A/N: Written for takatofan for the Digimon Secret Santamon 2018. Hope you enjoy!
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Art Lessons
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Kazu and Kenta aren't artists. But then, neither is Takato. He doodles. And one of his doodles turned into a living, breathing digimon.
'Think we can draw ourselves a partner too?' Kazu wonders aloud. Takato's off with Rika and Henry, and he and Kenta are in their hideout enjoying a card game and leftovers from the Matsuki bakery. Two perks they hadn't anticipated when they first became friends with Takato: cheap (and sometimes free) baked goodies, and real digimon.
Still, they can't help but feel a little left out without partners of their own. Even if they are grateful to not be in the middle of trouble so often. Even if they are a little lonely now that Takato has other friends, and other responsibilities.
'Can't hurt to try,' Kenta says thoughtfully. 'Though it's not like Henry and Rika got theirs by doodling them on homework sheets.'
'Yeah, no joke.' Kazu shakes his head. 'How do they get all the luck? We've played the games thousands of time. And I can beat Takato at the card game with one hand tied behind my back.'
'Nine out of ten times anyway.' Kenta rolls his eyes. 'Anyway, as I said, can't hurt to give it a try.'
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They doodle. They doodle a lot.
They try more careful drawing too. But Kenta's are too stiff and Kazu's are more scribbles than recognisable. They compare their pieces while waiting for a running-late Takato.
Kenta shakes his head. 'Drawing's harder than I thought.'
'Ditto.' Kazu stares at his stack. 'Guess we didn't give Takato enough credit. Where'd he learn, anyway?'
Kenta shrugs. It's never come up in conversation. But as for learning… 'The community hall has free art classes on Saturdays, you know.'
Kazu groaned. 'More studying?' But he does want to be a little closer to the digimon and this is the only thing he's missing. They're both consistently in the top eight at digimon card tournaments. He's neck to neck with Henry when it comes to the consoles and Henry's father is one of the designers.
Kenta shrugs. 'It's just an idea,' he says. 'I wouldn't mind trying it out. You never know when it might be useful.' He looks at his own drawings. 'I'm sure I've got the measurements right but something's still… off.'
'Measurements?' Kazu repeats. 'What are you measuring? We're making these guys up like Takato, aren't we?'
Kenta shrugs again. 'I tried drawing a few from their cards as well. It didn't go so well.' He fished out a few. An Agumon. A Biyomon. A Renamon.
Kazu raises his eyebrows at the last one.
Kenta blushes a bit. 'I figured since we've seen Renamon around, I'd have better luck with her.'
'Hmm…' Kazu examined the sketches. 'Doesn't look like it. Renamon isn't so… rectangular.'
'Better than yours,' Kenta jibes.
'Truth.' Kazu shakes his head. 'Okay, fine. Let's give this community art class a try.'
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They try the community art class. It's fun, but it's slow. They're not making Takato-style doodles that'll turn into real life Guilmon's anytime soon.
They do get better, though. And they do get their digimon partners, but it has nothing to do with their budding art skills. Rather, it's because they rope themselves into one of Takato's adventures and find lifelong friends in the Digital World. But as they know, everyone goes through something a little different to find a digimon, and they're happy they find them at all.
And even though it's just a little while later, they also cry when they're gone.
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They keep up the art classes. Kenta works hard at varying his lines: not all straight lines but curved and bent, and his oblong figures don't look as much like rectangles anymore. Kazu's blobs have a bit more definition to them.
'Why are we still doing this?' Kazu asks, one weekend. Their positions have flipped, in a sense, since the digimon went back to the Digital World. Suddenly, it's Kenta and Kazu who have things to do on Saturday and Takato who doesn't.
'Why not?' Kenta shrugs. 'I'm rather enjoying it. Aren't you?'
Yeah, Kazu was, even if the original reason is now absolute. 'We should invite Takato, too. Though he'll outdraw us.'
'We should,' Kenta agrees. 'We don't hang out as much as we used to.'