002. || I Take It This Isn't Izaya's Day

[xtsundereprince]

Who: Orihara Izaya and Laharl
Location: Troll dude's penthouse.
Time: Much later that evening. I suppose when Izaya gets back after that happy little romp
Style: Whichever works! I'll follow after you.
Status: Closed!


Alright, so perhaps Izaya was the last person he considered he'd be rooming with. Why did he apply for that room in the first place? Impulse? Maybe the fact he felt like Izaya was probably the only one he could really hang around with under this bubble and not get the urge to tear his hair out. Well, not from stupidity. The informant, though infuriating, kept him on his toes. Somehow, there was something intangible between them. A strange bond of sorts. Whatever it was, it was infuriating, loud, insufferable... and yet, pretty damn exciting.

The first morning had become possibly a preview of what was to come. He'd awoken by a less than necessary tackle-pounce far earlier than he was used to (read: before noon) as well as bickered his way halfway through breakfast with nothing more than that smirk thrown back at him. With a hair ruffle given and the informant was on his way out, leaving Laharl to stew a moment in his fury.

The two spent the afternoon apart, Izaya off doing what he usually did (No questions asked was the deal of their moving in. Laharl really had no intention of nosing unless it got in his way anyway) and the prince wandering about trying to kill time. Of course, he'd noticed the strange goings on around the city. Conversations seemed awkward, there was the occasional banter here and there and every so often, he'd catch sight of more apologies within conversations and demands for explanation than was necessary.

Some part of him felt certain that if there was someone in the bubble who'd know what was up, it would be Izaya. Of course, this only meant the first words out of his mouth that day when he got back to the apartment were "Hey. Notice anything weird around town?"

Comments

[xtsundereprince]

His smirk equalled that of the informant's when that little thing about him dressing in drag came about. "Hell yeah it's gonna be a fun week." the demon managed to snicker as he was digging around the first aid kit. Touche, dude. No denying it was going to be an interesting week for the both of them. But then his attention turned back to the first aid kit. Bandages, sure, those were mandatory. But the medicines boggled him slightly. With a little huff of irritation, he drew out what seemed to be a stick of gum (ABC Gum, the wrapper read, by the Rosenqueen company.) and wagged it with his free hand in Izaya's face. "Here. Chew on this while I try to figure it out. Should help."

Clearly, the Netherworld had its own medicinal structure unknown to normal man.

"Think I got it. " he finally said after a short period of trying to figure out which was the antiseptic and which was the iodine. With a little huff and the bottles plus the bandages settled nearby, he settled himself down beside the older man and began to lightly dab at the wounds with a cotton swab doused with a measure of antiseptic. Despite the fact it took a while, the prince did seem to have a semblance of knowing what he was doing.

"I can reach just fine. Geez." he sighed as an afterthought, tending to one of the larger gashes on Izaya's back with an exhale. The last time he got scratched up this bad, the healers took care of him easily enough. How humans managed without a decent Netherworld hospital nearby, he was never certain. "Need me to hold your hand, Izaya?" Laharl added with the smallest sneer, leaning in just the tiniest bit.

[kingwithnocrown]

"...Gum?" he echoed and stared for a long time at it. Why would he need to chew on gum? He rolled his eyes at the prince's invitation to chew on the stick and took it from him. Unwrapping the candy, he hesitantly pushed it into his mouth and began to do just that. He'd never been very fond of sweets and candy and things of the like. Not necessarily because it tasted bad but he was health-cautious.

Well. Minus the whole part where he intentionally threw himself into the line of fire of vending machines. That's besides the point though.

"I should've had Ion do this. Something tells me that that brat's got more knowledge than you do when it comes to this kinda thing," he drawled, though he didn't seem very intent on stopping Laharl. He flinched a bit when Laharl first started to dab on his wounds and he ground his teeth into the gum. Ah. Well that made sense then. He clenched his hands and focused his mind away from the stinging. He looked over at Laharl and focused on the demon's face.

"For a demon, you don't look scary at all," he said after a moment, "You just look cute. Are demons typically just cute? I mean, I've met some- ahhhhnn... other demons and they're very handsome. Are you going to grow up to be very handsome, La-harrrrl?" he asked, his mouth pulled up into a smirk. "It's sad that I won't be able to see. As a king I bet you're going to be a total bombshell one day. It's a shame I had to meet you when you're pint-sized," he complained, looking away from Laharl.

"You wish-" he retorted but his skin crawled as the large one was cleansed and he shifted a bit, trying not to show too much pain on his face. His shoulders sagged and he dropped his head forward onto his toilet. "Ugh...This sucks. I guess it's not the worst I've had though. Nnn-."

[xtsundereprince]

The gum had been, at some part, a healing item from his world. It was a leftover from the supplies they'd taken with them into battle before the demon prince had been pulled into the city. Lucky for him, it seemed to at least have kept its flavor if not its healing properties. The pout on his face was fixed to say the least, not about to leave while he continued his minstrations on various scrapes and bits of torn flesh. Why he continued to do this, he wasn't certain. Why he continued to tend to his rather infuriating roomate-slash-landlord, he didn't know for sure but he did it anyway.

Though he ended up turning his gaze aside just to avoid meeting Izaya's when the informant turned his eyes his way. It was the preferred course of action considering how close contact and especially close eye contact caused blood to rush to his cheeks. The last thing he needed was more taunting. The cute comment caused him to dab the cotton ball in just a liiiiiiitle deeper into a gash. "I told you, I'm not cute!" the prince flared, discarding the antiseptic cotton swab and dabbing another in iodine to cover the larger wounds. "And damn straight I'm gonna look good when I get better. I mean c'mon. Don't tell me I don't look good now." he added as a hindsight.

Laharl took another few careful swipes across a larger wound, taking care this time as he saw how much it was getting to the normally less-than-ruffled human. "Guess you get beat up worse than this, huh?" he asked, his voice strangely lowered as he continued his work. His free hand rose up however, hesitating a moment before lightly stroking Izaya's head in what seemed to be a gesture of small comfort once when he dropped his head on the toilet but those fingers were quickly pulled away before anything else could be said or perhaps the movement noticed.

[kingwithnocrown]

Why they did anything that they did was really a question of the century. Izaya didn't mind it too much though. Laharl was useful to him in plenty of ways. Granted he wasn't as interesting as some other residents of Vatheon but that was in a way that put Laharl in potential danger. So it was probably for the best. Laharl was one of the few people that Izaya didn't feel any particular desire to ruin. It was fun to humiliate him and make him blush because hey, that's pretty cute, but that's about the extent of his torture with Laharl.

"H-ey!" he hissed when he felt that additional, unnecessary pressure. He almost smacked Laharl but went against it, instead settling for a cold glare. "Well that's an opinionated so you can't tell me whether or not I find you to be cute and I do so you'll just have to deal with it, won't you?" he asked, then he smirked, twisting a bit more around to stare entirely at Laharl, rubbing his chin. "Hmmmm." He tilted his head and reached out to jab a finger roughly into Laharl's stomach. "Yeah, you're not so bad, Laharl. You're cute and a little handsome in a weird kinda way but you're still just a kid. I mean, let's face it- I re-eally like men-" He blurted the last bit out. Granted it seemed to flow enough in the conversation but Izaya still looked a bit surprised by his own confession.

"Well..." he mumbled afterward, his eyes rolled up to fixate on the ceiling. While the confession may have been awkward for some, Izaya merely rolled his shoulders and sighed. "Who doesn't." He hung his head back down because hey, it's not like he had ever been that open about saying that so bluntly before to anyone. "Nn yeah. Especially with Shizu-chan around. I mean, I'll admit, I antagonize him a lot of the time but sometimes he attacks me out of the blue and that's usually when I get hurt the worst," he admitted, tapping the side of the toilet as his face was drawn into an unreadable expression. Though there was something rather sad about it...

Then his eyes widened just a little when suddenly he felt a hand on his head. It was brief and Izaya would have missed it if he weren't Izaya but he was so he did and he felt a touch of warmth. Right. That's why he had agreed to Laharl living with him. He smiled somewhat and turned around to sit normally.

"Laaaharl," he drawled, opening his arms to the boy, "You're so much nicer than you care to admit, ne? Or at least you care more. I'm almost touched."

[xtsundereprince]

Truth be told, their relationship could be recounted as anything but normal. It was almost masochistic of the demon to remain in his antagonizer's company but he had to admit, there was just something about him. Perhaps it was that measure of danger he had about him, probably the way the prince was reminded of Etna at times. Was there a definite answer why he did these things? Maybe not. 

That sudden confession didn't really surprise him though it did cause a bit of a double take. Leave it to the curse to cause something so random and yet so fitting to creep into their conversation. It put him slightly on edge and made him continue this work in silence, only pausing to swat away that jan with a hand. 

But true to his nature, there was a quick fluster that came to the prince at Izaya's sudden movement. What could he say to that? What else could he say? He had no answer, even to himself as to why he'd suddenly offered that measure of warmth. Kindness. Kindness wasn't inherent in demons. "The hell 're you on?! I'm not nice! Demons aren't nice!" he flared, bristling at the 'accusation'. "I only did that because I think I like you."

The words left his mouth before he could even stop them. But there it was, hanging in the ether. His futile little confession, right there. The prince's hands immediately clapped over his own mouth before he could say anything more. Needless to say, all the blood had managed to rush to his cheeks, causing a more than furious blush than ever before. 

Oh fuck.

Oh fuck this all to Baal's tower and back.

[kingwithnocrown]

"I don't know Laharl, you're pretty nice to me. I've never really seen you be cruel or anything," he said, and just as he was about to further insult Laharl and any sense of masculinity he had- Laharl said something entirely unexpected. I think I like you. Izaya's eyes were wide in shock and for a long moment, that's all he did. He stared at Laharl with his mouth parted as though about to speak but nothing came out. Then a handsome face appeared in his mind. Someone familiar and someone who vanished just after telling Izaya that they loved him.

Granted this wasn't a love confession but it was still a little alarming. No one ever liked Izaya...Crushes on Izaya didn't make sense to him. He had always figured that Laharl was just an easily embarrassed kid. He didn't take his blushing and shyness seriously. While Izaya could have destroyed Laharl for this and while he could have mocked him until he was crying, Izaya didn't. Surprisingly he didn't.

Instead, his mouth closed and he reached a hand out and placed it atop of Laharl's head.

"No," he said, "you don't."

He slid his hand over Laharl's head and to the back of his head and pulled the demon towards him until he was just about to be against his own body but he didn't pull him the rest of the way there. "You're probably just attached to me in some sort of familiarized way. I'm not the type of guy people like," he explained, smiling kindly but there was something distant in his eyes. "People like me because I force them into Stockholm predicaments where they feel strongly towards me and typically mistaken it for attraction, love, or some type of idol worship."

He dropped his hand and pulled Laharl's hands away from his face with both of his and leaned in to kiss Laharl just on his cheek and right next to his mouth. He leaned back and smiled at Laharl, releasing his wrists. "Thanks for touching up my cuts by the way," he said, pushing himself up onto the toilet and up from the floor. "You done?"

[xtsundereprince]

He braced himself for the worst rejection that could be hurled at him. Knowing Izaya, he wouldn't let this one slip. He'd probably never hear the end of it. Damn this curse. Damn it to the Netherworld and back! Ah, but it wouldn't be helped anymore. It was already out there. The prince fliched slightly, waiting for the insults, the jabs, anything... but it never came. In its place were those words and the hand on his head. It left Laharl feeling the tiniest bit confused, slightly wondering if he'd touched a sort of nerve in the human.

Before he could say anything else, he was pulled over close. Admittedly, it did seem a little bit awkward just standing there but he didn't know what else to do but reach out and lightly clutch at Izaya's shoulder as he spoke. Part of him just wanted to stay like that for a while despite the raging protests in his mind that this was wrong, this would end up so terribly wrong but another part seemed to long for it. It called forth memories he'd shoved away at the back of his mind, of his father pulling him over for a hug and him pulling away in protest. It brought back thoughts of his mother, the only one he'd ever allow a hug from. And now suddenly, Izaya. It only left him just the smallest bit confused. Did he really like the human in that matter? For one, were demons even capable of love? Was Flonne on to something?

Strangely, it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. No tears came to him. He wasn't the sort to cry anyway but there was still that undeniable pang in his chest. It stung just a bit more, just the teeniest bit from that small kiss but enough to pull him back from his musings. "N... no problem." Laharl finally spoke up, straightening up and folding his arms back across his chest. Back to normal, no questions asked. However, he picked up the roll of gauze and thrust it out at the informant.

"Here. Go wrap yourself up and don't get so beat up next time!" he huffed, hiding his concern in his usual sudden outbursts.