Author's Note: I find it both ironic and kind of cruel how my motivation to write anything can vanish for days and days, and then all of a sudden hits at the most inappropriate times. This chapter is so much longer than the others have been recently, and it's only part of their date. I was originally going to include it all in this one, but I don't want to go around making each chapter a ridiculous length - so the rest will be in the next update, as well as other plot things other than just their date. I've got some really cute stuff planned, ~hopeless romantic kiwi~

Just a little notice: I'm also hoping to be able to start my own original work in the next couple of days – with my own proper characters and everything! eeeeeeep! – which will be posted on fictionpress, but I'll post the link here no doubt just to show it off. It's been in the works for a really long time now, and I'm really excited about starting and getting it up finally! It would mean a lot if you could have a peek at the first chapter or something when it's up and let me know what you think!

But that's enough authorial babbles for one chapter though. I'll let you all get on with a greatly overdo half-dinner date between kismesises and leave you hanging for the conclusion of it until the next update, welp, sorry guys! Please enjoy, and if you have time, review too! It means a lot when you let me know you liked it!

"How about we meet at Sunshine 60? At eight,"

"It's a date,"
"It's a date,"
"It's a date,"

The words were ringing in Shizuo's head over and over again, like some kind of weird twisted mantra that the louse insisted on torturing him with. He'd hardly been the most vocal throughout the phone call to Shinjuku, but hearing those words seemed to freeze his tongue even more, the words just curling up in his mouth and refusing to budge.

"I do hope you'll be dressing up," cooed the raven, and Shizuo barely registered the words oozing through the phone into his ear he was so tangled up in the faint echo of words in his head. He only just managed to save a little face and break through the stupor with a little cough laced with a questioning tone back towards Izaya.

"No more stupid uniforms, hm?" Izaya concluded with a dry chuckle that seemed to float through the phone as if he were sat next to Shizuo and not all the way over in Shinjuku. Shizuo could practically imagine the way he would be sat without him even needing to be there; he'd be poised, arrogantly reclining in a chair or on the sofa, waving a hand in the air as if stirring the invisible strings of those around him in that cocky fucking confidence of his. It was funny how such a trait could be both alluring and infuriating all in the same instance. Shizuo wasn't sure he'd ever get used to that.

"They're not—" he started to protest, only to be greeted with the hum of the phone line, finding that in a fit of laughter, Izaya had hung up. He supposed he ought not to be too shocked, the raven was hardly one for politeness when it came to a number of people, certainly not him. That wouldn't change; he was sure, even if he and Izaya were dating. That was just who Izaya was, and Shizuo wasn't sure if he'd want that to change about the louse either. Anymore change and his head was going to be sent spinning off of his shoulders.

Dating. Dating.

The very idea that he was going on a date was funny, let alone the fact that it was with someone like Izaya. The blonde had in actuality never been on a real date; because he was sure that the girl he'd taken to the park for an afternoon in middle school didn't really count because quite clearly she'd been half terrified of him, half scared of herself. That had been before he'd come to the conclusion that maybe girls just weren't his type, but that had still been enough to pretty much warn him off the idea of 'dates' from there on out. It was funny how a raven with a wicked smile and an even more wicked nature could come fluttering into his life and somehow convince him that a date was a good idea. It was funny how not only had Izaya managed to talk him in to agreeing to one, but that Shizuo was kind of animated about the whole idea. Funny, that's what it was, really, truly, funny.

Shizuo tossed his phone onto the little coffee table in Tom's place a few seconds after Izaya had hung up. It wasn't as if he would be needing it again anytime soon, the only people other than the flea that called him were Tom or Celty or Kasuka really, and his brother certainly never had the time lately to call him; although a couple of weeks ago he'd gotten a long email from his sibling, something he'd still not figured out the motivation for but enjoyed all the same. He doubted Celty would need to call him anytime soon either, though he idly wondered how long it would be before the two of them ran into each other again. The last time had been a few days ago at least, perhaps longer, and no doubt she would notice the change in him from the conflict that had plagued him then.

It wasn't long after that Tom returned, finding that Shizuo hadn't moved from his spot on the sofa, staring at the moving images flickering across the screen with only half an interest in what was actually happening. As with the phone call, the blonde only half heard his friend and employer return, only half heard the soft click of the door as it closed and the rustle of bags in the kitchen.

"I didn't get much," Tom called from in the kitchen, returning to the lounge around a few minutes later with a handful of dishes somehow precariously balanced in his hands and arms. "I figured since we ate earlier and you'll probably want to get home to eat or something,"

"It's a date,"

The brunette moved around Shizuo's half frozen form on the sofa, letting the food he'd somehow managed to bring into the other room without spilling drop safely onto the coffee table before taking his own seat on the sofa. The blonde still hadn't really moved, and Tom could only guess that something had happened while he had been gone that had cause his friend to delve so far into his mind to think. It was almost as if he could hear the gears in Shizuo's head turning. Not that he was going to question it. If Shizuo wanted to talk about it, he would.

Blinking himself out of the daze and coughing awkwardly, Shizuo suddenly reached forward for one of the bowls, his brow furrowing as he did so. "Hey Tom— do you, uh, have any clothes I could borrow?"

Izaya Orihara liked to play games, he did.

In actual fact, he might even go as far as to say that was what had caused this whole chain of events, one of his silly little games, though at the moment, he couldn't really complain with where it had gone. He'd promised to himself, as a matter of proving a point, on principle or so he would continue to tell himself, that he wouldn't play games with Shizuo anymore, and yet when he had been thinking about meeting the blonde later, it had been hard to resist. It would have been priceless to turn up late, if only just to see how the blonde would react to the thought of him not coming, of being stood up. Izaya was sure that would tell him an awful lot about the state of Shizuo's mind, and yet he'd decided strongly that he shouldn't start playing with the blonde like that. Because that was what had caused all that nasty little hateful emotion to bubble in Shizuo in the first place, and now that the two had reached an impasse, as it were, he didn't really want to slide back into the old ways; however much fun he'd used to have back then.

He'd changed his clothes late in the day, only just before he'd left the loft, just a simple pair of black jeans, his glasses and a dress shirt that had been shoved promptly at the back of his closet for years. Shiki had bought it for him when he'd been younger, and it still fit. He'd hated it then and he hated it now, despite the fact he knew it looked good, but he had to set an example for Shizuo didn't he? It would be wrong of him to expect the blonde to change out of those awful clothes of his if he didn't return the favour. Give and take, that's how things were meant to work, right? Namie had already left by the time he did so, which saved her shooting awkward looks at him silently wanting to be informed of why he was dressing up. He'd have lied of course if she'd still been around, no matter what he was doing, just to see her face screw up in annoyance.

Now he found himself outside of the building itself, perched on a little low-rise wall just a few feet away from the entrance of the skyscraper that bucked up rebelliously against the sky. He was early, an old habit of his that he'd never shaken and doubted he ever would, but it didn't bother him all that much. It was busy around here, and he had all of his humans to watch dance about the place to pass the time. Sunshine 60 was a landmark in Ikebukuro, and already it wasn't hard to pick out tourists tittering around as he waited. It was cheesy maybe, but it was busy, and Izaya knew that for Shizuo's sake that was probably better. Who knew what sort of delicious thing would happen if the world were to spot the two of them on a date? It was fairly light too, though Izaya would have been able to spot Shizuo approach even if it hadn't been. Maybe it was a sign he was meant to live in the dark, maybe it was years of roaming the streets after the sun had set that had done it, but he always seemed more at home in the night.

It wasn't long before he spotted the familiar lanky figure of the monster approaching from across the street. It was hard to miss the awkwardness in his step or the head of hair that stuck out even in the street-light filled haze.

"I was beginning to think that you'd stood me up, Shizu-chan," the raven teased, though more out of habit than anything else, because Shizuo had managed to arrive early too. "I thought maybe you'd left me to the ghosts of Sunshine 60. Some people say this area is haunted you know?"

The blonde only vaguely mumbled out a little laugh as he finished heading towards the raven, his hands tucked into the pockets of the jeans that he had managed to pull on. It was obvious how awkward he felt; it oozed from every pore of his being. The very notion was delightful, seeing the brute like this, just delightful.

"I'm glad to see you finally changed out of those nasty butler outfits of yours though," Izaya continued. It looked like it would be up to him once again to ease the tension. He meant it though, Shizuo did look good. Inwardly he laughed at himself for thinking that, but when that shirt and that jacket and those jeans clung to his old enemy and new lover in just the ways they did, who was he to disagree? "I didn't think it was possible for an oaf to look so nice,"

"Yeah… yeah," he replied, rolling his eyes and turning away a little stiffly, apparently brushing the compliment off. Maybe it was because they were meeting in public or maybe it was because this was taking another step that Shizuo was a little unsure about, but it wasn't hard to tell that the blonde was having trouble with this. It was almost as if Izaya could see the two little figures fighting on his shoulders, an angel with a face like the blonde, a devil with a face like him. "Where are we going then?"

"Up and up and up," Izaya laughed, kicking away from the wall. "I hope you aren't scared of heights, Shizu-chan!"

Shizuo Heiwajima didn't like heights.

It wasn't that he was exactly scared, but they'd always just made him feel a little dizzy and he'd never really liked the idea that he could fall and find nothing or no one there to catch him. Maybe it was silly, maybe not, but he wasn't about to admit anything to the louse, not even when the two of them stepped into the elevator inside of the Sunshine 60 building itself. The restaurants there were some of the top most ones in the city, literally. The food section was found on floors fifty-eight and fifty-nine of the sixty floor building, just below the observation deck on the final floor. Shizuo himself had never even set foot into the place before, though Izaya insisted that the food here was nice and that he'd eaten here a couple of times before. He'd failed to tell Shizuo that had been with Shiki, because he didn't particularly want to explain away the questions he knew the blonde would have if he mentioned that little fact.

It was still busy, even inside the building; handfuls of different people all heading to different places, some to the offices, some to the restaurants, some to the cafés and the post office or the observation deck to look out at the city below. Shizuo was thankful for that. It was bad enough that Tom had discovered them before they'd even really defined whatever the fuck it was that they were still; he wasn't sure what would happen if suddenly the whole of Ikebukuro knew too. Izaya didn't seem to care all that much, proclaiming his name – or that dratted nickname of his – as loud as it seemed he could. Maybe that was why Shizuo hadn't run from the place already, cursing and tossing things and people out of his way, because Izaya was there, confident and cocky that this was working. Maybe that was what gave Shizuo that little boost to hang in there, or maybe it was the louse's attitude that the blonde was trying to prove wrong, to prove a point by staying.

Shizuo didn't really know why, only that he stayed. Izaya didn't really know why either, but he wasn't going to complain. Madness was so much better when someone had a partner to tumble into it with, and really, wasn't that just what love was?

Mad— mad— mad.

They were seated quickly enough on arriving at the restaurant they chose – or rather, the one that Shizuo randomly and rather awkwardly selected on stepping out of the elevator onto the fifty-ninth floor. The little booth they ended up in was cosy and quiet and hidden away from the general crowd in a sea of fairy lights and spicy scents. It was nice, really, and Shizuo found himself almost able to forget that he was on a date with a man he was meant to hate, surrounded by people who may or may not realise who they were.

There was still that nagging in his head, of course there was, telling him how wrong this all was, how messed up it was, and yet for the most part it was shoved down by Shizuo and the new side to the louse that he'd never really bothered to see before. That new side was becoming clearer and clearer and Shizuo was finding himself drawn in more, not just as the date went on, but the days themselves. It was still the louse of course, there was still that mocking edge to his words or a cruelty laced in the tone when he spoke of certain things, but Shizuo knew that was just who Izaya was. The scariest thing was that he was beginning to realise that maybe that didn't matter so much anymore.

Mad, mad, mad; but then again, monsters weren't meant to be sane, were they?

Izaya himself was perfectly at ease here, perfectly comfortably, and was pleased to see that maybe Shizuo didn't look nearly as tense as he had done at the beginning of the evening, just outside in the dark. It was a funny little thing they had shifted into, that was for sure. They'd hardly talked really, only snippets of conversation about this and that as they'd come up in the elevator, and yet that had seemed to be more than enough. After all, small talk had never really been their favourite thing to do as enemies, why should that change any now that they were something else, something different, something new, something more? It seemed like this was so easy for the two of them, like this was just the natural way things had always meant to work, and yet Izaya knew that for the blonde it wasn't easy, and it wasn't for him; though their reasoning he guessed was entirely different. Shizuo feared getting caught; Izaya feared that this would never come to light, just like with Shiki. Here they were, dating and fucking and still, still, still, they were conflicting.

The ultimate contradiction. The original one. The best. The greatest.

What could be more beautiful than that? An elaborate game, clash, clash, clash. Opposites attract.