“…Your legs, there’s something wrong with them, right?”
Izaya gave a composed smile as he answered Kazuhisa’s question.
“It’s just difficult to stand or to walk around. Relatively speaking, the symptoms are rather stubborn. If I can handle the intense pain it brings like crossing my legs like this I can manage.”
“Was it from an accident?”
He thought it was a bit rude to ask such a thing without restraint, but this was the man who suddenly summoned him to this place. It seems the man thought a little bit of rudeness was alright [in this case].
“Something like that. An accident…Well if you can call picking a fight with and getting attacked by an enormous monster an accident, then I guess it’s an accident.”
“?”
“It’s an allegory. I only got hit by a steel beam, thrown away several meters, and was stabbed in my side with a knife while both arms were broken. It seems that the first injury dealt by the steel frame was the worst, and bones all over my body got damaged. But after that I stubbornly persisted, the anesthesia from my brain (adrenaline) eliminating the pain, resulting in continuing to pick an impossible fight with the monster.”
“Huh…”
He didn’t quite understand the example with the monster, but he supposed he must have received terrible injuries, and this seemed to be part of the after-effects. Trying to comprehend the story, he thought perhaps after getting involved with the steel beam incident he participated in a foreign running of the bulls event.
As Kazuhisa imagined such a scenario, Izaya further talked of his condition in an exceedingly cheerful manner as if to say his own injuries were not that trivial.
“Well, it’s not like I cannot completely stand, so it’s a small mercy I can use the bathroom or shower and can move from the bed on my own. It’s just it would be difficult to run around the town like in the past.”
“Are you in rehab right now?”
“..If I rehabilitate at a decent place, they said I might be able to run around again…But I don’t plan on doing that.”
“How come?”
Being asked straightforwardly, Izaya replied with a somewhat serious expression, all the while with a smile on his face.
“You see, this is punishment. My punishment.”
“Punishment…?”
“Yes, my punishment. Up until now, I would flashily skip about and run away despite my meddling while saying I love humans. Well, the monster…no, that seems deceiving. I got caught by the man who distanced himself from humans, and ended up like this.”
Izaya let his gaze stray off as if staring at something far away and continued to laugh with self-ridicule.
“If I really love humans, then I should not run away from humans, monsters who are distanced from humans, and real monsters. I tried to gain what I wanted from a fixed distance, and I always tried to stay in a safe place. In terms of love, this is impure. That’s right. It was impure.”
“….?”
Izaya spit out the next words as if to let himself hear it to the uncomprehending Kazuhisa and Nana.
“And so, I decided to not run anymore. I will hide from or trick others though. But even then, if a human who overcame such a predicament arrived right in front of me, I thought I would try to confront that person fair and square.”
After saying such a strange thing, Izaya gazed at Kazuhisa and said,
“Well, since I was the one that called you over here, of course you stand in front of me like this. Even if I try to escape right now, like this I cannot. But I guess Haruto-kun here may save me.”
“Understood, Izaya-san! When it’s time, I’ll call the police!”
“Right, Haruto-kun. That will be an 80% chance of me getting arrested too so let’s not do that. I think the most certain thing to do is to call Sozoro-san, right?”
“Oh, I see! Izaya-san is really amazing! But if there was even a 20% chance if it was you it would be alright!”
Looking at the boy with twinkling eyes, he whispered “you’re not making a fool of me are you…?” But it seems it did not reach the boy’s ears.
-From A Sunset with Izaya Orihara
I had to add another interaction between Izaya and Haruto.
I’m sorry but not sorry.I will say that there was two or three times before this moment that characters asked him about his legs, and Izaya just gave a very short, one sentence explanation. This is the first time he explains what happened and his condition in more detail. But even this time, he’s kind of lighthearted about it. The next time with Sozoro is more serious. In Sozoro’s entry in the Standing Ovation novel, he brings up how ridiculous the “punishment” is. “He exaggerates that this is his punishment, but in his heart he may be afraid.”
inspired by @pedaling-through-life
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
“He’s just…”
Shinra waited patiently.
“Just…!!!”
Shinra sipped his tea as Shizuo threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.
“Really fuckin’ pretty!”
Shinra spat out his tea because that, of all things, was not what he was expecting.
Another uneventful day of school had ended and with a test coming up, Shizuo had decided to go over to Shinra’s. Shinra normally would’ve objected to this, but Celty had some errands to run and he reasoned that in exchange for some tutoring, Shizuo would fix the door he’d ripped off the hinges last time.
As always, Shizuo had started ranting about Izaya. Shinra neglected to mention that Shizuo brought him up incredibly often, even more so than expected for someone he hated. For someone who disgusted him to even mentioned, Shinra wanted to point out, Shizuo endured much suffering to talk about him for great lengths of time.
Clearing his throat, Shinra’s fisted hand pounded at his chest a few times, wincing but single open eye watching Shizuo fume on the other couch. “Huh… didn’t expect that. Was really expecting something more along the lines of an insult.”
“Yeah, guy’s a goddamn nuisance!” Shizuo snapped and growled as he tousled his own hair. “But, fuck, his face, it’s–it pisses me off!”
Shinra blinked.
“Because he’s good looking?”
“Yeah! How can a guy like that have a face like that?!”
“Simple, Shizu-chan. Genetics.”
Not even bothering to look behind him to confirm the intruder via balcony was Izaya, Shinra just groaned quietly and buried his face in his hands as he assumed chaos erupted in his living room. “Right… because that’s really what his ego needed to hear…”
Heaving a sigh as he heard a crash, Shinra leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and shook his head sadly.
“I’m a good person… I don’t deserve this…”
“You missed, Shizu-chan! Sorry, was my pretty face distracting you?”
“I’LL RIP IT OFF AND FEED IT TO DOGS, IZAYA!!”
“Maybe use it as a mask! Shizu-chan’s face could surely use the upgrade!”
“I–ZA–YA–!!!”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: domestic!au
Izaya, being Izaya, was fully aware that falling in love with someone in no way erased all their flaws. In fact, some people even said that falling in love may magnify those flaws, those strong feelings of emotional attachment changing them from hindrances to little quirks.
That wasn’t the case for Izaya.
Shizuo leaving socks everywhere was still annoying.
Shizuo never capping his milk was still annoying.
Shizuo’s heavy arm flopping over Izaya’s body in the middle of the night would always be shockingly annoying.
And Izaya was no stranger to voicing these instances, as well as anything else that would happen. Shizuo would get annoyed and snap ‘well, you’re not perfect either!’ but Izaya appreciated his effort to change; there were fewer socks (and more pants, it seemed), the milk was finished quicker (apparently recapping wasn’t harder than drinking more), and no more arms over his stomach (it was now his leg.)
But there was only one thing that never changed:
His hair.
Shizuo didn’t brush his hair. Izaya had a feeling he didn’t ever since they met; it was painfully obvious that Shizuo’s effortless bedhead look was just that: how he looked when he rolled out of bed.
Sometimes Izaya would try to tame it. While Shizuo was watching something or napping, anything where he was sitting still, Izaya would take a comb or brush, run it through the strands. There surprisingly weren’t too many tangles, but it would end up looking strange; Shizuo looked strange (not necessarily in a bad way, though) with his hair combed and slicked with gel, so Izaya stopped after taking a few pictures for future reference.
Shizuo grunted one night, shifting a bit. Izaya was usually the one sitting between his legs; their positions had flipped and Izaya kept incessantly patting Shizuo’s head to lower him until he was nearly lying down, head and shoulders just barely propped up against Izaya’s chest. He had no idea what he was doing and had to wait until the show switched to dark scenes to catch Izaya’s reflection, watched him move strands of his hair back and forth.
“…What? Are you lookin’ for white hairs again? Damnit, Izaya, not everyone cares as much as you do–”
“Shizu-chan,” Izaya interrupted, “I don’t understand your hair.”
“…What’s to understand? It grows from my head.”
“Yes, but how?”
“…It just does…?”
Sighing when he felt Izaya begin to move his hair around a little more intensely (he focused on the weirdest things, Shizuo swore) he sat up, ignored the slight tinge on his scalp. Izaya’s eyes widened but when Shizuo leaned in to kiss him, he felt him smile, his cool fingers dancing over his jaw. “If you don’t like it, I’ll just get it cut this weekend,” Shizuo mumbled. “You can just tell me that straight out instead of picking at it like a monkey…”
Izaya hummed as Shizuo pulled back, eyes going back to his hair. Shizuo watched his expression carefully as Izaya pushed the blond bangs back, tilted his head before smirking and shaking his head.
“…No, I think I quite like it at this length. Shizu-chan gets the worst haircuts anyway. He should consider himself lucky I’m already in love with him.”
“…Sometimes I really want to throw you out the window, you know that?”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: Raira!au: fevers
Izaya put an ice cube on Shizuo’s forehead and watched as it melted right in front of his eyes.
“As I thought… even Shizu-chan’s fevers are inhumane…”
“Felt… good…”
Blinking, Izaya reached into the glass he’d set on the nightstand and repeated the action. He’d snuck into the Heiwajima household for a bit of their normal cat and mouse game as his afternoon plan of wreaking havoc with a few gangs went astray (it seemed that some important people stumbled upon his little gym prank meant for Shizuo and were incapacitated for a few days.)
School was quiet without Shizuo. School was boring without Shizuo, so Izaya decided to pay him a visit because he was just that sort of pleasant, caring person.
He was a bit surprised to see him bedridden, a towel folded neatly on his head. Shizuo’s cheeks were flushed and if that weren’t enough, the abundance of medicine and water on his nightstand were more evidence that Heiwajima Shizuo was, indeed, sick. Izaya didn’t know he could get sick but he supposed anything that took down Shizuo would be quite severe.
Humming, he added another ice cube and watched as the water dripped down his face, splitting at the bridge of his nose and running both ways. Shizuo’s eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow, lips a bit parted to compensate for what Izaya assumed to be a stuffy nose. One more ice cube later, he sighed and stood. “Well, Shizu-chan, this has been grand but you’ve bored me so much I think I’ll do some homework–”
“Stay…”
Blinking in surprise, Izaya tentatively murmured his name to see if Shizuo would connect that voice to his identity. But all that happened was a hand reached out from under the blankets and grasped lightly at the hem of Izaya’s jacket. Pursing his lips in a little frown, he shook his head and took a seat, reaching for the towel he’d removed. Wetting and wringing it, he folded it and carefully placed it on Shizuo’s forehead again, sighing dramatically.
“All right. Looks like I’ll just steal Shinra’s before class, then. You’re such a bad influence.”
Fingers lacing behind his head, Izaya’s half lidded eyes watched Shizuo for a bit before smirking.
“You know, Shizu-chan, when you’re not trying to kill me, you’re not too bad.”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: college!au
“Get me a mug, Shizu-chan?”
“All right.”
And when Izaya looked up, it was just in time to watch Shizuo reaching towards the highest shelf in the cupboard. Shizuo was tall but the mug in demand was pushed near the back, so even someone of his stature had a little difficulty in locating it. Over the black rim of his glasses, Izaya watched his childhood best friend reached up and stretched his body, causing his white shirt to ride up and revealing a sliver of fair skin.
The essay Izaya had been working on all morning was suddenly of absolutely no concern.
After being accepted to universities that were relatively close to each other, the two decided to get an apartment together. Izaya had known Shizuo since kindergarten; as far as he was concerned, he would look at the nineteen-year-old and see the five-year-old shyly offering to share his stuffed cow and then trip and get his head stuck in a sand pail. He’d grown up but, to Izaya, Shizuo had never quite shed that endearing image of his little kid self. Izaya would tease him from time to time, enjoy the way Shizuo would blush furiously.
Shinra was wrong. Izaya didn’t harbor undying love for Shizuo. Shinra was wrong and stupid.
But then Shizuo reached up and Izaya saw his partially exposed midriff.
His sweatpants hung low on his hips; he hadn’t bothered to tie the drawstring and so they were a bit lopsided, one side so low that Izaya could see the entire elastic and part of his boxers, black in comparison to the grey. And above that, Izaya stared at his childhood best friend’s hip, his skin and how soft it seemed. Shizuo grunted; he reached even more, exposing more of his body and Izaya finally realized what years of soccer and track could do to someone.
And then, before he realized it, he was licking his lips.
Izaya was disappointed when Shizuo finally got the mug. He walked over and placed it on his coffee table; just as Izaya was returning to his normal, daily life, Shizuo reached a hand up to scratch the back of his head.
Up went his hand, up went the hem of his shirt, up went Izaya’s gaze, basically eye-to-eye with Shizuo’s hips thanks to the soft cushions of their couch.
“…Izaya? You okay?”
…Damnit.
Two weeks later after Izaya did laundry:
“Uh… Izaya, why did all my shirts shrink?”
title: april 23rd
pairing: shizuo/izaya
chapter word count: 18,833
total word count: 183,619
summary: [zombie apocalypse!au] japan has been decimated by a zombie apocalypse, and orihara izaya is willing to go to great lengths to survive. even partner up with heiwajima shizuo.
the biggest thank yous in the world to betas @loveandallthat7 and @limitlessmonster ♡♡
[ fanfiction | ao3 ]
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: college!au
“Izaya! How do you make a girl… you know.”
Izaya stared at Shinra for a long time, end of his pencil tapped against the corner of his mouth and one eyebrow raised higher than the other. The classroom was devoid of any other students; it happened to be Izaya’s favorite and he very quickly claimed it as his own, managing to spread the news throughout campus. It would be where people loitered to find him if they needed something bordering on illegal done to their (or someone else’s) electronics, or just where Izaya would relax between classes.
Sometimes Shinra was allowed in.
“I feel bad for Celty,” Izaya said.
“It’s not funny!”
“I didn’t say it was. I said I pity her,” Izaya answered, smirking at the way Shinra whined. “You’re a biology student, Shinra. Or, you know, the internet.”
“But, I mean, it’s just… how do I know?! I mean, surely you didn’t always know what to do with Namie, right?”
“You talk about her like she’s a doll of some sort,” Izaya commented dryly, sighing and just imagining the look she’d give him. But after a moment, he frowned upon realizing something, brow creasing. Narrowing his eyes, Izaya rested an elbow on the table and pressed his sharp chin into the flesh of his palm as he looked at Shinra. “…What does that mean?”
“Izaya,” Shinra said monotonously, “I lived with you before you started dating Shizuo. You had to get her to fall asleep somehow.”
Izaya relaxed and nodded. “Ah. That is true.”
“Also she stopped breaking my dishes.”
“She broke yours?”
“After you had none left.”
Smirking, Izaya waved a hand and reassured he’d have her pay for the damages. The two of them were friends and, for a while, had certain benefits. But friends didn’t always like each other, and that relationship had made the benefits all the more enticing, though apparently their china suffered. The sound of a door opening caught Izaya’s attention. He looked over to see Shizuo dropping his backpack into a nearby desk and as he pulled up a chair next to the desk the two were at. “Hey. Ready to go?”
“Need to help Shinra with something first,” Izaya replied, reaching out to tame one strand of Shizuo’s hair.
It didn’t make much of a difference.
“Oh.” Shizuo blinked and looked at Shinra. “What’s up?”
Shinra gave a dramatic sigh. “Just… with Celty! I never know if I’m doing it right, so I don’t know how to make her…”
Izaya didn’t say anything; Shinra must be extraordinarily desperate to just tell Shizuo what he was worrying about instead of taking a chance to poke fun at him, probably something along the lines of Shizuo being the only one more clueless in bed than Shinra. (He’d be wrong, though. Izaya could attest.) Izaya watched Shizuo blinked again at Shinra’s vague hand gestures, looking confused. “…Make her what?”
Shinra stared. He stared at Izaya, who shrugged nonchalantly. He stared at Shizuo again. “…You know. Come.”
Shizuo’s brow furrowed. “Just give her instructions. Is her phone broken?”
Izaya would have loved to watch Shinra’s jaw drop, but he couldn’t stop staring at Shizuo; there were very few people who could render him both breathless and speechless, but of course Shizuo could do just that without even trying. Reaching a hand out, he rested it on his shoulder with a heavy sigh and waited until Shizuo turned to him, still looking as innocent and confused as ever.
“Shizu-chan… I’m going to reward you tonight. Just for that.”
A third blink.
“Huh? …It’s my turn to buy dinner, isn’t it?”
thank you @eliorah ♡
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: bakery!au
There was a customer who came in at the same time every morning and would stare at the cakes Shizuo set into the display.
He didn’t look to be short of money; people would come in occasionally and while Shizuo didn’t like to make assumptions, he somehow had a good instinct for these kinds of things and would offer them a free coffee or hot chocolate with a pastry when he could. It was the perks of being the head baker; he technically wasn’t really allowed to do these sorts of things, but the manager would give him more leeway.
Because, well, head baker and all.
Coming out from the kitchen with a freshly decorated cake, Shizuo wasn’t surprised to see the man there again. Shizuo didn’t know what he did for a living, but clearly it was something that wasn’t a normal eight to five job because sometimes he’d hang around for hours on end, just reading and drinking coffee.
“Uh, hi.”
“Hello,” he returned, voice a smooth drawl. Shizuo blinked before nodding again; he gently lowered the cheesecake into the display case and made sure to turn it so its best side was facing forward. He had a few more of these waiting to be decorated in the next hour or so; Shizuo had created quite the reputation for himself. His pastries sold out quickly and more often than not, they’d be gone by the end of the day.
Shizuo mumbled that maybe the bakery was just conveniently located and the manager always told him to have more confidence in himself.
“Uh… do you… want it?”
The individual looked up slowly and quietly.
“…You’re offering me an entire cake?”
“…I mean, you keep staring at them…”
Being so busy, Shizuo had never really had the chance to actually look at the mysterious stranger. He recognized him because of a few obvious traits:
Slender, tall, dark hair, pale skin, almost always smirking and looking amused.
But now Shizuo was properly looking at him, noting his eyes, catching a twinkle that both gave him a bad feeling and exhilarated him. He was well dressed; what he wore was plain but, even from across the counter, Shizuo could tell his clothes were luxurious. His hair was a bit messy, likely from the wind outside, but it added to his overall charm and aura.
Shizuo had mixed feelings.
“It’s all right, I can pay,” he said nonchalantly.
Shizuo frowned. “…So you come in every morning just to look? Do you… not have internet…?”
“Oh, no. That’s where I saw these first.” He smiled. “I was just wondering how an clumsy brute like you can single handedly break three refrigerators in one afternoon but create something beautiful like this. Oh, and my name is Orihara Izaya.”
He held out his hand, didn’t seem at all perturbed by the way Shizuo was glaring, cheeks flushing.
“It’s nice to meet you, Shizu-chan.”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: modern!au: the morning after
Orihara Izaya sat up in a stranger’s bed, naked with only the sheets drawn up to his waist, elbow resting on a propped knee as he stared at his one night stand making him breakfast.
Breakfast.
After a one night stand.
He was in a slightly run down studio apartment. This wasn’t the sort of place Izaya would normally linger; in fact, he’d planned on leaving. But even before he could sit up, he’d heard ‘you want eggs?’ and deciding free food never hurt anyone, he’d nodded and decided to stay for breakfast.
So now he was watching the man whose name was Heiwajima Shizuo make him eggs.
And to think just ten hours ago, they were strangers. And then seven hours ago, they were–
No need to be crass and vulgar.
“Toast?”
“Yes, please.”
Standing, Izaya reached for his boxers. He pulled them onto his thin frame as he made his way over to the kitchen; the smell of food cooking was undeniably tempting, but it was the mug of coffee already prepared that won Izaya over, etched a lopsided smile onto his lips. He glanced up while he took a sip. “Shizu-chan,” he drawled, “you’re not used to one night stands, are you?”
“Eh? Why do you assume that?”
“Because you’re making me breakfast. And you also offered me a toothbrush last night.”
“You shouldn’t go to bed without brushing your teeth.”
“…Yes. Thank you for your concern regarding my dental hygiene.”
Smirking over the rim of the mug at Shizuo’s glare, Izaya watched as he prepared two plates. When his back was turned, Izaya reached out to move some food over to Shizuo’s plate, hand drawing back before he could see. “Shizu-chan,” he said again, “you don’t usually do one night stands, do you?”
He paused and sighed. Izaya found himself watching the way his muscles moved as he reached up to push his hair out of his bangs. “…No. I mean, it’s not you, it’s just… this isn’t me. I was… sort of upset last night, so…”
“Mm. And you don’t feel right with just sleeping with a stranger.”
“…Yeah.”
Izaya hummed again. He picked up the toast and bit into it, swallowing. “Then how about this,” he said and Shizuo looked up. “This isn’t a one night stand. It’s, ahh… a reverse date. We already had sex and breakfast. So now we go get dinner. Would that make you feel better?”
“…That’s weird.”
Izaya smiled. “That’s not a no.”
“You do this often?” Shizuo asked and Izaya noted that even when he looked away, Shizuo was still watching him. “Feel bad for your one night stands–”
“Date.”
“–and take them out for dinner?”
“You’d be taking me out. And no. I usually leave before the sun rises.”
“…Huh. So then what’s different now?”
“What can I say?”
Izaya finished his coffee and held his mug out for a refill.
“You offered me a toothbrush and were concerned about my teeth. Everyone knows that’s the way to someone’s heart.”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: neighbor!au: drunk
“So…”
Izaya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You drunkenly broke into my house because you thought I was your friend, completely disregarded the existence of an animal your friend does not have, then stripped down and fell asleep on my couch?”
Shizuo cleared his throat with as much dignity as he could, still petting the black cat purring and curled up by his thigh.
“…Yes.”
Izaya’s next door neighbor was Kishitani Shinra and he lived with his girlfriend, Celty Sturluson. Izaya didn’t like making friends and Shinra was annoying, but he was far better than the middle aged couple across the hall who kept trying to pry into his life. So he selected Shinra and Celty to be the ones to fetch his mail if he was out, occasionally talking with them if he felt like it.
If he’d known they’d have a drunk blond stumbling in at three in the morning and still be there when he got up, he would’ve chosen the nosy couple.
Looking up, Izaya’s mouth opened again. But he was at a loss of words and decided to exhale, this time just bringing his entire hand up to his face. At least his cat liked him, he thought. That likely meant he wasn’t a serial murderer or robber.
However, it was still an inconvenience.
“Name.”
“H-Heiwajima Shizuo…”
“How the hell did you even get in?” he snapped, looking up tiredly and not feeling guilty when Shizuo flinched. “I have only one set of keys and they’re with me. There are four different locks on the door. I have security cameras monitoring it.”
“Uh,” Shizuo scratched his head, “the window?”
“The–” Izaya halted, eyes narrowing. “…I live on the sixth floor.”
“…There’s… a really… big tree…” Shizuo explained feebly.
“…The sixth floor.”
“This… isn’t the first time…”
“…Jesus Christ.”
“S-sorry…”
Arms crossing, Izaya stared at the wall that he shared with Shinra. He couldn’t hear anything and so assumed they were asleep still; he had half a mind to go over and wake them, but the thing was that Shizuo, despite his apparent monkeyish acrobatic skills and seemingly poor life decisions, was cute.
And his cat liked him.
Stepping forward, Izaya crouched down. He reached a hand out to scratch under his cat’s chin, frown lessening a bit to hear her purring before rubbing her face against Shizuo’s leg again. “…She likes you,” he mumbled, glaring at Shizuo.
Shizuo flinched. “Sorry,” he muttered again, “animals usually do, I don’t know why…”
“You want to apologize to me properly?”
Shizuo brightened. “Y-yeah. This won’t happen again, I swear, I just forgot my keys, I don’t even drink normally, just yesterday–”
“Tell me your story over lunch,” Izaya said, pushing himself up with a sigh. “And then we’ll stop by the store and you’ll buy some treats for Ootoro.”
“Your cat’s name is–”
Izaya stared.
“…It’s a great name. Let’s go to lunch.”
title: stay close, don’t go
pairing: shizuo/izaya
word count: 8,646
summary: “i think I’m falling in love with you.” izaya raises an eyebrow and looks to shizuo. “…well, that’s unfortunate.”
because shizuo thinks that no one should go through life thinking they’re unlovable. including izaya.
thank you @loveandallthat7 for reading over<3
[ ao3 ]
Pairing: Izaya/Namie
“Orihara Izaya is an asshole.”
“That’s… kind of you to say, Namie.”
Izaya didn’t really care when people went up to him to start insulting him; he actually sort of enjoyed it, in a twisted way only he could, because it was much more amusing than finding out they’d been saying it behind his back. Classes hadn’t started yet; Izaya had arrived early and was pulling his things out when two guys in his class showed up. Apparently their girlfriends had broken up with them because they were both into him and now also weren’t speaking to each other. Izaya informed them this wasn’t his problem. They disagreed. He told them they were stupid, with a pleasant smile. They didn’t take that well.
He was more than capable of handling himself, but when Namie appeared, he decided to sit back and watch the events unfold. They’d been friends since they were little; they both came from well off families and so would end up playing together at charity dinners or galas. The older they became they less friendly they were, but they would still pass the evenings together.
Izaya was wondering if Namie came to defend him or if she was going to join them in insulting him. She never liked him much. He didn’t either, but that didn’t mean they weren’t friends.
For some reason.
“Yeah,” one of them said with a frown and Izaya smirked when he saw the other one blushing a bit. “That’s our point!”
“He’s my asshole,” she said and brought a hand down loudly on Izaya’s desk and had the other planted firmly on her hip. “Scram.”
Izaya’s eyebrow quirked to watch them scatter and he laughed softly. Taking the hand that was on his desk, he bowed to kiss the back of her fingers, his own grazing against her palm. “How kind of you, Namie.”
She scoffed and despite the way she glared, she didn’t pull her hand back. Unlike him, Namie had never tried to push the boundaries of the rules of high class society. Izaya was always trying to find ways to stir up trouble without having to take the blame; it caused a lot of people quite a bit of grief and though his parents knew it was him, there was never enough evidence. He’d always gloat about it to Namie and she’d just roll her eyes at him.
“Are you busy tonight?” he asked, moving back in his chair to pull her into his lap. She obliged and draped an arm around his shoulder.
“I have a piano lesson, but I’m free after that.”
“Should I come over?”
“No, the maid just washed my sheets yesterday.”
He hummed and leaned up to press a kiss to her neck, took advantage of the still empty classroom. “I’ll leave the door unlocked for you. But… what if I can’t wait until tonight?”
And with that, she was off his lap. Izaya wasn’t surprised; he watched her head over to her desk, look over her shoulder one last time to glare.
“Then you get nothing. Don’t get greedy.”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: modern!au: confession
“I think I’m in love with you.”
Izaya adjusted the black rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. “Oh?”
“I’m falling in love with you,” Shizuo said quietly, voice dry and skin prickling with warmth. “I… fucked up.”
“…That’s not nice to say.”
“It feels like I can’t breathe without you,” he said after swallowing thickly, averting his eyes. “…I can’t live without you. I don’t…”
He hesitated and brought a hand up to push his unruly bangs away from his eyes, teeth worrying his bottom lip for a minute. Izaya said nothing; he just watched him and tilted his head.
“You’re everything to me,” Shizuo said finally and looked up. “You’re a piece of shit. You’re rude, you’re childish, you’re selfish, you can be immature. But you’re loyal. And… even though there are things that we can never agree on… being with you makes me a better person. It makes me think about things from viewpoints I never would’ve considered. It makes me… braver. You make me brave.”
He looked up again, smiled.
“…Yeah. You make me brave. Ever since I was a kid, I just wanted to protect the people I cared about. But… I got angry so easily. And I got violent so quickly. I fell in with the wrong crowd and when we met in high school… that was probably my low point. I was skipping class despite knowing how it hurt my parents and Kasuka to see me like that. But you never gave up on me. You… kept bringing me lunches. And bandaged me up when I didn’t want to go to Shinra’s. You sat with me and helped me with the lessons I missed. …I graduated because of you. I went to college because of you. …You saved my life, Izaya.”
“You taught me how to be more patient… that being kind isn’t a weakness. You taught me that sometimes overcoming a fear can be worth it. You were the one person… who never gave up. Even when I yelled… and did stupid shit. You were always calm and, fuck, I don’t know how you did it… you’ve got to be some kind of superhero except you’re not. You’d be the antagonist. Yeah. Antagonist.”
“…But I’m in love with you.”
He relaxed and closed his eyes, leaned forward until his forehead bumped to Izaya’s.
“More than anything, I’m in love with you.”
It was quiet for a few moments. Izaya’s eyes were half lidded, smiling slightly as he looked at Shizuo. He could feel the warmth radiating from him and just sighed, patting Shizuo’s hand that held one of his own. “Shizu-chan, yes, I know all that. This is why we’re married. Go back to sleep, you’re still running a fever.”
He helped him lie back down, pulled the blankets up to his shoulders. Izaya leaned back so the curve of his spine met the headboard again as he continued reading. He felt the weight of Shizuo’s arm drape across his hips and smiled, decided he only needed one hand to hold his book and ran the fingers of his other one through Shizuo’s hair.
“You’re so cheesy, Shizu-chan…”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: getting back together
“You’re ruining my fucking life, Izaya!”
They broke up half a year ago, but when Izaya heard Shizuo drunkenly pounding at his door, he let him in without thinking twice about it. Shizuo had ignored Izaya’s offered water and so he just stood back, sipped at it himself while watching him. Shizuo was dating again, Izaya knew. Nothing serious, just a few dates here and there. He’d recently gotten into a relationship and if they were still together, they’d be reaching their first month anniversary.
It made Izaya sick.
“Shizu-chan,” he sighed, “I haven’t been in contact with you or anyone associated with you. So if you got fired, well, there’s your own doing.”
The break up hadn’t been messy, per say, but it had felt unfinished. It had been a week of constant fighting, of blowing up over everything. And one night, Shizuo just said ‘let’s take a break’ and he looked so tired, so broken that Izaya didn’t want to keep him in a relationship that wasn’t making either of them happy anymore.
So he answered with: “No need. Let’s just break up.”
He regretted it with every bone in his body.
“I can’t stop fucking thinking about you,” Shizuo snarled and Izaya didn’t flinch at all when he began walking towards him. “I keep seein’ remnants of you everywhere… you’re in my dreams, your stupid fucking socks are in my apartment, the food you eat keeps poppin’ up on menus, everywhere I look I see something you liked or hated, I just… you have to leave me alone!”
“That’s not my problem,” Izaya said coolly, matching Shizuo’s gaze evenly. “That’s yours. If that’s all you wanted–”
“I got dumped because she accused me of still being in love with you! You won’t let me move on, you broke up with me–”
“Are you?”
Shizuo stilled and as Izaya was searching his expression, he gave a sigh and raised his hand to his face. “…Of course I am,” he mumbled gruffly, letting his hand fall and looking up with a defeated expression. “How could I not? You’re the goddamn love of my life, Orihara Izaya. I can’t… I can’t fucking live without you. You get it? I can’t live without you. You ruined me, you parasite.”
Izaya froze and for the first time since the break up, he felt that slight annoyance that made him frown in a particularly childish way, a remnant of hope that only Shizuo could ever stir.
“…I’m a parasite?”
“You’re my parasite,” Shizuo corrected and, Izaya realized, that was his way of trying to flirt. Or something close to flirting, at least. Him not being angry or accusatory, being lighthearted.
Not exactly an apology, but the extension of a truce.
A small smile graced Izaya’s lips. He crossed his arms and looked away; a gentle silence stretched between them, air softening. “…So you were dumped?” Izaya asked.
“Yeah,” Shizuo muttered.
“…And you’re still in love with me,” Izaya said quietly and Shizuo gave a weak nod.
Without another word, it took Izaya a single stride to cross the distance between them. His hands came up to frame Shizuo’s face and pulled him into a searing kiss, one that guided them to the bed where they woke up the next morning, sheets between legs entangled with each other. When Izaya stirred, confirming he’d woken up, the very first thing he felt was Shizuo’s arms around him tighten. He blinked, danced his fingers along Shizuo’s lean and toned back. “Shizu-chan?”
“Never letting go of you again.”
Izaya’s eyes closed again and he smiled into Shizuo’s shoulder.
“Mm… better hug a bit tighter then, Shizu-chan.”
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Theme: modern!au: post-it note vows
“I don’t want to get married.”
“…Oh.”
Izaya traces a finger around the rim of his mug.
“I do want a forever with you, I’m just not ready for marriage.”
“…Oh.”
So Shizuo gets up, disappears, and returns with a stack of post-it notes and two black pens. Izaya isn’t sure what’s happening. He’s not sure a lot around Shizuo, which is why being with him is exhilarating. Shizuo’s not an adventurous sort of guy, but he’ll still always surprise Izaya and that paradox is more than enough to want to drown himself in.
“You want a forever, right? Write your vows.”
Because Izaya’s not sure he wants to get married, now or ever. He’s never seen the appeal of it, not really, and understands that it could be detrimental to their taxes. But, more importantly, marriage is something he thinks he should be all in. He’s done a lot for Shizuo. He’d do anything for Shizuo. But he feels like it’s a disgrace, an insult to the person he loves more than anyone if he marries him only to appease him. Shizuo would want him to want marriage. Izaya knows he would.
Izaya quietly sips at his tea while he watches Shizuo begin to write. He’s always had a particular style of writing. The way he holds his pencil isn’t exactly the standard, textbook perfect way. His characters come out a bit sloppy. He bows his head, bangs nearly brushing the surface. Izaya tilts his head. He remembers watching Shizuo write with the side of his face on the desk at times during high school and isn’t at all surprised when he ends up falling asleep.
He watches him with half lidded eyes, a small smirk gracing his lips. Shizuo can be short tempered, easily irritable, blows up at the tiniest things that Izaya’s not even trying to be annoying about. But he can also be infinitely patient at the most unexpected times. Izaya had honestly thought Shizuo might want to break up once he told him about not wanting married, which is why he didn’t until now.
But he didn’t.
He listened, believed Izaya’s wanting of a forever, understood that marriage isn’t the only way, the only reason to spend an eternity with someone.
A ghost of a smile pulls at his lips and Izaya sets his mug down. He begins writing as well, his script much more elegant and refined than Shizuo’s chicken scrawl. When they’re done, Izaya silently stands and comes back with a picture frame. He sticks his post-it note first and then Shizuo’s once he’s done, reattaches the back of the frame. “This is cheesy,” he announces.
“Yeah, well, deal with it.”
And it’s only when they go to bed that night, when Izaya glances at the picture frame hanging over their shared bed where Shizuo’s already asleep, that he realizes they wrote the very same thing at the bottom:
I promise to love you until the end of time.