When in doubt: deny, deny, deny...
Disclaimers:
#1 - I still do not, or plan to own Digimon and I probably never will. Really.
#2 - There is a bunch of other stuff that I do not feel like re-typing so if you need to be reminded of this, read the chapter 1 disclaimer.
#3 - Okay, this may not be a disclaimer, but thanks to my 2 DEAR reviewers, MinnieLove and my SORT OF dear friend Katie. Thanks a bajillion million.
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TK shifted his weight uncomfortably in his desk. To his right, Kari giggled softly to herself, reading a note from one of her several friends. Davis sat behind him, quietly dozing as their history teacher droned on. Was he honestly the only one who bothered to pay any attention in this class? Glancing around at his classmates, the silent answer was a resounding 'YES.'
But the geekiness he was feeling paled in his rising discomfort; his mind constantly on the wad of folded bills in his back pocket. Every time, he swore to himself that he wouldn't feel guilty about it; it was his body and he could do whatever the hell he wanted with it. Okay, he'd established that. No guilt... no guilt... no guilt. Then why were his palms so sweaty?
He groaned inwardly and raised his hand, excusing himself to go to the bathroom. Once out in the hallway, his blue eyes flicked to the left, then right, making no one was watching. Miraculously, no one was. After he was completely sure, TK made a beeline for his locker; the basketball muscles he had built up over the years coming in handy. Frantically, he spun his combination, the sweat on his palms thwarting his attempts at speed. On the third try, he flung the locker open, hurled the money inside, and slammed the door; all a single fluid motion.
Luckily for him, the hall was still empty as he headed to the bathroom to perform the ritualistic calming of his nerves and splashing of water onto his face. He looked himself in the eye, the cold water dripping down his face, beginning the reassuring that it was just an after-school job like any other, that it was nice to have new CDs, gas for his car, and money to throw around... But a part of him still insisted this was not true, this was not just another job.
It had all begun about five months ago, when TK had been waiting for a light to change at the busy intersection in front of the movie theatre. He had been listening to the radio, absentmindedly humming along with the tune when a scene outside caught his eye. An attractive young man stood on the street corner across from the cinema. As TK looked on, a blue car pulled up to the curb; a gorgeous blonde leaned out the window and they spoke for a few moments. The man got into the car. In that moment, TK realized what was going on and then that he had just witnessed the luckiest man alive. Not only would he get some that night, but he would even get paid for it! It was almost too much to bear.
Obviously, the job had its perks; the money, the sex, no boss, incredibly flexible hours... he actually only had to work when he felt like it... usually he did. But try as he might to justify it, TK paid dearly for his part-time job. Besides the overwhelming guilt, there was also the risk of infection, the couple dudes who had tried to pick him up and had expressively ignored him when he claimed he was not homosexual. And, man, some chicks were freeeaky. He visibly cringed, going over the details in his mind before deciding that more reminiscing was unnessecary, the teacher would be missing him soon. He bid his reflection farewell and stepped back out into the hall.
-----------------
"Hey there!" Mimi's cheerful voice called out from the other end. Shortly after turning 18, she had moved back to Japan, her pink locks now dyed a fetching shade of green. It wasn't rare for Izzy's phone to ring, but it had become quite an occasion for him to actually be home to answer it. Although he had become quite 'rad' over the years, tending to leave the old laptop behind more often than not, hanging out with Mimi in her black clothes and paint-stained fingernails made him feel a whole lot 'radder'.
"So, ah, what's up?" he said, immediatly feeling stupid; she attended the same college as him, but lived off-campus in an artsy studio loft with a bunch of cool alternative people with names like "Lilith" and "Jai" as opposed to the standard-issue dorm he shared with not one, but two bonehead jocks named Mike.
She giggled, "Nothin' much." He was silent as she excused herself to inform Donovan that the organic pomogranite juice he was drinking was indeed HER oraganic pomogranite juice and would he please refrain from depositing it into his obese beatnik body, thank you very much. "So anyways," she said cheerily over Donovan's alternative shouting. "I was thinking... how about we go pay our hometown buddies a visit? Sora phoned and said she and Tai are going up for the week. We could cut class and make it a road trip!"
There was no doubt that Izzy's coolness... er, 'radness' had risen since his younger days, the phrase "cut class" had floored him. Soon after college began, he had surprised everyone by coming out of his shell... he hadn't surprised anyone by coming out of the closet.
'But it's Mimi,' his brain told him, 'Mimi is rad. Rad people do impulsive things like last-minute road trips. All Mimi's rad alternative friends would think you are pretty rad if you went with her. Even Jai...' (sigh).
"Alright," his voice cut the train of thoughgt, "Alright, I'm in. And I assume we're taking my car." His mind flashed to the red-orange convertable his parents had bought him upon graduating valedictorian. It was just begging for a road trip.
Mimi cheered, "Awesome! Pick me up tomorrow at 10."
-----------------
"Please, please don't let him come in here." Davis silently prayed as he looked around at the gang gathered in his room. Kari sprawled on his bed, YES, the very place where he SLEPT; TK, whom for some reason he didn't quite hate so much any longer, leaned against his dresser; Cody sat, cross-legged in the middle of the floor and Yolei, Davis wasn't even sure why she was even there, had wandered off to the kitchen to grab a snack. He figured his father was out drinking or something of the like.
"So, uh, why are we here again?" Kari mused, honestly wondering.
"Ken," TK said solemnly, "It's been exactly six months."
Her eyes fluttered downward, "...oh, yeah."
But before the conversation could continue with more serious matters, Yolei had wandered into the room, 3 Drumstick ice cream cones, a few stalks of celery, and a rather large chunk of salt pork tucked under her arm. "What?" She asked, noticing all the blank stares in her direction.
The group sighed collectively. Finally, Cody spoke, "Yolei, we all know that you are pregnant. Stop acting like you aren't." There was an exasperated tone in his voice, hinting that they just may have had this conversation before.
"Pregnant? Me? No way..." She snorted and took a massive bite of salt pork.
It was hard not to laugh, but Cody managed much better than the others, "How long has it been since you last menstrated?" He asked, matter-of-factly.
Yolei shrugged, "I dunno, maybe 8 months?"
-----------------
"Walk me home?" She had asked, waiting for TK to put his shoes back on.
He hesitated, "I'd better not. I need to get home."
"Oh," she said, managing a weak smile, "I'll see you tomorrow then." Kari stood and watched him leave, finding herself unready to go home. She turned in the opposite direction, feeling worse and worse with each step. A part of her had a destination in mind, another part was struggling against it, yet another part was thinking about how much had changed.
Growing up, she had been a model child: good marks in school, lots of friends, exceptional behavior... her parents viewed her as an angel compared to her brother. And it wasn't even that Tai had been a bad kid, on the contrary, he had been fairly normal. But as they grew older, he and his parents constantly butted heads about every little thing, making it increadingly obvious to Tai and Kari what poor parents they had.
When Tai had began smoking at age 16, they ignored it despite all the evidence pointing towards the obvious. At 17, when his mood took a plunge and he stopped sleeping at night, they had simply blamed it on hormones. Last year, when he had been 19, he had an overdose on painkillers that still hadn't been deemed accidental or not in his dorm room. Every time Kari saw him, Tai appeared older... and not in the normal way all the others had. His brown eyes were sunken in and skittery; he couldn't keep focus on any one thing. Sometimes, when he wore short sleeves, there were a few half-healed gashes visible on his wrist. He was virtually unrecognizable.
Which is why Kari had not recognized her older brother sitting on the couch that night in the living room. His once-bushy brown hair had been cut short enough to bristle and stand up a half-inch from his head sans any sort of hair product, giving his head a very round appearance. He had grown incredibly thin over the years and was practically swimming in his old soccer jersey and pajama pants. His cheeks had grown thin and streched from all the weight he had lost, giving his face a perpetually sad look to it; one that usually agreeed with his mood.
She was at a loss for words as she looked at the figure slumped on her couch, "Excuse me?" she had asked, unsure of what else to say. He raised his head, locking eyes with her and in that instant she had recognized him immediatly, "Tai?"
Somehow he managed a smile, and it looked to Kari as if this had been the first in a long while. And when he spoke, it had only been two words, sad and familiar all at once:
"I'm home."
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I'm in the middle of writing the third chapter. Should be up soon. Remember: review, review, review! Think I'm a complete asshole for making TK a hooker? Insult me. Think I am beautiful and talented and wonderful? Tell me all about it. Think I need to shut the hell up? Jump off a cliff. But leave a review first. :)
Disclaimers:
#1 - I still do not, or plan to own Digimon and I probably never will. Really.
#2 - There is a bunch of other stuff that I do not feel like re-typing so if you need to be reminded of this, read the chapter 1 disclaimer.
#3 - Okay, this may not be a disclaimer, but thanks to my 2 DEAR reviewers, MinnieLove and my SORT OF dear friend Katie. Thanks a bajillion million.
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TK shifted his weight uncomfortably in his desk. To his right, Kari giggled softly to herself, reading a note from one of her several friends. Davis sat behind him, quietly dozing as their history teacher droned on. Was he honestly the only one who bothered to pay any attention in this class? Glancing around at his classmates, the silent answer was a resounding 'YES.'
But the geekiness he was feeling paled in his rising discomfort; his mind constantly on the wad of folded bills in his back pocket. Every time, he swore to himself that he wouldn't feel guilty about it; it was his body and he could do whatever the hell he wanted with it. Okay, he'd established that. No guilt... no guilt... no guilt. Then why were his palms so sweaty?
He groaned inwardly and raised his hand, excusing himself to go to the bathroom. Once out in the hallway, his blue eyes flicked to the left, then right, making no one was watching. Miraculously, no one was. After he was completely sure, TK made a beeline for his locker; the basketball muscles he had built up over the years coming in handy. Frantically, he spun his combination, the sweat on his palms thwarting his attempts at speed. On the third try, he flung the locker open, hurled the money inside, and slammed the door; all a single fluid motion.
Luckily for him, the hall was still empty as he headed to the bathroom to perform the ritualistic calming of his nerves and splashing of water onto his face. He looked himself in the eye, the cold water dripping down his face, beginning the reassuring that it was just an after-school job like any other, that it was nice to have new CDs, gas for his car, and money to throw around... But a part of him still insisted this was not true, this was not just another job.
It had all begun about five months ago, when TK had been waiting for a light to change at the busy intersection in front of the movie theatre. He had been listening to the radio, absentmindedly humming along with the tune when a scene outside caught his eye. An attractive young man stood on the street corner across from the cinema. As TK looked on, a blue car pulled up to the curb; a gorgeous blonde leaned out the window and they spoke for a few moments. The man got into the car. In that moment, TK realized what was going on and then that he had just witnessed the luckiest man alive. Not only would he get some that night, but he would even get paid for it! It was almost too much to bear.
Obviously, the job had its perks; the money, the sex, no boss, incredibly flexible hours... he actually only had to work when he felt like it... usually he did. But try as he might to justify it, TK paid dearly for his part-time job. Besides the overwhelming guilt, there was also the risk of infection, the couple dudes who had tried to pick him up and had expressively ignored him when he claimed he was not homosexual. And, man, some chicks were freeeaky. He visibly cringed, going over the details in his mind before deciding that more reminiscing was unnessecary, the teacher would be missing him soon. He bid his reflection farewell and stepped back out into the hall.
-----------------
"Hey there!" Mimi's cheerful voice called out from the other end. Shortly after turning 18, she had moved back to Japan, her pink locks now dyed a fetching shade of green. It wasn't rare for Izzy's phone to ring, but it had become quite an occasion for him to actually be home to answer it. Although he had become quite 'rad' over the years, tending to leave the old laptop behind more often than not, hanging out with Mimi in her black clothes and paint-stained fingernails made him feel a whole lot 'radder'.
"So, ah, what's up?" he said, immediatly feeling stupid; she attended the same college as him, but lived off-campus in an artsy studio loft with a bunch of cool alternative people with names like "Lilith" and "Jai" as opposed to the standard-issue dorm he shared with not one, but two bonehead jocks named Mike.
She giggled, "Nothin' much." He was silent as she excused herself to inform Donovan that the organic pomogranite juice he was drinking was indeed HER oraganic pomogranite juice and would he please refrain from depositing it into his obese beatnik body, thank you very much. "So anyways," she said cheerily over Donovan's alternative shouting. "I was thinking... how about we go pay our hometown buddies a visit? Sora phoned and said she and Tai are going up for the week. We could cut class and make it a road trip!"
There was no doubt that Izzy's coolness... er, 'radness' had risen since his younger days, the phrase "cut class" had floored him. Soon after college began, he had surprised everyone by coming out of his shell... he hadn't surprised anyone by coming out of the closet.
'But it's Mimi,' his brain told him, 'Mimi is rad. Rad people do impulsive things like last-minute road trips. All Mimi's rad alternative friends would think you are pretty rad if you went with her. Even Jai...' (sigh).
"Alright," his voice cut the train of thoughgt, "Alright, I'm in. And I assume we're taking my car." His mind flashed to the red-orange convertable his parents had bought him upon graduating valedictorian. It was just begging for a road trip.
Mimi cheered, "Awesome! Pick me up tomorrow at 10."
-----------------
"Please, please don't let him come in here." Davis silently prayed as he looked around at the gang gathered in his room. Kari sprawled on his bed, YES, the very place where he SLEPT; TK, whom for some reason he didn't quite hate so much any longer, leaned against his dresser; Cody sat, cross-legged in the middle of the floor and Yolei, Davis wasn't even sure why she was even there, had wandered off to the kitchen to grab a snack. He figured his father was out drinking or something of the like.
"So, uh, why are we here again?" Kari mused, honestly wondering.
"Ken," TK said solemnly, "It's been exactly six months."
Her eyes fluttered downward, "...oh, yeah."
But before the conversation could continue with more serious matters, Yolei had wandered into the room, 3 Drumstick ice cream cones, a few stalks of celery, and a rather large chunk of salt pork tucked under her arm. "What?" She asked, noticing all the blank stares in her direction.
The group sighed collectively. Finally, Cody spoke, "Yolei, we all know that you are pregnant. Stop acting like you aren't." There was an exasperated tone in his voice, hinting that they just may have had this conversation before.
"Pregnant? Me? No way..." She snorted and took a massive bite of salt pork.
It was hard not to laugh, but Cody managed much better than the others, "How long has it been since you last menstrated?" He asked, matter-of-factly.
Yolei shrugged, "I dunno, maybe 8 months?"
-----------------
"Walk me home?" She had asked, waiting for TK to put his shoes back on.
He hesitated, "I'd better not. I need to get home."
"Oh," she said, managing a weak smile, "I'll see you tomorrow then." Kari stood and watched him leave, finding herself unready to go home. She turned in the opposite direction, feeling worse and worse with each step. A part of her had a destination in mind, another part was struggling against it, yet another part was thinking about how much had changed.
Growing up, she had been a model child: good marks in school, lots of friends, exceptional behavior... her parents viewed her as an angel compared to her brother. And it wasn't even that Tai had been a bad kid, on the contrary, he had been fairly normal. But as they grew older, he and his parents constantly butted heads about every little thing, making it increadingly obvious to Tai and Kari what poor parents they had.
When Tai had began smoking at age 16, they ignored it despite all the evidence pointing towards the obvious. At 17, when his mood took a plunge and he stopped sleeping at night, they had simply blamed it on hormones. Last year, when he had been 19, he had an overdose on painkillers that still hadn't been deemed accidental or not in his dorm room. Every time Kari saw him, Tai appeared older... and not in the normal way all the others had. His brown eyes were sunken in and skittery; he couldn't keep focus on any one thing. Sometimes, when he wore short sleeves, there were a few half-healed gashes visible on his wrist. He was virtually unrecognizable.
Which is why Kari had not recognized her older brother sitting on the couch that night in the living room. His once-bushy brown hair had been cut short enough to bristle and stand up a half-inch from his head sans any sort of hair product, giving his head a very round appearance. He had grown incredibly thin over the years and was practically swimming in his old soccer jersey and pajama pants. His cheeks had grown thin and streched from all the weight he had lost, giving his face a perpetually sad look to it; one that usually agreeed with his mood.
She was at a loss for words as she looked at the figure slumped on her couch, "Excuse me?" she had asked, unsure of what else to say. He raised his head, locking eyes with her and in that instant she had recognized him immediatly, "Tai?"
Somehow he managed a smile, and it looked to Kari as if this had been the first in a long while. And when he spoke, it had only been two words, sad and familiar all at once:
"I'm home."
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I'm in the middle of writing the third chapter. Should be up soon. Remember: review, review, review! Think I'm a complete asshole for making TK a hooker? Insult me. Think I am beautiful and talented and wonderful? Tell me all about it. Think I need to shut the hell up? Jump off a cliff. But leave a review first. :)