Hey! This is a birthday present fic for my pal Genevieve, whose birthday is on the 11th. Its not related to my other series, and its a Sora/Izzy romance-type fic (I say romance type because its not really romance..at least I don't think so..). And just one more thing, MD stands for minidisc. If you don't know what they are, do a search and check them out, cause they're the best media for music ^_^ . Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
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One step up
Koushiro Izumi looked up to the early evening Odaiba sky and smiled. It was grey. Again. The sky had been grey every day for the past month with heavy rain at night, and today looked like it was to follow suit. The rain was to him like Whiskey is to a reformed alcoholic. It was an old friend who offered solace when times were tough, and one that called for him to come back and bath in its comfort, although now he tried to resist its call, to try and shun the memories of days gone by.
He shook his head and reached under his jacket for his Minidisc's remote to move on to the next song. He had been thinking more and more of those times recently, and it worried him since it had taken so long for him to move on. He smiled. He was thinking about it again. Although it was uncomfortable to think about it, he wasn't too concerned, it was a road he'd travelled along and been sure to burn the bridge at the end.
He sighed lightly and crossed the road to a small music store he often stopped at on his way home from work. Passing by the tapes and CD's, he stopped by the MD's and surveyed the new releases. He wrinkled his nose up as he looked at them, they were dominated by Britney Spears and N'Sync christmas compilations, which weren't really his taste. He decided to pass up the acquisition of any new music and left the music shop, ducking down an alley next to it so he could stop by the park and consume the food he'd got from work. Working at a quiet cafe had its advantages, the work wasn't too full on due to the lack of customers, and there was always plenty of food left at the end of the day which, although supposed to be thrown out, usually ended up with the staff. He usually just went home and ate it there, but since his parents were away for a few days he didn't feel any need to hurry, so arriving at the park he sat down at an isolated park bench in a clearing in front of a small copse of trees and opened his bag. The park was very quiet at that time of day, since most people were on their way home after a hard day at the office, so he decided to enjoy the peace and stopped his MD. He took off his headphones, put them in his bag and took out a piece of carrot cake and the coffee he had in a sealed insulated mug. He unwrapped the cake and started to eat it, gazing quietly over the quiet park, which was capped nicely by the darkening sky, indicating that it would start raining shortly, and most likely continue throughout the night. He sipped the coffee slowly, because despite being about 20 minutes old it was still hot thanks to the container.
"My my, aren't we all high class with our cafe lifestyle and colour matched accessories"
Izzy turned around to see Sora smiling down at him, although he instantly saw her smile didn't reflect how she was feeling, as her eyes were red as though she had been crying, and she looked depressed.
He swallowed quickly and winced in pain as the large mouthful of hot coffee went down, the shock of Sora's voice out of nowhere had caught him in the middle of a sip.
"Ergh..ow, hey Sora, how you doing?"
"Ehh, i'm ok I guess. Mind if I sit down?"
"No, of course not, please do"
"Oh, would you like a piece of carrot cake, I grabbed a whole bunch from work today" Izzy said smiling.
"I'd love a piece thanks, I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving." Sora took the cake, remove the cling wrap with gusto and took a huge bite.
"Haha, geez you are hungry, why haven't you eaten today?" Izzy asked sniggering as Sora tried to chew the huge bite of cake she had in her mouth.
"Munngh..hff..thhhrr hehe"
"What Sora? You're going round to Tai's tonight for a romantic candlelit dinner and then who knows what later on.." Izzy said jokingly, and raising his arms over his chest as Sora attacked him
"Mnnthh..hmm...Tai and I are not going out, believe me!" Sora snapped back viciously, causing him to recoil slightly.
"Mmm, ok, sorry I was only joking around" Izzy replied apologeticaly
"No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that, its just I get a little tired of everyone expecting us to be together, I mean don't get me wrong, Tai's great, and I love him as a friend, I love all of you as friends, and I'm sure you feel the same, but we're just too different to have a relationship like that"
Izzy sensed he had touched on a somewhat important topic, and the way Sora was speaking and pouring her heart out he sensed something was up.
"Umm, Sora, are you ok?" He motioned hesitantly, preparing himself for the reply which he sensed would an emotional one
"It's my mom" She said with a sigh, "Ever since she met that guy Steve I was telling you about she's been acting awfully, like nothing I do is right and that I should keep the house tidier instead of playing soccer all the time, and I don't show her enough respect. I don't get it, its just all of a sudden she hates me" She wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye with her gloved hand, briefly exposing the dark red scar that ran along her wrist.
Izzy saw it but didn't flinch. It was a badge he wore as well, and they had both helped each other through the 'experience', which had brought them to be very close, and they confided with each other when things were down, and celebrated likewise when things were happy.
Out of the eight they were the closest pairing, beneath their surface differences they were very much alike and were comfortable talking for hours or sitting together in peace. They had spent many nights talking during their time in the digiworld while the others slept, talking quietly about their lives back in the real world. They had never talked about the digiworld or the battles, instead they spent the hours musing over their pasts, in particular the parental situation. This topic often ended with them shedding tears, but it always brought them closer, and they often watched the sun rise over the digital world embraced, always as friends, happy for the solace of the companionship.
"Steve's a jerk isn't he?" Izzy asked, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to his smaller frame, which was slightly awkward, but she sat lower on the bench and moved in, glad for the feeling of security he gave her.
She sniffed and wiped away another tear. "I don't know.. he's rich and has really high standards, his house is immaculate so I think that's why mom gets so stressed at me when he's going to come round"
"Hmm, you know how rich people are, they seem to have an aura which makes everyone else feel inadequate, and I bet that's why your mom acts that way, she probably really wants the relationship to work so she's trying to impress him." Izzy said, despite never having met Steve he could picture him clearly, and he imagined he was probably a pretentious jerk, but of course he would never have said that, he cared about Sora too much.
"Yeah, but he treats me with such scorn, and my mom changes totally when he's around, like the other day. I came home from soccer practise, and it had been raining all day, so as you could guess I was covered in mud, mainly thanks to Tai making sure I knew the importance of always wearing shin pads, and I got home and went to greet my mom like I always do, and they were sitting on the couch watching tv. I said a nice cheerful hi, and they glanced up at me and went back to watching the show"
"So they just ignored you?" Izzy questioned, knotting the string of her helmet around his finger as he held her. From a passer-bys perspective they would have looked like the ideal teen couple, except for the fact that Izzy was hardly the right size to look like the protective boyfriend you usually saw.
"Yeah, my mom just glanced up at me then looked at Steve with one of those 'I'm so sorry, she usually doesn't behave like this looks', but when he's not there she always comes over and gives me a hug and asks me how it went"
"So her whole attitude changes when she's around him?"
"Yeah, exactly, and vice versa"
"Oh?" Izzy suspected maybe Steve was nice to Sora, perhaps just kissing up to her so she would be an ally towards his marriage plight.
"Yeah, Steve's great when he's with me and not mom, he's really funny and generous, basically the epitome of that cliché"
"Is..is he for real though, do you think?" Izzy asked hesitantly
"Oh god no" Sora replied flatly
"No?"
"I know he's just sucking up to me so he can marry my mom, then the minute the honeymoons over, it becomes 'Where can I send this little bitch off to so I can be happy', and I'll get shunned by both of them. That's why I'm glad my mom doesn't want to marry him."
"What?" This revelation blew Izzy out of the water, the way Sora had been talking it was as though her life was about to be ruined.
"Yep, my mom was just so lonely without anyone her own age that she thought loved her, and so she met Steve and they started going out. He's a good thing for her, I mean she's much happier and nicer to me when he's not around, so I'm happy for her in that respect, but it still saddens me the way she has to treat me when he's around"
"So do you think he's going to ask her to marry him?"
"Undoubtedly. And of course when she says no I think Steve might not be quite so willing to stick around anymore, so when he goes my mom will go back to treating me nicely all the time, plus she'll be happier for having the relationship"
"Erghh..ok Sora, it sounds a bit bizarre...but I guess so long as it works out as you said and you're happy it must be ok"
"Thanks Izzy, I'm not that bigger fan of the whole thing, but I guess we all need someone to love us, and to love" Sora replied acceptingly
"Oh, do you have anyone?" Izzy questioned, although the thought of him and Sora never crossed his mind.
"Of course, I've got you"
Izzy didn't reply, he just stared down at Sora with wide eyes. She put her head back and looked up at him, smiling.
"You know we're perfect for each other, we're the closest of friends so I guess we'd be a great couple"
Izzy thought about this and it dawned on him what she was saying was right. They had had experiences so similar to each other, and because of this they talked a lot and thus knew every intimate detail of the other. She was closer to him than anyone else, and he knew it was true vice versa. Since they were such close friends he realised if they had a relationship chances are they would always be together.
"Well Sora, I don't know much about romance or relationships, but I can honestly tell you I love you as a friend, and I know I could love you on a higher level. So what do you think?"
"I think you know my answer" Sora said smiling up at him.
He smiled and nodded. No more was said at that time. It didn't have to be. They remained on the bench for several more hours, Sora nestled into his chest, his arms carefully around her just sitting quietly, watching the city move past them, enjoying their new found interaction level.
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Erghh..I don't know if I should call that a romance fic...no wait, I'm not going to call it a romance fic. Cause I honestly don't know if its romance. What do you think it should be? Hey, suggest a new category, you never know it might be the most popular type of fic written in the future, and you'll get all the credit!! (+ I'll get the prestige of having the first one of its type written lol, joke ^_^),
Anyways happy birthday gen, I hope you enjoyed that, I know its a little dark but its pretty happy for me ^_^, hehe hope you liked it, and everyone please review! Thanks!