Author's Note: WHAT AM I DOING AT MIDNIGHT NOT SLEEPING? (actually, midnight is kinda early for me nowadays...not good. I like sleep).
I've been rewatching old episodes of Digimon Adventure and Adventure 02, just for the hell of it, as they were the series I watched as a kid (as well as Tamers. They never showed Series 4 over here, at least not that I'm aware of), and I'm delighted to find that I appreciate and like it a lot more than I did ten years ago (holy CRAP, TEN YEARS?). I've been watching more of 01, since I can't really remember as much about it as 02 (I was only 6 at the most, remember), and I realised that of all the Digidestined, Izzy and Joe were my faves, especially Joe. Frigging Joe, WHAT A LEGEND. Because willingly leaping off buildings and rooftops in order to help someone is BADASS, okay? I'd like to think that I'm like Joe, not because I'm too sensible in class and with popular people, but because I'd like to think that my friends can count on me no matter what. Can anyone of my friends verify this? Or am I deluded?
Yes, it's a Izzy/Joe fic. Why, I don't know. This random thought came into my mind, the idea that if you're as curious a teenager as Izzy is, you're going to get to a point where you're going to be curious about things that maybe you shouldn't be curious about...also, it's the idea that "Trust me" are the two sweetest and most empowering words in the english language (at least in my view), and that trust is, in my mind, one of the most essential things in life. And yet, in literature and anime, it's not as elaborated on as the powers of love or friendship, even though, without trust, neither of these things would exist. So yeah. I got the image of the events in chapter 1, but then I realised I wanted to carry on with the story, and have a second chapter planned based in 02, when they're older and supposedly wiser. So this could be read as a oneshot, but I do intend to continue it. I realise I ended up going on a tangent with this, but trust me, the short/tall thing will come up in chapter two. Please bear with me on that. I'm probably going to edit the crap out of this story, because it's quite crappy compared to my other stuff.
BTW, The title is a trope that can be found on , and, long story short, it's about how sometimes curiosity can be good, but other times it can be really, REALLY bad depending on the setting (good in sci-fi, bad in fairy tales, etc). Izzy is listed as one of three examples of it being a good thing. And I just thought it would be a cool and funny title.
Izzy, Joe and everyone else in Digimon belong to...whoever Digimon belonds to, I don't know who. Ah well, I guess I'll find out when they sue me.
Sometimes Izzy hated being so short.
He knew that he shouldn't be so hung-up about it, but it was true. He was intelligent, sure, but he sometimes felt that if he were taller, he could be taken more seriously. It's easy to ignore someone if you can't see them very well, isn't it? While the group did take him seriously, sometimes he had to speak up a bit louder to be seen. He hated that.
It would also help to be able to see who he was talking to without having to look up. The only person he didn't have to look up to see in the group was about three or four years younger than him. Everyone else, all the same age, all less intelligent, towered over him. It annoyed him. Especially when he was talking to Joe.
He looked over to see where Joe was sitting and frowned slightly. There was no denying, he was the tallest. Even sitting down, the dark haired boy was a head taller than him, seeming so impossibly tall and skinny. Only a year separated them, so why was there so much difference between them? What was it that made Joe so tall and Izzy...not so tall? Genetics? Environment? What? He wanted to know.
Looking over his spectacled friend, he noted that, while he was taller than the others, it was an awkward kind of tall. For his height, he was incredibly thin, and he was always so clumsy on his feet, as if his brain couldn't find them anymore because of the sudden distance between them. Izzy wondered, would he grow like that in a years' time? What does that feel like? Should he ask? Or would that be a little odd?
He hadn't realised that he was staring until Joe caught his gaze and blushed with embarrassment.
"What're you staring at me for? Izzy?" he said, stumbling over his words slightly. Izzy snapped himself out of it and tried to give an excuse. It was a shame he was such a bad liar.
"Well...hahaha...you see...see here, the thing is, there's...there's something I wanted...to show you! Yes, on my laptop here! About the more dangerous digimon in this area! See? And I was just about to say something when I...got distract-no, erm, got thinking about something else! But I was still looking in your direction, so yeah..."
Joe didn't say anything, and if he caught on to the lie (which Izzy was sure he did. He knew he was bad at making things up,) then he didn't show it, for his face took on an interested look.
"Really? Can I see?" he asked, smiling for once. Izzy smiled back, knowing that Joe always liked to be prepared. He suddenly remembered that his lie actually worked out for once, seeing as that was what he was looking at before he got distracted anyway. Izzy had turned back to the laptop to bring the page back up when he suddenly realised something that made him nervous, although he didn't know why.
They were completely alone.
Izzy could hear that Tai, Sora, Kari and TK were still playing football in the next clearing over, and Mimi's voice giggled as she watched them. Matt's harmonica music flowed across the air, even further away than the game, and the snores of their partners could be heard from miles around. Sitting behind the small outcrop of trees, the bark from the log digging in to their legs, Joe and Izzy were the only ones there. And suddenly Izzy felt his chest somehow lighten and a fluttery feeling start in his stomach.
This feeling...I wonder what it is? It's not nerves...it's like being excited, but it's not. What is it, and what's causing it? Interesting. Very...interesting, he thought, trying to be as analytical as possible while his insides turned and twisted. Even when it came to himself, to how other people felt, Izzy had sustained his hunger for knowledge for so long, he had no clue how to stop thinking like it. If he could learn enough, he could fix it.
He clicked the start-up menu and brought the database back on screen. Bringing back the page that concerned their current area – a lush green canopy of trees, which would (according to the laptop) eventually give out into a frozen wasteland – he brought up the list of digimon that were likely to appear in the area. He divided them into two lists with a few taps of his fingers.
"Okay, this list is of all the digimon that we've seen already that we could see again," he explained, eyes turned to the screen. He felt Joe lean over a little to see over his shoulder, but given his eyesight, he'd probably have to move closer still. Why did that thought make Izzy's heart skip?
Interesting.
He couldn't tell, staring at his screen, what Joe's expression was. Even though it wasn't important, Izzy felt himself want to look up. Why? He half-smiled, mulling over the bizarre reactions his body gave to his friend's closeness.
"Hmm. I see. What about the other list?" Joe said, sounding almost as curious as the small red-head. Izzy smile deepened as he saw the trait he recognised so well in himself evident in his friend's tone of voice.
He clicked on the other list, knowing Joe wouldn't be interested in what they already knew. He brought it up, and then decided to himself that when he next spoke, he'd look up and talk to him. To be polite. That's what he told himself, anyway.
He felt his friend shift just as he looked up, about to speak again, but he realised too late that he timed it wrong.
"These are the-"
An accident. That's what Izzy called it when his friend, who's so tall and thin and clumsy, leant over, overestimating just how short he was. It's what he called it when Joe's hand supporting his weight slips and Izzy turned to look up at him at the same time. It's what he called it when the sudden movement caused their lips to crash together, awkward and unwilling, and when there was a brief moment when time stood still, their hearts pounding as they processed what was happening and why. It's what they called it when they suddenly broke away, minds reeling, faces pink as Joe blurted out an apology and Izzy accepted it, reiterating the point: It was an accident.
They sat in silence for a minute or two, simply thinking. Izzy was confused and not a little fascinated by the way his heart pounded, both heavy and light, the way his face felt so warm, and he wondered why this was. It was all he could think at that moment: What is this? Why is this? I need to know...to fix it. But then he suddenly thought: Joe. What's he thinking right now? That's...more important. I'll fix it later.
"...Joe? Are you alright?" he asked tentatively. He looked over and found that his friend was staring at the floor, a strange expression on his face. For once, Joe's normally readable face seemed closed, clouded with a look that he couldn't decipher. The closest he could get to was...sadness? But then that wasn't it either. It was like all the life had gone from him, and now he just seemed tired.
But at the sound of Izzy's voice, he came back to life again. He looked up, and for a moment he looked stricken, hurt somehow. But then his normal face, a more familiar, worried expression, went in place, and Izzy felt a little relieved. Those looks don't belong with Joe. He's too...Joe-like to be sad, Izzy thought, almost smiling at the thought.
"Izzy, I'm really, really sorry! I just misplaced my hand, and I – I didn't mean – I'm sorry!" he stuttered, face going crimson again. Izzy couldn't help but smile. Still the same old Joe.
"Joe, relax. It was an accident, and as...embarrassing as it was, it's not that big of an issue. No harm done," he said, his voice calm and (he liked to think) soothing. But then a troubling thought came to mind.
No harm done...right? They were still friends, right? Or maybe...
"...Joe? Let's...let's not mention this to anyone, though," he added, suddenly unsure of himself. Something in his tone of voice must have alerted the older boy, because when Izzy looked up, Joe was looking at him strangely, his expression an odd mix between concern and compassion. The young genius couldn't face that look. It was too kind for him. But it was when he looked away and began to close down his laptop, his face burning and his mind troubled, that Joe spoke up.
"Izzy. You are my friend. Nothing will change that," he said. Izzy's eyes darted up again, and it was then he saw the serious expression that matched his words. He had never heard his dark haired friend use that tone of voice before, and it would be years until he heard him use it again. He tugged on the red-head's shoulder to force him to look him in the eye for once, to hold his gaze until the message got through. Izzy averted his eyes.
"...I know it was an accident, Joe, but...won't things be weird? You...won't like me," he mumbled, hoping he wouldn't hear, hoping he'd be ignored. A small laugh made him snap back to attention.
He'd never seen eyes like it; so understanding, and yet so strong, as if he were willing to listen to any secret, no matter how dark. They were fixed on him now, and Joe spoke again, using that rare, gentle tone that Izzy absorbed so thoroughly, and his words sunk in so easily that the prodigy could do nothing but believe him completely.
"Before I met you guys, I was the one who was never liked by anyone. You're one of my first – and to be honest, only – friends, and nothing will change between us. Trust me."
Trust me. Who would have thought that two words could be co calming, so reassuring? As the taller boy said them, a bizarre serenity washed over the red-head, and he realised that he'd be able to trust this person with anything. Nothing had changed. After a moment of stunned silence, Izzy grinned.
"Thanks, Joe! I'm sorry...forget I said that, okay?" he said, his earlier doubts completely gone. The older boy saw that his words had done the job, and he grinned and let go of Izzy's shoulder. He moved slightly to look over the computer wizard's shoulder again, his smile still there.
"So, what was on that other list again?"
And so the incident passed. Neither of them told anyone else, but it didn't matter, as Joe really was right. If anything, Izzy just trusted him more, knowing that nothing could phase him. But ever since then, the bearer of Curiosity found that sometimes, that drive for information was a bad thing, especially as he couldn't turn it off: What was that feeling, and why was it there? What caused it...? I need to know.
He found something that, no matter how much he learned, he could never fix it.
