So, I've been wanting to do this for a while. This story is a spin-off of another one of mine called A Home at the End of Japan, but this is a stand alone story. It is set in the same 'verse as the other story, but it shows completely different characters, so you don't have to read that one in order to get what's going on in this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Flicking the butt of his cigarette, Daisuke watched as the tiny light from the flame of what was left of said cigarette fell stories down the balcony of the Yagami's apartment. It was strange for him to be standing out there with Takeru out in the cold, since they were still all getting used to using the balcony now that Taichi was gone and now that Yamato didn't really go out there anymore, but in the end there was something about the Odaiba city-scape that comforted him.
For better or worse, he enjoyed the view of Odaiba that he got from the balcony where he and Takeru were hanging about in silence. Oddly enough, the view from his own apartment had never seemed so grand, had never shined so bright, but from where he was standing, from where he was breathing in that cold Japanese air, everything seemed right with the world. Perhaps the world wouldn't be right once morning came, or perhaps it wouldn't be right even as soon as one hour later, but at the moment, as he fiddled about his pockets for his half-empty pack of cigarettes, somehow the world was kind of perfect.
He had never considered himself the artistic type, that was honestly something that was much more up Takeru's alley than anything else, but he thought that what he was watching, and feeling of course, was something that belonged on a canvas. He was only sixteen years old, and he hadn't seen much more of the world than Odaiba and its neighboring cities, but as he stood there with the always faithful Takeru who hadn't strayed very far from him ever since they met as children, Daisuke didn't really see much of a reason to travel farther than the outskirts of his city.
"Are you guys done yet?" he heard a female voice call out from behind Takeru and himself after the sound of a glass door opening crinkled through the air.
Standing there all clad in clothing that was just right for how cold it was out in that Japanese night, contrasting so much with only the t-shirts that both he and Takeru had to keep themselves warm with, was Hikari. She smiled at them as they both turned to look at her, but it was that annoyed kind of smile that Hikari got whenever the two of them were doing something that bothered her.
"You know, you can always join me and Takeru. There's nothing that makes smoking better than adding a woman's touch to it."
Daisuke heard Takeru laugh at his little unfunny quip, and he in turn laughed when an annoyed Hikari walked out to the both of them and punched Takeru in the arm. As he watched Takeru yelp out in faux pain, he began to whistle a reminiscent tune that he wasn't quite sure where he remembered it from.
"It's freezing out here," Hikari said to no one in particular, taking note of the little clouds that formed in the cold air from the vapor of her breath. She looked over at the whistling Daisuke, and then back at Takeru who was still smiling at her, and she only sighed in resignation, the boys beating her out again when it came to the three of them doing something.
Without missing a beat, even without the knowledge of where exactly he had heard the happy-go-lucky sounding sing-song tune that Daisuke couldn't help but let out, he pulled out his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and held it out towards Hikari, offering her one. As he expected, she frowned and he only shrugged as he decided to take a cigarette for himself. He lit it, and he simply quietly listened as Takeru responded Hikari.
"You can go back in if you want."
The three of them had known each other long enough to know that Hikari was going to ignore her better judgment so that she can stand at the side of the two delinquents that had somehow found their lives entwined with hers, just as she always had.
Taking in a long drag of his cigarette, Daisuke turned back towards the city and began to stare out at the shimmering Odaiba once more. Hikari had been silent to what Takeru had offered, and Daisuke felt her settle herself right beside him as she too began to look out at the city that was the only thing that the three of them had ever known.
He wouldn't say it out loud, but he wondered if Hikari was seeing the same thing that he was? When she looked out towards Odaiba did she see a beautiful city with glittering lights like he did? It wasn't a perfect place, Daisuke freely admitted that about Odaiba, but he felt that the flaws of his hometown had always somehow added to its charm.
"It's boring without you guys."
Without another word, Takeru too joined them in musingly watching Odaiba, and somehow, or at least Daisuke thought, he felt that the three of them were all thinking the same thing as they all stared at the flashing lights of the place where they had grown up, stared at all the hustle and bustle of all the different strangers that shared the same home with them.
Blowing smoke out into the air, he saw Takeru do the same out of the corner of his eye. Watching for a bit more than Daisuke thought he should have, he frowned for a moment when he noticed that Takeru was perhaps standing maybe just a bit too close to Hikari than was his liking.
It was just a momentary thought though, and it was enough for him that the three of them were there together, most likely going to stay up much more later than was probably appropriate for a school night.
And so he sat there in silence, right with Takeru and Hikari just as he had for most of his life. The night was cold and fresh, the city lights were twinkling in a way that had always tantalized him, and Daisuke smiled. He was content.
I felt it was appropriate to start with one of the balcony scenes that some of you might recognize considering whether or not if you're reading the other story as well.
Anyways, the one reason its taken me a long time to post this is the decision on whether or not this whole story should all be told from Daisuke's perspective as this opening chapter was, or whether I should alternate. For example: chapter 2 will be seen from Takeru's eyes, chapter 3 from Hikari's, etc.
Any thoughts?