Chapter I

"Hmmm...mmmm….hmmmm…" Izaya hummed as he cooked his dinner. He was making stew and fried oden to go with it. Turning the heat to high, he went to his laptop to work as the oil heated.

Hearing the sizzling of oil, he returned to the kitchen and put the fish rolls inside and waited for it to simmer. When the fish turned a crispy brown, he removed them. The odor of stew and the cooked vegetable wafted through the air.

All of a sudden, the door flew off and landed on the floor with such a sounding 'bang,' it startled the raven, causing him to spill the burning oil on his hands.

It hurt. Izaya Orihara screamed with pain.

"Shit!" he said, trying not to burst into tears. It failed. Tears spilled over the border.

Nothing filled his mind but how much agony he felt. He didn't even think about who came into his apartment.

Hearing the agonizing wail, Shizuo Heiwajima's mocha colored eyes widened. Was that coming from…Izaya? He followed the noise to find the raven on the floor with burning oil surrounding him. He was on his knees, crouching and holding his hands.

Immediately, Shizuo realized what happened. He plucked the sobbing informant up and turned the water on full blast as cold as it would go and dunked his scorching hand in. Izaya whimpered in pain and clamped his eyes shut.

"Fuck it! Itai," he cried out. He tried to pry his hands away, but the bodyguard held his hands firmly in place talking to him to get his mind off the pain. A few minutes later, he had stopped thrashing and was silently sobbing.

"How could you be so careless, baka!" he yelled.

"It wasn't my fault! When you broke my door down, it startled me and I dropped it."

Realization dawned on him and he immediately felt responsible for what happened. Neatly wrapping the wound with thin gauze, he finally took note of Izaya's apparel.

He was wearing an apron, purple, with the words 'I love Otoroo' weaved into it. It was frilly on the sides and reached down just past his thighs. He was wearing his usual t-shirt and jeans under it.

Shizuo blushed, his eyes wandering around the room to distract him from the raven.

"So…what do you want Shizu-chan?"

"I was going to come tear you limb from limb because I was pissed at you…"

"What's stopping you?"

"Dunno…what are you making?"

"I was making stew and fried oden…" he hesitated. "Want some?"

This was new. Izaya Orihara inviting Shizuo Heiwajima, his mortal enemy, for dinner?

"Ok."

With help from Shizuo to clean up the mess, Izaya served the dinner.

Taking a bite, Shizuo said, "This is good! I never knew you could cook this good!"

"Well you never exactly stopped to ask."

"I guess that's true."

Some of the stew spilled on Izaya's chin and Shizuo broke.

He got up so fast, Izaya didn't realize he left his seat until Shizuo knelt by him.

"Shizu-chan…what's wrong?"

He hugged Izaya, the smaller male's arms being pinned to his sides. Facing upwards he licked the stew off the raven's chin and continued up until he was at his flushed pink lips. He bit the lip a bit, causing Izaya to gasp and giving Shizuo an entrance. He dived in, tasting the roof of his mouth and they battled for dominance. Shizuo won easily, and Izaya was taken over by the ex-bartender's kiss. After what seemed like hours, they broke away, staring at each other in the eyes. Izaya looked hot. He was struggling for air, blushing, and not making any more eye contact for fear he might be overwhelmed.

Shizuo looked at the raven uncertainly.

"Oi, Izaya."

"Hai, Shizuo?" There was a noticeable absence of the usual nicknames.

"Arigato…"

The raven was shocked. Thanks? From Shizuo Heiwajima? He smiled. Not the usual Cheshire cat grin but a true smile that put the bodyguard on edge.