Remember

Chapter Five: Ramen for One

Steam rose from the uncovered pot, blasting the air with the scent of fresh ramen to serve. Davis carefully scooped a ladle full and put it in a bowl, adorning it with a poached egg and a couple of fresh herbs and ginger.

The afternoon sun beamed through a canopy of leaves from the park he'd set up shop in, bright and cheery and probably too hot for soup.

"Ramen for one," he mumbled, pushing the door to the cart open.

Sneakers scuffing on the pavement, he joined Veemon on a park bench. His partner was dressed in a large hoodie, which made him look super suspicious considering it was still nearly 80 degrees in the middle of October.

"Two technically," Veemon said, slurping up the last of his own bowl.

Davis poked at the egg in his soup, sending runny yoke over the noodles. He stared at it for so long that it started to cook in the broth.

"I'm already sweating," he complained. "No wonder we've only had four customers all day. When is fall gonna get here?"

"Technically it's already here," said Veemon.

"What's up with you and technicalities?"

Veemon shrugged.

"This heat wave sucks. It feels like August. Ugh, I hate summer."

"It used to be your favorite season."

"It was until I started selling ramen. This is fall food. Winter food. Even spring food. But summer? Everyone wants salads and sushi. No wonder we're in debt right now."

Davis grabbed his noodles with chopsticks and slurped up a mouthful. His eyes immediately slipped closed. "So worth the sweat," he moaned. "Do you think I'm just biased cause I made it?"

"No," said Veemon. "I'm having more."

"You're a living garbage disposal. Your opinion is worthless."

Veemon grinned as he disappeared into the cart to serve himself. "So why ask?"

Davis stirred his bowl and watched a jogger pass, completely uninterested. "Yolei said my problem was marketing. Maybe I should take some selfies with the ramen and post 'em on Instagram. Caption 'em: Worth the sweat." He wiped some off his nose.

"They might start questioning your broth." Veemon poked his nose out the door. "Doesn't she work near here?"

Davis shook his head. "You're thinking of Sora. Oh! I bet I can guilt her into some ramen." He put his bowl on the bench and sent her a text. She wrote back right away.

You should have told me you were here! I already have a lunch date at the Italian place down the street. Sorry.

Davis gave a sort of scoffing snort and wrote, My noodles are better. Ask Matt. He'd ditch that place for me.

A moment passed without her typing a response and he hammered out another line.

On the house? No one wants ramen today. All my food is gonna go to waste. Please eat it.

And then when an ellipsis appeared and disappeared with no new text to accompany it, he wrote again.

Wait is it not Matt? You can bring your date. My lips are sealed. :X

The ellipsis returned, followed by Sora's text. For a second I thought that was the kiss emoji. Date's just a friend, don't worry.

Davis grinned. Oh good. I'm bad at secrets.

Sora wrote back, I'll see if anyone in the office still needs lunch. They keep it sub-zero in here. Something hot sounds amazing. I'll play up the ramen a bit.

Play it up? You mean speak the truth.

Of course. *Ramen emoji* * heart emoji*

Davis sent about a dozen hearts back and ended with a broken one. Just to be real.

He shoved his phone in his pocket and his mind drifted back to his D-terminal, still sitting on the nightstand with Yolei's last message left unanswered.

Why does it matter?

It shouldn't. He shouldn't let her words follow him all day, eating him the same way he ate his ramen. One stupid slurp at a time.

He sucked down a mouthful of noodles in the most angry way possible and replayed their short conversation over in his mind. The moment he had told her she could call him it was like a bomb went off and she put a shield between them.

She definitely didn't want to be friends.

He had to blink like a flirting geisha in order to keep himself from crying into his ramen like a loser.

Thankfully it worked, because in a few short minutes he had a line of customers. Sora appeared behind her hoard of coworkers and Davis wouldn't start serving them until he had hugged her properly.

When he called out the first order and got a fist full of cash, he let out a content sigh. "You are the best."

The man accepted his ramen, a little unsure. "Thanks?"

Davis beamed. "You too."

He leaned out the cart window to grin at Sora who had sat on the bench beside Veemon, giving his hooded head an affectionate rub. Her long legs were crossed under a pencil skirt, foot bouncing inside a heel. She looked every bit the part of a professional woman, her short hair pinned back by a flat black barrette and lipstick stretched over a soft smile.

It made Davis painfully aware of how quickly time passed.

"So who's your date?" he asked her after greeting another customer.

Sora looked up at him, smiling. "An old girlfriend. She got caught on a call, so I told her I'd bring her some."

Davis took another order and swiped a credit card on his phone. "You didn't have to cancel your plans cause of me, y'know," he said. "I was just giving you a hard time. You all could've gone to your fancy restaurant."

"She actually really wanted ramen."

Davis disappeared into the back of the cart to prepare another couple orders and shouted back, "Oh, just ramen in general?"

"Definitely yours."

He could feel his grin stretch past his face. After the line of her co-workers was served, Sora handed over her card. He shoved it back in her hands.

"I don't take digidestined money."

"Davis."

"Please, I woulda wasted half my goods if you hadn't talked me up to your friends. Might just break even today. Keep it."

He handed her two covered bowls of shoyu ramen with strips of pork belly, green onions, ginger, nori and egg all displayed brightly on the surface.

She took it from him and while he scrambled for a to go bag, she asked, "Did you mean to send the broken heart?"

He sort of froze for a second and then made a show of flapping the bag in the air to get it open. "Maybe?"

"How are you doing?"

Davis held out the bag and she stuck the bowls inside. After handing it back, he took off his gloves and wiped the sweat off his nose.

"What do you know about Animamon?" he asked. "The new and improved version, I mean."

Sora looked to Veemon, both of them knowing this was clearly a diversion, but she was too nice to not let it work. She sat back down on the bench and sat the food in her lap, which he knew she'd regret in .2 seconds.

Davis left the cart to sit beside her. He moved the ramen to the bench between them before her legs melted.

"I don't know how improved he is," Sora said. "I've only seen him once. Before he evolved. He seemed sweet enough, I guess. Back then it was hard to think that Ruachmon could ever become Animamon someday. Now that he is, I'm not really sure I could handle seeing him again."

Davis watched her pick at her fingernails.

"Why not?" he asked.

"I just, it's hard not to separate him from that monster, you know? When Ken and Yolei came back without you, I - everything spiraled. Tai and his arm, and then Yolei got worse... " She sort of paused there, her fingers stilling their mission. "I just think seeing him would bring that all back and I'm not sure I could handle it."

There was a long lull between them. A sort of soft silence, the kind that was only comfortable with someone like Sora.

Davis thought of everything that had happened after he'd joined Izzy in Digiworld.

Of fevers and decay.

"I wish I'd been there," he muttered.

When Sora grabbed his hand, he didn't even care how sweaty his was.

…

...

"Why did he have to be such a good cook?"

Yolei didn't mean to whine, but her voice always seemed to follow her emotions, despite her best efforts. And everything just seemed so unfair.

"He really is," Sora admitted. She slurped up another mouthful of noodles, splashing her pretty blouse with broth.

The cafeteria on the ground floor was beginning to empty, which meant they were getting a clear look of disdain from the cashier for the outside food they'd brought in.

Yolei lifted the bowl to her lips and gave the broth an extra loud slurp for her benefit. The cashier rolled her eyes and finally stopped staring. Yolei took the opportunity to sneak in a round of noodles to the round ball of feathers in her oversized purse.

"About time," grumbled Poromon, nibbling at the noodles like a baby bird eating a worm.

"Sorry," Yolei said "The cafeteria lady has been glaring for the past half hour. Didn't want her to see me shoving noodles in my purse."

Poromon swallowed and the little feather on his head twitched. "At least it's real food."

Sora's brow raised in question.

"We've been living off TV dinners and takeout," Yolei groaned, running her fingers into her hair. Strands came undone from her tightly weaved bun, tickling her cheeks.

"That's terrible. Why don't you come by for dinner tomorrow? I'll have Matt cook for us."

"And endure his judgment again? I think I'll stick to my Easy Mac, thanks." She tugged at a strand of hair. "Is he mad at me?"

"Who, Matt?"

When Yolei nodded sheepishly, Sora shook her head.

"Are you mad?"

"Should I be?"

"I sorta brought up the fact that you guys weren't married yet." Yolei chewed the inside of her cheek. "I'm sorry. I was being super reactive. I'm really emotional and skeptical of all things love right now."

For a moment, Sora just stared at her and then she smiled, the soft kind that started in the center of one cheek. "When we were in college we agreed to wait until we'd been on our own awhile," she said. "I don't think I really have too many doubts anymore, but I didn't want to rush into anything just because that was what was expected." She stirred her broth. "And I might still be rebelling against my mom a little bit."

"She hated when you moved in together, didn't she?"

Sora laughed. "I think she'd given up by then. She was just happy we were doing something. I think she expected grandchildren by now."

"Do you want kids?"

"Definitely, someday."

"Me too," said Yolei and when Poromon looked up at her with his big sympathetic eyes, she turned her gaze to the window.

At the far corner, nearly out of sight, she could make out the edge of the ramen cart. Her heart drummed in her chest, both hoping to see him and dreading that he might catch her looking.

"You should have come out with me," Sora said.

Yolei quickly turned from the window. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to talk to me anymore." She shoved a green onion around with her chopsticks, making it sink into the last bit of broth at the bottom of her bowl.

"What gave you that impression?"

Yolei looked at Sora for a long moment and then out the window again. Then, with a wordless dig into her purse and an irritable squawk from Poromon, she pulled out her D-terminal and handed it over for inspection.

Sora read through their last few messages, eyebrows raising further with each pass of her eyes.

Yolei let her cheek sink into her palm and she continued to play with her broth, watching the spices swirl in the shallow puddle, making it murky again.

"What part of this makes you think he doesn't want to talk?" Sora asked, handing it back.

Yolei looked at her over the top of her glasses. "Everything?"

"He's practically begging you to call him."

"Um no, he said he didn't want me to show up to our apartment unannounced."

"That's not how I read it."

Yolei's scrolled through their messages and felt her eyes sting. "I just wanted to make sure he was okay."

Sora nodded toward the window. "Why don't you go ask him?"

Something tightened in Yolei's chest, like a fist holding her heart until it couldn't beat. It took her a minute to pull herself together.

"And admit I gave up our lunch plans for his ramen?" Her voice came out stiff and strangled and she covered it with a laugh. "His head is big enough already."

A silence passed between them and Sora kept smiling that soft, knowing smile.

Yolei fed Poromon another bite of ramen and glared out the window. "Big fat stupid head."

She was outside the building a few minutes later, but the cart was already gone.

…

…

Davis was sick of sleeping alone.

Falling asleep was fairly easy (he was usually so done after a long day of pulling the noodle cart that he conked out the moment his head hit the pillow), but the waking up was another story. And he was waking more through the night than usual, dreams and memories prodding at him until his eyes opened to the empty pillow by his side.

Veemon was there most of the time, curled sideways over Yolei's usual spot, snores rumbling. But even a foot in his side barely woke him and after a short grumble he was back out, leaving Davis alone in the dark.

It gave him too much time to think, which is something he never really enjoyed doing anyway. No matter how much he tried not to, he kept replaying old conversations in his head, wondering where things went wrong. His eyes drifted to his nightstand and the pair of rings lying among the junk there, gathering dust.

Frustrated, he slid out of bed and decided to go for a run. He wasn't quiet about digging for his shorts and t-shirt, half-hoping Veemon would wake to join him, but the digimon didn't budge.

By the time he was outside, the sky was beginning to gray and the street lights flickered on and off, getting ready for the morning. The world was still silent, only breaking for the occasional car or bus bringing the early risers in for another day at the office.

The in between, when the streets went empty, felt too like a world without life.

Davis suddenly felt so tired that he almost went back inside, wondering what had possessed him to go out at such an ungodly hour. There was a reason he didn't sell breakfast food.

When he came back, mind blissfully numb and arms covered in goosebumps from the cold, he decided to skip out on the cart altogether (it wasn't making enough to pay rent on his own anyway) and make a trip to Digiworld.

He woke Veemon with a big fake grin, oxygen and nerves running through his pores.

"Get up, lazybones."

"Wha?" Veemon blinked wearily and looked at the alarm clock, which had only just crept past 5AM. "Why are you awake?"

"Workin out. New me or somethin. Let's go to Digiworld."

"Now?"

Davis gave a nod. "We're going to see what that creeper is really up to."

Veemon gave a weary blink. "Now."

"Now."

"I miss the old you."

He ground his fist into Veemon's head. "Come on."

They arrived at Primary Village when the sun still sat low and the babies had just started to jump around, looking for their breakfast.

The Digidestined Memorial School for the Glitched and Impaired (that name, though) sat in the distance and so did the hut housing Animamon.

Davis sort of glared at it for a minute before he and Veemon began poking around the village, trying to scrounge up whatever information they could about the virus.

The whole thing seemed fishy and he had a weird feeling he hadn't gotten all the details. Mostly because Ken was a mother hen, shielding him like he was too weak to deal with the stuff that mattered, just 'cause his marriage went to crap.

No one really knew much of anything. Elecmon only had the patience for a few questions before he left Davis to stare at the plastic bubble they had erected to quarantine the infected digimon. There were only six in total, bundled in their little nests. They seemed drained, barely opening their eyes whenever they woke from a nap and bouncing around awkwardly to nibble on their food. It was weird to see baby digimon so lethargic.

"I don't get it, Vee," Davis said, squatting beside it. "I thought digimon just got mean when they got viruses. Not sick."

"I've been sick."

"Yeah, with like a cold, not like this." Davis gave a little wave to one of the babies. It gave just the slightest perk of its little round body before slumping over again. "The whole thing is weird."

"It is rather puzzling," said Animamon.

Davis let out a squeak that he'd be super embarrassed about if there'd been anyone else to witness it besides Veemon and a bunch of babies. He scrambled to his feet while Veemon looked at him sideways.

"He's been there awhile," Veemon said.

"Thanks for warnin me," said Davis, cheeks red and hand clutching his chest.

Animamon stood nearly twice his height. A dark robe hid most of his body, just as it had all those years ago, leaving only his arms and face exposed, with their pale skin and deep red markings. His glazed pupils caught Davis's face and he held his gaze there. For a split second, he wondered if Animamon could actually see him.

"What's your deal?" he spat.

"I thought you might be looking for me." Animamon's blind gaze held until Davis tore his away.

He tried to ignore the chills running down his spine. "Well I'm not."

When there was no response to his remark, Davis turned back to the sleeping babies inside quarantine.

"You're concerned."

Davis frowned. "No shit."

"But that isn't your real purpose in coming here today."

The hairs on his neck stuck up. "What do you know?" he grumbled. Then, after thinking about it for a second, he flung around, standing as tall as he could beside the ultimate. "Are you readin my mind?"

"That is not how my powers operate."

"I know how your powers operate," Davis said, teeth grinding. "Don't act like you don't remember."

"The past is hazy, but it is not erased."

"Just stay out of my head."

"Is that not the opposite of your intentions?"

Davis's mouth opened, a retort pressing on the tip of his tongue. It stilled, a weight settling over him until his fingers curled into his palms, nails biting his skin.

Veemon put a hand on his calf. "Davish? Are you okay?"

He shook his head and fixed his eyes on Animamon's aimless ones. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this whole virus thing. There's something fishy going on."

Animamon's eyes seemed to focus on him again.

"Stop looking at me like that."

The digimon had the nerve to smile, showing off a row of sharp teeth. "I cannot see."

"What's your angle?" Davis stepped away from the quarantined nest in order to give himself some breathing room, coming around Animamon's side. "How come you're all buddy buddy with the guys who killed you?"

Animamon's smile fell.

"That part's not too hazy, huh?"

"Davish, maybe we should go," said Veemon.

"No. I want to know what's going on." Davis tugged at the goggles around his neck, letting the band stretch taught and contract. "What do you know about this virus? Why are you really helping them?"

"Because I'm the only one who can."

"Explain."

Animamon's gaze flashed absently for a moment and then he turned, his shoulders lumbering beneath his robe. "I'd prefer to do so out of the light."

"Are you tryin to lure me into your creepy cave and have your way with me?" Davis asked, but Animamon was already walking away, his clawed feet pressing into green grass and sunlight.

Davis's teeth ground so loudly he was sure he'd chipped one of them.

Veemon stared up at him with a sort of confused concern. "Are we going?"

"Ugh."

By the time they had made it inside Animamon's hut, every bobblehead was bouncing. Animamon stood before his bookshelves, his clawed finger dragging across the last plastic head. Together they all made a clicking sound, that quickly fell out of unison.

"Creepy," Davis muttered once his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light.

Animamon smiled and sat at his small wooden table, clawed fingers folding together. Veemon quickly accepted fruit from the basket he offered and Davis slowly sat beside them, all the muscles in his legs tense and ready to spring.

"The Child of Knowledge-" started Animamon.

"His name's Izzy," said Davis. "Aren't you pals now?"

"After the infected digimon were reborn he approached me. For now the virus seems to be contained, but it's attachment to their digicores is concerning. That is where my unique skill set comes into play."

"So you're gonna what? Peep in their souls and poke them with a needle?"

"For the vaccine, essentially, yes. For those already infected, we are in the process of discussing another approach."

"Which is?"

"A bit more intricate."

"You're just full of details, aren't you?" Davis stared at him, searching for some hint of something sinister. "Why are you helping them?"

Animamon smiled. "Why does anyone help anyone?" The question sat heavy between them before he continued. "Personally, I feel the need to atone for my many mistakes."

"Well isn't that noble of you."

"I have lived among these digimon for this entire life. They are my friends."

"Why Ken?"

Animamon did not answer, but Davis could tell he understood.

"You sent some digimon hybrid in that world that you knew would go after him. And it…" Davis felt his jaw clench and every muscle screamed in memory. "How can Ken even look at you?"

"I understand a long time ago he was your enemy."

"Don't," Davis spat. "That's not even- that has nothing to do with you."

"Then I suggest you ask him. But I don't think this is the real purpose of your visit."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Child of Passion."

"Uh, you just lost me. Am I supposed to know who that is?" Davis raised a brow and turned to Veemon, who gave a shrug, mouth full of banana.

"The girl who wanted me dead."

The moment those words slipped from Animon's lips, Davis felt heat rise in pinpricks over the back of his neck, spreading to his face until anger and sadness and fear slipped over his arms in waves of tingling heat.

"The one you married," Animamon clarified even though he no longer needed to. "You want to remember why."

For a minute, Davis sat in stunned silence. It had been sitting there since his last visit, the yearning to see more memories with the clarity only that monster was able to give him.

But he hadn't even admitted that to himself.

"H-how did you?" He turned to Veemon, who still looked completely clueless. "I…" His eyes flashed back to pale skin and clouded eyes. "What are you after here?"

"Your friendship." Animamon held out his hand, fingers outstretched above his head like a doting father. "Shall I?"

For a second, Davis considered smacking him away, denying everything, but then he thought of the messages on his D-terminal and the rings gathering dust on his nightstand.

The moment the digimon's nails scraped his scalp, he felt the shift, the world darkening inside the candlelit hut, the voice of Veemon fading behind memories, and the anxiety the past, reaching until he'd fallen back into it.

...

.~*~~**~~*~.

I've been working on the same problem for nearly an hour now and the mound of homework I have spread over my bed is not getting any smaller. Meanwhile, Ken is closing his last textbook and stuffing it into his backpack. He offers his help and when I grumble under my breath, he asks what's really bothering me.

"Yolei wants to have sex."

"Oh."

Ken is looking at me like I've grown an extra head and I groan, falling back on my bed. "I mean I want to, too. But, what if I'm bad at it?"

"I don't think I'm the best person to talk to about this."

I sit up and my eyebrows sort of have a mind of their own, creasing together in the middle of my forehead. "Why not?"

"Lack of experience?"

"But you're smart."

Ken frowns. "You guys are ready for that?"

"She's a college girl now and I'm…" My mouth turns down to match his. He already knows how insecure I am being the younger one in the relationship, still stuck in high school while Yolei goes on adulting, so I bypass that issue and go straight for the next.

"I kinda thought it'd happen by now, but you know, stuff always gets in the way. Parents, digimon, roommates, maybe if you remembered condoms, we're not doing it in a car!" I finish the last few lines in my best imitation of Yolei's voice, scolding me.

"Maybe you should talk to Tai," Ken says and I immediately feel relief flood over me.

"That's perfect! His first time was with Mimi. If he can tap that…"

"Davis."

...

"It was awful," Tai says, looking at me over a laptop and a pile of textbooks. I'm pretty sure I'm interrupting him writing his term paper, but he doesn't let on that he's bothered. "I mean, she wasn't, but I was. She didn't complain per se, but I could tell."

"Um, any pointers on what not to do then?"

"Don't do it drunk."

"Perfect," I say. "So what about with that other chick? Second time a charm?"

"That's not," Tai starts and then he closes his laptop to smile at me. "You guys are gonna be fine. You love each other, right?"

I try not to go red, but it's happening anyway. I give an enthusiastic nod and realize I look way too eager. Thank God Tai's so cool.

"Just take it slow. Use protection."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Look, if you're wanting details, all my good advice is going to be from my most recent relationship."

Going pale, I jump to my feet and grab Veemon by the tail, yanking him off Tai's bed.

"But Agumon was getting cookies," he cries.

"Abort!" I yell, giving Tai a horrified look. "Abort!"

...

Matt stares at me. "Google it."

Why didn't I think of that?

...

"Google has traumatized me."

"I warned you not to click on the ads. Do you want me to install a proper antivirus software? Yours is outdated."

"That is not the problem, Izzy."

"Why don't you try the library?"

...

Cody starts to type my request into the library database and does a double take.

"Please don't involve me in this," he says.

"I'm running out of options. The guys on the team were the worst. They all started heckling me for being with the same chick for three years without getting some." ("You're counting the breaks?") "So what if we didn't do it yet? They just don't get Yolei. She's gonna want it to be perfect and she's got all these ideas on how things should go. I can't keep track of 'em. Like, get this, she told me about how gross this guy dating her sister was just 'cause he spent the entire time slobbering all over her t—"

"Why don't you talk to TK?"

"He's dating Kari."

"Point taken."

...

"I need medical advice." I open a book in front of Joe's nose the moment I enter his apartment. "How accurate is this?"

He lowers his glasses to look at the pages and suddenly turns pink. "I'm not sure if my opinion on Kama Sutra would be considered medical advice."

"Why doesn't anyone know how to have sex?"

"That's not, oh God."

"Oh, honey," Mimi pipes in, emerging from the bathroom. I didn't even know she was there. She slings an arm around my shoulders and grabs the book from my hands. "You're looking for advice from the wrong gender."

"Do you live here?" I ask her.

"Sometimes," she says.

I stare at her in awe. "I have so many questions for you."

Joe immediately bolts out the door.

...

There are literally so many feelings tumbling over and through me that I'm not sure what I say first: "wow" or "sorry."

I think it ended up coming out as a combination of the two, because Yolei is looking at me with a sort of a weird expression.

Her eyes are so much easier to see without an inch of glass in the way. The brown is nearly gold, something I never really paid attention to until we started kissing each other (she always takes the glasses off so I don't smudge them with my "face grease").

I don't think she's ever looked prettier than now, hair all a mess and her face soft, with those eyes and her flushed cheeks. Some of the makeup around her lashes smeared and I rub it with my thumb which makes her bat my hand away.

"Don't be sorry," she says, combing her hair back before she turns on her pillow. We barely fit there together and my eyes take in the clock behind her head, making sure we finished well before her roommate is done with class. "That was totally normal."

My eyes shoot back to her. "That's it?" I ask, trying not to feel offended.

"You just said sorry."

"Okay, true." I groan. "Ugh, I'm sorry."

"Seriously, stop." She's smiling and she slips her hand over my chest, nuzzling her face in my neck. "It'll be better next time."

I smile so wide my cheeks hurt. "You're not gonna dump me?"

"For finishing without me? I don't think I was going to get there anyway." She flicks my nose when I pout and I snatch her hand. "It was our first time. Jeez, Davis."

I put her palm on my mouth and her fingers cover my eyes. "It didn't hurt too much, did it?"

"Only a little, same as the dozen other times you asked."

"Sorry," I say again and she wiggles her hand out of mine and tickles my ribs.

I nearly knock her in the gut with my knee, so she ends it with a firm squeeze and I feel every part of her again, pressing on every part of me.

I squirm, super uncomfortable. "Okay, I gotta do something about this. I'm gross. How do you cuddle after that?"

She laughs when I stand up and she has the nerve to watch me deal with things. "The movies are full of lies."

When I come back to her tiny twin bed a little less disgusting she welcomes me into her arms. My thighs trap her left calf and her stomach rises and falls under my chest. I feel sleepy and rest my cheek on her, closing my eyes. Her fingers rake under my hair and down my neck.

"I heard you borrowed Kama Sutra from the library to prepare," she says.

I slip my arms between the mattress and her back, pulling her in tight. "That was intimidating."

"Mimi said you scared Joe right out of his own apartment."

"He was totally unhelpful," I mumble into her skin. "Mimi was amazing though."

Yolei pinches me right on my bare ass and I let out a really undignified squeak.

"You should've just talked to me," she says and I lift my face out of her boobs to see her squinting at me.

Damn her terrible eyesight.

"I've had a lot of unsolicited advice from my sisters," she says and then as an afterthought, she adds, "and Mantarou."

Her tongue hangs out like she's gagging and I'm tempted to grab it with my fingers, but I know that pisses her off and I'm gonna be smart when all my most vulnerable parts are still exposed.

"Aren't you the expert?" I grumble.

"The point is, I had an idea of what to expect. You should've told me you were nervous."

I scoff even though it's true so she looks at me with her serious face and says, "This was supposed to be between us."

Oh no, she set me up.

"You know what else is between us?"

I can't even keep a straight face. I let out a ridiculous sounding snort and her groan vibrates in her chest.

I kiss her jaw before she starts to get mad and her hands relax on my back. "I'm sorry," I tell her again, moving to the spot behind her ear.

"You should be," she says and her voice is all air.

I used to have this list: a bunch of boxes I needed to check off in order to think of myself as a man. If you had told the past me I'd be checking any of them off with Yolei Inoue, I would've died laughing. But now that we're here, I can't imagine being with anyone else.

If you don't count the argument about who should put the condom on that delayed the whole thing awhile, she made it easy. All the awkward moments we spent fumbling were filled with mutual giggles and a few snide jokes neither of us took too seriously.

I don't even care about those stupid boxes anymore.

"I love you," I tell her, kissing her ear, her cheeks, her lips.

She rolls me underneath, all laughter and smiles, and says it back.

...

.~*~~**~~*~.

"Fuck."

The curse gurgled out of his mouth. Davis pulled back from Animamon's outstretched hand and grasped his chest, barely able to breathe.

"I apologize if it was unpleasant," said Animamon.

"Davish?"

He waved Veemon off. "I'm done. I'm done with this. I don't know why I... I can't." He staggered out of the hut and into the bright digital sun.

A horde of digimon instantly bombarded them, chirping about soccer games and tag and Davis snapped at them. "Not now."

Veemon lingered behind, explaining, "He's not feeling well."

Davis picked up the pace, storming out the village, not even noticing if Veemon had followed or not. Everything went by in a blur, leaves and foliage blending into one green blob, and he wasn't sure if it was because of his speed or his eyes.

Then the stupid lake and its stupid swan boat came into view. He collapsed against the bark of a tree, t-shirt catching as he slid down, lifting until it scraped the skin of his back and he didn't care.

Veemon found him crying a few minutes later.

"I still love her," Davis choked out the moment his partner sat beside him. He shoved the heels of his palms into his eyes. "And she hates me."

"She doesn't. If you'd just talk—"

"Don't tell me that right now."

So Veemon didn't.

...

...

"Armadillomon told me that you stranded Veemon in Digiworld."

Davis turned his head with great effort and lifted a heavy finger to his lips, arm flopping about disobediently. "Shhhhh."

"No one here is sober enough to understand what I'm saying," said Cody. He looked around the dark bar at its very few patrons. "Which is surprising since it's only two o'clock in the afternoon."

Despite being the youngest of them, Cody had probably changed the least over the years. Davis swore he'd been born with 'wise old man' face. All that had changed there was the sharpness of his jaw. The wispy hair of his teenage years had been hacked off into a short crew cut making him look like a true professional. He was wearing a polo and jeans instead of a suit, so it must have been his day off.

"Five clock some…" Davis trailed off.

Cody pushed the nearly finished drink out of his reach and waved over the bartender, handing him a card. "I'm going to close his tab."

"Round 'n me."

"No."

Davis pouted and leaned forward, resting his arms and head on the bar top.

Cody's phone vibrated the moment the bartender came back with a receipt. He put it to his ear.

"I found him. No, don't leave work. Okay, I'll tell him." He looked up to Davis. "Ken says he'll be over tonight. And to stop drinking."

"Blacklist," Davis hissed into his arm.

"Yes, I think it's fair to say he's still mad," Cody said into the phone. He looked at Davis and covered the mouthpiece. "Ken's not happy you went to Animamon's without him."

"My own man."

"No, he's not in any condition to be alone right now. I'll take him to my place, get him some food and water."

"No Kens 'llowed."

"He can hear you."

"Pfft."

"Yeah, I'll keep you updated." With that Cody was off the phone and, despite a little bit of a fight, he managed to unhook Davis's arms from the bar and sling one around his shoulder.

"You're taller than me," Davis wept.

"We went through this ten years ago, Davis."

"Still hurts." They slumped out of the bar and into Cody's waiting car. Davis flopped horizontally into the backseat and let out a long dramatic moan. "Like my heart."

Cody nearly shut the door on his feet. "God help me."