(a/n) Every chapter will be a one-shot dedicated to each digidestined.

** special thanks to FanficRadio (on youtube) for audiobooking the first chapter to this story!

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[TAXI DRIVER]

daisuke & ken

when it's all nuts

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People flooded out of the national theatre.

Some dressed simply, others dressed extravagantly and over-the-top. The taxi driver even had spotted one lady with a large, peacock feather in her hair. He pitied the person sitting behind her because throughout the ballet performance, that hair piece would have spoiled the person's view.

How inconsiderate

But what else should have he expected? The crowd that attended these events tended to have a lavish way to spend money.

The taxi driver often thought of people who watched ballet performances as quite peculiar. Many youngsters were fascinated by international performers, obsessing over western art that was not as prominent in the Japanese culture. Then again, there were a select few of English otakus who loved anything westernised.

This wasn't the taxi driver's case. As close minded as he could be at times, the taxi driver still liked Japan's art and culture over the westerner's world of entertainment. He would never go out of his way to watch an Italian opera singer or watch a Broadway show. The taxi driver appreciated spectating a good old-fashioned sumo match, seeing a traditional kabuki or laughing his heart out over a traditional rakugo story (the latter, he enjoyed the most).

"Yes!" the driver muttered to himself when the vehicle before him drove off.

Now that he had been bumped up in front of the taxi queue, the driver pressed lightly on the accelerator before braking again. He couldn't wait to get out of this traffic. He could finally pick up his passengers and get out of this war zone.

He pressed a button behind the steering wheel, causing the backseat door to spring open and allowing his customers to scurry into the vehicle. The taxi driver spared the couple a prompt glance before driving out of the taxi queue and back onto the main road.

"Where-uh…"

The taxi driver was about to ask his passengers where they were headed, but his blood turned cold when he caught the reflection of figures moving on the rearview mirror.

His nose scrunched up in repulsion.

The passengers were on each other. There was a man with brown, spiked up hair who was dominating the kiss. He had his arm around his partner's waist, leaning over sticking his tongue deeply down her throat. He heard a moan and, immediately, the taxi driver felt a wave of queasiness flip-flop in his stomach. Boy, did he feel squeamish.

He noted that the woman had shoulder-cropped hair, when she turned away from him as the man bit on her neck. It was a good thing that she was wearing pants because at the rate the man was going, the driver was sure he'd be running his hands up her skirt if she had picked out a dress.

Couldn't they save it for a bed? Why did they have to make out for? Why did they have to do it here; in his sanctified taxi?

"Daisuke," her raspy voiced cried out. "Stop it."

The man kept kissing her and the taxi driver shook his head. The taxi driver wanted to close his eyes to erase the image of the couple getting caught up in heat of the moment, but alas, he had to stare at the road and had no choice but to do head checks as he overtook other vehicles. Nevertheless, it was debatable whether the taxi driver would have preferred to drive straight into a curb than see any more of the couple's passionate romping behaviour.

Finding a vacant parking space on the side of the road, the taxi driver swerved into the gap.

"A destination would be great," the driver grunted. He rested an arm around the passenger seat and leaned back to his customers. Arching an eyebrow, he continued, "Well?"

If his boss had heard him speak this way, he would get fired on the spot. However, the driver had little tolerance when people disrespected him and weren't courteous enough to keep their manners in check.

"I told you to get off me!" The woman huffed. She pushed the man, whose name was apparently Daisuke, off her and sat straight.

Daisuke gave a boyish smirk, folding his arms and looking fondly at the driver. "Anywhere would have been good, mister driver."

The woman rolled her eyes. She dug out something from her wallet and passed a folded piece of paper to the driver.

"Don't mind my partner. He's drunk. Never did like the ballet, but went along with it because I like it," she murmured. "Probably was a mistake that I told him that it's something I like to do in my past time...a bad mistake."

"Come on, you loved it," Daisuke yawned.

The taxi driver turned the centre light on, illuminating the vehicle so that he could scrutinise the piece of parchment. "He lives in Shibuya. I know the place in and out, so it shouldn't be hard to find…"

"You need to put it on the GPS because it's a new area."

When the taxi driver was about to tell her that he was sure it was where they knocked down the old warehouse district, his breath got caught in his throat. He hadn't meant to stare long, but when he had seen the hickey on the woman's neck...the taxi driver realised that the woman was, in fact, not a woman at all. The lighting had shown him something he hadn't realised. There was an Adam's apple…

A man?!

Although the taxi driver was trying to disguise his shocked expression, a knowing look flashed on his customer's face. They exchanged an awkward stare until Daisuke cut in with a slurred voice, "Hey? Can we stop by a convenient store? I want those chocolate-coated macadamia nuts. Do you know how delicious they taste?"

Daisuke might have not known what he was talking about, since he was miles away from being sober, but somehow his words were relatable to the current situation.

It was all nuts; no pun intended.

The exchanged staring that the driver still held with the other customer broke from awkward to hilarious. The driver was holding onto his sides from stopping him from barking out in laughter, while the customer used a femininely gesture and covered his mouth to, also, stifle back his giggles.

There was no surprise to why the taxi driver had assumed the other male customer was a woman. Right down to his mannerisms, the driver would have thought he was a female if it hadn't noticed the slight bulge on his customer's neck.

"Save it for another time, Daisuke," his partner choked out.

Daisuke scolded, "What if I don't want to, Ken-ken?"

"Come on." His partner gave an exasperated sigh.

"I had to go through that whole two hours of girls and men in tights. If you ask me, since we already see enough from the bulge, they should have done the ballet commando," Daisuke said, cheekily. "Then the ballet would have been much more interesting. In fact, it would have been nuts."

Ken complained. "No more nutty jokes."

"It's my specialty."

"Fine. I'll buy you them." Ken succumbed, acknowledging that it would be impossible to endure the car drive without Daisuke munching on the chocolates. "Stay put."

Daisuke rolled down the window and yelled, "Don't get the almond ones! The macadamia ones are better!"

The driver's vision was tearing up. He wiped the corner of his eyes and proceeded to type in the address on the GPS. It wasn't like him to enter a designated location on the GPS, but perhaps it would better if he did that night, seeing that he couldn't think straight now that he had been completely caught off guard by the homosexual pair.

When Ken had gone off on the errand, Daisuke got out of the car. The driver was bemused, almost thinking that they men were going to do a runner, until Daisuke sat on shotgun.

His voice turned dead serious, despite the scent of liquor that reeked off his clothes.

Zeroing in on the driver, he spat. "So you're not going to say anything?"

"About what?" The driver chose to question the man.

He knew the liquor was influencing his words, so he decided to speak in a calm, reserved tone. He had dealt with enough drunks to know how to react when they got all defensive. However, this situation differed from others because it was a touchy subject.

Daisuke stated, "That we're together."

"No." The driver shrugged. "It's your business; not mine. My job is drive my passengers around. I don't have time to badmouth and spread rumours around when I don't even know you..Mr…Mr?"

"Motomiya."

That was when the driver realised who, in fact, he was speaking to.

Now he knew who the man was…

This wasn't an ordinary customer. This customer was the CEO of one of the most famous ramen carts in the country. The taxi driver now knew why Daisuke was protective of himself and his partner, because he wanted to protect his reputation, and his company's reputation.

In a sense, it was sad that something like this could damage his company's image.

"My lips are sealed," the driver said. "But you need to promise me one thing-"

Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "Are we making a deal? Are you actually blackmailing me?"

"No. Definitely no." The driver coughed. "I...I just want you to keep the kissing and groping away from my car!"

His customer laughed. Shoulders less tense as he stretched upwards, touching the ceiling. "Deal."

Daisuke shuffled back to the passenger seat, lounging onto it and resting his head onto the window. He appeared more relaxed now that he had spoken to the taxi driver.

"Thanks." Daisuke said, rambling now, "It's just, I don't really care what happens to me...but Ken is quite sensitive over this, over us-"

"Of course," the taxi driver said.

They waited a bit longer, and since Ken hadn't returned, if felt odd that the driver stop the conversation with his previous close ended answer. "How did you lovebirds meet anyway?"

A wry smile appeared on Daisuke's expression, so wide that the driver questioned himself it was the right thing to ask the young man.

"I caught him staring at my nuts."

He exclaimed out loud, "What?"

Forget it. The taxi driver should have not asked him at all. Usually he asked about first encounters with heterosexual couples in his vehicle, but of course Daisuke and Ken's story would be far beyond different.

"We were on the same soccer team when we were adolescents. One day, when we were stripping in the change rooms, I caught him staring at my nuts longer than the other boys," Daisuke chuckled. "And that's when I knew."

"You knew?"

"I had an inkling," Daisuke admitted. "But I didn't know I was gay until I actually started thinking about Ken in that way. The more I thought about it; the more I realised that I actually liked him…of course, I was first to come out and tell him blatantly, and Ken, well, he was a stuttering mess. We were equally confused together."

"And then what?"

"Well, let's just say...we experimented."

The taxi driver was guffawing now, and Daisuke shared a similar sense of amusement. The laughter continued until Ken returned with boxes of chocolate-coated macadamia nuts (which made the Daisuke and the driver erupt into another series of laughter), and a three bottles of water for each of them.

"Thank you," the driver gave a curt nod.

"Thought I owed you the favour because I left you with him." Ken commented, "What exactly did you end up talking about?"

Daisuke kept speaking, "My nuts."

"Not again." Ken groaned. "You love talking about your nuts, Daisuke! Tone it down, will you?"

Daisuke winked. "Never. I could talk about my balls-"

"Stop."

The taxi driver shook his head, laughing again. He hadn't thought his night would turn out this interesting, having been certain that he would be chauffeuring back a wealthy couple home post their ballet-enlightening experience. Who would have thought that he would be driving a gay couple around?

The driver's foot slid off the brake, changing his footing over to the accelerator. The car lurched and they were in action again. Driving back onto the street, the driver followed the route that the navigator displayed.

For some reason, the driver found himself trying to be subtle as he spared another look at the couple. He gave a soft smile when he saw that Daisuke had fallen asleep. His head was resting on Ken's shoulder and they were actually holding hands.

He realised he was fine with it. For the taxi driver, a page had turned. He now accepted the same sexed couple without flinching. Had he really caught up with the times now? If his parents knew about this, they'd have a heart attack.

Having had been raised, it had been drilled in his head, that the same gender should never be together. His parents told him that, his teachers, his friends, his extended family. Yet, somehow, he now didn't understand why they had told him that. No matter what, same gender couples didn't matter to him. As long as the couple loved each other, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, wasn't that enough?

Besides, the times had changed. He had found out through mutual friends that some of his old classmates had been getting divorces because they had 'come out' and had used marriage to disguise their homosexuality. At some periods during his life, even the driver had been disgusted and even - to the point - angry about same sex couples for not being part of society's norm...but who was he to judge? He hadn't understood then; but now he knew better. After all, he could never forget when his ex-girlfriend broke up with him to be with another woman. The thought still traumatised him.

Yet, as he stared on at the snug couple behind him, it felt right.

They were happy together; so why should people's prejudices destroy something that is a positive?

It wasn't like they were going to inflict fights between people and cause drama. There were worse worries out there, like nuclear weapons, corrupt politicians, the homeless, the poor, wars and climate change. So why was the general public so stuck against gays? Even in the Japanese media, there were a handful of gay comedians that weren't discriminated, yet why was it that same sex couples continued to be looked down upon?

This couple wasn't an old one either. They were a young couple and they weren't afraid of hiding. It was courageous that they went around Tokyo, not afraid to show themselves in public, as a couple.

As he continued to drive his passengers, the taxi driver selected an easy-listening station on the radio and dimmed the music down, making it buzz in the background. He made sure not to make it too loud that Daisuke didn't wake up. It wasn't very long now. They'd get there in ten minutes once the traffic settled, and at least the drunk man could get some brief shut eye at least.

Instead, the awake passenger shattered the quietness, "Thanks, sir."

"For what?" The taxi driver asked.

He didn't think that Ken should be expressing gratitude this early. The taxi driver hadn't even dropped them off at their destination yet...so why now?

"Oh, you know..." The person, that the driver thought was a woman, replied. He let out a bright laugh when the taxi driver didn't reply. He spoke up again, "Thanks for not judging us, I mean."

The taxi driver nodded, not knowing what else to say.

When they arrived, Ken swiped his credit card and paid for the fair. He got out of first, waking up Daisuke, and placed an arm around him as they struggled to get out of the vehicle.

"Bye!" Daisuke saluted and Ken bowed.

The driver gave a gentle smile as he watched the couple leave. Although they men were dealing with a stigma, that shouldn't exist, the driver knew that they were generally good kids.

Despite it all, that didn't stop the driver from opening the drawer in the front compartment and grabbing a bottle. The bottle was something he had stored inside the taxi ever since he had crossed paths with a manic, anti-germ crazed doctor.

He used the sanitiser to spray the area where the two men had been. The driver watched as the cloud of droplets sprinkle slowly over the seats, sinking into the grains of the fabric. Making out couples in his taxi would always remain disgusting to him.

Gay or not, it made no difference to the taxi driver.

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(a/n) So nutty indeed...-_-"

My first attempt at Daiken, which is dedicated to knifeoframen. Heck, it's my first attempt at MxM in general (unless you're counting me writing taito bromance - but that doesn't count). Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for still hanging out and reading this too ;)

Next chapter: Probably Hikari. Probably.

Oh, and thanks to FanficRadio (on youtube) for audiobooking the first chapter to this story! If you search up "purple haired feminist" and "digimon" on the youtube search engine, it should be the first video to pop up.