What the hell am I doing spawning a new story like this again? Well, I got back into Digimon recently and decided I'm going to write one on a pairing that virtually doesn't exist on , so I hope that this is something people will like! I just had a kind of 'go with it' moment. So, let me know what you all think and based on your feedback, I will do my best to update frequently. Also, new chapters of 'Hope for Knowledge' and 'His Greatest Hits' are also on the way! Thanks everyone for reading...enjoy!

Wish I owned Digimon, I do not.

"Wallace?" Daisuke repeated, his tone a hearty mix of surprise and disgust.

"Yes, Wallace," Hikari declared with a look of puzzlement on her face. "Is something wrong with that?"

Takeru smiled, rolling his eyes. Of course Daisuke would find something wrong with Wallace showing up in Japan for the summer. Now he didn't just have to worry about competing with Takeru for Hikari's affections, but also the flirtatious American DigiDestined.

"Yes! I mean no! I mean…where is he even going to stay?" Daisuke looked flustered. He was trying to stay on Hikari's good side, while at the same time maintaining his 'alpha male' persona. Takeru had fancied the word 'Daisuke-eque' when such behavior came about, which was more often than not.

"Well, we made these plans over the past few days via e-mail, and it seems like he's going to be staying in the spare bedroom at Koushiro's place," Hikari explained, still looking warily at Daisuke.

He sighed in relief, perhaps having thought that Wallace might stay at Hikari's instead. "Well, I can't say who I feel sorry for more in that situation." He laughed at his own joke, while Hikari scowled at him.

"Be nice, Daisuke. There's nothing wrong with Koushiro. And Wallace is a sweetheart. I think it's going to be great having him around to hang out with this summer. Maybe you guys could play soccer with him. I heard it's not as big over in America," she went on.

Daisuke almost choked as soon as Hikari referred to him as a sweetheart. Takeru chuckled. "Calm down, Daisuke, I don't think he's gonna try to mack on your woman."

Hikari glared at him, and Daisuke began to blush. "Come on, TE! You remember how much he 'macked' on her before, when we were in America! I'd love to school that know-it-all in soccer, just wait until he gets here!"

Hikari and Takeru rolled their eyes simultaneously. As Daisuke went on and on about how much trouble Wallace was worth, Hikari inched over to her childhood friend. "He's going nuts, but what do you think about this?"

Takeru hadn't actually thought about it yet. "I, uh, well…Daisuke does have a point. He was pushing his boundaries a little when we met him. But I think it's a good idea to become closer to some other DigiDestined outside of our own group. Why exactly did he decide to come to Japan?"

"Well, he's been keeping in contact with Mimi, since they are both in America. She's spending the summer in Japan, and he thought it would be good to meet the rest of the people who helped save the DigiWorld a time or two," Hikari explained, smiling. "So she invited him to tag along. He told me earlier this week and we've been planning on how it would work out. Since he's pretty computer-savvy, Koushiro thought it would be a good idea to compare notes and offered up his bedroom. You know how kind his parents are."

"Yeah, and his mom makes some great sandwiches too," Takeru digressed. "I just hope we can keep Daisuke on a leash and hopefully nothing too crazy happens." He laughed at the thought, but Hikari looked worried.

"Me too. Daisuke has a mean streak," she said delicately, almost as if it were a thought rather than a sentence.

"You don't have to tell me that," Takeru reasoned, focusing his eyes on the wily brunette as he continued his tirade on why American DigiDestined should stay in America. "When does our company arrive?"

"Mimi said the flight should get here tonight. Jyou, Sora, and Koushiro are picking them up from the airport and they've got some sort of dinner planned. They told me to pass along the word…Taichi's going to be there, and so are Miyako and Ken."

Takeru thought about his older brother for a moment and why he wasn't included in the list of people at the dinner. "What about Yamato? And Iori, for that matter."

"Iori had plans with his mother, and I think Yamato has a gig in another town tonight…shouldn't you know that, Takeru?" Hikari asked, smiling.

Takeru blushed, feeling slightly dumb. Yamato did tell him something about a gig across the country- his band was getting rather popular lately. But because of the popularity, he had been seeing less and less of his brother, so communication between the two was rare. "Yeah, I guess I just forgot. Is he coming?" Takeru indicated Daisuke with his finger.

"If he can stop being a caveman for long enough," she replied, her smile not faltering. "Hey Daisuke, dinner tonight?"

Daisuke stopped in his tracks, blushing. "Dinner, as in, a date? I thought you'd never ask! In your face, TS!"

Takeru raised an eyebrow as Hikari broke out into a fit of giggles. "If by date you mean with all of the other DigiDestined, then yes."

It was almost comical to see the crestfallen look on his face afterwards, but he was right back to his peppy self shortly after. Takeru had to hand it to Daisuke- that guy was persistent as they come.

"Well, I'm going to head home to finish up a few things and get ready for dinner," Hikari announced. "I'll see both of you later! Taichi should message everyone with the plans, so keep your phones handy!"

"Hey, TP!" Daisuke shouted suddenly as Hikari ran off. Takeru turned to his friend, who was jogging up to him, slowly.

"What's up, Daisuke?" He didn't care that the goggle-head butchered his name anymore. At this point, it would be weird if he were to suddenly start calling him Takeru.

"You don't think Wally boy's really gonna try to make the moves on Hikari, do you?" His tone was serious, as if this were a legitimate problem that he was going to have. That sort of made Takeru nervous.

"Even if he does, I know Hikari pretty well. She's wise to that kind of stuff, she's not about to let some American guy come in and start talking roses and chocolates to her. She'll be polite, but don't think that she's returning flirtations," Takeru explained, hoping he was getting his point across in a neutral manner. "Miyako on the other hand…"

"Miyako's got Ken," Daisuke said hurriedly. "But Hikari's got me…and, well, you. But she likes me more." He grinned, attempting to convince himself of what he just said. He didn't look too sure of himself. "Well, I mean, maybe she likes us the same, which is why we need to work together in case this guy starts throwing off our groove. You with me, TG?"

Takeru smirked, wondering if he should humor Daisuke. He liked Wallace enough, but Daisuke was his friend. "Sure, Daisuke, sounds like a plan."

"Atta boy!" Daisuke smiled, pulling Takeru's hat off and mussing up his hair. "I know you can be tough when you need to be…Ken does too! I guess not all blondes are bad." He laughed at his own joke before giving Takeru back his hat and running off.

Takeru turned and began walking down the sidewalk to his apartment. With friends like Daisuke, who needed enemies?

The restaurant was a place uptown at the top of one of the city's notable skyscrapers. Takeru had been there a handful of times, but it was a bit pricey. Thankfully he had saved up some money so he didn't look like a broke teenager in front of all of the others. He even ditched his hat for the occasion, choosing instead to attempt to tame his blonde hair.

By the time he arrived, Taichi, Hikari, Miyako, and Ken were already there, which was good, because he thought he might have been running a little late. "They got delayed a little at the airport," Taichi explained, looking down at his cell phone. "Apparently something with Mimi's luggage. Her straightening iron probably got dubbed a weapon or something."

They all shared a good laugh at that. Takeru examined the table- large enough to accommodate their entire party. He wished Yamato was going to be there; it had been a while since all of the DigiDestined had gotten together like this, and it would be weird without him there to share the experience. That, and he sort of missed his older brother.

"Hey, look!" Miyako roared suddenly, standing up at her seat and pointing across the restaurant to the door. "They're here!"

Ken turned a shade of deep crimson and pulled Miyako back to her seat. "It's rude to point," he said calmly.

But she was correct. Sora led the way in, with Jyou and Mimi right behind her. Mimi smiled pleasantly and waved at us as she hurried her pace to get to the table. Finally, Koushiro and Wallace walked in, engaged in some sort of conversation which Takeru deduced had to do with words he didn't comprehend. Geniuses.

Mimi and Miyako embraced in a hug that was probably more of a submission hold on the former's part. Mimi made her rounds at the table, shaking hands with Ken and giving Taichi a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, Hikari, you're getting prettier by the week!" she smiled as she embraced Taichi's sister.

Hikari blushed. "Oh, stop, Mimi. You're the pretty one."

"I think both of you are the pretty ones," Wallace added slyly as he reached the table.

Hikari's blush deepened, but Mimi seemed unfazed. "Sounds like the flight here all over again," she teased. She finally walked over to Takeru, who offered her his hand. She looked appalled. "Really, Takeru? We know each other better than that!" And with that, she picked him up out of his seat and embraced him in a glomping hug. Takeru noticed she smelled like lavender and rose petals, which suited her well. "You've grown up too! You're handsome, just like your brother."

Now it was Takeru's turn to blush. As he looked away from Mimi, smiling, he made brief eye contact with Wallace. He would normally have thought nothing of it, but the look in the American's eye when they met each other's focus was off. Almost as if he were examining Takeru. Wallace raised one of his eyebrows and his lips upturned in a small, hardly noticeable smile, and as quick as that he was looking somewhere else. He didn't know why, but for some reason that second of eye contact was bothering Takeru.

Thankfully, his thoughts were interrupted by the late arrival of Daisuke. "Sorry I'm late, Jun had hidden my shoes and…" he froze, noticing everyone was there without him. He walked up to the table attempting to be nonchalant, but everyone's eyes were now on him.

"Daisuke," Mimi smiled politely to break the silence. "Good to see you without goggles on your head."

He responded with a wide grin. "Uh, good to see you too, Mimi. How is your boyfriend? Um, Michael?"

Mimi's smile immediately turned into a scowl, and Jyou and Koushiro both blushed at the mention of the name. "He is NOT my boyfriend! Ahem." She turned back around to the table. "Shall we?" She pulled out a chair and sat down next to Sora.

Jyou immediately sat on Mimi's other side, while Koushiro took the seat next to him. Takeru was already seated next to Hikari, but she had a seat available on her other side. He figured who would try to nab that seat. Taichi was sitting next to Sora, with Ken next to him and Miyako on Ken's other side. With Wallace and Daisuke still standing, the only two seats left were the one between Koushiro and Hikari and the one between Miyako and Takeru. Either way, dinner was going to be interesting.

Takeru's prediction came true as both of them made a beeline for the seat next to Hikari. Daisuke got there first, calling out triumphantly, "Sorry dude, I always sit next to Hikari!"

Koushiro scoffed. "And here I was feeling special." Takeru laughed, not expecting a joke from the brainy DigiDestined who had a tendency to be socially awkward.

"It's fine," Wallace responded, as if he couldn't care less that Daisuke had won. "Miyako's a beautiful girl, too, so I think I'll be great sitting next to her." He walked over to the chair next to Takeru and sat down, Miyako staring at him with a goofy grin on her face.

Ken looked frustrated. "You're drooling, Miyako." She immediately straightened up her posture and directed her attention to the menu. Sora and Taichi had a good laugh about that.

As Takeru was looking through the menu, attempting to find something within his price range, he couldn't help but casually glance to his left to see what Wallace was doing. Why did he look at him like that? Why did things suddenly become so weird?

"Noodles…or soup?"

Takeru blinked and looked over to the American. "Huh?"

"I was asking which one I should order…I'm used to American food so I'm not sure what's good around here. I do know what noodles and soup are, so might as well go the safe route. What's better?" Wallace was now making eye contact with Takeru, who was suddenly seeing just exactly how blue his eyes were.

"Well, get both. Get some ramen…it's like noodles and soup together. It's actually one of my favorite foods," Takeru explained, directing his eyes back to his own menu.

Wallace contemplated it for a moment. "Alright, thanks for the input, Takeru. How have you been, by the way? It's been a few years, I guess. Mimi was right…you grew up a little bit."

Takeru tried hard not to blush…what was with this guy? "Yeah, it's no problem. I've been good. Busy with schoolwork and all of that, but it's been kind of boring without and Digital World antics going on." He was surprised he could talk as smoothly as he was despite his sudden discomfort with the situation. If Daisuke wouldn't kill him, he would have asked Hikari to switch him seats. Then he remembered his courtesies. "What about you?"

"Ah, I've been here and there. Mostly there, though. School sucks, but we have to do it. I kind of wish I had some Digital World escapades to share with you guys, but unfortunately I missed that train," he reasoned, putting his menu down. "Although Terriermon and Lopmon are always nice to keep company, they decided to take a summer break in DigiWorld while I was here in Japan. How's, um, your Digimon?"

"Patamon's great. I haven't seen him in a while," Takeru lamented, a bit sad at the truth of the statement. In the fact that Wallace always got to see his Digimon partners, Takeru was a bit jealous.

"That reminds me," Sora said suddenly, looking at Takeru and Wallace across the table. "Mimi, Taichi, Jyou, Koushiro and I were thinking about taking a trip to the Digital World this weekend to see all of our friends. What do you guys say?"

The news lightened Takeru up immediately and he smiled. Before he could answer, however, Miyako was bellowing how excited she was about the idea, while Ken remained next to her looking absolutely mortified at the commotion she was causing. Hikari smiled as well, and Daisuke was almost on Miyako's level. Takeru pondered for a minute and decided the summer was going to be great.

The night carried on. Dinner was ordered and on its way out, and Takeru had almost forgotten any of his uncomfortable thoughts from before due to thinking about Patamon and DigiWorld. After the meals came out, though, he began noticing strange things that Wallace did. He wasn't sure to dismiss them as 'American things' or if his actions had any hidden meanings to them, but he was certain that he was getting uncomfortable with the situation.

At several points during the meal, Takeru felt Wallace's leg brush against his own. It was only for brief periods at a time, but he noticed that the contact was becoming more frequent as the night went on. Then, later, when they had finished and were table talking about how stuffed they all were, Wallace put his hand down on the table right next to where Takeru's was resting. A few minutes later, Wallace's pinky brushed against the edge of Takeru's hand.

He instinctively jerked his hand away, and then blushed after having done so.

"Sorry," Wallace said quickly. "I wasn't even paying attention. My bad, bro." He patted Takeru on his back and smiled at him in that weird, overconfident smile he had in which one of his eyebrows was cocked up. It looked mocking, almost, but somehow Takeru could tell it was sincere.

"It's cool," he replied, looking over to Hikari. She gave him an inquisitive gesture, noticing the obvious discomfort that had come across Takeru's face.

"You're quiet tonight, is something up? Normally you're talkative and happy that everyone's here," she reasoned, ignoring Daisuke's pout that she was no longer paying attention to him.

"No, everything's fine," Takeru lied. But was everything fine? Maybe all of the things he was noticing really were mistakes, and there was nothing going on except for Wallace's strange American customs. "What have you and Wallace been talking about?"

"Nothing, really," he responded swiftly. "I mean, he asked me about Patamon and everything, but other than your typical 'haven't seen you in a while' formalities, nothing."

"Yeah, I guess he might have been more preoccupied with Miyako. Maybe we should break it to him that she's with Ken, because Angemon knows neither of them will speak up," she giggled, before being drug away from the conversation by Daisuke once again.

Takeru sighed. Dinner was almost over and he was getting tired. Why was he suddenly feeling outcast in the middle of a dinner with his greatest friends? He should be ecstatic, and yet, Wallace seemed to be probing at the back of his mind no matter where his thoughts turned. All because of that look.

"…right, Takeru?" He blinked. Someone was talking to him, but he wasn't paying attention. He looked up to see Jyou smiling in his direction.

"Sorry, Jyou, I was zoned out. What was that?"

"I was telling Mimi that you're starting varsity basketball at high school next semester," he repeated, and Mimi was grinning ear to ear.

"I, uh, yeah…" he responded meekly. This garnered everyone at the table's attention, and Takeru's confidence slowly began to build back up. "I tried out and they were impressed, so…"

"Yeah, and I got on the varsity soccer team!" Daisuke interjected, never one to let Takeru have even a moment of the spotlight.

Sora laughed and rolled her eyes. "We know, Daisuke. You told EVERYONE the minute it happened. Takeru's been keeping this under wraps. How come? You know we'll try to make it to your games!"

Takeru smiled; he always loved Sora. "I dunno, just figured it wasn't a super huge deal or anything. But I really appreciate it, Sora. I'll try not to embarrass myself if you guys show up a time or two."

"I'll be at all of them," Taichi interjected. "Having just graduated, I sort of miss the high school already. Man, I can't believe how much we've all grown up since our DigiWorld experience."

"The important thing is that we're still close," Mimi added, "even though some of us are far away. I'm graduating next year, and I haven't told my parents yet, but I definitely plan to move back here to Japan to go to university."

The news was met with a bunch of smiles and laughter, and everyone was just having a genuinely good time being together. It once again occurred to him that Yamato should have been a part of this, however. "Yeah, you've got that right, Mimi."

And then the conversations picked up where they left off, and people started paying for their bills. "Well, it was super to see everyone again, but I have to study for my last final and should probably be getting home." Jyou, the ever-avid college student commented as he got up from the table.

"I should head home, too," Sora said, yawning. "It's been a long day, and I've got work early in the morning. Good to see everyone!"

"Hey, you should let me walk you home?" Taichi responded, almost as a question. "Takeru or Daisuke can take Hikari to our place, you shouldn't walk anywhere this late at night anyway."

Sora had the faintest of blushes on her face. "I mean, if you really don't mind. Thanks, Taichi."

Takeru looked over to Hikari, and Daisuke behind her, with a most pleading look on his face. He smirked; here he could choose to be the king of douchebags or be a good friend. Daisuke's crush on her was almost humorous to him at this point, and his imaginary rivalry with him over her was something the pair always found amusing. Of course, Hikari was his best friend- but that was the extent of their relationship. They did care deeply about one another, but not in a romantic way. Almost as if she were his sister or something.

"Hikari, I took you home last time. I think a big, brave man like Daisuke should brave the dangers of night time and walk with you tonight," Takeru said, smirking.

Hikari rolled her eyes and turned to Daisuke. "Oh, you really mean it? Will you walk with me, Daisuke?"

Daisuke gave Takeru a passive glance of gratitude and then puffed out his chest. "Of course I will. You won't have to worry about a thing with a stud like me around!"

Hikari winked at Takeru before standing up and heading toward the exit with Daisuke and her brother. "See you tomorrow, Takeru. It was great to see you too, Wallace!"

"What, no goodbye kiss?" Wallace asked, grinning, which earned him twin glares from Taichi and Daisuke.

"Nope, sorry dude, goodbye!" Daisuke said quickly as he yanked Hikari out of the restaurant.

"You can give me one!" Miyako bellowed, puffing out her lips, but before her American dream boy could oblige, Ken was pulling her by her collar toward the door.

"Thanks for the dinner opportunity, everyone. See you all soon," Ken said politely. He bowed and then took his uncontrollable girlfriend with him to the exit.

"Oh, well," Mimi started, understandably confused. "Um, well I guess this is everyone saying goodbye. We should all walk out together!"

Takeru looked around, noticing that it was only himself, Mimi, Koushiro and Wallace left. He sighed as he stood from the table and followed his older friends out of the door.

"Senior year is coming up after this summer holiday," Koushiro observed, as if he were talking to himself. "Well, for you and I anyway, Mimi. I'm pretty excited that you'll be moving back…we can have DigiDestined reunions more often and everything."

As Koushiro and Mimi continued their conversation outside of the restaurant, Takeru decided he should head home as well. He was pretty sleepy after the day.

"Hey, Takeru," Wallace said, jogging up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, what's up Wallace?" he asked, trying to ignore the contact. This really must be an American thing.

"I didn't know you were a good basketball player," he said, smiling. "We have that back in America, it's pretty big. I'm gonna be here all summer, d'ya think we could play sometime? I could probably show you a few cool new tricks."

Takeru was sort of surprised at his offer, but for some reason it also made him smile. "Yeah, sure thing Wallace. I guess I should warn you, there's probably not much you can show me. I think I might be able to show YOU some tricks, though."

Wallace grinned and patted him on the back. "Atta boy! I was wondering how somebody could be such good friends with Daisuke and not know how to do a little shit-talking."

Takeru returned the smile. "Can't let Daisuke have all the fun, now, can we?"

"Hey, Wallace! You ready to see where you'll be staying the rest of the summer?" Koushiro called. "I'm going to set up a LAN later, if you're interested."

"Yeah, Shiro, that sounds great!" Wallace replied. He looked back to Takeru. "So, I'll see you around? Looking forward to our b-ball encounter, dude! Have a good night." He reached his hand up and messed up Takeru's hair playfully before turning around and bolting off toward Koushiro.

Takeru stood there, a bit dumbfounded. What exactly had gone on tonight?

"Well, are you going to just stand there, or are you going to walk a lady home?" Mimi asked, her smile deceiving her bratty question.

"Oh, uh, of course Mimi. Just, uh, where is home?" Takeru asked, thinking about that for the first time since she arrived.

"Sora's…I would have left with them, but I think Taichi was trying to have a 'moment', and I wasn't about to mess up any potential romances."

"Let's head off, then," Takeru replied before Mimi took it upon herself to lock arms with him as they walked down the street.

"What do you think about Wallace?" she asked suddenly, which, all things considered, threw Takeru completely off guard.

"He's…American. And a pretty chipper guy, I guess. A little on the weird side, but friendly nonetheless."

"He's not like that with everyone, you know," Mimi said, as if she were trying to get at something.

"I guess I'm just special, then," Takeru joked as they neared the block to Sora's place. "I had met him before…a couple of years ago. He doesn't seem to have changed too much."

"Right. Well, it seems like you two will become good friends. It just warms my heart to see DigiDestined from across the world unite like this," Mimi continued, in her melodramatic way of 'Mimi-ing' everything up.

"Like you and Michael, right?" Takeru dared to ask.

"No, not like me and Michael!" she snapped immediately. Takeru looked the other way. Sore subject, apparently.

They neared Sora's house, and Mimi gave Takeru a kiss on the cheek for walking her home and a goodbye hug that was way too powerful to have meant to be endearing. He smiled as she walked in, but he wasn't sure if it was because his friends were back in town, or if it were the prospect of having an interesting new person like Wallace suddenly pop up into his life.

Either way, the summer was going to be interesting.