Sorry for the wait! I wanted these last few chapters (yes, this is the third to last chapter! ;A;) to be PERFECT. So I really worked hard. I even had my beta help me out by giving me tips and helping me with dialogue. So hopefully you all enjoy!

The steady thrum of Shizuo's breathing ventilator was the only sound that gave Izaya comfort. He waited for a sign, silently begging for Shizuo to just burst out of the bed to throw him out the window or…

Or what? What did he want Shizuo to do? Leap into his arms and forgive him? He had no reason to forgive the louse that had broken him down.

But Shizuo remained still, deep in a drug induced sleep. Izaya sneered, making a soft grunt of dissatisfaction.

"You didn't even hear one word? Are you really that thick headed? I spill my heart out to you and you can't even hear it."

"Now now, you shouldn't yell to patients who are trying to rest. Although, it was a lovely confession, if I do say so myself. Maybe I could plagiarize it and use it on my lovely Celty~! With a few tweaks of course."

Izaya froze up, gritting his teeth with annoyance, "Shinra, how long have you been eavesdropping?"

The young doctor shrugged, "From the part where you said 'We became something like friends', which that in itself is a big step for you two! Congratulations!" Izaya whipped around, glaring at Shinra menacingly.

"You shouldn't be singing about this just yet. If you haven't noticed, Shizuo is still sleeping like a god damn rock."

"Ahh, yes. We gave him morphine to help him relax and sleep." Shinra explained. "We thought it would be best for him to sleep through the night and wake up about a half hour before breakfast was served."

"When exactly is that?"

Shinra glanced at his watch, "About an hour and a half from now."

Izaya groaned, sitting back into his seat, "Damn. I thought maybe I could get this whole thing over with before people started coming to visit."

Shinra pulled up a chair and sat next to his high school friend, folding his hands in his lap. "The fact you came here at all is progress."

"How much have you figured out?" Izaya asked, glancing over at Shinra. The spectacled man shook his head and gestured to Shizuo.

"He's the one who spilled every detail. You really hurt him, you know."

"You think I don't know?." Izaya grumbled, focusing his attention on the man in the bed. He didn't even seem like Shizuo, hooked up to medical equipment and looking so frail.

Shinra lifted his hands up in surrender and chuckled, "No need to get snippy with me!"

Izaya huffed, rolling his eyes slightly. "Anyways…I hoped that maybe it would put things back to how they were."

Shinra hummed with thought before shrugging, "I doubt anything you could have done would have changed what had happened."

"No harm in trying, ne?"

"Well, except for both of you to have a broken heart."

Izaya hated how Shinra had to be right about everything. He had hurt himself in the process of hurting Shizuo. He had used sharp words to attack him, and rebounded on himself.

Why couldn't things just be easy? When it was pure hatred that bound them together, there was no hoops to jump through. No twists and turns in their life. Just the constant chase and fighting.

And now, this warmer feeling kept bubbling in his chest when he looked back on the last few weeks of their relationship before Izaya decided to cut all ties between them. He had truly enjoyed being with him on a daily basis. Never in a million years would he have believed it to be possible. Yet here he was, wanting it back.

"Izaya?"

The raven grunted in response, still deep in his thoughts.

"Do you still want him gone?" Shinra asked quietly, his voice barely louder than the constant beep of the heart monitor. Izaya shook his head, silently giving into the new emotions he felt controlled him. Shinra leaned forward, trying to get a good look at Izaya's expression, but the brunette had his head low, his bangs masking his expression. "Why don't you tell him?"

"It's hard to tell someone who you're supposed to hate that you might…not anymore."

"Well, he told you didn't he?"

Izaya laughed bitterly, "Ahh, but Shizuo is unpredictable and will always do things we don't expect."

"Like confess his love?"

"…Yeah."

Shinra and Izaya sat in silence, watching Shizuo sleep - completely oblivious to the waking world around him and all the drama is bred. Normally, Izaya would have taken the time to calculate his plans; devise a way to get out of every possible mishap that could happen. Instead, he just watched the gentle rise and fall of Shizuo's chest as he slept the day away.

The doctor sighed, getting up from his seat, "Well, I didn't come here for no reason. I need to check up on his recovery progress." Izaya watched him move over to the various machines hooked up to Shizuo.

"Acting like a doctor now? That's new." He grumbled softly, watching Shizuo's peaceful face for any sign of waking.

"What's new is you starting to show signs of acting like a human being. Didn't think you had it in you." Shinra jabbed back, grabbing Shizuo's file to start cross-referencing numbers.

Izaya smirked bitterly, "Things change, ne?" He huffed lightly and shook his head, "Amazing what can happen in the span of four months."

"Yeah, one month you have all your lungs and the next it looks like someone took a big bite out of them."

The statement made Izaya flinch. That comment was directed straight at him. "Oh, haha. Very Funny."

Shinra was about to retort before something on the screen flickered. He frowned, glancing at his reports and back at the monitor, "That can't be right…"

Izaya perked up at that, looking up with slightly wide eyes. "What the hell do you mean, 'this can't be right'?"

"Calm down, calm down…" Shinra said, waving his hand to the brunette. "But…" He tapped the screen to make sure it wasn't glitching, "If this is correct, it means Shizuo's going to wake up a little ahead of schedule." He chuckled slightly, "Doesn't surprise me, Shizuo being Shizuo… I'm going to draw blood for… analysis."

A shudder ran down Izaya's spine, "And this is why I always question myself when I want to go to you for a check up." He got up, leaving his doctors coat on the chair, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to high tail it out of here before the brute decides he's done taking his beauty nap."

Shinra glanced over at the raven, shaking his head slightly. He knew Izaya was trying to skip out early. "I can give you a check up right now if you want." He turned to Izaya, smiling oddly, "Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak."

That grin made Izaya shiver again. He hated that shit eating grin. "Like I'd let you get near me with a needle."

"Maybe there's been a case of neurological rewiring that gave you feelings. A hands-on approach might be best." He paused, reading Izaya's expression. "I'm kidding, I'm booked this week."

"Just because I'm a cruel person doesn't mean I lack emotion. I'm not a damn sociopath. I just prefer not to let emotions weaken me." Izaya barked.

Shinra rolled his eyes, "Yeah, you did a pretty good job at that."

"Are you still mocking me? Or trying to be endearing in some ridiculous way?" Izaya growled, narrowing his eyes at Shinra. The normally menacing glare had no affect on the young doctor.

"I'm trying to show you that it's perfectly normal, human even, to cry or throw things around once in a while when you can't deal with the shit you caused. Your emotions aren't there just so you can stuff them back down and pretend they don't exist."

"I'm aware of every other god damn emotion. I just don't want them. The only emotion I'm welcoming to is hating that blond idiot." he hissed, pointing at the now stirring blond in the hospital bed.

"What blond idiot...?" Shizuo murmured groggily, rolling his head slightly as he pulled himself out of a drugged sleep.

Izaya froze in his spot, retracting his hand back. "Dammit Shinra…I wanted to be out of here," he grumbled under his breath.

"Ahh, Shizuo! Good to see you awake! How are you feeling? A bit dazed? That's normal." Shinra said happily, ignoring the way Izaya glared at him.

Shizuo frowned a little, looking up at Shinra with a dazed expression, "I…Izaya?" Only one person would ever call him a blond idiot…

Shinra looked up toward Izaya, whose deadly expression softened at the sound of Shizuo's weary voice. He raven sighed, "Aye…"

Shizuo squinted his eyes a bit, trying to get a good look at the thin informant standing in the shadows of the room. "What... what are you doing here?"

Izaya slipped his hands into his pockets, walking back over to the side of the bed, "I've been harped at by many to come visit."

"So you came…"

"Regrettably."

Shizuo's hopeful gaze suddenly turned darker, clouded with hurt. "You came because others asked, not because you wanted to. You came because it was convenient for you. You… you didn't come because you genuinely wanted to see me." He turned his head away, unable to look at the man standing above him.

Izaya groaned, "I was planning on it regardless... " He stared pointedly at Shinra, glaring at him with an expression that screamed leave.

The doctor's shoulders fell, and with a sigh he left. As he passed by, he whispered in Izaya's ear, "Don't you dare hurt him."