Chapter ten
Chicken Dance ---
yes! Only one with NO meaning behind it, whatsoever! Yay! ok, so this is a fun chapter, so I won't have a secret meaning behind it. THIS one's just too much to pass up.
Is it a bird? A plane? NO! It's Avearia, with another super chapter of SECRETS! Congratulate me, neh? This is really, really hard. I can't believe it took so long to update! I'm having serious typer's block.
Anyway, I think that the reason it took me so long to update was because this chapter is trying to center around Izzy. (It doesn't entirely, though. Oh well.) I haven't thought about him much, and he's such a great character! I just don't want to screw him up. And so I finally get it done... and the server tells me 'sorry. the updating action has been disabled for a few hours.' go figure. Oh well, I guess that's what I get for procrastonating.
Yes, another chapter. Before we start, No, Matt isn't schizophrenic. What's that mean? Read to find out. My sis is like "wow. It's like he has two personalities, or whatever. You should fix that." But I'm lazy, (and I think it's cute with Matt arguing with himself… heehee…) so instead I'd like to say that Matt is perfectly SANE… or as far as that word can be stretched, anyway. Now… where was I?
The Izzy focused chapter. All of the Izzy fans are going to kill me. As heard before, I screwed up the 'how Izzy learned he was adopted' bit. I probably am going to screw up again, and if I get enough complaints, I'll fix it readily. Assuming I learn how. Ok… now… I sort of want this chapter to be a stretch your funny bone chapter. As in - even though it's serious, it's a punch at being funny.
My other half: 'Um… no it isn't?'
Ok. You may or may not find it funny. There is a reason I put this in here. Because yes; you may have guessed it… but soon (like next chapter) I shall reveal (dun dun duuunnn!) the main point of this freakishly long fanfiction! … That didn't sound earth shattering enough. Maybe I put the dun-dun-duuunnn in the wrong spot… R&R people!
Note: I don't own digimon.
…
Sora: Uh, wow. That was… really, really uncreative.
Me: What? Like I have to come up with a witty remark every stinking time you want to hear me say something dumb? Saying 'I don't own digimon' is dumb within and of itself! Don't! Look! At! Me!
Ch. 10: Chicken Dance
Matt found himself staring at the ceiling over his bed. He lay there, his face blank for a while, and then he sat up, groaning.
"What happened?" he groaned, sitting up. "Why am I awake?"
The question was beside the point. He already knew how he had woken up. It was the same as last night. His dreams had given his brain a jolt and he had awoken eight and a half hours before he needed to be up and about. Matt shook his head, deciding not to think about it. Instead, he pulled the covers off of his body and pushed himself out of bed, his stockinged feet touching the ice cold floor, but the boy didn't even wince. The blonde stood for a moment, thinking sadly. Then he made his way to the closet and sat down on the hard floor cross-legged in front of it.
"Man, what the hell…" Matt muttered to himself, pushing his hands through his short hair. "What the hell…this isn't good. Not good, not good, not good… I should have seen this coming." he rocked back and forth, still pulling at his own hair, his eyes looking at the floor.
Lying back, he let his mind wander, where it rested on the memory of tonight's dinner. The words he had said were still ringing in his ears. The words that made him feel a sinking feeling in the pit in his stomach. "Two WEEKS?" he cringed. The entire table had been looking at him. He'd been trying to avoid that kind of attention all summer, ever since he'd met them.
Actually, now that he thought about it… he'd been trying to avoid that kind of attention for…
For years…
"Ahh…" Matt growled softly, mussing his hair and shaking his head. "Stop that." He sighed and looked in the mirror, his eyes meeting his now completely out-of-control hair. "Great." He muttered, and then snatched up a comb, pulling each strand of hair into its place.
When finished, he set down the utensil beside him and looked into the mirror; really looked at his own reflection. A blue silk collar lay silently against tired skin. Hair drifted into place, spiking in the appropriate places… but somehow, the hair (though beautiful and glossy) was lacking in jest. The eyes of the boy in the mirror looked strangely dull. The eyes that looked into his soul…
He shook his head again. "No, no, no, no, no." he mumbled to himself. "What the hell…"
"What the hell am I gonna do?" he asked the person in the mirror.
The boy must have been pretty tired, because the image answered back. "Well, what we're supposed to do."
Matt looked down to the feet of the boy in the mirror. "What we're supposed to do."
"Yeah. In fact, we were supposed to do it a long time ago. Remember? Allen was really ticked."
"He would be." Matt answered himself again.
The private conversation continued. "We… never got around to it, did we?" the mirror-Matt asked.
"No, but we should have. I should have." He muttered to himself. "But I wasn't able to do it before. How am I supposed to now?" he rubbed his temples. "I guess I'll have to try. But… if I can't…"
"Don't think like that!" he scolded himself in the mirror. "If you doubt yourself, you never will get through. Not ever! That's why we… I couldn't do it before."
"No, it isn't."
"Yes it is."
"No it isn't."
Matt sighed. He was arguing with himself. He must have been pretty tired. "Look, you're right. Lack of self confidence, but that's not all, you know."
"Yeah, I know."
And Matt was silent for a while. Suddenly Matt rolled his eyes to the mirror. "Ok, fine. I don't know."
"I think… it's… because…"
"Don't you say it."
"Why?" Matt asked himself angrily. "Because it's strange? Not normal? No one's around, you know."
"But saying it means you believe it."
"No it doesn't!"
"Yes it does!"
"No it doesn't!
"Yes it does!"
"No it doesn't!"
"This is funny!"
"No it isn't!"
"Quit arguing! You're ruining the mood!"
"What mood? You're an idiot!"
"Me? You're the one who started it! And I am not arguing!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not!"
"You are!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
Matt shook his head, catching himself at it again. "Ah, fine. Whatever. It's just… what am I going to do?"
"Tell them."
"You said that already. What else?" Matt growled at his reflection, then thought for a moment.
"What else? Uh… you mean the two weeks thing? Let's see…"
"Actually, two days." He corrected himself.
"Oh, right. With Allen." He mumbled to himself. Frowning, he lost the world around him. "Good grief. They're not going to like this."
"My friends, I mean." He told the mirror.
"No, actually I was referring to the family."
"Sure." Matt rubbed his knee and then, for a second, stopped. "Oh, crap. You're beyond right. What the heck… I… I forgot… I haven't told them…"
"Nah, you thought about it. You're just concerned with how your friends will take it. You're right, they'll be shocked too." Matt muttered to his reflection. He sighed. "I… can't…"
"You're just having trouble keeping your mask on. Make sure you keep it on, too. You've been doing an awful job these past days."
"But sometimes the mask slips… and even tomorrow I won't have it on forever. I can't. But… I don't want to lie…" he hid his head in his hands. "God, I'm confused. I need to talk to Kristy or something."
"Our counselor?"
"Yeah." He rubbed his temple, then remembered something. "Hey, wait! There's a phone here! But what time is it? She's not going to appreciate me calling at… wow." His eyes found the clock, which now read one hour past midnight… when he had first gotten up.
"I wonder if Gennai pays for long distance?" He muttered to himself, and opened the door to see the old digimon staring him in the face. Matt's body nearly hit the floor when he backed up in surprise. "Gah!"
"Need to use the phone, Matt? Go right ahead."
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Five or six seconds. I thought you wanted to use the phone, so I came up here to tell you that you could."
"Are you psychic or something?"
"Sort of." Gennai smiled. "Digimon can sometimes tell what people are thinking, when their state of mind is stressed." Matt's eye rested warily over towards Gabumon's room, which was next to his, separated by only an inch of wood and a doorknob. "No, no. he's sleeping." Gennai said, reading his actions. "But you might want to get some sleep yourself. I can feel your stress from downstairs."
"Can they…" Beads of sweat formed on Matt's forehead. "What I mean is… can they…"
"Know what you're thinking any time of day? No. I can because you're just giving off steam. A lot of it. So much that it's soaking through the floorboards and dropping onto my head like a leaky faucet while I'm trying to read the paper. That's all."
"Oooh, sorry about that. Weird visual, though." He waved at the digimon, passing him and making his way downstairs. "Thanks for the phone call. Do I owe you?" the digimon shook his head. "Well, then. I'll take as long as I want." He smirked and headed down the dark hallway to the stairs.
Gennai watched the reseeding child with sad eyes. Every step of those black-socked feet was followed by the elderly digimon until they disappeared down the staircase. When he was out of sight, Gennai turned to Matt's room, looking at the mirror.
"Take as long as you want, little one. As long as it takes."
Sora muttered to the darkness. It was clear to her that she was dreaming. "Isn't it supposed to be that you wake up when you realize you're sleeping?" she wondered aloud, her voice echoing off the walls of the ever-empty canyon she was in. "What a strange place to have a dream, though." She muttered.
She watched as water fell from the sky, landing inside the canyon in the form of a river. It hadn't rained, exactly, just fallen, like someone had dropped a rubber blue piece of something into the rock.
Sora decided to check it out. "Whatever." She said aloud to herself. It was beginning to bug her. Where was everyone?
Ahead, Matt stood on a rock. He gazed down into the newly formed river, as if it was perfectly normal for it to have fallen from the sky. In a way, it was. She was dreaming, right? That was the dream thing to do. Like giving money away during your job. "I had a dream like that once." She muttered. "I think I was selling artichokes…" her voice trailed off, and she pranced over to her friend.
"Hey Matt!" she called out, relieved that she wasn't alone. He glanced up excitedly, then blushed and looked down.
"Er…"
Sora stopped. "Yeah, Matt? What's up? Why're you acting so weird? That's totally not like you at all." She remembered the dinner they'd had that night. "What's going to happen in two weeks?" she asked curiously.
"Er…" Matt muttered again and rubbed his neck. "Actually, two days. And two weeks, when you look at it like that." He muttered. "Well, someone's…"
"Yes?" Sora asked.
"Someone's coming. In… two days, that is. Two days. And…" he blushed. "Sorry about dinner. I just got so worked up. I didn't exactly expect the time to be so short. Two weeks isn't exactly an infinite amount of time, you know. I'm sure everything will work out fine, though. I hope."
"What are you babbling about, Matt? Who's coming?" Sora looked confused.
Matt looked sad. Ok, that was an understatement. Calling Matt sad would be like calling the universe rather large. "Well," he started. "In two days… two days, one of my old friends is coming."
"You have other friends?" Sora asked stupidly, and then hit herself in the head. "Oh, sorry. Of course…"
Matt laughed loudly. "Well, that's ok. That's what I expected you to say. Anyway, he's coming to check up on me… er… and his name is Allen."
"Allen." Sora repeated. Where did she hear that before? Oh, yeah. Telephone conversation. But… where had she heard it before that? Right before…
The earthquake…
"Who is Allen to you?" Sora asked, realizing she was treading on soft ground.
"A friend. An adult, actually." His voice dropped an octave. "A BIG adult." They both laughed.
"That was a weird impression, Matt. He doesn't actually sound like that, does he? That would be weird. And I don't want to laugh at your friend…" she told him. Sora thought to herself for a moment. 'I didn't think that Matt liked adults.' "So does he sound like that, really?" Sora asked again, trying to break the silence.
Matt just looked at her, amused. "Now, now. I can't tell, can I?" he joked. "Then it would be no fun. You wouldn't listen to a word he said, then. If you knew… if only you knew." Matt suddenly seemed really upset. Sora began to worry. What was going on?
Matt saw the worry in her eyes. "Now, now. Don't be sad! Don't worry about me now. Save it for later. Right now… I want to see you smile." He jumped off the rock, landing in front of her. Then he bowed, holding out his hand. "For my princess?" he offered an origami bird.
Sora took it, surprised. She was even more surprised, however, when the paper copy of her favorite animal took off into the air and flew away. "Aw, don't worry about it. The bird always flies back." Matt chuckled.
"Sometimes I'm so weird I even freak myself out." Sora muttered. "Now would be one of those times, if you're keeping track…" she rolled her eyes at the bird. "You won't do anything bad to yourself? You won't worry?" she asked Matt, who was looking at her strangely.
"I'm not sure I can promise that." He told her, then he stopped to think. "I could make sure it didn't show…" he suggested.
"No! That would be even worse!" she exclaimed, taking up his hand.
"Ok, ok. No faking. Oh, by the way, Izzy's going to trip tomorrow." He told her happily. "Make sure you're there to see it! Once in a life time thing!" he laughed. "Oh, and don't eat the milk and eggs." He smiled and disappeared into thin air.
Sora just stared. Biyomon came up beside her, tugging at her jeans. "Sora, I want to eat some teriyaki!" she told her master. "And, maybe some lint."
"Some lint. Got it." She mumbled to herself, half dazed. "Sure."
Suddenly she sat up in bed. "Huh?" she wondered, before her stomach growled. "Gosh, hungry… don't eat eggs." Then she was silent.
"Where did that come from?" she asked herself. She glanced at the clock, which read
3:07
The numbers burned against her eyes. She closed them, but the numbers still shone brightly. When there was a change and she opened an eye to see the clock now read 3:08, she sighed and hopped out of her bed. "Ok, down to the kitchen with me!" she said merrily. She opened the door a touch before she thought of something. "Oh, but first…" she let the door go and it swung open on its own. "Lessee here…" she muttered to herself happily, rummaging through the closet. "The kitchen floor is always cold. I want to wear some… sandals? Since when do I own…"
Shaah, shaah, shaahh…
"Neh?" Sora stopped to listen, trying to figure out what it was. The sound seemed to be coming from the hallway. Creeping slowly, she made it to her open door and glanced out. Matt was walking along, stretching and making his way back to his own room. "What's he doing out here? Did he get hungry?" She asked herself softly. "And what's that noise… oh," her eyes fell onto her crush's black socks. Sora smiled to herself. "Heh, I guess he thinks it's cold too. I'll ask him tomorrow."
Nancy shifted in her bed. She just couldn't get to sleep. Sighing, she kicked the sheets that twisted around her legs. 'It's not fair…' Nancy thought. 'Why can't I fall asleep? Is it because I feel guilty?' she sighed, moving to look at the ceiling.
(Flashback)
Richard and Nancy stood in the hallway. "So what was it that you wanted earlier?" her husband asked. "You sounded a bit uncomfortable."
Nancy took in a deep breath before she started. "Well, I was wondering if you could tell me about Matt."
Her ex looked confused. "About Matt?"
"Yeah."
"Like…"
Nancy shrugged. "Well, I don't know. His favorite color, his hobbies, maybe his grades… I'm not sure. Just something." She blushed. "I feel like I don't know him anymore. I was sorta hoping that you could help me get closer to your son. Our son." She looked down and tucked a strand of her short hair behind her ear. "So… what?"
Richard seemed confused. "Matt?"
"Yeah."
"Matt. My son?"
"Yes. You have a son named Matt."
"I know!" Richard looked at her, annoyed. "I mean… let's see…" he frowned. "Favorite color… uh… I think… maybe it's green. Or blue… grey?-er… hobbies. He doesn't… um… His grades are good." He concluded.
Nancy looked at him, confused. "Um, ok…"
"Yeah." Richard blushed. "I know his grades are really, really good." He nodded. "And he wears tank tops a lot. Nearly all the time." Nancy's ex went on. "They're green, but he has a black one and a blue one. Yeah." The man stuck his hand behind his head. "And… ok… uh…"
Nancy couldn't believe her ears. "You don't know either, do you?" she accused. "You're just as bad as me!"
Richard looked down. He hadn't thought about Matt that much. He really didn't know a lot about his son. His son was just a kid that he loved, that happened to live under his roof and talk with him every once in a while. He didn't know very much about him at all. "Sorry." The man muttered at the ground.
Nancy was immediately upset. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." She told him. There was an uncomfortable silence between them, before Nancy asked one more question. "You know who Allen is?"
Richard seemed surprised. "No, I don't." he had seen Matt's outburst like everyone else had. "I wonder what's got him so uptight? He doesn't seem to be like that usually." Richard noted. "Why do you ask? Are you worried? … I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."
Nancy nodded. "Yeah. Soon enough." She turned away, walking down the long corridor. After a while she turned to look behind her, and Richard was gone.
"Maybe too soon."
(End flashback)
The woman shivered. Sometimes she gave herself the creeps, with how foreboding she could be. "Maybe too soon." She muttered to herself. "Bah. I shouldn't scare myself like that." Sitting up, she sighed. "Well, I guess my ex husband doesn't know much about our own son either. The only way to fix that will be to ask Matt or one of his friends directly. I suppose." She shrugged. "But I shouldn't worry about it. I'll give myself the creeps again."
"I'm hungry." She realized, jumping out of her bed. "I wonder, is there anything left in that fridge? Oh, I'm so hungry…" she moaned, rubbing her stomach. Grabbing a coat and slippers, she stalked out the door. "I'm going to eat." She muttered to herself, opening and closing the door. When she was outside, she saw Matt's face in the darkness for a moment. She gasped, fighting the urge to run back in her room. The Matt in the darkness faded away when she threw her hand over it, though.
"Ah…" Nancy said knowingly. "Ok. It was just nothing. My imagination. I'm really feeling guilty." She cringed. "Not on purpose. Ok?"
She trotted down the hallway, following her nose to the kitchen. When she got there, she pulled several bits of food out of the fridge. She could've sworn she heard Matt's voice. "Guilty." She muttered. When she finally finished eating, she headed off back to bed and the corner of her eye caught her son sitting next to a chair, talking softly on the phone. She listened.
"Yeah. It's going to happen soon, and I don't know what I'm going to do about it. I'm scared to death, Kristy. What should I do? … I KNOW I have to tell them. I'm not an idiot, Kristy." He told the receiver. "Besides. I'm sure they haven't figured it out already."
Nancy couldn't tell from where she was standing whether Matt was joking or seriously worried. "Hm…" she thought to herself. Finally she headed off to bed. "It's not my business to but into. I really should just leave him alone." She told herself. "No spying!"
Yet somehow, the idea of Matt being scared really didn't feel right.
Really, really didn't.
Richard Ishida yawned as he stepped into the kitchen. "'morning." He sighed, waving sleepily to his sons. Tk was hunched over a booklet, shading the alligator that was on the page in using a deep green crayon. His other son, Matt was looking at his eggs and bacon, glaring at it angrily. Richard was rather confused at his behavior, but ignored it. Matt was probably trying to make some sort of joke or something. Instead, Mr. Ishida walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a giant jug of milk. He poured some into a glass, and then set it back in the fridge.
"So, what's everyone doing?" he asked, before Sora's mother handed him a plate of eggs.
"I'm making breakfast."
"Er… shouldn't we eat the leftovers first?" he asked.
"What leftovers?" Matt and Joe both asked at the same time.
Sora sighed. "Sorry, guys. It wasn't me! I swear! When I came down, I only had some chicken. And some chips. And… some cookies. But that's it. There was still SOME things left in there! Don't blame me!" she told them, and Joe shrugged. Matt just looked at his plate and picked at a strip of bacon, eventually sticking it into his mouth.
"I have nightmares of Bacon." Joe said, trying to push the plate away with his fork. "All that evil fat! Yuck!"
"You sound like a girl going on a diet." Izzy commented. "If your hair was any longer, I'm sure that you'd even look like one. You're so skinny, Joe."
"Do you know all the diseases that can be found in fat?"
"Salmonella and Bacterial infections. And Mad cow disease, sometimes." Izzy answered him, much to Joe's dismay. "Nothing that serious with fried bacon, though."
"Quit ruining my self-insecure, completely-insane, totally-irrational fears! For the sake of humanity!" Joe cried.
"Yeah. If Joe didn't complain, I'd think the world would be coming to an end." Matt drawled.
"You aren't taking me seriously!" Joe accused.
"What was your first hint?" Matt asked, giving him an over eccentric smile.
"Relax Joe. He never takes anything seriously." Sora offered solace.
"No, no. I just never take any of you seriously." Matt told her.
"Not like you should" Joe said sarcastically.
"Thank you." Matt smirked.
Joe went into a fit. Mat just couldn't hide the smirk that was spreading on his face. He couldn't help that Joe had dissed himself. I mean, he practically set himself up for that one. Matt waited until Tai tried to quiet Joe down to return to his plate. He didn't want to eat the eggs, either. There was something about them… he glanced up to see his father. "Hey dad? Uh…"
Richard looked up at his son. "Yeah, Matt?" He asked, munching on a strip of bacon.
"I need. To. Tell. You. Some. Thing." He stammered quietly.
"Tell me what?"
Matt's friends were all looking at him. "Uh…" he stammered. "Um… y'see, I… uh…"
Sora looked at him curiously. Is he really going to talk with them now?" she wondered. I can't believe he'd do this. He seems kind of worried. I could barely bring myself to do it. She thought a moment. Or maybe he's saying something else…
Matt sweated. Great. He thought to himself. Make them look at you longer. How will he take it? I can't do this. Matt looked at his father, who stared back innocently. He had no idea what was going on, or that this wasn't standard procedure for Matt. In his mind, Matt wasn't acting strange at all. "Uh…" Matt suddenly smiled. "Guess who's coming tomorrow and wants to speak with you?" he said happily, rocking his chair back and forth gently.
"Who?" His father asked, reaching for his glass and putting it to his lips.
"Allen!"
At that moment, both Matt's parents, Sora's parents, Tai, Tai's mom, Izzy, Izzy's father, Joe, and Mimi's dad (who had all been drinking the milk at the same time) all spit out their milk. Matt sweatdropped. "What happened?" He asked. "Was it something I said?"
"EyUCK!" Joe cried spitting as much milk as possible back into the glass. The rest were coughing. "What is that? It's rancid!" he cried.
"My milk's sour!"
"Mine too!"
"That is totally, extremely disgusting!"
"I can't believe that went into my mouth!"
"Medic!"
Sora came next to Matt and watched as the others spat their milk out. "Serves them right for not checking. And drinking all at once. Now THAT'S what I call coincidence!" she laughed, pouring out her milk into the sink. As an added side note, she remembered her dream. "Don't eat the eggs!"
The entire room made a move for the trash can. Joe was busy trying to suck water out of the faucet, while others opened the refrigerator to reveal a half carton of orange juice in the top shelf. It was a chaotic sight to see everyone scurrying around the kitchen trying to find a way to clean their mouth out.
Matt was laughing, half relieved, half overwhelmed with the sight before him. "Help. Hahahaa… I can't breathe. Ahhahahah! Eheehee… I'm gonna die…" Matt laughed.
Joe was walking with Izzy down the corridor. "Guhd greeeef." He commented, in between brushing his teeth for the millionth time. "Taht 'asnt fuhnny." He said.
"You said it." Izzy scrunched up his nose. Suddenly Joe disappeared into a bathroom, leaving Izzy to stand out in the hallway. The red headed boy leaned against the wall, listening to Joe struggle with the faucet. Abruptly, his father and mother walked across the hallway ahead of him, talking to each other. They were on their way outside.
Izzy drew in a sharp breath. "Oh, Joe! My parents!"
"Ya whaht?" Joe asked, leaning around the doorway to look at him.
Izzy stared at him for a moment. Joe was trying to think what was wrong, when he disappeared back into the bathroom and spit and rinsed. "Your what?" he asked again.
"My PARENTS." Izzy enunciated for the older child.
Joe just stared at him, and then it registered into his brain. "Oh, right. … OH! YOUR PARENTS! GAH!" Joe hid in the bathroom.
Izzy sighed. "Ok, first of all, that's supposed to be MY reaction, and second, they went outside." He told him, smiling.
Joe just looked at Izzy. "Well, you're in a good mood..." he said. Joe sighed and stuck his toothbrush back into his mouth, thinking. Izzy wasn't a very good 'public' speaker, especially when 'public' meant 'family.' He was sure that Izzy would have enough guts to speak to his parents, though. I mean, I spoke to my father. If someone with guts like me… if you can call it guts… can do this, then Izzy definitely can. I mean, if Izzy wanted someone with guts, he would've chosen Tai. Finally Joe rinsed out his mouth and toothbrush, setting it down. "I'll come back for it later." He said to no one in particular. "Now." He turned to Izzy. "What to do now."
"You used now too much in that sentence." The redhead boy told Joe.
"You're trying to change the topic." Joe told him back.
"You're right, I am." Izzy admitted shamelessly.
"You're also insane."
"Better than being stupid." Izzy shrugged after a moment and sunk into deep thought. While he was thinking, Joe took the opportunity to steer him to the corridor where Izzy had pointed to him earlier. Izzy was still deep in thought when they reached there, and it took him a minute to realize where he stood. "Uh, Joe? What?"
"What indeed. Where'd they go?"
Izzy looked at him dully, pointing in one direction. Then it hit him. "Hey!" Izzy protested indignantly. "You're kidding. Not right now! I don't want to talk to them now! Not now! Now isn't a good time. I'm not ready now!"
"You used Now too much in those sentences." Joe smirked.
Izzy looked up at Joe. His mind was reeling. What am I going to tell them? What am I going to say? What do I do? I mean, sure, I know I want to get this over with, but I don't want to ruin my relationship with my parents!
"What are you afraid of?" Joe asked suddenly.
Opening his mouth to answer, Izzy was suddenly speechless. "Uhhh…" he muttered, trying to understand his own feelings. "Afraid of… uh…."
Joe smiled. "Well, then, let's get right to it! Your parents went this way…"
"You know what's funny?" Sora asked Matt, pulling him up the stairs from the kitchen to their rooms. She turned around smiling at him.
"Our friends?"
"No. Our… oh, hey, wait… Yeah. Our friends." Sora looked at him. "Oh, but what's even funnier; I had a dream that you told me not to eat the eggs. Or milk, maybe. It's kind of foggy, but…"
Matt raised an eyebrow. "So one of my best friends is psychic. Goody." He rolled his eyes. Sora put her hands on her hips, glaring at her friend. "What?" Matt smirked. "You should be glad you didn't eat the eggs. Or the milk. And that you're psychic. I mean, you can't blame this on me!"
"But you're the one who told me, in my dream."
"What are you doing, prying into my image while you're sleeping? I've done no such thing." Matt smirked.
"But you still told me. What do you say to that?"
Matt thought a moment. Suddenly he came up to eye level beside her. "Hm… how about…" he touched her nose and dashed up the stairs. "Tag. You're it!"
"You're such an immature little… hey! I don't wanna be it!" Sora screamed up and followed him, perpetuating the randomness of the game.
Matt nearly made it to his door when he tripped. He landed on the floor, and turned to see Sora coming at him with a vengance. "I realise this is totally and completely my fault, but… Oh god, don't kill me!" he threw up his hands and suddenly things were quiet. He looked up to see Sora sitting on the floor in a half daze. "What happened?" he asked.
Gennai leaned over into Matt's vision, making the blonde boy jump. "Wha-- when'd you get here? Don't scare me like that!" the blonde put a hand over his heart. "I thought Sora was going to kill me."
"Well, good thing I found you, then. Come on, I need help with these boxes." Gennai told them. Sora picked herself off the floor and Matt was just about to follow. "That's ok, Matt. Just pick up your room and that'll be fine for me."
"What are you, my mother?"
"I could be. You never know." Gennai said airily, making Matt shudder. "Come on, Sora. I need Tai to help me too. And he's being stubborn." Sora followed Gennai, and right as she was about to leave, her head shot up.
"Bye Matt. See you later." She told him.
"Uh… bye." Matt left into his room.
Sora watched him dissappear into his room. Oh, what am I going to do with him? He made me go completely off track with our conversation. It's like he didn't want to talk about breakfast at all. And I wanted to ask him… who allen is. Sora thought to herself, sighing. "Guess I'll never know. Anyway…" she turned to Gennai. "What's in the boxes?"
Izzy got himself wound up. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I can… do his… I … can too his… I cantoon his… I can tune this…" Izzy let his brain be sidetracked before Joe sighed and shook his head, right before he shoved him in the path of his parents. "Eek! Uh, Hi, mom. Dad. Nice to see you here." Izzy smiled nervously. "Uh…"
Izzy's parents, Rachel and Chris, let their son talk. Finally Rachel smiled. "Yes, what is it?" she asked her son.
"Mom, dad, can I talk to you?"
Chris looked confused. "Sure. You don't have to ask, silly." He told Izzy.
"Great. C'mere a second." He pulled his parents over and around the corner. Ok. I can do this. Just ask them the question. Just ask them. Izzy thought to himself as they stopped. Looking into his father's trusting eyes gave him strength. Izzy thought of all the times they'd had together, and could bearly believe that they weren't his parents. They'd treated him so well. just like their own son. And he'd treated them like his own parents. But… he had to know. And that's what it came down to, he jut had to know who his parents were, and who he really was. These thoughts ran through his mind as he began talking to his parents. "Am I… er… what I mean is… um…" Izzy stammered for a moment.
"Yes?"
"What I'm trying to ask is… Am I… are you… who is…"
"Are you all right?" Chris asked his son. "you're acting funny."
"If there was something different about me than someone else, would you tell me?" Izzy asked quickly, finally remembering what the question was.
His parents, however, didn't understand. "Uh, excuse me?"
"I am adopted, right?" Izzy asked, and then bit his lip. "Oops. That wasn't the question…" Izzy looked down at his shoes, repeating the dreaded question. "Adopted, adopted, adopted, am I adopted? Please…" he muttered in a quiet voice.
Rachel looked at her son with sad eyes. "Oh, honey…" she said in a small voice. "We were going to tell you."she sighed. "We knew this day would come, but we just… kept putting it off."
"We're sorry. We just… didn't think you were ready to know yet." Chris pitched in. There was silence between the two, then they pulled Izzy close. Rachel held her adopted son in her arms, swaying back and forth in a gentle motion.
"I'm sorry. When did you figure it out?" his mother asked quietly.
Izzy pulled off of his mother, locking his hands behind his back. "Well, oh, when… you were talking about it. A long time ago, actually. I didn't believe it, so I checked papers from your desk. Who's my dad?" Izzy asked abruptly, looking at them in the eye. "My… real… dad?"
Matt growled, leaning over and pulling his dirty clothes into a clothes hamper. "I guess Gennai really COULD pass as mom." He muttered, straitening a stack of books on the floor and putting them on a bookshelf. Finally, after half an hour of straightening his room, he heaved a sigh and sat on his bed, thinking un-mattlike things. "I wonder… how they'll take it. I don't think they even heard me at breakfast." Matt mumbled. "Tomorrow, tomorrow, oh, the ode of tomorrow… I want an apple."
scrutinizing his job, Matt's thoughts turned to his room. "done, done, done, don…e…" he looked at his window. "Busted… oh well. earthquake's fault. Can't blame me, huh?"
He thought back to the earthquake. He had been having the best dream, before Sora had woken him up. Of course, that wasn't such a bad thing…
She'd kissed him after all.
Well, it wasn't really a kiss. She said so. But he could pretend. It was like he'd imagined it, only better. "Too bad I wasn't awake for the whole thing…" suddenly Matt couldn't keep his eyes open. Darkness formed on the edge of his vision as he lay back on his mattress. "So… tired…"
The last thing he imagined before he fell asleep was her. He dreamed of her. 'what is this?' Matt's last thought before he fell asleep danced on his subconscious. 'Is this love?'
Tai was groaning as he pulled his box along the corridor. "You can't be serious. How'd I get conned into this?" He moaned, and Agumon, somewhere behind him, agreed.
"Yeah. This thing's heavy."
"Don't need to tell me twice." Tai muttered.
"Really? You're such a wimp, Tai. Mine's so light, I could hold it with one arm." Sora told her friend. She glanced back at biyomon. "Isn't yours light?" she asked her digimon, who shook her head and started making fake gagging noises. The three of them made quite a dramatic scene. "You're all pathetic."
"Good thing we didn't ask… Mi… Mi or Joe. Right… guys?" Tai mumbled. "They'd be… com…plaining… so much right now." He grunted and grinned.
"Just set them right here… Oh, wait. I forgot… the kitchen is upstairs. Come on, we're going outside." Gennai told the group.
"Upstairs? Are you nuts?" Tai asked Gennai.
"Well, Matt thinks so. I suppose I could be…" Gennai smiled.
"Why aren't you… carrying a box?" Tai grunted. "And… Matt? What's that… supposed to me…an?"
"Gennai told Matt to clean his room." Sora answered for him.
Tai stared. "What are you, his mother?"
"Possibly. You never know."
"Well, seeing as how it would be pretty hard for a male digimon to be ANYONE'S mother, I think we're pretty cleared up on that subject. Shall we make tracks?" Sora asked, heading out a door into a stone hallway. She sighed a happy sigh. 'Oh, what pretty walls. Why can't I always live in a castle? I'm going to stay here for ever and ever. That is… if Yamato wants to stay here for ever and ever. Maybe I can convince him that school is evil and they sell good hair gel here.'
"What are you smiling about?" Tai asked grumpily.
"The walls."
Tai rolled his eyes. "Sure. Ok. What about the… walls?" They…'re nice and all… really…" he grunted again. It was hard work. "What's in this… box, anyway? Lead?"
"Perhaps. You never know when you'll need the valuable semi-metal, Lead. Right?"The old digimon mocked.
"Ha… ha… You really wouldn't…" Tai muttered.
"And stop saying perhaps. It's confusing me." Agumon told Gennai from the rear of the group.
"Just what I was thinking." Biyomon said.
"Hey guys." Mimi popped around a door and smiled, holding her hands behind her back.
"What're YOU smiling about?" Tai's voice broke. "Why does everyone have to be so gosh darn happy? It's freaking me out here. Please… please tell me everyone else is insane. Today will NOT be a good day."
"Not after the incident this morning." Mimi laughed.
"Definitely not after this morning." Palmon commented. "Wha'cha doing, Agumon?"
"Lifting… weights…" He groaned.
Sora snickered. "Well, I think that today will be fun. Hilarious, even."
"You and your dumb predictions." Tai sighed.
"Your father… he was one of my best friends." Chris told his son, who listened intently. "When your parents died… in a car crash… You had no close relatives. We offered to take you."
"My dad…"
"Was the funniest person I've ever met." Chris laughed. "He'd play practical jokes on us all the time, and had the most interesting christmas letter. At least, that's what I think. And the nine million other people on his mailing list. My most favorite letter: 'This christmas, the golf course exploded under a seige of blasting golf balls. The greens just couldn't handle my accuracy, they had to import me to a higher level of golfing.' Translation, 'I had an extremely terrible year for golf. They nearly kicked me off the course.' The most offbeat, unorthodox things you could think of…" Izzy's father laughed, making Izzy himself smile broadly.
"And your mother." Rachel took over. "She was the sweetest thing. She always baked cookies and sent them over. Had one hell of a job too. She was a doctor, and made enough to get a red corvette. I was always jealous." Rachel playfully kicked her husband. "she had spunk as well. Always doing something new. Right after she had you, as soon as she was out of the hospital, she went and took skydiving lessons. Wacky, huh?"
"My parents were cool." Izzy smiled to himself.
"Someday, we'll sit down with the photo album, and show you everything." Rachel said.
Izzy smiled up at his parents. "Really?"
"Really. If that's what you want." Chris told him happily.
"Thanks." Izzy hugged them both. "Thanks for telling me… Mom. Dad."
Joe smiled from the shadows. 'See, Izzy? It wasn't that hard. You just had to try.' He thought to himself. But somewhere inside told him that it really had been that hard. Something about spilling a secret was just too much. Too overloading on the soul. It just seemed like an easy thing afterwards because they felt wonderful. It really didn't reflect how torn you were inside when you had to tell something terrible. That could only be reflected by the stubbornness of not telling them. Of not telling anyone. 'Good for you Izzy.' He thought.
He must have gained telepathy overnight, because Izzy looked up at him, smiled, and stood back from his parents. "I'm hungry. Let's go get something to eat, Ok?" He said happily.
Joe took his silent cue and walked forward. "Izzy. I've got dibs on the chocolate."
"They're out of chocolate."
"Wha?"
"I checked."
"When?" Joe asked grumpily.
"Oh, this morning, before I was handed a plate of eggs." He told the older boy.
"What were you doing looking for ice cream in the morning? You weren't thinking about eating something so malnutritious for breakfast, were you?" Rachel asked in mock suspicion. Izzy smiled up at his redheaded mother as they rounded the corner, but then suddenly felt himself falling. He looked down…
"Bring it over here…" Gennai coaxed Tai up the stairs. The order of the group completely changed around. After a while of carrying boxes, everyone decided that they'd put the boxes at the foot of the stairs, outside, so that they'd be able to bring them all up at once. The only problem was, now, (after several trips of Tai grimacing and groaning his head off) every box was sitting at the bottom of the flight of stairs.
"What's this?" Tk asked. Tai looked suspiciously at the boy, who was standing next to Kari. The brown haired boy remembered what he'd seen a few days ago, with them holding hands and talking in the meadow. Tk ignored the face that Tai made at him and went on. "So many boxes." He commented.
"So many boxes!" Tai mocked him in a little voice.
"Tai!" Kari said indignantly.
"Ta-ai…" Tai continued his mock.
"Cut it out!"
"Cut it ou- ch! Sora! What was that for?" Tai hopped on one leg, the other being too sore at the moment to stand on.
"Kick you? Because you're being immature."
"Some friends." Tai muttered. "Where does this box go?" Mimi pointed to where Gennai stood. "Great. Up-stairs." He lifted his box again, and Agumon, Biyomon, and Sora followed suit.
"Think we should help 'em?" Patamon asked innocently.
"No." Kari and Gatomon said at the same time. "Let my brother be tired. We'll sit here and observe. Besides, we're too small to lift these…" Kari tried tugging at one of the boxes, which didn't budge.
Tk and Mimi leaned forward curiously. "What's in them, anyway? Sora said they were light, and Tai said they were heavy." Mimi told them, reaching for a box. "Don't suppose they'll mind if we take a peek?" She asked, and got several heads to shake. Flipping open one of the boxes, she looked in, confused.
"What is it?" Tk took out a small squirt bottle.
"It looks like the Catsup bottles they give you at restauraunts." Kari had also taken one out of the box. Carefully, she squirted it on her hand. It was white and pasty. When she rubbed her hands together, she knew instantly what it was. "GLUE!"
"Why are they taking glue up to the pantry?"
"Maybe that's not all there's in the boxes…" Tk took out three other bottles, holding them in his hands. "Nope. Nothing under these bottles…"
"There's pillows in this one." Mimi had opened another box. "Sora must be carrying these."
"More bottles. These are…" Kari squirted some on her hands. "Honey. Weird."
"Look out below!"
Everyone looked up. Izzy lost his balance, running into his mom before falling down the stairs. They'd looked up in time to see Rachel back into her husband, who fell on Gennai, who elbowed Tai, who was carrying a box. He effectively dumped his entire boxful of honey onto his body, the bottles popping open and going onto his shirt. After that little mishap, he fell over on Agumon and Biyomon, who both did the same thing with their boxes while rolling back down the steps.
"Get out of the way!" Kari yelled to the others, but too late. Biyomon collided with Tk and Patamon, and Tai with Gatomon and Mimi. She herself tried to catch Agumon, but missed, falling backwards into a box of pillows. Instead it was Mimi who (accidentally) caught her brother's digimon, his momentum sending her back into another bunch of boxes.
There was some tumbling and kicking of boxes as the world crashed around them, and then there was a breif silence. Somewhere above, Joe popped his head around the corner to look at the disaster. "Wow. For once, it wasn't my fault." He smiled, going down to help them. "Is everyone ok?"
"I look like a…" Tai stood up and looked at his body in disbeleif. "Like a… like a…"
"Chicken?" Izzy provided from the floor.
The honey that had stuck to his body had somehow attracted the feathers from the pillows, and now the boy was a sticky mess. Others looked at what they looked like.
"Chickens."
"Great."
"Get off me, will ya?"
"This is funny, right Tai?" Sora asked.
The boy sighed. "No."
Sora started laughing. "Well, I think it's funny. That we're not hurt, and covered in feathers. It was like a life size Rube Goldberg Machine. You know, those things where they have tons of steps, but produce one small task? I think this is funny. Hilarious, even. And I'm sure that Matt will think so too." She looked at her clothes, desprately trying to brush off the feathers before looking up. "God, he's going to laugh his head off."
"Where is he, anyway?" Mimi muttered from the floor.
Matt blinked.
"What?" he asked the ceiling. He groaned, sitting up and glancing at his alarm clock.
4:11 pm.
He glared at it, trying to understand. Finally it registered. "I fell asleep. I fell asleep?" suddenly he stood up, which wasn't such a good idea. Sitting back down, he let his vision clear as he tried hard to remember what exactly had happened. "I cleaned my room, I sat down… I… fell asleep. How? I wasn't even… Tired…" he slowly stood up. Deep in thought, he walked out of his room and down the hallway. He hoped that Sora hadn't been waiting for him.
"Oh, that's right. She was doing some errand… for Gennai…"
his feet carried him down the hallway absent mindedly. 'fell asleep. Fell asleep. What happened? This never happened before… even under the unusual circumstances… was I pushing myself too hard? Or maybe I just didn't get enough sleep last night, since I had that dream, and called Kristy… and…' He was so deep in thought that when he passed the group of digidestined (Which was rather large at the moment) he didn't even notice.
"Matt?"
The voice startled him. It was Sora's. Remembering what he was thinking about before he fell asleep, he was slightly shocked. His head snapped up, and he turned around. "Oh, Sora, I'm sorry I didn't see you there-- what?"
Turning around, he saw Tai, Mimi, Kari, Sora, Tk, Gennai, Izzy, Rachel, Agumon, Biyomon, Gatomon, palmon, and Patamon standing (or flying) in front of him, decked out in feathers. "Um… you… have a feather… on your nose…" he told Mimi, who brushed it off, annoyed.
"Oh, do I now?"
"Um, now you have… heh… Two feathers… heheh… on your nose…" Matt bit his lip, trying his hardest not to tick Mimi off by laughing, and Mimi scowled. She swiped again, this time leaving a whole mess of them on her face.
"I dreamed you told me Izzy was going to trip." Sora remembered suddenly. "Once in a life time thing! Don't miss it!" Matt let out a squeak, struggling with the hard indicision of 'to laugh or not to laugh. That's really, really the question, here.' 'I'm not making this easy for myself…' Matt thought to himself and squeaked again.
"Well, I found it." Joe popped through one of the nearby doors.
"Found… what?" Tai asked cautiously.
"The music." He held out a boom box, which started playing 'I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck, I just wanna shake my butt…'
Matt just couldn't hold it in any longer, and broke down laughing.
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