Bonus or Bust

Author's Note: Set during episode 18 of Digimon Adventure 02. Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Digimon series.

Pairings: Established Daisuke x Takeru. Referenced one-sided (canon) Daisuke x Hikari, one-sided (canon) Jun x Yamato.

Summary:

Takaishi Takeru chooses the most inappropriate time to come out to his brother and father, and scores a new computer for his troubles.

In the commons area outside Fuji TV station, Ishida Hiroaki lounged with his sons at a café. Yamato and Takeru had sprung a whopper on him last minute.

"I'm your camp chaperone?" The words sounded crazier out loud than in his brain. He had the offhand urge to light a cigarette in defiance of the crisp night air, yet passed up the habit, as his youngest was present.

"Please! I already promised everybody! Oyaji, didn't you mention accumulating a ton of paid leave days?" his older son begged.

It was imperative they secure his cooperation. The Chosen Children resolved not to come back to the Real World until they levelled the Digimon Kaiser's base. This camping trip provided their cover, the perfect excuse to divert suspicions as to the nature of their ultimate goal in the Digital World.

This was the final inning of the game. They were determined to win.

Hiroaki loosened his tie. Figures he'd be the one left holding the ball. Juxtaposed against the parents of Yamato and Takeru's friends, he was the soundest choice. None of them screamed "wilderness professional." Hiroaki, by contrast, could be misconstrued for a woodsman wandering out the backwater, what with his haggard clothes and superficially surly comportment. Truthfully, he was rather moved his boys came to him. It would have even been flattering had it not been such a flipping imposition out of left field.

"Gimme a break…"

"Hey, hey." Takeru tapped his father's shoulder. "This may be a bad time, but we don't have many opportunities to be together like this, the three of us, so I might as well get it over with now."

Hiroaki and Yamato blinked in unison.

"I'm seeing someone."

"A girlfriend, huh?" Yamato swilled his coffee.

"Don't worry. He could never replace you. I still love you the most," Takeru teased, reading his mind.

"He?"

"Mm. I'm seeing a guy."

"Who is it? Lemme at him!" Yamato mode changed into Yamato: Big Brother Form.

"He's someone you've met."

Yamato mentally ticked boxes in the checklist of possible suspects.

"It's not Iori, is it?"

Iori-kun? The heck, Niichan. Takeru bristled. "It's Daisuke-kun!"

"Da-Da-Da-Da-Daisuke! Okay, where's my guitar? I'm conking him over the head with it!"

"Because you disapprove of me?"

"No, because it's Daisuke of all people! Standards, Takeru! You can do so much better than him!"

"Am I mistaken? Fetching looks run in our family. That's why the Motomiyas can't resist when we're involved, Oniichan," he flouted cheekily.

"I thought Daisuke had a crush on Hikari-chan."

"Oh that. He used to, but since we hooked up, he just goes gaga for her 'cause he thinks it makes me jealous."

"It doesn't?"

"Nah, Hikari-chan and I like turning it around and making him jealous, in fact."

For a pair partnered with angel Digimon, Takeru and Hikari could be remarkably devious.

"If you make good on that pledge to Jun, we can double date!"

"I didn't pledge her anything," he grumbled. "I still haven't pummelled Daisuke for roping me into that date to begin with! And it's never gonna happen, Takeru! Take Daisuke out if you wish, but keep his sister away from me, before she forces me into something we all regret, and you and I wind up brothers-in-law to each other!"

"Hahaha, I see your point."

"I suppose your constant fighting is for show, then."

"Nope, that's authentic. Daisuke-kun's a handful, but we always make up in the end. Or make out."

"Ugh, I don't wanna hear this!" Yamato tried to bar the images of his wide-eyed kid brother getting fresh with Motomiya Daisuke from finding real estate in his imagination. Lamentably, his opposition floundered more sloppily than a Gesomon run aground, and the grody horror picture of a devil-horned Daisuke harassing his poor, helpless sibling in the school computer lab insinuated his skull.

"Don't all couples fight, Tosan?" Takeru grilled his dad, pooh-poohing Yamato's hammy hangdog overreaction.

"I guess that'd be about accurate. Is your mother aware of this?"

"Yeah, Okasan knows. Daisuke-kun's stayed over a lot. We've been working on a scale model of the Village of Beginnings."

"Takeru, spare us the details!" Yamato griped. He could do without the euphemisms.

"A diorama, Niichan!" Man, those three years Yamato had on him withered his perspective. It wasn't as if kissing was the only activity he and Daisuke engaged in. They frequently attended one another's sporting matches.

"I meant this camping trip, Takeru. Have you told Natsuko?"

"Not yet. I'll fill her in once I return home."

"Then it's decided. Yamato, you've got yourselves a chaperone," Hiroaki declared.

The business of cementing their foolproof alibi concluded, Takeru tackled the elephant in the room, pestering his brother and father, "So, what's the judgment on my relationship with Daisuke-kun?"

Wisely, he gave them a second to gather their bearings.

"It's hard for me to admit it, but you've grown, Takeru. Despite my opinion of Daisuke, I'll stand by you," the elder blond swore. "Unless he breaks your heart. He hurts you, and I'll knock him into orbit!"

"Oniichan." Takeru welcomed his candour, though he decried the idea of Yamato roughing up his little buffalo – a nickname he'd recently landed on.

Which left his pa.

"It's your life to live, and I'm not telling you any different," Hiroaki affirmed. "Whatever you need, I'll support you."

"Funny you should say that..."

Uh oh. That waggish, pleading face. Was it too late to change his answer?

"You received a bonus this month, right?"

The Gachapin dino mascot sitting a table behind them spilled his drink at Hiroaki's sudden yelped response.

"You want me to buy you a new computer too!"