This was my gift for someone on Digimon Secret Santa 2017. Sorry for slipping in my favorite Adventure pair, it was inspired by a joke my friend made and I tried to use it.
"I just know he won't like this... I can hope he won't hate it at least." Taichi said, heading to the front of the store to check his items out.
Besides the previous year, where they were kind of hounded by Taichi's family on the details of their relationship, they didn't do much to celebrate the holidays besides eating a meal together in one of their digital worlds. It was an okay thing for the first couple holidays they spent together, until about a day later when Masaru said that he missed family dinners. This lead Taichi to try and make this year a little better by doing a gift exchange. Thankfully, Taichi though, it didn't take much to convince Masaru into it.
It was only after they separated and agreed to meet up later that he realized how difficult that this was going to be though. What do you give someone that's not afraid of physically fighting something at least 4 times their size? Not only that, but after dating this said person for the past few years, hates showing much emotion.
After some thinking, and about an hour of just randomly walking around a convenience store, Taichi decided on something kind of personal. It was more of how much Masaru would think its ridiculous.
As he walked out of the store, bag in hand and started walking to the meet up location, he heard a voice shout out from somewhere. "Hey, Tai!"
He stopped walking and looked around, wondering who called out to him. Were they even calling out to him? No one he knew shortened his name before.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see a short redhead with a smile on his face.
"Hey you. What did you get? Forget to buy someone a gift?"
"Uhh..." Taichi just stood there and just blinked for a few moments. Whoever this person was not only seem to know who Taichi was, but were rather causal to him. "Yeah, something like that... I'm sorry, people tend to tell me I'm not smart but... Do we know each other?"
The redhead just stared at him for a few seconds before laughing. "Oh man, I needed that. Very funny Tai."
Taichi started to frown, "I'm sorry, but I'm not joking. I really don't know who you are."
The guy seemed to stop laughing when he noticed that Taichi wasn't kidding around. He started to frown and was visibly upset by his words, "Wh... what's going on? Who are you then? Because you are certainly not Taichi."
"No, I am... I'm sorry, but I'm just as confused as you are... let me check something quick, okay?" Taichi asks. Seeing the redhead nod, he pulls out a small handheld device. He started typing and after a minute, read something that made him sigh, "Yup, that's the last time I let Masaru use this too. He entered the location wrong... Ugh, I guess I should be thankful we are in at least a human world."
"I... Uhh... what?"
Taichi started to chuckle and put away the device back into his bag, "Sorry for the confusion, what is your name?"
After taking a deep breath and shaking his head, trying to wrap his head around the situation, he replied "Koushiro Izumi."
"Nice to meet you Koushiro, sorry for the confusion. Want to go someone and sit down? I'm kind of hungry and I'm guessing you would like to know what's going on?" Taichi asks with an apologetic smile.
Koushiro gives a small smile back and nods, "Sounds good, I would like to know what you mean by 'a' human world."
XxXxXxXxX
"I hate this..." Masaru was muttering to himself, walking around aimlessly in a store. "Knew this was a bad idea."
He does actually like the idea, but he doesn't like the helpless feeling. The problem was that he couldn't find ANYTHING appropriate to give to Taichi. He was the only one that had access to the human world between them. If he wanted anything, it was easy enough to go get it.
That and he felt incredibly tacky receiving money from his boyfriend to get a gift FOR said boyfriend. Again, he could easily just get it himself if he wanted anything.
'It's the thought that counts,' Masaru could hear Taichi say inside his head. As much as Masaru would hate to admit it, he really did love his goggled idiot.
That also was a reason he was okay this this, seeing Taichi's smile. Things changed in him after the last Christmas with his parents. While feeling slightly harassed by Taichi's family, Masaru did admittedly felt a little nostalgic for a family get together. After mentioning that in passing, Taichi made it his goal for a while to use their transporter to get Masaru a visit back to his world.
They tried multiple times getting into Masaru's human world, but all were failed attempts. The gate was still closed. Masaru was the only one who wasn't torn up about the countless fails. He knew the risks of going into the digital world. Taichi was still upset after a year later, and wanted to do something special this year between them.
Thus we have Masaru, leaving yet another store empty handed, annoyed and trying to calm down. He went walking down the busy sidewalk, dread filling him. What if he just didn't find something he liked?'
"I knew I should have asked Zero if he knew of something Taichi would have liked," Masaru said, then realized that probably wouldn't have been a good idea. "I hope he doesn't expect something goo.."
He trailed off, noticing Taichi walking a little ways ahead. Masaru thought it was weird that he was wearing different clothes, but guessed that he just went home and changed or something.
Masaru increased his speed to catch up, noticing that Taichi was also empty handed as well. Was he having issues finding something as well?
"Yo, Goggles!", Masaru exclaimed, wrapping his arm around Taichi's shoulder. "Just left the folks place?"
"Uhh..." Taichi slowed down to a stop, confused. Whoever this person was knew who he was, and knew that he used to wear goggles. That and they felt comfortable enough to get really close to him, it was a little weird, "Yeah... I'm sorry, but... Do we know each other?"
Masaru gave him an annoyed look, "... Haha, funny. Sorry, but I'm having issues finding something. Are you having a hard time too?"
"Dude, I'm not joking, I... Really don't recognize you. Who are you?"
Masaru stopped and let go of Taichi, staring at him, "Are you saying you are not Yagami Taichi?"
"Yes I am but..."
"But what?"
"I'm being serious, I have no clue who you are."
"Why are you doing this? Are you telling me then that I'm just wasting my time looking for something for a total jerk?"
"Dude, calm down, and lets talk through this."
"Don't tell me to calm down! I'm not the one whose pretending I don't know who my boyfriend is!"
Taichi started looking around, noticing that they are drawing the attention of everyone on the sidewalk. People were whispering and recording their 'fight' on their phones, "Dude, seriously, just take a deep breath and calm down. I'm sure we can just talk this out respectfully. Plus... this is a little awkward. I don't really want to be outed by someone who isn't my boyfriend."
Masaru glares for a minute, then reluctantly nods and takes a deep breath.
People started to ignore the two, and went about their day again like nothing happened. Taichi let out a sigh of relief, "Ahh, good, that... really didn't help me out."
After feeling a little more relaxed, Masaru replied "Sorry, didn't mean to stress you out too... whoever you really are."
"Well, you seem to know me, which is kind of confusing. As well as know that I'm gay, so even more weirdness is at han..." Taichi trailed off, hearing his phone go off. He pulled it out and saw it was a text from Koushiro.
'Taichi, sorry for bothering you. Don't know if you are in town, but just giving you a heads up that someone might come up to you and claim to know you. I did the reverse a little while ago to someone who is you but is from a different world.'
Taichi read that over and over again, trying to wrap his head around that. He looked up and noticed that Masaru was also on some device, looking at a message he got.
"So, I'm guessing that you... got something too?"
Masaru looked up and nodded, "Yup, from my Goggles. Lets see... 'Hey Gloves, just to let you know, we are in the wrong world. Last time I let you set the coordinates, by the way. Ran into someone that knows the 'me' from this world, and we are talking at the McDonald's. Come over when you are ready.'"
"Goggles, and now Gloves? What is wrong with just calling each other by your real names?"
Masaru scoffed, "Sorry you don't like pet names. He likes wearing his goggles, I like fighting and punching. Have a problem?"
"No... just saying, its easier to shorten our names," Taichi said, smirking. "So, I don't know about you, but I would love to meet myself. Lets go see our boyfriends."
"Okay, lead the way," Masaru replies, nodding. The two started walking towards the fast food establishment, when a light bulb went off in his head. "WAIT! You are Yagami Taichi!"
Taichi gave him a weird look, "Yeah, and... what?"
"You are just what I need!"
XxXxXxXxX
About a hour later, and going a few places with his not boyfriend, Masaru and Taichi finally get to the meet-up location.
"I can't thank you enough for this, I just hope that he likes these," Masaru said, with wrapped gifts in a bag, and another bag of snacks. Turns out no matter what universe they went to, digimon love their food.
"Glad to help. You should be safe. If he is me, he probably would love it..." Tai said, shaking his head. "I'm already trying to wrap my head around the fact there is multiple digital worlds, let alone alternate worlds with different mes."
"Yeah, well, I hope you meeting my Goggles doesn't cause the universe to explode or something like that one guy stressed about in that one American movie."
"I didn't think about that... Oh well, I'm sure it's worth the risk!"
They enter the McDonald's, looking around and finally see their boyfriends sitting at a booth. Masaru walks up and sees his Taichi with a redhead, engaged in a game of Shogi on a laptop.
"... you guys are playing Shogi?"
Tai walked up, confused at the sight as well. "Wait, what?"
Goggles was focused on the screen, finally making his move, "You two took too long to get here."
"Well, I'm hungry, so I'm going to go order something..." Masaru replied, confused at the sight.
Tai nodded and places their bags next to their boyfriends, "Me too."
"Hmhmm," Koushiro responded, intensely focused on the screen.
The Agu-pair just looked at each other and shrugged, walking to place their orders.
"Since when did I know how to play Shogi? I only ever seen Kou get that serious playing Shogi or Go against someone is Ken... another brainiac."
"My Goggles is a bit of an airhead sometimes. Though, I would like to think he is more tactical than Tohma is." Masaru said, before placing his order, followed by Tai.
"A genius from your world?"
"Hmm, I guess you can say that."
They wait until their food is ready and walk back to the table.
The table is quiet for about a half hour, the Agu-pair were making small chat after eating, while watching the game in progress.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Masaru whispers.
Tai shrugs, "Not really, board games in general aren't what I'm really good at. Let alone ones that require strategy."
"I only ask because this game was going for about..." Masaru pulls out his phone and checked the time, at least forty minutes at this point. How long does this game take?"
"No clue, but I've seen Kou and Ken go at it for about an hour and a half one time."
After twenty more minutes pass by, Masaru started to doze off while Tai decided to get refills on food and drinks for them. While waiting for his order, he heard a voice shout something out, and who it came from shocked him.
"Checkmate!"
XxXxXxXxX
"I still can't believe you kept beating Koushiro at Shogi," Masaru said, laughing.
"Neither could they," Taichi replied, chuckling at the memory of Koushiro's reaction after the first loss. "That was a fun visit, we should do that again sometime."
They spent about another hour having a interesting double date. Eating mediocre food, chatting, and played some games together on Koushiro's laptop. Including a rematch or two of Shogi, from a Koushiro who refused to admit defeat.
"You're lucky I'm not the jealous type, spending most of your time with Koushiro. Sitting side by side, playing with each other and everything," Masaru joked.
Taichi smirked, teasing Masaru a little, "I don't know, I think me and Zero could take on Taichi and his Agumon, and I can have Koushiro all to myself. He is rather cute."
"No need to be so mean to me, Goggles," Masaru said, pretending to be upset.
Taichi gave him a small smile and hugged him, "You are the only one for me, Gloves."
"That better be the case," Masaru said with a grin, giving a half hug.
After the separated from the other pair they went back to Taichi's digital world. They gave the bag of snacks to Zero and Agumon as an apology for spending the entire day away. The two made quick work through the snacks and shortly afterwards fell asleep at the camp they had set up.
"So... want to exchange gifts now?" Taichi asks nervously. "I know it's not quite Christmas yet, but since when have we done things normal anyway?"
"Sure," Masaru nodded.
They went and grabbed their gifts they had, and sat by the fire they have going.
"Okay, you go first, because I'm not sure if you will even like this," Masaru said, handing his gift over to Taichi. "To be honest, I had a little help from the other Taichi."
Taichi looked at the badly wrapped gift and smiled, "I'm sure I will love it." He unwrapped his gift and grinned when he saw the contents. "Soccer equipment!"
"Yeah, turns out other you loves his soccer. So he knew where the best place to get good quality soccer equipment was."
Taichi laughed, "I love watching soccer games, but never actually got around to play myself. My friends never seemed interested in learning."
"Sorry I got you something so... useless then," Masaru said, chuckling sadly.
"No! Masaru... you could have gotten me a socks and I would have loved it," Taichi said, giving Masaru yet another big hug. "I always wanted to play with someone, even if it is just casual childish way. Would you be willing to mess... you know, no matter how I word this, its going to sound dirty"
Masaru laughs, "Yes, I would love to play with you and your ball... and I guess we can play some soccer as well."
Taichi just shakes his head with a smile. He was used to Masaru and his antics at this point.
He leaned over and grabbed his bag that had his gift, "So, I... I know you won't use these. It's more a badge than practicality anyway for me even... I..."
Taichi shook his head and just handed the box over.
Masaru took the box and opened it up. He saw the contents and his eyes widened, "You got me some goggles?"
"Yeah, I know that's my thing, but... well, my goggles are specail to me because they... they were given to me from my grandpa, and... they were a symbol of courage. It's not so much I think you need it, but... you certainly deserve your own pair. I got help to change the band to orange since it seems to be your color."
"Hmm, you're right... I don't need these things to show I have courage. I actually punch things to have Agumon evolve. Plus we can't both be goggles."
Taichi lets out a small forced laugh. He knew that Masaru wouldn't like it, but he gave him goggles anyway. What was he thinking? He looks down at the wood burning in front of him, "Yeah, I know, sorry for getting you something rather dumb the more I think on it. Thank you for the practical gift, and sorry I wasn't able to get you something nice as..."
Taichi was cut off by Masaru, who decided to glomp him, knocking them over on the ground. Looking up, after getting his bearings again, he noticed Masaru leaning over him, a huge smile on his face, and actually wearing the goggles.
"Dummy, did you really think I hated them that much? Come on, give me some credit here. I knew how much yours meant to you, you already told me that story about your friend."
"So... you like them?"
"Well, I would be lying if I said I think I'm able to pull them off, but..." Masaru trailed off, giving him a small smile. He started to lean down to give Taichi a kiss, "Yes, I love my goggles that my Goggles gave me."
Taichi returned the smile, and started leaning up to meet Masaru's lips.
After a few minutes of kissing, they started feeling a little uncomfortable on the ground and pulled away.
They re-orientate themselves to a sitting position, and Masaru's wraps his arm around Taichi's shoulder.
"So... do they do anything funny, like allow the wearer to see secret digital stuff, or see people naked or something?"
Taichi laughs and leans on Masaru, "No, those are mine, I only got you the basic model. Be a good boy this next year, and I'll see what I can do to get you that upgrade."
The two stay like that for a while longer, eventually passing out. Both happy that this year, Christmas was very unique and special.