The next time that Izaya awoke, it was to the muted cool tones of pre-dawn, blues, grays, and residual blacks clinging to the corners of the cage, deepening shadows until it seemed as if all the world was drawn in monochromatic shades. The air was chilly, cold enough that Izaya could see his breath fog in the air, and he rolled over to burrow greedily into the source of warmth that was at his back. Shizuo's fur was silky against his cheek, and Izaya let his eyes go half-lidded as his ear pressed over the wolfman's chest, listening to the steady, lulling beat of the other's heartbeat.

Shizu-chan was a surprisingly comfortable pillow.

The pre-teen boy allowed himself to burrow closer, seeking the other's warmth more thoroughly, and wiggled his way until he was tucked completely beneath Shizuo's weight, face pressed firmly against the down-covered bend of the beast's throat. As Izaya breathed deep, drawing in the wolfman's scent, he expected to smell animal-musky and dank, unwashed fur, maybe rancid meat because Shizuo was first and foremost a beast and would never really consider "hygiene" as a necessary thing. But the wolfman smelled like none of those things: instead, Izaya took a deep breath of sunshine, warm and golden and perfectly summer-like, and his fur actually had the audacity to smell sweet.

Shizuo rumbled softly as he awakened in turn, and the arms that had already been secure around Izaya's waist and torso just tightened further, drawing the boy against his chest as the wolfman curled protectively around the child's much smaller body. "…I like waking up like this," Shizuo murmured, voice low and husky and still edged with sleep, and Izaya didn't bother hiding the shiver of disgust when the beastman yet again licked the bend of his throat.

Still, though, they boy can't help but snort quietly in response, one hand coming up to rub at the damp spot over his skin. "Better not get used to it," Izaya warned, crimson eyes flinty beneath his lashes. "While my parents aren't home often because of work and the nanny is usually busy with Kururi and Mairu, she does occasionally remember that I exist."

"Must be lonely," Shizuo murmured in answer to the boy's statement, dipping his head so that he could nuzzle lightly against the boy's collarbone, breathing deep to take in that familiar scent that was now overlaid with his own, the 'mine' subtle but still there all the same.

The words, however, were enough to make Izaya scoff in derision. "How is it lonely? I get the chance to be surrounded by my beloved humans without getting interrupted."

And yet, despite how true those words really were, he couldn't help but feel a stirring of worry, of trepidation, when Shizuo turned his head to the side to meet his gaze with his own, amber eyes sharp-so incredibly sharp-and shockingly perceptive in that bestial face, and it felt so much as if a knife had sliced right through Izaya, cutting him to the core. Slowly, ponderously, Shizuo began to speak and never took his gaze away from Izaya's own claret, watching every detail of the child's expression to pick up clues through each small movement. "…it must be very lonely because, otherwise, why would you call them humans when you belong to the same species?"

Izaya hissed softly at that, eyes flashing angrily at the insinuation that the wolfman had posed to him. Instead of answering immediately, however, the boy reached up and yanked on one furred ear, twisting it so that Shizuo would first yelp in pain before snarling in anger, using his hold to drag the wolfman lower. His mouth crashed against the blonde's, effectively silencing the sounds of irritation and of rage; he shoved the other, using surprise and his slight weight to push Shizuo onto his back. Straddling over the wolfman's chest, Izaya kissed him, mouth crushing and rough and punishing against the other's.

It was only when Shizuo was reaching for him that Izaya scrabbled backwards, off of the blonde and towards the front of the cage so that he could, once again, make his escape. All the while, his mahogany eyes flickered with cruelty, wanting to hurt the wolfman for the words that Shizuo had dared to say to him, to punish Shizuo for daring to speak such an untruth. "And how would you know anything about that? You're just a dumb beast, too stupid in your own nature and shackling yourself with some sort of human moral compass that's beyond your ability to understand-and gaining nothing from it in the end because it's keeping you from taking what you really want. You think that I'm lonely? That I need to be pitied? At least I'm not pathetic."

Rage blanketing his vision so that all he saw was red, Shizuo roared in fury and lunged towards the boy; he didn't know what his rage would cause him to do, but all that mattered to him was getting ahold of Izaya and hurting the boy like he had purposefully hurt Shizuo-evening the balance and punishing the child for his petty-minded cruelty.

But Izaya had slipped through the bars and was already dancing out of reach, watching Shizuo from beneath his lashes. "You're just a stupid beast, Shizu-chan, and this is where you'll always belong. In a cage."

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks since Shizuo had last seen Izaya, and each day stretched on and outwards like an eternity-a forever sort of time where things bleakly settled into a routine. Day after day came the jeers and, though Shizuo had been able to handle them once upon a time ago, that time had left him: there was despair and hungry, wide eyes that held onto misunderstanding and contempt for that which they did not understand. What was the most maddening was the fact that they did not want to understand, which left Shizuo, in the end, with less than nothing.

He withdrew into the shadowed parts of the cage, moving with the slowly shifting sun above so that no zoo guest could see him completely; hidden away from prying eyes, he spent each day, each hour, remembering the last encounter that he had had with Izaya: words said, lines drawn, pushing boundaries that the boy very obviously had placed down for a reason. And yet… Shizuo could still see that particular light in the child's eyes that gave away that the words coming forth from his lips were, at least in part, lies. Denial had been immediate, as had fury and cruelty-and the wolfman was beginning to find himself not caring about the loneliness that must fill Izaya's days just as long as the boy would one day come back because he could no longer live without him, without his scent, without the warm press of his body against Shizuo's chest.

It did not matter that Izaya's visits had been few.

It did not matter that he was just a child, a boy who was years from becoming an adult.

It did not matter that the crimson-eyed human was cruel and capricious.

There was still something buried, hidden away from view, from acknowledgement, from Shizuo's ability to understand just yet-layers upon layers that still needed to be unraveled before true comprehension dawned; but until that moment finally came, all that mattered to the beastman was the fact that Izaya's soft scent soothed something deep within him. The boy had become necessary. But now he was gone.

As the days continued to pass, Shizuo became more and more withdrawn-he ate less, slept less, and time passed by in a monochromatic haze. He could hear the zookeepers talking amongst themselves, each wondering what it was that had happened to him that would so change him: perhaps a change in diet, the shifting weather towards the spring and summer months-anything and everything had the chance of being a possibility, and Shizuo listened to it all: the workers never once realizing that the beast in question could understand each and every word, able to communicate in turn, and yet still never able to bring himself to admit: I finally know what people mean when they speak of 'soulmates' because all I feel is desolation at the thought of never seeing this one human child.

Three weeks and four days after Izaya's last visit, the boy finally returned.

It was nightfall and the zoo had been closed for hours, but Izaya had hidden himself away, keeping out of sight from the security guards that occasionally roamed the walkways from time to time. He slipped from his hiding spot, making his way through the paths that led to Shizuo's enclosure, and he stood before the cage: standing just out of reach, mahogany eyes unreadable as Shizuo made his silent way towards the bars at the first hint of the child's scent.

The wolfman and human boy stared at one another, each gauging the other's reaction. Unsurprisingly, it was Izaya who finally broke the silence as he stated, "You missed me."

There was no point in denying it; Shizuo had lost a great deal of weight. "…yes."

Shizuo's admission brought a slow, pleased smile to the boy's face, and it was enough for Izaya to take a step closer to the cage, gaze flinty as he tilted his head back to continue meeting the beast's eyes. "You understand that whenever you do or say something that I don't like, I'll leave? I can leave and never come back to see you again, Shizu-chan. Do you understand?"

Again: "Yes."

Izaya's smile deepened then, and he finally stepped forward to slip through the bars of the enclosure, slim body easily wiggling into Shizuo's paddock. His head tilted back further then, baring the long, vulnerable line of his throat, and Shizuo gave a slow, needy sound low in his throat-almost a whine, but not quite that bestial-and crowded against Izaya, burying his face against the bend of the child's neck. Izaya's familiar scent, mine mine mine mine mine, filled Shizuo's senses and, for the first time in nearly a month, he finally breathed deep.

"Shizu-chan," Izaya murmured quietly, and Shizuo pulled away, still silent, to meet the boy's coldly amused gaze. There was cruelty there, but that was a trait that the wolfman already had acknowledged that Izaya indulged in: dangerous for himself, and yet… Shizuo could not help himself regardless of that knowledge. "Today was my birthday."

"Happy Birthday," Shizuo whispered in answer to the newly-minted twelve year-old, reaching out to trail a claw-tipped finger over the sharp edge of Izaya's jawline. The human child shivered at the touch, but it was not due to fear: instead, the brunette tilted his head back further, eyes glittering in the faint light of the moon, and caressed his own fingertip along Shizuo's jaw in turn.

"I wondered," Izaya began, voice deceptively soft as it twined along and through the nighttime air. "I wondered, since the last time I saw you, what I would ask from you today. I wondered and wondered, and nothing ever came to me. Until last night, and I thought of the perfect present. Show me how well you can pretend to be human, Shizu-chan. Kiss me."

The boy's smile was now as sharp as a blade's edge, a delicately honed razor that could so easily part skin and draw blood with just the barest touch. It was a dangerous smile, for certain, and it echoed the emotions that Shizuo could see flickering in Izaya's gaze: a challenge, his words-the request, what he wanted for his birthday. So like the child, it was such a cruel thing to ask for: deliberately drawing the line between them both, forcing Shizuo to realize just how distinct the line was between beast and human: he on one side and Izaya on the other. A harsh reminder and one intended to strike hard and low, the first of several that aimed to eventually break the wolfman in the way that Izaya had promised.

And yet, despite knowing that…

Shizuo's fingers drifted along the delicate curve of Izaya's jaw, carefully aware of his thick claws as his fingerpads brushed over the child's ears, tracing the intricate whorls and dips and shell-like construction-fascinated with how incredibly complex they were-and, after a time, shifted his hold so that he could bury his fingers in short, clean, soft hair. The wolfman cupped the back of Izaya's head, the thumb of one hand pressing against Izaya's chin, gently coaxing the boy to tilt his head upwards. His own descended, and Shizuo brushed his onyx-rimmed mouth against the child's own, a light glide, a press, of lips against lips, and then he pressed more.

Slightly more demanding than before, Shizuo's mouth nuzzled against Izaya's, sharp teeth scraping against the boy's lower lip-and Izaya shivered in anticipation at the threat of danger, at the chance that Shizuo might actually hurt him, but baser instincts remained carefully shackled as the wolfman took his time with the kiss: deepening it with a slow glide of his tongue, slipping into the wet, delicious heat of Izaya's mouth as the boy gasped in surprise. And they were kissing, with Shizuo's tongue brushing in languid, hungry strokes against Izaya's own as the child tightened his hold on Shizuo's arms, tugging him closer, giving soft, almost mewling sounds into the kiss, mouth opening wider and in welcome with each idle thrust of Shizuo's tongue.

But when Izaya pressed his groin against one of Shizuo's thighs, legs greedily wrapping around the blonde's muscled limb, and the wolfman realized that the boy was hard and his arousal scented the air to make it that much more heady… it was enough to make Shizuo shudder, instincts tugging upon the restraints that he had placed upon them. To deny himself from dominating, from claiming, from having that smaller body writhing beneath his own: the hunger grew and grew and grew. And shattered in a groaning, insatiable maw when Izaya finally broke the kiss, rocking his hips against Shizuo's leg as his eyes glittered with lust; with lips that were kiss swollen and bruised, Izaya said, "Let's up the ante to see just how thoroughly you can fake being human. I want you to suck me off, Shizu-chan."

The words were enough to make Shizuo pause and shudder, breathing hitching in small, frantic little pants as he tried-desperately so-to retain some notion of sanity within himself at hearing Izaya's order. Yet… the urge to give in, to do what Izaya wanted, was such an incredibly strong one: the thought of having this small body beneath his own, arching in pleasure and with eyes that no longer glinted with malice but instead went wide with surprisingly unexpected pleasure… the image was enough to finally break the bonds that Shizuo had so carefully shackled his baser instincts with.

Shizuo growled, low and soft and hungry, and eased down to his knees, crouching low so that the boy's groin was level with his face-with the mouth that Izaya was watching so intently from beneath his lashes, cheeks flushed and breaths gasping quietly and yet remaining loud enough to stretch the silence that lay between them. The wolfman's low growl eased into a rumbling purr as he moved closer, cheek rubbing idly against the front of Izaya's jeans, and he could feel heat and hardness against the edge of his jaw.

"Shizu-chan," Izaya snapped, angry and impatient and anxious to know what something so adult felt like-indulging in that catlike curiosity, the urge that had always sent him poking at things that should have left well enough alone. That tendency had been what had encouraged him to stay behind to watch Shizuo that very first time, had coaxed him into returning time after time-and it was the daredevil, carelessness towards his own morals that had brought the demand to his lips, had him burying his fingers in the silky mix of fur and hair, tugging at both viciously.

The pain was enough to gain a snarl out of Shizuo, and bright, predatory amber eyes glinted up at Izaya from the shadows at his feet; that almost knowing stare was the only warning that Izaya had before Shizuo had picked him up, shifting so that he could pin Izaya's smaller frame against a wall. The boy's eyes went wide and he scrabbled desperately for a hold as Shizuo lifted him even higher until the pre-teen's legs hooked over Shizuo's fur-dusted shoulders and the only thing that he could do to steady himself was to bury his fingers in Shizuo's hair, clutching.

"You're mine," came Shizuo's rumbling voice as his damp breath fanned over the delicate wings of a hipbone, the wolfman's tongue dipping into the indentation of Izaya's navel. The wet, teasing touch was enough to earn a shudder from the boy, a quiet sound of pleasure, of pleading, as Izaya's fingers combed through the soft mess of Shizuo's fur and hair mix, trying so very hard to ignore how his hands shook. And still, that guttural sound continued on: "If I ever smell another person on you, I'll kill them. You're mine. Mine."

Any and all form of protest finally fell quiescent at the sound of Izaya's jeans ripping, material falling about his hips and thighs, cool night air caressing over an erection that was already damp with pre-come. The boy gave a soft whine, quietly needy-and so very, very soon that sharp-edged sound slipped into a low cry as Izaya's legs tightened around Shizuo's shoulders, thighs clenching greedily and fingers scrabbling for some type of hold that would steady him.

But there was nothing, nothing to hold on to, nothing to use to break against the pleasure that he found himself succumbing to:

There was heat and the slick wetness of saliva and the satin-smooth glide of Shizuo's tongue as he brushed it along the underside of Izaya's erection-tasting, teasing, seducing the boy into this intimacy that he himself had invited. Izaya shuddered roughly when the wolfman finally drew his cock completely into that hot mouth, and he huddled over Shizuo's head, clinging tightly as his frantic breaths echoed against the shell of the beast's ear. And he swallowed, over and over and over again around the boy, offering friction and suction and the danger of teeth as a canine brushed against the sensitive head of Izaya's cock before bobbing back down to seal black-edged lips around the base of the human's erection.

Shizuo was not merciful in his pleasure: wave after wave of ecstasy broke against Izaya, and it wasn't long before the boy was tightening his hold on the wolfman, sobbing out Shizuo's name as he finally came-climaxing as his body arched and fingernails scored shallow furrows over Shizuo's cheek, spilling his release down the wolfman's throat; and Shizuo swallowed, mouth still clasping greedily onto Izaya's now-softening erection, milking the boy dry-knowing, instinctively, that this was the very first orgasm that he had managed to achieve through someone else's touch. And it was that knowledge that Shizuo savored, this small bit of Izaya that would always be his.

"…I hate you," Izaya whispered against a furry ear.

The beastman licked his way from the base of Izaya's cock to the head, cleaning sensitive skin with languid sweeps of his tongue, and he hummed quietly in agreement because he did hate the human child in turn: but was willing to admit an even stronger truth to himself, something that Izaya was still willfully blind to-

I hate you, I hate what you do to me, but I need you so much more.

When the boy was finally clean, Shizuo carefully eased Izaya's legs from his shoulders, lowering the light body so that he was once more cradled against the wolfman's broad chest, warm and safe and surrounded with the sweet scent of sunshine-the familiar scent of Shizuo, no matter how hard Izaya had tried to detest it. Even fighting as hard as he could, as long as he could, the steady thumping of the beast's heart had become synonymous with the word "home."

"I'll someday break you, Shizu-chan," Izaya whispered against the bend of Shizuo's throat, face pressing closer to the wolfman's comfortable heat. In answer, Shizuo just tightened his hold around Izaya's slim frame, his own body curling around the other until the boy was completely surrounded by heat and musk.

"But not before I make you love me," Shizuo murmured in answer, voice low and husky and feral as it fanned delicately over Izaya's cheek, as gentle as one of the beastman's touches-and the words so incredibly knowing as the taste of the boy's seed lingered upon his tongue.

Izaya said nothing.

TBC.