My Best Friend “I hope this works out better then last time,” TK inwardly sighed. Trips into the digital world had been admittedly difficult as of late. Now that he and Hikari were an ‘official’ couple, Daisuke had hyped up his efforts to win her attentions. So much for Hikari’s theory of once he knows he’ll cool it. Then, as if that wasn’t enough to deal with, Ken was acting as if someone had shoved a Christmas tree up his butt, and Miyako was spending all her time moaning and whining. Sometimes he felt like he was running around like a bunch of grade school kids. Oh wait, he was.
Hikari seemed to sense his frustration and laid a calming hand on his arm offering up a small smile.
“Kari-chan!” Daisuke came bounding up to them using the pet name he had recently dubbed her with. She hated it. He had yet to notice. Ken mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
“Huh?” Daisuke asked. TK gave a groan, not again.
“I said, you’re making an ass of yourself Daisuke! Let them alone.” Ken replied, much louder this time.
“Huh?” Daisuke asked again, “What do you know? At least they are my friends!” Ken sputtered indignantly for a couple of moments.
“What’s that suppose to mean?” he spat out, “We’re suddenly not friends?”
“Hey, I’m not the one who turns into an indignant ba—“
“Just shut-up! Both of you!” Miyako cut in shaking with rage.
“Ohh, indignant. That’s a big word, Daisuke.” Ken mumbled yet again. That was all it took. Daisuke launched himself away from Hikari and landed on Ken, knocking him to the ground. TK did his best to pull them off of each other as Hikari pleaded for them to stop and Miyako threw her hands up in the air in a gesture of utter despair.
“That’s it! I’m going home. I do have things I could be doing!” Miyako stormed back over to the television they had just come through.
“Miyako, come back.” Hikari called after her. Daisuke stopped trying to pummel Ken to watch her go and got shoved to the side for his efforts. Ken stood up and stormed after Miyako, falling through the gate a moment later. TK looked to Daisuke, who was still on the ground staring after the two who had just disappeared.
“Ok, then,” he sighed, “I guess today’s a bust.” He did not bother to remind them it had been like this all week and then some. He offered a hand to Daisuke and pulled him up off the ground.
“Lets go home,” he continued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
TK walked over to his brother’s apartment doing his best to figure out what was going on. Leading the digi-destined seemed to have fallen on his shoulders as the only thing Daisuke was interested in at the moment was getting Hikari’s attention. He did give a small smile at the thought of her. At least Hikari had not gone crazy. ‘Yet,’ came the bitter thought. Oh well, Yamato was good at this kind of thing. Maybe he could help him. After all, it was Yamato that had finally convinced TK to ask Hikari out. And that had turned out well, right? Right.
TK knocked on the apartment door, feeling somewhat better now that he had a plan of action. When the door finally opened he was surprised to see Ken already sitting at the kitchen table. Yamato motioned for him to come in before going back to Ken.
“Umm, hey Ken, Onisan,” TK said. Ken rose from his seat, giving TK a slight smile.
“Thank you for explaining that to me Yamato.” Ken gave a small bow. Yamato just continued to regard him, apparently unflustered by Ken’s formality as he walked the boy to the apartment’s door.
“So you’re hanging around with Ken now?” TK asked his brother after Ken had left. Yamato shrugged.
“He had a couple of questions he wanted to ask me.”
“About?” TK pried a little further. The rather pointed look he received was proof enough that Yamato had absolutely no intentions of breaking whatever confidence he and Ken had.
“So the genius,” TK began slowly, placing extra emphasis on the last word, “ Ichijouji Ken, goes to *my* brother for advice.” Yamato just continued to study his brother in the cool, unnerving way.
“You are completely obvious. You know that right?” Yamato finally chuckled.
“Well I wouldn’t be if someone just told me what was going on with all my friends! This is driving me crazy!” Yamato was trying to rub his younger brother’s back in a compassionate gesture, but the smirk on his face voided it somewhat.
“Yama-chan, what am I going to do? I think everything is falling apart.” It came out more as a moan than an actual sentence. He had not meant to come across as so desperate.
“What’s the problem?” Yamato asked, sitting TK in the seat Ken had recently vacated and exchanging the used teacup for a fresh one.
“Well I guess I could start by saying that is the most civil I’ve seen Ken all week.” TK began. Yamato dismissed the sentence with a wave of his hand.
“Ken’s going through a rough time. He’ll get over it. Just ignore him.” TK rolled his eyes.
“Every time I turn around, I have to peal Daisuke off of Hikari.”
“But you and Hikari are doing great, right? Just ignore him.” Yamato gave his brother a sympathetic smile that was not returned.
“Miyako is acting like the world is coming to an end every three minutes,” TK moaned into his hands.
“She’s just upset Ken’s gay. She’ll get over it. Just ig—“
“—I swear to God, that if you finish that phrase, I will go crazy.” TK cut in, then, “What did you just say?” TK continued to study his brother in shock.
“Just ignore her.” Yamato repeated for him. TK let out a frustrated groan as he banged his head on the table. This tickled Yamato to no end.
“He told you that?” TK finally asked after he had finished his fit.
“Not in so many words, but it was pretty obvious considering who he thinks he is in love with.” Yamato informed him dryly. TK wanted to ask, but the wall had already gone up and he knew his brother would not be letting anything else slip.
“So what do you think I should do, oh wise one?” TK pleaded.
“Just let it go, TK, these things have a way of working themselves out.” Yamato gave a contented sigh as he remembered the vibrant brunette asleep in his room at this very moment. After awhile, it became obvious that Yamato had been lost to some far off dream world. TK stood to go.
“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot,” TK said turning back to his brother who was still staring off into space, “I came over here to invite you to dinner tomorrow night. Mama’s making spaghetti.” Yamato’s head jerked back to attention.
“Thanks! I’ll be there. There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to her about anyway,” he said more to himself than TK as he waved him out the door.
TK walked home slowly trying to piece together what he already knew with what Yamato had let slip. If Ken had told Daisuke he was gay, Daisuke may have flipped out and that could be causing all the trouble. But no, TK stopped in the middle of the sidewalk causing people to have to swerve around him; no, that didn’t sound like Daisuke. TK started walking again. Unless. . .TK stopped short again and this time received a few obscenities, maybe Ken had told Daisuke he liked, no loved him and Daisuke had turned him down. That would explain Ken’s recent mood swings. He started walking again as yet another person brushed roughly past him. And if Miyako still liked Ken and had found out, as Yamato had suggested, well that would explain her frustration. But that still left Daisuke’s behavior. He had been coming on strong, even for Daisuke. But then it was Daisuke. TK let out what had to be his umpteenth sigh for the day. He was no closer to figuring this out then he had been when he started and if he didn’t hurry he would be late picking up Hikari for their date. Maybe she could help him sort this out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
TK was in a much better mood after spending a couple of hours with Hikari and looking forward to the pizza they had decided to go eat. That was, until Daisuke walked into the pizza parlor and sat down at their table giving them both a wan smile.
“Do you think Ken hates me?” he asked them both point blank. TK slung a protective arm around Hikari despite the fact that Daisuke had yet to do much more than acknowledge her presence.
“No, of course not,” Hikari told him, giving his hand a comforting pat, “You’re his best friend.”
“But he won’t even talk to me,” he told them mournfully. “I’ve been calling all afternoon and he either won’t pick up or gets his mother to say he’s not there.”
“Well, you two did have a fight today. He’s probably just upset. He’ll get over it soon. Just keep trying.” Hikari gave him a sympathetic smile.
“You should go talk to Yamato!” TK burst in from deep thought. Both of them looked at him as if he had gone mad. “No. Really, he’s good at this kind of thing.”
“TK! Would you stop that! Why are you being so rude to Daisuke? He’s just asking for our advice.” Hikari admonished him, her anger at his behavior evident.
“No,” TK moaned, banging his head on the table for the second time that day. He would be lucky if he did not get a bruise. “I’m being serious,” he told his lap. He refused to look up.
Daisuke was the first one to give a sputter of laughter, which quickly evolved to gales. Hikari was giggling a moment later. They were all almost choking within minutes. Daisuke finally regained control of himself and stood to go.
“I guess I’ll leave you guys alone then,” he told them with a smile before walking out. Hikari turned to her boyfriend who was still considerably flushed from his fit of laughter with a smile.
“I guess Daisuke’s finally gotten over me,” she joked.
“Hmm,” came his only response, his eyebrows knitting together. How did this fit into his theories again?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
There came yet another knock at the apartment door. Yamato gently disengaged himself from Taichi on the couch and went to see whom it was this time. He opened it and with a flourish of his arm, allowed Daisuke access to the apartment.
“Hey Daisuke,” Taichi called from the couch. Daisuke tossed him a wave.
“Can I speak to you?” Daisuke asked Yamato softly. Yamato nodded and led him into the kitchen, offering him a cup of tea. Daisuke settled himself in a seat as Yamato leaned back against the counter to wait.
“The tea’s not going to tell you anything,” Yamato drew eventually. Daisuke only offered him a short glance before returning his stare to the bottom of his cup.
“What if I were to say I liked my best friend,” Daisuke mumbled eventually. Yamato shrugged.
“I’d say that you’re expected to like your best friend.” Daisuke stuck his finger into the tea and began to dribble drops across the tabletop. It was everything Yamato could do to keep from slapping his hand away like you would a child’s. They sat in silence for a few more minutes.
“No, I mean, what if you really liked your best friend. Like, like liked.” Yamato shook his head in confusion at that last bit.
“Well,” he began but trailed off as both boys watched Taichi come in, get a soda from the fridge and walk back out, stopping to give Yamato a kiss as he left.
“Umm, what was that?” Daisuke asked. Yamato gave a short chuckle.
“That was Taichi.” Yamato informed him dryly, “Now back to what I was saying. If you really like Ken,” the way Daisuke’s eyes flickered made it pretty obvious that he did, “then you should find some way to tell him.”
“What if he hates me for it?” Daisuke asked in a whisper, the tea absorbing all his attention again. Yamato flipped a chair around and straddled it, rapping on the table to get Daisuke’s attention.
“I don’t think he will,” Yamato told him. He was rewarded with another brief flicker of the eyes. “How about you just trust me with this one?” he asked Daisuke, who nodded before standing up to leave.
“Bye Daisuke,” Taichi called from the couch where he was watching a soccer game.
“Yeah, bye,” he replied and then, “Umm, congrats on you and Yamato.”
“Thanks!” Taichi grinned up at him before going back to his game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Monday they were back in the digital world. Unfortunately, the weekend had not done as much to calm everyone’s tempers as TK had hoped it would. Miyako was steadily ignoring everyone, going about her job with a cold indifference. Ken was still mumbling odd things under his breath every so often. Daisuke, on the other hand, seemed to be back to his old annoying self. At least there were some things they could be thankful for.
However, into about the third hour of this, things started rolling down hill, fast. Daisuke was finding more and more difficult to ignore Ken’s constant little jabs. Finally he went too far by suggesting they leave Daisuke and his love alone.
Daisuke let out a growl as he grabbed Ken by the arm and drug him away from the rest of the group muttering about his soon to be had demise. For his part, Ken was much too shocked to put up any resistance. Daisuke pinned him against a tree.
“I don’t know what the hell’s the matter with you Ichijouji, but you’d better snap out of it.” Daisuke said menacingly. That finally seemed to wake Ken up and he began to struggle against the weight leaning on him.
“Get off of me, you oaf,” Ken returned with every bit as much venom. “Let me alone and go chase after your *girlfriend*.” The sarcasm in the air was palpable.
Daisuke only sighed, and then leaning in, kissed Ken, softly at first, but deepening it quickly. For his part, Ken did not offer up any complaints but rather found himself leaning into Daisuke and parting his lips in a not so subtle request Daisuke could not deny. After a time, Daisuke was forced to break off the kiss.
“Are you going to shut up, now?” he asked Ken, breathing deeply in an attempt to repay his oxygen debt. Ken only nodded, too intent on filling his own lungs to speak. With that, Daisuke took a step back. Ken gave a soft whimper at the loss of contact making Daisuke smile.
“Later, sweet,” he whispered, “We’ve got work to do now.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
TK was about to go find both boys, if one hadn’t killed the other by now, when they came walking out of the trees. A quick glance told him that there weren’t any visible injuries.
“Come on people!” Daisuke called, “We can’t just sit around here all day!” Hikari gave a small giggle before wrapping her arm around TK’s waist. Iori helped a tired Miyako up and together they went back to their task.
“This place isn’t going to fix itself!” Daisuke felt the need to reiterate. TK smiled. What ever had happened, things seemed to be getting back to normal. God, he was glad.
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