Daisuke staggered back as if struck as his mind finally comprehended the events unfolding in front of him. Takeru and Hikari were quickly disentangling themselves from each other, both with mortified expressions on their faces. There were also traces of guilt and if anything, it made everything much worse.

"Daisuke," Hikari began as she pulled down her shirt and tried to straighten her hopelessly messy hair. Takeru was quickly fixing his unbuttoned shirt.

"I-I'm sorry for interrupting," Daisuke finally managed to get out. His eyes were blinking rapidly, trying to rid themselves of the image that would be forever etched on his mind. He saw Hikari bite her lip and even through his haze he couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was.

"Daisuke-"

"I'm gonna be leaving now," he interrupted her, suddenly wanting to leave the room and never look either of them in the eye again.

"Daisuke, wait," Takeru said, his eyes shining with guilt and a hint of pity and the anger that had been oddly missing suddenly bubbled up in a split second and Daisuke wanted nothing more than to punch Takeru in stupid, perfect face and watch him fall in agony. The moment was gone as soon as it had come but it must have flashed in his eyes because Takeru took a step back.

Hikari began reaching out to him, "Let us explain-"

"Explain what? You don't need to explain anything to me," Daisuke said. Or at least he thought he said it, he couldn't be sure because there was a note of desperation and hysteria that surely couldn't have come from him. He stepped away from Hikari and saw hurt flash across her face but oddly enough he didn't feel guilty in the slightest.

Nothing to explain? There was everything to explain, such as why the fuck he hadn't been informed of this development. He couldn't call it a new one because the way Takeru's hands had been under Hikari's shirt, the way she had been tugging desperately at his buttons and making the most delicious noises as Takeru sucked on her neck, they were not the actions of a new couple. They were the actions of two people who were comfortable and knowledgeable with each others' bodies and Daisuke suddenly felt like an idiot because while he had been hitting on her, treasuring her, clamoring for her and trying to win her attention, Takeru probably had his hands down her pants and was making her release to those moans that Daisuke had always yearned to hear.

He never knew they could sound so devastating and he wished his ears had never picked on them.

Why hadn't they told him? Hadn't he earned that much at least? Weren't he and Takeru good friends? Weren't he and Hikari best friends in those four years where Takeru had been absent from her life? Did it all mean nothing? Did they enjoy watching him make a fool of himself? Why would they betray him like this, cause him so much pain, lead him on, and why the hell was the world suddenly blurry?

It wasn't until he blinked and felt the tears run down his cheek that all three of them realized he was crying. Takeru let out a sharp hiss and took another step backwards, pain and guilt all the more evident. But it was the way Hikari's already guilt-written expression seemed to break as her own eyes welled up that had Daisuke abruptly turn around and run as far away from them as he could. He could hear them calling out to him and felt the eyes of the other Chosen lock onto him as he burst back into the living room but he ignored them all and headed straight out the door, fueled by rage and knowing that if he stuck around he'd do something he'd regret. It seemed that every time his foot slammed into the pavement a jolt was sent to his heart.

He knew there was a possibility he would lose her to him. He had prepared himself for it, matured enough to handle it. While it hurt that she had chosen him, that was not the main source of pain. It was the fact that they had gone around his back rather than tell him to his face, watching as he continued to play a game that he had already lost, that caused him to feel as if he had been stabbed through the heart. He who valued friendship above all other things had never expected a betrayal, not like this.

Best friends. He and Hikari had been best friends, hadn't they?

'Substitute best friend until Takeru's return,' a nasty voice said inside his head. He knew it was wrong. Hikari wasn't like that. He couldn't have fallen in love with someone like that and it wasn't in her nature. Yet at that point in time he wasn't too keen on defending her.

And Takeru. He had always appeared so friendly, so loyal. He was not the type to do such a thing. He was not the type to let himself be caught in a closet when Daisuke had gone in there to retrieve the birthday present he had hidden, that he had saved up for and had been planning to give to Takeru with a smile on his face and a cheesy joke.

And yet he had. They both had.

Is that what friends do?

When he finally stopped running, having lost track of his time as he tried desperately to regain his breath, he noticed the sound of footsteps. He did not need to turn around to see who had followed him. He already knew.

"What happened?" Ken's voice came from behind him.

Daisuke sat back against the wall of the building he had stopped in front of, finally giving up on increasing the distance. "D-did you know about Hikari and Takeru?" he managed to choke out.

He felt Ken settle into the spot next to him. "No, I did not." And it was a stupid question to ask. If Ken had known he would have told him. If there was one person he trusted above all of the others it was Ken. "I'm sure they had their reasons-"

"I don't care," Daisuke interrupted. Ken remained silent. Daisuke did not need him to speak. He just needed him to be there. The fact that one person had followed him, had worried about him rather than stayed behind to fuzz over the other two devastated teens, helped him more than any words could. Daisuke had known from the moment he had caught Hikari and Takeru that Ken would be the one to help him.

"Is Iwaki's keg party today?" he asked him.

"Yes," Ken responded, a note of hesitation on his voice.

"Good," Daisuke said as he wiped his tears away and stood up.

"So you're going?"

"I want to forget."

"It won't make it hurt less."

"I know, but it helps me pretend."

"I'll go with you," Ken finally said in a tone that left no room for argument.

It was no surprise. Ken would always be there to make sure he wouldn't do something stupid. He'd always have his back.

The two of them set off towards the party. The night was eerily silent and as Daisuke walked he remembered that someone had once said that it was better to have loved and lost. He had always found the phrase stupid and now he knew the speaker was full of shit because there was absolutely nothing that could hurt more than the pain he was feeling right now.

His phone was vibrating. He checked it. Taichi was calling him. He hung up. Taichi was Hikari's brother and the mere thought of Hikari led to another wave of sharp pain and another gasp and perhaps another tear and he was so damn sick of it.

Tomorrow he would deal with the fallout. Tomorrow he would confront his friends properly. Tomorrow he would begin the long and arduous journey of getting over her.

But tonight he would forget.

A/N: It might feel somewhat incomplete but that's because this is actually a scene from a multi-chapter Digimon story starring Daisuke, Ken, Iori and Miyako. So things such as the aftermath, why Takeru and Hikari kept it a secret for so long, none of them are covered here. This is a snippet. The story might never get written but this scene wouldn't leave me so I wrote it down. I'd love some feedback so I can improve it if I ever write my story. So please, leave a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome.