Chapter 71: Two to one
Fine, dry powder, moved by nothing but the soft current of air turned in circles.
Up and down, left and right reflections of all kinds created a portrait of floating glitter as the dust hovered in a small ray of light.
It hadn't been visible the night before, but just behind the shelf that contained the candle and matches there was actually a small window.
It wasn't much bigger than two palms sitting next to each other, but it served as a most welcome source of light.
Orange and yellow filled the small chamber used for breaks by the cafeteria ladies and served a pleasant warmth.
Soothing, like a death reaper's iron blanket, the weight of the time pressured Shizuo's mind into a dizzy slumber.
He was awake.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Shizuo could feel his body warm in places where the light touched. Cold where it didn't.
And absolutely empty with Izaya missing.
He couldn't really tell the time he had fallen asleep. He had kept whispering soothing words into Izaya's ears, kept telling him that everything was going to be alright- at some point Izaya had stopped responding and the frail sound of evened breathing filled the air.
It was a sensation that Shizuo loved listening to on any other occasion but fearing it stop any time had certainly taken away the soothing characteristic.
The fever had gone up.
Izaya had been laying on top of him. Sleeping. Resting.
Now he was gone and Shizuo's eyes remained closed.
With every second that passed he felt his conscience become more clear and his heart accelerate.
It was morning.
The night had passed.
Izaya-
Did he turn into a zombie?
Was he alive?
Did he run off and abandon Shizuo in order to spare him the sight?
The three options circled in Shizuo's mind nonstop and glued his eyes shut.
He didn't want to be awake.
He didn't want to open his eyes only to find Izaya sitting in the corner, eyes void of life and lips gnawing on a rat or anything similarly disturbing.
He didn't want to open them and find the Izaya he had learned to love gone.
The odds were two to one in a gruesome fate's favor and that fact caused Shizuo's throat to close and his eyes to sting.
The sensation of hot tears pricked the inside of his eyelids but didn't make it beyond.
He had to look.
He had to.
But how?
He couldn't. Not now. Not when Izaya's words were so fresh in his memory. Not when there were so many things he still wanted to tell him, so many memories he still wanted to make, so many topics Izaya had left to lecture him on.
He longed for those words, he longed for his voice, for his warmth, for his sneaky smile and sarcastic jokes.
He wanted him here.
Forever.
He didn't want to say goodbye.
Forever.
As if sealing a fate of doom, Shizuo suddenly heard it.
A sound.
Was it a grunt? A choke? A stifled cough? He couldn't tell, it had come too quick.
There was just one factor that remained.
It had been humane.
Option three of Izaya having left was out of the window sooner than he liked and Shizuo held his breath.
He was here.
Izaya was here.
And suddenly his eyes flew open. It was as if someone had blown his lids off with an adjusted dose of dynamite and Shizuo's body shot up from the couch.
Body tense, breath nonexistent he looked into the direction of the sound.
Izaya.
Izaya was standing there.
The light of the small window grazed down upon him as if he were an angel that had freshly descended from the heavens.
Touching his shoulders, hair and arm, Izaya stood, his eyes focused on his wrist.
"Iza-" Shizuo found himself choking midword as his voice failed him.
And suddenly Izaya turned his gaze.
And Shizuo realized what the sound he had heard was.
A fresh tear trickled down the right of Izaya's cheek and the choked sound of a withheld sob cracked forth as he spoke.
"I'm fine."
The words reverberated within the small space and Shizuo's body tensed. He could see Izaya's wrist from here. The bite wound. It didn't look any better than the day before, but it hadn't become worse either.
Nothing had changed.
Nothing had-
"You're fine," Shizuo repeated and somehow his head disconnected with his brain as he was only able to think one single thought.
Izaya was alive.
"I´m immune-" Izaya confirmed the words Shizuo had longed to hear and he bit his tongue with extra effort in hope he wasn't dreaming right now.
The thick taste of iron coated his mouth and Shizuo's mind started to kick into gear. He wasn't dreaming.
He wasn't-
"You are-" the rest of the words was somehow neglected and the repetition cast aside as Shizuo jumped to his feet.
Arms circled Izaya in a hug so tight he feared for his guts to be crushed. But none of that mattered as he returned the gesture with the same fervor.
"You fucking asshole you scared the hell out of me!" Shizuo cursed, and Izaya didn't need to see Shizuo's face to hear the way it broke halfway through.
He was crying.
Hell they both were.
"I´m sorry-" Izaya mumbled between his own choked set of sobs as the hot tears stained Shizuo's shirt.
He thought last night had been a final goodbye. He thought he was going to die. he thought he was never going to see Shizuo again-
But now-
Now-
Leaning back Shizuo's palms clasped Izaya's face left and right and he was forced to focus on Shizuo's desperate face.
"You aren't allowed to go anywhere now, you got that?" he announced, and Izaya had never felt anything deeper than that request. "You are goddamn humanity's hope." Shizuo added and Izaya couldn't help but snort.
It was true-
He had survived.
He had survived an actual zombie bite.
He had actually survived the virus from taking over his body.
That meant his antidote had worked. There were cells in his body ready to fight the disease.
He was immune.
Immune.
The idea felt too surreal to be true, yet it was.
The expiration date imprinted on their foreheads suddenly seemed to vanish and the pressure of time left Izaya's mind. This outcome- it was too good to be true.
"Heavy weight you are dropping on me," Izaya laughed, but the tears still didn't stop. Neither did Shizuo's.
The relief, the adrenaline, the happiness and discarded fear only served as fuel as he dove in for a kiss.
A kiss of passion, of relief and love. They were alive.
They were god damn alive.
Breaths were shared, desiring glances exchanged and before Izaya knew it he was shoved against the wall.
"You stupid flea," kisses rained down his body and Izaya's eyes closed in a moment of unrivaled desire. Clothes went flying to god knows where and Izaya was glad they did-
He wanted nothing but Shizu-chan.
Shizu-chan.
"I love you, you crazy asshole you know that?" Shizuo hushed between sharp intakes of breath and Izaya laughed into a kiss. "I know."
Thighs were lifted, pants beneath his right leg and Izaya's arms locked around Shizuo's neck.
Indescribable heat took over the moment, Izaya's heart, his body, his mind-
Eyes searched for Shizuo's and chained them in a passionate lock.
"Shizu-chan-"
Head rushing back into the wall, Izaya's lips gasped for air, Shizuo had already slid inside. Right then, right there, right against the wall.
One palm was braced against the wall, the other keeping Izaya's thigh up as he thrust forward. Hands clasped down on Shizuo's skin, breaths matched their rhythm and choked moans ripped the air to shreds.
Right now, nothing in the world mattered.
Nothing but the two of them.
"Shizu-chan-"
Because they were alive.
Because they were together.
Because they would continue to be.
"Shizu-chan-"
Choked moans, gasps of heat and hot skin slapped against skin as the world stopped moving.
Just for a moment.
Just for this reunion.
Because this was no end. This was a beginning.
Finally after all this time the whole world suddenly seemed to have tilted the odds towards them. Towards their survival, towards their old life. Towards a chance at regaining it and even more.
Harsh heaps of breath filled the air half a minute later.
Spurts of semen stained the inside of Izaya as well as their chests as the raven caught his breath.
Somewhere along they slipped to the ground and Izaya had ended up in Shizuo's lap.
It was a soothing position. Warm.
His thighs were resting around Shizuo's body and Shizuo's cock was remaining in soft involuntary pulsations of the afterglow.
Arms circled around each other Izaya felt no obligation in the world to move even one millimeter away.
The light streaming from the window had turned to the natural brightness of a late morning.
A smile tugged Izaya's lips upwards as he looked at Shizuo. Forehead met forehead in a gentle touch and Izaya couldn't help but laugh as he realized their odd timing.
"We are so stupid. In the middle of school, in the middle of an apocalypse-" he chuckled, referring to their recent intercourse, and Shizuo returned the laugh with one of his own.
"Hey, you started it," he breathed, and his chest still rose quicker than it should from their unexpected exercise.
For a moment Izaya found his palm grazing Shizuo's skin, worrying whether the strain had been too much.
But this guy- healing fast seemed to be second nature to his body. Knees on the ground and thighs resting against each other, Izaya leant forward and just let his endless stream of thoughts come to an end.
There was nothing to be thought of. No direct problem at hand. Only solutions.
Solutions and time.
The silence was mesmerizingly calm and soothing.
Izaya's voice was too as he spoke softly.
"... and now?"
It was funny, because usually it would be Shizuo who would ask such a question. Hearing Izaya ask for his advice seemed so out of place, yet fit so perfectly with their current relationship.
"You tell me." Shizuo whispered and nuzzled into the creak of Izaya's neck. "Whatever you want to do, I'm in."
A soft smile spread across Izaya's lips and his eyes closed for a moment. He had expected that kind of answer. It was what they were. How close they had become.
A prime example of their relationship.
And so was the response he expected to his suggestion.
"... we should return."
Bewilderment met Izaya in the short second that Shizuo needed to lean back and direct a frown at Izaya's face.
"To have her shoot you?" Namie was still up there, inside the library. And Shizuo heavily doubted she had suddenly regretted her actions.
The gun wound on Izaya's arm suddenly seemed far too gruesome considering inside this apocalypse it wasn't the zombies they needed to be afraid of anymore, but the people carrying weapons instead.
"It's been half a day and I haven't turned. If anything she should be delighted once she sees me," Izaya tried, but Shizuo wasn't easy to satisfy.
"I thought her issue was your injection. She didn't know about the bite, did she?"
A fair point. And Izaya couldn't quite deny that he was right.
"She was out of it. At the end of the day she should know that after so much time has passed there is no way I'm still posing a danger," he tried to explain, "She is a scientist after all. It will take nothing but a glance to know that my life is worth more than her weight in gold." A soft snort escaped her lips as he thought about the expression she would show once she realized that fact. "She will hate it, but she will be aware."
Unpleasant silence filled the room for a second until Shizuo finally sighed.
Hand reaching upwards he cupped Izaya's face for a second before casting a soft kiss onto his lips.
"Feeling like a god now aren't you?" Shizuo asked, and Izaya couldn't help but smile into the kiss.
"That obvious?"
"I can tell from that grin," Shizuo announced and poked that confident cheek. Shoving the hand aside, Izaya merely shrugged.
"Hey, it's not easy to be humanity's salvation."
… salvation, huh?
Feeling a hint of desperation surface from the back of his mind Shizuo felt the sudden urge to talk Izaya out of this. Not because he was scared of any immediate danger, but Izaya was just too precious to be treated as mere medication.
To hell with humanity. To hell with the city.
Researching the virus had almost gotten all of them killed. Just because Izaya was immune didn't mean he wasn't going to get involved in dangerous situations anymore.
The fast zombies, or flatworms, could kill Izaya just fine no matter his immunity. And so Shizuo's arms trapped the raven into a tight hug.
"Izaya," he whispered and Izaya seemed to understand without Shizuo needing to put his worry into words.
"Yeah?" he whispered back as he returned the hug with a soft squeeze.
"I will make sure you will never have to risk your life again." Shizuo whispered, before parting from the raven to look him in the eyes.
A determined gaze decorated his features and Izaya felt his chest swell.
"Is that a promise?" he found himself whispering and Shizuo instantly nodded.
"If you want it to be."
This.
This was all Izaya needed. In the while fucked world.
Feeling his lips tug into a smile he agreed, "I guess, if we are going down, then we are going together."
Leaning forward Shizuo didn't answer, instead he caught Izaya's lips in a kiss.
Forehead rested against forehead and fingers intertwined in playful motions.
They didn't know how long they simply remained like that.
The ray of sunlight moved on the opposite wall and it was sure to have been an hour, maybe even more until Izaya finally sighed.
"We should go up."
As lovely as this moment of joy was, they couldn't remain here forever. Slipping off Shizuo's lap, Izaya quickly rose to his feet in order to rearrange his clothes.
"... do you think she made the night?"
Pausing in the midst of adjusting his belt, Izaya felt his hands stop. Karisawa. Shizuo was talking about her.
It was funny, they had only just celebrated the fact that Izaya had not turned into a zombie from an injury he had sustained just the day before, and yet Izaya felt as if ages had passed already since that incident.
But they hadn't.
Time was slow as ever.
And Karisawa probably still fighting for her life.
As if playing a movie in his head, Izaya's brain decided to show him his encounters with the woman. The way she had relied upon him and shared more trust than he expected from anyone but Shizuo. The way she had tried to calm everyone down at all times, the way she handled herself when treating Shinra, her goofy smiles, full of optimism for everyone-
"I hope so," Izaya found himself mumbling and the silence returned.
He really did.
If Karisawa died- it wouldn't be like everyone else.
Realizing that he had touched upon a topic too heavy to carry, Shizuo fell quiet.
Clothes were arranged, pants buckled up and hair ruffled into the right directions.
It was mere moments later that the two of them entered the cafeteria once more.
It was kinda funny.
Shizuo had almost died over there, at the table side. The corpse of the rotten flatworm was still fermenting on the ground. Yet they had relieved such joy only one room over.
Glances were exchanged and steps sped up as they two made their way to the second floor.
"I will go in first." Izaya announced the second they reached the door leading into the library. "You hit her square in the face, I think it might be less provoking to see me first," he explained upon seeing the hint of complaint and Shizuo snorted for a second.
It made sense.
But that didn't stop his body from tensing into action.
If that woman tried to do anything he was ready to act.
And so the door opened.
And hell was presented on a silver tablet.
"Ah, look who arrived!"
Five guys.
One being the bastard that had almost managed to kill their entire group. Shijima.
Wrist bent in odd ways he was crouching on the ground with Namie on the floor.
Another guy was pinning her down and forcing her face up by pulling her long hair upwards. Blood stained the ground where her leg rested and the shirt had been ripped off her frame. A knife was set at her bra strap and a disgusting smile spread across Shijima's expression.
Almost immediately Izaya's body tensed and Shizuo shoved his way in front of the raven.
Blood. Blood was everywhere.
Shinra was on the ground, not injured any further. But Vorona-
Eyes darting to the side, Izaya tried to make a quick analysis of the situation. Shinra was there. Alive. Kadota too, awake, but pinned to the ground in the same fashion Namie was. Vorona-
He couldn't tell. All he could see from here was that she was sprawled on the ground. Unmoving.
Was she dead?
Injured?
Knocked out?
Hard to say from this position, and even harder when the guy who greeted them moved with a disgusting smile.
"Now this is going to be nice."
to be continued~
Well, well, not what you expected I guess xD but since Izaya is alive and kicking I take it you are pleased by the chapter hahaha xD
Sorry i couldn't update last week, i had relatives over and the week got way busier than i wanted it to xD And this week my cat was being the most evil motherfucker alive, cuz it actually crashed by laptop C': It played chase with the other cat and they tugged out the loading cable sideway while my latop was charging xD
FUCK EM
xDDDD
But yeah, next week I should be able to update everything again on Saturday 3 So see you there xD C:
