A/N: Hello! This plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone so I had to write it. WARNING: this deals with abusive relationships and male x male interactions, so if you find that difficult to stomach then turn away now. I labeled this mature for a reason ;)

Everybody knows that abusive relationships are bad. Everybody. For most it's common sense. For most they don't understand the reason why anybody at all would subject themselves to something so wrong, so hurtful, so cruel. For those people they won't ever understand. They will go on with their lives and find the right one for them. The one that loves them endlessly with a gentle hand, and they will be happy.

But what about those currently in abusive relationships? What about them? Do they get a happy ending? You wouldn't think. Well some do. They get out and have an opportunity to start over. But it's hard to get out of something bad when you don't know you're in it. It's hard to get out of something that you don't want to get out of. Because when you so firmly believe you are with your significant other, there is no reason to leave, no matter what other people say. It's hard to get out when you know that you deserve each other and all the pain that comes with it, because when both parties know that they will never find anybody else, well, what's the point of leaving?

This is what Orihara Izaya and Heiwajima Shizuo tell themselves. They both know their relationship is so wrong. They know that things can only end badly. They also know that they are perfect for each other. Izaya, the one who destroys minds and bends a person's will to his needs, is perfect for Shizuo who is the one that destroys bodies and makes a person incapable of moving even if they had the will to. In essence they complete each other. It's as simple as that.

"Joking aside, I really am concerned, Orihara-kun."

"Eh? Why? I'm peachy!"

"…" Shinra fixed Izaya with a very stern stare. As the person doing the patching up, he could assure that Izaya was not "peachy".

Izaya returned his gaze with a serene smile of his own. He was being serious of course. He was just fine. So he had a massive bruise on his cheek, a broken wrist, and a deep cut on his collarbone. Shizu-chan just got a little rough last night. He had given him a stern talking to about it afterwards. And by stern talking to he meant that he had torn apart his psyche until he had reduced him to nothing but a ball of guilt and self-loathing. Two could play at the game of scars, ne? So all was good!

"Izaya-"

"Skipping the formalities, Shinra? You must be serious." Izaya smirked like usual.

"This relationship between you and Shizuo-kun has got to end. Enough is enough. You both tried out a romance and it didn't work, time to move on. Go back to being enemies if you have to, but please stop. I'm asking you as a friend."

"Cut the crap, Shinra. You and I both know Celty asked you to talk to me." Izaya was quickly losing his good mood. This fake concern from Shinra was sickening. Izaya was perfectly aware that all Shinra cared about was pleasing Celty. All of his actions circled around that. So he didn't want to hear anything from his friend—because Izaya did consider Shinra his friend, and his only one at that.

"Izaya, come on. Why do you subject yourself to this?"

"See? You're not even denying it." Izaya pulled his wrist away before Shinra could finish patching it up. "I'm done here."

"Izaya, wait, at least let me finish fixing you up." Shinra reached out to gently pull Izaya back onto the couch but he backed out of reach, anger in his eyes.

"What do you want to fix, Shinra? My body or my mind? Because both are perfectly fine without you." He left the room before Shinra could try and call him back.

He decided to walk his way back to Shinjuku, his mind still stirring. He was angry. How many people had tried to talk him or Shizuo out of this? A whole bunch, that's how many. He didn't even deign to count the number of stupid humans. They were the stupid ones, not him. He was perfectly aware of what this relationship was doing to him. He was absolutely aware that this whole situation was bad for both of them. Izaya also knew that he was too good for all of it. He was way above Shizuo. Shizuo was a monster, but in the time that they had been together—three years—Izaya had also come to realize the beast within himself. This did not put them on the same level, it merely served to prove what they both knew: there was nobody else for them.

The idea of being alone all his life did not bother him as much as it did Shizu-chan. He had been perfectly content with his lot. He loved all humans even though he knew they would never love him back—at least not to the extent to which he did. This was okay. He was perfectly happy. It was Shizu-chan that had started this twisted love story. He had come to realize what a miserable wretch he would be. Of course he wasn't as emotionally strong as Izaya, so this realization wasn't something he could handle.

It was Shizuo who had brought this up with Izaya during one of their fights. He had been the one to suggest that perhaps all of the rage and hatred they felt towards each other was love. Izaya had of course laughed at his face for thinking something so utterly stupid. However in his desperation, the brute had latched on to this idea with all he had. He wanted somebody to love and accept him to the point where he had deluded himself into thinking that Izaya was the one who would give him that.

Of course he wouldn't.

He would, however, accept Shizuo's desperate affections.

Because it was fun to have Shizuo as his personal plaything.

In the time they had been together Izaya had developed a certain amount of affection for the beast and vice versa. It had not been enough to stop the destruction they caused each other. They still hated each other on a certain level; they just had another outlet to channel it into. Really nothing had changed except the context of their aggression. When they were enemies it was okay that they would end the day with one wound or another. When they were lovers, however, any damage had the world stopping on its axis. Now they were labeled as being abusers and the abused. The notion was ridiculous. Their foundations had not changed. Everything was the same except the label. This was why the "concern" he got from people pissed him off. He knew what all of this was, they did not.

What was worse was that Izaya was made out to be the bad guy. It was unfair. Shizuo had started this whole thing and yet he was the victim. When Izaya had to get himself patched up he probably deserved it because he was an asshole. When dear Shizu-chan had a pity party and he needed someone to talk to it wasn't his fault, but Izaya's. Because he was an asshole.

Izaya snorted and rolled his eyes. What a laugh that was. People on the outside didn't know. He would not say that he was actually the innocent one, because he wasn't. He and Shizuo did the same amount of damage to the other. They were equal participants. They were both guilty.

Izaya opened his door and was met with the destruction from last night. Glass was shattered everywhere, his table was overturned and broken, his couch was on the other side of the room, and his TV that had been mounted on the wall had fallen to the floor and cracked. Drinks were spilled; food was splattered on the walls. The place was a mess. The only consolation he had was that his computer was still intact. On the floor, but intact. Shizuo had dodged the bullet with that one. He made his way to the bedroom where blood and cum spattered sheets and Shizuo waited for him.

The room was dark and quiet and Izaya could just make out his lover's outline. He didn't say anything, just stood in the doorway.

"Hi."

"What are you still doing here? You should have left a long time ago." Izaya was curt in contrast to Shizuo's more subdued tone. "I have work to do. Get out."

"Tch. You don't work in your bedroom." Shizuo stirred and he now sat on the edge of Izaya's bed. "You just don't want me to distract you." Izaya could sense the small smile in his voice but he didn't comment, just waited. With a sigh Shizuo stood up and began pulling on his clothes. "You're being a little bitch today," he muttered. Izaya's eye twitched but he continued his silence. He was not going to get into this again. He needed to wait for his wrist to heal, and he really needed to work.

"Do me a favor and throw yourself off a building."

"You trying to seduce me?" Shizuo stood right in front of him now, and he had to tilt his head back a little to make eye contact. The protozoan was smirking and Izaya did like that smirk, but not right now.

"Yes, yes I am," Izaya smiled deviously up at him. "That way I can slit your throat just as you cum. Sounds like a good way to go, ne?"

"Poetic." Shizuo's sarcastic tone matched the roll of his eyes. "I'll come back later."

"No you won't. I'm not letting my place get destroyed again." Really enough was enough. He was sick of having to deal with the clean-up.

"Fine, my place, then. Love you."

"That's unfortunate because I hate you, Shizu-chan." Izaya stepped aside to let Shizuo pass. The protozoan walked away, showing his back to Izaya so easily. This level of trust they had built up over the years would one day have to come to an end, he decided. One day, when the brute least expected it, Izaya would be sure to stab him in the back. Right where his heart was.

A/N: So with any luck this won't turn out to be ridiculously long. Thank you for those who took the time to read! Please review, they make me happy ^_^