A/N: Written for the Secret Santa Gift Exchange 2016 (over at the DFC) for SmolPidge. Sorry for it being so late; fluff really isn't my forte. :D But hope you enjoy anyway!

Also written for the

Becoming the Tamer King Challenge, Silver Tamer task 1 – write about a promotion
Diversity Writing Challenge, c40 – write a fluffy piece

A Basket of Buns

'I guess I shouldn't be that surprised,' Takato grins, feet swinging free as he say sideways on his chair. Ruki, in comparison, is sitting on the edge of the table and the only reason she hasn't been told off yet is because all the adults are in the kitchen – and the Matsuda bakery's kitchen is of a decent size and rather busy. 'You'd hate this otherwise.'

'It was a compromise,' Ruki replied. 'Works out well. We get to hang out. 'kaa-san can learn how to cook some more from your parents and the photographers get their photos – and your parents get some free publicity too. Win-win.'

'Except what have I got to do with this?' Jenrya asks, slightly exasperated. 'You called me like you'd found the gate to the Digital World or something.'

'We've already found that,' Ruki reminds. 'We're still waiting on Yamaki and the others to expand it.'

They fall quiet for a bit. The excitement that had exploded out of them the moment they'd seen the portal with their own eyes was quickly settling. The portal had proved too small and Hypnos and the Monster Makers, at the moment, hadn't gotten anyway with trying to expand it.

'I thought it'd be nice to hang out,' Ruki says, after the silence. 'And since I was coming over to Takato's anyway…'

Jenrya waves a hand. 'It's fine,' he says. 'It's not like I was complaining or anything. Though if you want to put it as the win-win situation, I do get free bread.'

'There's that,' Takato shrugs, 'if you don't get tired of eating free bread every day.'

They fall into their usual banter easily enough, though there are still echoes of silence where the digimon would chime in and they're all too wary of that.

They'd been so hopeful, too, when they'd found that portal shimmering with digital light.

And so disappointed when even a baby digimon wouldn't have been able to fit through, let alone a human of any shape or size.

'My parents made some Guilmon buns for us,' Takato says suddenly, chair scraping as he stands. 'I'll go get it.'

And he does, and he's back with a steaming basket the likes of which Guilmon would have drooled over if he were here.

They take one each and nibble on them. It's too late for breakfast (since they've already had it) and too early for lunch, but the Guilmon buns have own charm. Though it turns out Takato's parents have thrown in some Terriermon and Renamon buns as well, in honour of their guests.

Ruki realises it when she's only her second bun and her eyes grow sad.

Jenrya and Takato see the Renamon shaped bun and dig through the basket before they find a Terriermon one as well. And, for a moment, the three of them just stare at the faces of their partners.

'Your parents have good memories,' Jenrya says, finally. 'Though I think Terriermon would still find something to complain about.'

'Or he'd just say Momentai and leave the complaining to Impmon,' Ruki snorts, finally taking a bite of her bread. 'But your parents do have good memories.'

Takato shrugs. 'It's not a good thing when they can list every wrong thing you've done since you were born,' he points out, and his friends laugh. 'Hey!'

'All parents do that,' Jenrya shrugs, 'and older siblings too. You're lucky you don't have any of those.'

'Maybe,' says Takato, 'but it does mean my parents are hyper-aware of all the trouble I get into. Or maybe that's more to do with your father being a Monster Maker.'

'Maybe,' Jenrya admits, and it's true that Takato's and Ruki's parents are far less thrilled about their involvement with the digimon. 'By the way, you guys replaced the van?'

Takato snorts at that. 'Seeing as the D-reaper all but swallowed the last one – but Juri's father helped pay for it. He insisted and threatened to have an entire van wrapped up in gift-paper if my parents refused. It was cheaper for everyone involved to just accept.'

Jenrya and Ruki laugh at that as well. They've seen Katou-san's stubbornness, but they know he means well as well. Their parents are stubborn too, in their own ways. In fact, out of all of them, Takato's father is probably the least stubborn.

They discuss the van a little. The new features. The colour. The different colours and options they could have gone for – including the D-reaper's colour but they agreed that'd be too creepy for turnabout. And then Ruki mentioned a future photo-shoot that'll have her mother astride a motorcycle and they turn to Beelzebumon's ride and laugh at the image of Ruki's mother holding a pair of double-barrelled guns while riding a motorcycle.

'Can she even ride a motorcycle?' Takato asks.

Ruki shrugs. 'She couldn't cook until a few months ago, and I've got your parents to thank for that.'

'Not my father,' Jenrya laughs. 'He can't cook either, though I think that's more a case of him being too busy studying things to take the time. If he's working on something, he'll even forget to eat the food.'

'Think we should take him some buns?' Takato asks, eyeing the basket. It really is too big for a morning snack but it's too touching a gesture to dismiss. And Jenrya's father will appreciate digimon-shaped buns as well as they do. Perhaps more since they're his life's work, so to speak. When Jenrya protests, he points out that they're a bakery and always have bread lying around. 'It's how I kept Guilmon fed,' he says sheepishly. 'My parents didn't miss the bread… but they didn't miss how often I'd go to the park instead of doing my homework as well.'

'I had the opposite problem,' Ruki sighs. 'Renamon isn't nearly as big an eater, but my mother's so fussy she'd know if there was even a single loaf of bread missing. Granted, loafs of bread last a lot longer at my place because we actually put things between them.'

'We eat sandwiches too,' Takato protests, 'just…sometimes. And you have to admit, buns are far yummier than plain bread.'

'And yet you get tired of said buns.' Ruki raises an eyebrow.

'Of course I do. I eat them every day.'

'Don't let Shiuchon hear you say that,' Jenrya laughs. 'She'll think you want to eat her hair.'

And then Lopmon would try to explain and keep the peace and Hirokazu and Guardromon would tease her and Ryo would ruffle her hair while Monodromon poked at everything and anything and Guilmon probably would try to eat Shiuchon's hair even if her pigtails weren't long enough to make into buns…

But that's a quiet dream that isn't reality just yet.

In the kitchen, the voices of Takato's parents and Ruki's mother drift through. Jenrya's phone sings and Takato and Ruki nibble at their buns silently –

And then they jump at Jenrya's exclamation and gabbles that they can barely make out.

'What is it?' Ruki ventures, once he's hung up and scrambling to his feet, abandoning his half-eaten bun.

'The gate's wider.' His face looks like it's about to burst with his grin and it's no wonder, really. Identical grins grow on Takato's and Ruki's faces as they process that. 'Not wide enough to go through yet but it's wider. They've made progress.'

'Geez.' But Ruki's grin and her voice, trembling with excitement, give her away. 'You made it sound like we can actually fit through it this time.'

'But if they can make it a little big, they can make it a lot big,' grinned Takato. 'Right?'

And they got to packing the buns and heading for the new Hypnos office because those guys probably would forget to eat in their excitement. And they didn't exactly need to be in the Matsuda's dining room for what the adults were doing.