Digimon isn't mine, just the plot. This is the second part of Passion Red and Hidden Blue, Willful Courage and Suffering Kindness. Enjoy!
Ken, clutching his pillow, knocked on Iori and Takeru's door. "Hmm? Ken? What is it?" Takeru let him in. "Are you sick?" Ken shook his head. "Did you and Daisuke have a fight or something, Ken?"
"Well, sort of. Can I stay here? If you two don't mind-."
Iori, from one of the two beds, cut him off. "We don't. Ne, Takeru?" The blonde nodded. Crawling into bed next to Iori, he added, "If you tell us what you and Daisuke 'sort of' fought about."
Ken blushed, settling on the extra bed. "Well, he kissed me…" Takeru groaned. "What?" "Don't tell me you hit him or something."
"No! I just said that I was going out with Miyako." Iori smiled, which went unseen in the darkness. "*Are* you going out with her?"
"Well, no."
Takeru was ready to hit the former Kaiser. "Well, that sure was *nice* of you. If you were going to let him down, you could have at least been honest. I mean, he loves you, and you just stepped on his heart, telling him something like that." Iori gently poked his love. The Digidestined of Hope didn't need to say anything, it was clear Iori had disapproved of what he'd just said. "Gomen nasai, Ken, but that was a pretty mean thing to do. Ken?" The boy on the other bed had buried his face into the pillow. "Ken, are -" "No, I'm not! My best friend just told me he's in love with me, damn it, and I can't tell him the truth!" Ken unburied his face. "I love him. I think. Maybe. But…I don't deserve him. I'm scared for him, scared of me!" Takeru got out of bed. "Takeru…nani?" The sound of Takeru's slap echoed through the room. "Baka! If Daisuke wasn't in love with you-."
"Takeru." Iori gently touched Ken on the arm. Exchanging looks with the boy, he understood. But he didn't exactly have the power to voice his understanding. But Takeru, once he'd calmed down and looked into Ken's miserable eyes, did. "There's nothing to be scared of. Ken the Digimon Kaiser might not have liked Daisuke, but you love Daisuke. You'd never hurt him. The Kaiser doesn't exist any longer. I think Daisuke killed him."
Iori smiled. "I never expected such wise words to come from your mouth, Takeru." The blonde didn't know whether to be insulted or flattered, but he had a feeling Iori was trying to give him a compliment. "He's right, Ken. If you're scared of falling into the darkness-."
"Hold on to Daisuke. He's capable of holding you back." Ken felt like hugging them. They understood... they were his friends. They were there for him. "Thank you. Both of you. I never thought I'd have friends like you guys. Thank you. I…know I should tell him now."
Takeru, grinning, motioned to the door. "He's waiting for you." Ken gave them a final look of gratitude and headed back into the hall. "You think they'll be okay, Takeru?" The other boy nodded. "They'll be fine. Those two were meant for each other. Although, I must admit to a small crush on Ken when we were younger." Iori made a great show of offense. "I wasn't good enough for you?" Not letting Takeru speak, Iori nuzzled his neck. "Was I not satisfying your needs?" The Digidestined of Hope softly moaned. "Well, if I wasn't, I'm in your debt. I should repay you, shouldn't I?" Even if Takeru had said 'no', the Digidestined of Knowledge and Reliability always repaid his debts.
Meanwhile, while Ken smiled back to his room and Takeru and Iori enjoyed themselves, Daisuke was pouring his heart out to his two older counterparts. "And then he said he was going out with Mi-Mi-Miyako!" Yamato wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Well, then he's scared and confused, because Miyako happens to be a lesbian. She and Hikari have been going out for a month now." Daisuke went into another flow of tears at this. "Dai?"
"So that means he didn't want to hurt my feelings by casting me away! He's really polite, but he's really insulted by it!" The older two were centimeters away from rolling their eyes, but instead Yamato said, "No, it means he was really scared, and doesn't know what he wants. I did the same thing to Taichi. But he got me back." Daisuke rubbed his eyes. "How?"
Taichi smiled sadly. "I totally ignored him, and when he did try to talk about it, I told him to 'go fuck himself and keep the hell away from me'. He came over one night, and poured his heart out…"
"Taichi?" The brunette threw open his door. "Can I talk to you?" Taichi almost slammed the door in his face, but changed his mind and let him in. "There isn't-" "Anything to talk about? Oh, there's plenty to talk about." Yamato looked into the smaller boy's irritated brown eyes. "You said that you love me…and I love you too." Taichi opened his mouth, but Yamato cut him off. "Listen, for once. I think I fell in love with since the day I discovered hormones. But I had girls all over me, and my parents telling me 'those gays' were sick and abnormal. But, Taichi, I love you with whatever heart I possess. I don't think it's wrong." The blonde turned to go, but Taichi grabbed his hand. "Yama? Does this feel wrong?" Yamato's eyes flew open wide as Taichi's lips were pressed into his. "Well?"
"That…Taichi…."
The smaller boy needed no more confirmation. "I love you, Ishida Yamato." The blonde shook his head to clear it. "I love you too, Yagami Taichi."
Daisuke felt the tears spill down his cheeks. "That's so sweet. I wish Ken and I could do that." Yamato wiped away a small tear before laughing. "What's so funny? I didn't-" "No, Dai, the point of telling you that…was…well, we think you should do that to Ken. Knowing him he'll crawl back to you." Daisuke smiled so widely that Taichi was afraid that it would go around his head. "Thank, guys. I'll try it out the next time I see Ken." He wrapped them both in a hug before leaving. If Daisuke had skipped out of the room, neither of the older two would have been the least surprised.
The next morning, while Sora and Mimi stopped and went to ask for directions, everyone else scattered. Hikari and Miyako were examining the strange souvenir shop, Taichi and Yamato were on a quest to try to find a snack machine, and Iori and Takeru talking quietly, settled on a fence. Daisuke settled down with a manga, flipping through the pages, pretending to read it. His attention was truly focused on Ken, who 'wandered' over a few minutes later. "Hey, Dai." The auburn-haired boy glanced up at him, and went back to his reading, pretending not to care. Ken looked slightly confused. "Is there anything wrong with sitting with your best friend, Dai?" Now Daisuke looked up. It would take a lot of willpower to play out his role. "Well, once my best friend gets here, let me know, will ya?" The smaller former leader of the Digidestined watched as Ken's face slowly crumpled, and he walked away with a quiet, "Sure." Once he was gone, Daisuke ran over to Taichi. "You never said it was going to hurt this much! I wanted to kiss him and tell him how much I love him, not shoot him down like that!" Taichi clapped a hand to Daisuke's shoulder. "Relax, the way this is going, you'll have him by sundown."
"I hope you're right." He looked over at Ken, who seemed to be deep in conversation with Takeru and Iori.
"He barely looked at me! Now what do I do?" Iori, if it had been in his nature, would have smacked his forehead. "Well, it seems he's pushing you away because you rejected him. But there's a saying that applies to this problem. 'Let something go, and if comes back, it's yours.'" Takeru nodded agreement. Ken, however was slightly confused. "Does that mean I should just blurt out my love the next time we meet?" Takeru shook his head. "No. Do what he's doing. Tune him out completely. He'll go back to you, I'm sure of it." Ken wasn't so sure, but was ready to try anything. If Daisuke was going to avoid him, then he'd be proud and see if Daisuke loved him enough to come back. Yes, that seemed to be the best idea. But it seemed to be such a lonely prospect. He missed Daisuke enough already, and ignoring him until he broke was going to cut into him worse than his whip as the Digimon Kaiser.
"Look, how beautiful!" Hikari cried, seeing the perfection of the mountains and the colossal lake that was nested between them. Everyone was happy to see them. The past week had been tense, Daisuke and Ken weren't speaking to one another, and everyone could feel it. Sora proposed they unpack, then go for a quick swim in the lake before dinner. Daisuke said he didn't want to, and walked off without a word to anyone. Sighs and concerned looks went around the group before dragging the bags in. Ken would have gone after him, but Takeru sent him a 'no' look, so he sat down on the sofa with a muttered, "Damn it." By the time everyone else got back from their swim, Daisuke was still nowhere to be found. Ken had had enough. "This is stupid. Daisuke's been gone too long. I'm going after him." Takeru protested, but Ken cut him off. "I'm sick of this, pretending I don't love him!" Ken glared at the wet gathered company. "I, Ichijoji Ken, am in love with Motomiya Daisuke! And I have *no* intention of leaving him outside alone, Takeru!" With that, Ken stomped out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him. Silence reigned over the cabin for a few moments. Then Taichi voiced the reaction of the entire cabin. "Took him long enough."
