Hey everyone, I'm sorry it's been so long since I last updated but I had a really hard time feeling inspired for this chapter, and then I had a couple cases of writer's block trying to push it along, and blah blah blah.
Anyway, I hope you guys like it, enjoy!
TK remained in his seat, unmoving, so deep in thought he hadn't even heard the loud screech of the bell dismissing them from class.
"TK? You better get moving or you'll be late for your next class," his math teacher called from her desk. TK looked up to see her stern, yet concerned face watching him.
"Sorry," he muttered as he grabbed his things and headed for the door.
"And TK, whatever has been going on in that head of yours, you better sort it out, you've been awfully distracted this week," she added, glaring daggers at him.
"Sorry," he repeated as he bowed his head and rushed out of the class before she could lecture him any further.
His teacher was right though, he had been awfully distracted this week, and not just in his math class, he had received similar lectures from his English and History teachers as well.
He wasn't sure why, but something was bothering him, and he couldn't figure out exactly what it even was.
It had been a week since he had broken things off with Kari, and while the two had seemingly made up, things still felt off for TK, mostly between him and his friends, as if some dark eerie cloud hovered over them whenever they were together. Sure, things seemed like they were back to normal, but in TK's mind, something had drastically changed in the group between TK and the others, and it had made the blonde feel rather unsettled.
However, they were his friends, and avoiding them was out of the question, whether he felt weird around them or not. He figured this feeling of uneasiness would pass and things would go back to the way they were supposed to be… eventually.
"Takaishi! Hall! Now!"
TK made his way to the door feeling extremely embarrassed, his face nearly as red as Sora's hair. Feeling everyone's eyes upon him he carefully opened the door and slipped out as quickly as possible, closing it silently behind him.
He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the cold floor of the hallway and proceeded to stare at his shoes.
He thought his History teacher had been rather harsh to send him out to the hall, but then again, this had been the third time this week he had been reprimanded for not paying attention in class. TK wasn't particularly fond of History, he wasn't bad at it, but he found the subject to be rather dull most of the time, and with a teacher whose voice could cure insomnia, it was rather difficult to pay attention most days.
He sat quietly, waiting for the bell to ring, dreading yet another lecture from his History teacher about his wandering mind.
"Motomiya! Hall! Now!"
TK looked up to the door across from him upon hearing the voice of a rather angry teacher shouting. The door opened and Davis carefully made his way into the hall. He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor in a similar manner as to what TK had done moments ago.
Davis looked in TK's direction and gasped when he saw the blonde sitting in the hall across from him.
"TK? What are you doing out here?" he asked quietly, trying his best not to draw the wrath of his teacher once more.
"Wasn't paying attention in class."
"Haha, Mr. Perfect got sent out to the hall," Davis sneered.
TK rolled his eyes and breathed a heavy sigh, "Oh yeah? What did you do this time Davis?" he asked nonchalantly, feeling rather unsurprised that Davis had been sent out to the hall.
Davis blushed, "I was trying to ask Kari something so I threw a ball of paper to get her attention but uh… I kinda missed and hit the teacher."
TK snickered, trying his best to keep it stifled, but was unable to when he saw the blush creep up Davis' cheeks in embarrassment.
"Keep it quiet blondie, or else you'll get me in even more trouble," Davis hissed standing up and slowly peeking into the classroom to make sure the teacher was not coming his way before sitting down again and breathing a sigh of relief. TK silenced his giggles as best he could until Davis gave him a final glare and the blonde snapped quiet, feeling his own cheeks heat up in embarrassment.
The boys conversed quietly for a few minutes, talking about their classes and their current goings on in their lives, including TK's mother's big trip for her job before reminiscing about their more dangerous adventures in the Digital World.
Davis made a move and finally asked what had been on his mind for the past week, "so TK… why did you and Kari break up?"
TK shifted uncomfortably before muttering a half-assed answer under his breath, hoping Davis would change the subject and forget it. Davis, seeming to get the hint, looked away and focussed his attention on a couple girls gossiping at the end of the hallway.
The two boys sat in complete silence for a moment, the only sounds coming from their respective classrooms, and the clacking of another teacher's heels coming from down the hall.
Davis heaved a bored sigh and stared down the hallway. TK watched the burgundy-haired boys' eyes wander and once again felt his face warm up. He couldn't explain it, but for some reason he didn't feel weird around Davis the same way he had been feeling all week when he had been with everyone else. He felt like he could talk to Davis, be around him, without all of his thoughts consuming him, as if that dark ominous cloud had left the two of them alone.
The bell rang signalling the end of the period and Davis and TK quickly stood up backs to the walls as their classes emptied. Kari gave TK a worried glance as she walked past him and rolled her eyes when she saw Davis on the opposite wall. Davis' teacher called him from his classroom and Davis obediently followed. TK felt a hand on his shoulder and followed his teacher into the classroom, unhappily awaiting the upcoming monotonous lecture to follow.
Davis and TK made their way towards the table with their friends carefully weaving through the students and chairs with their full trays. Davis nimbly dodged an apple that a member of the soccer team threw at his head before smiling back at them and giving them the finger, nearly dropping his tray in the process.
A dark-haired girl from TK's class cut in front of the two boys blocking their path, "Hi TK," she said, smiling at the blonde.
"Uh… h-hi," he stammered uncomfortably.
"So, I uh, heard you and Kari broke up."
"You're only hearing this now?" Davis interjected, "Jeez, that's old news, Yolei spread that around school on Monday before classes even started."
The girl turned and scowled at Davis before turning her attention back to TK. "I was wondering if you'd like to hang out after school with me."
TK blushed and cleared his throat before finally mumbling out a response, "Well, uh… that's very nice, but uh… I'm kinda busy tonight with homework a-and stuff."
The girl understood the hint and simply turned on her heel angrily leaving the two boys standing there.
"Why did you say no?" Davis asked, "that girl is on the cheerleading squad and it's rumoured she puts out on the first date too."
TK rolled his eyes, "look Davis, I've had girls asking me all week since Yolei opened her big mouth about me and Kari, and I'm just not that interested in any of them."
"Meh, whatever, your loss."
The two finally made it to the table and sat down. Kari gave TK a disapproving look and TK could feel the ominous cloud return as Yolei and Ken joined the brunette girl in staring him down. The boy sunk into his seat feeling as if he was about to be interrogated.
"What?!" he finally asked as their stares continued for what he considered to be much longer than normal.
The three averted their gaze from the blonde and went back to eating their lunches and conversing amongst themselves as if there was nothing wrong, though TK could still feel them staring at him again every so often.
"Hey… TK… watch this," Davis whispered to him. TK looked on as Davis grabbed an orange and chucked it across the cafeteria to hit the soccer team goalie square in the back of the head, splitting on impact and splattering several team mates around him. Angry shouts and cusses were echoed back towards the boy who was too busy holding his sides in pain from laughing.
TK had joined Davis in the laughter, doubled over in pain as he held his sides and tried to calm down. As he tried to catch his breath a thought came to him; normally he would have scowled at Davis' immature pranks or rolled his eyes at his idiocy, but today, for some reason, he felt comfortable with Davis acting like a child and was actually enjoying it.
Davis' laughter was soon silenced by a kick under the table from Yolei directed at his shin. "OW! Yolei, what the hell? Can't a guy have any fun around here?"
"You're sixteen Davis, act like it. And since when did you laugh at Davis' stupid stunts TK? Don't tell me you're turning into him… getting kicked out of class, spacing out, Kari told me you barely passed your last math test… what is up with you?" Yolei questioned angrily.
A fire suddenly erupted inside him, and before he knew what he was doing he had stood up, slamming his hands upon the table.
"Why is it any of your business, huh? Why can't you leave people alone for once Yolei, why do you have to butt your big nose into other people's lives?" he shouted angrily, causing everyone in the cafeteria to turn in their direction.
Yolei stood up to meet TK's angry gaze with one of her own, "Hey, don't get mad at me I'm only trying to-"
"To what Yolei? Help? You don't help, you just like to insert yourself into everyone's lives because you think you can and nobody will say no to you. Well here I am, I'm saying no, so why don't you just mind your own business you obnoxious bitch!"
A loud smack echoed through the cafeteria as Yolei's hand made contact with TK's face. Kari gasped. Ken stood up to hold Yolei back from striking their friend more than once. Davis stood, blocking TK in case Yolei attempted another swing. TK simply stood there, silent. The room was coated with an unnatural silence.
The bell ending lunch rang through the school. TK exited the cafeteria as eyes from every direction followed his movement towards the doors and into the hallway. Soon the sound of chairs scraping the floors was heard as everyone followed suit, making their way out of the cafeteria and flooding into the school hallways. The four friends remained there briefly in silence, before awkwardly making their separate ways to their lockers.
"Davis!" Kari called, running to catch up to the boy.
"What?" Davis asked sullenly.
"You and TK have gym next, right?"
"So?"
"Sooo, could you please talk to him? There's something wrong and I'm worried."
"Why would he talk to me? We aren't exactly best friends. Why can't you talk to him?"
"Because, we haven't really been talking this week, he's just been really distant. You've noticed it too, right?"
"Not really."
"Well, you two seem to have gotten really chummy all of a sudden, so why don't you just talk to him and see, okay?"
"Fine. But you better talk to Yolei, she was way out of line."
"Well so was TK."
"Yeah well he was right, Yolei needs to learn to keep out of other people's business sometimes."
Kari frowned angrily and turned her back as she left for her next class. Davis watched her go before making his way to the changing rooms for class.
Davis looked over to his friend and comrade. The bright red handprint still fresh on his pale skin. Davis had made his best effort to talk to TK, but TK had been making an even better effort at avoiding everyone, including Davis, as their class ran laps around the gymnasium. Whenever Davis caught up, TK would speed up and distance himself further. Davis decided to wait until their teacher let them stop to catch their breath.
"Ok class, everyone take a breather, then get into pairs and grab a football. Practice passing and catching until you can both be standing on opposite sides of the gym without dropping the ball," the teacher blew his whistle to signal the start to their exercise.
Davis ran up to TK finally hoping to get two words out of the blonde. TK grabbed a football, took a few steps back and threw it as hard as he could at Davis. Unprepared for the throw, Davis ducked avoiding the football which then hit their teacher in the back.
"Who threw that?!" he shouted angrily, looking around at the scared adolescent faces.
Davis ran up to the teacher, looking up into his extremely intimidating face. Word around the school was that he had been a drill sergeant, dismissed for killing a private who disobeyed his orders.
"It was my fault sir, TK threw the ball and I ducked and-"
"Office! Now! Both of you!" he shouted. Davis cowered then felt a tug on his shirt as TK began pulling him towards the door, unquestioning of his punishment.
Davis stared at TK as they made their way to the office. He didn't say a word as TK told the secretary why they were there and the two sat together quietly waiting for the principal to show her cranky, wrinkled face.
Davis had sat here on multiple different occasions, and dreaded having a lecture from the principal on every of those occasions. Her terrifying face staring him down, the millions of wrinkles furrowing her brow as she arched her eyebrows and yelled her disapproval at his disobedience.
This time however, Davis was enthralled by TK. He couldn't understand what was going on in the blonde's head. He understood now what Kari had been talking about. TK had been acting different, not just today, but the entire week. He hadn't really been paying attention to it, although, he didn't pay attention to most things that weren't sports, television or video games, but, it was true. Something was wrong with TK. He sat there next to him, completely stone-faced, as if he wasn't worried whatsoever of what was to come. It was like he didn't even care.
He was about to ask TK if he was alright when the principal appeared in the doorway, "Mr. Motomiya! Why am I not surprised to see you hear again?! What did you do this time, hmm? Break another window? Another door? … Another toilet?" Her dark eyes peeked over her thick glasses, boring through Davis.
"It was my fault ma'am," came TK's quiet voice.
The principal, startled by the unfamiliar voice, looked past Davis to see the blonde sitting there. "Umm… well, uh… both of you please come into my office so we can discuss this." She waved her hand motioning the two boys to lead the way into her small office.
"Are you gonna tell me what's up?" Davis asked TK, his voice echoing off the changing room walls.
"What are you talking about?" the blonde responded as he began changing into his regular clothes.
"I'm talking about the fact that you've been acting weird all week, and especially today, I mean, what was with that outburst? I've never seen you act like this dude."
"Yeah, well, it's none of your business. Why do you even care? Half the time we can't even stand each other's guts. Why are you so concerned about me all of a sudden?"
TK felt a hand grip tightly around his arm, Davis was stood mere inches from TK as he pulled the blonde to look him squarely in the face.
"Because, TK, you're my friend," Davis stated, and TK could tell he was being completely sincere, the concern was written all over his face, "I know we don't always get along, but we're friends and fellow Digidestined, so we always have to have each other's backs. So please… tell me what's wrong."
TK bowed his head, he could feel all his feelings beginning to bubble up inside of him. He wanted to let them gush out like a geyser and tell Davis everything he had been feeling over the last week. All of the hurt and confusion. All of the pain and anguish. How he had spent every night of the last week laying in bed for hours, pondering why everything felt so wrong to him and how he would eventually cry himself to sleep. How he couldn't explain why his best friend, the girl he had used to think he would spend the rest of his life with, suddenly didn't invoke those feelings anymore.
"Davis, I-," his thought was interrupted by the screech of the bell, "I'll tell you later," he rushed as he shoved on his shoes and ran to the door.
"TK wait!" Davis shouted.
"What is it?" the blonde asked, his hand hovering on the door handle.
"Thanks for your fast-talking back there. You really saved my ass."
"Hey, you didn't deserve to be punished for that, it was my fault. Good thing I'm in her good books and was able to keep us both out of trouble." He smiled as he pulled the door open and quickly passed through it, leaving Davis alone in the humid changing room to mull over his thoughts before quickly realizing how late he was for his next class.
"Oh shit!" he cursed under his breath as he skipped changing and decided to hurry to his class. TK wouldn't be there to talk him out of another lecture from the principal if he was late for class… again.
"TK!" came a shout from down the hallway. TK groaned and bowed his head defeated as he slammed his locker shut. Even from the opposite end of the hall and surrounded by the drone of voices around him, he could still clearly hear Davis calling his name as if the boy had been standing right next to him.
TK watched as a mop of burgundy hair weaved its way through the crowd of students, popping up above the other heads as Davis jumped up to make sure TK was still at his locker.
When he finally reached the blonde, Davis paused for a moment to catch his breath before cheerfully smiling and asking, "So TK, what'cha doing?"
"Going home," he responded curtly.
"I was thinking, why don't we hang out this weekend?" Davis asked, his smile never faltering even with TK's not so cheerful mood.
"Why?" TK asked, feeling rather unsure with Davis' desire to be around him all of a sudden.
"Why?" Davis repeated, confused by TK's reaction, as if hanging out with him were an absolute honour and that anybody would have been flattered.
"Yeah, Why?" TK repeated once more, "Let me guess… Ken is too busy to hang out, Cody has his kendo tournament this weekend, and all the other Digidestined are preoccupied, so you're asking your last resort since you're bored."
Davis felt a little hurt by TK's comment, but at the same time, most of what he had said was true. Ken and Cody were unavailable this weekend, and it seemed, so was everyone else. However, his intentions for asking the blonde had been completely sincere.
"Because, we've been friends for how long? Four years, now? And yet we've never actually spent time together, just the two of us."
TK thought this over. It was true. Sure, they had become closer friends since their battle against Malomyotismon, even though they continued to make friendly jabs at the other's expense. They had heated arguments every so often as well, though they had never come to blows again.
But Davis was right. They had become much better friends, but they had never actually spent time together unless they were with the others.
"Well?" Davis asked, excitedly anticipating TK's response, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "how about it TK?"
A smile crossed the blonde's face. The idea actually excited him and made him feel cheerful again.
"Sure."
Davis practically rocketed off the ground in excitement, "This is gonna be awesome. A whole weekend just hanging out, video games, junk food. This is gonna be so much fun." He ceased his jumping momentarily as a thought dawned on him, "Wait… aren't you all alone at home right now… y'know, you're mom is still on her trip?"
"Yeah… why do you ask?"
Davis' excitement hit a new level and TK thought the burgundy-haired boy was about to explode.
"Why don't I come over tonight? We could have, like, a sleepover?"
"I'm not so sure about that," TK responded, shifting his weight uncomfortably, feeling somewhat unsure about the whole idea now.
"Oh, come on dude. It must get kinda lonely being there all by yourself. And I mean, your mom doesn't have to know about it, and I promise I won't make a mess or break anything. I'll be the perfect houseguest. Digidestined Honour," he added as he ended his plea, placing his hand upon his chest in a mock pose.
TK chuckled at Davis' enthusiasm before finally giving in, "Okay, fine. But you have to promise to not act like a bull in a china shop, making all kinds of ruckus at all hours of the night. And, you have to chip in for half of the pizza we order."
"Deal," he said as he reached out his hand to shake TK's, which the blonde happily accepted. "I'll see you tonight TJ!" he shouted as he ran off down the hallway.
TK laughed again as another smile crossed his lips. Maybe this was just the kind of thing he needed right now to help him get his mind off things.
Thanks everyone for being so patient with me, I promise the next couple chapters will come out a lot quicker than this one did. They're already mostly planned out they just need to be made out now.
And thanks to everyone who has read/reviewed/liked/favourited this story, it means a lot knowing that you guys are liking it so far.
And for those of you who have been reading but haven't commented, it would mean a lot to me if you did, even if it's just a few words, every comment let's me know you want me to keep going with this.
I also might start working on additional works that are more adventure based, or maybe even a Taito (Tai/Matt), or another Daikeru fic I want to write, if you guys are interested let me know.