#charactersong

6:30PM

“...” Having been glaring at his laptop for the last few minutes, the info-mat shut the damned thing a bit too harshly for his liking. He had just discovered from a short thread, with Celty’s username behind it, that Shinra had thrown a house party at his place, and to no surprise, Izaya Orihara was not invited.

Standing from his chair with a darker expression overshadowing his already dark features, he forced an unsettling smile to form upon his lips as he trotted towards his kitchen to remove some shot glasses and whatever alcoholic beverage he could get his paws on.

At his discovery of the lack of bourbon, he messaged his employee. I thought I told you to stay out of my alcohol!?!~ :) -Izaya He sent to his secretary Namie, who had already taken her leave for the day hours before. 

Slouching against his granite counter top, he impatiently awaited his phone to alert him of a new message. After a few excruciating minutes of waiting, his phone’s tone for a new message rang out for a few momentary seconds as Izaya opened the message, tensing at the reply he received.

I haven’t laid a finger on your alcohol. You have been drinking a bottle of bourbon a day for the past week. I will restock this weekend. Just go drink your problems away at a bar or some shit. - Mom 

Eyes narrowing at the sender's code name, meant for safety reasons and for the sake of teasing…he pushed himself away from the counter to stand. With a click of his tongue towards the reply, and the delay in his consumption of alcohol...he left the kitchen.

Closing his phone to shove it back into his jeans pocket, without sending a response to Namie, he slid on his shoes and snatched his jacket from its rack by the entrance. Shoving his hands past the fur lined sleeves, he stepped out of his apartment, securing the door behind him.

7:19 PM

Arriving in Ikebukuro normally would entice him with a feeling of excitement, though the only emotion running through him as he stepped foot into the city was discomfort. Despite his love for this city and its residents, admiration was one of the last emotions he could experience currently.

He carefully skipped his way through the busy streets of the city, for once not wary of a certain bodyguard catching whiff of him in ‘his’ home, due to him being one of the participants of the house party, he had no need to worry of being disturbed tonight.

He soon enough reached his beloved bar as late evening turned to night, entering to discover it filled with unfamiliar humans to his glee, he would spend the night watching the drunk interactions of these mere mortals to settle the ache in his chest whilst he downed glasses of bourbon.

Situated in a far and darkened corner of the establishment with a renewed glass of his favorite alcoholic beverage, having paid for a bottle to rest atop his table to refill his glass as he saw fit, he analyzed the shifts in mood and action from those whom when he arrived were sober, though currently reaching a more drunken stage as the night progressed.

8:09 PM

“Hnnnn I realllly wish Celty could of come back to the bar with us….” The familiar voice of a certain doctor whined as he stumbled into the bar, apparently already somewhat intoxicated before entry.

Following behind him were the familiar faces of Kadota and his crew, and to Izaya’s demise...Shizuo.

“Just shut up and order us some drinks, on you for your constant rambling during the whole walk here…” Came the voice of an obviously annoyed Kadota, the harshness in his tone probably influenced from the alcohol taking its toll...or Shinra just being that much more obnoxious when drunk.

Izaya shifted uncomfortably in his seat, despite being out of sight of the small group of friends, he still had a bad feeling that he would be discovered by the only nonhuman in this bar and his abnormal senses.

Deciding to just watch the drunken crowd as they situated themselves to order, he soon relaxed when he wasn’t caught by the blonde or any of the others surrounding him, assuming that his keen senses weren’t so keen when he was drunk off his ass.

After blatant chatter and a dangerous amount of alcohol consumption, a member of the group ascended and wobbled his way over to the only slightly light headed heavy weight that Izaya was.

“Heyyyy ...zaya ~!” The lab coat dressed man slouched heavily against the raven haired man's arm as he dropped his own around tense shoulders, pushing an agitated sigh past Izaya's slightly flushed lips. “Come join us for some drinkssss...on me~...oooo now I’m thinking of drinks on Celty...wonder if she’d agree to me taking shots off of her sometime...heh heh…or maybe….”

Before Shinra could continue into more perverse rambling, Izaya made his decision. Not entirely drunk himself, he decided to put up a facade to convince the others that he indeed was intoxicated, this way he could interact more freely and have an excuse to support him. Quite skilled at putting up a false act if he said so himself, he turned his attention to his friend. 

“Sounds great!... Hey! How about we all do some karaoke?”

8:54 PM

Three love songs...by Shinra, and about five songs from a variety of anime, by Yumasaki, Karisawa, Togusa, and occasionally, Kadota, later, and it was finally Shizuo’s turn to be victimized to the microphone on the small stage.

Drunk and embarrassed, the blonde looked over to Kadota and Shinra with pleading eyes to save him from this situation. Though the two males simply sent him a drunk grin, Kadota even going as far as to choose a Enka song for Shizuo to sing.

“Uh…” Already having missed his cue he looked over the crowd where his friends sat in alarm, alcohol clouding his thoughts he pointed at the flea sitting beside Togusa with an idiot grin that if sober, Shizuo would kill him for.

“It’s a...duet so….Izaya should join me since he hasn’t even sang yet.” Even when drunk his friends, and Izaya...seemed shocked by the bodyguards claim. Though the shock for the flea only lasted shortly before he stood with a more giddy grin and joined Shizuo on the stage, taking the opposite mic off its stand.

“Personally I find Enka distasteful but...if I can hear Shizu-chan sing, then i’ll accept the slight injury to my eardrums~” The raven purred in his usual taunting tone of voice, though tonight it sounded more playful and affectionate than sleazy and chilling.

Gesturing for Kadota to restart the song before he could seat himself back down beside Shinra, he flashed a crooked grin towards a flushed Shizuo as the song began once again.

Despite a variety of slurs and laughs from the both of them, they made it through the whole song, both surprised by the others ability to actually keep a note.

“My my Shizuo-chan, you’ve quite the voice there~” He complimented yet again in that sickly high voice he forced when he taunted the easily angered male.

“Mm...could say the same for you” He replied back in a cool and calm tone, which unsettled Izaya just as much as it made his chest clench.

“Yeah...how about another round then?” He said with a deeper, darker tone to his voice then Shizuo was used to, he stepped over to the machine to set up another song for them to sing.

9:48 PM

“LETS EAT FISH!” The duo screamed out in unison as the short song neared its end. The rivals had sang continuously for the past hour and Karisawa had somehow managed to film every second of it, despite her obvious intoxicated state.

Both entirely out of breath, Shizuo retrieving his breath much quicker than the info-broker of course...they finally reinserted their mics into their stands and hopped off stage, still shaking off the adrenaline from the last song they sang together.

“Hah...not bad...thought you wouldn’t follow through with how ridiculous that last song was...but per usual, you don’t cease to surprise me Shizu-chan.” The raven had an idiotic grin decorating his face as he headed back to their seats, Shizuo deciding to seat himself beside Izaya to continue their conversation.

“And I didn’t expect you to sing along with me throughout the whole thing. So i’m just as impressed...flea” Despite the nickname originating from hatred, the blonde uttered the name out of gratitude before he continued to converse with his well known rival.

“That last song will be ‘their’ song~ right Yumasaki?” With a shaky nod from her friend, Kadota spoke up to refute against Karisawa with a tired undertone to his voice. 

“...Erika…they just talked about fish throughout the entirety of the song” He released a sigh as he took a shot from his glass, slamming it down harshly. Though moments later his head made an almost equally loud bang against the counter as he passed out.

“Heh...looks like Dota-chin is quite the lightweight huh Shizu...chan?” The information broker eyed the blonde as he took a swig of Izaya’s bourbon, making a sour face as he set the glass down. Surprisingly enough, the glass didn’t break, along with the ones prior, most likely due to his previous experience as a bartender.

“Bitter…” He muttered in a pouty tone as he sulked in his seat, Izaya finding this behavior strangely adorable, a bit too drunk himself to contemplate the fact that he found the blonde cute just now.

“Bring me a White Russian.” Shizuo raised his head at the order from the louse, the other having only drank bourbon throughout their chat. 

Once the drink arrived, Izaya pushed the mocha colored substance towards Shizuo with a small smile. “Don’t worry. It isn’t nearly as bitter as the bourbon was.” He ensured, though Shizuo was more concerned of the concoction being poisoned more than it being bitter.

“Thanks…” He sniffed at the drink before taking a swig of it, receiving a small snicker from the smaller male in return for his suspicion.

“Even if I did try date drugging you, it probably wouldn’t do much good.” He commented as he watched the male cautiously sip at his drink before finally just gulping the remains of it down.

“Mm...not bad” He muttered as he averted his gaze from the raven with an even deeper blush decorating his already reddened cheeks.

“Told you.” Izaya flicked the blonde's nose to encourage him to raise his head, before Shizuo could complain about the flick, Izaya spoke up again. “You have cream all over your nose you protozoan.” He snickered as he reached out to brush it off with his thumb before licking it off the pad of it without much thought put into the action.

Shizuo blinked at the informant as the gesture occurred, not entirely sure how to respond. “Thanks.” He stated bluntly, ordering another White Russian to give him some sort of excuse for the way his face was heating up.

“My pleasure~” The other cooed, satisfied with the response he got, he ordered himself another bourbon before the bartender walked off to fulfill Shizuo’s order.

10:45 PM

After talking for most of the night, the well known info broker and the strongest man in Ikebukuro were updating one another on the current gossip spreading throughout their cities.

“So if you would politely allow me to do my job when I drop by next weekend, that would be splendid Shizu-chan~” Izaya was falsely smiling at the blonde when he finished the sentence, this possibly being his last attempt at trying to piss off the ex-bartender, since when drunk, nothing seemed to phase him.

“Hey...flea” Shizuo spoke softly as he moved his attention away from his barely touched glass to stare back at Izaya. Acting as if he barely heard Izaya's final attempt to annoy him. “You know...you aren’t all that bad” He confessed, his mocha eyes genuine and sincere despite the haze of alcohol blocking his reason.

To add another shock to the almost endless list tonight, Izaya was speechless, simply nodding his head with uncertainty of how to reply to such an unexpected response to his teasing.

“I just...well you...just piss me off so easily and I can’t exactly control myself whenever you’re in Ikebukuro…” He continued, rubbing the back of his neck as if he was embarrassed, whilst his eyes lowered back to his glass. “You actually are pretty cool to hang out with...so...sorry I never really gave you a chance before...though you didn’t exactly give me much of one either.” He grumbled at the last part as he recalled their first encounter.

After no apparent response from the louse, Shizuo looked back up to Izaya to find his entire face flushed, and lips closed into a tight line. “Izaya?...” He asked curiously as he leaned in to get a better look, as if the closer he got, the higher the chance he could interpret the other's reaction somehow. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he pressed his forehead to the ravens, feeling the heat illuminating from it he asked with a hint of concern which Izaya wasn't used to hearing from anyone. “Do you feel okay?...Your heads all hot and your face is bright red.”

Izaya swore this guy was an idiot no matter what state of mind he was in...showing an obviously annoyed pout, he...unlike Shizuo while drunk, followed his instinct and reached up to lightly brush his fingers beneath the blonde’s chin, raising it just enough to level his face to Izaya’s almost perfectly.