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"Favorite Couple"
Sunset had come and gone, with the most of the of the gang having left the Nonaka household. Only Takato and Guilmon had stayed behind, helping to clean up whatever mess remained from Rika's thirteenth birthday party.
Takato wandered back into the house after taking out what he was pretty sure was the last bag of garbage. He passed by Renamon, who was making it her mission to sweep up every last piece of confetti she came across, though his attention focused on the kitchen as he passed by. He had trouble not smirking as he watched Rumiko hand off clean dishes to Guilmon one by one so the Digimon could dry them.
"You'd think he'd have more trouble doing that with his claws."
Takato turned at the comment, finding Rika standing about an arm's length away from him, arms crossed as she leaned against one of the house's columns. It had been a bit since he had seen her, as she had mostly kept to herself in the later parts of the party.
"He's had plenty of practice back home," Takato replied as he finished orienting himself so he could face her directly.
The day hadn't exactly started off as planned. A seemingly random bio-emergence had turned out to be laying the groundwork for an invasion by an army of Parasimon. One of them had latched itself onto Rika during the fight and attempted to brainwash her, and she had spent the rest of the day trying convince everyone that the whole thing hadn't bothered her.
Takato scratched the back of his head. "So, uh-"
"Don't," Rika ordered.
"Don't what?" Takato felt himself shrinking a bit as she stared him down.
"Oh, please..." Rika rolled her eyes. "One of two things was about to come out of your mouth right now. Either you're gonna ask if I'm okay, and I don't want to talk about what happened with Parasimon, or you're gonna try and apologize for the party again, which you don't have to be sorry for."
"I..." Takato paused as he replayed the second half of her statement in his head. "Wait, I don't?"
Rika looked away from him, the confidence in her voice shaking just a bit. "No, it was nice of you guys to go through the trouble."
Takato smiled and shrugged. "Eh, don't mention it."
"Yeah, well..." Rika glared in his direction. "I don't want another party next year, so if you mention what I just said to anyone, I'm gonna track down that wrench I had on the train earlier."
"Right..." The image of a Parasimon-possessed Rika coming at him with said wrench flashed in Takato's mind. He had a feeling that a Rika with all her faculties about her wouldn't miss.
Rika looked down at the floor, almost as though something were physically weighing her down. The Parasimon had shown her something, something that she was still keeping close to chest. Takato knew there was no forcing her to speak about her feelings, but he also didn't want her to just get lost in her own head. His compromise was a calculated gamble.
"H-Hey, tell you what," Takato began, his nerves somehow managing to not get the better of him. "I'll promise to keep this secret if you promise that if you ever do want to talk about what happened with Parasimon, you'll remember that I'm here to listen if you need me to. How does that sound?"
Takato braced himself immediately after finishing his speech, knowing full well how presumptuous everything he had just said was. He expected an earful at the very least, though it would have been worth just to know that he reached her.
"Deal," Rika answered calmly, causing him to do a double-take.
Looking at her, though, Takato could tell she wasn't quite finished yet. She seemed lighter, but something in her eyes told him she had something else to get off her mind.
"And thanks..." Rika continued, her own nerves seeming to be bubbling up. "...for saving me back on the train."
"Hey, no sweat," Takato replied, this time with an image of a skewered Parasimon on the end of Gallantmon's lance flashing in his head. "Wasn't about to let Parasimon eat you or whatever the heck it was trying to do."
"No, I mean before that, when I almost fell off the train." Rika paused for a split second. "When I almost gave up."
One more image made its way to the front of Takato's mind, this one of him barely holding onto Rika as they hung off the side of the train. Her voice echoed in his head, telling him to let her go. Thankfully, he had been able to talk her back to her senses, though he knew that particular moment in time would be lodged in his mind for the foreseeable future.
"Rika..." Takato wasn't sure how to respond. Despite how they first met, Rika was one of his best friends now, so he hadn't had to think twice about the decision. The words needed to communicate that were what was escaping him.
Rika stuffed her hands under her armpits. "I almost got you killed."
"But you didn't," Takato stated instantly. "And I'd do it again in a second, so there's no point in arguing."
They both were quiet for a few seconds, with Rika staring right at him, like she was looking for something. Takato did his best not squirm or lose eye-contact.
Finally, Rika smiled. "Yeah, I figured."
She closed the distance between them, loosely and awkwardly wrapping her arms around his elbows.
"What's this?" Takato asked.
"It's a hug, doofus."
"Is it, though?" Takato tried to return the gesture, but couldn't given how both their arms were positioned.
"You know what?" Rika snapped. "Come here!"
"Ow!" Before Takato knew it, she had pulled his head down to her side, with one hand grabbing a handful of his hair and the other one of his ears.
"This is just so typical of you! I try to be nice and you make it..." Rika voice trailed off as though she were distracted by something. "...weird."
Takato looked up at her and followed her eyeline, finding three sets of eyes waiting for him. Renamon looked at them with a raised eyebrow, while Rumiko was clearly hiding a smile behind one of her hands. Guilmon, probably not sure what was going on, turned from person to person with a blank stare.
"Hey, guys," Takato said through a strained laugh.
Rika didn't waste another second before releasing him, letting him drop to the floor next to her.
"So, cleanup looks done," Takato pointed out as he picked himself up. "I guess Guilmon and I should scadaddle." He began to push the aforementioned Digimon to the front gate.
"Yuh-huh!" Rika called after him. "And don't you breathe a word of this or I'll-!"
"Yeah, yeah... My dream girl will send me to dreamland."
Takato froze in his tracks, a chill running down his spine as his brain caught up with his mouth. He risked looking back in the direction he came.
Rumiko had turned around, apparently to hide the fact she was holding in laughter, while Renamon pinched the bridge of her nose. Rika, her face now a deep shade of red, had almost certainly decided on her course of action.
"You better start running, you Gogglehead!"
Takato gave Guilmon one more shove as they sprinted forward. Oddly, though, Takato thought of Rika chasing him as reassuring in its own way. One way or another, he knew she had his back.
Author's Note:
For anyone coming to this collection from my other fics, I maintain that these pieces don't exist in that continuity. With that said, a couple times those stories mention Rika and Takato having a conversation not unlike this one. I guess it could be said this chapter could be a part of both timelines, blurring the line between head canon and fanon, so to speak.