Chapter II: Cyclamen

Shinra walked out of Shizuo's room after finishing the check-up, only to find Izaya sitting on the floor.

"Izaya..." Shinra wondered if he should probably give some words of comfort but realised that he knew little to none of them, and he had especially none for the great Orihara Izaya.

"Emergency, Shinra." Izaya looked up from his position to gaze at Shinra, eyes full of mirth.

"What?" When Izaya had that look, Shinra felt like his back was a bit chilly, just a tiny bit, even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Help me make sure Shizu-chan doesn't leave his bed today."

"What? O… kay…" Shinra nodded his head slowly at this odd request.

"And sedate him as soon as possible, I need to remove my clothes from his room and I can't do it while he's awake."

Shinra folded his arms. "Sedate him right after he woke up from his coma? You sure that's a good idea?"

"Nah he won't die… Plus he'll die quicker if he found my clothes in his closet," Izaya shrugged, "From anger and disgust."

Shinra laughed, "Right, that's true."

While Izaya was busy packing his things outside, Shinra went back in to Shizuo's room to check on him again after preparing some liquid food for him, only to find him getting out of bed.

He quickly rushed in to stop him, "Wait, wait, Shizuo, what are you doing?"

Shizuo pulled the IV drip away from his hand (a tad too roughly – Shinra thought disapprovingly), "I feel fine now, so I guess I'm going to work."

Shinra went over to apply gauze over his bleeding hand, slightly pushing Shizuo down to force him to sit back down on his bed, "What? No, no, no. Don't go to work, you can't leave your bed yet."

Shizuo frowned, "But I'm feeling as good as ever."

"Doctor's orders," Shinra remained adamant.

Shizuo shot him an odd look. "You've never given me doctor's orders before, have you? Plus, you know I would never follow doctors' orders, if they try to give me, that is."

"Well, you've never been in a coma for so long before either, right?" Shinra resisted the urge to throw his hands up in frustration and the temptation to just inject the sedative into Shizuo's arm so he could avoid all this trouble. "Just stay for a while okay?"

"… Fine." Shizuo pursed his lips. "Just for today."

Shinra secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Shizuo stared at him, tapping his fingers on his lap, "So, what happened to me and the flea?"

Shinra tried to think of words to tell Shizuo before settling on "It's complicated."

Shizuo raised an eyebrow at the response.

Shinra returned a look of innocence and shrugged, "I mean, I don't know where to start. Maybe you guys will figure it out again one day."

Shinra sighed and find himself to be very uncharacteristic today. He never pitied Izaya, but thinking of the days Izaya slept on the sofa in Shizuo's cramped one-room apartment just to take care of Shizuo while he was in coma, and looking at Shizuo's attitude right now, he had to feel slightly bad for Izaya. Just slightly, and he'll forget about it tomorrow.

Regardless, he dutifully sat with Shizuo until Izaya gave him the message that he was done packing.

Izaya peered into the fridge. He had finished clearing out everything that belonged to him in the living room – which didn't have much space for things either – and the bathroom, all his toiletries and shampoo (Shizuo doesn't really use shampoo before then, it was just body wash). Hopefully Shizu-chan doesn't notice the change in brand of body wash because he was really too lazy to buy a new one in such a short period of time in order to replace it. All that was left was the kitchen, which had the most things to pack.

To Izaya's disdain, the fridge was full of expired strawberry milk and pudding. He threw the expired ones away, leaving one or two measly ones left. He really contemplated throwing the good ones out too, out of petty revenge because he just didn't want Shizuo to enjoy them after forgetting him.

His eyes landed on the fatty tuna he had just taken away earlier. That was his favourite food and there was no way he was going to leave that to Shizuo. He had planned that for dinner, and he guessed he could only bring back to his own apartment to eat.

Such a pity. That would make a good dinner to celebrate Shizuo waking up, but now he guessed he could only eat it while staring at Namie's perpetually sour face.

Moving on to the cupboards that he had not opened in weeks, Izaya wrinkled his nose as he cleared them, throwing away unhealthy food such as snacks, sickening sweets and cup noodles. The reason he gave himself was that Shizu-chan shouldn't eat such things when he just recovered. No, it was definitely not because he wanted to irk Shizuo when he found out that his junk food cupboard had been depleted.

When he finally packed finish everything, he called a chauffeur to pick him up. After bringing his belongings downstairs, Izaya sent a message to Shinra to inform him that he was done and to message him back when he had sedated Shizuo.

"Don't you have work to do, Shinra?" Shizuo stared at Shinra who was staring back at him. "Don't you want to accompany Celty?"

Shinra blinked, and replied matter-of-factly, "What do you mean, of course I want to be with Celty."

"Yeah, why are you still here then?" Shizuo asked.

Shinra explained, "Well, Celty is worried about you too, so for these few days I better take good care of you."

"… If you say so." Shizuo didn't quite believe he had become so important in Shinra and Celty's life but couldn't deny that he felt a little touched.

Shizuo shifted to a more comfortable position on his bed, before it registered that something felt a little unusual about his bed. The bed was wider and felt more comfortable. Heck, even his blanket was not the same now that he thought about it, noticing that it was smoother against his skin.

Everything screamed of money that he did not have.

He never bought an expensive bed – or any expensive furniture, for that matter – since he didn't know when he will wake up one day, a little too forcefully, and collapse the bed.

"Wait, Shinra, do you know if I was drunk when I got this bed?" Shizuo pressed his hand against the mattress and watched it bounce right back to its original position, "Why would I buy something that is expensive and useless? I also definitely would not choose this mattress since it is a little softer than what I am normally used to."

"Erm," Shinra's eyes avoided his gaze, "Why are you even asking me? I don't think we are close enough for me to know what beds you bought, for god's sake."

Shizuo raised his eyebrow at Shinra's slight discomposure and thought that Shinra was acting very peculiar today indeed.

Izaya waited for quite some time before Shinra gave him the green light. The sky was already dark when he walked back to Shizuo's house.

Shinra nodded to him before leaving, and Izaya was once again alone with a sleeping Shizuo.

Who knew so much could change in one day?

He quickly went to the closet and took out all of his clothes and rearranged everything to look like they had never been there before.

After he had placed his clothing in his bag – there really wasn't much since Shizuo's closet was too small, just some simple shirts and pants he brought over in case he had to stay over for the night – he walked to the only window in the room and replaced the hyacinths with a pot of cyclamen he just bought. Izaya stared at the pink flowers that crowded together in silence before plucking one flower off the top and holding it in his hand.

He switched off the lights of the bedroom, leaving only the street lights to irradiate Shizuo's sleeping face. Shizuo definitely appeared gentler when he was sleeping – that was what Izaya always told him and teased him about – because he wasn't frowning or shouting, and the low lighting also softened his features. Izaya stood there for a few quiet minutes, hearing only their interlacing breathing, to watch him for one last time before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

It will probably be the last time he will step foot in this room.

Izaya was back at his house after lugging back boxes of his belongings, to which Namie raised an eyebrow when she saw him, "You didn't tell me you were moving house."

Izaya ignored her and dumped all his stuff at the door, taking only the fatty tuna he had prepared for dinner.

Namie walked over. "You're not staying at your lover's house today?"

Izaya shot her a look.

"Why are you having that face? Did the two of you fight again?" Namie continued without a care, before realising something, "Wait, isn't he in coma now? How do you fight when-"

Izaya still didn't reply but stabbed his chopsticks into the tuna.

Namie's eyebrows shot up, "What, did he wake up already? Then shouldn't you be happy-?"

"Can't you just leave me in peace while I eat my tuna?" Izaya cut her off, banging his chopsticks against the table, "You standing here is ruining the beautiful taste of it, thank you very much."

Namie shrugged and walked off, deciding she wasn't that interested in his love life anyway.

When Namie next talked to Izaya, it was when she stood in front of his desk, rolling her eyes, "You have been sitting there for like four hours, which is pretty normal other than the fact that you were doing nothing except plucking the petals out of those flowers. Usually you'd be plotting for the demise of the world, no?"

Izaya finally stopped what he was doing and stared at the purple mess he had made before looking up, "Namie-chan, I do not usually plot for the demise of the world as you so aptly put it," Izaya felt like it was an obligation to rebut her even though he wasn't quite in the mood to argue with her now.

"If that's what you would like to think." Namie watched as Izaya swept the purple petals off his desk, right onto the floor, "You know that I'm not going to clean that up for you, right?"

Izaya didn't stop what he was doing, "Well then, why are you here for?"

Namie pressed her lips together, before throwing back a scathing reply, "Surely not here to watch you sulk."

Izaya's face scrunched up together in annoyance as he heard her last word, biting his words out one by one, "I'm actually very fine, and I most definitely. Do. Not. Sulk."

Namie folded her arms, "Yeah, get yourself together. If not, who will pay for my salary?"

Izaya graced her with a smirk, "Rest assured, Namie-chan, I can earn your salary with my eyes closed."

"Right." Namie chose to remain sceptical, and turned around to leave, her heels clicking against the floor as she walked.

Izaya pretended not to hear her tone when she said that and continued staring at his desk. However, he threw her one last sentence before she disappeared out of his sight, "I wouldn't have an attitude like yours, Namie-chan, in case you get a pay cut." He didn't need ears to know that Namie was cursing at him when she heard that.

Izaya folded his arms on the desk, enjoying the peace and quiet again, and rested his face on his arms. He contemplated whether he should go to bed now or later, before a pink flower that had escaped his previous annihilation caught his eye.

His hand reached out to finish its job but paused mid-way as he suddenly changed his mind. He let his hand rest on the wooden surface, tapping his fingers against it, before pushing the flower away from the centre of the desk further away from him, leaving it to lie there peacefully.

"I guess you don't have to die, not today." He murmured.

He stood up from his chair abruptly and decided it was time for bed.

Shizuo woke up from a not very decent but long sleep and blamed it from sleeping too much during the coma.

He got off his bed to get to the bathroom but stopped when he noticed something reflecting the light from the side of the room at the corner of his eye, only to find that the vase of purple hyacinth to be replaced by a pot of pink flowers.

Who put it there again? Shizuo walked towards it with caution.

Standing in front of his window, he suddenly couldn't resist the urge to touch the petals of the flower.

"Cyclamen, which means… goodbye?" Shizuo rubbed his throbbing forehead as the words suddenly appeared into his mind. What was happening? There was a sense of déjà vu and he felt like something important was slipping away from his hands when he repeated the words in his mind.

How did he know that, Shizuo wondered? Did he learn all these because he had fallen in love with a florist? Shizuo shuddered. He couldn't exactly imagine himself trying to be romantic, or even being in love, for that matter.

Shizuo was lost in his thoughts as he went to the bathroom to clean himself up.

As his bare feet touched the bathroom floor, he frowned. Something was different. Something about… something Shizuo couldn't concretely place a finger on.

The floor looked much cleaner than it ever had since he first moved in. And his toothbrush was placed on the left side instead of the right.

The body wash too, was different from the one he usually used, and if he remembered correctly, it was a pretty expensive brand on the top of the shelf that Shizuo would never buy. He usually just grabbed the cheapest and most convenient thing his hand could reach whenever he bought stuff. Did he get a raise and his personality changed so he splurged on all the things he owned now?

Shizuo shrugged and decided to use it nonetheless. When he squeezed a portion of the purple gel out, a nice and strong flower scent filled the bathroom and Shizuo mentally winced a little, imagining himself walking around the streets and people smelling that on him. He would probably buy back the old brand after finishing this bottle. However, this scent did smell familiar and comforting, and stirred a foreign and gentle feeling in his chest.

What on earth? That made him shuddered a little as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

He shook off the weirdness he felt after his bath and proceeded to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

Only when he stepped foot in the kitchen did he realise that he was in coma and most food probably would have already expired.

Nevertheless, he decided to try his luck. Maybe there were at least some cup noodles that his one-year older self had kindly left behind.

Unfortunately, his luck wasn't with him when he dug around in his cupboards. What, did the older him finally decided to embrace healthy living? Or was he just poor from having bought all those luxury goods? Or had he already finished his stash of food right before he got injured and didn't have time to replenish his empty food cupboard?

Shizuo sighed as he opened his refrigerator but had little hope. He rarely used his refrigerator and for all the things that needed to be refrigerated, they would have probably expired by now since his coma.

He opened the refrigerator door and was surprised to see a packet of bread, a few packets of strawberry milk, pudding and some fruits in it. And the fruits didn't look like they were rotting as they usually did after Shizuo had forgotten about them, miraculously.

His hands reached for the milk and then grabbed the bread. He simultaneously considered the pros and cons of eating expired food.

Well, he remembered someone saying that it's alright to eat expired food so he definitely wouldn't die, he finally decided.

He took them out and placed them on the kitchen table before closing the door behind him. He took a quick glance at the dates and was surprised that there were a few more days before the expiry date. Which was strange, because he knew bread definitely doesn't last that long.

Did someone buy food and left it in the refrigerator?

Could it be Shinra? Shizuo shook his head at the thought. It was very unlike Shinra to buy milk when he was in coma, as if thinking he will wake up any moment asking for strawberry milk.

Who else would care for him during his coma? His brother? Maybe, but he would be busy for most of the time. Or Tom-san? Probably not.

Shizuo sat down beside the kitchen table, staring at the packet of strawberry milk in his hand.

Could all these weird things be the flea's new way of annoying him? Could he have poisoned his food while he was in the house?

Well, if Izaya wanted to do something to him, he would have already killed him while he was in coma.

Shizuo shrugged it off and decided not to dwell upon it. He finally poked a straw in and drank the strawberry milk.

While trying to throw the packaging away after finishing, he accidentally knocked his cupboard out of place. Shizuo sighed and went to move it back.

Something fell out from the back of the cupboard, from the gap between it and the wall. He went to pick it up out of curiosity.

A coffee packet? Seriously? Shizuo wrinkled his face in disgust and threw it in the bin. He hated all things bitter, and he never had the habit of drinking coffee.

Who the hell likes coffee?

Wait, who?

Someone he knew… Shizuo suddenly thought, but he couldn't grasp the memory he needed.

Why couldn't he remember? Shizuo hit his head in frustration.

Shizuo went to the living room and sat on the sofa. It was a relief that at least he hadn't changed the sofa yet, and also that the living room was considered unchanged compared to the others.

He had a bizarre notion that his house didn't belong to him anymore, as it somehow felt so foreign even though it just felt like yesterday when he went to sleep.

It was as if his house had a renovation. Not physically, but the vibes and atmosphere it had. His body was used to the changes, but his brain wasn't. He hadn't noticed the small differences until he had explicitly noticed them.

It was like… there had been another familiar presence in this house, subtly changing every little thing.

Shinra came in some time later and Shizuo greeted him, "Hey Shinra."

Shinra put down his medical equipment and asked, "How's your head today? Did you remember anything?"

"No." Shizuo shook his head. "But…"

"But?" Shinra probed.

"Why do I have some weird feelings?" Shizuo's hand ran over his hair in frustration.

Shinra sat up straighter, "Like what? Like you remember some feelings you've experienced before but you don't remember exactly what?"

Shizuo nodded slowly, thinking of words to describe what he wanted to say but failed, "Yeah, like something is missing."

"I guess that's normal, and the first steps to recovery? Honestly, I've personally never treated anyone with amnesia before, so I'm not quite sure. Maybe you should go to a hospital and do a proper check-up."

"It's fine," Shizuo shook his head, "It's just that… Was I together with someone in that one year?"

Shinra froze for a few seconds and shot Shizuo what the latter thought was a very weird look.

"No... there wasn't anyone."

A/N: Cyclamen means resignation and goodbye, very fitting for this chapter.

HAHAHA In my notes I wrote "Izaya likes fluffy soft beds because he's a princess" LOL and I think that is the truth.

About Shizuo's habits of living alone, I just imagined how I would be like if I lived alone. HAHA. Probably be a useless lump and dirty house.

Warnings: This irresponsible author

- Has not watched DRRR since the first season, and doesn't plan to watch it anytime soon, so screw canon (but I did read Wiki).
- Will make the characters OOC, because I can't relate that much to canon anymore (this is romance driven not plot driven so sadly Izaya doesn't have time to plot so many things LOL).
- Does not update regularly because life is messed up.
- Likes Izaya more than Shizuo.
- Loves to torture characters more than anything.
- Does not own DRRR and its characters in any way.
- Is making the antagonist an OC because I know like 0 new characters from canon.