Warning: Yaoi. Guy x Guy. Gay Digimon characters. I think I've made that clear now If you don't happen to be as tolerant of homosexuality or my choice of couples, please don't flame me. I like flames as much as the next person, but I'd rather have support. Arigatou!

Disclaimer: Digimon owns me. ;;;

A/N: On a whim, I attempted to write a believable Yamato x Ken, and it was amazingly successful. It was meant to have only one part, but all the positive feedback compelled me to come up with enough plot to make it a five-part series. I've even rewritten this first part from Yamato's POV (also posted on FF.net). This is the fic that gave me my name in the fandom and I am very proud of it I hope as time goes by, I draw even more people to this pairing. If anyone reads this after I've reloaded it in HTML will notice I took most of the Japanese out ;; It just sounded silly.

Flutter

by loveasthouwilt

The crowd parted as I made my way to our grades, posted in the school hallway.

Once, they had parted wide around my ego, as I always knew I'd be at the top of the list. I would smile smugly and they would all look down, practically bow before me, because they knew they could not possibly surpass me.

But now, though the crowd still parts, the space between us is less and less every time, as my name moves down and down.

They looked level with me now, in ever-decreasing surprise that the smugness is gone. I've even been taunted.

I found my name... a little further down than before...

I sighed and my gaze fell to my feet. The crowd, unimpressed, closed around me.

I know I've resolved to stop being my brother, to just be Ken, but... I miss being a genius. Make no mistake, I'm still an overachiever, but I didn't know I would miss being the best at everything. Even my soccer playing now lacks the agressiveness that made me great.

I was once the most respected, notorious child prodigies out there, and now I've come to find that I was more like... infamous.

I mean, I knew I couldn't stand them, but I didn't realize they couldn't stand me. I guess I didn't notice because I didn't care.

I care now... but the damage has been done.

On my way to soccer practice, some guys from the computer club asked me about a program. One started blathering in technical terms I should have known, but I couldn't make sense of. I ended up just watching his mouth move...

When he stopped talking, I just stood there, looking like a total idiot. I looked back and forth between the guys, trying to think of something to say, and noticed they were all trying not to giggle.

Ah.... they were making fun of me again...

I frowned in passive irritation, pushed through them and held back tears as they burst into laughter behind me.

I'm such a girl sometimes...

I don't even want to think about the torment I'd have to endure if they knew that other thing about me....

I don't miss being the Digimon Emperor. I don't get angry with people when they're mean to me. I just wish I could be average and still be treated fairly. I know I brought it upon myself. That doesn't make it any easier.

"Get out of the game, Ichijouji!"

The coach took off his cap and threw it on the ground.

I sat on the bench for the rest of practice, then made my way home.

Mother makes sure she's home every day after soccer practice to make sure that I do come home. Eventually, she'll quit doing that when she trusts that I'm really here to stay this time.

Minomon had been asleep on one of my pillows. When I entered my room, he greeted me from the top bunk. "How was your day?" he asked politely.

"Lousy." I replied. I put my books on the desk and opened up one of them to the given assignment. I sat down and stared at the pages mindlessly for almost twenty minutes.

"What's wrong?" Minomon asked, jumping up onto the desk.

"I'm just distracted... by.... something...."

There was a knocking at the door.

I turned around and Daisuke was standing there. "What'cha doing, Ken?" he asked. Then he arched his head to look around me and added "Hi, Minomon."

I stood up, closing the textbook. "Nothing important."

He grinned. "Good, because there's a party tonight and we're invited because Yamato's band is going to be performing."

"Yamato?"

He looked at me confusedly, then brightened up. "Oh, that's right, you haven't met any of the original Chosen, yet. He's Takeru's brother."

"Ah."

I wondered if he was cute.

"Okay. Sure, I'll go. Sounds like fun." Anything to get away from doing homework. "Whose party?"

He came into the room to check out the textbook I had closed. "Some rich girl who knows Takeru. The party is at her house."

Good. It would be people I didn't know. They wouldn't know to make fun of me.

Then he looked back at me. "You should come to my place until then. Takeru and his mother are going to pick me up and take me to the house."

I stuffed my textbooks into a drawer so I didn't have to think about them, then I took Minomon to Daisuke's house and we played video games until Takeru showed up. Patamon stayed with the other two digimon at Daisuke's house to keep each other company while we were at the party.

The band was already playing when we got there, and Takeru pointed his brother out to me.

He was cute. Really cute. But, of course, I kept that comment to myself.

Daisuke and Takeru introduced me to some of their friends, mostly the original Chosen. They were very considerate and mentioned my Digimon Emperor stage very little.

I'm only human, so I was consciously picking out who I thought was cute. Jyou. Koushirou. Taichi.

Whoever picked out the Chosen Children, new and original, had good taste.

I had never realized until then that I'm shy. I wanted them to like me so much, I was afraid to say anything at all. So I ended up mostly sitting alone on the couch, watching television.

A few hours into the party, someone sat beside me. "Ichijouji Ken?"

I snapped to attention. "Yes?" When I looked to see who it was, I recognized him.

Yamato.

"Oh, uh, hello." I said shyly.

"I'm Ishida Yamato," he said with a big, sparkling grin. "Enjoying the party."

I shrugged. "Sure," considering I was being totally anti-social.

He picked up the television control and pressed the off button. "I bet you would have even more fun if you were hanging out with Takeru and Daisuke instead of sitting here. I've seen them talking to a lot of cute girls."

I toyed with a string sticking out of the arm of the couch. "I'm not interested in girls."

I almost choked on my own words. That's not what I meant to say at all!

"Young! I'm not intersted in young girls." I sputtered. Then I looked at him and grinned, hoping to recover some dignity. "That didn't come out right the first time, did it?"

His eyes narrowed in amused suspicion. "I don't know, did it?"

I blushed. Was he flirting with me?!

Shit... I should have just kept joking with him, I shouldn't have blushed. Now he knows for sure...

"Do you want me to bring you a drink?" he asked as he stood up.

"Uh, alright."

Then he flashed me a smile over his shoulder as he walked away.

He was flirting with me!!

My heart fluttered. I can be such a girl sometimes.

He came back in no time and handed me a plastic cup filled with some clear carbonated drink.

"So, what do you do now that you don't have worlds to conquer?" he asked as he sat down, noticeably closer to me than before.

I looked down into the clear liquid in my cup. "Fail tests and suck at soccer mostly," I said.

He took a drink and licked his lips. "That bad, huh?"

I said nothing.

"What about Daisuke...?"

I shrugged. "He's the same. Plays soccer and video games all the time."

He laughed. "No, I mean, do you like him."

I almost dropped my cup. "What?!"

He put his now empty cup on the table. "Well it might explain something, if you like hi... her and she doesn't return your feelings."

What? Then I realized he had changed tactics because there were now other people congregating near the couch.

"I don't think that's it." I said, putting my untouched drink next to his empty cup. I know Daisuke's not like that, so I never even considered him seriously.

"Maybe you're just too concerned about what people think about you."

I sighed and said nothing.

"I bet that's it," he said, leaning back into the couch. "That's why you're so shy."

Congratulations. You figured me out. I don't want them to make fun of me. Now what do I do to fix it?

Just then, Taichi put his hands on the back of the couch. "You two getting along?" he asked with a grin.

Yamato looked at me and blushed.

Jokingly, Taichi moved around the couch to sit between Yamato and me, which meant he also sat on Yamato and me. We scooted a bit so he could fit between us, but it wasn't long before the band's drummer called on Yamato to start up the next couple of songs.

"I actually came over here because Hikari wants to introduce you to one of her friends." Taichi told me after Yamato left. Then he added, with a sly grin, "But, since I know Yamato... well, I didn't think you'd be interested."

Dammit, my secret was slowly leaking everywhere.

"Could you please...not make it known." I said, reaching blindly for my untouched drink. I hit it and it spilled all over the table and onto the floor.

That's all I needed, to draw attention to myself.

Taichi just grinned and brought me a towel to clean up the mess. After that embarrassment, I wasn't up to socializing with anyone anymore. I relocated myself to somewhere in the house so I could better see and hear Yamato singing.

All too soon, the band began to pack up their equipment and the party slowly dissipated. Takeru's mother arrived to pick us up and I was waiting by myself in a dark hallway near the front door for Daisuke and Takeru.

Yamato found me first.

He grabbed my hand and pressed a folded piece of paper into it.

Then he leaned down and kissed me.

He kissed me!

"Call me," he whispered against my lips.

Then he continued walking down the hallway.

My heart fluttered.

I'm such a girl sometimes....

to be continued