I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Shizuo

"You guys go ahead...I need a break," I said waving my friends onward up the snow-capped hill.

"You sure?" Kadota sent me a questioning look. Someone like me didn't just 'take breaks'.

Unlike Shinra, who assumed there was always something wrong, the first to jump to conclusions; Kadota knew when to keep a certain distance and observe the bigger picture. Though he wasn't one to talk about his own feelings — Kadota was always well, Kadota — when he thought something was out of the ordinary between friends, his gut feeling was impeccable. I couldn't lie to him, that was for sure. It would seem morally wrong to deny his credibility in reading the situation.

"Yeah, I just need to think...I'll catch up later," I said honestly.

The other great thing about Kadota, was that he didn't push with questions.

He nodded in agreement and headed toward the ski lift to follow Shinra's suit. I, on the other hand, took a seat on the bench outside of the ski shop, looking out towards the bustling mass of people until they disappeared over the valley. I kept my eyes lingering through the crowd in front of me, watching skiers and tubers racing down the steep slopes. Children were giggling, parents were keeping a watchful eye, still enjoying themselves in the nice weather. The sun was bright and fluffy, white ground beneath them illuminated all the bright colours and fluorescences of various winter jackets and hats.

I took a deep breath, leaning my head back against the wall, to stare blankly up at the wooden beams supporting the overhang. I sat with my eyes closed for a while, slowly beginning to tune out the sounds of the crowd and excitement of the mountains. Every few minutes, the bell on the door to the shop would chime to greet another passing customer, shutting the door softly behind them. The bench wasn't the most comfortable, but I found myself relaxing to the white noise in the background. I began to drift into a light dream-like state.

The sound of relaxed, steady breathing welcomed me first, followed by the flavored air I had grown overly familiar with. It didn't strike me nearly as terrible as it had back at the hotel room — most of that shock came from not being asleep-and I blinked a bleary eye open. As expected, I was greeted by the same small, candle-lit room with the large king size bed I was so accustomed to. All that was missing was it's host.

I gave myself a moment to adjust to the dream and I started to sit up, but felt a shift in weight over my shoulder that I hadn't noticed before.

The very raven haired man lay hugging at my side, an arm draped over my chest and his head finding a comfortable resting place in the nook of my shoulder. I watched the rise and fall of his back, unsure if he was simply not moving or actually asleep; I couldn't tell from the angle we were positioned.

"Flea...?" I asked hesitantly, softly in case of the latter.

"Hmm?"

So he was awake.

"You...alright?"

He turned his head upward to look at me. "Of course," he smiled softly. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm with my Shizu-chan." He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and I felt a sudden heat flare at my cheeks. Since when was I his?

There was a moment of silence before I spoke up. "So you're...a figment of my imagination, right?

Even though you're still technically...me?"

"Think of me more as a part of you, or an extension of you, rather."

"Sorry, this is still just weird as hell...No offence."

I felt him shrug against me. "None taken. However, try to understand that this is the same feeling as any other dream, even those you had as a child," he explained thoughtfully. "If you can envision it that way, things might not seem so bizarre. Lucid dreaming is still dreaming, ne?"

Ah, that was the same term he had used last time to explain being able to control my dreams.

"..."

"...Maybe it's just better to think of me as the real Izaya, then."

At that, he sat up, looking down at me from over his shoulder. It was easy for me to believe that I could be talking to the real Izaya. This figure before me looked like an exact carbon-copy of the man himself. However, it was only when I stared into those captivating, ruby orbs, looking gently back at me, did I come to realize that I was dreaming. I was conflicted, because it looked so real, and it felt so real...But this type of atmosphere with the flea...could it really exist?

"Why do you keep invading my dreams anyway?"

He snickered softly to himself. "Invading? Don't you think that's a little harsh? My feelings are hurt."

I rolled my eyes and corrected myself, "appearing."

"You're asking me? Isn't it obvious?"

I don't know what could possibly be obvious about me dreaming of the flea. "Sorry, I don't think—"

"Ne, do you think dreams mean anything?" he interrupted.

"Mean anything?" He caught me a little off guard with his question. "Uh, I guess it depends what the dream is about…" I said thoughtfully.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't you believe that dreams are related to experiences? Things you think about often, but can't explain? Dreams are quite abstract, after all."

"I guess so."

"Wouldn't you also think that they also deal with emotions? Sometimes induced by keeping feelings to oneself or being in denial?"

"What are you trying to say…"

"Oh nothing, I just thought that maybe this all was triggered by something, no?" There was a playful lilt to his voice.

"You think that I'm trying to dream about the yo...er, the louse?" I said in disbelief, as I tried to distinguish the two individuals.

"I said 'triggered', there's a difference."

"Trigger or not, I don't know what could possibly—"

"Who have you been spending the most time with recently? Who has taken a huge role in your life for almost three years? Who do you have a unique, but bafflingly complex relationship with? Why are they always there?...If you didn't want someone in your life so badly, why are you letting them in? Why are you letting them see this side of you?"

I blinked several times, stunned by the sudden interrogation. I didn't know where to start first, or if I could even answer any of them. I chose the one that seemed easiest to respond to with another question.

"Who says I'm trying to let him see me like this?"

"Well you aren't doing a very good job at hiding it…" he mumbled.

"Yeah, well...What exactly am I trying to hide, huh?" I said turning to look at him.

He looked up to me and I met his unfaltering, ruby gaze.

"Don't you find it amusing that you're having an argument with yourself?" he chided, teasingly.

I felt bashful, realizing that I was indeed, bickering with my own subconscious. "You seem to know all the answers then, care to share?"

"Since you're playing dumb, I'll just call it like I see it. You're in denial, Shizuo."

"Of?"

"Hint number one; you aren't actually as annoyed as you pretend to be on the outside. Hint number two; you don't know how to convey your feelings any other way besides anger. And hint number three; you actually care about this person, but you're too stubborn to admit it."

I sat there silently listening to him lecture me. I didn't have to try to figure out who he was referring to. Something about what he said felt familiar, so I kind of did admit that these were things that I didn't like to acknowledge. I chose the roundabout way when responding carefully, without actually confirming anything of what he said to be true.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, for starters, you could admit to the things I listed above...But you don't need to take all the credit. After all, you know that something isn't sitting right with the other party here, either..."

I listened more attentively now. "What do you mean?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you think Izaya is conniving, sadistic and attention seeking, right?"

"Well that's obvious, because—"

"It's true," we said in unison.

It surprised me a little how quick he was to confirm my thoughts exactly.

"He may be going about it the wrong way, but I think it's a different kind of attention he's looking for."

I snorted. "And what would that be?"

"You piss me off." He said suddenly, in a startlingly low voice. I blinked, surprised at the immediate change of attitude, wondering what I could have possibly done wrong in the last, not even ten seconds? He looked back at me with a smile, less seriously and continued. "They were the first words you could think of right? Because you didn't know what else to say at the time?"

Ah, that was what he was referring to…

"And now your relationship has built itself upon that statement, hasn't it? As if from the very beginning it was to be set in stone that the two of you were to destined to be enemies." He gave me a thoughtful expression. "But that's not what you wanted, was it? You regretted saying those words as soon as they left your lips. However, your reason for saying that was because you had been furious just moments before, 'I'," he made air quotations around the word he was emphasizing, not as himself, but as the man he was presenting, "entered your dismal life." He look down at me lazily, with half-lidded eyes. "And what a beautiful relationship it was that spawned from that."

"I get it, you're being sarcastic…" I grumbled. "What's the point?"

"The point is, Shizu-chan, that there's a reason he harasses you to no end," he sighed, as if he were stating the obvious. "He antagonizes you because there's something about you that Izaya just can't stand, nor stay away from."

My heart skipped a beat when he said that, but I had no idea why the sudden palpitation. What he had just told me was...strange to hear aloud yet, I got the feeling that slowly, the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place; like things were starting to make sense now.

"He doesn't like me, but he wants to be closer to me? How does that even work," I feigned my incompetence to displace my new understanding. It was difficult to accept the potential reality.

He sighed. "Isn't it clear, that he—"

Before the conversation could delve any further into that note, I found myself being shaken awake.

"There he is!"

"Nn...Shinra?"

It took my eyes a second to focus when I heard my name. I soon recognized who the arm belonged to, currently gripping my shoulder, that had woken me from my slumber. His bright, silvery eyes and flamboyant grin were hovering above me, staring down at me in my makeshift couch. I figured that in the midst of my nap I had slouched over to take up the remaining space of the bench, more or less looking like a homeless person, accessorized by my gaudy blue jacket and my floppy beanie.

"We thought we'd lost you!"

"I've been here the whole time," I said in an unamused, gruff voice.

"Well, we were just heading in, thinking maybe you'd already gone inside. The sun is starting to set."

Sure enough, when I looked over his shoulder, the passing clouds had a dazzling, reflective shade of orange beaming from behind them.

"It's almost 6:30," Kadota said from behind him.

"Oh. Yeah..." I stretched my arms trying to loosen the muscles that had cramped from my awkward sleeping position.

"We can stop and grab a bite to eat," Shinra said. "How about take-out from that sushi bar on the way?"

We started making our way toward the west entrance of the resort where the restaurants were.

"Do you think Izaya wants anything?" Kadota asked on the other side of Shinra as we walked through the automatic, double glass doors. Warm air greeted us and the smell of fresh food made my mouth water.

"Flea's been here all damn day. If he wanted something he should have marched his scrawny ass down here earlier."

"Actually, Shizuo," Shinra cleared his throat to speak up, "he texted me saying he wanted me to ask you to bring him some ootoro..."

I shot him a look of annoyance at the idea of the louse expecting me to wait on him hand and foot.

"He said 'pleeeease~'." The brunette pushed up his glasses and smiled inwardly to himself as if he was in on some kind of joke I wasn't aware of.

We stopped to eat at the tiny shop attached to a large chain of restaurants. The sushi and sashimi was prepared right in front of us like a traditional Japanese sushi bar, and the taste of the meal was heavenly. Shinra ended up convincing me to get an extra order of the stupid flea's expensive, fatty tuna, that he would most definitely be paying me back for.

"'Lemme know if you wanna do somethin' later," I turned towards my door on the opposite side of the hallway as we were about to part ways. "Don't leave me alone with him longer than I need to be..." I grumbled.

Shinra let out a whimsical note of laughter in response. "Okay, I'll text you," he said as he entered his own room.

I unlocked my door, quietly stepping in in case the raven was in bed resting, like he was supposed to be. I hoped that I would walk in to find my roommate fast asleep, but of course, I could only ever dream of having such good karma.

There he sat, leaning back on a pile of stacked pillows against the headboard, laptop at hand. He looked up at me, greeting me with a smile. Thankfully though, this time he was fully dressed.

"Welcome home, honey~."

I groaned in disgust in return as I toed off my shoes. "That's even worse than the other nickname."

"Would you prefer, sugar daddy? You did bring me dinner after all, didn't you?" he challenged, almost flirtatiously.

"Never call me that again," I responded flatly.

"Whatever you say, sweetie," he pressed.

I muttered a curse under my breath as I dropped the brown, paper bag of food in his lap. He set aside his computer to peer inside.

"Ooooh~, you know my tastes so well, Shizu-chan, how disgustingly thoughtful of you...Thank you for the food," he said wiping his hands on the damp towelette that came with his meal.

He broke apart the gratis set of chopsticks and took his first bite of the squishy, pink meat. It was more than gross when he moaned into the bite, as if that were really necessary to show his gratitude.

"Shinra told me," I corrected him. "You're lucky you got anything...And you're definitely paying me back for that."

"Hmm, how about instead, you get an 'I owe you'? I'll consider this as a payment forward for future business, ne?" he teased with a mouth full of food. He swallowed, "some things money can't buy~."

"I don't even want to know what you're implying..." I mumbled, shrugging off my coat to hang it up on a chair.

He chuckled to himself, propping his head on a hand. "You should have brought your dinner back too, it could have been a date," he chided.

"That's like, the last thing I would want to do."

"How rude..." he said, pointing his chopsticks in my direction. "That attitude won't get you anywhere in the dating pool."

"Who said I was looking?" I retorted as apathetically as I could muster.

He gave me an amused grin. "Oh that's right, how silly of me. You're not exactly boyfriend material, are you, monster?"

"Why do you even care about stuff like that? It's none of your business."

"Why? Because your lack of personal affairs brings me maximal levels of contentment," he sighed charismatically into his hand.

"You're not exactly an ideal partner either," I scoffed.

"Oh, is that what you think? I beg to differ…" he drifted, looking down at his food with his signature smirk on his face.

He set his pair of chopsticks down to the side and reached for the bits of tuna with his hands instead. This wasn't anything abnormal, in fact it's completely acceptable to eat sushi both ways. However, the way he slowly brought the generous amount of meat to his lips after dipping it in dish of soy sauce, his tongue swept under the raw fish before taking it in whole. His cheek was barely roomy enough to fit the large bite in his mouth and a small droplet of the salty, brown sauce dripped down his lower lip. When he had finally swallowed, he licked his lips free from the condiment, bringing his hand to his mouth again to lavish his tongue around whatever could have possibly dirtied those long, slender fingers of his.

I hadn't noticed just how intense his gaze was as he watched me watch him eating so provocatively. Sure it was just food, but I was sure he had made it out to be more of a different kind of 'oral presentation' in response than it had really needed to be.

My eyes snapped back to his ruby stare that glistened mischievously back at me. I swallowed dryly, feeling heat rise to my cheeks as well as a likewise sensation somewhere else.

"Not that it matters though, since I love all humans equally. I can't pick just one~."

My mind had completely blanked from our previous conversation, but it was his teasing lilt that cued me to respond.

"That's exactly why no one can put up with you and that weird fetish."

He frowned as if he were mildly insulted, either from the miscensuring comment or from ignoring his little show. "Don't correlate my proportionate love for humanity with other people's erotic fixations, Shizu-chan. I almost feel sorry that you can't comprehend my complexity. Almost."

"The only 'complex' there is, is that freaky obsession with people you have...There's a word for guys like you."

"I'm not a sociopath, if that's what you're suggesting," he chuckled in disbelief.

I was done with this conversation, due to the fact that I knew we would only talk in circles. "Say whatever you want, but I'm going to take a shower," I called as I finished gathering a change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom. "It better not smell like your aromathera-whatever in there."

He rolled his eyes. "I should pour the oil into your nasal cavities while you sleep. You're almost worth the trouble..."

I rolled my eyes back as I closed the door behind me.

Once I had stripped, I didn't bother before checking how hot the temperature was when I stepped under the water. I didn't care when I felt the piping rain of the steamy shower ease my tense muscles as it cascaded down my back.

Little bastard has it coming one of these days…

I scrubbed my scalp thoroughly to rid myself of the hat-hair I had kept hidden under my beanie all day. The smell of my coconut scented shampoo was much better than that weird concoction from the story the flea had made up earlier. True or not, if I were ever exposed to that smell again, the lesser evil would be that it'd be in another unconscious fantasy. I wanted to keep my hallucinations of the flea as far from the real one as possible.

Still, the coiling feeling in my stomach from the flea's teasing performance left me feeling the same way I had felt whenever I entered my nightmares, that is, when I first started having them. It was disturbingly, similarly seductive and the testing innuendo didn't sit right with me at all. Mentally, that is; my body had grown used to giving into the visual stimulation whenever the damn parasite did something provocative like that.

I sighed as I leaned into the cold, glass, tile wall for support. I was past the point of feeling shameful now, whenever I felt slightly turned on by Izaya doing filthy, flea-like things. I supposed the hot water wasn't helping, seeing as the heat clung almost suffocatingly tight to my flesh. I turned it down some to a more moderate temperature, despite how my muscles still craved the sweltering warmth to relax them. Still, to no avail, my rousing predicament was just as stubborn to go away as the individual who caused it. I guessed that this was also more or less brought on from the lack of privacy the past week.

As I thought irritably to myself, I reached down to the little bottle of accommodation body wash that the resort provided in each bathroom. Izaya had taken away my Irish spring scented shower gel because it made him nauseous and that he would 'rather suffer from food poisoning, than ever again smell that foul excuse of a body cleanser', and insisted I use the free samples that the staff replenished after each cleaning service.

I popped the lid open to the small vial — seriously, I thought they'd be much bigger portions, considering how loaded this hotel was — and poured a generous amount onto my hand. They must have changed the packaging from the last time they had replaced the old ones, because I didn't remember the bottle being brown. I shrugged it off, however, as I poured more into my hand, careful not to use the entire bottle. I really missed having my own products because I felt that I had to be more conscious of how much I used of the little containers. Though, it's not like there wasn't an endless supply anyway.

Seriously, if he was gonna take away my stuff, I was sure as hell gonna forbid him from that nasty-

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden overwhelming waft of mint. It hit my nostrils and stung my eyes as soon as the remnants of the bottle came in contact with my skin. It was hard to breathe through the sharp flavor, and I felt my eyes watering at tingling air as I quickly tried to wash off the pungent liquid. To my surprise it was also more oily than I had remembered and couldn't rid the substance with just water. I eventually scrubbed it off with some shampoo and that only helped a little, before I picked up the miniature bottle again and read the label.

'Flattery medicine'?" I read the kanji aloud, not sure if I was even reading it right. "The fuck is this shit?"*

I cut the water off almost immediately and didn't bother drying my hair or putting on a shirt once I had slipped a pair of sweatpants on.

"Izaya, what the fuck is this?" I shouted, storming into the room.

His head snapped up from his laptop, startled at my sudden burst of anger, eyes blinking a few times to look up at me. He couldn't even try to hide it when they widened as his gaze swept to the object in my right hand as I held it up for him to see.

"What the hell is 'flattery medicine', huh?"

He was silent for a few moments before he responded. I wasn't sure if he was still bewildered by my abruptness or if he was calculating his answer.

"What?" was the only response he could surprisingly muster.

"It says something about medicine on here...Is this yours? 'Cause it sure sounds like it's something you would own."

He looked at it again and then at me. "You're reading it wrong, moron." I could tell he was blatantly avoiding the question.

"So it is yours?"

The raven swallowed as he thought of what to say next.

"I won't deny that it belongs to me—"

"I thought this was shower gel. I used it and it smells terrible," I snapped.

"You used that?!" his jaw dropped as if he were at a loss for words.

"Yeah, I did, and it's gross. Why do you even have this. It doesn't even work!"

"That's because it's not even—!" He cut himself off before he could finish his statement, which made me even more suspicious.

"Not even what?"

The flea said nothing, he just looked at me in disbelief. That's when it clicked.

"...This is your aroma—"

"Give it back, Shizu-chan."

"Why the hell does it say—"

"Give. It. Back." He was completely serious now, reaching up to snatch the object out of my hand.

"Tell me what it says first," I demanded, holding it out of his reach. "If I'm so wrong, then correct me."

"Why do you want to know? You already figured out that it isn't body wash, what more do you possibly need?"

I crossed my arms to look down at him with a raised brow. He was trying to hide something from me, that much was obvious, and I wanted to figure it out what it was before he tried anything funny.

"Call me curious."

He set his laptop down on the empty side of the bed and stood up to face me. The height difference between us made him less intimidating, not to mention his face had a pink pigment to it.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to take other people's things?" he asked evasively.

"Is it really that big of a deal that you can't tell me?"

"No. I just don't want to," he said simply, taking a step closer.

"That's a pretty lame ass excuse," I responded flatly, taking a step back.

"Just-...Give it back...Please." He continued to move closer to me, but with each step I reclined.

I actually considered it, since it was rare of him to use his manners unless he really wanted something, but it didn't quite work on me. I held it above his head as I read the ingredients aloud;

"'Flattery medicine...Mint extract...Stimulant?'" A question mark hung onto the word at my confusion as I stood stupefied at just, "what the hell is this used for—"

The back of my knees hit the bed behind me, buckling and causing me to fall back onto the soft landing of the sheets. There was no hesitating when the raven took it upon himself to straddle me, forcefully taking the vile out of my grasp.

It took less than a second for me to register that the only thing separating my dick from the flea's ass was the loose-fitting fabrics of each of our sweatpants. What didn't help, was the fact that I felt just how comfortably he sat with his legs spread around my hips. I could feel the crease of his-

"Off. Now." I demanded, not letting myself take any further mental note of the situation. Considering how things were less than five minutes ago in the shower, the last thing I needed was for any friction down near my pelvic area.

He quirked his brow in interest, reading the situation completely. "Oh, and might I ask just how much of this you used and where? I'm not moving until you answer me."

I didn't want to risk moving him myself because any amount of physical protest he could potentially respond with would not end well for me. Ever since I got a whiff of that stuff I felt even more sensitive to the touch, like my skin was prickling. It was all I could do to remain still under his centered weight.

"I poured a handful of it and as soon as I rubbed it on my chest, I—"

His mouth gaped once again at my response as if I had just committed the ultimate sin. It made me even more nervous as to what the hell it was it used for?!

"You—" He broke into a fit of laughter, leaving me significantly more dumbfounded than I had already been before. He continued to laugh obnoxiously at a joke I wasn't in on, holding desperately onto his sides as they convulsed. When he finally came to, he dramatically wiped the tears from his eyes. "Fine, I'll tell you, but only because I feel sorry for you," he sighed, looking down at me, pretending to be empathetic. "I'll cut to the chase, but mint can be used as a stimulant and aphrodisiac, which is the word you were misreading."

I still didn't quite comprehend, so he continued.

"Aphrodisiacs are agents that arouse sexual desire, and you—pfft!" Another laughing fit ensued, but now I knew why.

"It does what?!" I spat in disbelief.

The raven calmed down enough to answer my question with another unwanted fact. "You're probably going to be extremely horny for the next few hours," he chuckled, smiling condescendingly down at me.

I flushed darkly as soon as the words left his lips, and things started to make sense.

"You're only supposed to use like, a couple drops and you...you—"

"Shut up with your laughing, dammit!" I finally gave in and shoved him to the side. "Why the hell do you have that shit?!" I didn't even want to ask why the entire room stank like that this afternoon.

He stopped suddenly, straightening up on the bed next to me. "You know, it's not abnormal for a male in his late teen years to—"

"Don't finish that thought. Ya know what, forget I asked. That's something I really don't wanna think about." I drew my legs subconsciously towards me as I sat next to the other man bashfully.

I didn't have to look at him to hear the smirk behind his words, "of course, who knows what kinds of dirty things your animalistic brain will come up with after huffing this stuff," he chided, admiring the bottle in the light.

"I didn't mean to," I protested. "You're so—"

"Repulsive? Disturbing?...No, I'm realistic. But hey, if you're too embarrassed to be around me, you can always go lock yourself in the bathroom and get it out of your system with the water running, ne? I won't judge, even if I hear you~," he snickered. "Maybe if I'm lucky, you'll be in there so long you drown too. It's a win-win"

I shot him an annoyed glance and he simply shrugged. "I'm not going to go jerk off in the shower while you're here."

"Well, then have fun dealing with that," he said gesturing to my lap.

My body tensed as I looked down quickly to check if I had been hard all this time, but thankfully the louse was just messing with me...for now, at least. Either way, I still felt my cheeks redden.

"I'll be fine," I said, mostly to reassure myself. "Thanks for your concern, though," I frowned apathetically.

"Whatever you say~, don't tell me later that I didn't warn you," he snickered.