Acquaintances
By Firenze

A/N: I watched the final two episodes of Digimon: Season 02, and it kinda sucked. I was interested in Davis though. I mean, his dream was to own a noodle cart and be the best in the world. No offense, and I love Dai to bitsies, but that sounds like...he's missing a couple screws up in his head. Okay, so it's fitting for Davis, but it's why I love him! My favorite part though was the fact that he didn't really want anything and that he was happy with life. I mean, just look at FanFiction.Net, flooding with Davis pity fics (*raises hand* So I'm guilty here too...[get ready for a moment of shameless plugging, in 3...2...1...] I mean, "A Second Chance" is the most pathetic you can get for 'oh, poor, misunderstood Davis' stories). Anyhow, you'd think he'd want Kari. To have more people like him and not think he's not a total doofus. To not be a total doofus. But he didn't want anything! I dunno, I just really loved that.

Anyway, I spent a helluva long time blabbing all my thoughts...let's get to the good stuff, huh? Wait, I wrote this -- that means the good stuff is never going to come...but enough talk! Let's get to the fic! ...Which is about TK and Davis...talking...yeah. By the way, be prepared for some serious OOC-ness.

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"'It never really occurred to me until a long time after. I had been so caught up in celebrating our victory and all of the other incredible events that happened that I never actually realized it. I mean...it's over.

'The way there was always some new evil to fight, the fact that darkness loomed everywhere, I just never expected us to ever stop having to be responsible for the fate of two worlds. Call it denial, what you will... Maybe it was sheer stupidity! Hey, with me, lots of things are...heh. ^_^'

'But seriously; I expected it, but I didn't. I wanted good to prevail, and yet, I didn't want it all to end. I guess I just couldn't make up my mind. But now that everything's decided, I still have mixed feelings. I'll miss all of our adventures and fights and heroic stuff... Sure, we can still travel to the Digiworld as we please (which is more than we can say for Tai and Mimi and the others the first time they went to the Digiworld and then everything ended), we can still hang out with our digimon, and it's not like it's really, really over. But to me, it just is.

'I'm really going to miss all the adventure, the responsibility of being leader (even if no one really listened to me anyway), all the danger and excitement... Though it was scary and really serious, the adrenaline rush I got from doing that stuff was incredible. Now that everything's all flowers and butterflies and rainbows and blue skies...it's *nice,* sure, but that action stuff is the best.

'I just think everything ended too soon... But that's what they thought the first time around. Who knows, maybe evil will find some way to come back to power (I'm not wishing for it or anything though!) and all the excitement can come back. Maybe everything's just beginning...

'--Davis Motimiya'"

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"Hey, Gogglehead, whatcha writing there?"

Davis shut his battered blue notebook hastily and turned around to face the person, who he knew all too well who it was. "Hey, TK--" he began, and then grinned. "Or should I say TP?"

TK chuckled, his blue eyes lighting up. "I haven't heard that in a really long time, Davis... I had grown to miss it."

"Yeah, but where's this whole Gogglehead thing from, huh?" he asked, his hands on his hips.

"Just a friendly nickname," he replied with a shrug, and then froze. "Did I say 'friendly?'"

Davis rolled his eyes and smirked. "But this is 'us,' TJ, we can't be 'friends'! Acquaintances, maybe."

"Acquaintances...five syllable word...wow, big," TK teased.

"Okay, first off, it has four syllables: ac-quaint-an-ces. And second, how come everything thinks I have the vocabulary of a four-year-old? I have a pretty extensive variety of words. Like this one: antidisestablishmentarianism (one of my fave words, though I can hardly say it). I bet you can't even 'say' that one."

"Antidisantablimismterrorist," TK sputtered out, stumbling over the syllables.

Davis laughed heartily. "Who's stupid now?"

"Still you," TK replied. "Anyway, since when did you become all smart, Davis?"

"Since Kari's been giving me those late night study sessions," Davis said tauntingly, a grin spreading across his face as TK's went deathly pale. "I'm kidding!" he cried out. "In my dreams Kari would tutor me."

"I noticed you haven't been as Kari obsessed as you used to be, like when we started all this saving the Digiworld stuff," TK remarked. "What's up?"

Davis looked down. "Why should anything be up? I've just had a lot of really important things on my mind lately... I guess I got a little distracted. Not that Kari isn't important, but I've just been worrying about the fate of two worlds, and a simple boyhood crush isn't more important than that, is it?"

TK looked at Davis. "I dunno...you seemed to have changed. You seem...less dense."

"Wiser, perhaps?" he suggested.

"No, no...like I said. Less dense." TK grinned at him.

"Is that a good thing?" Davis asked suddenly.

"Well, of course it's a good thing. You seem more intelligent -- I can't believe I said that about you -- and more confident and sure of yourself, and you seem less obnoxious and annoying, and you care more about the important things and -- I dunno. You've made a great breakthrough, Davis," he said amiably.

Davis was surprisingly silent. "Yeah," he said after a long moment of being quiet. "I guess I...well, I don't really know. Saving both worlds has changed me in a lot of ways, ways I never thought I'd change. Maybe I'm just growing up."

"We all are," TK reminded him. "If you think about ourselves now, then remember back to the past how we were before... We've changed a whole bunch, even if it's not really as noticeable. I mean, boy-crazy Yolei? Now, she's stopped that. Of course, that's because we all know that there's only one boy she's got eyes for..." He chuckled, but Davis was puzzled and curious.

"Who?"

He looked at him in surprise. "You don't know?"

"Well how am I supposed to know these things? Like Yolei would tell me anything?" Davis brought up a good point.

"Yeah, she didn't tell me either," TK admitted. "Kari did."

"So come on, spill it. Who's the lucky guy?"

TK burst out laughing. "Lucky? Wow, Davis, someone would think your crush on Kari faded and now you like Yolei!"

Davis turned red, but it wasn't really a blush. "You only wish, TA."

He smiled. "I had hoped I could finally get Kari without you trying to beat me up about it, but I guess not. Anyway, Yolei likes none other than...Ken!"

Davis broke out into a grin. "Ken?"

Coincidentally or not, Ken came walking past the tree the two were sitting under at that exact moment. Hearing his name called, he turned and spotted them. "Davis, TK, we were looking for you guys," he said, and hurried over to them. "What's up?"

"We're just talking," Davis said.

"And you haven't killed each other yet?" he said, a look of astonishment on his face. "Wow, that's a real accomplishment!"

Then Yolei spotted the three boys and came over to them. "Hey, what are you doing over here? Mrs. Kamiya baked a cake to celebrate!"

"And that's why they're hiding over here," Ken joked.

Yolei giggled wildly; a little more than necessary. The remark hadn't been *that* hilarious. When she stopped, she linked her arm through Ken's. "Come on, Ken, let's go get some cake. You two wanna come?"

"No thanks, we'll pass -- and give you two some time to be alone," TK added teasingly.

Ken's face flushed, and Yolei's cheeks had hues of light pink. "Well, let's go," she said, pulling on his arm. He nodded and they wandered off to find the cake. But a second later, the two of them stopped. Ken said something, then Yolei, and then the next thing; they were kissing.

"Speaking of accomplishments, Ken!" TK called over to them, while Davis made loud whistles, cheers, and whoops. They blushed further and walked off, away from TK and Davis' vision.

"And off goes the perfect couple into the sunset," TK narrated.

"Speaking of perfect couples..." Davis began, "here comes one -- that isn't." Matt, with his arm draped around Sora, were merely passing by.

"Why do you say they're not perfect?"

"Look over there," Davis said, pointing a finger. He was pointing at a tall tree, which Tai had his back against. He stood there with his hands in his pockets and had been staring at Matt and Sora, until he hung his head. He looked downcast, despite Agumon's desperate attempts to cheer him up by reminding him about the peace finally restored to the Digiworld. He gave a heavy sigh and then walked off, to nowhere in particular.

He happened to bump into Mimi, who was beaming widely. "Hey, Tai!" she said cheerfully. "Have you seen Joe anywhere?" He shook his head, and she realized his melancholy expression. "What's wrong?"

"I -- I don't think I can wait anymore...and there's probably no point to keep waiting anyway," he murmured vaguely and wandered away.

Mimi didn't understand, and neither did TK or Davis. The only people who really would have understood his words were himself, Agumon, Biyomon, and Sora...

"It's gonna be like that with me, huh?" Davis said softly.

This time, TK didn't understand what Davis was saying. "What do you mean?"

"Our little you, me, Kari triangle," he said slowly. "You two are perfect so you'll get each other...and the brown-haired, goggle-headed, courageous, leader ones will be left out. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed Ishida/Takaishi boys prevail, and the leader stands alone, I guess... History repeats itself, right?"

"Davis, what are you moping about? Our situation is totally different. And besides, in their case... Tai was the perfect one for Sora. But she picked Matt. It could be like that with Kari..." he trailed off, but then added, "but I hope not."

"You'll get her, I know it," Davis told him. "Two perfect angels..."

"But you don't understand...we're just friends. I think it'll stay that way," he said glumly. "Neither of us want to risk losing what we already have... Or maybe it's true. She just doesn't care about me."

"But doesn't she?" Davis asked. "She cares about everyone, even insignificant, annoying pests like me. And she cares about you in a deeper way... That's one thing Yolei told me."

TK looked at him in surprise. "But -- I -- you -- she -- are you serious?"

Davis nodded, and then patted him on the back. "Looks like you won this one, TK... I thought so all along." Davis stood up, put his hands into his pockets, and was about to pull a Tai and wander off listlessly, but TK stopped him first.

"Not so fast, Gogglehead. Don't say that. Now you're really not yourself. It's just not Davis-like to give up without a fight. Remember Malomyostismon? Who kept us going through all of that? When we were seeing all these visions of things we wanted desperately, who rescued us back to reality and kept us fighting even when we thought we lost?"

Davis just sighed. "I did. But--"

"No buts. I mean, I was amazed at you. There wasn't a single thing you wanted?"

"Yeah, I'm happy with my life..." he said, and then trailed off slowly. "I -- I...I guess I forgot about that."

"And what about your dream? To own a noodle cart and--" TK tried to finish his sentence keeping a straight face, but he cracked and broke down laughing. "Davis, you really want to have the best noodles in the world?"

He laughed too, even though he was serious. "Yeah, that's really what I want. Call me a kook, but I guess you already have been..."

"It's just like you to want this kind of thing. What are you gonna call it anyway? Probably something that only you could dream up. I think you're back to normal already, Davis!"

He smiled. "Yeah, that whole Kari thing... I really wasn't myself, huh? Well I've decided. It's only making my life more miserable and complicated. I don't need girls right now. I don't need Kar--"

And she showed up just then. "What were you saying, Davis?" she asked.

"Kar--cars! I don't need cars! I'm not even old enough anyway, and those things are way too expensive. And they pollute the air! Down with cars!" Davis said, blushing red.

"Nice save, Davis," Kari said skeptically, with a giggle. His ears were bright scarlet. TK laughed at Davis too. Then Kari stopped and looked at the two of them. "Call me crazy...but were you two having some bonding going on there?"

"Yeah," TK said sarcastically. "We're like glue, Gogglehead and I."

"Would ya quit calling me Gogglehead?" Davis asked, getting genuinely annoyed.

"Amazing," Kari said, shaking her head and chuckling. "Someone would say you were friends."

The two of them exchanged one look and knew what the other was thinking, without even having to say a word.

"Acquaintances," they corrected her, simultaneously.

She only giggled more. "Finally, you two get along! And now I suppose hell has frozen over, huh?"

"And there's a flying pig!" Davis said, pointing at Patamon, who was coming their way. The three Digidestined laughed again.

Patamon didn't understand, but he came and landed on TK's bucket hat- head. "TK, did I just see you and Davis getting along?"

"Yes, I think so, Patamon," he said, grinning. "Scary, isn't it?"

"Yeah... I think I'll go have some of that cake," the batpig said, and fluttered off.

"That's brave of him," Kari commented. "Brave of anyone to try my mother's cooking."

Davis looked over to another direction. "Speaking of which..."

Ken's face was a pale greenish color, and Yolei was holding him in her arms. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Who wants more cake?" Mrs. Kamiya called, holding up the cake.

Ken's cheeks bulged, and he emptied all of the cake he had eaten into a garbage can.

"Ewww," Kari, Davis, and TK all said, disgusted.

Davis smiled. "Well, on the bright side, he's got Yolei to take care of him." The other two agreed.

"Davish, where are you!" a familiar blue creature called out, his hands cupped around his mouth. He looked all around, and finally spotted his companion. "Davish!" he said happily, and dashed off to him.

"Veemon!" Davis said, grinning, holding out his arms. Veemon jumped into them and they shared a big hug. "Well, I'm off," he said to Kari and TK, "to give you two some alone time." He winked at TK, who turned red, but was still surprised.

"You mean--?" Kari began, but Davis cut her off.

"It's only a temporary truce," he informed them. "Right now, I've got some serious celebrating with my buddy here to attend to. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, Davis," Kari said with a bright smile. Then she did something that caught everyone, mainly Davis, off-guard, and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "Congratulations," she just said, while he stammered and stuttered out nonsense.

Then Davis looked at TK, who gave him the thumbs-up sign. "See you...Gogglehead."

"Later days...TN," he said with a wave. He and Veemon began to walk off, but then suddenly, Davis turned around. "Noodles, Noodles, Get Your Noodles Here (I don't remember the real name of it...sorry)," he said to TK.

TK looked back at him, utterly confused. "What?"

"Something only I could dream up," Davis replied, before turning back around and continuing on his way, as he said to himself with a grin on his lips, "See ya...friend."

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Awww, a happy ending! Well it had a happy beginning and a happy middle, so I guess that means... Yes, it does! I finally wrote something that was PURE FLUFF! HOORAY! Betcha didn't think it was possible after all this depressing junk I write. Despite that little Sorato/Tai tidbit in there, it was fluff, right? Pure, simple, plotless fluff. But speaking of depressing junk I write and Sorato and Tai, I finally posted part 5 of 'Love or Hate?' if anyone's interested... I think my writer's bock has been temporarily cured...can't give any promises. Well I'm done now, so...this is Firenze, signing off. Later!