A/N- So also not a very happy chapter but still better than the last. I hope you like it and that I portrayed Izzy sufficiently.

Warnings- Yaoi, Mentions of threesomes, and implied abuse -sorta

The Other Side of Davis

Chapter 7: betrayal of feelings

I don't know what's become of my dad. I refused with to take him to court for the abuse, but the others refused to let me stay there. I think Tai threatened to tell the cops on him if he ever came looking for me. I still haven't contacted Jun and she hasn't called me either. I'm not sure at this point if I should be pleased with this or not.

About a month has gone by since they found me bleeding on the floor. The wounds in my back have healed as well as my ribs, but that word will remain spelled out across my back forever in the form of a thick twisted scar. Joe was really worried that it would become infected, I remained strong in my refusal to go to the hospital and Joe visited me a lot until I was healed.

I moved in with Tai and Matt. They lived in a small two-bedroom apartment in town that they split the rent on so they had easy access to their college. I simply took Matt's room and he moved in with Tai. Things had become oddly tense with them and Izzy and I can't help but think that I had something to do with it.

Nobody on the soccer team likes me. At first it was because me and Ken were the youngest on the team but outshone them all. They didn't mind being outshone by 'The Rocket' due to his reputation, but they absolutely hated being outshone by me. It got worse when I refused to take my shirt off during practices or to change in the locker room when anybody but Ken was there.

Ken caught them calling me names the first couple times and yelled at them for it. Since then they never do anything in front of him because they didn't want to upset their best player. They had no problems doing it in front of the coach though; he seemed to be on their side as well. Probably upset that I had passed his stupid tryouts even though I fainted.

Right now all I could see was the white ceiling of my bedroom. I kept tracing Ken's name on the blank white space while trying to ignore the raised voices from next door. Izzy had come over again to 'hang out', but as soon as he went into their room all I could hear were raised voices.

I haven't been able to talk to any of them lately because they were all so stiff and caught up in their relationship troubles. It always made me feel like I was a burden to them. I didn't have a job to help pay the rent or anything because no one in the area would hire a fifteen-year-old. They told them not to worry about rent. I told them not to worry about feeding me. They got most of their food as part of their tuition from their college and as such weren't used to having to get it anywhere else. I usually just made due with lunch at school and the dinner I got when I stayed over at Ken's once every weekend. I think that Matt and Tai just forgot about that situation after I told them to forget about it. They protested it for weeks before just slowly forgetting about it. I never told anyone and nobody seemed to notice.

My relationship with Ken is the same as it's always been. I still can't stop loving him and he continues to see me as just a friend. I have to hold myself back whenever I see him and it continued to rip me apart.

I'm shoved out of my thoughts by the door next door slamming shut behind someone. I creep over to my door and see Izzy run across the living room and out the door with tears pouring down his face. I didn't even think twice before following him out the door and down the street.

The sun was out and even though it wasn't hot I felt sweat dripping down the back of my neck as I finally caught up with him in a park nearby. He was sitting on an out of the way bench under the shade of a huge barren Sakura tree. He wasn't sobbing anymore though; he was staring straight ahead with tears slipping silently down his face. This was the first time in a while I'd gotten a good look at him. I could now see that he had huge dark circles and an air of extreme stress floating about him and I wondered when the last time he slept was. He was still wearing his school uniform as he sometimes did even on the weekends, but well this usually made him look put together it was now wrinkled and hung off him oddly, making him an even more sad sight.

I approached slowly so as to give him time to leave if he didn't want me there. I was watching his face for any sign of a reaction to my presents, but saw no change at all. I provoked no reaction as I sat down next to him. After a couple seconds I turned my focused out to the park as well. There was a couple in view. They looked to be in their early twenties and were clearly in love as they enjoyed their cheery little picnic. I wondered vaguely if Izzy was watching them as well.

After a while Izzy spoke, the tears finally having stopped, "I always liked him you know. Even when we were at camp before anything in the digiworld happened. I don't think I ever thought of myself as gay until latter though, when everything with the first generation was over. I always had a subconscious hatred of Matt. Tai was always paying attention to him and he always seemed like he was worth so much more to the tem than me. When I found them together something in me broke and I ended up telling him everything. He said he always appreciated me and found me attractive. He pulled us together into this weird little threesome. I never really wanted it because I only wanted him and was made to have Matt as well and watch Tai with Matt. I put up with it because I truly believe that I love Tai and it meant I got to be with him. I always knew it couldn't last. Matt was getting as fed up as I was. Today I made him choose. I knew it wasn't going to be me when I yelled it at him. I was merely right in another assumption. Do you know what made me ask him today?"

I turned to look at him and saw that he was finally looking at me as well. He was smiling slightly and I shook my head.

"I was talking to an old friend of mine online who is from America. I'd never told him about my love life before but it slipped in a conversation we were having." Izzy had turned back to facing the other way, "He told me that nothing was worth the kind of torture I was putting myself through for someone who might not love me. He really seemed to care. I ended up over here shortly after our conversation and it sort of burst out."

I must have looked at him oddly or stared to long cause he looked back over at me with a confused expression and said quickly, "Don't get me wrong it had been building up for a while but I just couldn't get Willis' voice out of my head." The last part was slower and had an air of confusion that I wasn't used to hearing from Izzy.

I decided to address him cautiously, "D-Do you know why what Willis said made so much of an impact on you? I remember Willis from a while ago and I know that he's good with people. But you don't usually take things to heart."

Izzy had now taken to staring a hole in the dirt at his feet, "I don't know, I guess it's because I always take his words to heart."

Izzy had faded off at the end and didn't say anymore for a long time. I took it as my queue to leave and stood up. When I took my first step I felt him grab my elbow and jerked in surprise, he didn't let go and was now gazing right into my eyes as if trying to see into my soul.

"Davis, just because I'm not with Tai and M-Matt anymore doesn't mean I want to stop being your unofficial older brother anymore. I really appreciate you coming after me. Please don't pull away from me because of this." Now his gaze was drifting away again even though his grip didn't falter, "I've never had any siblings, being adopted. It really means a lot to me. If you need something don't hesitate to ask."

His hand gradually let go and I whispered a little yes before walking off and leaving Izzy on that bench. As I took a short glance back at him I couldn't help if I would end up like that by the time I was his age, stressed and empty and betrayed by the one person I'd ever loved.