Dominance: 3. Courage
By Ria
Daisuke was only able to stare at him, his mouth hanging open. While his mouth wasn't working very well, his mind certainly was. Thoughts raced frantically around his mind, doing a desperate race. What's Ken doing here? I didn't do anything wrong ... well I have been avoiding him. But that's what he said to do, isn't it? I'm confused now. What's he going to do? Swallowing hard, he whispered, "H..Hi Ken - Kaiser - Master, uh -"
"I thought you said you weren't going to call me Master?" Ken enquired gently, stepping towards him. "Besides, wouldn't your family find it a little strange to hear you calling someone your own age Master? Never mind Kaiser." His slim eyebrows were raised fractionally, making the genius seem genuinely puzzled. Whether he was or not was an entirely different story.
"Uh - well ... well it's not as if they take any notice of me anyway," Daisuke spluttered, trying to come up with a coherent answer, which, when faced with someone like Ken wasn't exactly easy. The boy could turn even the calmest person into a stuttering wreak, just by glancing at them. It was really hard to believe, when he was in your own kitchen, that secretly he was a cruel dictator. One of life's little mysteries he guessed.
This time Ken's puzzlement really was genuine. "They don't notice you? How ... how could they not?" Was Daisuke's potential only obvious to him? Typical. His own family hadn't an idea of his power. If it was wielded correctly however ... Ken couldn't help but let a smile curl his lips in anticipation.
"What are you smiling at?" Daisuke demanded, sincerely hoping his parents weren't listening in on the conversation. But then, how many times did a boy genius arrive in your own home, to speak to your own son, whom you thought to be fairly average? Answer: From slim to never.
"None of your concern!" Ken replied smoothly, glaring at Daisuke, who automatically shied back. Even though they were in the real world and not in the Digital World, and Ken wasn't the Kaiser, he was still dangerous and did he know some words that Daisuke didn't even want to repeat! Repercussion of being exposed to literature and other things far beyond his years, he supposed. "But honestly, your family don't notice you?"
"Yeah, so?!" Daisuke demanded defensively. His family mightn't be the greatest, but they weren't that bad. They fed him, they paid the rent and they gave him gifts when he gave them some. He got some attention at least, not much but it was better than nothing. Sure he didn't get a lot of attention from them, but he needed the detached relationship. If he'd had a close relationship with them it would have been much harder to hide Chibimon from them. He had a hard time trying to explain why he apparently still got 'stuffed animals' already. If Chibimon ever spoke or moved in front of them ... he didn't even want to think about explaining that one!
"It's just ... never mind," the boy genius answered at last, shaking his head, seeming slightly troubled. Daisuke really hoped his parents hadn't been listening. As famous as Ken was, he didn't think they'd appreciate being badmouthed by him all the same.
What to do now? If they approached anything else, it couldn't be spoken of in a kitchen, where anyone could hear. It might raise some questions, questions he definitely didn't want his parents asking. One of them the question of his sexuality - which he still didn't know the answer to. There was only one thing for it .... "You better come up I guess," he sighed, folding the towel and tossing it onto the worktop. He was frankly quite amazed he was taking this so calmly - and treating Ken with such politeness.
Ken said nothing as he followed Daisuke up the stairs, but it was hard to ignore the half-amazed gazes of Daisuke's parents and Jun's lovestruck stare as they passed her room and caught her swooning over Ken. Daisuke caught Ken absently rolling his eyes at that one and he couldn't help but laugh softly. Poor Jun. She didn't have much luck with guys, not really. It was almost as bad as his luck with girls.
If it was really girls he liked ...
He imagined there were few times Ken was impressed. After all, he was a boy genius, had an IQ double the size of the average person his age and had hundreds of girls obsessed over him. As well as awesome soccer skills. What was there for him to be impressed over? He quickly discovered there was one thing Ken was impressed over.
His friggin' room!
"Well this is it," Daisuke sighed, as he shut the door after them. "The place where I struggle to avoid my grades dipping any lower than they already are, where I secretly practise soccer and break something at least once a week, where I secretly plan torture sequences for Takeru and dream mindlessly over Hikari ... or at least where I used to," he added slowly, not quite sure if Ken should know that last bit. Well, he already knew he might be gay, so what was the harm?
Ken only raised a quizzical eyebrow over the last part of his sentence, but said nothing. "I could help you with Takeru's torture if you liked ..." he murmured softly, glancing at his bookshelves. Despite the jokes about his extremely low IQ, Daisuke did read, and read a lot ... well when he wasn't doing absolutely everything else. If only he could read his textbooks, life would be perfect.
Daisuke didn't know if Ken had been just joking or had been actually serious. He wasn't sure he wanted to know either. "Well ... uh ... I'll get back to you on that one," he muttered uncomfortably, the memory of punching Takeru still nagging at his conscience.
Ken only flung him a dazzling smile. Which set his heart rate accelerating to dangerously high levels. Daisuke was beginning to get the impression he was way out of his depth. He decided to half-watch him browse through his books, while he hunted for Chibimon. Somehow he didn't think the little digimon would be happy to see their enemy. He didn't exactly know what Daisuke and Ken had been doing in secret either, no digimon had been present at any of the battles.
Fortunately, he didn't have to hunt too far, when the digimon popped out from under his bedcovers. "Dai-san!" Chibimon squealed excitedly. A little bundle of energy, that was his digimon. He sometimes expected to see electricity spark out of him. Then Chibimon actually spotted Ken, who was watching him warily, a book resting lightly in his hands. This was the ultimate test now.
His mouth dropping slightly, the blue digimon's red eyes widened slightly. Fear was evident in his eyes, but he refused to let it show much. He and Daisuke were alike in many ways. Turning to Daisuke, who had come up beside him, he said clearly, "I know that he's our enemy and everything. But if he's here, then it's for a very good reason and I trust you Dai-san." Then his courage left him and he dove under the covers again.
Daisuke breathed a sigh of relief, as Ken remarked, "That went better than I expected it to. At least he didn't attack me." He pointedly ignored Daisuke's sharp look. "Digimon not under my control or having being freed from my control have been known to turn on me Daisuke."
"I can't say I blame them," he whispered, knowing he was on thin ice and not caring much.
Ken's eyes turned cold, as he slowly turned to Daisuke. "Be careful what you say Daisuke," he replied, his voice deadly soft. Never a good sign. "You are mine now after all." It was the first threat he had shown since arriving and brought Daisuke nastily back down to earth. Up to then he had been believing blindly that Ken was simply someone he knew, that he wasn't a threat. It was a nasty wake up call.
Now was the time to approach the subject. If he didn't do it now, he'd lose the courage to do it forever. "Ken ... are you gay?"
Silence descended on the room like a fog, and Daisuke immediately regretted his words, as he saw Ken stiffen. Great, get him angry. He was definitely first in line for the torture chamber the next time he went to the Digital World. "I'm sorry," he said hastily. "Just - just ignore it, forget I said anything."
"No," he replied quietly, sliding the book he was holding back into place. "We might as well discuss it now. Better here than in the Digital World." Taking a quick deep breath, he steeled himself and then walked over to Daisuke. "Are you sure you want to hear the answer?"
"What have I got to lose?" he replied, just as quietly, his eyes completely serious.
"The possible respect of the Digidestined. The possible respect of your family," he answered, looking down at him. His eyes had darkened, almost to twilight and Daisuke almost felt he could drown in them. He couldn't be developing feelings for his once-enemy. He just couldn't ...
"I have to know," he replied softly. "You have to tell me."
He chuckled slightly at that. "I don't have to tell you anything Daisuke. But I will. This once I'll obey you." Daisuke knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Ken Ichijouji didn't obey just anyone. But why him then?
Meeting his gaze directly, he repeated his question. "Are you gay Ken?"
For a moment he just stared at him silently. Then he nodded and replied, "Yes. I am Daisuke."
It was very anticlimax. Almost like Christmas or something. He hadn't exactly been sure what to expect, but he had expected something to happen. This wasn't a normal occurrence. Ken Ichijouji, boy genius, top soccer player, heart throb and secretly the Digimon Kaiser was ... well, gay. No wonder he had kept it under tight wraps. It probably wasn't something the hundreds of girl fans needed to know. Well it explained some things anyway. Maybe by presenting more questions, but it explained a couple of things. "Do your parents know?"
Ken shook his head. "No. And they're not going to find out anytime soon. While my father has a fairly open mind, my mother ... disapproves of homosexuality. She has this rose-rimmed idea of me marrying some girl, having a couple of kids and becoming incredibly successful." Ken's laugh was short and bitter. "She's so naive it's amusing."
"At least she notices you for the right things," Daisuke said softly. "The only time my mother notices me is when she gets my report card."
Ken snorted. "All she cares about is seeing A's on my report card. I got a B one year and all she would go on about was tutors and the like. Conveniently forgetting I was the genius of course." His lip curled in the uttermost distaste.
Daisuke didn't know what to say. He'd never met anyone who had put their parents in such low regard, viewing them in such disgust. As much as his parents ignored him most of the time, at least they were there. He wasn't on his own as much as Ken was. He'd never thought about it before, but being stuck as a boy genius and an only child, with demanding parents had to be pretty tough. For one brief moment Daisuke felt pity for Ken.
Then he remembered what Ken did as the Kaiser and what he had done to him and his pity immediately disappeared. Even the excuse of demanding parents couldn't ease the horror of what he was doing to innocent digimon every day. And I gave myself to that same person, Daisuke thought horrified. How could I do that?
Then Ken's hatred melted away, replaced by a cunning smile. "But enough about me, it's time to talk about you."
"Me?" he repeated dumbly. Why did Ken want to talk about him? This didn't sound too good.
"Yes you. After all, I have to ask you the same thing. Are you gay?" Ken was completely calm as he said this, eyes level and quiet. At least he hadn't lost his temper yet ... anything was better than being faced with Ken Ichijouji once he lost his temper.
"Am I - w-what?" Daisuke stammered, taken aback by the question. To be honest he didn't know if he was gay or not. While he had kissed Ken, he found his feelings for Hikari, as dim as they were, wouldn't go away either. As demented as it seemed, he liked both. Was it possible he was bisexual? "Well ... well I don't really know," he answered weakly. "How 'bout you tell me?"
"There's a possibility you could be bisexual at least," Ken mused, thoughtfully tapping his chin. "Of course we'd have to make sure ..."
That got through to him. "Make sure?" he asked, his voice sharp. "What do you mean 'make sure'? I haven't exactly done anything wrong."
"Of course not," Ken replied, waving a hand at him in annoyance. "It's just to see if you're either homosexual or bisexual. Don't worry, it won't hurt," he added, seeing Daisuke's look of alarm.
"But - but you can't have tests for these types of things!" Daisuke faltered, desperate. "It's either in you or not!"
"I told you it wouldn't hurt," he replied, a hint of an edge in his voice as he came closer to Daisuke. This was his warning to shut up. Daisuke shut up.
"Well, what do I have to do?" he asked, before yelping as Ken's hands closed firmly over his shoulders, holding him in an iron grip. He didn't try to struggle. He'd learnt from the many battles in the Digital World that Ken was far more stronger than he looked and it was a futile attempt to try and struggle. So he waited.
Leaning in so his nose was centimetres from Daisuke's, Ken replied very simply. "All you have to do is kiss me."
Kiss him?! Why the hell did he - oh. Oh hell. Oh bloody, friggin' hell! His mouth dropping open, Daisuke could only stare wordlessly at the other boy.
"I don't like to be kept waiting Daisuke," Ken growled, his eyes narrowing. That got though to him, as he finally leaned forward, pressing his lips hesitantly against Ken's.
The kiss was clumsy at first (Daisuke couldn't exactly say he had much experience kissing. Daydreaming about it wasn't the same thing), but Daisuke rapidly gained more confidence as Ken kissed him back, impatient and eager. Jeez, had this guy practised or something?
He wasn't exactly sure when it got serious, but all of a sudden something happened and his legs completely gave out, making Ken wrap an arm around his waist to keep him from falling. He'd long since allowed Ken's tongue into his mouth, and Ken was quickly becoming more impatient. Daisuke however, was completely lost. He'd been lost for a while now, surrounded by a dim haze, as Ken managed to awaken things inside him he hadn't even known existed.
He only snapped out of his trance as Ken lowered him back onto the bed. Breaking from the kiss he whispered, "What if someone comes in?", imagining Jun's face if she barged in on this.
"No one will," Ken growled, impatiently unbuttoning Daisuke's first two buttons of his shirt and pulling it away to reveal his neck. "You said yourself they ignore you most of the time."
He hadn't a chance to reply as Ken began to kiss his neck, instead gasping as new and powerful sensations rocked him. But people always barged in on things like this. It was a very broken rule. And he did not want to have to explain this!
Not even his wildest daydreams with Hikari had included feelings like this. Nothing had ever included feelings like this. What was Ken doing?! Hands tangling wildly in Ken's silky blue hair, he couldn't help but groan softly, as Ken did unspeakable things to his neck.
"Hush," Ken whispered, stopping momentarily. "Do you want to be heard?"
"No ...." It was all Daisuke could manage.
He was completely unprepared for when it stopped. Ken had been carefully torturing him, never giving him exactly what he wanted, instead doing the exact opposite and just when something inside Daisuke snapped and he had pressed Ken's lips to his in a blatant beg, the other boy had pulled away from him, hurdling himself off of Daisuke. The Digidestined leader had been left trying to recall how to breathe, tingling and stunned.
Calmly rearranging his mussed hair in the mirror, Ken's voice had been calm and in control, a startling contrast to what he had just been doing. "Has anything you ever imagined with Hikari been like that?"
"No," Daisuke replied, sitting up and buttoning his shirt again. "Never."
"I rest my case. Now it's up to you. Choose exactly what you want to be. Choose carefully my Daisuke, for once you say your answer, there is no turning back." It was the first time he had called him 'my Daisuke' and Daisuke wasn't sure how to reply to that.
He said the only thing he could think of. "Just give me time. I'll choose eventually."
Ken had turned, smiling at him. "My patience isn't endless." There had been no mistaking the unspoken threat in his seemingly calm voice. "I may as well leave you along now. I'll let myself out. Goodbye Daisuke." He at least had the consideration to shut the door after him.
Daisuke had been staring dreamily at the opposite wall, when Chibimon crept up to him. "Dai-san?" he asked uncertainly, staring up at him. He didn't understand. The look on his partner's face was the look he usually wore when thinking about Hikari ... but it had been Ken here, not Hikari. And Daisuke didn't mention Hikari anymore either, come to think of it.
"Hmmm?" Chibimon yelped as Daisuke calmly scooped him up and hugged him closely.
"Why ... what happened?" the little digimon asked at last, eyes huge and filled with uncertainty.
"Something incredible," Daisuke replied, a dreamy smile appearing on his face. He had to choose and he had to choose soon. But for now he wouldn't think about that. Instead he think about that ... that kiss. That beautiful, wonderful kiss. He'd never had a kiss like that before. And if he chose Ken, he might soon be having another.
Sighing, he flopped back on his bed, letting Chibimon doze off on his stomach. When it comes to sheer good lucks and skill, Hikari, I'm afraid you've just gone down the list, he thought absently, slipping into a daydream. But this time, it wasn't about the Child of Light. More like the Child of Evil ...
All thoughts of dominance were gone from his mind temporarily. But in the Child of Evil's mind, they ran rampant.