Story Title: Cure For Boredom
Characters: Ken, Daisuke||Pairing: Ken x Daisuke Chapters: 1-1||Words: 3,512
Genre: Angst||Rated: G
Challenge: Diversity Writing, Ken x Daisuke/Kaiser x Daisuke claim, G22, K rated; One Ship Boot Camp, #8, mitigation; DaiKen Week 2017, day #5, angst/hurt/comfort
Notes: This is set in the Take To The Skies universe, so Daisuke has wings and at this point in time is Kaiser's prisoner. This is more angst than hurt/comfort. It's gonna be a while before Daisuke has any hope of real comfort, but plenty of hurt...
Summary: Daisuke wants to do something that's not sit around in Kaiser's room all day. So when Kaiser offers the chance to go outside, he takes it. Very few things are what they appear to be, and Kaiser's tricks are more subtle than most.

Daisuke looked so miserable, slumped on the floor, his wings held tightly against his back. Kaiser would've felt sorry for him, if he weren't still furious about Daisuke's escape attempt. Three weeks and he still hadn't completely cooled down over that.

He's learning, though.

Daisuke hadn't done much since his master retrieved him to get on the Kaiser's bad side. He did what he was told with little argument – which sort of disappointed Kaiser, because what he liked most about Daisuke, aside from his lovely wings, was how the fire burned so strong in him.

The fire still smoldered, but not quite as bright as it had once been, and Kaiser wondered how he could fan it to the heights again.

Perhaps not all the way. But this sullen little thing isn't the pet that I want.

He wanted Daisuke to stand beside him, to burn in the directions that Kaiser wanted him to burn, to eagerly and willingly throw himself into Kaiser's arms, to fly and always return to his perch at the Kaiser's side, where he properly belonged.

And I won't get that if he's depressed all the time.

That annoyed Kaiser more than anything. He'd done all that he could to impress upon Daisuke that he could earn favors by being obedient, and yet it didn't seem to really take.

He examined his situation for a few moments. The Chosen still came and went, but he could predict where they'd go by now, and even steer it to a degree. He couldn't guess where they'd choose to go on any given day, but he could figure out which places they were most likely to go, either to search for him, Daisuke, or his base, or to try to cause him trouble somewhere – probably in the hopes that he or Daisuke would turn up there.

But if he set up something almost guaranteed to lure them to a given place, then they would be occupied for as long as he chose to keep them that way. He could set up at least a dozen waves of slaves to attack them. Not enough to overwhelm them – he didn't want to end the game so soon and he would prefer it to happen when Daisuke stood next to him freely – but just enough so they couldn't recover and couldn't escape.

And while they were thusly occupied, he had plans for what he would be doing with Daisuke. Or perhaps, what Daisuke would be doing with him.

Daisuke smoldered. Daisuke wanted to scream and shout and struggle and do things, to find a way to so much as cause Kaiser an inconvenience. Being chained to a pole in Kaiser's bedroom – he hated the thought of that but it was a cold reality – didn't give him many real chances to inconvenience his captor.

He knew why he was kept like this. He couldn't have missed it. He'd made an attempt to escape: a successful attempt. But Kaiser tracked him down and took him back, and as much as Daisuke hated to even think like that, it hurt.

Kaiser threatened his wings.

He knew in his heart that Kaiser would never clip them to the point they couldn't be used again, no matter how much he threatened that very thing. Half of why Kaiser wanted him was his wings. But to hear that threat, to know that Kaiser would clip them until his next molt, when a new set of flight feathers would grow in – that he didn't even want to think about.

Even less, he wanted to think about Kaiser's hands on his wings at all, because he needed to groom himself, to get his feathers properly taken care of, and he couldn't reach around to do it, and pulling them in front still left parts of them untouched, and only someone else could really do a good job.

He'd had help before. Jun helped; she was really good with grooming his wings. Once Hikari helped, just the summer before all of this happened. Taichi-san had helped a year or so earlier, and that had been when he'd learned about the Digital World.

But now the only help he could imagine would be Kaiser, and that was so far on his do not want list that it probably made up most of it. He didn't want Kaiser's hands on him, especially not on his wings. Bad enough the guy kissed him. He made a point of doing so every night, along with a caress of his wings. That wasn't grooming, but it was still something Daisuke didn't want, and Kaiser didn't care what he didn't want, and took what he wanted.

Just like he'd taken Daisuke and refused to let him go.

Daisuke stifled the sigh he wanted to make and stared down at the polished steel floor. I want to fly.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there when the door opened and Kaiser stalked in. That was the only word to use for it. Kaiser didn't walk like anyone else might have. He flowed. He prowled. He stalked. He was a wild beast and he made no secret of it.

And now he stalked over to Daisuke and lifted his head.

"Are you bored?"

Of all the questions that he might've asked, Daisuke really hadn't thought to hear that one. He blinked a little and answered without thinking.

"Yeah."

He was. Seeing only the inside of Kaiser's quarters, and not being able to get close enough to anything to affect any of it – he couldn't even rearrange Ken's underwear, for Heaven's sake! - drove him absolutely wild and bored him near to tears all at the same time.

Kaiser reached around to unlock the chains that kept him bound there. He didn't remove the collar or leash – not that Daisuke expected him to – but he did pick the leash up and tug Daisuke to his feet.

"We're going to have a little outing today," Kaiser told him. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Daisuke twitched. Every part of him twitched, from his eyes to his wings. He stared at Kaiser in distrust. "What are you up to?"

Kaiser frowned down at him. "I'm taking you out on a trip. Do you not want to go?"

Out. Outside of the fortress. Daisuke's heart-rate picked up. He might get a chance to spread his wings. He would at least get fresh air! Not like that little room where he could fly but it wasn't the same thing. He couldn't touch the sky there.

"I want to!" He'd almost do anything Kaiser wanted for this, and it wasn't until they were halfway out of the fortress before he wondered just what the Kaiser would want for it.

Because he would want something. If Daisuke had learned nothing else, he'd learned that during his months here. Whatever Kaiser did to him that could even remotely be considered as 'nice', there was something else behind it.

"So what's your thing today?" Daisuke finally brought himself to ask once he saw the familiar takeoff area, where the AirDramon rested in between missions.

Kaiser didn't bother looking back at him. "What do you mean, my 'thing'?" He sounded sort of amused, which Daisuke didn't take as a good thing. He didn't take a lot of anything the Kaiser said or did as a good thing.

"You want something. So what is it?"

Now Kaiser did look at him. "I want what I've always wanted out of you: for you to understand and accept that you're mine and that's never going to change. And since you are my pet, I would hardly be a proper master if I just let you rot away, would I?"

Daisuke wanted so much to just jump over there and strangle Kaiser on the spot. He even started to shift that way, before catching sight of the leash and remembering how much pain Kaiser could dish out.

It went against every grain of his body and mind, but he held himself back and stuck to talking.

"So, you're just taking me for a walk?" Like an animal. Like a pet.

Kaiser stopped and waited for Daisuke to catch up with him. Daisuke stayed out of reach – for all the good it would do if Kaiser really wanted him closer – and stared at him.

"If you don't want to go out, then I can take you right back and chain you up again. I'm taking time away from my work to do this for you. You could be grateful. If you are, this could happen again."

Daisuke's throat closed up. The desire to shout and scream his rage burned him from the inside out. If he said a word against this, he'd lose this. He didn't doubt that for a moment, not with the way Kaiser stared at him with those ice-cold eyes. Kaiser would take him back and if he had any regrets, Daisuke wouldn't know about them. What he didn't know might as well not have even happened.

And if he didn't know it had happened, if it hadn't happened, how could he do anything with it? How could he look for another way to get out of there? And he wanted to do that. He wanted to find a way to get back to his friends. That was the only way he would be really free.

He bit his lip, then pulled himself up. He knew Kaiser would want him to submit, so he refused to do so. As wearying as all of this was, the chance of going outside energized him one more time. He wouldn't let the Kaiser win. He just couldn't.

"I didn't say that."

Kaiser stared him for a few moments before he nodded. "Then let's go."

The AirDramon waited for them, Wormmon already there. Daisuke sighed quietly; he missed V-mon so much. He wished he could find a way to send him a message of some kind.

Maybe…

He climbed onto AirDramon's back and settled down at Kaiser's feet without having to be told. He wanted to stand up. He wanted to fly on his own. He wouldn't do anything that Kaiser would construe as trying to escape, though. Maybe if he behaved for a little while, Kaiser would get sloppy.

It wasn't likely, but he would give it a try. It had sort of worked before, and now he kind of knew better what to do: find the others and not leave them for so much as a moment.

AirDramon took off, winding its way through the skies to wherever Kaiser wanted to go. Daisuke said nothing, jerking a bit in surprise when Kaiser's hand flowed through his hair, petting him. He told himself that he didn't like it and he didn't.

It felt good but he didn't like it. He'd always been kind of sensitive on his head, almost as much as his wings, and the Kaiser's touch seemed to find all the good spots up there.

He wouldn't have been surprised to find Kaiser wanting to brush his hair, too. So far he'd been allowed to take care of his own personal grooming, except his wings. He could wash himself in the Kaiser's huge bathroom and Kaiser provided fresh, clean clothes that looked nothing at all like the ones he usually wore, in the Digital World or out of it, all with the proper wing-holes cut into them. Daisuke didn't ask where those came from. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

Finally AirDramon slipped downward and Daisuke followed his captor off to find they were in a luscious mountainous valley. He didn't see any signs of any Digimon there, but he still gave Kaiser a suspicious look.

"We're not here so you can capture more slaves, are you?"

Kaiser looked more and more annoyed with him every time he said something. Daisuke counted that as a win.

"If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't bring you along. We are here for your sake." He gave Daisuke another look, this one a little harder. "I am not trying to hurt you, Daisuke. Not today."

Daisuke had so many things he could've said to that leap to his lips. What actually came out was something he wasn't at all certain he liked.

"Is this your weird idea of a date?"

What he wasn't sure he liked even more was Kaiser's answer. "You could call it that if you wish. We are going to spend a few hours here enjoying ourselves with one another."

Daisuke couldn't help but step back, but Kaiser tugged him closer, sliding one hand through his hair again, and pressing a light kiss against his lips. Daisuke didn't try to fight it; he'd learned doing so didn't get him anything besides kissed even more. He still didn't kiss back.

"I'm not going to do anything with you," he reiterated once Kaiser stopped kissing him.

Kaiser was a really good kisser, though. At least by Daisuke's standards and experience, which pretty much extended to … Kaiser and no one else. Kind of a small sample there.

But what he'd experienced, he sort of liked. And would like better if Kaiser wasn't so Kaiser.

"You'll do what I want you to do, Daisuke. Have you forgotten that you're my pet?" Kaiser smiled a slow and lazy smile, the sort that made Daisuke want to leap into the air and fly away as far as he could. The collar and leash kept him right where he was. "Come on. It's time for your walk."

Daisuke did not fail to roll his eyes. "I'm not your slave, I'm not your pet, and I'm definitely not a dog."

"You're more like a cat, really. Selfish and spoiled, always thinking you know better than anyone else, especially someone who really does know better than you."

Daisuke's eyes sparked for a moment. "Sounds more like you than me."

He wouldn't have been surprised at all if Kaiser hit him. He'd hit him for other things, after all. But now Kaiser just gave him another of those looks, and Daisuke could not help but wonder if he actually saw a hint of approval in the tilt of his lips.

Which definitely did not make him comfortable at all. If he were doing something the Kaiser wanted, then… was he doing something wrong? It sent warning chills all up and down his spine and over his wings.

But Kaiser said nothing that would clear up the matter either way, just walking through the valley, heading for a clear river at the center of it. He kept looking back at Daisuke, the leash held between his fingers, just loose enough so if Daisuke did take off, he might be able to escape before Kaiser could stop him.

His wings twitched, just a fraction, when Kaiser wasn't looking at him. The skies beckoned and he mentally swallowed, aching to be up in the air. It had been so long since he'd properly flown. Weeks, even. He hadn't left the fortress at all since Kaiser dragged him back, coated in spider webs, battered and bruised from the beginning of Kaiser's punishment. He hadn't even been able to take off and hover.

Kaiser looked back at him, a thoughtful tilt to his head, before he turned all the way to face Daisuke head-on.

"You want to fly, don't you?"

Daisuke couldn't even begin to answer, desire choking his throat. He wanted to fly like he wanted to breathe!

He didn't expect Kaiser to do anything but insist that he needed to be good for a while, to do as he was told, to accept that he was Kaiser's pet.

He didn't expect Kaiser to unclip the leash and give him a quiet, firm look. "I expect you back. Don't disappoint me."

Okay, that was something like he expected, but not quite all at the same time, enough to confuse him and make him wary. He didn't trust Kaiser. That was the whole point. Anything Kaiser did that looked even remotely good wasn't something he believed in. There was always something underhanded involved, even if he didn't know about it.

"Go on."

But damned if he wasn't going to take this chance to fly anyway. Daisuke unfurled his wings, wincing at how they ached from lack of use, and then spun up into the air, throwing his head back and crying out for sheer joy. His heart pounded with glee as the wind cut through his hair and danced through his feathers.

He wasn't crying. Really, he wasn't.

But he coasted on the wind and laughed with the breeze and he couldn't help but look around, just to see if the other Chosen were anywhere he could see them.

They weren't. Which didn't surprise him. He didn't trust the Kaiser.

He didn't fly too far away. He stayed where he knew the Kaiser could see him, because he could see the Kaiser. Memories of what happened during his last escape attempt did not fade so easily.

He'd done what he wanted to do almost his entire life. Now if he did what he wanted, it was even odds that he'd pay for it somehow. That hadn't ever been a problem before. Before wasn't now.

The sun started to slide down closer to the mountains before Daisuke finally landed next to Kaiser, breathing hard and loving every moment he spent out here. His eyes shone with delight.

"Thank you!" He didn't like the Kaiser still and he knew that wasn't going to change, but for those one moment: he felt free again.

Kaiser eyed him thoughtfully and Daisuke's heart slowly began to sink as he reached out to clip the leash back into place.

"We can come out here every other day," Kaiser said. "As long as I'm not too busy."

He added nothing else but he didn't need to. Daisuke could read him very well after the last few months, and he knew what those silent words were.

If you behave yourself. If you don't make me angry. If you don't try to escape me. If you are mine.

Kaiser's fingers caught Daisuke's chin and tilted his head back so their eyes met. "That's what you want, isn't it? To fly again."

Daisuke allowed himself a nod.

"You'll fly as I allow it. I have not forgotten you are my pet, Daisuke, nor will I let you forget. You are mine in every way that I choose to have you. I will take very good care of what is mine." He smiled one of those smiles that unsettled Daisuke's stomach in far too many ways. "Your wings need to be taken care of. I'll do that tonight."

Just what he'd feared and just what he could do nothing at all about.

"I want so little from you, Daisuke. Just to be mine. To obey me. To be a good pet for me. And you continue to act as if I'm being unreasonable here." He shook his head before he touched his lips onto Daisuke's ever so softly, a sweetness that coming from anyone else would've been so very welcome. "Think about it. Think of what I can give you if you do as I wish. Think of what you can be for me."

Daisuke pressed his lips together. "I don't want to be anything for you!" He just wanted… not to be hurt. To not have the Digimon hurt. To not have his partner or his friends hurt.

Would Kaiser do any of that for him? Would he stop hurting people and Digimon just because that was what Daisuke wanted? Would he ever learn that he was wrong?

Kaiser started to tug him away, back to the waiting AirDramon. "You'll have dinner with me tonight." Which, of course, meant that he would be fed from Kaiser's hands. At least he didn't have to worry about sleeping on the Kaiser's bed.

He almost expected Kaiser to change that, but instead he just guided Daisuke back. Every step Daisuke took felt heavier and heavier, especially compared to the glorious freedom of the air. The collar's grip didn't change, but he couldn't fully breathe, and he didn't want to go back inside.

"Please," he murmured as they climbed back onto the AirDramon. "I don't want to go back. Not yet." He hated how he sounded, but he wanted so much to stay outside, to feel the wind in his hair and feathers.

Kaiser favored him with a stern look. "Are you mine?" A simple question that dug right into Daisuke's heart. The freedom of the skies, at the cost of all of his other freedoms.

He closed his eyes, pulled as much of the memory of being in the air as he could to him, and shook his head. He couldn't. He couldn't disappoint his friends like that. He couldn't disappoint V-mon like that. He couldn't disappoint himself like that.

"Then let's go home, my pet."

Kaiser tugged his leash and Daisuke followed.

He wasn't crying. Really.

The End

Notes: Poor Daisuke. I'll develop the story to its end one day.