[Izaya's POV]

Izaya sat on the bed behind his sisters, one of them on each side of him to block an escape, while they played a game or two and he volunteered to be referee. He'd already been with them for about half an hour now and they were still asking him continuous questions: 'Have you found anyone yet?', 'Are you really not friends with Shizu-chan?', 'Why are you still wearing the same jacket you had, like, three years ago?', and most of all 'Can you stop staring at your freakin' phone, Iza-nii?'.

He couldn't really help that the answer was 'no' to that last one. He was just nervous. It had been almost exactly 30 minutes since he'd texted Kasuka that he was alive and well, currently away from danger and the boy who had presented it and all that. He'd sent it half an hour ago and gotten no reply because Kasuka was currently in a meeting for some job opportunity that his manager had said was 'too good to pass up', but that also didn't make the informant any less fidgety. Izaya knew his boyfriend well by now; when he did get the message and got around to reading it, he would instantly ask a whole bunch of questions about what had happened, where he is now, what he's up to - no, his boyfriend is not a stalker, he's just genuinely worried about him.

And in that string of questions, if he lets something slip about being with family then he'll ask about them, if he can meet them - well, maybe, they hadn't really talked about 'meeting the family' much, since Izaya and Shizuo have known each other for years already; the hardest part was already over in that aspect - and he might even ask about why he's there with them so long when he has work to do (if he happens to be so curious). Telling him the honest answer of 'I was worried for their lives' wouldn't be the best route to go, obviously, even if he'd been finding it harder and harder to lie or avoid his boyfriend's questions as their time together went on. How could anyone calmly tell their boyfriend, 'hey, yeah Im fine, I just saved my baby sisters from being blown up by a variable of grenades, thats all - no biggie!'? The simple answer is: you can't. But, he was going to try if it came to that, for the sake of telling his partner the truth.

Then the second part of that, if Shizuo doesn't contact Kasuka before Izaya can, would be telling Kasuka that he'd just let his dear brother walk away with no help, holding fucking grenades!

Again, not the easiest thing to tell someone, especially your boyfriend... It's not like I was really thinking about Shizu-chan's well-being though. I've never had to before and I would much rather let him blow up than let me sisters take the brunt of it... Maybe I should call Shinra to see if the idiot made it there safely. Izaya thought to himself, changing his gaze from being blankly locked onto the screen in front of them towards his sisters. Due to them switching games without him noticing, they were now sharing a handheld while watching mostly cut-scenes, instead of trying to kill each other or run each other over in Mario Kart.

The informant glanced between them before shifting his legs away from them, trying to be stealthy about it at first before he was caught anyway. Mairu turned his head to look at him with a pout as he dove away now, the girl having hopped towards him to try and stop him from leaving. "Iza-nii, you promised-!" the twin started, Izaya stopping her by holding up both his hands in mock-surrender.

"I know, I promised. I'm just gonna go in the hall for a second and call Shinra. If I don't come back in ten minutes, at the most, then I give you full permission to head-butt me in the stomach when you find me." the ravenett announced, hands still up as he locked eyes with his sister, a small staring-contest beginning between them. All was silent for a few moments before his phone let out a small beep, the device calling for his attention and effectively making Mairu just from the sudden break of silence, blinking and losing the contest.

Mairu pouted and moved her glasses up her nose a little before turning back to Kururi. "Fine.. But I'm counting by the second, so you better be careful or else you'll be getting a head-butt from the both of us." she announced, the short-haired twin beside her nodding confirmation to the deal as Izaya shuffled out of the room.

"Alright, I got it. Be right back." he dismissed, stepping into the hall and shutting the door behind him, knowing he would have to knock for them to let him in again but not really caring. He took out his cellphone and checked it, seeing that the beep was just from his phone getting down to half-battery, before he dialed in Shinra's number, worrying his bottom lip as the phone went ignored the first time around.

He didn't even get a chance to click redial before his phone was ringing though, Shinra getting back to him at amazing speed. "Izaya, please tell you didn't really send Shizuo all the way here carrying an active grenade." Shinra began, not even bothering to say hello as the informant answered the call. Izaya could tell just from his tone of voice that Shinra was a little bit panicked, maybe even a bit upset. Despite the doctor not being able to see it, he bent his head a little in shame.

"Well.. I didn't not send him over there with one." was the informant's only response, being met with, as expected, exasperated silence. There was a small sigh that followed it a moment after and Izaya stopped himself from worrying his lip more as he spoke first. "Look, I'm sorry that I sent him over there. Well, I didn't send him over there exactly, he just decided to go to your place.. But, I should have at least gone with him to handle it. My bad." Izaya admitted slowly, the phone giving him silence again as Izaya imagined the look on Shinra's face. It was pretty rare that the ravenett apologized to his doctor-friend for.. pretty much anything, so he could just imagine the doctor either smiling, staring at the phone in confusion, or glaring at it instead like he'd just said a bad joke. Knowing Shinra, it was probably the first option, but hey - they usually didn't have the stress of a bomb hanging over them, so ya never know.

"Okay..." Maybe it was the second option. "Thank you for the apology. But, moving on, we still have something very dangerous just sitting in my apartment. I would appreciate it if we could find somewhere else to put it or to let it go off in. Preferably now or very, very soon!" Shinra finally insisted, the stress back in his voice. He didn't sound quite as mad or upset anymore though, which took a weight off Izaya's shoulders for a second.

When the ravenett glanced back at the hotel door, checking to see if Mairu was coming to headbutt him or not, the weight came back. "I would love to help you as quickly as possible Shinra, but I'm with family at the moment. I know, this isn't really the time, but..." the informant trailed off suddenly, not knowing what to say to the other. He could just come out and say that he wanted to protect his family at the moment, that he'd almost had a heart attack the minute he found out they were anywhere near it, let alone had it in their own possession, just a slip-up away from hurting them or massacring them. Then again, he could just choose to say nothing, like usual, and let Shinra have that bit of perspective run off to him somehow, once again letting him magically know what the problem was.

That magical, much appreciate second option that he'd come to love came through for him once again when Shinra began speaking. "I understand. Tell your mom I said hi, and tell Kururi that it's still her job to take care of Mairu. She can't slack off just because there's a family doctor around." the brunet announced, shuffling heard on the other side. He assumed that Shinra was getting ready to hang up, moving around his apartment while avoiding the grenade most likely put in the center of the waiting room while they wondered what to do.

The informant found himself nodding to the other despite knowing that he couldn't see him or return the act. "I will. If she can't take care of her, then I'm still here either way... For now, just tell Shizu-chan to go check on that brat from earlier, we didn't scare him as much as we could have. Us running off to find the twins might even make him reconsider changing his ways. And I just have to keep hanging out for another... 2 hours, 3 tops. As soon as they let me go I'll be back home looking for a place to drop it off. Just don't touch the box too much, especially the top of it, and you should make it by just fine." Izaya babbled on, finally sharing a farewell with the doctor before hanging up, closing his phone only to open it again when there was another beep, this time alerting him to a message from Kasuka.

Of course he would text me now.. I'll answer him when I'm not in danger of stomach destruction. Izaya mentally sighed, pocketing his cellphone again as he knocked on the hotel door, waiting patiently to be dragged back inside by the two most loving demon-spawns he'd ever met.

Chapter 98.

I'm not dead, guys, I swear!

I took a little break from the internet the last three days. I didn't check this site, didn't go on Tumblr, didn't even turn on my PC.

Pretty much the only thing I allowed myself to do on the internet for the last three days was watch Youtube and even that was at a limit because I tried to play a new fighting game with Nutmeg. She kicked my ass, btw...

Anyways, I'm not dead, I'm gonna try to keep updating like normal again, I'm sorry for all the late updates lately and lack of motivation - things at school were hectic this week too since I just had project after project, almost all of them being due within like 3 days of being assigned, so the usual time that I spend during school to write was taken up by trying to finish all of those projects plus the normal amount I do.

This last week has just been a sad time for the history of this story and my creativity in general.

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