It’s Taichi Yagami cosplaying as Spike Spiegel – for cyclone5000!
Eh, SURPRISE!! ---I'm your super, SUPER late secret santa back-up person. 8D; I could write down all the reasons why this is so late, but I'm not gonna bore you with that. Better late than never...! 8D;;
Anyway, I hope you like your husbando-hybrid. ^_^
Thank you all for participating in this year's Digimon Secret Santa! It's always fun to get together in such events. This year had way more members than the last, and while there were are few hiccups, overall everything went nicely!
Thank you once more everyone. We hope that your holidays were cheery and that you all have fun for the remainder of the year! Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
This is for baconator4ever, I was your Secret Santamon, dear. I wish I'd had more time to work on it and I'm not sure it's as good as I'd like but I hope you enjoy it all the same.
Contains: Tai, Yamato, and Sora, plus their Digimon pals, lots of blushing, ugly Christmas sweaters, two sock monkeys, and a bunch of dorks being absolutely adorable
Yamato was running, Sora and Biyomon stared at him with a puzzled expression. The tall, lanky boy looked out of breath as his legs carried him further and further. He was below Sora now, about to dart under the bridge and head the opposite direction. From atop her high ground, Sora called out, “Yamato!” and the blonde teen gasped in surprise, nearly tripping as he looked up and noticed his friend. “Sora?”
---
Sora smiled warmly and Piyomon ruffled her feathers beside her partner. Yamato gave a bleak half-grin and Sora noted his disheveled appearance. She also noted now, for the first time, that Yamato was holding a wrapped item at his side. The gift box looked ornate and was wrapped in orange. She stared at the box for a moment and Piyomon trilled, “Hello Yamato! You have a gift too?” The bird-like Digimon did a twirl and flapped her wings eagerly in front of Yamato’s face to show him another present.
The present Piyomon was holding was white with silvery snowflakes and on the front was a carefully drawn shape. The Crest of Courage. Yamato bit his lip and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. “You have a gift for Taichi-san too?” Not wanting to lie, Sora simply nodded. She snuggled into her scarf and Piyomon watched carefully the odd, ongoing exchange between the humans.
Sora offered an explanation simply, “We…Piyomon and I just finished delivering all of our presents to our other friends and Tai was our last stop,” she blushed at this last addition, not wanting to admit how special she wanted the gift to be.
Yamato nodded, “I still haven’t finished all my holiday shopping but I saw this gift for Taichi and I just had to show him as soon as possible. I was on my way toward his house but-“
Sora interrupted quickly, “Taichi isn’t home, I’ve already checked. His mother and Hikari told Piyomon and I that he might be at the park. Apparently he wanted to practice soccer despite the snow?”
Yamato sighed, “That sure does sound like Tai.” He paused and then smiled placidly, “Let’s look for him together?” Sora nodded. “Where is Gabumon by the way?” Yamato frowned, “He’s at home, a bit sick. I warned him he would get a cold from playing outside but he didn’t listen. He thinks that fur coat of his makes him invincible or something.” Talking about Gabumon brought a smile to Yamato’s face, a genuine smile which lit up his entire face.
Sora’s own pink bird Digimon frowned and looked dejected, “How awful that he couldn’t be with us. Let’s go bring him some soup later, Sora!”
Sora nodded, “Good idea, Piyomon!”
---
Sora and Yamato were unable to find Taichi at the park. They doubled back and brought a sniffling Gabumon with them, who was currently sniffing (amid sneezing and wiping his cold nose) to seek out Agumon and Taichi. As soon as he caught a scent, they were off. Sora and Yamato and their Digimon friends ran all the way to a mall. A small orange dinosaur and a certain fluffy-haired teenage boy were quickly spotted across the way. Taichi carried an assortment of plastic shopping bags in his arms and Agumon was holding a shiny box and talking animatedly.
“Tai!”
“Tai!”
Sora and Yamato yelled at once and then turned to each other with a smile. Gabumon sneezed and looked bemused, Piyomon rubbed his back to make him feel better and shushed the furry Digimon. Tai looked up and a smile flashed in the direction of his friends. Agumon looked happy too. Tai waved maniacally, looking completely silly with his goofy grin to complete the look. The teenage boy approached and as he did it became apparent that he and his Digimon partner were both wearing oversized ugly Christmas sweaters. Tai’s was white and covered in gingerbread man designs and Agumon’s was yellow and decorated with Rudolph and lots of bows and knitted patterns. They looked ridiculous.
Sora hugged Tai first and then Yamato followed suit. “It’s good to see you again, guys. I’ve been really busy since vacation started but I’ve been thinking of you both a lot.” Sora blushed and Yamato hid his face from Tai and Sora. Gabumon gave him a strange look and then began another fit of sneezing.
Tai noticed Sora and Yamato were both holding gifts with them. “Well, did you get me presents?” he laughed. Sora and Yamato nodded furiously at the same time. They looked almost robotic. Agumon smiled and pointed with a large, clawed hand toward Tai’s bags, “We got you both presents too!”
Taichi held up his arms and shrugged with another goofy grin, “But they’re not wrapped so you’ll have to close your eyes.” He reached into his bags quickly and began to rifle through items as Agumon patrolled to be sure that all four, the humans and Digimon, truly were not peeking to ruin their surprise. Tai placed items into the outstretched hands belonging to Yamato, Sora, Piyomon, and Gabumon and then smiled. Agumon nodded and the small orange dinosaur called out:
“Okay, open your eyes everybody!”
At once, Yamato and Sora blinked their eyes open and their Digimon friends followed suit. Looking down to the warm, fuzzy mystery gifts in their arms made it clear that Tai had bought them each their own….ugly Christmas sweaters. One by one, the group slipped them over their heads and admired the designs upside down and on one another. Sora’s was filled with hearts and snowflakes. Yamato’s sweater was dark blue and covered with snowmen. Gabumon and Piyomon had small sweaters with with their respective crests on them, which must have been custom-made. Piyomon’s was bright green and the Crest of Love motif was patterned everywhere whereas Gabumon’s had the Crest of Friendship on the center and then in a chain lining the collar and cuffs and the rest was purple.
Taichi smiled at the sweaters on the group and added, “I do love ugly Christmas sweaters,” which was met with a chorus of acknowledgement as he snapped a quick picture of the smiling group with his camera. Now it was time for Taichi to open his gifts.
He smiled at the ornate packaging of Yamato’s and Sora’s gifts. Closing his eyes and selecting one at random, he grabbed first for Yamato’s gift. Tearing off the orange giftwrap, he found a plain white box. Tai held his breath as he carefully peeled open the top of the box and found a tiny object inside. It was a sock monkey. Taichi smiled at the adorable stuffed animal creature, it was decorated for the holidays in a Christmas sweater of its own.
Sora blinked and Tai smiled, “I haven’t forgotten you, you know, Sora!” he declared as he grabbed her gift, admiring the hand-drawn crest of the front and tore it open quickly to reveal a black box. He peeled the tape at the top away and eagerly lifted the lid to find…another sock monkey! He grinned excitedly, pulling out the stuffed animal from its container and admiring it. This sock monkey had a pair of reindeer antlers and a shiny red nose and was red and green.
The three friends looked at one another and Yamato and Sora laughed as Tai smiled brightly. Agumon hugged Piyomon and a still sneezing Gabumon and Tai embraced Yamato and Sora at the same time.
And then the six dorks wished each other a Happy Christmas and walked back to Taichi’s house to drink hot cocoa by the fire and cuddle in their new sweaters, joyful as ever and grateful for the magic of the holidays and the magic of their friendship.
AN: This is blatantly an American transplant because I didn’t feel like doing research. For wouldyoulikeasideofblogwiththat.
The boy is long-legged and lean, slouching across his chair. Izzy is used to meeting slouchers in his tutoring sessions, but at least this looks like an affable kind of slouch. Usually, they scowl and mutter how they don't want to be there, all while staring at the posters on the wall instead of at least pretending to look at their textbooks. It's okay if they don't look at Izzy. He's used to that.
This boy, though, perks up the second Izzy walks in, taking his feet off the table and standing up to reach across for Izzy's hand. "Hey! My name's Tai." Izzy shakes, automatically. The boy's hands are warm and broad and chapped from time outside. Izzy banishes the question that immediately pops up—when was the last time anyone touched me—in favor of sitting down.
"Izzy. I'm working with you today." He keeps his voice neutral as he opens Tai's file. "Just need you to fill out the top of this form since it's your first time, and then we can get started." The line comes automatically, which is good because he's disconcerted by the way Tai stares at him. Is his fly unzipped? Is his hair messier than usual? Does he have spinach in his teeth?
But Tai is smiling warmly, not smirking or holding back a laugh. Maybe everything is okay...? Maybe he's just kind of dumb.
Tai takes the folder and the pencil Izzy slides across to him. He puts down his name and pauses. "You know, I feel like I've seen you before."
And then it clicks. "You're Kari's older brother," Izzy says, before he can stop himself.
Tai's eyes light up, and he flops back in his chair. "Oh, yeah! You're that kid who fixed her camera one time. I remember now. Your hair was shorter."
Izzy touches his head uncomfortably. He knows he needs a haircut. He's just not really eager to return home after what he learned on his last trip. He still hasn't figured out how to talk to his parents about it. He clears his throat. "So, uh, before we can get started, I really need you to fill that out."
Tai looks down at the form. “Oh. Yeah. Tutoring. Right.”
It’s easier when they get into Tai’s problems—he needs to pass this chemistry class so he can keep his soccer scholarship and so on, the same story Izzy has heard a thousand times.
Except—
“So why are you taking this chem class, anyway?” Izzy asks, pausing to inspect the diagram he’s drawing on the whiteboard.
Tai looks up from the little monkey he’s making out of a notebook page. Izzy would have told him to stop it, but it seems that he just needs something to do with his hands, since his concentration hasn’t wavered. Or, at least, he answers all of Izzy’s questions. “Uh. ‘Cause I could take it, I guess?”
Izzy glances down at Tai’s form. The major space is blank. “You’re undeclared?”
Tai shrugs. “I figure I’ll do a lot of everything, see what sticks. You know what I mean?”
Izzy has no idea what he means. Computers and science and computer science has been his life since he was old enough to hold a microchip. But he shrugs. It’s not his problem.
“And let me guess,” Tai says, putting the finishing touches on his monkey. “You know exactly what you are doing and where you are going.” There’s no judgment in his voice; it’s a statement of fact.
Izzy does, in fact. “Grad school,” he says, shrugging. “That’s just how it is.”
Tai makes a pleased noise. “I’ll get there someday. Just gotta figure out what path to take first.” He pushes the monkey toward Izzy.
When their hour’s up, Izzy packs up his things. He glances at the origami monkey. After a moment, he tucks it in his bag.
It’s not like his other sessions. Izzy can’t fall back on standard questions—did you bring the assignment sheet, where do you think you went wrong, what does the textbook say.
Tai is easily distracted, always wanting to show Izzy homework from another class or Snapchats from his sister. And he’s always asking Izzy about himself.
“I went and got noodles the other day at that new place downtown—you ever been? We should go.”
Or, “I heard there’s a secret tunnel that connects the library to the student union. Me and Matt Ishida are gonna go check it out this weekend—wanna come? We could use somebody to hold the flashlight.”
Even, “Matt’s band is playing this awesome concert on Friday, and I’ve got backstage tickets because I’m awesome. Okay, it’s because I punched Matt until he gave me some, but whatever. Got an extra I need to get rid of, you know.”
Izzy never takes the chance of showing interest. He knows Tai isn’t serious—or if he is, it’s not the kind of serious Izzy thinks of when he catches himself staring at Tai’s floppy hair or the way he grins when he gets a text from one of his million friends. Izzy doesn’t want to be one of those million friends, and it’s stupid, and he should just stop that right now. So he keeps his mouth shut, making excuses about homework or a seminar, things Tai accepts with a nod.
He’s just doing it to be nice. Izzy doesn’t want just nice, so he should be quiet about it.
Tai does improve—it never seems like he’s listening, but when Izzy sets him a problem, he starts getting it right. It’s a good feeling.
“I knew this stuff was a walk in the park,” Tai says, putting his hands behind his head. Izzy has long since stopped trying to keep him from propping his feet on the table. “I just needed a good tour guide, that’s all.”
Izzy thinks he might be blushing, and that is stupid.
Tai ruffles his already incredibly messy hair. “You know, my sister and my family are coming up to visit me pretty soon. You should come have dinner with us or something.”
Izzy looks at him blankly. “With your family?”
“Yeah! I told Kari you were my tutor, and she wouldn’t shut up about how you guys used to be in computer club together and stuff. Remember that?”
Izzy shrugs, uncomfortably. He does remember it, but he doesn’t feel like admitting it. Tai always talks about what Kari’s up to—she’s popular now, successful. Izzy is still the same nerd who blushed whenever she smiled at him. It took him a week to get up the courage to ask her if he could fix her camera. “Well, yeah, but—”
“Come on, she’d love to see you! And my mom’d love to see the guy who’s keeping me from tanking my GPA and stuff.” He grins at Izzy sideways. “It’ll be fun.”
Maybe it’s just because he can pretend to see Kari. Maybe it’s just because it’s getting harder and harder to say no to that stupid sideways smile. He clears his throat. “Uh—”
“My parents’ll pay,” Tai says slyly. “They’re always bugging me to bring a friend.”
Izzy blinks. He swallows.
Nope. Can’t do it. His willpower is gone. “Who am I to pass up free food?” His voice squeaks a little, but Tai just throws his head back and laughs.
Izzy is screwed. He resists the urge to set his head down on the table, opting instead to ask Tai about next week’s reading.
Izzy fusses about what to wear—his instinct is casual clothes, because Tai dresses like a slob and he doesn’t want Tai to think this is anything important, because it’s not, but at the same time, he’s meeting Tai’s family, and… and he wants to look good, because Tai looks good like it’s nothing, and…
In the end he wears a nicer t-shirt and jeans, but he puts on a tie, too, the one patterned with tiny beetles. It has to be good enough.
They go out for sushi. As Tai promised, his family welcomes Izzy: Tai’s parents ask him questions about tutoring and his major and the robots he builds, because apparently Tai sent them a video of one of Izzy’s competitions—and when did he even tell Tai about that? He doesn’t remember.
Kari is exactly like Izzy remembers: quietly perfect, with a smile so sweet you might miss the wicked twist at the corner. She does, in fact, remember computer club, and she still uses the camera he fixed. It is mostly full of pictures of her cat, interspersed with her boyfriend.
Izzy feels bad, but he’s barely paying attention to her. It’s not even Tai that’s distracting him. It’s—
Tai’s parents bicker throughout the entire meal, but they also trade bites of every dish and argue about who’s the better cook.
Tai blushes and yelps when his mother shows Izzy a baby picture she has on her phone, but he also brought flowers for his mother and a tie clip for his dad and a little stuffed kitten on a keychain for his sister.
Kari calls her brother a gogglehead and teases him about some girl he used to chase around the soccer field, but she also hangs off his chair and tries to comb his hair into some semblance of order.
It just… Izzy’s life used to be like that. His mom used to complain about the state of his hair and take a comb out of her purse and make it lie flat. And his dad used to sit with him and make Izzy walk him through the code of his robots, even though he barely understood how to wire a motherboard.
They still do those things. But now when his mother plays with his hair, Izzy can only think that he didn’t get the auburn in it from her. Now when his father tries to put something together, Izzy understands that his technical genius wasn’t a fluke—it came from someone else’s genes entirely.
And—
“I’m gonna step out for a minute,” Izzy says to no one in particular, because no one is listening—they’re currently arguing over some old family photo, trying to decide whose expression looks the worst.
Nobody notices, and that’s good. They’ll just think he went to the bathroom.
Really, he steps out to the balcony, gripping the wood tightly in hopes it will ground him.
Well, this was great. Come out here because he has a stupid crush and end up almost crying because he can’t tell his parents he knows he’s adopted. Because everything’s changed and he doesn’t feel like he has a single person to tell. Because—
“Hey, are you okay?”
He freezes at Tai’s voice, and he really should say _yes, everything’s fine, the wind is just cold on my face, _but…
He blinks a few times, trying to get the words out, and then Tai’s hand comes down on his shoulder, broad and warm, and Izzy has to press the crook of his arm against his eyes to hide his tears. “Was the sushi that gross? Oh, man, I gotta never bring you home, then. Mom’s cooking’ll kill you. Tofu. Tofu everywhere.” His voice is light, but his hand is rubbing soothing circles against Izzy’s shoulder.
Izzy shakes his head. “Not the sushi,” he mumbles, even though that’s the least important part of Tai’s rambling.
“You wanna talk about it?” Tai’s voice is quiet, empty of his usual joking tone.
Izzy takes his arm down and turns away, fully intending to demur, but what comes out is instead, “I’m adopted.”
“Uh—”
The words don’t stop. “I’m adopted, and my parents never told me. I found out ‘cause I heard them talking about it when I went home for Christmas, and now I don’t know how to talk to them because—” He breaks off, pressing one hand to his face.
“You’ll figure it out.” In Tai’s voice is perfect confidence.
Izzy rubs at his eyes and says nothing; he can pick apart where Tai went wrong in his homework, but he feels so helpless and lost whenever he thinks of his parents that he can’t even say it out loud.
Tai puts a hand on his shoulder again, turning Izzy to face him. He puts his other hand under Izzy’s chin and tilts it up. “No, really, you will. You figure everything out in the end. And they’re still your parents. They gotta know how lucky they are that they got someone like you for a kid. It doesn’t change anything about who you are—and even if it did, you’re still pretty great.”
Izzy blinks. Honestly, the way Tai’s looking at him kind of makes him feel like crying more, but he’s not that much of a baby. He scrubs at his eyes with his arm. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “I dunno why that happened.”
Tai shrugs. “It’s ‘cause you’re alone a lot, that’s all. Why do you think I keep asking if you wanna hang out?” He pauses, and then he ruffles Izzy’s hair, laughing. “That and you’re really cute, but you know. Priorities.”
Izzy stares at him. “But you—”
Tai grins. “There’s a reason I wanted you to meet my parents, and it’s not ‘cause I need somebody to drink my mom’s milkshakes. You wanna go back inside?”
Izzy rubs a hand over his face and swallows. Tai is still smiling, although it’s softer than usual. “Uh. Yeah. Yeah, okay.”
Tai puts his hand on the small of Izzy’s back as they walk inside. It’s good.
Wow. Perfect day for technical difficulties! So apart from Losing some progress and precious time when Sai decides to crash during the night, Tumblr is also being really finicky. On top of a slow internet it made me very antsy getting this thing done and sent on time. Also I seemed to have lost my PM about the secret santa so that was fun.
So this is my drawing of Koushiro and Taichi I did for justlikeswitchblades
Special thanks to crestoffierycourage for the suggestion.
Hey @kamiuchi or @Shi-no-unmei (OKAY FOR SOME REASON IT WONT LET ME tag you :<, ill send you an ask to tell you)
I wrote some vignettes into the summer before Adventure Tri that highlight Mimi and Koushiro's blossoming relationship, now that she's back from America :) Hope you enjoy!
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Local time is 11:30 A.M. Please remain seated until the airplane comes to a complete stop. Thank you for flying All Nippon Airways."
The ten hour flight from Los Angeles had finally come to an end. As she looked out the window, the brunette’s mind swirled with thoughts. Between her outfit choice, her jet lag, and her old DigiDestined team.
She swore that the butterflies in her stomach were in some sort of frenzy.
“It seems as if Mimi’s flight has landed, well at least, that’s what the flight time sign says,” the red headed know-it-all said.
“I can’t believe she’s really here!”
“It’s been so long since we last saw her.”
“What kind of hairstyle does she have now…”
“Something crazy I bet,”
Everyone had something to say about Mimi’s long awaited return to Japan.
Tai, Matt, Sora, Joe, Kari, T.K., and Izzy anxiously moved from window to window, looking for any sign of pink-hair, stars, or other outrageous fashion choice.
“Oh my god… I can’t believe you all came!” Mimi said, as she ran to the group. She hugged the closest group member - Izzy. Spinning the pair around with her momentum.
“Mimi! We barely recognized you! You’re dressed so… so..” Tai said, desperately trying to find a word he’s never used to describe Mimi’s clothing style.
“Well come on, spit it out,” Mimi said, hugging the rest of the group one by one.
“Normal.” Izzy said, paying attention to her natural hair color, without any strange glitter or adornments. And her plain pink shirt and jeans.
——————————————————————-
“You might need to slow down a bit,” Izzy commented. Mimi had eaten two riceballs, both under a minute.
“It’s just been so long… Too long, if you ask me,” Mimi replied.
“Are you excited to go back to school in Japan, Mimi?” T.K. asked.
“Of course, It’s nice to be back here, there’s so many memories, but I’m going to miss America, I had to leave lots of friends behind.” Mimi said, her smile becoming a frown.
Izzy was determined to make Mimi as happy as possible. He was glad that his childhood crush was back. Prettier than ever too.
———————————————————————
“That’s when I said ‘Chocolate milk and I don’t go well together!” Mimi cracked a joke. Followed by the laughter of herself, Sora, and Kari.
“Oh Mimi… America sounds so fun,” Sora said. Kari nodded her head.
The trio were out shopping, they were looking for clothes to wear to an upcoming DigiDestined party. Kari and Sora found what they were going to wear, Mimi hadn’t yet.
“Hey.. is that Izzy over there in that Candy Shop?” Kari asked.
“It is!” Sora said. “We should go say Hi to him,” Mimi added.
At that moment, Sora received a text message. ‘Outside by parking lot. -Mom’.
“Aww, Sorry Mimi, I got to go now, come on Kari, I’ll give you a ride home. See ya Mimi!” Sora said.
“Bye!” Kari said.
“I’ll see you both soon, love ya!” Mimi smiled at them as they left.
‘I guess I’ll go hang out with Izzy for a bit’ Mimi thought. She walked towards the Candy shop, and greeted Izzy as she saw him paying for a couple of bags of candy.
“Oh.. H-hey!” Izzy said nervously.
“What’s wrong?” Mimi asked.
“Nothing… I just wanted to surprise you.. I bought some of your favorite candy, I knew you hadn’t eaten them in a long time, so I wanted to make sure you got to.” Izzy said.
Mimi blushed, “O-oh thanks! It means a lot. I was looking for some new clothes to wear to the party.”
“Honestly, Mimi you’d look good in anything,” Izzy said, starting to blush, he regretted it.
Mimi paused for a second.
“Thank you.”
——————————————————————-
One bag was finished, then another, then another one after that. Soon, all the candy was gone.
“I think I ate too much candy…” Mimi said.
“I bought too much… Sorry” Izzy replied.
“You don’t have to apologize, the candy was awesome,” Mimi said, smiling at Izzy, she sat up.
As they were eating the candy, they talked about their lives since they saved the Digital World and Real world back in 7th grade. Although, Mimi thought, it was the new DigiDestined that did most of the work. They reminisced about Myotismon, how Izzy used some software to protect his house, and Mimi defeated DarkTyrannomon when Togemon digivolved to Lillymon. When there was nothing left else to say Mimi asked Izzy to teach her some cool computer tricks.
“Well, they aren’t really tricks, it’s more of a complex system of codes that create all the ‘cool tricks’ you’re refering to,” Izzy told her.
“Code? What are those?” Mimi asked.
“Here I’ll show you.” Izzy said, smiling. Mimi liked when Izzy went all nerdy on her, she saw how happy he was, and that made her happy.
After a couple lessons, Izzy asked Mimi to try coding, input after input, she failed.
Izzy decided to get a drink of water while Mimi tried in vain to accomplish an easy code.
But, Mimi wanted to prove to Izzy that she cared about what he did. She was determined to know code.
“Aha!” A shout came from Izzy’s room, he rushed in and on the screen a moving graphic appeared, Mimi had coded a pixel dog to move left.
Izzy smiled as Mimi celebrated her small victory, she truly did care about him.
Hi nesichahvictoria, I was your Secret Santa! The first one is a silly pic for your wish to see Mimi doing halloween shopping for the others, while the second is her saving the day~ I'm sorry it's not digital but I couldn't do it otherwise since I didn't have the items to do that ;;"
If you open them in a new window you can see them full size! (actually it seems that I can't upload anywhere the full size of the second one that it's really HUGE... .-.)
I hope you're having a great Christmas holiday! x3
It's time to post the gift for my Secret Santamon giftee, bobacchi! Have a very merry Christmas, a happy new year and an awesome holiday season in general! Heard you like some Daisuke and Takeru, so here they are bonding over Takeru's fashionable headgear choices.
