Over the next week when Ritchie did drink she made sure it wasn't around Izaya and also that he wouldn't have to endure the after effects from it. There was no way she was quitting alcohol cold turkey but, annoyingly, she knew that Izaya had had a point in their last argument… So she was trying her best to compromise.

Of course he could never make things easy for her.

She'd still passed on Sei's offer to go out, just to prove that she could do it and that she did have some self-control. But she soon regretted it – drinking by herself in between seeing Izaya just wasn't the same. She decided that what she needed was to chill in the club after one of her shifts. She hadn't done so for a while and she missed it.

Plus she'd had a text from Lexi, saying that she and some friends were meeting up for a drink and that she'd convinced them to meet at the Ouhei club – where Ritchie worked. She figured that hanging out with Lexi would be a nice change of pace.

So she'd pre-warned Izaya the day before that she wasn't going back to his place after work that night. That way she didn't have to worry about what time she got back or how drunk she was. In her mind that was the perfect compromise.

Her shift seemed to last a lot longer than usual – probably because she was willing it to be over. She tried spotting Lexi from her position on the pole, but as usual the stage was shrouded in what was supposed to be sultry smoke, which made seeing anything more than a foot away a bit of a challenge.

When she was finally allowed to leave the stage Ritchie headed straight for the bar first. Once she'd acquired a very alcoholic drink she set off around the edge of the dance floor, looking for her newest friend.

She didn't have far to look – she spied Lexi sat in one of the booths at the side of the dance floor with three other girls. She waved when she spotted Ritchie and motioned for her to join them.

"Hey guys, this is Ritchie – the girl I told you about. She works here at the club," Lexi introduced. "And these are my friends – Shiori, Ellie and Naomi."

"How's it going?" Ritchie greeted, as she slid into the booth besides Lexi.

She couldn't help but think that this was what she'd been intending to do for a while – make new friends in this city. She couldn't just rely on Sei all the time, especially when her friend had her own boyfriend to entertain. Maybe this would be a positive turn of events for her.

"So what's it like working in a club?" Ellie asked conversationally.

"It's pretty much my ideal job," Ritchie admitted with a smile. "I get paid to dance and I get as many free drinks as I want."

Lexi laughed. "I don't think I'd be able to drink enough to make the most out of it… I definitely didn't have a chance of keeping up with you the last time."

"I've had a lot of practice," said Ritchie truthfully.

"Were you okay last time I saw you?" Lexi asked. "You suddenly disappeared… Sei said you'd gone back to your boyfriend's or something."

"Yeah, I'd just drank too much," said Ritchie offhandedly. She didn't feel like going into the whole story of having her drink spiked, especially in front of strangers. It wasn't a very good example of her common sense. "He wasn't too impressed about it."

"Aww, you should have stayed out with us instead!" Lexi enthused. "You could have kept me company – all the others were still adamant about pulling that night." She rolled her eyes.

"Sorry about that," Ritchie couldn't help but smile, understanding completely.

It wasn't fun being the only one on your own when everyone else was splitting off into couples. And hell would freeze over before she brought Izaya out with her friends – even if Sei's boyfriend hadn't already had a problem with him. Luckily she knew that Izaya had no interest in going clubbing and that the issue wouldn't ever come up.

"We should just arrange a girl's only night at some point," suggested Shiori. "No pulling allowed."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Lexi. She looked to Ritchie. "Are you in? Do you reckon we can keep you and Sei away from your boyfriends?"

"Easily," replied Ritchie. She reckoned she could convince Sei pretty easily and she certainly had no doubts regarding herself.

"Awesome. I guess that would mean less drama too," Lexi added. "Sei said something about your guys not getting on?"

"Yeah, something like that," said Ritchie casually. "I don't think Sei's told Reita who I'm dating, but I know they've had… problems in the past." It was a total understatement, seeing as Izaya had apparently gotten Reita's friend hospitalised.

She wasn't sure how much to get into it around strangers. Her relationship with Izaya wasn't a secret at all, but his reputation was definitely infamous. She wondered what sort of reaction she'd get from people who knew of him… And whether she'd actually care. She'd never had very distinct morals, and some of the stories she'd heard about Izaya's antics didn't bother her like they probably should have done.

But it seemed like she was going to have to get into it anyway, because Ellie asked curiously, "So I take it you're not dating someone from Sei's group of friends? Anyone else we might have heard of?" Ikebukuro had a strange repute for people constantly crossing paths.

"Yeah, you seem to have quite a high standard for guys, don't you?" said Lexi, recalling the conversation they'd had about guys the last time they'd met. She sounded approving.

"I'm not sure if high standard's the right way to put it…" said Ritchie truthfully. Izaya certainly didn't fit that. "But he's an information broker… And a full time weirdo."

"You don't mean Izaya Orihara, do you?" Lexi asked in surprise.

Of course – once again Izaya's reputation had preceded him. Ritchie couldn't help a rueful grin. "Who else? Only I could find someone as insane as him."

"I heard he's evil," Naomi announced stonily. It was the first time she'd spoken since Ritchie had sat down.

Ritchie wasn't fazed. "You heard right," she agreed with a half shrug. No sense in lying about it.

The other girls all looked sceptical. Ellie raised her eyebrows. "If you think your boyfriend's evil then why are you with him?"

"Because he's fun," Ritchie confessed.

A little excitement in life was all she'd ever wanted… So it seemed like a good enough reason to her. The others clearly didn't agree – Shiori and Ellie exchanged a quick uncertain glance, and Naomi still sat in surly silence. Even Lexi looked a little apprehensive.

Ritchie found that she didn't mind at all. She'd been judged all her life, by worse things before. The questioning of her sanity wasn't a topic that bothered her in the slightest.

"Don't worry, I've always been a little tapped," she said lightly. "That's nothing new for me."

Just like that the awkward silence was broken and the girls simply looked sheepish instead, besides Naomi who still wore the same sullen expression. Ritchie chose to believe that that was her regular look and continued to take no notice of the girl's unspoken hostility towards her. Lexi was happy to change the subject.

"So how long have you been in Ikebukuro for now?" she asked. "I remember you saying that you moved here from Nerima."

"Err, about eight months now I think," said Ritchie. The realisation surprised her and she had to count the months in her head. "Yeah, eight months." Another startling realisation was that she'd been dating Izaya for five months now – close to rivalling the longest relationship she'd had previously.

"Is Nerima a nice place?" Shiori enquired.

"I guess so… If you like living in a city where nothing ever happens," said Ritchie ruefully. "What about you guys? Have you always lived in Ikebukuro?"

Ellie shook her head. "I used to live in Shibuya with my family, but I moved here a while back."

Shiori nodded along with her. "I was actually raised in the United States. We moved to Japan before I was due to start at middle school."

"I've been here for most of my life but I was born in Italy," Lexi added on top of that.

Lexi then politely turned towards Naomi for her input, who still wasn't really participating in the conversation. But she obliged grudgingly and simply said, "I've always been here."

Ritchie couldn't help but wonder what the last girl's problem was… Or how well Lexi actually knew her. The conversation had threatened to turn stale again though, so she quickly downed the remainder of her drink. "I'm gonna go to the bar. Does anyone want anything?"

The other girls all declined – each of them still having at least half of their drink left… Huh. Ritchie had had a full drink when she'd joined them and it had still disappeared a lot quicker. Maybe Izaya had more of a point than she'd thought…

But that still didn't really lessen her desire for another drink. She headed over to the bar regardless, but was dismayed to see a small crowd of people around the new bartender at one end whilst the rest of the bar was empty. Kosuke was supposed to have been working the same shift as the new guy – where had he disappeared to?

When she reached the deserted end of the bar she noticed Kosuke's head bobbing about behind it. "Kosuke, what are you doing down there?" She tried leaning over the bar to get a better look.

Kosuke turned and straightened up when he heard her. "Oh hey Ritchie… Someone dropped a bottle of jager back here; it was almost full as well. I'm just trying to clear up all the broken glass."

Nearly a whole bottle of jagermeister? What a waste. "Don't suppose you fancy taking a cleaning break and serving me?" Ritchie asked hopefully.

Kosuke just laughed at her. "If I serve you I'll have to start serving everyone else. Here, I'll just let you in through the end and you can make your own drink – you know where everything is. Just stay right at the end or people will think you're serving."

"Thanks boss," said Ritchie in surprise, as Kosuke pulled back the little door for her.

"And don't drop anything," he added. "I don't need anymore to clean up."

Ritchie gave him a withering look. "Do you really think I'd carelessly waste alcohol?"

"Point taken."

Ritchie sidestepped round behind the bar, trying not to draw attention to herself as she grabbed a glass and a can of Red Bull from one of the refrigerators. She'd only just picked up a bottle of vodka when she heard an all too familiar voice.

"I didn't know you moonlighted behind the bar as well."

Ritchie nearly did drop the vodka. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just passing by," said Izaya innocently, climbing onto the stool facing her.

"You were not!" Ritchie didn't believe him for a second. "You knew I was staying out here tonight!"

She felt the anger rising – she'd actually been making the effort to not drink around him… Now on the one night she was allowed to drink as much as she liked he'd turned up out of the blue, no doubt in an attempt to ruin her plan. Well she was making no such compromise tonight… She was going to drink whatever she liked.

"You make it sound like I'm purposely gate crashing your night. I'm offended, Ritchie-chan," Izaya pouted theatrically.

"Give it a rest; we both know that's exactly what you're doing," Ritchie grumbled. "And you can't stay. I'm here with other friends."

"Ah yes, I noticed you with them earlier." So he'd apparently been here watching for a while. Creep… "You could do with better company."

Ritchie rolled her eyes. "So you don't want me hanging around with other people… What a surprise."

"You'd do well to listen to me, Ritchie-chan," Izaya advised. "I'm only looking out for your wellbeing."

Ritchie raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? So you're not just sulking because I'm choosing to spend time with someone else rather than you?"

Izaya ignored her comment and turned on his stool as he continued more loudly. "In particular, I'd stay away from that dark-haired one on the end if I were you." He pointed across to the booth where Lexi and the other girls were sat, which they could just about see from this side of the bar.

Ritchie realised that he was talking about Naomi. Was this something to do with the resentment that the girl had shown towards her? "Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm telling you to," Izaya said simply.

Ritchie scowled. "That's not a reason." She then remembered Naomi's comment about him. "Tell me the truth. How do you know her?"

"Oh I don't actually know her," replied Izaya. "But I do know who she is through association. So I'm saying again that it would be better for you if you steered clear of her."

Ritchie knew that she wasn't going to get more of an answer than that. But between Naomi's attitude towards her and what she'd said about Izaya she knew that there was actually some genuine truth behind his words, even if he wasn't going to elaborate. So for once she actually listened to him.

"Fine. I'll go back over in a bit and tell them I've gotta run," she said grudgingly, as she poured out a generous measure of vodka. She was still having at least this one drink before she left.

"Good girl," Izaya smirked.

Ritchie ignored him and set the bottle to one side. She turned to get the can of Red Bull that she'd grabbed earlier and, as quick as a flash, Izaya suddenly seized the glass of vodka before she could get to it and downed it in one. It clearly didn't have the reaction he'd expected though and he choked in surprise as the vodka burned down his throat.

"What the hell are you doing?" exclaimed Ritchie, more astonished than annoyed.

"How can you drink that?" Izaya gagged. "It's disgusting."

"I don't. I have it with mixer," said Ritchie, pointedly holding up the can of Red Bull. "You just drank double strength vodka straight. Even I don't do that unless I'm already hammered."

Izaya coughed, trying to clear his throat and chest of the awful burning sensation. "It tastes like paint thinner."

Ritchie raised an eyebrow again. "Do you drink a lot of paint thinner?"

"You know what I mean," grumbled Izaya, coughing again.

Ritchie felt the uncontrollable urge to giggle, but she managed to force it away. She was sure that he'd downed the vodka to stop her from drinking it, but it had clearly turned out a lot worse for him. Whereas she could just easily make herself another drink.

She couldn't quite keep the amusement from entering her voice though. "That'll teach you for stealing my drink. Hang on, I'll get you some water."

She grabbed another glass and turned back towards the refrigerators. But instead of getting a bottle of water she poured out more vodka instead, concealing it from view. She handed it to Izaya, who took it gratefully and promptly took a large swig. He choked again and only swallowed half of it, spitting the rest back into the glass. Ritchie couldn't help but laugh this time.

"Did you just trick me into having more?" he spluttered.

"Well you drank the first one voluntarily; I thought maybe you'd caved to the peer pressure and decided to take up drinking," Ritchie smiled innocently.

Izaya couldn't help but chuckle in response. He cleared his throat roughly. "And they say that I'm the most dangerous person in this city."

Ritchie took that as a compliment. "I'll get you some real water this time."

She took one of the bottles from the refrigerator and gave it to him. He still gingerly sniffed it after unscrewing the cap. "How do I know you haven't spiked it?"

Ritchie just laughed at him. "It was sealed!"

"I still don't trust you," said Izaya, taking a sip. He was pleased to find that it was just water.

"That makes two of us," replied Ritchie, taking the glass of vodka that he'd pushed back towards her in distaste. She poured in some of the Red Bull that she'd still been holding. She'd swapped saliva with Izaya many times – drinking his backwash didn't bother her. Vodka was still vodka. "Now unless you want more than I'm drinking this one myself."

"You can have it," said Izaya ruefully. He certainly didn't want anymore of that foul stuff. "Do what you want with your liver, but I'd rather mine stayed intact."

Ritchie took advantage of his words and made herself a second drink as well as two shots of sambuca. She pushed them all across to the other side of the bar so that she could come back out. A few people had started meandering down to this end, but Kosuke was still on his knees collecting the shards of glass. She didn't want to have to try and serve other people.

She pulled up a stool next to Izaya, who was still nursing the bottle of water. "So what are you really doing here?"

"Getting intoxicated, apparently," he replied cantankerously.

"Hey, don't act like that's my fault. You drank the first one yourself," Ritchie pointed out, before knocking back one of the shots. She held out the other one temptingly. "Sure you don't want one of these too?"

"I'll pass."

"Suit yourself," said Ritchie, as the second shot followed the first.

"You know, when I said you could make yourself a drink I didn't mean a whole round for four people," said Kosuke, finally straightening up with the dustpan in his hand.

"This would not supply four people," Ritchie countered.

Kosuke just shook his head. A few people had already spotted him and were heading over. "I'll let you off if you do me a favour."

"I'm supposed to get free drinks anyway," protested Ritchie before even hearing what the supposed favour was.

"That's why I said favour."

"Fine. What is it?"

"Can you go empty this out in the alleyway?" Kosuke held up the dustpan full of glass. "I don't think either me or Kenji are gonna be able to get away anytime soon, and it'll just end up getting knocked over back here."

"Yeah, sure," agreed Ritchie, hopping down from her stool. That was definitely an easy payment for free alcohol.

"Are you sure you can be trusted not to drop that, Ritchie-chan?" Izaya taunted as Kosuke handed her the dustpan.

"Well from what I can see I'm much more steady on my feet than you are right now," said Ritchie pointedly, raising her eyebrows. Izaya already looked unsteady on his stool. "Just stay there; I'll be right back."

Izaya gave her a non-committal wave of the hand and turned back to his water. Ritchie sighed. Double strength vodka clearly still wasn't enough to break through Izaya's infuriating personality. She headed out through the back exit of the club to deposit the broken glass into one of the recycling bins. The trip couldn't have taken more than two minutes, but by the time she got back to the bar Izaya had disappeared.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…" Ritchie muttered to herself. Once she managed to catch Kosuke's attention she passed the empty dustpan back over to him. "Do you know what happened to the guy who was sat here?"

Kosuke shook his head. "Sorry Ritchie, I don't. Was he a friend of yours?"

"I've never quite decided," replied Ritchie. Kosuke gave her an amused but questioning look. "Never mind. I'll have to catch you later."

So where had Izaya ran off to now? Ritchie grabbed both her drinks from the bar and headed back over towards the booth where Lexi was sat with the other girls, drinking the first vodka and Red Bull as she was walking. When she got there it was virtually gone, so she quickly necked the last few swigs.

"Was that drink even worth it?" asked Lexi in amusement, as Ritchie put the empty glass down.

"Every drink's worth it," said Ritchie adamantly. "Listen, I'm looking for… a friend." She decided not to say that it was Izaya specifically, not in front of Naomi. "He just turned up but now he's kinda disappeared on me. He's fairly tall, dark hair, wears a fur-lined coat… Don't suppose any of you have seen him?"

As she'd expected they all shook their heads. "Sorry, I don't think so," said Lexi apologetically.

"Is he drunk or something? Maybe he just went outside," Shiori suggested.

"I honestly couldn't say," said Ritchie. But knowing Izaya it wouldn't be something so simple – wherever he'd disappeared to Ritchie was sure it wasn't going to end well for somebody… And it would probably be her. "I'm gonna go see if I can find him."

"Well report back and we'll keep an eye out for him," Lexi promised.

"Thanks guys."

Ritchie set off again to scope out the dance floor in search of Izaya, carrying her remaining drink with her. She was starting to feel irritated – she was sure that he was up to something… Why would he have followed her here to then just disappear? She could never usually figure out his motives for anything that he did anyway, but this in particular was beyond her.

When she was halfway through her drink she still hadn't spotted him anywhere. She'd checked both bars, been outside, circled the dance floor twice… She'd even stuck her head into the men's bathrooms, only to get jeered at by a couple of creeps.

By the time she'd finished her drink she was feeling extremely annoyed. Maybe he'd thought it would just be funny to go home and leave her wondering where he was… Well screw him; she was going back to Lexi and her friends.

Luckily she'd just set her empty glass down on one of the nearby tables, because somebody suddenly barrelled straight into her. She staggered sideways and one of the heels of her Jimmy Choos snapped as she tried to right herself. She stared down at her shoe in horror. Sure, they were old… But that didn't make them any less sexy. Or expensive.

"Asshole!" she cursed, whirling round. "Look what you…" Of course it only made her angrier when she saw who it was. "Izaya, you jerk-off! You destroyed my Jimmy Choos!"

However, Izaya was completely oblivious to her anger. "Ritchie-chan!" he exclaimed cheerfully, throwing his arms around her and crushing her against him.

"What are you doing?" spluttered Ritchie, trying to pull away. "Are you drunk or just faking?"

She tried to work out how much vodka she'd poured into that first glass. She reckoned he'd drank the equivalent of about four shots… And that was double strength without mixer – certainly enough to get somebody drunk, especially a non-drinker.

But this was Izaya they were talking about. She couldn't really imagine him being affected by something as mundane as alcohol.

"Faking what?" Izaya pulled back slightly, looking completely nonplussed. Ritchie could see that his eyes were glazed over. Huh… Maybe he really was drunk. Well this could be interesting…

"Never mind," said Ritchie. "Can you let go now?"

"Nope," grinned Izaya, locking his arms tighter around her waist.

"Come on, quit being an idiot," Ritchie protested, half-heartedly pushing on his chest. "You're not normally so…"

Her words were cut off as Izaya abruptly forced his mouth onto hers. Ritchie stiffened. It wasn't like their usual style of kissing – it was rough and kind of sloppy, almost bordering on unpleasant. She'd never have thought she'd think that about making out.

She pulled back sharply, pushing against him at the same time. "Quit it! Now let me go or I'll have to slap some sense into you."

Izaya sighed and reluctantly unwound his arms from around her. "You're no fun, Ritchie-chan."

"I'm plenty of fun – I'm just not a fan of sloppy kisses," Ritchie argued. "Come on, let's get you some more water…" She couldn't believe she was actually being the responsible one for once. Normally it was her who had to be force-fed healthier liquids.

"I've got a better idea!" Izaya decided suddenly, grabbing her hand and pulling her in the opposite direction.

"Hey, wait a second!" Ritchie objected, staggering in her uneven shoes as he dragged her along. She bid a hasty farewell to her poor broken heel out on the dance floor. "Where are we going?"

"To see if we can find some excitement!" exclaimed Izaya. He was scarily upbeat, even for him.

He pulled her outside through the back exit of the club, into the alleyway where Ritchie had gotten rid of the broken glass. It was also the place where they'd first met. It seemed like such a long time ago. Eight months… Had much even changed since then?

"Come on, let's go up!" Izaya enthused, indicating the wall opposite them. The same wall that he'd made Ritchie scale once before. Well he clearly hadn't changed after all this time.

"Are you kidding me? You'll end up falling off the roof!" Ritchie protested. "Or I will," she added as an afterthought. "I can't really do much in these shoes now."

"That's okay, I can carry you," Izaya suggested brightly.

"You're joking. Don't be stupid," said Ritchie scornfully. "How do you expect to climb a flat wall and carry me at the same time? Not that I'd let… Hey!"

Izaya had flung his arms around her again and lifted her up off her feet in a very awkward hold. Ritchie was sure that she was going to end up on her ass on the floor.

"Put me down, you idiot! This is never going to work!" she shouted, trying to wriggle out of his grip. She couldn't believe the way he was acting… Alcohol tended to affect people in different ways. Apparently it just made Izaya all the more infuriating – in every sense of the word.

She'd probably made him more unbalanced by struggling so much, but either way when one of her kicks landed on his knee Izaya suddenly lost his footing and they both toppled over into the collection of empty boxes stacked against one of the walls.

Izaya just started laughing, apparently finding it amusing. Thankfully he'd given Ritchie a soft landing, but it didn't make her any less annoyed. As she tried to get up he pulled her back down so that she fell on top of him again.

"Seriously, what are you playing at? You're being ridiculous!" she scolded him. "Thank god you don't normally drink!"

Izaya's laughter quickly subsided, leaving his trademark smirk behind. The transformation was quite surprising – he suddenly seemed to be back to normal. "So do you get my point?"

Ritchie faltered. "What point?" she asked suspiciously.

"Isn't it extremely tedious having to take care of someone when they're drunk?" Izaya commented pointedly, the grin still on his face.

Ritchie stared at him. Was he saying what she thought he was? There was still a slight glaze over his eyes but he seemed to be completely aware of what was going on now. She sat up slowly. He didn't try to pull her back down this time. "Are you serious? You were putting it on the whole time?"

Izaya's grin widened as he sat up too. "Well done, Ritchie-chan. You finally caught on!"

"Jerk." Ritchie gave him a hard shove so that he fell back into the boxes again. She couldn't believe he'd fooled her. Izaya simply laughed again. "And I was actually worried that you were gonna do something stupid and end up breaking your neck!"

"Aww, and here I was thinking you didn't care about me," Izaya teased, sitting up a second time.

"Shut up," grumbled Ritchie, getting to her feet. "You owe me a new pair of shoes by the way. Expensive ones."

"Such a materialistic world you live in," Izaya sighed, shaking his head. He followed suit and clambered up too. "Though I guess we can only try and break through your habits one at a time."

He turned to head back towards the door and stumbled briefly, before quickly regaining his composure. Unfortunately it didn't go unnoticed and Ritchie stared after him. Izaya had the best coordination out of everyone she knew. He never stumbled.

"Hang on a second…" she skipped after him awkwardly in her broken shoe and grabbed onto his arm. The sudden movement pulled him more off balance and he staggered a second time. "What the… You're all over the place!"

"Well maybe it's because you're pulling me around," Izaya accused, though he still seemed off. Ritchie inspected him closer and saw that his pupils were more dilated than she'd thought.

"You are drunk!" she exclaimed in surprise. "You may have been putting all of that on before but you're still drunk."

"Believe what you want to, Ritchie-chan," said Izaya indignantly, not agreeing to anything.

Ritchie just smiled to herself knowingly. Some people just refused to admit when they were wasted. "Yeah, whatever." She took his arm as they headed back inside the club. If she could keep pulling him off balance it would be even more entertaining. "I sure hope you have a hangover tomorrow."

XXX

Author's Note!

Gahhh I'm so glad I managed to get this finished! I'm actually jetting off to America for three weeks on Friday so I'm afraid there won't be any updates until after then! So sorry for being lax on replies and stuff too. This chapter hasn't been through my beta reader either, so sorry if there's any mistakes or flow issues that I've missed!

This chapter was INSANELY fun to write! Definitely one of my favourites so far! Also a little thank you to the people whose OCs I was allowed to borrow. They've only really had small parts so far but I plan on making them more recurring characters like Sei.

Lexali Creymale belongs to Rukinosan

Shiori Murakami belongs to NilesDaughter

Ellie Jacobson belongs to FlawlessNobody