Tough Cookies
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Digimon series.
Pairing: Takuma x Minoru.
Summary:
Survival was certainly the goal for Momotsuka Takuma. But as Hinata Minoru talks, Takuma admits to himself he can't survive by himself.
He knows they should be searching for clues.
He knows they should be getting behind Kaito and finding Miu.
He wouldn't usually talk out loud about something as embarrassing as what his idea of a fun date was, but Minoru talked him into it.
"You secretly a huge romantic or something? That's like your default, man!"
The thought hadn't even crossed Takuma's mind he'd rent out a park for a girl.
Takuma didn't even have a girlfriend!
Is it strange to imagine what it'd be like to rent out a park without having a girlfriend?
He needed to quit thinking in parentheticals.
Minoru didn't, as far as Takuma could tell. He talked and he talked and he talked and he talked. If he said something others deemed insensitive or unjust, he'd only be sorry he said it after the fact, whether he'd taken the moral or wrathful route.
Although Aoi was correct that Minoru's talent for talking himself into bad situations got him into binds perhaps too frequently, Takuma always thought Minoru's talkativeness was a great source of optimism.
You could say he had an affinity for hearing Minoru talk.
Then again, you could say he had an affinity for hearing anyone talk.
Talk was…harmony. When you're dropped in another world and accosted by an endless parade of monsters – some wanting to be you friends, some willing to help even if they don't want to be friends, and some clearly enemies wanting to use you – you flock towards stability.
Takuma sought reassurance hearing others' opinions.
He didn't want to confront the possibility any one of them could be killed.
If he was being truthful, aside from himself, it was Minoru he most wanted to survive. That was a given, wasn't it? They were best buds. That was the "normal" way to feel.
Or perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps, Takuma realized, it was as Minoru told it: He was secretly a huge romantic.
"Who would you take with you if you rented out an amusement park?"
Miyuki and Haru are standing by the teacup ride.
If they just weren't here…
"I'd like to take you, Minoru."
The exclamation mark denoting Minoru's surprise is practically corporeal. But as usual, Minoru pivots to a positive attitude to get by. He hugs Takuma (a friendly hug) till it's actually painful!
That's Minoru's default.
Often, Minoru would answer, "Back me up, will you, Takuma?"
And he'd respond to Minoru, "Leave me out of this!"
Sentences. Words. Sounds.
Takuma survived because he heard them.
He relied on them in order to survive.
Minoru's talk.