Title: Stay
Rating: M
Pairing: Shizuo/Izaya
Warning: Yaoi. OOCness. Oh and everyone dies. Well except for the main pairing and a dullahan who disappears.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Sue Samsung.
A/N: Set in canon universe. A mysterious-X-because-lazy-author disease leads to Tokyo being isolated by the Japanese government. Let's ignore my incompetence and accept that the characters are still supplied with electricity and water and canned food (but no internet), and we're all set.
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: March 6th, 2011, 17:45
Code: EPIDEMIC
Action: Quarantine
Are you sure? Yes/No
Yes _
o0o
Shinra was the last one to leave.
Shizuo did not cry. He remembered shedding tears, though, years ago when he stood in front of his brother's grave and screamed until his voice went raw and the whole world was silent. When he held Tom's cold body against his own, reciting muted prayers to a God that he knew didn't exist. The doctor's house had always been some sort of comfort back then; he could fall asleep with Celty's hand awkwardly ruffling his hair and sometimes managed a snicker at Shinra's horrible jokes.
Now they were both gone, and Shizuo was all alone.
o0o
Kasuka had quite a big DVD collection, so Shizuo made a habit of watching them every day on his old TV. He had never had enough passion for movies like his brother did, and now that he hated them he watched them even more, just so the noises could keep him sane through the nights.
Sometimes he drank, too. The alcoholic taste always made him grimace, but he gulped down another glass anyway because the liquid was soothingly bitter.
Sometimes, though rarely, he slept. He slept and dreamed of happy days, and when he woke up reality was laughing, telling him that they were all just a cosmic joke.
Sometimes he looked at the grey sky and wished, that someone, anyone, was still alive.
o0o
"Well, this surely is a turn up, isn't it?"
.
.
They met again in front of Shinra's grave.
Shizuo knew he should have reacted. Should have done what he did in the old days, snarling, chasing, grasping, tearing at that slithering smirk he had always hated. Should have wrapped his fingers around that pale neck, squeezing, crushing, until the final thread of light bled out from those crimson eyes.
"…You're still alive." he replied instead, not expecting his voice to come out so raw, hopeless and tired.
Fiery eyes widened briefly.
"You've changed." Izaya tilted his head. His voice was soft and light and different, mixing with something that Shizuo couldn't quite pinpoint.
Something akin to disappointment.
Something akin to sadness.
"Guess I'm going." the smaller man whispered, before his expressions quickly melted into his normally cheerful smile.
"Bye bye, Shizu-chan."
o0o
Perhaps someday, several years after, Shizuo would think back and ask himself if all those days being alone had driven him insane after all.
For now, he panicked.
"Don't." Shizuo breathed out, tightening his grip on his enemy's wrist. "Don't. Just…"
He never finished that sentence.
But then again, Izaya never needed him to.
o0o
"Three weeks' worth of laundry!? Shizu-chan, that's just disgusting."
He twitched quietly at the annoying sing-song voice. Which was ridiculous in a way, because Heiwajima Shizuo had never been known to be capable of quiet anger.
"Do you even clean this place anymore? You're practically living in garbage. "
"It's not like you have to live here." Shizuo grunted, biting a bit harder on his cigarette as he resisted the urge to grab something and throw it at the informant. "There are plenty of houses in the neighborhood. Just pick one, it's not like anyone lives there anymore."
Izaya stopped in his track, glancing briefly at the debt-collector before a small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Nope. I think I'm going to stay here after all, since annoying Shizu-chan all day sounds really nice."
Shizuo didn't realize that he had been holding his breath.
"Whatever…" he said, trying to sound nonchalant as the lump in his throat subsided, like it had never been there before.
"I'm taking the bed though~"
"…Fuck off."
o0o
The first day that they lived together, Shizuo thought that his enemy was indeed wrong in the head.
It shouldn't have come as that big of a surprise. He knew more than anyone else that Izaya's mind had always been as stable as that of a psychopath, and it was not like living alone in the middle of a dead city made it any better. But when he saw poetries about dirty magazine models and half-written music sheets that looked like forbidden holograms strewn all over the floor, Shizuo couldn't help but give the informant a pitiful look.
Izaya simply shrugged and grinned as if he was doing something absolutely normal.
"Look, it's a portrait of Shizu-chan~"
The debt collector redirected his gaze, only to see a messy drawing of an ugly puppy that was angrily barking fire.
He hurled the basket of clothes in his arms towards the laughing raven-haired man.
o0o
"You don't sleep much, do you?"
"No, I don't."
"That's unhealthy even for a protozoan, Shizu-chan. Want me to sing you a lullaby?"
"…Go the fuck to sleep."
o0o
On the fourth day, they decided to watch a movie together. Which resulted in Izaya talking incessantly throughout the whole thing, which explained why Shizuo's remote control ended up halfway through the wall at the end of the day.
They cleaned up together afterwards, and when Izaya suggested that they should do it again another time, Shizuo nodded in agreement.
It was a pretty normal day.
o0o
"Wait, so Kasuka initially wanted to be a florist?"
"Hn."
"I see ~ That's pretty adorable, compared to my sisters' choice of career."
"…What did Mairu and Kururi want to do?"
"Mairu wants to be a poet who specializes in poems about H-materials."
"…"
"Kururi'd always had an interest in music, but her dream was to compose a piece that'd put Faeri's Aire and Death Waltz to shame."
"Fae- what?"
"Faeri's Aire and Death Waltz, Shizu-chan. One of the hardest piano pieces in the world, unplayable by one person. You should look at the music sheets."
"…Sounds like a hard life. For you, I mean."
"Damn straight."
o0o
It was a bit like reliving the past. Everyday Shizuo would throw things and swear and argue and generally get annoyed when the night came, so all it all he guessed that life with the flea was pretty bearable.
Sometimes, though, he laughed.
And Shizuo didn't like it at all.
o0o
"Do you feel guilty whenever you laugh?"
"No. Maybe. A little."
"Then don't. Save it for when you throw stuff in my face."
"…Do you feel guilty whenever you open your mouth?"
"No, not really. You suffer, so I guess it's worth it. Oops, there goes our washing machine."
o0o
On the thirtieth day, Izaya disappeared.
Shizuo just thought that it was inevitable when he saw the empty couch, before going back to his routine as if nothing happened. Now that the flea was finally gone, he could watch his movies in peace once more, and his laundry could sit in the corner of the living room for days on ends without anyone throwing a fit.
The house was a bit too quiet again, but he liked it much more compared to that informant's annoying chatter, and-
"Shizu-chan ~~~" The door to his house burst open, accompanied by a familiar silhouette. "I went back home to get some clothes, now I don't have to wear your stuff any- What the fuck was that TV for!?"
"Who knows? Maybe it was trying to welcome you back."
"Oya? Your TV takes after its owner, I guess. Both have no brains at all."
And just like that, they fought.
Both of them understood why Shizuo's punches purposely missed and why Izaya's switch blade stayed inside the pocket of his pants, but none of them bother to say anything.
o0o
"Next time, I'll tell you when I have to go somewhere."
"Apology accepted."
"I wasn't even apologizing."
"…"
"…Don't smirk, you damn protozoan."
o0o
They were like two pieces from two different puzzles that matched.
Each of them filled up the hole in the other's life, but the bonds that they shared would only result in a bizarre, distorted image to the eyes of outsiders.
Shizuo simply didn't care, and Izaya thought that it was perfect.
o0o
"I heard you scream last night."
"Mm. A nightmare. First one I've had in months." Izaya responded half-heartedly as the informant flipped through Kasuka's DVD collections. "Pretty refreshing, I guess."
"How so?"
"Better than nice and sweet dreams, don't you think?"
Because those words made sense in all the wrong ways, Shizuo stayed silent and decided to go back to the novel in his hands. He didn't manage to get very far with the story, though, when the book was plied away from his fingers and suddenly Izaya's face was so close to his.
"Come to think of it, is that why Shizu-chan's afraid of sleeping? Because of happy dreams." Shizuo could almost taste his enemy's breath on the tip of his tongue, and it was dangerous and sinful and delicious. "Want me to help you with that?"
The blonde swallowed. "And what exactly are you planning?"
"Nothing? I guess I'm just feeling lonely."
A small peck on the lips quickly turned into a heated kiss, their tongues and saliva mashing together in a painful but sensual dance. The debt collector could feel Izaya shiver in his arms as his teeth grazed over the informant's pearly white neck, and the sound emitting from those pink lips made Shizuo briefly wonder how he could have missed this for so god damn long.
"Can I mess you up?" Those words came out so naturally, and the beast that had been slumbering inside him growled in pleasure.
"By all means." A chuckle. "Fuck me, Shizuo."
It was the sound of his name that snapped his last bit of control, and Shizuo dived in to claim what was rightfully his.
o0o
"If somebody had suggested we sleep together two years ago, I'd have laughed."
"You'd have thrown a vending machine and gutted the bastard with a street sign."
"Shut up."
"…"
"…"
"…Is this the part where we cuddle?"
"…Don't be disgusting, flea."
"Right. My bad."
o0o
Shizuo didn't know how to call it, this thing between them.
Izaya had come to him the night after that, as well as the many nights after that, and as time passed neither of them needed an excuse to touch the other. A slight bump of their shoulders, a teasing look, and Shizuo would find his hand desperately pulling at the smaller man's shirt as their eager breaths tumbled together, blending into a haunting melody.
"Think of it as we're using each other." The informant had said, among their biting and kissing and arguing and fucking.
Shizuo had accepted that line of reasoning, because he couldn't think of a better answer.
He guessed, though, that those words were true. Both of them had been alone for too long yet too proud to admit that they were miserable, and now that they finally found someone to cling to, they couldn't bring themselves to let go.
Physical intercourse was the easiest way to keep whatever they had going on, so that was what they did.
o0o
"…And what does that make us?" he asked anyway, out of pure curiosity.
"Humans." The raven replied nonchalantly, before bending down and nibbling on his lower lips.
o0o
Izaya never stayed after sex.
Shizuo never stopped him, because he had no reason to.
o0o
"I had another nightmare."
"About what?"
"I was dying. And you know what's scary?"
"Aside from your own death?"
"Yup. You were crying. And it looked so gross."
"Glad to know that you're more afraid of seeing me cry than dying."
"…You know, it sounds really wrong when you phrase it like that. Perhaps-"
"Shut up and eat your food, flea."
"Stupid protozoan."
o0o
Shizuo woke up to a punch in the face.
"What the fuck, you dam-" The debt collector's words faltered as he saw the furious look that was tainting his ex-enemy's normally calm expression.
The blonde didn't know what he had done that could possibly make Izaya angry like that. The informant had been out since morning, leaving him all bored and alone in the house. Shizuo must have fallen asleep on the floor sometime after that, and-
Oh.
"There's a reason why we agreed that sleeping needs to happen in bed, isn't there?" The raven gritted his teeth. "I thought I'd put it simple enough, heck, I did put it simple enough that even a three-year-old could understand! But noooo, I guess you just couldn't get it along with a million other things, and you just had to go ahead and lie there like a stupid corpse because you are a fucking protozoan-"
The debt collector thought that he was being inappropriate, and possibly unfair on top of everything else, but he smiled.
"Wanna know something?" he whispered, burying his face into Izaya's midnight hair as his hands rubbed soothing circles on the informant's back.
"No."
"I guess I understand." Shizuo continued, tightening his hold around the raven's slender body and ignoring Izaya's vicious struggle. "Why you said my crying face was terrifying."
o0o
"You use everything as an excuse for sex." Izaya complained as Shizuo pushed him against the wall, hands fumbling clumsily on his waistband.
"I use sex as an excuse for everything." The blond corrected, brushing his lips against the informant's earlobes.
"And hah-how is th-ah-at different?" Izaya retorted, but his witty remarks quickly turned into a whimper as Shizuo took a pink nipple into his mouth and rolled it on the tip of his tongue.
"Aren't you the smart one between us?"
"You said that thinking during sex is annoying."
"I thought you never listened to what I said."
As always, their kiss was messy, desperate and far from perfect. But when Izaya's fingers tangled into his hair and the informant silently sobbed for his touch, Shizuo figured that he loved it anyway.
o0o
"I'm scared, too." He told the raven-haired man. "So I guess that makes us even."
o0o
Shizuo found that he liked it when Izaya was spread open underneath him, need pulsing shamelessly between those creamy thighs.
"You're starting to sound like a pervert." The informant made a face when he heard that, but Shizuo could see the smirk hidden in those deep fiery eyes.
"It's just that, you look more vulnerable in that position."
Izaya cocked an eyebrow.
"And Shizu-chan likes a vulnerable me, why?"
"It makes it look like you need me."
Shizuo braced himself for a sarcastic remark, but none ever came. The raven simply went back to his coffee after that, and the rest of the morning carried on in silence.
o0o
"It's irritating."
"What is?" The debt collector murmured back, doing a particular twist with his fingers that made Izaya arch his back in ecstasy.
"It's irritating." The informant repeated, his voice slowly breaking as a wave of pleasure over took him. "When you use 'it looks like'."
"I know." Shizuo replied, and kissed him hard.
o0o
"Do you need me to tie you to the damn bed?"
"Was that an invitation to bondage, or did you just want me to stay?"
"I don't know. But bondage sounds good at the moment."
"Stupid protozoan."
"Fucking flea."
...Because apparently cuddling in the middle of a dead city where you can die any day fits my kawaii desu requirements. Yes good. -shotamilliontimes-