"I'm going to break you," Shizuo said with a smirk like a crescent moon at night.

Izaya felt a shiver run through his body as he looked up at the blond. He shouldn't be feeling this emotion, fear. It was like being dumped with a bucket of ice water on a cold winter morning. Why, why now? He had never been afraid of the blond monster of Ikebukuro, but now he couldn't say he was not afraid. He was afraid. Afraid of the blond who stood seemingly several feet taller than him when it was only about a foot. Afraid of what that uncharacteristic grin held in store for him.

He wanted to run. Not for amusement or pleasure like he normally did. But because he wanted to live. He couldn't escape though. Somehow, the blond had backed him into a dead-end alley and he had nowhere to turn. His knife lay at the entrance where the blond had smacked it from his hand. Laying on the cold ground like a diamond among dirt. He needed his knife if he wanted to get out alive.

He didn't think he'd get out alive.

Masks, masks were what he needed. They'd saved him before and they'd save him again. If he could protect himself behind one, hide what he felt, then maybe Shizuo would become afraid of him instead. Maybe he could still turn the tables. Words were always his favorite weapon anyways; he'd take words over a blade any day.

Right?

Izaya grinned, feeling more forced than ever. "Oh? And how do you plan to do that, Shizu-chan?"

"You think me so dumb, Iz-a-ya?" Shizuo drawled, leaning uncomfortably close to him. Izaya leaned back as his face came closer, realizing that he was conceding ground to the blond monster. "I've been watching you, Izaya. You who watches everyone like you're some god. You're nothing but another human hiding behind ego and pride. You're just like everyone else, you just don't realize that yet."

Shizuo brushed some of Izaya's hair back with one hand. Izaya flinched at the contact, thinking that it'd have been much more violent than the gesture was. "Don't worry though, Izaya," Shizuo practically cooed. "I'm going to help you realize. I'm tired of our little games that you lead me in a merry chase. I think it's time I lead you in one instead. I'm going to knock you off that throne of yours and I'm going to make you see what you are."

Izaya gulped, feeling like a bowling ball was in his throat. Words were failing him, his once trusted ally. He was left abandoned on an island entrapped by a sea of blond hair and glinting hazel eyes. Izaya tried to look for a way out, through the maze of jumbled words. He had no compass to guide him and no map to follow, he was lost. He could only keep his mask in place by sheer willpower more than anything else. The glue was coming undone but he pressed it more firmly to his face, hoping it'd get him through this encounter.

"What am I then, Shizu-chan?" Izaya asked in a sing-song voice. His eyes looking anywhere but at the bartender dressed man.

"Mine," the single word was whispered in his ear. Shizuo backed off from Izaya as suddenly as he had approached. His smile turning from a mocking smirk to something… else, in a matter of seconds. Izaya couldn't put words to what this new smile expressed, because he had never seen such a smile before. At least, one directed at him. Baffled by the strange behavior, Izaya was left dumbstruck as Shizuo turned and left the alley, leaving him behind. What had just happened? Who had that been, really? It certainly couldn't have been Shizuo. Shizu-chan was like a fire next to gasoline, hot and explosive. This Shizuo he had faced was more like a smoldering blaze, casting an orange glow into a room, the only warmth in a winter night.

'Mine,' such a possessive word. How dare that blond lay claim to him? He, who stood above all others and watched, was not belonging to someone. Not to mention they hated each other! They thought daily and he drove Shizu-chan up a wall! Why would Shizuo ever want him? Why would anyone in Ikebukuro, or anywhere else, want him? Except to kill him or use him to gain information, of course.

Nothing about this Tuesday afternoon made sense, did he even want it to make sense? Pulling his phone out of his pocket Izaya dialed Shinra's number. Exiting the alley, he held the device to his ear to listen to the familiar ring.

"Shinra speaking," the underground doctor said as he came on the line.

Izaya bit his lip, unsure of what to ask first. "Have you seen Shizu-chan recently?"

Shinra laughed, sounding exactly like the mad-man he was. "Of course I have. He's been coming by a lot these past couple of weeks to talk with Celty. Why, if I wasn't confident in Celty's love for me I'd be jealous of the two spending so much time together. Why do you ask?"

Celty? Was she the reason Shizuo was so… weird? "Well I just saw Shizu-chan and he wasn't acting like… like well Shizu-chan."

Shinra's voice had lost in playful edge when he spoke next. "Izaya, are you okay? You sound pretty shaken up. Did Shizuo hurt you for real this time or something?"

"No, nothing like that… I don't want to talk about it actually. Thanks for the information, Shinra." Izaya quickly hung up and pocketed the phone before Shinra could say anything else. Belatedly, he realized he had actually been nice to Shinra.

He was really off his game today.

It was all the protozoan's fault, Izaya mused as he walked home. If he hadn't been acting so strange than Izaya wouldn't act so strange too! This all had to be some game that Shizuo and Celty had decided to play upon him. There wasn't an explanation for it otherwise. At least, not one that he could see.

Yeah, it was just a game. Issue with this game was, Izaya wasn't in control. Shizuo had taken the steering wheel from him and he was helpless to watch as the blond drove them both to regions far from familiar. He needed to regain control of the situation, but he didn't know how he could do that. For once, he just didn't know. And he really didn't like not knowing.