Title: Unraveling - Chapter 3: Gambit
Fandom: Durarara!!
Pairing: Orihara Izaya/Tsukumoya Shinichi
Rating: Explicit overall. PG/Teen for this chatper.
Warnings: excessive use of chatlog format due to the characters involved
Summary: In which Izaya decides to make unraveling the mystery of who Tsukumoya Shinichi is his hobby for a while. Although the game does not go as smoothly as planned.
-------------------
Orihara Izaya, reborn!
Orihara Izaya
I want us to meet in person.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
Now why would you suggest something like that? Even setting aside the fact that I don't meet with people offline; we're business acquaintances, hardly friends. And definitely not friends of the sort to be arranging offline meetings.
Orihara Izaya
I just think it's time to end this charade of ours, that's all. Consider it a sign of how much I respect you that I'm being this up-front about it.
Orihara Izaya
Besides, I'd think the cyber sex would push us a little bit beyond the realm of simple "business acquaintances", wouldn't you?
Orihara Izaya
If we met we could finish what we've started here. Face to face. No more dancing. No more games.
Orihara Izaya
Unless you want more games~
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I suppose I should appreciate your candor. Unfortunately I'm going to have to decline. Our meeting up would be a bit of an impossibility.
Orihara Izaya
How so? No matter how fond you are of masking your IP it's still fairly obvious that you live in this area given how knowledgeable you are on local happenings. I can't imagine it being an issue of distance.
Orihara Izaya
And I'm not about to force you to give me your real name, although I suppose with a face to face meeting I might be able to research and ultimately find it out.
Orihara Izaya
Hmm. Maybe it's because you don't want me to see your face at all. Do we already know each other, Tsukumoya? Are you someone I would find very familiar if we were to meet?
...
Orihara Izaya
Ah! I know! Maybe Tsukumoya is old and ugly and doesn't want me to find out that I've been cybering with a nasty old pervert! I wouldn't hold it against you if that were true. I suppose I am the one that instigated those filthy things; no matter how eager you were once we got going.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I assure you that I'm not a dirty old man.
Orihara Izaya
I don't know if I should trust you on that. But, I suppose there are other possibilities. Hmm. A girl maybe? One who thinks she'd be viewed as less than capable if anyone knew her true gender.
Orihara Izaya
The more I think about it the more that idea intrigues me. If we met I'd still let you do all the naughty things we talk about in here, Tsukumoya. I'm very open minded. We could even buy some toys. You know the kind. You've talked about it enough~
Tsukumoya Shinichi
It's nothing like that. I can't leave this chatroom, that's all.
Orihara Izaya
Your twenty-four-seven availability is so important to you that you don't step out for air even for a moment? What an awful life. Are you some kind of shut-in? If so I commend you on how well informed you are despite that. Still, I can't help but pity you.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
It's not like that either, but I know the way you are. You only believe in peculiarities when you're face to face and have no other option. I don't have an easy method of proving my oddness.
Orihara Izaya
So you're saying you're one of the monsters, Tsukumoya? How irritating. No matter how much I try to avoid it all you monsters keep finding your way into my life when I really want nothing to do with any of you. I never would have had sex with you if I'd known. Even a nasty old pervert is better than a monster.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I wouldn't say I'm a monster.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
Also, it's hard to say if what we do counts as proper sex.
Orihara Izaya
If you're not a human you're a monster. It's hardly a complicated concept. I suppose it's possible to be both. Enough people consider Shizu-chan to be technically human no matter how monstrous he is, although I'm not so kind. But you can't be "none of the above".
Tsukumoya Shinichi
Such a shallow little worldview.
Orihara Izaya
Then what does the monster consider himself to be?
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I'm myself, of course. Nothing more, nothing less.
Orihara Izaya
None of this explains why you seem to think a meeting would be impossible, though. I'm acquainted enough with monsters that one more makes little difference, even if I do wish you'd all just stay out of my way.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
Because we exist in very different worlds, Orihara.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
It's simple enough when you think about it. You exist in your physical space and access my world through your computer or phone or whatever. I view your world through the filter of what people put online. The line there simply can't be broached.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I guess, all things considered, it does make me a bit of a "shut in". Just not a conventional one.
Orihara Izaya
This might be even more ridiculous than your stories about cities having personalities.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I knew you'd be like this. You're such a cynic. I suppose it can be beneficial to your work to eye every fact with a jaundiced eye until you're certain of the absolute truth. But even still, how can someone who knows a dullahan personally not be more open to unusual happenings?
Orihara Izaya
Fine. If the benefit of the doubt is what you want, I'll give it to you. See how much I respect you, Tsukumoya? But that still doesn't answer the question of what you are. An AI? An alien?
Orihara Izaya
*Are* you an alien? It would be amusing to tell certain parties that I've spoken to one.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I know what you're planning and as terrible as it is to spoil your fun, no. I don't think so.
Orihara Izaya
Then what? Don't tell me you don't know, that's a level of ridiculous that seems even beyond you. Especially given how much you do know.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I couldn't say. I've never really thought about it. I just am. Do you think particularly hard about what you are?
Tsukumoya Shinichi
Don't answer that. I realized as soon as I said it how foolish that question is. Of course *you* do. But outside of philosophers and odd little creatures like you, I doubt most people do.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
I'm not a philosopher, Orihara. I deal in facts, just as you do, speculate only when it's requested of me, and I don't particularly like when speculation is required. As such, I've never put much thought towards just what I am.
Orihara Izaya
Then indulge in some speculation for me since you only do so when asked.
Tsukumoya Shinichi
Ah, but I don't talk about myself either. No, Orihara, I think I've given you enough for today. I've really given you far more than I ever planned on. I guess we could say that you scored a point this round. But if you want to figure the rest out so badly you can keep digging around on your own.
Orihara Izaya
Is that a dismissal? Are you kicking me out?
...
...
...
Tsukumoya Shinichi
Yes. I think so.
---disconnected---
Izaya blinks briefly as the chat window closes, an irritated little hiss escaping from between his teeth when he attempts to enter again and his password is denied. Sing-songing, "That's not playing fair, Tsukumoya~" under his breath as he attempts a few simple workarounds, expecting them to fail but needing to try anyway. Easing his way towards a more serious hacking attempt (not that he expects that to work either, he's aware Tsukumoya is somewhat more skilled than him on this front) when his phone rings with a message.
The brief lines of text are just as he expected.
[Relax. I'll only leave you locked out for a few days. Although if you keep trying to break in I might make it longer. Don't test me. And don't bother replying. I'll be blocking everything from you for a few days as well.]
Izaya's lips twist into a vicious little smirk. It's interesting, seeing this side to the usually quite unflappable Tsukumoya Shinichi. The slightest of hairline fractures forming in the other man's seemingly featureless outer shell for Izaya to dig his nails into and start peeling at. This is the opening he's been waiting for, even if these hints that the man may be yet another monster are somewhat disappointing.
And blocked or not, Izaya still sends one simple message in reply.
[I got to you~ ♪ ]