Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of the characters contained therein. Nuff sed. Please review if you feel like it, I wrote this fairly quickly and hadn't had much sleep, but I'd appreciate any feedback to help me improve it. Plus there's more to come.
I want to dedicate this story to my boyfriend Arran. I love you babes, you've helped me through so much, you've been there when I needed you and always supported me. You have no idea how much that means to me. I love you always and forever.
~~~ Yesterday ~~~
Takeru is at the Motomiya apartment, working on their joint school project. Since he got there over 2 hours ago, Daisuke has spoken less than five words to Takeru, instead he's sat on the floor tapping his pencil on the blank sheet of paper in front of him. Takeru is worried about his friend, who normally would be chattering incessantly and bouncing round the apartment. Eventually he speaks.
"Daisuke, I know there's something on your mind. What is it?"
"…"
"Come on Dai, the only time you're this quiet is when you're sleeping"
"Oh, you're so funny TS, you know that? You should be on stage."
"Well, at least you're talking now." Takeru looked across to the stony-faced teen sat opposite him, concern etched itself across his face. "I'm your best friend Dai, you can tell me anything, you know that."
Daisuke sighed. He couldn't tell Takeru this. The secret he'd kept locked inside for so long. He just couldn't. Could he? It wasn't that he didn't trust Takeru, he did. He trusted the blonde-haired boy with his life. But this was no ordinary secret. Could he actually tell Takeru that…? Could he tell him…?
Daisuke took a deep breath, fleetingly he thought 'considering I have the digimentals of courage and friendship, you'd think this would be easy', and softly murmured "If I tell you, will you promise me you'll keep it to yourself?"
"Of course I will." Takeru answered. "You know me"
"I'm serious Takeru, I want you to promise me."
One glance at his friends face told Takeru that he was serious. 'Serious enough for Daisuke to call me by my full name, he never does that' thought Takeru. This was important to the guy; Takeru couldn't just dismiss it as one of Daisuke's games. Holding his gaze level, directly at Daisuke, Takeru vowed, "I promise Daisuke, whatever you tell me will go no further."
A tense silence fell between the two teenagers, lasting the eternity of a few moments, until Daisuke finally breathed "I – I'm in love. I know I shouldn't be but I am, I cant help it, from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed, all I think about is him and I …" suddenly it hit him. He'd said more than he should have done 'shit' he thought. 'Did he notice? He must have. What have I done? He's gunna ask me about it now. Kuso!!'
Takeru's mind registered that Daisuke had stopped speaking, but he hadn't absorbed the words yet 'he's in love?' he thought 'is that it? That's what has been bugging him all this time? He's pretty obvious when it comes to Hikari. Why would he make this big a deal out of it? Wait!!! He said "him" as in a guy!!! As in not Hikari?!? Then who?'
Daisuke watched Takeru as he absorbed what the red-haired boy had told him. His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest, his breathing was shallow and his mouth was dry. He knew Takeru was bound to ask the next, obvious question. There was no way out now, he had to answer, and face whatever consequences came his way. Regardless.
"You're gay Dai?" Takeru said. "And you never told me? Why didn't you tell me before? Wow, I'd never have guessed it in a million years!! That's so cool Dai. Who's the him then? Come on, don't keep me in suspense, who's the lucky guy?"
Daisuke was more than a little puzzled by Takeru's reaction, but he was pleased that the blonde hadn't flown off the handle at him, and called him names or worse. Perhaps made bolder by Takeru's reaction, he allowed himself a little smile and said "Yamato."
"As in my brother Yamato?" Takeru asked, with the faintest hint of amusement in his voice.
"Do you know any other gorgeous blondes called Yamato?"
'Oh my god.' thought Takeru. 'This is almost too perfect. I can't believe he's in love with Yamato. This is fantastic.' Then he laughed, "No Dai, I don't know any other Yamatos. I will say one thing though. You've certainly got good taste"
Daisuke looked at Takeru, trying to determine whether or not his friend was having a joke at his expense. Then all of a sudden he burst into laughter. He couldn't help it. Takeru grinned at the all too familiar sight in front of him, and started laughing himself. The two of them collapsed into fits of giggles and started rolling around on the floor.
When they finally regained their composure a few minutes later, Daisuke turned to Takeru. "You're not going to tell him, are you? You wont tell anyone? You promised."
"I promised Dai, and I always keep my promises. You did stun me a little though. I never even suspected that you were gay, then you come out and say you're in love with my brother. You of all people thinking of my brother in that way, you always seem to argue with him, I thought you didn't like him."
"I don't mean to, I try to keep calm around him, play it cool, you know. Trying to get him to notice me in a positive way, not the boisterous, arrogant jerk he seems to think I am. But somehow, I always screw it up, and Yamato gets mad, and we end up arguing. The way I'm going, I'll be lucky to even keep a friendship with him. He'll never see me the way I see him. He hates my guts."
'If only you knew my friend.' Thought Takeru with a smile. 'If only you knew.'
~~~ 2 months ago ~~~
'I'm bored!!!' thought Yamato, for about the fifth time that minute. He was giving his brother his I'm-giving-serious-thought-to-killing-you glare, but the younger boy was seemingly oblivious to it as they sat facing each other from opposite ends of the 3-seater.
To help fill the time until their pizza was delivered, Yamato had somehow been talked into a game of truth or dare, but neither of the two would chance accepting a dare, each knowing how evil the other sibling could be.
As such, the game had become monotonous, and Yamato's concentration level was rapidly approaching zero as he yawned "truth."
"Ok Yamato, who've you got your eye on? What's his name?" Takeru asked.
Yamato opened his mouth to recite one of the standard responses to questions in this game when all of a sudden, he realised he didn't have one.
He replayed Takeru's question in his mind and with horror dawning on his face, he looked up at his little brother who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Wha…? Wh…?"
"I know you're gay, nii-chan. I saw your magazines one time when I went in your wardrobe to borrow a shirt, but I knew long before that. I guess I've always known."
"You-you're ok with it?" Yamato asked nervously.
"Sure! It doesn't matter to me what you are or who you love. All I care about is that you're happy." Takeru replied with a smile. "But I am curious about whether or not you've got your eye on anyone in particular."
"I do as a matter of fact." Yamato said.
"Well?"
"Well. What?"
"Are you going to tell me his name?"
"Why would I want to do that?" Yamato said innocently. "Maybe you already know him."
"Now you've got to tell me. Come on Yamato, stop playing games with me."
"You're the one who wanted to play games in the first place." Yamato said, with a laugh. He thought for a moment. He didn't want to just say the name. Yamato wanted to it to create as big an impact as he could on his cocky younger brother. "You have to guess who it is. I'll answer three questions to help you. If you haven't got it when you've asked all three, you'll just have to suffer."
Takeru sat deep in thought for a moment. 'Maybe I already know him?' he
thought. 'It must be Taichi. Yeah. That makes sense. They're best friends, and
they're always together. Taichi would be Yamato's type.' "Ok. Question one. Is he one of the digidestined?"
"Yes."
'I knew it!!' thought Takeru. 'It's Taichi!!' "Question two. Old digidestined or new digidestined?"
Yamato smiled. He knew his brother, knew how his mind worked. Takeru was being too obvious. This was where Yamato would burst his brother's confidence. "New digidestined."
Takeru was pulled up short. 'New?' he thought, realising suddenly his conclusion was wrong. That only left Iori and Daisuke. He couldn't imagine Yamato with either of them. Daisuke and Yamato seemed to irritate each other just by breathing, and Iori? Well the idea was laughable. He had to know. Needed to. He considered his options and asked. "Last question. Does he wear stupid goggles on his fat head?"
Yamato adopted a dreamy fangirl-type voice, as he replied. "He looks cute in his goggles, and he does NOT have a fat head!"
"DAISUKE??? You like Daisuke???" Takeru was stunned. He couldn't believe it. Yamato must be joking.
* Doorbell rings *
"That'll be our pizza." Yamato said brightly as he rose from his seat and walked over to the door, whistling softly, leaving his gaping, speechless brother struggling to comprehend the bombshell Yamato had just landed on him.
~~~ Present Day ~~~
Takeru sat in his math class, thinking hard. Vaguely he could hear Mr. Masazumi telling the class to solve the problems of angles and something-or-other in their textbooks, but Takeru's attention was entirely focused on solving the problem of Yamato and Daisuke.
Both his brother and his best friend had confessed to him their feelings for each other. Neither of them, however, would dare tell the other how he felt.
The simplest solution would be for Takeru to tell each of them, but he had promised both that he wouldn't. Takeru had never broken a promise and couldn't do it now. Even though he knew Yamato and Daisuke would forgive him in this instance, his own conscience refused. The only option left was for Takeru to take steps to push the two of them together.
There was also the problem of Yamato and Daisuke's constant arguing, seemingly to the point of dislike on both sides. However, Takeru understood it now. Daisuke had talked about his efforts to get Yamato to notice him. Daisuke's enthusiasm however was his major failing, and something would inevitably go drastically wrong.
Yamato, for his part, was afraid to allow his feelings towards Daisuke show, and would often react harsher than was really necessary towards the younger teen. As a result, when disaster struck, Yamato would scold Daisuke, the red-haired boy would protest his innocence, and the situation would degrade rapidly from there. Usually this resulted in all hell breaking loose.
"It's going to take a lot of hard work to pull this off' thought Takeru. 'Their bickering could be a major obstacle.' Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration. 'Or maybe a useful stepping stone.'
As he turned his attention to his math textbook, he allowed a ghost of a smile to creep across his face.