Hrmph. Well, I actually intended this story to swoop into a different direction, but then decided to not take it there... so this is probably the shortest part yet. I was bored with all the planning... so were Daisuke and Takeru, who take a short break... and allow me to take a break to build up their relationship. Next part, the romance is gonna... well, you'll see. Anyway. I want to finish this up soonish but I'm not sure when... I have two parts left to do - the Sunday after this part and then the optional lemon... which actually may be scrapped in light of another lemon I have sitting here begging me to finish it. And also I want to finish Tanked (which is nearly done and may turn into a big orgy if I continue writing things at 2 am...) and there's a new medieval/samurai story I've got pouting about in my brain saying "Write me, I'm neat. Write me, I'm neat." Also, Lying Awake needs to be flung it's final entry and Troubled needs added to... and... ersh. I have too much to finish.
Anyways, as always I don't own any of these characters, but the story is mine. If you want to be added to the mailing list to get alerted when I upload new things, check Except that I may cancel that group because out of 16 members, none have really been reviewing my stories or giving me any feedback at all, which I'm more than slightly annoyed at. (I'm an artist. We live off feedback. It's our sustenance.)
By the way, I later found out the name of the narrator in Fight Club is 'Jack.' However, I believe he is listed in the credits only as The Narrator. shrug!
"You know who you remind me of?"
"Who?" Daisuke glanced up from his lunch briefly.
Takeru flipped a noodle over with his chopsticks and dropped it into his mouth. "You're from America. Did you ever see Fight Club?"
Daisuke nodded. "Yeah, yeah, good movie."
"You remind me of that guy. What's his name, Tyler. You remind me of him."
"Oh yeah?" Daisuke asked around a mouthful of food, grinning. "So," he swallowed, "who would you be?" Takeru shrugged a little, and Daisuke grinned a little more. "You're the other kid, right? The narrator guy, you know... Cornelius, Rupert, Travis! They never said his real name, did they?"
The blonde shook his head. "Nah, I don't think they ever did."
"So I'm like your alter ego or something, eh? And you're fucking psycho?"
"Sure, why not."
Silence fell over the table as Daisuke stirred his noodles, then snickered. "Tyler," he mumbled under his breath, like he was proud to be compared to the character.
"Hey, Daisuke, can I ask you something?" Takeru interrupted the silence.
"You just did," the darker boy pointed out, shoveling a bite of somen into his mouth.
"I mean something else."
"You can ask, but I might not answer," Daisuke shrugged, leaning against the table.
Takeru sat back in his chair and tilted his head to the side, "Do you really trust Ken?"
"Takeru, to be honest, I don't trust much of anybody."
The blonde scowled. "Not even Taichi?"
Another shrug as the darker boy ran his fingers through his hair. "Sure, I trust Taichi. And Yamato, and Koushiro. If I didn't, I wouldn't have brought them into all this."
Their table was silent as the two stared at each other. Takeru edged out his question quietly and hesitantly, diverting his eyes to the table. "What about me?"
Daisuke didn't answer and turned away to study the street from the window. The two were sitting in a corner restaurant, taking a break from reality before plunging back in to work out the details of their rough-edged plan with Koushiro. It was nice to be able to sit down and breathe for once, although Daisuke couldn't shut his mind off to everything nagging in the back of his brain. He mentally groaned and reached for the steaming bowl in front of him. "Why do you ask, anyway?" he started the conversation again after slurping down a bite. "Do you not trust him or something?" The blonde shrugged and Daisuke's eyes narrowed. "Did he say something to you? Anything I need to know about?"
Stirring his chopsticks around in his noodles, Takeru shrugged a little. "No, nothing like that. I just thought it was weird that you sort of... went ahead and trusted him so quickly, even though you don't exactly... er. Never mind."
Leaning against the table again, the darker boy rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and say it."
The blonde shifted a bit uncomfortably. "You don't trust me, but you trust him. And he really just... came out of nowhere. I don't understand."
Daisuke sat back slightly, scraping the bottom of his bowl for any last noodles. "I didn't have much of a choice. At the time, Ken was the only lead we had. And by the time we followed everything else though, he was already in on everything." He tossed his chopsticks into the bowl and shoved it off to the side, dropping his chin down on the table glumly. "I still can't believe this whole thing. Bass is in on everything the whole time. He wasn't even... ugh. This whole fucking thing could have been avoided," he squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his arms over his eyes.
Scowling, Takeru rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't play the whole whiney act. Like you had any idea he was in on this shit."
"Taichi's gonna kill me for getting his sister involved in something... non-existent."
The blonde sighed in exasperation. "Aw, Christ. Shut up."
Daisuke snapped his head up and shot a dangerous glare at Takeru. "What?"
"I said shut up! Quit feeling sorry for yourself, that's not going to do us any good. Shut up and get over it. Hikari's already in it, and you can't change that, so stop whining. Christ," he grumbled, taking another bite of his food.
The other boy glared darkly at him for a long moment. Takeru chewed slowly and avoided eye contact, wondering if he should have opened his mouth at all. He mentally reminded himself of the last time he'd run his mouth off to Daisuke and found himself pinned violently to the floor. He swallowed hard. Daisuke wouldn't do that here... would he?
Finally, Daisuke reached up and pulled his goggles up onto his eyes. "You eat too slow," he mumbled, dropping his head back down on the table.
Takeru looked up. "You mad?"
"No." He shrugged. "You're right. I'm just bawling and feeling sorry for myself. Thanks. Sometimes I need a good wake-up call."
"Anytime. I'll hit you if you ever need it."
"Good to know," a slight grin twitched on Daisuke's face.
"The thing I don't understand," the blonde finished his food and slid the empty bowl across the table towards Daisuke's, "is why you didn't just go diving into the basement when you thought that was where Bass was."
"I wanted to." Daisuke sat up and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your view... Taichi wouldn't let me. He was all, 'Oh, don't rush into things, we need a plan, a plan!' You know, I don't like plans." He shifted in the chair and glance out the window. "I'm an action guy."
"So I've noticed," Takeru dropped his chin into his hand and leaned his elbow on the table. "But I suppose even if you had followed it through, you never would have found him anyway. This whole thing makes my head spin. It's like somebody started writing a story and then the plot changed, so they had to switch a bunch of stuff... and everything doesn't really connect right."
"Eh," the darker boy shrugged. "If this is somebody's idea of a novel, I hope I die in the end of it."
"I hope not."
Daisuke turned back from the window and eyed the blonde before he smirked slightly. "You know, if I don't trust you, it isn't your fault. It's mine." He stood up and stretched with a yawn. "Let's go, we have to go off and make some stupid plan."
Takeru rose and followed, blinking and trying to digest both sudden changes of subject. He walked silently along beside Daisuke, who had his hands jammed into his pockets and was humming quietly. He ran through things in his mind, trying to comprehend all the sides he'd seen to the other. Unfortunately, there were too many sides and so many different ways he could react... he was extremely unpredictable.
Takeru wasn't sure why he liked that fact. Normally he would hate it.
Daisuke suddenly stopped and grabbed him by the arm. "Hey, wait, dude. Wait a second."
"What?" the blonde turned and eyed him.
"...I want you to hit me as hard as you can!" Takeru stared at him blankly for a short moment, then started laughing. The darker boy grinned brightly and shoved his hands back into his pockets, walking on ahead. "You should smile more," he called over his shoulder. "You look good doing it."
The laughter stopped abruptly and Takeru blushed.
Daisuke only grinned wider.
Takeru woke up with a start and sat up slightly, his head spinning as he tried to remember where he was. The room was dark except for light filtering in from the picture window. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he picked out figures. Taichi was asleep in an armchair, curled up in a tight little ball. Koushirou was on the floor at his feet, laptop still resting in his lap, but his head tilted forward and his eyes shut in deep sleep. At his left was Ken, curled up on the floor, one hand cuffed to the coffee table. 'Just a precaution,' Yamato had assured him earlier that evening as he clicked the cuffs on and locked them, then put the key in his back pocket. Yamato was asleep in another soft arm-chair, legs flung over the arms and his guitar resting at the side. He had been practicing... Taichi was watching Koushirou plonk about on his laptop, Ken was grumbling to himself about the handcuffs, and Daisuke... Daisuke...
Takeru blinked and realized he was currently on the couch, leaning against Daisuke and using him as a pillow. Daisuke had been sitting next to him and they were both drifting off to sleep. Daisuke finally slumped over against one side of the couch and passed out, and apparently, Takeru somehow snuggled over that way in his own sleep.
The blonde slowly tried to sit up, so as not to disturb Daisuke or any of the other guys. He glanced at the clock. 3:43. Way too early to get up. He'd have to wander somewhere else to sleep.
A hand grabbed Takeru by the collar and tugged at him. "Don't get up," Daisuke mumbled, shifting slightly on the couch and opening one tired eye. "It was warm." Takeru blinked and stared down at Daisuke uncertainly. The darker boy responded by pulling him back down to lean against him again. "It's cold when you move," he whispered, then shut his eyes again and went back to sleep.
Takeru rested his chin on Daisuke's stomach. It was extremely comfortable here, and it was pretty warm... but didn't Daisuke mind that there was another guy sprawled out over him?
Maybe he is gay, he thought, remembering what everyone was whispering the first few days Daisuke appeared at school.
'Besides, I'm not gay.' The words kicked Takeru in the stomach as he remembered back when Daisuke was explaining skating names to him. No.
'You should smile more. You look good doing it.'
There was silence in the blonde's brain as the conflicting signals chewed at each other. Neither signal won by the time he fell back asleep.
