Anime Universe: Digimon Adventures 02
Pairing/Characters: Ken, Wormmon
Genre: Friendship, Family
Summary: Wormmon has only been jealous twice in his life. Having a small puppy around was something he was happy not about.
Jealousy
Wormmon had always been the center of Ken's attention. Even when Ken was the Digimon Kaiser, Ken always seemed to pay attention to him. Even if he was cold and cruel and uncaring during that time of his life. Despite the abuse, Ken never ignored him fully. He never ringed him, either, as surprising as it was and something that still puzzled him. When he saw the way the other Chosen and their Digimon interacted, he was jealous. Before the Dark Seed, Ken was always nice and kind towards him. He wanted his Ken back, so they could be close again.
When the Dark Seed no longer affected him, he returned to the kind and gentle person that he was before. Ken was guilty of the things that he did, but that was something they worked on together. They became even closer than before and Wormmon, he admitted, may have become a bit protective. He was not going to deny that he felt protective when the Mexican girl named Chichos tried to flirt with Ken. He didn't like it and maybe he was jealous of that too. But to be fair, Ken was getting his life back together and he didn't need a girl to be chasing after him because of his looks.
And then after three years, and a pet shelter later, the jealousy came back. He was shocked when his partner's parents surprised Ken with a puppy for his birthday. Ken often volunteered at the local pet shelter near his school four days a week. Wormmon watched his partner take care of the dogs and cats. He liked how Ken was gentle with them. In a way, taking care of the strays allowed Ken to get in touch more with his kind and gentle side, that is not usually shown around strangers.
He remembered, a month ago, a new puppy came into the shelter. Ken instantly took a liking to it, but never said anything to his parents. Wormmon assumed it was because Ken didn't want to burden his parents. Though that didn't seem to matter since Ken's mother happened to come into the shelter when she got out of work one day and happened to see Ken taking care of the small puppy.
Wormmon sighed as he watched Ken play with the small puppy. The puppy was the same small tan puppy that Ken was taking care of at the shelter. The puppy may be cute, but he was still a Ken stealer. He was not saying that Ken didn't pay attention to him or play with him or love him less. It was just that the puppy was always with Ken and had a very bad habit of barking at him and attacking him at every chance he got. Wormmon glared at the enemy from the safety of Ken's computer desk.
He watched as Ken lightly tossed a red ball. The puppy excitedly chased after it and returned with it. He laughed as the puppy barked and wagged his tail as he waited for Ken to toss it again. Wormmon grumbled to himself as he watched with jealousy. Ken tossed the ball and it went into the hall with the puppy in tow. Ken looked up at him with a smile.
"Wormmon, do you want to play with Maxi?" Wormmon blinked his eyes and looked at the door warily.
"I think it's better if I stay up here." Ken frowned at him.
"Why? Don't you want to play with him too?"
"No thanks," Wormmon replied. "He doesn't like me very much anyway." Ken raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What makes you say that?"
"Don't you see when he barks at me and attacks me when I'm minding my own business?" Wormmon asked with a glare as the over excited puppy returned with the ball in his mouth.
Ken simply rolled his eyes and gave him an amused smile. The puppy barked as he sat in front of his partner and released the ball to the ground. Instead of taking the ball and tossing it again, like he has been doing for the past hour, Ken picked up the puppy and cradled him in his arms as he stood up. Ken stood in front of him and held the puppy in front of him. The puppy sniffed him before licking his face.
Ken chuckled at the cute scene. "He likes you."
"But why does he always attack me and barks at me then?" Wormmon squeaked out in surprise as the puppy continued to lick his face.
"Have you ever considered that he just wanted to get your attention so you can play with him?" Ken replied with a question of his own.
Wormmon blinked as he thought back and realized that must be the reason why. Every time he was attacked he was reading, watching TV, or sleeping, but was completely ignoring the puppy. Had he really been that jealous to not realize this and at a puppy no less?
"Well, I guess not," he finally admitted as the puppy stopped licking him and began to bark playfully. Ken gave him a knowing look as he put the puppy back on the floor. The puppy barked again before running to his bed, which was in the far corner of Ken's room, to grab another toy to play with.
"I going to get some snacks from the kitchen. Can you play with him?" Ken asked with a smile. Wormmon could not say no to his partner, no matter how much he wanted to.
"Fine. Anything for you Ken." Ken smiled brightly at him.
"Great! Be right back!" And with that, he walked out of his bedroom.
Wormmon sighed when Ken left him alone with the enemy. He jumped slightly when the puppy barked at him. He looked down to see the puppy looking at him with the rope in his mouth. Wormmon blinked at him as the puppy put the rope on the ground and started to dance on his hind legs. Wormmon couldn't stop the amused chuckle that left his lips. With an amused smile that could match his partner's, he crawled down the table.
He stopped in front the puppy and picked up the rope. The puppy wagged his tail and barked. Wormmon threw the rope and watched as the puppy chased after it. When he returned the puppy didn't release the rope. Wormmon frowns slightly as he grabbed the rope, hoping that Maxi would let it go. Wormmon was startled when the puppy pulled as he struggled to hold the rope. After a few tugs, Wormmon realized they were playing tug a war. Wormmon laughed as they continued to play this game until Ken returned from the kitchen.
When Ken returned, Wormmon lost his hold of the rope. He turned to his partner when he heard him laughing softly. Ken entered the room with a plate of cookies, two glasses of milk and a bowl of water. Wormmon watched as Ken placed the plate on the table. Ken placed the bowl of water on the ground, along with five dog treats. Ken then picked him up and placed him on the table and then took a seat on his computer chair.
The three of them ate their snacks in silence. Wormmon inwardly smiled as he ate his cookies. In a matter of a few minutes, he had gone from being jealous and disliking the puppy to liking him. Wormmon realized that there was no need to be jealous of Maxi because Ken loved them both equally. If Ken was able to split his love for the both of them, then he could do the same and not be jealous that Ken had someone else that he loved, other than him.
