Drive Me Crazy Chapter 8: Backfire

Beta Readers: Ine-capa and Vertorm

Author's Note: This chapter is more of a perspective-shifting collection of drabbles, so it's a bit different. It was a way to show time passing by without having to write a bunch of filler for nothing.


Daisuke looked around the corner and spotted the two Gorimon guards standing firm and attentive in front of the control room doors. He knew they wouldn't let him inside under normal circumstances, but he had a plan! If it didn't work, well… whatever.

Ken had randomly canceled their morning meetings 'until further notice' and Daisuke immediately found himself curious about it. What was Ken up to, all cooped up alone in that dark control room of his? Had he made a new discovery on his weird ring? Was he just so engrossed with his work that he was forgetting about everything else again? He needed to know!

"Hey!" Daisuke walked up cheerfully to the guards and smiled. "Ken asked me to come to the control room today."

The Gorimon looked at each other slowly, clearly confused by his sudden appearance. "That's the exact opposite of what he told us this morning." One of them narrowed their eyes suspiciously.

"Oh?" Daisuke faked his confusion with an expertly placed expression of ignorance. "But he just asked me to come by. He called me over the video screen in my room. He probably forgot to tell you guys first, he seemed like he was in a pretty bad mood..."

The Gorimon looked at each other again, but this time they stepped aside for him to enter. Daisuke grinned, trying to make it look happy rather than mischievous. His theory that the guards wouldn't want to ask Ken directly if they thought he was mad had worked perfectly!

Daisuke stepped slowly and as quietly as he could into the control room, which was completely dark aside from the computer monitors currently in use.

"Wormmon, I don't want to hear your whining right now," Ken's voice floated across the room, but Daisuke ignored it and pulled a coffee thermos out of his jacket's inside-pocket. He quietly stepped into the middle of the room and cleared his throat, signaling his presence.

Ken was clearly startled and stood up suddenly, nearly knocking his chair over in the process.

"Here!" Daisuke walked over and handed the thermos to him, ignoring the glare being sent his way. "I made you coffee this morning!"

Ken didn't speak and instead just stared straight ahead at him. Daisuke smiled sweetly and nudged the thermos forward again, just a few inches away from Ken's chest now. The Kaiser gave it a suspicious glare, but eventually he reached out slowly and took it. He looked completely confused and very much on edge.

"Okay, well, see you later then!" Daisuke closed his eyes and gave him one last smile before turning around to leave the room. Almost as soon as he was back out in the hallway he picked up his pace and got ready to sprint for-

"MOTOMIYA!"

Daisuke booked it down the hall a bit sooner than he'd expected, wondering how long it would take the guards to catch him.


Ken typed at his keyboard, his eyes staring firmly at the various numbers and symbols in front of him. He was determined to finish all of the re-coding for his new edition of the Bio Ring before attempting any further testing. As annoying as it was, there really wasn't much point in having Motomiya come to the...

Oh that little shit.

The Kaiser growled at the memory of the previous day. That stupid boy had come in, pretending to have made him coffee and then ran for it like the guilty little rat that he was. But then again, why Ken had even opened the stupid thermos in the first place was beyond him... Maybe coffee had sounded more desirable than normal or something? Whatever the reason, anything coming from Motomiya should have set off his mental prank alarm. That's what he got for not sleeping enough again...

"Fake snakes..." Ken scoffed, almost laughing at how stupid it all was. Seriously, was Motomiya four years old at heart or something? Who was still putting fake springing snakes inside of coffee mugs by that age? He was a senior in High School, wasn't he? He'd researched the Chosen quite thoroughly…

Oh well. At least the dumb boy had looked bored in the dungeons for the rest of the day.

The sound of loud knocking suddenly cut off the Kaiser's thoughts. His head turned automatically toward the direction of the sound. The back door? Why there? Everyone knew that he kept it locked… That's why he didn't bother putting guards out there. It was pretty much just a fire escape.

"Use the front doors!" Ken hollered and went back to his work, his patience already starting to drain. He had so much work to do still… How was he ever going to get it all done if everyone kept-

Another knock.

Ken growled in frustration but tried to keep his cool. He absolutely would not get up for them, especially if they were too stupid to understand the very simple directions that he'd already given them. He had things to do right now! Things that were far more important than-!

Another knock.

"That's it!" Ken stood up furiously and stomped over to the door, unlatching it and throwing it open. He'd been ready to yell at anyone who was standing outside, but he was thrown off when all he found was an empty hallway on either side of him. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, glancing over to his left and right again. When still no one was there, he closed the door and locked it.

Had he been hearing things? As exhausted as he was, he really couldn't ignore the possibility... Or maybe something had been knocked over and hit the wall? Or perhaps someone upstairs had dropped something onto the floor and it made a knocking sound?

Ugh, he didn't have time for this.

Kent went back over to his keyboard to continue working on his ring, feeling uneasy now. At least he'd made quite a bit of progress on it already. He was even anticipating being able to test it again in just a few more days, or-

Another knock.

Kent let his chair fly backward as he stood back up and marched over to the back door again, all previous thoughts now forgotten. He wrenched it open but once again he was met with nothing in sight. He stepped out into the hallway and looked around.

Nothing… Absolutely nothing. Should he check the security cameras? Damn it, he didn't have time to waste like this!

Ken went back into the control room a few moments later and slammed the door shut, but he didn't lock it this time. He stood in front of the back doors with his hands hovering over the doorknobs, just waiting for the next time this moron would knock. Oh it was surely Daisuke… He'd bet money on it.


Daisuke walked quietly down the hallway with a box held firmly in his hands. As he passed the hallway that lead to the control room's back doors, he couldn't help wondering just how long Ken had waited for him to knock for a third time the previous day! He wished he'd had a camera in there...

He continued along his path, turning at the familiar corner and walking right up to the front door guards. They crossed their arms and stepped in front of the double doors.

"Hey, I have a package for Ken!" Daisuke explained with fake indignance, working hard to keep his voice steady. "Wormmon was supposed to deliver it but he's busy, so I said I'd bring it for him."

"How do we know you're telling us the truth this time?" one of the Gorimon asked with a suspicious expression on his face. "Your little jokes have gotten us in a lot of trouble these past few days!"

"Ask him yourself if you want!" Daisuke offered. "But he really needed this package right away or he can't finish his work. That's what Wormmon said anyway… No jokes this time! I just don't want him to get mad and start taking it out on everyone else, ya know?"

The Gorimon looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and stepping aside for Daisuke to enter. He thanked them with a bow and opened the door, making a point of turning the knob slowly enough so that Ken wouldn't hear him enter.

He tiptoed silently into the room, thanking whichever god had just granted him the luck to actually get past the guards again! Oh boy, they were about to hate him for this...

Daisuke set the box down on the floor and opened it, reaching in and grabbing two of the many water balloons he'd placed inside. With a smirk on his face and while still crouching down, he threw both of them as hard as he could across the room. They hit Ken perfectly in the back of his head as intended.

Ken gasped and leapt to his feet, spinning around as his chair toppled over beside him. Daisuke had already grabbed two more balloons and jumped back up. For a moment they stared at each other, Ken's eyes shaded by his glasses but the rest of his face implying that he was still staring in shock.

Daisuke tried not to laugh, but he couldn't quite hold back a snicker when he realized that half of Ken's hair was flattened by the water, while the other half was still spiked up. That seemed to snap Ken back out of his surprise and into the fury that Daisuke had initially expected.

As quickly as he could, Daisuke threw the balloons in his hands up at the ceiling and caused water to spray down on the Kaiser like a sprinkler. Ken gasped and covered his head with his hands as it rained on him, and while he was distracted Daisuke reached down to grab two more balloons. As soon as Ken looked back up, Daisuke recognized the livid expression on his face.

Daisuke spun on his heels and burst back out through the front doors, the guards giving chase as soon as they heard Ken shout his name.


Daisuke crossed his legs and looked up at the thick chain holding his cage up in the air. Ken had actually gone through with his threat to hang him over the generator pit. He'd even made a point of putting him in the smallest cage he could find, leaving just enough room to sit or stand. Apparently he'd be there for seven more hours, making a total of eight.

The control room guards in the nearby cages continued to glare at him, but Daisuke refused to make eye contact. Really, who in their right mind would have even believed him a second time? They should be glaring at each other, not at him! It was their own fault they slipped on the last two water balloons that Daisuke had thrown right at their feet as they chased him.

Just seven hours left… Well, one thing was for sure - Ken's hair flattened very easily with water!


The Kaiser sighed and rubbed his forehead, a headache crawling up his skull. There was just too much to do and too little time to do it all. Why hadn't anyone figured out how to clone themselves by now? Maybe he should try doing that next… Then something might actually get done for once! He could even have one of the clones keep an eye on a certain someone to help prevent interruptions.

Ken growled and shook his head. No, he had forbidden himself from thinking about Motomiya while he was working! He had new guards out front now just for that reason, and even if they didn't catch everything going on outside, it wasn't a huge problem anymore. He'd programmed his security monitor to beep anytime Motomiya's tracker entered any of the nearby hallways.

Speaking of beeping.

Ken felt his whole body tense up at the sound, like he was about to be dunked in ice water or something. His anxiety had apparently reached the point where just knowing that Motomiya was in the general vicinity was enough to give him physical reactions. He felt his stress levels rise even more as the dreaded red dot on the map got closer to the control room, until it eventually stopped right in front of the unguarded back doors.

Ken groaned and made his way over to back area, standing directly in front of the doors and crossing his arms over his chest. He made sure that he would be the very first thing Motomiya saw if he did manage to weasel his way inside. As he waited, he found himself glancing over at his monitor every now and then. He hated how tense he felt... Why was he letting this one boy get to him so badly? Motomiya had no power over him, no means of persuasion... Especially not after the crap he'd been pulling recently!

Sure enough, after only a few more seconds the door slowly creaked open and Ken's suspected prisoner came slinking inside. Daisuke froze in the entryway and stared at him, seeming surprised to have been caught so easily. Ken remained perfectly still with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"H-Hey there!" Daisuke stammered awkwardly.

"Hello," Ken responded curtly, his tone lacking even a shred of sincerity.

"I uh…" Daisuke looked back into the hallway he'd entered from and then laughed awkwardly. "I just, you know…! Wr-wrong door! Aha…" Daisuke cleared his throat. "Easy mistake..."

"Oh, I'm sure it is," Ken's words dripped with sarcasm. "However did you manage to pick the lock?"

"P-Pick the lock?!" Daisuke laughed again, and much louder than was natural. "Pick the… lock… That's… I-I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I see…" Ken trailed off, though he found his anger simmering down quite a bit. Daisuke's reaction was just so comically stupid that he almost wanted to laugh. In fact, he found himself having to stifle the urge to do so. "Well it's a good thing you didn't pick it, then," Ken managed to continue without any waiver to his voice, though it wasn't as easy as he would have liked. "Because if you did then I'd have to put you back in that cage over the generator pit. So it's a good thing that you didn't, right, Motomiya?"

"Oh it's super convenient, that's for sure!" Daisuke had backed out into the hallway now where the light was much brighter. It was then that Ken noticed the massive bruise on his shin.

'Daisuke cried out in pain when he was both backhanded in the face and kicked harshly in the shin by Ken's heavy duty boots.'

Ken felt his composure break when he realized where the bruise had come from.

Wait... Why should he feel guilty for that?! Daisuke shouldn't have brought up his brother back then, so it was his own stupid fault that he got kicked! Ken would do it again if he had to!

Suddenly the Kaiser realized that Daisuke had already slunk out of the room and shut the door behind him, leaving Ken alone in the dark.


Daisuke waited patiently for V-Mon as he peeked around the corner that lead to the control room. If he actually stepped into the hallway then Ken's stupid 'Daisuke alert' would go off, so he had to be careful. If all went well though, his tracker's signal would soon be replaced with Andromon's and Ken wouldn't know when he was nearby anymore.

V-Mon had "informed" Andromon with an "official letter" that Ken wanted to know exactly where he was at all times for the sake of some "important business" coming up. Since the Kaiser only had "one tracker in the entire base for some reason," he'd just "have" to have Daisuke give his to Andromon! Ken was "much too busy" to switch the signals himself though, so Andromon had given Daisuke the "required instructions" on how to do it.

Obviously making sure Ken wasn't bothered with such a trivial task was their top priority here.

Daisuke watched carefully, and a few moments later he saw V-Mon's head appear around the corner on the opposite end of the hallway with the control room between them. V-Mon grinned and showed his partner the boom box and large speakers they'd prepared for this occasion.

Daisuke nodded and crouched down, waiting for the signal. As soon as there was loud music blasting down the corridors, he jumped to his feet and sprinted down the next hallway over, which lead him to the control room's back entrance. Once he was there he pressed his ear up to the crack between the two doors and listened as best he could.

"... is going on?!" Ken's voice was quite furious, but Daisuke didn't hear it getting any quieter. He heard footsteps rushing over to the front entrance but he was pretty sure that was just a guard. Sure enough, a few moments later he heard Ken's voice again. "... can't do anything right... it myself... believe this… I have work to do!"

The sound of the front doors slamming shut was all Daisuke needed to hear, and he quickly shoved the key he'd "borrowed" from Andromon into the keyhole. It worked and the doors swung open.

He peered inside slowly, making sure the coast was actually clear. When he was met with a dark, empty room he raced over to the control panel that Andromon said he needed to find. He quickly shoved the floppy disk into the opening near the keyboard, and thankfully he didn't have to wait too long before a box popped up on the screen. It appeared to be asking him to confirm the requested changes, so he pressed okay and a loading bar appeared.

"Come on... Come on...!" Daisuke hissed impatiently, glancing over at the front doors where quite a bit of shouting was coming from. V-Mon had most likely moved on to the second part of their plan now, which involved a makeshift slingshot and a lot of wet, pre-chewed gumballs - courtesy of the replicators!

The loading bar quickly reached the end, but an unexpected box popped up right when it reached 99 percent. The box asked if he wanted to… allow numerical changes to the assisted locational algorithm? What?!

"Damn it!" Daisuke cursed and looked at the doors again. Andromon never said this would happen! What should he do?!

Without any idea what that question was even asking, Daisuke just shrugged, hit yes and hoped for the best. Immediately he heard a ding from the computer and saw a confirmation message pop up, so he yanked the disk out of the slot and closed all of the boxes on the screen.

He sure hoped it worked, because if it hadn't he sure as hell wasn't going to try again!

With a shrug, Daisuke sprinted back out into the hallway he'd entered from. He closed and locked the doors as quietly as he could behind him. As long as Ken had no reason to check his control room's security cameras, he'd never have to know!


Ken jumped and stood up quickly when he heard a loud bang nearby, shoving his throne chair back with his leg in the process. He looked around the control room rapidly, his hand clutching his whip so hard that his knuckles were white. He held his breath and prepared himself for some sort of incident.

"Haha, I know!" came the sound of one of the guards from out in the hallway. The Kaiser took in a deep breath. It had just been one of them bumping into the wall... Or perhaps Wormmon had done it. He was in the back of the room cleaning his computer parts, so he could have dropped something.

Ken let go of his whip but his anger didn't subside. "Shut up!" he hollered and silenced everyone nearby, including the guards outside. Wormmon jumped and gasped in the far back corner. Ken just couldn't take it anymore… No more noise, no more talking, no more anything!

"Ugh..." Ken leaned against the control panel and shut his eyes. He was too stressed out… He just needed to take more deep breaths and get more sleep tonight. Instead of four hours he'd get eight. Maybe he'd even lock Daisuke, V-Mon and Wormmon all up together in a cage just to ease his nerves.

Ken went to sit down but found nothing to be under him, and he instead landed flat on his ass. He immediately looked up at his security screens, expecting to see Daisuke's tracking dot located right outside the control room. However, his prisoner appeared to be in one of the hallways on the second floor doing... whatever it was Daisuke did.

Right, he'd nudged his chair when he stood up suddenly… Ken gave up and just laid down on the floor, covering his face with an arm. He was so drained… Where had all of his energy gone? His drive? His ambition? It was so hard to stay focused these days.

"Ken..." Wormmon's voice floated gently over to him. "You should go to bed. Just finish up whatever you're working on tomorrow."

Ken was quiet for a long time while he thought about it, and for the first time since he'd built the base, he decided to listen to the worm.


The sound of awful singing was accompanied by the banging of pots and pans as V-Mon went tearing down the hallway. As he ran past the control room, he threw one of the pots at the feet of the first Gorimon he saw, giggling manically as he continued along his way.

Daisuke peered around the corner and watched the guards give chase, followed quickly by the newly appointed guards that were stationed at the back door once they heard the commotion. After that came what Daisuke had been waiting for - Ken storming out of the control room and following after them.

Daisuke ran as fast as he could into the now-empty room and threw the whoopee cushion down onto Ken's throne chair, which had been purposely re-colored to match the seat. Oh, he'd get caught for sure when Ken checked the security cameras, but it was well worth it.


Both boys glared at each other while Ken fiddled with the buttons on Motomiya's wrist-tracker. He clicked some keys on the control panel and entered in codes as quickly as he could.

The Kaiser had found himself paranoid enough to finally check the top floor's security camera footage from the past week. It hadn't surprised him one bit to see everything that Motomiya had done. Not even the fact that he'd managed to mess with his tracker's signal had shocked him, and it really should have. Motomiya Daisuke was not someone to take lightly when it came to causing mass confusion and an overall lack of production, that was for sure. It was like he radiated chaos without even having to try, and it only got worse when he did.

The best part about it all was that nothing Motomiya had done was even very well thought out. It was all stuff that a kindergartner could have thought up on their own, and yet somehow it had all just worked out perfectly for him. Ken had fallen for it every single time…

Ken was pretty sure that it was because it was all so simple and obvious that he seemed to be utterly incapable of predicting Motomiya's stupid ideas. He'd never met anyone like this before. He hated to admit it, but Motomiya was very… unique. It was almost hard to hate him.

Wait, no it wasn't!

Daisuke tapped his foot and rolled his eyes as he waited for Ken to finish his work. It seemed that he was more bored than upset, which Ken believed fully considering how long Daisuke had been in the generator cage this time - he'd even slept there overnight!

The computer beeped, confirming that the data transfer was done and that Daisuke was correctly linked up to his tracking program again. Andromon would no longer register at Daisuke's location on the map, and vice versa.

"Out with you!" Ken growled, grabbing Daisuke by the arm and shoving him toward the front doors. Daisuke tripped in the process though, Ken having shoved him a bit harder than he'd intended. He fell to the ground with a grunt and Ken suddenly saw a memory flash across his mind.

Daisuke groaned as his head hit the concrete below, his body still strapped down to the chair. He clearly felt dizzy and sick from the blow as he shut his eyes tightly in pain.

Ken winced as voices echoed in his head.

"You're real. You're certainly not worthy, but at least you're real."

"Real enough to beat the shit out of?"

Ken felt a terrible guilt creeping into his stomach. Maybe... Maybe he really had gone too far… Before he could think about it first he was already reaching out to help Daisuke get up. When he realized what he was doing though, he wrenched his arm back at the last second.

Why would he help this fool?! It was Daisuke's own fault that he'd been kicked to the floor! Ken didn't need to explain himself to such an idiot - not after he'd brought up Osamu and insulted him! Speaking of which, he never had punished Daisuke for doing that. He'd just been so busy with everything else that it had slipped his mind.

"Um...?" Daisuke trailed off, having apparently stood up already.

"J-Just go away!" Ken yelled, shoving Daisuke the rest of the way through the door and slamming it shut behind him. There were a lot more guards out there now so he really wasn't worried about his prisoner causing him problems out there anymore. In fact, he now had various slaves patrolling the hallways as backup security, and V-Mon had been issued with a new tracker earlier that day.

Ken sighed slowly and leaned up against the doors. No one else was in the room with him and he was very glad for that. He hated to admit it, but the guilt was still there… Maybe eleven hours of sleep was needed.


Daisuke clutched the slingshot in his hands tightly with a bowl of soft fruits nearby. He watched the kitchen doorway from his hiding spot behind the counter in the middle of the room. The hall outside was silent and empty. Normally from the kitchen he could hear the guards in front of the Kaiser's bedroom talking since it was just a few doors down, but they never spoke if Ken was actually in there. They had to be very careful of what they said.

Daisuke couldn't be certain if the Kaiser would try to eat breakfast that day, but it didn't matter. He'd have to pass by the kitchen doors to get to the control room, so Daisuke would have his chance to strike no matter what!

Sure enough there were footsteps, and just a moment later the Kaiser walked into view. Before he even had the chance to realize what was happening, a tomato went streaking straight for his chest and splattered all over him. Ken gasped and sputtered from the hallway, removing his glasses so he could wipe the tomato goop off his face.

Daisuke grinned as their eyes met, but his expression changed when Ken's gaze moved elsewhere. He realized too late that the other boy was looking at the sink faucet which could be pulled out like a hose and used to spray nearly anything in the room. V-Mon had even done it once, so it was totally stupid on his part that he'd overlooked it.

Ken moved first, sprinting into the room and grabbing the faucet handle. He pulled out his 'weapon' and turned around, pointing it straight at Daisuke's face.

"Your dumb little slingshot won't compare to this, you fool," Ken growled and a jet of water was sent across the counter. Daisuke ducked down just in time to avoid it, making sure to grab his bowl of ammo along the way. Ken ran forward and crouched down in front of the counter on the other side. The hose barely stretched far enough for him to make it, but nevertheless it did.

Daisuke stayed ducked down and ran around the right side of the counter, having grabbed another tomato from the bowl beforehand. As soon as he'd loaded it into the slingshot, he leapt around with his weapon pulled back.

Water and tomato flew at the same time, the fruit sailing over the stream from the hose. Both targets were hit, Daisuke falling on his butt as water sprayed him in the face and Ken swearing as another mass of red goop exploded all over his front.

Daisuke ran back to his side of the counter and shook his head to try and get the water out of his eyes. He grabbed a handful of blackberries from the bowl, but before he could load them into the slingshot Ken had ran around the other side of the counter and sprayed him hard in the back.

Daisuke threw himself to the floor so that he was under the jet of water. He pulled back his sling shot and sent the berries flying. Half of them hit the jet and were sent sailing off in random directions, but the other half hit Ken in random spots.

Ken gasped as his uniform was painted yet again. Daisuke used the distraction to grab his bowl and run to the other side of the counter where Ken had first been. However, a better idea popped into his head when he saw the direction the hose was going. He quickly set down his sling shot into the ammo bowl, and as quietly as possible he climbed up on top of the counter. He spotted his target almost instantly.

Ken noticed him just a bit too late. His eyes went wide and he yelped as he was flattened to the floor. Now on top, Daisuke grabbed the hose and tried to wrench it out of his opponent's hand. Water sprayed all over each of their faces as they struggled, and unfortunately for him Ken turned out to be a lot stronger than he'd predicted.

Hey wait, wasn't Ken really good at Judo or somethi-?

Daisuke gasped when he was suddenly yanked forward and sent flipping over Ken's head. He landed flat on his back a few feet away with a grunt. Before he even got the chance to try and get up, Ken was already standing over him with the hose pointed straight at his face. Daisuke covered his head with his arms as he was drenched.

As soon as the water finally stopped spraying on him, Daisuke slowly looked up at Ken. His opponent was panting just about as hard as he was from the exchange. His hair was sticky with fruit and water, hanging down flat against his face as his tight uniform clung to his skin.

"You," Ken growled, though Daisuke couldn't help noticing the traces of mirth in his voice. "Are in so much-!" He didn't get to finish his statement because as soon as he took a step forward, his boot slipped on a piece of tomato and he was sent crashing to the floor. He gasped and squeaked in surprise, landing right beside Daisuke who burst into a fit of laughter. The sound Ken had made and the way he'd fallen had just been so... graceless!

Daisuke stared when Ken started laughing too. He was still lying on his back on the cold floor, which was something that should have made him mad. And yet there he was… laughing in a puddle.

The laughter became infectious, and the next thing Daisuke knew he was cracking up again. It was really nice to see a positive emotion in Ken. It was similar to their experience in the bathroom - the two of them soaking wet and laughing while Ken's hair was so drenched in water that it was actually straight. Daisuke felt accomplished.

"Uuugh!" Ken sighed, though it lacked any real anger. He ran a hand through his hair, sticky goo clinging to his fingers. "I just took a shower!"

"Oh don't worry," Daisuke laughed and rolled onto his side so that he was facing Ken. "You smelled bad anyway."

Ken turned to Daisuke with exasperation in his eyes. It didn't hold any real strength though, and before long he was smiling again. It was a real, genuine smile, one lacking any shred of evil or hatred. Seeing him like that and with his hair back to normal… It was almost like seeing a different person entirely. Daisuke found himself unable to look away. Ken was gorgeous...

There was a feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite explain. It was as though he had some kind of connection with Ken, but it wasn't like anything else he'd ever experienced before. He had nothing to compare the feeling too though. He only knew that it felt stronger than friendship. It was special in some way - special only to them.

Daisuke's eyes traveled up and down Ken's body without thinking, and by the time they made their way back up to his face he was struck with a very strong impulse. It was crazy and stupid, and in the back of his mind he knew he shouldn't do it, but…

Before he even realized that he was leaning forward, his eyes had already closed and his lips were on Ken's. The regret was immediate - his breath caught in his throat and he froze. His eyes clenched shut tightly as a chill of fear shot up his back. Oh no… Oh no, no, no, no, no! He was dead! Ken was going to rip his head off and feed it to Deltamon and-!

Daisuke's eyes flew open when Ken gently pressed his lips back against his. What was happening? Was this a dream? Okay, it had to be a dream! There was no way in a thousand years that Ken would ever do something like this willingly!

Ken pressed back again, and Daisuke found himself caring about the logic of their situation a lot less. He let his eyes shut as his nerves lit on fire. Even though he was terrified and his hands were shaking, he reached up anyway and laced his fingers through Ken's soft hair. He tilted Ken's head back a bit so that he could get at a better angle, and before he knew it they were kissing fully.

Ken moaned softly, his fingertips grazing over Daisuke's sides as though he wanted to touch him but he wasn't sure if he should. Daisuke let some of his guard down and moved his hand down to Ken's lower back, gripping at the fabric of his wet uniform. He rolled Ken onto his back and moved himself so that his upper body was over him.

Their kissing started to speed up, and before Daisuke knew it he was straddling over him and leaning his head down into the contact. His head swam when Ken moaned again, and he felt his tongue slip into the other boy's mouth.

Suddenly Ken gasped and pulled away. His eyes clenched shut and he grabbed his hair so hard that his knuckles were white. He curled up into a ball beneath Daisuke and whimpered, tears tugging at the corners of his eyes.

"Ken?!" Daisuke asked, immediately sober. "Hey, what's-?!"

Ken's fist suddenly connected hard with his face and cut him off before he could finish. Daisuke stumbled over and ended up on his back again. He clutched the wound and cringed, pulling his hand away from his cheek to check for blood. There wasn't any, but it hurt enough that he knew there would be a massive welt very soon.

Before Daisuke could sit up, Ken's shadow was cast over him. He looked up and into the Kaiser's eyes, which were now alight with fury.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Ken hollered down at him, his voice cracking a bit at the end. Daisuke scrambled up to his feet before he was whipped or something.

"I-I…!" Daisuke tried to answer, but nothing came out. He had no idea what to say because he didn't even understand it himself. What the hell had he been doing?! He just kind of… did it, and then it was too late to go back! "I, uh..."

"Answer me!" Ken cut him off and shoved him backward, nearly making him fall back over. Daisuke's shoulder slammed into the metal wall behind him painfully. Suddenly he felt a rage boiling out of the pit of his stomach.

"Fuck you!" Daisuke shouted at the top of his lungs. "Maybe you should figure out why you're moaning into my mouth before you yell at me for starting it!"

Ken's eyes widened and his mouth opened a bit to reply, but no words came out. He closed his lips and opened them again, but once again he was unable to speak. He finally settled on glaring, his cheeks turning bright red and his fists clenching.

After a very awkward silence, Ken turned around and stormed out of the kitchen with a loud bang as he threw the doors open. They hit the wall and bounced back, nearly closing back up on their own from the force. Daisuke stood in the same spot against the wall for a while, panting and trying to catch his breath.

He was so confused… Had he completely lost his mind?! Were all his pranks around the base starting to mess with his own head now too? He was supposed to be causing Ken a bunch of chaos! He was the one making the jokes here! How had it backfired in his face so terribly?!

Daisuke put a hand over his forehead as a headache started creeping up his skull. Well he did know one thing for sure - this time, the joke wasn't just on Ken.