The New Year was literally upon the Digi-Destined. After stopping the latest threat to the Digital World, they were prepared to go to a New Year event—with no snow falling.
"Why won't it freaking snow!?" yelled Yolei, throwing her hands in the air as she and her fellow Digi-Destined walked out of the school.
"Maybe because it's already cold without us having to walk through a mass of physical cold?" Davis answered. Kari looked at the brunette.
"That made absolutely no sense, Davis."
"Then we'll make it hypothetical."
"Since when," came a female voice that made them all stop in their tracks, "was Davis capable of a hypothetical thought?"
The group turned and Kari let out an excited scream. "Tasha! Angi!"
The two grinning American girls stood there—Angi, twirling a strand of her short hair and Tasha bouncing in place. Yolei and Kari practically accosted the two girls in a tangle of an all female group hug.
"I can't believe you're here!" Kari exclaimed excitedly.
"How'd you guys get here?" Yolei asked.
"Uh, by plane?" Angi responded with a slight hint of her rarely used gentle sarcasm.
"How else would we get here, by boat?" laughed Tasha.
"So what are we, chop liver?!" Davis yelled with flailing arms.
"Goggles Jr.! How really corking to see you, old boy!" Angi sang with a mocking salute. "Speaking of which, where's Goggles Sr.? I'd figured you guys would be supervised."
"We're capable of handling the threats of the Digital World without supervision," T.K. said with a laugh.
"I'd never have guessed," Tasha teased with a smirk. "Does this mean you're not happy to see us?"
"We didn't say that," Cody said, looking alarmed.
"She's joking, Cody. It's what we do, after all!" Angi replied.
"Where are you two staying?" asked T.K.
"A hotel not too far from here," Tasha answered.
"You shouldn't be staying at a hotel! What if someone shady tried to kidnap you?!" Yolei demanded.
"There are a few things to counter that: pepper spray, a good kick in the ballocks, a jab to the throat, et cetera," Angi replied calmly, counting with her fingers.
"The point is you're going to stay with me! That way we can hang out without you paying for your stay!"
"We are not going to be paying rent for the two weeks."
"I never said you had to."
"Just letting you know right now, Yolei."
"So you guys are gonna be going to the New Year's thing with us?" asked Cody.
"Y'mean a whole soiree with fireworks and the grapes?" Tasha asked, tilting her head.
"What grapes?" asked Davis.
"What grapes?!" Angi looked as though she were mortally offended. "The twelve grapes to make wishes on, of course! We do them all the time!"
"You make a wish on them, one for each month!" Tasha added enthusiastically.
"What do you guys wish for?" Kari asked.
"Like we'd spill," laughed Angi. "The wish won't come true if we tell, Kari; you know that!"
"Well, I know that first Digi-Destined will be glad to see you two!" Yolei said, laughing.
"Does this mean I can pick on Izzy by ruffling his hair?" Angi asked hopefully.
"That's mean, Ang!"
"It's not unless I hurt his feelings."
"…Your logic amazes me."
"Don't be silly. It's natural law, not logic. Now, can one of you get your mentors out of their houses so we can be all awesome and surprise them too?"
~~~~~20 Minutes Later~~~~~~
"Okay, guys. Why'd you call us out here in the cold?" asked Tai as the first and second Digi-Destined were gathered in the park.
"Oh, nothing. Just have people you guys would wanna meet," Davis answered.
"Who?" asked Sora.
"Oh me, did you forget about us already?" Angi and Tasha stepped from within the circle of the second Digi-Destined.
Tai, Matt, Sora, and Izzy looked completely shocked.
"W-When...? W-Why…?" Izzy stammered.
"Well, we came to say hello, y'know?" Tasha said, smiling as Angi went forward and started ruffling Izzy's hair.
"What are you doing?" asked the computer genius.
"I'm ruffling your hair. Duh," Angi answered.
"So no hello to us, then?" Tai asked with mock anger.
"Why I'd never forget my most favorite person to pester, dahling!" Angi exclaimed like a theatrical diva, walking over to snap Tai's goggles against his forehead.
"Ow!" Tai glared. "That's the only reason you'd come to say hi to me?"
"Silly Goggles. It's the only way I'd say hi to you."
"Are you guys going to be at it again?" Tasha asked, crossing her arms.
"Tasha~" Angi whined, going to her young friend and throwing her arms around her. "You know that I only show my affectionship depending on whomever I set my sights upon!"
"Or you just snap Tai's goggles and that's the end of your day," Matt said.
"Matt, m'dear, you are absolutely right on that account!" Angi grinned, raising her fingers to make the peace sign.
"You two just can't be serious about something for two seconds, huh?" laughed Sora, hooking her arm around Matt's.
Tasha sent a fleeting glare at the girl before smiling. "Unless you count the time me and Ang found you guys in the computer lab."
"That was fucking hilarious," Angi stated diplomatically.
"How was that funny?" asked Kari, looking at the older girl.
"You guys were a tangle of limbs and you had your Digimon with you. Not to mention you guys tried to make us believe that they were stuffed animals and we didn't just see you fall out of a computer monitor," she answered blithely. "While on the subject, Goggles Jr., I'm gonna stop at your place so I can see my favorite babymon."
"Did you just make that word up?" T.K asked.
"T.K., she makes up words just like she makes up nicknames. Each more weird or hilarious than the previous," Tai explained.
"Eat me, Kamiya." Angi flipped him the bird.
"That's not nice," Cody told her.
"Cody, it's how I show my affections."
"It's still mean."
"You are so lucky you're so cute and little, like my baby brother."
"Like that would make a difference," smirked Tasha.
"Where are you two staying anyway?" asked Matt.
"With me," Yolei answered.
"What she said," Angi and Tasha chorused.
"That means you guys are coming with us to the New Year's event, right?" asked Izzy.
"Izzy, we wouldn't be standing here in the bitter cold like a couple of foreign people if we weren't," Angi answered.
"…But you are foreign," Tai said.
"Kamiya, if it weren't for your sister, I'd end you."
"Well, we need to go and get you two proper New Year's outfits!" Yolei told the two Americans.
"And what would be wrong with what we brought with us?" asked Tasha.
"They'd most likely be something we've already seen you wear."
"You haven't seen our closets in America, Yolei!"
"Although she does have a valid point," Angi added with a thoughtful expression.
"We'll come too," Kari said, gesturing between herself and Sora. "We'll make it a girls' day!"
"Y'mean late afternoon?" Davis pointed out.
"Whatever!" Yolei responded. "Let's go while the stores are still open!"
"Do we have to do it now?" Angi asked, wilting slightly.
"Yes!"
"Oh gods that may be, please strike me dead on the spot."
Silence hung in the air.
"Wish denied," Matt said.
"Fuck you too, Ishida!"
~~~~~~~A While Later~~~~~~~~~
"How about this one?" Yolei pulled a blue sequined ensemble for one of the two American girls to survey.
"What, we going to a strip poker party?" asked Tasha.
"What makes you say that?" asked Sora.
"Holy creepers on eight legs, Sora, we've never seen so many sequins on one freaking dress!" answered Angi with an exuberant gesture to the garment in Yolei's hand.
"Oh, it's not that bad," Kari said.
"Kari, when you get my age, you'll understand what I mean."
"You're only a year older than Sora."
"That is irrevocably, unbelievably irrelevant."
"How is that irrelevant?"
"Let it go, Kari," sighed Tasha. "We aren't getting that. Besides, it'd be too cold for that thing anyway."
"You could at least say that in the beginning," Sora chided.
"But then that'd be no fun." Angi wandered nearby to a rack full of jeans.
"Don't you have a freaking million pair of jeans?" asked Yolei.
"That's the beauty of not being a skirt-type; you need not the need to expose your legs for the world," Angi said, glancing back.
"You just make no sense, do you?" Kari laughed.
"Making sense is for nertz."
"For what?"
"Oh gods, we need to educate you."
"Can the teaching wait until shopping's done?" Sora asked.
"Maybe," Tasha answered lazily.
"—When we feel like it," Angi added. "In the meantime, I plan on getting a dragon tattoo."
"…Why?" asked Yolei.
"Cuz this bitch loves dragons," Tasha said, nodding toward Angi.
"You bet your college fund I do," Angi said with a laugh.
~~~Later~~~
"That was fun!" Yolei gushed as the girls left the stores, bags in hand, as they walked down the street.
"That was the most I had to spend in one day," Tasha said, running a hand through her hair.
Angi snorted. "We may as well spend money on New Year knickknacks, my dear. Clothes is a whole 'nother story."
"How so?" asked Kari, raising an eyebrow curiously.
"Clothes are expensive unlike knickknacks."
"But what if the clothes are designer?"
"Then the clothes would be more expensive than the knickknacks. Why? Did we just buy designer clothes without being told?"
"No, nothing like that!"
"Oh-tay," Tasha laughed. "So where are we gonna meet up anyway for that soiree?"
"In the park!" Yolei grinned happily. "It's gonna be so much fun! And also maybe you two can…you know!"
"What?" Angi appraised Yolei with a critical look.
"You know. How you like-"
Kari slapped a hand over Yolei's mouth. "Not to be talked about right now!"
"Yeah, not for right now," agreed Tasha, planting a hand on her hip.
"Where are we going now?" Angi asked, ruffling her short curls.
"Well, you said you wanted to see Demiveemon at Davis's," Yolei reminded her.
"Oh yeah!" Angi grinned mischievously. "Let's go now!"
"Plan on snapping Davis's goggles too?" laughed Sora.
"Only if Tai isn't there!" Tasha teased.
"Tasha!" Angi whined, flailing her arms while her friend laughed maniacally as the female Digi-Destined looked on at their antics.
~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile with the guys~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's cool, isn't it? That they came to hang out with us during New Year?" T.K asked.
"I think it'd be almost enjoyable if they stopped teasing us," Izzy answered somewhat crossly.
"The girls are happy, obviously," Cody assessed. "I mean, they did drag them off to do whatever it is girls do."
"I don't think Tasha or Angi even see themselves as girls," Tai said. "I mean, don't you remember when they wailed on us for thinking they were girly?"
"They wailed on you for that, Tai," said Matt.
"Oh yeah…" Tai mused thoughtfully.
"I think you just like their abuse, Tai," Davis told the older Digi-Destined. "Especially from Angi."
"No I don't!" Tai retorted, looking slightly flustered.
"Yeah, you do. Remember when we went over there for Thanksgiving? She mauled you over a pie." Matt smirked as Tai scrunched his face at the memory of the impressive aforementioned mauling.
"Ugh, that was bad. I didn't even know she was that strong."
"We did," chorused T.K, Davis, and Cody.
"How did you two know?" asked Izzy, bemused.
"She wanted pie after walking past a café when we showed them around the year they boarded here and she beat me to a pulp for trying to pull her away," Davis admitted, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"She apologized afterward," T.K reminded him.
"She still has a helluva swing!"
"That should be kept in mind in case you make a move on Kari in her presence."
"Why?" asked Tai.
"Tasha said that Angi "adopted" Kari as her sister and she wasn't gonna share," Matt answered. "And we all know what happens when she doesn't wanna share."
"I'm sure it's just because they're eccentric," said Izzy. "They're not exactly the most serious duo we've met."
"So anyway, when are you two gonna tell them?" asked T.K.
"What are you talking about?" Matt shot at his younger brother.
"Don't be stupid! We know that you two are more friendly toward them than even the girls!" Davis exclaimed. "You two like them!"
"Davis, if you don't stop with that, I'll throttle you," Tai warned.
"And need I even mention that I'm dating Sora?" Matt added.
"C'mon, Matt, even I don't see you act with Sora like you do around Tasha!" T.K said.
"If that's the case, why don't you two just tell them?" asked Izzy, not opting to say that even he knew that his friends were a little too fond of their American friends. "They're only here until the day after New Year. That doesn't leave you with much time."
"You're just trying to shove us together, huh?" Tai grumbled.
"No. You're just obvious," Cody said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~With the girls~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Sora and Kari bid them adieu, Angi, Tasha, and Yolei lounged around in Yolei's room.
"Are you sure it's all right for us to just drop in on you and your folks?" asked Tasha, sitting cross-legged on Yolei's bed next to Angi, who was laying on her stomach.
"Oh, yeah. They don't mind it; they like you two!" Yolei answered with a grin.
"Yeah, well, they haven't seen us in public," Angi said with a wave of her hand.
"Talking about the thing with the café when you two first got here?"
"Oh dear gods, our Japanese was horrible! If it weren't for you and your clique, we'd be bones in an alleyway!"
"No we wouldn't!" Tasha said, shoving Angi's shoulders. "We'd have managed!"
"Tasha, we were two delicate blooms on our own in Japan," Angi said in her dignified voice. "Our asses would have been grass eventually because we are just bad at speaking and reading Japanese."
"I'd have to agree with her on this one," Yolei said. "Your Japanese was pretty awful."
"See?" Angi smirked.
"We learned though!" Tasha retorted, brushing a lock of her hair from her face.
"Yeah, after we saw the Digi-Destined falling out of a computer screen!" Angi laughed.
"Gosh, you two were just standing there staring like we were a bunch of weirdoes!" Yolei mused, grinning widely.
"At that moment, you were a bunch of a weirdoes! The weirdest weirdoes I've ever had the pleasure of meeting!" Tasha exclaimed.
"Speaking of, we thought everyone who knew about Digimon were on hallucinogens after the Diaboromon incident," Angi said, pressing her index finger to her cheek.
"You guys didn't see the whole thing on a computer?" Yolei asked.
"Yolei, our computers were slow as shit. And plus, we didn't have our computer classes that day so everyone who did have the class that day was treated like they were snorting glue like it was a sacrament or something!" Angi answered with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Sad, but true," Tasha added woefully.
"Well, Tai and Matt and Omnimon took care of Diaboromon with ten seconds on the clock!" Yolei said happily like if it were a ballgame she were describing.
"Esa mierda debe haber sido una locura," Angi murmured in Spanish.
"What?" Yolei raised an eyebrow.
"She said go on," Tasha said, knowing full well what her older friend said but wasn't going to spend all night translating.
"Anyway, Diaboromon was part Digimon, part virus so he was eating the world out of internet. The original Digi-Destined put a stop to it and destroyed him," Yolei explained.
"Izzy mentioned before that Diaboromon was looking for someone?" asked Tasha.
"Yeah, he was looking for Willis, the American Digi-Destined."
"Willis? Is that our Willis?" Tasha looked at Angi.
"Blonde hair, a smartass, who carries that little green guy with the ears sometimes?" Angi asked, counting on her fingers the qualities Willis possessed.
"Yeah!" Yolei answered.
"Then yep, that's our Willis."
"So you know him and Terriermon."
"Swear on my life, we didn't know it was a Digimon, but it was hella cute!"
The three laughed.
"Anyway, so…when are you two going to talk to Matt and Tai?" asked Yolei.
"I have no idea what you are implying, Yolei," Angi answered with an air of denial.
"Oh come off it! I know that you"—She pointed to Tasha—"like Matt and you"—She pointed to Angi—"like Tai."
"Were we that obvious?" asked Tasha.
"Not really," answered Yolei. "I mean, Matt and Tai made it obvious because they were always with you two and then they went to visit you on Thanksgiving and Christmas."
"It was also because of their pendants, right? The ones we had custom-made?" asked Tasha.
"Yeah. They were really nicely done too!"
"They better have been or we wouldn't have paid for them!"
"So what, you recommend that we tell them?" Angi asked.
"Well, from what I've seen, the holidays are more like couple-y type of things," answered Yolei slowly. "I mean, girls confess to the guys or something."
"Ugh, couple-y things?" Angi crinkled her nose. "We're too hardcore for that type of stuff, Yolei. We don't expect any couple-y type of shit. We're the tomboyish types, not the romance-fluffy novel types."
"So you wouldn't like it if they were to, I don't know, get you two flowers or something?" Yolei asked.
"When we get flowers, they die at the end of the day. We just don't care about stuff like that," Tasha answered with a shrug. "I mean, why would we?"
"Maybe because most girls would be a-squeal to get flowers from their love interest?"
"Well, it will send us a-rolling our eyes." Angi rolled her eyes in demonstration.
"We don't a-squeal anything unless of course Ang got to snap Tai's goggles like a maniac," grinned Tasha.
"Eat me," retorted Angi flatly.
"So are you gonna tell them or not?" Yolei asked. She would not give up until she got a satisfactory response from the two.
"Why would we? I know Tai's still hung-up on Sora and possibly has a posse full of gussied girls after his ass," Angi said.
"And ironically, Matt's dating Sora, much to my displeasure," Tasha muttered.
"Gods, our lives are just ironic to a fault, isn't it?" Angi sighed, rolling on her back.
"But if you two had the chance, would you?"
"What is this, a Disney movie?"
"That doesn't answer the question."
"Probably not, then. They live here, we live in America. It'd never work."
"How do you know?"
"Yolei, trust me, it won't last."
"But how do you know?"
"Because we can go into debt in long-distance relationships. Now cram it."
Yolei sighed, giving up for now. "So, you two are heading home after New Year?"
"The day after the day after New Year," Tasha clarified. "It'll be a right pain in the ass to try and pack while you're hammered on Jell-o shots.
"We've never been hammered in our short lives, by the way," Angi added.
"So you're using the day after to pack and leaving the day after you pack?"
"Exactamente."
"Okay." Enough time, I guess.
"So anyway," Tasha said, rubbing her hands together. "Are we gonna plan what we're gonna wear?"
New Year's Eve was the pivotal point in everything. It was the day before your slate is wiped clean and you begin anew.
Of course, some things never change.
"I want a godsdamned pie! Where can a girl go and get some?" Angi growled, obviously cranky. Yolei and Tasha had woken her up early to buy some New Year's knickknacks for the party that night, rising with the female her foul temperament that can only be cured with pie. The rest of the Digi-Destined were well aware of her crankiness and stayed far enough where they weren't in striking distance of her fist.
"There's some in that little café at the corner," Kari said. "But we don't have time to-"
Angi paid the girl no heed as she stormed over to the corner, hellbent on getting a pie.
"You see what we dealt with on Thanksgiving, Kari?" Tai asked his younger sister. "And that was when she wasn't cranky."
"Tai, you know good and well that Ang would've broken your face if you had first dibs on her pie," Tasha told the brunette with a smirk.
"Shouldn't we go after her?" asked Sora. "She might terrorize the poor staff."
"Wouldn't have been the first time," Matt muttered.
"That was pretty funny," Davis said. "They just gave her the pie and she walked out like she conquered the world."
Almost half a minute later, Angi returned, eating a slice of pumpkin pie.
"We all good?" Tasha asked. Angi nodded. "We're good to go!"
"How can you tell?" asked Izzy.
"She didn't hit anyone on her way back!" answered Tasha with a grin. "Now let's get our knickknacks!"
"Just go with it," Tai told the others, who were shell-shocked by the behavior.
Easily, the group entered stores, searching for the appropriate knickknacks, laughing as everyday teens would during a shopping trip. There were no worries, no cares at all. Nothing at all anything to worry about until a few hours later, when they were returning to their respective homes.
"That was fun," Kari said, holding a few bags in her hand.
"Fun? How much crap do we need for this party?" Tasha asked, raising a bag she held.
"We just wanna be prepared to not be bored!" laughed T.K.
"Remind me to take some photos to email to Willis," Angi told Tasha.
"Sure! He'll love it!" Tasha said, laughing.
"You guys keep in touch with Willis?" asked Cody.
"Sure. We talk to Mimi too, but she's all the way in New York so we don't hang with her like we do with Willis," answered Angi. "Besides, he asks us about y'all when we meet up and we came here."
"And what do you tell him?" asked Tai in a slightly scathing tone before he realized he had sounded so.
Fortunately, the girls didn't notice. "We tell him you guys are good," Tasha answered. "No hanky-panky."
"Why do you ask-" Angi began before a scathingly high-pitched female voice exclaimed, "Tai Kamiya!"
"Shit," Tai muttered as the group saw a curly-haired girl bouncing toward them and grasping Tai's arm.
"I thought you were avoiding me and here you are with your friends!" the girl cooed.
"Mina, can you let go of my arm?" Tai sighed, irritated by the girl's presence.
"A friend of yours, Tai?" asked Angi and Tai noticed her voice was slightly cooler.
"Friend?" The girl now known as Mina glared at Angi. "I'm his girlfriend."
"When the hell did you decide that!?" Tai yelled.
"Uh, Mina, I guess Tai didn't tell you our friends from America were visiting," Kari said, sweatdropping. The younger Kamiya didn't like the girl much either, but was not going to say anything negative in said girl's presence.
"Tai didn't say they were girls," Mina mumbled.
"Well, that's what they call us since we have a vagina, not a penis, but hey; you took biology so I'm sure you're aware we're females," Angi replied with a slight smile.
"Angi, was that really necessary?" Izzy asked, giving the girl a look that questioned her sanity.
"We just got subtly offended and you expect us to take it like a bitch?" Tasha retorted. "Look—Mina, was it?—I can see clear as day that you're obviously stalking Tai, taking one act of kindness and making a big deal out of it. Stop me if I'm wrong," she added, seeing Mina's horrified expression. "And Tai is too nice to tell you to fuck off because you're so pushy."
"How dare you?" Mina gasped. "Just because you're a slut who-"
"Finish that sentence and I'll end you," Angi growled at the girl, flexing her fingers. "And I will smile while doing it."
Mina glared at the two before huffing and flouncing away.
The Digi-Destined turned their stare to the two extremely irritated American girls.
"Need a pie?" asked Davis.
"I need two of them before I go and slam her into a wall while pummeling her ovaries into applesauce with my fist," Angi answered raising her fist before turning on her heel. "Besides, I'm hungry anyway."
"You two can seriously scare off fangirls like nothing," Matt commented.
"We don't share," chorused Angi and Tasha flatly.
"Well, we don't like her either," Yolei muttered. "She's so annoying."
"I don't think using coarse language like you two would have made a difference," Kari said.
"It sure made an impact, nevertheless," Tasha replied.
"Maybe you guys can scare off Matt's groupies and Davis's sister," Sora suggested.
"I like her. She does the most hilarious shit," Angi said, grinning like a maniac.
"You may like her, but I don't like her following me," Matt grumbled.
"She's just a fan," T.K said.
"A psycho fan," Tasha muttered.
"We're gonna get something to eat, then?" Yolei piped up.
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Tasha squealed.
"And she was just set a-squeal…"
"Shut up, Yolei."
Over pie and pizzas, the air was mixed with ease and tension. The ease was among Cody, T.K, Izzy, Sora, Davis, Yolei, and Kari. The tension was among Matt, Tai, Angi, and Tasha—or, more simply put, Angi and Tasha aimed the tension right at Matt and Tai. They were considerably quieter, not adding much opinion unless they were asked.
"They're pissed, huh?" Tai asked.
"I think Ang is more pissed at you than Tasha is," answered Matt.
"Why?"
"Well, she gave Mina the evil eye when she said she was your girlfriend. I almost expected Angi to walk over and give Mina a good beat down."
"Ah right, she did show her potential beast mode…"
Matt crossed his arms. "In any case, maybe she's just jealous. Mina was staking a claim—a fake one, sure—and she was threatened by it."
"She should know that it was fake!" Tai exclaimed.
"She does, Tai. She's not stupid," Matt explained calmly. "But it doesn't mean she's not going to be pissed. It would be more obvious if you and Mina were dating and you didn't tell her about it so she'd be nice."
"Girls are so damn complicated…"
"Not really."
"If you're so messed up about it, go and talk to her."
"Fine." Tai stood up. "Just make sure you figure out your deal with Tasha," he told Matt before walking over to the two girls at their spots.
Angi had just stuck a smidge of whipped cream in her mouth before Tai spoke. "Hey, Ang?"
"Hey, Tai," Tasha greeted as Angi gave him a fleeting glance and removed her finger from her mouth. "What?" she asked.
"Can we talk?" Tai gestured to a corner of the room. Expecting a flat-out refusal, he was surprised when Angi stood up and followed him to the corner.
"So what's up?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Uh, y'know what happened earlier? With, uh, Mina?" Tai asked, looking slightly embarrassed.
Did her eyes narrow at the mention of Mina or did Tai imagine it? "Yeah?"
"You know that what she said about being my girlfriend wasn't true, right?" Tai asked.
"Tai, it doesn't matter to me whether she was your girlfriend," said Angi briskly, her mannerism businesslike. "The point at that moment was that she wasn't and was forcing herself on you like some whiny bitch."
"You were—you looked mad!" Tai exclaimed.
"Of course I was pissed!" Angi replied, not even denying as she usually would.
"Why? I mean, yeah, we're friends, but it's not like we were dating or anything!" The minute that escaped him, the moment Angi's expression looked as though she would want nothing more than to punch the ever-loving tar out of him, Tai knew he said something wrong.
"Tai Kamiya, you are the most dense twat I've ever had the displeasure to meet," Angi told him coolly before she turned on her heel and walked back to her seat beside Tasha, leaving Tai to wonder what she meant by that.
"Once again: complicated," he muttered.
On Matt's end, however, while he had an arm around Sora's shoulders, he found himself looking at Tasha in the corner, talking animatedly to Angi after the older girl came back after talking with Tai. With the rapid exchange, he knew they were speaking Spanish. Matt watched Tasha's expressions and knew deep in his core that he felt something more than friendship toward her.
Of course, he was fully aware that he had clearance from her pitbull—Angi had more or less given him her blessing after figuring out his feelings before he himself did—but Matt felt disloyal about wanting to break up with Sora for a girl who lived on the other side of the world. The distance itself was a problem and it cost the girls a fortune to come and visit their friends here, which was why they only visited during the holidays.
When Tai plopped on his seat next to Matt, Matt asked, "Didn't go well?"
"She called me the most dense twat she ever had the displeasure to meet," Tai muttered.
"Well, you are dense," Matt said.
"Hey!"
"It just means you didn't catch on to what she said."
"What was I supposed to catch?"
"Wow, Tai. Really?"
"They're complicated!"
Matt shook his head at his friend's tactless nature before giving his fleeting glance toward Tasha. "At least your situation isn't so complicated."
"Right," Tai grumbled. "Because dealing with one is so easy."
"At least you aren't dating someone now."
"…I'll give you that one."
"Yeah, you'll give me that one."
"So, we're gonna go get ready!" Yolei announced, jerking the boys from their conversation. "Party's tonight, time to get partied up!"
"Whatever floats your boat, Lei-Lei," Tasha muttered, standing up.
"We all know where to meet, right?" Sora asked.
"The park," Izzy answered for everyone.
The guys and girls split to get ready respectively with members of their own gender, Yolei's "Perfecto" ringing in the air.
The park was crowded with kids their ages, in their own décor. The Kamiya siblings, Sora, Matt, T.K, Cody, Davis and Izzy were already there. Yolei, Angi, and Tasha had not arrived yet—not surprising since most likely Yolei was primping the two tomboyish American girls against their will.
"What time is it?" Davis asked, impatiently.
"Calm down, Davis," Kari chided. "It's supposed to be a party."
"It will be once our missing numbers arrive," T.K said with a smile.
"Our Ameri-ears are buuuuuuuuurniiiiiing," sang Tasha's voice.
The others turned to see Yolei in a purple dress, Angi wearing a black slip dress with a choker around her neck, and Tasha in a blue dress with a matching bow. The bow in question looked as though it endured the melee of the century between Yolei and Tasha.
"You two in dresses. That's scary," Tai said.
"Because we mostly wear denim?" asked Tasha, raising an eyebrow.
"You guys look like girls," Davis commented.
"Shut up, Davis," the girls chorused roughly.
"So we're all here," Cody said. "What should we do?"
"I want a quesadilla, if that's possible," Angi muttered. "Or pie."
"Can you just not think about pie?" Izzy asked. Angi leveled him with a piercing look.
"Izzy," she said calmly, though it was as chilling as the air, "do I ask you not to talk in Computer-Geekenese? Do I ask you not to obsess over your computers like a regular teen would his skin mags? No? Then I suggest you not ask me not to think of my beloved pie that has yet to arrive so I may devour it accordingly."
"Y'mean like an animal?" asked Matt.
"Fuck you with a spiked dildo, Ishida. Just fuck you."
"You're in a cheerful mood."
"You would too if you were just told such a twatting suggestion about something you like."
"I think we should get something to drink," Yolei said loudly. "Can you come with, Ang?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Made me wear this thing and I didn't even buy it," she muttered. "Sneaky girl, Yolei. Sneaky."
As the two walked off to get some drinks, Tasha sighed with a shake of her head.
"Is she on her…y'know?" asked Davis, knowing all-to-well about the "curse week" from his older sister.
"Nah. She just a little mad about earlier—y'know, Tai and his stalking twat," Tasha answered.
"Let's hope they don't meet up tonight," Tai muttered. "If I know her-"
"—And you don't, I do," Tasha interjected.
"—She'll beat the ever-loving fuck out of Mina."
"That she will," Izzy said. "That she will."
Sora linked her arm with Matt's, leaning her head against her shoulder. "So what are we throwing once the fireworks start?" she asked.
The guys and Kari immediately saw the look of hellfire that Tasha flashed to Sora—much to Matt's dismay-before Cody answered, "Don't we have confetti or something?"
"Oh we can't touch the confetti yet. That's for later," said Kari smiling, right when Angi and Yolei returned with drinks—both of their expressions were of utter irritability.
"What happened?" asked T.K.
Angi hooked her thumb over her shoulder, right when Mina—wearing a strawberry-colored slip dress—stormed over. "Hey, you bitch! I wasn't done talking to you!"
Yolei palmed her forehead right when Angi's hand clenched her cup a smidgen too tightly, her punch spilling on her hand like blood. Mina's eyes caught Tai's and she squealed. "Tai!"
"Shit," Tai muttered. As if he needed an extremely pissed off tomboy to rip him a new asshole and Mina a new uterus!
"Didn't we get rid of you already?" Tasha snarled. Mina ignored her and proceeded to throw her arms around a horrified Tai and planted a kiss against his lips. Kari cast a furtive look toward Angi, remembering how she reacted so negatively toward Mina, to see the girl practically alight with such silent fury that could cause a storm of hellfire and brimstone. Bristling, she turned on her heel and stormed off into the throng of people, Tasha looking to where she disappeared.
Tai shoved Mina away and ran after Angi as the rest of the group looked on. Tasha ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I'm gonna go, Yolei," she mumbled. "I think Tai's gonna need my help once Angi rips him a new pair of fallopian tubes."
"All right," Yolei replied sadly, and Tasha cast a look toward Matt—a look full of meaning that, in a way, Matt understood —before disappearing.
"Ang!" Tai called as Angi kept storming off, her anger palpable. Getting desperate, Tai picked up his pace, practically running after her, and seized her by the wrist. "Angi!"
Angi turned around to give him a glare so intense, he wouldn't have been happily surprised if she gave him a right hook to the face. What surprised him, however, was not the fury, though it was clear—it was the tears in her eyes.
"You just have no idea, do you?" she asked so softly, with the intensity of a scream. "You just had no fucking idea."
"What are you talking about? I told you about Mina when we got lunch!" Tai exclaimed. "You knew-"
"That's not the point, Tai!" Angi shrieked, the tears she tried so desperately to hold back leaking out. "You just let her put her mouth on you like you were a goddamn couple! Now I understand Tasha's situation perfectly, you might as well have been fucking that Mina chick!"
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Tai asked.
"Are you fucking kidding me? All this time and you've never figured it out?" Angi wrenched her arm free of his grip. "I'm in goddamn love with you! Is that clear enough for you!?"
Tai recoiled in surprise. He expected a lecture of some kind, but not that. "W-What?"
Angi pressed a hand against her mouth, her eyes shut tight, trying to stem the sobs that were coming from her. She had completely fallen to pieces in front of him.
"Kamiya, what did you do?" came Tasha's voice, hard and cold, as she walked over to Angi and grabbed her free hand.
"I didn't—she just flat-out confessed to me! Did you know about it?" Tai demanded.
"Of course I knew, Tai," Tasha spat. "Just like she knows about my feelings for Matt. Every time we visit, yeah, seeing everyone else is a bonus, but we came for the both of you. Every time we wanted to confess, respectively, but now" –She shook her head—"we know. We know damn well we'll never be the in either of your line of sight. You only see us as friends."
With a sigh, Tasha lead Angi by the hand, heading toward Yolei's place, in the dark streets, leaving Tai shocked and numb.
"She said what?!" Yolei screamed once Tai had returned to the other Digi-Destined without Angi and Tasha. Tai sighed and once again explained what had happened—from chasing one hotheaded American to being ripped a new hole by the other and they walked away.
"Tai," Kari sighed. "How you didn't even realize-"
"That's not important!" Yolei shrieked. "Where did they-"
Suddenly, Yolei's phone went off, ringing shrilly. Quickly, she seized it and answered. "Hello?"
Everyone heard Tasha's voice on the tiny speaker. "Yolei?"
Yolei immediately put her phone on speaker. "Tasha? Tasha, where are you?"
"At your place," Tasha said and her voice sounded heavy. "We're, uh, packing up."
"What? Why?"
"We're leaving. It was a stupid of us to come here, you know? So we're just gonna go back to America a little early. Are you still with everyone at the party?"
"Yeah," T.K answered instead of Yolei. "Tasha, you can't just up and go! Neither of you! You guys were gonna hang out with us for a few more days and celebrate with us!"
Tasha was silent before she spoke. "Heartache wasn't on the agenda, T.K. We can't deal with that shit."
"Tai was being hardheaded, sure, but that's no reason to just leave!" Izzy exclaimed.
"Izzy's right," chimed in Cody.
"It's not just Ang who's feeling rejected," Tasha murmured, but didn't say more. Even from where he stood, Matt could sense the heaviness weighing down on him from Tasha's voice.
"Tasha-" He began but Tasha spoke.
"I gotta go. We're heading to the airport. Thanks for keeping us up, Yolei. We'll, uh, tell Willis how y'all are doing," she said, her voice jumping an octave higher.
"Take care of yourselves," Kari said gently.
"Yeah, Kari. We will. Well, bye." Tasha hung up.
Silence hung over the Digi-Destined for a moment. After a while, Sora looked to Matt. "Can we talk?"
"Sure." Matt said and he and Sora stood a little ways away from the group. "What's up?"
"Go after her," said Sora simply.
Matt blinked in shock. "What?"
"Tasha. You should go after her," Sora told him. "I could tell that you were starting to have feelings for her, Matt. I didn't say anything before because I hoped that maybe I was just jumping to conclusions. But I can see how you look at her…" She trailed off, averting her eyes before picking up where she dropped the thread. "It'd be wrong if you were in a relationship when you have feelings for someone else."
Matt had no words for this. Sora just basically stole whatever he had to say, so he hugged her, whispering, "I'm sorry, Sora."
"It's okay," Sora said, pulling back with a smile. "Go. Go get her back."
Matt nodded before looking to Tai. "Let's go."
"What do you mean?" Tai frowned.
Matt gave Tai a look. "Let's get our girls back."
Tasha and Angi sat in the waiting lounge, their suitcases beside them. Angi's eyes were swollen and red from crying, but more or less her expression was stoic. Tasha tried to see if she needed to cry, but no tears emerged. She couldn't mourn a boy that was never hers.
"So we're going back with heartache," Angi mumbled before looking to Tasha. "Tasha, I'm so sorry. I put on a drama class and you…you didn't even…"
"It wasn't gonna happen anyway," Tasha replied with a forced smile. "Just gotta move on. Matt's with Sora and Tai was just being a…" She trailed off, trying to grasp what to call the brunette.
"The most dense fuckmother we've ever met," Angi supplied.
"Yeah, that. At least Matt didn't try to be unfaithful to Sora. That "other girl" stigma would so ruin everything."
"Touché, m'dear, touché."
"To think we came with the resolution to confess and we get this."
"Zeii mea, it sounds like a bad soap opera."
Tasha looked to her older friend. "Have you seen a bad soap opera?"
"Yeah, it's what our love lives look like," Angi muttered, brushing rogue strands of her hair from her face briskly. "When we get home, I'm so having vodka."
The girls jumped when their flight number was called and stood up.
"Sayonara, Japan," they chorused, heading for the gate.
"Going somewhere?" asked one of the familiar voices they hoped to avoid hearing.
"Crap," Angi muttered before she and Tasha looked back, Tasha with wide eyes.
Matt and Tai stood there, panting, but looking relieved they made it in time. The two girls looked shocked, but their faces melted into different expressions—Tasha's with wonder, Angi's was stoic.
"What are you two doing here?" Tasha asked softly.
"We came to bring you two back. Luckily, you didn't get onboard to where we can't reach you," answered Matt.
"Why bring us back? You two-" Angi bit her tongue, looked away.
"We're not letting our two favorite girls fly off without saying something first," Tai said, crossing his arms.
Matt stepped forward and held out a hand for Tasha. "Give us a chance to say that something?" he asked.
Tasha looked at Angi, who nodded brusquely, before she turned back to take Matt's hand.
Matt went first. "Sora and I broke up."
Tasha blinked. "What? Why?"
"She noticed I had feelings so much bigger for someone else," Matt said. "I knew that it shouldn't have taken so long, but I didn't wanna be the type of guy who would break up with a girl for another girl he may not actually feel for."
"So what kind of guy are you?" Tasha asked.
Matt smirked. "The kind that has quite a lot of feelings for you."
In a way, it was enough for Tasha, who hugged Matt tightly. Matt's eyes looked toward Angi, who nodded at him gently, and with a look that clearly said "You break her heart again, I will happily beat you to a gooey mess". Tai walked over to the elder girl, not trying to be as physical as Matt had been, since he was sure she would punch him a new asshole.
"I'm not as good with words as the rock star over there," Tai said carefully. Angi's eyes flashed to him, a look in her brown orbs that said that she wasn't going to forgive and forget so readily in his case.
"What the hell are you trying to get at, Kamiya?" Angi asked coolly.
"Just…I was stupid. I should've known about…how you feel. I shouldn't have been such a…a…" Tai trailed off, losing his drive.
"Such a dense fucking twat?" Angi asked, tone slightly biting.
He flushed. "Yeah…a dense fucking twat."
"I still have half a mind to leave." She said it as if it were so diplomatic, panic flared inside Tai. He grabbed at the hand that so tightly gripped the handle of her suitcase.
"Don't! Just…don't go, 'kay? Can we start over?" he asked.
Silence hung between them, even as the other somewhat repaired couple looked on, knowing full well how stubborn Angi could be.
Angi sighed before holding out her free hand. Tai blinked at her.
"You wanna start over?" she asked. He nodded. "Then shake my hand, dumbass."
Tai grinned, taking Angi's hand and shaking it. "Does this mean I'm forgiven?"
Angi gave a half-hearted shrug. "…I suppose."
"C'mon, the fireworks are gonna start," Matt said, Tasha's hand in his, and they led the way out of the airport, Tai and Angi following suit.
A loud boom shattered the air and the four looked up to see a blue firework blossoming in the air.
"Holy assbreaker, that was loud!" Tasha gasped, one hand over her ear.
"Indeed, indeed," Angi replied in her dignified voice.
"Oh yeah, we owe you two for the present you gave us," Matt said.
"I thought we said no give backs," muttered Tasha.
"Well, we already gave you our presents," Tai said.
"Lemme guess. You two, respectively?" asked Angi, raising an eyebrow.
"You guessed right!" Tai answered, ruffling Angi's hair, receiving a sharp punch in the gut by the girl in turn while another pair of fireworks boomed in the air.
"I guess the New Year started with a bang after all," Tasha said.
"Psh, here comes the long-distance relationship," Angi sighed.
"Well, there's always one option," Matt said, earning a look from the two girls.
"What?" they asked in unison.
"You could always stay here."