A/N

Just a quick, 15k word, multi chapter, Shizaya drabble about handcuffs and cuddling (To anyone following my current Death Note story, an update should be coming soon just fyi)

Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara or any of the characters

Izaya felt the air behind him part as the newly unearthed street sign found a new home embedded in the brick of the wall behind him. "Shizu-chan!" Izaya greeted his attacker with a grin that wasn't entirely false, "Right on time."

Shizuo's eye twitched in irritation, "Shut up flea, what are you doing in town?"

"Oh," Izaya lifted up his hands in feigned innocence, making sure Shizuo could see the knife handle protruding from his sleeve, "this and that."

"Still in the business of ruining people's lives I see." Shizuo reached out, and the metal of yet another street sign began to warp beneath his grip, "I told you to stay away from Ikebukuro."

"Oh but how could I when you're here, Shizu-chan?" Izaya blew him a mock kiss, and just like that the cycle had begun anew.

Izaya Orihara, criminal informant and arguably evil mastermind, had been away from Ikebukuro for nearly two months and the city had breathed a sigh of relief. It's denizens had had nearly sixty days of reprieve from all of the crazy phenomena that had become practically normal for the city. The gangs had quieted, most of the traffic signs had been left in place, and even the Headless Rider seemed to be on the down low for the time being.

From across the street, Simon shook his head from inside the doorway of Russia Sushi. It seemed that Izaya Orihara had returned to town. It was a shame really. Simon liked Shizuo. He was a good role model for Varona, and with the return of Izaya, Simon knew that this was only the beginning of the fights they would tear the city apart with. Perhaps he would let them have this one, he had a certain premonition that there would be plenty of fights to break up in the coming days.

"Извини, Shizuo."

Three hours later found Shizuo Heiwajima, strongest man in Ikebukuro, sprawled across Shinra's couch in his and Celty's apartment.

"Shizuo." Shinra poked his face.

"Hm?"

"This may hurt." Shinra had Shizuo's right arm in his hands and was prodding his shoulder as if to find the spot that should connect the two.

"Go ahead."

Shizuo barely felt as his arm was wrenched back into place, and the only indication Shinra had as to whether or not the arm was where it should be was the crunching noise as Shizuo's humerus was forced back into its joint.

Shizuo rolled his shoulder and nodded. Shinra sighed, "Maybe you should just stick to vending machines, Shizuo. I'm sure you can kill him with one of those... a car is just overboard."

Shizuo grunted, and Shinra took it as an affirmation, "I'll go make tea, try not to pick anything up with that arm."

Shizuo nodded and flopped over onto his stomach, pressing his face into the couch cushions. He hadn't felt this exhausted in nearly... two months.

The two months the flea had been gone were like a watered down dream. Everything was a blur of work, and peace. The city had been quiet, and Shizuo hadn't been forced to fight anyone, Varona had both of their jobs covered, his role was mainly the intimidation factor at that point, and the rest of the city had left him alone for the first time in years.

As much as he hated to admit it, Izaya had had a hand in nearly every aspect of his life. Even when he wasn't in sight, there was always some sort of underlying chaos with his name on it interfering with Shizuo's way of life, from the random gangster attacking him in an alley to the city wide bounty placed on his head last spring.

When Izaya had left, to go do god knows what to some poor unsuspecting city, it was the first time since High School that Shizuo's life had been allowed to run its own course.

Shizuo hadn't known how heavy the hand guiding his life had been until it was suddenly gone. Now that Izaya was back, he didn't quite know how to react.

Other than to try to kill him of course, but that was to be expected.

In the back of his mind, Shizuo heard the front door open and close. Shizuo hoped it was Celty, and not Shinra's irritating father.

"Hey Shinra, long time no see."

Shizuo felt a surge of rage and energy as he lifted his face from the couch cushions to face the one person that made him wish it had been Shinra's father who walked through the door.

"OOf!" Shizuo huffed as a sudden weight on his back forced his face back into the cushion.

"This apartment is a neutral zone!" Shinra proclaimed to both belligerents from his place perched on Shizuo's back.

Shizuo propped his chin on the pillow, narrowing his eyes at Izaya as the informant shrugged, "Fine, as long as he doesn't throw a table at me while I'm getting my arm stitched up."

Shizuo growled, "Fine, as long as Shinra gets off of me before I throw him across the room."

Shinra hastily allowed Shizuo to sit up, anxiously watching the both of them as he pulled his first aid kit off of the counter and began to work on the gash in Izaya's arm.

Shizuo sipped cautiously at his tea and concentrated on not shattering the cup in his hands as he listened to Izaya and Shinra idly chit chatting mere feet away.

By the time Shizuo's tea was gone, Shinra had begun to pack up his supplies and Shizuo couldn't take it anymore, "Why did you come back?"

Izaya raised an eyebrow at him and Shizuo glared back, the cup in his hand in serious danger of being smashed to bits.

"Easy, this city is the most interesting place I could find. It's filled to the brim with humans to play with." He grinned wickedly and Shizuo felt himself stand up, his cup in shards on the floor around his feet.

"Oh no you don't!" Shinra had gotten between the two of them, Shizuo towering over him and Izaya leaning casually against the counter, grin still in place. "You two are not going to mess up this city anymore."

Shizuo raised a hand to move Shinra out of the way and Shinra grabbed it out of the air, snatching Izaya's hand in his other. Before Shizuo could comprehend what had happened, Shinra had sprinted from the room and slammed his door shut. Shizuo glanced down over the sound of locks clicking and found his wrist encircled in a black cuff. "Hmm?"

Experimentally, he lifted his hand and noticed a chain trailing from the cuff. He followed the chain with his eyes and ended up focused on Izaya.

Izaya seemed to be holding his breath.

Shizuo's mind clicked. "SHINRA!"

Shizuo vaulted the couch, not caring if Izaya was able to keep up and skidded to a halt in front of Shinra's bedroom. "Open the door!" Shizuo pounded on the door and the entire building seemed to shake.

"Tell us how to get out of these handcuffs!" Izaya shouted over Shizuo's pounding.

"No!" Shinra's muffled reply came through the door, along with the sound of yet another lock sliding into place, "The handcuffs are made of shadows and can only be taken off by Celty, who swore not to take them off until you two found a way to get along!"

"Shinra!" Shizuo shouted, still pounding on the door.

"Hey!" Izaya shouted, shoving Shizuo away from the door, "Idiot, if you kill him Celty will never take these off."

Shizuo turned to him, rage roiling off of his skin like heat, "Maybe I could just rip your arm off flea."

Izaya sneered, "I'd love to see you try."

Shizuo took hold of the chain with both hands and pulled, until his recently un-dislocated arm hurt, and yet nothing happened.

"That won't work!" Shinra shouted through the door, "The cuffs are indestructible, and the clasps are too tight, if you ripped it off you'd have to drag his arm around with you and then you'd be arrested for sure."

Shizuo grimaced, there was no way he was going to jail again for the flea.

"Just work out your differences, it can't be that difficult." Shizuo scoffed, but Shinra continued, "At least sleep on it, surely the two of you can last a few hours without killing each other, or are you both really that weak?"

"You walk a fine line, Shinra." Izaya growled.

"Think about it! The city will be a much better place if you two can at least tolerate each other. Think about this as the ultimate lesson in self control."

Shizuo stilled, and bit his lip.

"You can't seriously be considering this." Izaya glared at him.

"Shut up flea." He muttered. It was true Shizuo had been working on his self control since he was a child, but Izaya just made him so irrationally angry...

"Fine." Izaya growled, "But you'd better watch your back Shinra."

With that he began to pull Shizuo toward the door, and Shizuo was forced to trail after him. "Oi flea, stop pulling my arm."

"If you don't want me to pull, then try to keep up. Your legs are longer than mine." Izaya grumbled, yanking their chain for good measure.

Shizuo had to force himself to count to ten before he responded, "I don't even know where we're going."

"My apartment."

"No way." Shizuo skidded to a stop, forcing Izaya to stop with him, "Why your place? Why not mine?"

Izaya rolled his eyes as if this were an idiotic question, "Because my place is bigger, and Namie will be there to alert the police in case you murder me in my sleep."

"Who is Namie?"

"My assistant, try to keep up Shizu-chan." Izaya rolled his eyes again and resumed walking.

Shizuo glared at the back of his head, "What about my stuff? We have to at least stop by my apartment."

"Not my problem." Izaya waved a hand flippantly, "Why don't you call your brother and have him bring your stuff in the morning?"

Shizuo grit his teeth but begrudgingly took his cell phone from his pocket.

A bit of walking, and an awkward cab ride later, they stood in front of Izaya's apartment and Shizuo braced himself for what he might find inside.

"Huh?" Shizuo pulled the note from the door and read; "This apartment's occupant has relocated."

"Oh, that." Izaya took the note from him and crumpled it up, "That's just something I have Namie put on the door when she sees you coming."

Shizuo grit his teeth, "How dumb do you think I am?"

Izaya gave him a brief once over, and arched an eyebrow, "Are you sure you want an answer to that question?"

"Whatever." Shizuo growled and pushed the now unlocked door open and strolled into the room without invitation.

"Namie!" Izaya called, "I know you're here, I saw the note on the door."

Shizuo turned just in time to duck as a plate flew over their heads and smashed against the far wall.

"Ah," Izaya straightened up, dusting off his coat, "there you are."

The woman in the doorway glared at him, brandishing a wicked looking soup ladle, "First you disappear for two months, and then you come back, and now you're out until all hours of the night. I'd better get paid overtime for this!"

Shizuo frowned, wondering where he could have possibly gone where he wouldn't have told his assistant about.

Izaya rolled his eyes and smirked at her, "It's not like I didn't pay you for the time I was gone, and it's only ten thirty, it's not like you have anywhere better to be now that you're in hiding."

They both ducked another dinner plate as Namie stormed from the room.

"So that's Namie, I'd say feel free to boss her around, but she probably won't listen to you." Izaya didn't seem to be too troubled by his moderately homicidal assistant, so Shizuo decided not to comment.

"Come on," Izaya tugged at their wrists, "I have to check my e-mail."

Shizuo let himself be pulled across the room to the obnoxiously large computer monitor, simply because he didn't trust himself to open his mouth to argue against it.

Izaya plunked down into his chair and eagerly logged into the computer, leaving Shizuo to stand awkwardly next to him and attempt vaguely to keep up as he zoomed through his various e-mails and social networking accounts.

"Should I be seeing this?" Shizuo asked as he watched Izaya open up an e-mail titled "Cadaver Relocation."

Izaya shrugged, "I'm not checking my more... unsavory accounts, and the messages you are seeing now are from jobs you can't do anything about."

Shizuo bit his lip to keep from retorting and chose instead to watch the cars go by on the street below through the enormous window. This at least he didn't mind doing.

Despite their differences, Izaya and Shizuo both shared a certain appreciation for humanity. For Izaya it was an infatuation, but for Shizuo, it was more wistful. Perhaps one day, when he gained control over his strength he would be able to be a part of it.

He hadn't noticed how tired he was until he had to brace himself against the computer desk to stay upright. "Hey." he nudged Izaya, who was currently instant messaging someone whose name he didn't recognize, "I'm tired."

"Good for you." Izaya replied without looking up.

"Where are we sleeping?"

Izaya wrinkled his nose, "Certainly not in my room." he glanced around, "The couch is long enough for us both."

Shizuo glanced over and sighed in relief as he saw that the couch lined three sides of the living room. This way they would be able to sleep on two different sides and not have to touch.

"Good enough," he muttered, "come on, flea."

"No." Izaya pulled back on the chain, "I'm not done here."

"Too bad." Shizuo lifted Izaya out of the chair and carried him over to the couch.

"You're lucky you didn't get a knife to the neck." Izaya glared at him.

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "You won't kill me until we're out of these." he shook the handcuffs as a reminder.

Izaya flicked out his pocket knife, "That doesn't mean I won't cut you up."

Shizuo ground his teeth to keep from punching him, "You do that, flea, but I'm going to sleep."

With that he sunk down and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on a couch that clearly wasn't made for comfort, and surprisingly felt himself drifting off. The last thing he saw was the glow from Izaya's laptop that the informant had pulled from seemingly thin air.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Celty arrived back at the apartment to find Shinra barricaded in their bedroom.

Shinra? She typed, as soon as she had gotten him to open the door.

"Oh, this." He chuckled and scratched his head, "Remember those handcuffs I asked you to make?"

Celty nodded her helmet reluctantly, an unpleasant sensation settling in the pit of her stomach.

"Well, Shizuo and Izaya stopped by earlier after another one of their fights, and were about to destroy the apartment, and it was just so nice around town without having to worry about them killing each other..."

Get to the point! She typed anxiously.

"I handcuffed them together."

Shinra! Celty felt a stress headache coming on, which was remarkable, everything considered. They are going to destroy the city and then each other.

Shinra shook his head, "No they won't."

How can you know that? This is Izaya and Shizuo we're talking about.

"Shizuo has been getting better at self control, especially since Izaya's two month disappearance, and Izaya, well... We don't really have to worry about that."

Celty metaphorically frowned, What do you mean?

"Don't you remember the incident from two months ago?" Shinra sighed, "I think I know why Izaya disappeared, and I think I also know why he came back."

Why?

"Shizuo."

A/N

I hope you liked it! The second chapter will be posted tomorrow afternoon

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Good Memories and Nightmares

-MDL