[FIN] Need a Little Distraction

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Oh. Well she doesn't look the same anymore! Her hair is down now," the black-haired man answered, finding himself uncharacteristically flustered. "And I'm not bothered! But you could just ask around to find out where Trainee Gaia is. It'd seem pretty creepy for you to know what she looked like and walk up to her knowing her name if you've never met her before."

He frowned at the picture of the smiling girl on his phone who was flourishing a scarf she had taken off a mannequin. "Just - do me a favor and don't mention Aila. At all. If no one else mentioned her to Gaia, I don't want her to associate the mention of the agent with me because then she'll know I asked you to talk to her."  

[TawnyAngel]

"And a thirty year old man asking around about a teenage trainee by name isn't creepy?" KO drawled; he folded his arms across his chest and a tiny hint of a satisfied smirk showed on his face. "Had you considered I might walk up to her and just strike up conversation without telling her I know her name? I may not be an expert informant but I'm no fool, could you try not to take me for one? Humm?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"...Are you referring to me, or...? No, nevermind, don't answer that," he said quickly, recalling again how creepy he himself must have seemed to Trainee Gaia upon first encountering her. It was still embarrassing even to his usually shameless self to remember how he'd acted.

Izaya met KO's smirk with an incredulous look. "I apologize," he responded with obvious reluctance. "This stuff just makes me nervous. You make me nervous, though I'm still not entirely sure why. Maybe because you seem to enjoy playing the games I play and I'm used to being the only player."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh I will answer that!" KO smirked. "As it happens I wasn't, but now I think of it perhaps I should have. Oh well, we'll let that one slip shall we?" It made him feel a little powerful to hear that he made Izaya nervous but why shouldn't he? There weren't too many people like them and of the two of them he himself was so much better at getting on with people, when it pleased him to do so of course.

"But regardless, I'll do it. I'm rather busy with my lab work at the moment but I assure you, if I spot her in the halls I'll find an excuse to strike up conversation. It seems as though it suits both of our interests to get some answers?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Oh, shut up. I only turn thirty this year and if anyone asks, I'm still twenty-one," the ex-Rocket snapped defensively. "Nice to know you're that old. Maybe I should call you 'senpai' from now on."

He made a face at the mention of lab work. "You lab rats and your lab work...people are so much more interesting." He sighed. "Fine. Whatever you do, just don't get caught up in some weird experiment like my ex-partner. And no holding out on any of that information you manage to get or I'll know, got it? No discussing me as a topic of conversation, either." Izaya looked around. "Or I'll...I'll take all your alcohol!"  

[TawnyAngel]

KO gave a brief laugh, his smirk curving sharper. "Did you just tell me your age because you felt slighted? There's no need to fear a little maturity Izaya." Nevermind the fact that he himself was thirty three, pretending to be thirty. Thirty was a good age, a good balance of youth and experience. "Well you can be barely legal all your life if you want, that's your business I'm sure." Whatever.

"Oh don't you worry, I'm just reengineering the very process of photosynthesis," KO showed a little more of his white teeth and shrugged casually as he inspected his nails. "You know, no big deal. And don't you worry, I have much more interesting things to talk about than you... How would you go about taking my alcohol by the way?" He was feeling better already! All it took was to feel like he had the upper hand a little bit.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The informant turned and childishly stuck out his tongue at the red head. He didn't care to think just then about why he'd told KO his age so he chose not to answer directly. Nevermind that the other man was probably right. "Ha ha ha. Unlike you, I have better things to do than sleep around just because I can." Like spend his nights lonely and full of regret. Sure.

"Ugh. Sounds like the sort of thing that would turn Zachie-chan on," Izaya grumbled, making a face. "Maybe if you flirt with him, he'll find you more interesting and leave me alone." He walked over to KO's mini fridge. "Do you really want to know the answer to that question?"  

[TawnyAngel]

KO arched an eyebrow. "Oh do you? Have you ever tried it, by the by? I'm not sure you'd do as well as I do even if you did try, but I was curious if you were just discounting something you haven't ever had! Oh," KO smirked and gestured to the fridge, "and please be my guest, if you dare."

If he looked closely at the mini fridge Izaya would probably notice that it wasn't actually plugged into anything.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The skinny man fumed at the line of conversation. "Now you're just making fun of me again," he hissed, doing a double-take as he noticed out the corner of his eye that the fridge wasn't plugged in at all. What was the point of having it, then? Was it pokemon-powered?

"...You know what, I just remembered I don't think I feel like getting killed for destroying a fridge just so you can't get yourself drunk, so count yourself lucky," he grumbled loudly. "Unlike you, they're not likely to bring me back from the dead."  

[TawnyAngel]

KO smirked and shook his head; "Pity! I would have liked to see the look on your face when you touched it."

The fridge made a cackling noise and a pair of blue eyes became visible floating just in front of it, a moment later they vanished again.

"And should I mention that you didn't answer my question or leave it at that?" KO continued. "For somebody who likes to poke at other people so much you get really touchy when it's done to you, you know."

On second thought though perhaps he should go easy on the teasing, he did want Izaya's help after all. KO frowned slightly, disappointed at losing the entertaining distraction from everything he didn't want to think about, and shook his head.

"Actually, forget it," he said aloud. "We both want the same information right now, let's not muddy that goal by needling one another too much."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Whha - !!" Izaya leaped aside, instinctively whipping out his knife as the fridge appeared to come to life. He thought he recognized it briefly as being possessed by the ghost and electric type pokemon, Rotom, before it reverted back to normal. The black-haired man jerked his head back to KO to make a face like he would have loved to strangle him at that moment. If he'd been fuming before, he was livid now.

"No one usually bothers to poke at me because they're so busy trying to defend themselves from my prodding," he murmured. "It's been like that for years and that's how it should have stayed. If I hadn't been so out of sorts lately, I'd have an easier time deflecting attacks like yours. You don't really care about the answer to that question anyway or anything else about me, so why bother asking? Just to piss me off? Consider that done. You can give yourself a pat on the back and shut up, now."

At KO's suggestion, Izaya grinned furiously and gave his head a slow shake. "Oh no, you don't get to say that after running off your mouth, Mr. High-and-Mighty. I may not feel like destroying your fridge, but you know what I do feel like doing?" Without another word, he marched over to KO's wardrobe and attempted to throw it open.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Don't you dare!" KO snarled, his cool veneer shattering with sudden hot rage. This failure came here wanting his help and then went after his clothes? He crossed the room in several quick strides and tried to grab Izaya's wrist.

Behind them the blue eyes appeared again, now frowning slightly. Kaiser wasn't quite sure if he ought to intervene here or not, it might be pretty funny to watch them fight if they were going to! He could always jump in if it looked like he was needed.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Looks like we all have our buttons to press, don't we?" Izaya laughed scornfully as his wrist was grabbed. He swallowed his great dislike of being man-handled and the urge to do something that came with it. "Come oooon, I just want to borrow some. You're only an inch shorter, aren't you? I'm sure they could fit me."  

[TawnyAngel]

KO gripped a little tighter, his snarl shifting into a rather nasty grin. "You know Izaya I'm really starting to see how you got your reputation! You always have to escalate things don't you?"

Abruptly KO released his grip and turned to stalk across to his desk where he opened his laptop, sat down and pulled up a file he'd been working on earlier. "Nothing in there will fit you, you don't have the figure for it." KO waved a hand dismissively at Izaya without looking up. "You may see yourself out trainee, I'll contact you if I find anything of interest to either of us." You didn't have to like the people you worked with, of course he generally found it easier to hide his dislike - it made life smoother - but so much for that in this case apparently. If only Izaya could have left it alone when he gave him the chance! What a frustrating man.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Of course~ I mean where's the fun if things are always the same, right?" he answered with a sly little smirk. It faltered when KO let him go and the black-haired man watched him with suspicion as he walked away.

"I could always have them re-tailored to fit me. Not that I'm any sort of tailor, but my pokemon might do better." As the red head didn't appear to want to have anything more to do with him, however, he stepped away from the wardrobe and sighed, walking toward the room's exit. "Fine, fine. Your fashion sense isn't really to my taste, anyway. Too gaudy with all those colors; I prefer neutrals myself. Ta-ta, Grunt KO~ Perhaps I'll stop by another time to play."

He knew KO was right; it wouldn't have been helpful or advantageous to either of them to get on each other's nerves, but that hadn't been what Izaya had worried about. He had had to establish some sort of dislike from the grunt against him because it was unsettling enough that Kirk seemed to understand how he worked. He couldn't risk the chance that they might get any more chummy than that. Now that the grunt had at least decided he wanted the informant to leave, Izaya could go without any concern that KO might think they could get any closer. Not that he might even have wanted to, but it was always good to make certain.