Title: Away From Here
Fandom: Durarara!
Pairing: Shizaya
Words: 2085 words
Prompt: Pretty much, Izaya has been afraid of Thunder and Lightning ever since he was a little kid. Of course, no one knows this; until Shizuo barges into his office one stormy night with the intention to kill the bastard.
Disclaimer: It's not mine. It all belongs to others who I am in no way associated with and I make nothing from writing this, got it?

Away From Here

So maybe he was pissed off. Yeah it was raining outside – correction: it wasn't just raining, it was a full-blown thunderstorm outside – and he was completely soaked, but that was totally unimportant. Well, maybe not; it just contributed to his already crappy mood.

He'd woken up that morning to find out that his heater had broken again so his apartment was freezing. Then he'd burnt his toast and been late for work. Once at work, three people had managed to piss him off; the last of which had decided that it would be an absolutely brilliant idea to dump their coffee all over his shirt and vest. And to top it all off, a bird had crapped on him when he'd finally gotten off work.

Then it had started to rain, which the sky had been threatening to do all day.

So, needless to day, Shizuo had had a really crappy day and he was grumpy and on edge and pissed off.

And since he was in the area, he figured that the best idea would be to drop in on Izaya; either to get into a fight with him or just piss him off or fuck him into the nearest solid surface. Shizuo wasn't sure which, it would probably depend on Izaya. But Shizuo was one big ticking time bomb right then. He needed something to take the edge off.

He hadn't really given it much more thought than fight or fuck when he turned up in Izaya's apartment building and made his way towards the stairs. A longer walk was probably a good idea, even if it mostly just made his mood simmer.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he made his way up the stairs, his legs burned pleasantly when he emerged from the stairwell onto Izaya's floor. Shizuo was grumbling and fiddling with a cigarette as he walked down the hall towards Izaya's door. He fumbled a little with his keys, resting his hand on the doorknob as he did.

The first indication that something was wrong was the fact that the door creaked open under his hand.

"What the..." Shizuo stared in shock, hand still on the doorknob.

Well, he hadn't expected that. But Izaya never left his door unlocked. He was rather paranoid about everything; he didn't even give his secretary a key. Shizuo had the only spare.

The fact that it was unlocked meant that something was wrong. Maybe even horribly so.

Shizuo released the doorknob as though it had shocked him. He carefully nudged the door open the rest of the way with his foot. The apartment beyond the doorway was dark. That was another indication that something was wrong.

Slipping into the dark apartment, Shizuo closed the door behind him. He winced at the small click it made as he closed it and flicked the lock. He was suspicious and a little worried, but he was sure that he could handle anything that popped up. What he was concerned about was Izaya.

Toeing off his shoes at the door, he crept forward into the apartment as his eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom. He was familiar enough with Izaya's home that he didn't walk into the walls.

As he emerged into the living room and office section of the apartment, a quick glance around when lightning flashed outside was enough to tell him that nothing was out of order. Everything looked exactly as he remembered it always being.

Huh.

That was really weird.

If someone had broken in, then wouldn't there be some sign of a struggle? He was certain that Izaya was home because his trademark jacket was tossed over the back of the couch and he'd spotted his keys thrown on the counter of the small kitchen.

Besides that, everything was where it should be.

Shizuo stopped beside the couch, confused. He glanced around once more, just to make sure that there wasn't anything he'd missed. But no, the apartment was freakishly neat and tidy, just like it always was.

"Izaya?" he called out softly. He got no response.

Frowning, Shizuo walked around the couch towards the stairs that led up into the second floor of the apartment where Izaya's bedroom and the bathroom were. He called out his name again but got no response.

Maybe he was in the shower? But no, if he was, then he'd be able to hear the shower. Asleep then?

Shizuo weighed the questions in his mind and nixed each of them in turn. It was too early in the day for Izaya to be asleep; he was usually the last one to go to bed at night and the first one up in the morning. Shizuo had gotten used to the ridiculous hours that the informant usually kept; he just nagged him about it at every opportunity.

He took the stairs two at a time, frowning when he found the door to the bedroom ajar. Slowly, he pushed it open.

Outside, lightning flashed and thunder exploded in a loud rumble and crack.

The flash of light was enough for Shizuo to catch the form huddled tightly in a corner of the room between the night stand and the wall. He would've thought that it was just a lump or a funny shadow if it wasn't for the fact that it jumped when the thunder crashed outside.

"Izaya?" This he hadn't expected.

Peeking up once the sound of the thunder had died away, Shizuo could see that Izaya's eyes were wide and he was shaking violently. His arms were wrapped tightly around his knees which were drawn right up to his chest. He looked like he was about to bolt. Or puke.

Shizuo's voice must have startled him because he jumped and cringed back into the wall. But then he seemed to recognize him because he was suddenly tackling Shizuo around his midsection.

Letting out a shocked breath, Shizuo managed a surprised exclamation before he nearly had his breath knocked out of him. The next thing he knew, he had an armful of shaking Izaya clinging tightly to him. And he wasn't exactly sure what to do.

Izaya was still shaking and his grip only tightened further when there was another flash of lightning from outside; visible through the blinds. He made a muffled sort of whimper when the crash of thunder came shortly after.

Still a little shocked, Shizuo slid his arms around Izaya's shoulders in a comforting embrace. He was still soaked completely through, but his craptastic day was pretty much forgotten in favour of the clearly terrified informant he had in his arms.

He gently stroked Izaya's back and spoke softly, like talking to a skittish dog, "Hey, hey... calm down. It's okay."

Izaya didn't stop shaking and he didn't seem to notice or care that Shizuo was dripping water all over his floor. He just clung to him like a drowning man would a piece of driftwood.

After a few minutes, Shizuo gently pried Izaya's arms away from him. He kept his hands on his shoulders, though, as he guided him back towards the bed and pushed him down onto it. Even though he really wanted a shower, he'd settle for just a change of clothes right then; Izaya was his first priority.

"Stay here, okay? I'll be right back. I just need to change and dry off a bit. Will you be okay?"

His thumbs stroked soothing circles against Izaya's collar bones. He could still feel Izaya shaking and glancing around like a skittish cat, but his hands came up to rest over Shizuo's and squeeze them before he gave a short nod.

Shizuo gave a small smile before he gave Izaya's shoulders a final squeeze before pulling his hands away. The smile fell when the moment he let go Izaya returned to that same tightly curled up ball that he'd found him in.

There were a couple of spare clothes folded up neatly in the bottom drawer of Izaya's dresser that Shizuo fished out along with a towel from across the hall. Shizuo quickly stripped out of his clothes and let them fall to the floor with a wet plop. He towel dried his hair and body quickly before he pulled on the sweats and tee he'd pulled out of the drawer.

When he came back into the bathroom, he found Izaya curled up in a tight ball in the centre of the bed.

Each time lightning flashed and thunder crashed, he flinched and just curled up more. He was still shaking violently and his eyes were scrunched shut as he bit down on his lip so hard that it bled.

Sighing, Shizuo walked over and climbed onto the bed. He was careful not to make any sudden movements, noticing how Izaya nearly jumped away from him when the bed dipped under his weight. Once he was close enough, he pulled Izaya into his arms and leaned back against the head of the bed.

With his thumb, Shizuo pulled Izaya's lip out from between his teeth, wiping away the blood. Grinning, he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Izaya's bottom lip, pulling away just as the brunet jumped as lightning flashed outside.

Izaya jumped into his arms when the thunder crashed a few seconds later.

His arms were wrapped tightly around Shizuo's neck and he was straddling Shizuo's lap with his knees pressed snugly against his sides. They dug in a little, making Shizuo grimace at the feeling of bony joints digging into his skin.

Massaging the knees, he gently eased them into a more comfortable position of being wrapped around his waist instead.

Unsure of what to do, although he was starting to get a clue about what was going to do, Shizuo did his best to just comfort Izaya. He ran his hand up and down Izaya's back slowly, pausing to massage the tension out of his back as best he could.

Izaya was still shaking, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before. His breathing had evened out somewhat too – Shizuo hadn't really realized just how close to hyperventilating Izaya was until his breath was coming out as shallow, gasping breaths against his neck. And while he still flinched whenever lightning flashed or the thunder crashed, he wasn't jumping out of his skin anymore.

Once he was sure that Izaya wasn't going to completely break down into a panic attack, Shizuo relaxed a little bit.

He gave a small smile. This wasn't how he'd pictured his day ending and it certainly was how he'd figure he'd work through all that stress and anger at his crappy day, but maybe it was some sort of sign.

Running his fingers through Izaya's hair, he leaned back to rest his head against the wall and let his eyes drift closed. So, Izaya was scared of thunderstorms? He'd have to keep that in mind. Shizuo wasn't cruel to torment or tease Izaya about it, so he'd just keep quiet about the entire thing.

He got to spend some time relaxing and taking care of someone else for a change. It was... nice. He wasn't exactly used to being needed like this.

Izaya hiccuped a little as the thunder and lightning finally started to die down. There were still some rumblings from the sky outside, but the loud crashes were quickly being drowned out by the steady patter of raindrops against the walls and windows.

Still curled tightly up around Shizuo, Izaya didn't seem like he was going to move any time soon. His breathing was still heavy, but it was calm and quickly evening out.

But his cheeks were something of a raging inferno against Shizuo's neck once he started to calm down and realize just where he was and what he was doing. That made Shizuo chuckle.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

Izaya took a few seconds longer than normal to reply, "Just fine."

Neither of them moved, aside from Shizuo letting his arms to rest around Izaya's waist. He was a little hungry, but he was too content and comfortable where he was to move. And it was pretty obvious that Izaya was just too embarrassed to move right then.

"I didn't know that you were scared of thunder." Or lightning.

"... shut up." Izaya's tightened around his neck and his voice was muffled by Shizuo's neck. He didn't move away though.

"I'm not going to laugh, you know. We're all scared of something."

Izaya leaned back then, an indignant look on his face, "I'm not scared!"

Shizuo simply smiled at that, reaching up to ruffle the brunet's hair before cupping his cheek and kissing him. He pulled away, taking in the slightly dazed look on his face and how his cheeks were flushed and how he was still shivering the tiniest amount.

"Of course not."

FIN.

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Twilight.