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When the lights went out, Daisuke wasn't tired.
He'd wanted to be friends with Ken ever since he'd met him on the soccer pitch months ago, ignoring that little Kaiser hiccup, of course, and now—finally—Ken was here in his home, going to sleep on his bedroom floor, despite an awkward start to the evening and an even more uncomfortable dinner with his family.
Daisuke was roiling with energy, bouncing off the walls, even if he had to do it in the silent room.
"Goodnight, Motomiya," Ken said from the floor before rolling over, Leafmon in his long arms.
Daisuke said goodnight too, but he didn't really mean it. He was far too awake to sleep yet, too riled up, too ecstatic, too high on the fact that Ken was here.
His heart wouldn't stop beating, harder and faster in his chest.
The blankets on the futon shifted. "Motomiya?"
He swallowed. "Yeah?"
"Aren't you tired?"
Daisuke glanced over at Chicomon, already snoring, but as much as he knew he needed to join his partner in sleep, he didn't want to miss a moment with Ken.
"Maybe a little," he ceded, then twisted in the blankets to look right at him. "Not really."
Ken smiled softly, barely discernible in the darkness.
Daisuke's heart wrenched at the sight. He wanted to make Ken smile again and again. It didn't happen often enough.
"Do you…?" Ken hesitated. "Do you want me to keep you company? Maybe it'll help you relax."
But Daisuke couldn't ask him to do that, couldn't ask him to sacrifice his sleep for him when they both needed the rest. They'd go up against BlackWarGreymon again tomorrow, and the last thing they wanted was to be too exhausted to fight.
"Nah," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. "One of us should get some sleep. For when we head to the Digital World tomorrow."
Ken nodded, then twisted to look around, his movements sharp and jittery. "Do you…do you have a nightlight or something?"
Daisuke frowned.
He knew the apartment like the back of his hand and hadn't been scared of the dark in years…or ever, really. He'd never been scared by much of anything.
But Ken…maybe Ken was.
Daisuke glanced around the dark room, trying to think of something. In the end, he pushed up on his knees and leaned over his desk to flip on his lamp. It was…pretty bright under the circumstances, but he curled the cover down so it didn't light up the whole room and settled back down. "There," he declared happily, pulling his blankets back up, letting the headboard block most of the light.
Under the lamplight, Ken's face was soft and surprised and tinged pink. "Thank you."
Daisuke could only grin at him—and feel reassured Ken could actually see it now.
Ken wetted his lips, glancing down and away. "What do you normally do when you have trouble falling asleep?"
He shifted to lie flat on his back and stare upward, the light from his desk lamp emphasizing the inconsistencies in the ceiling. "I guess I normally just...lay here and think," he said slowly. "Let my mind wander, you know?"
Sometimes, his mind wandered a bit more than it should, returning again and again to that afternoon in the desert, to the moment their heartbeats had aligned and he knew Ken was what he'd been missing in his life. Ken was the most important person in that moment and every moment thereafter. Ken was everything.
"And that helps you sleep?"
Ken's soft voice was suddenly jarring in the quiet of the room, and Daisuke shifted to look at him again, his gentle features lit up in the lamplight.
Most of the time, it didn't help him sleep.
In the two months since they'd first experienced Jogress evolution, Daisuke had spent too long thinking about the way their hearts beat as one, how they aligned body and heart and mind. The weight of it, the weight of their connection, made him feel uncomfortably hollow when they weren't twisted and linked and utterly entwined through Jogress, their souls fused into one.
No, thinking about Ken usually kept him awake.
Daisuke shrugged. "What about you? What do you do when you can't sleep?"
Ken chewed his lip and looked away. "I don't…I don't generally have trouble falling asleep."
"But staying asleep?"
Big blue-violet eyes darted in his direction before shifting away again. "Nightmares…I get nightmares a lot." He cleared his throat, gathering himself together. "I hope I don't wake you."
Daisuke shrugged. "Getting woken up by you, Ichijouji? There are worse things that could happen."
Ken curled onto his side, amusement flashing in his eyes. "Why's that?"
"Because," Daisuke declared easily, "we're partners! And if there's anything I can do to help make the nights a little easier, if I can help at all…well, that's what I should do. Friends, comrades, partners—we help each other."
The amusement slid from Ken's face to be replaced by something, an emotion Daisuke didn't quite understand, and Ken twisted away, curling onto his opposite side.
Had that been too far? Daisuke never really could tell with Ken.
He collapsed back on his bed and let his eyes fall shut, trying not to get lost in thoughts about Ken, about the long moment Ken had threaded their fingers together under the table and accepted his touch as comfort during what could only be classified as an awkward dinner, about the pretty blush on Ken's cheeks when Jun had made more snide comments when Daisuke had offered Ken his pajamas to wear. He tried not to get lost in thoughts about Ken and failed horribly.
"Then…" Ken cleared his throat, catching his attention again. "Then, how can I help you in return?"
Daisuke frowned. "You don't owe me anything."
"But—" A soft sigh sounded around the room. "I want to reciprocate. We can keep talking or…?"
"You're already keeping me company when I told you to go to sleep." Daisuke shook his head, though he appreciated the camaraderie. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, Ken."
For a moment, Ken didn't say anything.
"But I…" Daisuke hesitated.
His heart was already on display every time they Jogressed, earnest and open for Ken to understand. Talking about it now seemed particularly silly, even useless considering how much he struggled to convey their connection with words.
"But I'd like that," he said, pushing up on his elbows and turning to look directly at Ken again, still curled up and facing the opposite direction. "You know, I didn't invite you over here because I wanted to talk about BlackWarGreymon. But I didn't think you'd come over otherwise. I just wanted—"
Ken started shaking.
Daisuke worried he'd gone too far, been too open about his feelings. He worried he was scaring Ken off.
Like before.
But Ken rolled onto his back again, opened his mouth, and released a soft peel of laughter that felt overwhelmingly loud and powerful in the night. It took a moment for that laughter to fade, but when he turned to meet Daisuke's gaze, in its place was a gentle smile that made Daisuke's heart flip-flop in his chest.
"I know."
The absolute fondness in Ken's eyes was completely unwarranted and it turned Daisuke's brain into goo.
"You do?"
Ken leveled him with an unwavering stare, and the light reflecting in his eyes was utterly mesmerizing. "Motomiya, you asked me over for dinner—but by the time Miyako-san and Hikari-san went home, I needed to call my mother to ask to stay the night too."
Daisuke winced. "Sorry."
But Ken's face shifted into a pretty smile again. "I-I'm glad. This is all new to me, but I'm glad you asked."
The words, soft and quiet and shy, made Daisuke feel a little light-headed, made him glow with pleasure at the admission.
"Besides," Ken said, amusement tugging at his pink lips, "there are worse things that could happen than you tricking me into spending the night."
A bright flush covered Daisuke's cheeks. "I didn't—"
Ken laughed again. "You most definitely did."
When Ken laughed, Daisuke didn't mind that he was wrong. He didn't mind that Ken was calling him out on—maybe, just a tiny bit—manipulating him into spending more time together. He didn't mind any of that.
Because Ken's laugh was intoxicating.
It was addictive. Daisuke wanted to hear his laugh every day for the rest of his life, wanted to be the one making Ken laugh for the rest of his life.
"Okay," he said, eyes glued to Ken's lips, hoping he'd get to make him laugh again before they fell asleep. "Okay, I did."
By the time Ken fell asleep, Daisuke had.
Every time Ken's laughter had chimed around the room in the dead of night, Daisuke's heart had squeezed just a bit tighter. Every time, Daisuke had promised himself one more. He needed to make Ken laugh one more time before he'd be able to fall asleep.
Ken had fallen asleep first, no longer able to keep his eyes open. But in that final half hour, his laughter had come more freely, he'd been more open and earnest, unable to restrain himself in his tiredness.
Daisuke was still riding the high.
He waited to make sure Ken was good and truly asleep before shifting and turning off his desk lamp again, letting the dark of night fill the room again. Hopefully, Ken would sleep the night through—and if he did have nightmares, Daisuke would happily chase them away—and in the morning, the sunlight would shine through the curtains and light up the room for him.
And Ken curled up on his bedroom floor, the sunlight shining on him and lighting up the curves and planes of his pretty face—there were worse things to wake up to.