As soon as he gets to Shinra's his worry turns straight to anger.

"You don't look hurt."

He points out dryly. Shinra just grins, looking far too pleased with himself.

"Well, I might have been if you didn't come but I'm just happy to know you worry about me."

Izaya scoffs and looks away but knows there's no use lying about it to Shinra.

"What do you want?"

Shinra hums lightly.

"I just wanted to talk, see how things are going with you and Shizuo."

Izaya holds in a sigh and debates whether it's even worth it but... he's already here and he's missed having Shinra around (as much as he hates to admit it.)

"Fine, we can talk but don't think I'm not still angry."

Shinra's smile softens into a more serious look.

"I wish I could make it up to you but he really did need to know. Things could have been much worse otherwise."

To some degree Shinra is right and Izaya can recognize that things have gone much better than he expected but he can't wipe away the hurt that only comes from a betrayal.

"I know but that doesn't change much."

Shinra sighs but doesn't look surprised.

"Anyway tell me everything."

Izaya sits across from Shinra and cautiously starts to explain the events of the past couple of weeks. Shinra and Celty both listen intently and, even though he leaves out some of the more... personal details it still takes him longer than he would have thought. When he's done Shinra lets out a soft sigh.

"Well, at least you two are starting to get along I just wish it was under better circumstances. As for the bond's control have you tried giving in in tiny amounts? Or following small orders so that the bond gets fed a little with minimum effort?"

Izaya sighs, not happy with some of the things Shinra wants him to admit.

"We held hands without incident for quite some time but the only experience with intentional orders was a test I devised that ended up being successful but right afterwards the bond controlled us both."

There, vague but sufficiently well explained. Shinra smiles.

"Maybe try more physical contact, just small things of course, see if that helps. If you two are truly determined to stay separate you'll have to find a way to compromise with the collar or suffer the eventual consequences."

Izaya almost wants to scream. It's all just so frustrating! Why should he have to uproot his boundaries to please some invisible force? What did he do to deserve this? Why couldn't it at least be more equivalent!? He's so sick of it all.

"I'll suggest it to Shizu-chan."

He replies, voice monotone to hide how much he wants to just rage at everything around him. Judging by the look on Shinra's face he's not doing a very good job.

"I'll let you know if Celty or I can find any more information on this. Even if you're angry right now I still consider us friends."

Something in his chest pangs and he looks away. There's only been a few instances when he's had confirmation that Shinra does actually care about him as a true friend and, while a lot of the time Shinra can be hard to read and almost cruel its stuff like this that show his true feelings.

"... I haven't ended our friendship over this, or I don't want to at least, but you know I can't forgive that easily."

As much as he may want to just forget it all and move on his emotions don't work that way. Shinra's smile is soft and sad.

"I know. Well, as long as Celty is left out of it you can get your revenge out of the way whenever and we can move on."

Izaya almost smiles.

"I should go."

Shinra nods and waves goodbye as Izaya stands. Before Izaya can leave the apartment he's accosted by Celty who stares at him for a long moment before typing quickly.

[I don't care how mad you are or how badly Shinra messed up. If you hurt him, I'll hurt you worse.]

Izaya raises his eyebrow as a sense of bitterness fills his chest.

"I wasn't going to go that route, it's not a very good way to retain friends after all."

And he really wasn't. Out of all the people he knows Shinra is the one he'd have the most trouble hurting.

"But you've made your point clear anyway so that should be enough for you."

Celty would probably be glaring right now if she could and he wonders vaguely if she'd be more pissed at him or Shinra is she knew where her head was and that Shinra knew as well. He leaves without waiting for her to reply and heads home. He feels better after his talk with Shinra, and even if that was ruined a bit by Celty it's still been a pretty good night.