Heehee, I'm happy with how this turned out. There are some pretty cute moments. Once again, not beta-ed, so tell me if you find a mistake!

Satoshi opened his eyes, blinked at the sun, the red hair splayed across his pillow, and the hand in his (in that order), and then fell back into a stupor. Ten minutes later, he opened his eyes again, something about the first image kicking his brain into a reluctant second look.

Daisuke was asleep, face close to his, a blissfully happy lopsided grin on his lips. Their knees were overlapping, tangled together, Daisuke's plaid burgundy flannel pajamas and Satoshi's navy silk ones making an odd contrast and texture. Last but not least, their hand were clasped together, rings touching, chain hanging limp down to the sheet.

Satoshi closed his eyes for another five minutes, opened them again, and croaked, in a voice strangled with sleep, "Daisuke."

The redhead ran his tongue over his lips, mumbled something about Wiz not doing that to his feet, and was quiet.

"Daisuke, wake up. School is in an hour." Not getting even a twitch out of him, Satoshi reached up with his other hand and grabbed the sleeping boy's nose between his thumb and finger. "You're practically on top of me."

Daisuke made a face, nuzzled further into the pillow (most of which was suspiciously similar to smooth skin) and gave a tiny gasp. He shot up, looked around, and jumped from the bed. "Satoshi! Wha - when - Why…why am I in your room? And why were we," he paused to tweak his abused nose, tears in his eyes, "sn-snuggling?"

"Do you want a guess?" Satoshi said, sitting up and reaching automatically for his glasses on a side table. "I think Dark couldn't resist the temptation, took control of your body, and had his way with me while you and I were both asleep."

Before he could stop himself, Daisuke yelled, in a very Dark-ish way, "You take that back!"

Satoshi bit his tongue to keep back a yawn and shifted under the satin sheets. "If you want what I really think, you should find the name of the rings you were trying to steal and then draw your own conclusions. Right now, I think your should be getting ready for school, since I don't need to. School starts in an hour and it takes twenty minutes to walk there. I woke up on time, for me, but you take roughly half an hour longer." He pulled the covers back, swung his legs over the side, and stood. "You're welcome to use my shower and borrow a uniform."

Daisuke blushed furiously, mumbled a thank you, and dashed out of the room. Satoshi knew how long he took to get ready in the morning? And he was being nice? What was going on? He really, really hoped that Dark would clear this up.

Satoshi watched him leave, finally succumbing to laughter. Daisuke had looked so flustered! He dressed quickly, running his hands through his hair in lieu of a brush or comb. He wasn't big on preparation. By the time that was done, Daisuke walked, still dripping, out of the shower, towel wrapped firmly around his waist.

Satoshi stared. Daisuke was so very… beautiful, his mind supplied, but that wasn't it. He wasn't like a piece of art, either; he wasn't fragile, or womanish. He was rough around the edges, had lived a hard life of sorts. He was strong, he was energetic, and he was alive.

Daisuke was starting to become uncomfortable with the attention. Satoshi had a look of intense concentration -almost anger - etched onto his features as though in stone. "Satoshi, um…"

The Commander shook himself and grabbed an extra school uniform, holding it out without a word. This was not going to go well if he couldn't keep his tongue in his mouth. He left the room so that his guest could dress in peace, and only cautiously started breathing again. It was going to be a long day.

Well, they had made it on time. That was enough to be thankful for.

The instant Daisuke walked through the door, Riku rushed up to greet and interrogate him. "Daisuke, your mom called me this morning and said that you weren't in your bed! Where were you?"

Daisuke glanced at Satoshi, winked, and asked her bemusedly, "Why did she think I was at your and Risa's house?"

"Because…she…" Riku's face turned beet red and she turned away, muttering, "She hung up in the middle of a sentence, saying there wasn't any way…"

Thus, there wasn't any real commotion made over the two boy's dual arrival.

Daisuke insisted on sitting next to him at lunch. Horrified that Satoshi was all set to eat toast, Daisuke not only shared his lunch, he gave Satoshi three out of the six bento boxes his mother had prepared for him and delivered during the morning (with much love and kisses).

Satoshi gazed at them blankly, not sure where to start. He hadn't eaten this much at one time since… the last time he had eaten at the Niwa's house. "Daisuke, this is too much for me again."

The redhead, sapphire ring glinting in the sun, said, "Well, eat until you burst. Mom scolds me if I don't eat everything, and she made lots more today because she was worried."

"You're using me for personal gain. How underhanded." Satoshi took a pair of chopsticks from the lid of the box and speared some tempura. "Anyway, you have no obligation to me. Why are you here?"

Mouth full, Daisuke sputtered, "You have to tell me about the rings."

Satoshi took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers, sighing. Daisuke's eyes followed the movement, had tilted to the side. "If you're going to be lazy and not learn about it yourself, fine. The rings are called Inseparable. No matter how far apart they are, this chain," he tugged on the end connected to his own jewelry, "will always tighten and bring the two back together. That's pretty much it." Only it wasn't, he told himself. Not really.

"I guess that makes sense," Daisuke nodded, still chewing. Satoshi saw that he had a smear of soy sauce across his left cheek and had to look away. "Oh, oh, hey, Satoshi! You have to tell me a secret!"

The blue-haired boy's mindblanked for a moment, and then remembered. Right, the contest. He had to tell something, too. "Let's see, something you don't know… Well, I've never had a close friend that I was comfortable around."

Daisuke sobered immediately, smiled dropping off as though torn. "You mean, besides me."

"No, I don't," Satoshi sighed, watching the sadness gather and cursing his careful wording. He wasn't comfortable around Daisuke in the least, so that was true, but the way he said it made it mean something else altogether…

He had to use this contest as a way to distance them. Once Daisuke knew all his secrets, they wouldn't be anything but hunter and prey. Right?

Gods, but it hurt him to see Daisuke try to smile again. He wasn't even going to accuse him of cheating. Perhaps Daisuke was afraid of having it proved that Satoshi wasn't his friend? No, that would be too good to be true.

Daisuke said quietly, "I guess it's my turn. I'm not sure that this is where I wanted to be at my age."

Satoshi regarded him critically for a moment, and shook his head. "That's a lie. You have always wanted to live up to your family's great legacy. You have always, always wanted to be the Phantom Thief, even if you couldn't put those words to it before."

Daisuke made a disbelieving face and accused, "I didn't say anything when you said your secret, did I?"

"You questioned me on it."

"You straight out called me a liar!" Daisuke huffily stood to leave, and Satoshi put a hand on his leg to stop him.

"It's only recently that you've started to doubt, so you question your younger self, thinking that there has been no time that you haven't had scruples." Satoshi took a carefully folded paper out of a clip in his notebook and showed it to the other boy. "See here, you drew it when you were still young."

The picture was of a child with undeniably red hair in all directions (though that may have been the crayon marks outside the lines), wearing a ninja's black outfit and sneaking around a mansion that was colored dark blue to show that it was nighttime. Daisuke took it, recognizing it as his own. "Satoshi, where'd you get this?"

The Commander shrugged and stood up, gathering his things and the bento boxes - of which he hadn't finished the first - and getting ready for the bell to classes to ring. "Your father, Kosuke, was conveiently looking at it the last time we conveniently bumped into each other in the street." He looked at Daisuke, still with the orange line of sauce on his face, and said, "You didn't think you were lying, so I guess I'll go easy on you. This is punishment enough."

Daisuke gave him a confused look, and they went back to class… to the entertainment of all.