Chapter 1: Eyes
The sun peaked through the window, hitting Tai in the face, causing his eyes to wince a little bit.
Tai didn't want to get up this morning, he was perfectly happy sinking into his bed as if he were melting into it.
"Papa!"
A stray voice called out to Tai, only groaning to react to the voice
"Papa wake up!" Tai heard the voice again as he began to feel something shake him back and forth, letting a more disgruntled groan this time.
Tai finally opened his eyes and looked towards where the voice came from, noticing that it was his son, Reiki.
"Oh, hey Reiki..." he mumbled tiredly
"Papa, dad is making breakfast, he told me to go wake you up" Reiki said casually with a smile.
Tai blinked a couple times before letting out a big yawn, stretch and before long finally sitting up, followed by rubbing his eyes to wake himself up.
As Tai stood up, Reiki's smile got bigger before running out of the bedroom cheerfully "Dad! I woke papa up!"
Matt smiled back at Reiki as he finished setting down the food "Good job, Reiki"
Matt turned towards Tai, who looked drowsy as ever "I can never tell if you have bed head" Matt teased
Tai grinned snarkily "That's because this hair is always bed head"
Matt blinked once before lifting one eyebrow with a disappointed expression "You saying you never brush your hair?"
"No, I do" Tai corrected "I just brush up instead of down"
Matt smirked playfully as he approached Tai to give him a light jab on the shoulder "You're such a rebel, next time you'll decide to defy gravity even further"
Tai grinned a playful grin back towards Matt "You think I can be the first to float up to outer space?"
"Please don't" Matt chuckled as he turned to sit down and eat "Join us, I made breakfast today"
Tai gave one more big stretch before sitting down and joining the family for breakfast "Eat up Reiki, you don't want to be late for school"
"That's rich coming from you, slacker" Matt teased.
Reiki looked at his two fathers as he watched them exchange their conversation between each other "Papa was a slacker in school? Then how come I can't slack?" Reiki pouted at Tai.
Tai lifted a finger and pointed it towards Reiki, a frown across his face "Do what I say, not what I do"
"No fair..." Reiki's pout increased
"It's not good to pick up bad habits, even if your parents did them" Tai expressed sharply, making sure Reiki didn't pick up any of his bad habits.
"Kay..." Reiki finally accepted his father's words in defeat before continuing to eat his food.
The corner of Matt's mouth slid into a half smile, a look of sympathy towards his son, remembering how rebellious Tai was at his age, it was nice to see a little bit of each of them in their son.
Matt began remembering the events that took place in order for Reiki to be alive today, it was a painful memory, Matt often tried to think of ways to explain how Reiki was born if he ever asked that age old question children eventually end up asking their parents.
This was no ordinary 'a crane carried you and delivered you by air' conversation, this was more of a 'the stork couldn't carry babies to us until an evil bee stung the stork, causing a kinder bee to defend the stork from that evil bee after stinging that stork a second time'... Yeah... that didn't sound like a good way to explain it, it would just raise more questions.
Before long Reiki finished his breakfast, grabbed his school bag and headed off "Bye dad's!"
"See you after school, Reiki" Matt smiled at his son, giving him a wave before he left.
Soon after Tai finished his breakfast, took the plate and washed it in the sink "Reiki hasn't received a Digimon partner yet and he's already 12, is there a reason for this?"
Matt got up as he handed his plate to Tai so he could wash his as well, Tai taking the plate and doing so as Matt ran his fingers through his hair, huffing a long sigh "I've thought about it... What if it's because he's more Digimon himself than human?"
Tai stopped washing the dishes, pausing for a moment "Reiki has been growing up awfully quick, He's 12 in Digimon years, but human years he's only 2 still, it is possible he has more Digimon genes than human genes"
Matt leaned against the wall as he watched Tai finish up the dishes "We had to make up some kind of disorder for him growing up so fast, though it was difficult, Joe helped us with making it sound convincing, but will he really be okay growing up with humans?"
Tai was silent as he turned off the water, drying his hands with a cloth and walking towards the couch and sitting down, patting the seat next to him to encourage Matt to sit down as well.
Matt walked towards the couch and sat down as Tai requested, looking at his lover with open ears.
Tai gave Matt a reassuring smile, quietly letting him know everything is okay as he put his hand over Matt's hand which was resting on the couch seat, clutching it gently.
Matt knew what Tai was trying to say, even without words.
"Thanks Tai" Matt returned the smile back to Tai, feeling better about Reiki's situation.
"We'll make it work for him" Tai softly spoke to Matt "We love him after all, we would both do our best to make sure he grows up happy"
Matt nodded before leaning in towards Tai and kissing him a peck on the cheek "Yeah"
Tai grinned his dorky grin after receiving that kiss on his cheek.
Just then the doorbell rang, making both Tai and Matt look at the door curiously "I'll get it" Matt said as he stood up and approached the door.
Matt opened the door, seeing it was his friends Davis, Mimi and Sora
"Oh, hey guys, what's up?" Matt asked with a smile
"May we come in?" Sora requested, returning the smile.
Tai approached the door as well to see his 3 friends "Yeah sure, come in"
"Thanks" Sora nodded before stepping inside as well as the other three.
Mimi looked around as if she was missing something, Tai took notice of Mimi's expression of searching "Mimi?"
Mimi placed her hands together in an apologetic motion "Sorry, I'm just looking for little Reiki, I guess he left for school already"
Tai stared at Mimi with a sigh "You really act as if you were his aunt"
"Oh I know! But I just love the little one ever since he was born!" Mimi squealed while swaying like a fangirl.
Tai's lips curved a small smile "Well Reiki adores you anyway so I guess it's fine"
Matt chuckled to this "Mimi always jumps at the chance to offer to babysit Reiki for us, we appreciate your help, Mimi"
"Any time you guys!" Mimi exclaimed happily "By the way, when do you go back to work you two?"
Matt and Tai stared at each other before smiling, huffing small laughs in return to Mimi's question "Mimi" Matt finally said "You can babysit Reiki again starting tomorrow for the next 3 days"
"Hooray!" Mimi cheered, excited to start babysitting Reiki again.
Davis leaned against the wall as he watched them talk about the potential babysitting, then looking at Sora and nudging her "Hey, you wanted to talk to them about something right?"
"Huh? Oh right" Sora spoke with a soft voice "Sorry, I got caught up in the nice atmosphere, I don't really want to ruin it"
Davis sighed quietly "Yeah I get that, but you have to make sure he's okay, right?"
Sora stared at Davis before clutching her shirt and nodding, then, turning towards Tai and Matt "Hey Tai"
Tai and Matt both turned towards Sora "What is it, Sora?" Tai asked.
Sora tightened her grip on her shirt, her expression that of disturbed, she didn't know how to ask this, but she had to "Tai... Are you... upset whenever you look into your sons eyes?"
"His eyes?" Tai immediately knew what Sora was implying, after all Myotismon was the one who started the swapping game and Reiki had Myotismon's eyes, despite Reiki majorly looking more like a mix of Tai and Matt.
Tai scratched the back of his head slowly as he turned away for a bit, Matt watched Tai, wondering if he felt upset about this as well.
Finally Tai looked at Sora to respond "I... well... my mind has always blocked it out really, It doesn't really concern me anymore"
Tai placed his hand over his heart, his hand resting on his chest comfortably "Lately I've been thinking about how to explain to him how he was born..."
Matt's eyebrows rose slightly hearing this "So you've been thinking this too"
Tai looked at Matt for awhile, staring, until finally nodding slowly.
Tai looked at Sora again with a feint smile "Reiki is precious to me, I'm thankful he's in my life, despite how he came into it"
Sora's eyes softened in sympathy "I see, It's good you love him regardless of how he came to be... and regardless of who's eyes you see when you look at him"
Tai shrugged "Well, I'm not going to blame the poor kid for what Myotismon did to me, it's not his fault after all, he was just the end result of it"
Matt smiled at Tai, happy to hear this, happy to hear how maturely he was handling his situation.
Davis approached Tai and jabbed his shoulder playfully "Well, you were always strong and brave, I admire you for that, Tai"
"Heh" Tai huffed a laugh at the playful jab to his shoulder "Well you have to be when you're the leader, you of all people should know this, Davis"
Davis smiled proudly to hearing this compliment from Tai "Yeah I guess you're right!"
That day at school, Reiki was enjoying his lunch break as two kids approached him "Hey Reiki"
One kid said as Reiki looked up from his meal to look at them both "Yeah?"
"What's with your eyes?" The other kid questioned.
Reiki placed his finger under his eyelids before looking at the two again, shrugging "I always had weird eyes"
One of the kids laughed "They look like demon eyes"
the other laughed with him "Are your parents demons?"
Reiki immediately became offended by this teasing from the two kids, standing up quickly and jumping on one of them "Shut up!"
Reiki yelled as he began punching the kid. All the other kids got up to watch the fight break out "My parents are not demons!"
"Then why are your eyes so weird!?" The kid retaliated as he began throwing punches at Reiki, both of them rolling around on the floor, fighting with intense aggression.
However a teacher ran towards them and separated them both "Stop it now! Both of you!"
"He called my parents demons because of my eyes!" Reiki cried out, clearly hurt by this.
"Hiroki, don't ever say such things about someone's appearance, sometimes people are born differently, it's not his fault"
"He just looks weird" The kid spat, making Reiki even angrier "Shut up!"
As Reiki shouted a bright crimson light beamed from around him, causing a shockwave that blew everyone, including the teacher, against the walls.
Reiki immediately stopped, his eyes grew wide in shock and fear, what just happened? He had magic powers? Then... His parents really were demons?
'No that can't be!' Reiki thought to himself as he fell to his knees, clutching his head, then, finally crying "I'm not a demon... I'm not a demon... I'm not a demon...!"
The phone had begun ringing, Matt walked towards it and picked it up "Hello?"
Everyone else was chatting as Matt talked on the phone "So does Agumon enjoy Reiki's company?" Davis asked with a smile, Tai returning the smile "Oh yeah, not as much as Mimi enjoys Reiki's company though"
Mimi giggled "No one can beat my aunt-like instincts~"
Suddenly Matt looked at Tai with concern "Tai, the school called, Reiki got into a fight with another kid"
Tai's eyes widened a bit "What?"
Matt's concerned expression deepened "We have to meet up with the principal after school is over"
Tai felt nervous, what happened to make Reiki get into a fight? Reiki was usually a good boy "Okay"
Later that day after school, Reiki was sitting in the principal's office as he waited for his parents to show up.
Tai and Matt both entered the school, very much nervous about this visit, they never both showed up together for fear of prejudice towards Reiki, having two fathers, they didn't need to make Reiki's life even more complicated, but they had no choice as both were called in.
Tai opened the door to the office, Reiki looking back at the two with a very much upset expression.
"Hey Reiki" Tai softly spoke as he sat next to Reiki on one side while Matt sat on the other.
The principal was quite surprised by this scene "Reiki, are these two both of your parents?"
"Yes sir" Reiki replied, sorrow in his voice due to feeling unwell about what went down in the cafeteria.
The principal stared at both Tai and Matt for awhile, Tai and Matt feeling even more nervous that he might say something about Reiki having two dad's.
Finally the principal sighed as he leaned forward, clasping his hands together as they rested on the desk "Well" "He said gently "Reiki had a fight with another little boy in the cafeteria today as you know, Reiki, would you care to explain to your parents about how it started?"
Tai and Matt both looked at Reiki, noticing that tears were forming in his eyes "Reiki..." Matt softly said as he placed a hand on Reiki's back, gently patting it "You can tell us, we won't be mad"
Reiki looked at both of his parents with concern, the tears in his eyes starting to flow down his cheeks "It was because... of my eyes"
Both Tai and Matt looked at each other with concern, this wasn't good
"Your eyes, Reiki?" Tai finally said as Reiki nodded.
Reiki stared down at the floor "He was making fun of my eyes... he said my parents must be demons since I have demonic-like eyes"
Tai felt a slight bit of anger welling up inside of him, but managed to keep it locked away, at least until he gets home anyway "I see"
"That's only the minor case of what happened today however..." The principal said, adding to the conversation.
"Minor?" Matt questioned, worried about how much worse it could be
"Yes" The principal answered casually, keeping a professional tone despite his worries about what went down in the school, today with Reiki "I'm afraid Reiki may have only confirmed to the students what the bullies were accusing him of"
Matt and Tai's eyes both widened immediately, Tai being first to speak "confirmed? What do you mean?"
"Well" The principal said with slight curiousity in his voice "When Reiki became very upset by what the bullies were saying to him... A burst of crimson light shockwaved the entire room, sending the students and our teachers slamming against the walls"
Tai and Matt now had a cold sweat rolling down both of their faces, it was what they had feared, how would they be able to explain this?
"Sir..." Tai said, trying to remain calm "This is news to us, we don't know what on earth could have happened today to cause that"
Tai lied, he knew damn well what was going on but he couldn't say it.
The principal sighed a quiet groan, he figured he wouldn't get answers as to why it happened the way it did, why Reiki seems to have powers, after all he believed that Tai and Matt were normal parents.
"Well, Reiki won't be in any trouble for today, thank you for coming in" the principal nodded "You may leave"
Matt and Tai nodded as well "Thank you sir, sorry for the trouble" Matt humbly apologized.
Tai took Reiki's hand and walked with him out of the office, Matt following alongside them both, shutting the door behind them and heading down the hallway.
Reiki was still silent, understandably so, Tai and Matt both knew he was wondering why he had powers, questioning himself about what the bullies told him today.
As they stepped outside the school, Tai kneeled down and hugged Reiki tightly "Reiki, I'm sorry"
Reiki looked at his father in confusion "About what?"
Matt patted Reiki's head gently as Reiki turned to look at him next "We need to tell you something..."
(Hey guys since my story Villain Swap did so well I'm making a continuation! \070/ I hope you enjoy it!)
((EDIT: I realized it was called a stork and not a crane, don't judge me I never had "the talk" with my parents because I never cared enough to ask D: ))