Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
It was a breezy spring afternoon. Sparsely spread clouds lazily dragged across the sky. Golden rays of sunlight shone on the green sea of rippling grass. Lounging on a spread out blanket on top of it was a group of seven silhouettes.
Three years ago today, the tamers had defeated the D-Reaper. To celebrate, they decided to have a picnic in Shinjuku Park. Not much had changed since then. They all still kept close contact with each other and Rika even transferred to the same public school as the others.
"Kazu, you ok man? You're inhaling the sandwiches like you were Guilomon or something!" Takato joked then sighed, his hand intertwined with Jeri's. Some time after their adventure, Takato had finally gathered the nerve to ask her out.
Everyone laughed and sighed in unison with Takato, knowing how much he missed Guilomon and feeling the same way toward their own respective digimon. Minutes of depressing silence passed. Henry finally broke the silence. "So, what do you guys wanna do now?"
"Hmm," Jeri thought for a bit. "I know! How about a game of tag!"
"Doesn't that sound a BIT childish?" Kazu whined.
"I don't know. It'll be a good way to pass the time," Jeri shrugged.
And with that, the game began. Several rounds passed before Henry was "it." He glanced around looking for the nearest person, locking his sights on Rika. Focusing only on tagging her, he didn't notice a stray log in his path and tripped over it. Rika, who was close by, served as a cushion to his fall. Their faces, which were now inches apart, became a shade of red as deep as rhubarb.
Ryo was standing about ten feet away. He just stood and stared at the two, something tugging at his gut. Those two really seem to like each other, he thought. Wait, what the hell do I care? But in the back of his mind, he knew. Ryo Akiyama was not dense, just stubborn.
Henry got up and reached out to Rika to help her up. He rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry about that."
"It's fine," Rika giggled nervously. Rika "the Ice Queen" Nonaka, giggling?
"It's getting late," Kenta said, staring at dimming sky that was now swirling with warm colors. "I should be heading home now." Everyone nodded, said their goodbyes, and headed their separate ways.
Just as Ryo turned to head home, Henry called after him. "Ryo, can I talk to you?"
"What is it, Henry?" Ryo answered, an undetectable undertone of annoyance to his voice.
"You're pretty close to Rika, right?" Henry asked.
"Yeah." It was true. Rika and Ryo were the best of friends now, despite their usual banter. The meanness was too familiar to let go of.
"I..." Henry hesitated. "I really like Rika. Do you think she feels the same way?"
Ryo stood, mouth ajar at what he had just heard. Henry was one of his closest friends. Was he really selfish enough to keep him and Rika apart just because of his own feelings?
"I don't know," he finally said. "That's not the kind of stuff she tells me. Maybe you should ask Jeri." He chuckled nervously and scratched his head. That was only half true. Though they never really talked about "feelings," Rika would ask him for boy advice once in a while and not-so-subtly hint that it was about Henry.
"Oh, ok. Thanks! See ya!" Henry smiled then left.
From the time that Ryo walked home to the time he went to sleep, his mind raced with thoughts that he promised himself would never see the light of day. All he could see when he closed his eyes was a certain lilac-eyed redhead. It was one in the morning and he still couldn't sleep.
Tap, tap, tap!
Ryo looked around to find the source of the sound.
TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP!"Open the stupid door, Akiyama!" hissed a familiar voice. Ryo stared at the shadow at the glass door to his balcony and rubbed his eyes, sure that he was dreaming. "WELL?"
"So sweet of you to visit me this late, Pumpkin," Ryo smirked.
"Shut up, idiot," giggled Rika as she punched him in the shoulder. She blushed as she noticed that he was shirtless.
Ryo laughed at her expression. "What brings you here in the middle of the night?"
"Couldn't sleep," she said, suddenly serious.
"I see... Me neither. But have you ever heard of a phone call?"
"I didn't know if you were awake and I didn't wanna wake you up."
"And you didn't think that breaking into my house would wake me up?"
"Technically, I wasn't IN your house. Anyway, I need to talk to you." Rika sat on his bed.
Ryo followed her. "About...?"
"Well, that boy I've been talking about for the longest time now... It's Henry..."
"I would've never guessed!" Ryo rolled his eyes.
"This is serious Heroboy! ...I've never felt this way..."
"I see..." his stomach dropped.
"I just...don't know if he feels the same..."
"You're an idiot," Ryo muttered.
"What?" Rika asked, caught off guard.
"You're an idiot!" Ryo repeated, louder and angrier. Thank goodness his parents weren't home for the weekend.
"What?" Rika's confusion was soon turned into anger. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"You're so dense! I don't even know why...why..." Ryo's angry screams decrescendo-ed into a whisper.
"Why...? Why what?!" Rika pressed him on, half angry, half curious.
"...Why I... love you..." Before Rika could say or do anything, he planted a kiss onto her lips. After a few seconds, he broke away. "And you're an idiot for never noticing."
A/N: Hey guys, this is a new account, but I've been reading stories on here as a visitor for months. Hope you enjoyed this story(: I'm going to post about 4 or 5 more (two in the Digimon fandom and the other two or three Kickin' It fandom) that I was too chicken to post until now, so check those out if you'd like. Thanks!