The TATA Box
By Dragonflysky

I don't own Digimon. This oneshot is kind of a follow-up to Technical Difficulties. I love picking on poor Izzy and I wrote this story when I needed to review for my biology class. You can read this one without reading Technical Difficulties.

~~~~DGM~~~~

"Why do we have to learn this?" complained Davis as he dumped his textbook on the floor. Izzy picked it up distastefully and set it back before the junior goggle head.

"I don't know, just to graduate," he answered, the other boy completely missing the slight hint of mocking. Davis flopped back in his chair with an unhappy groan. Izzy bit back his response. Ken, someone much better suited to this task, had gone off to a soccer camp for a week. At first thought, the digidestined of knowledge was going to send him toward Joe, but one day and three panic attacks later, they ran the risk of having to send the poor digidestined of reliability to a psychologist.

"It'll be fine. Just pretend he's me," Tai had said as he clapped him on the shoulder. That wasn't any comfort at all.

"What is the start for the RNA transcription?" he asked. Davis stared at his notes in front of him as the words whirled around in his head like a rampaging Monocromon. He glanced outside.

"Why did it have to rain today?" he groaned as he flopped the top half of his body across the table.

"Because Imperialdramon blasted holes in the sky," Izzy muttered. Davis shot up, eyes wide.

"Oh my gosh! It makes total sense!" he put his hands to his cheeks in horror.

"No it doesn't Davis," Izzy sighed, wishing he'd known better about keeping his mouth shut. Davis slammed his hands down and stood up.

"But Izzy, what if-?"

"Sit down!" Izzy grabbed the boy by the sleeve and pulled him forcefully back into his chair. Davis looked like he was going to argue, but eventually slumped back in his original position.

"It's not my fault if the world floods for 4 days," Davis mumbled. Izzy restrained himself from hitting his head on the table.

"It's 40 days," he corrected. Davis looked at him, his face contorted in a look of disbelief.

"That long? Really Izzy, how dumb do you think I am?" he scoffed before going back to drawing in his notebook. Izzy looked out the window as well, aware that a quick escape would be impossible.

"Do you have your chart?" he asked. Davis let out a dramatic sigh.

"I had it! But that attack from that Tyranomon was like pow-" his hands flew up, one hand punched in front of him.

"-and I was like, 'oh no you don't Tyrannomon,'-" he waved his hands in front of his body.

"-and he was like roar and X-veemon was like 'V-Laser'-"

"Davis!" Izzy cut in. Davis froze, standing halfway, his hands out in an attempt to mimic his partner's attack.

"What?" he asked in both confusion and frustration.

"Your chart was destroyed, but not your notebook?" he asked. Davis rolled his eyes and dropped back in his chair.

"Why would I have my notebook?" he shot back as if Izzy's question was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. Izzy had to fight even harder not to snap back at the boy. Realization flit across Davis' face.

"You actually think I bring this stuff home?" he asked, incredulously.

"Yes," the holder of knowledge growled through gritted teeth. Davis burst out laughing and continued on for a long minute. Izzy let him go for a moment, wondering if there was a way he could strand the boy on Infinity Mountain.

"Sometimes Z, you really crack me up," the hysterical boy finally spoke.

"Z?" Izzy blankly returned. He wasn't sure he liked the grin on Davis' face.

"We're buds, ain't we? Buds have names for each other," he said happily.

"I've got a name for you," Izzy grumbled and forced his gaze down into the textbook.

"What was that?" Davis asked as he propped his elbows up on the table.

"The 'start point', if you will, is signaled by a specific sequence," Izzy replied, pointing to the diagram that was in front of them. Davis clamped his mouth shut stubbornly, obviously not happy with the turn of conversation.

"All these lines look the same," the younger digidestined threw his arms in front of him dramatically and laid his face on the book.

"I'm sorry I don't come prepackaged with Crayola," Izzy growled lowly. Davis shot up and thumped Izzy hard on the back.

"It's ok Z, we can't all be as perfect as me," he said with a wide grin. Etemon, to Izzy, wasn't beginning to look so bad.

"You have crayons?" he asked, ignoring the complete butchering of his name. Davis let his head fall back in frustration.

"I did, but Tyrannomon was like pow-"

"Ok Davis, I think I got the idea," Izzy cut him off by putting his palm over Davis' mouth. A second later…

"Urgh, Davis! That is completely unsanitary," he cried out as he wiped saliva off on his pants. Davis grinned.

"And Jun said it wouldn't work on anybody else. Easiest 5 bucks I've ever made," he crossed his arms triumphantly. Izzy half debated burning his pants later tonight….

'They are my favorite pair,' he thought dejectedly.

"Z, I'm hungry," Davis exclaimed loudly as he shot up.

"Sorry, I'm not allowed to feed the animals," Izzy grumbled quietly.

"Dude, don't let Demiveemon hear you say that. It's not nice to talk about someone when they aren't here to defend themselves," he said. Izzy bit his lip…hard.

"Let's try one more time," he said and let out a shaky breath. Izzy grabbed Davis and pulled him back into his chair.

"The transcription is started with a specific sequence," he began.

"Bu-"

"The sequence is ATATTTT-"

"Iz-"

"-followed by an inconsequential string of approximately 25-30 nuleotides-" Izzy plowed through, his voice growing steadily louder with each interruption.

"Hey-"

"However, the start point is labeled by the string of nucleotides that is not read-"

"RAMPAGING TYRANNOMON!" screamed Davis. Izzy effectively shut his mouth and glared at the gogglehead.

"The sooner you let me finish talking, the sooner you can go," he pointed out darkly. Not use to seeing a homicidal Izzy, Davis let out a nervous chuckle and sat back down.

"Sorry," he squeaked out. Izzy took a breath. Perhaps he could simply gloss over the end of this, saving them both the pain?

"The start point," he began, "is not labeled by the line that is being transcribed. So, instead of ATAT, the box is called universally," he took a deep breath, pronouncing the last two words slowly and clearly as it was the entire point of what he just said, "TATA box." Davis blinked and blinked again.

"TATA box?" he repeated. Izzy looked up in surprise from the text book he had been teaching out of. Had he truly done the impossible? Had Davis picked up any of that?

"Yes," Izzy confirmed. The younger boy's eyes began to gleam with a new spark.

"Uh…Davis?" asked Izzy almost nervously. He was positive he didn't like that look in the other boy's eye. Davis smiled widely and thumped Izzy hard on the back, almost sending his nose into the table.

"Z, you old sly dog," Davis grinned.

"Davis, what are you-"

"You could have said something," Davis interrupted. Izzy groaned and pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead.

"I've been saying the same things for hours," he said deadpanned.

"You didn't have to be so cryptic about it, gosh Z. I'll go get mine if you want," Davis ginned even wider, if that was possible.

"Cryptic?" Izzy asked, and regretted it a moment later when Davis howled with laughter.

"You're good at this, Z, " he said once he caught his breath again. Izzy fought the tick of annoyance that was developing in his eyes.

"Davis, I don't think you understand," Izzy explained without trying to lose his temper.

"Your "tata box"? Dude! I know what that means. Bodacious tatas, man. You've probably got a load of magazines in that bag of yours," Davis grinned. Izzy felt his face go pink.

"Davis! No. That's not what I-How could you-Have you been listening to me at all!" Izzy stuttered. Davis's eyes grew wide as he grasped something that he hadn't before.

"Izzy! Dude, I'm sorry. I didn't know that- Wow, I can't believe I'm so dense!" Davis cried out in an almost panic.

"Um, Davis?" asked Izzy, more confused than anything.

"Did'ya think we'd care? Cause like, we don't-I mean they won't," Davis was stumbling over his words as he tried to talk faster and faster.

"Davis?" Izzy tried to interrupt.

"Really! It's not a bad thing. It's not like people care anymore. I mean-Have you seen those Youtube videos?" Davis was talking faster, more panicked. His hands were waving about wildly.

"What videos?" Izzy asked, even though he knew he would regret it.

"Sassy Gay Friend!" Davis tapped his fingers together nervously. The implications of that answer took a moment to sink in…then another moment. Izzy could feel the heat slowly rising up his face.

"You. Think. I'm…" Izzy clipped each word, as if he could hardly believe what he was thinking. In a sharp movement, Izzy closed all his books and jerked his book bag off of the chair.

"First Sora, and now you?" he muttered as he turned to the door, trying to ignore how red his face probably was.

"Did I say something wrong?" asked Davis, wide-eyed and innocent. Izzy wouldn't look at him.

"Davis. I'm not-it's not-I can't believe-" he stuttered. Davis put a hand on the shoulder of the digidestined of knowledge.

"Really, dude. It's ok," he said, before recoiling slightly.

Diaboromon, delete me now, Izzy thought as he a hasty retreat to the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Davis as he bounded after him.

"I'm going to make out with my girlfriend," he said, as he exited and slammed the door behind him in Davis's face. It took another few seconds for that statement to fully process. Even down the block, Izzy could hear Davis's call. It echoed out the window and around a four block radius.

"YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND! AND DOES SHE HAVE ANY HOT COUSINS?" Izzy kept moving fast.

"IZZY! WAIT!"

The next day, Izzy threw the notebook he had accidently taken from Davis in Tai's face. Matt and Sora looked on from their seats next to him.

"Wha-?"

"Never again," Izzy cut Tai off with a growl before stomping back out of the room.

"What's that about?" asked Matt. Sora shrugged as Matt put an arm around her shoulder.

"I don't know," she replied, "he was grumpy last week too."

~~~DGM~~~~

There you have it. Poor Izzy. I give him so much grief. Again, I'm not dissing on homosexuals. I have a friend who everyone thought was homosexual even though he had this huge crush on his best friend. So when the three of us were together, she had brought one of her other friends along. Said friend asked the boy (my friend) if he was gay. I don't think I'll ever forget the face he gave her. It was absolutely priceless. Anyway, let me know. Review. Catch ya…