Magic

[Deleted]

It had definitely been a crazy week, but Kida was pretty sure he finally sifted through absolutely everything until he found some information that might be kind of useful for Izaya, who Kida had texted to inform.

He never really ever bothered with knocking for anybody (especially Mikado, because why bother when Mikado was probably already aware he was there) and Izaya's apartment was no different. The informant was usually kind enough to keep his door unlocked as long as he got some sort of forewarning that Kida was coming.

To his surprise, though, it seemed like Izaya had gone upstairs and was still in the shower. That was unusual in itself, considering Izaya usually didn't leave himself exposed for longer than necessary, and never while he was expecting company.

The bottle blond sat in the spinny chair that Izaya usually claimed as his own, rocking himself with the heel of his foot and spinning in a few circles until he noticed a tab that was up on his internet browser.

He didn't hesitate. The older man had gotten him to sit down and watch this with him more than once, and after he actually decided to stop fighting it, Kida happily surrendered to the bright colors and unique art style.

He's never seen this episode before, and was immediately taken in. Spike's birthday, the ruby he had been aging for months was given to Rarity, and the sparkle in her eyes was just beautiful.

And aww, he finally got a kiss! How cute! Kida couldn't help grinning like an idiot. Was it really Saturday?! How could he have missed that detail in his life?

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya had known Kida would be coming, but he also knew that his previous evening had only granted him a few hours of fitful sleep and that, if Izaya were going to remain alert for Kida's visit and delivery of the information he'd come across, he was going to need a shower to get himself awake. He unlocked the door for the boy's visit, and headed upstairs.

It was only about ten minutes later that Izaya heard the door open and someone walk in. He grinned to himself as he washed the fruity-scented shampoo from his hair, knowing Kida's first move would be to go right for the spinny chair. When Izaya wasn't occupying it, that was always Kida's first sitting choice (and who could blame him, spinny chairs rocked).

That would also place him at Izaya's computer desk, where the information broker had conveniently left last week's episode of My Little Pony open.

Despite Kida's often vehement protests, Izaya had tricked Kida into watching a number of episodes with him, and the boy eventually had no choice by to be drawn in by the show. Who COULDN'T love a bunch of little ponies running around and being absolutely adorable? Izaya would be the first to admit that he could be a sick son of a bitch when the time called for it, but if even he could fall in love with the show… well, he honestly didn't want to meet the heartless bastard who couldn't. There was something about the characters, the animation, the formulaic plots enriched with laughter and color that Izaya couldn't help but be drawn too, and it would have to take a truly coldhearted person, void of all emotion and love, to not eventually fall in love with the show.

Hell, even Shiki had admitted to thinking Fluttershy was adorable.

Regardless, Izaya doubted Kida took much initiative in keeping up with the episodes, so he was more or less doing him a favor by leaving it open. Izaya thought that Kida would like the episode anyway, as he always seemed to have a fondness for Spike and the dragon's impossible crush on Rarity.

Izaya took his time, waiting another fifteen minutes or so, so that the episode would be coming to an end as he headed down stairs, though he did peek down to make sure the boy was watching (and of course he was). Finally, Izaya snuck downstairs as he heard the ending credits playing, grinning slyly as he asked, "How was it?"

[Deleted]

This. Was. So. Cute!

Izaya was clearly up to something, but Kida didn't really care at the moment. He was going to sit here and watch this giant slab of Lauren Faust's brilliant mind reminding him why he came back every time. It was almost as bad as the shadows itself!

He was smiling by the end, glad to see that love won in the end. AS IT SHOULD BE. It made him think a little more about his own crushes, the power of friendship, and generally made him walk away with a positive feeling. Wasn't that the whole point of this stupid show? Making people want to hug the people that they hold dear and never let them go?

Saki got a text of "I love you so much" and by time he looked up, Izaya was standing in front of him with that look on his face. Smug snake. That's how he always described it.

"How was what?" Kida asked, moving the tab over to Izaya's information folder, as if he'd been browsing that the whole time. "The investigation? A red herring, but I did fish up something useful, if you want it."

Do not look in his eyes. Do not look in his eyes, for if you do, he will see the truth. Izaya worked like a fucking animal, using eyes to look straight into everyone's soul.

So, avoid eye contact at all cost.

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya should have expected that Kida would deny everything. Izaya was slowly working on everyone in Ikebukuro. He'd shown the show to Namie (and if EVEN NAMIE liked it, you know it didn't take much compassion to love the show), to Simon, to Dotachin and his friends, to Shinra (who'd latched onto it even quicker than Izaya had)… Slowly, Izaya would make sure everyone in Ikebukuro had watched and thusly fallen in love with that wonderful group of fillies.

Some of them would be more resistant than others, obviously, but despite Kida's denial, he knew that the blond boy loved the show as much as Izaya did. It was just a matter of making him alright with admitting it.

And hell, Izaya had HEARD the show playing. Kida knew better than to think Izaya was stupid, surely, and Izaya could just point out that he heard the show playing… but that was far too easy. He'd rather tease Kida into admitting that he'd seen the show than just obviously point out that he knew Kida was lying. Izaya, after all, was a master of being evasive, so he could always tell when someone was doing it.

It certainly didn't hurt that, after the cover, Kida wouldn't look at him.

"Oh, you didn't see the episode then?" Izaya said with a mild pout as he rounded the desk and leaned against it, continuing with a grin, "It was really cool how Rainbow Dash beat up that dragon and saved Ponyville."

Izaya knew very well that that wasn't even close to what happened, but people usually couldn't resist correcting others…

[Deleted]

Kida Masaomi was a predictable creature. This was not new news to anyone who ever spoke to him ever. The fact that Izaya could read him like a book never helped any matter.

But that. That was a lie if he ever heard one. Ever. Izaya was good at getting a rise out of anyone he knew well enough. A cute romantic episode such as that one outright deserved recognition.

No, he knew what Izaya was doing. But Kida couldn't resist. Dammit.

"Spike can beat Rainbow Dash in ten seconds flat." There, that was general enough. There was nothing about that he could twist into watching this episode.

More flirty messages were sent to his partner in crime/love of his life, the small smile on his face that was the general response of the happy afterglow of an episode that was just too good for your own good being hidden as he faked checking for her reply. He knew she was busy, he even knew what part of town she was in and what she was doing.

But she was the perfect, perfect coverup for happy lovey afterglow.

[UndergroundGod]

When Kida spoke, the grin on Izaya's face widened mischievously. Oh, the boy had fallen right for his trap.

Though, to be fair, Izaya knew Kida. He had known the boy for years now. Two years of experience in working closely with Kida had given Izaya a very good picture of how Kida operated. He understood the boy, his way of thinking, better than most people probably did. There were even times when he understood Kida better than KIDA did, and that was certainly saying something. He'd known that Kida had to make some snide remark in response to him, correcting him about what he'd said, and Kida had done just that.

The really amusing thing was, though, that Kida though his remark had been innocent enough to keep Izaya from thinking he'd watched the show, but oh, was he wrong. So very, very wrong.

Izaya's voice was that of the hunter closing in on his prey, a spider playing with the fly that was already trapped in its web, carefree and singsong and he watched Kida carefully as he chimed, "Who said anything… about the dragon being Spike~"

[Deleted]

Kida paused, red with embarrassment all the way to the tips of his ears. What? how did he...?

That's right, Izaya didn't specify the dragon. Him and his big mouth.

"...Well, when you say dragon, the first thing that comes to my head is the resident dragon of the series. It's not like I was implying that Rainbow Dash and Spike fought, just that if they did, Spike would win. Have you seen what fire does to chickens?"

That sounded feasible enough. There was no fear there. Right?

Right. He was just being silly. Plus, he could get Izaya back for this now blatantly obvious trap later. "So how goes finding that Luna doll?" he smirked, knowing that Hasbro has failed Izaya completely there.

[UndergroundGod]

All Izaya could do was grin as Kida tried to talk his way out of having been tricked, which wasn't working for a number of reasons. First of all, as soon as Izaya called the blond on his mistake, he'd gone tomato red. There was no hiding the blush that had completely consumed his face, and that only nearly made Izaya laugh.

Kida's chatter was all silliness. It was a veiled defense that wasn't working at all because Izaya already knew that Kida had watched the episode anyway. However, if Kida needed to pretend that he hadn't totally given himself away, then Izaya would give him that, he supposed.

It could be cute sometimes, how ridiculously persistent Kida was.

The expected subject change came next, though the subject wasn't much of a change, just indicating that Kida really did have ponies on the brain.

Izaya pouted a little in response, crossing his arms. "I gave up looking for the doll," he said with a huff. "Instead I found a toy maker in Tokyo willing to make me one, so I should have it in a week or two, and it'll probably be nicer than anything made by a mass toy production company."

[Deleted]

And Izaya seemed to be sour grapes about this whole thing about Luna. It was, after all, Izaya's all time favorite pony, the Princess of the Moon that Celestia had long since banished. Her return had doubled the fun on Halloween, and that had been the last episode that Izaya and he had sat down and watched together while Saki and the others had been busy (He came back early, and ended up roped into the episode).

Really, ponies brought out the best in absolutely everyone, Izaya included, which had been an absolute good sign. If even Izaya had succumbed to the ponies, there was no surprise that everyone was starting to slowly fall into it.

He'd at the very least pretend to be the rock of opposition, even if he was shifting.

"You do realize," Kida drawled, "that they released one recently?"

He headed off to Amazon and opened it up, typing in "Luna figurine" and showing the dual-release of Luna and Celestia. It was pretty expensive for a bunch of pony figurines, but then again, he felt 500 yen was not at all a bad price for his beloved Rainbow Dash (not that she was currently sitting under his lamp at home), and so 2,500 yen for the princesses was not going to be considered too bad, especially with the wealth of someone like Izaya...who probably already had his girl commissioned.

[UndergroundGod]

It was a testament to Izaya's… affection (for lack of a better term) for Kida that he just let him get on his computer like that. Izaya was incredibly private and his office computer was something of a temple. He normally kept it locked at all times, and most of his folders and files had a series of complicated passwords attached to them to prevent detection from wandering eyes. Normally, when someone tried to get on his computer and use it for anything, even something as simple as an internet search, he would bat them away from the machine as quickly as possible.

For some reason, having Kida get on his computer didn't cause that same surge of anxiety.

He leaned over the back of his chair, his heart leaping with excitement at the mention of the Princess Luna figurine. Hell, he didn't care, he'd buy the one on amazon and get the one the toy makers was working on, it wasn't like he didn't have the money… but as the search results popped up, he frowned. The princesses were there all right, but this was little Princess Luna, prepackaged with an adult Princess Celestia. Not that he had anything against the toys or anything… he just preferred the awkward, adult Princess Luna who spoke in her royal voice and scared all the other ponies.

Well, now he felt no regrets in having the toy maker make him one, but still… "Hit the 'add to cart' button for that, I'll get it too, but you know I like the older Luna."

[Deleted]

"Of course. But they think that Luna's smaller form is cuter and deserves a pony over her bigger form. Sorry, but the fun will be doubled once they actually make a larger one. Which...I am almost betting is what you wanted and have custom made."

He still hit the add to cart for his boss, perfectly relaxed. Izaya knew that he would never look at what isn't important to his mission, and that trust was never going to break. Why would he when Izaya was more than happy to give him whatever he needed for anything? It was so wonderful.

"Oh. Right. Information." He reached into his hoodie pocket for a small vanilla envelope, handing it to Izaya. "Pictures of his current face."

Finding this was a lot harder than some people thought it would be, but Kida somehow managed. However, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

Kida "accidentally" hit the play next button on the MLP:FiM playlist on Nico.

[UndergroundGod]

Ugh, cuter. Who cared about all that? Sure, the show was meant for five year old girls, but how many of them actually watched it? And how many of them had the money to buy whatever toys from the series that they wanted? Honestly, more young adult males watched the show than anyone else, they should have some say in the toys created.

But, Izaya supposed, that's what toymakers were for. He'd get the adult Luna figurine no matter what.

He watched Kida move the mouse over and add the item to his cart. There were three or four things in there now, so he'd probably put the order through soon. A movie, a book… maybe a cd. He couldn't quite remember, but he knew there were a few things he was looking forward to.

A soft frown moved his lips as Kida handed him the packet. Pictures of his current face… At least he hoped, anyway. The man changed his looks so often that it was hard to keep track of.

Izaya set the photos on his desk. He would worry about them later. Honestly, he wasn't sure it mattered. Jinnai could change his face as many times as he wanted, but no matter what, there were always those eyes… staring at him, laughing at him. No matter what else changed in his face, the man was always taunting him with that look in his eyes.

For now… he had Ponies to watch. He grinned as Kida played the next episode in the list, a random episode from season 2, considering they'd just watched the newest one.

[Deleted]

It was probably a strange sight for anybody who might walk in to see.

Kida was sitting on his spinny chair, Izaya not complaining, relaxing on the arm of the chair, completely relaxed, as the sound of a children's show came from the speakers of the computer Izaya had all but custom built for holding information on absolutely everyone who was anyone in the underworld. Kida was pretty sure even he had a file or a folder somewhere in this drive, but for the sake of watching those adorable ponies kick the ass out of Discord (who reminded Kida a lot of somebody, he couldn't put his finger on it) and saving their failing friendship.

Neither Kida or Izaya moved, really. They waved at Namie when she came in, but that was about it. Work could wait until they were finished.

Hey, everyone has things that stress them out. It just so happened that My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was a good way to recharge their batteries and remind themselves on what was truly important in this chaotic mess that was Ikebukuro.