"Hey, how you doin'?"

Every morning, Ruki resolves to take a different route to school. Every morning, she ends up walking the same way. Force of habit is a bitch.

"You can say hi to me, you know!"

"Hi," grinds out Ruki between her teeth. She's never bought coffee or hot chocolate or anything from Remiro (she refuses to use his nickname, Miro) in her life. Rumor says his coffee is Italian and therefore delicious, but Ruki has never been a coffee person. Besides, Remiro is just plain creepy.

The coffee guy grins. "Looking good today!"

Ryo says she should play nicely with strangers, something about putting on a public face. Ruki barely holds back a sneer.

"Have a good day, okay?"

"Sure," Ruki mutters, wishing she could just sic Renamon on him.

-

On the other hand, she can stick Renamon on surveillance. Even if the child seems more amused by the request than anything. Fortunately for both of them she has the good grace not to mention it when she reports in. "Your suspicions were correct."

"Which ones?"

"He only..." Renamon wrinkles her nose, unfamiliar with the usage. "'Hits on', as you say, schoolgirls."

"I knew it!" Ruki declares. "That pervert."

Renamon rolls her eyes. "But he does not appear to discriminate between girls in groups or, like you, walking alone."

"Oh, great," groans Ruki, "I can't just tag along with people and pretend to be their friend."

She wonders if there is a faint tone of malevolent amusement in Renamon's voice. "But he does appear to leave girls who are obviously with their boyfriends alone..."

Ruki's brow furrows. If her mother were here, she'd say she would get wrinkles. "That's great, but Ryo's in Kitakyushu."

"He doesn't know Ryo's your boyfriend," points out Renamon.

"True..."

Her cell phone goes wild with a text message, playing something jazzy that came as a default on the phone. Ruki's gaze darts to it. That ring tone can only mean one person. "I think I have an idea."

-

"I'm sorry, you want me to what"

It sounds like Jen is barely suppressing laughter. In the background, she can hear Terriermon not bothering to suppress his. "Get Terriermon out of there."

"Hey!

"Okay, he's gone. Sorry, he's a terrible eavesdropper, you know how he likes to gossip. Anyway, did I hear you right? You want me to pretend to be your—"

"I can't help it if my real boyfriend is on the other side of the country."

"No, but you can help how terrible you are at domestic geography. Sorry, that was uncalled for. But is the fake boyfriend thing really necessary?"

"Unfortunately."

"I don't know, Ryo might not like it..."

"Au contraire. Ryo says he knows it's just a stunt and if he can't be up here all the time to 'protect' me from creepy coffee guy he's glad it's you."

"I'm honored."

"So you should be; you of all people know about his trust issues."

"Just how creepy is creepy coffee guy, anyway?"

"Come spy with me tomorrow morning and find out."

-

Ruki spots Jen before he sees her, and yanks him into a bush.

A gaggle of girls from her Latin class walk past on their way to their caffeine fix, and one of them happens to glance at their bush. "Oh, real subtle there."

"Hitomi, you wouldn't know subtlety if it smacked you in the face," retorts Ruki, calmly removing a twig from her hair.

"A smack in the face would rather defeat the purpose of subtlety," Jen murmurs.

Even as he picks leaves out of her hair, Ruki rolls her eyes. "Shut up and watch."

"I see adults..."

"Wait for it."

Sure enough, within a few minutes, more girls walk by, and Remiro breaks off in mid-sentence to call to them. "Hi, girls; how are you?"

They giggle, and toss out adjectives and anecdotes. Jen blinks. "Weird."

"Tell me about it," Ruki sighs.

"And what's weirder," he muses, "they seem completely enamored with him."

"That's at least three quarters of the school."

They watch in silence as Remiro chats up another schoolgirl ordering her morning mocha. Ruki hands Jen a recent copy of the school student-run magazine, and he reads the interview she points out with interest. "He's married?"

"He's married."

"...I have to kind of agree with him on one point, though; Gakushuin girls are definitely the cutest."

If this was Ryo, Ruki would tell him he's an ass. Unfortunately, this is Jen, her one hope of salvation from the creepy coffee guy (Ryo being absent, Takato being, well, taken, 'kazu being annoying, and Kenta being hopeless). Ruki stays silent.

But considers taking the magazine and hitting him over the head with it all the same.

Jen finishes the interview, and hands the magazine back to her with a thoughtful look. "So if I help you out with this, what do I get out of it?"

Ruki takes a moment to consider. Material goods are probably well within her monetary reach, but Jen's fannish tastes tend to run on the obscure ("not obscure! cult status!") side. She has absolutely no idea about any of the computer stuff he's into; no doubt if he requested something like that, she would get the wrong thing or it would be too expensive.

On the other hand, she is kind of desperate here.

"Anything."

"Anything, huh?" Jen suddenly looks far too cunning for her liking. "Yeah, I'll do it." A smirk. "Baby."

Hitting him seems a lot more appealing, but Ruki swallows her pride. "Thanks.

"And never call me 'baby' again."

The smirk stays. Clearly the older Tamer has been hanging around Ryo too much. "Tomorrow morning?"

More girls Ruki has the displeasure of being acquainted with walk past their bush, raising their eyebrows. "Cheating on Ryo, are we?"

Ruki grits her teeth but does not answer them. "Tomorrow morning."

-

Jen turns up at her gate at oh eight hundred hours ("is the twenty-four hour time really necessary, Ruri?").

"Good morning, Ms. Makino."

"Please, call me Rumiko. Jenrya, you're here early. Are you and Ruki—"

"Just doing a friend a favor."

Hearing this conversation, Ruki shoos him down the road before her mother can ask too many questions, but the blonde still manages one more. "Ruki, how's Ryo lately?"

"Still breathing, last time I talked to him!" Ruki yells. Idly, she looks for Jen's bike: Gakushuin Girls' High is close enough for her to walk there, especially if she cuts through Shinjuku Gyoen, but it's a decent distance from Jen's house. He must have biked here.

It's with a jolt she realizes he probably walked.

She doesn't bother distracting herself wondering why – maybe he just wanted the exercise, maybe he doesn't normally bike to school – just keeps talking to him about Digimon, about Ryo, about school.

A couple of blocks away from Remiro's coffee stand, Jen stops abruptly, turning to her. "So, how are we going to go about this? Hand-holding, arm around waist, Ruki-chan and Jen-chan, honey, sweetie, babe...?"

Ruki raises an eyebrow. "You seem to have a lot of experience at this."

Jen gives a short bark of a laugh. It almost sounds...bitter. "Trust me, I don't."

Now she almost has to ask, but there's a spark in his eyes that warns her better judgment not to. Ruki gets back to the matter at hand. "Just hold my hand, there's no need to go overboard."

"Sure."

Ruki chuckles nervously as they walk in the coffee stand's general direction. "Well, this is awkward..."

"You have no idea." Jen grins. "I keep feeling like Ryo's going to swoop down on me at any minute and do his overdramatic thing. I can just see it now..." He throws his free hand to his forehead, looking tragic. "Et tu, Jen? Do you betray me with a hand?"

Ruki cracks up. "Mixing your sources a bit, there?"

His grin only widens, and he leans closer to her with rather good timing: They're right in Remiro's line of vision now. "Keep that up, we probably pass for comfortable enough with each other to be natural."

She shoots him a winning smile in return, and, this close, disturbed alarm flashes through his eyes, making her laugh again. "Get a grip, Lee. Smiles do happen."

"Yeah, but that kind of smile only happens on Ryo's watch, not mine." The older boy gives her a wry look. "Can't say I've ever been privy to it from anyone before."

Ruki blinks in surprise. "Really?"

It makes sense now. His laugh at her assumption he has experience at this, the way he never hangs out with anyone but her, Takato, or Ryo. His look speaks of faint annoyance now. "Really."

"Sorry, I won't bring it up again."

"Appreciated." But there's still that quiet displeasure in his eyes. Ruki feels kind of bad. "Have we made it?"

Time for a quick landmark check. "Almost. We're on the home run now."

Jen raises an eyebrow. "Of all people, Ruri, I wouldn't have expected a baseball metaphor from you."

She's silent for a moment, before managing to get out, "My dad..." and nothing more.

But she doesn't realize her hand is shaking until Jen gives it a squeeze. "Forget I asked." Then he stuns her by wrapping his arms around her. Jen's never been a touchy-feely person, today is probably the most physical contact they've had since... ever. She dimly remembers that she should probably hug him back if she wants to pull this off, and as long as she pretends he's Ryo, it's not too awkward.

Apparently it's convincing too. Her reputation precedes her, and some random Year 7s gasp and gossip in amazement at seeing the Ice Queen hugging someone, and a boy at that. She's about to disengage and yell at them when Jen pre-empts her with a laugh in her ear. "Let them go."

"This time," Ruki mutters rebelliously, and Jen's grinning when he lets go.

"As you and your baseball metaphors might say, we just made a home run, but I should probably stick with you a little further to keep up the illusion."

Ruki drops his hand like a hot croissant. "Whatever."

"You're charming," he smirks.

She barely holds back an insult. "Have you decided what you want as payment yet?"

His tone sounds a little too mild when he answers. "Oh, I'm still thinking about it. See you this afternoon?"

Ruki shakes her head. "His coffee stand closes around lunch."

"Tomorrow, then."

"See you."

-

Teaching doesn't agree with Ruki. Unfortunately, her English teacher doesn't agree with Ruki on this, and she has the dubious honor of babysitting Mayumi one period a day. Renamon says that tutoring may be the best thing that's ever happened to her at school, but Ruki remains unconvinced, especially as Mayumi tends to spend English gossiping in her ear.

"Sooo, Ruki, who was that boy you were with this morning?"

Usually the gossip isn't about her, though. "A friend," Ruki says through gritted teeth. "Most of my friends are boys, Mayumi; you know this."

She grins, and shrugs. "Yeah, but you don't hold hands with boys who are just friends."

"My boyfriend lives in Kitakyushu, Mayumi; you know this also."

Mayumi gasps. "You're cheating on him?!"

Ruki palms her face, and gives up on essay planning to explain her scheme. Her classmate looks rather unconvinced, then alarmingly thoughtful.

"Well, he's cute. If you're not interested, can I have him?"

Stunned for the second time this morning, Ruki can only throw her hands in the air and return to her sadly neglected essay plan.

-

Within a week, Jen's putting his arm around her. At first she doesn't notice because he starts off trying to maneuver around her schoolbag, but when he gets it right, she permits it. It does look better than hand-holding, or at least it gets more attention when she's with Ryo, anyway.

But she notices immediately when he calls her 'Ruki-chan' a week after that. Ruki stops in her tracks, glaring. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't I tell you I'd kick your butt if you called me that again?"

"Actually, I've never called you that, that was Takato," Jen replies, but he apologizes all the way past Remiro anyway, to Mayumi's amusement first period.

-

A month and a half later, Jen moves as if to kiss her cheek, then thinks better of it. "Smart boy," Ruki tells him.

He's still faintly blushing when he leaves. She decides not to try and read too much into it. Besides, Mayumi's all too happy to overanalyze for her.

-

"I just realized I haven't paid you yet," says Ruki, after about three months without a peep from Remiro. "What do you want?"

Jen gives her a little bow (yes, definitely too much time with Ryo). "Your company's enough." She gives him a look. "Honestly, this is a lot better than just walking to school on my own."

"You still walk to school on your own," she points out.

"Yeah, but I get to hang out with you first," Jen smiles. He hugs her goodbye, something she's grown used to. "See you 'round, Ruri."

-

"Actually," says Jen, "I had an idea."

Ruki, absorbed in watching Takato get pushed into the stream (and laughing at him), takes a moment to realize what he's talking about. "What is it?"

He leans over and whispers something in her ear. She almost slaps him, but stops her hand just as he dodges. "No! What do you think l am?"

"Forget about it," he shrugs, then runs over to Terriermon before she can see his expression. "Hey Terriermon, don't dish out what you can't take!"

Despite his best efforts, Terriermon is thrown unceremoniously into the stream. Watching, Ruki shakes her head. "Boys."

Renamon barely suppresses a snort.

-

"It's up to you. I don't really mind. Anyway, it's just a one-off thing, right?"

"Yeah. You're sure about this?"

"Positive. Besides, the thought of it is kind of..."

"What, Ryo?"

"Kind of hot."

"...why are we together?"

"Because we have great sex?"

"We haven't and we don't, shut up."

"It's perfectly legal..."

"I always wondered why Mom warned me about dating older boys. Now I know why."

"It's because deep down, okay, maybe really deep down, we care about each other."

"Good answer."

"I know. AAARGH!"

"What?"

"Oh, you know, the usual, Monodramon's kicking my ass on the Nintendo 64 while I'm distracted talking to you."

"I'm probably wrong but isn't Nintendo 64 just a little bit...what did you call it...old school?"

"Juuust a little. Ru, you do listen when I console fanboy!"

"I have nothing better to do."

"Gee, thanks. Okay, I have to go; otherwise Monodramon is never going to let me live this down."

"Boys. When are you coming up?"

"I'll get back to you on that, but I will definitely be in town for your birthday. You doing anything for it?"

"Nah, I'd rather not have a big fuss over it."

"What about Jen? Surely there'll be at least one party..."

"He hasn't said anything."

"Monodramon! Right, really going now. Love you, Ru."

Ruki looks up at Renamon as she phases in. "I really wish he wouldn't always hang up after saying that."

-

"Changed my mind," Ruki informs Jen by way of greeting one morning.

"About...?" She merely raises her eyebrows in response. "Oh. What? Really?"

Ruki is of the opinion that he sounds a little too hopeful. "I did say 'anything'."

Jen tucks a loose strand of her hair back into her ponytail, conveniently so she can't see his eyes. "This is the product of a Ryo Consultation, isn't it."

"You say that with capital letters like it should have a TM superscripted on the end," observes Ruki. "But yes, it is."

"And what did he say?"

"He didn't mind, coz it's a one-off thing." Jen doesn't need to know what else Ryo said.

"Well," says Jen, lost for words.

"Not here," she hastens to add. "Actually, I can't think where, I just have a long string of 'not there's."

Suddenly Jen looks thoughtful. "I think I know a place. This afternoon?"

"Whatever."

-

It is very gray and very high up here. "You have really been spending too much time with Ryo."

"I don't spend any more time with him than you do," protests Jen, "and I hung around train stations too much long before I met him. You don't like it?"

"It's fine," Ruki sighs, leaning on a fence and looking down at the trains coming and going. "No one can see us here, right?"

"When I was little," Jen muses, "I ran an experiment to see how many people on the trains actually look up here. Precious few do."

"...you had way too much time on your hands."

Jen jams his hands in his pockets. "You have no idea."

She glances up at him with a bit of a glare. "Can we get this over with?"

"Er, okay."

But he's still hesitating. Fed up – he asks for something, she offers it to him, he doesn't take it – Ruki saunters forth, grabs him by the shoulders, and kisses him. It takes a moment for him to respond, and it's predictably sloppy with inexperience. She should have figured he learns fast, though, because he doesn't take long to catch on, and before she knows it, he's got his arms around her, and her hands are relaxing onto his chest, and—this has gone on long enough!

Pulling away, she raises an eyebrow. "Well, that was suitably awkward, let's not do that again."

"Yeah," Jen lets out slowly, rather too slowly for Ruki's liking. There's something odd in his eyes.

She tries to ignore it. "Why'd you even ask for a kiss of all things, anyway?"

If the 'yeah' was too slow, this is too fast, too casual, and comes out like an excuse. "To piss off Ryo."

Ruki gapes at him for a moment. "Well, next time you feel the need to challenge the alpha male, don't involve me."

He has the gall to look utterly bewildered. "Challenge the—what?"

Suddenly, Jen cracks up laughing.

"I don't even want to know," says Ruki, throwing her hands in the air and stalking off.

"See you tomorrow!" Jen chokes out between cackles.

A/N: Unfortunately the creepy coffee guy is a real person, is really married, and really said in an interview for a school magazine that girls from that school are the cutest. (He's not really Italian, though.) If only he was in Shinjuku and on Ruki's way to school every morning, instead of mine. Apparently he likes the three inch heels I adopted from my ex-girlfriend. I am just as disturbed as Ruki.
Aha, and yes; Ruki's birthday party in Runaway Locomon was Ryo's idea, if implemented by Juri.