Chapt. 15

Izaya woke up to arms wrapped tight around his midriff and something hard pressing against his behind. But he smiled.

He turned his neck to get a look at the sleeping blonde who was currently snoring loudly in his ear.

Shoving his shoulder, he shifted so he was facing the debt collector, putting a bit of space between them. Shizuo stirred and his eyes blinked open slowly.

Shizuo opened his eyes, expecting to see blinding light that filtered in through the curtains, but instead he saw Izaya. And a week ago, he would have pushed the informant away, jumping up in disgust, but instead, he smiled, not caring at all that his hair was probably matted with sweat and grease and whatnot. Not caring at all that this was the flea. But of course, all that was already dealt with last night. Which would explain why Izaya was lying in his bed in the afterglow of an incredible night, lying so close to him, but somehow not close enough for Shizuo.

Grunting, he pulled the louse closer til he was pushed right against him, not bothering about the bodily fluids that streaked his slim body and getting no resistance from said flea.

"What time is it?" he muttered out, nuzzling the area between the raven's shoulder and neck.

There was a pause as Izaya checked his clock. "Eleven thirty," came his amused reply. "Trust protozoan's like you to sleep til such a late hour."

"Please," Shizuo replied into his skin. "You weren't awake much earlier were you, flea?"

"Earlier than you," the informant responded before he felt soft kisses at his nape. It seemed Shizuo had given up the argument for more pressing matters.

Strong hands ran down his side, tracing his figure, before stopping at his behind.

"Shizu-Chan," Izaya whined but didn't make any attempt to move the hands away. "You just woke up!"

"Your fault," he replied simply.

Izaya moaned when he felt a finger slip into him. He pressed closer to the blonde as his back arched, wrapping his leg around the other male.

Shizuo's brows furrowed in arousement as he felt the way Izaya moved back against him sluttily. He felt wetness which he realized was his come from the previous night, turning him on to no end.

He continued to move his fingers inside the raven, kissing him passionately at the same time.

"Shizu-Chan..." the informant moaned and the blonde almost lost it then.

He moved faster, subsequently adding in more fingers and watching the way the smaller male's face contorted in pleasure, eyes squeezed shut, bottom lip bitten and face flushed with colour. It was only when the flea's eyes opened a little, eyeballs rolling back slightly as he whimpered and quivered more that Shizuo finally tore his stare away from his face and looked down, noticing the white that now stained both their torsos.

"Wow," Shizuo breathed, removing his fingers. Izaya made a small noise at the lost but focused more on getting his breathing back on track.

"Mm," Izaya breathed, pushing Shizuo playfully. "Now I have to go take a shower, Shizu-Chan!" he complained, though a small smile showed on his lips.

"Only if I can join you," the blonde smirked.

The raven gave him a teasing look before rolling off the bed and running into the bathroom. Shizuo didn't miss a beat, hopping off the bed after him and chasing him, tackling him into a huge hug as they both fell into the tub, laughing as though they'd never been enemies.

The laughter died down soon and they were just left staring at each other. To Shizuo, Izaya held the world in his eyes. The raven leaned up suddenly and gave him a small kiss, pulling back down only after a moment. The debt collector's heart was pounding, and he once again found himself thinking damn this flea. If Izaya was just playing around to fuck with him, he swore he would kill himself. Because this was the first time he ever felt anything so real.

"Izaya," he murmured, looking down. "Do you mean this?"

He felt a sharp slap on his arm and he looked up again quickly to meet the face of the raven. Izaya had a glare in his eyes, his face stern and serious.

"You still doubt me?" he said in a voice that made Shizuo realize that he meant it.

"Of course not," he smiled, shaking his head. He should have had more confidence in Izaya, he thought, because it was obvious he was as serious as Shizuo was. "Sorry. It was stupid."

"Yeah," Izaya responded with a roll of his eyes and pulled the blonde down into a kiss.

Their bath lasted longer than it should have, but they both came out satisfied, and happy. Shizuo swore it was the best feeling ever. But he was stumped when he realized the only clothes he had to wear were his pyjamas from the previous night.

"What's wrong?" Izaya asked as he pulled his shirt over his lithe frame when he noticed the frown present on the blonde's face.

Said blonde stood in the middle of the room, lower half wrapped in a towel with his hands on his hips. "I...have to wear that," he explained, pointing to the wrinkled clothes that laid on the floor, tangled together.

His problem however was met with laughter and no sympathy at all. "Shizu-Chan!" the informant gleamed.

Shizuo ignored Izaya in favour of picking up his shirt and grimacing at how old and creased it looked. His pants were no better. They were sweatpants and though he could take the train with them on last night when all who was in it was a drunk guy and an old man reading a newspaper, he couldn't get on the train with it on in the afternoon for fuck's sake. He wished he had thought of this yesterday.

"Ugh, now what?" he asked, turning to the raven who was still chuckling.

"I don't see what's wrong with that outfit."

"These are my pyjamas."

"So, you rushed over yesterday without even changing into your bartender outfit first, ne?" Izaya smirked before his lips softened. "That's stupidly sweet, Shizu-Chan." he replied before sighing. "Well, I guess it can't be helped then. I'll go buy you some clothes, but I'm warning you, they won't be your usual weird style."

"Don't insult Kasuka's clothes! And...thanks flea." Shizuo scratched his head awkwardly.

The raven gave him a soft kiss before leaving, leaving Shizuo alone and the blonde suddenly missed having Izaya beside him already. God, he was beginning to act like a lovesick fool; but he liked it.

He sat on the queen sized bed and sighed. He wondered how everyone would react when they found out about him and Izaya. The two arch enemies now...what they are now. Of course, he wouldn't really care why anyone else thought. And if whatever Tom and Erika say were anything to go by, people were already suspecting it.

He sighed yet again. He would have to tell Tom, he realized. And though he feared the smugness that was sure to show on the brunette's face, he couldn't help but feel excited. He wanted Tom to know. He wanted everybody to know.

He smiled to himself.

The smile grew when he heard the sound of a door unlocking and opening and footsteps approaching the bedroom.

"Here, Shizu-Chan," Izaya threw a white bag at him once he stepped through the door. "I bought breakfast," he added in with a soft grin before sauntering out.

Shizuo grabbed the plain blue t-shirt and jeans that were in the bag and put them on hurriedly before exiting the room to find Izaya.

The raven was in the kitchen, preparing the breakfast he bought. The blonde hugged him from behind, strong arms wrapping around thin hips, breathing in the sweet scent of the dark hair.

"You can't stay away from me can you?" He could here the smirk in Izaya's voice.

He grunted in agreement, because heck, it was true.

The raven forced him off, laughing, and brought both of them to the dining table.

They had a comfortable meal together, basking in each other and just...enjoying.

"I'm going to meet Tom later," the blonde said suddenly. "I'm going to tell Tom about...this."

Izaya was quiet for a moment as he chewed slowly. There was a pause as he swallowed, and then looked up at Shizuo. "You don't mind him knowing?"

"Of course not."

"Right. He is your best friend."

"That's not just it, Izaya," Shizuo argued, frowning. "I'm not ashamed of this." So it seemed the raven was just as insecure as he was. Had been. Baby steps, he thought. He needed to show the informant just how much he cared. "I'm going to tell him," he repeated for good measure.

The informant just smiled and Shizuo hoped he understood why he was doing this.

Their meal ended and after awhile of lazing on the couch, the debt collected made ready to leave.

"I'll come back," he said with certainty at the doorway.

"Yeah, I know."

The blonde leaned down to pull him into a kiss. He didn't know when he started to feel like he never wanted to leave the flea's side. He rushed the kiss, grunting in annoyance when Izaya pushed him back.

"We have more time for that later, Shizu-Chan. You need to leave."

Shizuo didn't know why Izaya didn't understand that he wanted it now, he wanted it later, he wanted it every second of the day; but he nodded anyway.

"Bye, flea," he said one last time, turning away. "Wait for me, ok?"

"Just go you stupid protozoan."

He heard the response and smiled.

Getting off the train at Ikebukuro, he made his way home. He changed into a fresh set of his regular clothes first before calling up the brunette.

"Shizuo?" Tom said once he picked up the phone. Caller-ID.

"Yeah, hey. Can you meet me? I...I need to tell you something."

"Yeah, sure, but...are you ok, Shizuo? Erika told me about yesterday," he spoke with caution.

"I'm fine. Just meet me at the cafe in 10 minutes. It's important."

Tom agreed before Shizuo hung up and left the house.

He made his way to the meeting spot and when he reached, Tom was already there, patiently waiting, and he stood up in a haste once he saw the blonde.

"Shizuo!" he called from his seat in the balcony.

Shizuo walked over, still mentally preparing himself. Not because he thought Tom wouldn't accept it, but just...because. He sat down before the brunette started bombarding him with questions.

"How are you? Are you ok now?"

The blonde smiled. "I'm fine Tom. Calm down."

"Ok, ok. It's just I haven't seen you since that day. So...why did you call me out? Erika told me yesterday that...she went to visit you and you went to find Izaya," Tom spoke, scratching his head, and trailed off. "What happened?"

"Yeah, it's...about that actually." Shizuo took a breath. "Me and the flea, we managed to work things out and...and...we're, together now."

As soon as he said it, he saw all the worry that had been so visibly obvious on his friend's face just slip off, leaving in its wake a huge grin.

"Wait, are you serious?" Tom said with the smile still plastered on his face.

"Yes," Shizuo replied, though he couldn't help the grin that surfaced on his face as well. It felt good to say it out loud.

"H-how? Tell me the details!" Tom said enthusiastically, leaning forward in excitement.

Shizuo frowned and blushed slightly. "I-I just went to his house and we talked, that's all!"

"But how did you even decide that you..."

"Well, you know that entire week I was off from work?" Tom nodded. "I realized that...I couldn't stop thinking about the flea. And I tried to forget, but I couldn't. Then Erika came, abd she talked to me, and I realized that, yeah, perhaps the spell did come off for a reason. So I went to find the louse, and he told me that his memories of the time he was under the spell started coming back to him, and he sort of learned to like me too. So...that happened," he ended awkwardly, realizing that he had just spilled everything out to Tom without a thought.

"Really. What a beautiful love story," Tom sighed, smiling dreamily.

"Tch, shut up," Shizuo turned away.

"So how's it like? Being enemy turn lovers?"

"It's..." the blonde's features softened. "It's pretty wonderful."

"Yeah? I'm really happy for you, Shizuo," Tom's tone softened, and it was obvious he meant it.

"Thanks."

He felt a pat on his back suddenly and looked to see Tom smirking at him. "Now what are you still doing here? Go back to your soulmate!"

The blonde almost, almost, argued with the term Tom used, but didn't. Hell, he hoped it was true.

He got up, smiling, and looked at his friend who was supporting him with all his heart. "Yeah, I guess I should. And, Tom?" the brunette hummed. "Thanks, a lot. You stuck with me through this whole thing and...it means a lot."

"Ah," Tom waved it off. "Don't mention it. All I've ever wanted was for you to be happy, and Izaya changed you. It's quite amazing. But enough of this, go Shizuo. Don't worry about me."

Shizuo nodded once more, taking one more look at his best friend before turning and leaving.

The world could not have been any lighter for him at that point and he thanked heavens that everything managed to fall into place.

He would go back to Izaya and they would spend the day just soaking in each other and thinking of how lucky they were. They would be happy just by each other's side and spend endless days wrapped up in the arms of the other, never getting enough of that warmth and comfort. They would be forming new memories together, already forgetting the bad ones and holding on as tight as they could to this bliss, because they would never let it go. Never bear to.

Ikebukuro was seeing some peaceful days. No vending machines or street signs were flying around anymore; no raven was hopping on top of and leaping off buildings; no blonde was shouting up the top of his head screaming the same name over and over again. This was something that hasn't happened in years and the people of Ikebukuro were praying it would last. Shizuo, too, as he wrapped an arm around Izaya, knowing full well that he would work as hard as he could to make this last.

That's all folks.

Peace, I'm out.