canon compliant

Inline with canon and nothing out of the ordinary/non-canon besides their relationship happens

dissection

Plot: Shizuo and Izaya's developing relationship through sneak peeks over time. How they went from hate fucking to falling in love.Thoughts: This fic is so fucking good I swear. It's not really "plot heavy" but this look into their relationship is brilliant and the development is slow and makes sense. It's beautiful and I love it

holiday spirits

Plot: Izaya breaks into Shizuo's apartment on Christmas Eve. Shizuo finds him asleep at his kitchen table, but instead of picking a fight, he offers him a drink, and they talk. They also do some other things.Thoughts: Really good. They talk about high school crushes, and Izaya admits his one-sided crush. It's pretty much tender porn with a side of relationship development, but it's so so good.

11.03

Plot: Shizuo and Izaya have a purely physical relationship. Then, on a New Year's Eve, they spend some time drinking and talking on a rooftop.Thoughts: Short and sweet, it's pretty much how I Imagine a "relationship" between them would go. Bonus points for Izaya freaking out over every little thing.

sympathy

Plot: Shizuo gets a call from Izaya telling him he's more or less dying, so, naturally, Shizuo goes out to find him bleeding out. And he does what any self respecting enemy does and saves his ass.Thoughts: One of the very first shizaya fics I ever read, it holds a special place in my heart. Brilliant beautiful show stopping, it has Everything I could ever ask for. Caretaking, nearly dying, Shizuo subtly caring, sexual tension and IZAYA CRYING!!
Overall 10/10 I've read it like 50 times

stay close, don't go

Plot: Shizuo and Izaya's relationship through the yearsThoughts: absolutely Brilliant. Seems very in character in my eyes. It gets intense and heartbreaking at specific moments and I Love it for how them it feels. The way both their feelings are portrayed and analyzed is fantastic and Correct and wonderful

unintentional affections

Plot: It starts out with the classic hate sex in alleyways arrangement. Izaya gets bored of it and starts scheming, planning to make Shizuo fall in love with him so he can eventually hurt him. It definitely goes as planned.Thoughts: This is borderline Just Porn, but with a little bit of developing relationship sprinkled in there. Mostly a funny, mostly horny little fic, but there's feelings at the end. It's cute, if a little sappy and at times a tad ooc.

canon divergence

Mostly inline with canon but a major non-canon event changes the course of the story

just medicine

Plot: Izaya is suffering from hanahaki disease. He is also dying from it. Shizuo learns about it, and also learns Izaya's one-sided feelings are for him.Thoughts: I am once again a slut for Izaya suffering from one-sided love. This one is a little sad and very tasty.

freeze frame

Plot: Shizuo find's Izaya's lost phone with the camera roll open. So he goes after Izaya to ask why said camera roll is full of pictures of himself.Thoughts: This is just a fun fic. The premise may sound a bit silly but it ends up being really good. I'm biased because it's all about Izaya's clearly one-sided feelings being the reason he is.. like that.. And I'm all for that shit. Also Izaya is really horny, it's funny.

sacramental

Plot: Honestly i don't know how to explain this one. Exploring their relationship through snippets of events that happened in canon (and some that didn't), but with the added layer of feelings, oh so many feelings.Thoughts: This one is just so fucking brilliant, I have no words. It's harsh and tender and painful and warm, and everything a fic could ever hope to be. I don't even know how I can describe how beautiful the writing is, how impeccably their relationship is described. Just. Read this one.

face value

Plot: Izaya gets cursed into being unable to lie. To anybody, including himself.Thoughts: I fucking LOVE this one. One of my favourite tropes is "forced honesty" by whatever means, and this is exactly that.
Izaya isn't even honest to himself about his feelings for Shizuo, so this curse of honesty forces him to finally face them. It's so fucking TASTY 10/10 mwah chefs kiss

Heart over ice

Trigger warnings: sexual assault, attemped rape, rape recovery, psychological trauma, PTSD, flashbacks, murderPlot: Shizuo witnesses Izaya's attemped assault and near death, saves his life and is severely traumatized by the whole thing.
The fic deals with the aftermath of all this, and Izaya and Shizuo's different reactions and coping mechanisms to a horrible situation.Thoughts: I like this 90% because I think Shizuo's character is really really good and well written. I also love Shinra and Izaya's relationship and the over the top flirting. And I'm always a slut for characters growing closer through shared healing (or something along those lines for these two). It's an interesting read, if a bit silly at times because of the memes, and a bit dark because of, well, the topic.

what you don't surrender

Yes it's on ffnet, yes it's from 2011, but trust me, it's goodTrigger warnings: rape, rape recovery, psychological trauma, flashbacks, murderSo. This fic deals with the aftermath of rape (not between Shizuo and Izaya ffs). It also touches on some other difficult issues like self-loathing, self blaming and fear of touching. So obviously, this is a heavy one. However, I still think it's one of the best shizaya fanfics out there, if the topic is something you can stomach.
The rape itself isn't fully described, but it IS mentioned in flashbacks, and it's very intense and very upsetting.Plot: Shizuo falls victim to rape. He develops an intense aversion to touch and is afraid of hurting those he cares about when he lashes out because of it. Izaya, for some reason, offers to help him with dealing with it. Shizuo agrees because he doesn't care if he hurts Izaya or not. And so they go, they try to heal, and it's emotional.Thoughts:
The writing itself is very good (if we ignore how often Izaya says "ne"). The way Shizuo is written especially is just chefs kiss in my (correct) opinion.
The development of the relationship is pretty slow and well paced I think, and there is some actual plot going on that adds to it.
It's emotional and it makes me wanna cry at various points throughout, which I consider a plus.
This is definitely not a fic for everyone, it's heavy and its heartbreaking to read at times, but it's one of those I always go back to because it's just so good.

a cheap imitation

A classic if there ever was oneTrigger warnings: blood, gore, attempted sexual assault, violence, deathPlot: Izaya and Shizuo are trapped on an island, with a time limit before they're injected with poison. Meanwhile, a whole bunch of violent criminals are out murdering. So they have to work together to find a way to not die. It goes as well as expected, with a lot of feelings and a lot of blood.Thoughts: ok who hasn't read this one? Because you gotta. It's gripping, it's funny, it's stupid and emotional and I love it. Very fucking slow burn, but worth it.

to hell and back

Trigger warnings: emotional and physical torture, violence (obviously), some murderPlot: Izaya starts sending Shizuo postcards from around the world. Shizuo leaves Japan to go after him on a whim. Izaya offers him a job as his own bodyguard as they travel the world, and in exchange, Shizuo gets to kill him at the end of their trip. Shizuo accepts.Thoughts: There's a lot of sci-fi elements in this as it goes on, and I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but this fic is very fun. It kinda grips you, and it's an interesting read, if a little sappy at times.

just porn

It's...just porn?

witness

Plot: They have sex in a public bathroomThoughts: the hottest shit i've ever read, actually. Exhibitionism and size kink

give and receive

Plot: Izaya breaks into Shizuo's house to give him a present for his birthday. He's the birthday presentThoughts: this is literally just porn but there's strength kink so it's special

aggression

Plot: Phone hate sex. That's it really.Thoughts: It's hot

post-ketsu

Takes place after canon

The Gift of Hands

Plot: "Or, Shizuo can't forget Izaya, so he decides to remember him instead."Thoughts: What can I say about this fic, it's brilliant, it's poetic, it's sad, it's heartbreaking. It's so so good. It's very Orihara siblings-centric, which I absolutely adore, and I think you will too.

lie me to sleep

Plot: Izaya goes back to Ikebukuro and Shizuo feels GuiltyThoughts: By the same author as the one above, still brilliant, the writing is poetic in a way I've never seen before, it's so beautiful. A must-read, even if small, there's just something about it that I can't even put into words. So so good.

alternative universe

Takes place in a completely different setting than canon

Nothing in the World (series)

Plot: AU where Shizuo and Izaya have a one year difference and go to the same middle school as senpai and kouhai respectively.
There's a lot of parts in the series but the main ones are Any Other Name (Izaya POV) and Protest Too Much (Shizuo POV)Thoughts: This is basically a "what if they were friends instead" kind of thing. They're surprisingly in character even though they don't hate each other. So basically friends to lovers, slow burn, cute and tender, and also strength kink 10/10.

Misspelled

Plot: Companion fic to the Nothing in the World series, written by a different author. Canon Izaya switches places with this AU's Izaya.Thoughts: This fic may be short but it took my heart and ripped it out of my chest. It's so GOOD, and the writing is amazing.

The Better Half of Me

Plot: Soulmates AU, where each person's scars show up on their soulmate's body.Thoughts: I'm always a slut for soulmate AUs, but this one.. BOY. It's borderline painful, their pining. It's brilliant.

how to feel real

Plot: Cyberpunk AU, Izaya is a detective at an agency and Shizuo is assigned as his new partner.Thoughts: I'm not big on cyberpunk besides the aesthetic, but this is good. Izaya is painfully flirty all the time always constantly and it's very funny.