Notes: It had to be done. I just had to write a first-person story where it contained side-bar monologues and everything. I just had to do it.

Also, I'm giving y'all and age and name list here. I'm only doing it once. Keep in mind that I may still use some of the dub names at nicknames (have Tai and all them call Hikari "'Kari" or Takeru "T.K."—or in Dai's case T.P., etc.)

Jyou – Joe – 19

Taichi – Tai (Tye) – 17
Mimi – Mimi – 17
Sora – Sora – 17
Jun – June – 17
Yamato – Matt – 17

Miyako – Yoli – 16
Koushirou – Izzy – 16
Ken – Ken – 16

Daisuke – Davis – 15
Takeru – T.K. – 15
Hikari – Kari – 15

Iori – Cody – 14

Warnings: AU, Japanese names (does that require a warning?) mild cursing (it's high school, y'all…there's gonna be cursing), shounen ai, shoujo ai

Pairings: Taisuke (Yagami Taichi Motomiya Daisuke), Junato (Motomiya Jun Ishida Yamato), possibly others…

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Loose Change
By Rosethorn

Chapter 1: Pennies on the Dollar

They say that change is a good thing and that one should "embrace change". All I know is that change has led me to this: another damn school, and from the looks of it, a stuffy school at that. I exchange a wry look with my sister, Jun.

"Ready, Dai?" she asks, gesturing to the rather forbidding stairs in front of us. Did I mention that I really didn't want to be here? I sigh.

"Might as well get it over with, ne?" She grimaces and I nod in sympathy. I've always hated school. Probably stems from the whole "popular kid" stigma that's everywhere. And I'll tell you, those "popular" kids are the most stuck-up, cruel, and obnoxious things on the face of this planet. Right up there with broccoli. Ugh. Speaking of broccoli, I'm starting to notice that I've taken on a slightly green tinge as of late…maybe Jun's feeding too much of the dastardly, green vegetable…

"That's a fine attitude," the sister in question teases, causing me to look up.

"Not my fault you like broccoli so much!" I exclaim. And it's not—my fault, that is. She raises an eyebrow. "Look at my skin, Jun! It's green!" She raises an eyebrow.

"I was referring to the school." Oh.

"Oh. Well…" I begin, glaring at her as she begins laughing while we head for the stairs. "How many schools have we gone to now?" She stops laughing, but is still grinning. Yeah yeah, I know; I'm just a laughing riot. Geez. No respect.

"Ten so far, but hey, who's counting!" She winks. Still doesn't make up for the laughing, Jun. Got to work harder. Ok, the gagging noises towards the really sucky paint job will spare you the rest of my wrath.

As we enter the main hallway—where said sucky paint job is—some of the students walking (back to their classes, I'm assuming) stop and stare at us. Joy. I love feeling like I'm the main attraction at a damn zoo. Favorite thing in the world. Hey, you know, we're this thing called "individuals"—and we're not exactly shy about it. Take Jun's outfit for example: tight, black leather pants, over-sized blue dragon button-down shirt (from the guys section of the store no less! The horrors!), and her hair let loose in all it's big, frizzy goodness. My outfit is a bit more tame…mainly because I forgot to do laundry last night. It's also a bit more…sporty? (Is that a word? Well, if it wasn't before, it is now.) Loose jeans (no, not the ones that hang off your ass so you can see the other person's boxers), tight, black shirt with an open button-down black top—though it's a bit hard to tell that it's black 'cause I painted it all over with red flames. To totally throw off the actual normal outfit, I have my spiky red-brown hair and my trademark soccer goggles along with my lucky sneakers. Nice, huh?

As cool as we look, there is one slight problem we both notice right off the bat: every other kid there is wearing a uniform. Great. As if we aren't freaks enough transferring in during the last two months of the year. Now we're freaks in different outfits (though cool-looking outfits, and I will personally beat the crap out of anyone who says differently).

"Oh, yeah," I mutter under my breath, mainly for Jun's benefit. "We'll fit right in." She glances in my direction, but refrains from commenting. I think that her thought patterns very much resemble mine on this one. I sigh and plaster a smile on my face. I love to be here! I love to be here! Can I go hurl now? I love to be here!

We both go to the office to get our schedules (and our uniforms too, most likely). When we get there, the office staff decides to treat us to their sterling personalities. Glares and all. Goody. Too bad Jun didn't have her tarot deck out. Then they'd really freak.

Say what? Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. You so do not say that about me and my sister. I am so—like hell, Jun! Like hell I'm going to leave this alone! Yeah, I know it'd be on the first day. I don't care! Fine, fine. I'll let it drop. Yeah, love you too. I decide for settling for glaring back at the bitch who said that we looked like druggies. Jun nudges me in the side. What? I'm not stabbing her with a pen, ne? Take what you can get.

As we make our way into the headmaster's office, I learn that our headmaster is actually a headmistress. I wish people would update me on these things a bit sooner than last-minute. I plaster a big smile on my face. All in all, the woman's rather cool about the whole uniform thing and the transfer. She's fairly nice actually. Wonder how long she'll last…

We exit her office, and I catch sight of a blonde guy with a hat. I swear to God that it looks like the hat Gilligan wore on the island! Dude! That is so…stupid. I'm standing here trying not to laugh!

"Well, squirt," Jun says, effectively distracting me from "Gil". "This is where you and I part ways. Good luck!" She turns, then pauses. "Oh, and Dai? Try not to get detention first day, will you?" She walks down the hall away from me. Gee…I feel so loved now. Try not to get detention today indeed. It's not my fault my teachers have no sense of humor! Ah well…might as well see what I have.

Japanese history with Vee-sensei. Room 203. Right. Now where is that on this map? Ah, I see Murphy's law is still in effect. There is no room "203" on this map. Great. "Just my luck," I mutter, trying very hard not to curse. I do want to be on my best behavior and all that…

"Hey, kid, you lost?" No, stupid, I just like standing around for the hell of—Oh…dear…God…Am I drooling? No? Good. I have a vision standing here in front of me. Please say that it's not my imagination playing tricks on me again. It likes to do that. I think I'll just content myself with staring at the moment, so when my mind decides to go back to normal, I can remember something for my fantasies…

He's tall, taller than me in any rate…which really isn't saying much come to think of it, 'cause I'm a bit on the short side. And his hair! My God, it makes mine look tame. It almost makes Jun's look tame! Well-muscled…very well-muscled. You can see them ripple a little bit underneath the uniform. Nice eye candy. Moving on up, he's got these really warm eyes that are every shade of brown I can think of. Then there's that smile…Yes, I would like one of those. Do they come gift-wrapped?

"Um…hello?" Oops. I think my staring's starting to unnerve him…

Okay, Dai. Think. Form words…yes, words. Those things that you use to communicate with.

"Mrhpbgmg" Damn. Let's try this again. "Um…" Okay, a bit better, but still not anywhere's near communication level.

"Anyone one home?" A pair of fingers snapping in front of my face help jolt me out of my—albeit pleasant—haze.

"Ah, yes, right. I'm lost…" Damn, I can feel myself blushing. Wonderful. Don't know if the guy's gay or bi or whatever and I'm blushing. Of course. Can my day get any—wait. I'm not going to finish that thought. "I'm trying to find room 203," I finally manage. Whole words, I am impressed with myself. Wait a minute. Repeat what you just said mentally. He's laughing. He's not supposed to laugh. Nice eye candy is not supposed to laugh, dammit! Oh good, he stopped. He must have noticed my fiery glare of doom.

"Sorry, but they've never managed to put Vee's classroom on that map. Here, I'll show you the way," he says cheerfully and…oh my God, he grabbed my hand! He's touching me! And now I've moved into the teenage girl phase of my delusions. Glad to know that I'm as pathetic as always…Ugh. Good thing I'm in shape too. He's damn near running down these halls!

"I'm Yagami Taichi, by the way," he says as we sprint our way to my class. "You are…?" Single? Yours? Wait—he wants a name.

"Motomiya Daisuke," I manage to say, thankfully without stuttering. "Call me whatever you want as long as it's polite," slips out right on the heels of my first statement. Hello, mouth. Meet foot. I'm such a moron sometimes.

"So 'hey, knothead' is out, I take it," he drawls, winking at me. I will not melt. I will not melt. I will not melt, dammit!

"Only if you want a few bruises," I shoot back. Glad my instinctive "can't shut up to save my life" mouth still works. One of the few times I'm glad it works actually. He's laughing now. I love his laugh. It's really, really warm and makes you all bubbly inside. Not to mention it makes you want to laugh with him.

"Well, here we are," he says finally, and is it my imagination, or does he sound a bit breathless. Wait, we just about ran our asses off to get here, never mind. Uh oh. What if he's in my class! I'd never be able to concentrate! I wouldn't be able to even catch up on my sleep! For all that's holy, please don't be in my class.

"So, this your stop as well?" And "Motormouth Motomiya" does it again, ladies and gentlemen. I can't win, I swear. But he's smiling.

"Nah, I don't have Vee anymore. He's mostly the freshmen and sophomore instructor." A pause. "He does teach one elective though. 'Introduction to stage'. It's a class about how to work the stage behind the scenes, and it naturally works together with the drama club."

"Of course," I hear myself murmur intelligently. Oh yeah, my powers of eloquence just astound me sometimes…Sometimes I really hate the fact that my brain and mouth have absolutely no filter between them. Uh oh, now he's shifting from foot to foot. Joy, I'm already boring the living daylights out of him. I should be so lucky.

"Hey, look…Motomiya, right?" he asks somewhat shyly. Hell, skip Motomiya and Daisuke and just start calling me "yours". Though I don't think that'd go over well…

"Yeah?" Oh, now he's turning a bit pink. This is somewhat fun!

"Er…Do you have anyone to eat lunch with today? I mean, since you're new and all, I wouldn't want you to be all on your own and—"

"Yagami-san," I finally break in. I know what it's like when you start rambling and you just can't stop. It's really embarrassing and you feel like the floor needs to open up and swallow you whole and then it doesn't so you're left standing there and—ahem. In any rate, I'll spare him the embarrassment. "I'd like to have lunch with you. My sister is here too, if you don't mind her coming along." His eyebrow rises.

"Sure, as long as you start calling me Taichi. Yagami-san makes me feel like I'm in a class somewhere." We both laugh.

"Fair enough then, Taichi-san. Then you've got to call me 'Daisuke' at the very least," I say and—dear Lord, I just winked. At him. And now he looks confused. Shit, this isn't my day. To make it even more fun, the bell just went off. Now I'm late for my first class on my first day. Wonderful. So much for promising Jun that I wouldn't get detention the first day.

"Hey, Tai-kun?" a voice says from the doorway. I jump about five feet in the air and whirl around—while Taichi laughs at me of course. "Oi, Taichi…quit laughing. I remember when I managed to spook you that one time. You know, when you accidentally—"

"Yes, Vee-sensei, I remember!" the brunette yelps and promptly stammers out that he needs to go to class. There soon is only a puff of dust where he once stood. It was all rather hilarious.

"Thanks," I say to—wait a minute. That's Vee-sensei! "You're Vee-sensei?" Great, Motomiya. Really intelligent there. Didn't Taichi-san call him "Vee-sensei"? Duh! Well, he seems to be taking it in stride in any rate.

"Yeah. I know I'm not your typical teacher…but let it be said that you don't look like a typical student either," he says, one eyebrow raised. I flush. I know I shouldn't have said anything…particularly after my bitching earlier about being stared at 'cause I looked different. I hate being caught being hypocritical.

"Er…Sorry about that, sensei." He laughs. It's a nice laugh, but it's not as nice as Taichi's. I can still hear Taichi laughing—dammit! Will not melt. Will not melt.

"It's ok. Come on in." I follow him inside the classroom and notice that I'm the only one there. Did I go to the wrong classroom already or—

"My class isn't overly popular," Vee-sensei says dryly. I look up at him, an eyebrow raised. "Most of the students in this class skip or are extremely late. Not to mention that I have a small class to begin with. Including you, there are about 15 students, seven of which that are currently out sick, two in the hospital due to a rather large fight, and the rest either are no-shows or come in right about…now." Sure enough, the door opens and in walks three girls, all of them giggling. I hear Vee-sensei sigh.

"Haven't I made it abundantly clear that this class does start at the normal time, not when you decide to drift in?" The trio of girls nod—at the same time. They probably share a brain between them. They're acting like it at least. "And haven't I also made clear what the consequences of tardiness is?" They again, all nod in unison. Creepy. "Well then. Detention. For all of you. One day for every minute you were late." Damn, this guy's strict. Must be the only way he can get any discipline in here. But…five days of detention? What if you have a really good excuse?

"But, Vee-sensei," one of the pod—I'm going to start referring to them as the "pod", I think—protests. "We had a major fashion emergency that needed to be taken care of!" Vee-sensei nods sympathetically.

"I know how horrible those are, Fukami-san. However, you still need to come to class." The pod is about to protest further when two others walk in the door. One catches my eye in particular, as he carries himself similar to me. His whole attitude screams "I honestly don't give a damn. Mess with me and die." I can hear Vee-sensei sigh again. I wonder if he'll soon be sighing that way over me.

"Ishida-san," he says tiredly, and I watching as he begins to massage his temples. I do believe he's starting to twitch. "Remember that you've repeated this class once already. Try to make it on time so that you don't have to repeat it again." Ishida merely snorts derisively and pulls out his spiral. Huh. I thought I was the only to do that these days. Now I can't be the class goof-off in a class full of goof-offs. Not fair, that. What am I supposed to excel at now?

"For those of you who are here—and hopefully paying attention, this—" Vee-sensei pushes me forward. "—is Motomiya Daisuke." I just do a peace sign and call it good. Besides all of the rest of them really don't care, or at least, don't give the impression to. From watching Vee-sensei, I think he was given the short end of the stick here. But I'll refrain from judgment until after I've been here a month.

"Okay, guys, girls, vegetables, pull out your textbooks and your homework from last night—yes, Minohara-san, you were required to do it." I snicker softly as one of the pod pouts. I do believe I'm going to like this class.

oOOo()oOOo

That's all for now. I hope that it's a fairly decent beginning to the story…Feedback in encouraged, but I don't hold chapters hostage if I don't get any…

Cheers!

Rosethorn