[Izaya's POV]

Alright, I can do this. Nothing's concrete anyway, and it's not like he can hurt me for asking. I'd still be working for him after all.. Izaya told himself as he looked up at the building where one of the many Yakuza headquarters was located. Of course they had back-up buildings if anything got out about their original base, but this one was actually in full use at the moment, holding Shiki's office as well.

The informant sighed softly before heading inside and planting a smirk on his face as usual, looking around at the various people in the main room before he went right to the elevator and put in a code to go up, that one action eliminating any suspicious gaze that was on him. His face may be commonly known in Ikebukuro, but in the headquarters almost a whole city away from his home there weren't a lot of people that remembered him well or in a good light.

He calmed his nerves as he went up the elevator, stepping off at the 'top' floor that it would go to and looking around at the various low-lifes located around him. This place was more of a common room than anything else, made for the workers to hang out when not on an assignment, and also a place to station guards so no one unwanted could go down the long hallway passed them and continue up 3 flights of stairs to Shiki's office.

They were all spread into their own groups, mostly gangs that have their territory owned by the Yakuza instead of being intruders, and some were laughing loudly with each other while others were almost dead silent, grumbling to one another as they made some kind of bet or deal. The one that caught his eye was something in between, half the group laughing their heads off while the rest watched them with a dull 'you guys must be drunk' expression, one of them being a familiar blond. "Shinnosu." Izaya called over to him, walking a bit closer so he could tell who he was in the dimmed room, and catching his eye before the blond stood up with a grin.

"Hey! It's been way too long." the man greeted, dismissing himself from his friends and walking over to him, following him as he skirted around the various thugs and went into the hallway instead, stopping half-way down to lean against the wall.

"Yeah, it has been.. How have you been since we talked?" Izaya asked, feeling something almost akin to guilt when he realized he'd forgotten to reply to the man's emails in two weeks. It wasn't an awfully long time, but surely enough to make the blond worry about him. Shinnosu shrugged a little, taking another drag of his cigarette.

"I've been fine. I heard you tracked down the leader of that gang thats been bugging us. Me and the boys are supposed to be part of the second run if they don't go down the first time." he announced, almost proudly. Then he looked down at Izaya again, seeing a thoughtful expression. "What ya thinkin' about? And why are you here? You don't come in all that often since you were left to your own."

Izaya gave a small shrug back before he thought of something, glancing up at the taller blond. "I just wanted to come speak with Shiki about something but.. Do you know if there are any positions open around here besides what I do? Like hacking or anything like that." the informant asked finally, thinking if anyone would know if could be him. After all, Shinnosu had been working there for even longer than he has, and works in the office a lot of the time. The genuine look of surprise on the blond's face almost made Izaya laugh, despite being nervous.

"Orihara, don't tell me you finally want out.." he said suddenly, looking like Izaya had lost his mind. "You told me you love your job!" Shinnosu added.

"No, no. I don't want out, Shin, I'm fine. I'm just a little.. bored, ya know? I've been doing the exact same thing for years, even I'm surprised I didn't get tired of it earlier!" Izaya replied, hoping Shinnosu wouldn't go into over-protective mode or something. Back when he was a teenager and completely helpless on his own it had been more than welcome, but now.. Well, his flick-blade was enough to equal about three of Shinnosu, in Izaya's own opinion. The blond calmed down at that, but still looked worried, thinking for a moment before letting out another sigh.

"I haven't heard anything about Shiki needing a new person for anything, but I guess you could ask him.. Are you sure about this? I mean, it does make sense that you're bored, but you could do your job in your sleep! Do you really wanna give that up?" the blond asked him, scratching the back of his neck as he tried to wrap his mind around what Izaya could be up to.

Izaya thought about what he said for a second before shaking his head. "No, I guess I don't.. But I want something new Shin, I can still ask what he has available, right?" the ravenett replied, resolving himself before glancing down the hall. "Guess I should go do that now, since I'm here. I'll come out and see you once we're done, alright? We can go get Ootoro like when we met." he offered, patting the blond's arm before pushing off the wall and going down the hall, steeling his nerves as he reached the end of it and started up the stairs.

Before he realized it, Shinnosu was at his side again, putting out his cigarette and throwing it away before they reached the third flight of stairs. "Sure, we'll go get Ootoro, but I'm keeping tabs on you first. God knows you don't watch out for yourself enough.." the blond muttered, getting a small smile and nod. Before they went up, Izaya stopped him for a second.

"Hey, Shin? You remember when we first met right?" the ravenett asked, trying not to feel stupid at the look that was given to him.

"Yeah, I do. Why?" "I just wanted to thank you for saving my ass back then, quite literally.."

Shinnosu almost burst out laughing, giving him a grin before ruffling his hair a bit, and letting Izaya fix it before they started climbing up again. "It was nothin', Orihara. Just try to keep me from having to save it again." the blond chuckled, both soon turning serious as they got to the top of the stairs and were faced with Shiki's body guards.

Chapter 36!

Alright so, next chapter we get to see if I suck at writing Shiki or not! Exciting!

It might go better than expected, after all I thought I would suck doing a lot of characters already and they came out okay so..

Re-watching the anime 30 times helps, I'm sure x3

Plus, here's a little more Shinnosu since he was brought up before. I feel like he's just a parallel of Shizuo that doesn't hate Izaya, period, one of the few differences.

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