This one should be entertaining since it's in Izaya's pov. Actually the next few sequences will be Izaya, Shizuo, Izaya, Shizuo, Izaya with a little bit of Shizuo at the end of that one.
Thankfully, I already have a long list of new ideas that I'll be adding to the story-prepare for heartbreak and jealousy wooo~

Izaya

A sharp zipping sound from the opposite side of the room disrupted me from my slumber. I could tell by the light pouring in from behind closed eyes, that the curtains had been drawn, and it was probably some ungodly hour in the morning. Upon my half-awake state, I could feel the dull ache of last night's cheap liquor stagnant in my brain.

"Mmn…" I clamped my eyes shut, pulling the warm duvet over to cover my face from the warm, blinding rays emitting through the panes of glass. I rolled over away from the light source, sinking deeper into the mattress in attempts to disappear back into the darkness that kept teasing me.

The sudden increase in pressure at my sides jolted me awake as my shield was ripped away. My eyes snapped wide open, taking a moment to dilate and focus on the blurry figure that hovered above me. The heavy breathing and low growl was enough to tell me who exactly I would have to murder later. When I realized it was just Shizu-chan glowering down at me with eyes like daggers, I sighed and rolled over again lazily.

"How unfortunate to have to see that first thing when I wake up," I yawned apathetically.

A rough hand pushed my shoulder back over to pin me down, almost like how a jaguar would turn over their prey to look at it mercilessly in the eyes before snapping its neck between their teeth. I opened my eyes slowly, making my irritation clear and apparent, the situation not at all phasing.

Really, how inconsiderate...

His face was contorted into complete fury; reddening, with the nastiest scowl I'd seen him wear in a long time.

I rolled my eyes. "Is there a purpose for you violating me and depriving me from my sleep?" I grimaced. "Or is this just how you usually ask your master to take you out on a morning walk?"

"Izaya…" he growled ominously.

Did he always have to be such a brute this early? The day had only just started and something already had him raving...

"If you have something you need to tell me then just go ahead...and…" my voice broke off after my focus trailed from his horrendous expression to the dark purple splotches on either side of his neck.

Almost in disbelief, my eyes widened completely and I had to smack a hand over my mouth to suppress the loud cackle that wanted to escape my lips. Immediately my eyes started to water from the thought of the blonde's face when he must have used the bathroom earlier and noticed in the mirror.

Judging by the vein in his temple that looked promising enough to burst, he knew that I knew exactly what had royally pissed him off.

"You dirty flea bastard!" he spat in my face, hoisting me upright from the collar of my shirt.

I couldn't hold back my laughter anymore and I could only watch how he got more and more infuriated with each passing second before tossing me roughly back onto the bed.

"You think this is fucking funny, huh?!" he barked, pointing to his jugular at one of the dark blemishes.

"I don't know what's better, the fact that you really can get hickies or your reaction to thinking you wouldn't!" I snickered.

"Fix. This. Now," he snapped, still straddling over me.

"Yes, let me just magically heal your broken capillaries," I said sarcastically with an eye roll, shifting under him to sit up.

Had all his emotions not been channeled to anger, I wondered if he would have noticed his legs mounted on either side of my hips. Imagining the circumstance amused me.

"Instead, Shizu-chan," I smirked up at him, reaching out to thumb over the bruise, "I could just get my knife and cut you here so no one could tell the difference~." I chirped as I dug my thumbnail into the mark.

He grabbed my wrist with an almost crushing force and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold back the noise that wanted to escape. Knowing that he was not in any way of a reasonable mood, I let go of the hold I had on his neck and smiled softly.

"I'll see what I can do...Meanwhile, what time is it? Where is my phone?" I said as evenly as I could, as the tips of my fingers were beginning to go numb.

The pressure around my hand loosened just enough for blood to start flowing again, despite him pulling me closer, mere inches away from his face. Our eyes locked; what usually were warm, auric eyes were now cold and fierce, penetrating into my soul. I couldn't help but shudder at the sheer madness radiating from the other.

My expression softened, but sharp smile remained as I brought a hand to caress his cheek. I saw that the mark on my wrist had faded overnight to an ugly shade of green, my knuckles still slightly swollen.

"I suppose it's an eye for an eye, now, isn't it?"

From his peripheral, he eyed the wound discolouring the otherwise unmarred skin, porcelain against his sun-kissed flesh.

"Ah, but I suppose you're right. Answering these questions others might ask would be rather troublesome, ne?"

He let go of the hold he had on my other arm and backed away, shrugging himself off the bed and walking towards the closet. He dressed himself in his coat and scarf, despite still sporting his pajama bottoms. Double checking to make sure he had his pack of cancer sticks, he left through the door without another word.

I sighed loudly, stretching my arms over my head.

With him gone, I might be able to get ready in peace...I thought to myself, smiling.

Although I would have loved to, sleep was out of the picture. Rare moments like these, when I was left alone during Shizuo's cigarette breaks were always refreshing.

First things first, where is my phone?

I grabbed my phone off the night table, checking missed messages. No one important had contacted me — my new employer knew I was on vacation and told me he would notify me if there was an emergency and he needed contact information.

There were a few missed calls from Shinra; a selfie taken from his phone with Togusa and Kadota most likely passed out on the couch in the background. Erika had sent 108 messages; the first few of which were winky faces and other rather complicated emoticons. Somewhere around the tenth text from her were a few mp3 messages, as she put, "to set the mood". Rolling my eyes I scrolled through quickly enough to barely scan the various intercourse positions she had heard great reviews from.

"..."

At which point I decided I was bored and erased the one-sided conversation from my phone entirely.

The twins had also texted me to wish Shizuo a happy birthday.

As if they really expected me to pass on such a trivial message from mere elementary school children…

For some unknown reason they had taken a liking to the blonde; probably to spite me.

I tossed my phone aside and was going to make use of my time and privacy to change. I brushed my teeth first, the stale aftertaste of alcohol and slight burning sensation remained against the back of my throat. Now that I thought about it, Shizuo's voice had sounded raspier than usual as well.

I stripped myself from my shirt and silk pajama bottoms when I saw it. A long trail of bruises on my inner thighs.

I had to remember to breathe after a moment of being so surprised, then and only then, did I realize that my legs were killing me. The blood rushed to my cheeks as I continued to stare and the contusions, double checking myself in the full body mirror. Of course I always had other faded red marks and yellow splotches from weeks past from various other incidents regarding the blonde (however intentionally violent they may be), but those weren't nearly as noticeable anymore to be considered a distraction. Only I knew where and why they were there in the first place. Each one marked a story from mere weeks ago, where our terms had been anything but agreeable...Well, unless you consider mutual loathing a similar disposition.

Thankfully the bruises didn't show much past the ends of my briefs, though the likeliness that I would be wearing shorts on this excursion were slight to none, I was still grateful. However, seeing myself in such a state, I closed my eyes to remember why and what had left me like this.

Shizuo did this.

I leaned against the counter of the sink for support, gripping it's edges and smirking to myself.

Shizuo did this to me…

Images from the night before flashed through my mind as I dug my fingernails into the granite.

Hot breaths panting against each other, lips wet from the other's saliva, damp skin brushing up against each other, muscle spasms, then warm, sticky—

I opened my eyes slowly, my downcast vision wasn't all that surprising, especially with all of those thoughts still fresh in my mind. Of course my body was still undoubtedly more sensitive from such intimate contact only a handful of hours ago. Just barely thinking about it caused my body to react.

I avoided looking in the mirror or at myself as I pulled my jeans on and almost got away with ignoring the gentle brush of fabric against my slightly hard—

The door to the room outside opened, interrupting my thoughts, and judging by the not-quite slam when it closed, the blonde was back from his smoke break.

I quickly zipped and fastened the button, all while mentally chanting my turn offs, thinking about work, breakfast and just about anything else that wasn't sexual involving the brute, and pulled over my shirt.

I opened the door, but was almost startled by the blonde looming right outside the doorway, glaring at me expectantly.

"Good day, Shizu-chan. Did the fresh air help clear up that foul attitude from this morning?" I said with a bright smile.

His eyebrows only narrowed further in response.

"Chin up, Shizu-chan! I'm sure no one will even noti—"

Gently — if you could really call it that — he slammed his hand eye level against the door frame, just lightly enough to not make a hole in the wall.

Anyone would have nearly jumped out of their own skin, had I not already been prepared for this kind of reaction, I simply closed my eyes at the breeze of the impact.

I could tell that he really was trying his hardest not to destroy everything in sight and cause his family millions in debt from ruining such a fine establishment. Kudos to him.

I opened my eyes and smiled again, this time more genuine but equally as malicious.

"The good news is, I thought of something to solve our little predicament," I said ignoring his menacing scowl and walking under the bridge of his arm into the other room.

"What, then?" he growled, with a hint of hope.

I sat down on the end of the bed we had been sharing and crossed my legs.

"You need a neck massage. Luckily for you I'm feeling generous~," I chimed happily.

"A what?!" he snapped.

"Don't you know? Hickies are caused from lack of blood flow. Soooo…" I patted the open seat next to me.

The facial expression he was wearing lay somewhere between disgust and disbelief at my offer.

"...Massages," I encouraged him, "help increase blood flow." I grabbed his arm and pulled his complying deadweight over to the bed and sat him down.

After a moment of contemplation, he hesitantly shrugged his coat and scarf off and turned his back towards me. Smiling to myself at the small accomplishment, I sat back on my heels, flexing my hands a bit before reaching for the blonde's trapezius muscles.

The sensation that always occurred during physical contact with the brute sent tiny waves of shock through my body at first touch. I could see the villous hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as well, as he had to grow accustomed to the feel of soft hands grazing the breadth of his shoulders.

Ever so gently, as if still hovering over the skin, I could feel the heat radiating from his body, despite just coming from outside. Just like he was hot-headed, I was sure that his blood was figuratively and literally boiling as well — even during the rarity of his calmer moments. The smooth surface of his skin was taut against the steel muscles that made up his neck; ones' strong enough to withstand getting hit by moving vehicles and taking blows from other assaults without breaking or shattering completely. It was fascinating; all of these inhuman characteristics were camouflaged by the appearance of a relatively average high school boy.

There was something to be said about his outward persona, just by looking at Shizuo. He was several inches taller than even your usually tallest classmates, however he wasn't necessarily a big guy. The older male, despite his immense amount of strength, was by no means considered buff. The muscle definition was there, but his otherwise lean physique completely concealed how monstrous he could really be.

His other iconic feature was his mop of bleach blonde hair. I had heard from various sources that his reasoning for dying it was suggested to him to warn others to not pick fights with him. Kind of like how poison dart frogs have vibrant colouring, telling other animals not to mess with them, Shizuo must have thought the same. Needless to say, it hadn't quite worked in his favor, but I assumed he kept up the look for the sake of the suggester...Or perhaps, Shizuo considered himself more attractive this way. I couldn't help but snicker inwardly at the thought.

It was true that most people found Shizuo Heiwajima to be intimidating either because they had witnessed one of his temper tantrums firsthand, or had been on the receiving end of it. Meaning, that despite his height and bright hair, there were some idiots out there who didn't believe in the rumors, or hadn't heard of them in the first place. In which case, much to Shizuo's dismay, he was still a magnet to violence.

Gentle touches like these must be hard to come by, I thought, as I began to massage the tissue around his collar. As expected, he was tense at the thought of his ex-enemy having their hands softly gripping his completely unprotected esophagus. I knew that if I tried anything, there would be no hesitation to snap my wrists, whether he thought about it first or not, it was a primal instinct to him. The steady rise and fall of his shoulders and pulse hard against my fingertips was a reminder that Shizuo was very capable of just that.

I was no idiot, however, and I knew where my boundaries were, even if I did push them to their limits most of the time. Unlike the beast, I thought ahead before I acted. There was less time for regret that way. Shizuo, was the polar opposite, he lead a life full of the burdens he had only himself to blame for. But that's just the way things were and always would be.

"Flea."

I shook out of my dazed state realizing that I had stopped, hands still around the brute's neck.

"Ah, Shizu-chan, you'll be happy to know that they've faded some!" I said, clapping my hands together.

He immediately got up to look in the mirror hanging on the wall to inspect my handwork.

"The fuck, flea? They look exactly the same!" he shouted.

"No, no, there's definitely a difference!" I insisted, standing up to his side. "They were undoubtedly a shade darker before," I said in affirmation, hiding my smirk behind his shoulder.

He ran an irritable hand through his hair and sat back down.

"These are never going away, are they?" he said surprisingly calm, with a sigh.

I sat down next to him crossing my legs, reaching for my phone to idly scroll as I listened.

"What-...What am I even gonna tell people?!" he asked rhetorically in defeat. There was still frustration in his tone, but he seemed to have hit rock bottom now.

"Am I really gonna have to wear a scarf all the time? How the hell do people hide these?"

I swore I heard a gasp of realization followed by a long silence. My curiosity got the better of me and I looked away from my phone to meet his gaze.

He said nothing until I inquired with a, "yes?"

"Do you have any makeup?"

I dropped my phone and immediately burst into a loud cackle. The dumbfounded look on his face paired with the even dumber question was exactly something only the blonde would have come up with. I wiped the tears from my eyes and when my breathing had settled I gave him one of my, 'I truly pity you', expressions.

"Shizu-chan, I'm actually kind of insulted that you would ask, quite frankly...These good looks are all genetics, there's no need for me to wear makeup, obviously."

"It was just a question, you damn louse." He crossed his arms looking like a pouty kid who was being told 'no' in the candy shop.

I sighed deeply and scrolled through my phone for a certain number, dialing it and holding it up to my ear. The blonde watched me carefully as I did so.

On the third ring a feminine voice sang merrily in my ear.

"Goooooood morning, Iza-Iza! I want to hear all about your-"

"Ah, Erika, I'm so glad you picked up, I have a favor I wanted to ask you," I quickly interrupted, not wanting to go down that tangent with her.

In my other ear I heard Shizuo hiss, "YOU CALLED ERIKA?!" in a raspy whisper.

I put my hand up to shut him up.

"Oh? Sure! What do you need? Did you get the pictures I sent you?"

"Ah, yes, I got a good laugh out of it. But I'm calling because you were the only person I knew I could ask…"

Beside me, the blonde gave me a quizzical expression.

On the other line I heard a door shut, and on a much more serious note, Erika lowered her voice. "Alright, I'll do my best to-"

"Do you have any makeup? I'm hungover and have horrible bags under my eyes and I refuse to walk around looking like a zombie."

"...Oh."

Sorry to disappoint, Erika, but those details are for myself only~.

"Um. Yeah, I have my cosmetic bag with me right here, do you want me to bring it down to you?"

"That would be wonderful!" I chimed, "your next manga is on me, but only one~, choose wisely." I hung up before she could respond, looking at the blonde expectantly.

"So now we wait."

And so we did. Silently at first, until the blonde spoke up.

"You really think this is going to work?"

"Well, I don't see why it wouldn't, Shizu-chan."

"What if people can tell that I covered it up?"

"Who would have thought a monster like you would care so much about appearance?" I scoffed.

He glowered at me. "This is still your fault. You were the one to give me the fuckin' hickies," he pointed angrily to remind me of the purple marks lining his jaw.

"It's almost cute when you say it~."

"Flea…"

There was a knock on the door before Shizuo could start the countdown.

I sprang up giving him an amused look and walked over to the door to answer it.

Erika stood there, eyes sparkling, with a Sailor Moon bag in her hands.

"You really are a lifesaver," I said sweetly reaching for the bag before she pulled it away.

"Ah-ah-ah, where's Shizuo?"

I couldn't help but snort at the brute's misfortune and the persistent girl.

There was a loud scuffle of Shizuo hiding himself behind me, so I braced my foot behind the door before our female friend broke it down.

"He's passed out right now, and he sleeps like a rock when he's hungover. Even I wouldn't dare trying to wake him under these circumstances."

She eyed me once over, studying my face.

"Hm. It's a good thing I brought this then, you do look like a zombie — but not like Highschool of The Dead, zombie. Zombie is a little too over the top. I'd say more like Staz from Bloodlad or something. Maybe a genderbend Tomoko Kuroki," she said obviously disappointed, handing me the bag.

Excuse me?

"Just return it to me when you're done." Smiling, she left with a wink.

I closed the door, now irritated with the comment.

There was a low chuckle coming from behind me where Shizuo was now leaning against the bathroom door frame.

"Is this the thanks I get for trying to help you?" Sure, I hadn't understood the exact shade of Erika's observation, but I could tell it was no compliment.

"No, that's karma."

"I will gladly walk out of this room and follow Erika down the hall to give this back to her, you know."