⊱ ⁺ even 𝗍͟𝗁͟𝗈͟𝗎͟𝗀͟𝗁͟ we are 𝒮eparated , our 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 will 𝑏𝑒 linked 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 —ㅤ໒ྀི
hello lovely people! im starting a new theme soon! it's called lovember. as the name suggests, i will be making my theme love for a month, starting from 1st of Nov <3.
so, if you see me in your fyp, get prepared to see love quotes and "love is in the air" and shit. thats me. thats me.
Lol I posted this while it was still blank so I wouldn't lose the day it was due, but this one is a little late. I didn't want to break my streak on the last day, but I got a bit too ambitious. I made it though!! Give me a few minutes to post it on AO3!! Happy Shizaya Lovember. Thank you SO much if you've made it this far, read any of the posts, liked or reblogged any of the post- you're all awesome!! See you at my next writing challenge.
Izaya’s fatal mistake was a simple one. He should have known better. He always should have known better.
On days when he knew he’d be the last person home, there was always a risk. He came home to the apartment in pitch darkness. It was well after his and Shizuo’s usual bedtime. He tiredly hung his coat on the rack by the door, passing through the kitchen to warm the tea kettle, looking through the half-wall between it and the rest of the apartment. The TV was on, and Izaya blinked absently at the sleeping lump of blankets curled up on the couch. He poured his tea and staggered into the living area.
Shizuo’s sleeping face was irresistible. Izaya would never admit it to his face, but if there was one thing about their relationship that he considered a guilty pleasure of sorts, Izaya loved to play with Shizuo’s hair while he was sleeping. He loved studying his sleeping face, poking at his facial features as the other fought and lost against sleep. Shizuo’s heavy sleeping habits had worked well in his favor for quite some time now. Izaya had doodled a picture of him and pinned it on the corner of his cubicle in the internet cafe- his own personal rental space which he only used for days when he couldn’t afford to be distracted by Shizuo’s presence.
Izaya sat on the edge of the couch with his cup of tea and gently eased the blanket covering Shizuo’s face off of the other. He found himself somewhat perturbed by the disgusting romcom playing in the background behind them, so he turned to grab the remote and turn the thing off. Just as he sat his hot cup and saucer down on his coffee table, his faux pas was beyond fixing.
The blanket unraveled open like the great mouth of a giant venus flytrap. Izaya was too close and caught off guard by the movement. The Shizuo spring-loaded trap snatched him away from his tea and captured him instantly, rolling him against the back of the couch. Izaya should have known from his studies on Shizuo’s sleep patterns and movements- it was a fake out.
The fault was on Izaya’s own exhaustion. He had spent a tireless, nearly 16-hour day in his internet cafe room. There was a particular info-broking project that he couldn’t deflect from, so he had left early this morning while Shizuo was too asleep to stop him from leaving and had been gone until the project was done. Izaya felt like the mountain that was usually his mind had experienced something of a rockslide on the path uphill. Also, he wasn’t proud of the squeal he made when Shizuo grabbed him and started kissing him all over his face- eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
“Ahh! Ahhh! Stop! Are you a dog? You’re drooling all over me!” Izaya whined, and then Shizuo started nipping him on the ear. Then he moved to his cheekbone, jaw, and finally under his neck where Izaya squealed even louder because it tickled.
“Please, please!” Izaya begged after a few minutes, “Can’t I get any mercy?”
Shizuo paused for just a moment to whisper “No” before continuing his assault.
To be clear, this was not Izaya’s preferred affection from Shizuo which he was just pretending to dislike. Shizuo actively knew Izaya did not like to be subject to sudden onslaughts of kisses and tickling, which was his apparent solution to his former method of just pinning Izaya any time he didn’t like what the other was doing.
After about ten minutes of Izaya squirming and begging, he finally professed the claim, “My tea is going to get cold! Please, Shizu-chan! And the movie is annoying. Let me- let me up.” Izaya was gasping, really feeling the toll of his exhaustion. Shizuo let him sit up, sitting up with him.
“Your body’s really tense,” Shizuo said, vicing Izaya’s torso with his comically strong legs and pinning the other in place while he leaned up himself to grab Izaya’s tea for him, “You spend the whole day working, huh?”
Izaya cleared his throat, breathing heavy because his blood was rushing to his face. He took the tea with a satisfied sigh, whispering, “Thank you.”
“You absolute ass. You didn’t tell me how long you’d be gone today.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“Then you should have just said that!” Shizuo countered.
Izaya cast him a meek smirk, “Were you worried?” he teased, but that was when Shizuo decided to pinch him for being cheeky.
“I told you to stop doing that and you still did it! Don’t call me a brute for not communicating with you and then flying off whenever you like.”
Izaya took a nervous breath, putting down his tea after a few gulps and then laughing slightly. “Yeah… I’m sorry.”
There was a beat.
There was a time when Izaya and Shizuo hadn’t said things like this to one another. Those times had been much less productive times between them. There was a time when Izaya thought this was never going to work. Then one day, it was like this fire had gone off in Shizuo’s brain. He couldn’t even take some of the credit. It was like the other was just deciding to try and understand him. Izaya wished that he could have done that, but the Shizuo he once knew before they were an item was a man he never could have gotten through to- especially not as the Izaya he once was.
Now, Shizuo responded to every one of Izaya’s shortcomings in the communications and interactions area with a little bit of an eccentric twist that Izaya had never seen from anyone before. Shizuo was taking an interest in him as a person, trying to find the right way to handle when Izaya didn’t know how to properly respond to conflict because anything involving him made Izaya shut down. It was what had plagued Izaya his whole life, down to his inability to connect with others enough to be friends with them on a deeper level, up until the point that Shinra had befriended him. This thing in Izaya’s head was even what plagued him enough to make him want to do things as absurd as work 16-hours straight for money he didn’t need, and it was the same thing that drove him to study people as though he were an outsider from his own kind.
After the beat, Shizuo pulled him into a behind the back hug. He squeezed him slightly, enough for Izaya to notice but it didn’t hurt. This was another trick Shizuo had learned in their time together.
“I missed you,” Shizuo murmured into his ear, and Izaya shivered.
“You didn’t text me,” Izaya murmured back.
“I called at lunch. You didn’t answer,” Shizuo shot back.
“You… oh, that’s right. You did, didn’t you…” Izaya pulled out his phone and looked at his call history. Sure enough, a call from Shizuo was there. He half expected Shizuo to grab his phone on sight and chuck it at the wall, but the other maintained arms around Izaya’s waist, choosing to squeeze and pulled the collar of Izaya’s shirt down with his teeth to start kissing a random area of Izaya’s skin.
“I’m sorry I forgot,” Izaya said, repeating himself, “It was a really busy day and I… I got sidetracked.” The truth was that Izaya’s phone was on silent when it wasn’t supposed to be. Earlier that morning, he’d been in a bookstore as it opened so he could look at the synopsis of a book he’d been interested in and turned his phone on silent as it was being blown up by his client at the time. Izaya, in his irritation at being harassed by this person, had left the thing on silent. When he saw he’d missed a call from Shizuo, he’d intended to call back right away only to then get a rather threatening message from prior-mentioned client. Rather than allow himself to be intimidated, Izaya had spent the rest of the evening trying his best to both resolve the client’s problem while also leaving the client open for a possible attack from one of their enemies in the near future. It had been a real deep dive of an experience.
“I-za-ya,” Shizuo growled into his ear, “You’re ignoring me. You’re focusing too much on work. How am I supposed to talk shit to you if you go off hiding from me or something?”
“Don’t be silly. I wasn’t hiding.”
“Even worse then. You weren’t thinking of me at all?”
Izaya’s heart skipped a painful beat. His face went blank without Shizuo watching and he reached back and grabbed Shizuo by the face, gently.
“I am… always thinking of you.” Izaya murmured, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
He could react this way because they’d fought over this idea between them many times before. Izaya’s work had consumed him before. It had nothing to do with lack of interest in their home life or even a desire to indulge in Izaya’s own hobby- the truth was that Izaya had spells of interminable fear that he would ruin everything, and in so doing, he ended up pulling himself away. Shizuo had grown to somewhat understand this feeling and had determined his own solution.
“Tell me what you think about,” Shizuo whispered, and Izaya was lilted backwards against him, practically swooning over the slight plea in the other’s voice. To hear Shizuo begging him was to feel a cool breeze in the dry scorching desert of Izaya’s desire to be wanted.
“I think about,” Izaya gasped as Shizuo’s hands ran under his shirt, “I think about how good it feels when you roll out of my bed every morning.”
Shizuo kissed his cheek, nuzzling him further into the couch. This was their solution. Izaya kept sharing his thoughts.
“I think about how I feel drunk when you crawl into the shower with me at night,” Izaya said as Shizuo massaged his sore legs. He sighed with content, rolling back into him.
“Pervert.”
“If I’m a pervert, you’re a monstrous pervert,” Izaya told him. Shizuo stopped what he was doing now to give him another proper hug. Izaya loosed a breath, and then he offered another one, “I like feeling like I’m being missed.” he said softly. Shizuo leaned in more at that.
“Like what do you mean?”
“Just… when you’re happy to see me and you act enthusiastic about it like you are now. It feels nice. I could… I could do that again.” Izaya shrugged in Shizuo’s arms. Shizuo gaped at him.
“You are a selfish bastard, and I ought to chuck you out the window.”
Izaya snorted derisively. “Yeah… probably. So why don’t you?”
“Because I like cuddling with you too.” Shizuo rested his chin on Izaya’s shoulder, “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t have to act like a little dog every time you come home in order for you to feel special, yeah? You know I love you.”
Izaya didn’t really have a good retort to that, “Yeah…”
Shizuo was running gentle circles into Izaya’s back now and the other leaned in heavily, feeling the weight of the conversation unraveling him like a frayed rope. He relaxed, and then he reached up to grab Shizuo’s face.
“Hey, can I ask you something?”
“I dunno. Can you?”
Izaya deserved that one. “I’m too tired for this,” he grumbled, popping Shizuo on the mouth. The other didn’t flinch or even crack a smile, “What is something you want from me? I mean… communication, yes. I’ll work on it. But… how can I make you feel more loved?”
“Oh… uh… you really don’t have to.”
“I am obviously asking because I want to, Shizu-chan.” Izaya snapped, “Seriously. This seems to be helping me, so… what would help you, Shizu-chan? What makes you feel closer to me?”
Shizuo seemed to consider the whole universe for a moment, and for the first time Izaya realized that whatever was there behind Izaya’s eyes constantly making his own life more difficult to understand and walk through on a day-to-day basis was probably also very similar to the thing behind Shizuo’s eyes also, constantly at work on him.
“Hm. More cuddles,” Shizuo finally said after less than five minutes. Izaya scoffed.
“Seriously? The hug attacks and the constant make outs isn’t enough? You want MORE?”
Shizuo considered it for another half second. “Yeah.” he said with a simple nod, “I could always use more cuddling with you.”
Touch starved freak. Izaya gave him a half smile from his side profile. “Pathetic,” he smile and leaned back into Shizuo’s shoulder, nuzzling the other’s face like they were a couple of affectionate cats, “Okay. I’ll think of something.”
Shizuo didn’t smile or beam at him. He didn’t react with enthusiasm, yet Izaya could still feel the excitement radiating from the knowledge of knowing Izaya’s “idea” was on the horizon. This was what a relationship developing between the two of them looked like. Shizuo was getting Izaya to gradually pour out his heart by capturing him in a blanket and literally giving him gentle love and care. It was almost brilliant if he thought about it long enough.
Happy Shizaya Lovember! I realize I did a lot of talking about this on the first few days but listen LISTEN. Ya'll should have KNOWN I was going to talk about what it's like for them cohabitating again- as many fics as I write.
No more disclaimers. The ones who are here are here if they haven't caught on by now lol. Anyway!
Showers- One of the perks of living with a partner? Communal baths. <3 They love, or more pointedly Shizuo loves taking showers and baths together. Since they live in the same home too, they can take one whenever they want. It becomes completely normal to just walk in on one another. Izaya is less impressed but he does have to admit he likes being able to get Shizuo to smile in one relatively easy manner (I just mean getting in the shower with him ya'll. Any other stuff you imagine is on YOU.)
Date Night- Date night EVERY night, and Shizuo is hopelessly romantic about that. He's especially eager about it when they first move in, so he and Izaya establish a little routine. Some nights they lay on the couch and order take out. Some nights they cook and one of them brings home sweets. They have candlelight dinners. Izaya has all the conventional date ideas that he wants to give a try.
Dinner- In general, I think Shizuo probably cooks the most since Izaya doesn't really opt to. He'll always go for take out food over cooking at home. He doesn't like to do dishes and I think it reminds him too much of his independence- which I'm sure sounds weird but when you've been doing everything for yourself for the longest time, being able to just have something that was made for you or better yet have a partner make it for you, it's pretty lonely being independent. Shizuo has had to do a lot of stuff on his own as well too, but he has more people in his life willing to do things with him and for him. With that said, Izaya loves for Shizuo to cook for them. It's relatively simple stuff.
TV & Screentime- Shizuo likes to watch TV and he's fine with technology generally speaking, but when you live with Izaya Orihara, you have to limit these things. Therefore, only two movie nights maximum are allowed per week. Izaya has supplemented some of this by trying to get Shizuo to play card games or do a puzzle which is all well and good, but he's terrible at those. Shizuo is especially firm about Izaya not being on his phone when they're having a date night.
Chores- They share chores pretty equally, which I think was an expectation they both had going into it. Izaya vacuums more because Shizuo has a hard time wrestling with utilities, and Shizuo does the dishes more because Izaya can't be on his phone if his hands are wet, but overall it's split 50/50, and weirdly they both find that kind of romantic as well.
Closet Space- Depending on the apartment they're in, their closet space may be shared and quite comical or just evenly distributed. Izaya likes for Shizuo to help him with the laundry, but Shizuo's left the entire organization system up to him for the most part. He very poignantly will not allow Izaya to fold his vests or pants himself, so Izaya sticks (with a haughty bitterness I might add) with folding Shizuo's undershirts and underwear. He also places Shizuo's clip on ties and belts in their own spot. They have had very mild fights over laundry which for them usually means like... maybe a knife got thrown? It ended up being fine.
Privacy- Obviously there is a significantly less amount of this to go around, so Izaya has had weird cagey spells on occasion. It's also oddly liberating to have someone see you at your most vulnerable. I think more than anything though, they're both just happy to get to be alone together more often because they always get along great when they spend time with no one else but each other.
Codependency- This one honestly probably could have been a whole day of Shizaya Lovember and I just didn't think about it lol. Living together means a lot more to Izaya than it does to Shizuo- not to say it doesn't mean a LOT, but the gap is severity is very real. Izaya can't just have someone in his life, seeing him every day, caring for him, and doing things for him (off his payroll too) without getting a little too attached to it. Izaya been knew for the longest time that he probably wasn't the healthiest partner to be around because any partner he got would likely be his sole focus and fixation. He becomes incredibly clingy when he and Shizuo have lived together for a bit. I'd even say somewhere around three months, it'll hit him like a bag of bricks that Shizuo threw at him. Then he's like, "Oh no. I'm fucking done for. I'm had."
Happy Shizaya Lovember!! I hope you're doing well. Make a wish seeing as how it's 11/11!!
Using #shizayalovember or just #lovember if you'd like to filter it out (or see more!).
This is really the only fanfic-y and specific prompt I have on this list (that I still... haven't... posted oops lol). This is more of a quick list of things I want to happen on a hot spring date because I've been really wanting to write a hot spring fic:
Izaya demanding that they go to the hot springs the moment they get there and at least two more times before they leave. They're here and they simply must make the most out of the whole experience! Shizuo thinks it's a bit overkill.
Shizuo drinking milk after every bath and Izaya actually joining him since it's "appropriate" for the occasion. It genuinely brings an amused smile to Shizuo's face.
Izaya having all the add ons and making sure they get full body massages with hot stones. He asks for Shizuo to wash his back a total of one time because the pressure Shizuo puts on his back is agony, and even though Shizuo promises to be gentler next time, one bout of pain is enough to make Izaya shy away.
Shizuo wanting to have at least one private bath so he and Izaya can enjoy each other's company and sit close to each other without feeling like a spectacle.
Izaya will at one point take them to a place that has private onsen. He WILL have his romantic experience damn it. Plus, anything Shizuo says he wants to do becomes one of Izaya's highest date priorities.
Izaya is at high risk for overheating in the shower. Shizuo warns him that if he does indeed overheat in that bath, he will be watched like a hawk and babied for the rest of their trip.
That definitely does happen and Izaya pouts, but what are you gonna do Izaya, argue? Try and stop him.
They smooch in that bath. Don't play with me. Ya'll know what I'm about. (Note: I am aware PDA is considered inappropriate in onsen in Japan. Just imagine that this is a quick moment where they happen to be alone in the bath or they are in a private bath. They destroy buildings on the regular, suspend your disbelief for this pls)
Izaya yaps on about fun facts and the history of onsen and the scientific origins of them in the earth. Shizuo is interested and intrigued and asks questions, but eventually he's like alright shut the hell up. Put a towel on your head and submerge yourself to your chin dummy. You can be alone with your own thoughts. It won't kill you.
Post hot-springs spicy time is so cozy and the best. They love to sit under a kotatsu and eat oranges after a bath as well. They are both good at getting very cozy and having (relatively) quiet time. Izaya do be yappin.
Izaya likes to striptease Shizuo and Shizuo gets SO embarrassed by this. Scandalous flea boy.
“Bridge to Lieutenant Paris. We're ready to get underway.”
“Captain, I'm afraid—”
“Go.”
“But…”
“No buts, fly boy. If this mission is going to succeed we need our best pilot at the helm. Don't worry, the Doctor will be here with me.”
And that’s a wrap on LOVEmber! Thanks to everyone for following along, I hope you enjoyed reliving all the mushy stuff. A big thank you to lisam100 for all the help in putting this month of kisses together! She made a video of (almost - Steth, gag!) every aired P/T kiss and it’s the perfect thing to cap off our Month of Love.
