When Opposites Detract

When Opposites Detract

It was a fine Monday morning, snow was touching upon the frozen ground and piling up neatly. The clouds were gray but filled with joy, for it was snowing and Takeru loved the snow. While in midst of the month of December, this particular day was shattered by the news of his mother. Surprisingly enough, Takeru was slightly excited about what was going to happen. But he was 99.9% sure he was going to hate it...

"Hey, Takeru?"

The youthful blond dashed out of his room and into the kitchen where his mom was waiting. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Um," she shifted her eyes from her son to her hands. "I'm going on a vacation for a week."

Takeru grinned, "Where to?"

"The States."

"Oh cool! What're we gonna do?"

"Um, that's the problem." Ms. Takaishi sighed. "I only have one ticket--It's for my business."

"But Mom! What am I supposed to do? I want to go!" whined Takeru.

"TK… you can't go. It'd be too expensive."

"Then-"

"You can't stay at Yamato's… He's going on his mini-tour."

"I can go with-"

"No you won't! It'll be dangerous. Who knows, he might be busy all the time."

Takeru sighed. "But Mom…"

"I'd let you stay at the Yagami's… But they're going away at the end of the week."

"So where am I supposed to go?" he paused. "I can stay here by my-"

"NO!" Ms. Takaishi almost dropped her coffee cup.

"You… don't trust me?"

"It's not that… I don't trust… you know… people."

Takeru felt greatly insulted. "Fine."

"Oh I know!" she smiled. "How about your little friend Daisuke?"

Those words seemed so innocent. Almost like they weren't even real. But they were. Oh yes, they were. Takeru learned it the hard way.

"You can't be serious…" Takeru begged his mother, his sleeping bag under one arm, his pillow under another, and his bag on his back. The heavenly snow that was just there yesterday disappeared from the not-so-heavenly rain. All that was left was the slush.

"What's wrong?" she frowned. "It's only a week. You'll have fun."

Takeru dropped his head. "Mom, you don't understand…"

"Aw, come on, Takeru." She leaned out the car window and kissed him on his forehead. "I'll be back in a week."

The blond sighed. "Fine."

"I love you, TK." She tried to make him smile.

"Love you too." He muttered and walked into the apartment building. Up the stairs he went; he wasn't in any hurry to get up there. Down the hallways he tripped; he purposely dropped his items to make the journey longer. And to the door and stopped; he didn't want to knock. Finally, he raised his hand up to the door and knocked only once. After a few seconds, Daisuke threw open the door and blinked. Takeru blinked in return. Both of them blinked at different times before the blond was allowed inside the apartment.

"What's up?" Daisuke asked.

"Nothin'." Takeru sat down on the couch.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"My parents are out someplace with Jun." The brunette jumped back into his father's recliner.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"They'll be back in a matter of hours."

"Oh." Takeru nodded absentmindedly.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"So what do you wanna do?" Daisuke stared at the ceiling.

"I dunno."

"Me neither."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Five minutes later…

"So my mom made me come."

"That sucks."

"I know." Takeru sighed.

"Hungry?"

"Starving."

"Food?"

"Of course."

"Alrighty then." Daisuke jumped up and led his 'friend' to the kitchen. "No pictures, please."

They sat down at the table and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; the only thing they could make. Daisuke watched as Takeru carefully spread the peanut butter on his bread and then on the opposite one, he put an even amount of jelly.

"Do you have to be so perfect?"

"It's worth the time and effort in the end."

"It's just a sandwich."

"Whatever."

Then Takeru watched as Daisuke slapped on the jelly first and then put a big glob of the peanut butter on top. He shook his head as the dark-haired boy bit into the sandwich and everything came out of the other end.

"See?"

"Shut up." Daisuke warned.

"Whatever."

"Whatever." He mimicked.

"Shut up." Takeru glared.

"Whatever."

"What-" Takeru was interrupted by the phone. The goggle-wearing boy snatched up the receiver in a second.

"Yo?" Daisuke waited and looked at Takeru. He beamed brightly and exclaimed into the phone, "Hi, Hikari!"

As soon as he heard the girl's name, the blond jumped up and held out his hand. "She's calling for me!"

"She is not!" Daisuke snapped and spun around in the cord, getting his body entangled, " What's up, Kari?"--"Oh, that's cool."--"At least you're not having TI-81 over here."

"TI-what?" blinked the guest. He shook off the feeling and snatched the phone out of Daisuke's hand. "Hey! Kari? It's Takeru." -- "Yeah, I guess it's going just great. Not! I swear, I'd spend a day at the dentist rather than be with Daisuke for even a minute. I-what? No… Daisuke isn't that bad… but… you've gotta- But Kari! I didn't-He did. Kari? Please understand, I didn't mean- It was all Daisuke's fault!"

The brunette reached for the phone, "It was not! What ever he says is not true!"

"Still your tongue, you menace!" Takeru wailed and held the phone up high. Daisuke leaped and jumped and tugged to get the phone back, but the other was too strong.

"You guys!" Hikari screamed over the phone. Instantly, Takeru lowered the phone so he and his friend could hear.

"I'm going to hang up now."

"NO!" they both pleaded.

"Ah! Ah! I'm going to hang up now," she repeated. "I'll call back when you two learn to cope with each other."

"But!"

"I'll talk to you later."

"But!"

"See you." They could hear giggling before she hung up. Both of the boys, entangled with the phone cord, hung the receiver up and glared at each other.

"It's all your fault…" Daisuke muttered.

"Yeah right…" Takeru leaned against the wall. "Whatever."

Throughout the rest of the few hours of daylight, the two boys tried various things to pass the time. They first tried to watch television; one decided to watch wrestling, the other wanted to watch the music channel. Then a board game came into mind: Monopoly or Scatagories. Eating: sandwiches (again) or a homemade batch of cookies. Sport: Soccer or basketball. Music: Rock and roll or classical pop. Movie: the famous horror flicks or the newer ones. That was as close as they could get to getting in the ranges of similarities.

"Freddie," Daisuke said.

"Scream." Takeru muttered and held up the three trilogy movies.

"Those are lame."

The blond sat on the floor. "We'll watch the Scream Trilogy then we'll watch the lame Freddie junk."

"Okay, hey, why do you have to be first?"

"I'm guest."

"Oh."

Takeru stood up. "Where's your popcorn?"

"I'll get it, start the movies without me." Daisuke rolled off the couch lazily and walked away. The light-haired friend shrugged and leaned against the couch. Within minute's passing, the horror flick started to get in the mysterious mode. Takeru's eyes were glued to the screen with fascination. He didn't realize that Daisuke had been gone for twelve minutes. Little did he know, Daisuke was on his way back at the moment he realized the disappearance.

"Hey, Daisuke-" Takeru looked up and saw a figure standing beside him with a bowl in his hands. "AAH!" Takeru flipped out.

"AAH!" Daisuke yelled and dropped the bowl. It landed on Takeru's head and he screamed again in pain.

"Ouch! You meant that on purpose!"

"I did not!"

"You did so!"

Again, the two bickered about the near pointless happening that scared both of them. Neither of them agreed that they scared each other and that it was slightly funny. They were just extremely angry with one another and soon after the quarrel began, it halted with silence. Daisuke was on the couch with the popcorn bowl and the picked up popcorn while Takeru was sprawled on the floor, nearly asleep. Eleven rolled around quickly and Daisuke was waiting for his parents to come home.

"Hey, TA. You're missing the good-" Daisuke looked over the edge of the couch and saw Takeru curled up with his head on a couch pillow. A pop can was tilted in his hand and his hat had slid off his head, creating a messy boyish look to the young teen. Standing up, Daisuke took a blanket from the chair near the television and unfolded it to put it on his friend. Doing the responsible thing, he removed the can from Takeru's hand and set it a distance away. He added another pillow before jumping back onto the couch. Soon after, Daisuke himself fell asleep.

"You'd almost think that they were friends." Jun said an hour later when she and her parents arrived back home.

"Well aren't they?" her mother asked.

"Humph, I wouldn't know." Jun tilted her nose to the air and walked into her room.

The next day, Takeru suggested that they should play a sport. When Daisuke said "Soccer," Takeru said "Basketball." They agreed to play soccer first and basketball second.

"I'm not good at playing soccer." Takeru stated.

"Too bad." Daisuke shrugged. Arriving on the soccer field, Daisuke dropped the ball and kicked it back and forth to himself.

Takeru stood in the middle of the field. "Ready?"

"What? Oh yeah, yeah." Daisuke kicked the ball to the center and got on the opposite side of Takeru. "Ready-go!"

Daisuke skillfully dribbled the ball with his feet around Takeru. The first goal was easily made. Minutes later, Takeru started to get into the game. With the score being four to one, the odds weren't on the blonde's side. As the game ended, both of the boys were exhausted.

"What… was the score?" Daisuke teased.

"Shut… up…" Takeru leaned over and put his hands on his knees. He was a little embarrassed from his 'skills' on the field. The score was ten to two. Daisuke had beaten him in a sport he couldn't play. It was the goggle-wearing boy's time to shine.

"You really do suck." Daisuke snickered when they were walking to the basketball court.

"Just you wait." Said Takeru. "The b-ball court is mine."

"I'll run digi-laps around you!"

Takeru stopped. "Digi-laps?"

"Five basketball courts."

"Whatever…"

"What? You don't think that's funny?"

"It's lame."

"I can't believe you don't find it funny!"

"It's not funny, it's stupid."

"It is not!"

"It is to."

"Y'know what?"

Takeru didn't reply.

"Whatevah." Daisuke snatched the basketball and ran to the court.

Playing basketball was one of Takeru's natural talents. The brunette had no idea what he had gotten himself into until the game began. Jumping for the ball, Daisuke fell short about an inch while Takeru grabbed it and dribbled it deftly to the hoop. He easily performed a lay-up.

"Lucky shot."

"Whatevah." Takeru mocked and roughly tossed the ball to the other. Playing competitively, the game went on with insults, denies, and accusations. Finishing the game with the score 73 to 15, Takeru obviously won. After a minute of rest, the two sports guys started to walk back home.

"In the third quarter, I let you win." Daisuke said as he kicked the soccer ball down the street.

"Sure you did." Takeru said back, dribbling the basketball calmly.

"…Good game?" the brunette asked and held out his hand.

The taller friend smirked and shook his friend's hand. "Good game."

"What the…" Daisuke tilted his head up to the sky. "Is it snowing?"

"It wouldn't snow. You're pulling my leg. Let's go already." Takeru sighed and turned the corner.

"But really-" Daisuke sighed.

When they arrived back at the apartment, they were ready to skip dinner and just lie down. Takeru walked into Daisuke's bedroom and paused.

"Where'd my sleeping bag go?"

Daisuke popped his head in from the bathroom door. "Beats me." He then shut the door and the sound of the shower filled the silence.

Takeru ran out and looked around. "Mrs. Motomiya? Mr. Motomiya?"

Daisuke's mother stepped out from the kitchen. "Yes?"

"Have um… you seen my sleeping bag?"

"Oh dear!"

"What's…" Takeru felts his jaw drop a bit. "That supposed to mean?"

"That was your sleeping bag Jun took?"

Takeru's jaw completely dropped by this point. "But, what … what am I going to sleep in?"

"Hm… No, no… Jun wouldn't like it if you slept in her bed…"

Takeru twitched.

"I'm sorry… I just don't know. I could call Jun and tell her to-"

"…No. It's all right." The blond mumbled and walked back into the bedroom. Daisuke was out of the shower already.

"Did you find it?"

"Your sister took it."

"Figures. She's always taking stuff from my room." Daisuke jumped onto the bed. "Shower's free."

"Fine, whatever."

By the time Takeru was finished in the bathroom, Daisuke was already asleep. He had no other choice but to sleep on the floor. Luckily, Daisuke had to clean it before he came over. Using his pillow for a head rest, the boy soon fell asleep. Moments later, Mr. and Mrs. Motomiya opened the door to check on the two boys.

"Poor TK. He must be freezing." Daisuke's mom said quietly. "That bed's big enough for two. Go ahead and slip TK onto it."

~ The next day

Takeru turned in the bed and blinked his eyes open. He was facing a wall.

"What the-"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Daisuke screamed behind Takeru. Scared out of his mind, Takeru flipped over to see Daisuke.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

There was a little moment of noiseless sound.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" they screamed again. Takeru jumped up and dove off the bed. Not caring how hard he hit, he turned around to look at Daisuke.

"AAAAAAAAH!!!" they shrieked again.

"What were you!"

"How did I!"

"DAAAAD!"

"MR. MOTOMIYA!"

Instead of his father, Daisuke's mother walked in. A fresh scent of bacon and eggs filled the room. She wiped her hands off on her apron.

"Problem?"

"Takeru was up on my-"

"But I was on the-"

"Then I woke up and-"

"I was there!"

"Oh," she smiled unknowingly. "You father and I decided that the bed was big enough for the two of you. So he put TK up on the bed."

The two boys twitched only a little.

"Now come on. Breakfast is ready. And you two didn't eat dinner!"

"Could this get any better?" Takeru asked sarcastically after Mrs. Motomiya left.

After breakfast, the two boys decided to play video games. They got carried away with it and played a war game for two straight hours. Neither of them admitted that the lost to each other countless times. Movies, junk food, pop… everything in their day plan was bad for their health. And soon, night came near and they fell asleep on Daisuke's bedroom floor. In front of them was a game of Monopoly and in the middle was, strangely enough, popcorn, baseball cards, and the traditional Monopoly money. Sure enough, Mr. Motomiya place both of them in the bed.

~ Day four

Takeru opened his eyes to see a mess of brown hair. "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Daisuke's eyes shot open and he shot his head up. He hit Takeru under the chin in accident.

"Ouch!"

"AAAAH!"

"Not again!" they both yelled. Equal in speed, they jumped out of the bed and dashed out to the living room to confront Mr. Motomiya again. But no one was there.

"Mom! Dad!" Daisuke yelled and walked around. When walking into the kitchen, he noticed a note posted on the refrigerator. He read it aloud, "Daisuke and Takeru: we went to go shopping for Christmas. Since you two are the only ones in the apartment, here are your chores: Wash dishes, clean room, clean living room, vacuum, fix your own dinner, and don't forget to brush your teeth!"

"This sucks." Takeru said and bit into an apple.

"Yeah…" Daisuke grumbled. "I hate washing dishes."

"Who is doin' what?"

"You do dishes!"

"But I-"

"Too late."

"Fine, you have to clean your room AND the living room. I'll fix the dinner."

"You know how to cook!?"

"What's there to know?" Takeru shrugged. "I pick things up from Yamato here and there."

"If you burn the house down, I'll-"

"Relax!" Takeru rolled his eyes.

For breakfast, they had Cocoa Puffs and chocolate milk. They didn't care that it was "too much chocolate." Daisuke told Takeru that his parents never came home until nine o'clock when Christmas shopping. He said that it was the time that his parents thought he was asleep.

"But are you asleep?" Takeru asked.

"Nope."

So they filled their day with television and indoor games. Five o'clock swept by and they started to clean the house. Takeru started on the dinner. Few minutes passed by and then a delicious scent carried through the house. Daisuke, who had just finished cleaning the room and started to work on the living room, looked up and breathed in the aroma.

"What're you cooking?"

"Pizza."

Daisuke's mouth watered. "I love pizza…"

"What?"

"Smells good!"

"Wait 'til it's fully baked." Takeru walked out and saw Daisuke sitting in front of the television. "Play a quick game of Street Fighter?"

"Okay." Daisuke pulled out the controllers and instantly, they began to play the video game. Instead of just one quick game, they played four long ones.

"Gah!" Takeru dropped the controller in midst of a fight.

"What? What!" Daisuke looked around.

"The pizza!" Takeru jumped up and ran over to the oven. Throwing open the oven, thick, black smoke rose and greeted his face. "Ack!"

"Where's the fire?" Daisuke teased, not knowing that it was in the oven.

"More importantly, where's your fire extinguisher?!"

The young Motomiya dashed into the kitchen. "Takeru! You idiot!"

He opened a drawer and took out the mini-fire extinguisher and sprayed it into the oven. A minute following the fire, the smoke cleared and displayed Takeru and Daisuke sitting on the kitchen floor. Both of their faces were smudged with black from the smoke and both of them were upset.

"What's there to know? he says! Relax! he says!" Daisuke glared.

"One more game! The pizza's fine! Just one more!" Takeru shot back.

"You could've said no."

"You could've stopped after the first game."

Daisuke looked inside the oven and sighed. Looking at it once more, he then began to laugh his head off.

"What's so funny?" the blond questioned.

"That pizza would have been great…"

Takeru looked at the wrecks of the pizza and chuckled. "Yeah… To be frank, that's the only thing I could cook without Yamato guiding me what to do."

"It must be cool to have a brother like him."

"It is. 'Cept he has a temper…"

"So does Jun."

"Maybe we should get a frozen dinner and just put it in the microwave."

"Sounds good to me."

"I'll clean the oven…" Takeru stood up and they went back to work.

Near seven o'clock, the phone rang. Since Daisuke was in the bathroom, Takeru answered.

"Motomiya residence."

"Hey, TK."

"Kari!" he then lowered his voice. "Kari, hi."

"I called to say goodbye and merry Christmas." She said. He could tell that she was smiling.

"Right! You're going to your aunt's."

"Yep."

"I hope you have a great time, Kari."

"Aw! Thanks. That's sweet."

Takeru grinned a little bit. "Did you want to talk to Daisuke?"

"So you guys are getting along!"

"Sorta."

"Neat."

"Whatever…" Takeru blinked a little bit. "Hey, Daisuke! Hikari wants to talk to you."

In a flash, Daisuke was out of the washroom and clinging onto the phone.

"Hi!" he said merrily. A very loud discussion was played on the phone. Takeru was on one, as well as Daisuke, and they were talking to Hikari. When it was time for her to leave, Takeru and Daisuke wished Hikari happy holidays and she returned the saying.

"She's nice." Daisuke said after he hung up the phone.

Takeru leaned against the wall. "Yeah."

The doorbell interrupted the silence.

"OH NO!" Daisuke jumped up and looked at the phone. "DAMN! We stayed on the phone for two hours!"

"Oh no!" Takeru echoed and dashed into the kitchen. "Stall whoever's there! I'll finish the oven."

Daisuke opened the door and waited for his parents to look at him. Instead, it was Jun.

"Jun? What're YOU doing here?"

"I-I don't want to talk about it!" she sobbed and ran into her room.

Daisuke yelled after her, "The least you could do is bring back your stuff!"

Takeru came out and blinked. "Oven's done."

"Jun's done too."

"What?"

"…I think she left your sleeping bag at her friends." Daisuke shut the door.

"Three nights left…" the blond yawned. "If you don't mind, I'll just go to sleep now."

Daisuke shrugged and let his friend go to bed.

~ Day five

Like the past two mornings, Takeru awoke in Daisuke's bed. This time, they didn't scream. Now they were used to it. Today they planned to go to the Odaiba Arcade inside of the mall. Once they were ready, they went; and once they were there, they split apart. True, they were just going to the arcade, but they were going Christmas shopping as well. Takeru took a detour to the music store and afterwards, he went to the sports section. Daisuke on the other hand, went to the arcade first, then to shop in the sports area, and then to the music store. Nearly the same route that Takeru did.

In conclusion to their mall run, they met up in the food court to dine on some delights. Neither of them told the other what they got or where they went. As time passed, the night sky covered up the sky-view windows. No stars were seen so they could tell that it was cloudy. Six thirty was the time they departed from the mall. Outside was chilly and dark. It was especially chilly because they had to walk home.

"Yeah, so then Jun fell face first into the cake batter and my mom got pissed off at me 'cause I scared her." Daisuke said with a chuckle.

"Once my brother and I were sure that my parents were getting back together…" Takeru stated, sniffing from the cold; "We bought them a cake and we decorated it with hearts and everything. My parents figured out what happened with the confusion of ours. They didn't say anything, but they broke the largest heart in half. It's kind of funny; the way me and Yamato thought that is."

"It's not that funny…"

"…I know. But I like to think it like that."

"I hope it snows." Daisuke changed the subject.

Takeru looked up at the sky, "Me too."

They returned to Daisuke's home and hid the mall-wrapped presents in their own spots. Already use to the routine, Takeru jumped onto the edge of the bed that was against the wall. He took his own blanket and covered himself up. Daisuke climbed in and turned off the lamplight.

"Night, TA."

"Night, David."

~ Day six

"Hey, Daisuke, wake up already." Takeru shook his friend.

Daisuke grumbled in return and shoved his head under the pillow. Taking the pillow and smacking him with it, Takeru then pushed him off the bed.

"Dang you, it's snowed. And it's still snowing. Wake up and see."

Daisuke jumped up and ran to the window. "Jeez! It did-it is! Let's go outside-"

"If you wanna freeze, go ahead. But I'm dressing warmly." Takeru smirked and pulled out his clothes from his bag.

"Oh… right…" Daisuke laughed uneasily and jumped to his dresser.

Like a young kid awaiting Christmas Day, the two were all ready to go outside within two minutes. They dashed out Daisuke's front door with a circular sled. (I forgot what those things are called at the moment… Discs? Dishes? Man, I AM pathetic…)

"There's a hill," Daisuke said as soon as they stepped out the door. "Whoa…"

Whiteness filled their eyes. Everything had a pile of snow on top of it. Kids, old and young, were running through the snow with red noses and smiles from ear to ear. Even some adults were outside casually playing with their loved one. Laughter was echoing throughout the neighborhood and even the screams were filled with laughter. Daisuke squinted his eyes to search for the steps. As soon as he tripped down the ten-step stairway, Daisuke figured out where they were. The snow was so deep, that it nearly covered the boy up.

"Watch the first step; it's a doozy..." he said from the snow. Takeru chuckled and cautiously made his way down the near-invisible steps.

"You okay?"

"Sure. No problem."

The goggle-wearing boy jumped up and patted his coat to rid the snow. He nodded towards a hill nearby and started to run to it. Takeru followed with a smile on his face. Their first ride down was simply chaotic; the sled went one way and they went the other. Upon deciding that they should go separately, Takeru seized the opportunity to ride down the hill again. Once more, everything flipped upside down for him. The sled ended up above him rather than below at the end of the ride. Daisuke's second attempt wasn't much better; it took off before he was fully on it. So half the time he was hanging onto it and the other half was him on his own. Hours rushed by and they spent it sledding, snowball fighting, snowman building, and snowman wrecking. Naturally, the wrecking idea was Daisuke's. In all, it was another day filled with excitement, but surprisingly, the two only fought for who got to ride on the sled next or who got to kick the snowman's head off...

Another night drew nigh and they walked back to the apartment, coughing most of the way.

"That was fun," Takeru said in between coughs.

Daisuke nodded. "I liked it when the head of a snowman fell in front of that one girl and she screamed her own head off."

They both laughed uncontrollably until they got to the front door. As it opened, Takeru was greeted by a familiar face.

"Mom!" he dropped the sled. "You said that you were gonna be back tomorrow!"

She turned around in her seat and smiled brightly. "It went a little shorter than usual."

Takeru removed his coat, shoes, and gloves in a second and dove into his mother's arms. She in return wrapped her arms around him and cradled him lovingly.

"So what'd you do while I was gone?" Ms. Takaishi questioned. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, yeah, tons. Can we go home?"

Chatter between the reunited family filled the room for at least ten minutes before Takeru's mom finally told him to grab his things. Takeru dashed into the room and noticed Daisuke sitting on the bed with a wrapped gift in his hands.

"Hey! I'm goin' home." Takeru smirked and rubbed his nose. He sat down and started to gather his things.

"I heard. I'm not deaf, TP."

Takeru looked up. "What's wrong?"

The stubborn boy shrugged.

"Come on, I thought you'd be jumping for joy to get me out of here."

Daisuke held out the present and looked down at the blond who was on the floor. Both of them blinked.

"It's uh, for you." Daisuke urged him to take it.

The Takaishi reached out for it and looked at it. "Thanks…"

"Yeah…"

"I uh, got something for you to." Takeru snatched his bag of presents and shuffled things around. He then brought up a nicely wrapped present with a red ribbon tied around it.

"Thanks."

"Yeah."

"Should we open 'em?"

Takeru smirked and they tore open the presents. Inside of Takeru's was a miniature basketball court with magnetic basketballs and hoops. Included was a CD of his favorite artists. Instead of it saying the title, it was scribbled out and in big, bold, and black letters, it read "Takeru's Tacky Picks." He chuckled.

"Daisuke's Dumb Jams…" Daisuke read aloud. He laughed and held up the small soccer ball and goal. "Thanks, TK."

"Thanks, Daisuke."

They looked at the gifts and laughed again.

"Looks like we thought of what we liked and gave it to each other." Daisuke paused. "Or something."

Takeru grinned and closed his backpack. He held out his hand and waited for Daisuke to shake it. Only he didn't shake it. This puzzled the boy.

"Um…"

"You'll be back." Daisuke said simply.

"What?"

He smiled and jumped off of his bed and grabbed a hold of Takeru's hand. "Jun's got your sleeping bag hostage."

Takeru laughed and they exchanged a quick handshake. "Merry Christmas, Dai'."

"Back at ya, 'Keru."

With that, Takeru left the room and left Daisuke. Despite all the arguments, disputes, and plain out fights, a new friendship was born between the two. Just in time for the holidays. Who ever said opposites attract… well, sometimes that theory comes true.

The end

::sweatdrops:: Is it really THAT lame? I thought it was funny/sweet/cute. Again, it really wasn't a boy loving boy story, but it hinted towards it. I hope this was okay for Buka2000's contest. If not… go ahead and disqualify me… ^-^; Please review people! Thanks… ~HT