A.N.: This story starts where episode eight of the anime of D.N. Angel leaves off. This means his interest in Riku will not be a factor in this story. Elements from both the manga and anime are used.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own D.N Angel , manga or anime, nor any of the characters or story line originally created by Yukiru Sugisaki.
Chapter 1
Daisuke wandered home from the day's classes, burdened by his little secret; it pulled at his mind, tugged at his every thought. It invaded his dreams with pleasurable fantasies, ones he desperately wanted to play out in reality. He really hoped for even a small fragment of one to be true... But he knew it could never be.
Was it even for him? He felt waves of embarrassment and joy when confronted, like when he was interested in Risa, but he was past that time and onto an even deeper sensation; was it love he now felt, or something else… There was no other way to explain or dispel it, but still, Daisuke didn't know whether to trust these feelings or bar them.
They only occurred when faced with him- Satoshi Hiwatari. If he so much as heard the name, he was swallowed up by his own emotions; his mind ran wild with thoughts of looking into Satoshi's sky-blue eyes which were so full of thought themselves, gently stroking his blue hair, and planting a kiss on his pale lips.
Lost in his daydream, Daisuke slammed into a passer-by,
"S-sorry." He barely said. Bowing a bit, he gripped his school bag and sprinted off. "Why me?" He asked himself as he ran.
'Why not you?' Dark teased.
"Dark?!" Daisuke jumped a bit and stopped running. "Have you been... Listening in on me?" A worried tone was slowly creeping into his voice.
'Oh, there's been more than just listening…' Dark replied sounding bored. He grinned in the back of Daisuke's head.
"Y-you mean-?!" Daisuke tried to hide his embarrassment before Dark's translucent form appeared in front of him,
'You really think that first dream was a coincidence?' Dark asked sincerely, a smirk playing on his face.
Daisuke thought back to it- Risa's cooking was much better in it than reality. He blushed, remembering Satoshi.
'Oh boy. You've got it bad, huh?' Dark said in realization. Daisuke felt his cheeks flush hot with irritation sparked by Dark's comment. Dark patted Daisuke's back, 'Why don't you just tell him? Just play it cool and-'
"It's not that simple! I can't play it off coolly like you!"Daisuke yelled suddenly at Dark, eyes scrunched shut in anger and confusion. He instantly felt bad for the outburst and shrunk away. Dark's hands went up,
'Whoa,' he said calmly, somewhat surprised to see Daisuke lose his temper, 'Okay, okay. I'll leave this to you, then.'
Leaving it at that, he vanished.
In more distress and feeling more flustered than before, Daisuke began to run home again, and this time he wasn't interrupted by anything set aside the door. He opened it quickly, closing it the same way, and bolted upstairs before anyone could say "hello".
Daisuke dropped his bag and fell on his bed in one swift motion, heaving out a sad and relieved sigh. He just needed a break, but he couldn't seem to catch one.
Sitting up, he went in search of his sketchbook and a good pencil. This would help take his mind off of it if nothing else, and if it didn't... Daisuke shook his head dangerously fast.
Sharpening the pencil, he closed his eyes. As they opened again, he brought his hand to the blank sheet of sketchbook paper and let it move on its own. It drew the pencil across, making swift, curved lines. They feathered occasionally, stopping so they looked soft at the tips, nearly transparent at other points. Other spots became darker and more defined, some sharper.
Orange sunlight winked off of the page at him. Coming out of his daze-like state, Daisuke turned an eye to the clock in the corner of the room-
"Five already?" He said to himself. Lucky him, he thought; he had been able to distract himself for a little over two-and-a-half hours.
He sighed as he looked back down to his sketchbook. What had taken him so long to draw, again? The sketchbook was instantly tossed away from him in surprise.
"N... N-no way!" Daisuke yelled at it.
"Dai!" A voice called from a floor down, "Come eat before you head out!"
"Thank goodness." Daisuke whispered, glad to have found a way to leave what he had seen behind. But as he ran out, he knew that there was no denying that he had been the one who drew that- on the once blank piece of paper now lay Satoshi's portrait, drawn with so much life and as delicately as Daisuke viewed him; his eyes carried on, looking into the distance.
Daisuke sat, stirring the now-cold soup that had been placed, sometime ago, on the table in front of him. He stared at it, not quite sure if he wanted to eat or not right now; after the surprise he just had, his appetite had all but disappeared and was now replaced with an un-comfortable, hollow feeling. He hated how often he had been getting it lately.
... So, he was gay? That wasn't that bad, right? He wasn't necessarily embarrassed about that part- sure, a bit confused on all the new feelings toward a guy, but he was still swept off his feet just thinking about Satoshi- he was more scared someone would find out. Then he would be embarrassed.
Dark had already known about it, and Daisuke supposed he supported him in his own way, but he thought the possibility of a few more people finding out was inevitably high- namely, his family members.
And then, in his eyes, it would all be over.
"Daisuke?" A voice interrupted his deep thoughts. He dropped the spoon he held into the bowl and turned his head to where it came from briskly; Emiko looked at him with the face of a concerned mother, "Are you okay? You're not eating very much." She looked at his bowl.
Daisuke's eyes grew wide. He had to think of a good excuse, fast,
"U-uh... I-I'm just, not feeling all that well." He scratched his head.
"Are you still going to be able to steal tonight?" Emiko quickly went in search of a thermometer.
"Oh, yeah!" He laughed, a bit too fake, "I'll be fine, it's just a cold!" Emiko looked at him, sensing something was off, but smiled and said okay.
After Daisuke had a few more spoonfuls of soup, he ran upstairs, relieved. He had dodged a very large and surprising bullet. If she had kept asking questions... No time to worry about 'if's'. For whatever reason, his mom had decided to move the time up from its usual place on the warning letter, around nine or ten, to 6:30. So he had very little time left to waste on 'if's'; he had seen a clock on his way upstairs, and it already read a little past six.
He knew that in order to get to the house that bought the artwork he was to steal by 6:30, he would have to get ready soon- and by get ready, he meant "transform".
Obviously an old photo of Risa would no longer cut it. Daisuke's ember eyes flicked anxiously over to where the drawing lay on his bed. He thought- no, knew- that would trigger it. It had nearly made him transform the past few times he had seen Satoshi in the fall uniform and for this, Dark teased him until he thought Daisuke had had enough.
Daisuke inched over to the sketchpad that still lay face-up on his bed. He swept his eyes over the drawing of Satoshi, letting his mind take him to memories of Satoshi's aura of poise and character, his silent charisma. Instantly, an intense heat filled his core; it blazed so harshly that it felt as if he would melt away. He let the throbbing warmth consume him, burning him away until only darkness remained. And indeed, there was darkness.
Dark sighed in slight exhaustion,
"Well Daisuke, ready to head out?" Daisuke was quiet. "Hey, what's wrong?"
'Dark,' Daisuke started timidly, 'I-I'm s-' Dark's laugh interrupted him. 'What?'
"Don't even say it; I get it." Dark nodded and went to slip into better clothes for the job.
'Y-yea...'
"With!" As soon as Dark had his wings, he stepped onto the edge of Daisuke's patio and left for that night's theft.
That Friday was a tiring one for Daisuke- even though the theft had been successful last night, he and Dark ran into a lot of trouble with all the traps Satoshi had laid; they were actually nearly caught. Trying to escape those traps carried the duo late into the night, giving not a bit of thanks to the earlier calling time.
Daisuke once again trudged home, this time drained of all energy. But a familiar sight caught his eye and forced some of that lost energy back into him- a blue-haired boy dressed in Daisuke's school's uniform leaned on the pillar of a near-by building reading a pocket-sized book.
Daisuke's heart nearly jumped out of his chest with the amount of surprise that struck him; it only worsened when Satoshi's head came up from the book he had in his hand. Daisuke's first instinct was to hide, so he ran behind a tree. But that didn't help him toward his goal- bright red hair jutted from the edges of the tree's cover.
Satoshi closed his book and walked over to the red-head, adjusting his glasses as he went.
Daisuke could only pray that he hadn't been spotted, but not a single prayer in the world could save him from being seen.
"Is that you, Niwa?" Satoshi's monotonous voice came from behind him.
"Ah!" Daisuke jumped and turned in place as stiff as a board. "Y-yea. Hi, Hiwatari." He laughed a bit, glancing to the side.
"Good." Satoshi looked back at his book- a different page than before, one that marked times and dates, "I'm glad to see my research was correct; I found that you take this route home from school every day." Daisuke felt his cheeks flush- sure, it was a bit unorthodox, but Satoshi was taking an interest in him.
"W-why did you need to know that, anyway?" Daisuke asked with anticipation.
"I, uh, needed to talk to you in private..." Satoshi hesitated on his words. As he adjusted his glasses again, Daisuke could see how fast he was blinking.
'Whoa. This isn't like Satoshi. Why is he so flustered?" Daisuke thought. '...Maybe...'
"Yes?" Daisuke practically whispered.
Satoshi stood still a moment before grabbing Daisuke's arm and turning to speed-walk into the streets. As they weaved through the crowds of people, Daisuke assessed what was happening; he wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he hoped for his best-case scenario- maybe Satoshi would make the first move?
He led Daisuke into an unpopulated alley and stopped, still facing away from the red-head.
"H-Hiwatari... What's going on?" Daisuke couldn't control his blushing one bit- and it seemed Satoshi couldn't either.
As Satoshi turned, Daisuke saw his feelings conveyed on his face in red, lighting up his once pale complexion.
Daisuke couldn't move as Satoshi leaned closer- he was paralyzed by his own desire for this one thing.
He could feel the heat from Satoshi's lips now, and followed suit by leaning in as well.
There was a loud sound from Daisuke's door frame,
"Dai, time to get up! You'll be late for school again if you don't hurry!" Emiko turned and began the trek down the steps, "Honestly, Daisuke..." was all Daisuke heard before he went to check his pulse- too fast.
"Haaah..." He attempted to slow it down by breathing steadier, but that did little to help him. "That dream again..." he whispered to himself.