Shizuo spent the night wrestling with his sheets and mumbling curses under his breath. When the first rays of dawn softened the night sky, he rolled over so that he could curse some more into his pillow.

He had work in a few hours. If he could just stop thinking about that pain in the ass for five minutes straight then maybe he could sleep for an hour or two. But of course his brain had other ideas.

Not three minutes later and Shizuo mumbled in his pillow, "I'll kill him. Then I'll revive him and kill him again. That way I can kill him twice. Then I'll revive him again and he can stay alive and then I don't go to prison for life." It was almost a viable plan. The best he could manage. Except it was complicated, risky, and what if he couldn't resuscitate him the third time?

He tossed the sheets off, got up angrier than when he went to bed, and spent the rest of the morning trying to keep his homicidal thoughts to a minimum. In the back of the shelves above his sink was an unopened case of instant coffee that he kept for the rare times he had guests over. Glaring as he read the directions, he poured three packets in a mug and filled the rest with milk. With a chopstick, he mixed it together and as an afterthought, he added two spoonfuls of sugar.

Before drinking it, Shizuo thought of taking the day off. Then he felt bad at all the inconvenience it would bring if others had to fill in for him. While toasting some bread he sipped on his sweet milk coffee. By the time he was finished eating, he felt no better. There was nothing stopping him from seeing that parasitic man in a few hours. He drank the rest in one go.

Work used to be fun. People appreciated that he could do all the heavy lifting when the other nurses struggled. Work used to be a place where Shizuo could feel good, but as he opened his locker and found a picture of himself with green drawn hearts and puppy dog ears on his head, Shizuo felt his blood pressure rise. He tore the picture up and crushed the pieces. Someone entered the room and left immediately and Shizuo tried to suppress the murderous rage on his face. He'd have to get a lock so that the pest wouldn't go snooping in his things.

The morning didn't get any better. The first thing he learned was that his schedule got rearranged. Most of the colleagues he normally worked with were switched with that single name that he had been cursing the entire night.

"Excuse me, but I think there's been a mistake in my schedule?" Shizuo asked the shift manager. If it weren't for the surgical mask, then she would have seen his barred teeth.

"Ah, Heiwajima-san. Good morning. Actually, someone needed to show Orihara-Sensei around, get him to feel more comfortable and you two are the same age."

"Is it not too late to change it?"

"Is there a problem?"

Shizuo chewed on the bottom of his lip. He couldn't exactly say he was getting harassed by the guy. "No."

"I'm afraid changing the schedule now is a little..."

"Okay, I got it. Thank you for your help..." He looked at her name tag. "Nakayama-san."

"Thank you for understanding. I've heard some nice things about Orihara-sensei so I'm sure you two can get along."

"Yeah..." Shizuo muttered. "Thanks."

On the schedule, he was supposed to help in the operating room with that bastard. His stomach tied in knots as he thought of all the bad things which could go wrong. Shit! Putting up with the bastard was one thing, but endangering a patient's life because of it? Shizuo didn't feel good about this at all.

The surgical mask may have hid that sly smirk, but Shizuo could read those all too interested eyes. When their focus went to the patient, Shizuo let out a shallow breath. Listening to the pest talk to the man was annoying, so Shizuo helped get the room setup with another co-worker.

When the patient went under and Izaya first started, the metal flashed as it worked into skin. It was too fast, and Shizuo worried that Izaya was messing around; however, it became apparent the precision and skill was the level of skill of a surgeon who had done this their entire life and not fresh out of school. The bastard was quicker than anyone Shizuo had ever seen, even more so than Shinra who loved dissecting.

It was almost scary how familiar the pest was with the inside workings of the human body. This particular operation was an appendectomy with an infected appendix close to bursting. Izaya had made an incision in the lower abdomen and less than thirty minutes later he was closing it up.

Shizuo was beyond relieved that Izaya hadn't said anything out of line or inappropriate; whether he was so focused on what he was doing or considerate of the company he shared, Shizuo didn't know. The operation was a success and Shizuo did most of the cleanup.

They had to wait for the anesthesia to wear off and for the patient to wake up, and while normally Shizuo would wait by himself, the flea stuck around. He sent their co-worker off, and immediately Shizuo's hackles rose.

"Good work, Shizu-chan."

"Don't call me that, and why the hell was my schedule changed?"

"I was quite surprised too, you know since I had nothing to do with that. Must be a coincidence."

"Coincidence my ass," Shizuo was aware enough to lower his tone. "You think I forgot what you said yesterday? About being able to change my schedule. So it's just a coincidence that my schedule changed, huh?"

"Yup. I'm only a simple doctor. Someone thought that it'd be good if I had a helper to show me around and how could I refuse such a thing when your name popped up."

There were many things wrong with that. "Easy," Shizuo said. "You could have asked for someone else. And I bet you know your way around the hospital and the people here better than I do. You did look up my file, so I bet you looked at everyone's file."

Izaya chuckled and slipped off his surgical mask. There was that smirk that got on Shizuo's nerves. "I wouldn't do that. You're just special, Shizu-chan."

"I asked you before, don't call me that, it's annoying."

"But it fits you nicely." He played with the elastic of the mask, spinning it around his finger. "You look a little tired. Did you sleep all right?"

"I slept fine," Shizuo grumbled. He could easily imagine the flea's look of delight if he said that he couldn't sleep because of a certain pest.

"Hmm?" He hummed as he stepped closer, getting way too close like he had no idea what personal space was. "Really now? Shall I do a quick check up? It's dangerous if you're tired while we have a patient. There's an extra bed here if you need a quick nap. This guy here should be out for another twenty minutes."

Shizuo didn't think that the guy should be out for that long. Had the flea done that on purpose? He frowned. "I said I was fine."

"Then let me get you a coffee."

"No thanks. I already had some." Any more and he'd be having jittery hands and he'd be itching to run laps. Plus this asshole would probably spit in his drink or lick the cup or something equally gross.

"We have a long day ahead of us. I need you fully functional."

"I can't sleep on the job."

"Relax, no one would know. I'll wake you up in twenty."

"Still, I know you'd do something to me, so no way." A migraine was forming and he ignored it.

"Aww, you can trust me! All of your organs will remain untouched, I promise."

Fuck, did that sound gross as hell.

"And," Izaya continued. "I do owe you for yesterday. I may have gone a little too far, so let me make it up to you."

Sheesh, the more he talked the more suspicious he sounded. Whatever he was planning smelled fucking awful.

He was about to tell Izaya to shove his concern somewhere else, but Shizuo got the feeling that saying that would make the rest of their eight hours at work unbearable. If Izaya wanted to make his life hell, then there would be no stopping Shizuo from becoming angry and losing his job. That was if he didn't mess up because he was so fucking tired. "Fine, I'll only rest my eyes then."

"That's good."

He went over to the spare clean bed in the corner and got in. "Do anything funny and I'll give you a new face."

"Don't worry, Shizu-chan, you're safe with me."

"As if." He drew the white curtain across the bed and turned so that he was facing away. The sun had warmed up the bed and Shizuo covered his eyes with his arm so the light wouldn't bother him. He knew this was a stupid idea, but he also never expected to doze off. He woke up slowly to something tickling his ear.

He nearly slapped himself awake trying to get it to stop. Then he realized where he was and woke up fully. He looked over to see Izaya waving at him.

"Oh good, you're awake. You have a cute snore. Exactly how I'd imagine a monster to sound like."

"Ugh. Shut up." Shizuo groaned.

"I thought for sure the entire third floor would hear you."

Shizuo ran a hand over his face. "Shit, how long was I out for?"

"A few hours."

"What!?" Shizuo shot up in the bed, the metal frame jolted as if it would collapse.

"It's our lunch break. I tried to wake you up, but you were out like you got knocked out by a high dose of propofol."

"Huh...did you put me under?"

"No, of course not." He gave him a pointed look and sighed. "I did give you my word that I wouldn't do anything."

Shizuo covered his eyes. "Ah, shit. Should have woken me up. Fuck. Shouldn't have fallen asleep!"

"Relax, no one knows. To everyone's knowledge, you were working your ass off helping me."

"That's not the point." Shizuo snapped and grabbed the handles of the bed frame. "I take this job seriously. I can't just disappear and take a nap whenever I feel like it."

For a moment, Izaya looked annoyed, but then he stepped back and brought his hands up like he was surrendering. "Okay, I understand and I'm sorry. You're right. I should have woken you up. I just thought you looked exhausted...Just think of it as you acting out on my orders, as your doctor."

"You're not my doctor." Shizuo got off the bed and stretched his arms. On the wall was a clock that read 12:40. How the fuck had he slept for three and a half hours? Unbelievable. He looked down at his uniform to make sure everything was in place, then at his reflection in the mirror. All that was out of place was the unmanageable bed head and Shizuo ran his fingers through his hair.

Izaya was fiddling with his phone and grinning. Fuck, he better not have taken photos as blackmail or some shit like that. Izaya looked up and asked, "did you bring lunch or are you going to buy something?"

Normally he bought something from the convenience store on the first floor. He didn't have the patience to make lunch before work. On the second floor there was a small food court and cafe for visitors, and sometimes if he had longer than twenty minutes he'd order something from there. Today didn't seem like one of those days. "I'm buying."

"Well, if you want, I made extra for lunch. I recently bought a new rice cooker and I made too much this morning so I just ended up using all the rice. It's nothing special."

Shizuo yawned and belatedly covered his mouth with a hand. "What you only made rice?" If that was true it would explain why he was so thin.

"No. There are some side dishes too."

"Hmm."

"...so was that a yes?"

"You didn't do anything weird to it?"

"Oh please, I have to eat it too."

"What'll you do with it if I say no?"

"Probably throw it out."

Wasting food was something that annoyed him greatly. "All right, fine. Thanks."

Izaya probably wasn't expecting him to say yes, because now he was grinning too much like he was getting his way, and it was annoying.

"Great! Let's go."

The break room on the second floor was less crowded than the main dining room and it was where he normally scarfed down his food. Though the number of people there now was much the same as he'd expect, with Izaya's presence souring the air, if felt much more crowded than he was used to. Why the hell he had agreed to spend more time with this pest? And yesterday too. Shizuo made a mental note to learn to refuse free food. It wasn't like when he was studying at university and was getting by with instant ramen and fast food– he was making money now and could afford nice things if he wanted them.

Still he had already agreed. Izaya was sitting across from him with that self-satisfied grin as he retrieved two hefty lunch boxes. Judging by the size, it must have been a lot of rice, but when Shizuo opened the lid and saw a well-balanced meal with most of his favorites, he was surprised to see that there wasn't a whole lot of to rice going around.

"What is this?" There was no hiding the skepticism from his tone.

"Food."

"I thought you said it was nothing special."

"It's not. Just something I made in a hurry." The heart shaped carrot slices suggested otherwise.

Something was very off with this. "You made this for me didn't you."

"Of course not. Don't be presumptuous."

"...you're trying to fool me into thinking you're nice so that I won't beat the shit out of you."

"Haha, you're a riot. But I am a nice person. Ask anyone."

"Shinra said you were an asshole."

"Well Shinra is a lousy friend with questionable standards. He hardly counts. I'm not trying to fool you. This is me getting to know you better and making up for yesterday. Let's get along, right."

Taking the food was a bad idea, but shoving it in Izaya's face was probably worse, even if it would be satisfying. He took the sleek set of lacquered chopsticks that had oni decorations painted on them. Izaya's had ninja stars. "Thanks for the food," Shizuo said. He took a bite of the tamagoyaki and it was just a tad too sweet, exactly how he liked it to be. The rice was cooked with azuki beans and thus slightly sweet as well. To the side was steamed pumpkin. The main dish was chicken karaage. It didn't taste like it came premade from the freezer. Izaya either bought the good kind or made it himself. In fact, nothing tasted strange or poisoned. It was actually very good. Better than what he would have bought in the convenience store. He looked over at Izaya's lunch which had similar dishes.

"Do you like sweet foods?" Shizuo asked as he took a bite of the steamed pumpkin. It was soft and naturally sweet.

"Not so much. I just happened to be in the mood for something sweet today."

"It's good."

Izaya smiled and shrugged it off. "It's not much. I would sometimes make myself lunch during high school."

His mom had always made lunch for him. He could have offered to make it instead, but she had always been happy to do it for him. "I see." He said and ate a piece of fried chicken. It had a hint of lemon to it.

"So Shizu-chan–"

"Don't call me that." The threatening tone was lost around the chicken.

"Okay. What made you want to become a nurse? It's not something I'd suspect something you'd want to do."

Shizuo frowned. He should have been used to this question. It was a good thing he stopped throwing the people who asked him that, but he wasn't sure if he could continue playing nice. "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Nothing. I just find it interesting."

Shizuo tsked. "Do you always ask people annoying questions?"

"Asking someone why they picked their career is a pretty standard question. Then how about I answer the question first and then you tell me why."

Shizuo hated this question because he always felt judged from it. Why did he have to prove anything to anyone? "How about you knock yourself out?"

Izaya stifled a chuckle as he shook his head. "It just seems like this line of work isn't well suited for us, right. Doing this wasn't my first choice of profession. I really enjoy observing others and I find human behavior fascinating. Actually, I prefer psychology and therapy, you know, talking with patients, but my methods of treatment were considered unconventional. It was recommended by several of my professors that either I follow the books or choose a different field. It was annoying that they kept on lowering my scores just because they refused any other theories outside the books. So boring, right? I got annoyed arguing with them, and then there was the part that I would get perfect scores in my other courses. Anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry were still interesting to me so I pursued them. This is what I'm good at, even if I find it boring at times."

Boring? After spending years slaving over his text books and trying to understand all the procedures, medical terms, and conditions, having this shithead say it was easy and boring...well, fuck him.

"Well, it's a good thing then." Shizuo chewed harder than necessary. "You would have made a shitty therapist."

"So mean." Izaya whined, but he didn't look at all bothered. "So will you tell me now?"

"No. It's none of your business."

"Hmph. But I told you my reason."

"Yeah, and I didn't care."

"I'll ask you another day."

"Don't bother."

"Oh, I will."

Shizuo was done talking and he wanted to get the fuck out of here as fast as possible. He shoveled the rest of the food away like a pro, not caring about the unamused face Izaya was making.

"Done. Thanks for the meal." He said and closed the box before standing. "I'm going outside to smoke."

Izaya pouted as he poked at his food with his chopsticks. "Smoking is terrible for your health."

"Yeah, obviously, and I don't care and you shouldn't either."

"Whatever." Izaya said with a small frown. "Don't be late."

Shizuo was walking out and waved a hand in dismissal. He only had time for one cigarette. As he stood in the designated smoking section with a cigarette in his hand, he took a long drag.

That lunch box was definitely made for him. Why else would the pest make all of his favorites? If Izaya had asked Shinra what he liked for lunch, then he seriously needed to set Shinra straight. What the hell did that guy want anyway? Trying to trick him by pretending to be nice. Ah, what a fucking pain. Izaya wasn't going to fool anyone.

He took another deep drag and stubbed the rest of his cigarette. He had four more hours to go with that bastard. He ran a hand down his face. It was difficult to imagine surviving the rest of the day, but there was the horrifying thought that he'd have to survive weeks, months, and maybe even years. He shuddered and put on his mask before his expression frightened anyone.

When their next shift started once more, Shizuo was relieved that Izaya was more focused on work. The hours passed slowly without major incident. Only once did he have to use his strength to move a patient in and out of the bed. At long last when they were done, Izaya sat down in a stool and stretched. "Good work. Today was really long, right."

Shizuo wasn't going to stick around and chat. "Yeah. I suppose. I have a lot of things I need to do back at home. So I have to get going."

Izaya grinned and leaned back into the desk behind him. He looked completely relaxed. There was something in his expression that innately irritated him. "So soon? That's too bad. I'll see you around then."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Once he was out of the room, he took a deep breath and slumped back against the wall. He'd done well not to snap at all today. He was beginning to hope that maybe this bastard wasn't so bad. Maybe Izaya was awful at first impression, just as Shizuo was bad at giving good impressions.

It was a twenty-five minute walk to his apartment and he went at a brisk pace. He could tell something was wrong even before he made it around the corner of his street. There were four police cars parked in front of the apartment complex. The landlord was gesturing wildly as he talked.

Shizuo had never gotten in trouble with the law, but there had been some close calls. He walked over with his head bowed, hoping to go unnoticed. Of course Shizuo wasn't so lucky.

"That's him," the landlord cried and Shizuo stepped back alarmed when the officers turned towards him. "He lives in 403. It's his apartment. I've been trying to get in contact with him for the past hour!"

One man stood with his feet wide apart and his hands on his belt. His face was round and blotchy red. He wore thin framed glasses. The other guy was stout and balding. They both were not happy to see him. "Is this true? You live in 403 of this apartment?"

"Yes, I do. Is something wrong?"

"There was a report of suspicious noise and activity. A break in occurred about three hours ago. You'll have to tell us if anything is missing. But the main problem is something else...you'll see what I mean."

Shizuo was still processing what had happened as they walked the four flights of stairs. His neighbors' faces peered through the cracks of their windows and doors. His door was already opened and from here he could smell something that he had gotten so used to in his line of work. Still, even after dealing with blood all day, he still felt sick to his stomach at the amount of blood drenched on the wooden floors and walls of his apartment, it looked like a multiple homicide had taken place in his home. Shizuo stared dumbly at the mess. "The fuck...did someone die here?"

"We can't tell for now. We'll know after the results of the blood samples, but we're thinking it's some kind of animal's blood."

His landlord was unable to contain himself any longer as his face became red and his eyes bulged. "You must have left the apartment unlocked! All of those floors need to be replaced. I knew you would be trouble to take in. Look at all of this damage! Do you think the insurance will cover this? That's not even all of it! The walls are ruined too. Do you think anyone's going to want to live here after–"

"Shut up." Shizuo growled. He swung the door open further and saw all of his things thrown around, some of it drying in the dark red mess. He hadn't even finished unpacking and now the boxes were upturned. He honestly didn't have much to steal, but this was everything he had. He was barely holding back from tearing the door off. The handle cracked under his grip.

Obviously someone wanted to piss him off and give him a message. There were a handful of people he had pissed off that would try something like this. People he had sent to the hospital after breaking their bones, but Shizuo knew only one person who would go this far.

Past the heavy smell of metal was the bastard's stench. This was Izaya's doing all right. Shizuo had no way to prove it, but he just knew it was him.

The police officers were talking to him, but he heard nothing as he stepped inside, not even caring if his shoes got bloody. The blood extended to the other rooms as well. His couch, his futon and blankets, and most of his clothes were ruined. He would have thrown the couch into the wall if the police officers and his landlord weren't there.

Everything bad that happened, no matter how small, was somehow connected to the pest, and Shizuo came to understand that quickly.

I mentioned in my other fict that I won't be updating on this site for some time, but I forgot to mention the same thing here. So if you want more check out this story on Ao3. Thanks for reading