Shizuo found himself alone with the person he despised the most, facing the impossible task of apologizing to him. Reluctant to act, he stood in the center of the room after everyone else had gone, arms crossed while he stared at the closed bedroom door. Aside from the hefty slam earlier, he hadn't yet heard another sound from the room—it was hard to tell what that parasite was doing in there.

Personally, Shizuo didn't care if Izaya ever came back out, so instead of trying to go and talk to him, he turned his attention to exploring the apartment completely unbothered. Firstly, he rummaged through the small kitchen to see if there was anything to snack on, having missed lunch by several hours at this point. With a simple candy bar in hand, Shizuo now ventured to the desktop computer his eye had caught not long after he first entered the apartment, taking a seat in the swiveling chair as he looked around the desk.

Opening up the candy bar and pensively munching on it as he snooped, he noted sticky notes of various colors, shapes, and sizes adorning the frame of the blank monitor, and mobile devices littering the desk. The majority of the paper stuck to the monitor contained what appeared to be ciphers and random phone numbers, almost too many to count—Shizuo was astonished that the phones all over the desk weren't constantly making noise. He attempted to turn on the computer to see what else he could find of interest, but it was password-protected. Go figure.

It was then he finally took notice of a nearby notepad. Shizuo finished off the candy, picked up the pad, and quickly flipped through its pages, initially not seeing anything much different than what he had already seen, at least until he came across a page that appeared to have more writing than the others. It was a simple bullet-point list, one that detailed what to do when encountering an aggressive dog, and noted the different appearances of a fully aggressive dog, compared to one displaying fear aggression.

Shizuo went to the next page, expecting more simple notes on canine behavior, but only came across, what read to him, ramblings. On the next page, and a few following, Izaya had written down some of Shelby's stranger behaviors, and what he perceived to be details that proved that she was smarter than most dogs he'd met, and even surmised that she had to be conscious of her actions to some extent.

Sure, Shizuo had noticed some strange things about the dog, too, but with the writing before him, he was genuinely wondering if the broker had started to lose his mind. At the very least, the notes had managed to convince him to get up from the chair and head over to the closed bedroom door, knocking on its surface. There was no answer from the other side, so Shizuo tried to enter, surprisingly finding the door unlocked, and letting him open the door without issue.

Sitting on his bed, one of the few surviving pieces of furniture, Izaya sat with his back facing the bartender, the hood of his coat pulled up over his head. Despite surely having heard the door open, he didn't budge. While the mere sight of the other usually sent Shizuo into a near-blind rage, there was a heavier curiosity, and dare he say concern, hanging in the air now, and he instead took a seat on the opposite side of the bed, his back to the broker.

It was hard for Shizuo to pick out any nice words, unable to find a good starting point as the two sat in silence for a good few minutes, up until Izaya spoke up for him instead, "You could probably just head home, there's nothing more you can do here."

"...Yeah?" Shizuo asked, "You know I said I'd stay here to watch you fail, right? Plus, I have to make sure you won't hurt the dog."

Izaya scoffed softly, "I wasn't going to hurt your stupid dog; it's been harder to keep her from hurting me. Especially without your 'help.'" Shizuo looked over his shoulder, still being met with the sight of Izaya's pulled-up hood and somewhat huddled form, "I find that hard to believe. Why even go through all of this trouble, then?"

"If you must know," Izaya stated, matter-of-factly, "I was fully planning on sending her back home, Shinra and I have just been trying to make her more… manageable."

"That still sounds like you planned to send her back in a trash bag."

Izaya finally turned to lock eyes with Shizuo, wearing a frown, "Then I'm sorry you're too dense to believe the truth—I am capable of non-violence, unlike some people." The vein that was once prevalent in Shizuo's temple again began to noticeably pulse, the bartender growling lightly, "At least I'm not the one who thinks a dog is actively plotting against him."

"She is!" Izaya yelled out, rising from his seat, "Why can't anyone else see it?!"

Shizuo watched with great interest as Izaya sighed frustratedly, stepping away from his bed to look out of the nearby balcony window, his foot tapping vigorously. It's been a long time, if ever, that Shizuo had seen the broker so high-strung, and all because of a single, simple dog. Too bad he never realized this weakness earlier.

Regardless, with a short stint of further contemplation, Shizuo stands up and heads over to where Izaya is standing, drawing his attention, "What..? Planning on chucking me over the balcony? Maybe-" Before Izaya could begin listing off various ways to die at Shizuo's hand, he found himself receiving a… hug? "...A-are you going to crush my bones?"

"I'm giving you a hug, you idiot."

Izaya tried to break free of the embrace, uncomfortable with the sudden affection, "But why?"

"Somehow, it doesn't feel entirely right to try and snuff you out while you're having a crisis," Shizuo gently groaned, hugging the broker just tight enough to keep him from escaping, "So I guess I can help you get Shelby home."

"Oh… okay," Izaya lightly huffed, halting his struggling… and ever-so-slightly settling into Shizuo's hug, but not before a sudden bark and a familiar voice caught both men's attention, "Hey! It's not Kumbaya, but it's certainly something!"

In an instant, Shizuo releases his grip, letting a stunned Izaya fall ass-first onto the floor. Standing in the doorway is Shinra, tightly holding the leash that kept Shelby at bay, especially as the dog tried to get close to the downed broker, lightly growling to herself. "Didn't think I'd ever see the day! Come out to the living room, I have something to show you two."

Izaya slowly gets back onto his feet, dusting himself off before starting to leave the room, but not before Shizuo stops him, "If you spread around the fact that I hugged you, willingly, I willsnap you in half. It's bad enough he saw." Shizuo stepped ahead of the broker, hurrying out of the room.

"But you're the one who started it!" Izaya yelled after him, rushing out to the living room to see what Shinra had to show them now.