Ah?"
-Shizuo had a date with Orihara Izaya.
"Huh? !"
-Shizuo had consented the previous morning to share a meal with Izaya.
"The hell? !"
-Shizuo hadn't realized until now.
"Idiot!" Shizuo scolded himself in front of the mirror of his bathroom.
Shizuo's free day was today. He was planning on how he was going to spend the rest of the day while brushing his teeth, and strangely his mind said in a moment:
'Mm… I can't go to Shinra's at six tonight… the flea is gonna wait for me at Simon's…'
And there, Shizuo's toothbrush suffered a whiplash.
Shizuo had totally forgotten about his 'appointment' the previous day, but strangely he remembered about it today. The day of his d-a-t-e with Izaya.
Shizuo's toothbrush had no longer use. "It's not a fucking date!" Shizuo's mind was tormenting him with many disturbing thoughts, like-
"Why did he want to meet me?"
"What does he want from me?"
"Is a fucking scheme?"
"What I'm gonna wear tonight?"
-and so on.
Long loud curses escaped Shizuo's mouth. The peaceful morning had shattered. When his anxiousness had downed, considerably, Shizuo sat on his couch trying to figure out what was going on.
Yes, he had agreed to Izaya's request. Granted, he had been fooled.
What a surprise.
Anyway, what was he planning to do now that he holds the information?
Should he just ditch Izaya?
Shizuo's mind went blank.
He had so many reasons to not go, so many reasons to refuse, so many reasons to say no.
And.
And he didn't want to think about it.
"If he does something weird I gonna kill him" Shizuo had the rest of the day to prepare.
Not that he was waiting… or wanting… or anything…
•••••
The final of the afternoon was close.
"Orihara-san… Please, don't be angry," Tsugaru 'pleaded' with a white grin, "You have been like this since yesterday…"
Izaya walked ahead, ignoring pointedly the latter.
"I apologize for not having talked with you about it before but she wanted it," Tsugaru stated.
Izaya stopped his tracks abruptly and with the deadliest of glares spoke to Tsugaru, whose grin hadn't faltered in the slightest.
"How dared you to say that? She is a cat. She cannot speak, therefore it had no voice. You have no right to say what she wants!" Izaya stomped forward like a mad bull.
Tsugaru looked down, he was taller than Izaya, and smiled "I do think that I know what she wants, at least a little bit." Tsugaru reasoned smiling.
"From now on you will not mess with her fur again." Izaya said in dark tone, "It's an order."
Tsugaru smile widened, "Of course it is"
"…Bastard…" Izaya said "…You get on my nerves!"
"Oh? Really, I pleased to be of utility" Tsugaru smirked and Izaya cursed while walking ahead.
'Orihara-san is so entertaining,' Tsugaru thought. They walked for a couple of minutes when both of their cell phones rang.
For Izaya was a text message and for Tsugaru was a phone call.
They walked away from each other, wanting to have some privacy.
Izaya had finished first so he waited for Tsugaru.
"I see, I see. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. He'd finally woken up… I shall see that everything goes accord to the plan." Tsugaru said and hang up.
Tsugaru walked to where Izaya was standing.
"Something showed up. We have to part away, so sad is the goodbye. Poison for the heart indeed." Tsugaru said dramatically.
"…" Izaya stayed in silence.
Then Tsugaru beamed, "anyway, I shall see you later~" he wrapped his arms around Izaya squeezing him softly. Tsugaru gave Izaya a kiss on top of his head.
Tsugaru smiled and walked away.
Izaya spoke with a monotone voice, "why did you hug me?"
Tsugaru stopped and turned around lightly; he stood in front of Izaya and said with suave voice, "I wanted to".
Izaya didn't move. Tsugaru grabbed Izaya's upper arms leaning forward, Tsugaru kissed Izaya's cheek tenderly.
"I did that," Tsugaru trailed his lips to Izaya's ear, "because I want to"
Tsugaru nibbled Izaya's earlobe, Izaya attempted to move away but Tsugaru gripped his arms pulling him.
"Remember…" Tsugaru forced Izaya to stand still and kissed his neck nibbling lightly the skin "…Aut viam inveniam… aut faciam"
"Be good and have fun," Tsugaru said with a smile.
Tsugaru left Izaya resting against a wall.
The time passed and Izaya hadn't moved an inch.
It felt painful.
It ached.
It…it…
Izaya made a fist punching the wall behind him. He punched it so hard that it actually drips of blood poured from a small wound.
"…damn… that again…"
•••••
[Aut viam inveniam aut faciam]
{I shall either find or make a way}
•••••
…38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43… 59, 60.
Exactly six O'clock
Shizuo paced. What? It was a prank then? That bastard wasn't going to show up? !
Shizuo gritted his teeth and paced faster. He was in front of the Russian Sushi; he'd been waiting since fifteen minutes ago! Fifteen!
-But fifteen minutes before six… argh! Whatever!
Shizuo was muttering things to himself while pacing back and forth; he didn't look sane at all.
Someone stopped and stared at the impatient blond; he pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and began to take pictures. Normal passers-by hurried their steps trying to not get involved. A few minutes passed and the person was now making a video.
"…I wonder if I should upload this in youtube…" the raven man mused aloud while filming.
Shizuo froze mid-step and turned to see the person who was still filming him.
"Say 'hi~' to the camera Shizu-chan!" Izaya said, still filming.
"You stop that" Shizuo refrained from curse and complain for his tardiness, five minutes late! Five!
"Aww, why? It's funny to see you act stupidly~" Izaya moved forward taking other angle of Shizuo's face.
"You wanna get that thing crushed?" Shizuo's eyebrow twitched, maniac grin already placed.
"Nope~!" Izaya was still filming.
"Bastard! Give me that!" Shizuo tried to snatch the cell phone away.
"Oops~ it's gone!" Izaya hid his cell phone in the pocket of his jeans-
-What? Wait. Shizuo stopped and looked at Izaya's appearance.
Hell.
He was wearing jeans! The skinny ones! A normal black shirt and a red hoodie! But without the fur! What? ! Were those Converse in his feet? !
"Although it's flatters me, I do not wish you to gawk at me like that Shizuo-chan" Izaya said, affronted.
Shizuo snapped out of his trance and scowled, he was not gawking!
"You probably are wondering why I'm wearing this outfit. Well, I had a small job to do before our appointment and I had to… ahem, change a little bit." Izaya explained while moving out of the middle of the sidewalk. Shizuo followed.
"You're too flashy" Shizuo said.
Izaya laughed lightly "I've been told that many times," he shrugged, "I can't change my looks."
"A pity," Shizuo said smirking and Izaya glared.
"The same to you," Izaya said while placing his hood on top of his head. Afterward, he gave Shizuo a small note.
Shizuo frowned and took the note.
There were written names of restaurants with directions.
"This?" Shizuo asked motioning the piece of paper.
"Those are my recommendations for dinner. You can choose one of them or pick another of your preference. I gave that to you because I'm sure you won't want any place I could choose. After all, you don't trust me, if I pick one you'll act all suspiciously and that would be annoying. So, I'm giving you the opportunity to pick the place by yourself." Izaya said hiding his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie.
"Mm" Shizuo agreed.
"So? Where?" Izaya asked while looking up to the sky, storming weather was making its presence.
"There," Shizuo pointed to the Russian Sushi.
"…" Izaya sighed "I knew you would say that. And I knew you wouldn't think in the consequences. Of course you wouldn't think on how bad would be if the two of us were spotted together in a place where all of our acquaintances usually go. Well, if it's your wish to do so then there's no point in discuss it, since, I was the one suggesting you to take the initiative to choose the place. So let's go."
Izaya didn't make attempt to move whatsoever.
"So, you're saying that you don't wanna be seen with me?" Shizuo said looking through his sunglasses at the hooded raven.
"Of course no, I could care less. However, I think you wouldn't be so happy if that happened." Izaya grinned. Ha.
"…Tsk" Shizuo walked in the opposite direction, he hated when Izaya was right.
Izaya grinned to himself and followed after Shizuo. They walked quietly. Shizuo was looking at the paper where Izaya had written the places and Izaya meanwhile was texting on his cell phone.
Shizuo occasionally would peek behind to see if Izaya was still following.
Izaya was still there.
Shizuo frowned.
No, it didn't feel good to be leading. And it didn't feel good to have him following.
Of course it didn't feel good to have him obeying.
Why would it feel good in first place?
•••••
It was a normal restaurant. They sat in a table of the establishment and waited for a waitress, she took their orders soon after.
Silence.
Izaya was texting on his cell phone and Shizuo felt the urge of making a conversation. He wasn't usually the one to start a conversation and he definitively wasn't the first one to speak when they were together. Yes, every time they fought Izaya was the first one to talk.
Quickly say something! Ask something!
"Why did you invite me to this?"
-…It was a start… hopefully not the start of the end though…
Izaya glanced over his cell phone "A moment please…" he said softly.
Shizuo, for some reason, felt terribly awkward.
"This is a 'thanks meal'. No big deal, is it?" Izaya said while turning his cell phone off. Izaya set the device aside fully concentrating on Shizuo.
Right there, Shizuo wished Izaya to keep texting. Shizuo shrugged at Izaya's question.
Izaya took his hoodie off. He placed the hoodie on the back of his chair. He crossed his arms and waited for a better response from Shizuo.
Shizuo took his time; he mimicked Izaya and leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He stared ahead while Izaya looked outside the glass of the window; he had given up with Shizuo. So fast...
The rain had begun to fall again.
That little fact passed unnoticed by Shizuo. Izaya's skin was far more interesting than water falling from the sky.
The black shirt that Izaya was wearing only accentuated his pale skin.
Shizuo was looking at Izaya's arms, and unconsciously nibbled his inner lip.
'…Damn, I wanna bite him'
Afterward, there was a long pause in Shizuo's mind.
Shizuo stood from his chair, "excuse me," he said and walked to the restroom.
Izaya looked at him puzzled.
The waitress came a bit after and then a roar echoed in the establishment. Everyone jumped at the shouting voice.
The poor waitress looked startled. A refreshing voice asked her, "Miss, can I have a word with the manager?"
Izaya smiled and his inner-self scowled.
•••••
Shizuo looked at his reflection in the mirror.
His face was so red.
'Why? ! Why did I think in that? !' Shizuo splashed water several times on his face.
'Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me?' Shizuo pressed his palms on his face for a few seconds.
'Maybe it was just temporally madness…'
-Ah?
'Yeah, that's explains everything'
-Um…
'Yes, that's it. Period.'
-…Sure…
Shizuo looked at the mirror, his face wasn't red anymore. He took a deep breath and walked out of the restroom.
The place looked the same; however, Izaya did seem upset. Their orders were already placed on the table. Shizuo sat on his chair.
Izaya glared at him, "Care to explain that little shoutyours Shizu-chan?"
Shizuo tried to look aloof, "Cockroach" Shizuo replied.
"…" Izaya couldn't comprehend "…You say that you yelled because a cockroach…?"
"It was a big one. A monster. Probably a mutant. Don't worry. Now is dead." Shizuo said serious.
"…I see… No. No, I don't see it but I don't care. I'm hungry and it is your fault, I've been waiting you for ten minutes." Izaya hissed the last part.
Shizuo raised a brow, "You could've started without me, y'know?"
"…" Izaya stared at him blankly.
"Don't tell me that you didn't think in that?" Shizuo could only grin and laugh.
"Well, I am sorry for have manners on the table." Izaya said a bit formal, "So, if you excuse me I'm going to eat."
Shizuo laughed some more and began to eat as well, during the peaceful time Shizuo noticed something he hadn't before.
"What happened to your hand?" Shizuo frowned setting his fork down on his plate.
Izaya looked at his right hand with the band-aid "Ah. Nothing. A mistake, that's all," Izaya smiled lightly drinking his glass of ice-tea.
"…" Shizuo wasn't so sure about that, then he looked at Izaya's other hand "…for how long are you gonna use the cast?"
"One week… perhaps two weeks more," Izaya pondered while stabbing a piece of food and then chewing it slowly.
Shizuo sipped from his glass, "How did you do that anyway?"
Izaya swallowed a piece of food, "I was practicing a 'Passement' and it went wrong."
Shizuo looked confused.
"Parkour. I was practicing a speed vault. It consist on overcome an obstacle by jumping side-ways first, then placing one hand on the obstacle to self-right your body and continue running" Izaya said stabbing other piece of food, "It was so careless of me, really"
"Hm," Shizuo said, chewing his food.
"Yes. It's inconceivable, I can do a 'Saut de chat' and I couldn't do the 'Passment'…" Izaya said chewing angrily his food.
"…" Shizuo seemed lost at the phrase 'Saut de chat' so Izaya explained.
"The saut de chat known as 'Cat pass' or 'Cat jump' or 'Kong vault' or 'Monkey vault' involves diving forward over an obstacle so that the body becomes horizontal, pushing off with the hands and tucking the legs, such that the body is brought back to a vertical position, ready to land."
"Ohh," Shizuo said.
"Yup," Izaya said.
Izaya glanced at Shizuo's food, "You don't want your salad…? How childish of you" Izaya smirked.
"Shut up," Shizuo frowned, and glared lightly at Izaya and glared hatefully at his salad, "You want it…?" he asked.
Izaya's eyes sparkled for a second. Shizuo got surprised for a moment. And as fast as it came it went.
Ha.
"I don't like to waste food," Izaya said already using his fork to eat Shizuo's salad.
"I know…" Shizuo said snickering.
Izaya glared at Shizuo who thought that that glare looked like a pout, but the thought was quickly suppressed by Shizuo's self-defense system.
Their food quickly disappeared and the dessert came. Shizuo did look forward to that.
"…" Izaya looked as Shizuo devoured in less than two minutes his dessert…
"I'm full, you can have it," Izaya said suddenly pushing his dessert to Shizuo, Izaya stood and decided to pay directly to the cashier.
It was a lie.
Izaya could eat more than this, he had proved it before.
Shizuo ate slowly his gift-dessert, he felt kind of grateful for the gesture.
…Just a tiny little bit.
•••••
"…It's raining cats and dogs…" Izaya said looking at the heavy rain.
"Mm…" Shizou said.
Usually at this point Shizuo, as a courtesy, should say something like 'thanks for the dinner I enjoyed the time here' or something along those lines. But it was too compromising to say it. And Shizuo was sure Izaya wasn't expecting those words to come from him anyway.
Shizuo felt a contradictory feeling, because he was relieved that Izaya wasn't 'supposedly' expecting his thanks, and annoyed because of it too.
Weird.
They were waiting for the rain to lessen.
Izaya's eyes were lost into the depths of the dark sky. He rolled up the right sleeve of his hoodie; he stretched his arm out of the shelter provided by the building. Izaya held his palm letting the drop of water fall on his skin. He felt as each drop of cold water succumbed at the impact on his skin, it felt good.
"…Do you have plans after this…?" Shizuo asked absentmindedly.
Izaya pulled back his arm out of the rain; he shook it lightly and wiped it on his jeans. Now, the band-aid on his hand was wet.
"Nope," Izaya said peeling the band-aid from his skin. He inspected the small injury; the skin was pink with a reddish tone. Izaya frowned lightly but shrugged it off.
"Are you going directly to your house Shizu-chan?" Izaya asked rolling down his sleeve.
"Yeah…"
Well, it was still early so they could go to other place after, like the game center. But wait, why did Shizuo want to do more things? It wasn't as if he wanted to spend more time with the flea, was it?
'Whatever, I wanna do more things than just go home and watch TV.' Shizuo thought.
Now the problem was to ask Izaya…
But…
How the hell he was going to ask him?
That thought made Shizuo intensely uncomfortable. He scratched his head opening and closing his mouth many times. Fortunately, Izaya was too busy looking at the rain and the people with umbrellas pass by, to notice Shizuo's struggling.
Shizuo was about to say it when Izaya elbowed him on the chest pushing him inside the building again. Taken by surprise Shizuo stumbled backward. Shizuo was about to say 'what the fuck is wrong with you? !' when Izaya spoke.
"Hi Dotachin~!"
Shizuo froze and understood immediately, he tried to hide behind a pillar of the building. It was a poor attempt, but it was better than nothing.
"Izaya? What are you doing here?" Kadota Kyohei asked while walking in front of Izaya.
Izaya smiled, "I had an appointment."
"Oh, I see." Kadota said.
"Yup. And you? Finishing a job I suppose," Izaya said.
"Yeah, I was finishing… Hey why are you dressed like that?" Kadota frowned looking at Izaya up and down.
Izaya smirked, "Heh, like what you look~?"
Kadota blushed lightly, "That doesn't have relevance whatsoever."
"Oh my gosh! You didn't deny it!" Izaya said happily.
'Where is this fucking conversation going?' Shizuo thought annoyingly.
"Why would I lie? You look, ahem… good in those…" Kadota said looking away but glancing at Izaya's pants.
"Oh~? Dotachin is flirting with me~?" Izaya asked making a hop forward where Kadota was standing.
"No," Kadota said getting near Izaya, "You are making me flirt with you"
"What's the difference? Flirt is flirt." Izaya said smiling evilly.
Kadota stared and shook his head lightly, amused.
"So Dotachin is going home?" Izaya hopped forward one more time, and as expected the rain fell over his head.
"Hey, if you get wet, you'll get sick." Kadota scolded him and pushed Izaya's head with his hand.
Izaya was sheltered by the building again but Kadota's hand was still on his forehead.
Kadota brushed some bags from Izaya's forehead. A small scar was hidden underneath the shiny black locks. Kadota dabbed the skin with his thumb. Kadota sighed softly, he recalled-
"You worry too much Dotachin," Izaya said happily, too happily for Shizuo's liking. The blond was still hiding behind the pillar of the building; the passers-by looked at him from afar… warily.
Kadota withdrew his hand, "Ah, sorry".
"Silly Dotachin, it doesn't hurt anymore," Izaya stuck his tongue lightly, "You know?"
Kadota sighed and made a small smile in return. "Sorry, I just remembered how it happened… I'm sorry…"
"Why are you apologizing? It wasn't your fault. And besides the one who did it received his punishment~," Izaya smirked with cruelty.
While they were talking Shizuo thought about it, recalled-
A memory of his past.
A memory of their past.
A memory without confirmation about-
-about Kadota and Izaya's relationship…
About how they were together.
•To Be Continued•
A/N: I still think that I have rushed into the events. Maybe I'm going too fast… Maybe I'm rushing because I'm working on other projects as well and I want this to get to its climax… I have the end already written… yes, I do… and I do love it :')
Finally! Yep, Izaya and Kadota have a past together! I was dying to post that part! So many things happened in this chapter D: Tsugaru! Kadota! Shizuo! Izaya! Should I stop writing long chapters? :/ Would you prefer short chapters?
Are you shocked? :D Comments please!
Btw, this is the favorite phrase of this chapter for me: '…Damn, I wanna bite him' xDDD