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“Shizu-chan, I have things to do you know?”
“Just shut up, don’t stress me.”
The loud sigh that left the raven’s lips nearly echoed through the small store they were in, causing the few other people currently there to hurry up even more with their groceries. Standing there arms crossed, obviously displeased by how long Shizuo was staring at the sweets in front of him already the information broker regretted having come along with him for the past fifteen minutes now.
He really didn’t have anything to do, but if Izaya would have known that the blonde’s little trip to the shop would take this long, he would have rather waited at home. It was close to 2am and even if he was used to staying up late, this was not something he wanted to stay awake for.
“Are you done yet? There’s way too much sugar in all of this it really doesn’t matter what you choose.”
Now the only answer he got was a quick glare that looked more like a pout, like a small child being in the exact same situation with his parents, maybe not at this time of the day though. All just because someone seemingly wasn’t able to survive without a pudding cup this late, definitely something the raven would have to change.
His only current source of entertainment were the few other customers that came in and despite being mostly drunk, sleep deprived or in desperate need of instant ramen they all reacted the same when entering the store: Eyes widening, swallowing thickly and hurrying up as much as they could to get out.
Of course people knew about their newly developed relationship, Erika didn’t waste much time to shout it from all of Ikebukuro’s rooftops and he himself secretly spread the news through his chatrooms as well, disguised as her. Much to his disappointment however Izaya soon had to realize that his dear monster did in fact, not mind at all, it was almost as if he enjoyed it. And just like their fights changed from throwing street signs and knives at each other to throwing themselves at each other, their roles seemed to have reversed too in certain situations. At some point Shizuo started to realize something that gave him about as much power as a nuclear weapon probably would, the blonde couldn’t help but to make good use of that knowledge as often as possible ever since.
After roughly twenty minutes of the raven slowly losing his sanity and repeatedly urging his lover to just make a decision already, he finally did so after inspecting the cup for just a bit longer. With a shrug the blonde glanced at him and after rolling his eyes Izaya quickly grabbed his wrist, dragging him to the cashier’s desk immediately before he even dared to think about changing his mind again.
The poor young man who had the night shift was trying his best to keep that friendly costumer service smile on his face but the shaking of his hands and trembling in his voice made it obvious that he had feared for his life ever since Shizuo noticed they didn’t have his favorite pudding cups. God knows what he had to endure already with the blonde as a regular late night customer, on top of that he was now confronted with a moody Izaya as well.
This little shopping trip already took way too long, the raven had neither the energy nor the will left to even try and toy with the employee after this experience, so he just leaned against the counter while the other was paying for the strawberry flavored candy. “Seriously, you eat way too much sugar. I had no idea monsters love sweets that much.”
Keeping his eyes on the item he was purchasing Shizuo gave the frightened man an apologizing smile along with his money, he seemed to appreciate it but the interactions were kept at a minimum still. “Not as much as I love you, so don’t be jealous. Come on, flea, let’s go.”
There it was, the reaction he hoped for, a blush appearing on the usually overly confident information broker’s cheeks, mouth opening just barely to respond but closing again. Not only was this a very obvious victory for the blonde, but those few fast blinks and the increasing red of Izaya’s cheeks were way more than just that to him. At first he didn’t notice, or maybe the other wasn’t fazed by things as much, however the more time they spent together in non-violent ways the more he got to see these quite unusual reactions.
Generally speaking, someone who had no idea who they were would most likely not even think much of it, most people would act like this around the person they love, right? Just that neither of them was like ‘most people’. Shizuo happily stopped questioning his decision to try dating as well as his feelings towards the raven after he got to see more of these little reactions. It was a bit cheesy, or how Erika described it ‘hopelessly romantic’, but if you’re dating someone like Izaya this might be the most honest expression of feelings you will ever get from him, at least that was how the blonde thought about it.
Hands shoved back into the pockets of his fur-trimmed jacket the smaller one of the two avoided to meet his lover’s eyes as they walked out of the store, taking a few moments to collect himself. Surprisingly despite being an information broker so far he didn’t seem to have noticed that Shizuo was saying things like this on purpose or that he was trying to figure out how far he can push it, maybe the raven didn’t even consider it a possibility since usually it would be the other way around.
“Just for your informa-….” And the blonde really did plan to find out just how far he can really push it, now knowing that Izaya got even more easily embarrassed in public than when they were alone, that he stopped talking mid-sentence when he intertwined their fingers was yet another small achievement.
On their way back to Shizuo’s apartment the conversation between them was definitely kept at a minimum, both of them not yet fully used to this type of…interaction. He was sure if it wasn’t past two in the morning and the streets wouldn’t be empty, except for maybe a handful of cars and a person or two every few blocks, there was no chance that they would be walking home together like this. Not because the blonde wouldn’t want to, more because the other would never be like this in public, after the little moment earlier Izaya would probably be even more cautious now.
“Flea?” Too bad for him that instead of throwing street signs now the blonde just wanted to throw all his love at him, until one day maybe he would just admit that it’s perfectly ok for him to be a normal human who had with emotions. After all, he would still be Izaya. A sweeter, less evil Izaya. Shizuo was perfectly willing to make him blush as many times as needed to achieve that.
Tilting his head a bit the raven was back to his usual self, with some additional tiredness making his voice unintentionally sound slightly arrogant. Another thing Shizuo had learned since they started dating, he in fact often didn’t intend to make it sound that way it was just a natural underlying tone in his voice especially when he was exhausted, a very annoying and hard to get used to tone nonetheless. “Yes, Shizu-chan?”
A little smile tugging at the corner of his lips he let go of Izaya’s hand just to pull his smaller frame closer. His arm now around the other’s waist the blonde’s hazel eyes focused on the path ahead so he would be able to resist the urge to grin just a bit longer. “You look really cute when you’re blushing.”
Finally allowing himself to look at the raven again Shizuo's smirk grew wider at what he saw, expecting just a slight blush like earlier. Instead the raven had bright crimson spread across his face, eyes staring at the ground and bottom lip tucked between his teeth, he clearly caught him off guard with that, the blonde felt like he was on a roll. One of his hands covering just about his mouth, there was just one tiny miscalculation Izaya made in an attempt to hide his face: the direction he turned his head towards was the glass façade of the store they were currently passing, giving his lover a perfect view of his reflection.
“You’re the worst, you stupid beast…”
And after those few mumbled words said beast couldn’t help but laugh, truly feeling like the strongest man in Ikebukuro at this very moment for putting the information broker in such a state of embarrassment. Looking around for just a second Shizuo was more curious than worried whether there was anyone around who saw them, not that it would stop him, before stepping in front of his flustered raven to lean down and place a gentle kiss on his red cheek.
“But I’m your stupid beast,” he whispered while pulling him closer, this time pressing their lips together still not able to wipe the smirk off his features.
This must’ve been the favorite trip to the grocery store he ever had, Izaya eventually decided to go with him the following times as well despite what he said and the cashier refused to ever take the night shift again after two weeks, not being able to handle it anymore. A complaining information broker, his inhumanly strong boyfriend with a vanilla pudding addiction, their interactions in general and the danger of making even the tiniest mistake all together were just too much for him.