Now That I Found You

"Mom!" Sora yelled into the open freezer.

"Yes, honey?" Tonya and Nancy dashed into the kitchen area.

"This is gonna be so weird adjusting to having two moms," TK muttered.

"I'm sorry, Nancy. I meant to yell at my mother, Tonya…," Sora turned red.

"I'm sorry, Sora! I hear the word, and I act out of instinct," TK's mom blushed.

"Listen, while everyone's here, I do think we should discuss something important. Where's Matt?" Tonya asked.

"Sorry. I was…dropping the kids off at school," Matt popped out from the bathroom.

"Some things should stay a mystery. Honestly, I haven't had breakfast yet," Sora crossed her arms.

"Did you wash your hands?" Nancy gave Matt a stern look.

"Hey, like my sister said. Some things should stay a mystery," Matt winked.

"Go wash your hands. With soap…20 seconds, please. And don't forget to scrub under those fingernails," Nancy pointed at the kitchen sink.

"Fine," Matt shrugged.

"Okay, I'm glad everyone is here because Nancy and I have some important news. We have decided to set the official date for our wedding!" Tonya clapped her hands in excitement.

"Congratulations, guys!" Sora walked up and hugged the women.

"So when's the date?" TK asked.

"It's in two weeks," Nancy nodded.

"What?!" everyone choked.

"I hope that's not too short notice! We want to keep it intimate, so we're not inviting too many people. You guys can each invite one person," Nancy said.

"Thanks! We're really happy for you," Sora squeezed her mom's hand.

"Thank you everyone. It really does mean a lot to us. We feel so lucky to have your support. We would really love it if you could also be part of our wedding. Sora, would you be my maid-of-honor?" Tonya asked.

"And likewise, Matt, would you be my best man?" Nancy asked.

"Hey, what about me?" TK pouted.

"We saved the best job for you," Tonya handed TK a small, delicate pillow.

"What's this pillow for?" TK made a face.

"He'll find out," Matt exchanged smirks with Sora.

"At Rick E. Ricotta, we always have to make sure to keep this a fun environment! After all, this is one of the last places where a kid can be a kid!" a young boy with spiky brown hair and big, white gloves smiled. He wore a visor that had mouse ears attached to the sides, and a black polyester polo with red khaki shorts.

"Is that why we have to dress like Mickey Mouse?" Mimi tugged at her ugly black polo.

"No! We are not Mickey Mouse, we are Rick E.," the boy growled.

"But even your name tag says Mickey…," Mimi tapped at the boy's name tag.

"It says Mikey. Can't you read?" the boy snapped.

"Geez, sorry…," Mimi frowned.

"Let's move on. So here are some of the things we have to do as some of Rick E.'s pals. Do you like puzzle pieces?" the boy, Mikey asked.

"Not really," Mimi shook her head.

"Well, you better start liking them. One of your duties is to grab all of the leftover pizza slices you see lying around and take them to the kitchen. From there, you'll take 8 of them and fit them together into a whole pie. Sometimes all the pieces may not fit together, so you can play around with the slices, until you find a good fit. And you can always add more cheese to cover it up," Mikey said as he scooped up a tray.

"You cannot be serious!" Mimi stuck her tongue out.

"Kids can be a bit wasteful. By doing this, Rick E. Ricotta saves at least 30% of food from being thrown into landfills. Isn't recycling great?" Mikey smiled.

"Depends on what you're recycling," Mimi made a face.

"Hey Tai, what's got your bulls by the horn?" Davis asked.

"I'm screwed. I promised Megumi that I was gonna take her to this dance, but I want to do something nice for her. Only thing is I don't have a lot of money and I think she's expecting something big," Tai groaned.

"Why would she expect that?" Davis asked.

"Because I've kinda done crazy things for Catherine before. I think she wants something along that level," Tai sighed.

"Oh shoot! Speaking of Catherine…," Davis pulled a flyer out of his pocket. "She wanted me to relay this message to you, ahem. Dear Tai, I have better things to do than to talk about you. I have moved on to better things, I think it's time you have too. Also, here, she wanted me to do this too…," Davis threw a handful of glitter at Tai.

"What the hell is this?" Tai gasped.

"It's called a Pocketful of Sunshine! It's an add-on for an extra $5. Genius, right?" Davis smiled.

"Is this supposed to cheer someone up? Cause it only pissed me off more," Tai pressed his lips together.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. Here, take this pack of tissues. This is another add-on, on the house. It's kinda the least I could do since I wasn't prepared to dress up like a bear. Don't tell Catherine," Davis whispered.

"Trust me, I don't think I'll be talking to Catherine anymore," Tai ripped open the pack of tissues and tried to wipe the glitter off. "I have to say, you must make a killing from your new business."

"It's pretty decent. You have no idea how many people are too chicken to talk to someone face to face," Davis smirked.

"It is a genius idea. I wish I came up with this idea myself," Tai rubbed his chin.

"But you didn't, because you're not gutsy enough," Davis casually said.

"What? I totally am!" Tai gasped.

"Nuh uh! You could never do my job," Davis scoffed.

"I totally could!" Tai put his hands on his hips.

"Alright, bet! If you have the time, why don't you help me deliver some of these messages? I could really use the help. And you can keep the money from these jobs too. I know you could really use it right now," Davis hummed.

"You've got a deal," Tai shook hands with Davis.

"I can't believe our moms are actually getting married," Sora fiddled with her straw wrapper.

"Sucks we can't bring all of our friends. Who are you thinking of bringing?" TK asked.

"I dunno…I mean, naturally, I would have asked Sora to be my plus one, but she's already gonna be there so that's gonna be hard. You would have been my second choice, but again, you're gonna be there too…," Matt huffed.

"I would have been your second choice?" TK sounded offended.

"You would choose your brother as a plus one?" Sora made a face.

"Is that weird? Doesn't a plus one just mean an extra ticket? That doesn't mean you have to invite someone you're going out with. Also, isn't it weird to have a wedding as a date night?" Matt asked.

"I guess he has a point," TK shrugged.

"I dunno, personally, I want my plus one to be someone I can have fun with for more than a couple of hours. I love the gang, but I don't think I see most of them fitting that criteria," Matt chewed on a lollipop stick.

"I guess you have a point," Sora sighed.

"This is gonna be much harder than I thought," Matt tapped his fingers against the tabletop.

"Yeah…," TK said.

"I should go. Good luck guys," Sora shrugged and got up from her chair.

"Thanks," the boys nodded as she walked off.

"TK!" Matt gasped.

"What?" TK looked at him.

"I know what she's up to, and she's not slick! She can't have her! She's mine!" Matt sprung up from his chair.

"What are you talking about?" TK looked concerned.

"She's mine! I claim Kari! She's the only normal one left! You guys can't have her! Gotta go!" Matt pushed the chairs out of his way and ran off.

"Take her. Makes it easier for me," TK muttered to himself.

"Knock, knock…," Sora leaned against the doorway.

"Hi. This is a surprise," Joe looked up from his desk.

"Is it a nice surprise?" Sora nervously bit her lip.

"Of course. What brings you by?" Joe asked.

"Nothing much really…are you doing anything two weekends from now?" Sora gingerly fiddled with her fingers.

"Yeah, I actually have something to do. Kinda important, can't cancel," Joe adjusted his glasses. "Why? What's up?"

"Nothing…no reason. Just curious. Well, I'll see you around!" Sora forced a smile and slipped out of the room.

"Cheers, big ears…," Izzy smirked.

"Up your nose with a rubber hose," Mimi crossed her arms and pouted.

"Sorry…that was just one of my very few attempts at a joke. Thanks for reminding me that I don't have a good sense of humor," Izzy smirked.

"Now I'm sorry. I'm just having a bad day," Mimi sighed.

"What happened this time?" Izzy asked.

"As you can tell, I work at Rick E. Ricotta's now, and do you know how disgusting that place is? I'm like surrounded by snotty, smelly children who pee themselves and don't wash their hands all the time," Mimi whined.

"You mean mini versions of the rest of your friends?" Yolei remarked.

"I hate to admit it, but I think Yolei may actually have a valid point this time," Izzy muttered under his breath.

"This is serious though! I hate my manager, he sucks! He's always making me do the grossest things and calling it a fun, little 'game'. Oh, like scavenger hunt? Do you know what that is?" Mimi shuddered.

"Do I want to know?" Izzy winced.

"It's not fun! It's basically his way of trying to make finding garbage in the ball pits and plastic tunnels sound like fun. Spoiler alert, it's not! I think I've seen more dirty diapers on my shift today than I did on a day trip to Lake George. Disgusting!" Mimi shuddered.

"You washed your hands after that, right? Here…," Izzy grabbed Mimi's hands and pumped hand sanitizer on them.

"Of course I did! I wanted to dip them in acid and burn them off, but I just bought a new bottle of glitter nail polish…," Mimi sighed.

"Those are important priorities after all," Izzy shook his head.

"I'm trying not to get fired because I'm such a new and improved person now, but this job sucks," Mimi scrunched up her nose.

"I mean…I think some exceptions could be made in certain circumstances," Izzy shrugged.

"No, stop being a princess! No one's gonna take you seriously if you keep hopping around from job to job! Sure, you're getting hired now, but years down the line, serious jobs will see your resume and avoid you like the plague. How do I know? Because my older brother was just like you! Couldn't keep a job for longer than a week. Now he's a freeloader who can't go on any dates, because he's a degenerate," Yolei stuck her thumb down.

"Oh no! Is that gonna be me? I still haven't finished paying off my credit card bill. Or that massive macron mukbang binge…and I have to pay for the damage to those go karts too," Mimi gasped.

"Oh yeah. Thanks, I almost forgot about that too. I'll probably still be paying that off until I'm forty," Izzy clenched his jaw.

"Kari, Kari, Kari! Be in my wedding! Please!" Matt slid across the counter.

"Whoa, what?" Kari gasped.

"I didn't mean marry me! I mean, be my plus one! Please! Pretty, pretty please!" Matt stood up straight.

"Wow…who's wedding is this?" Kari awkwardly said.

"It's my mom. She's getting married to Sora's mom. Please say yes!" Matt pleaded.

"Okay, I'll be your plus one," Kari smiled.

"Yes! Alright! You saved me!" Matt sighed and ran off.

"What was that?" Zoe made a face.

"I think I just agreed to be Matt's date…," Kari blinked in shock.

"Hey Davis," TK nervously put his hands in his pockets.

"What's up, bro?" Davis looked up from his laptop.

"I hope this isn't weird but…would you want to go to my mom's wedding with me? They said I could bring an extra guest and I don't wanna be by myself, ya know?" TK awkwardly tugged at the hair at the back of his head.

"Dude, I would totally go with you! When's the date? I'll mark that on my calendar," Davis said.

"Two Saturdays from now," TK said.

"Awesome! I'm down!" Davis nodded.

"Great. I'll see you around, TK shyly smiled and subtly wiped his hands on his jeans.

"Cool beans," Davis nonchalantly said.

"Hey, it's me Tai…the bad news bear!" Tai walked up to Sora.

"Tai, what are you doing?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

"I'm helping Davis out with some of his gigs. He needs the help, I need the money," Tai shrugged.

"Okay, great…but that still doesn't explain what you're doing here," Sora said.

"Right….hi Sora, I'm Tai the bad news bear, here to bear some bad news on behalf of your manager, Veronica! She said if you don't sell more credit cards by the end of the week, you'll have to be doing clopen shifts every weekend for the entire summer," Tai tossed some glitter up in the air. "Huh, Davis was right. That made me feel better at least."

"Veronica's got another thing happening if she thinks I'm staying here past graduation," Sora snorted.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked.

"I'm still looking at schools, but I think I may be a shoo-in for Kyoto University. Same place my dad teaches," Sora smiled.

"Are you sure you wanna do that?" Tai frowned.

"Why, what's the problem?" Sora defensively said.

"No, there's no problem at all! It's just that when was the last time you actually spoke to your dad? And Kyoto is so far away. Are you sure this is really what you want to do?" Tai said.

"Actually, I'm not sure what I wanna do, but I feel like maybe I need a change of scenery. We're not gonna be kids for much longer," Sora shrugged.

"I know…," Tai sighed.

"It's so weird. I wish I could just go back to simpler times. Times where TK and Matt were not my brothers. Speaking of, would you like to be my plus one to my mom's wedding?" Sora asked.

"Sure! When is it?" Tai asked.

"It's in two weeks," Sora said.

"Alright, cool. Should be fun," Tai smirked.

"My mom got a new wife, and I got two annoying brothers. Fun," Sora smirked back.

"Matt, why did you want us all to meet up here?" Sora huffed.

"Yeah, some of us have some jobs we take semi-seriously enough. I mean, on a level relative to our pay," Izzy smirked.

"I dunno, I quite enjoy any 'family emergency' I can get," Mimi sighed in relief.

"Alright everyone, I wanted you all here to announce that Kari is my date to my mom's wedding! No one else has dibs!" Matt yelled.

"Do you really have to announce that to everyone?" Kari turned red.

"What?! You're taking my sister to the wedding?! Are you trying to perv on her?" Tai yelled.

"Whoa whoa whoa! That wasn't my intention in the slightest! Dude, I just see Kari as a little sister. Now, I just wanted to pick the most normal option as my plus one, and Kari is who went with!" Matt said.

"Uh, thanks?" Kari made a face.

"I'm just here to have a good, clean, family-friendly time," Matt nodded.

"Oh, your moms are having a wedding?" Mimi gasped.

"Yeah. We could only invite one person each though, since they wanted to keep it small…sorry," Sora bit her lip.

"I'm assuming Mimi and I weren't invited," Izzy leaned back in his chair.

"Oh," Mimi frowned.

"I'm so sorry! I mean, if it makes you feel any better, I screwed up in the group chat too! You guys technically weren't supposed to be a part of this conversation either," Matt winced.

"Ouch, this is awkward," TK cringed.

"I get it. I think I'll get out of the way. You guys don't need me crowding up your conversation anyways," Izzy got up from his seat.

"Me too," Mimi nodded.

"Don't take it personally, Mimi. I would have totally loved to invite you, it's just-,"

"Nope, you don't have to explain it. I gotta go. I have more pee-soaked diaper pants to deal with at work now," Mimi frowned and ran up to Izzy. "Hey! Wait up for me!"

"What?" Izzy sighed.

"Can you believe they did that to us?" Mimi crossed her arms.

"Yes. Actually I can, but I'm not surprised anymore," Izzy shrugged.

"Come on, doesn't that upset you! They left us out," Mimi sighed.

"What could they realistically do? They had three open spots. I don't expect any of them to invite me if that's how limited it is. Maybe Tai would invite me, and that's just a maybe," Izzy shrugged.

"I would invite you," Mimi wrapped her arms around Izzy's arm.

"Thanks. I think I would invite you too," Izzy smirked.

"You better, you're my bestie. You know what? I'm happy now that I found you. Who knew I would end up meeting my favorite person during the most embarrassing moment of my life?" Mimi laughed.

"What? That can't be true," Izzy paused.

"Yeah! I bet you're thinking I've had more embarrassing moments, but no! Yolei cutting up my credit card in front of everyone was the worst day of my life! But that's when I found you, and you're the best friend I've ever had," Mimi smiled.

"You know what? We've only known each other for less than a year, and I think you're the best friend I've ever had too," Izzy nodded.

"Hey, we should do something cool, just the two of us, while everyone else goes to their stupid wedding! We'll show them we can be a good time without them," Mimi crossed her arms.

"Sounds like a plan," Izzy said.

"Hey, bud…how did things work out?" Davis leaned against the jail cell bars.

"I was doing pretty good, just so you know. It's just that I ran across an unexpected situation," Tai nervously smiled.

"So tell me, why am I bailing you out?" Davis pulled out his wallet.

"You see…," Tai sighed.

"Hiya, it's Tai the bad news bear here to bear some bad news on behalf of that guy over there. Dear Zoe, you are really crappy at making drinks. You put way too much milk and not enough sugar in the coffee and the drinks are too ugly to take a picture of on social media," Tai threw glitter at Zoe's face.

"Are you serious? Coffee is meant to be drank…not to be shown off," Zoe started to shake.

"Uh, maybe you should take a quick cooldown session in the back," Kari winced.

"I don't need to cool down, you all need to learn how to drink coffee!" Zoe screamed and stomped off.

"I guess I struck a nerve," Tai winced.

"That's what you're good at. What are you doing here anyways? Where's the other one? The cuter one?" Catherine crossed her arms.

"Oh, it's you…I have a special message for you! Dear Catherine, you're stuck up and a hypocrite! You should get over yourself! Pffft!" Tai threw glitter at her and spit on her.

"Ugh, what is the matter with you?" Catherine threw a blender at him.

"Hey! Watch where you throw that thing! You almost knocked my block off!" Tai yelled.

"A girl could only dream! Get out of here!" Catherine threw a lemonade pitcher in his direction but he dodged it.

"Nyah Nyah, missed me, bet ya wish ya kissed me," Tai heckled.

"Kari, what should we do?" TK said from the side of his mouth.

"I don't know…but I feel like standing still isn't helping either," Kari stood frozen in fear.

"Put that knife down, you crazy lady!" Tai yelled.

"And that's how I ended up here. Thanks, Catherine," Tai looked to the other side of the jail cell bench.

"You're not completely innocent in all of this, you know. I can't believe this, I've never been arrested before," Catherine crossed her arms and turned her back to him.

"Then it's been a night of many firsts, cause I've never had someone throw butcher knifes at me before," Tai snorted.

"Really?" Davis and Catherine asked at the same time.

"What? Is that hard to believe or something?" Tai asked.

"Yeah," Davis and Catherine nodded.

"Kamiya, you're free to go. Miss Deneuve, you'll have to wait for someone to bail you out," Joe looked at his clipboard.

"Idiot! J'ai un magasin à gérer!" Catherine stomped her feet.

"Right…," Joe shook his head and walked away.

"Alright buddy, you're Gucci," Davis fist-bumped Tai.

"I'll pay you back," Tai sheepishly said.

"Nah, we're even. You're fired. I'm sorry, but I can't have criminals on my payroll.

It's a bad look," Davis shrugged.

"I get it," Tai nodded.

"Hey Iz, is it me or does it seem like the mall is less packed than usual?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah. It's quiet. Yolei and Angie had both scheduled the day off. I was slightly annoyed that I was gonna be here by myself, but no customers came by," Izzy leaned against the counter.

"My manager didn't show up either," Mimi frowned.

"Funny, but not really…what if everyone ended up at the wedding?" Izzy smirked.

"Yeah, as if that would happen. But it would be kinda weird…thinking about it, my parents were getting ready for something fancy before I left the house," Mimi frowned.

"You know what's weird. So were my parents," Izzy made a face.

"You don't think, right?" Mimi nervously laughed.

"No, that's just too coincidental," Izzy forced a smile.

"Whatever happened to keeping this small and intimate?" Matt smirked.

"We tried, but I guess everyone wanted to come," Nancy nervously fiddled at her dress.

"We're very happy for you, but if we knew this many people were coming, we could've invited our other two friends too," Sora said.

"I'm so sorry kids, I didn't think it would be this extreme. Regardless, having two extra people would put us over the fire safety capacity, I don't think it would matter. We don't have the room," Tonya put her hands on Sora's shoulders.

"Besides, if they're your friends, I'm pretty sure they understand," Nancy said.

"You may remember Izzy, but you have not met Mimi yet," TK smirked.

"It's fine. They can keep each other company…right?" Tai shrugged.

"Why do you assume that they'll want to do that?" Sora huffed.

"They're always together anyways. They were probably bothered for five seconds and they moved on," Matt shrugged.

"Honestly, it still hurts to feel not included. It's kinda how you treated me and Kari until Davis came along," TK said as he adjusted his hair.

"Yeah. Sometimes, we still want to feel like we're part of the whole group too. I hate sticking up for Princess Mimi, but I think maybe we all need to do a better job at being a friend to both of those guys," Kari sighed.

"There goes my insightful queen," Davis wrapped his arms around Kari.

"Back off, Handsy- she's my date!" Matt flicked Davis.

"Back off, creep! She's my sister," Tai licked his pinky and stuck it in Matt's ear.

"Owww! What the frick?!" Matt fell to his knees.

"That's the best man, everyone," Sora rolled her eyes.

"So your idea of a fun night is to go to your job?" Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"Think about it, I have the power in my hands right now! My manager is gone, and we have a whole arcade to ourselves to do whatever we want!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Only problem is considering all of the things you've told me about the place, you've made this place sound even less appealing than I already thought it was. I've only been here once as a kid, and I have to say, I wasn't impressed," Izzy stuck his thumb down.

"Come on, don't be a stick in the mud! I'm gonna go ahead and turn off the security system. Haven't you ever wanted to go crazy in an arcade before? This is your chance!" Mimi exclaimed.

"The last time I went crazy in an arcade after-hours, we crashed some go-karts, and from what I recall, we're paying for that," Izzy said.

"Don't worry, the security cameras are off, so no one will even know we're here!" Mimi took off her work uniform to reveal a sundress underneath.

"Oh, you got changed…," Izzy turned red.

"Yeah. I couldn't stand that uniform! It's so ugly and uncomfortable! Hey, why don't we loosen up and go in the bouncy place first? I think it could help get you into the spirit!" Mimi pulled Izzy's hand and dragged him to an inflatable jumping court. "Take your shoes off too!"

"Okay," Izzy said, in defeat.

"Come on! This is so fun!" Mimi jumped up and down on the bouncy walls.

"I don't understand how," Izzy struggled to keep his balance.

"Come on! This is called a bouncy house, not a standing house! Bounce, bounce, bounce!" Mimi hopped in place.

"Okay…," Izzy bent his knees up and down in place.

"You can do better than that! I guess I'll have to help!" Mimi threw herself against the walls and lunged towards Izzy.

"Whoa!" Izzy gasped.

"Watch out!" Mimi tackled Izzy and fell on top of him.

*BOOM* *squeeeee*

"Mimi…," Izzy paused.

"Yes?" Mimi innocently curled up on top of Izzy.

"Did you just break the bouncy house?" Izzy grunted.

"What makes you say that?" Mimi nervously laughed.

"I dunno. Just making an assumption…," Izzy flatly said as the inflatable walls started to cave in on them.

*squeeeee*

"Kids, we're going to get into position soon. Do you guys know what you have to do?" Nancy pulled TK and Matt towards her.

"Uh…no?" TK smiled nervously.

"Isn't there some kind of rehearsal dinner that happens the night before, to kind of go over this?" Sora whispered.

"Yeah, but the Safari Cafe was booked yesterday night. Please kids, can you work with us here?" Tonya sighed.

"I guess we know where Sora gets it from now," Matt whispered to TK.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't we just look up what to do online?" Matt shrugged.

"We don't have the time for that," Tonya started to hyperventilate.

"Guys, why don't we just go down the corridor in order. Matt, you walk Nancy. I'll come in with Mom in a couple of moments, then TK will come in with the rings, later. We'll space it out 30 seconds apart. Sounds good?" Sora said.

"That makes sense to me," Matt crooked his arm. "Ready for action, Mom?"

"Ready," Nancy nodded.

"I'm ready when you are," Sora held hands with her mom.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Tonya squeezed her hand gently.

"You may now kiss the bride…..wait, who gets to be the bride?" TK held up two diamond rings.

"Don't overthink this, just walk on cue," Sora hissed in TK's ear.

"Heh, walk…how could I screw that up?" TK rambled. He immediately tripped on his shoelace and dropped the rings on the floor. "Crap…I'll stop talking."

"Do we have any plans of evacuating from this demolished playhouse?" Izzy groaned.

"Yeah, we should probably slip out before we get completely trapped," Mimi awkwardly giggled.

"Well, let's get a move on. I can't really get up," Izzy groaned.

"Hey, I'll get off of you. It's not like I'm that big!" Mimi climbed over him and hopped out of the deflated bouncy house.

"For your information, I wasn't insulating anything of the like- I just fell pretty hard on my back. You were a good help in that," Izzy forced himself out of the bouncy house.

"Oh yeah. Sorry…," Mimi bit her lip. "So, do you just wanna go home then?"

"No, that's not necessary. I'll live. After all, there's not many opportunities to have an arcade all to yourself. So what would you like to do next?" Izzy forced a smile.

"Great! I'm glad you want to stay! I've always wanted to have someone to play skeeball with!" Mimi squealed.

"You mean that game where you roll the ball up a ramp and attempt to aim at target holes?" Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! Come! I have the power of the machines, and I need a lookout buddy!" Mimi pulled Izzy to the skeeball machines. She tapped her employee badge to the payment slot and the skeeball machine dispensed some balls.

"Lookout buddy?" Izzy quizzically said.

"Yeah! If someone comes by, let me know…," Mimi grabbed a couple of balls and climbed up the ramp.

"Are you cheating?" Izzy's jaw dropped.

"Some people call it cheating, I call it putting the balls back in their proper place," Mimi said as she dropped balls in the high-point target goals.

"Have you actually thought about playing this like a normal person?" Izzy looked at her in disbelief.

"Yeah, but I don't get nearly as many tickets as I would doing this. Look!" Mimi pointed at the pile of tickets at Izzy's feet.

"Those are dirty tickets. Here, let me try! I'm gonna do this the honest way and we'll see who's better," Izzy motioned Mimi over.

"Yay, look who's finally out to actually play!" Mimi clapped her hands.

"Hey, if I'm playing like a normal person, you have to play like one too," Izzy shook his finger at her.

"Fine, you've got a deal," Mimi sighed.

"It's been a while since I played any games, so just keep that in mind," Izzy said as he rolled a ball up the ramp.

"Yeah, you'll get it eventually. Look, you got one ticket!" Mimi ripped a ticket out of the machine.

"Great…," Izzy droned.

"We're so happy for you," Sora hugged Tonya and Nancy.

"How does it feel to be just married?" Matt rested his arms on their shoulders.

"It's not necessarily like we needed a title or a ceremony to make it official, but it definitely feels nice," Nancy smiled.

"Don't worry about us, we can always catch up! Don't you have friends who came along?" Tonya said.

"Why don't you see what they're up to? There's a lot of people here, but I can't imagine they would know anyone else," Nancy said.

"I dunno. There are quite a bit of people around," Sora said as she shuffled through the crowd.

"Eh, looks like my date's a bit busy. You wanna dance with me, Mom?" Matt asked.

"Sure," Nancy smiled.

"My plus one is busy with Matt's plus one," TK shrugged.

"Come on, why don't you dance with me?" Tonya asked.

"Sure," TK nodded as he took Tonya out to the dance floor. "So Tonya, how did you know?"

"How did I know what?" Tonya asked.

"How did you know that you and my mom were meant to be? Like the two of you both were married to other men and had kids with them. How did you know that you were supposed to end up together?" TK asked.

"I can't speak for your mother, but growing up, I thought I was following the right steps. Find the right guy, have a family, be the homemaker, what-have-you. When you're a girl who has nothing but the previous generations to look at and all of the chick flicks and teen drama shows as somewhat of an instruction manual to how life should be, you get stuck in a box. But that's how I felt for many years following society's expectations, stuck in a box. I was stuck in an unhappy relationship that turned into an unhappy marriage, that eventually transitioned to a silent separation. And then I met your mother. I had all of these feelings come to the surface, I felt like a teenager again," Tonya smiled.

"You don't have to go into too much detail with that," TK turned red.

"No, I wouldn't do that to you. Let's just say it felt like a rush every time I got see her, it's almost like you can feel it under your skin. It doesn't matter what you do- you could be doing the most boring chore, but having that person with you makes it a thousand times better. All you want to do is spend your time with them. I don't know if you'll experience this, but it almost like you have to tell your heart to slow down because it beats like a hummingbird," Tonya said.

"I think I get it," TK looked down at the floor.

"Take all the time you need, but don't wait for other people's approval. Sometimes I wish I came to terms with this earlier, but honestly, things were meant to happen. If your mom and I didn't take these paths, we wouldn't have you in the first place. All that matters is that we have you and we have each other now. We can be one big, happy family now," Tonya pinched TK's cheek. "Here, why don't you go check up on your friend? I'm going to find my wife now."

"Will do," TK stood alone in the middle of the dance floor, watching as people were dancing in couples.

"Where did you get this food from? These cupcakes are so good," Tai stuffed a full chocolate cupcake in his mouth.

"Oh my god, you guys! I don't think we're supposed to be eating those yet! That's the wedding cake!" Sora hissed.

"What do you mean? Isn't the wedding cake supposed to be like an actual cake?" Matt motioned with his hands.

"If you actually paid attention to anything they planned out, they decided to go with a cupcake tower instead of a cake. You guys are unbelievable," Sora grunted.

"No worries! We can fix this! Look, we'll just eat all the cupcakes in the back, so it looks even. See?" Matt grabbed a couple of cupcakes.

"That's a great idea," Tai stuffed them in his mouth.

"I want no part of this," Sora huffed and walked off.

"She's just mad because we know how to beat the system," Matt talked with his mouth full.

"She sure needs to loosen up. This is a happy occasion," Tai licked frosting off his fingers.

"Matt!"

"Uh oh…," Tai choked on a cupcake.

"Hi Mom and Momma Tonya, what's up?" Matt jumped in front of the cupcake tower.

"Sora's a snitch," Tai muttered.

"Hey, our DJ's equipment is messed up. Can you play something?" Nancy pleaded.

"I mean, I'd love to…but I wasn't planning on it. I don't have any equipment on hand," Matt winced.

"Hey! Were you able to find someone?" Rina ran up to the women.

"Unbelievable. Of course you'd be the crappy DJ," Tai muttered.

"Hey! I'm the one with the band. I just need someone who can play guitar," Rina snapped.

"Oh. Uh, I can play," Matt nodded.

"Please, nothing inappropriate," Tonya clasped her hands.

"I wouldn't do that to you ladies. Do you actually have any requests?" Matt asked.

"If it's not too much, here are some songs. I'll text them to you," Tonya shyly smiled.

"I'll see what we can do! Come on, Shego. Where's the gear? Let's put a pep in your step," Matt clapped his hands.

"Yeah," Rina forced a smile and walked forward.

"Oh my god, did our cupcake tower look this sparse when we ordered it?" Nancy winced.

"Yeah, totally…," Tai wiped his mouth.

"Hmm, I guess I'll have to talk to the Matsukis. I understand there's a markup for wedding venues, but I did expect the tower to come with more cupcakes," Tonya sighed.

"Heh heh, I can talk to them for you! You have a good time. Where are they?" Tai nervously laughed.

"If they're still here, they're wearing chef hats. We'd appreciate it!" Tonya smiled.

"Thank you," Nancy nodded.

"No problem," Tai winced.

"I think I'm done playing games," Izzy yawned.

"Huh?" Mimi straightened her back.

"Yeah. I'm obviously not that good at it," Izzy held up four tickets.

"That's okay. We can redeem them for a prize!" Mimi smiled.

"What can I possibly get for four tickets? I don't think I can even get a penny candy for these amount of tickets," Izzy smirked.

"Hello, did you forget who has the keys here? Come on! Gimme those tickets," Mimi grabbed the tickets out of Izzy's hands.

"Sure take them…," Izzy paused.

"Lucky for you, for tonight only, each ticket gets you one prize, so pick any four prizes you see here!" Mimi beamed.

"I wouldn't even know what to choose," Izzy paused.

"I know what I would pick!" Mimi climbed up the counter and grabbed a large Hello Kitty doll. "Now it's your turn! What is the one thing you've wanted as a kid but you couldn't get because you never had enough tickets?" Mimi asked.

"I wouldn't know. I've only been to this place like probably once in my life. I wouldn't say I had the typical childhood," Izzy shrugged.

"Neither have I. I was always moving, so I didn't have a lot of time to make friends. Some of my longest 'friendships' were at places like this. You're friends for an afternoon and then you never see them again," Mimi shrugged.

"I'm sorry," Izzy mumbled.

"What for? You didn't do anything to cause it. Now I know that you didn't spend a lot of time here, but there's gotta be something you like! What about this? It's a tiny fridge that fits two cans of soda," Mimi held up a box.

"That sounds cool. Sure," Izzy shrugged. "Out of curiosity, how many tickets would someone need to get one of those?"

"Like 35000," Mimi bit her tongue.

"How is that even possible? We've spent four hours here, and I didn't earn five tickets," Izzy asked.

"You have to learn from someone like me. And don't get caught," Mimi smiled.

"I don't really see anything else I want. I think I'm happy with this soda fridge," Izzy scanned the prize wall.

"Same. I've had my eye on this for years. Now it's mine!" Mimi put her life-sized plush doll on the counter.

"Do you think they're going to notice that thing is missing?" Izzy winced.

"Eh, what are they gonna do? I'm hoping they fire me," Mimi shrugged.

"You're right, that would be a good thing actually," Izzy scoffed.

"I know we just got our prizes and all but I'm not ready to go home yet…I was still having a good time," Mimi sighed.

"The night doesn't have to end just because we're done here. We could do something after here, if you want…," Izzy could feel his face turn warm.

"I'd like that a lot. Come on, we can leave through the back exit," Mimi led Izzy out of the building.

"Wow, it must be late. There's literally no cars here. You can actually see the stars in the sky," Mimi pointed upwards.

"Yeah," Izzy dumbly said.

"Is it okay if we look at them for a bit? This is nice," Mimi said in awe as she placed her doll inside of a random shopping cart.

"Sure," Izzy shrugged and placed his prize inside the cart as well.

"Stars are crazy, like you know…how some people use them to tell stories. Or depending on what time of the year you were born, they can determine your entire personality," Mimi laid down on the pavement and stretched her arms in the air.

"You're kidding, right? These are just a bunch of dots in the sky," Izzy joined her on the pavement.

"You're such a Virgo," Mimi smirked.

"Excuse me?" Izzy turned around to face her.

"Yeah. You have to be a Virgo. I didn't celebrate your birthday yet, and we're running out of months," Mimi paused.

"I'm not one for birthdays in the first place, but yes. Actually, we met on my birthday," Izzy smirked.

"Shut the front door! No we didn't! Why didn't you say anything?" Mimi lightly tapped him.

"Because we didn't really know each other that close back then- and it looked like you were going through a pretty hard time. Besides, I don't like my birthday much," Izzy crossed his arms.

"Why? Birthdays are supposed to be fun," Mimi turned to face him.

"Well, one birthday I found out I was adopted. I didn't tell my parents I knew until years later. Then same thing happened when I overheard them talking with a physician about how I was high-functioning autistic. Again, I didn't confront them until years later. Then there's the mini events in between. For example, this year was the year I met Yolei," Izzy smirked.

"But it's also the same year you met me?" Mimi nervously laughed.

"Yeah…," Izzy looked blankly at her.

"I mean, take that as you will?" Mimi winced.

"Yeah. You're the first good thing that's happened around my birthday. Here's hoping you broke my unlucky streak. No pressure or anything," Izzy smirked.

"No pressure," Mimi playfully nudged him and rested her head on his shoulder as they looked up at the sky.

"Hello, is everyone having a good time?" Matt spoke into the microphone.

"Yeah!" the crowd cleared.

"Great! I hope you guys continue having a good time! The brides have invited us to play some live music for a bit, so feel free to join us on the dance floor, or take a break and grab some refreshments- we won't be too offended," Matt smiled.

"One, two…," Rina counted down and started tapping at her drums.

"Waking up next to you, every morning, how did we get this far? It came without a warning and in the night time, you tell me your whole life. You and me get too real, but all I feel is alright…," Matt sang into the microphone.

"Hey, is that Matt with Rina up on the stage?" Kari squinted.

"Huh, I guess so," Davis raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "You wanna keep dancing?"

"Sure, if you want," Kari smiled and took his hand.

"Hey, never mind…," TK walked over to Davis and Kari only to smoothly pivot back to the refreshments.

"You saw nothing," Tai gingerly arranged the cupcakes around.

"Same," TK held onto himself tightly.

"Hey, what's up kid? You look like something's bothering you," Tai asked as he stuffed a cupcake in his mouth.

"It's nothing…," TK bit his lip.

"Hmmm, are you sure?" Tai raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I dunno. I like someone, but I'm not sure if they like me back. I know they like me back as friends, but I don't know if it could be more than that," TK grabbed a cupcake and chewed on it.

"Look, don't even think about it. She's not interested, and tell Davis to back off too. Dating friends is a bad idea. In fact, don't even mention any kinds of those feelings to your friends unless you want to make things super weird," Tai shook his head.

"I'm not going to press, but it sounds like you're speaking from experience…," TK winced.

"Because I am. Don't do it. Just push those feelings all the way down. I wish I did," Tai forced a smile.

"Are you talking about Sora?" TK whispered.

"Who else would I be talking about? She's the only girl in the group…," Tai hissed back.

"Oh. Right," TK bit his lip.

"Look, I was a dummy, because I followed your brother's advice and she looked at me like I had three heads. It got really weird between us for a while. It's taken some time for us to get back to normal, but I like where we are now," Tai nodded.

"Are you sure? Because you seem to be hung up on a cafe barista, and she's chasing the attention of a mall cop, which is kind of unsettling," TK tilted his head at Sora, who was dancing away in the distance with Joe.

"What do you know? Aren't you like fifteen?" Tai rolled his eyes and walked off.

"Kinda…I'll be sixteen eventually," TK pouted.

"How was the wedding?" Izzy yawned.

"It was so fun!" Yolei interrupted and walked off.

"It was a bigger party than anticipated," TK grimaced.

"I'm sorry, I wish we knew. We would have loved to bring you guys. Honestly," Sora winced.

"That's fine. Mimi and I had a good time on our own," Izzy took a sip from his coffee cup.

"Seems like it," Matt smirked at a sleeping Mimi.

"Yeah, we stayed out pretty late," Izzy shrugged.

"Doing what? Wasn't the mall dead?" Tai muttered.

"Where's Mimi?"

"Sounds like a mad boss coming our way," Kari whispered.

"Uh oh!" Mimi suddenly woke up.

"Tachikawa, you're in so much trouble!" Mikey stomped over to the table.

"I know, I'm fired…," Mimi sighed.

"You wish! Did you know you forgot to turn off the alarm yesterday night? Because of you, some wackjob popped the bouncy house and took the large stuffed animal from our prize wall!" Mikey snapped his fingers.

"Uh…," Mimi and Izzy exchanged glances at each other.

"So I'm not getting fired?" Mimi raised an eyebrow.

"No! Not this time. It's just a warning. However, next time, I'll have to write you-"

"How about I just quit? This has to be the worst job in the world," Mimi huffed.

"What?! You can't quit! I need someone to help me out now!" Mikey yelled.

"That sounds like a you problem. Have fun, Michael. Doesn't seem like you're doing any better since you left Build-a-Buddy," Kari shrugged and got up from her seat.

"I know I've seen her get fired, but has she actually quit before?" Davis asked.

"I dunno, we'll have to look through our records," TK pulled a small notepad from his pocket and flipped through his pages. "Does anyone have a pen so we can mark this occasion?"

"Ugh, no wonder she's like this. It seems like birds of a feather flock together," Mikey threw a pen at the boys and stomped off.

"Nice, it's one of those fancy pens. It's mine now," TK scribbled on his paper.

"I guess it's time for me to find a new job," Mimi sighed.

"Maybe with your luck, it'll fall off a tree," Matt scoffed.