A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and leaving such kind, enthusiastic reviews!
This time, for sure, Izaya is going to keep his distance from Shizuo.
All these close-encounters just keep messing with his head and Izaya can't have that. His head is all he's got.
After skipping two days of school, too rattled to even think about pretending to socialize like a normal teen, he decides it's time to go back to his schedule and forget anything ever happened. As he approaches the building he straightens his spine, elongates his strides, and pats his pocket for the comfort of the presence of his glasses securely in their case for when he needs them.
Izaya tries not to wear his glasses around school. Some… unfortunate events with a group of larger boys in elementary school made him realize they make him stand out too much, so he saves them for the comfort and privacy of his reading nooks so he can see properly without being bothered. It's not like he really needs to see the notes on the board during class anyway. He can hear just fine, better than most actually, and is confident enough in his intelligence to excel anyway.
And when Izaya passes a tall blond in the courtyard mingling with his friends in an untucked uniform with the sleeves rolled up, he turns melts into a hurried crowd of students who clearly have some place to be so he can vanish.
With his eyes glued to the ground, Izaya doesn't see Shizuo's head perk up at the faintest waft of bitter almonds.
Would Shizuo make fun of his glasses? Would Shizuo crush them under his foot, laughing as he tells Izaya that they were already broken because they always sat crooked on his face?
Izaya tries once again to shake away the thought of Shizuo. It's not like it matters what Shizuo would do. Izaya is not interacting with Shizuo anymore.
Would he tell Izaya that his weird, too-big, crooked glasses were ugly just like his weird, too-big, crooked smile?
Izaya decides to avoid the library today and heads straight to class, his teachers looking at him strangely when he arrives on-time.
Boring, boring, boring. Every hour is atrociously boring. Now he remembers why he always skipped, school is the absolute worst way to learn. Izaya feels like he's actually lost intelligence by the time the class is finally freed for lunch.
Taking his time tucking his only notebook for official schoolwork back into his worn bag of personal studies he wonders where he should go for lunch. Normally he'd go to the library, but Izaya isn't sure if Shizuo has to work there today. Not the cafeteria, of course, as much as he loves studying
people he hates being involved in social environments. Not the roof, because if Shizuo isn't at the library that's where he'll be.
Izaya sighs internally. The third-floor, east-wing bathroom it is.
"Excuse me, Orihara-san." The friendly voice of his Japanese history teacher calls as Izaya is slinging his bag over his shoulder. As the last handful of students pour out of the classroom Izaya makes his way through the jostled desks to his teacher's desk.
"Yes?" Izaya asks, going for a normal and respectful tone and just falling short, surprising himself with how quiet his voice is.
"Is everything alright? As ironic as his is going to sound, you were here for the entire period. I can't help but be concerned." The teacher's tone is light, almost joking. His easy-going attitude makes him popular amongst the students and he usually has no problems connecting with them. Except a certain little genius who even he sometimes forgets actually belongs in the class.
Izaya laughs casually and waves off his teacher. "Haha, thank you for the concern, but everything is perfectly fine. I do apologize for not always being this punctual, I mean no disrespect."
His teacher snorts and shakes his head. "I'm sure you don't mean anything by it. Somehow I get the feeling I'm not on your radar at all."
Izaya laughs again, silently hoping to be dismissed already.
His teacher must notice the subtle way his laugh skids just barely outside of normal, breaking the smallest bit on nerves and lack of practice, because his demeanor becomes more serious.
"Listen kid, I don't know why you ditch every chance you get or why you suddenly decided to go by the book for once but… I just want to make sure that if you're in need of anything you know you can come talk to me." He smiles at Izaya, making sure to maintain eye contact as he places what is meant to be a comforting hand on Izaya's shoulder. It, of course, is not comforting to Izaya.
Ah yes. Izaya thinks to himself, internally cringing at the only physical contact he's received in… how long has it been? My sudden behavioral change must be checking some of the boxes in that standard-issue pamphlet on student care he's shoved into the bottom drawer of his desk. On top of that I haven't exactly been a model student, and by changing I've managed to draw attention to myself.
"I understand, thank you again. If you'll excuse me I've got to get to lunch, I'm starving." Izaya smiles right back. Polite and controlled.
The blatant lie he's wearing makes it easier to not smile too much. To keep his lips from splitting too-wide and keep the left corner as even as possible with the right.
"Oh, of course!" His teacher sounds relieved and snatches his hand back. "Of course! You're a growing boy! It's good you have an appetite, it's great!" Eating regularly is a sign of health. "Maybe get a little extra this time? You're looking a bit skinny there!"
Izaya nods and bows out, making a bee-line for the east wing to hide himself in the third stall for the next thirty minutes.
Shizuo hovers outside of the library for a few minutes, wondering if he should go in. He doesn't have to work today, so he should go meet Kadota and Tom on the roof. Still, he thinks about ditching them for the library.
It's ridiculous, of course, but part of him wants to anyway. Wants to sit in that rickety chair in the back and find another mystery to read and maybe… maybe have a riddle whispered to him that he could think through this time while gettin' buzzed on the faint scent of bitter almonds.
But for the last two days the scent has been even more faint, and Shizuo doesn't feel even the slightest tingle of being watched. A feeling he never thought he'd start to miss.
These two days have given him two answers for the case of the library villain:
One, the closet was definitely his layer. He wouldn't be scared off if Shizuo wasn't close.
Two, Shizuo doesn't want to scare him off. He doesn't know, or can't name, what he wants yet. Shizuo is only sure he doesn't want to scare the other boy away.
Shizuo hovers and paces for a few more minutes before he realizes the girl at the front desk is watching his through the window looking terrified.
He sighs and turns away. To the roof it is.
Tom and Kadota are already settled into their spot, behind a large air conditioning unit.
"Hey Shizuo, off the hook today?" Tom greets with a cigarette in his bright smile.
"Yeah." Shizuo grunts and pulls out one of his own, satisfied enough with the bitter taste despite something inside him saying it's not the toxin he's really craving.
"How much longer you gotta work there anyway?" Kadota asks, laying on his back in the shade of the air conditioning unit, using his school blazer as a pillow.
"Until summer." Shizuo shrugs and takes a drag. "Or whenever I guess, depending on my behavior and whether or not they still need free labor and shit."
Tom sighs and sits on his calves, leaning back to rest his weight on the support of the unit. "That sucks man, sorry the whole dying your hair thing didn't really work out. I really thought it might help."
Shizuo shakes his head is disagreement. "Nah, it helps. Lot less fights these days." Which of course may have more to do with his growing reputation than his hair, but the details don't matter.
"I think you should keep it either way." Kadota says. "The blonde really suits you and I'm used to it now." Shizuo and Tom both nod.
"So how is working at the library?" Tom asks. "Aside from quiet, of course."
"Quiet's most of it." Shizuo chuckles, trying not to think of the exhilarating chase through the maze of shelves. "Librarian's strict but the chores are easy and no one bothers me." Glimmering red eyes and a mocking voice come to mind again, but Shizuo pushes them away.
"That's great." Tom grins. "... So you guys remember that gorgeous blonde chick from my English class?"
The Kadota and Shizuo laugh and jump on the subject change, the three of them effortlessly flowing between topics. Tom and Kadota trade stories of some of the girls they've been with or our trying to get with and Shizuo just smiles quietly, trying not to think of how little he can relate.
But Tom and Kadota already know not to pry, so it's fine.
Shizuo thinks about all the girls he thinks are attractive. Sure, there's a fair handful he wouldn't mind getting with in theory but… he knows that sort of thing is impossible. Monsters don't find love and Shizuo is too terrified at the possibility of hurting any girl who would be nice enough to try and love him.
Slowly the cigarette burns down to the filter and he thinks about lighting up another just for more of the bitter taste that he doesn't really want, but makes for a good distraction.
He wonders what it might feel like to have that bitter almond smell on his tongue. He pictures smiling red eyes looking up at him as the smell he craves wraps around them like a pink, sweater knit blanket with a white fuzzy lining and fills his lungs like smoke and melts on his tongue like… like…
Shizuo lights another cigarette