THIS IS A SEQUEL TO "BREAK DOWN THE WALLS". It is highly recommended that you read this first (WARNING: contains non-consensual sex AKA rape). You can easily find the story simply by clicking my name!

WARNING: This fic contains flashbacks and the after effects of rape.

Moving on, yes, I promised I would be back and here I am. Student teaching was rough but I graduated and life goes on! SO NOW IT'S FINALLY TIME TO MAKE THIS DAMN SEQUEL. I am uploading this first chapter now, but my updates will be slower than they usually are. I am having trouble with some of the later chapters, but I decided to let you all have this one now for being so patient. Thank you for the amazing reviews on the first BDTW, and I hope you enjoy the sequel!

…~-~…

They had been out together three times already in two weeks. The first was a movie, then two quick meetings for lunch. After each meeting, they returned to their respective lives with only a short "goodbye" to conclude their short and awkward "dates". Yet despite the uncomfortable small talk and strange looks from anyone unfortunate enough to see their tense interactions, the odd pair decided to arrange yet another meeting—this time for dinner.

"So what do you intend to do with Heiwajima?" Namie asked coldly from her usual seat at the desk.

Izaya raised a brow, eyes shifting away from the last email in his inbox. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, what is your plan? Are you trying to trick him into something by going on these weird little dates all the time?"

"First of all," Izaya began, closing his laptop, "they're not dates. Shizu-chan and I are just trying to work things out."

"But you hate each other," Namie stated.

"I'm beginning to think it might not be entirely mutual. After all, Shizu-chan was the one to suggest us going to that movie."

"Okay but you're still avoiding my question."

"Hmm? Ahh, right. Well for now I'm just going along with it. I'm curious to see what lead Shizu-chan to this sudden change of heart, so until then, I'll just have to put up with him."

Namie sighed quietly in response and closed her laptop with a tad more force than necessary. "It's time for me to go. Whatever your real plans with Heiwajima are, I don't want to be involved."

Leaning back on the couch, Izaya merely smiled as Namie quickly collected her belongings and headed for the door.

"See you tomorrow," she said in a flat tone that sounded as if she really didn't look forward to it.

"See you tomorrow!" Izaya repeated back with a grin, wincing when the door slammed shut behind her.

With a long sigh, Izaya checked the time. It was 4:36, meaning he still had about twenty minutes before he had to leave the apartment. Part of him wished Namie hadn't left because at least then he wouldn't have to spend the next twenty minutes completely alone.

It had been two weeks since the incident, and since then Izaya had gotten himself tested and received clean results, and managed to track down four out of five of his attackers. As it turns out, the five of them were all wanted by the Awakusu-kai for various reasons including violent crimes and drug dealings within Awakusu-kai territory. Izaya was more than happy to hand them over to Shiki and his men to be dealt with, and he felt satisfied to know that the four of them had been eliminated—though unfortunately he wasn't sure exactly how or to what extent, but he was confident he wouldn't be seeing them again.

However it was the last man, the leader of the attack, who still remained at large. Hayashi Ryoichi was his name, and just looking at his picture on his computer screen was enough to make Izaya feel sick.

Izaya sighed as he began to put his work away, loathing that new feeling that seemed to creep up on him any time he was alone in his apartment. It was fear. And Izaya couldn't stand being afraid. He couldn't even eat dinner alone without turning to look over his shoulder every ten seconds. It was frustrating to say the least, and worse when the dreams were factored in as well. Almost every night over the past two weeks Izaya had been having trouble sleeping. He kept waking up from nightmares in a cold sweat while the irrational fear that he'd turn over to see either Ryoichi's or another of their faces kept him from going back to sleep. It was maddening, and Izaya had hoped it would end when most of them were taken care of, but it seemed he was wrong.

Closing his eyes, Izaya took a moment to calm down. He was about to see Shizuo after all, and after spending a bit of time with him Izaya had come to realize that the man had the strangest ability to pick up on his emotions no matter how well he thought he was hiding them.

And so, Izaya spent the next twenty minutes calming himself with a hot cup of tea and the television on low to fill the empty silence of his apartment.

…~-~…

He's late.

Shizuo checked the time for the billionth time in the past 10 minutes. Izaya was 5 minutes late, and while that might not be a cause for concern with anyone else, Shizuo knew that Izaya always planned to arrive early to any type of meeting—including the previous times they had been out in the past two weeks.

Smoking cigarette after cigarette, the fortissimo of Ikebukuro stood outside of Russia Sushi doing his best to wait patiently—which included a lot of foot tapping and angry glares at anyone who dared look at him funny—despite the worry that slowly began to eat away at him. When the rain began to fall, he was forced to move closer to the building to avoid getting soaked until finally, he spotted the unmistakable fur-trimmed jacket of Orihara Izaya.

Checking the time again Shizuo frowned slightly.

10 minutes late, but at least he's here safe, Shizuo thought.

This was their first time going out in Ikebukuro, and Shizuo was prepared for the stares they'd likely be receiving from being seen together, but he didn't care. He knew what he wanted, and that was Izaya. To hell with anyone who thought it was strange.

Putting out his current cigarette, Shizuo let out a long breath as Izaya skipped towards him, umbrella shielding him from the rain.

"Hey Shizu-chan~!" Izaya called out working his way through the crowd, "Sorry I'm late, I dozed off for a little while."

"You should have called me or something," Shizuo mumbled in reply.

"Ahh? Was Shizu-chan worried about me?" Izaya teased.

"Let's just eat already."

"Fine, fine," Izaya said with a smile as he shook the water from his umbrella.

"Shizuo, Izaya!" A booming voice with a thick accent greeted them as they entered the building, "Good to see no fighting!"

One short conversation with Simon and many awkward stares later, Shizuo and Izaya were finally eating their meal and trying equally hard to break the silence between them.

"So how was work today, Shizu-chan?" Izaya asked the generic question before he could stop himself.

"Uhh, fine I guess," Shizuo responded, looking a bit tense, "you?"

"The usual I suppose. Nothing interesting."

It was painful, yet this is what their outings tended to be—Shizuo being rather quiet while Izaya strangely lost his ability to generate a conversation. However, tonight Izaya noted that Shizuo was a bit quieter than usual. The man's social skills weren't great, but usually he could at least ask a few questions to keep things moving. Although Izaya was one to talk considering he seemed to completely forget how to carry a conversation around Shizuo lately. Izaya decided to blame the strange circumstances that lead them to where they were now for the silence that fell between them as they ate their dinner.

However while Izaya was busy worrying about his own social skills, Shizuo was more focused on the fact that Izaya didn't seem interested in him at all.

He's probably only going out with me to satisfy some weird curiosity. There's no way he'd ever learn to like me back…

These thoughts had been haunting Shizuo for the past two weeks. He knew he loved Izaya, and the sight of him bruised and battered that night two weeks ago was burned into his brain. He saw another side of Izaya that night. A side of Izaya that was hurt and frightened—no matter how much he tried to deny it—and that sparked a protective instinct in Shizuo. He never wanted anyone to touch his Izaya like that ever again, and he promised himself he would do everything he could to prevent the man sitting across from him from being reduced to the broken form he'd held through the night.

However, despite the circumstances, the moment of peace he felt when Izaya finally fell asleep next to him was something Shizuo found himself craving—sort of like a craving for nicotine. He'd had a taste of what he wanted and now he wanted more.

"Shizu-chan?" Izaya's voice almost made Shizuo jump when he realized he hadn't been paying attention, "Is everything okay?"

I should be asking you that question. You're acting like nothing ever happened, Shizuo thought. "I'm fine," he said out loud.

"You're breaking the table, Shizu-chan," Izaya said in a low, serious tone.

Looking down, Shizuo realized he was gripping the edge of the table hard enough that it was beginning to crack. He quickly brought his hands to his sides and took a quiet deep breath.

"I was just thinking about some guy that pissed me off earlier," he said.

"Ahh~! What an unfortunate soul to get on your bad side enough to make you carry it with you to dinner!" Izaya said in a sing-song voice.

Shizuo merely shrugged in response to Izaya's words. You're the unfortunate one, he thought while trying to calm himself down with a large bite of his dinner.

The rest of the meal was rather uneventful with the pair getting into a bit more interesting conversations which mostly revolved around Izaya talking about his observations of a family sitting in a booth at the other end of the restaurant. When all else failed, it seemed that Izaya could always find something to talk about as long as his precious humans were in the vicinity. Actually, even if they were the last two people on Earth, Izaya would still manage to talk about other people…

The pair soon seemed to reach a silent consensus as they grabbed their belongings, paid the bill (Izaya's treat), and left the building—but instead of parting their own separate directions as they'd previously done, Shizuo decided to swallow his nervousness and offer to take Izaya home.

He opened his mouth, unsure of exactly how he was going to make the offer. "Iza—"

"Nee, Shizu-chan, how about you walk me home?" Izaya said before Shizuo even had the chance to say it himself.

"Okay," he replied a bit too quickly.

"But this time we're not walking the whole way!" Izaya said cheerfully, opening up his umbrella, "And since you clearly didn't bring an umbrella, we can share mine until we get to the station."

"Thanks," Shizuo responded quietly. He was having a hard time understanding how Izaya was so cheerful when this night was eerily similar to the night two weeks ago.

As he began walking along side Izaya it hit him. It was a mask. It had to be. There was no way Izaya could have forgotten what the weather had been like when he was attacked, and there was no way he was completely over it by now. It was all fake. Every smile, every cheery exclamation. Fake. A lie. The problem was that Izaya was just so good at faking it that he hadn't realized until now…

Why else would Izaya want company going home tonight? He didn't want to go home alone on a night like this. Shizuo could feel a sinking sensation in his stomach at this realization. It was as if Izaya was trying to prove he was better now—above others who would let that type of traumatic event get to them.

Shizuo shifted his gaze for a moment to look at Izaya's face. He looked normal as he had a few minutes ago.

There had to be something he was hiding beneath that mask. It's never good to hold in emotions like that. Shizuo sighed quietly as they took their seats on the train. There had to be some way to get Izaya to open up. He vowed in that moment as he eyed that smiling face to find out how he could help Izaya no matter what.

Shizuo had been lost in thought, mindlessly walking alongside Izaya when they finally reached Izaya's apartment. They stood outside for a moment, finally making eye contact.

"Well," Izaya began, "I guess this is where I say 'goodnight'…" He looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I guess so," Shizuo replied.

"Do you need money for a taxi back to Ikebukuro?"

"Nah," Shizuo held up his hand when Izaya began reaching for his wallet, "I can get that on my own."

"Alright, well, thank you for the… should I call it a nice evening?" Izaya asked with a grin.

"Yeah, same to you I guess," Shizuo said reaching to rub the back of his neck and break the awkward eye contact between them, "See ya later."

"Bye."

…~-~…

A little while later, Shizuo was back home standing alone in his bedroom as he changed out of his now wet clothing. He dried his hair and proceeded with his usual nightly routine of changing into his pajamas and having a quick glass of milk before climbing into bed.

Curling up in bed on his side, Shizuo tried to relax. Grabbing a pillow and holding it to his chest, Shizuo imagined it was Izaya he was holding as the smaller man fell asleep in his arms. He felt a small ache in his chest as he yearned for the feeling of falling sleep next to someone. The pillow was a cold substitute, but at least took a bit of that ache away. Shizuo turned again to lie on his back and look at the ceiling.

The room was dark.

It was quiet.

…~-~…

Collapsing in bed face first, Izaya groaned into his pillow. He'd actually enjoyed himself tonight and had managed to forget about the maddening fear that had been gripping him lately only for it to return now that he was alone again.

He hadn't wanted to go home alone tonight. It felt rude to drag Shizuo all the way out here only to send him on his way immediately after, but he hadn't thought that through. He only wanted to go home without having to look over his shoulder constantly for someone who probably wasn't lurking in the shadows behind him.

Flipping on his back, Izaya pulled the covers up over his head as if he could hide from that uneasy feeling in his gut every time he was left alone in silence. When the air became too warm he poked his head out to stare at the lights slowly moving across the ceiling from the activity of the city below coming through the window.

Yet despite the obvious activity on the streets below, no sound reached him in his top floor apartment building.

It was quiet.