A.N.: Okay, so I suddenly realised that I wrote four fics for OTP week last year and never actually posted them here at all? I'm not sure how I missed that one to be honest. But, seeing as I'm in a bit of a posting drought at the moment thanks to other projects, I figured now was as good a time as any to drop them here (and also prove that I didn't fall off the face of the Earth).
There are four one-shots in this collection, each with a different prompt and pairing (because I really can't ever pick an actual OTP). First up we have Platonic/Friendship! I won't lie, I actually picked two names more or less out of a hat for this, because come on. All these kids are friends. Any given two make good friends. So here's a Daisuke/Sora bonding moment, full of fluff and lightheartedness!
A Good Game
Daisuke would always consider the summer of 2003 to be among the better ones. School hadn't yet gotten all that hard, the digital world was peaceful, and everyone was still together as a group. All twelve of them, with no worries greater than being home in time for tea, and keeping up with the almost endless appetites of their partners. The days were warm and dry, each one picture perfect and filled with friends. Honestly, what more could anyone ask for?
It was another picnic, this time in the digital world, and lunch was a happy, settling memory in Daisuke's stomach. The digimon had gorged themselves so thoroughly that most of them had fallen into a stupor, and the majority of the other Chosen were lazing about on the grass. Mimi looked as though she was actually asleep, but then he reckoned she had to be pretty jetlagged.
Still, the others had no such excuse, and he reckoned he was being pretty fair by waiting half an hour or so before asking if anyone fancied a game. The fact that only Taichi and Ken responded with anything other than a groan was something of a disappointment. It was hardly a game with only the three of them. He'd have turned to Takeru and dragged him over, willing or otherwise, but unfortunately Takeru had an iron-clad excuse: he'd twisted his ankle a few days before and was under doctors' orders to rest. With Jou there, that meant he really was resting.
"How are we gonna do this then?" he said, getting to his feet and grabbing the ball.
Taichi hrrrmed as he started stretching. "Well…" he said, tailing off with a half shrug.
"Oh, go on then," Sora said after a moment, getting to her feet with a sigh. "I'll even up the teams."
Daisuke blinked as she joined them. He hadn't really gotten to know Sora all that well until the last year, but he was pretty sure she played tennis, not soccer. Still, at least that meant she was more athletic, right? And four people made for an even-ish matchup, so he wasn't about to complain.
"All right," Taichi cried, grinning. Apparently he didn't have any concerns. "How did you wanna do this?"
Sora frowned. "Well, it's been a while…"
Daisuke wasn't sure how he felt about teaming up with Sora to play. On the one hand, she was three years his senior, and Taichi had been right that usually a match-up of older children against younger ones was unfair, but the fact of it was that even though Ken had lost a fair bit of his edge since last year, he was still a damn good player, and Sora was…well. Even she had admitted to being rusty, and Daisuke had no way of knowing what she'd been like as a player before that.
It wasn't that he disliked Sora. She was great—all of the older Chosen were, really. But this was soccer, and he couldn't deny that he played to win, where possible. Especially when Ken got that competitive glint in his eyes, and reminded him of their on-off rivalry on the sports field.
Then again, when Sora put down her sunglasses and wandered over, he realised that she was actually wearing shorts, and not a skirt for once. And as she turned away from Taichi and Ken, she offered him a conspiratorial wink.
"I'll go easy on you to start with if you like," Taichi was saying, but the moment he put the ball down between them Sora was away, snatching it backwards with the heel of her foot and passing it to Daisuke so fast he almost didn't have time to react. The fact that she stuck her tongue out at Taichi as she stole the ball didn't help.
Scattered laughter broke out from the others—most likely at the expression on Taichi's face as they began to play in earnest. Within moments, Daisuke's worries evaporated. It was soccer, after all, and Sora was a good teammate, reacting quickly to Taichi and Ken, and never trying to hog the ball. They raced back and forth across the field, and what Sora lacked in height over Taichi, she made up for with her ability to duck and weave. Honestly, there were points where it almost looked like she were dancing across the grass.
Daisuke could hear the cheers of the others as they played, and there was something really quite satisfying about the fact that most of them seemed to be rooting for himself and Sora. He grinned, and then crowed with delight as Sora ducked in and intercepted a pass.
The game carried on until they were all worn out, and in the chaos no one had bothered to keep score. Still, he was pretty sure that he and Sora had been the winners…and even if they weren't, he certainly felt like one. Who would have thought that Sora could be that calm, sensible girl so much of the time, and then turn out to be a real demon on the field? It was like there was a whole other side of her he'd never seen before.
She clapped her hand on his shoulder as he staggered back over to the others, grinning.
"Good game," she said. "Its been a while since I played soccer like that. I always forget how much fun it is."
"How come you don't play more?" he asked. It didn't really make sense to him that she didn't. There was no way she'd gotten good without playing quite a lot at some point.
She smiled. "Well, I like tennis just as much," she said. "And I don't have enough time for both. Besides, it's always fun letting Taichi think I'm out of practice. We made a good team though. Same again next time? I can't promise they'll underestimate us again, mind."
He looked up at her, and grinned. "Well. If they're not gonna underestimate us, we've just gotta pull out all the stops, yeah?"
They might not have won all their games that summer, or in the the many which followed it, but when he looked back years later, Daisuke didn't regret staying on Sora's team even once. After all, there really was nothing like a good game with your friends.
