Title: Street Signs

Summary: Izaya is tired. Shizuo is frustrated.

Pairing: Shizaya (if you squint XD)

Warnings: Crap-ton of angst, don't like it please leave.

【Street Signs】

〖Final〗

-.-.-.-.-

Izaya was tired.

Closing his eyes would just be bliss, he told himself. Though with the thought of actually doing the deed scared him a little. How would he fair if he didn't see his humans anymore. Didn't see how those creatures of man so pathetically lived, following an endless routine of always complaining and never really treasuring what's there.

Izaya hated them. He hated humans but at the same time he loved them. He loved how the human mind is easy to manipulate, to make someone come face face with bad ends. He loved how humans worked on the palm of his hands.

Izaya walked endlessly around Shinjuku, too tired, which surprised him a little, the great Orihara was tired for once, to go to Ikebukuro and wreak havoc there. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't been there for more than a week now. Shizuo probably thought he was scheming by now.

He walked aimlessly, watching. Silently looking over his precious humans. Some were arguing about who would win in a gang fight. Across the street there was an elderly woman who dropped a bag of groceries and other humans just passed her by. A little boy with his mother walking and chatting about. A teen-age girl crying over the phone. And as he passed, there was a couple who sat on the bench holding each others' hands.

He bit his lips bitterly.

He walked briskly through the group of people until he found himself outside of his apartment complex.

He didn't know he was left with himself in a shell, but that's how he felt. Hollow. Numb. Nothing.

He loved his job, his life, his humans, but for the first time in his life; Izaya Orihara was actually tired of all the manipulating. Tired of the everyday chases. Tired of being cursed at. Tired of always being alone.

He laughed.

He laughed at such a hollow tone that it pained even himself.

Because that was the reason, Izaya Orihara, the god that he proclaimed himself to be was actually tired of being alone.

Maybe that's why he hated Shizuo. He told himself. Shizuo may not have the luxury of his spacious home, or the money to spend on anything he desired, but Shizuo had it all. He had the support of his friends. His brother, and everyone fucking loved the brute.

And there was him. Izaya Orihara, who everyone fucking hated. Izaya Orihara, who everyone despised because of his manipulative manners. Because he was the one who made everyone hell, and for what reason? Because he wanted entertainment.

It was quite the irony, Izaya decided. Now look at him. The god that he believed himself to be was willowing away in self-pity.

How un-godly of me.

How humanof me.

But in truth there was nothing 'godly' about Izaya Orihara proclaimed himself to be.

He was human, just like the elderly woman outside that he'd seen today. Just like the child holding his mother's hand. Like the teenage girl who cried.

He was a human being that knew of suffering, pain, hardships, happiness, and glee.

The only flaw that Izaya Orihara had was he never knew how to love.

Not like the brute.

That was the thing that separated Izaya Orihara to Shizuo Heiwajima. Shizuo, despite his monstrous actions, his damaging of the whole city, knew how to care, to love, and to his unknown knowledge he knew how to protect what was dear to him.

While Izaya, who had nothing of the sort of the power that Shizuo had, could not understand love. He did not know how to love, despite of his knowledge of things all around him. He was clueless, but intelligent. He was smart but stupid when it came to his own heart.

As cheesy as it might sound, that was what made Izaya Orihara, nothing but an informant with the brains of Einstein, but with the heart as clueless as the children who ran freely.

Once getting inside of his apartment, Izaya sat on his very large sofa and leaned his back against the rest. He put an arm on his head as if trying to block the non-existent light from his eyes.

He laughed that night.

He laughed at his hearts content. A laugh of a man gone mad. He laughed like he would laugh any other day.

Any other day he would have a reason to laugh, be it crushing an executive of high status because of his disgusting acts, or if he successfully ruined a teenager's life. But today, Izaya Orihara, had nothing to laugh at but himself.

Because he, a god, has become human.

A pathetic one at that.

A human who for once in his young and short life, wanted to experience the love that his peers had.

Like Shinra and Celty.

Like Erika and by some weird fate with Walker.

Like how Shizuo experienced love from his friends.

Izaya would want to experience that too.

And now suddenly sitting in this cold apartment all alone, Izaya became aware of how tired he was. How his mind worked to manipulate others. Of the things Shinra, the only friend he considered, told him. Of the words Namie spoke of.

He was cunning and manipulative because he wanted people to look at him. He wanted people to love him as he loved them. He wanted to be just like them. So obsessing over them and making himself an expert of 'what came next' was just acts of how he wanted himself to be known, cruel as it is, he wanted to be loved as well.

Because despite everything else, he was still man. He was still a child of man.

Izaya stood up and gracefully with silent footsteps, walked towards the direction of where his bathroom was. Inside, he took notice of his appearance for the first time and now that he looked at himself, he looked nothing of the man he used to be. He looked like he belonged to the dead.

And that's where I'll be.

He pulled out the top drawer where the bottle of sleeping pills were. Grasping them, he made an escape through the mirror that gave him his on reflection.

He made his way through the dark and finally he came to his destination. At the office where he had his epiphany. Where he understood it all. He sat on his favourite swivel chair, spinning around for a while, coming to a stop at the large window in front of him. He stood there for a while. The window overlooked a part of a city, where his humans were.

He watched as those humans walk endlessly, but it was likely that they had a destination in mind. Not like he, who walked aimlessly, but still failed to be where he wanted to be.

He sat again, now looking at his computer screen. Izaya had deleted everything beforehand. Finished all the jobs that Shiki had wanted him to do, and asked the man if he could get a vacation leave and that had been granted.

Izaya tipped the bottle, where blue little tablets came out. He started to wonder whether this would be enough to put him into eternal slumber. He lost his count when he reached the twenty-fifth. Maybe that was the indication of how tired he really was.

Losing count at twenty-five when twenty-six was after it.

He stood up, went to the kitchen and got a glass of water.

Will this be enough water?

He felt his heart thump, was he really going to do it. And as he pondered if he really wanted to, he stood again in his favourite spot in his whole apartment. He looked again below where humans walked, and his eyes stopped at the street sign.

The Stop Sign.

It's always been there, but now it was mocking him, telling him to stop being stupid and just ask for goddamned help.

He smiled wickedly, because he knew himself in the inside. He was much to prideful to ask anyone for help. He was fucking Izaya Orihara for Pete's sake. He never asks anyone to help him because he knew the answer to this little problem of his.

The answer was simple. The answer was death.

And that night Izaya Orihara decided to ignore the stop sign as he did everyday.

He took the little innocent tablets in his hands and placed them on his mouth, bringing the glass on his lips and tipping the water to wash those tablets down his throat. He felt the pills slide down his throat and settle in his stomach.

He's done it. He's gained control once more.

He counted seconds and humming a little tune before his stomach ached as he collapsed on the carpeted floor. His lungs were suffocating him, with pants of desperation, it truly settled to him now. He was dying. And no one was here with him.

Speaking of which, he forgot to tell Namie to never come back ever again this afternoon. Imagine the shock on her face once she sees the man she called her boss and hated take on his own life.

No, Izaya thought, She'd probably be partying when she sees.

He chuckled.

He looked out his window again to that stop sign down the street. It yelled STOP! Call someone Izaya!

But it was too late. Izaya was never one to listen anyways.

Despite the pain, Izaya felt the numbness settle in. His breaths laboured, but he was happy. This was what he wanted.

For a seemingly long time, Izaya Orihara the great informant of Shinjuku, the mortal enemy of Shizuo Heiwajima, smiled a genuine smile.

Sorry Shizu-chan, but seems like I can't play with you anymore.

And at 2:38 in a seemingly normal Monday morning, Izaya Orihara, the informant. The flea, died with a smile on his face.

Checkmate.

Shizuo was frustrated.

He bit the butt of his cigarette in frustration. Beside him his partner, Tom, looked at him.

"Shizuo," He called out, "Are you feeling alright?"

The fortissimo of Ikebukuro grunted, "Nothing."

The debt collector sighed and turned to his bodyguard, "I think it's best if you go and take the day off."

"But what about-" Shizuo started to protest but was cut off by Tom.

"Don't worry about it, the next client is nice, he pays on time. It's no problem just go and relax, alright Shizuo?"

Shizuo nodded awkwardly and walked opposite of Tom after bidding him a quick 'thanks' and 'goodbye'.

It was weird really. Lately, he's been thinking of the flea (gross, he first thought) but at the same time he found himself not minding at all. Strangely he felt calm when he thought about Izaya. Maybe he was getting some control with his strength.

He walked and walked trying to cool his head as Tom suggested. He hasn't seen the flea in two weeks, TWO weeks. He must be planning something and that just Shizuo more agitated than normal.

He wanted to tell the flea this strange feelings, but knowing the parasite that he was he would likely laugh at him and tell him that he was making nonsense up and that would cause another chase around the whole city.

Shizuo sighed and took a look at his surroundings.

"What the-" He exclaimed.

He had totally walked from Ikebukuro to Shinjuku without noticing!

Well, Shizuo sighed, Since I'm here anyways, why not just tell him.

So Shizuo walked to Izaya's apartment. Pressing the button of the elevator where it took him to the floor where Izaya lived.

He knocked at the door twice and there were some footsteps he heard from the other side. When the door opened, he was surprised to see Shinra open the door.

"Shinra?" Shizuo asked his friend completely surprised, "What are you doing in the flea's apartment?"

Shinra looked as surprised at Shizuo did with great calmness he replied, "I could say the same to you, Shizuo-kun."

"Ah," Shizuo scratched his neck, "I'm looking for the flea, I bet he's scheming something again so I came to check."

Shizuo noticed Shinra flinch a little but decided not to comment on it.

"Izaya's not in at the moment, he's doing some shopping. I'm just here to drop off some vitamins for him. You know me, I'm always looking out for you guys!" Shinra said with excitement. If Shizuo didn't know any better, it almost sounded forced and fake.

"Oh," Shizuo said, "I guess I'll leave now. Bye."

Shinra closed the door at him. He turned and walked to the elevators again. Well that was epic failure. The flea wasn't even home.

Probably stalking teenagers again, Shizuo thought.

He walked down the street, passing the stop sign, and continued on with day walking back to Ikebukuro.

I'll just come back tomorrow and tell him, Shizuo said in his mind, Yeah that sounds good. Tomorrow, I'll tell him tomorrow.

A/N: So umm, I hope you like it and I hope the characters weren't too OOC. Reviews are awesome but if you hate this I would appreciate creative criticism. Thank you for reading this. *smiles*

-To readers who might be confused:

-Izaya didn't go to Ikebukuro beforehand for two weeks as stated, he died hours before Shizuo came. Hence why Shinra is there to get Izaya's body out of the apartment. What he does after is entirely up to your imagination.