The next morning Shizu-chan didn't say much, and strangely enough, I decided it better not to bother him on the subject. He had gotten the day off and chose not to do much throughout the morning. But as the day began to drag on I found it more difficult to just sit quiet and watch the man wallow.
Exasperated and beyond bored, I let out a dramatic sigh Shizu-chan was bound to hear. I curled my finger in a familiar motion, focusing on his small television as I did so.
Starting up with a flicker, the screen illuminated to life. With a little hop in my step, I settled down on his couch as far away from Shizu-chan as possible. Sinking into something comfortable as I curled my legs close.
Shizu-chan sat slumped on the far side of the couch, his elbow resting against the armrest with his cheek squished in his palm.
The room was quiet besides the low-volume mumbles of the televisions changing channels. The options were horrible, to say the least. Lazy twitches of my ring finger flicked through the options as I sat there heavily unimpressed.
Ever since Shizu-chan had first seen me it's been easier to interact with household objects in his apartment. Sadly that's where those abilities meet their limit, but it was still an improvement compared to before.
The beast let out a grumble, something about 'annoying flea,' as he glanced in my direction.
"Would you just pick one already?" His voice was low, lip quipped with mild annoyance. I only hummed in return, continuing to scan through options, there was a certain channel I was in search of. Shizu-chan turned his head away with a 'tsk,' patience running thin from the constant audio changes.
Soon enough, I had found the channel I was looking for, the News. I settled further back into the cheap cotton layered couch and took in the daily news being covered at that time, ignoring Shizu-chan's obvious groan as I did so.
"The news? Seriously?" He sounded exhausted. He must not have gotten any sleep last night.
"I quite enjoy it, it's entertaining," I add with a shrug. Truth be told, the news wasn't usually something I'd amuse myself with. Most things they covered were either fake dramatics or events I already long since knew of.
I had turned it on from pure curiosity regarding one story in specific. It had happened around evening last night, and it was around late morning now, so there was a chance they would still be covering it.
Currently, all the News was covering was something about a mutt and a little girl's bond. A sap story that seemed to actually have Shizu-chan's engagement.
He would be interested in the story of a sickly little girl being reunited with her pet.
With another bored sigh to add to my list of many, I dipped my head back as I waited for the story to finally end. "A beautiful experience to witness," a monotone lady spoke, "She's always been such a sweetheart with animals," her mother would beam.
My god, this was getting boring.
"In other News, evening last night a man was sent to the emergency room from an overdose. Police had reason to believe something strange and found the man's daughter murdered on the bathroom floor. Authorities have reason to suspect the father of the murder after police found weapon evidence with his fingerprints. For now, it is suspected the man had killed his daughter and overdosed in the attempt of suicide." The woman's voice was spread even, monotone as she scanned over her script.
Bingo.
I rose from my slouched position with a start to pay attention to the screen. Blatantly ignoring how Shizu-chan seemed to do the exact opposite, seeping deeper into the pillows as he listened. Our eyes were both glued intently towards the screen.
They didn't reveal much besides the story I had already presumed. Something about the mother abandoning their family and leaving the two a broken shell of their once happy life. A few sick scenarios and an argument later and you have a corpse, along with a man stricken with guilt to the point of suicide.
It was nothing I wasn't expecting to hear, but I hadn't turned the News on for me, this was for Shizu-chan's thick skull to hear. I'd prefer the man to be out of his doom and gloom so that I could piss him off instead of watching whatever pathetic sorrow he's wrapped himself in.
And if that meant dragging out a dreaded conversation, then so be it.
With a glance, I watched as Shizu-chan's attention never differed. Soaking up every subtitle and gesture the woman would make I she spoke.
An absent-minded hum left my lips as I observed Shizu-chan closely. His close focused attention altered to me as he recoiled and rose his shoulders.
"What?" He snarled.
"Just wondering if that settled some of your curiosities on the case." I gave him a bored blink, obnoxiously high-toned music playing in the background as a commercial began.
His eyes scrunched something insulted as he took a moment to think, the corners of his mouth dipping deeper the longer he waited.
"No. It didn't. They barely talked about it." Shizu-chan's voice was low as he spoke, he was clearly uncomfortable about the topic.
"I suppose, but it seemed to be a pretty clean-cut case, so there wasn't much to speak of. At least until they can accurately interrogate the man."
His brows scrunched at my leisurely behavior. "Clean-cut? It was a murder, there's nothing simple about that!"
I held my tongue for a moment, I didn't quite trust myself not to make a quote on the irony of his words, but it didn't seem I had to as his gaze flickered downwards. I let out a long breathe, leaning my shoulder against the armrest, curving my body to better face Shizu-chan instead of the screen.
"I suppose, but this isn't something as deep as a planned-through mystery murder, or infamous serial killer is it not? It's a situation which dialed down to the man's mental state and anger during the moment in time, the girl was just unfortunate enough to do or say something wrong at the moment that made the scene escalate."
Bones creaked as in-human fingers gripped jeans. "So you're saying it was the fucking girl's fault?" His jaw was clenched tight, gritting words through locked teeth.
"No, I suppose not. Especially when we don't know any specifics on the case. But the father had decided suicide as his end action and if I recall, he was sobbing, was he not?" Shizu-chan's head dipped low in a lack-luster nod. Something in his eyes held hesitance, so I decided to keep speaking. "Crimes are not all black and white scenarios. There isn't always just a victim and an assaulter, sure in case-point accusation, those are their titles. But that man's overdose was not an accident, he wasn't searching to get drugged and giddy to celebrate his daughter's death."
I took another pause in my explanation, expecting some sort of agitated defense of the child from Shizu-cha. All he did was stare, waiting for me to continue. I took in a breath.
"The man is certainly not innocent. Far from it. In the end, he did murder his daughter. That does not mean it was his one defining trait, he has lived through his life, and from it, he was carried to those actions. And though I don't have any sympathy towards him, it's definitely not a black and white case. People are led to murder for a reason."
Shizu-chan sat quietly for a moment, the couch rustling quietly as he altered his position to face back to the T.V. His face was still stretched inwards, hands tight on his precious bartender suit's pants. He did not say anything, just nodded, continuing to watch the channel as it mumbled on about another filler story.
I couldn't help but scrunch my nose a bit at what had just happened. In a sick realization, it dawned on me what I had just done.
In a very strange, metaphorical way, I had just comforted my enemy.
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I hissed out a curse, jolting my fingers away from the mug as I felt its scalding heat. I couldn't feel any pain in my fingertips, but I'd rather not deal with annoying burns on my hands for the rest of the day. I peeked back towards the living room for a fleeting moment.
It had been a few hours since Izaya and I's little...talk?
I still didn't quite know how to feel about the whole situation. Strangely enough, it had managed to lessen my stress about the girl's murder. Izaya's explanation had made some sense, even if he worded the situation as one of his observatory occurrences, he still had some understanding points.
It was- strangely comforting.
Even though Izaya was speaking about that man, it was obvious l saw myself in him. After all, we weren't much different when it came down to it. So to see him delve into the idea that I wasn't just some horrible villain was-
Nice...
I slumped against the cool counter, watching as steam curled up, dispersing in the air atop my mug. Bizarre was the word I had decided accurately described my new lifestyle. Especially now that- now that something out of Izaya's snake tongued mouth had actually managed to comfort me a little bit.
My forehead hit the counter, lashes shutting tight as I tried not to get too wrapped up in my thoughts.
A few bits of grumbling and sighs later, I managed to drag my way over to a stool with my mug. I didn't bother to blow on it as I took a courteous sip, ignoring my earlier attempt of avoiding a burn.
Flinching fast, I recoiled with a harsh shutter from the porcelain mug still placed in my palms. A strangled sound of disgust crawled out as I clenched my eyes closed at the bitter taste of coffee.
I forgot the fucking sugar!
A trill of amused giggles came from Izaya, whose eyes were still focused on the screen, airing some ridiculous kid's show the flea had settled on watching.
I couldn't keep my eyes softening at the scene.
There was something pleasant about the distant noise of somebody else's voice. An how the lighting seeped through the windows, glowing something warm that made dust particles dance in its rays. The moment felt blissful like my concerns didn't matter as much at that moment. It was nice-
"Shizu-chan, please don't waste that perfectly fine coffee with your distasteful amount of sugar. Your taste buds are worse than a child!" Izaya barked out sharp laughter as he spoke.
My eye twitched. The moment had been ruined, as I was reminded just who exactly had laughed on that couch.
"Like you have any room to talk! You're watching a fucking kids cartoon!" I poured extra sugar and cream out of spite as I bit back a retort.
"Hey- I'll have you know they're quite entertaining! Along with educational! You might even learn a thing or two with that protozoic brain of yours." The ridiculous tune of light-hearted music sung as his background as he spoke.
I groaned aloud and chugged down half of my drink, a much more delightful taste hitting my tongue as I did. Peppers of warmth radiated on my tongue, sweet comfort and cream soft as I guzzled the coffee down.
The sun still held something warm to its touch. Worn and chipped wood resting under its touch as I breathed in the sweet, rich scent of ground coffee beans and freshly poured cream. All while a cartoon played aimlessly from the television.
I suppose...the moment hadn't been entirely ruined.
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A much more light-hearted vibe with this one. Their hatred is of course not entirely gone (far from it) but its atleast a start-
Hope you enjoyed!