[Kasuka's POV]

The actor sat at home with a laptop propped in front of him as he laid on his couch, relaxing happily now that his vacation was over. Not that he didn't love it, it was one of the most fun things he'd done all year. The top of his list was still the premiere he'd taken Izaya to. He was pretty sure nothing would ever top it..

But now he could just sit back and relax until tomorrow when he had to go back to work, in the mean time doing whatever he wanted and smirking to himself as he thought of their last night in Osaka, along with all of the marks he'd made on his boyfriend after that little stunt he'd pulled. Kasuka had still refused him sex but he hadn't minded one bit in giving back what Izaya had done, being only possibly a little more rough than necessary~

After that the two had gotten a full morning's rest and packed up their things before heading back to the airport, Izaya deciding that he wanted to try and face his fear again so he could get over it. That second half didn't exactly go as planned but.. Izaya had managed to look out the window and see the sky around them without looking like he was going to die, so they counted it as a victory.

Kasuka wasn't even paying much attention to what he was watching on Youtube when his phone went off, the ringtone letting him know that it was Izaya sending him a text. Maybe I packed something of his in my bag. he thought to himself, thinking Izaya would have had enough of him after almost four whole days together, but when he opened his phone he couldn't stop grinning. Izaya had apparently put his yukata back on after washing it and felt like letting his boyfriend know in the form of selfies, also a couple of them being sent with a caption 'You're going to pay for this' whenever he was sent one where Kasuka could see the hickeys and bruises he'd left on the other's pale skin.

Or he's just letting me love him even more~

Tuesday rolled around with no real issues, work continuing like always and no one asking about their trip because they had made sure not to tell anyone. Especially the group of interns that always acted like they knew everything that was going on, when really they just slacked off enough to be at the right places at the right times.

The only hint that someone knew absolutely anything about their situation was Izaya's personal assistant, who kept shooting him smirks and a thumb-up whenever the informant would go over to talk with Kasuka and practice again. "Why does she keep doing that?" Kasuka asked finally as they got into the ravenett's room, closing the door and locking it as always. They'd began to notice that, whether they were doing something or not, Dong-Yul was quick to send Izaya off somewhere for a stupid reason. They were almost never true, but if he ignored him the one time he was telling the truth, then they could both get into trouble for it.

So, now the door was forever locked until otherwise needed. Izaya just sat down on his couch and sprawled out with no problems, not complaining when Kasuka moved his legs to sit down as well. "Shara helps me get dressed, remember?" the ruby-eyes man groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose lightly as Kasuka let out a small 'oooh' before going quiet.

"... How many questions did she ask?" Kasuka wondered aloud, glancing at his boyfriend again.

"A couple too many. Thank fuck I played the 'shy' card with this persona.. Every time she asks me another question I go on about 'I cant talk about such things, I could never say that, blah blah blah..'" Izaya huffed, going back to his slightly higher voice as he impersonated himself. What a paradox that is.

The actor just hummed lightly before running his hand along Izaya's leg, which was now on his lap. "I'll try not to leave as many marks next time. Promise." All he got in response was a dark blush and pout thrown at him. Kasuka knew to stop teasing him after that, the man looked exhausted after all.

And it was all from putting up a persona this whole time, not even from doing work. When they were working Izaya would have a smile on his face, even if it wasn't always completely real, and he would be working hard to do more - but acting sweet and innocent all the time, though he did have his moments where that was the true him and Kasuka couldn't get enough of him that way, always seemed to be something harder than Kasuka thought.

Kasuka himself was an actor, and had been since almost the age of 7 when he'd first showed an interest in it and just did stupid little commercials when he had the time. But even he had never had to act off of a stage before.

Being silent and obedient around his brother wasn't an act, it was a habit and it had just become natural to him. Being the 'perfect child' around his parents also hadn't been acting, they had just been blind to the things that he obviously had no idea how to do well - like sewing, or baking, or putting his shoes on the right foot until about the age of 9. Everything else... Well, with no other words to use, he'd just never cared about them.

Other people didn't interest him and other people didn't seem to be too interested in him either until he started showing up on TV. What a turn around that had made... After his first one-episode feature in a drama, one that most middle-schoolers seemed to enjoy quite a lot, he had people asking to sit with him and hang out with him almost constantly. What a friendship that would have been. Ugh..

Thankfully, being a bit more clever than most at his age, he'd already known why they were asking and politely declined. Nonetheless, until he'd seen Izaya for the first time, and seen Shizuo have their routine fights for the first time - he'd never had to act outside of a stage before. And just pretending that he didn't care or had yet again no interest in people when Shizuo went on and on about how he hated the ravenett Kasuka was now loving, that had been torture for him.

Having to do it all day, mostly 6 days a week, for hours on end until they could just sit down and talk to one another - he couldn't imagine being able to do it.

"Hey Izaya, I was wondering.. Why did you start acting?" Kasuka asked softly, gazing down at his boyfriend again. Izaya obviously hadn't been expecting a question, looking half-asleep as it was, but he opened his eyes wider and looked up at him while he thought.

"I just did it on a whim... I'd seen you around the city before when doing something promotional and it seemed like a lot of fun. I had nothing to tell me otherwise so.." the man trailed off with a small shrug, getting a nod in response. The room was comfortably quiet again before Izaya made a small noise to grab his attention.

"Since we're on the topic of curiosity, I was wondering something too. I know we've been dating for a little over a month now but.. When did you start liking me?" the informant murmured, looking up at him with his ruby-eyes sparkling as he waited. They almost always did that when he was listening to something interesting, just another thing to add to the list of things Kasuka loved about him. Just thinking about how long he'd liked Izaya made his cheeks turn a bit pink though, making him look away.

"Well... Do you mean when did I get a crush on you, or when I really started to love you?" Kasuka asked him back, hoping that hadn't made things as awkward as he imagined it would. There was only a slight pause before Izaya cleared his throat, neither of them looking at one another.

"Th-the crush, I suppose." Kasuka grinned a bit at that and ignored that he was blushing deeper, scratching the back of his neck as he wondered how he should tell him the truth.

"When did I get a crush on you, huh..? Hehe. Well, uh, as weird as this probably sounds.. I've kinda had an official crush on you for, um..." Kasuka paused for a second, knowing that no one would ever logically have a crush for that long and not be considered a stalker or something, but then he thought about it again and knew he couldn't worry about that. Izaya's job was to stalk people, technically, and he'd never even seen the man except for them he was being chased by Shizuo - he hadn't done anything bad this entire time except maybe daydream of them sharing a first-kiss.

When he glanced over at his boyfriend, all he got was a curious look that was quickly becoming annoyed with how long he'd been waiting for an answer. Kasuka gave a small laugh before starting again. "I-I've had a crush on you for about 5 years now." the actor admitted, wincing lightly at the jump that Izaya gave when he heard the number.

"Five years?" Izaya repeated, getting a nod in return. "You've known me five years? I mean, I've known who you were for longer than that, but.. We met before all this?" the informant blinked at him as he kept asking him questions, making Kasuka confused before he drooped a bit. He doesn't remember the first time he saw me with aniki..

Kasuka tried not to be upset about it, after all since Kasuka had been the one to get the crush and not Izaya it would make sense for him to forget about something like that ever happening. To Izaya it hadn't been important, there was no logical reason for it to even concern him until now. That didn't stop him from wanting to go away for a while, just to take a walk and be alone.

"Yeah, we did.. It's really stupid, but I thought you were an angel when I saw you. Shizuo had told me a bunch of awful things about this guy who kept tormenting him at school, so when I saw you I thought he must have been lying." Kasuka spilled out, smiling to himself as he stared at the ground. He'd never told anyone this in the first place, not his parents or his brother or even a stuffed animal that he'd had; telling it to Izaya himself seemed all too surreal for him to handle watching Izaya's reaction to this. "You even called me cute before you ran off to fight with him again."

After that last comment he paused before chancing a look at Izaya, seeing a very occupied expression on his face, instead of one that mocked him like he'd expected. Why did he expect this? He wasn't quite sure. Kasuka knew Izaya would never do anything to intentionally make him feel bad or stupid - he just knew for a fact that having a crush on someone you never even had a conversation with was not normal... At least, not in this sense. His fans would beg to differ...

Izaya was still looking around in front of him while he thought, actually looking like he was trying his best to remember before he glanced up to meet Kasuka's eyes. "Um.. Sorry, but what grade were me and Shizu-chan in when that happened?" the informant asked, for the first time in a long time looking hesitant. That's not normal..

"You were both sophomores. It was the first year that he'd met you, at least." Kasuka muttered, wondering why that was so important. To the man beside him it must have meant something though, because his shoulders drooped and he stood up quickly, almost falling over from what Kasuka expected was a head-rush. "Izaya-?"

"Sorry, I gotta go." Izaya apologized, leaning in to give him a peck on the cheek before turning and running out.

Chapter 18~!

The first full day back from their vacation and what does it bring?

Where there's fluff, there's DRAMAAA~

I don't plan on it being too big of a thing, if you know what I mean, but it is back-story and character development and whatnot, so try not to worry about it~

And if anyone wonders why I try to put these back-story bits in (as few as their are T^T ) It's because this story obviously doesn't stick full and true to the original character histories.

They do quite a lot, the base components are all there, at least what they say in the anime and manga - but if you've gone on the wiki to read through their histories fully, you'll see where I'm going with things in the next chapter. There are parts that are point-for-point true to the canon-verse, but with sprinkles of my own mind thrown in to help this story really move, so I hope you all like my ideas~

PS. Beware of angst.

I hope you all liked this chapter! Favorite, follow and review to see more!