Author's note: A second update may or may not - mostly likely it will - be posted in an hour or two. I get really excited about this story and want to share it with you guys so I can't stop myself updating. Bluh~ especially since we're getting into the meat of things now. Anyway~ enjoy humans~.

It was in Izaya's nature to get bored of a game easily. His brain was just wired that way, always had been he guessed, or had been as long as he could remember. It was lighting, quick and deadly and never striking twice in the same place. Lightning, lightning, that was Izaya all over, lightning. That was why he was always searching for new sensations, always looking to make his life burn with the hard flame, bright and quick and burning out with a bang and fizzle that would make sure no one ever forgot him again. Lightning, lightning, lightning, light-

Izaya wasn't bored with his game though, he wasn't, there was so much still to be explored, so much more he knew that this Shinozuka had to give. Izaya knew there was still so much left, buried underneath, so much more that he could pull and pinch and twist around, as if he were some crazy Kishitani, out to dissect whatever looked interesting enough. He knew that there was so much promise left in this man, so much that he could persuade him to do. Wasn't there enough proof that there was already? Izaya – no, no, Nakura – had left Shinozuka with some tips, harmless little things, and said nothing else on the matter. No. No. It had been Shinozuka who had gone out and made use of them, who had- what had he done? Izaya didn't know exactly. Met some guy, gotten himself laid, kissed, set his heart racing, and tossed clothes onto some stranger's floor. Did it matter? Nakura – no, no Izaya – had only needed to send him a little nudge and the man had gone and done something like that. So Izaya could only imagine what else was in store if he set his mind to it, which in this game he should.

So no, no, it didn't matter that some other man had robbed Shinozuka of that delicious purity that made him such a novelty to Izaya. It didn't matter that some other man had seen the delightful deflowering of a man that Izaya had known only to be naïve, jaded, innocent to the passions of love. Of course it didn't matter, it was part of the game, and it was a step that Izaya would have taken himself later. This man had merely helped, right, right, it meant he didn't have to step in, didn't have to soil Shinozuka himself. Well wasn't that handy? What if Shinozuka turned out to be some cold, stoic man years older than him? Izaya wasn't going there again, so at least this way he wouldn't have to force it up in order to get things hot and heavy with the man. It didn't matter, and Izaya wasn't bored with a game that had so much to offer.

And yet-

'Guess you get to say I told you so, Nak.
Never expected that- well, thanks for the tips, I guess.
Seems they even help a guy like me to find someone, heh;'

It didn't mean that Izaya had to be rational. Humans were rational, and Izaya was- he wasn't rational, he could do whatever the hell he pleased. I told you so? What fucking good was that? That wasn't the point of nudging him that way, didn't Shinozuka get that? Did the idiot not understand what the point of this game was? Love was a monster. That was the point. That was what Izaya was trying to prove. Shinozuka was not supposed to enjoy quick sex with some nameless man in a bar. He wasn't. Not for his first time. Because Shinozuka was as fucking innocent as someone half his age and people that young just didn't do that. No. It was just Izaya that did that, it was just- the idiot didn't need to tell Izaya he'd gone and fucked some guy. He didn't need to know. He didn't care what he did.

Ha.

What a fabulous turn of events. So many contradictions, swirling around inside Izaya's brain that it felt like his head was going to explode. He could feel the migraine coming on, radiating through his skull and down his spine just like a vending machine or metal pole to the head. Damn, damn, where the hell was Namie with his fucking sushi and why did Izaya not think to keep headache pills in his place and ha, ha, lightning, lightning.

This wasn't like him. He didn't like it. He wasn't used to feeling. He wasn't used to being so damn irritated. So what, so what, Shinozuka and some guy, big deal, whatever, just two humans doing what humans do best. He loved them all the same, they were just two of his children or playthings getting along awfully well and well, well, that was fabulous news! Fabulous! Wonderful! Delightful! Why, Izaya decided that maybe he should be dancing around the room in joy of the fact! Oh, exciting news indeed! Ha. Ha.

What an interesting game, so interesting. It had taken a twist just like the curve of Izaya's mouth into that dark leer; it was something he could play with. Why not embarrass the little Shino-chan a bit further? Oh, was it good for you Shino-chaaaaan? Was he good-looking~? Did he kiss you juuuust~ right? Ah, ah~ but I could do it so much hotter, so much harder, so much faster, so much better—

Ha.

What a laugh, this was good news. This was great. He was pleased, he was. This migraine wasn't from his irritation, it was because he needed food and Namie was still fucking around somewhere with his sushi. He made a note to cut her already dismal pay for a week and see how quickly she got back to the office then. He wasn't even irritated because of that guy and Shinozuka, it was because the other man had taken so long to reply, that was it, that was all and because Namie still wasn't back yet and-

When she finally came through the door, Izaya had worked himself into a murderous mood, had locked it away behind a cheery lilting laugh and a smile that tilted at his lips. He reminded her of future pay cuts and spun around in his chair to just enjoy his sushi. It tasted sour on his tongue. Had Shinozuka tasted sushi like this? He doubted it, no, no. The fish must be off, Izaya didn't feel like eating it, and promptly dumbed the half eaten fish onto Namie's desk and a pile of paperwork she'd spent days doing. Serves her right, stupid, stupid, stupid woman. It was getting dark out, and Izaya had already decided that he'd skip out to Ikebukuro later in the name of work. Ha, hadn't it been too long since he'd seen Shiki? The older man would clearly have work, would clearly have no trouble in the information broker appearing at his doorstep like old times. How long had it been since-

Izaya couldn't remember the last time he'd taken on some work; he'd been so caught up in this little game. Now it had taken a twist it was a good time for him to dip out for a while, to let Shinozuka stew in what he had started. Let the man think he was jealous, Izaya didn't care. Izaya didn't care about anyone, he didn't. Not Namie, not his sisters, not Shiki, not Shinozuka fucking Heikichi.

The email server had been open on Izaya's computer all day, and he had pressed the 'reply' button to Shinozuka's email as soon as it had arrived in his inbox, and yet Izaya hadn't made any attempt to reply to the other man's email. Perhaps he was getting bored with this game after all, was he? He didn't know, didn't know why he was so irritated, maybe it was a mix of things, maybe it was that Shinozuka was as predictable as ever and yet Izaya knew that wasn't right. Shinozuka Heikichi would pay the price for forcing these emotions onto Izaya. He didn't like the way it burned through him, he didn't like being irritated, it was crude and horrible and reminded him of that stupid oaf. Ha.

He knew that-

He had to get out of this place, go and interact with his other humans. They had to be missing him after all, it had been days, well, going on a week and a half since he had last strolled around the streets of Ikebukuro. He needed to streetlamps glow on his skin, he needed the trains and the cars rattling in his ears, he needed the worshipping whispers of 'there goes Orihara, information broker' to excite him again.

He needed to find that man from the bar and teach him not to play with what isn't his.

As he left, telling Namie not to touch anything while he was away and to get some decent food for his return, he wondered what sort of what Shiki would have in line, hopefully something interesting.

After all, all play and no work makes Izaya Orihara a dull, dull boy.

And who could love a dull boy?