Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

There was a letter sitting on the table in the kitchen. It was covered with little Christmas trees scribbled in green crayon, presents of all shapes, sizes, and colors, some with ribbon and some without, red and green stockings, and messy red blobs that looked vaguely like flowers. It was folded reverently and tucked into a white envelope, which was almost equally covered in assorted drawings except for one clear spot in the center where there were scribbled four words in the neatest handwriting that the artist could manage: “Santa Claus, North Pole.”

T.K. knew that this letter was there because, well, it was his. It had taken him all of yesterday – the whole day! – to put it together. He had put his utmost effort into being polite and clear and neat, and he thought he had been more than good enough this year to get the things he wanted, right? Santa couldn’t say no to him, especially after he saw how cool the letter was! But there was one problem.

The letter was still on the kitchen table. It was already December, but the letter hadn’t been mailed yet. No matter how many times he asked his mother to take it to the post office, or to let him take it to the post office, or something, she always had some reason why she couldn’t. T.K. didn’t know what a “deadline” was, but surely it could wait a day, right? He needed to get his letter mailed!

But he had just been rejected, again. He pouted as he walked out of his mother’s room, his eyes prickling with tears, and his eyes landed on the table. It would be a short trip, right? It should be easy! But for some reason, she couldn’t go with him.

But maybe…

His eyes lit up as an idea struck him, but guilt followed just as quickly, and he flinched and looked behind him as if his mother could have heard his thoughts. But she was still just as engrossed in her work as she had been a few seconds ago when she said, “Maybe tomorrow, T.K., just leave me alone to work for now, please.” He watched her for a few seconds, but she didn’t turn around.

This could work. Maybe he could go deliver the letter on his own!

It would be fine! He would go take the letter to the post office and be back before she even finished her work. She’d never even notice, and maybe his letter would still be able to reach Santa before he was too busy. It was the perfect plan!

Smiling to himself, he dashed over to the table, gripped the letter, and ran for the door. He stopped to pull on his shoes and narrowly managed to stop himself before yelling a goodbye. He opened the door and slipped outside as quietly as he could, making a break for the elevator that he knew led to the ground floor.

So far, so good, right? This would work!

He saw some people looking at him weirdly as he crossed to the entrance of the apartment complex, but he ignored them. He was five, he could handle himself. Besides, he was on an important mission. He wouldn’t let them stop him!

No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than he stumbled to a stop on the sidewalk. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. No matter how confident he was, no matter how simple of a trip this was supposed to be, when faced with the full glory of Setagaya, Tokyo, he couldn’t help but be afraid.

He balled up his fists, feeling the letter crumble ever so slightly, and swallowed hard. That was fine. He could still do it. He would still make it. He wouldn’t let anything stop him, not the people who were looking at him, not the big city, not anything! He had to get this letter to the post office, and fast.

But which way?

There was only one place in Setagaya that he knew, and that was the train station. Maybe he would find a clue there? At least, maybe there, he could get away from all the people looking down at him. So, he set off.

Unfortunately, the train station was just as crowded as the streets, and it didn’t look like any of the posters lining the wall would tell him anything about where the post office was. But he would keep looking, he had to, he needed to get his letter there, or else Santa would never get it, and he had to get it. T.K. set his jaw and stepped into the station.

He wanted to get closer to the walls and see if he could find anything, but he kept getting pushed by the crowds. There seemed to be a lot more people here than usual, and they were all really big and scary, so even if he wanted to ask for help, he was afraid one of them might hurt him, or worse, say something mean to him. T.K. just wanted to get out of the crowd. He slipped past what looked like a gate of some sort and just tried to keep moving, trying to see the walls, looking for any sort of map or anything that said “post office” or “mail” or… what were the kanji for “post office” again?

In front of him, the crowd parted for a brief second. Through the break, T.K. could see a train, its doors wide open, and the inside was all Christmas-y, a stark contrast to the train station, and he decided it was a sign. He dashed for the train, the doors still wide open, and plopped into a seat next to the door. He gripped his letter tightly, a smile starting to grow on his face. Maybe this train would take him to the post office. Or maybe, better yet, it would take him straight to the North Pole, and he could talk to Santa himself! That must be it! This was the North Pole’s train, which was why it was decorated when nothing else was. He’d done it, he’d found the way!

Something on the ceiling spoke and the doors began to edge shut. T.K. settled into his seat, which was thick and plushy and comfortable, and his eyelids started to droop shut. He let them close and leaned back into the softness. When he woke up, he would be in the North Pole, and he’d be able to see Santa and give him his letter. Until then, a nap sounded great.

He couldn’t wait until the train stopped.

/////

He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but finally the train rolled to a stop. The ceiling started speaking again, and it sounded like it said “last stop.” All the other people moved to leave, so T.K. followed them, feeling like he was vibrating. His eyes widened as he stepped off.

This surely had to be the North Pole. Everything was covered in vibrant red and green decorations, Christmas trees adorning every corner, wreaths hung on every doorway, tinsel all over the walls. What else could it be? He had really done it, he was really here!

A laugh bubbled up in his throat, and he lurched forward, intent on finding Santa and giving him his letter and being the nicest little boy ever. He took a left, then a right, ducking under another gate-looking thing – it was a good thing he was still pretty short, he thought – but he couldn’t find anything that looked like it might lead him to Santa. Maybe he was in another building? There were multiple buildings here in the North Pole, right? Maybe this was some sort of reception center, and Santa was in the elf workshop. That was it! He just had to find the elf workshop!

His heart pounding, he looked around wildly for a door, and after a couple more turns, he finally spotted one. He ran for it and broke through as quickly as he could, expecting to find a snowy white landscape, or a huge sign that said “Welcome to the North Pole!” or maybe there would be an elf directing people to Santa. He finally made it through the throng of people and looked up and around. His smile slid off his face.

This wasn’t the North Pole.

This looked like it was the same as Setagaya. Was he still there? No, that couldn’t be it, Setagaya hadn’t had all those decorations, so where was he? 

This wasn’t the North Pole. This wasn’t Setagaya. This wasn’t home.

Where was he?

T.K. felt tears pricking at his eyes again. He turned and took off down the sidewalk, no idea where he was going, but maybe he could find something. Everywhere he went, it all looked the same, just more people and more gray buildings and more wreaths hanging from street lamps and more things that definitely weren’t taking him to Santa or the post office. Finally, he found a less crowded area and collapsed against the closest wall. He had no idea where he was and now he was just tired, his body ached, he was thirsty, and he wanted to cry.

He could fix one of those things, at least. He let himself cry, hard.

He’d messed up. He’d messed up badly, and his mom would be mad, and his letter would never make it to Santa, or worse, maybe he’d never even make it back home, he’d just be left in this strange place he’d gotten himself to, lost and alone with no idea where to find Santa or the post office or a way back home. 

If only his brother were here. But T.K. and his mom had left him, and he had no idea how to get back to where he was.

Something tapped his shoulder.

T.K. choked on his tears and slowly lifted his head. There was another kid here, looking at him with huge, worried, amber eyes. The other kid said something, but T.K. sniffled at the same time. He wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve and looked up again. “What?”

“I said, are you okay?” He sounded impatient, and T.K. shrunk back slightly. He didn’t want to make some stranger mad.

“I… I’m lost,” T.K. admitted, turning his gaze to the ground. “I was trying to find the post office, and then Santa, and I ended up here, but I don’t – I don’t know where I am.”

The tears started anew. T.K. fought them back, wiping his eyes again on his already soaked sleeve. The other boy held his hand out like he was going to place it on T.K.’s shoulder but froze. Then he pushed himself straight and offered his hand to T.K. “It’s okay, don’t cry! I can take you back where you came from!”

T.K. looked up at him with wide eyes. “You can?”

“Of course! Just tell me where you need to go!”

T.K.’s tear-streaked face split into a grin, and he grabbed the other boy’s hand, pulling himself up. He looked to be around T.K.’s age, though he was definitely a little taller, or maybe that was just the spikes in his auburn hair that added a few inches. He was smiling a huge, vibrant smile, and if T.K. didn’t know better, he’d think he was looking at the sun. “Thanks a lot, uh… What’s your name?”

“I’m Davis! What’s yours?”

“I’m T.K.! Call me T.K.!” He forced himself to look away from Davis’s smile and turned to face the scary city. “So, where am I, Davis?”

“We’re across the street from the candy store!” Davis answered, pointing over at a brightly decorated shop on the other side of the road. T.K.’s eyes widened.

“A candy store? Can we go in?!”

“Huh? Sure! My sister is in this store –” he jerked his thumb at the shop behind them, and T.K. saw clothes hanging in the window “– but she’ll probably take forever. Let’s go!”

Davis took a step forward and dutifully looked left, then right before dashing into the street. T.K. only noticed he hadn’t released his hand when he was suddenly jerked to follow, almost tripping over his feet before he managed to match Davis’s pace. The two made their way into the candy shop.

T.K.’s jaw dropped at the sheer amount of sugar there was here; he could almost taste it in the air, and he could certainly see it lining the walls. He moved to trace the outline of the store, marvelling at the displays and the colors and how it was decorated sort of like the place where he’d exited the train had been, all bright and colorful and Christmas-y and oh right! He didn’t have time to be wandering a candy store! He whirled around to face Davis, whose face seemed to have brightened even more, if it were possible.

“Wait, Davis! I need to find the post office, do you know where that is? I have to mail this letter!” He brandished his letter proudly. “I have to get it to Santa before it’s too late!”

Davis’s eyes widened. “You have a letter for Santa, too? So do I! My sister has it right now, because she said I’d lose it, which is wrong, I’d never lose it, but come on, let’s go find her! She can take us there!”

T.K. nodded wildly, hope sparking in his chest again. He let Davis drag him back outside, and he could see the clothes store they had come from now. Standing in front of the door was another kid, older than the two of them, with spiky red hair, looking around frantically. “That’s my sister,” Davis told him. “Hey! Jun! Over here!”

Her head snapped to face them, and she stormed across the road, barely sparing a glance to look for cars, but she made it safely. “Davis, don’t just run off like that! Mom trusted me with you, and if you get lost I’ll never hear the end of it!”

“Jun, look! This is T.K.!” said Davis, either oblivious or completely ignoring her. “He has a letter for Santa, too, so can we hurry up and go to the post office?”

“Huh?” Jun blinked at T.K. “Uh, sure, I guess. Hi, T.K., I’m Jun. Are you Davis’s friend?”

They had only met a few minutes ago, but T.K. nodded vigorously. “He’s gonna help me get back home!”

“Your home? Where’s that?”

“Setagaya!”

Jun blinked once. “Setagaya, huh? That’s another district of Tokyo, I think. We’re in Odaiba right now.”

“Odaiba?” The name sounded familiar. T.K. frowned.

“Post office, Jun, post office!” Davis shouted. T.K. put aside his confusion and nodded quickly.

“Alright, alright. Follow me,” she said tiredly. The two boys grinned at each other and fell into step behind her, still hand-in-hand. Davis kept pointing out shops with his other hand, telling T.K. what they sold, and sometimes he had funny stories about them. Like how one time he had broken a candle in the candle shop and Jun had to pay for it (she wasn’t very amused by that one, but T.K. laughed), or when he had dashed out of the sports store with a stolen soccer ball, forcing Jun to chase him to get it back and return it. T.K. thought Davis was a little hard to keep up with, but with every passing second and each blinding smile, he was more and more grateful that the other had found him.

“Alright, you two, we’re here!” Jun announced finally. T.K. looked up at the building they’d stopped at, which definitely didn’t say “post office” on it, but it had some characters that he was sure must mean the same thing. 

He’d done it! He’d really done it! Well, sort of – he was really far from Setagaya, and he hadn’t found it himself, but he was here, at least, and he was finally going to mail his letter. He leapt for the door, pulling Davis behind him. “We’re here! Come on, Davis, let’s go!”

Davis laughed brightly and followed him into the building. Once they took their place at the back of the rather long line, Davis turned to his sister and said, “Jun, give me my letter, come on! I’m not gonna lose it, promise!”

Jun glanced at him skeptically, but she dug into the bag hanging at her side and pulled out a crumpled envelope, decorated similar to T.K.’s but much messier. “You better not lose it. I’m not coming back with you to mail a new one.”

“Yeah, yeah! Give it!”

T.K. laughed, but her words made him remember his mom. She’d said she would go with him, even if she hadn’t made any move to, but he’d left her behind, and now he was far away. He knew now that he’d definitely make it back; he had faith in Davis to get him home. But he felt guilty for leaving her on her own.

His face must have betrayed his mood shift, because Davis suddenly gave his hand a squeeze. He glanced up in surprise, but Davis wasn’t facing him, looking around the store instead. His eyes landed on something on the other side, and his face brightened again. “T.K., come on, look at this!”

T.K. was quickly dragged away again, and Jun shouted after them, but Davis didn’t stop. As it turned out, what had caught his interest was a display of hats. They were all brightly decorated, some in red and green, some in blue and gold, some covered in rainbows. Davis shoved his letter in his pocket before picking up one that had reindeer all over it and putting it on. “Aren’t these cool? I didn’t know the post office sold hats! How do I look?”

T.K. laughed in response and picked up a ball cap that had some words in English on it. “There are so many! And they’re so colorful!” He plopped it over his hair, and Davis giggled at him. They kept throwing on different ones – at one point, Davis tried to put on every hat on the rack at the same time, but they wouldn’t all fit, and T.K. had a good laugh at that – until finally Jun called their names. The two boys glanced up from the white, cloud-patterned hat that T.K. was holding to see that there was only one person left in front of her.

“We’re coming, Jun! Come on, T.K., we finally get to mail our letters!” Davis gave him another huge, sunny smile and grabbed his hand again. T.K. didn’t get the chance to put the hat back before they were dashing up to the counter. 

Jun spoke to the person on the other side, but T.K. wasn’t paying any attention. He and Davis slapped their letters onto the counter, both more than a little crumpled, but somehow he found he didn’t mind. He had worked hard, sure, but at least it had gotten messed up while he was having fun.

Jun’s voice saying his name brought her conversation into focus, and he looked up to meet her eyes. “T.K., you have to put the hat back. It’s not free, you know.”

“Oh.” T.K. looked down at the crinkled hat in his hands, more than a little disappointed. “Okay. I can –”

“Wait, no!” Davis interrupted. “Come on, Jun, can’t you get it for him? Please?”

“Davis, we don’t even know him –”

“Davis, it’s okay,” T.K. said quickly, attempting to move away, but Davis held fast to his hand, squeezing tightly.

“Come on, T.K., you want it, right?”

T.K. hesitated, then nodded slowly.

Davis turned to face Jun again, fire in his eyes. “Come on, Jun! If not for him, then for me?”

Somehow, at that line, T.K. thought she looked even more displeased, and she glanced furtively around the post office, at the people whose eyes had been drawn to the scene. “Davis, I –”

“Please?”

T.K. didn’t realize he’d said it until her eyes turned to him in surprise, and her expression broke. “Ok, I – fine. Fine! Give it here.”

A painfully huge grin broke out on his face, and he chanced a look at Davis, only to be blinded once again by the other’s smile. T.K. held the hat up to Jun who handed it over to a more-than-amused cashier. Someone came by and collected their letters, and T.K. watched them go excitedly.

He’d been a good kid, he knew it. He’d get what he wished this year for sure!

Davis turned to him brightly and started pulling him from the post office, Jun lagging behind. Davis was talking to him again, but T.K. could barely hear him over the din of the post office, plus he was facing away. The two shoved through the doors back into the December air, laughing, Davis pumping a fist in the air, hand-in-hand the whole way.

“T.K.?”

He almost tripped over his own feet, yanking Davis to a stop, and turned quickly to face the voice.

“Matt?”

There stood his brother, looking cold and way more than a little surprised, a package tucked under his arm. T.K. felt his heart lift and he unconsciously squeezed Davis’s hand hard before letting go and dashing forward, launching himself into his brother’s leg.

“Matt! I’m so glad to see you, see, I got lost, I was trying to find the post office to send my letter to Santa, but I couldn’t find it, then I couldn’t find Santa, then –”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down!” Matt set his package on the ground and gently pushed T.K. off, lowering himself to his height. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Mom moved!”

“We did! We live in Setagaya now!”

“Then why are you here? And – wait, where’s Mom? Is she inside?”

“No, she’s at home!” T.K. said brightly. “I got lost!”

“T.K., who’s this?” A warm hand wrapped around T.K.’s, and he turned to face Davis as he walked up beside them.

“Oh, Davis, this is my brother, Matt! Matt, this is Davis, I met him today, he’s my friend!”

Matt offered Davis a smile. “Hi, Davis, nice to meet you. You’re, uh, T.K.’s friend?”

“Yup!” T.K. answered instead. “He and his sister brought me here to the post office, we mailed our letters to Santa!”

“Your letters to – oh, that’s right! T.K., you –” Matt’s eyes widened, and he stood up quickly. “T.K., you left home? How did you get here? Why did you come here? You – you just left Mom?”

T.K. shrunk away at the change in his brother’s tone. “I didn’t mean to, I just – it was an accident!” He felt himself tearing up again and ducked behind Davis, whose grip felt like it was crushing his hand. Davis held his other arm out as if to protect T.K.

“I – okay, uh…” Matt ran a hand through his hair. “I came out with Dad, and I don’t think he’s allowed to be with you right now, but I think it’s okay if I take you home. We’ll have to wait for him to catch up. Please don’t cry, T.K.”

Davis didn’t move, but T.K. glanced over his shoulder. Matt didn’t look mad, so he willed himself to stop crying and wiped his eyes hard. Behind them, the post office doors opened again, and he heard someone exit.

“Davis, T.K., there you are! I – oh!” Jun stopped short upon noticing Matt. “Uh, hi, are you with T.K.?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m his brother. Are you with Davis? Have you two been taking care of him?”

T.K. lost interest in their conversation as Davis turned to him, frowning. “Are you okay going with him?”

“Huh?” T.K. sniffled. “Yeah, Matt’s my brother. He’ll get me home.”

Davis nodded slowly. Matt turned to them then and said, “T.K., there’s a phone over here, so I’m going to call Mom and tell her where you are. It’ll take us some time to get you back.”

T.K. nodded in response, and Matt stepped away, grabbing his package as he passed it. Jun smiled after him and turned to face them. “Well, that’s that. Come on, Davis. You and I need to get home, too.”

“Huh? But – wait –”

“Wait, don’t leave!” T.K. shouted, his grip tightening on Davis’s hand. “You’re my friends, why don’t you – uh – come home with me? Please!”

“I don’t want to leave yet!” Davis nodded enthusiastically. “Can we spend a little more time with him, please, Jun, come on!”

Jun’s face flashed with hesitation. “We’re supposed to be home soon, Davis, and you know how Mom gets, We can’t.” Davis opened his mouth to respond, but Jun reached forward and pulled the hand not occupied by T.K.’s, forcing the two boys to let go as she started walking. “Come on, Davis, we have to go.”

“Wait – wait, no!” Davis pulled hard, yanking his hand out of her grip, and snatched the cloud-patterned hat from her other hand, which T.K. had completely forgotten about. Davis dashed over to him and slowed to a stop, placing the hat gently on T.K.’s head. His hands brushed against T.K.’s ears lightly as he pulled it into place before he reached down and gripped both of T.K.’s hands in his own. “If you need me, um – write me a letter!” His face lit up like it was the greatest idea ever. “Yeah, write me a letter! And it’ll get to me and I’ll come to – what was it? – I’ll come to Setagaya as fast as I can! Ok? Promise me!”

T.K.’s breath caught in his throat. He squeezed Davis’s hands hard in return, his face splitting into a smile once again. “I will! I promise! And you can write me a letter, too, okay? I’ll find my way back here!”

Davis laughed, music to T.K.’s ears, and smiled his wide, beaming smile again. “I’ll definitely write you one, then!”

He released his hands and backed away. T.K. felt the loss immediately, like he had just stepped out of the sunlight. As Davis turned and caught back up to Jun, T.K. waved like his life depended on it, and when Davis looked over his shoulder and saw him, he waved back. T.K. kept his hand in the air until Matt rejoined him, long after the two of them disappeared from his sight, his palm still warm from the comforting contact that was no longer there.

/////

“No way.”

T.K. grinned cheekily from the doorway, his hand falling from where he was brandishing a tiny, cloud-patterned hat. “Yes, way. Of course I kept it.”

“Are you kidding? That was years ago, we were five!” Davis stepped closer to him, taking the hat from his hand and holding it up. It was old, and it certainly had the creases and rips and stains to show for it. “Man, you really kept this thing for all that time?”

“I wore it every day for two years before my mom got me a new one,” T.K. answered with a laugh. “It’s the reason I still wear hats, you know.”

“Except you forgot where you got it.”

“Hey, in my defense, so did you. What happened to writing me a letter?”

“You idiot, you know I couldn’t have!” Davis swung the hat at T.K.’s head playfully, and he ducked. Both of them dissolved into laughter.

T.K. quieted and offered a fond look to the aged hat. “I’m surprised it took us going back to that post office for me to remember. I think I did write you letters, you know, but I couldn’t ever send them.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Don’t know where they are now; they probably ended up in the trash years ago.”

Davis scoffed and tossed the hat at his face, turning to leave the room. T.K. let it drop into his hands, giggling.

“Do you remember what you did that day?” he asked, tracing the hat’s hem with his thumb. 

Davis glanced back at him, somewhat cautiously. “You mean besides save your life?”

“Oh, come on, it wasn’t that dramatic.” T.K. placed the cloud-patterned hat to the side and pulled his own plain white one from his head, smiling over at Davis. “You came running up to me and put the hat on me like this.” He stepped forward and pulled the hat onto Davis’s head. It was more difficult with his unruly hair, but he made it work. He ensured that his hands made contact with Davis’s ears before reaching down and holding Davis’s hands tightly. T.K. looked back up at his face, which was dusted lightly with red, his eyes intense. “And then you pledged your life to finding me again.”

Davis snorted and squeezed T.K.’s hands in warning. “Yeah, right. In your dreams, maybe.”

T.K.’s smile turned soft and he leaned forward enough that their foreheads touched, his eyes turned back down to their joined hands. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Davis offered a small laugh, and his thumb ran along the back of T.K.’s hand. T.K. let his eyes close.

Even all these years later, he was still as bright and sunny as he had been then, on that cold December day.

Chapter Text

It was cold. It was really cold.

Usually Davis wasn’t too bothered by the cold; it could be annoying, but most of the time he kept active enough to fend it off. When he didn’t, he just stayed inside, where it couldn’t reach him. But not this time.

This time, he had been out in it all day. He’d stacked layer upon layer on himself before he left, but what was the point of it if all of his clothes were cold, too? He was just a cold, uncomfortable bundle of cloth, and he hated it. It was at times like this when he wished he still had that awesome flame jacket that the Digital World had bestowed upon him. There was, of course, no way it would keep him warm enough in this weather, but at least he’d look cool while he shivered. 

“Davis, are you even listening to me? Hello?”

On the other hand, right now, walking down the sidewalk next to Ken, there wasn’t any reason to look cool. His boyfriend had seen him at far worse than just cold.

“Yeah, I was listening.” He was not. “Keep going.”

Ken shot him an exasperated glare, and Davis knew he had seen through his words. He had expected that, though; he couldn’t get anything past him. He offered an apologetic grin, and Ken’s frown twitched upward.

“Anyway, I was just saying it was a shame T.K. couldn’t come,” Ken continued, turning to face forward again.

“Ah, it’s not our fault he’s busy.” Davis waved his hand dismissively. “Would’ve been nice if he took a break, but at least he can watch the Digimon while he’s working. And we wouldn’t have been able to get this if he were here, anyway,” he added, flicking the plastic bag hanging from Ken’s elbow. 

Ken glanced down briefly at the movement and nodded. “Seems like he’s been busy a lot lately, though. Well, we’ll get him out of there eventually.”

Davis shot him a look. That tone usually didn’t mean anything good, and he felt a stab of sympathy for T.K.

A gust of wind suddenly slammed into them, and Davis stopped short, burrowing his face into the collar of his jackets. He waited for it to dissipate before finally opening his eyes. “Ken, I can’t stay out here anymore, let’s hurry back, it’s so cold – hey, quit laughing!”

Ken did not, and he didn’t even have the decency to look guilty. Finally, he said, “We’re not even close to home yet, Davis. Just hang in there.”

Davis glared at him. “Easy for you to say, you don’t even look cold.” Which was a crime; he was only wearing one jacket.

Ken hummed in response and turned to keep walking, Davis following reluctantly behind. After a few minutes throughout which Davis’s ears were filled with the sound of his own teeth chattering, Ken spoke up again. “If you’re that cold, we can stop somewhere and get you something else.”

“Like what? Another jacket? Thanks, but I don’t think a fourth one will fit.”

He snorted. “Well, it’s worth a shot.”

“Then where do you suggest we go?”

“Hm…” He scanned the buildings lined up on their right, none of which were shops, then turned his eyes to the other side of the road. His steps faltered. “Huh? Over there, Davis, look! We should go check that out!”

Davis blinked in surprise and followed his gaze. A brightly lit park was nestled between two buildings, partially full of jungle gyms, partially empty, and entirely strung with Christmas lights. He glanced back to Ken and frowned. “I just said I’m cold! Can’t we save the detours for later?”

“They might have things for sale in there, you know. Besides, it’s not that cold. Come on!”

“What do you mean, it’s not that cold?!”

Ken gracefully ignored him and dashed across the road. Davis forced himself to follow, the air biting into his skin at the movement, but hey, at least he was moving. He dug his fists into his pockets and buried his chin into his jacket collar, limbs stiff under the layers of clothing and the frost that he was positive had to be covering his skin by now. Finally they came to a stop at the entrance to the park, and he glanced around for the supposed vendors.

Surprisingly, there actually were some. He couldn’t tell what they were selling, but a few booths lined the border of the park, right next to a big display of artificial Christmas trees. Each one of them was strung with obnoxiously bright lights, but Davis found his gaze drawn to them. A thought suddenly crossed his mind: would it be any warmer over there? Light bulbs gave off heat, right? If Ken knew he was asking himself that, he’d never hear the end of it.

Brushing that last part away, he opened his mouth to speak, but Ken beat him to it. “Wow…! Look at all the lights, Davis, this is amazing!”

Something in his voice he couldn’t identify sent Davis’s heart racing. He whipped around to face him, but Ken wasn’t looking at him, his eyes locked on the display. He seemed completely awestruck, his eyes wide, mouth agape. The lights were reflecting in his irises, Davis realized. Suddenly he could barely breathe, much less blink, captivated.

But Ken noticed, of course, and glanced up at him shyly. Before Davis could react, he grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward the grove. “Come on, let’s go check it out,” he said, voice muffled by another gust of wind that Davis hadn’t even noticed.

“Uh, yeah, let’s go.”

The lights were even brighter up close, and Davis found himself squinting in every direction. At least it was colorful here, the glow cutting easily through the darkness left by the setting sun. And it was warmer, definitely warmer. There were certainly a lot of light bulbs here. He hoped those two things were actually connected and that he wasn’t going to make a fool of himself in front of Ken because of his assumptions.

His foot knocked against something solid, and he looked down to find that there were actually presents under the trees. They were probably just empty boxes, but they were wrapped, complete with bows and ribbons, and there were quite a lot of them. Even more surprising, there was a light dusting of white in the grass – was that paper? Someone must have scattered paper scraps like snow, which Davis found weird; it was supposed to snow in a few days anyway, so why bother?

Something like a whistle sounded from somewhere nearby, and after scouring the ground Davis finally found the source: a little toy train was placed under one of the larger trees, chugging along a basic circular track on a messy path around the trunk. He coughed a laugh and dashed toward it. Suddenly he was a kid again, and the lights were beautiful, and the atmosphere was magical, and he was enthralled. The fake snow crunched under him as he knelt down in front of the train, watching its wheels spin. “Hey, Ken, look! Check this out, it’s…”

As he spoke, he turned to face his boyfriend, and his words died on his tongue. Ken was staring at him, his expression just as wide-eyed and full of wonder as it had been before when he was looking at the display from afar. The lights flashed in his eyes, illuminating the faint dusting of a blush along his cheeks, the curve of his lips, and Davis found he couldn’t look away.

And he was still a kid again, but older, and realizing for the first time that he was in love with his best friend. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, accompanied, as always, by the synchronous echo of Ken’s. And he just stared back.

Ken was… well, beyond words. He had always known this; maybe he’d had a crush since the first day they fought together, since he saw the real Ken Ichijouji and first thought to himself, that one, I want that one. Ken was beautiful, and playful, and endlessly kind, and the look in his eyes was so soft, Davis thought he might melt. He wanted to reach out and hold his hand tight, caress his cheek, for no other reason than that he could, and because Ken was fixating on him with that look, but he couldn’t move.

Usually, when Davis caught Ken staring, there would be a ghost of a smile trying to keep itself hidden, a hint of Ken’s teasing nature shining through, but there was nothing there now, only pure, innocent wonder. It was like Davis was some rare, wonderful treasure, something meant for Ken (and T.K.) alone, that no other could behold. And, well, Davis supposed that if Ken saw Davis in even a fraction of the way that he saw Ken, that must be true. The thought sent a wave of warmth down his spine stronger than anything the little light bulbs could do.

And he could only stare back. He wondered if he had a similar expression on his face.

Then Ken lurched forward. He took a few steps and stopped in front of Davis, never once breaking eye contact, and held out his hand. His expression changed, then, and a tiny smile graced his lips. Davis’s heart stuttered. He reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling himself up, and Ken spoke.

“Let’s go home, Davis.”

There was no edge to the words, nothing but warmth and softness and love and Ken , and Davis wanted nothing more than to fall into the sound of his voice.

“Yeah.”

He wondered if his voice sounded the same.

Ken didn’t release his hand, instead pulling him back toward the entrance, the little smile never faltering. Davis found it difficult to pull his eyes away from him long enough to avoid tripping, but somehow they made it back to the sidewalk. They were far from the light bulbs now, but Davis wasn’t cold anymore. He had all the warmth he needed right next to him.

“Hey, Ken. I love you, you know.”

“Are you still cold? Don’t get delirious on me.”

“What – hey, I mean it!”

Ken laughed, and the sound enveloped him, reverberated in his chest, and he wondered if he’d ever feel cold again.

Chapter Text

Yolei had a plan.

It was a simple plan, really, but it was important. She could only do it today; it was the only day she had free in which all of her siblings were busy. She wasn’t sure what they were doing, but she hadn’t asked, as if any indication that she was grateful for the freedom would make them cancel. Because if she didn’t get her Christmas shopping done today, she’d never get it done, and that would be a nightmare.

And so she had a plan.

She couldn’t let anything get in the way of her plan. It was miraculous enough to get all three of her siblings out of the house for an hour, but the whole day? And on a day where she didn’t have class – it was just too perfect to pass up. She wouldn’t let anything distract her, not the cute puppies that the pet store was displaying, not the unbelievable discounts that high-profile brands were offering on clothes that she loved but her sisters hated, and especially not Davis harassing her over text, wanting to know what she was doing because she had given him a vague answer earlier. She had a job to do.

So there she was, strolling through the shopping district with several bags hanging from both arms, when her phone started ringing. She frowned, half expecting the caller to be Davis and already planning her “stay in your lane” speech, when she caught sight of the name on the screen.

Her heart did some horrible dance in her chest, and she mentally berated it before flipping the phone open and trying to get it to her ear past the bags.

“Hello? Kari?”

“Oh! Hi, Yolei. Is… this a bad time?”

Why did the shopping district have to be so loud ? She tried to maneuver through the crowd to the side, where hopefully there would be less people. “No, not at all! Is something wrong?”

“N- nothing! No, everything’s fine, um…”

Yolei frowned at nothing, pinning the phone to her shoulder as she moved all of her bags to one arm. “Kari?”

“Have you heard about the festival tonight?”

“Yeah, of course.” She reached up and took the phone in her hand again. “They’re going to have a bunch of huge light displays, right? I bet it’s going to be amazing, you know, I thought about going, but I have –” a plan to stick to today.

“Do you want to go with me?”

Yolei’s breath flew out of her in a rush. For a long second, she stood there, probably looking like an idiot, her mouth agape, eyes wide, and face aflame.

“If you – if you already have plans, then you don’t –”

“No!” she said, too loudly. “No, I don’t – I don’t have any plans! I’ll come! I – I’ll definitely go with you, Kari, yeah, um, when do you want to meet?”

Was she dreaming? Was this a dream? This had to be a dream, right?

But Kari laughed, oh, so sweetly, and said, “Would 5 be okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s good. I’ll definitely be there.” She felt lightheaded.

“Okay! Then I’ll, um, I’ll see you there!” The words sounded rushed, and she heard the call end immediately. But she didn’t move for several seconds, still holding the phone to her ear, before she looked at it dumbly and moved to close it. Her eyes flicked down to the bags hanging off her other arm.

She had a new plan now. And it was way, way better than her original one.

/////

She arrived home breathlessly a few hours later. It was almost three o’clock now, which meant she had an hour to hide all of her siblings’ presents and get ready to go to the festival. If she managed to leave at four, she’d probably be super early, but that was the goal – there was no way she’d be late to this, she wouldn’t make Kari wait on her, she couldn’t.

Come to think of it, were any of the others coming? Maybe it hadn’t just been her Kari invited; maybe she’d asked all the others, too, and Tai would surely tag along, and T.K. would end up taking her all to himself as usual. Or, no, they’d broken up a while ago, hadn’t they? But they were as close as ever, so it still seemed like a vivid possibility.

Suddenly she felt stupid for imagining that it would just be the two of them. But it was fine, she could work with it, and at least she’d be hanging out with Kari at all. She forced a smile to the empty apartment and set to work. 

Hiding the presents turned out to be impossible; there wasn’t a space in the house she had all to herself, and if she left them half-hidden and unattended she was sure they’d be raided by the time she returned. She settled for leaving them as far out of the way as she could find, covering them tightly with a blanket, and adding a note that said “DO NOT TOUCH!!!” for good measure. If they ruined the surprise for themselves, that was on them.

Then she set about getting ready, and that turned out to be much more difficult, if only because she couldn’t decide what to wear. There was no need to dress super fancy, but she couldn’t just wear her everyday clothes. It didn’t matter that she and Kari were already friends, she needed to leave a good impression. And she couldn’t find anything that she thought would work.

The clock ticked ever closer to four o’clock.

She finally settled for a simple blouse, a hat that she desperately hoped would pass for matching, a loose scarf, and her nicest pair of pants. Nothing fancy. Right? Ugh, now she felt like a tryhard.

The clock chimed. Her heart leapt in her throat.

She took one last glance in the mirror. She hadn’t had the chance to do anything to her hair, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right? It wasn’t like she had a beehive on her head. She ran her hands through it with a tiny scowl and straightened her hat. With one final glance, she snatched up one of her nicest coats and ducked outside. 

It wasn’t hard to find the festival. There were signs everywhere, and she could see people flocking every which way working to set it up. She wondered briefly how crowded it would be and hoped desperately that she and Kari might end up with some semblance of privacy. Well, if Davis came, there’d be none of that no matter what, but she could still hope. As the clock marched ever forward to five o’clock, she realized that she’d never asked Kari where they were going to meet. She positioned herself in front of what she really hoped was the entrance and waited.

It still wasn’t five yet when she saw her. 

Kari hadn’t dressed up either, much to her relief. She was wearing a simple pink overcoat and a hat that looked similar to Yolei’s own, and she looked incredibly nervous. Yolei realized with a start that there was no one with her, not even Tai. Something blossomed in her chest, and she stepped toward her with a smile. Kari’s eyes finally landed on her, and she looked surprised, but her face relaxed into a smile.

“Hey, Kari,” said Yolei. “You’re here early.”

“So are you. Did I keep you waiting?”

“Of course not. Don’t worry, the festival hasn’t even started yet.” She gestured toward the entrance, where they could just see with the light of the setting sun the last workers exiting. Yolei felt jittery with anticipation.

Kari glanced at it, then back to Yolei, and her smile seemed to soften even more, if it were possible. “I’m glad we didn’t miss anything, then. Shall we walk in?”

“Huh?” Yolei blinked. “You mean – are we, uh, waiting for anyone else?”

Kari’s brow furrowed, then relaxed in understanding. And then she laughed, and Yolei knew it was at her expense, knew she had said something wrong, but the sound went straight to her heart, and she felt like she was ascending. “No, silly. It’s just the two of us coming. Let’s go, are you ready?”

And then Kari grabbed her hand in both of hers and pulled her toward the entrance. A jolt ran up her arm.

The lights flicked on.

Time ground to a halt. There stood Kari, two soft hands wrapped around Yolei’s own, the only thing standing between her and the festival. Behind her, the lights, each bulb bright and colorful and unique and breathtaking, shaped around wire figures to make pictures and characters and designs, shining boldy in the onslaught of night. It wrapped around Kari, framed her in an otherworldly aura, dazzling and intense and beautiful, but it was nothing compared to her. She still sported that soft expression, that smile that was small and nervous but so incredibly radiant. Yolei was blinded but it had nothing to do with the festive displays.

She looked absolutely angelic.

Then Kari blinked, and like the flip of a switch, time slipped back into motion. She turned to face the festival and said, “What? Aw, no! I missed it…”

The disappointment in her voice was palpable. Yolei panicked and stepped up beside her. “It – it’s okay! We can still see it, let’s go on in, okay?”

Kari turned to her in surprise. For a tiny second she was silent, and Yolei was afraid she’d said the wrong thing, but then she smiled again and everything fell back into place. “Okay.”

They were silent for a moment.

“Yolei?”

Oh. She’d been staring. Oh.

“Ah – ahaha, sorry. Let’s go.”

She ripped her eyes away from that smile, trying to catch her breath, and moved toward the festival without so much as a glance back. Kari fell into step beside her a moment later, but she couldn’t bring herself to look. She pretended she was too busy looking at the displays.

Okay, so. She had a crush on Kari. If she hadn’t before, she knew that now. After the scene she just witnessed, there was no way to deny it.

Was that okay, to have a crush on your best friend who also just so happens to be the same gender? If it had been even half a year earlier, she might have even denied it was possible, at least for her. But the burning, boiling jealousy she felt when T.K. and Kari announced they were dating, the sudden and immediately repressed understanding that flooded her when Davis and Ken came out to them holding hands, and the almost overwhelming relief that came when T.K. and Kari later revealed the end of their short relationship, they all said otherwise. Earlier, she might have denied vehemently that she liked girls in that way, the same way she liked boys, but here was Kari, sweet, angelic Kari, and there was no way she could ignore it any longer.

Did that make this a date?

Alright, and that’s enough thinking for today, she decided.

Instead, she finally turned to face Kari, who looked like she was genuinely entranced by the lights. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight, but she quickly realized she was staring again and flicked her gaze ahead of them. “Oh, Kari, check out that one!” she said, pointing at something random.

Kari followed her finger and gasped. “It’s so colorful! Look, all of the ones over there have such intricate designs.”

Yolei didn’t really understand what was so intricate about soda bottles, but she nodded anyway. The two continued to move down the walkway, settling into a rhythm where one of them would point at a display and the other would marvel at it. Kari seemed so genuinely intrigued by each one of them, and Yolei slowly found her enthusiasm rubbing off on her. She wasn’t as impressed by many of them as Kari was, but she was more than happy just to listen to her talk about them.

Finally, they turned a corner and came face-to-face with an entirely different scene. The path gave way to a small square covered in decorations, from reindeer to company logos to wreaths to snowflakes. In the center was a massive Christmas tree, strung with lights of every color imaginable, vibrant and pulsating in captivating patterns. A huge star sat on top, beckoning them closer. They listened to the call and stepped forward, both equally enthralled, until they had almost reached the base.

“This is incredible,” Kari breathed.

“You said it.” A smile settled on Yolei’s face, and she scanned the tree from bottom to top. There were tiny ornament-like decorations made of lights hanging from the branches, and she tried to find as many of them as she could. She was up to around thirty when she reached the top; she knew she had messed up somewhere, but she didn’t feel like retrying. 

With her mission complete, she turned to Kari, ready to mention them to her, but the words failed her. Kari was already looking at her, that ethereal smile still on her face, with the same expression that Yolei kept seeing when she got excited over the lights, like she was looking at a beautiful work of art.

Yolei’s mouth caught up to the situation before either her brain or her heart had the chance. “Ah – do you, uh, do you want to – keep going?”

Very graceful.

Kari blinked, and it seemed like a visible shock ran through her. Her eyes snapped back to the tree, but the lights didn’t hide the red spreading across her cheeks. “Y- yeah.”

Yolei offered a smile that she knew the other couldn’t see and started walking around the tree, Kari on her heels. They found another path on the other side of the square, a sign next to it that said, “Continue this way!” and started down it. Kari fell into step next to her again.

The image of her blush sprang unbidden to mind. What was that about?

She decided she didn’t want to imagine it. She refused to get her hopes up.

Something brushed against Yolei’s knuckles. It took several seconds for her to realize it was Kari’s hand, and suddenly she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She pointed at a cute display of snowmen rather weakly, and Kari hummed distractedly in response. Yolei’s heartbeat spiked, but before any coherent thoughts could form about what that might mean, she felt Kari’s hand again, but this time on her palm.

Oh.

Kari had grabbed her hand.

Kari was holding her hand.

She was holding hands with Kari.

Oh. Oh.

Belatedly, she moved to return the contact, and she thought she heard Kari gasp quietly. She could’ve been hearing things; her head was already swimming, so it seemed like a likely possibility. Was her palm sweating? Was her hand shaking? Why was Kari holding her hand? This didn’t mean anything, right? Right?

This couldn’t mean anything. She thought she might pass out if it did.

“Hey, Yolei, look at that one!”

She followed Kari’s finger to find a huge display advertising Pocky. She decided to ignore the subtext that Kari probably hadn’t noticed and said, “Whoa, that’s a huge box! That’s going to make me hungry.”

Kari laughed, and Yolei felt dizzy.

All too quickly, they reached the end of the walkway. Yolei’s grip on Kari’s hand tightened, trying to take in the shape of her hand, the softness of her skin, the electricity racing through her arm from the contact, before the inevitable moment it would have to end. She turned to her and smiled gently. “I had a lot of fun today.”

Kari was looking down at the ground, but her gaze tipped up at Yolei’s voice. Her cheeks were still red, she realized. She was about to mark it down as the cold when Kari smiled again and every thought in Yolei’s mind fizzled out. “I did, too. I’m really glad you came.”

“Me, too. Thanks for inviting me to come with you.”

Was that too much? She really didn’t want to say anything weird.

Kari nodded. A moment passed, and then it happened: she pulled her hand slowly out of Yolei’s. She wanted to cry out and snatch her hand back, but that would definitely be weird, so instead she just slowly dropped her hand back to her side, feeling cold.

“I should get home, uh, my brother doesn’t want me to stay out too long,” Kari said quietly, taking a tiny step away.

“I can walk you home,” Yolei offered quickly, but Kari shook her head.

“Thanks, but I’ll be alright. I’ll… I’ll see you at school?”

“Yeah.”

Kari nodded and flashed her one last smile. Yolei’s heart jolted, but then she started walking away and it felt like she was taking all of the festival's light with her. 

“Have a nice walk!” she called stupidly.

But Kari laughed again and responded with, “You, too!” 

Okay, so. Maybe she had more than a crush on Kari.

Chapter Text

The first thing T.K. was aware of was warmth. He was surrounded in a comfortable, pressing warmth, soft and wonderful, and he really didn’t want to move. Part of him decided he may never move again, and he allowed himself to relax, exhaling deeply as the feeling lulled him back to sleep.

Except it didn’t. He was still awake.

Irked, he pushed his face further into his pillow, refusing to open his eyes. His sleep-dulled senses couldn’t pick up on whatever was keeping him awake, but he could ignore it. He was still tired.

Or maybe he couldn’t. He was still awake.

He decided belatedly that he might as well just get it over with. He took a deep breath, trying to force himself into reality just enough for his ears to work, and then he heard it. Someone was at the door; it sounded more like someone was trying to break down the door than anything, but there was definitely someone there, so he decided he should go check.

He sighed deeply and slowly pushed himself out of the all-encompassing warmth, assaulted immediately by the biting cold that was the world outside his blankets. He held his hands in fists at his sides as he stalked toward the door, and he didn’t bother to check who it was before he opened it. He had a pretty good idea, anyway. What he wasn’t prepared for – well, in hindsight he should’ve been – was the rush of subzero air from outside, twice as strong as that in his bedroom had been, almost freezing him in place. He held tightly to the door in one hand and the doorframe in the other, shrinking back as far as his arms allowed him.

“Well, good morning, T.K.! Nice of you to join us!” said Davis, far too cheery.

Ken laughed from somewhere beside him. “Good morning. Did we wake you?”

T.K. cracked an eye open, already shivering, and shifted to wrap his arms around himself. He nodded mutely, reaching up to rub his other eye. “S’alright, though. What’s up?”

“Should we come in?” Ken said quickly, cutting off Davis who had opened his mouth to say something else. T.K. nodded quickly and stepped aside, clearing the doorway for them to enter. They both muttered a thanks as they passed him, and he closed the door as soon as he could, grateful to be out of the wind. Ken started to take off his shoes, but Davis didn’t move; he just stood there grinning at T.K., who felt dread pooling in his stomach. He was more awake now after almost being swept off his feet by freezing wind, but his mind still refused to put together the questions boiling his blood.

“Can I get you guys anything?” he asked instead, starting down the hall toward the kitchen.

“You don’t have to be so formal, you know,” said Davis.

T.K. snorted. “Fine, get it yourself.”

Ken laughed at that, and T.K. decided he couldn’t stay mad. He never could with them. It was certainly a rude awakening, especially with the cold, but he could never complain about his boyfriends coming to see him.

He turned to face them, smiling softly, arms still wrapped around himself trying to conserve what little warmth still remained. “So what’s the occasion? Why’d you come so early?”

“It isn’t early, T.K., it’s –” Ken glanced at his watch. “– almost 11.” T.K. shot him a pointed glare. “It’s not our fault you sleep past noon half the time.”

“Besides, we have something important to do today!” Davis cut in. “Hurry up and get ready, T.K., we’re going outside!”

A small whine escaped his throat. “It’s too cold to be outside, can’t we just hang out here?”

“You just want to get back in bed, don’t you?” said Ken.

T.K. grinned sheepishly. “Join me?”

“As tempting as that offer is –”

“– we’ve got something even better!” Davis reached behind him and threw the door back open with a flourish. “Wake up, T.K., it’s snowing!”

T.K. instinctively braced himself for the cold, but his eyes snapped open at Davis’s words, and suddenly he was completely awake. He dashed for the door, ignoring the grin the other two shared, and leaned over the gate that led outside. A laugh bubbled up in his throat as he watched the flakes fall, already making huge piles along the ground. It was still freezing, but he willed himself not to feel it, and he would’ve thrown himself through the gate right then if Ken hadn’t stepped out to stand beside him. “Shouldn’t you change into something warmer than your pajamas?”

T.K. beamed at him, all of his earlier sleepiness and irritation replaced with a childlike excitement. “I’ll be fine for a few minutes, come on, let’s go –”

Ken shook his head firmly, but he was still smiling. “Go, we’ll wait for you.”

T.K. cast one last look at the newly sparkling landscape and dashed back inside, past Davis, and into his room. He tried to dress in a way that would’ve pleased his mother had she been here, which resulted in layered sweatpants, a thick, ugly Christmas sweater, his warmest jacket, and, of course, a hat. Not one of his most coordinated outfits, but it didn’t matter – the only people who would be seeing him were Davis and Ken, and if they laughed, he’d just shove snow down their shirts. With this final thought in mind, he leapt outside to find the two of them standing just inside the gate, waiting for him as Ken had promised. The notion made T.K. want to smother them both in his biggest hug.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” he said instead. Ken shot him a look, but Davis grinned deviously. 

“Last one out’s a rotten DigiEgg!” he shouted suddenly, tossing the gate open. T.K. leapt out behind him, determined not to give him the satisfaction of winning, but what the other had failed to mention was the thin layer of ice coating the sidewalk. T.K. yelped and reached out blindly for a support as his feet slipped out from under him, and he ended up crashing into Davis’s shoulder, clutching onto both of his sleeves. Davis just barely maintained his balance, throwing his arms up on either side of him.

“Hey! Quit cheating, let go!”

“How dare you, I’m not cheating!”

“Are, too!” Davis put a hand on T.K.’s face, trying to push him off, and T.K. impulsively stuck his tongue out to lick it. Davis hissed and yanked it away. “Aw, gross! Ken, he’s cheating!”

“What, you didn’t like that?” T.K. smirked.

Ken’s laugh rang out behind them, and Davis choked, his face flushing. He wrenched himself around, grabbing T.K.’s shoulders to shove him away, scowling, and T.K. was too busy laughing to fight back. Now separated from his support, he slowly maneuvered himself away from the walkway and onto the snow-covered grass. Ken was already there, crouched and balling snow in his hands. He glanced up as he saw T.K. approach.

“How hard do you think it’d be to make snow Wormmon?” he said thoughtfully, glancing around him.

“He’s probably the easiest of our Digimon to make,” T.K. responded. “You want some help?”

Ken glanced at him briefly, then his eyes focused on something behind him. “I think you have bigger problems.”

“Huh?”

T.K. turned his head to follow Ken’s gaze, only to be met immediately with a snowball in his face. Davis’s taunting laughter sang out as he flailed to wipe the snow away, his skin vibrating from the cold, and with a shout of “Oh, it’s on!” he ducked down to start making his own ammo. With every throw, he edged closer and closer to Davis, until finally he dove at him with a war cry, knocking them both into the snow. For a brief moment, they were locked in hand-to-hand combat, wrestling to be the one whose back didn’t end up in the snow, and then finally Davis got T.K.’s shoulders in his hands and pinned him to the freezing, wet ground.

They both sat there, breathless and laughing, and T.K. found it hard to take his eyes off of Davis. He was freezing, of course, so he should be moving to stand, but lying under Davis as he smiled like he had the sun trapped inside him, it felt like the cold wasn’t even real. It couldn’t touch him with Davis around.

With that thought in mind, he reached up, threaded his fingers in the collar of Davis’s shirt, and yanked him down into a kiss.

Davis made a noise of surprise but quickly relaxed into the contact. The kiss was brief, but it was soft and warm and everything the snow wasn’t, and T.K. felt like fire was spreading down his spine the longer it lasted. Playing in the snow was fun, but if this was what the day culminated in, he would be more than happy just to lie there and enjoy it.

Then a snowball crashed into the side of Davis’s head, splattering onto T.K.’s face, forcing them apart. Davis released his shoulders and sat up with a playful growl. “Oh, are you finally going to join us?” he called out to Ken.

“Well, you two can’t have all the fun!”

Davis laughed then and accepted the challenge, scrambling off of T.K. to chase him down. T.K. pushed himself up, the cold finally starting to catch up to him, and watched them battle with an easy smile.

It hadn’t been quite a year since Davis and Ken pulled him into their relationship, and he couldn’t be more grateful. He’d been unsure at first, positive he’d just mess things up with them, but they had accepted him with such open, loving arms, encouraging him every time he took a step backward, and he wanted to believe them, he really did. Now that the two people he had dreamed about for years were really, truly standing by his side, he had to work to convince himself it wasn’t a dream. But even if it was, he was determined to do his very best and see it through to the end. He owed them that, and so much more; he’d hand them the whole world if he could. But for him, they were the world, and he vowed that he’d take good care of it.

He sneezed.

The sounds of the snowball-turned-tickle fight paused, and he glanced up just as Ken squirmed out of Davis’s grip, turning to face him with a frown. “T.K., if you just sit in the snow all day, you’ll get sick. Aren’t you cold?”

“I’ll live, Ken.” Come to think of it, he was pretty sure his pants were soaked through.

“Come on, get up,” Ken continued, undeterred, stepping toward him with a hand outstretched. T.K. took it reluctantly, allowing Ken to pull him up and start dragging him back to the apartment. As they passed him, T.K. snatched Davis’s hand in his free one and laughed over the other’s complaints.

The two warm hands in his own were more than enough to drive away the cold. This wasn’t how he’d planned on spending the day, but this was surely better than… whatever it was he would have ended up doing. As the snowflakes continued to fall, catching in Davis’s jacket, resting on Ken’s eyelashes, he decided he couldn’t think of two people he would rather play in the snow with.

He’d drag them back out later, or if he didn’t, Davis surely would. But for right now, what sounded truly amazing was a cup of hot chocolate, then lying down with his head in Ken’s lap to rest. They had woken him up, after all. It was the least they could do.

But T.K. couldn’t be mad about that. He never could; not with them, his two favorite people in the world.

Chapter Text

There were several traditions of the DigiDestined. Of course, there was the annual gathering on August 1, which no one missed for anything, and when it came to holidays, they usually met at the Kamiyas’ for whatever scale party Yuuko was willing to hold at the time. Perhaps the most exhausting of these was the yearly Christmas party, which was usually one of the loudest and definitely the most festive. And apparently, this year they would be having two of them. Ken couldn’t fathom why, and he couldn’t say he was looking forward to it. 

Well, he supposed he should try to look at the bright side. He would be seeing Davis and T.K. there, which would be the best part of the night for him, but then he remembered that the others didn’t know T.K. was with them yet. By T.K.’s own request, the three of them had agreed not to publicize that information yet, and Ken definitely wouldn’t break that agreement, but, well, it was disappointing that he wouldn’t be able to kiss him with the others around.

For now.

He arrived at the Kamiya residence with nearly half an hour to spare, but he was surprised to find that half of the group was already there. Tai and Kari lived there, of course, and ever-present at Kari’s side was Yolei. The three of them as well as Matt, Sora, and even Izzy, he noted with vague amusement, were helping Yuuko set up, and for a brief second Ken considered backpedaling before she noticed he was there. But he forged ahead, kicking off his shoes at the door, and smiled politely as a chorus of hellos reached him.

“Hm? Ken’s here?” A wonderfully familiar voice spoke up, and a mop of blond hair appeared on the other side of the couch. Ken’s heart leapt as T.K. grinned at him.

“Welcome to the party,” he joked as Ken approached. 

“It sure is lively already,” he said, crossing to sit next to him. He noticed Cody on the other side and nodded in greeting, suddenly feeling awkward. He hadn’t meant to intrude, considering the two were Jogress partners, but, well, he was already here. It’d be more awkward to leave.

Then T.K. twisted from his position in the middle and draped his legs over the arm of the couch, over Ken’s lap, lying his head on the couch and leaning his head back to continue his conversation with Cody.

Ken’s first thought was what happened to the no PDA rule, and his first instinct was to press his still-freezing-cold hand to the bare skin on T.K.’s leg.

The blond yanked his leg away like he’d been shot and sat up halfway, a finger pointed threateningly in his face. “Hey! Cold! Don’t you dare –”

Ken laughed, remorseless, and T.K. glared at him for a moment, obviously fighting off his own laughter, before relaxing back into his previous position. Cody watched the exchange in curious amusement. 

Behind them, the door opened again, and a loud voice chirped, “Good morning, everyone!”

Those three words were enough to fray Ken’s nerves somehow. For one thing, it wasn’t morning, but that was just how Mimi was, he supposed. For another, if Mimi had just arrived, that meant he would find no more peace for however long this party lasted. Thankfully, she zeroed in on Izzy, and although he felt sympathetic, he was just glad it wasn’t him.

From his spot on the couch, arms laid across T.K.’s legs, he was perfectly happy just to sit and watch the others work. Yuuko was in the kitchen with Kari and Yolei, giving instructions on what to do with the cooking and what to lay out on the tables spread around the room. Mimi was talking Izzy’s ear off about her friends and what they had done recently as he offered half-baked responses, still focused on hanging decorations. On the other side of the room, Tai was very dramatically singing along to a Christmas carol playing on the radio while Sora laughed and Matt glared at him. Suddenly, Ken felt guilty that he wasn’t helping, and he moved to stand, but T.K.’s legs pinned him in place. He glanced over to see the blond already looking at him, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry about it, they’ve got enough already,” he said, needing no explanation. “Too many cooks in the kitchen, you know? I tried to help when I got here, too, but Kari kicked me out.”

“Even so…”

“Besides, once Davis gets here, we need someone to control him.”

Ken bit his lip to keep from pointing out that T.K. could do that just as well as he could. Cody was surely still listening.

Almost on cue, the door opened again, and Davis’s laugh rang out as he entered with Joe. Ken and T.K. both glanced over the couch at him before glancing at each other. T.K. grinned and pulled his legs back toward himself somewhat reluctantly. “Speak of the devil.”

Ken rolled his eyes but smiled back and stood up, making his way over to the newcomers. Joe saw him coming, cast a knowing glance at Davis, and quickly excused himself. Davis met Ken’s eyes and his whole face lit up. Rather than using words, he reached out and threaded his fingers in Ken’s, brushing up against his shoulder. Ken smiled broadly at him, the tension falling easily from his shoulders. 

Davis turned to face the couch, and Ken followed his gaze to see that T.K. was still sitting up and talking to Cody. “He hasn’t changed his mind yet, right?”

Ken shook his head. “But don’t push him. If he’s not ready, then –”

“Hey, have some faith. I’m not gonna out us if we aren’t all comfortable with it.” He gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, and the two started forward together. T.K.’s conversation came into focus as they approached the couch.

“Cody, you know, that’s not the kind of thing you’re supposed to notice.”

“You weren’t exactly hiding it.”

“Okay, yes, you’re not wrong, but that’s not the point.”

He glanced up as Davis shoved his shoulder. “Yo, T.K., leave some space for us.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” he responded dryly, only moving a couple inches. Davis sat down heavily almost right on top of him, forcing him over. “Ow, hey!”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there!”

Ken chuckled and plopped next to Davis against the arm of the couch, still holding his hand. T.K. pouted and shifted so his back was leaning entirely on Davis’s shoulder, his knees pulled up to his chest. 

Cody’s eyebrows shot up into his hair. Ken couldn’t see T.K.’s face, but he sounded half-amused, half-nervous as he said, “Hey, I know that look –”

A squeal cut through the air before he could finish, and Ken’s head spun around to face Mimi as she scanned the room. “Oh, everyone’s here now, right! Great! I have an announcement to make, everyone!”

She snatched something out of her bag, a bucket of sorts, and practically sprinted to stand in front of the balcony door where everyone could see her.

“I was going to do this later, but it’s just so exciting, and, oh – this year, we’ll be doing a Secret Santa!”

“Secret Santa?” Tai and Matt said in unison, frozen halfway through a fight over the radio.

“Mimi, did you even clear this with anyone?” said Sora.

Mimi pouted. “Well, of course, and that’s why we’re having two parties this year. We have to exchange presents at some point, right? But anyway, I have everyone’s names in here –” She shook the bucket, and Ken heard paper inside. “– so come on, let’s draw! I’ll go first!”

She set the bucket on the nearest table and, with a dramatic flourish, shoved her hand in, withdrawing a folded slip of paper. She opened it, read the name, and giggled before bounding away. Tai, Matt, and Sora glanced at each other and shrugged before following her lead. Joe and Izzy followed; Joe took one step away with his paper before backpedaling, muttering that he’d drawn his own name, and quickly took a new one.

“Come on, let’s go before there’s none left,” said Davis. He shoved T.K. off with his shoulder and stood, pulling Ken with him. They fell into step behind Yolei and Kari, T.K. and Cody not far behind.

“I’d been wondering why we were having two parties this year,” said Yolei. “Secret Santa makes sense, though I definitely wasn’t expecting it.”

Kari nodded. “It’s exciting, though, or at least this part is. I hope I get your name – then I’ll know exactly what to get.”

Yolei laughed. “Oh, am I that predictable?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“I know.” Yolei leaned over into Kari’s face and giggled. Davis coughed loudly.

“Hey, no PDA allowed here! Come on, you’re holding up the line!”

Yolei glanced pointedly down at his and Ken’s entwined hands. “Yeah, like you’re one to talk.”

Ken and Kari both laughed at that, but the girls took their turn then, and Davis and Ken stepped up. Ken picked a paper off the top while Davis plunged his hand in, stirred them up, and came out with one from the bottom. They flicked them open as they turned back to the couch.

The handwriting was loopy and written in bright pink glitter pen. T.K.!

Well, that’s convenient.

Davis squinted at his for a moment before backing away and sighing heavily. Ken leaned over to find Mimi’s name in equally vibrant ink.

“Is there a, uh, price limit on the gifts?” Davis called out.

“No, why would there be?” Mimi said innocently.

“Don’t spend more than you’re comfortable with,” Sora cut in. She gave Davis a look full of mirth and understanding, and Ken knew immediately that she didn’t need to see Davis’s card.

Davis crumpled the card in his hand before leaning against Ken’s shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the paper in his hand. “Who’d you get?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you,” he replied, holding the note open anyway. Davis read the name and immediately punched him in the shoulder.

“Lucky! Trade me!”

“No way!”

“Well, someone’s happy,” said T.K., dropping back into place next to them. Cody wasn’t behind him, and Ken glanced around to find him with Joe and Izzy. “Who’d you get?” he added, flashing a paper with Tai’s name.

“It’s supposed to be secret, you know.” Ken crushed the paper in his palm and shoved it in his pocket.

“Oh? Get me something good, then.”

Ken laughed, but he made no move to deny it. Instead, he looked up to find T.K.’s gaze trained on him, smile teasing, eyes soft and sparkling, and his breath left him. Suddenly he didn’t care about the others in the room; he traded which hand was holding Davis’s and shoved the other one between Davis’s back and the couch, ignoring his complaints. T.K. snorted as he realized what he was doing and followed suit, meeting him halfway and doing his best to wrap his hand around Ken’s. 

“Man, I get what you’re doing, but that hurts!” whined Davis.

“Not our problem,” said T.K., at the same time as Ken said, “Then lean forward.” The two of them dissolved into laughter as Davis grumbled.

“Okay, everybody!” Yuuko called from the kitchen. “If anyone’s hungry, the food’s ready!”

“Who do you take us for, of course we are!” said Tai, practically vaulting over the couch to reach her, nearly knocking Izzy over in the process. Matt and Sora exchanged exasperated glances, laughing, and followed.

Davis arched his back and shoved himself up. “I’m hungry, too, come on, guys!”

T.K. and Ken quickly separated, and Ken allowed Davis to pull him up and drag him away, trading which hand was holding his again. T.K. laughed as they went and dashed after them. Ken glanced between them with a fond smile.

Maybe these two Christmas parties wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

Chapter Text

Something wasn’t quite right.

Kari couldn’t put her finger on it. By and large, everything seemed just the same as always. Davis and Ken would hardly move more than two feet away from each other; T.K. kept turning to her, making teasing comments about them where they could clearly hear; and she laughed at all of them, soaked in all of their company, glad for another day where she could spend time with her friends. They were all enjoying themselves, or so she thought. A nagging voice in the back of her head told her otherwise.

There weren’t any glaringly obvious problems, but something just felt off. It felt as if the room was holding its breath, as if the air was waiting for something. Like everything was tilted a few degrees to the left, but framed as normal. Everything was right, but everything was wrong. She couldn’t figure out what it meant.

If only Yolei were here to hold her hand, maybe her brain would make sense of it. But this wasn’t the time for thoughts like that, not that she could stop them.

It was clear that T.K. was picking up on it, too. He sat next to her on the couch, watching the other two sing their hearts out at the karaoke machine, posture relaxed but knuckles clenched white. He was emanating an aura, not quite discomfort, not quite something that screamed “I want to leave,” but enough to show he knew something wasn’t right. But Davis and Ken didn’t seem to notice.

“You know, Davis,” he said as the other two sat down, “my brother told me you sang for him once. He said you sounded awful.”

“That was one time! And I’ve been practicing since then, thank you very much!”

T.K. laughed. “I didn’t say you sounded bad. I was going to say you don’t sound half as bad as he said you did.”

Davis faltered, his eyes trained on T.K.

Alarm bells rang in Kari’s head. That wasn’t normal.

But he recovered quickly. “Tell your brother that, then, maybe he’ll reconsider.”

“Matt, reconsider? Doubtful.”

“Are you ready, T.K.? It’s our turn now,” said Kari, pushing herself to her feet. She hoped her words would cut through whatever this tension was, but it felt like it just reflected them back at her. But T.K. looked at her, at least, and something in his eyes shifted.

Shifted from what?

Then the moment ended, and he stood up next to her, his usual smile plastered on his face, but Kari thought it seemed thin. “Let’s show them how it’s done.”

They took their place next to the karaoke machine, and Kari picked one of the first duets she saw without thinking. T.K.’s eyes lit up; he must know it, and maybe if she was listening, she would, too. But something in her flicked into autopilot, and she just watched him instead.

On the surface, he seemed perfectly normal. He was smiling and laughing and teasing them as he always did, but there was an undercurrent, something she wasn’t sure she liked. His eyes flicked away from the screen once, then twice, then stopped, like he was determined not to look again. She finished her line and let him take over before following his gaze.

He’d been looking at Davis and Ken.

Okay, that wasn’t a big deal. They had an audience, and even though they’d known each other for three years at this point, it was still nerve-wracking to sing in front of them. Maybe he was nervous.

But his air hadn’t changed. He was tense, just the same as he’d been when he was the audience instead, his back a little too straight and knuckles a little too white. After his initial distraction, he never looked away from the screen once, not even at her, though she was sure he knew she was staring.

She missed her entrance and forced herself to switch her gaze back to the lyrics onscreen.

Something was wrong. But maybe T.K. wasn’t also perceiving it; maybe he was the culprit. He wasn’t feeling the affects of the miasma, but causing it himself.

So then, could Davis and Ken tell? It wouldn’t surprise her if they had been too busy with each other to notice, but Ken was usually the most perceptive one out of them all. Though, she did pride herself on being somewhat of an expert on T.K., but she didn’t feel he was being subtle. Something was quite obviously bothering him, enough to clog the atmosphere of what should be a fun afternoon in a karaoke box, but he was trying his hardest to hide it and failing spectacularly. 

But maybe it was just her.

The song finally came to an end. She cast T.K. a side glance which he quickly met, and the two turned to give Davis and Ken deep mock bows.

“Oh, yeah, wow,” Davis said dryly, clapping. “You really showed us.”

T.K. huffed a laugh. “Shut up.”

Ken had the decency to give them a genuine smile. “Good job, you two.”

“Thanks.” Kari nodded to him with a smile. 

“Come on, Ken, we can beat that!” Davis leapt to his feet and grabbed the mic out of Kari’s hand. Ken laughed and stood behind him, and T.K. held his mic out with a grin.

Ken reached out to take it, and his hand brushed against T.K.’s.

The latter went rigid. Kari thought he heard him gasp, and his body seemed to tense up even more. He kept his eyes trained on the hand that held the mic, the other one flexing as if he’d just stopped it from clenching it into a fist.

But he wasn’t the only one. Ken froze, too, and his posture was almost an exact mirror.

And then that moment was over. Ken took the mic and brushed past T.K., keeping his eyes trained forward, and T.K. stared at his hand for a moment before making a fist and putting it at his side.

To Kari’s surprise, he didn’t move to sit back down. Instead, he crossed over to the exit and pushed it open. “I’m a little tired, actually,” he called back. “I’m going to take a break for a few minutes.”

It was a weak excuse, and she could tell he knew it.

“Wait, I’ll come with you,” she cut in, but he was already gone. 

“Was it something I said?” Davis muttered after him. There was a quality to his voice that made Kari felt as if the room was twisted even farther off its axis, a sound that did not belong in Davis Motomiya’s voice, and that was the last straw. She ducked out the door after T.K.

He hadn’t gone far. He had stopped halfway down the hallway, and he was now sitting against the wall, his head tucked into his knees. He didn’t look up as she approached and sat next to him; he already knew who it was.

“Alright. Talk.”

“About what?”

“Don’t do that, T.K. Talk to me.”

Silence.

“You know you can tell me anything.” We’ve been friends since we were eight was what she meant. Give me something.

“I know. I know that.”

She waited. 

“It’s… complicated. It’s not a big deal. Really, it isn’t. It’s something dumb, and I’ll get over it soon.”

He sighed heavily and paused again. She turned her gaze to him and waited.

“How did – how did you know you liked Yolei?”

Well. That wasn’t what she was expecting.

But suddenly it made sense. He had a crush, and it was eating him alive, the same way it had done her. Every touch made him think of the other person, wondering what if it were their hand on his arm, their shoulder against his shoulder. And it made sense, too, that if his crush were in the same room as they were then, the overwhelming emotions that had clouded the room. And she understood.

She took a long, deep breath before she answered. “It… wasn’t something I kept track of. She and I were always so close, as friends and Jogress partners, that I enjoyed every second I spent with her. One day, out of nowhere, the word ‘love’ crossed my mind, and I just knew that was what it was.”

In truth, it was a longer story than that. Realizing that she was in love with her friend was the easy part; accepting that she was in love with her friend who was a girl felt like it was impossible. It didn’t help that, at the time, she and T.K. had been dating. She had felt guilty, and wrong, and horrible, and she kept telling herself that there had to be something in T.K. she liked better, something to negate her feelings for Yolei, to no avail. 

But T.K. knew, he always knew. Not only did he assist her in her own self-discovery, help her to realize that she only liked girls, but he actively encouraged her to chase after her feelings. They stopped calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend after that, but their relationship remained unchanged, the same as it had been before they started dating. Later, they would admit to each other that neither had really harbored romantic feelings for each other, but they were glad to have given it a try. At least, it would get Tai and Matt to tone down the teasing.

And it had gotten her a girlfriend.

T.K. didn’t react to her words. She knew he already knew the story; he had been there when it started, had heard her vents more times than either could count. But this time, it wasn’t about her own feelings. She knew how he felt, and she would say whatever he wanted to hear as long as it would alleviate some of the weight on his chest.

Then he pushed himself to his feet. It didn’t seem as though he felt any better, but he took a deep breath and some of the tension in his shoulders fell away. “I’ll get over it soon,” he repeated. “You don’t have to worry about me, Kari.”

“You know I will anyway.” She stood next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her slowly and finally, finally offered her a smile, one that looked downtrodden and unsure, but it was real. It was the best she’d seen from him all day. “You can tell me anything.”

He reached up and squeezed her hand. “I know.”

With that, he turned back down the hallway toward their karaoke box, and she followed close behind. As he pushed open the door, she peered over his shoulder. Davis and Ken were still at the front, singing a slow, ballad version of Twelve Days of Christmas together. They were badly out of tune, but their timing was in sync as always. And they were looking at each other rather than the screen, their eyes soft and full of mirth, communicating to each other in that way that only they could, oblivious to the world around them.

In front of her, T.K. tensed up again, and the miasma settled firmly in place over the room which was still off-kilter, this time accompanied by her own sympathy.

/////

T.K. didn’t mention anything to her again, and the discontent slowly began to fade until one day it disappeared completely. Kari didn’t know what had happened, whether it had a happy ending or he had gotten over it as promised.

A few months later, he invited her over, and almost as soon as she arrived, she drove him into a corner. 

“Hey, T.K., what happened with what you talked to me about at the karaoke place?”

“Huh?” He paused, his mind working, and then his eyes widened. “Oh, the, uh, the crush I mentioned to you?”

Well, he hadn’t said those words, and a jolt ran through her at hearing it straight from him. She nodded.

A look crossed his face. It was the tiniest bit sad, as she expected, but more than that it was soft and gentle and full of something she couldn’t quite name, something that was clearly the exact opposite of what he had felt that day. “That’s over now, Kari, it doesn’t bother me anymore. I told you, you didn’t have to worry.”

She wasn’t quite sure what to make of that answer, but it was obvious that he was feeling better. She didn’t know what had happened over the past few months, but whatever it was, she was rooting for it. She smiled warmly at him.

“You know I always will.”

Chapter Text

Cody had never had much of an eye for romance. 

It just seemed somehow… troublesome. It didn’t come naturally to him, that’s for sure, but he didn’t feel bad about it. Maybe one day he’d find someone he liked, someone to spend the rest of his life with, but for now, he was happy as he was. 

Well, there had been that time last year when a girl asked him out. He’d been too scared to say no, and thus, somehow, he’d gotten a girlfriend. But it was short-lived. He’d done the best he could, but he didn’t even know what he was doing, and she’d lost interest fairly quickly. He did feel guilty, but if anything, that experience only confirmed that romance just wasn’t for him, at least for now.

On the other hand, his teammates all seemed enthralled by it. Four of them had been in relationships already, and Yolei – the only one who hadn’t – kept raving to him about boys she thought were cute, boys she’d interacted with that day, lamenting her lack of a boyfriend, and he couldn’t understand why it was so important to them. He’d never tell them that, of course; he knew it was all a matter of opinion, and if it made them happy, then who was he to judge?

Davis and Ken were a prime example of that. The two of them had always seemed to mesh together flawlessly, their strengths and weaknesses near-perfect complements, communicating without words to each other and finishing each other’s sentences when they were around the others. Somehow, Cody had never imagined that the two of them would end up as a couple, or even that it was okay for two boys to date in the first place, but they now seemed happier than he’d ever seen them. They completed each other.

Cody sometimes caught himself wondering if he would ever find someone like that. But he was young yet, and besides, it still seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Even if Davis and Ken made it look effortless.

Yolei’s reaction to the announcement of their relationship had been priceless. She hadn’t cared that they were both boys. She hadn’t even cared that Ken was now off the table for her. Her biggest problem was with the fact that Davis had gotten a boyfriend before she did, and she had made that extremely clear. In fact, besides boys, that was almost all that she talked about with Cody. It would have been exhausting if it weren’t so incredibly amusing to tease her about it.

Today was no exception. He, Yolei, and T.K. were walking home from school; they went to different schools now with Yolei having left elementary, but she would usually wait for the two of them at their school entrance. They still lived in the same apartment complex, after all. That also meant T.K. was no stranger to Yolei’s venting.

“He only held the door open for me, but you should have seen his face,” she said excitedly. “He was smiling at me – he definitely likes me!”

“I’m not sure a smile equals attraction,” said T.K. tiredly.

“I know that!”

“Maybe he was just being polite,” Cody suggested.

She sighed heavily. “Yeah, I know, but… ugh, it’s just so frustrating!”

T.K. and Cody glanced at each other. Here we go again.

“I can’t believe I’m the only one who’s never dated someone. I know I’m definitely pretty enough, and I try so hard to be nice to all the boys I mean, unless, you know, they’re jerks, but it’s like none of them even give me a second look!” She crossed her arms and pouted. “I thought junior high would be my chance. I thought I’d finally find Prince Charming, but nothing! Even Davis got a boyfriend before I did, and he is a boy! How messed up is that?”

“It’s not messed up,” Cody said placidly.

“Are you sure you aren’t just jealous of him?”

“Jealous? Of Davis?” She whirled around and grabbed T.K. by the collar, face contorted with anger. T.K. didn’t flinch. “I could never! He’s just an idiot, he doesn’t know how lucky he is, everyone else just falls all over Ken, and sure, that used to be me, but not anymore! There are people out there who would kill for Ken Ichijouji, and Davis doesn’t know how good he has it!”

Cody was pretty sure Davis did know exactly how good he had it, which was why he almost literally worshipped the ground Ken walked on. He was more surprised Yolei hadn’t realized that.

She released T.K. and turned around. “It’s so unfair! Davis spent our whole year in the Digital World without being able to shut up about Kari, then he just turns around and starts dating the boy every girl I know has a crush on! Even Kari had you, T.K., even if it was just for a little while, but I can understand that, at least – both of you are wonderful, who wouldn’t want to date you?”

“Gee, thanks,” T.K. muttered.

Cody caught himself wondering what that last part meant, and if she’d meant to phrase that the way she did. 

“Oh! That reminds me!” She turned and started walking again as she spoke, and the other two followed. “One of my friends mentioned something to me the other day. She said her family has this tradition they do in December, where they make the same wish every day until Christmas when it’s supposed to come true. I don’t know how that works, but it sounds kinda romantic, doesn’t it?”

“Romantic?” said Cody.

“Oh, you know what I mean. If it were me, I’d wish for a boyfriend, of course! What about you?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know.” He paused. Something that had to come true, huh? Then, it couldn’t be something impossible, like seeing his dad, but there was someone equally far away that he missed just as much, and a reunion wasn’t impossible. “I’d probably wish to see Armadillomon again.”

T.K. hummed in agreement. “It has been a while since we’ve seen them. It’s still weird that the gates hardly let us in anymore, but at least that means the Digital World is peaceful.”

“That’s true, but if it’s peaceful, shouldn’t that be all the more reason for us to be able to travel freely between the worlds?”

“I agree with you there. I just wish I could bring Patamon home again, it was nice having him with me all the time.”

“Ah, guys, stop, this is depressing!” cried Yolei.

They finally reached their apartment complex and crammed themselves into the elevator.

“What would you wish for, T.K.?” Cody asked, craning his head to look up at him.

He didn’t answer immediately, but something entered his eyes and Cody thought he felt something flash through T.K.’s usually well-guarded end of the Jogress connection. It was gone before he could try to identify it. “That’s a tough question. I’d probably also wish for the Digimon to come back. Or maybe for my teachers to stop giving me so much work.”

“Oh, just wait until you get to junior high,” Yolei said cheerily.

“Is it that bad?” Cody’s gaze switched over to her.

“Well, it’s not much more, but it is harder.”

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened.

“This is my stop,” said T.K., stepping forward. “See you guys tomorrow!”

The other two bid farewell as the doors closed again. Cody allowed for a few seconds of silence before he released the question that had been burning at him since he heard Yolei’s rant to T.K.

“Are you mad at Davis because he has a boyfriend, or because he’s not afraid to admit who he is?”

A noise like a squeak escaped Yolei’s throat. Cody looked up to find her already staring at him, face red.

“I – Cody –”

He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

She sighed heavily. “Well, you sound like you already figured it out.”

The elevator came to a stop again. The two stepped out together, but Yolei came to a stop as the doors closed behind them. Cody waited patiently.

“I – I don’t know yet, but I think I might like girls, too,” she said weakly, eyes on the floor. “I look around my class and notice the girls just as much as I notice the boys, and when one of them does something nice for me, I think about it just as long as I would if she were a boy. That doesn’t make me a bad person, right? That’s not… gross, or horrible, or anything?”

“Why would it be?” Cody said simply. “Davis and Ken both admitted they like boys, too. You don’t think any less of them, right?”

She shook her head. “Of course not, but… maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m overthinking it.”

Cody thought she definitely was, but it wasn’t his place to say. He waited.

Yolei took a deep breath before looking back up at him. “Thanks for listening to me all the time,” she said with a smile. “I know I sound stupid half the time, but it means a lot.”

Oh. How was he supposed to respond to that?

“Ah – it’s no problem, Yolei.” He turned to face the other end of the hallway. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

Cody didn’t really get romance. It didn’t come naturally to him, and he didn’t understand why so many people were in a hurry to get into a relationship. And half the time, it left people more hurt than happy. But as long as his friends continued to set out on romantic endeavors, he would always support them.

He noticed more than they realized, he thought. When T.K. and Kari started dating, he had been more than supportive, of course; the two had been best friends for years, and they were so close, he thought it seemed natural. But nothing had changed in the way they acted around each other. They hugged and held hands and voiced their feelings for each other in front of everyone else, but that was no different than usual. Since this was some of Cody’s first experiences with romantic relationships, he thought maybe that was normal, but he was quickly proven wrong.

It wasn’t long after that Davis and Ken came out to them. Cody was surprised, but he knew he shouldn’t have been. They looked at each other as if they were the only other people in the world, as if no one and nothing else existed to them. They clung to each other like letting go was painful for them. Something had obviously changed between them when they started dating, but it had been for the better. They were both clearly so much happier for it.

So it came as no surprise to Cody when T.K. and Kari broke up. Their relationship remained exactly the same as ever, unaffected by the brief romantic stint, but individually, they seemed different. Kari was more confident, more sure of herself, and T.K. was as aggressively supportive of her as always while simultaneously pulling in on himself. Cody had allowed him his space, since he wasn’t very good with emotions anyway, but he made it as clear as he could that he was always there for him to talk to. Or at least, he tried.

Yolei’s demeanor had altered with each new development, but most significantly the latest. Cody had a feeling he knew exactly why, especially considering her words to him and the actions of a certain other member of the team that he wasn’t sure Yolei had noticed yet. He wished her and Kari the best, truly. All he wanted was to see his friends smile. 

A Christmas wish, huh? Maybe that would be his.

All he wanted was for his friends to be happy, no matter what form that happiness took. Even if it was romance.

Chapter Text

Ken stood in the kitchen of Davis’s apartment, hand on his hip as he read through the paper Davis had passed him. His brow was furrowed in concentration, hair falling over his face, and Davis fought back the urge to reach out and brush it behind his ear.

“We have all the ingredients we need for this, right?”

“Yeah.”

Why did his hair have to look so soft? It was loose and fluffy and it had grown long enough for the edges to start curling, and all Davis wanted was to twirl those curls through his fingers.

“And you know what we’re doing?”

“Yeah.”

After that, he wanted to run his thumb over Ken’s cheek, because surely his skin would be as soft as it looked, too. And Ken would look at him with his wonderfully bright, blue eyes, and Davis would be captivated, as he always was with anything that had to do with Ken. He couldn’t help it; he was in love, and his boyfriend was beautiful.

“Davis, if you keep staring at me, you’re going to distract me before we even get started.”

Davis laughed softly. He couldn’t pull his eyes away even if he wanted to. “I’ve been distracted since you first got here.”

“Well, get focused, because we have work to do. These are for T.K., they have to be good.”

Davis blinked at the mention of their other boyfriend. “Right, of course!” He forced himself into action, taking the paper that Ken was holding back out to him. “It’s an easy recipe, so this should be a piece of cake!”

When he had the idea of surprising T.K. with cookies, found an easy recipe for them, and invited Ken over to help, he was sure it would be a cinch. All it took was getting the ingredients ready, mixing them, freezing the dough, then cooking it – hardly the most difficult thing he’d ever baked. He didn’t know Ken’s prowess in the kitchen, but he was confident that it was impossible for Ken to be bad at anything. Besides, maybe this would be one of the rare instances where Davis could help Ken do something, rather than the other way around.

As it turned out, Ken definitely didn’t need any help. He was more than capable of mixing ingredients on his own, which Davis had expected, and he ended up having to do so more than once because Davis could hardly focus. It was hard to fix his attention to the flour and sugar on the counter when the person working with them was a living piece of art. Sometimes he wondered if Ken knew exactly what he did to him; sometimes he knew for an indisputable fact that his boyfriend was perfectly aware and took full advantage of it. Not that he was complaining. He just wasn’t much help trying to bake these cookies.

Ken finally glanced up at him and sighed, a smile playing at his lips. He set aside the electric mixer and leaned against the counter, his hand back on his hip. “So what’s next, Davis?”

Davis’s head popped up from where it was resting on his hands, and he pointed from the dough to the plastic wrap lying a few inches away. “We have to wrap it in that and refrigerate it for half an hour. After that, we take them out, cut them, and bake them.”

Ken nodded. “Are you going to help me this time, or are you going to keep standing there and watch me do it myself?”

“I’ll help,” Davis said with a laugh. He moved to stand next to Ken and shoved his hands in the bowl, grabbing two fistfuls worth of dough.

“Hey! Did you even wash your hands?”

“Of course I did, I’m not that bad!”

Ken huffed and followed suit, scraping the rest of the mixture into his own hands. Davis finished compacting his into a ball and turned to hand it off when he froze, eyes locked on Ken’s hands. They looked just as soft as Ken’s face had been, even covered in dough, and he wished that they weren’t preoccupied or that they both didn’t need their hands so that he could just sit there and hold Ken’s hand in his. 

“Davis.”

“Right, right, here you go.”

Ken finished compacting the dough and wrapped it in the plastic wrap while Davis washed his hands, then they traded positions and Ken washed his while Davis put the dough in the refrigerator. Davis turned around as Ken finished drying his hands, and he immediately reached out and grabbed them in his own. He’d been waiting for this since Ken arrived; he wasn’t sure he could wait any longer.

He pulled Ken out of the kitchen into the living room, dragging him down onto the couch with him. He was lying on his back now, Ken holding himself up with his arms on either side of his head, and Ken’s scent surrounded him, and he smelled like home. Davis thought he could lose himself in the sight of Ken’s eyes, deep blue and full of love, coupled with the soft smile that had never failed to make Davis’s heart race in all the years they’d known each other. He reached up and carded his fingers through Ken’s hair, twisting the curls gently, and it was every bit as soft and fluffy as it looked. He cupped Ken’s cheek and ran his thumb along his smooth skin. Ken’s eyes fluttered shut as he leaned into the contact, and Davis said his name softly to make him open them again. He placed both hands on the back of Ken’s head and slowly pulled him down into a kiss.

The couch wasn’t very large, which made it hard for them to move, but he didn’t care. Ken shifted so he was on his elbows, his hands running through Davis’s hair. Davis allowed one of his hands to run the length of Ken’s back down and up, and the other arched his back into the touch with a quiet gasp. Ken pulled away first, breathing hard, and rested his forehead against Davis’s, and Davis kept his arms wrapped around him. His mind swam, his body tingly and warm, and he allowed himself to soak in Ken’s proximity for as long as he could before they were forced apart again.

But instead of moving off, Ken merely slumped to the side, his cheek resting on Davis’s shoulder. They both reached for the other’s hand at the same time and held tightly. They may have been dating for four years now, but the novelty never wore off; every second with Ken felt like a new breath of fresh air, new life flooding through his veins. Being with Ken made him feel like he was exactly where he was supposed to be, like he was needed and loved and wanted for who he was rather than what anyone wanted him to be. The title of “perfect” belonged to Ken himself, and nothing Ken said would ever change his mind, but he made Davis feel like he was enough. He made him feel whole.

He had no idea what he’d do without Ken. More than his boyfriend, he had been his best friend since the day he gave up the guise of the Digimon Emperor. They stood side-by-side in the face of evil Digimon, ready to defend each other to the last breath; they sat with each other in the late hours of night through nightmares and panic attacks, about apocalypse and homework; they never needed words with each other, each expression or movement conveying more than any sentence could. Davis knew very well that without Ken, he might not be here, and without Davis, Ken might not be, either. He never wanted to see any of those futures, never wanted to think of a world where Ken wasn’t there.

And so he held tight to Ken’s hand, as if releasing it would make one of them disappear. He breathed in Ken’s scent and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of their hearts beating in tandem. That never got old, either.

Ken took a deep breath. “Do you think T.K.’s okay?”

“Of course.” Davis twisted his head and pressed his face into Ken’s hair. “You know how he gets.”

“I do know, and that’s why I’m worried. If something’s wrong, he’ll try to hide it.”

“Then we’ll force it out of him. We have to take him the cookies soon anyway, so we’ll corner him then.”

Ken sighed. “You’re right. I’d like to think he trusts us more than that, but… you know how he gets.”

Davis snorted. “That, I do.”

They remained still for a few more minutes, Davis tracing his thumb along the back of Ken’s hand. Then Ken said, “The dough should be in the fridge for thirty minutes, right? How long has it been?”

“I don’t know, you’re the one with the watch. Besides, no matter how long it stays in, it’ll be the same temperature when it comes out.”

“That’s only if it stays in for longer than thirty minutes.”

“It’ll be fine, Ken. We can stay here for a little longer.”

Ken made a small hum of agreement. Then, a few minutes later, “You’re warm.”

A rush swept through Davis at the words, and he found himself smiling. “So are you. Are you getting sleepy?”

Ken shifted his hand to squeeze Davis’s even tighter. He didn’t respond, which answered his question clearly.

“You can go to sleep if you want.” Davis pressed a kiss to Ken’s hair. 

“But the cookies…”

“They can wait. Get some rest, Ken.”

He exhaled slowly and settled himself further on Davis’s chest. His ear was pressed against his ribcage, and Davis knew exactly what he was listening to. “Okay. But don’t forget to wake me up and we’ll finish the cookies together.”

Davis chuckled at that. “I will.”

Even as he said it, he knew he probably wouldn’t. He could lie there and listen to Ken breathe forever, and he wouldn’t disturb the other’s slumber for anything. The cookies would be finished when they were ready to finish them, whether that was after the prescribed thirty minutes or four hours. T.K. wouldn’t hold it against them if they tasted funny, but Davis was confident they wouldn’t. He’d make sure of it.

He was getting sleepy, too. He closed his eyes, nose still buried in Ken’s hair, and breathed deeply. Ken smelled wonderful; it was the smell of home. He allowed himself to drift off with that final thought in mind.

Wherever Ken was, that was home. And he never wanted to be anywhere where Ken wasn’t.

Chapter Text

The snow that had fallen a few days ago was already almost completely melted as Ken and Davis made their way through Odaiba to T.K.’s home. The cookies they had made together the previous day were tucked safely in the bag slung over Ken’s shoulder. After they both fell asleep on the couch, Ken was the first to wake up, more than displeased to discover that several hours had passed and Davis hadn’t woken him up, but his irritation dissipated when he realized his boyfriend was snoring beneath him. Despite his desire to continue lying there listening to his heartbeat, Ken forced both of them up, and they managed to finish baking the cookies right as Davis’s parents arrived.

Luckily, they tasted normal. At least, Ken thought they did.

But it wasn’t his opinion on the cookies that mattered. They made them for T.K., who had been acting strange around them for days now. He hardly answered their texts, and when he did, it was with weak excuses about why he couldn’t meet up with them. The two of them were determined to find out why. Bringing him cookies was just a bonus, and it was one Ken intended to use as a bribe.

They arrived at T.K.’s doorstep shortly after noon, and Ken hoped that meant he would be awake. Davis knocked. To their surprise, it was T.K.’s mother who answered. 

Her eyes lit up when she saw them. “Oh, Davis, Ken! Come on in. I assume you’re here to see T.K.?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Ken, stepping forward. “Is he home?”

“He’s in his room. He hasn’t been feeling well, but I’m sure seeing you two will help him quite a bit. T.K., your friends are here!”

A disgruntled noise of confusion came from his room. Several seconds of silence passed, during which Ken and Davis slipped inside and took off their shoes, before his door opened and his head poked around the doorway. He was still wearing his pajamas, and his hair was tousled and messy, as though he’d been in bed all day. His face was red, his eyes bloodshot and cloudy. “What are you guys doing here?” he asked, his voice gravelly.

“We’re here to see you, of course!” said Davis.

“Are you sick?” Ken added with a frown.

“Yeah, I… uh, here, come in.” He stepped aside and gestured for them to follow him into his room. He closed the door behind him and flopped onto his unmade bed, turning his head as Ken set his bag on the floor. “Why the sudden house call?”

“What, we can’t come see you now?” Davis’s voice held more than a little anger, and Ken could see him fighting it down. He stepped forward and squeezed his wrist in warning.

“How do you feel?” Ken asked instead. “Do you need us to get you anything?”

“No, trust me, my mom’s all over it. My throat hurts and I’ve got a massive headache, but it’s just a cold. It’ll blow over soon.”

“Is this because you spent too long in the snow?”

T.K. laughed at that, but it quickly turned into a cough. “You got me there.”

Ken’s frown deepened at the sound. “Are you sure we can’t get you anything?”

“I’m sure.”

“We do have something for you, actually,” Davis cut in. Ken blinked as he remembered, and he dug into his bag, pulling out a plastic bowl.

“Are those… cookies?” T.K. sat up, squinting.

“It’s a peace offering,” he said, holding up the bowl. “But only, only, if you talk to us.”

The blond’s eyes flicked toward the floor, and Ken didn’t miss his wince. Davis stalked toward him and shook him by the shoulders. “Something’s up, T.K. We know that, so come on, tell us.”

T.K. reached up and pushed Davis’s hands away as if by reflex. He held them there by his wrists for a few seconds before looking between the two of them with a halfhearted smile. “Sorry for making you guys worry. It’s just because I’ve been sick, though. I –”

“Don’t lie to us!”

He flinched back at Davis’s outburst. Ken set down the cookies and stepped forward, detaching one of T.K.’s hands from Davis and holding it in both of his own. “T.K. Please talk to us. We want to help.”

He wouldn’t meet their eyes. He just kept staring at the floor. Then finally, he pulled his hands away from both of them, dropped onto his side, and pulled his sheets over himself, burying his face into his pillow. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Davis clenched his fists and opened his mouth to say something. Ken put a hand out to stop him and waited.

T.K. seemed like he was fighting with himself. Then, finally, he said, “You guys… know I really love you, right?”

“You haven’t been acting like it,” Davis muttered.

Ken shot him a warning look, his heart pounding in his throat. “Of course, we do. And we love you, too.”

“Do you?”

Ken’s heart skipped a beat.

“I mean… this whole thing, it isn’t just out of pity? I’ve seen it,” he added quickly, rolling over and picking his head up to make eye contact with them. “I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. I know you would be happy on your own. I don’t want to mess things up between you two, I don’t want to – to just get in the way. I don’t want you guys to force yourselves for me.” He pressed his face back into the pillow. “I’m just – I’m just being selfish. I’m sorry.”

Ken’s head swam. Was T.K. saying he didn’t believe them? For almost the whole past year, the three had been together; was he saying it didn’t mean anything, that he thought they hadn’t meant any of it? Was he going to leave them? How could he convince him not to?

“You idiot!”

Davis lurched forward and grabbed T.K.’s shoulder, shoving him roughly so that he was lying on his back. His eyes shone up at them in the light, and Ken felt winded when he realized it was with tears. 

“This past year hasn’t been for nothing, T.K.!” Davis fought to keep his voice from rising uncontrollably. “You know us better than that. We wouldn’t still be here if we didn’t mean it.”

“He’s right.” Ken swallowed hard and leaned forward. “We aren’t here out of pity. We’re here because of you, T.K., because we love you. Davis and I, we still love each other, but without you, it’s not enough. Please, T.K., I –”

He cut himself off as T.K. turned his head to the side, tears rolling into his pillow. “I know. Or – or at least I know I should know that. I’m sorry, I – I’m trying, I just –”

Ken started moving before he was aware of it. He didn’t know he should say, didn’t know what words could help ease T.K.’s mind, but he knew something better. He shifted to the side and grabbed the edge of T.K.’s sheets. “Move over.”

“Huh? But – my mom’s here, what if she –”

“Then we’ll tell her you were cold. Move.”

T.K. finally scooted backward to make room, though Ken was already clambering into the bed. He reached out, wrapped an arm around T.K., and yanked him forward into his chest.

“No – Ken, you’ll get sick.” T.K. pushed on his arms weakly, but Ken didn’t budge.

“I love you, T.K.” The words rang hollow in his own ears, but he continued, trying to give voice to what he felt. “I really do. I’m so sorry if we’ve left you out, but I – I can’t bear to think of being without you. I –” He felt his face heating up, and he buried his nose in T.K.’s hair. “I love your eyes. I love how they’re so bright and open, and I love how you’re not afraid to express yourself. I love how we’re in high school and you still get so excited over snow.”

He felt T.K. clutch his shirt and bury his face in his chest. Something wet ran down his skin; he was crying. Ken tightened his grip around him.

Then the bed behind Ken gave way, and Davis crawled over them and landed on the opposite side of T.K. He laid on top of the sheets, but he threw an arm over them both and tugged them forward. “Me, too. I – ah, man. I’ve loved you for years. I love that you’re never afraid to put me in my place. You and Ken, you never call me stupid, and you help me out all the time with homework. You – you’re always patient with me, and you’re really good at explaining things I don’t get. Hey, don’t – why are you laughing?!”

“I – sorry, sorry, I’m not.” T.K. took a deep, shaking breath. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t.” Ken tightened his grip on him. He could feel him trembling, unsure if it was because he was sick or crying. Probably both. “We – I’m sorry if we made you feel left out. You’re so, so important to us. Please believe us.”

“I do,” T.K. said immediately. His voice was hardly more than a whisper. “I – I do. I believe you.” He sniffled. “I love you, too, you know. Ken, you’re always so kind and understanding. I never have to explain myself to you, it’s like you already know, and I don’t know how you do it. And –” He rolled over in Ken’s grip. “And Davis, I know I can always depend on you if I need it. You’re always so warm and welcoming and supportive. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I ever doubted you. I just… needed to hear you say it.”

“And we’ll keep saying it.” Davis grabbed T.K.’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “We’ll keep saying it, over and over, so you don’t have to feel like this again. I’m sorry we made you feel like this at all.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“It doesn’t matter. I want to fix it. We want to fix it.”

Ken blinked, suddenly remembering the secondary reason they came. “We do have something that might help, actually.” He pushed himself from the bed, reluctant to let go of T.K., and picked up the bowl of cookies. “We did make these for you.”

“You made them?” T.K. rolled over just enough to see them clearly. “You guys did? Are they edible?”

Davis flicked his forehead. “Of course they are! Come on, eat one!” He clambered back over T.K. off his bed and stood next to Ken, who stepped forward to offer one of them to T.K. He took it hesitantly and, with some pressure from Davis, took a bite. His face lit up immediately.

“Oh, these are good! Are you sure you guys made them?”

Ken laughed as Davis yelled back. The two of them began their usual playful banter, and Ken merely watched them with a smile on his face and warmth spreading through him. If this was all he had in the world, the two people before him, he knew he would live his life in perfect happiness.

At one point, when he was still beginning to understand his own feelings, he had been happy with Davis. He was content with him; he was so warm and loving, and he made Ken feel like a person again. He made Ken feel that life was worth living, if only for the people you lived with. Every second he was with Davis felt like electricity buzzing through his veins, warmth and life and happiness, and that was the feeling that what he called love. He was truly, wholly in love with Davis then, and those feelings had only grown stronger.

But somewhere along the way, something had changed. His feelings for Davis never wavered, but something else sparked. He found himself wanting to spend more time with T.K., to hold his hand, hear his voice. Where Davis was like fire burning through his heart, T.K. was like light; the two of them were together, filling every part of Ken with warmth, and he felt whole when he was in their presence. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life drowning in that warmth, holding them close in his heart. He kept telling himself to choose; it would be impossible to have both, wouldn’t it? No matter the feelings that overwhelmed him, he could only have one, and he knew that. But he couldn’t even bear the thought. 

But then one day, Davis came clean. He had been having the exact same thoughts, the exact same dilemma: he wanted T.K., too, needed to have him in his life the same way Ken did, and he didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how it could possibly work. They knew it was impossible. They knew that no matter what they felt, and how strongly they felt it, it couldn’t be possible to have a solution. There was no way T.K. would return their feelings, not both of them at the same time. They took comfort in the fact that they both felt the same way, and they tried to live with it, tried to ignore their feelings for anyone but each other, but they couldn’t. They had never heard of a three-way relationship, but they talked about it with each other constantly, dreamed of a day where maybe they could have both. And then suddenly they did.

T.K. had flashed Ken his usual, bright smile, one he had surely seen over a million times through the years they had known each other, but it was the last straw. The familiar warmth flooded him, threatened to suffocate him, and he nearly blurted it out right then and there. He broached the idea to Davis that very night.

“We have to ask him, Davis.”

“What? T.K.? We can’t.”

“We have to try. I can’t – I can’t wait any longer. We have to.”

And somehow, by some miracle, T.K. had said yes.

The almost-year they had spent together was positively euphoric, at least to Ken. He treasured every single moment he spent with the other two, even moments like now, as they argued to defend Davis’s pride in baking. He looked back and forth between the two like it was a tennis match; there were no hard feelings on either of their faces, only conspiracy mixed with amusement. And he knew that, even if he was sick, this was the brightest he had seen T.K. in months. A familiar warmth filled him, from his heart through to his fingertips.

He stepped forward, setting the cookies down on the nearest flat surface without paying much attention, and cupped T.K.’s face in both hands. He ignored his look of surprise and smiled softly, leaning down to kiss him, only to be interrupted by T.K.’s hand on his lips.

“You’ll get sick,” he reminded him gently.

Ken’s smile only widened, and he redirected to kiss his forehead instead. T.K. leaned into the touch with a soft, contented sigh, twisting one hand in the hem of Ken’s shirt.

Ken knew then, as he had known all through the last year, that this was exactly where he was supposed to be. His two favorite people in the world stood beside him, strong and kind and everything, everything that he needed them to be. They were his everything, his world. Fire and light surrounded him, blinded him, loved him, and he loved them back with everything he had.

And Ken knew that, with them by his side, he really couldn’t be happier.

Chapter Text

When Yolei had asked Kari to come over for the day, she had jumped at the offer. After all, why wouldn’t she? They were dating. She hadn’t seen any reason to refuse.

And, well, she still didn’t. She’d never pass up the chance to spend time with Yolei. She just hadn’t realized exactly what she was being invited – or, rather, recruited – to do. She still wouldn’t have thought twice about accepting, but this definitely wasn’t what she had in mind.

So there they were, working together to decorate Yolei’s family’s convenience store. It wasn’t very large, but they were the only two there, so it was definitely slow-going. Yolei’s parents had left the job to their children, and all of Yolei’s siblings then allocated it to her, so she’d called in, as she’d told Kari, the only reinforcement she trusted. Though Kari didn’t see how at least Cody and Ken couldn’t be trusted, the thought made her feel warm.

“How is this? Is it even?”

Kari glanced up from a few aisles away. Yolei was standing on a step-ladder against the nearest wall, holding up the center of a long strip of shiny, silver garland, both sides of which were tacked to either end of the wall. Kari glanced from the left side to the right, trying her best to compare.

“Bring the left side down some.”

Yolei adjusted.

“Just a little more.”

A smaller adjustment.

“Right there.”

Yolei attached it to the wall with clear tape. “Perfecto!”

With a small smile, Kari turned back to her own task. She had been given a bucket full of oversized ribbons and a roll of her own clear tape, and she was in charge of attaching the ribbons to the endcaps of each aisle. After that, it would be hanging wreaths on the doors and cash registers, then helping Yolei finish with whatever garland still needed hung. Yolei claimed to have a surprise waiting for her after that. She had no idea what that meant, but the idea sent her heart racing.

“Did you go to Davis’s soccer game last weekend?” Yolei asked, stepping down from the ladder. 

Kari shook her head. “Tai had one, too, so I went there.”

Yolei nodded. “How’d that one go?”

“They won, but only by a little bit.” She smoothed down the tape and transported her materials to the next aisle over. “How did Davis do?”

“Well, it was against Tamachi. They lost.”

Kari laughed. Ever since Ken and Davis started dating, they had only grown more competitive at soccer, so every time they ended up on opposite teams, they focused far more on each other than on the rest of the game. It drove their coaches crazy, but it didn’t impact their performance enough for them to be benched, so there wasn’t much they could do. “I bet that was fun to watch. What else did you do over the weekend?”

Yolei scooped up another strip of garland and crossed to her next location, shrugging at Kari as she passed. “Not much. I did some shopping after the game, but I couldn’t buy much with my siblings home all weekend. I wanted to go out with you, but they kept me way too busy. What about you?”

Kari smiled brightly at the declaration and shifted to the next aisle. “Same as you. Nothing.”

“Ah, so we both had exciting weekends then.”

She giggled, and Yolei beamed in her direction.

It should have been just meaningless small talk, but Kari could never see it that way. Every word shared with Yolei was precious, something to be treasured, no matter what it was. It was another opportunity to hear her voice, and Kari would never pass that up for anything. Even if it was just the two of them painstakingly hanging decorations in Yolei’s family’s store.

Kari ran out of both ribbons and aisles a few minutes later, and she was halfway through hanging the wreaths when Yolei joined her. “All the garland is up and accounted for,” she announced proudly. “What do you think?”

She glanced behind her around the store. The decorations were sparse, but that was the plan; they hadn’t wanted to overdo anything. Garland hung along each wall, sparkling in the light, and a few store fixtures were strung with it, as well. Each aisle was adorned with Kari’s ribbons, and she noticed belatedly that some were crooked, but she would have to fix it later. There were wreaths along some of the doors in the frozen section, all of the entry and exit doors, and there would be more hanging in front of the registers as soon as she was finished. It was simplistic, but still festive. She found herself smiling at the sight.

“It’s beautiful, Yolei.” She turned to face her girlfriend. “You did a great job.”

Yolei flushed slightly. “Aw, it was nothing. Anyway, let me help you finish here. I want to show you your surprise.”

She grabbed the last remaining wreath and slapped it into place on the outside of the counter. It took several seconds for Kari to realize she was staring and turn back to her own project, and the moment the wreath was secure, Yolei’s palm wrapped around her wrist. She glanced up at her in surprise.

Yolei’s eyes shone with conspiracy and excitement. Her hand slipped from Kari’s wrist to her hand and squeezed tightly, and she gently began to lead her to a door clearly marked “Employees Only.” She knew that meant her, at least temporarily, but it still felt wrong to push past it. At least, until they were inside.

The room was entirely dark save for one blinding spot of light right in the center. That bright beacon turned out to be a Christmas tree, shining with lights and ornaments and tinsel, and Kari was confused for one brief moment before she noticed the earnest look on her girlfriend’s face. This must be the surprise. Yolei must have decorated the tree just for her.

Well, consider her surprised.

As soon as the realization swept through her, she felt herself beginning to smile. She turned to face Yolei as she closed the door behind them. “It’s beautiful.”

“Like you,” Yolei shot back. Kari flushed, and she laughed. “I’m glad you like it. I wanted to do something special, since, you know, it’s been three years now since we went to that lights festival.”

Kari suppressed a gasp. “Has it been that long already? It feels like it was just yesterday.”

“Well, I think they made it an annual thing. For all we know, it was yesterday.”

She scoffed and shoved Yolei’s shoulder. “You know what I mean.”

Yolei laughed, and they both turned to face the tree again. “I was a mess that whole day,” she said softly. “Ever since you called me.”

“ You were? Tai kept threatening to throw me out himself if I didn’t follow up after inviting you.” Kari giggled at the memory, but warmth swept through her as she remembered that afternoon. “But I’m really glad I went.”

“I am, too!” She stepped in front of Kari and grabbed both of her hands. “If I hadn’t gone, I don’t know if I’d have ever worked up the courage to confess. It was really one of the best days of my life.”

She kept talking, but Kari couldn’t hear.

She was too focused on the scene in front of her. There stood Yolei, the only thing standing between her and the surprise Christmas tree. The tree was glittering with brilliant, multicolored lights, bright and warm and twinkling, each reflecting on the tinsel that was strung through the branches. The light framed Yolei, outlining her in a soft glow, radiating outward like an aura of warmth. Kari was certain that was really what it was. It was Yolei; there was no other aura she was capable of. Kari’s breath escaped her, a rushing sound filled her ears, tears pooled in her eyes, and she lurched forward, resting her head on Yolei’s shoulder.

Yolei’s words stopped short, and she took in a sharp breath before leaning her cheek lightly on Kari’s hair. “Kari? Are you okay? Did I say something wrong…?”

Kari shook her head quickly, her tears wiping themselves on Yolei’s shirt. “No, not at all.” Never, she meant. She huffed a small laugh. “Sorry. I just – you looked so beautiful.”

Yolei’s grip on her hands tightened, and Kari felt her smile. “I could never compare to you. I always feel like I don’t say it enough, but I really love you, Kari. You’re the best thing I have in my life, and you’ve always been there for me, ever since we first met. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Yolei…”

“You know, when we Jogress evolved for the first time, I told you that I’d always protect you from the darkness, but I feel like you’re a lot better at that than I am.”

Kari shook her head again, then pulled back to look up at Yolei. She almost lost her breath all over again at the gentleness she found in her eyes. “Trust me, Yolei,” she managed. “As long as you’re around, I don’t think I’ll ever have a problem with the darkness again.”

Yolei’s smile widened. “I promise I’ll always do my best.”

Kari tried her best to return the smile, but she wasn’t sure she could ever reach the brilliance of the one she was faced with. Suddenly she realized that Yolei was leaning in, her eyes fluttering shut, and Kari followed suit, almost sad to lose sight of the aura still surrounding her girlfriend. But her disappointment vanished the moment her lips brushed Yolei’s.

Then the door opened.

A loud, inconvenienced groan cut through the air behind them, and the door slammed shut again.

Yolei made a dismayed noise that almost sounded like a laugh before squeezing her hands one last time and rushing around her to the door. Kari felt like she had been shocked; her limbs buzzed, her heart raced, and she couldn’t bring herself to move yet. Behind her, the door opened again, and Yolei yelled, “Oh, so you decided to show up!”

“When you said you were inviting someone to help you decorate, you should’ve specified you meant your girlfriend!” It sounded like Yolei’s brother. He didn’t seem angry, but she could hear his teasing smirk.

Yolei growled. “What do you want?”

“Mom said you weren’t answering your phone, so she sent me to come get you.”

“Well, tell her to wait a minute!” She accented the final part by slamming the door in his face. Kari finally forced herself to turn as Yolei breathed a small sigh and started back toward her.

“Remember to use protection!”

“Shut up!” She kicked the closed door hard.

Kari broke into laugher. Yolei looked up in surprise, but she quickly joined in, and the two closed the space between them.

“Sorry. I guess this means I have to go,” Yolei said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

Kari shook her head. “It’s okay. But first…”

She placed her hands on Yolei’s shoulders and leaned upward to press their lips together. She tried to pull away only a moment later when her heartbeat picked back up, but Yolei followed. Finally, the two split for air, and they reached out to hug each other at the same time. Kari squeezed tight and inhaled deeply, trying to memorize the other’s scent, before she finally pushed away.

“Go,” she said, gesturing to the door. “The longer you make him wait, the more he’ll have to say it.”

“You’re right,” Yolei said with a sigh. She hesitated one second longer before pressing a quick kiss to Kari’s forehead, then she dashed for the door. “I’ll see you later!”

Kari raised her hand to wave, and the door closed again. She could hear the two siblings arguing outside, and she smiled at the sound before facing the Christmas tree behind her.

It was still glimmering, still as flourescent as it had been when Yolei first led her into the room. But she knew now, more certainly than ever, that it couldn’t hold a candle to Yolei herself. She smiled at the star on top as it flashed at her again.

Nothing could.

Chapter Text

The weathermen had been wrong. Again.

Partly cloudy skies, they had said. No inconvenient weather would arrive until tomorrow, or even the day after. It would be a good weekend to visit his boyfriend without having to worry about anything.

As Ken stood in the doorway of the nearest shop, soaked to the bone and shivering, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. The weather had been unpredictable lately, and the clouds had been hovering dark and low all day; he should have planned for something like this. But alas, all he had were the clothes on his back and the small overnight bag he’d dragged with him to Davis’s apartment, and none of that was going to be of any use to him now.

He hadn’t even made it to the train station before the skies opened up. So much for getting home on time.

By now, being in the rain shouldn’t matter. His clothes were already dripping wet, so it wasn’t like the water could do any more damage to him. The problem was that it was freezing cold, and getting sick was the last thing on his to-do list. Unfortunately, since he was already drenched, he wasn’t getting any warmer standing away from the downpour. 

Basically, he was stuck. And cold. And wet.

Thankfully, he wasn’t unfamiliar with Odaiba. The shop he had chosen to haunt was a quaint, pleasant café that he had visited a few times with the other DigiDestined, and one of their hot drinks would be exactly what he needed. That is, as soon as his clothes were dry enough that he could step inside without making a mess.

So there he was, fumbling with his bag, trying to wring as much water from his shirt and hair as possible, when something rapped on the glass window behind him.

He started, nearly dropping the bag, and whirled around. A familiar face greeted him, alight with curiosity and concern, before its owner turned and dashed through the door. “Ken? What are you doing here?”

“T.K.” Ken found himself breathing a sigh of relief, even as a sharp gust of wind blew more rain into him, the cold slicing into his very bones. “I was on my way home, but…”

“Well, hurry up, come inside! You’ll freeze out here.” T.K. shifted and waved for Ken to enter. He shook his head at first, gesturing at his clothing, but T.K. reached out to him before he could respond. “It doesn’t matter. You won’t dry off by standing there, anyway.”

With that, the blond yanked him through the door into the café, and Ken shivered again at the temperature change. It was almost suffocatingly pleasant in here, further pronouncing the uncomfortable weight of his clothing on his limbs. In the warmth, it felt sticky, holding fast to his skin like a horrible glue made of fabric. He hated it.

T.K. led him to a table adjacent to the window, where Ken noticed Kari watching them curiously. Her eyes roved his body, then she leapt from her chair quickly, stepping forward. “You need something to change into. T.K., do you have anything?”

T.K. opened his mouth, and Ken prepared for the sarcastic no, but then his expression shifted. “Actually –” He moved around Ken to the table and pulled something from the back of his chair. “You can have this. I don’t have anything else, but it’ll work. Go change.”

By this point, he’d do anything to get away from their stares. Ken bit his lip and whirled on his heel, searching for the restroom. The article T.K. had given him was a hoodie, which fit nearly perfectly, despite the fact that he was taller than T.K. He tried to wring as much moisture from his pants as possible, which wasn’t much, but at least now they weren’t sticking to him with every movement. And, even though his pants were still cold, the hoodie was warm. Plus, it smelled like T.K.

Something in his stomach fluttered as he breathed it in. He beat the feeling back with a stick, nearly ripping the hoodie off in disgust at himself, but he managed to stop his hands in time. He would feel even more guilty if he left without accepting T.K.’s offer. The hoodie was dry, at least, and he’d rather they didn’t pester him anymore, so he forced himself to keep it on and rejoined the duo at their table.

To his great surprise, there was now a third steaming cup resting on the table, and a third chair had been dragged over next to theirs. Kari noticed him hesitate at the sight and waved him over. “You should stay for a little while,” she said once he was close enough. “Warm up, and then you can go home.”

T.K. snickered, lowering his cup from where he’d been about to drink. “Kari, you sound like Sora.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Um… Thank you, but…” Ken pulled his sleeves over his hands and shifted his weight, eyes glued to the table. “I should be going. I don’t want to impose…”

“You aren’t imposing at all,” T.K. cut in. “If you don’t want to get sick, you should stay here, and drink that.”

Ken bowed his head, feeling very much like he was talking to his parents, and sat in the empty chair.

It felt like he was intruding on a date. He knew that wasn’t possible, because T.K. and Kari hadn’t been dating for almost two years, but nonetheless, he was clearly the third wheel. He was beginning to think he’d rather brave the rain than stay with them. 

“So where were you going?” Kari turned to him curiously.

Ken wrapped his hands around the warm drink before him, sighing in relief as the cup burned into his fingertips. “The train station. I was going home, since I spent the weekend with Davis.”

“We should’ve known,” T.K. said in a tone that meant he very much had known. Ken flushed and turned his eyes back to his drink.

It wasn’t like he was shy about being with Davis. Ken wasn’t quite sure he had this “love” thing figured out yet – he was only fifteen, after all, and frankly, the concept was slightly intimidating – but he was almost certain that was what this was. Time spent with Davis was always his favorite; his boyfriend was so warm and radiant, and he never let Ken do anything alone, even when the latter tried to fool them both into thinking that he wanted to. His heart did cartwheels in his chest every time he saw him, and it was like nothing else in the world existed when they were together. He supposed nothing else needed to exist; Davis was all that mattered.

“Hello? Earth to Ken?”

Ken started again, his eyes flicking forward before his mind could catch up to realize he’d zoned out. T.K. was looking at him, amused, obviously waiting for an answer, and Ken’s face heated up as he realized he had no idea what the question was. He opened his mouth to ask, but T.K. laughed before he could get the words out.

Ken’s heart stuttered at the sound. He didn’t like that. He took a sip of his drink to drown out the feeling, warmth flooding him from the inside. 

“I said, is there anything in your bag that got ruined?” T.K. asked.

Ken shook his head. “No, I kept it pretty dry. A lot more than myself, anyway. Even if it did get wet, nothing would be too damaged.”

T.K. nodded and said something else, but Ken didn’t hear. Instead, he frowned down at his cup and took another, longer drink. 

“Is something wrong?” said Kari.

“No, not at all. This is… my favorite, actually.”

Much to Ken’s surprise, T.K. nodded. “I thought so.”

“You knew?”

T.K. look at him strangely. “Of course. We’ve been here together before. You mentioned that one last time.”

Ken suddenly felt winded. He remembered?

“Thank you,” he said quietly. T.K. grinned in response, and Ken forced himself to look away.

His eyes found the window instead, and he realized with a jolt that the rain had lessened significantly. He pushed himself up, setting down his drink and reaching for his bag. “I should go while it’s calmed down,” he said by way of explanation. “Thank you both so much for your help.”

Kari beamed in response and nodded, but T.K. frowned. “Wait, do you have an umbrella or anything?”

“No, but –”

T.K. reached behind him and produced one from under the table. Ken blinked as it was offered to him. “Take this one, then. You have a much longer walk.”

“Uh, no, please, it’s yours, keep it!”

Ken’s words had no effect, and after a few seconds, he sighed and accepted it. He didn’t want it, but somehow, he found he couldn’t refuse T.K., and that realization struck him like he’d been hit.

“Thank you,” he said again. “I’ll return your things as soon as I can.”

“There’s no rush. Just don’t get sick on your way.”

“But what about you?” he blurted out. “You’ve given me your hoodie and now your umbrella. I don’t want you to get sick either!”

He regretted the words almost instantly. T.K. looked genuinely surprised, but his expression quickly shifted. Ken’s stomach flipped as he broke out in laughter. “Don’t sweat it, Ken. If you’re the one worrying about me, I definitely won’t get sick no matter how long I stay out. Now hurry, before the rain gets bad again.”

Ken wasn’t sure he would be able to answer that even if his mind could form the words. He offered a quick bow to the two of them before dashing through the door, his face burning.

As he readied the borrowed umbrella, he chanced a look back inside the café. T.K. was holding his face in his hands, Kari laughing enthusiastically at whatever predicament he was in. Her eyes met his for the briefest of seconds before he snapped his gaze back to the street. He wasn’t quite sure what he’d just seen, and he was more than a little afraid to find out.

His journey home was a brief but wet one, and, as the rain picked back up, he knew it would have been a lot worse were it not for the umbrella. His grip tightened on the handle as he walked, the image of sparkling blue eyes flashing through his head, the accompanying laughter echoing in his ears. Something about that visit wasn’t sitting right with him, or perhaps it was sitting too well. At this point, he had no idea.

Whatever he was feeling, there was a lot of it to unpack. If Ken knew one thing for certain, he definitely didn’t have a handle on this whole “emotions” thing yet.

Chapter Text

The day had arrived.

It was finally time for the second of the Kamiyas’ Christmas parties. Davis had been anticipating this day for two weeks, and he was beyond stoked. 

After the previous party, with the advent of the DigiDestined Secret Santa, he was staring at the card he had drawn that read Mimi’s name when he had a stroke of genius. It would be the perfect gift, the perfect message to send; it would just be perfect, granted that he could pull it off. Not for Mimi, of course. For a certain someone else.

After much cajoling that definitely didn’t involve a bribe or two, Davis had finally gotten Ken to switch cards with him. Ken hadn’t seemed pleased to now be in charge of finding Mimi’s gift, but Davis supposed his enthusiasm had finally gotten through to him. He wouldn’t tell Ken his plan, but he swore up and down that it was perfect, and Ken had no other choice than to acquiesce.

Actually finding the gift he had in mind proved to be a more difficult task than he bargained for, but he managed it eventually. He had done his best to wrap it, and it wasn’t the best, but he was proud of it. As he sauntered through the entrance to the Kamiyas’ apartment, wielding a festive package addressed to T.K., he was practically vibrating, leaking excitement from every joint, and he found himself unable to stomach the idea of waiting any longer than right that second.

But he waited. He didn’t really have a choice. Mimi wouldn’t be anywhere near as easy to convince as Ken.

T.K. and Ken were both there when he arrived, both standing by the wall near Tai’s bedroom, chatting idly as they watched the bustling activity in the room, and sporting drinks of which he couldn’t detect the source. T.K. was the first to see him approach, on the way back from placing the little gift on a table with all the others, and his face visibly brightened. “Hey, Davis! I didn’t see you come in.”

Davis wasn’t sure how he could have missed him, but he grinned back in response. “What, did you think I would miss this?”

“He’s been talking about the Secret Santa since the last party ended,” Ken whispered loudly to T.K. “Though, he wouldn’t tell me what he’s so excited about.”

Davis flushed. “That’s because it’s a surprise, Ken. It's called Secret Santa.”

“That’s about the only part of it you’ve kept secret from me.”

T.K. snorted into his drink. Davis glared at him, but T.K. met his gaze innocently, and he felt his frustration bubble away. He squared his shoulders, pasting a smirk on his face. “Trust me, guys, it’s gonna be perfect.”

“You’re awfully confident,” T.K. remarked. “We’re not supposed to know who each gift is from, anyway.”

Oh, you will, thought Davis.

Instead of responding, he turned to look around the room. It looked much the same as it had at the first party, and he suspected the Kamiyas had simply left all the decorations untouched in the interim. A few tables were scattered across the floor, most covered in food, but he finally spotted one that housed all the drinks. Not all of the DigiDestined were present – the only one missing was Yolei, but Davis suspected she had only dashed off to grab something from her family’s store, because she would never leave Kari behind for too long – but the celebration was already in full swing. Tai and Kari were bustling back and forth from the kitchen, their mother intermittently barking orders, as Matt watched in amusement from his position of being half-involved in a conversation between Joe and Cody. Izzy was slumped in an armchair, engrossed in his computer, as Sora and Mimi stood over him, evidently trying and failing to distract him. Behind them, on yet another table, were the gifts from everyone, stacked messily and awaiting the moment Mimi chose to start that part of the festivities.

One of the gifts in particular caught his eye, its nametag hanging down with Mimi’s name printed on it. His curiosity piqued, he turned to ask Ken what he’d managed to find that would satisfy her, but the words died in his throat. 

The two of them were laughing. Davis didn’t know what the joke was, and he wondered briefly if it was at his expense, but he quickly decided he didn’t care. It wasn’t like this was anything unusual; he’d heard the sound a million times before, enough that he could play it on repeat in his head, but his memory of it could never match up to the real thing. The tension flooded from his body, a soft smile forming without his consent. He’d never get tired of that.

The spell was broken as the door burst open, Yolei finally rushing inside with a bag in her hand. Her eyes scanned the room quickly, lighting up the moment she saw Kari, and she dashed across the room to meet her. Davis decided then that whatever they were going to do, he didn’t want to see it, and instead he prepared himself for Mimi to make the announcement. It had to be soon now, and he felt he might explode if she took too long.

Which reminded him of his question.

“Hey, Ken,” he said, turning back around. They both turned to face him, still thoroughly amused at something, but at least now they weren’t showing it in a way that gave him heart palpitations. “What did you end up getting for –” Ken’s eyebrows shot up into his hair. “– uh, for, you know. Over there.”

“That’s a surprise, Davis. It is called Secret Santa,” he replied innocently.

T.K. burst into laughter and tried to hide it behind his drink. Davis didn’t find this one half as endearing.

“You’ll find out soon, anyway,” Ken added, gesturing behind him. “It looks like Mimi’s realized we’re all here.”

Davis whipped around so fast his neck hurt, just in time to catch Mimi’s gaze and she finished counting them, eyes lighting up. She crossed the room to standing in front of the gift-covered table, looking like she was about to overflow with excitement. “Everyone! Welcome all to our second party! We’re all here now, and I’m sure we’re all excited –” A few of them turned away at that, eyebrows raised, but she plowed on. “– so let’s finish our Secret Santa and get these gifts passed out!”

Davis fought the urge to dash forward, snatch T.K.’s gift, and shove it in his face himself. He forced himself to wait restlessly as Mimi and Sora delved into the pile, calling out names, and almost jumped when he heard his own, having forgotten he would also be getting one. Judging from the handwriting, it was probably from Joe, but he decided not to put much thought into it, and he resisted the urge to tear it open right then and there. He didn’t want to get carried away with the joy of ripping it apart and miss T.K.’s reaction. It was going to be perfect.

He didn’t have to wait long.

T.K.’s name was called shortly after his, and he moved to an emptier corner before he tore into the packaging. Davis positioned himself nearby, not caring how obvious he was being, heart pounding in his throat, and then finally T.K. was holding in his hands a cloud-patterned hat, not the exact same design as the original but definitely close enough, and in the perfect size, or so he hopes. A second of silence passed, then T.K. whirled on his heel, eyes blown wide. “Davis, where did you –”

The breath left Davis’s lungs in a rush. “In the shopping district, it took forever to find one. It’s good, right?”

“Yeah, it is! I –” T.K. laughed softly, glancing down to the hat. “I’ve been holding onto the old one for so long. I never thought I’d get another one.”

Davis took a step forward. “Well, we found each other again, didn’t we? It’s a little late, but now you have another one to celebrate.”

He reached out and slid the white hat from T.K.’s hair, trading it for the one in his hands. He pulled the cloud-patterned hat into place, hands brushing against the other’s ears, warmth shooting up his arms. He hesitated then, and dropped his hands to his side rather than grab T.K.’s. “See? Perfect fit.”

T.K. finally looked up, cheeks painted a light shade of red, and Davis thought he might lose himself in his eyes. Then he smiled and breathed a laugh, and Davis’s heart constricted. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

And he leaned forward.

But he caught himself before he went too far and cast a hesitant glance at the rest of the room. Davis didn’t follow his gaze, eyes still locked on T.K.’s. “You still don’t want to tell them?” he said finally, only just loud enough for the other to hear.

“I don’t know. To be honest, I do, but… I don’t know. I’m scared,” he added, his voice dropping to a whisper.

“You shouldn’t be. Remember what Ken and I said. We’ll always be here for you, who cares what the others think? It’s not going to change how we feel. But they won’t think any different of us, anyway. They know us.”

He wasn’t sure that was the right thing to say, and T.K.’s eyes flashed as he remembered their conversation surrounding Ken and Davis’s gift of cookies. But then his expression softened, and a small smile formed on his lips. Davis’s heartbeat spiked.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, and if you don’t want –”

He was cut off when T.K. grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him forward in a kiss, and in that second, the world vanished. It was just him and T.K., his boyfriend, this moment, this feeling, this warmth. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed, and Davis was content.

Then something changed for the worse, and Davis suddenly realized the room had gone silent. T.K. released his shirt and pressed his palm against his chest, pushing them apart. Dazed, his mind lagging several seconds behind, Davis chanced a cautious glance at the others. Most of them were frozen in place, looking back and forth between them and Ken, who seemed to be holding back laughter. Joe took in the situation before turning away with an exaggerated expression of “that’s none of my business,” while Matt stared openly at T.K., mouth opening and closing, unable to make a sound. To Davis’s surprise and slight dread, a huge grin was spreading across Kari’s face as she watched Ken, though she made no move to speak up.

Then Yolei turned on her heel and shouted to Cody, “How did you –”

Cody only held up a hand in her direction. She groaned and reached into her pocket, shoving a handful of yen at him.

“Wait, you bet on this?” T.K. demanded, at the same time Matt cried, “You knew?”

“Hold on, hold on, T.K., uh…” Tai glanced at Davis, then Ken, then back to T.K. “You know Davis and Ken are…”

“Nope,” Ken cut in cheerily.

“Wait, what?”

Ken moved to stand behind them, slinging his arms over their shoulders. Davis smiled brightly at him, and T.K. offered a weaker version of the same. “It’s the three of us now, me, Davis, and T.K.”

Kari gasped, eyes sparkling unnaturally bright. “You should have told us sooner!”  

“Yeah, that’s an understatement,” Tai muttered.

“Wait, how long has this been going on?” Matt said desperately, looking distressed.

“Did you think we would be mad or something?” Sora interrupted. “You don’t have to be scared. As long as you guys are happy, so are we.” 

Davis grinned at T.K. “I told you.”

T.K. cast him a withering glance, but the smile spreading across his face ruined the effect. A hand suddenly wrapped around his and squeezed tightly, and Davis looked up at Ken, warmth shooting through his arm at the contact and blossoming in his chest at his boyfriend’s expression. Even as the other DigiDestined kept firing questions at them, the room around Davis dissolved again until all that was left was the two standing next to him. This was all that mattered.

It had been perfect, just like he had hoped. Of course, he didn’t plan on it ending this way, but he was happy it had, as long as T.K. and Ken were happy. And they were; they had been, for the whole past year together. Sure, they’d had their ups and downs, but if anything, he thought it had cemented their love even further. Sometimes, Davis was sure he didn’t deserve them, these two who had carried him through so many hardships, who helped save him from a life of loneliness, but at the same time, he’d never trade them for anything. Maybe it was selfish, but these two were his. They were his everything.

As the three of them finally separated, laughing, and the party resumed its earlier liveliness, he couldn’t help the giddy warmth bubbling in his gut. He knew the others could see it, which was just fine with him. He wanted them to know how he felt; he wanted to scream it to the whole of Tokyo if he could, but for now he would settle for the other DigiDestined. Even so, his heart ached for the moment the party ended and the three of them found themselves alone again. It wasn’t quite Christmas yet, but that was all he wanted.

Well, that, and he never wanted to be without them. He had always been with them, ever since he was a little kid exploring Tokyo who happened to run into another little kid, since a little device popped out of a screen into his hand and guided him to someone who needed help. With them, he was complete; with them, he was never alone. 

His Christmas wish, then, was a simple one. He only wanted the three of them to spend this Christmas, and the next Christmas, and all Christmases after that, just the same as they had spent all those in the years before: together.