A.N: OMG! THE END IS HERE! First of all, let me thank all the lovely readers who reviewed, and followed this crazy ride until the very end. This is going to be the first fic I've ever finished and posted, so this is an exciting moment LOL. I hope this is a satisfactory ending for all of you. I hope this entertained you, or brought you joy in some way. So, enjoy :D!
6. No More Mind Games
Shizuo swore.
"FUCK!" He jumped forward to catch him, to latch onto him, but gravity was a little too fast for Shizuo. He missed Izaya's groping hands by perhaps half an inch. It happened so fast, like a drive-by. It didn't make sense. Shizuo threw himself against the edge of the building, bending over it, stomach doubled over the cool concrete. He could feel it grating him through his clothes. Izaya, not one to be easily beaten, was hanging by the tips of his fingers on the edge of a window sill only a few feet below. He didn't look frightened at all, though his disposition radiated one of slight discomfort.
"Good catch, Shizu-chan," he quipped, grinning up at the blonde. Even in this position he could be catty. Shizuo could only rub a hand over his face, body a little weak from the intense scare. That had been frightening.
"Shit, Izaya," he said, reaching a long arm to take his hand.
"Awwh, were you worried about me~?" Izaya asked, teasing him. He turned his head to rub his nose on the sleeve of his fuzzy jacket, sniffling a little. It really was cold, and dangling out in the wind surely wasn't making it any warmer. Shizuo stretched, making a deep noise of effort, but he couldn't seem to reach Izaya.
"Shut up, I was not," he said. He was, and they both knew it, but neither one of them mentioned it. Izaya sported an incredibly smug smile, though. He sniffled, wrinkling his nose, and Shizuo could see that he had to sneeze again. The way his cute little face was drawing into a far-away look said it clearly. He stretched a little further, and Izaya reached a hand up to meet him there. They fell short, fingers almost touching.
"Damn," Shizuo said. He watched Izaya's face, the contortion, the gathering grimace. He warned him. "Don't you dare sneeze. You'll be doing it in my face, and you'll probably fall."
Izaya uttered a breathy laugh, eyes closing, breath catching. The sneeze was well contained, because he tried to hold it in, but the jostle of his body ruined his precarious hold on the sill, and he lost his grip. Shizuo screamed as he reached after the smaller man, tipping far over the edge of the building, feet not longer on the ground. He balanced there, stomach starting to hurt from the pressure of leaning on it. Izaya, with his mastering of parkour, managed to catch another edge on the way down. They were ten feet apart now, both hanging from the building in contrasting positions.
"I told you," Shizuo growled under his breath, glaring at the suspended Izaya below him, who was looking up with a smile as he once again wiped his nose. "Now there's no way I can get to you."
"Oh please, Shizu-chan~!" Izaya said, cheery as ever. He seemed unfazed by the dire situation. To him, he couldn't see himself dying, and if he did, well…no big deal, he supposed. "You're the one with the invincibility. Come down here and get me."
It was a request, a command, and a sexy come on. Shizuo recognized it for all of those things, and sighed, frustrated that they were doing this on the face of a tall building and turned on that Izaya could remain attractive in the damp, chill night while he swayed from a window sill. Izaya smirked up at him, eyes slit and bright against the deepening night. Shizuo smiled back.
"You're cute, you know," Shizuo said, leaning up and lifting one leg over the side, then the other. He edged on his butt along the ledge of the building until he found a foothold. Izaya, adjusting his grip as he swung on the side of the building, chuckled.
"Oh, I know," he said. He shook some black hair out of his eyes, once again adjusting his grip. His hands were starting to hurt, his arms tiring. As if Shizuo were psychic, he heard the blonde's stern, irritated voice.
"Don't even think about letting go," he said. He was lowering his feet precariously onto a nearby windowsill, having to place them laterally in order to ensure gripping. He wasn't scared exactly, but the whole situation was packed with tension. He could feel the cords standing out on his neck.
"Oh, silly Shizu-chan," Izaya mused. He had a fond expression on his face; he closed his eyes. "I won't fall."
"You're tired," Shizuo said, staring at him as a gust of wind passed them. Izaya's smile wavered. "You're arms are getting tired."
"Well, your shoulder is stabbed through," Izaya replied, eyes wandering over to the bandaged arm—the one he had hurt. He felt a little bad about it now, but only a little. "Maybe you should take care not to fall, sweetheart."
Shizuo grimaced at the name, holding onto the gutter as he started inching near Izaya. They were still at least 8 feet apart by height, maybe 2 by length. His shoulder was aching, but it didn't bother him much. He learned to ignore those things over the years.
"Don't call me that," he said, staring at his feet as he leaned to another sill.
"Why not? You are sweet."
"Not really."
"Sometimes, Shizu-chan~."
"Hardly."
"Most days~."
"None of them."
"To me, anyway," Izaya remarked quietly. To him, Shizuo was sweet. It was his temper and callous way of speaking that made him that way. It was the hate they openly displayed. Even though hate was the farthest thing from sweet that there was, to Izaya (who wasn't entirely normal), he found their hate endearing. Shizuo glanced over at Izaya. They were getting closer, but neither one could reach very far comfortably. They were both hanging onto the side of an apartment complex by the sills of windows. It felt very unsteady.
"You think?" Shizuo asked, smiling just a little.
"Maybe," Izaya said, smirking openly. His smile faded automatically, however, when Shizuo's foot slipped. The blonde grunted, grabbing hold of a sill. He was almost four feet above Izaya, about a foot to the left. Izaya's body twitched, but he kept himself from letting go. "Shizu-chan? Are you okay?"
Shizuo took a short breath, arm burning. Shit, he wished Izaya hadn't stabbed him. It was coming back to bite them both in the ass. The stress on the wounded area, the torn muscle, was starting to take a toll. When he didn't answer, Izaya pressed him again.
"Shizu-chan," he said. "Shizuo!"
"Damn, my arm," he grunted. He didn't want to make Izaya feel too bad, but he couldn't hide it anymore. It was hurting him. "It hurts."
"No shit," Izaya said wryly, more because he was angry at himself for stabbing Shizuo. He should have seen something like this coming. But then again, how could he? They were both acting so out of character. Neither one of them could have predicted the night would end like this. "Can you move?"
Shizuo kept trying to fix his grip, to move around and hang in a way that wouldn't hurt so bad, but he couldn't. No matter how he gripped the sill, his arm throbbed with a piercing heat. It was exhausting. He let go to hang with his uninjured arm.
"Not really," he said. His eyes averted in the darkness. "Sorry."
They were both just dangling there, one man slightly below the other. As much as Izaya hated to tell him, his own grip was failing. He had been hanging on for several minutes now, and he wasn't as strong as the superman Heiwajima. Shizuo was right. He was tired.
"No, my fault," he said, trying to suspend himself with only one hand like Shizuo, but he wasn't strong enough. He had to grip with both hands. His was starting to make noises of exertion. Little grunts. He screwed up his face. He was shaking. Shizuo, his good arm keeping him easily afloat in the sky, looked down at Izaya.
"What? What's wrong?" He broke out into a grin. "You're not-…getting off on this, are y-"
"No, you ass." Izaya cut him off before he could finish, face tinting pink. His moans did make him sound a little aroused. That wasn't the case, though. "I-…" He closed his eyes tightly, letting out a small groan. "…I can't do it anymore."
Shizuo's grin fell. "What?" He started scrambling, trying to shimmy downward fast enough to get to his flea, but slow enough to do it safely. Doing it one armed was impossible. "Damn it, Izaya. Don't you let go."
Izaya was trying so hard. His arms felt like they were caving in on themselves, folding inside the layers of muscle and falling apart. He kicked his legs, trying to sustain himself. His face was tight. He shook his head, jaw clenching.
"Can't," he whispered. He choked a little. It was a struggle. "I can't."
Shizuo was in a panic. If this turned out to be a sick prank, he would beat Izaya within an inch of his life. This was freaking him out. This was scary. Izaya, dangling several dozen feet above a concrete surface, wouldn't make it. Shizuo wasn't even sure if he himself would make it. Though he could hang one-armed from a building for hours, he didn't know how well he would sustain a rock-to-body collision from this height. Shit, if only his arm wasn't burning so badly! One look at Izaya's face though, and he knew he had to.
He grabbed the sill with both hands, resisting the urge to scream out from the pain. Blood soaked the gauze, beginning to break through the fabric of his shirt.
"Izaya, you can do this. Don't let go."
Izaya couldn't really even talk anymore. He was shuddering terribly. Shizuo lowered himself a little more. They were within a reaching distance. His shoulder and upper arm beat him with steady pulses of pain. He ignored them. Extending a hand, his voice carried over the wind. He had to shout to be heard.
"Izaya, take my hand! Reach up!"
Izaya, beads of sweat standing out on his face, looked up at the blonde above him. Shizuo's heart melted. The look of sheer helplessness—pure fear. It was striking, adorable, and abominably sad. Izaya never looked like that. The informant, slowly, with effort known only to those who face the eyes of someone special to them, lifted one hand from the sill.
A wind gushed past them.
Shizuo strained to reach.
Izaya began to slip. He gritted his teeth.
Their hands met in a small embrace, and Shizuo, with a cry like that Hercules, pulled Izaya up close to him and groped about his body until he found a sturdy niche around the smaller man's waist. He did all of this one handed, his bleeding arm spewing tiny daggers of agony throughout his body as it sustained him, suspending them above the city.
Such is the power of love. Or was it love? What emotion had they experienced together this night? What could drive them to this, two mortal enemies?
Izaya pressed his face against Shizuo's neck, his arms wrapping around his chest. The informant had been more afraid then he wanted to let on. Izaya liked to believe he welcomed death, and to an extent he did. Insane though he was, Izaya was still a human being, built with a body that wanted to keep living. He was physically spent. He couldn't even feel his arms, and his legs had since fallen asleep from hanging there so long. He was cold and emotionally vulnerable. Shizuo couldn't decide whether the moisture on the nape of his neck was sweat or tears.
Izaya mumbled something against his skin and Shizuo, now calm and rather tranquil (even though his arm was giving him hell), rested his cheek on Izaya's head.
"What?"
Izaya muttered again, and Shizuo smiled faintly. "Speak up, I can't hear you."
The black-haired head under his cheek jostled and Izaya looked up with a face that attempted bravery and indifference, but failed utterly. Shizuo's eyebrows rose.
"I need you," Izaya said, sniffling, voice thick. "I need you, I need you, I need you."
Shizuo just stared at first, each eyebrow coming down slowly; one and then the other. No one had told him that before, and while he knew it to be true with Izaya, he didn't believe it until this very moment.
They needed each other. Whether it be in love or in hate, in truth or in lies, they needed one another. Who else could Shizuo depend on? The flea was always there, as annoying as it was, but he was always there. Out in the open, hanging from an apartment unit with a bleeding, tearing arm, the man he loved and hated clung to his side as they swayed in the wind, under the cool night. It was suddenly very profound. Shizuo leaned forward just a little, voice the lowest, and the very gentlest he had ever dared to make it.
"I need you, too," he said. "I always have."
Izaya sniffed again, rubbing his nose on his shoulder. Shizuo just smiled, leaning forward to press his lips against the corner of Izaya's mouth. It was a small start, a shy one, but it bloomed into the lotus kisses of lovers, and haters. Along the mouth, the jaw-line, the earlobes, the neck. They were not hungry kisses, but they were passionate and long-overdue. One of Izaya's hands tangled into Shizuo's blonde hair, and Shizuo pulled Izaya ever the more closer to him.
They kissed in the privacy of the open world, in the dead of night, when only the hidden stars were watching. The stars could not be seen all the time, but they were always there. They always had been. No one really noticed them or paid them any mind because they were tiny and dim, but to the eyes of lovers they were the symbol of adoration. They were things to cherish. They were things to think about sometimes, before you went to sleep. They were simple, and yet there were so many of them now. So much starlight, winking proudly in the night. Shizuo and Izaya scarcely saw them, but they could feel them. They could sense that feeling stars radiated.
It was love. Or hate. Probably both.
A.N: Oh geez.. this ending was so sappy and out of character LOL. I'm sorry to the die-hard ShizuoxIzaya fans who are disappointed! They were already slipping a little in the last chapter, so I just finished it up on a lovey note XD
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING, and all your kind reviews! They have been very encouraging! I'm really glad that a lot of you seemed to like it! You guys have all really encouraged me to write more and improve :D. Leave me a review if you like/hate the ending XD.
So…. sequel, anyone? XD We sort of leave them hanging off of a BUILDING, after all x3