don't own a thing. this was a suggestion from congealedpasta on tumblr for daiken's first kiss. i've written like 70000 AUs at this point of their first kiss, but i love it every time... so enjoy it.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was each of the chosen's responsibilities to bring a new party game every year. Last year's New Year's line up consisted of Fukuwarai, War, Oshikura Manju, and Old Maid-to name a few. But this year, Daisuke had the game. It was going to be the one that everybody would remember! He had to steel himself for the mountain of praise he was sure to get.

… Again, it had sounded like a good idea at the time.

"What is that?" Takeru asked, leaning forward in his chair. This year's party was being held at the younger of the two Takaishi brother's residence. His mother had gone out with her friends for dinner, leaving the apartment to the six teenagers to enjoy their annual get together.

"It's a bottle. What the heckie do you think it is?" Daisuke said, setting the glass bottle upright on the wooden floor.

Takeru placed a hand on his chin and hummed. "And?"

"Aaaaaand," Daisuke started, sticking his finger on the rim of the bottle's mouth, "This is the game!" He tipped the bottle until it dropped to the floor, clanking against the surface and spinning lethargically until it slowed to point at himself.

"I don't get it." Iori said.

Daisuke sighed, faking a sense of exasperation. In truth, he was beyond happy that nobody knew what he was planning. "My friend from America told me about this game. It's called 'Spin the Bottle'!"

"That's not a game." Miyako said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes. It is." Daisuke snapped. Inching himself closer to the bottle, he shook out his arms and clapped his hands together. "So, it's really simple. We all get into a circle and take turns spinning the bottle. Whoever the bottle lands on…" He paused dramatically, making sure he made eye contact with everybody at least once-especially Hikari. "You have to kiss!"

There was a unanimous reaction of gasps and groans from his friends. Iori, ever observant, said something almost immediately, "But there's more boys than girls."

Daisuke's expression was clearly surprised. He… Hadn't really thought of that. Although he had started to pursue other girls over the past few years, Hikari still had a piece of his heart. So what better excuse to get a kiss when it was because of a game? Naturally, the imbalance of gender didn't even cross his mind. "Uhh," Daisuke stammered, until he finally reached behind him and pulled Chibimon onto his lap. The digimon took little notice, the little monster too preoccupied by licking melty chocolate off of his tiny paws. "Digimon count too!"

This got a chuckle from Miyako and Hikari. "Well, I guess that wouldn't be so bad, then." Miyako said, patting Poromon on the head. Slowly, the rest of the group nodded. With each affirmation, Daisuke grinned wider and wider. The group had gone for it!

"Alright. So, who starts?" Hikari asked.

"I will." Daisuke said, the smile still stretched across his face. With a flick of his wrist, the bottle spun until it wobbled to a stop onto himself. Again.

"Is it working?" Ken asked, coyly. A playful smile crossed his lips as his hand absent mindedly pet the sleepy Minomon at his side.

Daisuke threw a quick glare at his jogress partner. "Shut up."

Rewind a few years back, and Ken wouldn't have even been comfortable enough to say boo. Fortunately, the pair had grown to be the best of friends over that period of time. Each month chipped away the shell that Ken had buried himself in, revealing slowly but surely a confidently quick and snarky young man. "Did you want to play this so you could kiss yourself?"

"Well, I am pretty great." Daisuke said with a brow raised. Raising his hand, he formed it into a hand puppet and pouted his lips. "What do you say?" Bobbing his hand into a nod, he pressed his lips to the tips of his fingers and ended the kiss with a wet smack. The group of children's giggles filled the room-even Ken who laughed softly into his hand.

The game continued. Hikari kissed Upamon. Takeru kissed Miyako. Miyako kissed Hikari. Iori kissed Chibimon. The children were all red in the cheeks-both from embarrassment and from laughing so much.

"You're next, Ken!" Hikari said, placing her hands on either sides of her face as she tried to calm down her giggle fit.

"Mmm," Ken nodded. His mouth was tight with a thin smile, but his eyebrows furrowed a little as he leaned forward to take his turn at a spin. The bottle whirled wildly, wobbling to a painful stop in front of Daisuke.

Both the boy's faces drooped as they caught each other's eyes.

Playing really did sound like a good idea at the time. Before this time. This time… Was not what Daisuke had planned. It was not so good.

The room was silent for a few moments until Miyako burst out into laughter. "Well!?"

"I'm done with this game." Daisuke kicked his feet on the floor and drew his knees to his chest. His head shifted to look away from as many of the other children as he could. Dammit. All he wanted was a kiss from Hikari-now he was expected to give one to his best friend? Yeah right!

"Hey!" Hikari said, her face beet red. "You can't just do that. Miyako and I had to kiss! You wanted to play this game in the first place."

"I don't have to do crap." Daisuke pouted. "What else do we have to play?"

"Daisuke, you can't change the rules." Iori prodded. "It's all just for fun, right?"

"Motomiya…" Ken said warily. "It's just a game."

Daisuke glared at Ken, studying his friend's face for a few moments before finally drawing his legs back down across the floor. What harm could it be to kiss his friend? The whole game didn't mean anything. They were all playing for a good laugh. Right? Sighing, Daisuke rolled his eyes and nodded. "All right. All right."

Ken swallowed hard, moving slowly across the floor on all fours. He moved his face in front of Daisuke's, expecting his friend to at least meet him partial way. Deep blue eyes looked into his friend's-dark hair framing his delicately pale skin. The onset of puberty was allowing his bones to create shallow shadows along his cheekbones and jaw.

Daisuke blushed. Ken did too. Both of them closed their eyes tightly... And quickly, like ripping a bandage away, their lips met and were separated again. But not before a spark flew between them. Not a literal spark, of course, but the feeling of soft skin on each other, rousing a slew of emotions in both their chests. They knew their jogress had always been particularly potent. Between the three pairs, they seemed to experience the most connectivity to each other. However, neither of them had expected it to transfer to something like "intimate" physical contact.

The shock of warmth and feelings repelled the two boys from each other-like oil to water. Ken rolled back onto his butt, hiding his face in his hands. Daisuke rubbed his cheeks, trying to expel the heat from them. The other children and digimon were giggling around them as the pair tried to recompose themselves.

"Ahhhh." Daisuke groaned, his eyes opening to look at Ken. Ken still had his face covered. Without a doubt, he knew Ken had felt the same thing. "There! Is everybody happy!?"

"Mmmgh." Ken mumbled, finally pulling his hands down. There was an ever so slight smile on his lips as he looked back at his friend. "Daisuke…"

Daisuke responded with a coherent 'pffffff' and said, "We're done now. Next game."

The rest of the group didn't object, though Ken was still a bit out of sorts, and continued onto their next game, and the next one after that, until all of the toso and soda was gone and every voice was hoarse from shouting and laughing. The festivities were winding down as the twelve of them gathered around the television. New Year's had always been a big holiday, but it was bigger now since it became the anniversary of the Digital World gates opening around the world. The television was flashing bright colors and excited crowds of people. "Three years! It's amazing it's been only three years… Feels like forever!" Exclaimed the news caster to his co-host. "If you ask me, I couldn't have wished for anything more amazing!"

Daisuke was midway through shoving a handful of potato chips into his mouth when he noticed that Minomon was missing his partner for an unusual amount of time. Crunching through his mouthful of junk food, Daisuke left the rest of the group and searched the apartment for his friend. It took him several minutes before he noticed the dark figure standing outside on the unlit patio. Quietly, he slid the door open and stepped out, closing the door behind him. The night air was cold-far too cold to warrant the two of them being outside without jackets on. "H-hey. It's almost midnight. And it's cold as hell out here. What's up?"

Ken was silent for what felt like forever. He swayed into the railing before finally turning to face Daisuke. His head hung, perhaps too ashamed or scared to make eye contact. "Nothing."

"You are the worst liar, Ichijouji." Daisuke said, moving to stand next to the boy. "Seriously. Like, it's clear you're no prodigy in acting. Holy cow."

Ken huffed a weak laugh, a plume of hot air escaping between his lips. "Shut up."

Silence.

"Daisuke."

"Yeah?"

"That… Was my first kiss."

Silence.

"It didn't count, Ken. Don't worry about it."

More silence.

"You felt it, though. I know you did."

"Felt what?" Daisuke said, playing dumb.

Ken flipped around to look back at the streets outside of the apartment complex. They were a few stories up, and off in the distance small flowers of fireworks brightened the dark sky with their chemical induced beauty. "Even though it was quick…" He paused, struggling to find the words. "It felt like when we jogress, didn't it? It was so fast, but I felt it all."

Daisuke leaned over the edge of the railing, folding his hands as he looked off across the city. "Yeah."

"Yeah, what?"

"Yeah, I felt it too."

"I…" Ken bit his lip as he tried to say what he felt, but in a way that wouldn't weird them both out. "I wanted it to count."

Daisuke tilted his head, his mouth dropping slightly at the words. "I didn't mean…"

"It's stupid. I'm sorry. Forget it." Ken slumped on the railing, perhaps trying to melt into it.

The firework finale began, the distant popping of the rockets filling the void between the two teenagers. Daisuke moved to be shoulder to shoulder with his friend. "It was nice, I guess. I've kissed a couple of girls before, but… I, uh… It was different from this." Ken's head shifted away from Daisuke. "In a good way! It was…"

"Warm."

"It was like fireworks. Everywhere." Daisuke smiled now, reliving the flood of emotions their quick, unintentional bit of intimacy had provided them.

Ken turned his head, fixing his gaze at the end of the Daisuke's fidgeting fingers. How he wish he had the ocean of courage his friend had at times like this. "Dai… Would it be… Could we make it count?"

"Uh, s-sure! I mean, it's not a big deal I guess. Just surprised you'd even want to, I guess."

"I mean… Can we… Try..."

Daisuke felt his voice catch. Was Ken asking him what he was thinking? Did Ken want to kiss him? Again? Swallowing the lump away, he stuttered, "It was… Just… I mean…" He tried to figure the pros and cons. If he kissed his best friend again, what would it mean? They were both boys, so what did that mean? He paused his thoughts for a moment, realizing that hurting Ken by saying 'no' was, hands down, the worst thing he could do. The rest… Well, the rest could be figured out later. "I… Guess…?" Daisuke said, his voice noticeably shaking.

They both looked at each other. As they did, they could hear their friends cheering behind the shut glass door. It must have turned to midnight. Ken's eyes wavered before locking back onto Daisuke's, a shy smile crossing his lips. "Happy New Year, Daisuke."

"Happy New Year, Ken." Daisuke said, leaning into his friend, their lips hovering between a blanket of warm air until they hesitantly met. It was awkward, rigid, and without much finesse, but the same familiar feeling washed over them both. They stayed latched together for a few seconds too long, enjoying the comforting flow of energy between their bodies. Daisuke moved them apart, only to steal one quick kiss as he lingered on their connection. With a soft laugh, he said, "We can both keep this one, okay?"

Ken smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

Daisuke grabbed Ken's arm and dragged him from the railing as the final firework sounded off in the distance. "Damn, Ichijouji. I can't feel my fingers! We're going back inside." Ken nodded, following the boy inside, his other hand touching delicately to his lips, as if protecting the memory of Daisuke from the rest of the world.

As the last tendrils of the fireworks fizzled out of existence, Daisuke grinned to himself. It turned out, his game had been a good idea. And in terms of New Year's, this one was pretty darn good. He could feel inside his heart, without an utterance of words, that his best friend felt the same way.