Bound by Fate

One Chance to Make a First Impression...

A few weeks later, Izaya continued to find himself at the bar where Shizuo worked. This night though, the brunette decided he didn't want to take a back seat anymore. He had been coming here more often than he thought he should, but the newest object of his study didn't seem to notice him in the slightest. That fact was both a relief and a source of unexplained anguish.

'Why doesn't he see me?' Izaya thought as he paused in his tracks that were instinctively heading toward the same corner table he had been haunting. 'That changes tonight.'

Turning on his heels, Izaya boldly walked up to the bar and took a seat to the side. He leaned over the counter and turned his head to look down toward the other end. He sent an inviting smile down to the blonde who raised an eyebrow before setting down one of the glasses he seemed to methodically polish every night and head toward Izaya.

Shizuo stopped in front of Izaya cautiously and looked down into his playful crimson eyes. "What can I get for you?" the blonde asked, his voice sounding unsure.

Izaya bit at the inside of his lower lip to hold back a smirk as he sat back, his hands reaching forward to splay his fingers out against the smooth wood of the bartop. "Surprise me," he said quietly, his eyes holding Shizuo's gaze even from behind the blue tinted sunglasses.

Shizuo took a sharp breath before nodding dumbly and turning away to get Izaya a drink. The brunette observer followed the bartender with his eyes before another man interrupted his line of vision. Izaya sighed and looked up at the man leaning against the bar next to him. Izaya took note of the slicked back dirty blonde dyed hair, the cheap looking ill matched suit and the smell of alcohol that wafted off of the man.

Izaya sighed again before shaking his head. "What?" he asked irritably.

"No need to be so hostile. I've noticed you in here a few time recently and thought I'd come over and introduce myself. It's sad to see such a pretty little thing so lonely," the man said, his eyes obviously looking Izaya up and down. "The name's Horada and who might you be?"

"Uninterested," Izaya said dryly, turning his eyes to glance to the side, his expression bored.

"Pretty and cold," Horada said with a smirk as he leaned in closer toward Izaya. "Just my type."

"If I were you, I would cut my losses and walk away before you regret approaching me," the brunette said quietly, his eyes flickering back toward his harasser with a dangerous glint in his crimson gaze.

"Scary, too. I like you, pretty boy. The more you put up a fight, the more I want you," he inebriated man slurred his words and breathed heavily in Izaya's face. "You make me want to break you."

"Gross," Izaya said, leaning away from the other man's intrusive stance. "I think you need to learn how to listen better. Go. Away. Idiot."

Horada ignored or just didn't hear Izaya's words as his lips pulled up in a lascivious smile. "You know, you're pretty enough that if I had another drink, you could easily be taken as a woman," the ruffian said smoothly as if he thought it was a compliment.

"Is that so? I was just thinking that no matter how many drinks I had, I could never mistake you for a man," Izaya retorted, disinterest clear in his voice - to anyone but the man crowding him, of course.

Before the aggressive drunk could continue, a mug of coffee was set down loudly on the bartop in front of Izaya. "Horada. Get the fuck out of here," Shizuo growled, locking gazes with the man standing over Izaya. "You've had too much to drink. You've already been cut off for the night. Leave my patrons alone."

"Aw come on, Shizuo-san. I was just talking," Horada said defensively, fear flashing in his eyes. "I mean, I just wanted to have a little fun and he's so... pretty."