Mad Season 1

Disclaimer: Digimon, sadly enough, is not mine…

Author's Note: Yeah, yeah…I know…It's not finished…This is gonna be one of those chaptered thingys. ^-^ Why? Erm. It just is, 'kay? Oh, and speaking of Kay, she deserves some credit here. I've been reading some of her fics lately. (Koushiro-kun!! *cries at the thought of Kay's "Dry These Tears"* ) I f you haven't read her stuff, then you're really missing out. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, I got this whole Daishiro thing stuck in my brain because of her. *points* I'm not sure if this qualifies as corruption or not, but I keep seeing those two boys together now. Anyway…*sweatdrops* Please don't be mad! (I think that once again I'm making very little sense. Surprise, surprise…*-*) Let's see important stuff to know that makes reading the rest of this author's note worth your time: Daisuke's seventeen. Koushiro's nineteen. Jyou's twenty. Matt just turned nineteen. Oh and this is set in the same universe as "Bed of Lies". And yes, at the moment, I have a thing for Match Box 20. The song's Mad Season by them. (Yes, my snazy titles for fics! This is why I write song fics all the time. I never have to think of titles then. *blows raspberries*) I blame this fic on Spring break, having too much time on my hands, and not wanting to go to the DMV (those evil, evil people!!!) to get my driver's license renewed. (I took the test once already!!! What more do they want?!?! So what if it was six years ago!?!?! So what if I have a shoddy memory!?!?! *sweatdrops* …) Oh boy…oh yeah, this is Yaoi. The only bashings that are acceptable are the ones that pick on the writing. Okay, okay…I'm shutting up now…

Mad Season

By Rachel Lynn

***

I feel stupid-but I know it won't last for long

I've been guessing - I coulda been guessing wrong

***

"Twinkies…Snickers bar…Buttterfinger…Triple scoop vanilla fudge sundaes…chocolate covered rice balls…"

"Daisuke, shut up!" I snap as I wearily rise to my feet. The room's covered in dust, I'm covered in dust. Great. Just great. As if this day couldn't get any worse. Of all the possible people I coulda gotten trapped with, it had to be Daisuke. "Can't you think of anything but food?"

"Nope. I'm starvin', man. How long have we been stuck in this stupid room?" He asks me plaintively. Light's filtering in through the ceiling, so I look at my watch.

"Twenty minutes." I tell him. I look back up at the ceiling, disgusted. I've already tried climbing up there. But the shifting rubble made me nervous. The last thing I want to do is disturb the structural integrity of the building. I glance back at Daisuke and roll my eyes. He's just sitting there, watching me. Like I'm supposed to produce some miracle and get us out of this jam. The least he could have done was climb up there with me. He's supposed to be the adventurous one. Not me.

"How long do you think it'll be before someone realizes we're here and rescues us?" He asks me next as I start pacing nervously.

"It'll probably be a couple hours at least. My guess is that the whole district suffered damage like this. If they even have rescue squads assembled, they'll have to be sifting through all the buildings. And if they all look like this, we might be here for a long time." He shrugs off my explanation. He hasn't moved from that spot since the whole thing happened, and it's beginning to irritate me.

"Chocolate covered raisins…my Mom's meatloaf…anything Matt cooks…"

If he was looking for a way to get back at me for being so short with him, he's found it. Matt and Jyou. In all my life I don't think I've ever had one thing to feel jealous about. It just always seemed to me that I had the things that I needed and that I wanted. And anything I couldn't have, I could easily live without. Until them.

"Daisuke, we're stuck in a crumbling building. Do you think you could possibly focus for three minutes and try and help me figure a way out of here?" I snap as I continue pacing.

"Matt and Jyou, huh? Who would've figured, right? Bet Jyou's living the high life with having Matt cook for him all the time like that." I grind my teeth as I ignore him. I spent years debating, waiting for the right opportunity, trying to screw my courage up. And in the end, I didn't even realize I had a chance until it was already too late. Jyou. The guy I've been in love with since I was like twelve.

It just all happened so fast. One minute we were good, single friends. And the next minute, Matt's father had kicked him out, Jyou had taken him in, and they'd fallen in love. Just like that.

And once again, I was standing on the outside looking in.

"Man, you're making me dizzy. Just sit already, Koushiro. They'll rescue us when they rescue us." I turn to glare at Daisuke, but he's not even paying attention, so why bother? Sighing, I walk over to him and plop down a couple of feet from him on the dusty floor.

"So why did you want to meet me here anyway?" I ask finally as the silence starts to get a bit overwhelming. "You never did say."

***

You don't know me now

I kinda thought that you should somehow

Does that whole mad season got you down

***

I'm annoying the snot out of him. I can tell just by the way he keeps pacing like that and shooting glares in my direction. Damn. Well, the great Daisuke Motomiya screws up again. It's the story of my goddamn life. And the day had started off so well too…

I manage a half smile at that. Sometimes I'm too arrogant for my own good. I left my apartment this morning convinced that there was no way he could turn me down. I mean, Jyou and Matt have been together now for at least three months. I should have a chance. Even if all I'll ever be to him is someone to rebound with. If that's all I can get from him, then I'll gladly take it.

I draw a deep breath and then wince painfully. Baka. Seems like I'm always chasing someone who's chasing someone else. Kari, before I realized I was gay. Ken, after that. They both had crushes of their own, and plans of their own, none of which included me.

"Chocolate covered raisins…my Mom's meatloaf…anything Matt cooks…" Anything to get my mind off the excruciating pain in my side. I kick myself mentally though as Koushiro winces at my reference to Matt. Idiot. Why don't you just rub salt in his wound?

"Daisuke, we're stuck in a crumbling building. Do you think you could possibly focus for three minutes and try and help me figure a way out of here." He snaps back. Great. It's like I have this amazing ability. If I like someone, I gain the power to irritate them to no end. Over all, it just doesn't seem very fair. I look up at him as he continues to pace. I know he wants me to get up and climb to the top of that rubble heap with him, but right now, it just ain't gonna happen. I manage another painful breath as I move slightly. God, this hurts. Hurts almost as much as knowing that Koushiro's still in love with Jyou.

The guy's never going to see me as anything more than a pest.

I look over at his profile. Love the hair, I think with a tiny grin. Everything about him is so neat and orderly. Everything, from his backpack to the clothes he's wearing, is neat and meticulous. 'Cept the hair. He's got spiky auburn locks that just refuse to conform.

God. Why can't he see that I love him?

"Matt and Jyou, huh? Who would've figured, right? Bet Jyou's living the high life with having Matt cook for him all the time like that." It's a mean thing to say, and I know it. But hey. I'm just stupid, never-had-a-clue Daisuke. I can get away with saying stuff like this because no one ever expects any better from me. But I'd…well…I'd hoped Koushiro would've.

So what if I was a naïve little brat at twelve? I don't know if anyone else but me noticed, but I'm not twelve anymore. I just turned seventeen last month. Next year I'm gonna be off at college. Me. Daisuke Motomiya. At college. I can manage an ironic smile at that. If I'm smart enough to get accepted, how come I feel so stupid? I look back up at Koushiro.

I've always been attracted to the smart types. And I've always been a bit intimidated by them too. Maybe that's why I'm such an idiot around them. Smart kids like Koushiro, Ken, and Kari? What could they possibly see in someone like me? An obnoxious loud-mouthed jock.

"Man, you're making me dizzy. Just sit already, Koushiro. They'll rescue us when they rescue us." I tell him quietly. His pacing is making me dizzy. 'Course everything's making me dizzy at the moment. I'm told blood loss does that to a person. As unobtrusively as possible, I try to put more pressure on my side. Damn, this hurts like hell. Schooling my features though, I shoot Koushiro an inane smile.

God, I've gotten good at this. Chameleons don't have a damn thing on me. Just bury all of it inside me and show a new skin to the world. Koushiro plops down beside me with a disgruntled sigh, and I bite back the tears that keep wanting to pop into my eyes. Baka. I asked him to lunch today, so intent on telling him how I felt. What a joke. A computer genius like him…interested in a moron like me? Who was I trying to kid?

Myself I guess. I know he thinks I'm just this arrogant snot. I…I guess everyone does. I don't exactly do a lot to disabuse them of the notion. But no one else is going to give me pep talks or think that I'm worth anything. That job always seems to fall to me. So, I guess if it seems like I'm always blowing my own whistle, well then so what. It's either tell myself that I'm worth something and try to believe that, or fall into believing what the rest of the world does. That I'm just some mindless, good-for-nothing jock who talks too loud.

"So why did you want to meet me here anyway?" He asks me out of the blue. Shit. "You never did say." Well, no kidding. In his world, what chance do I possibly stand against someone like Jyou? Me and Jyou? We couldn't be any more different if we tried.

I know. I tried to be more like Koushiro's love. I suppose it was a pathetic attempt to try and catch his attention. To try and be a person he might notice. Fat chance. One day of trying to be Jyou, and I had half the school convinced I needed medication. Koushiro hadn't even given me more than the usual passing glance when I'd found him after school.

"I just wanted to cheer you up." I tell him, wincing at the words. Cheer him up? Oh yeah, I'm sure this is a blast for him. Getting caught in the middle of an Earthquake with the bratty kid that won't leave him alone.

***

I feel stupid but it's something that comes and goes

I've been changin' - think it's funny how no one knows

***

"Oh." I return. I'm not quite sure how to react. He wanted to cheer me up? Daisuke. The guy who usually can't see past his own nose? What? Have I been that mopey lately? He flashes me one of those inane grins of his, and I don't know what to think.

"What was it that you love so much about Jyou?" Gyah! My head flips around to look at him. How did he know? He's not looking at me though. He's staring up at the cracks in the ceiling with his arms still crossed over his stomach.

"What…what makes you think…"

"It's obvious, Koushiro. It's obvious to everyone but Jyou and Matt." He says almost gently. I manage a sigh as I sit there. Sometimes I wish I could be more like Daisuke. Blunt and straight to the point. Maybe then I would've had a chance with Jyou. But that's not the way I am. Hell, half the time I can't even admit to myself how I feel.

Turning, I give the mahogany haired boy another glance. He's been…around a lot lately. Every time I turn around, he's there. He still wears Tai's old goggles. It's kinda…cute, in a way. "Why do you want to know?" I ask him finally, admitting indirectly that what he's said is true. He shrugs stiffly as he avoids my gaze. Which is just downright weird. What's going on here?

"I dunno. Just curious I suppose. I mean, no offense, but from where I'm sitting you two don't seem very well matched." Well, la-dee-da. Who asked him anyway? I grumble silently to myself.

"It's just a lot of little things. Like his reliability, his easy going nature…just a lot of things." I say before leaning back against the same half crumbled wall that Daisuke's up against. I fall silent as I think about it. I guess it doesn't hurt either that Jyou's awfully good looking too. And then there was the fact that he was just about as geeky as me. I guess it just seems to me that we fit together. And him and Matt? I manage a bitterly ironic smile. Cool, suave, doesn't-have-a-care in the world Matt. With someone like Jyou?

I mean, it's no wonder I never saw it coming.

"What d'ya call a fish with two knees?" My head swings back to Daisuke.

"What?" I respond rather unintelligently. Hey, I've never been much of a people person. I prefer interacting with my computer infinitely more. My laptop doesn't laugh at me or expect me to be or act a certain way. People, on the other hand…I'm pretty socially inept.

"A fish with two knees. A tun-nee fish!" He giggles. And despite the fact that it's like the lamest joke I've ever heard, I hear myself laughing. He's got this grin on his face as he looks back at me. A lot of people have said he's like a carbon copy of Tai, but I guess I just don't see it. Oh sure, there's the fact that he wears those goggles. But Daisuke's eyes are a much darker brown then Tai's. And then there's his hair. It's shorter, spikier, and it's more of a dark auburn shade then Tai's mouse brown hair. That, and looks aside, Tai never ever seemed quite as interested as Daisuke in getting me outside and playing soccer. The kid's like a dog with a bone sometimes. Real tenacious. And Tai? Well, as much of a good friend as Tai is, he has an attention span that lasts for all of five minutes.

"Say, I wanted to say that I'm sorry I missed our match yesterday." I tell him, as I realize that it completely skipped my mind. I don't know how he conned me into it, but he's been teaching me to play soccer. It's actually kinda…fun. Which is surprising. I haven't got a coordinated bone in my body, and of all my classes in school, gym was always the one I dreaded the most. It's just that with Daisuke, there's no rules, no pressure. All we do is kick the ball back and forth and goof around. Occasionally, he'll show me how to maneuver the ball or kick it a certain way, but mostly it's just the two of us horsing around.

"Eh, no biggie." He shrugs it off. "Next time I'll just come over to your place and kidnap you. Can't let you turn into one of those skinny, pale computer geeks that never leave their bedrooms." He shoots me a teasing grin as I feel my face heat. I'm not that bad…am I?

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I mutter with half a grin. "Whatever. Say, thanks for pushing me out of the way earlier." I wince mentally. The poor kid shoves me out of the way of a crashing wall, and a weak thanks twenty minutes later is the best I can come up with? And of course, that's after I've lost my temper and snapped at him. Great going, Izumi. "And I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier. I've just been a little edgy lately." I apologize. Lately? Try the last three months.

"Dude. I know you don't like the idea of Jyou and Matt together, but they are. And I think it's for the best. I mean, they really do love each other, and I think they have a way of balancing each other out." I look over at him and try not to glare. From the way he's wincing though, I don't think I succeeded. "Look, Koushiro. Those two need each other more than you need Jyou. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth, okay? Jyou and Matt are better together than they are apart. And according to my mother, that's the mark of real love."

I shrug noncommitingly. He's given me something to think about, at least.

***

We don't talk about - the little things we do without

When that whole mad season comes around

***

He doesn't even know I exist. Looking at him out of the corner of my eye, I watch as he shrugs noncomittingly at my words. Baka. Daisuke, you idiot, leave the guy be.

At least Kari and Ken could tell that I liked them. But Koushiro? He's completely oblivious. In some ways it's a good thing. In other ways, it's hell. And just watching him now. Damn, I don't mean a thing to him. I'm still the little kid that pesters him and won't let him work on his computer in peace. I'm still that brat that doesn't know a blasted thing about anything.

But goddamn it, I'm trying. I'm trying to be a smarter person. I want to be a smarter person. For him, for myself.

He's never going to see it that way. And I mean, why should he? I'm like this annoying mosquito that won't leave him alone. Hell, I'm like that for everyone. I know Koushiro thinks he's like not social or anything, but he's got a lot more going for him than I do. The most I can manage to do is constantly stick my foot in my mouth. People rarely get pissed at someone who doesn't say much.

Oh, but can I keep my mouth shut? Hell, no. I've been told to get lost more times than I thought humanly possible. But I just keep coming back for more. It's pathetic really. I just don't have the good sense to stay down. I manage a rough sigh.

My side's burning something fierce, and my fingers are sticky with my own blood. I should care. I really should. But maybe this is where I finally get it right. Maybe this is where I finally learn to stay down. Pathetic. Good-for-nothing. Dumb jock. Egotistical bastard. Moron. I hear it from everyone. From my enemies to my friends. At some point or another, everyone always gets around to calling me something of the sort.

And if it had just been a few people, maybe I could've ignored it. But almost everyone has said or thought those things about me. And if they all think that, then isn't it a given that it's true? I know I act like it doesn't bother me. I know that I act like it's some huge joke when people say those sort of things. And I guess it is a joke. On me.

"You feeling okay, Daisuke?" I turn my head and look over at Koushiro.

"Yeah, why?"

"I dunno. You just look a little pale, and you're too…quiet, you know?" He returns uncertainly. Too quiet, huh? Translation: why aren't I being my normal hyper, incredibly annoying obnoxious self?

"I'm fine." I tell him as I put more pressure on my side. It really hasn't stopped the blood from flowing yet, but hell, at this point who cares? Besides, maybe it's just better this way.

I guess, if I ever bothered to look really deep, I might consider that I could be suicidal. But I don't think that deep. Ha-ha. What a joke. Me thinking deep. I manage a wry grin at that. Nah, I'm not suicidal. I just wish sometimes, actually most of the time, that I wasn't. I wouldn't be a pest if I didn't exist. I wouldn't be the annoying, unwanted tag-along if I'd never been born.

Who am I kidding? I look in the morning every morning and this obnoxious fool stares back at me. I hate that face in the mirror. Truth be told, I'm disgusted by what I see when I look at my reflection. It's just pitiful. Simply pitiful. That klutzy can-do-nothing-right kid. Even this. I stare around at the crumbled debris ridden room. I try to confess my love for someone and I get them stuck in a place like this instead.

Glancing back over at Koushiro, I manage a smile as he stares up at the ceiling with that thoughtful look on his face. When was it that I started falling for him? Eh, probably when he started tutoring me in calculus. Never knew someone could make math at least halfway interesting, let alone fascinating. I spent years struggling through math class after math class, barely managing to keep my head above water in them. But sitting down with Koushiro, and having him explain it to me, it was like someone had handed me a key to this brand new world.

It's just that his curiosity is so damn contagious.

His whole face just comes alive when he's figuring something out. But it's more than that. I like the way he laughs at my jokes, even though we both know they are about the corniest things he's ever heard. On Saturdays we'll kick the soccer ball around and just talk. He needs the exercise, and I just like hearing him tell me about his latest theory or the new bit of information he came across. Scary thing is that recently, when he tells me something new, I'm starting to understand what it is he's talking about. Me. The moron.

Ah, he's probably finally learned to dumb it down for me.

"Do you feel that?" I yank myself out of my thoughts at Koushiro's question.

"Feel what?" I ask and a split second later I know what. "It's an aftershock." Yay me. I can state the obvious. I don't have much time to consider it though, because as the rumbling grows in intensity, I can see junks starting to fall from the ceiling. Then there's the beam above us. I watch it, almost in a trance as it starts to fall.

"Daisuke!" I can feel Koushiro grab my wrist and yank. For a moment there's nothing, and then there's a sickening pop as he yanks me away from the piece of steel in the wall behind me.

***