#projectlove

[ Do you really think he’ll change? ]

Shizuo drew his gaze to Celty, strawberry pocky hanging off of his lips while he nibbled on the other end of the biscuit stick. They’d been sitting on the park bench for approximately half an hour now, and he’d briefed her on what brought his love project forth (even if she’d already heard from Shinra), as well as the encounter he had with Izaya just earlier. Of course, he didn’t fail to mention Saki’s words (he overheard Izaya and the blonde boy calling her by the name) - which Celty seemed to agree with this sentiment - was surprising.

It wasn’t like Shizuo didn’t know that Izaya, as disgusting of a pest he was to everyone on this Earth, had fans. For God’s sake, the flea’s locker in high school was always filled with love letters and gifts, to the point that it was overflowing. But he’d sensed that Saki was different. It appeared that she was close to Izaya, and even her boyfriend, the blonde boy who worked for Izaya was. Shizuo had to wonder why her love wasn’t enough for Izaya, if she was well acquainted with the ugly parts that made up Orihara Izaya, and still harbored affection for him. Wasn’t it identical to what Shizuo was doing? And to think that he hadn’t even gotten close to liking Izaya, much less love him. 

“There’s nothing to love about Izaya!”  He remembered the blonde boy exclaim to Saki.

Shizuo had to agree.

“Should be - I mean, ‘ts hard to tell since nothing happened. He was his usual self today til’ those kids came along, then he disappeared.”

[ I doubt he would change. But if you’ve set your mind to it, I’ll cheer you on! ]

“Thanks, Celty. Maybe then I wouldn’t mind him coming to ‘bukuro.”

Celty stuck a thumb up in encouragement, despite how hesitant she was about this whole thing moments ago. Well, it was understandable, especially considering the fact that he had no plans as to how exactly he was going to make himself love a lifelong nemesis.

The idea itself sounded funny, and impossible.

[ Shinra told me something, though. ]

[ He’s not worried about you loving Izaya, but if Izaya ends up loving you. ]

Shizuo didn’t know what to make of that.

[ But wouldn’t it be a good thing? He won’t bother you anymore. I don’t understand why Shinra would be worried. ]

Silence settled in as he pondered over what Shinra could’ve meant by his words. The fateful day that had set all of this off, he was more fixated on Izaya, so he didn’t manage to catch anything particularly off with Shinra’s reaction. The underground doctor, chatterbox that he was, had indeed shot him with hundreds of questions  - which still gave him a headache from even reminiscing it, but Shinra never said anything about Izaya loving him.

Though it could’ve just been that Shizuo didn’t bother to hear him out.

“I don’t think that bastard even has any heart left.” He scoffed.

[ If he doesn’t show any improvement, you’d give up, right? ]

“ ‘Course, Celty. Don’t worry about it.”

[ I know! I’m just still wary if you’d continue to love him! ]

“You know I’m not the kinda person who’d care about someone being shitty to me.”

At that, Celty’s shoulders, previously tense, slump a little with relief. This whole thing was confusing and incomprehensible, Shizuo couldn’t deny that. As Celty had said before, they both could only hope that Shizuo won’t end up getting himself tangled in the web of lies and trickery Izaya so often orchestrated. But if there was one thing that he was good at, it would be not associating himself with those beyond fixing, or in other words: people who were outright assholes.  Assholes who had no remorse and desire to change.

Celty had to give him credit for that. Granted, Izaya could actually fall into that category, but at this point, Shizuo would try any method once if it meant that there was a chance he could save Ikebukuro and himself from the Izaya’s evil doings.

If this all goes to hell, he’d just go back to killing Izaya.

[ You’re right. But still, keep me updated! ]

Shizuo spared her a soft smile.

“Hey, does he still use this phone number?” He set aside the empty, scrunched up box of pocky  aside before showing her the contact he had of Izaya in his cellphone, which was still under the name ‘DON’T PICK UP: FLEA!’. He probably should change the name soon.

[ Yes. Are you going to contact him? ] Celty questioned once she’d confirmed the contact with the one she had in her PDA (among many others, apparently the flea had a bunch of numbers, not that he was even remotely surprised to learn this fact).

“Dunno what I’m gon’ say yet, but it’s a step.”

[ I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Good luck, Shizuo. Text me if you need anything. ^_^ ]

The sun was already setting by the time he saw Celty off on her motorcycle. This small talk with his best friend had been comforting, even though as aforementioned, he still knew absolutely nothing about the ins and outs of his own project. Sometimes he thought that he should just leave it to the yakuza the flea had been messing with; eventually they’d probably rid of him once and for all. That’d be so much easier on his mind.

Shizuo flipped his cellphone open, stared at the bolded text on the screen: DON’T PICK UP: FLEA!

There’d been no sign of Izaya in the air since he sneaked off before.

“Heh, I’ll just do it later.”

The clang from the spoon hitting the ceramic cup brought him out of his stupor, making him feel rather enraged from the fact that he was even letting Shizuo occupy his mind this much. Was he that desperate just to have someone by his side? And to think it was Shizuo, of all people! There was no way that a relationship with Shizuo, in any form that is not built on hatred, would work smoothly. It was laughable, how he was even considering that perhaps something good would come out of this.

“Ha, he’d throw the park bench at me the moment we meet,” Izaya shook his head, stirring his tea before bringing the rim of the cup closer to his lips, taking a sip.

“I guess I’ll just stay for the ride. If Shizu-chan really falls for me, that’d be even better! There’s no one easier to manipulate than a love-struck fool. He’d be wrapped around my finger in no time. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

At the very least, he didn’t feel too bothered now, if this was to be compared to a few seconds ago, where he, Orihara Izaya, contemplated the possibilities of him and Shizuo actually ending up together. No— it was true that this entire thing wasn’t completely unavoidable. He could just tell Shizuo he didn’t want to go through with such a ridiculous proposal, but wouldn’t he be the coward if he took back his words? As much as Izaya knew this could go wrong at some point, the excitement from a newfound entertainment was too good of an opportunity to pass on.

Of course, if he didn’t want to be defeated at this love game, he’d have to pay Shizuo a visit. It would be unlike him if he wasn’t a step ahead of Shizuo at all times.

“Is it too much of an acknowledgement to say he might be scheming something? He’s not that bright to think of such complex plan,” tipping his head to the side, he let the thought linger for a moment, this time taking a big gulp of his drink.

“Hey, paycheck.”

There were still a few files of work he had to finish by this evening, so after that, maybe he’ll go to Ikebukuro.

“Paycheck.”

It was only then that he noticed Namie calling him, and the fact that he’d finished all of this tea. There wasn’t a single drop visible when he placed the cup onto the counter, taking a few steps closer to his secretary that’d been standing by the door. In her hands was a box, a rather plain one; those used for delivery services, which raised his curiosity even more. It’d be too obvious if it was wrapped with a flower or heart pattern wrappers with a big bow on top.

“What did you call me?”

“You write my paychecks, so you’re paycheck. What? Don’t tell me you don’t like that? I’m only giving you appropriate nicknames,” her expression was as nonchalant as he’d remembered it every day, never a genuine smile directed towards him since that was only reserved for her beloved Seiji. She shoved the box into him as soon as he was close enough.

“I think if I would’ve melted if you called me sweetie instead, Namie-san!”

“It’d be nice if you’d melt to your death. Here’s a package for you.”

“Who is it from?”

“You have eyes, you can see it for yourself.”

The package felt rather light in his clutch. Izaya couldn’t hide that his heart started to beat faster the moment his fingers first touched it; his fingers trembling at the edges of the box. Was a smile enough to beat Namie’s curious stare? He was eager to know who the sender was, too, considering that there was only a single name circling his mind as the possible sender of this package. Could this be counted as a win for his side?

Tilting the top of the box to face him, his gaze immediately fell on the sender’s name, and needless to say, he was quite disappointed to find out that it was only the jacket that he’d ordered online a week ago. It couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Truth to be told, he didn’t even know what he was expecting— the bouquet of flowers, perhaps? And for what? So he could laugh knowing he got Shizuo all figured out? That he knew Shizuo would probably make his moves from the book on ‘How To Woo Someone’ he’d purchased from the bookstore (he was willing to bet that it was exactly what Shizuo was up to the moment he thought of this).

“What’s gotten into me?” letting out a sigh, he dropped the box onto the floor, no longer interested in it.

Namie didn’t miss the chance to prod at his wounds, accompanied with her half-suppressed chuckle which was intended to sound mean— that much he was sure of.

“I’m happy that you have someone to love you now, Izaya-san, someone who you can call your own,” a sweet voice chirped by his side, one that belonged to one of his favourite underlings, and his guess only proved to be true when he faced her. Her appearance was similar to the last time he’d seen her; donning a white skirt and tee, accompanied by her pink cardigan to complete her sweet look.

“Saki?”

“Hello, Izaya-san.”

Saki had her usual smile on, seemingly innocent to those who wasn’t well acquainted with her— but to him? Izaya knew well that she was scrutinizing his actions to figure out if what she’d mentioned was true. How he was going to react to that, she was curious of it. And truth to be told, he didn’t know what to think of her words either.

“I’m not sure if being loved by a monster is going to cut it,” he joked, leering at Shizuo out of the corner of his eyes, wondering if that was enough to rile him up.

It seemed as though it wasn’t just him who was taken aback by Saki’s blunt exclamation, Shizuo getting roped into it as well, albeit the brute not saying anything to deny it (he wouldn’t be surprised if Shizuo was actually contemplating whether it meant just that). Of course, it’d only work into Izaya’s advantage if that was indeed what Shizuo thought of, so he chose to ignore that part. Saki clearly noticed it, her facial expression changing and her eyes were twinkling with interest, but she carried on with her previous demeanour; her head tipped to the side.

“If that’s so, you’re always welcomed to call me anytime.”

“What? Saaaaa~kiiiiiii!” contrary to Saki’s soft-sounding voice, Kida had a loud, booming one, garnering attention of those who were within 5 metre radius of him, especially with the whine of distaste towards his girlfriend offering herself to someone he hated. Apparently he was in the middle of introducing himself to Shizuo, or something akin to that, at least— all Izaya managed to catch on was that they’d met before, and a flick to the forehead from Shizuo had rendered him paralyzed for quite a while. The downside was Shizuo didn’t seem to recall that ever happening.

How could anyone even think Shizuo could remember anything? The primal instincts in him clearly overpowered the intelligence. It was one of the reasons why Shizuo’s growth into a human was halted to a stop.

“On a date, are we?”

Izaya cornered Kida, hands in the pockets of his fur trimmed jacket as he continued further, “What about the task I asked you to execute for me, Kida-kun?”

“Oi.”

“Nothing bad, Shizu-chan! It’s just work!” he shook his head, flashing a bright smile, “Not that it was Shizu-chan’s business if it wasn’t anyway.”

“Bast—”

Shizuo seethed, the fingers of his right hand balling into a fist as if on cue. See, Shizu-chan couldn’t resist his instincts. There was a spark, threatening to turn into a flame but Shizuo diminished it as soon as he realized, his clenched jaw turning lax. It was such a shame, indeed. Although Izaya knew now that all he had to do to bring back the Shizuo he knew so well was by doing what he did best, and that was to pull the strings connected to the people of Ikebukuro. However, he had to think about it further once he get home, as doing so might just end this whole ordeal, bringing them back into their normal routine of cat and mouse chase.

He’d have to calculate the limit of how much Shizuo could take.

“Please take care of Izaya-san well.”

Saki interrupted their quarrel, her palms splayed out against her knees as she did a ninety-degree bow in front of Shizuo, unfazed of the horrified expressions Kida and Tom had on from the unfamiliar display of protectiveness towards Orihara Izaya. Vorona (the beautiful foreigner, according to Saki) appeared irritated, as though she’d decided off the bat that she wasn’t fond of Saki.

Of course, Saki didn’t appear to mind that look either.

“Uh… okay,” Shizuo responded after several seconds of recomposing himself, confusion evident on his face.

“Negative. There is no requirement stating it is necessary for Shizuo senpai to concern himself with a pest’s well-being.”

“I do think that it should be the other way around, Saki…” supporting Vorona’s argument, Kida let out a sigh.

In the midst of all of this mess, there was an individual who didn’t display even the slightest reaction, strangely not uttering one word despite being known to always having clever responses prepared before anyone even proposed a question.  No one was attentive enough to notice how out of place it was— no one except Kida. Well, if he was going to be honest, he didn’t mean to, really. His gaze just so happened to wander in that direction.

Kida brought up a hand to rub at the nape of his neck, wondering how it’d all led to this, with Saki’s next words making his eyes linger a little more on the person whose attention so fixated to the ground.

“I’ll trust Heiwajima-san to not hurt Izaya-san.”

With no postbox flying in his direction and the usual drawn out call of his name, he was able to blend right into the crowd— no one even noticed that the infamous Orihara Izaya was walking alongside them. It was what he wanted, to be this close to them, despite wanting to be above these mere humans still, somehow. However, it proved to be harder than he thought to make them give him the love he so desired. Instead, they threw glares and insults when things didn’t go their way. He couldn’t deny that it was rather adorable; just like a child throwing tantrums, that’s how his humans were.

“Shizu-chan!”

It wasn’t that hard to locate Shizuo’s whereabouts when he’d always stuck out like a sore thumb, blonde hair in the midst of many raven heads, wearing a bartender outfit despite already quitting the job, and carrying various kinds of heavy objects; this time a bright red postbox, situated under his arm. Tanaka Tom and Vorona Douglanikov were by his side, one appearing rather worried the moment he saw Izaya running towards them, while the other immediately shifted into a fighting stance.

“Oh, you’re here,” Shizuo muttered, an unlit cigarette hanging off of his lips. He was calm and composed, which made Izaya feel puzzled by the unusual demeanor. Was it a trick? He could’ve sworn the postbox was supposed to fly to his head, unless Shizuo had just missed the timing since he seemed so into his chat with his co-workers just now. That wouldn’t be enough to have him shrug this off, though, since he was well aware that Shizuo had certain instincts when it came to Izaya; he’d claimed that he could smell Izaya, since he always had that scent of trouble brewing (which to Izaya, sounded ridiculous— think about it, trouble don’t have a smell and it wasn’t like Shizu-chan was a superhero to be sniffing out criminals).

“I will not forgive you if it goes awry in the future,” spoke a feminine sounding voice, but in a robotic manner.

Vorona didn’t let her guard down, despite Tom persuading her not to irk Orihara Izaya, especially in front of Shizuo (it was better to be cautious despite Shizuo already telling him he wouldn’t be so hostile towards Izaya from now on).

“What will?” he asked her.

“Orihara’s relationship with senpai.”

“Douglanikov-san, you sound so caring for this monster,” Izaya responded, gesturing towards Shizuo when he pronounced every syllable of ‘monster’ with emphasis, “if I shut my eyes, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between you and the lady on Google Translate!”

His words clearly got to Vorona, as he’d intended it to. She lurched forward to land an attack on him, almost successful since he didn’t manage to take out his switchblade fast enough, but with Tom holding her back, she couldn’t reach him. He felt as though he should take that as an advantage and retaliate. And he would’ve, if his attention wasn’t on Shizuo, who stood by as if all this wasn’t happening around him, smoking his now lit cigarette.

It was frustrating— how Shizuo didn’t react according to his expectations.

“Is this not the moment where Shizu-chan should wrap his fingers around my neck and strangle me to death?”

“You don’t strangle someone you love.”

He couldn’t utter anything, his mind turning blank when he heard those words, his own nimble fingers gripping onto his knife tightly that it was almost starting to be painful. This way of acting from Shizuo was too unfamiliar that it was suffocating. If he couldn’t figure Shizuo out before, this was even more confusing. What was Shizuo planning? He wanted to know. There was no way he’d go with the flow and risk being tangled up in this, just because he was too unprepared. Was Shizuo’s definition of love merely ‘not fighting’?

“You don’t love me. Let’s not fool anyone.”

“I’m trying to, and that matters more.”

“Ah~” he drawled out long, “If this is all Shizu-chan has, I don’t think it’ll be enough at all. As I thought, not only you don’t suit me in the first place, you don’t suffice either. Don’t think I’d easily be swayed just by this, and by a monster, no less. Anyone here can see that there’s no affection in Shizu-chan’s eyes. They’re only filled with violence, mm?”

Vorona was quick to react, noted Izaya; despite not saying anything and leaving it to her senpai, she was visibly getting more worked up over this than Shizuo was.

“Love can take time,” Shizuo replied.

“What does Shizu-chan know about love?”

“What do you?”

Shizuo may have not wanted to fight, but he sure didn’t mind arguing, Izaya thought as he attempted to brush the biting question off, opting to take a step back instead of argue further. If he’d stayed, this could only turn out to be taxing on his mind. There’d be another interaction another day, and by then, he’d have more cards up his sleeves to use against Shizuo (and hopefully there wouldn’t be anyone to intrude their conversation, too). For now, though, perhaps he should visit Simon instead.

Izaya tucked his switchblade away, letting out a small sigh whilst shaking his head.

Heh.

Another step back, and the corners of his lips curled into a grin of malice, gazing straight at Shizuo.