[Izaya's POV]

The informant sat at his desk, safely inside his home once more as he gathered information for Shiki on the leader of a gang that was getting too close to the Yakuza's territory for his liking. He had been doing this since 6 in the morning and it was currently noon, the clock letting him know that he should stop and get lunch but his mind telling him to stay where he was and finish up before even considering that he should move. Namie cast a glance at him from the corner of her eye from where she sat at her own desk, but for once didn't say anything as she kept filing.

After another half an hour, she stood up and slid on her purse. "Hey, I'm going to grab some lunch. Do you want me to bring something back?" she asked, looking at him blankly and probably expecting a snarky comment of her really having feelings. She didn't get one and just got a wave goodbye in it's place, ruby eyes still stuck to the computer screen.

This had been happening for the last two days since Izaya had called his work and said he wouldn't be coming in until next Monday, giving him enough time to complete countless assignments that he'd been backed up on for the past month and pleasing Shiki to no end. Namie was obviously irritated that she had to come in and work full days again, but after seeing Izaya with bags under his eyes and not a smirk to be seen, she hadn't protested while inside his home.

Now, however, she had had enough of it.

She went over to her boss' desk and slammed her hands down on it, finally getting his attention again as he jumped, his eyes meeting hers. "Izaya, you're getting food. What the fuck do you want?" she demanded, watching him intently.

"Thank you for the offer Namie, but I don't want any food from-" "Izaya, your stomach hasn't shut the fuck up since I got here yesterday! You look like death and you probably haven't gotten an hour of sleep yet, so either let me get you food or cough up what the fuck your problem is."

They had a staring contest at that point, the moments dragging on, and with another loud outburst from his stomach Izaya relented. "I don't care what you get me, just get back here within two hours or I'm cutting your pay." he muttered, looking back at his computer screen and once again ignoring her until she walked out the door. Ruby eyes cast a glance at it before sighing, resting his head in his hand as he tried to remember what time he had went to bed, let alone the time he'd woken up. Despite the racket his stomach was making he didn't feel like eating, and despite all the work he's doing and how much he wants to close his eyes and sleep, they won't stay closed.

Just to add to his pressure, there was once again a buzzing coming from his drawer. And just like the last couple times, it was from Kasuka and not one of his clients, probably to ask him if he was alright again. He'd already texted the man a couple times to let him know he wasn't dead or anything, but besides that he hasn't spoken to anyone outside of work.

Izaya shut the drawer again and turned his chair to look out the window for a little bit, giving his eyes a break from the harsh fake light of his laptop. It was a nice day outside, blue skies, only a few clouds and none of them signalling rain, along with plenty of people walking around on the street since it was lunch time for everyone and they all had a time limit. The sight somehow made him feel a little better, but not enough to give him an appetite.

How was he supposed to eat when he still hadn't figured out if he could be himself again?

The informant kept staring out the window, occasionally shutting his eyes to try sleeping again but failing each attempt. He felt a twinge in his side and huffed, lifting his shirt to double check that there wasn't blood on his gauzes, which were still present since Shinra hadn't called to let him know he didn't need them. There wasn't any blood, but the twinge was still there, making him stand up and head up to his bedroom to grab another pain reliever. He didn't have many left so he'd taken his own dosage down to one pill instead of two and just made sure he didn't go over six a day.

He was just on his way down the stairs when there was a knock on the door, alerting him. He'd recently taken the spare key he'd kept under the door and put it in his desk drawer, seeing as he wouldn't need it until he left and he didn't want Kasuka letting himself in when he was working.

The ravenett looked through the peep-hole, surprised to see Shinra on the other side of his door instead of his boyfriend before he opened it, rubbing his eyes lightly. "Hey Shinra. Why are you here?" he asked, watching the doctor as his smiling face went to one of surprise, then back to a small smile.

"Oh, Kasuka said he was worried about you so he asked if I could come check on you. The last couple times he came there was no answer and no key, apparently." Shinra announced, seeing Izaya nod lightly and step aside so he could come in.

"Well, I'm not dead. Just like I texted him." Shinra just looked at him as he gestured for Izaya to sit on the couch, obviously also there to check out if his wound had healed yet. Izaya complied and settled down, lifting his shirt enough for the gauzes to be shown.

"Sometimes not being dead isn't enough for people to be at ease, Izaya. You have a boyfriend now, he worries about you. Like me and Celty do! You haven't called us for anything in so long, we almost thought you got in trouble with your boss again." the brunet chuckled, getting to work on unwrapping the bandages as he glanced up at Izaya a couple times. "But, um, you do look a little under the weather. Has everything been alright around here?"

Izaya just leaned his head back so he wouldn't have to have another staring contest that day. "Yeah, everything's been fine." he muttered, getting a small hum in return and then silence until he bandages were all off.

"Izaya, what have you been doing all week?" Shinra suddenly demanded, looking up at him and the tone he used making Izaya look back down at him as well.

"What do you mean 'what have I been doing all week'? I've been doing just what you said." "If you were doing what I told you to, then your wound would be just a scar by now!" "Well, how bad is it?"

Shinra glared at him for a second before shaking his head and tending to him again. "It doesn't look infected, but it's still open to a point it shouldn't be. Have you been bleeding a lot?"

"No." Izaya noted, seeing no blood on his bandages all week. There had only been a couple spots on it the first two days as well, so he'd assumed he was fine.

"Hm.. Has it been hurting more than usual?" "I dunno, I've been taking the pills like you said... Oh yeah, I'm gonna need more by the way. The bottle's running out."

Shinra gave him another look at that, making Izaya raise a brow. "What?" he snapped, not liking how much he was being stared at today. I don't need this shit, I need to get back to work... Maybe if I go in a chat-room I can find someone to toss again. I might not be as screwed as I thought..

"Earth to Izaya! Did you not hear me!?" "No, I didn't." "Those pills were supposed to last you two weeks - how many have you been taking!?" "I've been doing just what you told me! Take two at a time, and no more than 6 a day." "Izaya, I told you no more than four a day!"

Oh.. Well, it's his fault, he knew I was half-asleep when he was telling me stuff. Shinra ran his hand through his hair as he thought of what to do. "I knew you looked sick when I came in but.. Please tell me you've been eating." the brunet asked, looking up at him once more.

"Yeah..." "Izaya, you're not allowed to lie to your doctor." "I'm not, Namie is out getting me food as we speak!" "Fine, did you eat yesterday?" "..."

The doctor took out a fresh roll of gauzes from his pocket and started to wrap them around Izaya, double checking the wound again before covering it. "Well, now I know why it hasn't healed properly. You took too many pills and you tricked your body into thinking it was already just fine." Shinra explained, finishing the wrapping before standing and pulling Izaya up with him. "You're coming to my place so we can see if everything checks out alright. Not every case like this turns out too badly, especially since you didn't take more than 2 over your prescription, but.." the doctor trailed off and just got a nod from Izaya, who was finally starting to feel too tired to protest.

The doctor noticed and looped his arm over his shoulders before leading him down the hall to the elevator.

Chapter 32~

I wanted to keep him thinking for a little while, since this would be a big decision in his life, and if you couldn't tell-

Izaya chose the path of climbing back up.

Well, he's trying to..

At this point, the drugs are giving him side-effects that are adding on to his stress and really not helping his decision making, along with affecting his emotions and such, so thank you for coming to the rescue Shinra!

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