Chapter 63: Information gathering
"Thought of something?" It was the first question thrown towards Izaya as soon as he opened his eyes.
After trailing back towards their newly assigned room, which consisted of barely anything at all, Izaya had had quite the hard time falling asleep.
Considering everything that had happened, including the knowledge he had been craving for, for years, there was just no way to stop the mess of thoughts inside his head.
Possibilities and restrictions aligned equally in Izaya's mind as he tried to find a way out of this mess. It was only hours later that he had joined Shizuo in his slumber and now there was nothing but the groggy feeling of having overslept and confusion pricking his face as he blinked at Shizuo.
He was standing next to the old bunk bed and had apparently decided that midday was a fine time to finally wake Izaya from his slumber.
Groaning softly, Izaya pushed the blanket off his body and sat up straight.
"A few options but nothing decent," he announced curtly, while lifting his arms for a decent stretch. He wasn't old, but the mattress in this bed had actually made his back hurt.
"A few?"
Izaya quickly nodded.
A pleasant scent of onions mixed with spices and meat forced its way past the closed door. Considering the sun's height, seen from a small window on the side, Izaya hummed. "Did I miss breakfast?"
It was an odd sensation, to ask a question as meaningless as this.
Considering they were threatened with their deaths the day before and on the run from both the police as well as the human population in fear of being executed Izaya couldn't help but feel like a witch hiding from her fate of burning to death.
He should feel fear, or at least a healthy dose of caution, but somehow neither appeared to be necessary.
"Somewhat. But you aren't really the type to eat anything first thing in the morning anyway," Shizuo answered his question and Izaya smirked before jumping out of bed with a quick push. "How do you know?"
Blinking softly Shizuo shrugged. "A hunch?"
"A good hunch," Izaya snorted and trailed to the door. "But coffee would be nice nonetheless."
The hallway was empty, safe for the overflowing scent of lunch of course.
Slipping down the corridor Izaya dully noted how Shizuo followed him without any doubt or question.
Was it because Shizuo was there?
The safety he felt? Roy mentioned something about Shizuo going haywire if anything happened to Izaya. The power he demonstrated the day before surely made Izaya's confidence in their survival rise.
Time stopping combined with endless healing power and strength?
Not to mention the secondary ability of mind reading Shizuo had developed.
Was that normal? For an incubus to have two types of abilities? Because mind reading struck Izaya as very unrelated to overhealing.
And the strength- tipping his cheek whilst progressing towards the hall Izaya tried to think of possible connections.
It was when a certain black haired young man rose from his table with the unpleasant screech of a wooden chair dragging across marble, that he snapped out of those hypotheses.
"I almost thought you were dead," he announced curtly, before stuffing what appeared to be some kind of half eaten potato into his mouth.
Izaya snorted. "Good morning to you too."
"Morning? It's lunchtime. How lazy can you be?" Roy complained, but judging from the way his hair was fighting gravity in a very obvious fashion Izaya was smart enough to tell a bluff when he saw one.
They had all been up until the early morning hours. And Roy had probably woken up just recently as well.
"Ah, good morning!" The angelic voice of the priest's daughter filled the high hall as Maria quickly approached the two new guests.
Children sat at a table not too far from them and upon their arrival they sent Izaya the most doubtful glares.
Izaya had never been a fan of children, and neither had they been. A quick smirk was shown towards the group and they quickly turned around to face their plates.
"Do you need anything else? A hand to serve?" Roy asked, quickly offering his help.
Contrair to him Maria had obviously pulled an all nighter to keep everything running like it was supposed to.
A quick smile flashed and she shook her head. "It's alright, no worries."
"Maria-" one of the children called, and Izaya accidentally met his gaze. A young boy, not older than six. Glare sitting tightly in place he returned Izaya's gaze with the fervor of a watchdog guarding the area.
In general, these little bastards seemed to view Izaya and Shizuo like some kind of stray ticks that had accidentally slipped inside the monastery.
"Don't mind them, they are just curious." Roy said, and continued beheading some of the steaming potatoes on his plate while Maria moved over. A serving of stew made up the other half of the plate and despite not really being a breakfast person Izaya felt he wouldn't turn it down if he was offered the same.
"Not going to join the kids?" he asked, and Roy snorted. "How old do you think I am?"
"Younger than me at least. Twenty. At most," Izaya guessed and Roy huffed in what appeared to be a confirmation. A smirk drew upon Izaya's lips and he crooned. "Am I right?"
"Nineteen." Roy grumbled sourly, and somehow that action caused Shizuo to smile.
It reminded him of Kasuka. People kept guessing his age wrong. Because of his work and overall static and serious appearance they kept thinking he was way older.
The pouting reaction was something Shizuo was used to seeing on him a lot and right now it served a bit of nostalgia.
… he told him to leave.
The day that Izaya was shot.
That had been, what? A week ago, or something? Knowing his brother he had probably acted as soon as the call had disconnected. So he was safe.
But the video…
The need to call Kasuka and explain to him what had happened overwhelmed Shizuo for a second. But his phone was gone. If he recalled right it was somewhere at Shinra's place.
… what would Kasuka think once he saw the news?
With no context?
He wouldn't believe the part about him and Izaya being incubi that ran havoc. But the fact that he had brutally killed Vincent remained nonetheless-
"Stop frowning, you are scaring the children," Izaya suddenly scolded and tore him away from his dark thoughts.
Roy was looking at Shizuo as well, hesitant to continue eating while facing what appeared to be a raging bull. It had become awfully quiet inside the room. Even the children had shut up and Maria glanced over.
It wasn't a pleasant sensation. Being stared at with fear.
One he experienced way too often.
"Sorry," he quickly said and the apology left a bitter taste on his tongue.
Gaze traveling back and forth between Shizuo and Roy, Izaya could tell something had changed. Not about Roy, but about Shizuo.
It was one thing for Shizuo to get mad. It was something he did daily anyway, but something about the mood today seemed to be almost… suffocating.
As if the anger he felt was overflowing into the room and taking up the space.
"What are you thinking about?" Izaya asked and Shizuo sighed. "Kasuka."
Right.
The video. The clip of Shizuo dismantling Vincent's face was probably all over the internet by now.
Glancing towards Roy, Izaya expected the guy to ask who Kasuka was, but instead he raised his hands as if to defend himself from a critical blow.
"I don't even want to know."
A wise decision probably.
Tilting his head into his neck Izaya looked at the ceiling. An array of possibilities and wild assumptions started to take form in his head, but those thoughts were quickly interrupted when he noticed what he hadn't the day before.
Painted with fat angels, holy entities and spirits alike the ceiling provided quite the fancy view.
But only halfway down the hall. Because the part adjacent to the wall fitting the entrance was deep black. Burns and cuts were scattered across the surface and Izaya blinked.
"Why is this part so…" he faded out, not quite willing to offend anyone present, but Roy came to his help anyway.
"Ugly?" he asked straight off the bat and Izaya couldn't help but snort.
"Not my way to describe it but yes."
Roy shrugged, "Some fire a couple hundred years ago. Apparently some heretics set the church on fire because they believed the priest to be possessed by a demon." A quick smile displayed on Roy's lips as he realized the pun in his words. "Not like they were wrong, but I guess this is the first time people started hunting us."
His explanation was not approved by Maria it seemed as she quickly served a flick to the back of Roy's head.
"It was 1353. And I actually don't believe they did it for demonic reasons," she corrected curtly, "Our ancestor living at that time, priest Marcius, was leading the monastery and providing shelter for deserters, war prisoners and victims of all kinds. He was similarly admired as he was hated for those actions."
Izaya hummed.
A priest dedicated to his job with his life, huh? That sounded a bit too good to be true. All humans had desires and Izaya didn't believe the priest had none. But stories about holy entities or figures of high standing tended to be exaggerated exponentially in accordance to the time skipped since they passed.
"But that caused rumors to start, right?" Izaya decided to play along with the sweet fairy tale for the sake of additional knowledge.
"Maybe. We don`t know that." Roy shrugged and Maria stayed quiet.
Apparently there was little to be gained by digging further.
It was a bit odd, the way Maria described their monastery seemed awfully cheerful and optimistic, while Roy's opinion anchored on a harsh and heavy view.
"How did you end up here?" Izaya asked, addressing the one who didn't belong from the start. "You obviously hate this place yet you stay, why?" Roy had seen a lot of questions coming, but this one apparently wasn't part of it.
Lifting the spoon full of stew halfway to his mouth only to pause gave away just how unsettled he was by the question.
A soft glare was shown and the tool placed back into the plate.
"Reasons."
An evasive answer. Seemed Izaya had struck gold.
"What about the guy distributing energy?" he asked further and the hostility only seemed to increase.
"What about him?"
"Where is he?" A quick laugh followed and Roy shook his head. "Nice try but I'm not going to tell that to strangers," he announced, but quickly corrected himself when his gaze fell on Shizuo. "Not to get you mad at me, but you know, for security reasons."
It was funny how much respect he seemed to have when it came to Shizuo. Funny, and exploitable.
"And the priest?" Izaya continued his soft interrogation.
"At the chapel. Praying most probably or preaching," Roy paused for a moment and his eyes lingered on Izaya. "Why?"
A smile as untrustworthy as it could get spread across Izaya's face as he shrugged. "No reason."
Bullshit. Of course he had reasons and Roy was smart enough to notice as much.
Putting the spoon aside Roy's expression turned sour.
"... you know, this place is shitty and all, but please don't do anything to mess it up." His gaze flickered up to meet Izaya's gaze, as if to try and convince him by appealing to his goodness of heart.
A funny action for someone who despised the church he lived in.
And also one only one a person would take that knew the danger he was facing was insurmountable.
"You did your research?" Izaya grinned and Roy cringed.
"Enough to know I don't want to mess with either of you," he announced while side eyeing the one called the fortissimo of Ikebukuro. Despite his currently black dyed hair, the name, manners and general sense of danger radiating off Shizuo had probably been enough to dig out some reports on how exactly he wrecked the city during their chases. If there was one fact directly derivable, then it was that this old monastery stood even less of a chance against Shizuo's strength than the average street pole.
And yet Roy seemed to be more wary of Izaya than Shizuo.
It was flattering in an odd way and Izaya smiled as he leant on his palm.
"Don't worry I have no intention to harm this place."
He must have presented the fitting image of a spider sitting in the midst of its net while telling its food it wasn't going to harm it.
Yet.
Because Roy's expression showed nothing but relief at Izaya's words.
"I didn't say that, but you are obviously disappointed by what we have here," Roy quickly tried to defuse the awfully disturbing topic of their monastery's potential downfall. "I get that you had to abandon your former life, but-"
"We didn't abandon it."
Interrupted in both his thoughts and words it tookRoy a second to comprehend what Izaya had said.
Their old lives- no matter how Roy looked at it, with the video of them killing Vincent circling around there was just no way to return to what they had. And yet Izaya showed the casual smile of a maniac who had just that in mind.
"We are just staying here for a day, maybe two, that's it," Izaya announced, only confirming the impression he had left on Roy and the guy frowned in utter confusion.
"... are you crazy?" Only a maniac would answer that question, and Izaya was none and he merely flashed a cheshire smile. "Worried?"
Roy shook his head in a momentum of disbelief. "No matter how you look at it, with that video of you circling around how you killed a cop, there is no place for you to stay other than here."
Izaya snorted. Roy's argumentation was valid, but his foresight was a bit too pessimistic for Izaya's tastes.
"So we are prisoners after all," Izaya joked instead of giving a satisfying answer and watched Roy stumble over his clumsy words.
"Wha- I didn't say that," he quickly clarified without missing to meet Shizuo's eyes as he assured them.
"But you implied it," Izaya shrugged, enjoying the way he was driving this guy into a self induced corner.
An exasperated sigh left Roy's lips and with one fluid motion he rose from the table, pushing the chair away and raising the plate at the same time.
"Do what you want I don't care-" he announced, a bit louder than intended and turned around.
Seeing as Maria was collecting the empty dishes at the front of the hall, Izaya figured he hadn't run for good, but tried to create some distance of the weird topics Izaya was throwing at him by stepping away for a few seconds.
A good move.
But not good enough.
Smirk in place and anticipation high Shizuo could tell from Izaya's expression only that he was only messing with the poor guy.
Leaning to Izaya's ear he turned his voice down.
"You are trying to get something out of him, right?" he whispered, soft and low, and it kinda sent unintentional goosebumps down Izaya's spine.
It had been a few times too often that he had had Shizuo whisper into his ear, to ignore the most obvious memories connected to it.
Trying to not let his affection show, Izaya grinned and leaned to the side. "You realized?"
"Even I can see that leaving this place with no plan is like a suicide mission at this point," Shizuo concluded and Izaya stifled a quick laugh.
"Imagine. My genius must be rubbing off on you. Is it the hair color? Are you slowly becoming me?" he joked, and Shizuo snorted.
"Shut up."
And again, those were words Izaya was a little too comfortable with.
He didn't know what got into him, really, but the second he heard that half assed command he couldn't help but show a sly smile as he tilted his head.
"Make me."
Where that response came from he couldn't really tell, and Shizuo hadn't seen it coming, but it served a similar effect. Was it their genes? Was it the way Izaya looked at him, obviously aware of the insinuation he put into his words, looking like that? Shizuo didn't know.
All he knew was that he suddenly gained a very vivid and erotic vision of Izaya on his knees and his dick shoved down his throat. A pleasant picture, really, especially with those that followed, with his dick shoved elsewhere and sweat moans providing a fitting symphony to the R rated movie playing in his head.
Averting his gaze Shizuo tried to chase away the fantasy along with the color of black that was definitely staining his eyes right about now by looking into Maria's direction. It didn't help.
God damnit.
Getting a boner near children wasn't exactly one of his life goals.
Damned genes.
Or was it Izaya?
Damned Izaya.
"No response? I'm disappointed," Izaya snorted and Shizuo groaned softly.
"No response my ass. I'm having more of it than I want to," he whispered and Izaya blinked when his gaze met his eyes.
A nice taint of black had seeped into Shizuo's golden gaze and Izaya felt his own pants suddenly grow incredibly tight.
It was kinda weird to get horny from the slightest insinuations, almost like a stupid teenager in heat - he knew his genes were at fault, but he couldn't deny he was starting to become a fan of what these spikes lead to.
"Patience. Shizuo. It's a virtue you know," Izaya whispered, fully intending to imply that there would be a follow up to his insinuations and Shizuo groaned.
"Just hurry up with your stupid games."
to be continued~
Yo~! Just a quick newsflash xDDD For one thing, It's officially been exactly 10 years now since I wrote and published the first fanfiction haha xD
Ten years damn. A fucking decade xDDD
So I just wanted to say thank you for sticking with me and my stories for the last DECADE holy fuck
xDD Ahem anyway~ Thank yo love you all, from everyone who comments and delights my days with awesome conversations to everyone who quietly reads and simply enjoys my stories haha 3
I will continue to write tons of stories and as a matter of fact a new one is just about the corner called: "Angel shot" which will start right after SnS ends.
Which leads me to the second info I wanted to give you xD There will be only one update next Saturday which will be the final chapter of Shingeki no Shizuo - one reason for that is that I suck at writing last chapters and tend to procrastinate on them and this is a countermeasure to that xD
The other is that I am having my sister over, and with her final exam in 8th grade and a job interview at my workplace hovering over her like the blade of a guillotine I will be spending time with her and probably not have a lot of time to write xD
So yeah, in a nutshell: Thank you for reading and see you in the final SnS chapter on Saturday xD