Autumn

Dedicated to my friends, Abby and Suzy, who can write a better Daisuke and Ken than I ever could.

They must have been walking for hours. The sounds of the city were long behind them. The air around them now was soft and quiet. It was a cool autumn morning and just chilly enough to nip at their fingers. Ken was bundled up in a sweater and a scarf, which Daisuke had commented was 'classically him'. Daisuke, on the other hand, should have brought a jacket.

Ken had paused for a moment to look out across the river. Pine trees leaned over the running water, nearly blocking out the gray sky. Daisuke shifted his weight on his feet as he stood there, the gravel crunching underneath him. Something was bothering his friend today, but in their hours of walking, he had failed to find out what is was.

The brunette's eyes lingered on Ken's back. He looked around instinctively after he realized, checking to see if anyone had seen. They were totally alone, though it took his heartbeat a few moments to return to normal after remembering that. No one was out here. Still though, the last time he was careless…

"Ehh… Motomiya-san, why are you staring at him like that?" Laughter.

The beating in Daisuke's chest picked up again as he reminisced, although he wasn't mad at his teammate. He was mad at himself for not being cautious- for allowing his mind to ever entertain the thought. After that day at practice, the boy felt like he had to watch his every move. If he looked at Ken the wrong way, would people notice? Did they hang out too much? Was it weird?

All of this flooding the mind of a boy who typically couldn't give a damn was exhausting. He didn't care about gossip or rumors, even if they were about him. The thing about gossip, though, was that it tended to not be true. Daisuke knew how he felt, and that was the scariest part of it all. What would happen if people found out?

A caw from above the trees tore Daisuke from his thoughts. Other birds chirped in response, and the leaves shivered on their branches. These sounds were inaudible in the city, and they reminded the boy about how alone they were. Ken suddenly turned around and Daisuke diverted his eyes. It was a second too late, though. Ken had caught him staring.

"It's nice here, isn't it?" He asked, his tone forcibly light. "I'd say we should come here more often if it wasn't such a far hike."

"Yeah…" Daisuke muttered in return, thankful Ken hadn't found his staring strange. "You won't get any more hiking out of me, though. Not for a while, at least." He offered a soft smile and Ken returned it, but the two fell back into their silence.

Ken looked down at the ground and started pushing a small rock with his foot until it fell into the river with a quiet 'plunk'. He watched it sink to the bottom, trying not to acknowledge a similar feeling in his stomach. Ken had heard about this hiking trail a number of months ago, but only now had he convinced Daisuke to explore it with him. He was surprised that Daisuke had been hesitant. Normally he loved adventuring around in the outdoors.

But, the entire hike had been awkward. Most of it was spent in an awkward silence. Small bursts of conversation popped up here and there, but they were meaningless. Small talk.

"Daisuke, what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Why can't we just talk after practice, okay?!"

Ken pushed his hands into his pockets and tried to warm himself up. He turned around to face Daisuke again and realized he must have been freezing. He was just standing there, lost in thought, the tip of his nose turning pink.

"Hey, Daisuke."

The brunette jolted, as if someone had just rudely woken him up. "What?"

"Do you want my scarf?"

Daisuke furrowed his brows and answered gruffly. "What? Why?"

Ken recoiled. "You look cold. Come on." He unwrapped his scarf from his neck and walked towards his friend, holding it out to him once he was a few feet away.

Daisuke hesitated for a moment. He was certainly cold, but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him, waiting for him to give himself away.

"Thanks." He muttered, grabbing it quickly. He wrapped it around himself halfheartedly, fumbling with it as Ken watched.

"Let me help." He offered, noticing Daisuke's shaky, reddened fingers. "You should have really brought gloves, you know."

Daisuke's first instinct was to push him away. He was too close. But they were alone, so Daisuke accepted his help. His second instinct was to craft some sort of retort as to why he didn't need gloves, but that didn't answer either. His eyes followed Ken's hands as they reached towards him, straightening out his scarf. He wrapped it more tightly around Daisuke's neck, causing a chill to go down his spine each time his fingers accidentally grazed his friend's skin.

"There." Ken stated, satisfied. "Better?"

Daisuke expected him to step back, but he didn't, and the brunette remained stiff as a soldier. "Y-yeah.. I suppose."

Ken frowned. Something had been bothering Daisuke for the past couple of weeks, but he'd been struggling to put his finger on exactly what it was. He'd been short, distant, angry- all things that were quite out of character for the chosen child. The air between them was quite tense, though, and it allowed Ken to finally figure it out: it was him.

The boy kept his eyes locked on Daisuke's brown orbs. They were staring back at him with a sense of false confidence. Softly, but sternly, Ken asked the dreaded question. "What's been wrong with you lately? Did I do something to make you mad?"

Daisuke instantly felt defensive. He struggled to maintain eye contact. His glanced from Ken, to the ground, and back at Ken again. "No." He said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Ken. He paused, hoping that would be enough, but Ken was still staring intently at him.

Daisuke knew he had spent the past month trying to build a wall. It was a huge defense, not meant to be against Ken, but against himself, and he struggled to comprehend how those two entities were one in the same. All walls needed doors, though, and it was like Ken had the key to his. Daisuke had been trying to stay away from him, but the more he did that, the closer he wanted to be to him. The more he tried to push Ken away, the more he wanted to pull him back. And in all this time, in his giant attempt to keep himself safe, he'd never stopped to think that Ken would be hurt too.

By the look in his eyes- the look that Daisuke couldn't bear to take in for more than a glance at a time- he knew that had happened. He cared so much about him, he truly did, but he was scaring himself. When did their friendship start meaning something more to him?

Daisuke could finally feel Ken start to pull away. He took a half step back and a pocket of cold air rushed between them. His hairs stood on the back of his neck. The cold had come back.

And suddenly, Daisuke decided he didn't want that anymore. He was terrified of his own feelings, but he was more scared of hurting his best friend. There would be nothing worse in the world than pushing Ken away once and for all.

The boy couldn't think. Ken was starting to turn away, upset that he hadn't gotten an answer. Daisuke struggled to think of some coherent explanation to describe his behavior for the last few weeks before his friend started to walk off. Ken wanted the truth, but how could Daisuke find the words?

The truth was that he loved him, and that there were no words.

The brunette took a sharp, shaky breath before reaching out and grabbing Ken by the shoulders. The boy spun around, shocked, unable to say anything before Daisuke pressed his lips against his. He put all of his emotion into it, all of the words he so desperately wanted to say. In one deep kiss there was every apology, every 'I love you', every ounce of care, of passion, that Daisuke had wanted to stand up and yell about for weeks.

And then Ken pulled back, and even though there were no words, he'd heard the whole story.

"Ken.. I.. I…" Daisuke stuttered, realizing the severity of what he'd just done. "I don't…"

Before he could finish, he felt Ken's hands grab at his cheeks. Ken pulled him back in and pushed his lips onto his again, the force of it twirling them around a bit. Daisuke could feel him smiling through it. It was a relieved smile, a happy smile.

"It's okay." Ken said, over and over again each time he pulled back to take a breath. "It's okay, it's okay." He said it so many times that Daisuke started to believe it himself. This was all he had wanted, and it was okay.

Ken pulled back and Daisuke smiled sheepishly, his forehead rested against his friend's.

Except, they weren't just friends anymore. This was a new adventure.

Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it.

-garudamon