@digiweek At last, the long awaited crossover piece. This was from a fanfic I wrote over Nano last year for a Christmas challenge for the Beyblade fandom.
A little context here: Digimon was the first fandom I created my OCs Steph and Becky for, and subsequently wrote MattxOC pretty much exclusively from then on. This proved problematic when I moved over to the beyblade fandom and my OC crossed over with me. What would I do about her character relationships? Would I have to start them all from scratch. Instead, with a friend, I came up with a solution - the rest of the franchise would just have to come with me, specifically Matt. Both characters went through a lot of revisions to fit into a second fandom, but the crux of their story is still the same.
In this piece that I’m sharing today, we see Yamato interact with both Kai Hiwatari and Daichi, and the hilarity that follows.
Some important things to note about our lovely Yamato in this universe; he is the grandson of BBA Chairman, but the two are estranged following Natsuko and Hiroaki’s divorce. He’s still very much traumatised by the divorce and he hasn’t had a year in the Digiworld to come to terms with it.
And this without further ado, I give you:
A Very Bladebreaker Christmas.
A Very Bladebreaker Christmas, a beyblade fanfic | FanFiction
Excerpt
Steph looked up to see Kai, as punctual as ever, waiting for Becky at the Dojo gates. He wasn’t alone though; a familiar silhouette stood beside him. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him, conversing casually with her captain as the two of them entered the Dojo grounds.
They hadn’t seen her yet, so she still had time to dart back inside if she wanted to, but something kept her rooted to the spot. Beside her, she could feel Becky’s excitement building. It was obvious that her cousin was up to something, and Steph couldn’t be sure, but she had a feeling her boyfriend was in on it too.
Kai scrubbed up nice, Steph decided - in a navy blazer and jeans. The pouch that he usually kept Dranzer in was noticeably absent, as was the trademark blue face paint. He wore a scarf, of course; tonight it was forest green and brought out the colour of his eyes.
Ordinarily, she would have greeted her newly reinstated captain with some sort of smart comment, but given the situation, Steph thought it best to hold her tongue and wait for Kai to make the first move.
“Summers,” he greeted her with a curt nod. He was dating her cousin but still addressing Steph by her last name?
“Kai,” she responded in turn. She glanced at her cousin. The scary older cousin speech was more Enrique’s thing, but she still felt as though she was required to say something responsible. “Curfew is eleven, remember?” In the eight months they’d lived at the Dojo, Grandpa had yet to bother enforcing said curfew. Steph didn’t want to give him a reason to have to.
Becky rolled her eyes then gave her cousin a hurried hug. “We’re opening our presents from Enrique the minute I get back.”
Steph laughed. “Agreed,” she said, giving Becky a gentle shove towards the gates. She watch the two of them disappear into the night before she turned to her unexpected guest.
“What are you doing here?” she asked curiously.
Matt grinned. “I was in the neighbourhood.”
He was obviously lying, but she didn’t care. Any doubts or worries she might have had over the last two weeks seemed completely irrelevant when he looked at her the way he was looking at her now; with a mixture of kindness and hope.
He was wearing a heavy coat over jeans and had tied his scarf loosely around his neck. He climbed the steps to the dojo carefully - the earlier drizzle had turned the snow on the path to slippery slush. He stopped one step short of the landing so that when he looked up at her, they stood nose to nose.
“I know how much you love spending Christmas with your family,” he explained, and there was no judgement in his tone. “I didn’t want you to feel homesick.”
Her heart gave a little flutter as his hands found her waist, his fingers catching in the fabric of her hoodie and drawing her towards him. As he did, she reached her arms up, looping them around his neck to steady herself on the step.
When she had first met him, she never would have expected that the broody teenager who had declared his distaste for everything to do with beyblading would actually turn out to be the patient and compassionate boy standing before her. Steph knew that aside from his brother, she was the only person to see this side of him - the side he’d kept hidden following his parent’s divorce.
“What about your mom and T.K?” she asked. She knew Nancy, who had mixed European heritage, still very much liked to celebrate Christmas with her children, something Matt had begrudgingly participated in for the sake of his younger brother. “Shouldn’t you be spending Christmas Eve with them?”
She caught the brief flash of emotion that crossed his face at the mention of his mother and brother, but she couldn’t identify it. Was it regret? Anger? Perhaps it was both; she could never be certain what he was thinking when it came to his family. Whatever it was, it was gone a moment later and his expression softened.
He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I have all of tomorrow to spend with them,” he told her. “Right now - on Christmas Eve - the only place I want to be is with you.”
Her heart gave a little flutter at that, and when he leaned towards her, she felt her whole body grow tense in anticipation of his lips on hers.
“What are you doing?”
They both gave a start, jumping apart and, her heart racing, Steph looked around for the source of the interruption.
Daichi was standing in the doorway, a half eaten gingerbread cookie in one hand and a bucket of popcorn in the other. The young teen was eyeing them suspiciously, his blue eyes narrowed.
“Who are you?” he blurted out.
Steph felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Of all people to stumble across them, she thought. She cleared her throat apprehensively. “Daichi, this is Matt. We go to school together.” Then she added for Matt’s benefit; “Daichi is - ”
“Tyson’s tag team partner,” Matt guessed, surprising her with knowledge. “I saw your match against Ming Ming last year.”
Daichi blinked, astonished. “You did?”
Matt nodded, and Steph felt compelled to add. “Matt is Mr. Dickenson’s grandson. He’s been helping us train for the upcoming match with the Bladesharks.”
She felt a chill creep up her spine, one that had nothing to do with the weather, and turned back to her teammate. “What are you doing out here anyway, Daichi?”
The younger boy blinked, then his eyes widened as he remembered. “Tyson sent me to get you - the movie’s starting.”
Ah, Steph thought. She’d almost forgotten about the movie night. “I’ll be there in a minute,” she promised, ushering the younger boy back inside and reminding him to take off his shoes. When she was sure he wasn’t lingering in the doorway and trying to overhear, she turned to Matt.
“So … that’s Daichi,” she explained unnecessarily. “He’s staying with us for the holidays.”
He chuckled. “He sounds like a handful.” He tucked his hands into his pockets awkwardly. “If you already have plans with your teammates, I can go - ”
“No!” she said at once, grasping for his jacket. “Come and watch the movie with us - that is, if you want to,” she added the last bit hastily, afraid she might be overstepping.
He hesitated. “What’s the movie?”
“The Grinch.”
“With Jim Carey, or the other guy?”
She laughed. “Jim Carey, of course.”
He considered this for a moment; he’d told her that he’d come because he was worried she might be homesick, but she wondered, or rather hoped, if he’d really come for another reason he had yet to disclose. Finally, he said; “Why not.” He followed her inside, discarding his shoes by the door and hanging his own coat on the coat rack (Steph was too short to reach the hooks, anyway).
“Your tree is crooked,” he commented.
“Don’t start,” she warned, hearing Tyson’s chuckle of laughter from the couch. Suspiciously, neither he or Hilary seemed surprised to see Matt with her - Daichi may have already tattled on her on his way inside. Or maybe it had been Tyson and Hilary’s idea to begin with - she figured it wouldn’t be difficult to get the truth out of Tyson later.
The couple had curled up on the sofa closest to the fire, leaving only the small, two seater couch in front of the Christmas tree for them to share. Shooing Freya onto the floor, she motioned for him to sit and scooted into the corner of the couch, her hand brushing against his knee as she reached for the remote beside him.
“Sorry,” she muttered. She was acutely aware of Hilary and Tyson watching the whole awkward exchange and for a moment, it looked as though Tyson was about to say something before Hilary flicked him squarely on the nose.
“Ow,” he muttered, rubbing his nose and wincing. “What was that for?”
Hilary ignored him. “Where did Daichi go?” she asked.
The world champion shrugged. “Probably getting more food,” he said, then he bellowed; “Oi Daichi, the movie’s starting.”
Beside her, Steph felt Matt wince at the sound and she shrugged apologetically. A moment later, the youngest Bladebreaker reappeared with, as Tyson predicted, yet another bowl of popcorn.
“Hope you’re planning to share that,” the world champion teased.
Daichi scowled, covering the bowl with his hands protectively. “Not with you,” he said, darting out of reach of Tyson’s outstretched hand and, and despite their couch being only a two seater, somehow managed to wriggle his way between Steph and Matt.
“Want some popcorn?” he asked, shoving the bucket of popped corn under Matt’s nose so suddenly he gave a start.
“No, thank you,” he said awkwardly. He was clearly unsure what to make of Daichi’s strange behaviour, but too polite to say anything.
Daichi shrugged, shovelling a handful in his mouth. “Suit yourself,” he said, earning a disgusted glare from Hilary as popcorn kernels spilled out onto the floor, where Freya considered them fair game.
“Daichi … “ she groaned, putting emphasis on the last syllable of his name the way she always did when the younger boy was being unintentionally rude.
“What?” he protested.
Hilary sighed, nudging her boyfriend with her foot. Tyson sighed, dragging his eyes away from the TV just long enough to roll his eyes at his teammate.
“Hey Daichi, ever heard of a thing called personal space?”
Daichi frowned, clearly oblivious. “But I want to sit here…” he said, his voice full of disappointment and Steph couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s fine, Daichi,” she said, stretching out her blanket so that it covered them both. “Let’s just watch the movie, okay?” Daichi nodded, relieved, and scooted closer, tucking a corner of the blanket around himself and settled in for the movie.
“Inside a snowflake, like the one on your sleeve…”
