A/N: This is intended to be a collection of one-shots that vaguely follow a story line. They will reference each other, some will be directly liner, but they can (mostly) be read alone. Some will be rated M, others T, I'll mark each chapter as I go along and it will always be marked as complete because technically it always is. Just a little warning, this is not my priority and updates might be slow.

With all that out of the way, enjoy.

Summary: Cold rain sucks. It sucks even more when you've just been shot.

Rain is terrible.

Izaya never had to be told this to know it's true. He's never liked it, not when he was younger and it drove all the humans inside, away from him and his games. Certainly not now, as it soaks through his coat and to his skin, which is numb and definitely waterlogged by now. If he ever gets out of this misty misery, he'll probably need to be wrung out like a sponge.

It's not even raining that hard, just a light, stinging drizzle, but any rain is bad rain if you're out in it long enough. Especially when winter is still hanging around in the air, making the droplets more like little bits of freezing cold torture. The dark doesn't make it any better, only making his walk more dangerous as well as colder. He can't even see the raindrops, Izaya only feels them when they hit his exposed skin.

With his free hand, Izaya tugs his hood down further, trying to keep the rain out of his eyes. The abrupt movement sets him off balance and the raven is forced to release his waist for a moment as he tries to get his feet back under him. He fails, of course. The universe has never been kind.

The puddle he lands in is even colder and Izaya feels his teeth jitter together, though whether that's from shock setting in or the cold around him, he doesn't know. Increased shivering sends several rapid jolts of pain up his spine and Izaya's hand goes back to its earlier task, staunching the blood that keeps trickling from the bullet wound in his side.

Because, you know, he's been shot. It kind of hurts.

Just a bit.

Why, you might ask, is Izaya Orihara, infamous info broker of Tokyo and the general nightmare of its residents, outside in the middle of the night, miles away from his home and bleeding out on the streets of Ikebukuro? Well, he wouldn't be able to answer you. Mostly because the blood loss is setting in.

Besides, he's not particularly sure himself. Usually, in this situation, he would be headed towards Shinra's where he would probably pass out on the floor, only to wake up to another one of the doctor's lectures and a thankfully stitched up side. Why Izaya is instead headed towards Shizuo's house is beyond him at this moment.

It's irrational honestly.

With shaking limbs, Izaya drags himself to his feet and tries to regain his bearings. Thankfully, his body requires little instruction and instinctively starts him plodding once more towards the blond idiot's house. His steps are even slower than before.

Unfortunately, the rain only comes down harder, as if mocking him.

This whole thing had started a month ago, with a bottle of cheap alcohol and a bruised throat. Shizuo had been too tired to actually throw Izaya out of his apartment, the raven had been a bit too drunk already to be deterred when the blond pinned him to the wall by his neck. After the unpleasantries had been exchanged, they'd ended up at Shizuo's kitchen table, drinking in silence.

The night after, when Izaya had come back with better alcohol and clearer eyes, Shizuo hadn't even blinked. Just sitting there in silence is easy after all, even for two lifelong enemies. From then on it had become a pattern. Izaya brought something intoxicating that made being in each other's presence less heinous. In return, Shizuo opened the door and didn't snap when Izaya started talking and telling him things the blond really had no business knowing.

So in reality, the only thing weird about this particular night is the bullet hole and the only thing Izaya's really worried about is the fact the bottle he'd brought broke when he was jumped. Without it, the raven's not sure if Shizuo will open the door for him at all. Stupid thing to worry about probably, but his brain is rattling in his skull from all the shivering and he can't think rationally.

He just wants to get there. Shizuo's apartment is warm, the couch in his living room is old but comfortable. If Izaya can manage to not pass out before arriving on the beast's doorstep, at least he won't be slowly turning to ice anymore.

I'm crazy to think he'd let me in.

It's the blood loss making him think crazy. It has to be.

Shizuo will probably kick him out.

Izaya might as well just curl up here and fall asleep.

He's not surprised when his knees buckle and the ground comes rushing to meet him. When his forehead smacks the sidewalk, which looks more like a river than pavement, Izaya closes his eyes and tries to draw himself back together. This whole thing is stupid, he shouldn't have been drinking before coming here, the raven was just asking for trouble by doing that. Someone with as many enemies as him has to be careful after all.

The attackers had come out of nowhere. Without even breaking a sweat Izaya had disposed of the first three. He'd even managed to keep the bottle of whiskey intact. Then he'd heard the shot ring out and a moment later he was clutching his side as blood seeped through his fingers. He could still see the glittering glass of the broken bottle as it skittered over the street.

Izaya's fourth attacker had gotten away. A lowlife, Izaya didn't doubt, but sadly a lowlife with a gun is still dangerous.

He'd have been fine if it hadn't started raining.

The cold made everything harder and it didn't help stave off shock in the slightest. It had only taken minutes to soak Izaya to the bone and another two to leave him completely numb. At least it made the pain manageable.

It's the little things.

Too bad he's dying. Izaya's sure that if it weren't so cold and if he weren't going into shock, he'd be thinking a whole lot more. Maybe he'd be reflecting on his life and how he'd gotten to this street, to this place, several blocks from Shizuo's apartment. Perhaps he'd even contemplate the little niggling problem that he's bleeding out through a bullet hole in his side, just in time to die here, a short ways from warmth, out in the street alone.

Miserable, ne?

But perhaps this is better, dying quietly in the freezing rain. It's only ten at night but in this twisting section of town, there's no one to run across him. Slowly, a soft moan of pain escaping his lips, Izaya rolls over and stares at the stormy sky. Water runs down his back, making the chatter of his teeth more pronounced as tremors wrack his body. Izaya never thought he'd die like this, but, apparently, you never knew.

Death is a persistent thing.

He wonders if Shizuo even notices he's not there, not sitting across the table from him with a glass in his hand, muttering softly about how tired of life he is. Probably, the blond won't notice until Tom, his employer, points out the side story in the paper, the article mentioning him only briefly, before carrying on with other unimportant news. The thought hurts, to be honest. Izaya supposes he doesn't deserve anything better, though he'd hoped for a lot more.

Not that'd he'd been expecting those late nights to go anywhere, no, Izaya's not a dreamer by any stretch of the imagination.

But, maybe it could have gone a bit better.

As if he ever had any idea where he wanted those nights to go in the first place.

His vision is darkening, and he's pretty sure it's the dying bit and not the rain's fault at all. For once. Too cold to care, Izaya closes his eyes and starts to drift off. It's amazing how easy it is. Like it hasn't eluded him his whole life, sleep welcomes the raven swiftly and the world starts to fade to one monotonous buzz.

Very peaceful. Very calm. Very-

"Izaya? The fuck are you doing there?"

Well, this was unexpected.

Izaya opens his eyes, even though he can't really see anything anymore. Footsteps pound beside his head and the faint smell of nicotine filters through the raven's brain. His eyes flicker closed again, he can't keep them open.

"Shit, you're bleeding everywhere. What the fuck happened to you?" He sounds alarmed, perhaps he doesn't run into almost-corpses very often.

Funny, Izaya never thought the man would care.

Shizuo, for that's who it is, slips an arm under Izaya. He can feel it, the warmth spilling off of the blond, negating the deadening chill of the rain. Another arm hooks under his knees and a moment later the hard pavement at Izaya's back vanishes, replaced by a very warm Shizuo, who's shaking him in an attempt to wake him up.

Well, maybe he'll still die if this idiot is left to deal with him. Izaya could care less. Shizuo's body heat is like fire to Izaya's icy skin and it feels good. Except for his wound, which throbs hatefully as it remembers it exists, but he's going to ignore that.

"Flea, don't you fucking-"

"I got shot," Izaya mumbles, cutting off Shizuo's anger. Well, maybe anger isn't the word for it. Fear is probably a closer approximation. At his words, the beast stops shaking him and just lets Izaya's head fall limply to his shoulder. "Wasn't paying attention," he continues, though his tongue feels too big for his mouth. " 'm bleeding out now."

"I can see that," Shizuo huffs. He starts walking then, Izaya can feel each step reverberate through him as the blond's feet connect with the pavement. The movement makes his head loll, Shizuo props it up with more gentleness than Izaya deserves. "What kind of goddamned idiot tries to get themselves killed in the middle of the night huh? Why the hell were you even here?"

The question stings because he expects Shizuo to already know the answer, but the rain that's still falling stings more. Izaya shudders violently and murmurs, "Coming to see you." Shizuo growls under his breath at the words so Izaya rushes ahead, needing to explain himself. "Sorry, the bottle broke, I know-"

"Don't fucking talk about that shit like it's important!" Shizuo snaps and Izaya doesn't understand why the blond sounds worried because he definitely does and it doesn't make sense. Why is he even helping the raven at all? "Why the hell would I care about some shitty bottle, you're dying." It's hilarious because Shizuo's not supposed to care about him at all.

Nevermind that Izaya's hatred for Shizuo has trickled away and now all he feels is a strange sort of pull towards the beast, Shizuo's supposed to hate him regardless. That's how this works, right? Drinking together in the late hours of the night doesn't change a thing. Even if Izaya feels like it might have changed something for him, that doesn't make it real.

Except this is real and Shizuo's arms tighten around him as his pace picks up.

"Just thought…" Izaya's losing what consciousness he has left, not that he begrudges its departure. "Thought you hated…" It's a wonder he hasn't passed out already.

"Well you thought wrong," Shizuo says shortly. Izaya feels the words travel through the blond's body and into his own. They're surprising, and they probably would have sent Izaya's brain into overdrive if he hadn't already been so close to death. As it is, he accepts them easily, because without all his usual thoughts crowding his mind, Shizuo's words make sense. "I don't hate you."

"Oh," is the only answer the raven manages.

That worries Shizuo, just like everything else about his condition apparently. Izaya knows this because the blond stops unexpectedly so he can shout, "I mean it Izaya! Don't you die on me now you little shit. You can't just act like that for a month and expect me not to care when you get shot. That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair," Izaya whispers simply, feeling the need to cough and suppressing it because he knows it'll only hurt more. You're not fair, he thinks dimly. The blood loss is really getting to him now, even with both arms wrapped around his waist Izaya has to wonder if he'll really make it. Shizuo can only do so much and the raven doesn't even know where the blond is taking him. He'd ask if he could put the sentence together.

"I don't fucking care." Shizuo starts moving again, and this time it's at a run. Every jolt hurts, every raindrop stings, every beat of the blond's heart echoes in Izaya's ears. Nothing phases him, he just dangles limply in Shizuo's arms and focuses on breathing.

In, out. In, out.

"If you die, I'm going to fucking kill you."

In, out. In, out.

"Oi! Open your eyes or something. Don't go to sleep!"

In, out. In, out.

"Izaya!"

In, out. In-

The next thing Izaya knows, he's at Shinra's, listening to the steady beeping of the heart monitor. Next to him, he can hear the deep breaths of Shizuo, slow and calming.

In, out, in, out, in, out…

A/N: So... What do you think? I hope that it's at least passible. But if not, oh well.

Until next time~!