After hours of lackluster thought at four in the morning Izaya had decided that if Shizuo's going to be actively pursuing him there's no point in him trying to keep his distance either. So, he's going to throw himself into his study and enjoy it while it lasts until Shizuo inevitably kills him.

He's awake when his alarm goes off. As usual, getting the girls' breakfast, lunch, and dropping them off at school goes by in a blur. But by the time he gets to school he's decided what he wants to do today.

It's reckless, crazy, and completely unnecessary. He can hardly wait.

If Shizu-chan wants to play rough, Izaya more than happy to oblige him. Years of mind-numbing boredom are finally coming to an end.

So today, he decides to pay a little visit to his favorite little secretary.

He waits and watches for Nakura's shift to begin during the time when most students are in class and makes his move, locking the door to the guidance office behind him.

Nakura's playing poker on his phone and losing miserably when Izaya creeps up behind him. Really, Izaya is doing him a favor by taking him out of the game early.

Quickly he thrusts Nakura's chair forward into the front desk hard, pinning him between the harsh edge of the desktop and the chair with his foot while wrapping his jacket around the boy's head tightly - cutting off his vision and restricting his breathing by tightening the cloth around Nakura's throat. Nakura is frozen in panic and held down by the adrenaline-driven strength Izaya didn't know he had.

"Hey there Nakura, remember me?" Izaya rasps in the boy's ear, dropping the pitch into something dangerous and flirty.

"Wh-wh-what do you want?" Nakura gasps, squirming in his seat until Izaya stills him by twisting the fabric around his neck. "Pl-please! I gave you what information I had! Please don't! D-don't make a big spider crawl into my mouth!"

Izaya chuckles and touches his lips to where Nakura's ear is under the jacket. "Oh no, no spiders this time…" He chuckles and blows a hot, teasing breath into Nakura's ear. "This time I'm going to spare a poor, innocent spider and go for something a bit more… on hand."

Nakura begins struggling with renewed vigor and Izaya knows he won't be able to hold him for long. He twists the fabric even tighter to cut off Nakura's breathing for a moment and throws his weight forward on top of Nakura, lunging across the table to grab the freshly brewed pot of coffee.

Izaya presses the hot glass to Nakura's face through the jacket, just enough for him to feel the heat and get the picture.

"Hey now, relax Nakura. You might make me spill this coffee." He eases off on the pressure on Nakura's neck and slides the pot up his face to rest the scalding, metal base on the top of his head. The jacket protects him slightly, but the heat is seeping through quickly. "That would be too bad, it smells great for being bought on a teacher's salary! Did you make it?" Nakura whimpers and curls in on himself with as much give as he can find against Izaya's hold.

"Y-you can't keep doing this to me! I'll report you and you'll be expelled!" Nakura squeaks.

Izaya laughs openly, letting Nakura hear that high edge of mania he always tries to hide. "And who exactly are you going to be reporting?"

"..."

Izaya's grin splits across his face so wide it hurts, but that just makes it funnier. Another laugh bubbles up in his chest.

"All I want to know is Heiwajima Shizuo's school and counseling history."

"W-what…?"

With a sharp tug Izaya yanks Nakura's head back, tilting his face up. His arms are starting to burn from the grip he's kept on the other boy for so long, so it's time to wrap this up.

"Everything the school knows about Heiwajima Shizuo is on file here and I want it all. Get me copies of everything. Past schools, criminal record, grades, anger management classes, everything."

"But… but I don't have access to-!"

Izaya let's the tiniest drop slip from the pot straight onto his forehead. Nakura yelps and tries to keep still despite the little spike of pain in fear of actually knocking the full pot out of Izaya's hands.

"If you don't want third degree burns now and even more suffering later until I get bored you're going to get access. Understand?"

Nakura's voice cracks pitifully as he starts to cry. "Please I don't! I don't know how!"

Izaya frowns but can believe that. Nakura doesn't seem to have much in the way of actual skills, but he can't let this all be for nothing. As much as he has enjoyed this side of Nakura he needs more from this transaction.

"I'm afraid that's not good enough." Nakura sobs and Izaya cringes at the thought of all that snot on his jacket. Good thing it was cheap. "But we're friends, right Nakura?"

Nakura nods quickly and Izaya can't tell if the tremble he's feeling is from Nakura or his own tired arms.

"We are, so I'll give you a week. Find me as much as you can about where the files are or you'll wish I had burned your face today."

"Okay! Okay, I promise!"

Izaya purrs a satisfied hum into his ear and presses a kiss to Nakura's cheek without thinking. Nakura cries even harder.

"That's a good boy. See how nice it is to be my friend?"

Izaya places the coffee pot on the desk to tie his jacket around Nakura's head, satisfied that he's sufficiently freaked this boy out enough to let go long enough to pour a cup for Nakura before taking his leave, deciding that he can leave his jacket behind. It's not worth taking and revealing his identity and there's nothing distinct about it to tie it back to him. Just a simple black thing he hasn't worn to school in years.

Izaya blends seamlessly into the crowd of students rushing to class and wonders what he should use to play with Nakura next time. There's just so many options to be found in common office supplies alone.

He thinks that next time he'll try out those thumbtacks.

Now that his biggest lead, the closet, has turned up no physical evidence for the boy's challenge Shizuo is at a loss for where to begin. He and Kasuka were up for hours pouring over notes that seem more and more useless as time goes on. He can't stop thinking about the boy but still has no ideas. He doesn't even have a name. Stupid, useless brain!

Starting from square one, the basics, feels overwhelming but it's all he's got. The boy goes to the school and frequents the library. He's proven he's tricky and has no problems breaking in the back or apparently vanishing when the librarian appears during a case, but surely someone who works there has seen him before. It's a start. He briefly wonders if he should try and draw him, like a police sketch artist. Shizuo's always liked drawing and doesn't think he's too bad, but he dismisses the idea quickly. He's sure he'd die of embarrassment.

So description it is.

Shizuo skips lunch with his friends to get this investigation started. He doesn't know how long he had but doesn't want to take any chances.

Naturally he starts with the first person he sees when entering the library. The desk assistant who is terrified of him, as if he'd ever hit a girl.

He walks up to her and draws her attention away from her textbook by clearing his throat. She jumps a bit at the noise and smiles up at him politely until her brain registers who it is and all the blood drains from her face.

"Hei-Heiwajima-san!" She squeaks, curling under his gaze.

Shizuo's shoulders draw up defensively at her reaction and his eyes dart away, suddenly finding it hard to look at her. "Um, hi…" He mumbles. "I just wanna ask you somthin' real quick…"

"O-okay…"

"Do you uh… do you know a guy that's about… 5'4, black hair…"

The girl gapes at him, mouth opening and closing around words she can't form when Shizuo realizes his mistake. He literally just described at half of Japan.

"Aw shit, that's not helpful…" Shizuo grumbles, mostly to himself, and gives his hair a self-conscious ruffle. "He uh… he comes here a lot, probably spends a lot of time in the back…" Shizuo wonders how much he can say before he starts sounding creepy. "Real skinny guy, glasses?" Terrible fashion choices, adorable nose, hypnotic eyes, addictive smell…

"U-um… the only boy I know who regularly goes into the back is Orihara-san. He's here all the time." Her face flushes as she says his name and Shizuo can't help feeling the twitch of irritation. Don't tell me she's… attracted to that little vermin… "But I don't know if I've ever seen him in glasses… sorry!"

Orihara… Shizuo mouths the name to himself, feeling the unusual shape of the name between his lips. Orihara is a start, and if that's him he must wear his glasses around people like he wears ugly cat sweaters.

"Do you know his first name?" Shizuo presses.

"I-I-Izaya…" she says, sounding anxious about calling him by something as personal as a first name. Meaning that if she is attracted to him they certainly aren't that close. Shizuo feels a bit relieved, most definitely because he'd hate to see nice girl like her involved with such a shady guy, of course.

"Orihara Izaya." He repeats, tasting the name for the first time. It's certainly an odd one, and he feels a bit strange saying it. "Thank you very much." He dips his head to her and retreats to the back, looking for some quiet to mull over his next move.

I'm coming for you, Orihara Izaya...