Author's Note: Kind of another filler, the next chapter is delving into some real emotion so I want to take my time with that, but still wanted to update today. The next chapter may or may not be posted tonight, it depends on how quickly I can write and tweak it. If not, tomorrow it'll be here!

'Hey, Shino-chan?
You had a bad time on your own – I bet I can fix that.
Wanna meet?'

There had been a few times since the start of their friendship where Nakura had rendered Shizuo dumb, had rendered him unable to speak or think of just what kind of reply was needed. When he had opened his inbox, that message had not been one that he had expected to find. No, no, he had been expecting another scolding message, telling him off for interrupting his work and that they would talk later, and now Nakura had turned a complete three sixty turn on him. It made Shizuo's head spin. Nakura made Shizuo's head spin. It was captivating. It was impossible to keep up with, and yet—

'Wanna meet?'
'Wanna meet?'
'Wanna meet?'

What did it mean, what did it- it just seemed to echo in Shizuo's head over and over and over like a bad thought that wouldn't go away. He didn't understand; what were those words implying? Was it just an invitation for two friends to meet-up, to hang out and have a few drinks or was it something more, was an invitation for Shizuo to meet with Nakura, as not a friend, but a lover? Was Nakura expecting something of this? Was he expecting Shizuo to come along, to turn up and for the two of them to just tumble into bed together as he had come to learn was the reason that most people were even on these sites. No. He doubted that, Nakura wasn't here for that. Maybe he wouldn't complain if that happened, and maybe Shizuo wouldn't either, but that wasn't what was going on here. But fuck, it didn't mean that Shizuo knew what was going on. They'd not been talking long, a few weeks, maybe a month or a bit, he didn't know, it seemed like mere days yet he knew it was more than that. Nakura already knew him so well, because Shizuo didn't seem to be able to stop talking to the man, and yet- did Nakura feel he knew Shizuo well enough to meet? He didn't know, in fact Shizuo barely knew anything substantial about the other man. Was that normal, was that how relationships worked? Heh, he doubted it. This online thing, whatever it was, was far from conventional.

'Wanna meet?'
'Wanna meet?'
'Wanna meet?'

Shizuo did want to meet. He did. And yet- he wasn't ready for the inevitable departure of Nakura from his life when they finally did. Because what would happen with Nak, his dear friend Nak, finally found out that Shinozuka Heikichi was actually Shizuo Heiwajima? He had fancied that Nakura would know Shizuo well enough to not be thrown off by that, to give him a chance, and yet, when Shizuo knew nothing about the man, how could he predict what he would do. Wanna meet? Oh, yes, yes! No, no, no. Half an hour had passed by the time that Shizuo had formed a clear enough head to reply, without sounding like some schoolboy freaking out about some new fad that was rushing through his school. Shizuo had never been into fads; he had never been into things that were there one minute and gone the next. He liked things with impact, things that cried 'look at me, here I am!' like thunder. Thunder, thunder, thunder, that was Shizuo all over.

The sound of his keyboard clicking throughout the room seemed louder than normal, and he had to concentrate harder than normal to pick out the characters he wanted to form his reply.

'That sounds like a great idea and all Nak, it's just—
We don't really know each other that well yet, do we?'

He didn't understand what was going on. Nakura had to be talking in some kind of dating code, didn't he? That was the only explanation, because he wasn't making sense. Shizuo was knew to this, he was, one shitty night with some jerk in a grotty bar wasn't going to turn him into an expert of love, it wasn't, it was just going to mean that when he finally met Nakura that he would have some idea of what to do if the two of them ever turned physical. Shizuo's cheeks coloured. And yet, Nakura didn't seem to have any knowledge of love either, from what Shizuo had been able to tell from the emails he had sent, just sex, which was all he ever seemed to talk about, never love, never any substantial feelings. Had Nakura ever been in love? Was that why he was here, like Shizuo? He didn't know, he didn't know, he didn't—

Nakura's reply came almost instantly. Shizuo was certain that not even a minute had passed since he had replied, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Had the other man been sat, waiting for a reply? He felt guilty for keeping him wait if that was the truth.

'Oh. I guess I have been a bit greedy with all the questions haven't I?
I think I know you pretty well by now Shino-chan.
Suppose I return the favour, would that make you agree to meet?
I'm willing to give you a month to ask me whatever you want, deal?
And when that month is up, we're meeting, or I'm coming to get you~
Come, come Shino-chan~ You don't wanna make me cry now do you?'

Shizuo's mouth tweaked at the corners on reading that reply, before he could stop himself, before he could remember who he was and that Shizuo Heiwajima didn't smile. And just like that it seemed that Nakura had forgotten about his work, and that they were heading into their normal chatter that followed when they started to talk. It was nice, it was great, it was— Shizuo enjoyed the companionship, he enjoyed having someone there who seemed genuinely pleased to talk to him. Fuck, fuck, this guy was even pleading with Shizuo to meet. The boost to his confidence, to his ego, it was instantaneous. He'd already flourished since he'd first started talking to Nakura, had already branched out further in a month than he had in all of his life, and he knew that with this man by his side or in his inbox, he could carry on taking not just baby steps, but huge stag leaps into being a better person. He would.

But what had he done for Nakura? Had he affected the man at all? He never spoke about what he was feeling, and that worried Shizuo, it did, because keeping things like that bottled up wasn't good. It wasn't, and he would be the best person in all of Ikebukuro to know about things like that.

'Anything I want? You mean that?
Okay, are you ready? I'm not going easy on you, Nak.'

Again, Shizuo barely had to wait for a reply. It seemed like he had just clicked the 'send' button when the voice was announcing 'You've got mail!' to him again, and Nakura's name was popping up in his inbox. His name was all over Shizuo's inbox, because Tom and Kasuka were the only others with his email, and the two of them never bothered to or had time to email him. Nakura, Nakura, Nakura.

'Of course I'm ready Shino-chan.
Bring it on baby~.'

That caused Shizuo to flush at little, the casual use of a pet name sending dots of red across his cheeks. The blonde paused before replying, pulling a cigarette from the box on the desk and resting it between plump lips, igniting the end so that he could keep a cool head through what was obviously turning out to be a huge turning point in their relationship. Whatever that relationship was, because he sure as hell didn't know. The smoke curled towards the ceiling, as vague and hard to grasp at the man that he was talking too, impossible to catch, impossible to get any answers from it had seemed, until now. Yeah, until now.

'Two questions – hope they won't be too hard for you, eh?
First – why did you join this site?'

He had only posted one – with the intention to not try and freak Nakura out too much. It was obvious the other man didn't like to share or he would have done so before, and Shizuo could at least respect that and not press the man for too much personal information at once. Yet he was surprised to see a reply in his inbox just seconds later, and wondered just how he could have replied, was his answer that simple?

'And the second?'

But no, no, Shizuo was wrong. He hadn't attempted to reply just yet. Looked like he wanted to see what they both were and then mull over how to reply. Shizuo expected he would wait for a reply then. He knew, he knew it wasn't easy, and yet- it was funny. Nakura found so much ease in doing things that Shizuo had never done before, and then there was this, and Shizuo felt like he had guided the other man in with a gentle hand and kindly smile. Virtual smile, whatever, whatever, they'd never met and Shizuo had always had a goofy smile anyway. He never smiled. Well, almost never.

'The second-? – How do you feel about me?'

He was smiling now, but when Nakura's reply came, would he still be smiling then?