[Izaya's POV]

"I'll only be gone an hour at the most, okay?"

"Yeah.."

"And if you need anything you can still call."

"Yeah…"

"Do you really feel fine? I can leave later!"

"I'm fine, Kasu-kun!" Izaya sighed loudly, hoping Kasuka got the message this time. He'd already been fussing over him all day, and while he was grateful for the man when he needed him, the constant mother-hen attitude was beginning to get old.

"Alright.. I'll be back soon." his boyfriend finally relented, giving him a peck on the forehead before heading out the door and towards home. About an hour ago he'd started muttering about needing to grab some clothes for himself, wanting to sleep over at Izaya's just in case anythign happened - Izaya agreed as long as he kept out of his bed until he felt better again - and also that he needed to go buy some groceries for the man if they wanted to eat anything actually healthy in the next week.

Now that he was finally alone the informant could think clearly, taking deep breathes as he stared at the ceiling. He was getting bored of the sight pretty quickly however and shut his eyes, wondering if Kasuka would allow them to relax on the couch and watch a movie later or if he would be confined to the bed. 'I guess I'll just have to ask..'

He kept thinking randomly until his eyes got heavier in their shut state and he let out a soft sigh, peacefully falling asleep for a short while.

"You fuckin' punk, this isn't what we asked for!" a man yelled at him, arm lifting to throw the small bag of drugs back at him, only being stopped by one of his buddies who was apparently still sober. The teenager stood before a group of 5 men, all of them practically wasted except said man who was smoking a cigarette.

"Dude, cut it out. He's like 16, how would he know what the good stuff looks like? At least he got us somethin' to use?" the blond holding onto his reasoned, making Izaya nod his head agreeably despite the glare it got him.

"He promised us meth and he didn't get it to us, I say drug or no drug he deserves a little punishment." the first huffed, shaking the blond off and being backed up by two of their friends, one holding a bat and making Izaya's hand shoot into his pocket where he kept his knife. But despite being armed, his hand shook and he released the blade unwillingly. The teen couldn't use it after all, these were his 'co-workers' as Shiki had put it, meant to be treated as family.. He was glad that his prior family was much kinder to him.

"Now what are you boys doing?" a voice behind Izaya called, familiar and making him open his closed eyes. He hadn't wanted to see what would happen to him when the tallest of them picked him up and hovered him over the ground so he couldn't run, if he even thought to. Now though, the whole group was frozen and when he glanced behind him, their boss stood calmly in the doorway, smiling as he overlooked them.

Izaya had never been more happy to see his boss, the only one that could tell them to not go through with beating him for a simple mistake. How was one that had never done drugs supposed to tell the real from the fake, and the difference between two drugs that looked exactly fucking alike?

Shiki kept his gaze on them for a moment, only being debatable because of his dark shades, before letting out a laugh. "What did the poor thing do to deserve you crowding him, huh?" he asked, almost sounding soft-spoken as he approached, moving his hand to rest it on Izaya's shoulder. The tallest got the signal and set him down, even if none too gently.

"We sent him on a drug run and he came back with shit!"

"It's not my fault coke and meth look the same to me! They're both white powder and get you high, it's practically like me getting you the wrong brand of Coca-Cola by accident!" Izaya protested, grimacing at them as the one who had originally defended him stood up, walking to Shiki's side and keeping his head respectively lowered.

"Boss, you know Buk did the same thing when he first joined. You can't really get too mad, can ya?" the blond murmured, barely letting Izaya hear their conversation. Shiki gave a small nod as he hummed, that damn smirk still on his face.

"No, I guess I can't. Though something needs to be done, it can't happen again when I ask him to go on a run, after all~" Shiki announced, making Izaya shrink from his usually proud stance. Even the blond looked disappointed, but Shiki motioned for the two of them - luckily dismissing the rest that had tried to beat him up - to follow which they did silently, Shiki leading them to a half way and gesturing to the blond.

"Teach him a lesson. Any kind you want, have fun with it. Just make sure he's back in his office once you're done."

"Yessir.." the blond agreed, grabbing Izaya by the arm before he dragged him roughly down towards one of the open doors. The student's eyes grew wide as he realized where they had gone, instantly trying to pull his arm out of the man's grip and kick at his legs and shins to try and get away. Fuck, fuck, fuck! This isn't happening, this isn't going to happen!

He knew this area and made a point to avoid it, mostly because it wasn't uncommon to hear screaming from this hall and a couple nearby. On occasion he'd see woman here, happy or sad, but whichever they appeared they always left looking awful. And it was quite rare to see a man down here but he was sure the same treatment wasn't spared to them.

Izaya was practically crying already by the time they reached the first open door, still kicking and screaming to try and get away from him - the blond threateningly quiet the entire way as he handled him. The ruby-eyed teen gave a small shriek as he was lifted up and thrown into the room, hitting the bed before he bounced off and he heard the door slam shut behind them. He started panicking again before the scene before him went dark.

"Izaya!" a voice shouted, accompanied by hands shaking him to wake him up. "Izaya, are you alright?" the same voice asked, Izaya's eyes shooting open to see his boyfriend's worried expression. He took a moment to try and calm himself down but before he could he was covering his mouth again, frantically pointing to the trash can so Kasuka would get the message. He did and soon he was hacking up his breakfast again, for probably the third time that day. The informant still felt awful and panicked and scared, but as his sickness went down again he could put thoughts together and glanced at the ravenett with him.

"Y-Yeah, it was just a nightmare... I'm alright." he finally coughed out, taking comfort in the fact it was true. He was alright and he had been in his recovered memory too, but having been panicking it was understandable he would feel sick again reliving it. Izaya had remembered what happened after that clearly, everything proceeding being thrown into the room not forgotten and just confusing him to all hell after he'd lost the first half.

Not to his knowledge at the time, the blond was another who had been brought into the line of work through family, not by choice - meaning killing and maiming weren't his thing, but drugs had slowly crept in and made him a bit more willing to stay. That aside, after defending Izaya and being given the chance to take him, he'd simply thrown him in the room to trick Shiki before calming him down again and having one of Izaya's first conversations in his new business place that wasn't filled with requests for something illegal.

The man hadn't laid a hand on him after that and didn't even hint that he wanted to, just keeping Izaya calm and safe inside their little room for about an hour an a half - a good amount of time for what they'd been thought to be doing to be over with. And to say Izaya was grateful was an understatement, he could have held onto the guy and cried for an hour if he was anyone other than himself, wishing more people he'd known then to be so kind to him.

Even after losing the, at that time, more important part of that memory Izaya had remained close to him, now having a sort of shield and mentor in this job he'd been forced into and had stayed in contact with him through all of these years. The two emailed each other constantly now, and Izaya thought to himself that he'd have to email him a formal 'thank-you' once he got the chance, even if it was a couple years late for it.

The informant's attention was once again caught by his boyfriend, who was trying to get him to look at him instead of hover over the waste bucket like he still needed it. "Izaya, seriously, say something." Kasuka persisted, waving his hand in front of his eyes before Izaya turned them to him again, a sorry smile on his face.

"Sorry about that, I didn't want to vomit again in the middle of a sentence." he lied easily, sitting up and shifting around so he could go brush his teeth again. "I'm fine now, thanks Kasu-kun." he muttered, getting a nod before his boyfriend went to go throw out the mess again. They both finished their task before Izaya came out, grimacing at his bed before looking over at the actor. "Is it alright if we watch a movie? I think I'm getting sicker just from the boredom." And with a roll of his eyes, Kasuka headed down the stairs with him towards the living room.

Chapter 22!

So, how did you guys like this formulated little scenario of mine?

I like to think that not all people in a bad business are bad, even if they try to act like it, so here ya go - one of Izaya's very few actual friends!

I haven't thought of a name for him yet, which is why I didn't include one, so if you guys could suggest something that would be lovely!

And 20 points to anyone who noticed the guy is motifed off of Shizuo~

I also like to think that, whether it's really for who Shizuo is or not, there's always something more to Izaya not actually killing him than losing a play-thing.

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