Underground Heart (Izaya Orihara x Reader) Durarara!!

Three: Memories

You suddenly woke up from what seemed like a really long dream. Slowly, your eyes started opening. You could no longer see the young Shinra standing by your side, but his words were still echoing in your ears. It took you a while to realise that the dream was over and that you were back to the present, lying in one of Shinra's guest rooms. You slowly sat up on the bed, feeling the sleepiness slowly bailing out on you. A small drip of sweat dropped from your forehead, your heart's pace was abnormally fast. You rested your head on the hands and felt the veins on your temples pumping madly. With effort, you managed to recall the fragments of your dream.

"I could've called it," you whispered to yourself.

What made you feel so anxious on the inside was the memory of your first meeting with Shinra.

You slumped on the bed heavily, feeling the stress slowly washing out, as you started repeating these words of consolation.

It's fine, it's already over, it's fine...

How foolish of you it was to think so.

"Good morning, Shinra," you yawned, wiping your eyes lazily. Your hair was still messy. A hurriedly tied bathrobe was hanging from your shoulders, revealing a thin strip of your nightdress.

The chocolate haired man was standing by the kitchen counter and preparing breakfast. You furrowed your eyebrows and quickly walked up to him. A pout was drawing on your face.

"Geez, I've told you I can cook for myself," you shoved him away from the frying pan and continued his work without a word. Shinra sighed in surrender, knowing too well that there was no point in discussing with you. He sat by the table in the living room and rested his chin on his hand. He remained silent, but you could feel his intense gaze on your back.

"You've changed, [Name]," he noticed with a mysterious smile.

You turned your face to him, not hiding the surprise.

"What do you mean?," you asked warily.

Shinra's smile widened as he tipped his head slightly to the side.

"You are far less reserved than when I first met you," he explained, his memories moving fifteen years prior.

He still wasn't sure how a small, seemingly innocent child like you could persuade his father to become his student. But the fact was that your appearance at his house has always been mysterious. How did you know about his father? Why, even when performing a surgery on Celty, did you seem to be so unaffected with her screams and with the fact that you were literally cutting her body? And finally, the question he asked himself most often-

"[Name], why did you lie about your parents?," Shinra asked as casually as he could. Still, his words were stiffer than he had previously planned them to be.

You froze for a moment, ignoring the sizzling sound of the frying pan. Some unnamed, heavy atmosphere set in the house, and only your words attenuated it.

"If I told you I was from an orphanage, you would probably immediately send me back there," you said quietly, locking your eyes on the floor. "And I wouldn't be able to study medicine," you added.

Shinra furrowed his eyebrows. He wanted to ask about the reason of your desire to study medicine, be he figured it would be too much questions for one time. He didn't want to reopen the old wounds.

The problem was, they've never really healed.

The two of you ate the breakfast in silence, both two deep in your thoughts to pay attention to one another.

You didn't feel good with lying to Shinra, but there was nothing else you could do. Maybe it was overthinking, but you preferred to protect one of the few people that were important to you. And the sole thought of what could possibly happen if you told Shinra about everything you've been hiding for this whole time was making you shiver.

If there was anyone whom you'd never want to tell about your past, it would definitely be Shinra.

"[Name]," your friend's voice woke you up from your thoughts.

You looked up at Shinra with questioning expression on your face.

"Celty will give you a lift to the place of your job interview," Shinra said, taking your empty plates to the sink.

You gulped and nodded, suddenly feeling a wave of stress overflowing you.

"I'll go change, then," you said and stood up.

In silence, you headed towards your room.

You kneeled in front of your luggage, wondering about what to wear for your first interview. You hadn't asked Shinra about this yesterday, but what exactly was the job of the man you were going to meet? What was he like? Would he like you?

You were a little bit nervous about meeting your hopefully-future-employer. You weren't very good with people. To be more precise, the vision of meeting someone new has always been really uncomfortable for you. It wasn't due to any inferiority complex or anything similar - you just weren't the type of a person to gain energy from social contacts. Quite the opposite. You appreciated these times when you could just sit alone and enjoy the silence. Also, you would never admit it to anyone, but you were often coming to the conclusion that most humans were just a bunch of mere, predictable idiots.

You gulped, feeling the stress overflowing you once again. You knew you needed to distract yourself from the pointless worrying or otherwise you would end up panicking.

Scratch that, you thought to yourself, and shook your head as if trying to get rid of the useless thoughts. You just had to quickly dress yourself and go with the flow of the day. There was no point in worrying.

You took off your pyjamas and dressed yourself in the underwear which was at your arm's reach. You scanned your bag in search for some nice clothes, but as you couldn't find any, you sighed and stood up. You were probably the only woman whom Celty allowed to walk around her and Shinra's house half naked and you knew that. You reached the door of your room and headed towards the place where Shinra was.

"Shinra, what should I we-," you started calling for him, but you paused immediately after turning round the corner and stepping into the living room.

The guy you were looking for was sitting on the couch and slowly sipping on the orange juice. He was already dressed up, his outfit the same as always - a white lab coat and a blue tie. You've always been wondering why he wore this outfit even when he was outside the work, but right now not a spark of this thought popped in your mind. Your whole attention was caught by the second man, who was sitting next to your friend.