Thanks for the comments! It helps to know that people like my story :)
"So, what did they do to Izaya?" Shinra asked as we stepped off of the elevator.
"I don't know what they did to him before I got there, but he was in a tank of water almost up to his nose. His feet were chained to the bottom and he was held up by his wrists with a chain attached to the ceiling." I explained. Shinra's face slowly got darker as I went.
"Shizuo, I'll be back with clothes for you and Izaya since you both got wet. Get two towels from my hallway cabinet and a thermometer from the one above the bathroom sink." I looked at Izaya and he was just staring at a wall and shivering. He should be okay if I'm gone for a second, right? Yet, I still asked, "Izaya, you want to come with me?" This snapped him out of his staring. He just nodded.
I started down the hall, beginning to feel the pain in my leg a little more now. I'm pretty sure I was limping at this point, but I've had worse. Izaya followed me down the hall to the towel closet. I took one towel and rubbed his hair with it, before wrapping it the best I could. Then, I took another and did the same to my hair. Izaya followed me into the bathroom as I got the thermometer. Shinra was taking a while, so I turned to Izaya and gently led him to sit down on the toilet. I leaned up against the counter.
"Izaya, what did they do to you?" He just shook his head. Well, I guess Shinra would be able to find out somehow.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a phone screen. "Shinra is trying to find some bigger clothes for you, but he had me go ahead and bring clothes for Izaya." Celty stepped through the doorway to the bathroom. Izaya shrank back against the toilet.
"Celty, Izaya won't let anyone other than me near him. I'll hand him the clothes." She handed them over and retreated into the hallway.
"I'll be waiting right outside the door if you need me." Izaya nodded and took the clothes. I stepped into the hall and shut the door behind me. I leaned against the wall; in my own world for a moment. When I snapped out of it, Celty was standing there with her phone screen facing me.
"I've never seen you be this nice to Izaya before."
"He's not like himself right now. I don't know what they did to him, but he's acting decent for once. I don't know why he's decided that I'm the only one that can be around him though. When I asked him, he said it was because we were the same or something. Plus, I'm the one who got him into this mess, so I'm going to help him recover." She responded by holding her screen back up.
"I'll go tell Shinra about Izaya." Then she went back down the hallway. A minute or two later, the bathroom door opened.
"Shizu-chan, I'm freezing." The nickname normally would have pissed me off, but not when I saw his face. It seemed to have no color.
"SHINRA!" Like clockwork he came running.
"What happened?!"
"He's shivering, has no color, and said he was really cold." My hands were hovering around him, not knowing what to do. But if he fell, I would at least catch him.
"Celty, please bring a blanket." Shinra yelled. "Izaya, can I take your temperature? I just want to help you." He said, quickly changing to a much gentler tone. Izaya just stared.
"Izaya, you can trust Shinra. He's a doctor who can help you." Izaya seemed to hesitate for a minute, but eventually nodded. Shinra wasted no time getting the thermometer and sticking it under Izaya's tongue.
"Don't think I forgot that you got shot, Shizuo. As soon as I get a measure on how Izaya is, I will pull that bullet out and patch you up. Speaking of, you should sit down, you look a little pale." He kept glancing down at his watch as he spoke. I followed orders, and sat down in the hallway. Celty came back with a blanket and handed it to Shinra who, in turn, wrapped it around Izaya's shoulders. Izaya grabbed it and pulled it tighter around himself. Celty had also brought another blanket, which she tossed down to me. I placed it over my legs. Shinra pulled out the thermometer and looked at it.
"Shit, he is close to hypothermia. Celty, get me more blankets quickly." She looked at me, surrounded my wound in her black cloud and went running down the hall.
"Izaya, can you go sit on the couch for me? I'll be right behind you with Shizuo." Shinra asked, sounding more like an order than a question. I held my blanket up toward him, but he just stared at me.
"You need the blanket though."
"I'll be fine. I have to get up anyway." Izaya looked at me for a minute before he nodded and headed toward the living room. Shinra bent down and looped his arm under my right arm.
"What are you doing?" I asked, as he helped me stand.
"You don't need to continue putting pressure on your leg." At the end of the hall, Izaya stopped and waited for us to catch up. Celty came back with two extra blankets under one arm. She wrapped the other under my arm and both her and Shinra were helping me walk. I had to admit, it helped more than I will ever voice out loud to them. They sat me down on a separate couch from Izaya. Shinra went over to wrap him in the blankets and Celty left, only to come back with a pillow for me to put my leg up on. Shinra asked her to make some hot chocolate for Izaya so he could ask him some questions. She came back in a few minutes with a mug that Izaya hesitated to take. He looked to me, eyes full of question.
"Izaya, you can trust Celty too. She is just doing what she can to help." He took the mug from her after my words. After a bit, Shinra took his temperature again. He seemed to be somewhat relieved. Then he came over to me and helped me up.
"Where are you taking Shizuo?" Both of us turned to Izaya, startled.
"Shizuo got shot. I need to get the bullet out of his leg and wrap it up so he can get better." Shinra explained, sounding more like a mother than he had earlier.
"I go where Shizuo goes!" Shinra looked even more surprised. His face almost made me laugh. Celty took care of the situation by using her black cloud to move the couch, with Izaya still on it, into the patient room. She then lifted me the rest of the way and sat me on the medical bed.
"Izaya, this isn't going to be pleasant to watch." Shinra said. Izaya only nodded in response though. Guess that was that. Shinra looked slightly fed up, but he quickly regained his composure and got a box down from a cabinet. He sat it on a table next to the bed I was in and pulled some tool that looked like pliers out. Celty withdrew her black wrap from my leg.
"Here are two squeeze balls. This is going to hurt, even for you. Please try not to break my bed…I would give you anesthesia, but I've already waited too long to do this." Shinra handed me the two stress balls and started disinfecting the pliers and my wound, which burned like hell. It was nothing until he started shoving the pliers into my thigh though. I squeezed the ball in my right hand so hard that it exploded. I felt a hand on my forearm and turned to see Izaya's arm outstretched. He slid his hand down until it was in mine.
"Don't. I'll end up crushing it." I ground out through gritted teeth.
"Shizu-chan won't. Just focus on not crushing my hand instead of the pain." I believe that's the most he's talked all evening. Hopefully it meant that he was getting a little better. My thoughts were interrupted when a stab of red- hot pain shot through my leg. My immediate reflex was to kick, but my legs wouldn't move. I looked down and noticed that Celty had secured my legs with her smoke. It's a good thing she did, but I don't know how she had done it without me noticing it. I squeezed all of my pain out on the other ball, making it explode too.
"Shit!"
"I know, I'm sorry. I have the bullet now; just have to pull it out. More pain shot through me and I curled my left fist up, digging my fingernails into my palm. This was enough to keep me only squeezing Izaya's hand a little. Shinra pulled the tool out of my leg along with the bullet. I made the mistake of looking down at my leg. There was blood all over it and the bed. Shinra washed his hands and changed gloves. He came back over and started stitching me after he wiped the blood off of my leg. After what felt like hours, my leg was stitched up and wrapped. Through the whole ordeal, I had somehow managed to not crush Izaya's hand. Shinra cleaned off, while Celty lifted me up with her smoke and changed the sheets. Shinra came over and took Izaya's temperature again.
"Izaya, you are warming up. Won't be long and you won't feel cold anymore." He just nodded and snuggled down into his blankets, taking his hand with him. The absence of his warmth shocked me more than it should have. How long had it been since someone had held my hand? Or touched me at all for that matter?
"Is Shizuo okay?" I heard Izaya ask, but it sounded distant.
"Yes, he just needs rest… you should try to sleep too." I tried to pay attention, but as Shinra continued speaking the words became unrecognizable and I surrendered to sleep.