I don't own digimon.

Chapter 19

Romantic Flow

Blaze hadn't expected to find Dave in his lap when he woke up. Or for that matter, Dave cradling his scimitar in his arms. The former was a welcome surprise of sorts. Latter less so in this situation. Strange sprinkles that lightly covered the general area weren't so welcome either. The yawning that it had brought forth too. Get that out. You'll all make me sleepy. We don't want that. A sleepy Mr Lore Mage is never good when it comes to . That's wheeen mistrwaeaf are made.

Oops. Just ignore that last sentence. Sleep has been a bit rough at the moment. Definitely not a sign of things to come. Hopefully.

Back with our fighter, he leaned forward slightly. While the difference of weight on his body was quite an odd feeling, the warmth brought forth was totally worth it. An actual bed though, might be something to think about. Especially if this becomes a frequent occasion later down the road.

"Hey…" Blaze whispered, catching a glimpse of Balamon. "Did something happen?"

Balamon took a deep breath. Which made Blaze even more confused. He had been pretty tired after helping out at the cafe, so he decided to forgo his usual practice and just headed to bed with Dave. While he would've gone about doing that right now, he had a feeling that there was something else entirely he needed to be focusing on.

Carefully setting his boyfriend down and pulling the blade from his lap, the fighter took the time to slip on a shirt (to answer the obvious question, he was already wearing pants to begin with). Balamon followed right behind, comfortably hanging from Blaze's shoulder for the moment. He watched as his partner skip his way over, hand casually on the knob. There had to be a reason for Dave freaking out. That was a good thing to ask him about though. The perfect icebreaker for a date. Should such an event eventually occur between the two and able to be recorded to some extent. Getting ahead of myself here. Sure, they've already shared a 'bed' and one of them has seen the other naked and stuff. Compared to our other loving pair, Blaze is ready for just about anything. Not as long as it involves them getting it on. Can't have that.

"Here goes nothing." the fighter remarked, twisting the knob and pulling the door open. Right after, he slammed it shut. There was no way that something so large could've gotten to this spot. It couldn't be. Just couldn't be. No way a large plant had taken root and blocked access out of the house. But that was what had taken root at the moment. Stupid pun.

Pulling the door open and scimitar back, blade met plant. Results were what you expect to an extent. So Blaze turned to his boyfriend, tapping him on the shoulder. Dave roused from his slumber and looked all about. Eventually, he shifted his attention back over to Blaze.

"I'm guessing the plant thing is gone?" the former grunt remarked, the nod from his boyfriend sealing it. Taking a deep breath, his gaze turned to the sparkles. "Some little woman flung that junk at us, claiming that things might get rough and that we should get some time to rest."

Blaze sighed, a faint suspicion forming in his head. Sure, Madame had forgotten to grab her whip off of Yvonne after the time at the cafe. But why she go out of her way to knock them out. He liked to believe she was at least an acquaintance. Maybe. Outside of things going south with Yvonne, there isn't really a reason to go that far. Unless…

"No, that's just silly." Blaze thought, really hoping to god that it wasn't who he thought it was. Sure, it probably was and that meant having to confront her, but the fighter wanted to believe that they could all be friends to an extent. Hopefully. So he shifted his attention back to his boyfriend. "Dave, do you think I can get you some clothes and stuff?"

Dave got up, looking to his cloak. Short-term, this was more than enough clothes to have on hand. The expectation had been that the Artisan and by extension - Distant Harmony would provide some form of transport back to their base. But look where that got him and his teammates. Stuck on a world they didn't even know the name of. No support system and only the possible kindness of strangers to get them through this rough patch. Quite awful for a group of people to do. Though, that might just be the teacher in me. Today, there was an assembly with a bunch of Sea Mages. Came from some tropical place with their sea hag chaperone. Quite surreal to see one. Before the event, I got a chance to talk to her. Nice woman. Cares a lot for her students, even if she does get tired of all the baby eating jokes. Most hags (according to her at least) have switched to adopting. Far less of a haggle on top of being more 'acceptable'.

As for the sea mages, they're sorcerers. Which is an odd choice to bring to a wizard academy, but that's not my call. Which in turn, I know absolutely nothing about. Sorry. Us wizards have a tendency to stick to the affairs of other wizards. Oops. I got on quite a tangent there. My bad. Considering how long it's been since I've gotten to talk about this stuff, it works out in the end. Kinda. Ran out of wizard classes to talk about with you (the viewer). Might need to hit the books.

Back with our pair, Blaze was now dressed in his leotard and began his exercises as Dave watched. Grace on full display, the show is as beautiful as ever. Especially as our fighter has begun to try and string it together into one cohesive routine. Kind of makes you want to see those traveling dancers now. What sort of performances do they put on that make them so famous.

"Good job." Dave announced, Blaze's cheek going as pink as they could possibly get. He looked away, trying his best to compose himself.

"You're improving." Balamon added, Blaze taking this compliment slightly better with a simple nod. Not entirely sure what the snake digimon is basing his observations on.

"Thanks." the fighter answered, cheeks still burning brightly. Hanging the leotard back up for the moment, he slipped back into his regular outfit. With all the walking they were going to do, it would suck if he accidentally ruined that particular outfit. Not something that the fighter wished to really risk.

"Ready to go?" he inquired, a nod from both of his companions as he headed for the door. Pulling it open, Blaze made sure to shut it tight. While not a deterrent for thieves, it's the thought that counts. Kinda? Not really sure in this situation.

Outside, the remains of the plant laid messily in front of the door. Highly doubtful to be edible, definitely poisonous in some aspect.

"So where are we going?" Dave inquired, nearing the Black Cat Inn. While he hadn't seen the inn, it looked alright. Better than some lodging he had seen back on his world. But by no means the best. Though, it had been a while since he actually put some thought into it.

"The shopping district." Blaze answered, taking the time to give Ella and Cinemon a wave. Barely, he could make out both a hand and paw. But that was not the end of familiar faces

"Blaaz!"

Bending down, Blaze scooped Bubbles up. While the little dragon was still dressed in his princess getup, he looked… confused.

"Bubbles, do you know where Madame went?" the fighter inquired, getting a confused look and a yawn. You're really tempting fate here. Don't do that to me. Been a long day, even without the assembly that I had to be at earlier.

The look all about from our dragon here says it all. Probably got some pretty pleasant dreams. Hopefully. Would suck if he hadn't and there wasn't anything to see.

"Princess went off." Bubbles explained, gaze on the ground. "Gone. Not friends?"

Blaze took a deep breath. Not a good way to explain this. But he was going to have to try to an extent. Especially with his boyfriend watching on, quite confused about what was even happening at the moment. So he turned to Dave and whispered something into his ear. After a few seconds, he received a nod. Then it's back to Bubbles.

"You're still friends." Blaze explained, giving Bubbles a head pat. In turn, the dragon carefully rubbed up against his friend's body. It felt nice. Kind of like how his leotard felt on his body while wearing it. "Madame just needed some time away from you and everyone else. Speaking of which, where Phusitmon?"

Bubbles looked away, perking up as a small plush rabbit came into view. Doesn't look too happy. I wouldn't be too if my partner ran off on me. Not that I've really had one in the first place. The life of a solo lore mage. Okay, outside of working with my fellow teaching assistant and students in a mix of work and school assignments. In retrospect, this metaphor sounded a hell of a lot better in my head. But here written out it's… alright.

"There you are." Phusitmon announced, scrambling up Blaze's leg and chest to get up to his partner. Maybe wait for him to get you down first. Or if nothing else, ask first before you go jumping on someone? People these days. "Sorry about that."

"It's alright." Blaze answered and set the pair down. Which made it the perfect moment for Bubbles to wander up to Dave. A curtsy, followed by a hug to the leg. "This is Dave. He's my boyfriend."

Dave looked down, taking the time to kneel down to be right around the dragon's level. While no additional curtsy occured, he did make sure to not rough up the dress. Quite nice of him.

"Daav!" Bubbles chimed, getting a head pat from the former grunt. On top of a sigh from his partner. Yes, it's cute. Less than professional too. He's a child. Stuck in a story where the other heroes are all adults. Man. That's kind of fucked up. Who the hell reads this stuff?

Sorry. Just had to ask the honest question here. Even if no such answer could possibly

"Would you like to join for some shopping?" Blaze explained, getting what looked to be a nod from both the dragon and the plush rabbit digimon. Hopefully. "Okay. Phusitmon, is there anything that you need?"

Phusitmon shook his head. Bubbles was pretty content on walking around with or without clothes. Which compared to his friends, seemed kind of odd. Though, that could be

"Not that I can think of at the moment." he answered, turning to Dave. "So this is your boyfriend of what? A Couple days?"

Dave nodded, letting out a low chuckle. Had it really been such a short period. Had to be. Unless his mind had been playing some elaborate trick on him. Sure, he was possibly pushing a bit too fast for both him and Blaze. Contrary to all these 'games' (games?) love doesn't just… happen. You need to put some work in it. They were both at the start of this long, complicated journey and anything could happen. Which made it all the more exciting to an extent. Especially since this was technically a gift from Blaze to him.

"Yeah." he explained, giving Phusitmon a pet. The plush rabbit didn't even blink. Not that I think he actually can in the first place. If that's true, that must mean. "So you're like Balamon."

Balamon chuckled, slithering his way down to Dave.

"Kinda." the snake digimon explained, shooting Phisitmon a glance. "He's more related to digimon like Monzaemon."

Blaze's gaze swiveled on over, catching the briefest glances of the shopping district. While he registered the words, they didn't quite mean anything for the moment. Same for me. We're in for a treat, in other words. Love it when my job is done for me.

"Monzaemon are large yellow teddy bear digimon." Phusitmon explained, Bubbles following right behind as we get our first good look at the shopping district. Much like the rest of Aldia, cobblestones lined the walkways with a 'circle' of buildings surrounding it. They look to be more of those gray walls. But these have wood inserts to differentiate things out. "They like giving hugs and cuddling. Except they are all bigger than those orc things."

Blaze came to a stop. Sure, someone like Yvonne was pretty tall. But for someone to exist that was somehow taller than her. That sounded kind of crazy. But, he could see that being a possibility. Which reminded him.

"After we get your clothes, I have some 'friends' who are in the soap making business." Blaze explained, watching Dave's gaze slip over to him. "We can check it out, but no guarantees on a job or anything."

Dave nodded. He hadn't expected Blaze to be so on board with him getting a job. More of a suggestion on his note to him the other day, it was kind of nice to see him so receptive to such an idea. Even if he didn't have anything in the way of a 'resume' (whatever that means) or a proper set of clothes to interview in. The latter thankfully, is a problem eas-

"Blaze, could you get me that?" Dave announced, pointing to a glass display of a nearby store. There, a garment that is very clearly a maid dress hung proudly. Unlike those that Madame's maids sported, this one was colored a dark cyan with frilly white lace. The sleeves were puffed up around the shoulders with the skirt of the garment coming down around the wearer's ankles. The feet of which currently fitted into a set of dark cyan mary janes. As for the head, that had a frilly headband to fit into the hair.

Yet, Blaze took a deep breath and approached the glass. While the price had clearly been marked down, that was still a good chunk of money. Money meant for the time that the dance troupe came into town and the possibility of something coming up on the road. Accidents, illnesses, stuff like that. Right now, that dream seemed to be changing. While he could still dance, maybe not with the troupe. Or perhaps for a short stint then back with his boyfriend. Or perhaps husband. Depends on how things work out when the time eventually comes.

So the fighter turned his attention to Dave. Sure, the former grunt would look amazing decked out in such a dress. The question of why invaded his head in that moment. An explanation for this that explained this request. Sure, he had a tendency to wear his leotard under his clothes. But he had no clue what Dave wore in his off time. Sure, this might be normal for him. Or this might be a spur of the moment idea that the fighter hadn't seen the full picture yet.

So Blaze took a deep breath. Dave let out a chuckle, gaze back on Blaze.

"I pushed a bit too far, didn't I?" the former grunt remarked, a faint 'yes' exiting the fighter's mouth. He took a deep breath, their friend's gazes split between the two men. "Probably should tell you the story then."

Upon hearing that, Bubbles sat himself down. Right in the middle of the walkway. Thankfully, Phusitmon pushed him back into what I can only assume to be an alleyway. Blaze and Balamon sat right beside them, letting their full attention be right on Dave.

"This all started when I was in kindergarten."

Notes:

Sea Mages used to be 'wizards' in earlier editions of Dungeons and Dragons. Like Mister Lore Mage says, they're now a sorcerer subclass.

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Next Time: A flashback. This is going to be good.