♚ d i s c o r d ; ;

asktsukumoya:

     There was some relief when Tsukumoya buried his face again, and Izaya felt as though he could properly breathe.  When he’d put on the earrings he had only wanted Tsukumoya to notice them and make some kind of comment--it really hadn’t been asking too much.  But he had pushed until he learned much more than anticipated, and for a moment he was actually a little bit...scared.

     He hated the word: scared.  Orihara Izaya didn’t get scared.  Maybe surprised, maybe even worried.  But not scared.  Yet when his mind had gone blank, and the words wouldn’t come it was a horrible feeling, and he hated Tsukumoya a little for it.

     Which was why the man’s sudden, feeble attempt at ‘escape’ made things that much better.

     Tsukumoya was the one hiding, and as troublesome as that was it was normal.  Izaya could handle it without having to give it much thought.  He could even let himself feel just a little flustered by the compliment if he wanted to.

     Not that he was...

     “Do you always have to say such stupid things?  I shouldn’t have even brought it up.  You’re too annoying--and hot.  Can’t you bury your face in the couch and suffocate instead?”

asktsukumoya:

     There was something just a little terrifying about feeling so many things at once, about having the intense desire to say something snarky in response and being completely unable to.  All Izaya could do for a moment was just stare back at him mutely, each attempt to speak ending in instant failure.  Finally he gave up on it and kept his mouth closed, but he knew the damage had already been done.

     He had labored under the delusion that Tsukumoya had actually failed to notice since he had not said anything.  He had never expected the reverse to be true.  How had he noticed so much about him?  Even the hip injury he had been keeping silent about.  It wasn’t a bad injury, but it had been painful enough, and that meant no one was to know about it.  And yet Tsukumoya had caught on without any apparent effort.

     It took enormous focus and restraint to keep himself from reacting to the fingers touching his ear, and he felt suddenly very foolish for putting up such a fuss.  He felt angry with himself, but even angrier at Tsukumoya for being so stupid.  Of course he had been talking about the earrings--the most obvious change in the previous week.  Why was he such an idiot?  

     Finally he broke eye contact and let himself take a single, steadying breath.  His thoughts collected, he found his voice once again, a little surprised by his own casual tone.

     “Anything else?”

asktsukumoya:

     Was he only being immature or was there some other idea forming in that mess of a mind?  Izaya had gone past being irritable over Tsukumoya’s apparently lack of observational skills and was now just bothered by him as an entire person.  The best indication, of course, was that Izaya had stopped actively fighting. 

     Had he wanted to move he could have done so easily.  Tsukumoya was hardly strong enough to keep him pinned down, but he was not in the mood to physically force him away.  He was also not in the mood to ignore him until he gave up.  He felt defiant, which was no less childish than the other man’s behavior.  He stared back at man and took no satisfaction when Tsukumoya broke their gaze.

     “No.”

asktsukumoya:

     Sometimes it amazed Izaya just how childish Tsukumoya could be.  And why did he put up with such behavior?  It wasn’t attractive; Izaya found it to be a major turn off after about a minute.  Maybe it was because it was just too easy to draw out such a reaction...

     “For someone so fascinated with the things I do every day you’re ridiculously oblivious.  Do I have to tell you everything?  Why did I ever bother coming to you in the first place?”

     His tone was a little more harsh than anticipated, but now that he had spoken up he didn’t seem ready to just back down.  It was irrational to be so annoyed, and he wasn’t exactly sure why he was annoyed anymore: he just knew he was.  And Tsukumoya wasn’t helping matters any.

     “Sit up.”

asktsukumoya:

     Without so much as flinching Izaya smacked the offending hand away from himself as though it were nothing but an insect.  He didn’t even have to look directly at Tsukumoya to know what sort of face he was making, and it took enormous effort not to laugh at it.  However he managed to maintain his indifferent expression, as well as his tone of voice.

     “You’re either terribly dense or annoyingly prideful, and I’m not about to tell you anything you should already know.  I thought you were observant?  Or I should say supposedly observant.  You really miss a lot of things, and I don’t even mean the obvious ones.”

asktsukumoya:

     As Tsukumoya became more comfortable, Izaya took his hand away, letting it come to rest on the arm of the couch instead.  He made sure not to touch Tsukumoya, and instead left him to his own devices.  Besides, the man was burning up--who would want to touch someone so warm?      He did have to admit to himself that it was nice to have Tsukumoya asking him such a question, but Izaya hadn’t exactly been lying.  The moment, in his opinion, had passed.  It just didn’t interest him anymore, and in lieu of a proper answer he just made a small, noncommittal noise.

     He was definitely the one taking the high road.

asktsukumoya:

     The color burning in Tsukumoya’s cheeks hardly felt like a victory considering how easily the man blushed, but Izaya at least understood that he had accomplished something.  He wasn’t entirely sure what he was after, and that was something that often scared him--just a little.  He was no longer sure what he wanted from Tsukumoya, and he acted on instinct around the man more often than he would have liked to admit.

     “You’ve never excited me, Tsukumoya.  And I mean that literally.  But the conversation has moved on; you had your chance to make an observation and to even let me admit that I had had enough of whatever game we might have been playing.  The time’s passed, and I don’t care anymore.”

    He could have reacted negatively.  Or he could have reacted in what would seem to be a joking manner.  But instead he chose to subtly fight back, and since that never ever ended up in a horrible, awkward situation, he was sure it would work in his favor.     Without any obvious effort he let one hand come to rest on Tsukumoya’s head,.his fingers almost absentmindedly playing with the man’s hair.  From anyone else it might have been a tender gesture, one that was natural.  But coming from Izaya it was something different...something perhaps a little more twisted.  And yet it seemed so simple and easy.

     “I think you’re somehow even more boring than you used to be.”  Tsukumoya might have been playful, but Izaya had gone just the opposite; he became more serious, thoughtful and possibly even disappointed.  “Ah, well it wasn’t anything important anyway.”