[Izaya's POV]

After a whole day of laying around with his boyfriend on the couch, watching stupid movies and being pampered; along with Kasuka almost setting his kitchen on fire from trying to make him something special to eat; Izaya was finally alone in his bed and staring up at his ceiling, his wound keeping him awake again and leaving him on his lonesome to think.

In his opinion there wasn't much to think about, he'd made his decision of letting come what may and staying by Kasuka's side even if that made him a lot more human than he was comfortable with. But really, he knew he was lying. If I can't do my job like I used to, then Shiki might 'fire' me after all, even if I keep working constantly.. Or he could go for Kasuka instead and use him as leverage…

Izaya turned over at that, opening his drawer and pulling out the stuffed alpaca, Bonnie, to hold it to his chest, not liking the image he'd gotten of Kasuka being kidnapped by his boss. It's not like I suck at my job though… I'm still getting things done just as well as before, just a little slower and with a lot less free-time for myself.. At that thought he brightened back up again, thinking of the list of assignments he'd completed in the just the couple days he'd taken off from his hobby-job. I got three people's addresses and weekly schedules to Shiki so he could catch them, two of them already caught and the last one currently being worked on by buffs; I pulled two drug dealers into siding with Shiki and being stuck into his fucking web as well; plus, everyone is still working on getting this gang business away from the Yakuza base and I gave them all the info I readily could and am still providing some for him… No, there's no way he would fire me yet.

The informant took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, wondering if he'd ever be able to actually enjoy his line of work again. It was what he did best and he still took a bit of pride in his own efficiency, but he did like it a lot better seeing the faces on peoples' faces when they were watching their show in a parlor somewhere or reading an article about it in a magazine, if there happened to be one. It was better to him than simply getting a job done and reporting to Shiki's smirking face once in a while for evaluation when he was called upon for one.

It's not too bad to work either, Kasuka enjoys watching me do it. And he always offers to go buy Ootoro for me when I'm gathering information~ Izaya mused to himself, smirking slightly before another thought came to him, making it dim a little. But, he did look really worried when I got stabbed. And I'm sure he's not too stupid to realize that people die because of what I do. It's gonna way on him eventually, a lot more than it would for me at least..

The ravenett rolled over onto his other side as he wondered what he could do, considering asking Shiki to give him a different position. If he really thought about it, he had a computer, manipulation skills and was quite adaptable so any job Shiki thought of giving him, as long as it wasn't a position as grunt, would be fine for him. Maybe he could even get a job like what Namie does, except for people at Headquarters instead.

He paused for a second with a scowl. Ew… I'm turning human but I refuse to lower myself to Namie standards! He decided, nodding to himself before sighing and sitting up, staggering to his feet and heading downstairs to his kitchen to make himself some express ramen, his stomach grumbling from being awake longer than usual. Maybe I need to think of my options a little more first.. Come to think of it, I haven't been called to Headquarters in so long I don't even know what positions could need more people. I know last time it was people good with hacking and firewalls, but now that everyone has computers or at least knows how to start one, then those positions might be long gone…

Izaya started munching on his noodles as he leaned against the counter, staring blankly at the table in front of him as he kept wandering through his mind to try and think of something suitable for him, if not in his current position. He finally gave up thinking about it when he realized he was scraping the bottom of the ramen cup and still hadn't come up with any valid points. Fine.. I'll head to Headquarters myself tomorrow and see if there's anything good. If not then.. Well, this job can last me a while longer. It does give me a couple grand an assignment..

And with that, he headed back upstairs to try and get some sleep.

I'm so, so sorry for the short chapter today guys, but I just wanted to get something out and start on the next chapter before anything came up. I couldn't get anything out yesterday just because I was in no mood for writing on Tuesday night and had nothing to readily update in the morning.

I hope you guys like this lead in, and I still haven't decided if he's gonna be going right to Shiki or not since I've never written as him before, so just stay tuned!

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