A/N: Alright, so this story was written for a fanfiction challenge of pairings, and this one happened to fit Izzy and Mimi. I think I might just leave it as a one-shot, so I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading!
-LivingTheSPNLife
"Gee, Izzy, think you bought Mimi enough flowers?" Davis remarked as he took a seat in the auditorium the Digidestined gang had walked into.
Izzy looked down at the three dozen bouquets of pink lilies, sunflowers, and daisies he held in his hands, blushing slightly. "Well this is her third pageant," Izzy justified, "In honor of the saying 'third time's a charm' I decided to buy her three bouquets. It's a good luck charm."
Tai chuckled. "And of course they're bouquets you preordered to make sure the flower shop would be carrying her favorite flowers for when we flew in."
Izzy's face reddened at Tai's comment. It was true; Izzy had called in the order days ago. The truth was, he had a crush on Mimi. It had been a year since the Digidestined had defeated MaloMyotismon, and Izzy had spent it talking to Mimi via video chat each night for hours. He had never thought he'd crush on his fashionista friend, but talking to her so long had changed his mind.
"What, I can't be a supportive friend?" Izzy countered, not quite ready to admit to everyone his crush. He took a seat next to Tai. "Why are we talking about this, anyway? It's about to start."
Tai smiled at Izzy, shaking his head. "Denial is not a good look on you my friend."
"Welcome, everyone, to the 2014 Miss New York City Pageant!" announced a woman in her late twenties, her long, strawberry blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a skin-tight silver sparkle dress that ended at her knees and flattered her curvy figure. "Now, before we get started with our main event, let us introduce to you our contestants!"
Twenty-five girls entered the stage, their ages ranging from thirteen to nineteen. Mimi was the seventh one to walk on, her long, blue ball gown dress sparkling as she strolled by.
Tai elbowed Izzy's side gently, a devilish grin on his face as he tilted his head to point out Mimi.
Izzy sighed and shook his head, ignoring Tai as the announcer, Lacy as she called herself, introduced the contestants and judges. As each name was said, the girl would wave and walk off stage to prepare for the evening gown portion of the night.
"How long do these things run?" Matt asked, looking down at his phone. "I have a term paper to finish later."
Izzy side glanced at Matt, raising an eyebrow. "You mean the five paged one that's due in two days?"
Matt pursed his lips and nodded, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah… my band and I have had rehearsals all this week so I didn't have time to finish it."
Tai shook his head. "Didn't you have Wednesday free?"
T.K. snickered, apparently having heard the conversation. "He had a date Wednesday night."
Matt blushed slightly, turning to his brother, speaking in a low tone. "T.K., I told you it was -"
"You told Mom and Dad you were studying, but I know it was a date," T.K. retorted, chuckling at Matt's expression.
"And now," Lacy spoke, "We have Mimi Tachikawa!"
Izzy tuned out the two brothers and looked up to see Mimi strut down the stage as if it were a catwalk in a strapless, dark pink, mermaid gown that flared out in ruffles. Her freshly bleached blond hair was wrapped in a bun with two curled strands framing her face. Izzy felt breathless as he watched her walk, her smile lighting up the room. When she stopped and posed at the end, she blew a kiss at Izzy to acknowledge that she'd seen him, which made his heart race.
"I've never seen Izzy so focused on something that wasn't a computer screen," Davis said, earning a round of laughs from the other Digidestined.
"Ha ha, Davis, hilarious," Izzy replied, sitting back in his chair and resting his hands in his lap as the rest of the girls sauntered across the stage in their gowns.
The next portion was a talent contest, which led to a lot of singing, some dancing, a couple magic tricks, hula hooping, juggling, joke telling, shadow puppets, tumbling, and contortionism. Mimi stuck with her strength: singing. Her song of choice was Let It Go, some song from one of Mimi's favorite movies that she had gushed to Izzy about. She had played it for him a few times, and it seemed that she was doing the song justice, earning a round of applause when she finished.
For the final portion of the evening, each of the young ladies was interviewed, asked several questions about how they would like to change the world, how they feel on certain political issues, etc. Izzy tuned out for most of it, only listening to Mimi since he knew she'd overanalyze her performance and ask him his thoughts on her answers.
When the final girl walked off stage, Matt sighed in relief. "I'm so glad it's almost over. I love Mimi, but I think I'd rather be working on my paper," he said, leaning forward in his chair as all twenty-five girls were called back to the stage to announce the winner.
Izzy's leg bounced in anticipation as he waited for Lacy to speak with the judges and grab a piece of paper. His gaze moved to Mimi, who had changed back into her blue, sparkly ball gown dress and stood tall, peeling off her nail polish like she always did when she was nervous.
"Third place goes to Taylor Peterson," Lacy announced, placing a sash with Taylor's place number around her as a short, slim girl with chestnut colored hair and blue eyes stepped forward, lifting her white, satin gown as she walked so she wouldn't trip. Once Taylor received her sash and returned to the line of girls, Lacy turned back to the crowd and revealed the runner up. "Patricia Rodriquez, congratulations!"
Patricia, a tall, curvy girl with dark brown hair that cascaded down her back in ringlets stepped forward, tightening the black bow on the back of her dress. Lacy placed the sash over Patricia's strapless red dress and faced the audience, a grin on her face as she picked up a tiara.
Izzy leaned forward in his seat, positive that there was a chance Mimi could win first place. She wanted the prize so bad; Izzy didn't know what Mimi would do if she didn't win this pageant.
"And the winner is…" Lacy paused, teasing the audience and making Izzy hold his breath before she said, "Sarah Higgins! Let's give her a round of applause everyone!"
Izzy clapped his hands slowly, not thinking about anything other than Mimi. He could see her biting her lip, willing herself not to cry in front of all these people. She smiled kindly, hugging the girls around her before racing off stage.
"Where's she going in such a hurry?" Davis wondered, standing up and stretching.
Izzy sighed and stood up, handing the flowers he had bought to Tai. "I'm going to check on her, I'll be back."
Tai nodded in understanding, placing a hand on Izzy's back and offering a warm smile. "Good luck, Izzy. I hope she's alright. Tell her we'll be waiting for her outside."
Izzy nodded, returning the smile before he took off in the direction Mimi had run off in. He ran across the stage, passed the dressing rooms, and outside to the back of the building, where he found Mimi sitting on the steps, hugging her legs as she cried.
Izzy sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her, bringing her close to him.
Mimi didn't move at first, but after another minute of crying, she wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his shoulders.
For a while they didn't speak. Izzy simply petted her hair, clutching her tightly against his chest and telling her everything would be okay.
"I'm sorry," Mimi sobbed, taking a shaky breath and moving her head to look up at Izzy, her makeup smeared.
Izzy's eyebrows creased together. "Why are you sorry, Mimi?" he asked, wiping away her tears.
Mimi took in another shaky breath before answering. "I made you all fly here to see me fail." She started sobbing some more, hugging Izzy tightly. "I'm sorry you wasted your time. I just don't understand why I didn't place this time. I won runner up last time; I should have won this one!"
Izzy stroked her back, his heart aching. He hated seeing her sad; this was Mimi, she was supposed to be happy. "Mimi, believe me when I say -"
"That they're dumb?" Mimi finished, wiping away more tears and makeup. She shook her head, chuckling bitterly. "They run these pageants all the time, Izzy. I think they know when they see someone who's actually pretty and talented."
Izzy shook his head, his hands moving to her shoulders to make her look at him. "Mimi, don't you ever say that again, alright? You are beautiful and talented. I'm sorry those judges couldn't see that."
Mimi shook her head, sniffling. "I'm a mess, Izzy. My makeup wasn't how I had wanted it for tonight, the makeup I did do is running, and I was off key during parts of the song I sang. No wonder the judges didn't pick me."
Izzy moved a strand of hair behind Mimi's ears, hating that she viewed herself the way she did. "Why do you care what the judges think?"
Mimi sniffled again, blinking away some of her tears as she stared into Izzy's eyes. "Because they… I-I don't really know…"
"Shouldn't you value what your friends think of you more than some judge?"
"But if some judge doesn't think I'm pretty enough out of twenty-four other girls, how can I know that you guys think I'm good enough to be your friend?" Mimi countered, sobbing again.
Izzy sighed. "I care about you Mimi," he spoke softly, cupping her chin and staring into her amber eyes. "To me, you're beautiful, funny, caring, and a million other things."
Mimi swallowed, her eyes watering. "I-is that true?" she asked, speaking softly. "But-"
Izzy leaned forward and kissed her, shutting her up.