Archive of Our Own

Shiki hated seeing Izaya in danger.

It pissed him off to no end.

It made deep rumblings of protectiveness stir in him that Shiki Haruya did not normally try to listen to. His relationship with Izaya was one that balanced on the edge of a blade. They danced around one another in everything they did. And never before had Shiki crossed the line of professionalism with Izaya.

It wasn’t really personally or professionally beneficial to be so affected by the state of the wild card informant’s safety.

But seeing Izaya in true pain, seeing him bleeding...made Shiki irrationally angry. It threatened to unleash a very tightly controlled part of him that wanted to just wrap Izaya up in silk and protect him from himself.

Shiki had been totally unaware that Izaya had been attacked. The searches for Akane and Shizuo Heiwaijima were the forefront of Shiki’s attentions that week and it showed. Not to mention the abduction attempts on her as well. This week had just been...ugh.

He hadn’t checked in on Izaya after Akane dropped the bomb about and “Izaya” or “Iza-nii” being the one who told her about Shizuo. He hadn’t tried to get the stories straight. Blind irritation had made him silence Izaya’s phone calls immediately after the stabbing (not that Shiki knew Izaya had almost died).

A series of events which led him to hating himself quite a bit as he came home to a jimmy’d door and a snow white Izaya collapsed in front of his guest bathroom, laying in a crimson puddle of blood, pale blue hospital scrubs stained dark with the liquid.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, he quickly crossed to Izaya without so much as taking off his shoes. Izaya was breathing, a plus. Shiki tried to pick him up and it apparently startled Izaya awake, because a weak kick came towards his face. Shiki deflected it with his shoulder without much care for his pristine white suit and gently touched Izaya’s pale face. “You need to get to Kishiitani.” Matter of fact. To the point. Not betraying his inner turmoil to the only partially conscious informant, who, if he had been at his peak, would’ve torn through Shiki’s shit mask in a moment.

“Shinra doesn’t care...tried already...” Izaya breathed out, allowing Shiki to pick him up this time.

“I don’t pay that creature to care. I pay him to make sure assets like you don’t die on my hall floor,” Shiki groused, bringing Izaya into his own bedroom, forgoing the guest room entirely. Izaya was a bit surprised Shiki wasn’t pissed enough at him to just leave him on the floor to die. Seemed that way before, that everyone was irritated or indifferent enough to completely ignore his life or death experience.

Shiki called Shinra after making sure Izaya was going to stay put in the bed for a moment.

“Shiki-san! How can I assist...”

“Izaya was stabbed and left the hospital too early. Get here now,” Shiki groused into the phone before ending the connection, not wanting to hear Shinra’s shit explanations for ignoring Izaya before, or even knowing if Shinra had indeed ignored him. Izaya being the manipulative little shit he was.

Izaya watched this short call take place with hazy eyes. Making it to Shiki’s condo in Ikebukoro from the hospital he’d been taken to by paramedics a few districts away hadn’t been easy. He was two days post stabbing and almost dying from exsanguination, not to mention the crazy suicide girl coming back into his life to attempt to kill him again, and it definitely showed. He’d also pulled at least half of his stitches. He really hoped the blood hadn’t soaked through his scrub shirt to his coat. The police had confiscated his knives and his clothes for evidence apparently. They had left his coat and in it was the lockpick kit he’d used to get in and a small switchblade hidden in the inner lining, but Izaya didn’t have much else to go on. He must’ve zoned out because he didn’t realize Shiki was sitting him up until his equilibrium fluttered at the sudden change. He felt queasy. If he had anything in his stomach, it probably would’ve been all over Shiki by now. As it was, he felt the tacky sensation of fabric sticking to him and being removed carefully. It still hurt like a bitch but Izaya refused to make an outward showing of pain.

“I know it hurts, you don’t have to front for me,” Shiki muttered as he stripped the informant from the waist up, trying to get a look at the wound. He was suddenly overcome with rage that he barely contained. Izaya was insanely lucky to be alive. It should’ve been a heart shot. “How the fuck aren’t you dead. How long was the blade?”

“I didn’t think to ask,” Izaya mumbled, leaning his head forward onto Shiki’s shoulder after being given auditory permission to behave like a normal human being in pain. “Shiki-san...ughn.” Shiki broke all semblance of propriety and gently rubbed circles on his lower back.

“Who was it?” Shiki demanded in a cold voice, gently probing the inflamed skin around Izaya’s wound, trying to not touch the actual site but also trying to ascertain if it was infected. Blood dribbled out of the tears in the skin where Izaya had torn his stitches, and out of the still healing stab wound. Whoever had done it had intended it to hurt like a bitch, or to kill quickly. Shiki couldn’t imagine someone surviving a more than two and a half inch stab into that area. Lungs/heart would’ve been involved.

“Yodogiri Jinnai,” Izaya mumbled. Shivers were running down his body from being touched and handled by Shiki. Despite the obvious pain he was in, his hind brain wanted to keen at all the manhandling. Such a horrible kink to have when you were Izaya Orihara. Shiki misinterpreted the shivers for pain and removed his hands. “No...” The nearly inaudible moan was ignored. Shiki instead pressed a clean wash cloth to the wound to help stem the blood.

“Why come here?” Shiki asked, genuinely curious. Orihara Izaya had never exposed himself as vulnerable to the Awakusu-kai before. Largely attempting to seem almost mythical in his abilities. Shiki had caught him off guard once or twice, and constantly kept him on his toes, but Izaya had never, ever revealed true vulnerability to Shiki.

“Safe here,” Izaya muttered, eyes fluttering. He was barely coherent from pain.

Shinra’s loud arrival interrupted the line of questioning that in his right mind Izaya probably wouldn’t have been answering.

“Well shit Izaya, I didn’t realize you were really hurt,” Shinra said immediately upon seeing the pale white informant, oozing blood onto the bedding. “Thought it was another scheme, to be honest.”

Izaya didn’t respond, he looked Shinra dead in the eyes and then fainted, prompting Shiki and Shinra both to move rather expediently from there on in. Shiki backed out of the way a bit, after catching Izaya and laying him on his side carefully.

Shinra set to disinfecting and inspecting the wound, using a small ultrasound machine to check the depth and for pockets of blood. It was then Shiki saw the Dullahan peeking childishly around his door frame. Celty made a body movement that could only be described as ‘EEP’ and then ducked away. Shiki ignored her for now.

“How did it not puncture a lung or his heart?” Shiki asked, knowing a fair amount about being stabbed between the floating ribs.

“His heart isn’t in the same place a normal human’s is, a very minor birth defect actually, he doesn’t have any of the normal accompanying symptoms, it’s fascinating. It’s saved his life many a time actually,” Shinra said without his usual chipper tone. “As for the lung, it probably bounced off a rib, that’s what it appears to have done. He doesn’t have air escaping and there’s no sign of surgical intervention by the hospital team, so he was just extremely lucky. The stabber probably knew his anatomy, or hoped he would actually die. In a normal person, they’d have exsanguinated long before the paramedics came."

“You use that ultrasound often?”

“When there’s a stabbing and people refuse to come to my underground hospital of loooove then yes,” Shinra prattled. “Damn, maybe I should’ve checked on him. Looks like he’s gonna be fine though, as long as he stops ripping his stitches. He doesn’t have any pockets of internal bleeding from what I can see. All of this blood now is just from him reopening the wound. Whoever the assailant was, they were hoping to puncture a lung and hit a rib for sure. It’s not broken thankfully, or he’d be an incorrigible shit until it healed. Ribs hurt like a bitch.”

“Hn.” Shiki was well aware of the pain of broken ribs.

Celty interjected into the conversation with her tapping on her phone.

“Will Izaya be ok Shinra???”

“He should be fine Celty. He’s just aggravated his stitches and tore a better part of them. The exertion it took to get here in his state is what caused him to faint. He definitely lost some blood from it as well. I’m gonna stitch him back up and give him a duladid shot then we’ll be done,” Shinra explained happily to her, going through the motions of stitching the inflamed side of Izaya’s body. Shinra hadn’t numbed the area since Izaya had fainted, but Izaya chose that moment to protest the action.

“Fuck’s sake Shinra...” Izaya muttered, trying very hard not to tense up. He didn’t usually allow pain medication to get onboard his system, but a little lidocaine would’ve been nice.

“Whoops. Sorry Izaya, I’ll numb you up now,” Shinra laughed, attempting to keep the situation light while Shiki’s aura became more and more murderous in the background.

“And don’t even think of drugging me up, you freaky doctor,” Izaya mumbled, twisting his hands in the now heavily stained sheets of Shiki’s bed.

“Awww, but Izaya, you’re so fun when you’re tripping balls,” Shinra teased, gently and deftly applying numbing agent. He might be a bit of an ass and a bit of a sadist, but Izaya was his friend and he had no intentions of making Izaya have a grudge on him. Also, he kind of wanted to escape Shiki’s apartment alive, and the man didn’t seem to take kindly to his forgetting things like pain medication.

“Keh.” Izaya snorted and suppressed a sharp gasp as he was numbed. Izaya stopped himself from reaching out for Shiki’s hand. Shiki noticed the aborted effort regardless. But to Izaya, it was important, he wasn’t so far out of it that he’d expose that side of himself to Celty; consequently, Shinra had only seen it once before. Thusly, Izaya could probably write it off as a fluke. “Hurry up so I can get back to work.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Shinra chided loudly. “You shouldn’t be out of bed at all! You never should’ve left the hospital in the first place!”

“Well you wouldn’t come visit me, and someone tried to finish the job already, such an amusing human she was! Revenge on me of some sort she spouted...not like I’m staying in such a low security place and dulling my intelligence watching dust accumulate,” Izaya drawled, becoming more lucid as the local anesthetichelped take the edge off the pain. He still winced with every stitch. There were 11 needed in all, he had ripped 5 of them that had to be replaced.

“Wait, he tried to attack you again?” Shiki clarified, confused by the tangent about a amusing female human.

“No, a different person did, someone else I pissed off, my wonderful humans love to hate me,” Izaya explained, moving the arm on his uninjured side in vivid gesticulations.

Shinra prattled out something about Izaya being so infamously popular because of his shining attitude, both Shiki and Izaya ignored him.

“Well, it’s done. Do NOT go breaking out of anywhere again. You need at least ten, that’s 1-0, days of rest before you can even think of walking up and down stairs, got it? Oh who am I kidding, you’ll ignore me anyway. Shiki-san, if you wind up taking care of him. He cannot go outside or do anything strenuous for ten days. This is topical pain relieving cream, because stubborn ass over hear won’t take a pain shot, and antibiotic ointment to help prevent infection, since he refuses to stay in a sterile environment. I’m gonna give him a penicillin shot now just to be safe,” Shinra explained and he finished the injection in Izaya’s upper arm, he touched Izaya gingerly on the other arm. Initiating contact with Izaya when not treating him was something even Shinra didn’t do often, mostly because of how badly Izaya normally reacted. Izaya contained a physical flinch, but his eyes twitched nonetheless. “Izaya...for what it’s worth, I am sorry I doubted you. This was a very serious wound and I should’ve taken you more seriously.”

“I’ll just add it to the list of things you owe me for Shinraaaaa,” Izaya drawled to change the topic.

“What else does he owe you for?” Celty interjected. Izaya just shook his head. “If you need anything, let me know. I can bring it and you wherever...its partially my fault Shinra was so busy. I feel responsible for you harming yourself trying to get away from the hospital.”

“While I appreciate the free shot at a beautiful Dullahan owing me a favor, I’ll pass. Just get Namie to set up a safe house for me. I’ll get there myself,” Izaya explained. Shiki stiffened now.

“No. You’re staying here,” Shiki said thickly. “I’m not letting my informant die because he can’t take care of himself, you’re under the Awakusu’s protection, and an attack on our resources is an attack on us. And the Awakusa-kai have questions for you concerning Akane-sama.” Shiki’s reasoning fooled Shinra and Celty both, but Izaya’s eyes narrowed a bit, sensing ulterior motives. Izaya was too tired to argue with what would’ve been a losing battle with Shiki. He was never one to openly defy the Yakuza who employed him, as he liked being employed. Shiki took that opportunity to rise and bring clean sheets out of the closet. Shinra nodded in understanding.

“Then Celty I will take you up on that offer. I need laptops 3, 4, and 7. And clothes. And a new cellphone. Namie can provide you with access to all of those things,” Izaya said in a saccharine tone. He winced again as he tried to sit up out of his puddle of blood. Celty was typing away a list of the required things.

“We need to get you into a clean bed. Celty? And by the way, I’ll be back over tomorrow to give you a check up, maybe a transfusion if you’re color isn’t better,” Shinra added as he and Celty stood up. Shinra and Shiki quickly and quietly changed the linens on the bed while, Much to Izaya’s dismay, Celty used her powers to hold Izaya aloft above the bed.

“Dullahaaaan! Put me down!” Izaya snapped, not at all enjoying his newfound black bubble cage.

“You should thank me, this is a lot easier than those two lifting you up and down.” Came Celty’s bristled response.

“Izaya,” Shiki said simply. Izaya rolled his eyes but quieted and stopped fighting. He was too damn tired to try to get out of the bubble anyway.

“Rubber sheets?” Shinra asked with an amused smile, innuendo all over his face. Shiki cleaned the residue off the latex.

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion, Kishiitani,” Shiki replied, placing the cover and the new sheets over the latex sheets protecting his mattress. What Shiki did on his bed was his business.

“True,” Shinra laughed. Celty let Izaya down gently, but even that small jolt made him wince and suck in air. Shinra frowned, “You should really let me give you some pain medication. That wound may not have killed you, but it almost did. And you’re gonna be in pain for a while.”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Izaya sneered.

“Whatever, your funeral,” Shinra shrugged, knowing a lost battle when he saw one. “Celty and I will be leaving now. Do you want me to let anyone else know where you are? Or just Namie-san?”

“Namie doesn’t need to know my location. I just need what Celty-san was told to bring,” Izaya muttered, laying his head back and closing his eyes. Now that the situation was resolving, he was fading from consciousness again.

“Maybe I should come back tonight with that transfusion...” Shinra said, slightly worried. “Shiki-san, what type are you?”

“There’s no need for that. They transfused me in the hospital,” Izaya crowedwithout sitting up nor opening his eyes, wanting very much to be left alone now that his humans had decided to be mothering instead of interesting.

“I’ll decide what you need,” Shinra groused, unsure that he should leave Izaya with Shiki alone. Or that he should leave him without at least an IV to replenish his fluid volume. Making a decision he went into his pack and started readying an IV. Izaya’s eyes flashed open and he made to stand up and fight the decision but Shiki grabbed his arms roughly and pinned them above his head, getting in his face. Izaya grimaced at the motion pulling his torso but didn’t say anything.

“Sit still, and get patched up,” Shiki said in a quiet tone that brokered no refusal. Izaya’s heart was in his throat and annoyingly enough his penis was trying to react to the situation, despite his exhaustion. Izaya merely rolled his eyes and the fight left his body, glowering at the needle Shinra inserted in his right hand deftly. “And I’m not his type. You’ll have to bring some blood if he needs it.”

Shinra set up the fluid IV and hooked up an acetaminophen drip at the very least.

“Look, it’s just acetaminophen. It’ll at least help you marginally not be so damn cranky from the pain.”

“Fine.”

Izaya was sooooo gonna kill Shinra later, when Celty and Shiki were both out of sight. Shinra seemed to sense the killer intent and laughed nervously before backing away.

“Do you know how to change a fluid bag?” Shinra asked Shiki, sensing Izaya was fully done cooperating.

His exhaustion was bringing out a side of him he rarely showed to anyone, let alone someone he was supposed to keep at a professional arms length to ensure he did his work and did it well.

“I know how to take one out.”

“Good, that should be good enough. I’ll be over tomorrow evening to see if he needs fluids or a transfusion.”

“I’ll get everything you wanted,” Celty told Izaya while they were chatting about him.

“Thanks.” Izaya’s eyes were sliding closed.

“I’ll leave these for you, just in case he needs them,” Shinra said, handing a bottle of vicodin to Shiki. Shiki nodded. He led the pair out of the room a Izaya laid there, eyes closed. Shiki knew he wasn’t really asleep, but at least he was resting. Not as close to fainting nor death as before.

Shiki stayed in the foyer of his flat for a while, making the necessary calls to ensure bodyguards would be posted around his home. And the locations of the other execs and their known weak points. Then letting Aozaki know about the need to find a way to contain the Yodojiri issue, how it had escalated even further. Two attacks on Awakusu interests/family were just insult to injury. He left explicit instructions for Aozaki to work with Akabayashi on it, but he suspected he’d have to go in in a few days to figure out what the fuck was happening himself. Thankfully his key informant was in house at the moment, so he’d likely have up to date info regardless. Everyone and everyone’s movements were suspect at the moment. Especially after some unknown force had gotten to Akane, and planted the thought in her head about it being Izaya. Or was it actually Izaya but another mind game? Shiki doubted he’d ever get that answer straight. How did Yodogiri get to Izaya? Was it a turf war between brokers or a hit on the Awakusu’s resources? More likely a hit on the Awakusu, what with the attempt made on Akane...but one couldn’t be certain when it came to Izaya and his ability to piss people off.Those two devils were very competent but also very useless when put together.

Shiki called for all his work to be brought home, and explained he wanted to watch Izaya for slip ups and information to help to stopping Yodojiri faster, also he wanted to interrogate him on the Akane matter just in case, though he explained it looked like a Yodogiri set up so no one would help the informant when he was attacked (Shiki grouchily agreed with Aozaki that it had basically worked). He also didn’t want to have to drag a dead body out of his apartment. Aozaki being the one he was talking to, bought both lines and agreed to set up everything Shiki needed and asked for. It wasn’t entirely false, but Shiki definitely had personal motivations for keeping the informant safe. Even if he, Shiki, was not entirely sure of them yet.

After that phone call he went in to check on Izaya, he sat on the bed next to the informant and touched his pale face gently. Izaya’s eyes blinked open but he gave an almost nuzzle to Shiki’s hand.

“Gonna man handle me some more, Shiki-san,” Izaya quipped lightly, winking.

“At least you’re feeling up to being an incessant flirt,” Shiki said, remembering the near constant undertone of double entendres Izaya kept wrapped around him. It was hard to know if the man was being serious or just trying to distract him.

Izaya tried to sit up and start asking questions but Shiki’s phone rang, the three bodyguards for the building having arrived with orders that the entire Awakusu-kai could be under the radar of Yodogiri. Shiki did need Izaya’s information, and he did need a LOT of answers, especially about the whole Akane-sama mess, but there wasn’t much Shiki thought he could get out of a half delirious Izaya anyway. Shiki gently pressed Izaya back down into the mattress as he stood up to take the call and began giving instructions.

Izaya’s blood colored eyes following him out of the room before slipping shut again, deep in contemplation on how best to work himself out of the situation he’d landed in and how all the pieces were moving. He brought up the image of a Go board in his mind’s eye and started maneuvering to best decide what truths to use and what lies to weave if necessary. But honestly, he felt he could skirt by with a few omissions and the rest be truths. He needed to accept there would be some advantages lost on his side. And, work out how best to get Shiki and the Awakusu onto Yodojiri and snuff out that pain once and for all.

- x -

After finally getting everything set up the way he wanted, Shiki called for the Awakusu’s cleaners to come and get rid of the blood soaked sheets and clean the blood from his foyer.

Within a few hours everything had been set up. And Celty had come back with what Izaya had requested, along with a very angry message from Namie. It was ringing on midnight when Shiki finally stopped to rest and have several smokes.

“You look like a worried husband,” the old baba who had magical crime scene cleaning abilities told Shiki. Shiki shrugged.

“Maybe I am,” Shiki said passively. She snickered and finished up her work, ignoring Shiki’s chain smoking in his balcony’s doorway.

Not long after the woman had left did Shiki hear a disturbance in the bedroom. Stamping out his third cig, Shiki decidedly did not run into the bedroom, he did however hasten.

Izaya was half sprawled on the floor, tangled in the sheet. Hair everywhere and a grouchy expression on his face.

“What the hell,” Shiki sighed at him, going to his aid. Izaya tried to smack his hand away but the motion caused him way too much pain. IV fluid was in a small pool next to the 3/4 empty bag and stand, strewn on the floor with him, ripped out of his hand as well. “Why didn’t you just call for help?”

“I don’t need help pissing,” Izaya complained with a hiss, exhausted, having not slept yet. Definitely more vulgar than he’d normally be. Shiki had checked on him a few times in all the chaos of setting up his flat as a safe house for the informant, gently reminding him to sleep each time.

“You need whatever I say you need, brat, especially if I say you need my help,” Shiki was grumpy and tired, it was bringing out a side of him that Izaya and he hadn’t agreed he could show yet. But, he was especially tired of Izaya fighting help at every turn. He yanked Izaya up off the floor and held him tightly when the raven tried aborted movements to free himself. Shiki slid a hand under Izaya’s thighs quickly and pulled him up into the air.

Izaya squawked rather uncharacteristically at the sudden change, his side screaming. A heavy blush settled on his cheeks, he excused it to himself as a flush from pain.

“You have to pee right?”

Izaya cut his eyes but nodded. Shiki carried the now extremely embarrassed informant to the master bathroom.

“I can handle urination alone, Shiki-san, despite how invalided you and Shinra think I am,” Izaya said firmly and quietly. Shiki relented, not wanting to hold it for him, after all. Izaya finished quickly and stumbled at the sink trying to wash his hands, prompting Shiki to hold him again as he carried him to the bed. Izaya grumbling the whole way.

“Celty brought your stuff.”

Izaya’s eyes brightened at that and he tried to escape the bed again. Shiki groaned.

“Oh no you don’t. Kishiitani told you you need to sleep and rest, Yodojiri is being dealt with. You need to obey and stay the hell in bed before you almost kill yourself again.”

“I do not need Shiki-san to be my dom, as I was getting along just fine without one,” Izaya teased, trying to bait the other into leaving him alone. And ignore the butterflies in his stomach from being manhandled by the yakuza. “I already have a mother, and she’s already uninterested enough for the both of you. Besides, you don’t even realize what Yodojiri is.”

“I will pay you for your information after you’ve recovered,” Shiki groused, pushing Izaya down by the shoulders, leaning over him in a fairly suggestive manner. “As for needing a dom to take care of you, if I have to, I’ll tie you to the damn bed.”

Izaya’s pupils blew wide open and his breath hitched at the suggestion.

“Oh, well if that’s what you had in mind, do you really think I’m that quick to put out,” Izaya whispered out slyly, he tried to strain against Shiki’s hold but as soon as he tensed his abs he actually screamed in pain, “AUGH!” A sound that felt like it must’ve shook the window panes.

Shiki’s face turned to stone.

“I’m getting you drugs, you’re going to take them, and you’re going to SLEEP,” Shiki ordered, but Izaya wanted to argue more. He hated being drugged near anyone. He avoided drugs of any form stronger than coffee or tea if at all possible. Shiki’s commanding tone made him both riled and sent zings of want through him.

‘Not the damn time, hormones,’ Izaya informed himself.

“I’ll make you a deal...”

“No Izaya, none of your deals. I won’t watch you implode on yourself. You won’t take care of yourself, you’ve proven that, someone’s got to. You’re not gonna sweet talk yourself out of this,” Shiki instructed sternly. Izaya searched his face, and finding it unreadable Izaya became tenser than before and started struggling again. “Izaya, you’re sending so many mixed signals. Do you want me to dominate you to put you into your space to get some damn rest? Or do you want to take the vicodin Shrina left?”

“I don’t consent to being drugged by you,” Izaya spat, fighting to get up again, despite the pain. They both knew his word choice was extremely deliberate. Regardless, Shiki pushed him down gently by the shoulders with both hands.

“Fine. I won’t drug you. I wasn’t going to give you anything to fuck you up kid, God,” Shiki hissed back at him. “But you will lay down, and if you need me to, I will PUT you DOWN if I have to to get you to sleep, brat.”

Izaya shuddered at the tone and gave up, his side screaming in pain.

“Shiki-san...”

“Haruya.”

“What?”

“If we’re doing this, then you refer to me as Haruya.”

“Haruya-san...”

“Ha-Ru-Ya.”

Izaya rolled his eyes, it seemed all effort to keep some level of professional space in-between his emotions and this was going to be thwarted. He wasn’t sure if he was mentally capable of going down for Shiki and not getting attached, as he was so attracted to the man. But the annoying pain and buzzing under his skin made his mind whisper to him that a good rest in sub space would help clear his mind so much. It always did, but Izaya very very rarely found someone he trusted to put him there.

“Haruya...it hurts...” Izaya muttered dejectedly. He felt a little blood ooze out of one of the stitches. He knew he wanted what Shiki was offering...he needed it after the last few days. His skepticism and un-trusting nature were mollified by the thought that Shiki easily could’ve killed him by now if he wanted to.

Shiki reached down to Izaya’s dressing with one hand, the other pressed into Izaya’s shoulder to keep him still. He gently removed the dressing, seeing a bit of blood from Izaya’s struggles, and started to reach for the topical pain cream.

“Stay.” One word command but very obviously full of authority. Izaya shivered but remained still.

Shiki lavished careful attention on Izaya’s wound, applying first the numbing cream to the area around and just up to the angry, heated, burgundy 2.5 inch gash on Izaya’s pale skin. His finger tips tingled a bit from the numbing medication. After that was done, he applied a generous amount of antibiotic cream to the wound and then re-did the dressing with non-stick gauze.

Izaya’s breathing was fast during this entire event, and Shiki wasn’t entirely certain if it was due to the stress in his mind, body, or the pain.

“Release your tension.” Shiki said. Izaya blinked up at him and released the tension his shoulders and tenderly tried to roll to his uninjured side. Shiki helped him. “Izaya, we need to have far too serious a talk for your state of mind about this, but for tonight, do you consent to being tied up, what’s your word, and your check in word?”

Izaya blinked up at him, mind already a bit hazy just from the prospect, but also from exhaustion. “Yes. Ties and restraints are fine, blindfolds too, and gags. Word is ‘Troll’, slow down is just ‘Yellow’. I can run by the color system as well, and the ball drop if you gag me.”

“We’ll stick with what you know well,” Shiki said calmly. He reached over Izaya to the windowsill behind the bed and after a series of intricate taps the wall beneath it popped open. Izaya tried to crane his neck back to investigate but the headboard was in the way and the strain it would put on his side doesn’t seem worth it. Shiki grabbed a small length of red silk rope and a red disc blindfold. He considered a gag but Izaya’s breathing is still to erratic for his liking, so he forwent it. “I’m going to tell you everything I do. You’re only going to move when I move you. If you want to stop, use your word. If your stitches pull, use your word. If you lie to me by not stopping when you need to, you will not like what happens.”

Izaya nods heavily, eyes becoming heavy. Just the mere thought of what was about to happen was taking so much off his shoulders. He’d never admit it, but he trusted Shiki. Shiki was straightforward. Shiki needed him enough for Izaya to not feel disposable. Especially with the amount of care Shiki had already shown him. And after the past 72 hours, Izaya’s overworked mind and body needed this.

“I’m just going to take you down if I can, nothing else tonight Izaya.”

Izaya nodded again.

Shiki internally mused that if some rope was all he needed to get the chatterbox to shut up, he should’ve done it years ago.

“I’m going to blindfold you now.” Izaya’s world went dark and he gave a pleased hum.

“I’m taking both your hands in mine, they’re lovely little hands for someone so adept with blades, you must’ve learned quickly, not too many scars. I’m taking them in front of you. I’m folding the rope in half and soon I’ll wrap it around four times. We’re only tying your wrists tonight. You’re going to lay here and be my sweet boy aren’t you?” Shiki’s larger, warmer hands enveloped Izaya’s and took them into his lap. Shiki folded the hands as if in prayer and started to wind the silk rope around the pale wrists. Izaya’s breath hitched a bit and the most minute of twitches happened in his hands, as if there was just a muscle memory of trying to escape.

“Izaya...tell me your color.”

“Green.”

“Such a good boy for me,” Shiki praised, noticing the deep flush that every compliment caused on the younger. ‘Looks like he definitely has a praise kink. Could’ve smelled that a mile away.’ Shiki focused on beginning to tie up his play partner. ‘Did not think this was going to happen tonight… that’s for damn sure’. Izaya twitched automatically when the rope tightened all the way. Shiki made a shushing noise deep in his throat and he finished the knot. He took the ends of the rope and trailed it across Izaya’s armpit, Izaya tensed and stifled a giggle of all things.

“Is my new boy ticklish?”

Izaya didn’t respond. Shiki carded his hand in Izaya’s hair, tightening just a bit to remind him who was the boss. Izaya nodded, careful of Shiki’s grip.

“I’ll have to remember that for when laughing won’t tear you up,” Shiki said mildly. He used the ends of the rope to direct Izaya’s hands above his head, careful not to stretch his torso out. “If it’s still comfortable to your injury, I’m going to tie this to my headboard. Let me know if it hurts sweet, good boy.” Izaya shivered at the name, but nodded. Shiki threaded the tail of the rope into the bottom rung of his headboard and quickly secured it in a quick release knot. “You are doing so well Izaya.” Shiki backed away a bit to remove his shirt. Izaya startled a bit at the distance and the sound of clothing coming off, but didn’t say anything nor did he make a sound. Shiki dropped the shirt on the ground, his muscles flexing against the cool air of the bedroom, his irezumi flexing with them. Tigers roaring on either side of his chest and upper shoulders covered in a waterfall scene with cherry blossoms going down to his elbows where the tats abruptly stopped. His entire back and upper buttocks (Not that the delicious rump was visible) was done as well with a large golden koi swimming up the current of another waterfall, the water filled with cherry blossoms. His Irezumi hadn’t began going down his abs past his pecs yet.

“I’m going to lay behind you ‘Zaya. That’s all,” Shiki explained after Izaya failed to relax back into the ropes again.

Shiki got into position, and, mindful of Izaya’s wound, enveloped the smaller man in his arms, a hand gently encircling the informant’s throat. Izaya’s breathing slowed immensely after that. So much so that Shiki was almost afraid he’d stopped once or twice. His muscles going slack, Izaya’s face was still flushed, and at the front of his scrub pants was half a tent of interest. But he was so calm now, even more so than before when he’d merely been asleep.

“You’re doing so well. Breathe deeply, sweet boy, rest now,” Shiki spoke into the shell of Izaya’s ear in a sweet and cloying voice. Izaya nodded slightly.

Shiki spent close to 30 minutes just lavishing praise on Izaya. Izaya for his part was long gone. He heard the words but it was as if they were coming from under many thick pillows. He nuzzled the hand at his throat a bit and let a tiny smile fall on his lips and he just laid there and let go. All of the tension, and mania, and pain from the last few days ebbed out of his body as he breathed in the smells of Shiki’s breath and linen. The rope bit into his wrists just enough to cause mild discomfort, but not enough to stop. It was like a physical link to the surface of the fluffy place Izaya was floating in. Izaya was so far down he fell asleep.

Shiki noticed the change in his breathing but let him be, sleep was the goal after all. He routinely checked the ropes and the blood flow to Izaya’s hands.Shiki sat in reflection of all the things that were likely to change after tonight. Some were good, like whatever was likely to come out of tying Izaya up. Some were bad, like knowing Yodojiri was no longer just a nuisance that was on the shit list, but an active threat. Shiki thought of how Izaya was going to be staying here during his convalescence and made a note to ask Kishiitani when they could fuck, if that’s what Izaya wanted from this. It had been a while since Shiki had had a sub, or even just a play partner, especially one who responded as perfectly as Izaya. Shiki somewhat doubted his ability to keep it just to play, but he’d denied himself before. If necessary he could do it again. Checking his watch, Shiki decided that Izaya needed to stretch and change positions if not be untied all together. Izaya stirred just a bit when Shiki removed his hand from his throat, two hours after he’d fallen asleep.

“Izaya, its time to take your wrists down, then you will sleep again,” Shiki said.

Izaya didn’t respond at all. Shiki rolled his eyes a bit. He knew Izaya was awake from the abrupt change in his breathing.

“You will respond, now.”

“Yes Haruya,” Izaya mumbled instantly, rubbing his face into the pillow it was on. Shiki stifled a laugh and he set about taking Izaya down from the ropes.

“How do the feel? They’re redder than I expected.”

“Feels nice Haruya,” Izaya mumbled again, allowing his arms to be moved and jiggled about to test the blood flow. The pins and needles of having the ropes removed was expected and brought a lazy smile to Izaya’s face. He obediently flexed his fingers on command and laid his hands down over his face when they were released. He was protecting the blind fold actually. He didn’t want to see anything just yet.

“Izaya, it’s time to come out, let me take the blind fold off,” Shiki instructed after letting the younger have a few moments. Izaya whimpered a bit. Shiki sighed and petted Izaya’s hair. He still moved Izaya’s hands off his face and took the blind fold off. He didn’t order Izaya to open his eyes though. Shiki cuddled Izaya in his arms again, gently petting his now free arms to ensure the blood flow was back to normal, and to soothe the younger man to sleep.

Shiki really hated seeing Izaya in pain. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much, and he didn’t care why at the moment, what with the arm full of submissive informant he had. He’d deal with the repercussions as they came. For now, he had an exhausted, submissive Izaya cuddled up to him, and that was his focus. He’d test Izaya later on whether or not he riled up Akane or if someone was setting

the informant up as well. With how closely everything happened, he wasn’t so sure it wasn’t a set up. But coincidences did happen.

“Shiki-san,” Izaya mumbled after far too long of silence where he should’ve been sleeping.

“You can still call me Haruya...”

“...not in a scene...” Izaya muttered more it himself than to Shiki.

“Izaya, when we’re like this, you don’t have to use my family name. Nor a honorific. If and when that changes, I’ll let you know. Now what is it?”

“I...just wanted to thank you,” Izaya muttered. He still hadn’t opened his eyes but he was still very relaxed considering the amount of pain he was in.

“Of course Izaya. Now go back to sleep for me,” Shiki said, rubbing his arms again.

They both drifted off to sleep after that, ignoring the dawn about to break.

X

At 0800 sharp Shiki’s brain clicked on, regardless of how tired he was, he was stuck on schedule. He noticed Izaya wasn’t in bed and groaned. Hoping to not have to find the stubborn man on the ground again.

“I need a cigarette and coffee before I deal with this,” Shiki mumbled to himself. He stretched and rolled out of bed, to find Izaya and the addictive substances to make finding Izaya easier.

It turns out he needn’t look far for any of it, his smokes were on the counter with his matchbook, a pot of coffee was brewed and still warm, eggs were cooling on the stove, and Izaya was busy typing away at the counter on two laptops in front of him, and a brand new iPhone was in his hand. The box of it off to the side.

“Trust Namie-san to get the most expensive thing on the market out of spite. I just love her mannerisms,” Izaya was mumbling to himself. He noticed Shiki coming from the bedroom and reached to light a cigarette for him, handing it over as Shiki came close enough.

Shiki raised a brow at Izaya’s accommodating behavior, he’d always mildly teased Shiki’s chain smoking habits, and always had a barely concealed sour nose wrinkle for the acrid smell. But here he was lighting it himself for him.

Had Shiki woken up in a parallel universe?

“No. You’re not in the Twilight zone,” Izaya laughed at him in that nearly mocking tone of his. He grimaced at the pain the motion brought. “I don’t sleep in the mornings. I figured you’d be angry about last night, so I decided to endear myself to you. Your habits are fairly easy to guess. And eggs are just about the only breakfast food you had available...you don’t have much in the way of Japanese ingredients, and I’m not the best at American cuisine.” During that explanation, Shiki had crossed to put an ungodly amount of sugar into his coffee, no cream, while having his cigarette hanging out of his lips.

“And why is that?” Shiki asked, as he smoked his cigarette and took sips of coffee in between puffs. The caffeine and nicotine calming any agitation at Izaya slipping from his grasp in the midst of his sleep, and ignoring orders to stay abed. At least he hadn’t left.

“Which why?”

“Why would I be angry?”

“About me breaking into your apartment, bleeding all over it, and then being a brat to the point you had to put me down?” Izaya rattled off. Shiki nodded. Many people would’ve been angry, he assumed. Shiki didn’t see the point in being angry with the man for his typical behavior when he was so used to it.

“Izaya, if I’m angry with you, you’ll be aware. I put you down last night because you needed it, not because I wanted to abuse your state of mind. So tell me, did I do that?” Shiki’s eyes bore into Izaya’s.

Izaya shook his head.

Shiki thought about ordering him to answer verbally, but they weren’t in a scene and overstepping his bounds now wouldn’t go well. Thankfully Izaya decided to be locquacious.

“I was full well aware of what I agreed to.”

Shiki watched Izaya carefully as the younger man gingerly re-positioned himself to relieve the pressure on his side, his grimaces and hisses didn’t go unnoticed as he had hoped. “How did you even manage to stand to cook.” Shiki let him struggle on his own for the time it took him to eat the proffered eggs, noticing Izaya hadn’t eaten anything himself, unless he’d eaten it from the pan without any utensils but the spatula.

“Eggs with spinach isn’t exactly hard,” Izaya quipped, “I sat on the counter to be honest.” He looked like he was about to shrug but aborted the motion before it caused him pain. He looked cross at the limitations to his freedom of movement.

“You didn’t eat?”

“I don’t eat breakfast,” Izaya supplied easily, drinking his own coffee. “Coffee, black, or tea, with honey, is more than enough for me.”

“You might change that decision while healing,” Shiki said, walking over and helping Izaya settle into the soft seat of the bar stool. Izaya allowed the help a lot more freely than he had the night before. “Do you want me to move all this to the bedroom for you?”

Izaya’s eyes widened. “The guest room you mean, surely. I wouldn’t take up Shiki-san’s space again.”

“Did you not want anything to come of last night?” Shiki asked directly, refusing to prance around the subject like Izaya was. Izaya looked like he wanted to squirm but refused to do so.

“I didn’t expect anything at all,” Izaya explained, “Humans are so fickle with their wants and desires. You got what you wanted last night, no reason to expect you’d want to give more...especially when I’m already inconveniencing you.”

Shiki just deadpanned him.

“Orihara Izaya, if I didn’t want to deal with you, I wouldn’t,” Shiki said flatly. “I could’ve pawned you off to Kishiitani or your own devices with that secretary of yours. I definitely could’ve just cut my losses and left you out on the street to die. Especially after all that’s just happened.”

Izaya nodded, accepting the logic but not quite sure what one of his humans was actually doing. He fixed a very perplexed look on Shiki.

“Izaya, you should lay back down soon, you look like you’re about to keel over,” Shiki said. Izaya nodded again, apparently lost in contemplation of something, as if Shiki’s casual honesty had caught him off guard. “We should have that conversation, now.”

Izaya just kept staring at him, trying to discern what Shiki was doing. Last night was fairly obvious, the domination was a means to an end. Would Shiki keep using it that way? How else would he use it?

“Izaya I’m going to pick you up unless you’d rather walk,” Shiki warned him after waiting for Izaya to break his silence for a full five minutes.

“I...I think I might need the help actually,” Izaya admitted, the effort he’d expended doing as much as he had that morning had left him in throbbing amounts of pain.

The move back to the bedroom went quietly, but Shiki refused to bring in Izaya’s laptops and phone until after some questions were answered.

“Did you influence Akane Awakusu to leave home and attack Heiwajima?” Shiki demanded, looking straight into Izaya’s eyes. Izaya rolled his shoulders as he leaned back against the pillows.

“No. I did not tell her anything,” Izaya said simply.

“Did you know that Yodogiri was going to attempt to kidnap her and set all of that shit up so she wouldn’t get kidnapped instead of just telling me,” Shiki asked with exasperation.

“No.” Izaya’s eyes flared with something, but Shiki honestly couldn’t discern if it was a lie, pain, or mirth. Izaya had that unsettling way about him where his actual thoughts and facial expressions rarely matched.

“Do you know a Nakura?”

“Family or given name? I think I went to school with a Nakura...come to think of it,” Izaya supplied mildly. “But any more than that will cost you, just because I’m invalided and indebted to you doesn’t mean you get information for free.”

Shiki snorted and shook his head.

“Then how exactly will you pay me back?”

“I have many things Shiki-san could want. I could always pay you, and we can set up a trade for debt to information, but it’s not a free for all until I leave here,” Izaya pandered.

“I don’t need or want your money Izaya,” Shiki laughed. Izaya gave a small shrug. “I’ll pay your usual fee for all things about Yodogiri.”

“Then ask away,” Izaya said mildly, eyes sharp.

“Yodojiri Jinnai, you said last night he wasn’t what we thought he was,” Shiki asked, carefully watching Izaya for signs he should stop pressing and let him rest.

“Yodogiri isn’t what any of us thought he was,” Izaya supplied. He pouted, “I was in the middle of probing further into the investigation before I was so rudely stripped of my laptops.”

“I am certain Kishiitani told you to rest, not go on the hunt for your assailant,” Shiki said bluntly. “Is he going to target the Awakusu-kai further? Beyond his attempts on Akane.” ‘And you...’ Shiki’s mind added.

“I’m...the verdict is still out, honestly,” Izaya admitted begrudgingly. “I need to do more investigating...but Yodogiri isn’t a single person. It’s like the Dredd Pirate Roberts! It’s fascinating actually-”

“Izaya as interesting as whatever rant you’re about to go on is probably gonna be, I need you to tell me what’s going on,” Shiki stopped him short, Izaya leveled him with a huff and a pout.

“Yodogiri Jinnai is dead. At least the real one is, they’re just puppets using his name,” Izaya supplied. “I haven’t discerned who exactly is pulling the strings yet. I was trying to when you woke up and stopped me.”

“You’re not supposed to be working,” Shiki reminded him.

“Do you want to just wait ten days and let him put out another hit or kidnapping attempt? Or do you want me to do what you pay me for,” Izaya said cheekily, but his tone bordered on icy. He was getting frustrated. He schooled his tone back to a nearly flippant one when he continued, “Shiki-san has decided I’m worth protecting. If Shiki-san decides to take his sweet time going on the offensive, it won’t endanger me.”

Shiki growled.

“I’ll bring you your things. You work from here.”

“Sa-sa.” Izaya looked victorious and Shiki just groaned internally.

“Now...about last night,” Shiki started.

“Shiki-san wanted me to rest. He used what means were available, I don’t expect anything more or it to happen again, unless that’s what you’re implying?” Izaya asked breezily. Trying not to leave himself open to sounding like he wanted more. ‘Though I really do.’ Izaya batted the treasonous thoughts away.

“Izaya, I have no problems continuing what we started last night. But if we do we need ground rules. You’d rebuke it if anything that happened under those circumstances affected our business. And I wouldn’t want to coerce you while you’re vulnerable,” Shiki said. Izaya’s eyes twitched at being called vulnerable. “So the choice is yours. I cannot and will not make it for you.”

Izaya breathed out through his nose.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it to become a regular occurrence. But I’m no one’s 24/7. If you ever tried to use it to control my actions, I’ll leave. End of story,” Izaya supplied simply. “I don’t have many hard limits. They include bodily fluids of any kind short of ejaculate and saliva, but no spitting, permanent markings, scarrings, or brandings, and no role play of any kind.”

“Fair enough. Soft limits?”

“I don’t really enjoy orgasm denial, but I’ll accept it as punishment. I will accept corporal punishment as long as it’s agreed upon before hand each time, it’s not my favorite but is something I may explore again. I’d prefer each session to be discussed at least the way it was last night, and not just assumed to be apart of our lives. I don’t mind any of it leading to sex. And I wouldn’t mind sex with Shiki-san anyways,” Izaya explained with a wink.

“Good to know,” Shiki said, gliding past the obvious come on, Izaya had almost bled out twice in 72 hours, whether his cock wanted it or not, he was in no position to have strenuous activity, honestly what they did last night was probably bordering on it. “And things you prefer?”

“Last night was a fairly good approximation.”

“Izaya I want a list. Not a riddle, no exceptions. Total honesty or nothing.”

“Total honesty is a lot to expect from a professional informant,” Izaya joked but cowed when Shiki started to stand. “I’ll give you total honestly in the bdsm spectrum. And I’ll attempt to give it in any sexual or other relations we have. Business is business and stays exactly how it is.”

“That’s one thing we agree on entirely,” Shiki said. “Now explain what you want.”

“I enjoy bondage, greatly. I enjoy praise. I enjoy having my senses removed. Cool temperature play. Not a giant fan of fire or smoke. I want to go to subspace to relax. Not to repent or anything like that. I just want my brain to turn off for a few hours,” Izaya said easily.

“I understand.”

“What do you want to get out of it?”

“Honestly? I prefer gentle types of domination. I like exerting control on a situation, of course, but I mostly like caring for my submissive,” Shiki explained.

“A mother-hen dom?” Izaya teased. Shiki didn’t rise to the bait.

“Any romantic or sexual relationship we’ll see where it goes?” Shiki asked. Ignoring the dig with practiced ease, Izaya had been dropping suggestive bait for years.

“Sounds agreeable.”

“I have things to take care of and I’m sure you’d prefer to be left alone to sort out your riddle. If you need me, call me. I do not appreciate finding you splayed out on my floor,” Shiki said, getting up and leaving the room to retrieve Izaya’s belongings before the raven haired younger man could argue.

Shiki brought back Izaya’s laptops and phone and left the informant to his work. Hoping that the situation would be easily resolved but not expecting that level of ease in anything revolving around this whole mess. He knew he was letting Izaya push himself right now, his inner dom was growling about it. But Shiki, and the Awakusu-kai as a whole, needed Izaya’s information and he would take care of the informant the best he could while allowing him to do what he did best.

- x -

“Izaya you have to eat,” Shiki pressed, trying in vain to get the informant to tell him what he wanted for lunch.

“I’m busy,” Izaya mumbled for the third time. He was hacking into something on one laptop while running a chat room with the other two and messaging Saki on his phone.

Shiki just rolled his eyes and went to make sandwiches. Izaya would either eat them or go hungry he assumed. He refused to interfere with the man’s work, as the Awakusu needed Izaya’s findings as soon as possible to deal with the current situation, but watching Izaya go without food for so long set an itch under Shiki’s skin.

Shiki swore he didn’t hover as he watched Izaya absentmindedly eat half a tuna sandwich.

He returned to his own work, endless paperwork it seemed, and running phone calls to make sure the Devils were handling business while he was away. He’d definitely have to go into work tomorrow. But he could handle ensuring the books were adequately balanced and reading reports from home. But he’d have to go out and flex his control over various entities that had grown restless with all the drama surrounding Akane lately. He’d also been ordered by Mikiya to share duties with Akabyashi in escorting Akane home and to her dojo to avoid further attempts.

‘Noooow Mikiya gets it. You can’t protect your family through wishing the best and sticking your head in the sand,’ Shiki groused internally. “Girl should have a designated bodyguard at all times,” Shiki read his email aloud. Pondering how to best write that sentiment without making it sound condescending, but it was hard when it came to Mikiya. He just didn’t have long term sense or vision to be honest. And he relied heavily on men like Shiki just to keep Dougen happy.

“Should I offer my interpretation as a semi-outsider,” Izaya asked with a slight hint of weariness to his voice. Shiki’s brow twitched at seeing Izaya up without help.

“Should I ask why you’re up?”

“I wanted water or tea or something,” Izaya explained, he walked slowly, but albeit steadily, over to Shiki’s large oak desk. “’Dear boss-man, or whatever you call him, going off of information from credible sources, and past events, it is the joint advice of Aozaki, Akabyashi, and myself that your daughter Akane-sama have a trained bodyguard at all times, even at home, to prevent repeats of any and all attacks on her person. Furthermore, it would be better if this bodyguard was female and closer to her age, as to draw less suspicion,” Izaya offered.

Shiki nodded, typing as Izaya spoke. He was too annoyed with Mikiya’s lack of aforementioned protection to want to try and devise a polite proposal himself.

“And what’s that gonna cost me,” Shiki asked glibly.

“Water” Izaya asked, falling gently into the armchair in front of Shiki’s desk. “Or 500 yen. That wasn’t even a trifle. And I didn’t provide information.” Izaya laughed a bit. “Should I become Shiki-san’s secretary now? To write annoying memos for you?”

“Would be a waste of your talents and shooting myself in the foot allowing you access to my work emails,” Shiki said, standing to retrieve a glass of water, he rummaged in his pocket for 500 yen and tossed it to Izaya as he passed.

“You’re assuming, Shiki-san, that I can’t access them whenever I like,” Izaya laughed and accepted the money jokingly but left it sitting on Shiki’s desk but took the water when Shiki returned.

“I’m assuming that since you’re emerging you’re done?” Shiki asked.

“Oh, I haven’t discovered full motives for attacking me nor the Awakusu yet. I only have strong theories, but I did discover who’s pulling the strings,” Izaya said handing over a flash drive. “I didn’t have my printer nor files. So you’ll have to deal with the e-form of it.”

“You only took 6 hours,” Shiki said, “That’s fast even for you.”

“Well I got a new idea after being stabbed and having days to sit and mope about it. As soon as I was allowed to, I put together everything rather quickly...and it was actually 9 hours. You’re assuming I started when you woke. I was up quite a bit earlier than you. Considering once the blindfold was off I woke up about 45-ish minutes later, if my internal clock was ticking right,” Izaya explained breezily. “But because I can’t fully explain motive yet, I’ll discount it 10 percent. And another 5 percent for your hospitality. Agreeable?”

“Agreeable. So who’s the mastermind?” Shiki asked, pulling out a spare laptop he kept just in case Izaya gave him flash drives, he had learned early that Izaya’s flash drives always came with a surprise. Izaya shook his head and snorted.

“Kasane Kujiragi,” Izaya said with a smirk. “She’s after saikas at present. The demon blades...I don’t know why exactly yet. She also has a lot of unusualclients. I honestly am not entirely sure on her reasons for orchestrating hits against the Awakusu...unless it’s simply diversionary. But there are a lot easier ways to do that than to hire hitmen and assassins to attack the head’s grabddaughter. I think she works as a hired gun. I think someone is pulling herstrings. She seems to acquire things for people frequently. I don’t think arranging a hit is that far off her scope.”

“And who is pulling her strings?”

“That is another assignment entirely I believe.”

Shiki rolled his eyes at Izaya’s tactics.

“Fine.”

“I actually will need more time to fully discern that, and/or why she’s acting out against the Awakusu.”

“Understood. Time frame?”

Izaya blanched a bit.

“Without being able to get out on the ground myself, it’s gonna be a bit longer than I’d prefer.”

“How long do you expect then?”

“A fortnight.”

“And that’s assuming I’m gonna let you go gallivanting around soon, so three weeks instead,” Shiki deadpanned. Izaya laughed lightly.

“Three weeks then. Maybe sooner if I can get a well placed favor called in.”

“Understood. This is top priority. The Awakusu will reimburse whatever financial losses burning up favors would result in,” Shiki stated blandly. Knowing that was gonna hurt Mikiya’s wallet. But if it avoided a gang war, the man could deal.

Izaya, on his part, was practically beaming.

“And what about this business with Heiwajima,” Shiki asked. Izaya’s smile slipped.

“Who knows who involved him or why. He’s an infamous monster,” Izaya started.

“He saved Akane-sama from kidnapping and didn’t hurt her at all, and he fled from us instead of fighting when cornered for the murders,” Shiki interjected, not liking Izaya’s obsession with Heiwajima.

“Kujiragi hired hitmen to attack, that much is obvious, if I just so happened to throw Shizu-chan under the bus...”

“Izaya, stop fucking with him. For your own safety. You’re too valued an asset to die because you wouldn’t stop poking the bear,” Shiki said harshly. “For all your intelligence and would be distance you try to keep from humanity, there’s an obsession there that I don’t understand. And I don’t like how it clouds your judgment.”

Izaya flushed red and spluttered on his water, “I’m sorry, did you just insinuate I had poor judgment because of that beast?”

“No, I said you had poor judgment stemming from an unhealthy obsession, and I want to know why,” Shiki shot back, standing up and looming over Izaya. “You’re too damn intelligent for your own good in every aspect except this one. What is it about him that makes you lose your cool? You act like your life is dispensable sometimes, but normally you have a fairly high level of self preservation. Most of the times you act like it doesn’t matter is pertaining to Heiwajima. And if you’re gonna set Akane on him, I need to know if you did it and fucking why.”

“He’s a beast! And, I didn’t set Akane on him. She was manipulated by her own fears not being addressed by her parents, and by Kujiragi’s agents. I never met with her at all,” Izaya steadfastly denied. “And if I implied Shizuo had something to do with the murders its only because they were obviously made to look like it by the hitmen, but they were all moles in the Awakusu anyway...” Izaya spat out, angry and trying to hide it.

Shiki’s eyebrow raised. They had been suspected, but they’d needed the informant to verify it. At least the hitmen had cleaned house for them.

“You are going to get yourself killed in this dance with Heiwajima. You are a human Izaya. You’re fragile. And he isn’t this evil monster you think he is,” Shiki said sternly. “He may well be a freak of nature, but he is human.”

Izaya glowered at the disapproval of Shiki and the talking to he was receiving.

“I thought we just established that you weren’t my dom unless we were in a scene...you don’t need to condescend to me and lecture me,” Izaya grumbled.

“Izaya, if I was acting like your dom, I’d have your ass red for how damn foolhardy you act,” Shiki growled, staring straight into Izaya’s eyes. “You’re a damn good informant, and I think you’re gonna be an amazing sub when we scene, but otherwise you’re acting like a brat. You’re young, I’ll give you that. But you’re not that young. Stop acting like this is a game. The way he reacts, the way he chases you and tries to hurt you, you could get killed.”

Izaya shivered and cut his eyes. He levered himself into a standing position and stood in front of Shiki.

“Why do you care?”

“Because I do. It’s not a manipulation. It’s not a trick. I care about your safety. Why do you think you’re here and not out on your ass with the underbelly of Tokyo trying to kill you?” Shiki said plainly, his eyes shown with meaning but Izaya was just all the more confused by it.

“What…”

Shiki groaned and gently moved to grab Izaya’s face, not wrapping his torso up like he would rather have done. He pulled a surprised Izaya into a deep kiss.

“Moron. For how smart you are, you’re being rather dense. I don’t want you to die, because I like you,” Shiki said plainly.

Izaya’s world shook.

Like his vision grayed at the edges and everything.

No one ‘liked’ him for who he was. Liked his masks, sure. Liked what he could give them, definitely. But liked Izaya, no. That didn’t happen. Only Shinra tolerated him as he was, and that was definitely in a friends only way and because Shinra was insane. Even Izaya’s little sisters only liked him for what he could provide. Izaya’s own parents didn’t even contact him anymore except on his birthday, basically to ensure he was alive. They treated their children with casual indifference. Not a single person, alive or dead, had ever liked Izaya for who he was. Especially, never, ever, a dom.

“Is that so hard to believe?” Shiki asked gently. He noticed how rocked Izaya’s world seemed to be.

“Yes.”

Shiki laughed at Izaya’s bluntness. “You’re not that bad you know. I deal with much more annoying people on a daily basis. You’re weird, sure. The way you see the world is unique, but that makes you impersonal when necessary and great at your work. Which is why I’ve kept you around for so long since Kine told us about you. Hell I’d have recruited you ages ago if I thought you’d actually come to heel.”

Izaya just stared at him like he’d grown another head.

Shiki just rolled his eyes.

“I need a smoke. Come out and join me if you want. And I don’t expect anything from you, if you don’t want to give it.” With that Shiki left the room for the balcony.

Izaya was just standing there like an idiot for a good four minutes after Shiki left, his brain racing to process.

Izaya’s brain came to a few conclusions as he made the decision to follow Shiki to the balcony. He stood in the doorway taking in the moderate balcony set up. There was a small electric grill under a cover, a black metal bistro table with an ash tray, and two matching bistro folding chairs.

Izaya lingered, staring at Shiki who was smoking languidly and enjoying his view.

“I’m not supposed to go outside,” Izaya teased, getting Shiki to look at him. Shiki of course had heard the door open but was letting Izaya come to him.

“We both know Kishiitani didn’t mean the balcony,” Shiki told him. “C’mere.”

Izaya padded over to him and Shiki opened his arms and leaned back, a casual invitation. Izaya considered the other chair for a moment and chose to sit there instead.

“I’m not saying I’m not interested,” Izaya explained plainly, “I just...I had no idea you we’re really interested in me. Doming and subbing, doing scenes together, doesn’t require a person to like me. And I’m not a very likable person to most humans. As I’ve been told many times.”

“I’m offended I’m being lumped in with the bulk of humanity,” Shiki shot back, face blank but a playful undercurrent in his tone.

“Shiki-san is nothing like the general populace,” Izaya said.

“Izaya, why do you have such a hard time using my name?”

“Haruya,” Izaya said cheekily. He shrugged, turning more serious, “It’s probably just a defense mechanism. You gave me permission to use your first name in a scene. My brain associates your first name with you dominating me.”

Shiki nodded.

“Ha-ru-ya, I would love to have sex with you. Trust me I would. But if you want emotions, it’s gonna be messy for me. I don’t do them well. And I don’t do honest emotions well at all. If you still want to offer what I think you did inside, I’ll accept. But you should know I’m clinically insane,” Izaya said with self-deprecating humor.

“I knew that the first day I met you,” Shiki said. “If you accept my affection then you accept my meddling in your life. And the danger of dating me. You more than anyone knows what being tied that closely to the Awakusu means.”

Izaya nodded, he gave a snort, “I’ve apparently already got a target on my back. Might as well get the perks.”

“Izaya come here,” Shiki asked. Izaya stood gingerly and crossed to Shiki. He allowed himself to be put into a warm lap. “I want you to admit to me two things, and promise to stop. I will try to stay hands off on the rest of your life.”

“And what about you?”

“My pound of flesh will be taken by you I’m sure,” Shiki admitted freely. “And you’re welcome to lay them out on the table now.”

“What are your terms then,” Izaya asked, skeptical but enjoying the warmth while he had it. He laid his head on Shiki’s chest to hear his heart beat. Calculating all the probable things Shiki could ask of him.

“Stop this bullshit with Heiwajima, for one,” Shiki said.

“He started this feud of his, not me.”

“And how was that?”

“How the hell should I know his motives. Shinra introduced us in high school and he started trying to kill me,” Izaya hissed. “I was chased out of my own god forsaken home town by that crazy brute. So he hates my work, fine. So I fuck with his pitiful life for revenge, whatever. But He started this shit. I am not going to take it lying down.”

Shiki glowered at the riled up informant.

“Fine. Then I’ll just have him killed,” Shiki said without emotion, and Izaya balked. “You two always fight like you’re gonna kill one another. And I’m not letting him kill you.”

“You needn’t dirty your hands with a moronic beast like that. He’ll burn himself out.”

“Izaya...stop going after him. And if he attacks you, I’ll deal with it.”

“I don’t need you to protect me from him!” Izaya’s face was red again. Shiki shushed him a bit. Izaya resisted the hands trying to smooth his hair down. Shiki relented and just spoke plainly.

“Izaya, I’m not gonna watch you destroy yourself on a vendetta with him. If he attacks you, I know you can handle it. I want to handle it myself. If I swear not to kill him unless he hurts you, is that better?”

Izaya sneered and tried to pull away and disengage. “You think I can’t handle him. You’re treating me like a child.”

Shiki shook his head and held Izaya close, the informant stayed rigid. “I’m not trying to condescend to you or infantilize you. I’ve just seen men lose more than they bargained for on a vendetta. If we do this. If we get close like this, I won’t lose you to one.”

Izaya sat quietly for a few tense moments. His eyes closed and his mind running a mile a minute.

‘No one has ever given a damn about our fights before...’

‘Shiki actually cares. Legitimately cares if you live or die.’ Some inner voice told Izaya. The same voice that often offered counter arguments to his monologues during investigations.

“Haruya...I don’t want this to be a debt thing. If you killed Shizu-chan for me...I couldn’t repay that easily.”

“It’s not about debt. It’s about me being a territorial son of a bitch,” Shiki explained. Izaya still hadn’t opened his eyes, but Shiki was watching his face and trying to discern if everything was going to end right then and there. He waited patiently, spooking Izaya now would only end in the informant closing off everything, likely.

‘I need to stay in his good graces.’

‘You know that’s not what this fear is about. You know you’ve never had anyone give this much of a damn about you. That terrifies you.’

‘So what. People don’t care about me.’

‘Shiki does.’

‘He...wait...fuck...he does.’

‘He’s not trying to control you.’

“You aren’t trying to control me doing this...” Izaya finally said.

“No, I’m not.”

“You...you just...care.”

“Yes, Izaya. I just want you to be safe. I know you can handle Heiwajima. I just would rather you didn’t engage him and handle him. I’d rather not worry about you driving yourself insane trying to riddle him out or get back at him or destroy his life. And if I have to finish it myself, I’d prefer that over you getting seriously hurt.”

Izaya nodded finally.

“Fine.”

“Hm?” Shiki asked. Honestly a bit amazed that Izaya wasn’t fighting this even more.

Izaya opened his dark eyes and locked them on Shiki’s.

“Fine. I’ll let you handle him if he tries to hurt me. But if he attacks me, I’m cutting him,” Izaya said with finality. “And...I’ll...stop meddling with him.”

“Agreed.”

Izaya lent down and initiated a kiss with Shiki. Shiki pressed up into it, taking control almost as soon as it started.

When they broke apart, Izaya asked, “And the second thing?”

“About Heaven’s Slave, why? And do you know just how badly you’ve lost control of them?”

Izaya’s blood ran cold.

“And just when did you sort that one out,” Izaya asked, not denying it.

“You’re not the only informant in Ikebukoro. And someone jockeying for your position among the Awakusu decided to rat. And yes I dealt with it, because I wasn’t going to hang you out to dry with Akabayashi without knowing why,” Shiki explained, not pushing Izaya away or changing his demeanor. “I personally don’t give a shit about drugs. That’s Akabayashi’s pitfall. You kept it out of Ikebukoro too, but someone else is bringing it in.”

Izaya grumbled. “It should’ve never left Shinjuku. Which isn’t your turf and isn’t a conflict of interest. The why? I was given an opportunity to turn a dime and watch my humans and keep a troublesome asset on the ropes...so I took it.”

“Pan out well?”

“I have a house to clean for sure,” Izaya muttered, taciturn.

“If you want, we can just rub them out and take their turf. We’ve been discussing a move into Shinjuku anyways. Honestly, it would be a nice excuse and keep Akabayashi happy. Mikiya has been grasping at which move to make. If you turn on your empire, it’ll make you a fair amount of money and ingratiate you further,” Shiki explained, “Work is work. So don’t think I’m doing this for you, nor to save you. But I will either let you try to control it yourself, or use it to my advantage if you want.”

“How gallant,” Izaya replied with a saccharine tone, “Offering to clean up my mess for me? After such a deep protective stance earlier. Aren’t we supposed to keep business business? Are the other mobsters going to appreciate you turning a dime off me?”

“You mean being a yakuza and taking advantage of an opportunity to crush a smaller organization and turn it into a benefit for my family?”

“Point.”

“I’m simply offering a path of mutual benefit,” Shiki corrected, “You could fix it all yourself, sure, but what would I get out of you doing that? It’s in the Awakusu’s interests to take this opportunity. And it’s in my best interests to wrap this loose end up so it doesn’t cause me a headache.”

“I’ll take it, I have no desire to be on your nor the Awakusu’s bad side. And the sheer annoyance of trying to wrangle them into listening to simple instructions again...just annoying. So boringly human, they can’t even follow simple instructions to get rich quick without being overly greedy. No good to me if they can’t follow orders,” Izaya said easily, making his mind up with do as he’d always threatened Shijima and Nakura. If you pissed him off enough, Izaya would string you up to hang with the very rope he gave you as a lifeline. No remorse. “Moving on, are we agreeing to fuck? Or something more substantial than that?”

“Well that depends on you. I’m not adverse to any level honestly. I’d prefer to have more of you. And have exclusivity. And even emotions involved. But if you don’t want that, I’ll be happy to be your fuck buddy too,” Shiki said easily.

“I cannot believe you just said fuck buddy,” Izaya laughed so hard his he started hissing from pulling his stitches, “Though it seems I won’t be much in the ‘fuck buddy’ department for a while.”

“Let’s get inside,” Shiki answered, standing up carrying Izaya.

“Is this some kind of kink for you?” Izaya groused, holding on and rebuking mentally being carried like a princess. “I’m not some fair maiden to carry away from a Dragon.”

“Yes, I like carrying you, that a crime?” Shiki quipped, by passing the living room to take Izaya back to bed. He’d noticed how Izaya’s color had paled from the exertion of walking and talking so much.

“Taking me to bed already, why Haruya-san, I didn’t know you moved so quickly,” Izaya teased.

“I doubt Kishiitani meant you were cleared for sex when he said no physical activity,” Shiki grumbled grudgingly. “You need to rest. And I need to work. Especially on what we talked about. Get me a file on all the member’s of Heaven’s Slave and send it to me. Or write it down, I don’t care. But get it done, and I’ll have it taken care of this week. One less bolted horse for me to corral. This Yodogiri/Kujiragi thing is gonna take enough of my time.”

Izaya ‘humphed’ at him in protest but laid down all the same, his calculating brain going double time on how to best present the data to best protect himself and his other interests.

The two of them worked on their respective calamities for a few more hours, just before 4 pm Shinra came back to check on Izaya, he was sans Celty this time.

“Iiiiiizayaaaaa,” Shinra sang as he came into the room, escorted by a slightly perturbed Shiki. “Good! You’re not dead!”

“No, yet again I have survived,” Izaya replied cheekily. “And don’t even think of poking me with anymore needles. I’m not half dead this time around.”

Shinra chuckled nervously, knowing Izaya would likely hold some of the previous night against him.

“Well you had a risk of infection, speaking of which, let me see,” Shinra said making grabby hand gestures at Izaya’s shirt.

Izaya begrudingly took the shirt off with no small amount of difficulty. Shiki stayed to the side, knowing full well Izaya would rebuke attempts at assisting him.

“You’ve been moving around a bunch, that’s for sure. But nothing is torn, thankfully. If you’ll take an anti-inflamatory like ibprophen every six hours that’ll help the swelling. You can probably discontinue the antibiotic cream. The redness has gone way down. The numbing cream is still a good idea just so long as it’s not on the physical incision,” Shinra said, analyzing the wound, that had already become a lot less angry than yesterday. He dug around in his bag and pulled a bottle of ibprophen 800 out, he even managed to get Izaya to take one by quickly shoving it in his mouth. As Izaya glared at him and choked the pill down dry, Shinra said, “Still gonna say you need at least a week off of any strenuous activity. But seeing as you’ve recovered from the additional blood loss well, I’ll take it down from ten days.”

“And just how far does that limitation go, because if you expect me to sit on my ass for a week...” Izaya griped, trying to seem unaffected but doing a rather poor job of hiding his irritation.

“You almost died Izaya...and you nearly put yourself in that state again yesterday. You were stabbed three days ago, four nights ago. You need to actually let your body rest and heal. Sure you could go give a blow job or something or get one. But you need to not go racing around Ikebukoro like the parkour freak you are.”

“Why Shinra, did you just insinuate that a back ally 69 would be good for my health,” Izaya teased, laying back down against the bed and staring up at Shinra with a devious smirk.

Shinra snorted, “I don’t care how you get your jollies or where. But no back alleys for the week. Stay here nice and safe. And I wouldn’t suggest a hardcore porn marathon. You need to avoid too much stretching and activity of your torso while it heals. If you keep agitating the wound it’s just gonna take longer.”

Izaya huffed a bit but nodded.

“Is that all? Cause we have work to discuss,” Izaya said. Shinra nodded.

“I’m honestly really amazed you bounce back so well all the time. Try to sleep,” Shinra offered, “But you’re healing well. I’ll come back and check on you in a few days. But seriously. Don’t go gallivanting off out in the world. You might really hurt yourself if you got into something before it heals all the way. Just walking here made you really really sick.” Shinra lingered next to the bed, an expression on his face that Shiki couldn’t read but Izaya definitely could.

“Sa-sa. I heard you mother,” Izaya teased. “I’ll text you Shinra. I know what you’re going to ask and it’s none of your business.”

“But I wanna knoooow,” Shinra whined, standing up and preparing to leave.

“Too bad we’re not all lecherous like you Shinra,” Izaya purred. He waved as Shiki escorted the man out of the room, watching from the doorway to ensure the man left.

“What did he want to know?” Shiki asked once they were alone.

“If we had fucked yet,” Izaya laughed, tossing his head back in mirth. He calmed and said, “Shinra’s been trying to set me up with people since middle school.”

Shiki just rolled his eyes.

“You should rest. Do you have the file I need?” Shiki asked, sitting down next to Izaya who actually relaxed back on the bed further.

“I emailed it to you before Shinra came. It’s encrypted. I put the encryption key on a flash drive for you. Just in case you have any other moles,” Izaya said with a wink. “I actually do feel like sleeping.”

“Rare for you? Especially at 4pm, take a nap, it’ll do you good,” Shiki said, standing.

Izaya’s hand darted out to grab Shiki’s before he could leave.

Shiki allowed it and just looked him in the eye with a quirked brow.

“I’ll try this emotion thing with you. The whole shebang. But I won’t guarantee it’ll work,” Izaya said honestly. “I’m known to be quite vexing.”

“I’ve known you long enough to know that Izaya. Sleep. We’ll deal with issues as they come, not be anxious about how something could go wrong first. That’s not how to look at relationships,” Shiki said comfortingly, he reached down and kissed Izaya chastely, and then left. Izaya just sighed and laid down. Brain finally allowing him to rest.

- x -

When Izaya awoke it was dark out and he was ravenous. Shiki wasn’t in bed so it probably wasn’t too terribly late.

Izaya tried to sit up and hissed a bit and decided rolling himself from the bed would be better, even though it chafed his dignity.

Izaya padded out to the front room to see Shiki typing away on whatever work he was doing, while smoking a cigarette and letting the ash just fall into a tray conveniently and lazily placed right below his mouth on the desk.

“Impressive,” Izaya said quietly, leaning against the wall.

“I try to be efficient,” Shiki said, not allowing himself to startle at Izaya’s sudden appearance. The informant had been asleep for three hours. Shiki finished up his paragraph and saved his document. Snubbing out his cigarette he went to help Izaya sit on the black leather couch on the other end of the room. “You know I don’t mind coming to get you from the room right?” Izaya glared at him. “Fine, fine. Want dinner?” Shiki asked as Izaya’s stomach roared in protest of being ignored for the most part all day.

“Good idea,” Izaya agreed. He leaned back into the couch. “Shall I order or are you going to cook what little you have in there?”

“You can order whatever you want,” Shiki said, sitting down next to him. “I need to order groceries tomorrow.”

A short while and an argument over Shiki paying on his tab at the local pizza place later, they had a pizza on the way and Izaya pouting at being treated.

“I like treating you, brat, I don’t assume you need it,” Shiki said, rolling his eyes. “I handle paying your fees, after all.”

“You’re just a big, ol’ fashioned gentleman aren’t you,” Izaya teased and a smile. “The gangster act is to throw everyone off.”

Shiki snorted. “Yeah, sure.”

“Admit it, you’re just a giant marshmallow,” Izaya continued jokingly. “The guns and irezumi are just a facade.”

“Well you’ve found me out,” Shiki said with a wry expression. “I’ll have to silence you somehow though.”

“I, like all informants, always have a price,” Izaya said. “But honestly, I’d rather keep this side of you to myself. It gives me pizza. I suppose you can pay the price with kisses.” Izaya threw out a wink. He didn’t actually expect Shiki to take the bait. And was surprised to find himself gently pulled into the older man’s lap and his lips taken in a deep, unyielding kiss. Shiki was careful, not jostling Izaya’s injury, but taking him in his arms and ravishing that smart mouth of his felt more than satisfying. Izaya moaned happily into the kiss. When Shiki finally broke the kiss Izaya languidly licked his lips, “You know Shinra mentioned I could have fun in one certain way.”

“Mm,” Shiki hummed. “Is that what you want right now?” Shiki asked with a laugh.

“Why yes I think it is,” Izaya said coyly. He slid down Shiki carefully. He’d have preferred to appear cocky, but honestly it was taking a lot of energy he didn’t have to move without injuring his side again. Shiki leaned back and looked down at him as if to say ‘Oh yeah? Hit me with your best shot then.’

Izaya slunk into a kneeling position. His side pinched at it but he ignored it in favor of his libido. He caressed the white slacks Shiki was wearing, up his thighs to unbutton them. He nuzzled the man’s thigh then leaned forward and unzipping the fly with his teeth. Gaining him a slight moan at the action, delving inside a white pair of briefs Izaya freed Shiki’s penis. Shiki hummed his approval as Izaya took him into his mouth, his erection filling out to full hardness in Izaya’s mouth. Izaya hummed around his treat. He went straight to work, sucking and slurping diligently, and applying pressure at the base with his hands as he worked up to that length. Showing off exactly what his silver tongue could do. Measuring in his mind made Izaya almost giddy for when he could actually have full blown sex with Shiki.

Izaya groaned as he felt hands slip into his hair controlling his pace a bit. Izaya opened his mouth even wider, slightly painful now, and slurped obscenely to swallow Shiki all the way down to the root.

Shiki hmmed deeply in approval and he gave a buck into Izaya’s welcoming throat. Izaya met his eyes and winked, and nodded just slightly, giving non-verbal permission for Shiki to start thrusting into his throat.

The feeling of that thick cock pushed deeper and deeper into his throat was heavenly, but...

Izaya’s eyes started watering as his side started burning from the rocking motion jarring him. Izaya thought about ignoring it in favor of allowing Shiki to continue but he wanted to conduct a test. He tapped Shiki’s thigh three times in quick succession just as Shiki started really getting into his rhythm and moaning more audibly.

Much to Izaya’s surprise Shiki withdrew immediately. He backed himself up, still supporting Izaya and knelt down next to Izaya.

“What is it?” Shiki asked, his voice strained a bit but very calm and gentle. He ignored his throbbing erection and swiped the line of drool off Izaya’s chin with his thumb, holding Izaya’s face in his palm.

Izaya panted a bit before clearing his throat and muttering, a bit embarrassed, “My side is on fire.”

Shiki cut his eyes, “How long was it hurting you?”

“Um...since I got on my knees,” Izaya said with a guilty expression. Shiki helped him back up onto the couch and started tucking himself away. “No! Don’t. I can still finish!”

“And Why should I let you?” Shiki asked with a dangerous edge to his voice, but the question was open. “Should I let you keep going and hurt yourself? What kind of lover does that?”

“I don’t have to be in that position,” Izaya countered quickly, Shiki agreed with that with a nod and laid down and pulled Izaya down so they were in a 69 with Izaya supported against the back of the couch. Izaya went straight back to work with a quick stick out of his tongue at Shiki in defiance of the older man assuming he couldn’t keep going.

Shiki let out a small moan as Izaya slipped right back into deep throating him. The informant was damn good at it. His silver tongue very good at more than just spinning tales and lies.

Shiki decided to give as good as he got and pulled Izaya out of his sweats. Izaya shuddered bodily at that and kept laving attention on Shiki. Shiki fondled Izaya’s erection and toyed with it as it leaked. Izaya gave a half aborted buck of his hips to try and encourage action but kept up his pace. Shiki took pity on him and started attending to Izaya’s erection as well, quickly bottoming out on him and sucking with ease. Izaya moaned deeply and that sent shudders of pleasure all through Shiki’s body at the sensations that caused. They fell into a sort of feed back loop of pleasure for a while, chasing their pleasure together.

Izaya felt his orgasm building and chased the fiery feeling by sucking harder and moaning deeply, allowing the vibrations to spur Shiki on into doing the same. Izaya came first, to his minor chagrin since he’d started pleasuring Shiki first, and Shiki followed suit soon after as Izaya kept up his work and Shiki stroked him through his orgasm after shocks after swallowing his bitter cum.

Izaya moaned in satisfaction as Shiki groaned and came down his throat.

Their breathing settled just in time for the doorbell to ring, one of the Yakuza minions providing protection having intercepted the pizza guy and brought the food up to them.

Shiki got up to get it and tucked himself away on his way there and returned to Izaya still languidly lounging on the couch, completely unbothered by his disheveled appearance. Shiki just chuckled and nudged him gently and carefully into a sitting position. Izaya tucked himself away and kissed Shiki deeply before stealing the food box. Shiki stole his own portion back and they ate in contended silence for a while.

“That was definitely something we should do frequently,” Izaya said after eating three pieces in quick succession.

“Eat take away and 69 on my couch?” Shiki asked, “That can definitely be a thing.” He stretched and pulled Izaya up with him causing the younger to drop a half finished fourth piece of pizza into the box.

“Hey, I was eating that,” Izaya complained halfheartedly, allowing himself to be drawn in to a kiss and a light embrace.

“Shower with me,” Shiki said.

“Saying I smell, Haruya-san,” Izaya teased but nodded and went along with the slow walk they took down the hall to the master bath.

“Maybe I just wanna see you naked,” Shiki teased back. Izaya licked his lips and very agreeably allowed himself to be stripped once they reached the bath. Shiki clucked his tongue at the bright red angry skin that was revealed.

“Yeah, I know...”

“Stubborn idiot...you deserve a damn spanking for that not a nice orgasm and a steamy shower,” Shiki deadpanned. He turned the shower on nice and steamy and pushed Izaya, who had the good sense to look a bit reticent, into the jets of water.

Izaya stood carefully just out of the main part of the spray so his side didn’t get drenched. He still sighed in appreciation of the double headed shower.

“Have I mentioned I love your shower?”

“Hah, not yet,” Shiki said. He entered the shower behind Izaya. Izaya let his eyes fully appreciate the tattooed body coming in and joining him, he reached out carefully and happily started tracing the lines of the tiger on Shiki’s left pec and shoulder when his touch was accepted.

Izaya fluttered his eyes at Shiki, “So about that spanking?”

“Izaya if I spank you like I was talking about it likely won’t be something you ask for,” Shiki said simply, starting to lather Izaya up, avoiding the incision on his side adeptly. Izaya shuddered heavily at the feeling of the rougher hands on his body. The meaning in the sentence helped the shudders as well.

“Honestly just makes me wanna be a brat,” Izaya admitted quietly, “Bring that side out of Haruya-san.”

Haruya stiffened for a moment, judging if Izaya was being sincere or ornery. He made up his mind rather quickly and encompassed Izaya in his arms, crowding him up against the wall from behind with a low growl in his throat. Izaya’s shudders intensified and his knees buckled for a moment. Shiki took up the slack and kept him standing.

“Izaya you don’t have to be a brat to get what you want. In fact being a brat will get you nothing you want,” Shiki growled lowly in his ear.

Izaya groaned at that and whimpered as his erection was pressed against the wall. Shiki pushed him a bit further into the cool tiles before Izaya gasped in pain at the angle and how it stretched his torso. Shiki gently pulled him back and into his arms facing him. He cupped Izaya’s erection, and that time Izaya’s knees really did buckle.

Shiki just chuckled a bit and supported his weight easily.

“Do you want something? Thought you weren’t into corporal punishment for fun,” Shiki asked teasingly, leaning Izaya against him and reaching for the soap to give himself a quick wash down. Izaya pressed into his side, being a bit unhelpful and distracting as his hands traced the irezumi on Shiki’s pectorals.

“Maybe you can change my mind,” Izaya purred out, nuzzling his head against Shiki’s shoulder.

‘One thing is for damn sure, he may act stand offish but he’s a total cuddle bug once he finally latches on to someone,’ Shiki thought.

“Do you have enough energy for a scene?” Shiki asked, in a voice that brokered peril should Izaya lie.

“A non-physically active one,” Izaya admitted, “I doubt I can stand though, or kneel again.” He tilted his eyes down.

Shiki ‘hn’ed’ and turned the water off. Then followed up the action by wrapping Izaya up in basically a towel the size of a sheet and gently drying eyes inch of him.

“I can...”

“Hush.”

Izaya...to the nation’s surprise...hushed.

Shiki dried himself and then picked Izaya up and carried him into the bedroom. Izaya just laid his head against Shiki’s shoulder, enjoying the warm feeling that was starting to spread throughout his body.

Shiki deposited Izaya on the bed and pulled back to grab the dressings for Izaya’s side.

Once done with the dressing, Shiki stood naked in front of him, coolly confident and with a strong presence.

“What position gives you the most comfort without pulling your side?” Shiki asked.

“Hmm, honestly, nothing is very comfortable Haruya,” Izaya admitted. Shiki raised a brow.

“You’ve been uncomfortable all day? In every position?” Shiki clarified, eyebrow twitching a bit.

“Yes Haruya. It’s just an uncomfortable feeling, it’s always itching. Every way I sit or lay it tugs a bit. Kneeling was very bad. Arching my back like in the shower, also very bad. Laying on my front isn’t too bad. Laying on my good side is about the same.”

“Lay on your front then, if you really want to scene, but there’s no penalty to saying no Izaya,” Shiki instructed.

Izaya just smirked at him and gingerly spread out on the bed with his arms at his sides and his head turned away from Shiki.

Shiki knelt on the bed on the other side of Izaya, catching his eyes. He started trailing a hand up and down Izaya’s spine.

“I’m not doing any bondage tonight, do you want a blindfold though?” Shiki asked.

“Yes Haruya.” Izaya’s eyes eagerly slipped shut and his breath caught as he felt the disc blindfold from the night before slip back over his eyes.

“Breathe evenly for me,” Shiki instructed. Izaya let out a hitched breath and tried visibly to even out his breathing. Shiki gently pet his spine with his fingertips. “You’d look beautiful covered in ink.”

“Hmm. Haruya is thinking of making me a yakuza?” Izaya mumbled, teasing and melting into the bed as his body unwound. He couldn’t quite relax all the way, he knew some kind of strike was coming and it kept him on alert. Shiki seemed to sense this and kept stroking his spine with just enough pressure to tingle.

“Hm, I think Mikiya would be thrilled, you wouldn’t be able to sell information to rival families... but it would probably compromise the work-life balance thing,” Shiki offered up. “Relax your mind as well Izaya.”

Izaya just hummed and tried to slip into that alluring space in his brain that was just right there, but the anticipation kept it at bay.

Suddenly Shiki’s other hand delivered an intense, quick, and painful series of three smacks right across Izaya’s left ass cheek.

“AH!” A high pitched moan erupted from the younger man as Izaya’s whole body tightened like a bowstring and his side burned, along with his arse. Shiki watched the reaction carefully.

“Check in.”

Izaya breathed deeply, trying to talk, “Gr-green.”

“It doesn’t hurt your side?”

Izaya remained silent.

“Speak now.” Shiki didn’t yell. He didn’t have to. Throughout the entire scene he’d kept stroking Izaya’s back, even during Izaya’s tensing after the spank, but his hand paused ominously around the back of Izaya’s neck.

“I don’t...I don’t think I can do this right now,” Izaya mumbled, hiding his face. “Yellow. Yellow. Yellow.”

Shiki moved quickly and deftly. He rolled Izaya to his good side and took the blindfold off, laying the younger man’s head against his own chest and he leaned back on the bed.

“It’s fine. Do you need to stop? You don’t have to drop your safeword, my attention is fully on you. Just tell me,” Shiki asked quietly, his gentle stroking of Izaya’s back started up again as he spooned him from behind. Izaya hadn’t opened his eyes yet. It was something Shiki was starting to think was a mental/physical tic when the man was working his was out of a subspace/partial subspace.

“Yes.” It was barely audible and Izaya’s whole body deflated at it. It sounded angry.

“Shhh.” Shiki calmed. He kept petting Izaya’s back and started carding his fingers through his hair. “I shouldn’t have tried it this early. It’s physically intense and you’re recovering from something serious. I’m sorry Izaya. I was hasty and I regret it. Please forgive me.”

Izaya’s eyes shot open. They looked absolutely livid. ‘Downright gorgeous,’ Shiki thought.

“What?! This isn’t your fault! I know what a spanking does Haruya. I agreed. I consented. I knew my limits and I wanted to push them anyway!” Izaya sounded like a wet cat, hackles raised, or they would’ve been if he’d been able to.

“Fine. But I’m still sorry. I should be more diligent taking care of you when we’re like this.” Shiki was matter of fact, not begging nor grieved at the situation. He sounded honest and plain, as if stating the weather. Izaya couldn’t find an argument when Shiki was being this matter of fact.

“Haruya...” Izaya just deflated again, mind going a million miles a minute.

“Stop thinking so much. This doesn’t change anything. Needing to stop is just part of it, especially right now with how tired you are and sore,” Shiki inserted. “Relax Izaya. I can tan your ass another day.”

Izaya actually snorted and buried his face in Shiki’s neck. “Can you just...hold me...couples do that...”

Shiki wanted to laugh but the vulnerable undertone of Izaya’s voice made him stop and think that that probably wasn’t a joke.

“I am holding you, and I’ll keep holding you till you tell me to stop,” Shiki told him, kissing him hair.

Izaya nodded against his chest and started drawing on the tigers again.

“You really like those, huh?”

“I always wondered what they were, honestly,” Izaya admitted. “It drove me nuts. I couldn’t find anyone who knew and would spill. I honestly spent an entire weekend looking for your artist about four months into us working together.”

Shiki did laugh that time.

“You’ve had a crush on me that long?”

“My goodness, are you dull? Haven’t I been making it obvious ever since we met?” Izaya said incredulously. “You’re fucking hot. Of course I have a crush on you.”

“I honestly thought you we’re just trying to fuck with me, mind games are like breathing to you,” Shiki admitted. He tipped Izaya’s head up to kiss him deeply. Izaya moaned into it.

“Fuck...”

“Not for another week,” Shiki teased.

Shiki laughed LOUDLY at the pout Izaya pulled after that remark. So naturally Izaya pinched his nipple.

Shiki’s eyes flashed, “We just stopped fooling around for the night.”

Izaya batted his eyes innocently and snuggled back down onto Shiki’s chest. Shiki just shook his head and started petting Izaya’s back again.

“Good, just lay still and drift off,” Shiki whispered after a few moments of quiet. Izaya mumbled something incoherent and Shiki left it alone.

They fell asleep moments later.

- x -

Shiki’s internal alarm clock, as well as his physical one, woke him the next morning, and once again Shiki woke to an empty bed.

“How the fuck does he live like that? No sleep...” Shiki grumbled to himself. They hadn’t gone to sleep until around 1 am. But the cloying smell of coffee made him appreciative of Izaya’s strange sleep habits.

Shiki grudgingly got up and dressed quickly but neatly. He followed the smell to the kitchen to see Izaya standing in front of the stove, making eggs again. Shiki wrote a mental note to have groceries delivered. Shiki smiled at the domesticity Izaya was displaying. But Shiki hoped it wasn’t out of a false sense of reciprocity.

Izaya’s head darted up when he came in and he slouched against the counter, pulling the pan off the heat.

“Good morning,” Izaya offered, he handed Shiki a cup of coffee that smelled like it already had sugar in it. Shiki accepted it with a nod and a quiet thanks. Izaya leaned over to grab his cigarettes, taking one out he lit one and took a long drag before handing it over. Shiki quirked a brow at him.

“You’re being accommodating, I thought you hated smoke?” Shiki asked, leading Izaya to sit at the bar.

Izaya gave a half shrug.

“You never know what skills will come in handy. Doesn’t hurt your brand in cigarettes has improved with time,” Izaya explained mildly. “Plus the nicotine takes the bite off the pain.”

Shiki nodded but asked, “Why not just take the pills Shinra left?”

Izaya glared at the thought. “I don’t like anything that alters my mental state.”

“Pretty sure ibprophen won’t.”

“I took one of those when I woke up.”

Shiki raised his hands in placation.

“Izaya I’m going into work today. But the guards know not to let you out, so do us a favor and don’t try escaping from the balcony,” Shiki drawled, taking a drag from his cigarette and turning to eat. Izaya let out something that Shiki swore was an under his breath hiss.

“I’m not a moron,” Izaya sneered. He had a mug of his own coffee clutched in his hands. “I know you have goons here to keep him out and me in.”

“I’m not keeping you prisoner,” Shiki grumbled, finishing his cigarette.

“Anymore,” Izaya corrected. Shiki moved away from where he’d been eating and came closer to Izaya, boxing him in against the counter, Izaya glared up at him defiantly. “Deny it then,” Izaya teased lightly, but his eyes were harder that he’d meant them to be.

“I don’t keep prisoners. If I thought you were a threat you’d be dead,” Shiki said seriously. “I insisted you stay because I believe that you’ll hurt yourself on your own. And that Yodogiri or whoever hired them is still after the Awakusu-kai as a whole and you’re our first line of defense with your information. The whole of this half of Japan’s underbelly knows you’re the best at what you do.” Shiki got all up in Izaya’s bubble, leg between the informant’s and leaned down, lips mere centimeters from Izaya’s. Izaya just smiled up at him.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Izaya teased, he leaned forward and initiated a kiss. Shiki held his face in his hands, and dominated the kiss. Izaya breathed Shiki’s scent in and moaned a bit.

“You’ll be happy, I have a very easy job for you,” Shiki said.

Izaya quriked a brow.

“Oh?”

“You have till end of business today to come up with proposals for Akane-sama’s bodyguard. Mikiya decided you would have the most readily available intel. We’d vet them of course. Ourselves.”

The wheels in Izaya’s sharp mind started spinning. He nodded and ran a teasing hand across Shiki’s crotch.

“Better leave now before you’re late, Ha-ru-ya.”

“Brat,” Shiki commented, picking up his coffee and adjusting his pants.

X

Shiki’s day may have started pleasantly for the most part, but it definitely didn’t continue on that trend.

“Shiki-san, where have you been, just when all the fun is picking up,” Akabayashi teased, waggling eyebrows, “Getting cozy with informant-san?”

“Hn. Found the assailants yet Akabayashi-san?” Shiki shot back. Akabayashi hmm’d in a slightly chided way and stopped his teasing for the moment.

“No. More questions honestly. We’ve run off of what Orihara has told us, but Kujiragi is hard to find. And we’ve found a grand total of five ‘Yodogiris’ out there so far. And one evaded capture.”

“And his intel suggests there could be as many as ten,” Shiki said.

“Aa, This is gonna be a long week,” Akabayashi groaned.

“I have a proposal for Mikiya-sama, if it goes through you’ll be a lot happier,” Shiki told him. “We’ve got intel on that drug ring that was encroaching on us, Heaven’s Slave. If Mikiya-sama goes for it, then you’ll get to bust up a drug ring this week.”

Akabayashi’s entire attitude brightened considerably at that.

“It’s your day to pick up Akane-sama,” Akabayashi offered as he started to leave.

“That’s fine. I need to find something out regardless. And Mikiya-sama decided that I was the one who’s going to find her new body guard,” Shiki agreed. He hated to do what he planned on doing, it seriously undermined a lot of the trust he’d been building with Izaya. But he had to be sure. Work was work, and Izaya as a free-lance working informant was slippery as they came. Shiki needed just this last reassurance that Izaya wasn’t lying to him about directly interfering with Akane.

‘And what would you do if he had?’ Shiki’s mind taunted. He ignored that. There was only one thing to be done if that had happened, he’d reprimand the informant and move on. As of now, Izaya was precariously neutral. While on the Awakusu’s payroll, he wasn’t a member. He wasn’t Yakuza. He never swore fealty or loyalty to the family. Never swore to protect them. In fact, Izaya had been abundantly clear that while he wouldn’t directly countermand or sell out the Awakusu he was not a yakuza, and would work for anyone who paid him well enough. He had sworn not to directly and knowingly work for competitive families, but this quagmire surrounding Yodojiri meant that there could be a mastermind behind another mastermind behind several layers of closed doors.

That fact would likely change in the near future. Shiki realized now that Izaya was too valuable to continue to be allowed any form of neutrality. And it was clear that he needed some form of direct guidance. Lest Yagiri’s veiled warnings about Izaya being mad enough to raze the city to the ground in a ‘War only he could win’ hold any water.

Shiki spent some time thinking about how to best envelop Izaya into the family without making the informant rebel completely.

“Before the past few days I’d have just shot him if he didn’t agree,” Shiki mumbled to himself after getting in his car for the first set of rounds he had to make to keep the chaos of the underworld the Awakusu reigned over in control. His driver took off and Shiki lit a cigarette to help him think.

‘We swore that our relationship wouldn’t interfere with work,’ Shiki mused internally. ‘I hate myself a bit for it, but I know I can’t just kill him in cold blood now. I’ll have to coerce him to join if he won’t do it willingly. If I lose him as an asset I’ll have no choice but to kill him or one of the others will. Mikiya isn’t that damn dumb...Izaya could make a fortune with one of the other families selling our secrets.’

Shiki’s inner musings put him into a thunderous mood, causing a bit extra to be added to all the payments that were turned in that day, and a bit more courtesy to be lavished on him. He may have also broken three whiskey glasses at one of the clubs. But no one mentioned it.

x

Izaya had spent the day laying as comfortably as he could on Shiki’s bed, working on both assignments from Shiki and a small side matter that would give him a quick million yen. “Cheating husbands,” Izaya mumbled to himself as he complied enough CCTV footage for the very wealthy wife with a very expensive prenup for her to bury her cheating husband. That side venture had taken only three hours. And by lunch he had narrowed down Akane’s proposed body guards to three options he could comfortably back and knew Shiki would like. The Yodojiri puzzle was giving him more trouble and it made lines of tension build in him as he worked through lunch, not taking notice of his hunger.

It was drawing close to 5:30 pm when his phone rang.

“Shiki-san?”

“Get dressed properly and be downstairs in ten minutes,” Shiki’s voice said. Harsher than Izaya had grown accustomed to in the last few days. All of his senses were sharpened instantly and he nervously sat up.

“Hai.”

Mind racing he stumbled through dressing into proper clothing. His side was burning but he paid it no mind. With Shiki speaking like that, this was an Awakusu matter. Shiki was doing exactly what they agreed on. Business was business. The Shiki from last week wouldn’t have paid heed to Izaya’s discomfort if there was an emergency or if Izaya was on thin ice. Izaya had known this tight rope walk with the Akane issue would come to a head eventually. ‘Probably gonna walk me out in front of her to prove to himself and everyone that it wasn’t me who talked to her,’ Izaya surmised. He squashed down hurt when he thought of how protective Shiki had been just that morning, now throwing all of that to the wind. Izaya gasped a bit when he stumbled putting on his shoes but ignored the pain so he could walk out past the guard at the front door. Thankfully Shiki’s building had an elevator.

Within 8.5 minutes Izaya was standing next to the Yakuza minion at the front door of Shiki’s building. He refused to bend to lean into the wall and show weakness. But his side was hurting and his mind was racing.

‘I wonder if all of this was just an act...’ Izaya pondered, again trying to tramp down the pain that brought.

‘No. Shiki has to prove your loyalty to them. You knew that it would happen. He can’t just take your word for it. We know that.’

‘Maybe...’

‘Stop second guessing yourself. He HAS to prove you to them. You’re not yakuza. You don’t have implicit trust of being family. And they’d test you anyways even if you were. Probably.’

Inside the 10 minute mark since the phone call, Shiki’s sleek white car rolled up to the building.

Izaya got into the car and as expected was greeted by Shiki’s tight face and the bubbly, innocently curious gaze of Awakusu Akane.

“Shiki-san. Awakusu-sama,” Izaya greeted genially, hiding all discomfort from his face as he settled into the seat across from the both of them and buckled in, choosing the center seat to avoid having to twist to reach the shoulder belt.

“Hello,” Akane said brightly, not a trace of recognition in her face. “I don’t believe I’ve met you. But you know me.”

“This is Orihara Izaya. He’s a contractor of ours. And soon to be family. And he’s been tasked with finding your bodyguard.” Izaya’s yes flashed with unnamed emotion at that.

“Oh! Thank you very much Orihara-san!” Akane said, bowing her head. “I appreciate your hard work!”

“Of course Awakusu-sama,” Izaya said politely, bowing his head back deeper.

“And who are the candidates?” Shiki said, slipping into business as they drove to Akane’s destination.

“There are three, one of which I believe Awakusu-sama knows, Sharaku Mikage. She’s older, but a very talented and passionate martial artist. She also has a connection with Awakusu-sama already and therefore personal interest in her safety. She hasn’t taken on bodyguard work in a few years, but she has some experience. She currently teaches at Awakusu-sama’s dojo. Our destination if I’m not mistaken,” Izaya explained.

“Ah! I love sensei!” Akane said happily, paying polite attention to the goings on.

“Ah. And the second and third.”

“Namgung Chika, a Korean-Japanese national. Her parents are hired guns and security experts for hire largely employed by the Japanese and Korean governments to protect visiting nationals. Their daughter has been trained since age 7 to be an age appropriate body guard. She has the highest price tag. But she would fit in the best. Especially because she’s in the same grade as Awakusu-sama. It would be a simple matter of engaging her contract and background checking her further if you wish. She accepts placement with the host family since she turned 13. And has protected foreign national’s children form assassination attempts before, two noted successes in her short career. She is the youngest. But would be the least assuming. She’s also not in the public eye at all. Her name and picture have never been published in correlation with her work. I know of her through my mother, actually,” Izaya explained. “You have to have connection in the government to obtain their contracts. Publicly, they’re just a dignitary family of Japan and South Korea.”

“Understood.”

“The third is Varvara Grekov, Grekov being the family name. She’s a Russian born Japanese national. She’s 19. But she’s very young in appearance. She was trained by various agencies for protection work, including the Japanese defense force. She was adopted by a Japanese family but they died. She has no familial ties of note in Japan, China, or Russia. She’s honestly the best bet. She’d fit in, not be distracted by familial necessities nor a job she’d be leaving. She wouldn’t need to take time for her own school studies. And she has the most bodyguard experience. But she’s the only non-Japanese option I’ve found that would fit the situational need. She would stand out as a non-Japanese person. More so than Namgung because she highly takes after her Japanese mother. Mikage is of course full Japanese but she can’t pass as a middle schooler.”

He handed the flash drive with all the information on it over to Shiki.

“Understood, thank you,” Shiki said.

“Thank you for your hard work Orihara-san,” Akane said inclining her head politely.

“Of course Awakusu-sama,” Izaya said simply, bowing painfully at the waist. He didn’t show any outward sign of hurting.

They pulled to a stop outside the dojo and Shiki escorted Akane inside, posting a minion at the door. Izaya dropped back against the seat and groaned as soon as the door shut behind them.

Once Shiki returned Izaya schooled himself into careful blankness, waiting for Shiki to comment. The order to drive them back to Shiki’s home was given.

“You did very well, thank you,” Shiki said, finally breaking the silence.

“Of course Shiki-san,” Izaya said blandly, not inflecting his voice any particular way. His body language was completely closed off.

“Izaya...it was necessary,” Shiki said stiffly. “Are you in pain?”

“Sa-sa.”

Shiki groaned.

“I knew you would close up after this,” Shiki muttered. He made no attempts to enter Izaya’s space.

“Do I have a choice? Or has the date of my initiation been set?” Izaya asked mildly, but his eyes were hard. He wouldn’t look up to meet Shiki’s eyes.

“Unless you want to be cut out entirely, Dougen and Mikiya both agreed you were necessary. And they instructed us to obtain your compliance. You join or you’re gone,” Shiki said quietly. Both of them knew what gone meant.

“Well then I guess I’m a gangster now,” Izaya muttered stiffly, he didn’t look up at Shiki.

“Izaya...”

“Shiki-san.”

Shiki didn’t sigh. And he didn’t get angry. He just waited Izaya’s process out. Knowing the informant was going through the motions of accepting that he’d basically been absorbed by the Yakuza family he’d been skirting around for years. Honestly, it was a long time coming. Having neutrality was a very dangerously hard thing to achieve. Shiki had been amazed Izaya had managed it for so long in such a dirty business. Of course the underground knew Izaya was on the Awakusu payroll, but he’d never become one of them. He still took alternate contracts. He still sold information as he pleased. He was like a specter, in between planes of existence. One foot in the mortal realm of legitimate information brokering (as legitimate as that can be), one foot in the hell realm of organized crime. But this latest stumble with Yodojiri had forced him to jump both feet into hell. Shiki was damn sure he was gonna catch him.

“They don’t want to lose you. And they can’t allow these direct hits on the Awakusu to be taken lying down. They’re assuming if they bring you in that it’ll show solidarity and protect you further. They want to stake their claim on you. They’re doing this because we all see you as valuable, too to be vulnerable without protection,” Shiki explained.

“And too dangerous to run around by myself anymore,” Izaya snapped. “This isn’t a boon to me. It’s an ultimatum. And one that has only one survivable choice.”

“Yes.” ‘No emotion. Don’t rise to his attitude,’ Shiki coached himself.

“I’ll lose some of my usefulness being fully enveloped by the Awakusu-kai.” Izaya prattled, losing his cool a bit and grasping at straws they both knew were outlandish.

“People won’t talk to you?” Shiki raised a brow. It was a bad argument and they both knew it.

“Some of my contacts are in lower families of non aggressive alternate branches...I never sell against your information to them. It wouldn’t be the hardest issue to overcome, but I’ll have to rework my networks now. Or try to turn them into spies...how public are they going with this?” Izaya dropped the excuse and flitted over to work mode for a moment, always scheming.

“No more so than any other. They just want it to be official. You’ll still be able to take oddball jobs, and jobs that benefit the family of course, without it just being the jobs I give you. Anything that isn’t working for rival families or gangs, especially not ones outside of this country. Anything that doesn’t involve other families, or gangs, other than supporting the family and it’s interests. You won’t be expected to do the same things we do. You’re not gonna have to climb your way up. This is supposed to be gift, not a punishment. Your initiation will likely still be the same. Mikiya is actually showing a great bought of respect. He’s initiating you himself.”

Izaya looked up at that, incredulous. THAT was actually a huge sign of their respect of his importance.

“You’ll still work for me. Your rates won’t change. They know your value. You’ll be under me directly. Mikiya just thinks that showing you respect by initiating you at his level will show that he trusts you. In light of the previous occurrences.”

“If she’d recognized me, what was going to happen instead?” Izaya asked bluntly, mouth tight and eyes stinging.

Shiki sighed and pulled out his gun. The cold steel caught a ray of light filtering in from the window and shone on Izaya’s face. Izaya flinched harshly.

“You know what they ordered.”

Izaya nodded. He looked away and pretended he wasn’t crying.

Shiki put the gun away and unbelted himself, he slid over to Izaya and held open his arms. Izaya tried for a long hard moment not to touch him, and even looked the other way. But he finally relented and collapsed into him.

“This is the life we live Izaya.”

“You’d have killed me if she’d known me.”

“I knew she wouldn’t.”

Izaya snorted loudly in disbelief, his shoulders quaking slightly, his body wrapped in on itself. Shiki held him a bit tighter.

“I trusted you,” Shiki said, kissing the top of his head. “I knew I wouldn’t have to. But Akane-sama would have known if I didn’t play my part. She may be a child but she’s the boss’s daughter. She’d have mentioned it eventually. When you got into bed with the Awakusu did you really think you wouldn’t have guns pointed at you?”

“You’ve pointed one at me more than once,” Izaya agreed, still upset, still hiding his face. He felt ridiculous for crying and being so rattled.

Shiki grunted, remembering their early working relationship. Shoving a gun between the eyes of a cocky 17 year old wasn’t his shining moment of gallantry. But what else do you do to someone who breaks into your office, sits in your chair, and then rattles off three of the spies in your organization with proof, as a job application. The only other time Shiki had even shown Izaya his gun had been traumatic, but it was when he’d had to rescue Izaya from being kidnapped along with four other informant assets during the yakuza information turf war three years prior that Shiki still didn’t quite understand why it happened. Some kind explanation that higher families of both groups wanted to pluck up all the information brokers in the city and recruit them, was all Shiki ever got, even being as high as he was. Aozaki and Akabayashi had killed most of the kidnappers while Shiki got the hostages out. It hadn’t been the plan for Shiki to take the savior role, but he’d found the room with the informants first. Shiki had shot two people on his way in, but Izaya hadn’t seen.

Izaya played a very tough face for the public, unaffected. But Shiki knew this latest event would definitely put a huge strain on them. Izaya was too strung out right now for this kind of stress to not affect him. He’d put a lot of trust in Shiki in the last few days, and Shiki had had to rock that trust to it’s core.

“This is the life we live in the underbelly of Japan. You seek out employment and protection and you live with what that means,” Shiki said. “I will apologize for scaring you. But we both knew what you dating someone like me would mean, especially with your job.”

Izaya nodded.

“Honestly, I just wished I could stay impartial,” Izaya said, shaking his head. “I knew it would happen. Or one of you would kill me. Honestly, I expected to die when Yodojiri stabbed me. I’m not surprised by this. I shouldn’t even be hurt. You’re doing your job. You’re not going to put me before your family.”

“Izaya...”

“Shiki, I know you can’t put me before them. It was never an option,” Izaya interjected. He was still crying and he hated it.

“You’re terrified now?” Shiki asked gently.

“I’ve known you killed people for longer than I’ve even known you,” Izaya said simply. Not answering the question but trying in vain to scrub his eyes with his sleeve to make himself stop weeping so openly. It was like some kind of emotional dam had burst and Izaya was enraged at himself now, and that wasn’t helping.

“But I’ve never had orders to kill you before,” Shiki said, the words were tight and almost angry, but years and years of conditioning would keep him from ever openly showing disdain to his family head. They may poke fun or joke, but outright anger at a decision from the top wasn’t something Shiki could give. He could see why they’d give it. They’d ordered executions for less.

They had arrived at Shiki’s apartment building now. But neither of them made any move to get out. This conversation was as awkward and difficult as they both believed it to be.

“How big of a limb did you go out on to convince Mikiya-sama and Dougen-sama that I was worth more than a bullet between the eyes?” Izaya asked, the realization dawning on him that Shiki had probably pulled more strings than he even had available to him to prove Izaya was worth more alive than dead.

Shiki looked him straight in the eyes, “You are worth vastly more than that. They’d have been fools to cut their losses with you. They trust my judgment. And I told them what they needed to know. And I wasn’t speaking as your romantic interest or as a dom about his sub, I was impartially telling them that you being absorbed into the family was the better route for the family, because your death would be an utter waste.”

Izaya nodded. Reconciling all of his emotions inside of himself.

“Would you like to go inside? Or should I take you to Kishiitani?” Shiki offered. He didn’t want to trap Izaya.

“You want me to leave then?” Izaya asked quietly, his eyes downcast.

“No. I want you to come inside. I want to take care of you, and I want to lavish care on you until you’re so high you can’t even think straight,” Shiki said bluntly. “But you have a lot to process and I’m not going to force you to do that with me if you don’t want to.”

Izaya looked up at him and kissed him hard.

“Shut up and take me inside.”

x

Izaya shuddered as he leaned heavily against the pillows stacked behind him.

“Ow...Remind me to tell Shinra he was right,” Izaya muttered.

“You’ll regret that when you actually do,” Shiki advised. He had just got Izaya back into the apartment. Both of them walking independently as they were in public. Shiki wished he had just thrown caution to the wind and carried the informant for how pale he was. “I have to go forward this info on. I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Aa,” Izaya offered uncharacteristically quite. His head was thrown back and his eyes screwed shut. He spent the entire ten minutes Shiki was gone berating himself for all the emotions he’d been overrun by. Izaya didn’t pretend he didn’t feel emotions. But he rarely wanted them to surface so violently and publicly.

When Shiki reentered the room he withheld a sigh at the sight of Izaya so closed off and obviously berating himself. Tension stiffened every graceful limb. The beautiful pale face of his informant was tight with upset. Shiki undressed down to his underwear and went over to Izaya and gently reached out to him, speaking before touching, “I’m going to undress you now.”

Izaya hm’d an agreement but didn’t move to help. He allowed himself to be undressed like a doll. Every inch of him still too tense to be helpful. Shiki started massaging his arms and chest, leaning over him slightly.

“Feel good?” Shiki teased as Izaya stifled a moan when Shiki released a tense knot in his shoulder.

“Yes, Haruya,” Izaya mumbled. Shiki noted that slip to his given name, the first time since Izaya had first gotten into his car earlier that day.

The massage continued down Izaya’s back, and skipped over his rear, to release built up tension in his legs. Izaya started losing his hold on twitches he had been trying to suppress.

“Check in.”

“I’m...it tickles,” Izaya mumbled. “I don’t want to have the spasms reach my side.”

Shiki moved on from his legs to massage his feet. Izaya sighed in contentment at that and Shiki spent a long time on that area.

Izaya closed his eyes and just floated in the caregiving. He could finally feel safe after this whole afternoon. Knowing that Shiki would catch him when he fell.

Izaya floated away as Shiki started peppering kisses on his throat and neck. He had fallen already he knew. And Shiki had caught him.

- x -