Hello everyone! Merry late Christmas and Happy early New Year! This is a story I had started a while back and decided to change a bit to make it a Christmas story. I am a bit late for that though :P
For those of you that are waiting for 'A Tamer in Odaina', let me apologize. It was supposed to be out in late September/early October, but I got really hooked up in Love Live and I couldn't concentrate on it at all. I'm slowly getting over it, but I can't say how long the update will take. Sorry :S
And with that, on with the story!
SURPRISE!
"It's too bad Izzy won't make it," Sora sighed as she received her ticket from Joe. It wouldn't feel the same without the whole group there.
"It can't be helped," Matt placed his hand around her shoulder "It's so like Izzy to go to a seminar two days before Christmas," Although it wasn't said with any malice, it was clear he was annoyed.
"I'm sure Mimi's gonna be disappointed," Kari said, easily picturing her friend's hurt look.
"He should have canceled and joined us," Tai's cheerfulness hadn't left him at all throughout the whole trip from home to the airport.
"You do realize we didn't actually tell him, right?" Yolei asked, not really expecting an answer "Didn't you say he shot you down before you could tell him the plan?" She turned to Joe as she asked this question.
"That's right. He didn't even let me finish, saying he was working on a project for the university," Joe shrugged his shoulder and passed Cody his ticket.
"Hey, hey," Davis suddenly shouted "There's no reason for us to get down! Just forget about Izzy and let's go. We'll lose our flight if we keep wasting time like this," It was clearly an exaggeration, but it was true they had to get moving.
The whole group of Japan's digidestined (minus Izzy) had decided to go on a trip to America and spend Christmas and New Year's Eve with Mimi. Their friend had no idea though; it was a surprise. They had arranged the whole thing with the help of Mimi's mother, who would wait for them at the airport and give them her spare key to her daughter's apartment. They knew she was going out that day and were planning on waiting for her to return.
It was all Sora's idea. She had talked to Tai and Matt and they had agreed it was a good plan. They had spread the word to the rest, but when Joe, who was already on his way to Izzy's to ask him to repair his laptop was about to tell him, the redhead claimed he was busy and ushered his friend out. They had decided to call him later, but they forgot with all the preparations. He had left for his seminar two days ago, wishing them all 'Merry Christmas'.
The flight was almost 15 hours, but no one wanted to sleep so long. Some of them started playing a card game, while others were engrossed in a book. T.K and Kari were snuggled together, watching a romantic movie the later had chosen.
"We better get some sleep guys," Sora told everyone a few hours later "We may have slept during the day to deal a bit with jet lag, but we need to get some sleep so we can be fresh," Tai and Davis protested, acting like five years old, before a glare from Sora and Yolei shut them up.
Despite that, both Tai and Davis were asleep in minutes.
Before they knew it, the air hostesses had woken them up, asking them to buckle up because they were almost there. After the plane landed, they took their handbags and headed for the waiting room to get their luggage. It was already 7 o'clock by the time they left the airport. True to her word, Mimi's mother was waiting with the keys. 40 minutes and three cab trips later, they had reached their destination and rushed inside to escape the cold wind.
"It's almost 8, which means Mimi will soon be back; at least according to Ms. Tachikawa," Yolei had taken the keys and locked the door, in order to avoid alerting Mimi.
"Then let's turn off the lights. She will freak out if she sees them on," Davis' surprisingly good advice was followed by Cody.
"Now we wait," Matt sat down on the couch, followed by the rest.
At first they waited in silence, but whispered conversations soon started. It would have been really boring waiting without doing anything after all. Even the most adamant about silence like Ken and Sora, gave up after 20 minutes and joined the others.
All whispers were silenced though at the sound of someone bumping in the door and keys scratching the keyhole.
"Everyone Hide!" Tai whispered urgently and they all jumped behind the couches, the TV and a table. They waited as the keys finally found the hole and turned, opening the door. They were ready to jump and surprise their friend as soon as she turned on the lights, yet things didn't go quite as planned; the sound of two people softly kissing was heard.
It seems Mimi was not alone.
"This probably isn't a good idea," Mimi playfully said, giggling lightly "We have a reservation soon," The other person answered in an inaudible whisper and a second later, Mimi moaned.
"Surprise!" Davis jumped from his hiding place behind the TV and shouted from the top of his lungs. It seems he couldn't take more of the make out session, soon to turn something else.
"Kyaaaaaaaa!" Mimi screamed loudly. There was movement in the dark, before someone turned the lights on.
It was hard to decide on who was the most surprised in the room. Standing in front of Mimi, shielding her from whatever danger lurked inside the apartment was Izzy. He had one hand on the light switch and the other holding a pink Hello Kitty plush in what was supposed to be a threatening way. Both Mimi and he blinked a couple of times before their eyes opened wide in shock.
The rest of them were looking at Izzy dumbstruck. He was supposed to be in Europe for a seminar, wasn't he? Never mind that, Mimi was making out with someone and Izzy was the only one around. Putting two and two together wasn't that hard to do.
"What the hell?!" Izzy shouted, letting his hand fall from the switch and allowing Mimi to stand next to him "What are you all doing here?" While he was the first to break the silence, he was still in shock.
"We came here to surprise Mimi," Joe answered before looking at both him and Mimi "The real question is what you are doing here!" Izzy suddenly seemed uneasy, averting his gaze from everyone and staring at Mimi, who wasn't looking at the others either.
"It's not that hard to guess," Came Matt's amused voice "Since when are you two together?"
"Together? As in, boyfriend and girlfriend?" Tai's bewilderment was clear in his voice "You're joking right? I mean, it's Izzy and Mimi we're talking about!"
"We literally caught them making out dude! Of course they are together!" Davis let out a scream of pain, not knowing if he should clutch the leg Sora kicked or the head Yolei punched.
"Really subtle Davis, good job," Kari sighed in resignation, smiling lightly at Izzy and Mimi's tomato red faces. They were still not looking at them.
"Well, as much fun as it is to stay like we are, I am not really a fan of long, awkward moments," Ken wasn't looking at the pair.
"Why don't we sit down and have a short talk?" T.K suggested, taking a seat and motioning for the rest to do the same "It's Christmas after all; we shouldn't spend it inside!"
"I would love to sit," Matt slowly raised his hand in the air "But if I move, Izzy might use that lethal weapon he's holding against me," Realizing he was still holding the plush and getting annoyed at Matt, Izzy threw it straight in the blonde's face, earning laughs from everyone and a yell of 'Rin-Chan!' from Mimi.
"Let's get this over with," Izzy sighed loudly and sat down.
"Just give me a moment," Mimi pulled out her phone, but elaborated when she saw the questioning looks on her friends' faces "I have a reservation to cancel".
Five minutes later, all twelve of them had managed to squeeze on the couches and the carpet in front of the TV.
"You are together right? Stop denying it!" Davis started a bit too strong. Luckily for him, neither Yolei nor Sora stood near enough to cause him physical harm.
"We never did deny it Davis," Came Izzy's response "We just never told you".
"That's what I don't get. Just why didn't you?" Sora looked at Mimi, feeling a bit hurt her friend kept something like that a secret.
"I'm so sorry Sora!" Mimi bowed her head in apology "We didn't mean to keep it a secret. It's just that us getting together was so sudden," Sensing she was getting nervous, Izzy placed his hand on top of hers, earning a grateful look from the girl.
"At first we were surprised. Neither of us could actually believe we felt the same way. We didn't say anything because we thought you'd figure it out soon anyway," Mimi squeezed his hand and he stopped talking, letting her continue the story.
"When you didn't, it became a sort of game. I have to admit, being in a secret relationship was both romantic and exciting," Mimi lightly smiled at that "Our parent found us out some time later though, so we decided keeping it a secret from you would keep the excitement," Again she smiled apologetically at Sora.
"Which brings us to my next question," Izzy's gaze turned to Matt "Since when have you been together?" Both Izzy and Mimi got nervous at the question.
"About one and a half…" Izzy answered while looking at Mimi. She blinked twice before smiling at him. They seemed to have momentarily forgotten about the rest, getting lost in their own world. A cough from Joe brought them back to reality.
"One a half months ha?" Tai grinned at them "I am surprised it took us so long to find you out," Izzy laughed at that.
"There's something weird though," Cody's statement brought the attention to him "It seems to me like you neglected to clarify something; months or years?" Izzy and Mimi's reactions were a dead giveaway to the answer "Thought so".
"Wow, rewind!" Davis yelled in shock "You've been together for more than a year? And we didn't know until now?!"
"That's ridiculous!" Yolei agreed with Davis for once "Izzy is a lousy liar and Mimi is too sincere. Keeping it a secret for so long is simply unthinkable!"
"No, it actually makes sense," Joe shook his head while smiling "I always thought Izzy was having far too many seminars in Europe," It finally clicked in everyone's head.
"You mean you were secretly coming here every time you told us you were going to seminars?" T.K was holding his forehead with his right hand.
"Not everytime," Izzy suddenly shook his hands in protest "Almost one fourth of them were indeed seminars," Mimi facepalmed at that. Despite his brains, Izzy could act stupid quite a few times.
"Great, now that that's over with, let's not waste our Christmas night here!" Mimi stood up and cheered "Since we're finally out there's so much I have to tell you girls!" Said girl's eyes sparkled, while Izzy looked at her in horror.
"Wait! What do you mean by that?" Mimi smiled mischievously at him and motioned him not to worry… which only served to worry him more.
"Why don't we let the girls have their talk… while we have ours?" Izzy's horror intensified at Tai's evil looking grin.
"I think I forgot to turn off the oven, I'll be right back!" With those words Izzy run out of the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Matt shouted, dashing with Tai and Davis out of the door.
The End