DId someone say fanservice? Enjoy!
Shizuo
After settling on some blue shorts with a pattern Izaya had teased to be 'floral' only after I bought them, we had all checked out and were heading to the restaurant area.
"Aw, don't take it too hard, Shizu-chan, flowers on men's clothing is popular nowadays. It's fitting, since you're even more like a tourist now, huh?" he had said.
My brow twitched as I remembered his fake, sickeningly sweet tone.
Whatever. I knew that blue was one of the colours that looked better on me, so I tried disregarding the comment.
A waft of scent from the fresh market made its way down the hall and I could tell we were getting close to our destination. We were approaching the chain of restaurants Shinra and I had eaten at our first day here. I didn't get to look around as much as I had liked to, but I knew there was a steakhouse and a sushi bar that the flea and I had been getting take-out from nearly every night.
Further down the hall, led to what resembled a cafeteria-like area with a wall made entirely out of glass, with a gorgeous view into the mountains. We chose to eat where tables and benches were set up by a buffet. Supposedly, you could make your own bento box.
Everything looked so tasty. I couldn't count how many hours ago I had eaten, but it had been before I had consumed all that alcohol. My stomach growled noisily as I lifted each of the steel covers of the various steaming foods, each aroma making my mouth water more than the last.
I started by collecting some rice and udon noodles, an egg, then progressively increasing the amount of proteins to my dish. It all looked so delicious, I wanted to try everything. The salmon, the tuna, the beef, the sausages, even meats I didn't recognize, it all smelled heavenly.
"My, my, Shizu-chan, do you skip out on your veggies at home as well?"
The flea's condescending tone tore me from my focus on what I was guessing was teriyaki chicken. I closed the lid to look down at him.
"What's it to you?"
He chuckled. "Obviously, I don't care whether or not you're getting all of your vitamins, but I'm sure Mama Heiwajima would want her growing boy to get all of his nutrients~," he said batting his eyelashes.
"Vegetables are gross," I replied in disgust, as if just saying the word made me nauseous. I went back to lifting up the lid and putting more chicken on my plate.
"Let me guess, Kasuka eats them for you on your behalf?" he sneered, putting a hand on his hip. "What type of example are you setting as an older brother?"
I felt the blood pool in my cheeks as I glared back at the raven who was smirking knowingly.
"Do you really need to eat that much before we go swimming? I hope you don't get sick or something~," he snickered.
Now he was just patronizing me.
"The only thing I'm sick of here is you, louse."
"Shizu-chan, I'm wounded. And here I was just trying to look out for you; trying to protect you from raising your cholesterol levels skyrocketing high. Don't you know the risks of consuming that much meat? If this is how you eat at home, you're really taking your chances—"
"Why do you care so much that I like my meat?!"
Scarlet eyes widened as he took a step back from me in an atmosphere that was a little too quiet. It was only a matter of a fraction of a second before I realized what exactly I had just shouted for everyone in the entire dining area to hear.
And then there was laughing. Lots of it. Mostly from Izaya.
I growled, glowering down at him, ready to snap his neck if it weren't for the burning sensation I felt across my entire face.
Slouching angrily, I turned on my heel to sit alone at the farthest possible table away from everyone else.
I sat down, staring at the food I had lost a sudden interest in eating. Everything had looked a lot more appetizing five minutes ago. I sighed defeatedly, looking out the window I was next to; my sad, unwelcome reflection for company.
Why did he always have to be such a damn fucking louse?! What was his problem?! One minute he's confessing shit to me, next he's harassing me and—
I let loose another deep, irritable sigh. I had to turn away from my scowling reflection before I accidently put my fist through the glass, when something caught the corner of my eye from across the room.
The recognizably foreign girl was ordering sushi at the bar across the cafeteria. She was pointing to something in the glass and talking quietly to one of the chef's. I couldn't hear her from where I was sitting, but I could see her contemplative expression changing from it's usual stoic one. When the chef went back into the kitchen, she stood waiting for his return, but turned her direction towards me, locking my gaze.
Immediately I looked down, heart palpitating from being discovered.
She's all the way across the room though?! How could she have seen me staring?!...Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I shouldn't be staring in the first place!...Fuck, what if she had heard me say those embarrassing—
The sound of a chair scraping the floor in front of me made me jolt, not ready to confront the blonde. I took a deep breath, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have—!?"
My sentence broke and I couldn't even finish my train of thought when the raven sat down in front of me, snapping his chopsticks apart and looking at me in genuine shock. Immediately my brows furrowed, but before I could say anything, he spoke first.
"It's fine, I'm used to you shouting unnecessarily," he shrugged simply. "Thank you for the meal."
I was boiling mad, that no, I wasn't in fact apologizing to you and for you to have the audacity to sit next to me after that stunt?! 'The FUCK do you think you are, flea?!
I broke my chopsticks apart, stabbing my food and grumbling, "thank you for the meal...". Not bothering to argue with the louse on account of learning from my past mistakes.
Vorona had already disappeared when I looked up to glare at him as we ate in silence. It lasted for all of thirty seconds before he had to break it with another stupid comment.
"You know, I really do think you should eat more vegetables," he said, pointing his eating utensils towards me. "These are delicious, by the way...Here, just try it."
He delicately placed a steamed green bean between the mountain of rice next to the mountain of meat on my tray.
I cringed, looking at it's limp, shriveled body in disgust, poking it with the end of the wooden stick.
I noticed that all of Izaya's meal was divided into neat proportions. Rice, vegetables, and fish.
How bland, I thought, looking up as he took a bite of tuna. It's no wonder he stays so scrawny.
"And what about you? Why are you worried about me, when you barely eat anything?"
"This," he said fanning a hand to his plate, "has all the vitamins and nutrients I need to maintain the body I have...You on the other hand, should lighten up on whatever you have going on there. That body isn't going to look 18 forever, you know."
My frown deepened as he eyed me over as if to prove a point.
"However, since we are combining breakfast and lunch together, I can cheat on my diet a little bit."
He proceeded to reach over the table to grab one of the small sausages that was neatly cut to look like an octopus, popping it into his mouth and smirking back at me.
"I thought we were supposed to act normal!" I hissed in a whisper, "you aren't doing a very good job by giving me your food and then taking mine."
"What are you talking about? I think it would be more abnormal if I were feeding it directly to you, don't you think?" he said coolly.
"That's not what I mean, flea!" I snapped, clenching my fist. "Why are you even sitting here?"
"Look at you two getting along!" Shinra's annoying voice chirped as he sat his tray down on the table next to us, pulling it to connect them together.
"What are you—?!"
"Shinra and company, how nice of you to join us," the flea cooed.
Soon everyone else showed up, claiming a chair as they combined enough tables together to fit us all.
"For the love of—"
The raven hummed a chuckle across from me, picking at his food.
I sighed heavily. It was only noon and I already had a headache. I didn't sign up for this.
The chatter among the table today was particularly louder than usual. Yumasaki and Kadota had gotten into an argument, from what I caught, was about a character from a popular manga series. Kadota was a hard to crack character, and little was known about his interests, so it was strange to believe he could get into such a heated and passionate conversation about manga.
Erika was talking excitedly with Togusa, who was well, a lot less enthusiastic than the female. Shinra was texting rapidly in his phone, occasionally showing Izaya something on the small device.
Izaya would fake a whimsical laugh here and there, but I could tell he was bored. At least he was leaving me alone for the time being.
I continued to eat in silence and no one made any comment, obviously caught up in their own debates, for which that I was thankful for and could finally relax a bit.
Slowly, I was beginning to feel my temper fade, now having a full belly and my plate clean...Except for the sad green bean I had moved to its own corner in concern of it tainting the rest of my meal.
I felt something gently brush against my shin. I let it slide, thinking it was an accident, but it came back, slowly caressing the side of my calf. I could feel the heat radiating from the warm touch that continued to rub up against my leg.
I looked across the table to Izaya who was looking over Shinra's shoulder where he was pointing to something on the screen of his phone. My brows automatically furrowed as I continued to watch the flea speak casually, masking any signs of the affection his foot was giving my leg. At first I didn't think it was him because his expression remained the same all through the level voice he was speaking to Shinra with. But then I remembered that this was Izaya we were talking about, around the same time he spared a quick glance over to me, flashing white teeth as the brunette carried on the conversation.
At which that time, I felt the bumps of his toes in his socks that must have slipped out of the confines of a shoe, trail along the side of my inner thigh. I stood up abruptly, causing everyone's attention to direct towards me again.
"I—" I began, thinking quickly of an excuse, any excuse, as I felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of my neck. "Cigarette," I stated firmly, not bothering to excuse myself as I walked past the table to the automatic side door that let out to the paved sidewalk lining the building.
I didn't care how cold it would be as I stepped out into the arctic. If anything, I needed something to cool me down.
I stuck the small barrel of the cigarette between my lips, shielding the end to light it. I took a long drag, feeling the familiar warmth circulate through my lungs, helping to bite the freezing weather.
The sun was mostly hidden by clouds, so it was for the best that we would be inside today, I thought. I stayed out as long as it took for the cigarette to burn down feeling more satisfied, now only chilly.
Everyone was cleaning up their trays when I emerged through the doors again. People were lining up at the register to pay for their meal as I was setting the bento box back on a tray of items to be washed.
After everyone had paid, we left to head back down the hall from which we came. We passed the locker room that led to the onsen, causing my brow to twitch in annoyance. There were a couple turns before we made it to the gym, which we had to go through to get to the bathrooms that led out to the indoor pool. Erika said she would meet us on the other side as the rest of us guys entered the men's room.
Immediately, I walked over to the changing rooms by the showers, which I came to find, were only divided with heavy curtains for doors. I picked one, sliding the fabric closed and saw that there was a single bench bolted into the glossy tile wall that ran through what looked like all of the changing stalls. The glassy barricade was a somewhat opaque shade of bluish-green. It didn't feel all that private anymore when I also noticed that the room was divided by panels made of semi-transparent cloth, as well. The kind where you could see the dark silhouettes of the people in the room next to you. Not to mention, the curtain was cut about six inches from the ground, where neighboring feet could easily be seen.
They really expect everyone to be that friendly here?
I started to take my shirt off, glad that no one was on either side of me. I was going to get through this as quickly as possible.
The zipping sound of the stall next to mine, as well as the shadow of a smaller human figure entering, made the hairs on my neck instantly raise. Especially when I started to hear the familiar off-key hum of an unfamiliar tune.
"Ne, Shizu-chan?" his nonchalant voice addressed me.
I pretended not to hear him as I fidgeted with the button of my jeans.
"You're especially grumpy today, aren't you? Why is that? I thought we left off on a good note?"
I continued to ignore him, watching as his feet bounced when he talked. He shown no signs of concern about the abnormal changing circumstances.
I could see his silhouette pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it on the bench. I tore my gaze away in case he would be looking back at me.
"Aw, is Shizu-chan ignoring me now?" he whined annoyingly after a moment.
"Give it a rest, flea," I said, giving in and stepping out of my jeans.
"You're really acting like a brute today...It's not cute." He stated his matter of opinion factually.
Despite my brow twitching, I felt my ears redden. Was it just me who was super on edge from last night? Was I so paranoid about acting like nothing happened around people that I've forgotten how Izaya really is?
"People will start to think we got in a fight," he teased.
"We're always fighting, louse. Remember?"
"That's not what you said last night~."
His voice was alarmingly close, and when I looked at the curtain next to me there was no one in the room. Immediately I began to panic and turned around.
Sitting behind me, cross-legged on the bench, the louse had crept into my stall silently enough for me to not even notice his presence.
I really was losing my touch if he could sneak by me that easily.
"Flea!" I bit back in a hiss.
I was standing there completely naked, shielding myself with the pair of blue shorts I had bought.
"What are you doing here?!" I said in a growling whisper between clenched teeth.
He shrugged, getting off the bench and padding over to me. My face got increasingly more flustered with each step, until he was close enough for his bare chest to gently brush against mine.
Our eyes never broke contact even when he brought a hand up to his lips to drag his tongue along his thumb. He reached up, and I almost flinched away as he wiped it on my neck and chuckled darkly, smirking that damn smirk he wore when he was up to no good.
"What the-?!"
Then it dawned on me. I reached up to my own neck feeling the wet trail of saliva on the exact spot where makeup was covering a bruise. Rage filled my vision as my free hand grabbed the flea's hand to see if there was any nude pigment smeared against his fingerprint.
There wasn't, but I tightened my grip either way, bringing my face down to his level to glare at him as closely as possible.
"I was just checking." He rolled his eyes, but I could see the discomfort behind his mask.
"Get. Out."
"Fine, fine," he sighed, when I let him go rubbing his wrist.
He went back over to the bench and crawled over the pole holding up the curtain-wall. Popping his head back over, he grinned mischievously down at me.
"But be careful, Shizu-chan," he chimed darkly. "Try not to get too wet."