[Izaya's POV]

The informant laid in bed a while longer after Kasuka had showed up in his home unannounced. He wondered how he got in at all, but being mentally exhausted as it was he forgot to ask. It was nerve-wracking how quiet the two of them were after Namie left, as well. Izaya wasn't even sure why, but this silence just felt a lot more pressing than any of the others around them before and he focused on getting his headache to go down a bit before looking at his boyfriend, who was staring off into space as he held tightly onto Izaya's hand.

The ravenett gave it a small squeeze to get the Heiwajima's attention and Kasuka looked over at him, attentive to anything he needed. It made Izaya feel special to know that someone now wanted to have him close and to take care of him all the time, but in the current situation he couldn't smile from it, barely choking out his need for water to the other.

"Alright, hold on." Kasuka agreed without hesitation, heading downstairs to grab it for him. He's like a puppy. A personal-services puppy.

At that thought Izaya finally got out a smile, but it went away before Kasuka even made his way back to the room, thoughts of his boyfriend just leading to the thought that he'd completely forgotten ever meeting his lover. And it wasn't the reason he forgot that made him mad - well, technically he was still very, very pissed about why it happened - but just the fact that something that could be such a small but now heartwarming memory was taken from him without even knowing it.

He'd been able to meet his current love at a young age, unlike most people were able to accomplish, and the two had gotten together despite all odds, another accomplishment that most didn't achieve. Yet, he couldn't remember a single thing about that precious moment. And that simple fact caused him to feel physical pain, despite all of the damage being mental.

Izaya couldn't even explain it. In between all the headaches, he would have flashes where he didn't feel pain for a while, mostly when he had zoned out to part of his mind that were completely intact and had nothing missing to try and trigger back - but in that pains place was a completely different one that he wasn't familiar with. Somehow, even if his logic told him that it wasn't possible, it hurt a lot more than the sickness.

It was like something cold was in place of his nerves and it started in his fingers most of the time, travelling up his bones and into his chest where it just made him feel compressed and miserable, and if he thought about it too long then it could settle in his stomach and make him feel empty.

He'd heard of people saying that emotional pain could sometimes affect the body, but besides the lapses in health from his memory he'd thought they'd been lying. Now that he actually felt it, he wished it would just go away and never come back.

The feeling edged away quickly when Kasuka came back with his water, helping him sit up and sip it before laying him back down and letting him rest while holding his hand again. It helped him more than he would let Kasuka know, surely, and he closed his eyes to sleep for a bit while he was still feeling alright.

Bad choice on his part.. After a while his unconscious came back and despite the splitting headache that was forming once again, he wasn't waking up. Just living a dream, a memory or something in between that simply pained him more.

"Come up, come up, if you don't place your bet then no one will win~" Izaya coaxed, looking around at the humans in front of him. They were of various sorts, all in different categories to Izaya, but all of them being quite the same at the moment - after all, they had all decided to join this little club of his and Shinra's to gamble their sorry excuses for allowances away.

Every one of them looked hesitant, obviously not wanting to be the first to bet their savings on the game of choice, currently Blackjack. Izaya looked between all of them again before letting out an amused sigh, jumping down from the desk he'd been standing on. "Alright then, it can't be helped. 100 on the board for me to begin." the ravenett announced, shocking his classmates as he put 100 dollars cash into the box of winnings that was supposed to at least have something other than his own money in it by now.

All of them looked to their friends before taking steps forward to put in a much smaller price than his own for them to play. Izaya smirked as he made sure everything was set up correctly before sitting to take his place as dealer, hoping his constant smile had lulled them into the sense of security he thought it brought them. Of course he'd seen the adverse affects it could also bring, but he could be optimistic when he felt like it.

As everyone took a seat in front of him, the door to their classroom opened and Shinra came in, adjusting his glasses when he saw what they were doing. "Izaya, I thought we agreed to stop this! This is a biology club, not a-!" the student cut off before lowering his voice, not wanting it to carry down the halls and be heard by a teacher. "Not a gambler's ring!" he finished, being waved off by the ruby-eyed student immediately.

"Shinra, I made no such agreement~ You told me to stop being so frivolous with my cash, and I did stop. End of story." Izaya replied, dealing out everyone's 2 cards and watching their faces to see if they got a high or low, smirking as he ran his fingers over the edge of the cards and felt for which ones were fives and which ones were Kings and similar. Some of them already had a resigned look about them, casting glances at the now closed box holding their money, which would soon be going right to Izaya if he played his cards right. The joke in his head made him almost chuckle aloud.

Shinra was still beside him looking nonplussed and sighed softly, rubbing his forehead. "Alright, fine. I can't really stop you or else I won't have a club either.." he murmured, letting Izaya do as he pleased once more...

Izaya walked along the corridor as he made his way to their club room, humming to himself as he pondered what amount he could make today and trying to do calculations of everyone's supposed average in his mind before he opened the door. It didn't matter that he was early, he still had to set up anyways; set up was best done alone so he could make sure it was done right, loving his humans but having no trust for each of their individual abilities.

What he saw when he looked inside actually took away his usually cheerful demeanor. He saw a student in front of Shinra, threateningly holding a pocket knife in his hand and moving towards him; Shinra in turn backed up until he his back hit the glass of the window. "You're the president, aren't you? Give me my fucking money back!" the middle-schooler demanded, causing Shinra to stutter and shake his head.

Izaya acted quickly, shooting forward when he saw the student's weapon move closer to his only friend. He knocked the teen away, elbowing him in the ribs to knock out his air and make it easier before looking at Shinra with wide eyes, seeing that the weapon now out of the boy's hand was lodged in the other teen's side. "Shit.. Shinra, we have to get you help, now." Izaya muttered, seeing the brunet look at him in confusion as he held his side.

"What about this guy?" "Just forget about him." "But, he just-" "Shinra, I know what I'm doing... Do me a favor and tell everyone I'm the one that hurt you." "What!?"

"Shinra." Izaya stopped the other seriously, glancing at the guy on the floor before stomping his heel into his diaphragm, making the guy effective gasp for air before he stopped moving all together. "Shinra, you trust me, right?" he asked, looking at his friend again, eyes calm as he waited for an answer. His companion was obviously still in shock from being attack and still in pain as well but he nodded nonetheless, leaning on Izaya's shoulder as the ravenett guided him out into the hall and towards the nurses office.

Izaya shot up from his position as his body woke himself up, retching as his gut twisted from the now sheering pain in his head. The pounding was unbearable and he could already taste something that made him feel even sicker, hands covering his mouth as he tried to stop himself from vomiting.

He couldn't even see the stunned expression on Kasuka's face as the other man shot up from his chair beside him and grabbed a little trashcan from the corner of Izaya's room, giving it to him so he could hurl without worries. Since Izaya has just woken up he almost forgot that his boyfriend was there, only grateful that he magically had the bucket in front of him when he finally emptied out. The hand rubbing his back was what let him know he wasn't alone though and he was immediately grateful, even if he was too preoccupied to show it.

The informant finished and panted lightly before he groaned from the awful taste, confused at the feeling of something cold being pushed into his hand. "It's more water. Rinse your mouth." Kasuka coaxed, getting a feeble nod from him before he almost knocked out again, not used to the physical strain. After doing what he was told to; helped along by his lover as he got up to clean himself off and brush his teeth while Kasuka got rid of what he'd just done, only making the informant feel worse for putting him through this.

"I'm sorry about that.." Izaya muttered, apparently being predictable since all he got was a smile from the actor.

"It's nothing. I just want you to get better, so get some more rest for me, alright?" Kasuka replied, running a hand through Izaya's hair to help him before the informant listened and closed his eyes, blacking out completely this time.

Chapter 21~

Sorry Izaya, you still have a chapter or two to go for this sickness of yours to be over.

Plenty of time for me to torture you as lovingly as I can~

And does anyone else imagine Kasuka being a good nurse? At least when it comes to friends and family ^^

And on that note, why don't we think about Kasuka wearing a too-short nurse uniform? TvT

Yeah, this part is random for once, but I'm writing it when I'm usually in bed already so what happens happens.

But really, this is one of the memories that sticks completely to the canon-verse. I think this is the second half of the school year that Shinra and Izaya met, making them still a little shaky but still good friends by their standards.

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