Title: Pretty Eyes

Author: Majenta

Contains: yaoi, angst, sap

Couple: Daiken

            I bent down to untie my cleats, breaking apart the drying mud and bits of grass caked around my ankles, my muscles still singing with the beginnings of overuse.  My t-shirt clung to the center of my back, sending a shiver across my skin when my sweat began to cool.  Steam was billowing out of the showers; Davis shut his locker and grinned at me, there was a trace of mud across his cheek.  I looked quickly down, god, if I was him I'd of caught me staring.  "You wanna practice after school tomorrow?"

            He snorted, "I dunno, I think I'm gonna be pretty busy learning your moves.  You have to teach me how its possible to be that close to the goal and still not score."

            I reached out to smack his arm and he darted away, laughing.  I peeled my socks off and unbuckled my shin-guards.  "It's really getting dark, huh?"

            He shrugged and stuffed his muddy cleats into his pack while I wrapped mine in a towel, careful to fold the laces inside each shoe.  I shivered again when he pulled his shirt over his head, gripping the edge of the bench with one hand, turning white at the knuckles.  I looked at the ground.  His body was thin and just beginning to develop into that of a man, like mine, but more muscular through the arms, the stomach, like it would be smooth as silk to reach out and touch.  A burning that had started in my stomach spread above and below in my body, making me sick.  I swallowed hard and bit down on my tongue.  I still tried not to look up, even as I'd memorized his body the first time I'd seen it. 

            "I'm so late, I'm gonna take a shower when I get home.  Can you walk with me or are you taking one here?"

            My thoughts tumbled together and tangled the way half-remembered dreams did upon waking.  I opened my mouth once, closed it, opened it again and spoke, "No, uh, no, I'll walk you home."
            A smile formed on his pretty, thin lips before he forced it away.  Did he really force it away?  I pulled a sweatshirt on over my t-shirt while he changed, turned towards his locker so I wouldn't see.  I kept my eyes hard on the ground and listened to him moving, like something just beyond my reach.

            He pulled his pack on and so did I.  It was dark when we left the locker room.  He kicked at the grass along side the road, pushing his goggles up into his hair, he grinned at me.  Stars were winking down at us on the horizon.  Between buildings in the distance, I could still make out the faint glow of the sun and it caught in his face, his hair.  He took a deep breath.  "It's weird to be back, huh?"
            "What do you mean?"

            "From the digiworld."  David shrugged his shoulders and his arm brushed mine as he picked up speed.  I shivered. 

            "I guess," his words had a more powerful impact on me than he could ever have imagined.  I remembered so much and so little at the same time, thinking back to when I'd made myself his enemy and still, each time I looked at him in hatred, I'd wanted him.  There had never been a time when I had not wanted him.

            I thought guiltily back to all the times he forgave me, each time he ran after me when the hatred his friends held for me drove me away.  I almost longed for him to run after me each time he did, wanted him to find me in the dark forest, wanted more than anything to take his hand just once, kiss his mouth.  I'd never felt more alive than I did with him, I felt, somehow, validated as being real once again. 

            "You're really quiet," he murmured.

            "Yeah, sorry."  I caught his eyes for only a moment and dropped their gaze again, staring at my feet. 

            "You think about it a lot, don't you?" Silence pressed in once he'd asked me, I nodded.

            "So do I, it seems like such a long time ago.  It's weird, isn't it?  I feel like it happened a million years ago."

            "Davis-"
            "Don't apologize again," he stopped walking and smiled sweetly at me, "Really."
            "Uh, yeah," I rubbed the back of my neck self-consciously, afraid to meet his large, pretty eyes.  Street lamps flickered on and sent waves of soft yellow light across his body.  He adjusted his pack and looked at me still, his head bent slightly to the side, still smiling.  "You know something?"

            "What?"
            "You've got pretty eyes."  It took my by surprise.  I opened my mouth silently and he blushed, looking down, "Forget it."

            "I like your eyes too," I said desperately, "You're . . . you're the only one who looks me straight in the eye."

            "Really?" he brightened and the blush deepened in his cheeks, "Well, I see a lot of good there . . . in you."

            We walked in silence to the building where he lived, pausing at the staircase, "You wanna come upstairs?"

            "I'd better not," I said reluctantly, "My parents'll get freaked out if I don't come-"

            "Yeah, I know," he nodded, looking disappointed.  "Maybe, you can come over tomorrow, if you like."

            "I would like."  Nervous laughter.  His look softened and he leaned off the bottom step of the staircase towards me, holding onto the railing.  "Night, Ken."
            "Goodnight."  I'll never be sure whether he slipped or not, whether he really meant to do it, but in a moment he'd fallen forward against me, his hands closing around my shoulders, and he kissed me just once on the mouth, his sweet-smelling hair brushing my cheek.  It left me breathless and half-aware. 

            Davis pulled away and his blush deepened even more, he ran his hands through his hair.  "Yeah, so . . . see ya tomorrow."

            I watched him climb the stairs out of sight, listened to the clatter of his sneakers on the metal staircase inside and, when I seemed to find movement again, I touched my lips briefly and wondered if I'd dreamed it up.  Pretty eyes, did I really?

            Startled, I stepped back onto the sidewalk and looked up the side of his building.  My mouth is still burning from my first kiss, was it really him?  Did you really want the same thing, Davis?  He was standing on his balcony, looking down at me and from where he stood I could not see his face.  Everything in me seemed to awaken when he looked at me, every piece of me seemed to come together more completely than it ever had before.  "Davis?" I called up.

            "Yeah?"
            "Can I call my parents from your room?"

            Long pause, then he tossed down his keys.  I caught them and grinned up at him.  The past seemed distant, that was true, but for the first time in my life I felt like I could really live for something other than myself, other than my image.  I could live my life for him and maybe, for the first time, find happiness. 

~ end ~