Celty parked her bike and looked down the street from where she came, watching Shizuo steadily catch up with her after coming to a halt. It was difficult for her to tell whether keeping up with her had taken his breath away or if he was trying and failing to do calming, deep breathing exercises. She was willing to bet it was the latter, honestly, given where she'd lead him. She types out a message for him to read once he reaches her, 'Are you okay?'

Shizuo read the message but looked up at the apartment before giving Celty an answer, "Peachy. What floor is he on?" She quickly wrote another message for him, revealing, 'Would you be upset if I continued to lead you? A loud entrance may not be the best approach, especially if you wish not to spook the dog,' Celty tried to reason. Shizuo looked slightly offended by the message but surmised she was probably right, eventually letting her lead the way into the building.

Upstairs, the two men were none the wiser to the storm that was approaching, waiting around for Celty to arrive and hopefully help with the troublesome mutt.

Izaya and Shelby had broken their stares and appeared to be relaxing to some extent since the call. The dog was lying down, her head resting on the cage floor as she gazed longingly at the door, and Izaya was taking a short nap. Shinra paused his pacing as the tense atmosphere dissipated, finally taking a seat in a simple, wooden chair to wait. It was difficult to know for sure how long Celty would take to arrive, especially if she was busy.

Thankfully, the wait would be brief, as there was a knock at the door a few moments after Shinra sat down, prompting the dog to raise her head and growl quietly. "She must've had a loose schedule today," Shinra said casually to himself as he stood up and moved to the door, which he opened without hesitation.

Celty stood on the other side, giving a wave, but swiftly moving out from behind her came Shizuo, who barged into the room past her and straight to where Izaya was resting. "Woah, hey..! You brought Shizuo with you?!" Shinra whimpered, turning back to Celty with a confused look after witnessing the bartender pause and stare down at the dozing broker. Celty gently shrugged in response, typing out a message for him, 'I was worried Izaya would hurt the dog. You know how he can be. Plus, he seems familiar with her; he might help.'

"Everything's been well under control, nothing and nobody's hurt her-!"

"Oh, really?" Shizuo chuckled softly, plucking the ice pack off of Izaya's crotch and holding it high, "What about him being hurt? Did he run into a table or something..?" It was then Shelby snorted while looking at the ice pack, a smug look on her face. It told Shizuo all he needed to know.

"...All right, so we've had some trouble," Shinra admitted, looking between the new arrivals, "It's why I wanted Celty—and Celty only—to come and help!" Shizuo nodded, casually dropping the ice pack on Izaya and waking him up with a yelp. When his eyes focused, Izaya hurriedly shuffled further down the couch, stunned to see Shizuo in his home. "Oh, calm down, flea, I've been advised to keep my temper in check. Lucky you."

Shizuo says this, but the broker can clearly see an engorged vein on his temple pumping furiously, so he's not letting down his guard just because Shizuo says he's holding back. Shizuo's "calm" gaze was drawn away from Izaya by a bark from the caged dog, prompting him to kneel beside her prison and begin talking to her instead, "Hey, Shelby! I was worried about you earlier; glad to know you're here and not at the bottom of a river somewhere!"

' Whuff! ' Shelby barked, her tail wagging, as she rubbed up against the cage's side to allow Shizuo to rake her fur through the bars. "Can someone please explain to me why I've unwittingly become host to a small party?" Izaya huffed, "This is getting ridiculous!"

"Now, Izaya, I think any help that comes our way is welcomed at this point," Shinra mentioned sheepishly, letting Celty enter the apartment so he could shut the door, "I don't think either of us could handle Shelby after what's happened just in the past hour or so..." Shizuo raised his head, asking the two men a simple question, "And what's happened in the past hour, hm?"

"Nothing happened," Izaya snapped, shooting a glare Shinra's way, "Nothing I… we couldn't handle." Shizuo nodded again, standing up and looking down at the ice pack in Izaya's lap, "...I wouldn't act so humble; a lot of people would've paid good money to see a dog bite your balls, it's just a shame it happened here and not out in the streets."

Izaya arose from his seat with a groan, allowing the pack to fall to the floor as he appeared to be overly sensitive about what had occurred, "Nothing. Happened." Shizuo's smile grew into a forced grin, the bartender moving closer to Izaya as he teased him, "Oh, come on, there's no shame in it! I also suppose, since clearly nothing happened, you wouldn't mind if I let her out; I imagine she'd just love to shower you with affection. Or better yet, let me shower you instead..." Shelby had risen to her paws by the time the tensions seemed to be rising, knocking around her cage again and whining loudly.

Shinra stepped in between the two men before they could butt heads and tear the room apart, "All right, enough! Listen, if you two are gonna fight, can you at least move it to the other room?! You're driving the dog nuts!" And it was true, as on inspection, Shelby was gnawing vigorously at the bars of the kennel, having managed to bend a few of them out of shape in a short span of time.

Izaya and Shizuo looked at each other, begrudgingly letting the scientist push them over to the bedroom. "Oh, Celty!" Shinra called as he tried to keep the momentary peace, "Can you please try and calm Shelby down, she looks beyond tense..!" Celty gave him a quick nod, watching the door close and hearing a loud verbal brawl between the two men begin before she could even think about approaching Shelby.

The dog had been whipped into a frenzy by this point, her frantic barks and howls almost matching the volume of the loud voices from the other room. This may not be a pleasant few minutes for Celty...

Despite being injured and trapped in a small space, Izaya managed to avoid Shizuo's attempts to squash him like a bug, only making Shizuo angrier and angrier. "Why the Hell can't you accept defeat when it's staring you in the face?!" he growled as he effortlessly picked up a dresser and tossed it Izaya's way, just barely missing him, "Why can't you let things go? It's not my fault you're dumb enough to fall into the same shtick every time!"

Meanwhile, Shinra huddled in a corner, trying to stay out of the fight despite being pelted with various debris from smashed furniture. Shinra was keeping an ear out for any sounds of a struggle in the other room, knowing Shelby would probably be more than willing to try taking another chunk out of someone.

Celty could handle whatever the dog threw at her, but Shinra didn't think he'd forgive himself if she got hurt by her. Something interesting piqued his interest... or rather, the lack of something interesting did. Shinra's stomach dropped as the never-ending, erratic barks died out in the other room. "Guys?" He attempted to interrupt, but his voice was only a squeak in comparison to the near-earth-shattering sounds of the two men scuffling, "Guys. GUYS!"

Just as Shizuo had managed to grab a hold of Izaya's throat, he gave pause, "For fuck's sake, WHAT?"

"There's just silence from the other room, I'm worried something's happened out there…"

"Why don't you go look, then," Izaya suggested through brief gasps, "We're fine..!" Shinra frowned but went ahead and left the room to investigate, fully expecting to be attacked by an angry dog but instead discovering a wondrous sight. Excitedly, he turned back around, grabbing the men's attention as the door swung open, "You guys should come see this real quick!"

Izaya and Shizuo exchanged another glance, clearly perplexed as to what had gotten Shinra so excited, but it might be worth pausing their escapades to take a look. The two men exit the bedroom and come to a halt by Shinra's side, looking down to see Celty sitting on the couch, Shelby lying down alongside her and resting her head on her lap, the dog looking absolutely dreamy as the dullahan lightly scratched her scalp.

"Funny, huh?" Shinra smiled, "I don't know if I've seen her this relaxed yet..!" It certainly looked like Celty had made a fast friend, hardly acknowledging the other bodies in the room with her as her fingers worked their magic. "You know…" Shinra started, looking toward Izaya, "Since she seems to be really relaxed, now might be a good time to try and make amends..!"

Izaya swallowed harshly at the thought, but it was a loud scoff from his adversary that got his attention. "What..? You don't think I can pet a dog?"

"I don't believe you can't," Shizuo hummed, "I'm just looking forward to hearing you squeal when she inevitably bites you." Then that settled it, based on Shizuo's strong assertion that Shelby was going to lash out, Izaya hesitantly made his way over to the pair on the couch to prove him wrong. As he approached, he visibly grew nervous, something Shelby picked up on as she suddenly raised her head to look back at him.

"Ah, easy, girl," Izaya tried to ease, reaching a hand out toward the dog. Despite a deep growl rising from her throat, he persisted until his hand touched her back. Izaya chuckled nervously, hesitantly stroking down the fur that was beginning to stand on end. "S-see? I can pet a dog just fi-" Shelby lunged for him just as he was about to gloat, only to be stopped short by Celty grabbing her bandana. Her jaws snapped shut just centimeters from his hand as he stumbled backward, landing hard on his backside.

While Izaya sat on the ground, looking up at Shelby with a dejected expression, Shizuo spoke up, "Well, you didn't get bit, I'll give you that…"