A/N: Welcome to chapter eight! Glad that you've stayed with me so far. In this chapter you see a little Takesuke cuteness. It isn't much, but at least it's something, right?

A note: Chinese fire drill is a game that you play in a car where, if you get a red light, and someone yells out "Chinese fire drill!", then everyone in the car has to open their doors and move to a seat that they weren't in before. I didn't come up with this, so I don't own the idea for this game.

Cold Weather

The cold front came unexpectedly. One day it was sunny and sticky, and the next, you couldn't step outside without the protection of a jacket or sweater and the warmth of hot chocolate in your belly.

Daisuke was ecstatic as he happily pulled his favorite hooded sweatshirt out of the depths of his closet and yanked it on over his t-shirt. He whistled and danced around a bit as he slid his feet into his Converse shoes and walked to his dresser. He grabbed random necklaces, chains, and bracelets out of the black jewelry box resting on the dresser and slipped them on.

He wandered into the kitchen area and grabbed the steaming mug of hot chocolate from the kitchen table that his mother had probably left there minutes before. He blew on it, trying to cool it down a bit, and sipped at it as he sat at the table and grabbed the comics section from the newspaper on the table. He unfolded it and began reading them, occasionally sipping at his hot chocolate. When it cooled down enough, he gulped the rest of it down quickly and set the comics down. He stood and placed the empty mug in the sink, and then walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and his hair.

When he was ready, he grabbed his backpack and walked to the door. He called a goodbye and heard faint replies from the other members of his family as he shut the door behind himself. He smiled as he inhaled the cool morning air and began walking down the street, towards Takeru's house.

When he got there, Takeru and Ken were waiting, talking in lowered voices, arms crossed and leaning against the gate in front of the house. When they saw him approach, they moved off of the gate and grinned at him.

Takeru was wearing a light blue hoodie over a white shirt and dark blue jeans, and Ken was wearing a dark grey hoodie over a dark blue shirt and baggy black jeans. Daisuke was wearing his orange Psyche Ward hoodie over a white shirt and baggy blue jeans, and as he walked, he heard the sound of his pants dragging against the cement of the sidewalk.

They walked to the high school, with Takeru and Daisuke doing most of the talking, since Ken was half-dead in the mornings and didn't fully wake up until second block. Daisuke had his earphones on, and he had to turn the volume down a bit in order to talk to Takeru properly without having to yell "What?!" after every sentence.

"We're having a test today, aren't we?" Takeru asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"We are?" Daisuke asked, raising an eyebrow. He made a mental note to look over his notes before class began. Takeru smirked and shook his head slightly.

"Don't you ever pay attention in class?"

"Uh...no?"

"It's coooold!" Takeru whined, slipping an arm through Daisuke's and hugging the shorter boy's arm tightly.

Daisuke laughed and ruffled Takeru's hair. Takeru raised a hand to ruffle Daisuke's hair, but the redhead blocked it.

"Hey, hey, not my hair! It's fine to ruffle your hair, but not my hair. Mine's actually styled somehow."

Takeru ran his fingers through his own hair, fixing it. "Yeah, yeah. What're you listening to?"

"KoRn." Daisuke took an earphone off and offered it to Takeru. The blonde gladly accepted it and slid it into his own ear.

They listened to "Thoughtless" and sang along as they walked up to the school.

~ ~ ~ ~

"That test was easy."

"Yeah, for once. I hate that teacher. She always makes such hard tests. She must be in love or something. She's been so nice lately."

"You hate all of your teachers. Her tests aren't that hard, it's just that you don't study. And I believe she's married...maybe she went on a second honeymoon or something."

"When I grow up, I'm going to have a third and fourth honeymoon...maybe even more."

"When I grow up, every second spent with my lover is going to be like another honeymoon."

"Takeru, the ever-romantic."

Takeru blushed and Daisuke smirked.

"I am not."

"Yeah, you are. Hey, I bet you're in love. You've been really shiny-eyed lately."

Takeru blushed even more. "I have?"

"Yeah." Daisuke smirked. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Uh..."

"Why do you want to know?" Ken asked, joining the conversation.

"Welcome back to life, Ken," Takeru said, sounding a little relieved.

"I don't know, I'm just curious," Daisuke answered him, fiddling with the straw in his hands.

"How could you have noticed shiny-eyed Takeru? You're the most dense person I know, besides Taichi, and he isn't even as bad as you are."

"I'm not that dense," Daisuke defended himself weakly.

"Yeah you are," Takeru said, smirking.

"Shut up. Anyways, who've you got a crush on, Takeru? And don't say you aren't crushing on anyone, because it's become a little obvious that you're pining after someone."

"You couldn't get it out of me if you tried."

Daisuke rolled his eyes, but didn't answer, knowing the blonde could be just as stubborn as his older brother.

Ken changed the subject to what answers Takeru got on the test, and Daisuke forgot all about Takeru's crush and eagerly listened to see if he had done well on the test.

~ ~ ~ ~

"We've got to go somewhere tonight."

"It's a school night. Who goes out on a Tuesday night? Besides, it's chilly."

"That's why we should go out! To celebrate the first cold day of the school year!"

"Taichi's right. We should go out."

"You're just trying to get out of doing chores, Yamato. Anyways, I agree with Tai and Yama. We must go somewhere to eat or something. It's been too long since we've gone anywhere at night."

"All in favor of going out?"

Everyone but Ken raised their hands, so he grumbled and slowly lifted his hand to agree.

"All right, all right, I'll join you all."

"Great, where do we go?"

~ ~ ~ ~

"Come on, let me drive the rest of the way."

"No way. Your mother would kill me. Stay in the backseat, Dai. This is my car, so I get to drive it. And I get to choose the music," Yamato added, as he slapped Tai's hand away from the radio.

Daisuke pouted and leaned back into his seat. Takeru turned and smiled at him.

"You'll get your own car in a year, Dai. You can wait until then."

"No, I can't," Daisuke argued, but he smiled as he snuggled into the comfy car seat and leant against the window.

"Of course you can't. You can't wait for anything," Ken commented from Takeru's other side.

Daisuke stuck his tongue out at Ken and Takeru willed himself not to lean forward and kiss him because he looked so adorably cute doing it.

"Are we almost there yet?"

"We'll be there in about ten minutes. Sit still."

"Ten minutes?" Daisuke whined. Yamato looked into the rearview mirror and shot him a warning glance.

Daisuke fell back against his seat again, pouting.

Taichi snorted as he laughed into his hands and Yamato turned his glare to the brunette.

"Don't you start, too."

"Yes, mother," Taichi responded sarcastically.

Takeru rolled his eyes and snuggled back against the seat. He glanced towards Daisuke out of the corner of his eye and remembered that he was supposed to flirt with him more. Takeru slowly tilted his head to the side until it rested on Daisuke's shoulder.

When Daisuke didn't pull away, Takeru adjusted himself on the seat and rested his head more fully on Daisuke's shoulder, gently nuzzling into him.

Daisuke felt Takeru nuzzle him and he looked towards the blonde. He saw Takeru peacefully resting on his shoulder, his golden locks of hair gently falling over his fair skin and his eyes closed, a faint smile on his lips. He thought Takeru's cheeks looked a little pink.

It felt strangely comforting to Daisuke to have Takeru's head on his shoulder and he smiled to himself. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the window again.

Ken opened his own eyes to look over at his friends and saw their position. He looked away quickly and stared intensely out the window, trying to block it from his mind. He took a deep breath and glanced over at them again.

Takeru opened one eye slightly and peeked at Ken. He made eye contact and smiled, and Ken hesitantly smiled back and gave him a thumbs-up sign.

As soon as Takeru closed his eye again, Ken cringed slightly and pulled his legs up onto the seat. He crossed them and leant forward a bit, pressing his forehead against the window, and stared out through his dark violet hair at the passing street lamps.

Soon, Yamato signaled and turned right, and they all began to sit up and rub their eyes. Yamato parked and he and Taichi opened their doors. The three younger ones stepped out of the car as well. They walked into the restaurant, and noticed that the other car full of their friends was just pulling up.

Koushirou got out of the driver's seat and Sora climbed out of the passenger's seat. Mimi and Iori got out of the backseat and the four walked up to the restaurant, carrying on whatever conversation they'd been having in the car.

They all walked into the restaurant together and gladly closed the door, rubbing their arms to warm themselves up.

Taichi asked for orders from his group and Koushirou handled the ones from his, and everyone else went to get tables. Taichi and Yamato had one booth all to themselves, Takeru, Daisuke, Ken, and Sora had another to themselves, and Koushirou, Mimi, and Iori snagged the last table.

They got their drinks and food a few minutes later - they had chosen a fast food restaurant so they could get out of there sooner - and all happily ate their food and talked amongst themselves.

"So, what do you think about your little brother and my clone? Is it just me or were they cuddling in the backseat the whole way over here?"

"You noticed, too?" Yamato grinned and sipped at his coke. "Hey, if that's what Takeru wants, he should go for it."

"Isn't it weird, though? Mini-me and mini-you becoming a couple the way we did?"

"Maybe not exactly the way we did. We didn't start out nice and lovey-dovey, you know."

"Yeah, I remember. I hope they don't have as much trouble as we did getting together."

Yamato looked out the window and bit into his burger. Taichi looked down at the table, and then up at Yamato's hand, which was on the table. He slowly reached over and took Yamato's hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of his hand. Yamato turned to look at him and smiled, and Taichi smiled back.

Yamato frowned suddenly, as if in thought. "There's still the issue of Hikari, though. Is Dai over her or what? He doesn't seem to be pining after her as much anymore."

"I don't know. Hikari hasn't been whining to me about him lately. Maybe he's finally backed off and started liking your brother?"

"I hope so. I couldn't stand it if Daisuke carried on that hopeless crush any longer. It was so...annoying. Not him, the way she treated him."

Taichi looked down at the table and played with his straw wrapper. "Yeah," he replied, not daring to say anything about his sister, no matter how much he disapproved of her behavior towards Daisuke's crush on her.

Over in the next booth, Koushirou was watching, amused, as Mimi attempted to balance the salt shaker on the end of her straw. She succeeded and cheered just as the salt shaker fell off and dumped salt all over the table.

"Oops."

She brushed the salt off of the end of the table. Iori attempted to do the same and his lasted a good deal longer than Mimi's did, and he finally took it off himself and set it down.

"So anyways, when are you going to return my Johnny The Homicidal Maniac comics to me?"

Mimi looked at Koushirou and thought awhile. "Oh, that's right, I never gave them back. Sorry. I have them at home. I'll take them to school tomorrow."

"I want to read them," Iori said.

Koushirou and Mimi looked at each other.

"I don't know, Iori, it's kind of...disturbing, for lack of a better word," Koushirou warned him.

"It's not for the weak-hearted."

"What do you take me for?" Iori asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do I really strike you as weak-hearted?"

They looked at each other again and shared a smile.

"No," Koushirou answered. "Okay, I'll lend them to you when she brings them back."

"Okay."

"OW!"

They all turned around to look at the booth in the corner of the restaurant. Ken rubbed his hands, glaring at Daisuke, who looked as if he would burst into laughter any moment if his friend were not sending him the Glare of Death.

"You aren't supposed to hit that hard, Daisuke."

"Sorry."

"It's my turn now."

Ken held his hands up in the air, next to each other, palm-up, and Daisuke placed his gently over Ken's, palm-down. Ken waited a few seconds and then pulled his away and tried to slap Daisuke's hands before Daisuke could pull them back. He was too late, and they assumed position again. Ken pulled out and slapped his hands before Daisuke could react and Daisuke rubbed his hands, whining.

"You slapped hard on purpose!"

"I was getting you back. Revenge is fair."

"Not if you're wearing a ring!"

Takeru and Sora laughed as they watched the entertainment.

"This is actually sort of interesting," Takeru commented.

"Sort of," Sora agreed, smirking.

She turned to Takeru and sipped some of her Sprite, and then swallowed.

"Hey, Takeru?"


"Yeah?" He turned towards her and swallowed the piece of cheeseburger in his mouth.

"Will you go with me to get more ketchup packets?"

"Sure."

He slid out of the booth and Sora slid out of hers, leaving Daisuke and Ken still slapping at each other's hands from opposite sides of the table.

They walked to the front of the restaurant, where they had the straws and ketchup, and Takeru leaned against the counter.

"So, how are things with your love life?" she asked as soon as they were out of earshot of everyone.

Takeru laughed. "Well, aren't you curious?"

Sora smiled at him and winked and he turned towards her, still leaning against the counter.

"Well, I haven't told him yet, but I am flirting with him."

"You should just tell him. Get it off of your chest."

"Well, yeah, I will. Soon. Really," he added as she sent him a look.

"I told you, Takeru. The sooner you tell him, the better."

"I know, I know. It's just that...well, I figured that if I flirt with him now and drop more hints, it'll make the impact of my confession less extreme."

Sora thought about that. "I guess you're right. Just make sure you tell him before he goes and gets with some other person, like Kari."

"Yeah, like Kari would ever go out with him."

Sora smiled. "You never know what life is going to throw at you next, Takeru. Anticipate everything, and you won't be caught too much off guard."

"I won't be caught off guard," he assured her.

"Don't be so certain, Takeru. Only fools are one hundred percent sure."

"I know, I know. Quit spouting advice to me so we can get back to our food. I'm afraid Daisuke may have ate the rest of my burger by now."

Sora slapped his arm and followed him back to the booth.

They all finished their food and threw the garbage away.

~ ~ ~ ~

"I can't believe I'm getting all of the red lights," Taichi complained, leaning his head back against the seat as he slowed behind the car in front of him.

They sat in silence for a while, and then Taichi suddenly had an idea.

"Chinese fire drill!" he called out.

They all looked at each other, and then hurriedly opened their doors. Taichi sprinted around the front of the car and climbed into the passenger seat and Yamato leapt into the open door and closed it behind him, now in the driver's seat. In the back seat, the boys had switched around so that Takeru was against the left window, Daisuke was in the middle, and Ken was against the right window.

They all laughed as the light turned green just as Yamato put his seat belt on and shifted into Drive.

"We haven't done that in ages," Taichi said, taking deep breaths.

"Damn you," Yamato grumbled. "I don't wanna drive."

The younger ones all laughed.

"I love Chinese fire drill," Daisuke said, hopping up and down in his seat.

"I don't," Yamato grumbled.

"That's because I always do it when I get tired of driving and I want to make you drive," Taichi told him.

"Or when you were in the middle and you wanted the window seat," Yamato added.

"Or when you just wanted to piss us off," Takeru chimed in.

"We'd do that at every red light and keep switching because neither of us ever wanted to drive," Taichi said, smirking at Yamato.

"I know. I have to admit, it was funny when Sora or Jyou would get so tired of it that they would come to the front and drive for us. Of course, we never had any more Chinese fire drills when they were driving."

"Party poopers," Daisuke said.

"No, I think they just didn't want to get run over," Ken said.

They all looked at him in surprise because he'd actually contributed to the conversation, but he'd already closed his eyes again.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: I'm going to stop here because my hands are tired and I can't think of anything else. Anyways, Teen Night is coming up in either the next chapter or the chapter after that, and Halloween will be here soon. Chinese fire drill! Hehe...you know, I've never done one of those. I'd like to try it someday. It would be pretty fun. I gave you a little hint as to who Ken's crush is going to be. Didn't catch it? Well, it's going to be revealed in the next chapter, so don't worry if you missed it. Hey, review and tell me how I'm doing or something. I know it's moving veeeeery slowly, but I've always written things in a rush, and I want to be able to slow things done for once.

I need to ask you guys something. Do you want things to stay fluffy through the entire fic, or do you want things to get angsty? I've got two separate endings in my head. They're both happy endings, but the roads to getting there are different because one is fluffy and one is angsty.