Book of One-Sh!ts

[Izaya x Shizuo] Please, Hear Me.

Ever since the accident, Shizuo hasn't been the same. Izaya lay in a hospital bed. He was unresponsive. Nothing Shizuo said, or tried to say, worked. The man was in a coma. He was practically brain dead. The doctors kept telling him they couldn't see any signs of consciousness. Shizuo didn't know how to respond to that. He just wanted his husband back. 

"I'm right here," Izaya tried to say. He was stuck in a spiritual form. He'd forgotten how to return to his body. "I'm right here! Damnit!" He yelled at Shizuo for not realizing it. "Why? Why can't you see me?" Izaya's voice cracked. He held his face in his hands and sobbed. He wanted Shizuo to hear him. But, the more he wanted it, the more he was afraid of it happening. What if the fact that Shizuo couldn't see or hear him was proof that one day he would return to his body? He wanted to start a family with Shizuo. They were planning on adopting. Everything was going well...until that damn accident. 

"I love you," Izaya tried to say. Shizuo still sat on the couch, drinking, smoking, and ignoring his husband. He didn't see a thing. He didn't hear a thing. He was numb to everything. 

"Shizu-chan, please, you have to stop this," Izaya reached out to touch Shizuo's arm. His hand rested on it. He couldn't actually touch him. He would just go right through him. "You have to stop. You'll die at this rate. Then what will I do?" His words wouldn't reach him. It was impossible. 

"I wonder what Izaya would say, if he saw me now," Shizuo leaned back on the couch. He stared at the ceiling. Izaya hovered over him. His face was blocking the ceiling but Shizuo would never know that. 

"I would say you're being a royal bastard for not listening to a word I'm saying," Izaya sighed. Shizuo never answered his own question. He only wished he could cry. He'd shed so many tears since the accident. He'd forgotten how to cry after that. 

"Shizu-chan," Izaya held Shizuo's face in his hands. He rested his forehead against the blonde's. He tried his best to send a message. Perhaps through telepathy, it would work. "Shizu-chan," he repeated. "Can you hear me?" No. It still wasn't working. How long would he have to suffer like this? How many times would he see Shizuo sad over him? Izaya was powerless. He couldn't do a thing. Why was dying so difficult? He didn't want to die, that's why. He wanted to live with Shizuo. He wanted to live long and well. 

"We were going to adopt," Izaya whispered. "We had a kid picked out and everything."

"We were going to adopt," Shizuo muttered. Izaya flinched. Did it work? Or was that simply luck? He'd like to think his thoughts made their way to Shizuo. 

Izaya hovered over the couch. This was the best thing he could do to 'sit' next to his husband. "I want to touch you," Izaya sighed. "I want to feel your warmth again. But, I know, right now, you're colder than you've ever been." 

"I want to die," Shizuo sighed. "There isn't a point anymore."

"Shizu-chan..." Izaya wished that he could say he was shocked. He had predicted this a long time ago. Shizuo wouldn't be able to cope. Unless, he saw Izaya's spiritual form. He wouldn't last much longer. Izaya had to think of something. What hadn't he tried yet?

Izaya looked down at his body. It was beginning to disappear. What did this mean? What was happening? Was he about to die? No. It was too early. He didn't even get to talk to Shizuo properly. This wasn't fair. No. No. "Shizu-chan, we don't have much time. Please, hear me. Why can't you hear me? Seeing isn't a problem. I don't care about that anymore. Hear me. Please?" Izaya tried to hit Shizuo over and over again. It wasn't working. 

"Shizu-chan? Shizu-chan!" he yelled. He shouted. He slapped the man. Shizuo stood up. He walked over to the window. Izaya floated between Shizuo and the window. "Shizuo Heiwajima. Don't you dare," he glared at the bleached blonde. Shizuo placed his hand on the window's glass. It went directly through Izaya's heart. 

"Shizu-chan!" he tried again for the last time. Shizuo still was unable to hear him. Izaya's body was disappearing faster and faster. The glass broke. The man fell. Izaya reached out his hand to grab Shizuo's. He tried and he tried but each time he did, it just went right through. "Why? Why can't I save you?" Izaya cried. Was this punishment? For all of his sins in the past? 

His body was gone. Completely. His eyes opened again in the hospital. He'd made it back too late. Shizuo was long gone. Nurses hovered around him. Each whispering a different thing. Izaya felt tears welling up in his eyes. He might've lived but he knew Shizuo hadn't. It wasn't fair. Nothing in this life was fair, it seemed. 

"I can't believe after all of this time, he wakes up the exact moment his husband committed suicide," one nurse whispered to another. 

"Shhh, not so loud, he will hear you. Do you want him to lose his will to live? We can't give him this news so soon," the other nurse replied. Little did they know, Izaya already knew. Shizuo was dead. There was nothing he could do. 

"He couldn't hear me, not even at the end," Izaya's voice was barely audible. 

"Izaya!" Shizuo called. "Izaya!" Shizuo yelled. The man couldn't see him. He couldn't hear him. Shizuo could only watch as Izaya lived out his days. "I'm sorry," he tried to apologize. "I was so close to having you back again and I went and died," there was no explanation for the guilt he felt.

"I guess," Izaya began, "one of us has to live. I wanted it to be you, but it didn't work out that way. Now the universe has brought me back. What am I supposed to do? I just want to die along with you," Izaya closed his eyes. "I don't want to live where you aren't, Shizu-chan."

"I'm here," Shizuo said. He tried to place his hand on Izaya's. It went right through. "I am here. Please, hear me." Izaya couldn't. He wouldn't. Shizuo would have to witness the man crumble. He'd have to watch as he reluctantly went through rehab, gain his mobility back, and live without really living. 

"I'm sorry," he said every hour of every day. Would Izaya ever hear him? "I really am sorry." Izaya wouldn't. It was impossible. 

A boy walked through the doors of Izaya's apartment. His hair raven black. His eyes just as red as Izaya's. "Who the hell are you?" he glared at the information broker sitting at his desk. The man smiled, half-heartedly. 

"My name is Izaya Orihara," he said. "From today on, you'll be living with me."

"I don't want to," the boy crossed his arms. "Send me back to the orphanage."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Izaya crossed his own arms and spun around in his chair. "I've made a promise, you see? My husband and I were always thinking about adoption. Unfortunately, he isn't here anymore. So, you're stuck with me until you're old enough to be considered an adult. If you still hate my guts by then, as most people do, feel free to leave."

"Fine," the boy glared. 

Izaya looked at the picture of Shizuo and him on their wedding day. He sighed. "One of us has to live," he said. 

"Yes," Shizuo replied. "I'm sure you'll do fine," he stood by Izaya and smiled at the boy. For a split second, the boy saw him. The two made eye contact. "Be nice to him for me." Shizuo mouthed. The boy blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared once again at the spot where Shizuo had been. He was gone now. The boy breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't a ghost. But, he wouldn't risk being possessed. He'd just have to stay after all. This would be his new home. 

Izaya started to cry. The boy didn't know what to do. "Why are you crying?" he asked. 

"I just," Izaya turned to look where Shizuo had been, "I could've sworn..." the tears kept streaming down his face. "No, I'm imagining things," he wiped his tears away with his hands. "Let me show you to your room." Izaya stood up and led the boy through his apartment. The boy simply followed. Would he ever see that blonde ghost again?