A/N: So, I get back from my much-needed vacation and find that...fanfiction.net is down. Argh! Well, if you're reading this, it's back up again, and I'm sorry for uploading this so late! I went through a bit of a writer's block. Anyways, this chapter of my wonderful story is the party chapter! Yes, it's finally here.
Let's see...no warnings, unless you somehow went through the first two chapters straight to this one and haven't realized by now that it's Taishiro, Yamasuke, Jyouken, Takari, and Mimiyako. Looking for Sora and Iori in a couple? You won't find that here. This authoress doesn't believe in character bashing, so there's none of that here. As for the Ken-being-a-psycho thing, well, he is, isn't he? That isn't bashing. I love Ken-chan!
Oh, one more thing. I make references to Tamagotchi in this chapter. If you don't know what that is, you're missing out! Actually, it's a type of virtual pet (THE best type, if you ask me.) If you don't know what they're talking about, you can skip that part, I guess.
Dedications: To my wonderful muse, Ikky, to Sarah-chan (if she even reads this) for an encouraging e-mail, and to my Zukitchi, for inspiring me to include the wonderful Tamagotchi references into this chapter. (Damn you, Zuki! I *will* get Zatchi from you! x.x')
Now, the disclaimer. **nudges the blonde boy next to her**
Ikky: Oh. Nine doesn't own, or even claim to own, Digimon, the characters, Tamagotchi, or any of that. She owns whatever she came up with from her own mind, as in, her original ideas. That's it.
Thank you, dear Ikarus muse. And now, no more rambling from me. (Except for the ending A/N.)
The Party
Yamato rang Mimi's doorbell for the fifth time and grumbled, glancing at his watch. The second hand had just hit twelve when the door was yanked open, revealing a rather disheveled looking Mimi.
"You're early," she informed him grumpily.
"Yes, I know. I figured if I got here fifteen minutes early, by the time you answered the door, it would be the time I normally would have walked in if you knew how to answer a door within the minute it's rung."
She moved back to let him into the house, glaring at him. "Smart-ass," she muttered, as she went back to her room to get herself fixed up.
Yamato carried the packets of meat into her kitchen and began opening them, carefully placing them on a plate while he went outside and into the backyard to get the barbeque pit ready.
When he had already put the meat onto the pit to cook he went back inside and collapsed into a chair, sighing. At that point, Mimi came twirling out of her room and pranced down the hall to stop in front of Yamato. She twirled around and held her arms out, and he raised an eyebrow.
She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes at him. "Well, how do I look?"
"Um...nice?" he tried.
She shook her head. "No, not nice. Try something that will help me guess as to what to wear."
"How should I know?"
"Aren't you gay?"
"What does that have to do with anything?!"
"Gay guys are supposed to have a keen sense of fashion, aren't they?"
"Please, that is so stereotypical."
Mimi laughed. "You're right, I'm sorry, Yama. I guess I'm still sort of angry about being woken up earlier than I'm accustomed to. It's been so long since I had to get up to host a party at my house, you know?"
Yamato nodded and grinned. "So I noticed."
Mimi gave him a look and went back into her room, probably to change again. He sighed and glanced at his watch, wondering when Miyako would arrive with decorations. He grabbed the remote control and turned the TV on, flipping channels until he found MTV2. He turned the volume up until it filled the whole house with the rock music. Smiling contentedly, he sunk against the back of the couch and rested his head on a pillow.
The door burst open and Miyako pushed through, carrying bags of things to "make the house pretty for the party." She was followed by Jyou, who also carried multiple bags, and Ken, who carried scissors, tape, and other things they might have needed while decorating.
"What's with all the bags? We can't need too many decorations..." Yamato said as he stood and helped Miyako and Jyou with some of their bags.
"Thank you. We also have the food, including Sora's, which we stopped by her house to pick up. She wasn't ready, and she was afraid of the food losing its taste if it didn't get over here soon," Miyako explained.
"Oh, okay. So, you're all going to help Mimi and me decorate, then?"
"Yup. Where is Mimi, anyways?"
"Getting ready." He jutted his thumb back over his shoulder towards Mimi's room. Miyako rushed past him and into her girlfriend's room, shutting the door. He turned to Jyou and Ken. "Right. So, let's have a look at those decorations."
They all spent much of two hours putting up all of the decorations all over the large living room, kitchen, dining room, and hallways.
Ken stood on a ladder and put up blue streamers across one wall, accidentally dropping one end on Jyou's head. He glanced down to see Jyou blinking in surprise, with streamer drooping over his head so only one eye was visible behind his glasses. Ken, very uncharacteristically, giggled in delight.
Yamato took one end of the streamer in his hand and handed the other end to Miyako, who had emerged with Mimi from her girlfriend's room a while ago. They both ran about with the streamer, wrapping up Jyou and Ken in the process. The two bluenettes found themselves stuck together facing each other quite tightly, and they both couldn't hide their twin blushes. Mimi nudged Jyou's back and he leant forward to kiss Ken, and the rest all cheered.
They had all decided before that Jyou and Ken didn't get as much time together as the rest of the couples, and they would make sure the two would get plenty of time alone at this party to work on their blossoming relationship. They were the newest ones, after all, with only three weeks behind them as a couple.
When the decorations were all nicely done, they all drove to their respective homes to get ready for the party-to-come.
~ ~ ~ ~
Eight o' clock came about, and Taichi slid into his car and turned it on, glancing once in the rearview mirror to check his appearance. Satisfied with his reflection, he drove to Koushiro's house to pick him up. The redhead climbed into the passenger seat and smiled. "So, who else are we picking up?"
"Let's see, oh, we got Miyako. Easy."
"Good. I'm glad we don't have to drive all the way to Tamachi or anything."
"No, unfortunately, Takeru got Ken and Jyou. He also has to take my sister. Of course, that was expected."
"So we're the only three-person group in one car?"
"Yup. Just you, me, and Miyako."
"The other group?"
"Daisuke's taking Yama, Iori, and Sora."
"Right. So, what are we waiting for?"
Taichi grinned and looked forward. "Nothing at all."
He slammed onto the gas pedal and sped off down the road towards Miyako's house.
They came to a rather sudden stop in front of the purple-haired girl's house and waited for her to come out and get in. When she did, Taichi took off as soon as he heard Miyako's car door close.
"Calm down, Tai!" she yelled, quickly pulling her seatbelt on. Koushiro turned in his seat to apologize to her for his boyfriend. Taichi was now singing along to the radio-off-key, on purpose, and loudly.
Miyako groaned but couldn't help her amused grin. Taichi was definitely one of the special ones. After all, she, too, enjoyed annoying people on purpose sometimes. I mean, how could you resist when opportunity presents itself? It just so happens that, to Taichi, everything presents opportunity.
~ ~ ~ ~
"What is taking so damned long?" Daisuke asked shrilly, leaning over Yamato to glare out of the passenger window at Sora's house. After some time, she came out of the house and turned to lock it, walking down her driveway to the parked car and climbing in next to Iori.
"It's about time," Daisuke grumbled at her. She smiled apologetically and gave a little wave of her hand.
"Well, we should be off to the party now, Dai. Go on."
Daisuke sighed and turned back around to shove the gear into Drive and lurch forward towards their destination: Mimi's house.
Yamato was doing his best to hold back laughter and Iori was grinning at the window. Sora herself had to bite her hand to keep from laughing out loud and further angering the redheaded driver. After some time passed and Mimi's house loomed up before them, Daisuke was able to crack a grin and laugh a little, and only then did the other passengers burst out laughing along with him. He apologized for being a jerk and Sora accepted the apology.
They got out of the car and walked up Mimi's driveway to her house. Yamato rang the doorbell and prayed that Mimi would answer it during this century, and luckily, she answered a mere five seconds after his finger left the doorbell.
"Hey, everyone! Come on in, you're my first arrivers."
No later than right after she spoke did Taichi's car come screeching down the road and slide to a halt behind Daisuke's car.
"Hey!" the brunette yelled as he and two others climbed out of the car.
"Hey!" they all yelled back, and Miyako ran up to the door to hug Mimi.
"I missed you!" she squealed, giggling.
"Missed you too!"
"It's only been five hours," Yamato groaned. The two girls happily ignored him and led the way into the house, the others following close behind.
~ ~ ~ ~
Mimi led Miyako along the dance floor, gracefully dipping her and pulling her back up to spin her around. The music was punk rock, mind you, but I suppose that didn't really matter to them. The dance floor was actually Mimi's living room, around the coffee table set in front of the couch. Daisuke was perched on top of the long table at the other end of the room, sitting next to the bowl of Snickers bars (A/N: What were you expecting, punch? **makes a face**). He held his Coke can in one hand and his Game Boy Color in the other. He was trying to get his Mimitchi cleaned up and ready for his beauty contest when Yamato climbed onto the table next to him and peered over his shoulder.
"Whatcha' playin'?"
"Tamagotchi."
"Still with your Mimitchi?"
"Yup."
"What did you name this one, again?"
Daisuke blushed slightly. "Yama-chan."
"What?"
"No, that's what I named him. Yama-chan the Mimitchi Tamagotchi."
Yamato giggled and pulled his Tamagotchi from his pocket. He showed it to Daisuke. Daisuke made a face. "You got Zukitchi."
"Not on purpose. I was aiming for Mimitchi, but...I sort of left him at home one day when I went shopping...and came home to this. But, he had just changed, so I've been taking perfect care again in hopes of getting Zatchi."
"Why the alien?"
"Better than Bill Clinton."
"I like Gaijintchi!" Daisuke yelped defensively.
Yamato smiled. "That's just because you've only gotten him once and he, for some reason, came along in that time in your life where you were most into Tamagotchi."
"Well, I'm trying to get back into it."
"Where are yours? I mean, the real ones, not the Game Boy version."
"At home," muttered Daisuke sheepishly. "On pause. I didn't want them to get neglected at this party if..."
"If you got drunk?" Yamato supplied.
Daisuke narrowed his eyes at him, and the blonde laughed.
Just then, the door flew open (A/N: Why do doors always fly open in my fics? Is this a trend?), and Takeru, Hikari, Jyou, and Ken came in.
"Traffic," muttered Takeru darkly, and Hikari patted her boyfriend's shoulder. Takeru noticed his brother's Tamagotchi out and yelped, pulling his own from his pocket.
"I forgot," he mumbled, checking it's stats. "Sorry, Ginji."
Hikari giggled and patted her own pocket, where she knew hers was safely already asleep. They all had gotten Tamagotchi when Daisuke raved about them for a full week and showed them his collection of fourteen, Japanese, American, Angel, Forest, Ocean, and others. After they bought their own, they soon also became somewhat addicted, and now the one who had the least in his collection was Jyou, who had five, and counting. Daisuke's Tama Count had reached thirty one just last week. He had six running, all at home.
"Bad caretaker, bad," Yamato playfully scolded his younger brother. Takeru scowled at him and shoved a Snickers into his brother's mouth. Yamato thoughtfully ate it and grinned.
"So anyways, what did we miss?" Jyou asked, after a quick glance at his Mametchi's screen and a satisfied grin that she was doing okay.
"Nothing, really. We were mostly just sitting around and waiting for you. Except for Mimi and Miyako, who haven't stopped dancing," Koushiro pointed at the pair, who were still dancing, oblivious to the arrival of their friends.
"They really do amaze me," Hikari giggled, and then tugged on Takeru's shirt until he joined her in dancing alongside the other couple.
Daisuke stretched his arms out and hopped off of the table. "Now that we're all here, isn't it time to say our speeches or whatever?"
"Ah, yeah. Forgot about that. Taichi, speech time!"
After a bit of shuffling around, arranging chairs, and making certain dancing people sit down and stop dancing by stapling them to their chairs, Taichi stood before the group to present his annual speech.
"Well, gang, here we are, at our fourth annual Digidestined Barbeque. I'm so glad we've come this far, and we're closer than ever. Some of us have gotten together since our last Barbeque," he glanced at Jyou and Ken, "and some of us have been together even before we ever thought up the barbeque," he winked at Yamato and Daisuke, "but we've all been together as a group of twelve friends for what has to be, what, five years now? And even eight years, for the first eight of us. I just have to say, as I have all three years before, that I'm so glad that we've all stayed together for so long, and I hope we stay together for many, many years to come. I've seen some of you grow up, and hell, I've seen some of you get even more immature, if possible, but what never changed was that glow inside each one of us that makes us the Digidestined. It's been so long since we've last seen our partners," he sniffled, "but Gennai did assure us we would see them again some day, didn't he? So let's not give up on our hopes that we'll meet again in the Digital World someday. Until then-" a little beep sounded from Tai's pocket, "-oh, hold on a second." He fumbled around with something in his pocket and more beeps sounded, and soon he put it back and looked up again, "Until then, we shall PARTY ON!"
They all raised their fists into the air and cheered, the people with hats (a.k.a. TK) throwing them up into the air. They clinked Coke cans and drank to Tai's speech, and then turned the music back on and took the staples out of certain peoples' clothes.
The dancers returned to the dance floor, the lovers (well, some of them) returned to the couches to make out, and Daisuke and Yamato returned to the table, where they guarded the Snickers bowl and bickered about the Pochitchi that had won the beauty contest in the Game Boy.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ten o' clock ticked by and found Mimi and Miyako sleeping on the couch, tired out from dancing nonstop. Takeru and Hikari were also taking a break, beside the sleeping couple on the same couch. Daisuke and Yamato were now arguing about Bill Clinton (the real one), Tai and Koushiro were stealing Snickers out of the bowl behind Yamato's turned back and launching them at Jyou and Ken, then pretending it was Sora and Iori, who were engaged in a conversation about their future careers. Jyou and Ken were staring at the TV and flipping channels every few minutes.
"But he *so* did it to earn publicity."
"Why would he do that? He was the freaking president!"
"Well, he was a nutcase!"
"I know that."
"Hey, we agreed on something."
"No we didn't!"
Yamato slapped Taichi's hand as it reached for the Snickers bowl. He eyed the nearly empty bowl, the pile around Jyou and Ken on the couch, and then Taichi's face. Taichi did his best to look innocent, which he wasn't very good at. He pointed at Sora and Iori, and Yamato bopped him over the head with the entire bowl.
"You aren't listening to me," Daisuke whined, pulling on the blonde's sleeve. He, too, was bopped with the Snickers bowl, and he mumbled to himself and pouted a bit.
Just then, Miyako woke up and blinked. She glanced around the room and gave it a good look for the first time that evening. She glanced at Takeru and Hikari next to her.
"Hey, when did you guys get here?"
~ ~ ~ ~
The twelve of them all sat around the dining room and kitchen tables, eating the meat that had just finished cooking, the first round having been badly burned when Yamato again let Daisuke aid him in fixing the meat for them to eat.
"Hey, this is pretty good, Yamato. It's a lot better than last year's," Taichi complimented his best friend, digging into the food on his plate. "And Sora, the potato salad is awesome. Oh, and the vegetables and fruit look really pretty arranged like that..." he glanced at the untouched platter in the center of the table.
Sora smiled. "Thanks, Taichi."
"Miyako, I just love your pecan pie!" Daisuke squealed as he tried to steal a pecan from Yamato's pie. Yamato slapped his hand with his fork, which ended up starting a fork-fight between the two.
"Thanks, Dai," she replied happily, watching the redhead duel with his boyfriend over her precious pie.
"Dai and pie rhyme," Ken muttered, poking at his potato salad.
"Yes, they do, Ken. They do," answered Jyou, putting an arm around his boyfriend and kissing the side of his head.
Koushiro muttered something about wondering if Jyou ever played doctor with Ken and Sora stepped on his foot.
"Ow."
"Well, I'm glad that everyone's happy with their food. Thanks for letting us use your house, Mimi," Sora said quickly.
"Um, your welcome," Mimi beamed, spoon-feeding Miyako some pecan pie.
"So, who's house next year?" she asked, ready to offer her house again if no one took the offer.
"We can have it at ours," Hikari replied, pointing to herself and her brother.
"Okay!"
"Great!"
"Merf!"
"Merf?"
Taichi swallowed and tried again. "Yes!"
"Right, so it's our house next year," Hikari repeated, and then turned to beam at Takeru. She stopped smiling when she saw his face.
"TK?"
"I think I'm going to be sick. Must have been all that dancing after I ate a burrito back at my house, and then eating all of this right after our dancing."
He ran off in the general direction of the bathroom and Yamato sighed. "We shouldn't have eaten this late anyways. It's already going to be eleven!"
"I'm sorry I burned the meat again," Daisuke muttered sadly.
They all spoke words of encouragement and forgiveness, with the exception of Ken, who bluntly said, "Dai, please don't 'help' again next year."
Jyou bonked him with a now empty Snickers bowl.
"Sorry. Yes, Dai, it's okay, don't worry about it," Ken said, exaggeratingly nice.
"Anyways, the end of the party must be near. I suppose it's safe to pass out pieces of the cake now."
Ken and Hikari passed out pieces of cake and Mimi passed out napkins and forks. "Hope you all like it, it's different from last year's. This time, Mom got that Funfetti stuff with different colors inside the cake," Ken explained.
"I love Funfetti!" Taichi stated happily.
"Me too," said TK, shutting the bathroom door, "but I'll offer my piece to whoever wants it. No more eating or dancing for me tonight."
He ended up giving the piece of cake to Hikari and was content with watching her eat it. She ended up only eating a fourth and then giving it up to Taichi, who gulped it down in two large bites.
When they were done, the plates were cleared and they all gathered in the living room and said their goodbyes. After hugs, kisses, tears (only because Taichi stepped on Iori's toe where he had just fixed his ingrown toenail), and laughs, they all went their own separate ways with the people they had arrived with.
Mimi and Miyako were left in Mimi's doorway, waving after them, arms around each other's waist. They closed the door and began taking decorations down. When they had finally taken it all down and thrown it in the trash cans, Mimi was left with two Snickers wrappers in her hand. Miyako glanced up at her questioningly. "Souvenirs," she explained, and put them into a small tin box that held a picture of them all from their first barbeque, a love note from the second (the same one that she had received from Miyako asking her to be her girlfriend), and a package of tartar sauce from the third (long story).
She closed the box, placed it on top of her dresser, and noticed the music was still on. She held her hand out to Miyako and raised her eyebrows, grinning. "Would you care to dance?"
Miyako took her hand and led her out into the hallways, where they began dancing, much slower and more lovingly than they did in front of their friends, now that they were alone and had the house to themselves until the next morning around noon.
Outside, the moon shone at its brightest, being the full moon that was also present at all three of their previous barbeques. Of course, none of them had noticed that.
~ ~ ~ ~
A/N: May I just point out that that was supposed to be plotless, pointless, and cute? Sorry for all of the Tamagotchi references for you people that aren't familiar with it (You should be... -_-'.) I couldn't help it! Uh, Zuki made me do it! . I dun like last chapters. They're so...final. My third Digimon fanfic, done! Anyways, hope you all liked. Review, review!
Ikky: Or she will sic random Tamagotchi on you...
**Blink, blink**
Ikky: Right, I'll shut up now.
