Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandoms: Digimon Adventure 02
Title: Lying Hearts
Romance: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken
Word Count: chapter 7: 1,301||story: 7,999
Genre: Romance, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I12, a multichap with exactly 10 chapters; Written for the Halloween Trick of Treat (Advent), Day #17, reveal a hidden identity; Written for the What-If Challenge: What if the Kaiser's personality was Ken's real personality?; One Ship Boot Camp, #50, embrace
Notes: For the purposes of this story, please note the following: Ken's true personality is that of the Digimon Kaiser. No Dark Spore involved at all. The Chosen have fought Ken since they were eleven years old, with matters grinding down to a quasi-stalemate for a multitude of reasons over the last couple of years. It's been six years since this began. Therefore, Miyako is eighteen, Ken, Daisuke, Takeru, and Hikari are seventeen, and Iori is fifteen. There are other points that are different, but those will be addressed in the story itself.
Summary: After long days of fighting the Digimon Kaiser, Daisuke just wants to relax in his boyfriend's arms. That's not so much to ask, is it?

"What did you do?" Daisuke stared at Ken from the far side of the room, fists clenching and unclenching. He couldn't entirely believe what he'd heard.

"I told you. I sent your friends an e-mail telling them that you're here with me." Ken's smile gleamed sly and bright in the overhead lights of his bedroom. "You wanted them to know about me, didn't you?"

Daisuke said very little that was actually coherent in the next few moments. Ken merely watched from where he stood, sipping at a cup of tea, head tilted to the side in the most infuriating way that Daisuke had ever seen.

"Do you know what all of those words mean? I didn't think you'd done that well in your English classes."

Daisuke spat out a few more words before he started to stalk over to Ken. "I wanted to tell them!"

"Don't tell me that you're upset because of that." Ken sipped the tea, clearly not bothered at all by Daisuke's anger. "I didn't lie about anything, if you're wondering. I didn't tell them that you were working for me, since you're not." He paused, teacup so close to his lips. "Not yet, anyway. You're being very stubborn."

Daisuke threw his head back and laughed, but there wasn't much humor to it as he came to stand in front of Ken. "Seriously, did you think I'd just bow down to you because you're good in bed?"

"I haven't noticed any complaints about how I am in bed," Ken replied archly. "Now, did you have something else to say or did you just want to complain some more about the fact I sent them a message without consulting you?"

Daisuke hadn't really hated anything in his relationship with Ken before this. Now he hated the fact that Ken was the Kaiser, and no longer held back his most cutting remarks. If anything, he seemed to take an intense pleasure in making them, in seeing the hurt that flared whenever he used one.

Dating the Kaiser wasn't nearly as much fun as dating Ken.

"What did you tell them?" Daisuke wanted to know. "Show me what you sent them." He didn't trust that Ken hadn't done something that he'd get upset about. He couldn't trust that at all, not anymore. Especially not with how Ken refused to let him leave the fortress at all.

He kind of considered himself lucky that Ken even let him wear clothes at all, especially considering the looks that his boyfriend sent his way on a regular basis.

Now Ken let out a long-suffering sigh, as if Daisuke were somehow being unreasonable to want this. "If you insist. I was going to show you anyway. Come along."

He strolled along toward the control room, Daisuke hurrying in his wake. Daisuke didn't really get much time to explore, and the corridors here were so confusing that even when he did squeeze in a few minutes, he tended to get lost fairly fast. But Ken knew them like the proverbial back of his hand and in moments they stood before his set of screens. One wave of his hand – Daisuke thought he did that just for the sake of impressing him and made a point out of not being impressed – brought them all to life, showing Ken himself in his full Kaiser regalia. At the moment he wore everything except the glasses themselves, mostly because it was early in the morning and he clearly wanted to get a good start on his day.

Daisuke knew exactly what that day would entail and the best chance he had of stopping it was what he'd been doing the last couple of days. Punching Ken wouldn't do nearly as much as he hoped it would, but kissing him? Sex with him? Not only was it really good, but at least Ken wasn't quite as dead-set on conquering the Digital World when he and Daisuke were together. He'd at least put it off for another hour or two.

It was every bit as exhausting as fighting his enslaved minions was, and Daisuke had to hope that his distractions allowed the others to get rid of some of the Spires and free more of Ken's slaves. It was about all he could do from inside of here, with none of his usual tools with him.

He still didn't know where his D-3 and D-Terminal were, and he wasn't certain how much he wanted to know the answer to that. He needed them but hearing that Ken was reverse-engineering them or something would be nightmare fuel he didn't need.

All of that passed through his mind in a matter of seconds. Kaiser on the screen began to speak and Daisuke paid attention. He didn't trust at all that Ken hadn't said something that would bias his friends against him…

And when it came to the end, it was all Daisuke could do not to try to punch Ken anyway.

"Did I do something wrong?" Ken asked, finishing off the last of his tea with one hand while he kept Daisuke at bay with the other. "I told you. I didn't tell them anything that wasn't true. You are here with me. I didn't make up anything in that video. You do remember yesterday morning, don't you?"

His eyes narrowed for a moment. "And they will indeed find all of your former possessions where I said they would. You don't need those anymore."

"I want everything that's mine back. I don't care if you don't think I won't need it, it's mine, and I want it back." Daisuke snapped out. "And I want out of here. I'm going to my friends!"

It wasn't that Ken had said anything. It was that he hadn't. He'd shown them Daisuke clearly sharing a bed, and more, with the Digimon Kaiser, and that the Digimon Kaiser was Ken. Anyone could put together connections like that, and the ones that Daisuke's mind jumped to weren't ones that he wanted his friends to think about him.

But now Ken grabbed hold of his wrists and pulled him in close, staring down at him. "No, Daisuke. I've been very kind to you so far and I don't want to stop that. But if you don't behave yourself, I will be cruel to you."

Behind him, the screens flickered and showed V-mon, dozing lazily underneath a tree beside a river. Daisuke froze at once, breathing hard. The scene tilted upward to show a flock of bird-like Digimon perched in the trees. Each of them sported an Evil Ring around one of their wings.

There's got to be ten or twelve of them. Without me, he wouldn't stand a chance!

"Be a good boy and I won't hurt him. But my servants will always be near him, and if you get me angry, I will make him suffer for it," Ken said softly, his eyes colder than Daisuke could ever remember seeing them. "And if you're a very good boy, I might even let you talk to him. Within reason, of course."

Of course. Within Ken's reason, which would limit everything Daisuke could tell him, like 'you're being stalked by Ken's slaves, try to get to the others'.

Daisuke promised himself he'd find a way to get V-mon to safety. Then he'd find a way to knock some sense into Ken's head.

Ken tilted up Daisuke's head with the tip of one finger. "Do you understand me, Daisuke? You will do as I tell you to do."

This was worse than having some kind of Ring or Spiral on him. At least then he wouldn't have known what was going on. He hoped, anyway. But now Daisuke slowly nodded.

"I understand, Ken." And he hated the words even as he said them.

To Be Continued

Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.