An Irreversible Flaw

CHAPTER SIX

"Ow, not so rough damn it."

Shizuo raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He considerately slowed down and unwrapped the bandages with a gentler touch to Izaya's unvoiced gratitude.

"Sorry." He muttered as his hand went one last round around Izaya's head.

He stepped back and watched as the soft bandages pool around the informant's thighs and released the breath he hadn't even realized he was holding up till now.

It wasn't worse than he had expected; he hadn't known what to expect in the first place. However, seeing the vulnerable skin being pulled together by those stitches caused him to frown hard – He wouldn't be opening those eyes any time soon.

"So?"

Izaya's voice cut through his train of thoughts like the slice of a sharp blade.

"Does the satisfaction of seeing me this helpless render you speechless?"

Shizuo tore his eyes away from the informant's face almost immediately. "No, not really. Just...we should get you some shades. You can't keep wearing mine out all the time."

"Haha, why don't you pick me a pair then?" Izaya crossed his legs and leaned back against his hands while facing what he assumed was the blonde's face from where he sat on the bed.

A few inches higher and he'd be spot on.

"We could go to a store tomorrow if you'd like."

The informant smirked and promptly fell back against the soft blankets as if he hadn't a care in the world. "That's unusually nice of you, Shizu-chan. Then again, you've been unusually nice for some time, huh?" he commented, lazily tracing a finger over the stitches and wincing when he applied just a little too much pressure.

Shizuo shook his head even though he knew he could not see the action.

"I've got my hands full babysitting you already, I don't want to end up sending you to Shinra's any more than necessary."

Taking Izaya's silence as a dismissal, he turned his back to the figure on the bed and headed for the kitchen. "I'll make breakfast."

"Shizu-chan, wait."

"Yeah?"

There was that awkward pause, just that slight moment of hesitation.

"Thanks for everything up till now. Though, it doesn't make me think any better of you or anything."

And although he just knew that the other couldn't see it, or rather, because he knew, Shizuo smiled, just a slight upward curve at the edges of his lips, but one nonetheless.

"How's the sandwich?" Shizuo asked after finishing his burger.

Izaya shrugged and licked a dab of mayonnaise off his bottom lip after a particularly large bite of the salmon stuffed bread. "So-so. I'd prefer otoro over this anytime."

He snorted but continued to watch his enemy as he ate. "Not all of us are as rich as you are, flea."

Izaya merely brushed it off and continued to nibble at his meal.

"This kinda feels like a date, huh?"

Okay, Shizuo knew the man could be straightforward when he wanted to be, but he couldn't help the sudden rush of heat to his face as he tore his gaze, yet once again, away from the informant's small face which now seemed even smaller under those huge sunglasses that were necessary to cover up his eyes.

"W-what the hell do you mean by that?" Shizuo, now an interesting shade of scarlet, had to struggle to keep his voice down.

"What are you getting so worked up for, Shizu-chan?" Izaya smirked directly at him, propping his chin up lazily on one hand. "It was just an innocent comment~"

The blonde swallowed. It was times like these, when Izaya somehow seemed to know how where his eyes were, when he would look at him without actually looking, that made him nervous. "You should kid about things like that…"

This caused the smaller man to chuckle lightly, "I wasn't kidding. Or could it be, that Shizu-chan is actually falling for me?"

It wasn't really hard to miss that expression of triumph on his face.

"Shut up!"

Heads really did turn when laughter escaped the informant's lips, followed by a string of curses from the other.

"You never did say anything about it, you know." Izaya started as he hugged his knees closer to himself on the park bench.

Shizuo, who was sitting a good two feet away from him frowned and snapped back, "What?" He obviously hadn't gotten over the informant's words in the café earlier.

Slender fingers reached up to nudge the shades down the bridge of his nose, just a bit. It was enough to give Shizuo a glimpse of those ugly stitches.

"This." He said simply.

"What about it?"

"Don't you find it disgusting? Ugly? Anything?" He continued to press.

"What? No- why would you even want to ask?"

"Because your silence makes me curious, Shizu-chan. I want to know more of what goes on in that puny brain of yours."

"…"

"Cat got your tongue?"

Shizuo tsked and stared out the window. There, in the middle of the square was that overly huge, seemingly misplaced, piece of structure of the letters L.O.V.E.

He swallowed hard and tore his eyes off it in an instant.

"Well." He started awkwardly. "It looks horrible, but you totally deserve it."

And surprisingly, Izaya went silent for long enough to make start making him feel bad. But then he looked up, and, catching Shizuo off guard, smiled and said something that made him blink like an idiot.

"You're a terrible liar, Shizu-chan."

Really, he didn't need to ask to know what was going through that puny brain of his at that very moment.

"For one, you have that defensive tone when you lie, and you won't look at me."

"How did you-?"

Izaya grinned. "You just confirmed it."

Shizuo felt like slapping himself.

"I don't think I'd mind staying here for a few more weeks, months even!"

The bartender twitched. "You're going back to your apartment the moment Shinra says you're free to go."

"Penthouse, you mean." Izaya corrected him. "And I don't really want to entertain the thought of going through my mails after taking such a looooong vacation."

The informant was now sprawled on the couch, a packet of chips in his hands and half listening to the news on the television.

"Don't you want to go back to tormenting your customers? I bet you could live off monopolizing them for your own entertainment."

"I do, actually." He answered both the questions with that. "You should just see the millions rolling in every so often." Munch."But there's not much I can do in this condition, unfortunately. I'll have to figure out a new system to continue my work with."

Shizuo took up the control to flip through the channels, ignoring the look that Izaya shot him.

"So you're really going to keep doing that? You do know they might come after you again, and not just the Yellow Scarves this time."

Now that made Izaya laugh.

"I've been stabbed twice in my life, and hunted down by men with guns all my life. You think this little incident is going to keep me tied down?"

"Well, you said that so I just assumed…"

"What? The part about not wanting to check my mails? Sure it'll be a pain to go through the thousands, especially with that bitch having to read out every single thing to me, but it's nothing compared to quitting."

Shizuo sighed.

"You really are something."

He snatched the chips away from the other man as easily as he would from a kid and, before a bit could be taken, was tackled down almost at once with only an annoyed "Oi!" warning him beforehand.

Perhaps it was because he was tired from everything they had done for the day. Or maybe it was just frustration, or irritation?

He wasn't sure what made him do it. Wasn't sure why he placed a hand on the side of Izaya's face, wasn't sure why he leaned up to get closer to him – just close enough to touch their lips together.

Izaya looked just as confused as he was.

Of course, he never expected to feel the slight pressure against his lips when the informant decided to return it (or push away(?)) just before he broke it and got up.

Clearing his throat, Izaya excused himself to the bathroom and left him there to stare wide eyed at the ceiling, still unable to get over what he had just done.

A/N:

-hides behind a rock- I'm back(?) QAQ
AND I SWEAR I DID NOT KNOW IT WOULD TAKE THIS LONG TO UPDATE. I just really got caught up in other fandoms and well, life. Ima uni student now!~

I've still been receiving alerts and the occasional reviews from time to time and just seeing them made me feel really really bad, really :C But I just couldn't update any faster. Sorry bout that~ I hope this little almost-filler doesn't bore you too much since I'm still trying to piece up the middle part of the plot for this particular fic (and trying to get back into their characters) as I've already came up with the ending.