Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Digimon Adventure 02
Title: Under The Skin
Pair: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken
Word Count: 779||Status: One-shot
Genre: Romance||Rated: G
Challenge: Written for the One Pairing Boot Camp, prompt #34, sliver; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section B, #11, write a fic between 750-850 words
Summary: Daisuke has a little problem with his finger. Thankfully, Ken is there to lend a hand. Or a finger. Or a pair of lips. Maybe all three.

"That hurt!" Daisuke shouldn't have been able to pout so well at his age. That should've been a skill reserved for children too young to know how useful of a weapon it could be. But there were those who mastered it throughout childhood and into the adulthood beyond. And among those, Daisuke reigned supreme.

Ken sighed, staring back at the suntanned finger he held between his own and the offending splinter that stuck out from it. "Trying to get this out is going to hurt." He hadn't yet asked how Daisuke even got the splinter there in the first place. Given that Daisuke had spent the entire day either pulling his cart around wherever he could go or exploring run down places he wanted to use for his first stationary restaurant – citing words to the effect of 'fixer-uppers make great bargains' and 'I want to make something as close to scratch as I can', Ken had a pretty good how idea of how it happened even without asking.

He almost didn't want to ask. Just in case he was wrong. With Daisuke, one could never be entirely certain, and it was sometimes best just to stick with one's own ideas and not let the annoying parts of reality sink in.

"I bet I could find someone who could get it out without hurting," Daisuke grumbled. He wiggled his finger and Ken tightened his grip on it just a little.

"Hold still. This would be easier if you didn't jump around all over the place." And finding a day when Daisuke didn't jump around all over the place was a rare day indeed. Normally Ken didn't mind at all. Today wasn't one of those days.

Daisuke pouted again but remained just a little more still than he'd been before. Ken bent over the finger, prodding it with the tip of his own, trying to determine just how deep it went and where he could get a grip on it. Some splinters were easily removed. Some liked to stay right where they were and not let go. Clearly this was one of the latter.

"Ken!" Another pout. Ken refused to look up and submit himself to that power. Instead, he reached for the tweezers and aimed himself. "Ken, is this going to hurt more?"

"I don't know." In all fairness, he didn't have a lot of experience with splinters. He'd never been the kind of child who ran around and got them. Nor had he associated with those who did, not until he and Daisuke began to grow closer.

Upon reflection, it was a little surprising that he hadn't had to do this before, especially when they'd all worked so hard to rebuild places in the Digital World.

He moved the tweezers forward, gripping the end of the splinter. At least this one had enough sticking out of it so that he could do so. He didn't want to think of how much yowling he would have to put up with if he'd had to work it from underneath the skin.

He loved Daisuke, he genuinely did, but sometimes he could be...Ken tried for something of a diplomatic way to phrase it, even to himself.

Annoying. Probably not the most diplomatic, but it worked. And thankfully Daisuke could not read his mind.

Once certain of his grip – he didn't want to have to do this again, not with Daisuke being Daisuke – he pulled out carefully. The splinter slipped out with little more than a surprised squeak from Daisuke, who prodded his finger right away to make certain it was all right.

"Thanks!" His grin was brilliant enough to light up the room as he threw one arm around Ken's shoulders and dropped a kiss on his cheek. "So, want to kiss it to make it better?"

Ken could not help but roll his eyes at that, but he did catch up the wounded finger and bring it to his lips. "I think I will," he murmured before doing so. "How does that feel?"

"A lot better already," Daisuke confirmed. He didn't move his finger away from Ken's lips, so Ken took the opportunity to kiss it again. "You know, maybe I should look into some other places for my future ramen place."

"That might not be a bad idea," Ken agreed. He'd thought that from the start. Pulling a ramen cart around in all weathers wasn't the best idea in his opinion anyway. He didn't want to dissuade Daisuke if that was what he really wanted to do, but a restaurant would allow for so much more.

Not to mention, many less opportunities for Daisuke to get splinters in his fingers.

The End