"Izaya, how many times do I have to tell you!? Stop taking on dangerous assignments when you're still wounded! Now look! You've got another one right after I just fixed you up!" scolded Shinra.

"Hai hai…" sighed Izaya.

"Honestly!"

"Sorry Shinra," Izaya apologized. It was one of those rare moments when he turns sincere towards his one and only friend. He wasn't sure if Shizuo was a friend, but still a bit of an enemy, so yeah. Shizuo doesn't count because he's Izaya's frenemy.

Shinra looked at his friend with concern. "Izaya what's going on? You're usually not this careless. How bad is the situation you're in?"

The raven glanced at Shizuo who was having a conversation with Celty. A red slap mark still visible on his face due to the morning's event. Izaya lowered his voice and decided to trust his friend. He needed someone to be on the lookout in case things got bad.

"My boss has…noticed…the change in my relationship with Shizuo," he said slowly, foreign to the feel of saying Shizuo's real name.

"You mean you two are really—" Shinra started.

"No. We're not. But we've become frenemies I guess. Well, that's how I see it. Anyway, you know I have enemies. Dangerous enemies. And this time, they are targeting my monster. And no one touches my monster. I can't tell you anything more, but promise me you won't say not one word to Shizuo."

Shinra stared at his friend. He always knew the caring side of Izaya even if everyone around them never did, or failed to notice. But it was also due to the fact that Izaya himself was too good at hiding it. "I promise. But Izaya, Shizuo's strong. He can take care of himself. It's you who I'm more worried about."

"Listen Shinra, Shizu-chan must not know about this okay?" Izaya said firmly. "And I'll be fine. I already have everything planned out."

"Iza—"

"What are you guys talking about?"

Izaya didn't even flinch. "Why Shizu-chan, that is none of your business," he said sticking his tongue out at the blond.

Shizuo frowned and turned to Shinra, hoping to at least get something from the doctor. But the brunette merely chuckled saying, "It's really nothing Shizuo, Izaya just wanted to get you curious."

The blond turned an accusing look toward Izaya who pouted at Shinra. "Traitor."

It never failed to surprise Shinra how well Izaya managed to hide his true self from others. Recently he has been opening up to Shizuo, but when needed, he slips his mask back on, Shinra thought as he listened the two banter childishly.

"How old are you? Five?" Shizuo growled.

"Well if you must know I am 21. Forever. And that's that," Izaya sang happily.

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "I shouldn't have asked. You're too fucked up to give me a reasonable answer anyway."

Izaya mocks a gasp. "Reasonable? This coming from my beloved little monster with such a tiny protozoan brain!?"

"Shut it flea. Stop being a bastard," he snarled.

"Did I insult your intelligence? Oh wait, you don't have any," Izaya chuckled.

"Izaya…" Shizuo growled.

Izaya laughed merrily. But it didn't go unnoticed to everyone in the room that it held absolutely no malice unlike his usual ones. "If you weren't so already beat up, I would've hit you by now," Shizuo grunted without really meaning it. But old habits die hard. And getting riled up because of the flea was an automatic response for him. The only thing new now was the fact that instead of wanting to hit the flea, he actually wanted to kiss him.

Izaya clicked his tongue. "As if you hadn't done enough damage as it is." Izaya's hand travelled to the bandage that covered the bite marks Shizuo left.

The blonde blushed from head to toe. "I—"

"Wait, Shizuo you hurt Izaya?" asked Shinra alarmed. "I know he's annoying but give him some slack, he's injured and—"

"I didn't hurt him alright!" he snapped. Of course he wouldn't hurt someone who was already wounded, even if it was someone like Izaya. No, especially since it was Izaya.

"Are you sure Shizu-chan?" Izaya grinned. He couldn't get any answers from the blonde as to what were his reasons behind what happened the night before as well as the morning incident. Shizuo either just kept quiet or shrugged it off. And Izaya hated not knowing. He absolutely loathed it. So he was definitely going to give Shizuo a hard time. "Then why is my neck bruised and bandaged?"

[You tried to strangle him?] Celty typed. [Shizuo, we all know he's—]

And she was repeating the same things Shinra was going to say.

"I didn't!"

Izaya laughed at the blonde's irritation, and then the laugh turned into a cough, then a groan of pain. The commotion died down, making all three focus on him. Shinra tsked, "Don't move so much. You reopened the one I patched up the day before yesterday and you poorly fixed yourself from your new injuries. It'll take about three weeks for it to heal completely."

"Ugh," he groaned. Thinks weren't looking good. His plan was already carefully laid out, but still the bastards who are trying to bring him down may do something unexpected. Izaya knew he has been letting his guard down more and more since he's been spending time with his monster. He never truly had another friend (slash enemy) aside from Shinra, and he liked being with his Shizu-chan all too much to think of how it was affecting his job. He was getting too soft. It was too foreign having someone accept you for everything that you are, and Izaya knew that he needed to develop an off switch for this. He needed to stay as the great omniscient informant who knew everything. But he didn't want to keep that façade infront of his Shizu-chan.

"Izaya," Shinra said, breaking his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder. "It'd be best if you slept for a while. I gave you some medicine that would help you regain your strength but would get you drowsy."

Izaya could feel the effects already starting to work its magic. "Dammit Shinra…You know I hate…feeling…" he couldn't continue his words. He lost consciousness a few seconds later.

"Oi," Shizuo said in surprise. "I thought you said it would only make him feel a little drowsy?" he asked the doctor. Shinra smiled sadly. "It did. But the fact that he fell asleep that quickly shows how weak he is right now." Celty typed in her goodbye to the two men, saying she had a to deliver something before taking her leave.

Shizuo frowned as the raven continued to sleep, unaware that Shinra was studying him. "Neh, Shizuo," he started.

"Izaya has been staying over at your place for a while now, hasn't he?" he asked seriously. Shizuo had once lied to him about that, but by the look on the doctor's face he didn't seem like he was up to no bullshit. "Yeah…almost every day," he admitted.

Shinra nodded, hiding his surprise at the fact that Izaya was going to Shizuo's at a daily basis. He chuckled, poking the sleeping raven's cheek. "I didn't know you'd act this way just because of what I said."

The doctor caught the blonde's look and he smiled. "It was actually me who made Izaya go over to your place." He sighed. "It was only a mere suggestion. I noticed that Izaya has been coming over here more often than usual. I couldn't get any quality time with my Celty. He seemed so bored that it was affecting everyone here." He paused and smiled sheepishly at Shizuo. "Remember when you said you read some of the messages I sent him?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, I tried it once more with Izaya. Of course he dismissed it immediately. But I tried a different approach. He has always considered you as his monster. And I asked him if he knew everything about you. He answered me with a confident 'I'm Orihara Izaya. Of course I'd know everything. Especially about my monster.' Well I told him that he was wrong. And to help him get rid of his boredom, why don't he try paying you a visit and see the many more things he has yet to discover about you."

"He glared at me, turning down my suggestion while childishly saying that I just wanted to get rid of him so that I could have time with my Celty. He left and never came back until… you brought him here unconscious."

Shizuo sat next to the unconscious raven in silence, contemplating on what he had just learned. "So you don't know why he came over to my place every single day?"

Shinra shook his head. "Do you like having him around?"

Shizuo paused, startled by the question. His initial response was to deny it strongly out of embarrassment. But he knew that was stupid. Just the mere fact that he let the flea stay over was already a big give away. He'll just have to hide the fact that he's actually in love with the stupid louse.

"Yeah… I do. He's not such a bastard whenever he's at my place."

Shinra smiled. "I'm quite glad that he found himself a friend. Aside from having me, he's always been alone. He's not like you Shizuo. You have people who care about you and are afraid of you, but none of them truly despises you. Everyone hates Izaya. People would prefer you to him if given a choice. And I'm the only friend he has." Shinra looked at the informant sadly. "He got drunk once, and let out some surprising things… but the one thing that struck me the most was the fact that he envies you."

"Me?"

Shinra nodded. "He knows there would be people who would miss you if you were to disappear just like that. And he told me no one would be like that for him. When I asked him how he knew, he said it was because he has already tried."

Shizuo's eyes widened.

"Remember that long period of time when no one knew where he was?" Shinra murmured. "It was that time. He said he watched from the sidelines. Observing how people were. His boss just got pissed and already hired a replacement. His secretary just started looking for another job. His sisters didn't even notice. Ikebukuro gossiped at how he could have died, and some were celebrating his disappearance."

"He even went to you," Shinra chuckled. "He said it made him happy, to see you so restless and muttering his name every now and then, not even thinking that he could've already died. He said you even went looking for him, wandering at some parts of Shinjuku, even going straight to his apartment to see him. After some time he decided to come back. He caused a three way war just to let out his hate for the humans he loved."

"I'm not even supposed to tell you any of this. He'll definitely slit my throat if he found out. Well, I'm confident that he won't kill me. But he'll make sure to do some great damage," he chuckled at his own possible pain.

"Why are you telling me this?" Shizuo asked.

"Because it seems that Izaya has gotten himself into trouble. I can't tell you the details because he made me promise to keep it from you, but I want to make sure you'll help him."

"Shizu-chan…"

The blonde and brunette glanced at Izaya who scrunched his nose and furrowed his brows. "My…ootoro…no…mine…stupid Shizu-chan."

Shizuo chuckled and smiled warmly at Izaya. "They're not yours anymore Izaya," Shizuo murmured playfully.

"Nnh…" Izaya growled angrily in his sleep. "Mine…" he whined.

Shinra, still unused to the new relationship between the two, kept silent as he watched the unusual scene play before him.

"I already took them from you flea," Shizuo teased.

Izaya's eyes slightly opened but it was clear to everyone that he was still asleep. "No…"

"Yes. And I ate them ALL."

"Give'em back…" he murmured in return.

"Make me," Shizuo stuck his tongue out childishly, forgetting Shinra, and unaware that he was so dangerously close to the raven's face.

Izaya looked pissed even in his dream state. With weak arms he grabbed Shizuo's face, startling the blonde and pulled him down to meet his lips. He kissed him, looking for his ootoro, still dreaming. His tongue easily slid into the shocked blonde's mouth, grazing against his own tongue, causing a moan to escape his mouth. He couldn't think straight what with Izaya's tongue moving seductively inside his mouth, sliding over the back of his teeth, causing such an erotic feeling that shot straight down his groin. He couldn't move, he was frozen with his hands inside his pockets, while Izaya devoured his mouth with such teasing skill that was starting to make his legs feel like jelly.

God. Izaya was a damn great kisser.

And then Izaya started to suck at his tongue, causing him to groan and jerk back, falling on his ass with his face as red as a tomato. I sat where he was, licking his lips in a slow tantalizing manner, half-lidded eyes gazing at the mess he caused of Shizuo before giggling and slumping sideways and back to complete dreamland.

Shizuo sat there panting. Aroused. And flustered.

It was all he could do not to get his dick to get fully hard. How he even managed to do that amazed himself. And that's when he remembered that the doctor was still in the room.

Shinra's face was even redder than his.

"Uh…" Shizuo started.

And Shinra suddenly fainted.