Time of Your Life
By Kay
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. YET. Soon, my pretties, very soon... (Also do not own Green Day's song. Damn.)
Author's Notes: Went digging through lotsa old fics I have yet to post, and found a finished one! Go me! ^^;; Kensuke-- more babbling shounen ai of the most sappy variety. I'm sure there's tons of stuff that doesn't make sense in here. Oh well.
... enjoy! ::hugs::
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"Another turning point
A fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist
Directs you were to go"
The radio softly called out the old song, the one carefully chosen by a sentimental mind. An old song from America, something dug out of the CD cases underneath a messy bed.
Ken Ichijouji watched as the sun sank down behind the distant horizen. He didn't much care for this song, but...
With a lift of the slim glass in his hand, he delicately sipped at the red wine-- a mixture surprisingly tasting of cranberry, some tangy and unpredictable ring to the flavour that went down his throat. He winced, but took another sip, the sharp bite of the drink slowly echoing. It wouldn't have been something he usually consumed.
Sometimes he did the strangest things for his love. And if his love liked cranberry wine... well, he'd get cranberry wine. Just like he'd listen to his love's new fixation with this song.
'What was it...? Green Day?'
With a deep smile, the indigo eyes that flashed gently on his face curved down the beach side, intent on the length of dark brown sand and salt ocean. The evening had fallen to quickly, brining cooler breezes on the sea airs that ruffled his dark midnight hair, curling it around his pale face. Even now he could see the faint hues of dark purple and black brimming in the highest colours of the sky, fading down to the almost tropical orange and pink shades fringing the sun. The sun itself was red, like out of a painting, turning the lighter blue waters from ice to stained stone.
It really was a beautiful day, soon to be a beautiful night. Ken smiled.
"Hey, hey, Ken! Don't drink all of it, okay?!" a vague, obviously pouting voice called from farther down the private beach. Ken turned his face, smile widening into a bright grin to meet the object of his desires for the past seven years.
Daisuke Motomiya scowled at his partner-- teasingly, mind you, the silly smirk on his tanned face only a memory of the revenge they searched for in their former years. Clad in jeans and a white, revealing t-shirt, he was soaked every inch of his body, but unable to stop the satisfied feeling of peace running through him.
The water dripped like liquid crystal off of his dark auburn hair, unshackled by his usual goggles, a sweet strawberry and cinnamon blend. Ken knew how soft it was without going over to run his fingers through it-- a usual tradition. It complimented those wide, deep chocolate things he called eyes that seemed to compliment his skin and thin body perfectly. The thin body not exactly concealed by his wet clothing.
The radio played on, skipping back to the same song over and over to his irritation.
"So make the best of this test
And don't ask why
It's not a question
But a lesson learned in time"
Ken took a quick gulp of the wine. 'He never changes...'
"I want some, too," his love said demandingly, a tiny smile lighting up his face. "Ichijouji..."
"Motomiya. You can have all you want." He tilted his glass gently. "I bought three bottles."
Daisuke's eyes widened deliciously. "Three? We'll be roaring drunk by the end of the third drink, probably, Ken...!"
Ken let himself laugh, a giddy feeling rushing through him as the wine was apparently starting to kick in. His adorable partner was so sweet and cute-- naivity fit him like a suit.
Daisuke stood nimbly. He made his way to his partner and quickly snatched the wine glass from his hands deftly. "No more for you. Not with your tolerance level." He flashed a sweet, teasing grin at his love.
"You're no fun," Ken murmered, lying. "It was your idea..."
"You were under stress." Daisuke shrugged playfully, carefully leaning over the blue haired young man and rubbing his shoulders in little circles. "I just wanted to make you loosen up, that's all. You work so hard..."
"I have to," he answered seriously, dark violet eyes shadowing with regret. "I want to be able to support you-- you'll never make enough with that noodle job of yours."
Daisuke laughed lightly. "Just wait, Ichijouji-- one of these days, I'll be famous!"
Ken smiled leisurely, quickly hooking an arm around the slim waist of his partner and pulling him down on the damp sand beside him. The blanket he spread out under him had scattered somewhere when they went swimming early, still fallen somewhere down the beach on the darkened sand. "I don't doubt it," he told the other gently.
He paused, biting his lip ever so slightly. Hesitation clouded his face. "But I still want to... support you. It's my job, after all."
Daisuke considered it, laughing and rubbing his face in his love's neck like an anxious kitten. Ken liked that thought a little to much, grinning wide and wondering what would happen when his partner started to actually purr.
"It's your job to love me, not to pay my way through life, Ichijouji," Daisuke corrected. "I'm happy with just that, an' you know it."
"But I'm not," argued Ken, but said it in such a soft tone that it couldn't be taken for anything but a little protest. "I love you, I want to take care of you." He pulled one hand through Daisuke's soft hair, another one winding around the slender fingers of his hands. His Motomiya had always had the agilest of hands-- delicately boned and quick, though it was mostly hidden by the gloves he insisted on wearing usually.
"You have such nice hands," he said outloud.
Daisuke flushed, rolling his eyes. "You always say that... you just like what I can do with 'em."
"That, too." Ken grinned mischieviously. "Always that."
"It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life
Instead of continuing the meaningless banter, the redhead wound his arms around Ken's neck quietly, pushing up and practically sitting in his lap as he cuddled against the taller of the two. Surprised, but not altogether unwelcome towards the action, the slightly tipsy Ken merely returned the faintly sad embrace. It was odd-- that his love never held him like this, and that now he was doing it.
Daisuke's voice was muffled against his shirt. "I love you, Ichijouji. Nothin' will ever come between us, right?"
Ken shook his head silently, dark eyes closing. 'No, Daisuke, never...' The silent thought didn't make it outloud. But somehow he knew the other one had heard it.
"Not even Miyako, right?" The tensed, strained tone wasn't lost on Ken at all, but he wasn't sure how to respond to it. The question was a warrented one, actually. The purple haired digidestined of love had been after him recently again, although he wasn't sure exactly why or what she meant to accomplish by it.
His arms tighened around Daisuke, reassuring. His mother wanted him to date Miyako, give up on the strange, oddly contradicting boy he'd fallen hard for, but right now it seemed like the farthest thing in his mind.
'I promise I'll never be involved with her,' he silently swore to himself. 'I love Daisuke, and that's who I'll love forever. No matter what.'
"You love me, don't you, Ken?" The pleading in Daisuke's voice nearly twisted his heart in half, and Ken winced when he thought of how much it would have hurt if he knew there was a possibility he could have answered wrong. This was one thing he felt he could say outloud, skipping the silent vows that echoed in his head reassuringly.
"I love you, Motomiya," he affirmed softly. 'I always will, of course.' It wasn't the alcohol talking at all through his lips. Just his heart.
The heart Daisuke owned. The poetic thought made Ken smile.
"So take the photographs
And still frames in your mind
Hang it on a self
Of good help and good time"
The same person who'd stolen his heart peeked up through dark red bangs sheepishly. "Sorry, I just... worry sometimes, y'know? I don't want to lose you..." He swallowed in difficulty. "I never wanna lose you, Ken."
'You won't,' Ken thought, flinching in pain at the distress in his love's voice. He always had been the uncertain one, always wondering why the great genius would ever want to date or take care of-- spend the rest of his life with-- a usually unwanted boy with a soccer fixation.
Well, he loved the usually unwanted boy with a soccer fixation. Very very much.
Realizing he hadn't answered the question, Ken murmered, "I don't want to lose you, either, amai..."
Daisuke peeked up again, confusion and deep blush warring over his face. "Amai? Did you just call me 'sweet'...?"
Ken blushed for the first time, pink tainting his cheeks. He hadn't expected to let that slip-- an endearment he thought absolutely foolish and to sentimental to force upon the so alive boy he cared for so deeply. "It... it's just this stupid... it's just..."
"I love it," Daisuke whispered reverently, eyes shining with inner fire that ignited the very air around him. His voice almost cracked, and it took a moment for the indigo eyed genius to realize it wasn't from any inner blaze, but from the misty tears going through this eyes, cooling down the raging inferno. "Amai... will you call me that now, Ken?"
Ken swooped down and captured a relieved kiss on his love. "Yes," he swore, still blushing furiously. "If you want, my... my amai." He grinned foolishly and Daisuke laughed, burying his face deeper into his love's shirt cloth.
Reaching around Daisuke's warm furnace of a body, Ken picked up the wine glass and took another happy sip. The wine didn't taste so bad now-- a sweet tangy flavour of Daisuke lingered on his lips, complimenting the harsh liquid that clashed against it. His love's drink, what he tasted ever so vaguely on his lips sometimes when they celebrated things together.
He took another sip, and closed his glimmering eyes. With his love's weight against him, his arms still clutching around him, the night air didn't seem so cool anymore. The sea was audible in his ears, filling them with rushing sounds that didn't come from the alcohol, a soothing lulliby that almost made him want to curl up with Daisuke and fall asleep forever on the smooth sand. The radio was still playing that infernal song, though-- a minus in the entire evening, though suddenly not so unwanted...
"Tattoos of memories
And dead skin on trail
For what it's worth
It was worth all the while
Daisuke mumbled into his shirt. "Save s'me wine f'me..."
"I will," Ken promised lazily. "I think... there are three bottles..." His eyes fluttered open, then closed again with a sweet smile of satisfaction from the fact his love had just curled up on his lap and was indeed making a sound entirely way to close to a purr to be wrong.
"Amai..." he whispered hesitantly. "I love you, my amai."
Daisuke's happiness was like a beacon, glowing from his body even though his eyes were closed and his face pressed against Ken's neck. He could feel the lips curve into a smile of delight.
'He really loves that name...'
"I don't think we need the wine to sleep anymore, Ken..." Daisuke giggled, voice exhausted, but in a good way that made him sound husky and peaceful. The sleeping voice of someone completely content.
And so he was, Ken thought, heart gently pounding in a rhythm that mimiced his slow breathing as he drifted off. Not asleep, not unconcious, but not aware of anything but the precious cargo he was carrying in his arms, and the steady rush of the sea.
He could spend his life like this, he thought.
"Let's get married," he whispered outloud, soft and almost hypnotic. Daisuke only shifted against him, breathing airily against his neck, awake but never speaking.
"Let's get married... and have a beautiful house where I can take care of you, but you can still sell those... noodle things... of yours. If you want..." He murmered the words carelessly, but with a tired truth that made his heart giddy. "We could adopt someday, maybe... I don't know, we'll think of something. Let's just get married... let me live like this forever... we can sit on the beach every weekend, talking and playing and forgetting it all..."
He sighed, the strange words filling off his tongue almost without his assitance. Silly made up words. "Would you like that, Daisuke?" For a second, there was no answer. But a tiny voice spoke up, drowsy and heavy with pleasure.
"Uh-huh... with a tabby cat..."
Ken blinked almost, but instead rubbed his love's shoulders. "With a tabby cat..." he giggled.
Daisuke shifted and melted into his love like butter or a silk blanket. "I love you... even if we don't do all that..."
"Maybe we will."
"I love you, Ichijouji. Just remember that."
Ken rubbed the redhead's thin shoulder gently, and nodded mutely. 'I'll remember that, amai... I couldn't forget in a million years.'
It was words he never said but wished he could convey. With a heavy sigh that trembled his shoulders, Ken folded his love up in his arms and put the wine glass carefully down, the taste lingering on his lips. It would stay on his lips forever, he thought. Not a stain, a reminder... a promise of days and evenings like these...
"It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life"
And laying there on the cooling beach, arms tightly wrapped around the warm body of his lover, dark eyes glazing at an even darker sky in quiet contemplation, Ken Ichijouji felt like the entire world was going his way. He had a job as a crimefighter that took any edges that hurt him out of him for good, a way to focus any inner rage he still felt from his childhood. He had good parents-- not understanding, but at least good. Miyako, though bothersome, would never get her way no matter what, the poor girl. Because of the bundle in his arms.
The best part of his life-- Daisuke. Amai. Everything he could think of to call him by, every name, the one that stayed on his lips.
It occurred to him for the first time, holding his amai, that the sky was beautiful. Even though there were cases piling up on his desk, his friends were moving on with their own lives, and there was still pressure to court his friend Miyako... and there was a chill in all of those threats...
He wouldn't forsake his amai, would he? Would he?
He knew he would never really want to. But it was chilly here, like ice now, foreboding. Visions ran through his head, and he hated everyone of them. It was a strange balance of certainty that the future wasn't so sweet, the past was snapping on his heals. The things he knew would happen would ruin it all.
But it never mattered.
Even though the beach was now cold, and Daisuke was completely asleep. Lured into sweet dreams of whatever nonsense Ken had told him.
Even through all that. Ken was having the time of his life. There was no where he'd rather be, curled up on the sand with this boy, this beautiful angel that he had no right to touch or kiss like he'd been doing for the past years. The one who brought the sentimental dash like this out, promises of marriage and life vows that he wasn't sure he could maintain. This night, frozen, a bit of happiness and a memory he could remember.
What would come would come... right? This memory would stay either way.
Daisuke liked being called "amai".
Ken smiled, tightened his arms around his amai, and slept with the tide.
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"Honey, are you okay?"
His eyes opened to a dark cieling, a single fan gently whooshing as it twirled omniously. The bed he was sleeping it was more comfortable than sand. There wasn't a warm body on him anymore, nothing to protect him...
"I'm fine... just a dream," Ken said under his breath, turning over to his side and closing his eyes again. The cool sheets shifted, and a pale clumsy hand sought out his shoulder, concern radiating.
"Are you sure?" Miyako gazed desperatly at her husband in confusion. "You seem upset..."
"Tired," Ken whispered hoarsly. "That's all..." He squeezed his eyes shut tight so she wouldn't see the tears streaming down his face.
A moment later, her hand left and there was rustling as she went back to sleep.
The man didn't sleep for hours, instead remembering faint lyrics of the old song his soul mate had insisted on playing that night.
It's something unpredictable
But in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
Ken sighed heavily, closing his eyes.
His lips still tasted of cranberry wine.
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END: ... gaaah, why did I have to ruin the ending?!
... actually, it doesn't matter. Looking back on this fic-- don't remember *when* I did it-- I really don't like it very much. S'to... sappy. And sounds odd. It doesn't feel real or right to me.
... oh well. :D It has ocean! Daisuke! Cranberries! GLEE!
... thanks for reading. ::glomps::
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