Unintentionally
-o-
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Digimon.
Warning: This story is rated M for very sexual content, dark and mature themes, and supernatural situations. 18+ only. Please read with discretion.
Thank you for your reviews The Keeper Of Worlds, I appreciate you so much! This chapter is dedicated to you.
-o-
Chapter Three
-o-
It began with just the dreams.
Sometimes they were flashbacks to the night that it happened. He could remember moments where the ecstasy was so powerful, he didn't care that there were three different people trying to fuck him at once. His mouth would burn with the memory of a stranger's hot, pulsing dick slamming down his throat. His hole ached from the flashbacks of being rammed into, first by one, then two different shafts at the same time.
But then he began to dream about more than just what had already happened. He would find his subconscious creating new situations. If one person wasn't enough, his dream would shift until it was more people that he ravished and who in turn ravished him, over and over.
He would wake up drenched in sweat, panting heavily, with a severely painful hard-on. But even after he'd take care of it in the bathroom, his body still wanted more. Waking or sleeping, it was always a desperate need at the back of his mind.
He had to have sex. Soon.
After the dreams, came his daytime fantasies. He would find himself studying people, noticing the things he liked about them, and wondering how they would look naked, their body flushed from friction and exercise. It was even worse when he knew the person that he was attracted by.
Whenever it got too much for him to bear, he would find a way to distance himself from everyone. Running all the way home was good. Taking freezing cold showers was good too. Oh yeah… and thinking about old people being naked. That was definitely a winner in stomping down the increasingly frustrating sexual desires that had steadily been growing inside him.
Daisuke glared up at the sky, walking home from school by himself. School was finally over for the day. Over the past several weeks, things had more or less died down. He, Takeru and Hikari were invited to every party Kaz decided to throw. They of course turned them down, and for some reason, the incubus merely let them do so without getting upset. And every day, Daisuke waited for his parents to get home from their impromptu trip they had gone on, but at this point he knew they must be avoiding him.
It made him angry. How could they just abandon him when he was going through something like this? All his questions, the fear that he was turning into some kind of sex demon, ignored because they decided to leave the country without telling him.
So here he was, going to school and enduring humiliation, and coming home to an empty house as he tried to sort through his dreams and newly awakened sex drive. He had never felt so lost in his life.
Things were different now at school too. All of his friends looked at him and treated him differently. They seemed to keep their distance from him more than they used to, and he often caught them stealing glances at him when they thought he wasn't looking. At first he thought it was because of the horrible picture that had circulated the school, thinking they were disgusted by it, or worse, they pitied him because they knew that he'd been raped and none of them were doing anything about it.
In the end, the truth was much worse than that.
Somehow, bit by bit, he could see that all of his friends had noticed him. They would stare at his body, fixated on whatever spot they happened to find most attractive. It exasperated him when his own friends had trouble looking at him in the eyes. They would get extremely nervous when they touched him, or if they got close enough to feel each other's body heat. Inevitably, whether it was Miyako, Hikari, or even Takeru or Ken, they would become acutely aware of him, their own heart rates building, until they found some reason or other to avoid him.
And if that weren't bad enough, part of him wished that they'd just stop resisting. Hell, we all know that they're curious. They might as well just kiss me!
But the thought depressed him as soon as it surfaced. He didn't want to just do it with his friends. That would ruin the friendship they already had.
It just isn't fair, he thought. He stared at his apartment complex, watching it draw closer with a sense of impending doom. It's like I'm infected with some horrible pheromone disease that targets guys and girls alike. I'm so sexually frustrated I feel like the first person who gets me alone might just have me! He groaned, hating himself even more. Why can't things go back to the way they were before?
At home, he kicked open his door with a furious expression, and marched into his house. He'd made it through another miserable day, and he expected nothing more than another night alone sorting through anger and helplessness. Instead, he saw both his parents standing in the entryway, waiting for him with serious expressions on their faces
He stood there staring at them, not sure how to react. Now, after all this time, they were here? Fury swept over his face, and he tried to walk past them to his room. They had lost their chance to speak to him. He didn't trust them any longer.
"Son wait," his father said, speaking in his most authoritative voice, "it's time for us to sit down and talk with you."
"Oh is it?" Daisuke snapped. He kept walking, kicking his shoes off at the door. "Funny, here I thought you guys had abandoned me."
The look on his mother's face was one of pain and guilt. "Daisuke," she said mournfully. "You don't understand. We had to go, we were called. We came back as fast as we could…"
"I don't care where you think you had to go!" he yelled. "You left me, mom. You left me alone when I got…" He tried to say the word 'raped' but it wouldn't come out, and all he could picture was Kaz's smug face. I'd like to shove that guy's face in cow shit, he thought angrily. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I needed you and you weren't there for me."
"Don't you think we would have rather been here?" his dad snapped, growing angry that he was speaking this way to them. "There is a lot we need to explain to you, a lot we haven't told you yet, that we couldn't tell you. That's why we need to talk now."
His mother nodded her head gravely, tears streaming down her face. "Please son, come sit down and let us talk with you," she pleaded. "This is very important."
Daisuke was still angry. Betrayed, he thought. But he knew better than to complain when they were both in agreement on something. Most of the time, they would oppose and argue with each other like it was their favorite thing to do, and he and Jun would use it to their advantage to get out of difficult situations. But when the two were in unison, there was nothing he could do but endure it.
And if it was true that they could answer for all of this… then despite how angry he was, he wanted to know the truth. Even if it was just so he could get answers for Takeru and Hikari's sakes.
He followed them into the living room, throwing himself onto the couch and giving them a tired scowl. "Fine," he said sharply. "Do you want to start, or should I?"
His dad took his place in his favorite armchair, rubbing his head with one hand, and cleared his throat awkwardly. His mom sat down in the chair beside him. "Perhaps we should start," he said. "But after that, I would like to hear from you, if you feel like you can talk to us."
Daisuke nodded once, not sure if he did. Well, that wasn't true. He longed to talk to them, to feel like he could turn to his parents to protect him. Only now, he felt like he couldn't even do that. Why did they abandon me when they had to know what happened?
"You see, hon," his mom began. "Our family is… different. We aren't like everyone else. We are not fully human."
At her words, Daisuke began to feel sick to his stomach, his anger now being replaced with a sinking feeling of dread. Oh no, he thought, staring at them with wide eyes. Are they saying it's true? That I'm…. we're… like Kaz?
He swallowed, steeling himself, and waited.
It was his dad who cleared his throat, pushed passed the awkwardness, and simply thrust forward into the subject. "Son, the Motomiya come from a long line of Nephilim, both your mother's side of the family and mine. Although my side is stronger."
"Nephilim?" Daisuke asked. "What does that even mean?"
"Nephilim are the children born from a demon and a mortal," his mother replied. "Depending on what kind of demon the parent is, the child has different strengths. Our family marries two different types, and we are among one of the strongest bloodlines still remaining."
"Do you know how stupid this sounds? Oh guess what Daisuke, we're half demon!" Daisuke was truthfully, trying not to panic. Everything he had feared was coming true, and a deep hopelessness was threatening to overtake him. "If something like that was even remotely true, why wouldn't you tell me about it earlier? Why are you just saying this now?"
"Think about it," his father said. "If you knew from a young age that you were a demon, how would you treat other people? Would you care about humanity? Would you make friends with them, consider them your equals, be willing to give your life for your friends like you did when you and your friends saved both our world and the Digital World?"
His mother leaned over, taking Daisuke's hand in hers. "We have never been so proud to be your parents, Daisuke. "You proved that you can have a heart, have love, and live selflessly. You proved without a doubt that we Nephilim still have a soul. That's why we couldn't tell you or Jun the truth until the changes started to surface in you. We didn't want to compromise your growth as a person."
Daisuke listened, trying to understand. He thought back to the Digital World, to MaloMyotismon, to everything that had happened. Would he really have been able to do the things he did if he was corrupted by demonic powers? What if he had known what he was? Would he have been the same person he was today?
Or would he be like Kaz, luring people into parties where he could rape them and steal their souls? He shuddered, closing his eyes and trying not to think about that.
"What… kind of demon are we?" he asked, his mouth dry.
"I think you might already know," his dad said. "Surely you've noticed?" When Daisuke didn't reply, he cleared his throat awkwardly. "The Motomiya's are from a long line of Incubi. Demons of Lust. As such, we have a somewhat… overactive… sex drive."
Thinking back on his dreams of late, Daiske considered that the understatement of the century.
"I'm not talking about the kind of sex drive that most people understand, either. This is a little more…how should I put it…"
Daisuke's mom rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "Anything less than 'extreme' would be an understatement."
"I was going to say intense."
Daisuke groaned and covered his face with one hand. Yes, this was what he had wanted to get answered, but now in the moment he hated having to talk about it. With his parents of all people!
His mom reached over to pat his shoulder encouragingly. "Dear, if you think this is awkward for you, think about how hard it is for us to talk about. The thing is, you're a Motomiya, and you've got your father's genes, more so than mine. That's why it's really important to go over a few things with you. It's for your health and safety. And also, for the safety of your friends."
Daisuke picked up one of the couch pillows and hid his face behind it, but he didn't say anything. Despite how uncomfortable he was having to talk about this, he knew it was important. And they still had things to answer for.
"We come from an important family with strong bloodline, but we aren't like the rest of the clan," his dad said. "We pulled away from them, choosing to live out our lives as though we are regular humans. Nephilim are only half demon, we are also born of mortals, and we still have a soul. That's why we wanted to make a different life for you guys."
"When we moved out here, and didn't tell you children about what you are, it made a lot of people angry," his mother nodded. "Our status was revoked, we lost our position of authority and were outcast for a time. Even if we wanted to go back, they would not have let us. But over time, things began to change. As time goes on, the bloodlines grow weaker, and a child from each family must be chosen to commune with a full-fledged demon." Her face darkened. "The Motomiya family decided that it was time to call on us."
Realization dawned on Daisuke, and he lifted his head to look at them. "Jun," he blurted.
His mother nodded. "We managed to keep her safe by taking her on a trip with us somewhere remote. We called it "college hunting" so that you wouldn't be concerned, but truthfully, we took her away so we could tell her what she is, and warn her about what they wanted her to do. Jun decided she didn't want to become bonded with a demon. She chose to keep her soul, and we helped her to stay away so that the ritual couldn't happen."
"I remember that," Daisuke said, feeling sick to his stomach. "You guys were gone for a long time, I was staying with Takeru at the time." Before those long months, he and Takeru had still had a rocky friendship, and it was while he was staying with him that they overcame their differences and really bonded. Now, he was Daisuke true best friend.
"After that, we were cast out again. That was fine with me," his dad nodded. "We like the life we have built for ourselves, and we don't need the power that comes from being a demon. When you have people you love, none of that matters. So when we sensed that you were getting close to your awakening, we knew we had to prepare things for you."
"Prepare?" Daisuke demanded. "Prepare what?"
"Your protection," his mom said. And then, she burst into tears. "Daisuke, I'm so sorry," she wept, covering her face with her hands as tears poured down her face. "We tried to protect you, to keep anyone from knowing that you were awakening, but it was too late! We didn't know…"
She faltered and couldn't continue, so his father finished for her. "They sent someone here to keep watch, to get to you before we could. Another Incubus Nephilim from a different family, lured you in while we were getting false messages of danger from other places. We thought we were protecting you, but instead, we let you stray right into the trap." His face was filled with guilt and sadness.
"It wasn't just me that he got," Daisuke grimaced. "Takeru and Hikari…" he struggled to speak, and couldn't. He was grateful that they seemed to understand.
"I heard," his dad sighed. "The bastard called us the night it happened. Gloating, really. He was told to give us a message when he had done the deed, a summons we could not refuse. That's why we had to leave when you got back, why it took us this long to see you."
"We bargained for your soul," his mom cried. "We did everything we could, but they wouldn't accept it. There's only one way you can free yourself from him, Dai. You need to become stronger than him. You need to defeat him! If you do that…"
His dad finished for her. "You can save not only yourself, but your friends."
"How do I do that?" Daisuke pleaded. "How do I get stronger? I don't even know how to deal with what I'm going through. I don't know what I am, or how to use it. How does this even work? This whole…." Lust demon thing. He couldn't even bring himself to say it.
"Son, I think you already know the answer to that," his dad offered a wry smile. "You're an Incubus, just like me. Just like the one who owns your soul. How do you think you will get stronger?"
"Sex?" Daisuke grimaced. The blush was back on his face.
A grave nod was his reply.
"Okay so… how do I get stronger without resorting to what Kaz did? I refuse to go around sleeping with people and stealing their soul. I won't do it." He clenched his jaw in determination.
"You don't know how proud I am to hear you say that," his dad smiled. "And the good news is, you won't have to. But you will need to have sex. My advice is to get a girlfriend, someone you love. Love is more powerful than Lust, it's the only way to combat someone who has spent their entire lifetime building up strength. But it's not the only Ace up your sleeve." He leaned forward, staring into Daisuke's eyes gravely. "We are a strong family, Daisuke. My father was a true demon. The strength that flows through me and through you are much stronger than in other Nephilim. You'll have that advantage."
"I wish I could say that was reassuring."
His mother wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "There's one more thing," she said. "My side of the family. Our strength is in dreams, and nightmares. We can enter dreams, alter them, draw power from them, that sort of thing. When you guys were young, I put a blessing on you so that you would not be deceived by dreams that came from demons. But you also have that power, and you can reach out to people in your dreams and talk to them where other people cannot interfere." She smiled reassuringly. "It might help you and your friends, I doubt they will be satisfied being the pawns of a demon against their will."
"You can count on that," Daisuke said. He realized all at once that he was beginning to feel hope again. What his mom said about dreams, it made sense to him in a way he didn't understand until now. He had always been able to change his dreams when he didn't like them. MaloMyotismon couldn't deceive him with dreams, and he had even been able to go into his friend's dreams to pull them out. It had been so easy, so instinctual.
And there was the matter of his more recent dreams, changing to suit the needs of his lust. His ears burned with embarrassment, so he stopped thinking about it.
But there is hope, he thought. "I'm sorry," he said honestly. "I was so angry, thinking you guys didn't care about what happened to me. I thought you just didn't want to face me so you went off somewhere on a trip. But the truth is, you were looking out for me, and I just didn't know it. I'm sorry for getting angry."
His mother moved to sit beside him, holding him close. "I'm sorry we didn't protect you, that we didn't tell you sooner. Maybe if we had, we could have prevented this."
"And maybe you're right that I wouldn't be the same person I am now," he hugged her back. "I like who am, I wouldn't change that for the world. I don't want to think about what it would be like if I was… like Kaz."
"You aren't him, and you'll beat him," his dad said. "And we will be here for you as best we can. I just have one last word of warning."
Daisuke looked up at him, nodding resolutely.
"If a demon comes to you, a real demon, no matter what he or she says or promises you, do not give in to them," his dad ordered. "If you choose to continue the bloodline and mate with a demon, you will lose your soul for good. And nothing can bring it back."
"Well I'm a guy, it's not like I…." Daisuke felt horrified when he saw the looks in his parent's faces. "What, you're saying it doesn't matter?"
"It doesn't. They'll change your boy to suit their needs, if they wanted," his mother's face curled into a look of anger. "Promise us you will protect yourself, alright? Don't let a full demon take you."
"I won't!" he felt a shudder of revulsion snap down his spine. Hell no!
They sat and talked together for almost an hour after that, explaining things to him about what it was like to be a Nephilim. It was awkward at times, especially when his dad explained how intense his need for sex was going to be in the coming months as his true power awakened, but he bore it as best he could. It was better to know than not know.
Eventually his mom got up and went to the kitchen to cook them dinner, and his dad began to explain in more detail. "We aren't like other men," he said gravely. "That's going to be the hardest part for you, unfortunately. Have you… heard of multiple orgasms?"
"Being able to have more than one orgasm during sex?" Daisuke asked. He blushed as he thought about the occasional porn he had seen online, though he had always thought something like that was a myth. "It's not a real thing, is it?"
"Actually, it is. You see, sex has four stages that it goes through; arousal, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. When someone usually says they have 'multiple orgasms', they're simply saying that they went through that cycle more than one time during intercourse. It's much more common for women than it is for men, because men go through a refractory period where they can't get an erection for a while after they ejaculate."
Daisuke refrained from groaning. Talking about this was embarrassing, especially since he had heard all these terms before in sex education, but he kept telling himself he wanted to know.
"In your case, you will find that you experience something different," his dad added. He sounded almost apologetic. "Real multiple orgasms means that you go through the first three stages, and then either completely skip, or cut short the fourth. Instead of finding the release and relaxing period at the end, your body continues to build up tension and crave stimulation so that you hit that orgasm, again and again. For Incubi like us, it can take dozens of times before we finally hit the resolution stage. Our refractory period will either be extremely short, or we won't get to experience it unless we do orgasm several times."
Perhaps if he didn't feel so nauseous, Daisuke might have complained loudly about how awkward this was to hear this from him. Instead, all he could think about was the memories of that night, the constant rising to his peak by different people, over and over and over. He couldn't once remember hitting anything like a relaxing resolution stage. So what's he saying? That I can never have normal sex? What am I supposed to do with that?
His dad watched him in silence for a moment, as if waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, he continued speaking. "There's one other thing you need to know. Specifically, when you do reach a climax, you'll find that the feelings tend to last longer than normal. A typical orgasm lasts around ten to fifteen seconds."
Daisuke shifted uncomfortably. He distinctly remembered his climaxes lasting longer than that.
"Likely, yours will last a good twenty to thirty seconds. I understand that it can feel nice while it's happening, but you need to be very careful. If you try to experience it too often, it will start to affect you, just like a drug." His eyes grew fierce with severity. "Sex for Incubi can be just as addicting as a narcotic, and too much of it is dangerous. That's why you have to find a way to pace yourself, and only sleep with someone you actually care for a great deal. Otherwise you endanger yourself, and you turn your sex drive—which should be considered a gift—into something pointless and hurtful. You need to get stronger to rescue your friends and yourself from the other incubus, but too much too soon can make you lose your humanity. Do you understand?"
The sick feeling in his stomach only intensified, and Daisuke gripped the pillow in his hands until his knuckles were white. "I'm scared, Dad," he admitted quietly. "Everyone at school treats me differently, even my friends. I don't like it. I just want things to be normal. How do I turn off the demonic sex appeal?"
"That's something you have to discover for yourself," his dad said gently. "It's different for each and every one of us. For me, I had to fully understand my power before I could quench it. I had to choose humanity and focus on my love for your mother when the urges came. You have always been able to tap into your inner strength, even when you were a child. I am sure that when you find your confidence again, when you accept who and what you are and make your choice for how you want to live, it will come as naturally as breathing."
"I wish I could control it now," Daisuke sighed. Instead he just felt numb and afraid, and his head felt dizzy with the revelations of his family history. He was angry about what had happened to him and his friends, more than ever, and knew that he would do anything he could to save them from Kaz. If only it didn't feel so impossible.
When they ran out of things to talk about, Daisuke excused himself and went to his room. He had a lot to think about.
-o-
Takeru was in danger.
He could sense it building, more and more every day, like something that was painfully inevitable. It didn't matter that as time passed, he and Hikari began to get over the awkwardness of what had happened to them, and had managed to settle into a semi-faux state of normalcy. Kaz didn't force them to come to his parties, in fact he seemed satisfied with taking a piece of their souls and forbidding them from telling anyone. As long as they didn't try anything, he let them be to live out their lives.
It was infuriating, but Takeru knew better than to fight back without a plan. He would figure out a way to get their souls back, they'd see. For now, it was a game of patience and determination. He was never going to give up hope.
As the days went by, however, and their group relaxed and began to hang out again like they used to, he began to realize that the danger was not Kaz. It was Daisuke. No matter how hard he tried to ignore him, he knew that sooner or later, he wouldn't be able to resist any longer.
And it was all Daisuke's fault.
He was just the same as he'd always been. Energetic, playful, and a bit of a dork that liked everyone to have a good time, even if he was the brunt of the joke. He loved it when they visited the Digital World, and always found a way to get everyone to participate in random games with their digimon even when they didn't feel like playing. But that didn't matter.
Because Daisuke had changed. And bit by bit, day by day, it grew worse and worse, until everyone could sense it, most of all Takeru. It was incredibly painful to watch.
Daisuke was, without relief, sexually frustrated.
Sometimes Takeru would catch him staring at nothing, an unsatisfied scowl fixed to his face, with so much tension in his body that it seemed to hang around him like an invisible cloud. Like an aura that he could sense with his skin. Takeru would come to him, snap him out of his thoughts, and find some way to cheer him up again.
But every time, it got harder and harder to pull away, to resist the powerful magnetism that Daisuke possessed.
I really am in trouble, he thought. He was alone in his apartment, having just showered, and walked over to the couch to turn on the TV. It was Friday night, after ten, and they'd all just come back from another trip to the Digital World. Thanks to spending four hours near his red-headed friend, all he could think about was how he was getting sexually frustrated now. What was he supposed to do? He'd dumped his girlfriend after what had happened, and he didn't really like the idea of hooking up with someone just because he wanted to do it.
It was almost a relief that the phone rang, freeing him from his thoughts, and he placed it to his ear tiredly. "Hello?" he asked.
"Hi," Hikari's voice replied on the other end. "Do you… have a moment to talk?"
Takeru shifted positions so that he was lying on his back on the couch, and used the remote to turn the TV off. "Yeah," he said at once. "What's up? How are you doing?"
"Well, that's kind of why I'm calling…" her voice trailed off, and she sighed in exasperation. "Today was fun but… I'm seriously feeling like something needs to happen. Soon. If not…"
"Something needs to happen?" Takeru frowned. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"
She sighed again, more frustrated this time. "It's Daisuke," she groaned.
Takeru grimaced. "Oh," he mumbled. He wasn't even sure how to respond.
"I just worry about him. It really seems like he's suffering, and I don't know what I can do to help him. Even trying to cheer him up or get him to snap out of it is dangerous, because…" her voice trailed off into uncomfortable silence.
"No, I get it," Takeru admitted. "He's got that effect on everybody. That's probably why he's so upset, too. I don't think he wants to make us uncomfortable, either."
"I know this sounds seriously rude, and maybe even weird but… I think we need to get him to sleep with someone. If not, the next time he looks at someone with that expression…"
He nodded, even though she couldn't see him while they were talking on the phone. But he knew what she meant. He too, felt like he'd be the one ending up getting sucked in by Daisuke's sexual draw. What's even worse, is that I would rather it is me that does him, than that creep Kaz and his group.
Did that make him a creep too?
He heard someone knocking at his front door, and standing from the couch, he walked over to look through the peephole. What he saw made his stomach tighten in dread. "Hikari?" he asked, swallowing. "Can you come over?"
"What's wrong?" she asked, concern coloring her tone.
Takeru sighed, looking through the hole once more. "Daisuke's at my door. He comes over to talk sometimes, since I've told him that he's always welcome. But tonight…I just… don't really want to be alone with him."
On the other end of the call, he could hear Hikari giggling. "I'll come over," she said smugly, "and I completely understand. But it might not help. I'm feeling the same way you are."
"I guess we'll either resist him together, or give in together, then," he tried to smile. It had been intended as a joke, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he had a distinct feeling that they were true. "How soon can you get here?"
"I'll be there in fifteen minutes," she said. The line ended, and he dropped the phone on a nearby cabinet.
He opened the door with a forced smile. "Hey Daisuke," he said. "I just got off the phone with Hikari. She's coming over tonight, is that okay?"
Daisuke looked at him, his blank expression contorting into a grimace. "Yeah, that's fine," he mumbled, entering the apartment and kicking off his shoes. "I just needed to get away from home for a bit." He paused, then closed his eyes with acute exhaustion. "Jun is home for the weekend."
"Oh," Takeru smirked. He led his friend further into the house, and walked to the kitchen to find some kind of snack to offer his guest. Jun had always had a love/hate relationship with her brother, and sometimes her energy was too much for anyone to handle. With Daisuke as frustrated and tense as he was, it was pretty easy to guess that being home was not exactly a comforting thought. "Well, we can watch a movie or something. Hey, are you okay with dried squid?"
"Yeah," Daisuke called back. He sat on the floor with his head leaning back against the couch, staring listlessly up at the ceiling. He didn't move, even after Takeru came back into the room with dried squid and a few other snacks.
Takeru seated himself on the couch, absently watching the clock and wondering when fifteen minutes would be over.
"You know," Daisuke said quietly, watching his friend with a tired but intent expression, "sometimes I wish you would just stop. It's not like I don't notice."
"Stop what?" Takeru asked, not making eye contact.
Daisuke sighed, sounding depressed. "Nothing," he mumbled. "Never mind."
By the time Hikari finally arrived, Takeru felt like the tension alone would kill him. He opened the door for her with a relieved smile, and pulled her in before she could even breathe a word. "Great!" he cried, much too cheerfully. "We're all here, let's play a game or something!"
"Oh… okay?" Hikari smiled, shaking her head at him. She came over and patted Daisuke on the shoulder, greeting him as though nothing strange were going on. "So what kind of game did you two have in mind?"
"We could play Hearts," Daisuke said, his face brightening for a minute. Hikari's presence was a welcome relief to both hoys. "Takeru, you have a full deck of cards, right?"
"Hearts is better with four people," Takeru replied. He was already feeling immensely better, now that Hikari was here. The tense atmosphere had died down, and the three of them sat on the floor facing each other with smiles on their faces. This is much better, he thought. I can just enjoy spending time with my friends, like everything is normal. "How about Poker?" he asked. He reached under the coffee table where his measly collection of board games were stored, and pulled out a deck of cards. "Poker is fun."
"You don't have poker chips," Hikari pointed out.
"No wait!" Daisuke grinned, standing up and dashing into the kitchen. He came back with an unopened bag of potato chips, beaming like a kid. "Let's use these chips!"
"That is so pathetic!" Takeru groaned. "How are we supposed to tell which chips are worth more?"
"They're all worth the same amount. We play till we run out!"
"It's better than playing with money, and we're all broke anyway," Hikari giggled. "I say let's do it. And after every round, instead of keeping the chips we win, we have to eat them. We'll be done playing when we run out of chips."
"How is that fun?" Takeru asked. But seeing as it was two against one, he relented and began to shuffle the cards. "Alright fine," he chuckled. "I'll be the dealer this round. Hikari, you divvy up the chips." He waited until she'd separated three roughly equal piles of potato chips onto plates, and handed one to each of them, before he finished shuffling the deck of cards. "Alright, Five Card Stud, 3's are wild. Everyone ante up."
"Oh-ho-ho!" Daisuke grinned triumphantly, watching as Takeru laid out the five cards before he reached out and picked them up. He tossed a potato chip onto the middle of the coffee table. "I am pretty good at Poker, so you'd better watch out!"
Hikari shook her head with a roll of her eyes. Daisuke didn't know the meaning of "poker face" and they all knew it.
Sure enough, Daisuke was the first to lose his chips, and even though they allowed him to bring out more—or add dried squid to the game in what Takeru called "borrowing from the bank"—he still continued to lose badly. After two hours of playing and laughing, and generally stuffing themselves on junk food, they ran out of food items to use.
Hikari was the one dealing this time, as their joking and laughter died down to a comfortable silence. It was late, almost 1:00 AM, but none of them quite felt like ending the night yet. As she stared at the cards in her hands, shuffling them together with practiced skill, a strange expression made its way across her face. Slowly, she glanced up, observing the two boys in contemplation. "You know," she said slowly, "we could play strip poker…"
Takeru felt his good mood quickly turn into panic. He stared at Hikari with wide eyes. What the hell? He thought desperately. Why would she say that? Doesn't she know why I asked her to come over in the first place? It was to keep something weird from happening while Daisuke was here! He swallowed, trying to pretend like his heart rate had not suddenly increased.
But Hikari just smiled. It looked devious in the dim lighting of the living room. "Or are you afraid of losing?" she smirked at Takeru. She had been the reigning champion, and only began to lose on purpose when she'd gotten too full to eat anymore.
Takeru scowled at her unhappily. That's not it, he thought. The problem is that Daisuke will be the one losing. We've already established that. And he did not want to think about having Daisuke naked in his apartment…not when he was this… this hard to ignore. Damn that Daisuke. His aura is driving me crazy already! I don't need to look at his caramel skin any more than I… his thoughts trailed off into a frustrated jumble, and he hoped that no one noticed the slight bulge beginning to tent his pants. Damn! My own body is betraying me!
"Maybe not," Daisuke said, his voice distracting Takeru from his thoughts. He yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes, and stood up from where he sat, leaning against the couch. "It's pretty late. Jun is probably asleep now, so I'm going to go home and call it a night." He paused, then smiled genuinely at his friends, though they could both see the hint of distress and frustration behind the expression. "Thanks for hanging out with me tonight. I needed it."
"Dai," Takeru blurted, feeling bad but not knowing what to say. Did he know how they felt? Was that why he was leaving?
Daisuke's smile was pained. "I just keep making things worse," he said. "I want to tell you guys what I'm… what my…" his face twisted into a look of exasperation. "I don't even know how to tell you guys what I'm going through, but I want to. Just… bear with me, alright? I'm trying figure this stuff out. I'll tell you eventually. I promise."
Without waiting for a reply, he slipped on his shoes and walked out of the apartment, too quickly for Takeru to stop him and make him explain.
It had to be about what Kaz said. He is one of them, Takeru though with a grimace. That's what he is afraid to tell us. Daisuke… why don't you get it? You aren't like Kaz. You're our friend. Just talk to us.
It was easy to think those things, but much harder to speak them out loud. Wasn't that why Takeru hadn't said anything either? Why he hadn't said "I know what you are and I'm okay with it" to Daisuke yet?
I'm just as tongue tied as he is.
After he was gone, Hikari took her time putting the cards away and stacking their empty plates together. She carried them to the kitchen, then walked back and took a seat next to Takeru. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have done that."
No you shouldn't, Takeru thought. He couldn't look at her face, not when he was still trying to turn off his abrupt arousal. It isn't fair to me.
"The truth is," she said, dropping her voice to a whisper, "I secretly wanted something to happen. For a while now, every time the three of us are together, I keep wishing for it. It's driving me crazy."
Takeru swallowed, finding it even harder to keep calm. What was she saying? That she wanted something to happen between the three of them? He suddenly found it was getting hard to breathe.
"I'm really, really in danger," she groaned.
He couldn't bring himself to touch her, and focused as hard as he could on the floor of his living room. "Me too," he whispered back. Me too.
It didn't make him as relieved as he wanted it to, when she finally got up and left. He went to bed without sleeping that night.
-o-
Don't mind me, I'm just stupidly drawing things out. For fun.
~Rukatofan