Spoken For
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Digimon series.
Pairing: Hiro x Kotaro.
Summary:
It may seem cliché, but the person you've been hoping would walk into your life has been in front of you from the beginning.
"Kotaro, if a girl wanted you as her boyfriend, would you do it?" Hiro asked over breakfast.
"On the spot! Why? Do you know somebody I should be talking to? Because who is she and why haven't I met her?"
"Nobody, Kotaro. Just wondering to myself."
"What? Man! Don't get my hopes up!"
"Is there an issue with me?"
"An issue?"
"I must be doing something badly if you're this impatient to replace me."
It wasn't the unexpectedness that troubled Kotaro. It was the fact Hiro raised the subject in a detached, emotionless manner. There was no twang of resentfulness or accusation in his voice. Hiro was approaching it from a place of philosophical inquiry. He genuinely sought to uncover what made Kotaro tick, and didn't hold a grudge toward Kotaro's quasi-cheating behaviour, where he had overwhelming grounds to walk away.
"Hiro," Kotaro paused to understand it himself. "Could it be you're falling in love with me?"
"I don't know. I guess."
Kotaro mulled what to do. He'd always viewed their "relationship" as temporary. The kid whose dad disappeared. Whose mom was too focused on work with refugees to offer a refuge for her traumatized son.
He wanted to be that kid's friend.
When Kotaro's tall tales about his "babe" got him into a bind with the other guys at school, Hiro consented to the role of proxy boyfriend to stop them from giving him lip, aware Kotaro could replace him should a true babe materialize.
Close quarters had an effect.
"Hiro, if a boy wanted to do it all over right, would you accept him?"
Hiro put down his cheeseburger. "Do you know somebody I should be talking to?"
Kotaro reached for his friend's hand under the table. God! Buddha! Hiro-sama! He needed to make up for his flagrant underappreciation of him!
A hundred girls couldn't amount to one Amanokawa Hiro.