Ariana: I'm back! I was hoping to get this out sooner but I had the craziest week. Now I only have a few more things left on my list of things to do, so I can finally update this story!
Ti: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. We give all of you huge Daisuke and Hikari plushies!
Ariana: Where'd you come from? I thought I left you at home.
Ti: You would. I snuck out. It was raining. I was wet. We almost died. It was horrible!
Ariana: Stupid annoying muses trying to take over my stories…
Ti: Ariana doesn't own Digimon or its characters.
Ariana: But they were my plushies…
Ti: Onto the story!
Welcome to My Life: Chapter 7
"Daisuke?"
Daisuke smiled at Yamato shyly. "Hey Yamato. Can I come in?"
Yamato nodded and let Daisuke through. "What are you doing here?" Yamato flinched at his own tone. He hadn't meant for it to sound so harsh.
If Daisuke was affected by his tone, he didn't show it. He shrugged. "I need a favor." Yamato waited. Daisuke sighed and seemed to find the floor very interesting. "Can you teach me how to cook?" he mumbled.
Yamato stared at him incredulously, and then started laughing. He soon had to lean against the wall for support. Daisuke glared at him. Yamato noticed this and took a few deep breaths to calm down. "I'm sorry. Really. I just wasn't expecting that." Daisuke continued to glare. Yamato quickly sobered. "You're serious aren't you?"
Daisuke nodded.
Yamato looked at him strangely. "Okay...what do you want to learn?"
Daisuke stared at him blankly. "What do you mean? I want to learn to cook."
Yamato shook his head in amusement. "I got that. What do you want to learn to cook? If you just want to learn basic cooking, then there's that. But if you're trying to impress someone," he smirked, "that's different."
Daisuke rolled his eyes. "I'm not trying to impress anyone. I just want Jun to eat something without risking her tongue falling off." Yamato's eyes widened and Daisuke bit his lip, afraid that he'd said too much.
"Her tongue's falling off?" asked Yamato carefully, trying not to laugh. He knew that it was a ridiculous question, but he wanted to get Daisuke to speak. He could tell the younger Destined was going through a lot, and he knew from experience that it wasn't good to keep that all in.
Daisuke raised an eyebrow at Yamato's question. "Yes," he said sarcastically. "The doctor's give it two weeks. Then, no more tongue." He laughed. "Are you really that blonde?"
Yamato snorted. "I'd be careful what you say to your possible teacher." Daisuke's smile faded, causing Yamato to blink. He was really taking this cooking thing seriously. "Why do you want to cook so badly?"
"I told you. I-"
"Don't want Jun's tongue to fall off. Right. Why? And since when do you guys cook."
Daisuke sighed and slumped into a chair near the table. "It's not that big a deal," he protested.
Yamato frowned. "It obviously is."
Something flashed through Daisuke's eyes. "If you're gonna be a brat about it, I can just leave. I don't need your help."
Yamato's face softened. He walked over and sat beside the younger brunette. "Then why are you here? If you don't need my help why bother coming? Why bother staying now?" Daisuke fidgeted. Yamato took a deep breath and a risk. "Why do you need help?"
Daisuke stiffened, and then finally collapsed against the back of the chair. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands. Now Yamato was getting a little worried. He didn't want the kid breaking down in his dining room. He didn't know how to deal with that. He briefly wondered what the heck he was doing. He didn't particularly know how to help people with their problems. He didn't even know how to help himself most of the time. But he quickly reminded himself that Daisuke was in pain, and was obviously holding it in. Yamato remembered how Taichi would always just listen whenever Yamato fell apart. He figured he was repaying his best friend by trying to help his protégé.
He heard Daisuke take a shaky breath and tuned back to the task at hand. "Daisuke?" he prompted softly.
"Why do you care?"
The question caught Yamato off guard and he leaned away from Daisuke. "What?" he asked dumbly.
Daisuke turned to him, and his eyes were the saddest Yamato had ever seen. "Why do you care? I mean, we aren't exactly best friends. Shit, you didn't even like me when we first met. And after all, I've given your brother hell all the years I've known him. So why would you care if anything's wrong?"
Yamato pushed a hand through his hair as he thought about his answer. He had to be careful or Daisuke would either explode, or run away. "If all that is true, why did you come to me?"
Daisuke shrugged. "You're the best cook I know."
Yamato fought back a smile. He never would get used to compliments like that. "Daisuke, I don't mind helping you learn to cook. But you need to understand something. I don't know exactly what's going on with you and the rest of the group, and I don't know that I really care. What I do know is that I consider you a friend now, no matter how different that might have been in the past. That said, I can tell something's going on that you're not telling me, and I want to know what that something is. I'm not going to push you, but it's not healthy to keep it all in."
And now he sounded like some damn therapist. Well, it was already said. He leaned forward and searched Daisuke's face. The brunette was obviously not going to answer. He mentally crossed his fingers and tried a different approach. "Why can't your mother teach you to cook?" He silently prayed that he wouldn't be killed by Daisuke's wrath.
Daisuke glanced at him in confusion. "Ken didn't tell you?"
Yamato kept his face blank. "Tell me what? So your parents aren't exactly talking. That doesn't answer my question." Yamato chose to ignore the fact that he hadn't talked to his mother after the divorce and still didn't.
Daisuke glared at the floor. "Me and my mom aren't really on speaking terms. I don't want anything to do with her right now."
That was interesting. Yamato filed that information away for a later date. Baby steps, he instructed himself. "What about your father?"
Daisuke laughed. Yamato was surprised at the bitterness in his voice. "Yeah right. As if he could take the time. The only reason we're cooking now is because he stopped leaving money on the table." Daisuke quickly shut his mouth as his eyes went wide. Yamato figured he had said more than he had wanted. Yamato sighed quietly. He had figured it was something like that. He had never pictured Daisuke or Jun in the kitchen.
Yamato blinked in surprise as Daisuke turned to look directly at him, eyes shining with unshed tears. "Please Yamato," he whispered. "Can you just teach me?"
The blonde struggled with all the feelings that attacked him. Empathy won out. After all, hadn't he been in a similar position for most of his life? He smiled. "Of course I'll teach you." He leaned back against the chair, feeling he needed a safe distance from the emotional boy. "What do you know?"
Daisuke grinned, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, we only know the simple stuff. Hot dogs, mac and cheese, things like that. Rice when Jun can measure the right amount of water. Pretty much anything that can come from a can."
Yamato hid a grimace. He despised canned foods. "Well, at least you know the basics. What's the first thing you want to learn then?"
Daisuke thought for a moment. "Probably casserole. It's not too difficult and it's a full meal. Plus it can keep awhile. And it's not too expensive."
He looked at Daisuke in barely hidden surprise. He didn't know he could be so...logical. It made him think that maybe he didn't know the holder of Friendship and Courage all that well. He wondered if anyone did. "That's a good idea. Have you ever cooked any meat, besides hotdogs?"
Daisuke shook his head. "Jun's been too afraid to try. Better to go without than to poison ourselves." He smirked.
Now that he thought about it, Daisuke did seem a bit off color. And Jou had been concerned about Jun. So had Ken, as much as he tried to brush it off. Yamato figured they were both probably anemic¹. He bit his lip as he began to understand the full scope of the situation.
"Okay, we'll make a casserole with ground beef first. That's the easiest meat to cook. I'm assuming you want to start tomorrow?"
Daisuke bit his lip in thought. "I have work tomorrow until 5. Is that okay?"
"Let's make it 5:30 so you're not rushing." Yamato tried to decide on where. On one hand, it was best to learn to cook in your own kitchen. On the other, he really didn't want to be attacked by Jun. Though to be honest, he really hadn't seen much of her lately. Chances were she had finally gotten over her crush. He hoped that was true as he asked Daisuke, "So your house at 5:30?"
Daisuke shook his head. "No!" Yamato looked at him puzzled. "I mean, I think it'd be better if we did it here."
Yamato frowned. "It's better to learn in your own kitchen. That way you'll also learn how to move around your kitchen while you cook. You get a feel for where everything belongs."
"But I've been cooking in there!" he protested. "Besides, my sister gets off work at 5 too."
Yamato restrained himself from strangling his guest. Daisuke had a way of making things way more difficult than they had to be. "I'm not afraid of your sister," he said flatly. Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "I'm not!" He sighed in frustration. "What's the real reason you don't want to do this at your place?"
He stared as Daisuke's face went red. He couldn't be blushing! He had never seen Daisuke blush, even during the time of his infamous advances on Hikari, and the infamous results. He heard Daisuke mumble something.
"What was that?"
"The power's out."
"Ah." said Yamato simply as he nodded his head in understanding. He didn't know what was so embarrassing about that. His dad forgot to pay the bill on occasion, especially when work got really hectic. "When's it likely to come back?"
Yamato was once again surprised to see Daisuke's eyes fill up. He took a deep breath and whispered, "I don't know."
Yamato bit his lip. It seemed things were even more complicated than he had imagined. Yamato wondered exactly what Daisuke was hiding from everyone. "In that case, we really should do it at your place. I know it'll be a bit more difficult, but if something comes up, you have to be able to cook with the power out. Believe me, you're more likely to get burned or mess up the food." Yamato rubbed his hand as he recalled his first time cooking without electricity.
He could see the wheels turning inside Daisuke's head. Finally Daisuke sighed. "Fine, but be there at 6."
Yamato looked at him strangely. "But it's darker at 6."
"I know. It's fine." There was a long pause. "What do I need?" Yamato shook his head, not understanding. "The ingredients?"
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll bring the ingredients for the first couple times. Just make sure you have a skillet and a pot."
Daisuke nodded and stood up. "Thanks Yamato."
The blonde did the same. "No problem."
Daisuke looked at the clock and then the door. "I better get going. Jun's going to be home soon and she shouldn't..." he trailed off and shook his head. "Anyway, thanks again. I can let myself out." He walked away and soon disappeared behind the door.
Yamato continued to stare at the door as once again his emotions fought one another. This time concern won out.
Hikari lay on her bed as she thought about yesterday's reunion. While she had been hoping Daisuke would come, she hadn't really expected him to show up. His unexpected presence had dug up many memories for her.
She knew now that she hadn't really treated Daisuke with the greatest respect. Yes his constant advances were annoying, but she could have been nicer. And using Takeru as a device to make Daisuke jealous was absolutely horrible. She wondered if the two boys might have had a stronger friendship now, perhaps as strong as Yamato and Taichi's, if she hadn't been the one to divide them.
She sighed and sat up. She could lie here all day and berate herself, but that was all in the past and she couldn't change it. All she could do now was try to make up for it. She thought again about Daisuke's appearance. While he had tried to act like nothing had happened and he was the same Daisuke as always, Hikari could tell he had changed. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that the past year and a half had been hard on him. She promised herself that she wasn't going to let him slip away. This time she was going to be nicer, and find out why Daisuke had all but disappeared a year ago.
Ariana: Wow, things are really starting to heat up.
Ti: I'm surprised. Daisuke actually asked someone for help.
Ariana: Of course he did. Daisuke has become a responsible adult who cares for others besides himself. I'm so proud:cries:
Ti: Right then. We hope you all enjoyed the chapter and hopefully Ariana will get the next one out much more quickly since I'm back.
Ariana: grumbles
Ti: Please review!
1. In case anyone's wondering, anemia is a lack of iron in your blood.
