Summary: When the one you love has already found "the one", how do you move on? Sequel to "Welcome to My Life".

A/N: It's finally here: the sequel. If you've just stumbled across this and are thinking, "I don't want to have to read a whole other story just to start this one" it really isn't crucial for you to read the first one before reading this. However I certainly wouldn't mind if you want to read it and it seems that people have enjoyed it…. In any case I won't bore you with anymore author's notes.

Warnings: This does contain shounen-ai, which means boys liking boys. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: I do solemnly swear that I…do not own Digimon.


Continuing Existence
By CaramelAriana
Chapter 1: Dreams and Insights

Ken and Takeru were walking in the declining light of late afternoon. They had been silent for quite some time. Ken decided to break the silence.

"How do you feel about Daisuke and Hikari?" he asked the blonde. Takeru looked at him questioningly. "I mean, with you liking Hikari and all," explained Ken.

Takeru rolled his eyes. "I've never liked Hikari. Not like that anyway." He stole a glance at Ken. "How are you doing, you being in love with Daisuke and all?"

Ken stopped in his tracks as Takeru kept on walking. The blonde chuckled and stopped a few feet ahead. "I'm not in love with him," protested Ken.

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "But you like him." It wasn't a question.

Ken shook his head wildly. "No way. Not at all. Not like that."

Takeru smirked. "Please, Ken. The sooner you can admit that, that sooner you can get over it. Everybody knows how you feel about him."

"No."

"You love him!"

Ken shot up from his bed. Sweat matted his hair and he could feel a stinging sensation in the back of his eyes. He refused to give in. He was not going to cry himself to sleep again. He rubbed at his eyes and decided he needed a drink of water. He slipped out of bed and crept to the kitchen so as not to wake his parents. His mother was a light sleeper, and he'd already been accused of being a burglar once this week.

He poured himself some water and sat at the bar to the kitchen. He glared at his reflection in the toaster and placed his head in his hands. He was thoroughly disgusted with himself. He often dreamed of someone accusing him of being in love with Daisuke and he would deny it. These dreams had been occurring since Daisuke and Hikari had gotten together two months ago. He was happy for his best friend. It was nice to finally see him laughing and smiling with ease. He just couldn't help but feel a little depressed that it hadn't been he that could do it.

He sighed. He knew Daisuke cared about him. He still received constant phone calls and visits from him. It wasn't as if the redhead had forgotten his best friend with this new relationship. And Ken did still feel needed. Daisuke still came to him with his problems. The only difference was that Ken knew Hikari heard before he ever did, unless the problem concerned her, which didn't happen often. And no matter what, Ken would never forget that he had used to be the one to make Daisuke happy, and now he'd been replaced.

And now he was feeling incredibly guilty. This happened almost every night. He would sit at the kitchen with a drink and angst over recent events. He was losing sleep. Yes, he was jealous. He could admit that to himself if not to anyone else. Ken wasn't an idiot, and he'd learned enough that no good comes of denial. That didn't mean he was ready to wear his heart on his sleeve. But realizing he was jealous only made him feel worse. He should be happy for his friend. After all, the past couple of years had been hard on Daisuke and he was finally turning his life around. And he had found someone willing to love him despite all his problems and he loved her in return.

But why couldn't it have been him. He blamed himself. He had been the one nagging Daisuke about denying that he still liked Hikari. But what was he supposed to do. He knew he never had a chance with the redhead. And he wasn't even going to try just to be crushed in the process. He didn't want to lose Daisuke as a friend. And he hated to see people denying things to themselves because that always caused all sorts of problems.

Now Ken's head was swimming as all his thoughts milled about his mind. Life used to be easy. Back when he was Daisuke's best friend, and the only one he would confide in. Back when Hikari flat out refused all of his advances. Back when Daisuke and he would stay over at each other's houses. Back when he had Daisuke to himself because he was the only one the redhead trusted. Ken wished they were back in those days and he hated himself for it.

He was startled from his thoughts by the sound of a door opening. He held his breath. He didn't think he had made enough noise to wake up his mother. He let it out when his father walked into the kitchen. He loved his mother and thought she was one of the nicest women in the world…unless she'd been awakened in the middle of the night.

His father glanced at him. "Still up?" he asked in surprise.

Ken shook his head. "I couldn't sleep."

"Bad dreams?"

"You could say that," he said carefully. "Why are you up?"

His father stretched and poured himself a cup of coffee. "I have some paper work I need to finish before work today." He sat down beside his son. "Anything you need to talk about?" he asked, a hint of worry coloring the statement.

"Not particularly," he muttered. He could feel his father studying him and watched out the corner of his eyes as the older man took a sip of the black coffee. Ken shuddered. He absolutely hated his coffee black and couldn't understand how his father could drink it.

His father smiled humorously as he caught Ken's shudder. The smile dropped quickly and was replaced by a look of worry. "Are you sure nothing's bothering you? Your mother says you've been getting up in the middle of the night almost every night for the past two months." He paused. "She's worried about you."

Ken sighed but didn't say anything. He realized how lucky he was that he had parents that cared so much, after all he'd known what it was like not to have it at one point. But sometimes they could be a little too concerned, and Ken was not allowed to privately sulk and wallow in self-pity.

They sat in silence for a while. "So Daisuke didn't go back up to school?" his father finally spoke. He knew the answer and Ken was wondering what he was getting at.

"No," he said carefully. "He's going to a local school."

His father nodded. "I don't see him as much as I would have expected." He glanced at his son.

Ken realized his father was expecting an answer. He stared down at his cup, not daring to look his father in the face. "He has a girlfriend."

His father nodded in understanding. "Did he finally get with that girl he was always talking about?" He smiled as his son nodded. "Well good for him." He watched his son intently. "Are you feeling a bit neglected?"

Ken was grateful for his long hair as he felt his face heat up. "Not really," he said and quickly picked up his glass to drink some water.

"Are you jealous then?"

Ken nearly spat his water out, but quickly composed himself. His father had just unknowingly hit the nail on the head. He went over the question again in his head and realized his father didn't mean it along the same lines Ken was thinking.

"You mean that he has a girlfriend?" Ken asked and finally turned to face his dad. "No, I'm very happy for him. I mean, it's about time. I've had to listen to him go on and on about her for the past ten years!"

His dad laughed. "And now you still get to hear him go on and on about her, right?"

Ken smiled at the comment and stood up to go place his empty glass in the sink. "Well, I think I'm going to try to go back to sleep."

He felt a hand on his shoulder as he moved to walk past. He turned to look at his father. "Don't worry son, you'll find the right girl soon enough."

Ken turned away quickly as he felt himself blush again. "Good night Dad," he said in an exasperated tone.

His father chuckled as he moved his hand away. "Good night son."

Ken walked out of the kitchen and back into his room, wondering if he should just get a fridge for the bedroom.

Ken's father sighed as he heard his son's door closed. He was no idiot, he knew exactly what was going on with his son. He'd been watching this development unfold right under his nose for the past five years, perhaps even before. He wanted to be completely supportive of his son as he loved him dearly. But despite what teens the world over thought, parents do remember what it's like to be young. He knew if he brought up the subject Ken would deny it and find a way out of the discussion. No, he'd have to wait for his son to bring it up.

He took another sip of his coffee, worry set deep in his face. He hadn't mentioned anything to Ken's mother. He wasn't sure if she'd figured it out on her own, and they never once talked about even the possibility. But he respected his son's privacy. If Ken wanted to keep it quiet, then he would keep quiet until Ken was ready to talk about it. Then he would deal with the problems, if any should arise. Seeing as he hadn't discussed it with his wife he really had no idea how she'd react. He seriously doubted she'd completely reject her son. But he had a feeling even the faintest show of disappointment would send Ken hiding away again.

He yawned. Well, it was nothing to worry about at the moment seeing as such a discussion seemed a very far way off. He would continue to show his son all the support he needed. In the meantime, he really did have a pile of paperwork he needed to get done. He looked at the clock and sighed. It was going to be a long day.


So…what do you think? Hate it? Love it? Want to bash yourself in the head? Let me know. Hopefully chapter 2 will be up soon, but it won't be for at least another week since I'm going out of town. So it would be really nice to come back and find my email full of reviews! (wink, wink…nudge, nudge)