As soon as Shizuo stepped out of Izaya's building, he got a cigarette in his pocket, lighted it and started smoking, trying to calm himself down. Then he looked up, trying to see Izaya's apartment from there. A million of things were rushing through his head and he was confused. Smoking has his always faithful companion for moments like these. Then, he tried to think everything over. He just got kicked out of the flea's apartment. And his eyes were so bright.

Wait… Was he crying?

No, not crying. But about to, right? Why?

Once again, Shizuo tried to think everything over. Izaya called himself a fucking bastard. That's plain weird. But then again, Izaya was weird pretty much all the time, so the blond tried to thing moreover.

When was the last time he saw the flea? It was a normal day. He was doing his job, walking around with Tom after punching some stupid executive. Then the flea annoyed him with… his presence, and he thrown a vending machine at him. Perfectly normal.

Oh, yeah. The next day, he went to a small party at Shinra's. Not that he cared, but Celty asked him gently if he could go. It was fun, since they talked about a lot of things. Including Izaya. It's always so refreshing to say out loud how much you hate your arch nemesis and… Wait, what?

Shizuo let his cigarette fell from his lips when realization struck him. Maybe the louse had heard them. He looked up again, seconds before rushing into the building. He thought that even if Izaya heard them, he wouldn't mind at all. He should know all of that anyway. He is a fucking bastard, annoying louse, goddamned flea.

The ex-bartender pressed the elevator button once. And since it was so fucking slow, he kept pressing it.

"Come on, come on."

He had no idea why he was so desperate. He only knew that he wanted to… Comfort Izaya somehow. And he didn't want to think of why. He was blaming the guilt for all of this.

Obviously!
After all, he hates Orihara Izaya.

. . . Right?

Shizuo stepped out of the elevador feeling uneasy. He had rushed into Izaya's building again, but he had no idea what to do. He halted when he reached Izaya's front door, which was in a very poor condition since it was harshly kicked by the blond.

He was still frozen, thinking what he was doing there. Why had he gone up again? Again, he tried to blame his guilt for it, but it wasn't enough. He had no idea of what to say.

He couldn't find strength to walk in.
That was the truth.

On the other side of the door, Izaya was crying lowly. He really wanted Shizuo to stay with him. So hard. So much. And the second he walked away, the brunet started to cry mumbling to himself that he couldn't accept anything less from his dumb arch nemesis. He stood up, angry for not saying a single word to the blond. Maybe he would have listened to him. After all, he was the only one who bothered to look for him.

Even if he only did that because he thought Izaya had some evil plan, which he sincerely didn't… Well, he had some evil plans, as always, but he wasn't planning to them to test right now. Actually, for the first time in his life, Izaya was doing his job honestly. Or as honest as an information broker can be.

He walked around silently, trying to wipe his tears away with his long sleeve. He closed his eyes; they were burning from the tears, and he accidentally let a sob escape his lips.

And so, Shizuo cursed himself. All his inhuman strength was totally useless when he needed it. But all his thoughts were pushed away by a single sound. A sob. Shizuo felt his heart beating faster when he raised his hand and touched the front door, pushing it away so he could pass and finally going into the apartment once again.

Shizuo spotted Izaya standing, both hands over his face. He was trying to wipe his tears away. The ex-bartender stared, silently walking towards him. He had never seen Izaya like that. Ever. After all these years, all he knew was that stupid smirk, his annoying voice and his fucked up personality. But he guessed he didn't know so well… After all, he'd never expected to see him crying.

When he was a few steps from the brunet, he noticed and quickly looked at him, putting both of his hands down. Now he had teary eyes, his cheeks flushed and eyebrows curved.

"What the hell are you-" He never finished the sentence. Strong arms pulled him into a hug. A nice, warm, sweet hug. Izaya immediately quit whining and pressed his face light against Shizuo's chest. One arm embraced the small's waist, and the other snaked up his body, touching his hair gently and caressing it.

Izaya wouldn't dare looking up at the blond, so he just put the palms of his hand against his torso, close to his own head. He closed his eyes, feeling a strong scent of cigarette; Shizuo was probably smoking a few minutes ago.

The blond watched that new Izaya closely. His hair was pretty messed up, although it was apparently clean. He was small and looked so fragile… Shizuo recognized he just appeared so, after all those years chasing him around he knew better to judge Izaya like that.

Again, he heard a sob, and finally noticed that Izaya was crying a lot, although silently, and petted his hair more, smiling a little bit. Actually, it was pretty nice to be besides him and he was so damn cute with his teary red eyes and pink face.

Not once Shizuo loosened his hug, but just hugging and standing there was a little uncomfortable. Also, that silence was getting more and more awkward.

Looking around and then up, he started thinking what he should do with Izaya. Maybe take him upstairs? He seemed exhausted after all...

"Hey, Izaya…" Shizuo finally asked, in a whisper.

"Huh?" He murmured, without raising his head from the ex-bartender chest.

"You should sleep a little bit. Do you wanna go upstairs?"

The brunet remained silent for a while, but then he nodded and Shizuo slowly loosened his grip, releasing Izaya who kept his head low, still trying to keep his tears away, which he couldn't.

"Look at me." The blond murmured, but Izaya shook his head. The blond sighed, touching the brunet's face with both his hands so that Izaya had to look at him. Shizuo stared into the red orbs, feeling sympathetic for his nemesis for the first time. Actually, this has been a weird evening, with many "first time" things. That was just one more of them. Shizuo leaned towards Izaya, kissing his left cheek lightly, only brushing his lips on his skin, as to wipe away some tears with his lips.

"Stop crying…" The blond whispered, pleading. But that only made Izaya cry harder. He felt his heart jump, and his cheeks on fire. They were so close.

And so, the two men went upstairs. Izaya wasn't really sure how he ended up in his bedroom. He was guiding Shizuo to his room, he blond only a step behind Izaya. Without touching but so close that Izaya could even feel the warmth emanating from the taller man. Again, there was an awkward silence when they got to the room. Shizuo turned his head around; he had never seen Izaya's room before; it was clean and quite big, with two doors. Probably a closet and a bathroom, Shizuo though. Izaya had a king-sized bed. Shizuo wondered why, and he felt like asking, to break the silence.

"What do you have that bed for? It's so big."

Izaya sat down on the bed, taking his shoes off. He had stopped crying after all, but his nose was swollen and red. His eyes were red too… Way more than the usual.

"Ah… Sometimes the twins like sleeping around. So I bought it." Shizuo nodded in understanding, but before the silence would start tormenting him again, Izaya laid down yawning.

"I'm so tired." The blond walked to the bed side, watching just a little longer the hurt!Izaya he met.

"Then go to sleep. I'm… Going home." He turned around and then felt a hand holding his clothes. Looking back, Izaya was covering his eyes with his right arm, and his left hand was holding the blond's wrist.

"Stay with me, Shizu-chan."