While the men in the room gathered and huddled in a circle, Celty continued to pet Shelby, slicking down the fur on her back as it continued to stand on end again and again. Even with Izaya not directly in sight, it seemed his voice continued to set her off. "So, what now?" Shizuo asked, looking between the two other men. "Now, we try and get Shelby used to Izaya—with Celty's help, of course," Shinra answered.
Shizuo scoffed, "But why? Things have been so much better with her going after him, and I can't think of anybody upset about it."
"I'm upset by it," Izaya frowned, "doesn't that count?"
Shizuo didn't turn his gaze away, looking unamused as he replied simply, "No."
"All right, all right," Shinra chuckled awkwardly, forcing himself between the two before they could even think about starting another shouting match, "we're going to work on, at least, getting Shelby used to Izaya, and because she seems to like you, Shizuo, you're going to stay here and help. Got it?"
Both Shizuo and Izaya looked skeptically at Shinra, but with a couple of moments of silence and nothing else to suggest, they eventually caved into the suggestion. "Fine, but let it be known I'm staying just because I want to see Shelby bite the flea's ass firsthand, not to help him," Shizuo grinned tauntingly.
"She's NOT going to bite me again! We're going to make sure of that," Izaya stomped, turning his attention to Shinra, "what do you suggest we start with?!"
Shinra tapped his chin, thinking, "Well… maybe…"
And suddenly, before Izaya knew it, he was back in front of the dog, equipped only with a simple, cheeseburger-shaped squeaky toy and a tug-of-war rope, while Celty held Shelby's bandana loosely. "W-what's the idea behind this again?" Izaya nervously spoke, unable to take his eyes off of the dog. "We're going to try associating positive objects—or those toys you're holding—with you," Shinra explained, sitting off to the side with Shizuo, "try getting closer to the floor and offer them to her; the goal is to try and get her to play with you and the toys. If she does well, Shizuo will reward her."
Izaya looked over briefly, catching Shizuo lightly shaking a bag of bacon-flavored treats and mentioning, "Yup, though I can't guarantee I won't reward her for not complying." The broker whimpered quietly to himself before returning his gaze to Shelby and dropping to his knees. He shifted his eyes between the two toys and ended up holding out the cheeseburger toy to Shelby, who was only a few feet away. Shelby's tail stiffened after initially swaying, the dog staring down at the squeaky toy and then moving her gaze back to Izaya's face, almost as if she was planning her next action. Celty gradually released the dog's bandana to allow her to approach, Shelby creeping up to the toy slowly, pressing her nose against it, and then sniffing it attentively.
"You… want to play with this one..?" Izaya spoke gently as he tried to keep himself together. Shelby interrupted her sniffing with a sharp exhale, holding still until she surged forward again, but this time she seized the toy from his hand and almost instantly dropped to her stomach to chew on it, making it cry out loudly. Izaya eventually let out an incredibly nervous chuckle, standing up from his knees to let Shelby chew on something other than him for a little bit, way too afraid to try and take the toy away.
"...Well, it's a start," Shinra said, gesturing for Izaya to come over, "and while I did initially state Shizuo would be handing her the treat, I think you should instead, Izaya."
"Why?!" Izaya protested, although trying not to raise his voice too high, "She likes him, not me!"
"You're the one she's supposed to like," Shizuo tacked on to Shinra's statement, plucking a treat out of the bag and letting Izaya take it from his hand, "go make her like you." The broker quirked a brow, clutching the treat in his hand as he turned back around to go and offer it to the dog, but not before Shizuo stealthily slid an additional treat into one of Izaya's back pockets, somehow evading Shinra's watchful eye.
Izaya knelt in front of Shelby, delicately placing the morsel near her nose so she was able to smell it. Shelby quickly abandoned her hamburger toy and followed the treat, the broker eventually dropping it into her mouth to avoid getting his hand too close again. Shelby drooped her head to chew the goodie and began consuming it in small parts, allowing Izaya to get away unscathed.
He stood up and confidently turned to Shizuo, who did look ever-so-slightly impressed, "See? I didn't get bit!"
"Congrats," Shizuo feigned support, "maybe we'll work up to not having her growl in your mere presence next." Shelby finished her reward while Shizuo and Izaya kept up their game, raising her head and sniffing the air when she realized there was still a loose treat someplace. Shinra and Celty both noticed it during Izaya and Shizuo's 'casual' banter but assumed she was just smelling residue left on one of the men's hands.
Shelby sprung to her feet and trotted straight to Izaya, having traced the scent to the reward barely peeping out of his back pocket. Even though she didn't need the motivation of food, it undoubtedly helped, and the dog tightly clamped her jaws around Izaya's ass yet again.
The nasty nip cut whatever witty line Izaya had short with a prevailing squeak, making him jut forward in surprise. Immediately, Shinra and Celty jumped into action, one grabbing Shelby's bandana, and the other trying to pry her jaws open. "Shelby, no!" Shinra cried, trying hard to pull the dog's mouth open, "Let him go!" Izaya couldn't do much but brace himself against the small table, holding onto it while the two tried to remove Shelby's sharp teeth from his backside.
Then he noticed Shizuo.
The bartender had a huge grin plastered on his face and he was clearly stifling laughter, sitting back comfortably in his chair as he watched Izaya's face contort in pain. "You bastard!" the broker cried out, "You did something to make her—OW!—do this!"
"Maybe," Shizuo nonchalantly agreed, setting the treat bag on the table in front of Izaya; an obvious weapon! If Shelby wasn't actively trying to tear him apart, Izaya would do his best to throttle Shizuo. "Hey!" Shinra cried out from his post, "If you did something to make her bite him, you have to help!" Initially, Shizuo slumped further into his chair, refusing to help any of them… but then he got an idea.
"You want me to help, huh?" he asked the group, "I'll help!" He rose from his seat, ushering Celty and Shinra to stop trying to pull the dog off before he suddenly picked her, and by extension Izaya, up off the floor. Surprisingly, Shelby still refused to drop Izaya, keeping a firm, tight lock on his ass as he dangles inches off of the floor, making Shizuo outwardly admit, "...You've got quite a jaw!" Izaya was at a loss for words, sharp teeth still digging into his rump and only sinking deeper, and now having quite an audience to watch this all unfold. It was… far from flattering.
Thankfully for the broker, however, there was suddenly a loud ripping noise, and he fell back to the ground in a crumpled heap, the dog now removed. As usual, penance for his freedom came with the price of his pants, a crude, jagged window now torn into, what was, the seat of his jeans.
Shizuo carefully set Shelby down and, instead of taking another bite out of Izaya, she trotted triumphantly to the living room, setting the torn-off seat on the ground before digging the treat out of its back pocket. As she happily eats, Celty and Shinra figure out what Izaya already had moments ago.
"You hid a treat in his back pocket?!" Shinra yelled, watching Izaya slowly rise back to his feet, "Things were going so well!"
"They weren't going that well," Shizuo scoffed again, "he couldn't even bring himself to let her take the treat out of his hand."
"Because she would bite me!" Izaya interjected, turning his back away from the others, despite them all already having gotten a good look at his undergarments, "I wasn't risking it yet!"
Shizuo chuckled, "Oh, please, like you ever would; you should've just let her be."
Izaya tried to think of a rebuttal, but with the pain in his rear, and yet another need to change his clothes, he instead stomped off, shutting the door to the bedroom with a hefty slam. "...I can't believe I'm saying this," Shinra started, unusually stern, "but you should apologize. I understand the bad blood, but this is something that shouldn't involve your stupid squabbling." Shinra turns away and heads towards the counter, taking a simple blue nylon collar and leash off its surface before approaching Shelby to properly tack her. "To calm her down, Celty and I are going to take her on a walk, and when we get back, you two better be singing Kumbaya together on the couch and ready to approach this like adults."
In a huff, Shinra heads toward the door, leading Shelby and Celty outside of the apartment before shutting the door behind them, leaving the two men alone to reconcile.
