Chapter 3: Memories

It was the next day, Tai and Matt had already woken up and began preparing to leave for work, it was the weekend for Reiki however so he didn't have school.
The doorbell rang as Matt went to answer it "Hey guys!" Mimi said with excitement as she rushed in to see little Reiki "Hello Reiki~"

"Hi Mimi!" Reiki cheerfully replied, just as happy to see her, after all Reiki really liked Mimi, she really was like an aunt to him despite her not being related.
"Mimi" Matt said "Did you bring Palmon with you?"

"I sure did!" Mimi exclaimed as she opened her bag, Palmon popping her head out of it "Fua! Your bag always smells so perfumy, Mimi, not that's bad but smelling it too much makes my eyes water"

Mimi gave her partner an apologetic look "Sorry about that Palmon"

Mimi turned to look at Matt and Tai again "So why did you want me to bring Palmon anyway?"

Tai replied as he prepared his lunch for work "Reiki needs to learn how to control his digivolutions as stated by Izzy, he said surrounding Reiki with Digimon would help"

Mimi blinked once before looking Reiki "So he is more Digimon than human after all?"

"That's what we think" Matt nodded, finishing up his own preparations.

Mimi smiled "I'll make sure he learns as quickly as possible, don't you two worry~"

"Thanks Mimi" Tai smiled in return. With that Tai set off to go to work, however stopped in his tracks for moment before turning around and approaching Matt "Hey Matt"

"Yeah?" Matt turned towards Tai only to be greeted with a 'see you later' kiss on the lips, taking him by slight surprise but quickly returned it.
"See you after work~" Tai said, happiness in his voice as he turned towards the door and finally leaving the unit.

"See you after work, Tai" Matt smiled, as he watched the door close behind Tai, eventually out of sight.
Matt then got his bags and began walking towards the door himself "See you after work, Reiki, listen to Mimi while we're gone"

"Okaaaay" Reiki cheerfully said "Bye bye dad"

Finally the door closed behind Matt and both parents were gone, only Mimi left with Reiki and Palmon.

"So!" Mimi exclaimed with excitement "Who's up for some chocolate cake?"

"Me!" Reiki cheered

"Okay! You hang out with Palmon while I bake you that cake~" Mimi said as she walked towards the cupboards and began pulling out the ingredients.

"Yay!" Reiki and Palmon both cheered "Mimi's cooking is always the best!" Palmon said with excitement, Reiki nodding in agreement "Yeah!"

Reiki sat down on the floor and leaned in towards Palmon curiously "My parents said you would be able to help me control my digivolutions, is that true?"

"I'll do my best" Palmon eagerly expressed, hoping herself that she could help him understand how digivolving works.

Palmon sat down in front of Reiki as they both faced each other, ready to teach and learn "Uhh, by the way Reiki, what brought on the whole digivolution learning thing anyway?" Palmon asked as she brought her hand to her mouth, tilting her head curiously

"Oh" Reiki blinked as he casually replied "I uhh... I got into a fight at school because some kids were saying since my eyes look demonic that my parents must be demons..."

Mimi stopped as she was just finished putting butter into the mixing bowl, staring at Reiki with concern in her eyes "Does that mean your parents talked to you about your birth?"

Reiki nodded at Mimi "Yeah, they told me about a Digimon called Myotismon and how he forced me inside of papa, but dad purified me inside him so I would come out more normal than I would have before"

Mimi stared at Reiki, here eyes slightly opened wider as she blinked curiously 'So... That's how they explained it to him' she thought to herself as she picked up some sugar to pour into a cup "Well yes, that's technically how it happened"

"Mimi" Reiki said, his gaze stilled fixed on Mimi "Yes Reiki?" she smiled

"Were you there when it happened?" Reiki asked as he tilted his head slightly, Mimi became excited to answer this question "Absolutely! I was so excited about your birth! And I helped your papa through it the best I could, I had help from my parents as well of course"

Reiki smiled brightly, happy to hear that Mimi was excited about him before he was born "I really do wish you were my aunty, Mimi"

Hearing this Mimi immediately swooned, quite flattered by Reiki's comment "Awww you're so sweet Reiki~"

Reiki giggled to Mimi's swooning "You're funny too"

Palmon laughed a bit at this scene "Don't fill her ego too much Reiki, you know how she is, she'll spoil you with treats and then get yelled at for doing so by your parents"

Reiki laughed a bit to that reminder as well "My parents are so stiff when it comes to treats for me"

"I spoil you because I'm an aunty-like figure, Reiki, it's my job, it's your parents jobs to make sure you grow up healthy so they have to be a bit more strict" Mimi smiled as she turned to pick up the cake and put it into the oven "It doesn't mean what I'm doing is right~"

Reiki quickly gave Mimi a confused stare "Are you breaking the law to spoil me?"

"Only your parents law" Mimi teased, cleaning up the baking mess as the cake baked.

"Okay! So here's the first tip you need to know about digivolving" Palmon finally began teaching Reiki as he turned towards her and made sure to pay close attention.

Later at Tai's workplace, Tai was on lunch break as he took out his phone to look at pictures of his son, slowly bringing a smile to his face as he scrolled through each picture.
As Tai looked through each picture, memories of how Reiki came to be flashed through his head, he didn't like those memories one bit, but it was never Reiki's fault.
Tai continued to scroll through the pictures as the memories flooded his mind, his hand slowly placing itself over his tummy, remembering that Reiki was born from within him like a natural child birth, but... from a man instead of a woman.
Tai knew it was because of what Myotismon did to him, he could never forget that, but he also remembered how he was miserable when it happened, how he wished at first that he wouldn't have to birth Reiki, be pregnant with Reiki, how he wished he escaped before Myotismon could force himself on Tai...

But now, Tai doesn't regret birthing Reiki, he loves his son so much despite everything that happened, despite how he came to be, every time he looked at Reiki's smiling face, he can see himself when he was a kid, smiling just like Reiki does.
He remembered the bad memories, but they were always overrun by the good memories, being with Reiki as he grew up.

"Papa!"

"Come Reiki, you can do it"

"Papa!

"Keep walking towards me, you're doing fine!"

Tai closed his eyes as he remembered the days he spent raising his son

"Happy birthday, Reiki!"

"Are all of these presents for me, papa?"

"Yes, you got one from all of my friends and your parents"

"Wow! I'm so happy! Thank you papa!"

As Tai remembered these memories, he smiled gently, staring at the pictures of Reiki with good thoughts in mind.

"Hey Tai" Suddenly a random voice snapped Tai back to reality as he looked over towards a co-worker who was staring down at him, then, took a seat next to him "Oh, hey there" Tai replied.

The co-worker smiled at Tai as he placed his coffee down on the table in front of them "Are those pictures of your kid?"

Tai jolted in embarrassment for a quick second as he realized that his co-worker saw him looking at his son on his phone "Y-Yeah... his name is Reiki"

"Ah Reiki Kamiya, he looks like a sweet kid" the co-worker said before taking a sip of his coffee "Oh uhh..." Tai hesitated a bit "Actually... His last name is not Kamiya, it's Ishida"

The co-worker stopped drinking before slowly looking towards Tai in confusion "Ishida? Wouldn't he have his father's last name?"

Tai felt a little pressured now, he couldn't exactly say he was with a man and Reiki has two dads, although his work place was good about that stuff, there was already another man working here who was living with another man although they didn't have a kid, and that was the hard part to explain, adopting a kid for gay couples in Japan wasn't exactly allowed yet and he can't simply say he gave birth to Reiki.

"Reiki... Well... Sorry but it's personal, not something I'd like to talk about" Tai finally said "He is legally my son, but the whole situation of how it happened is complicated"

The co-worker stared at Tai for a bit as his eyebrow lifted slightly "Alright" he shrugged, letting the topic slide "It wouldn't be nice of me to pry into your personal life"

Tai smiled gently at the co-worker "Thanks"

The co-worker smiled in return "Is he a good boy? Does what he's told?"

Tai nodded "Yeah, he's a very good boy, pretty easy to handle too"

"Haha" The co-worker chuckled a bit "That's good, it's nice to know his father loves him"

"As his father, it wouldn't be right if I didn't" Tai looked at the pictures again, his expression softening, with love and care in his eyes.

Later that evening both Tai and Matt walked through the door, home from work "We're home" Matt called out as Reiki peeked his head out from around the corner "Papa! Dad!"

Reiki ran towards them holding his arms open for a hug, Tai kneeling down and holding his arms open as Reiki finally held onto Tai, hugging him tightly as Tai hugged him back "I missed you papa, dad" Reiki gently said

"We missed you too" "Matt said, kneeling down next to Tai and holding out his arms, Reiki jumping into his next for a big hug, Matt hugging him back as well.

Tai stood back up as Mimi walked out, a smile on her face "Welcome back you two" she greeted happily

"Was Reiki good?" Tai returned the smile as Mimi nodded "Yep! He has learnt the basics of digivolution as well, we'll be back tomorrow to teach lesson two~" Mimi winked, triumphantly feeling accomplished for Palmon's help.

"That's good, thanks Mimi" Matt said, being the next to let go of Reiki and stand up to put his things away.
"Anyway, remember what Palmon taught you okay, Reiki?" Mimi smiled as she patted Reiki's head, Reiki giggling to the pat "I will!"

"Good boy!" Mimi said before getting her things and opening her bag "Okay Palmon, in the bag"

"Okay" Palmon said, not too excited to be in the bag again but it's what had to be done.
Palmon got into Mimi's bag as Mimi zipped it up, however leaving it slightly unzipped for Palmon to breathe "Well, I'll be here tomorrow then, see you guys later~"

With that, Mimi finally left, leaving the family on their own together.
Tai let out a big yawn, feeling exhausted after working for the day "Well... I'm going to take a shower then head to bed"

Matt looked at Tai head towards the shower before looking at Reiki and smiling "You better head to bed as well, Reiki"

Reiki nodded, not really wanting to sleep yet but he had to do what he was told "Okay"

Reiki turned towards his room as he trotted towards it to jump into bed, since he was already in his pajamas.
Matt headed towards the bedroom before lying down and collapsing onto the bed, also exhausted from today's work "Uhg... first day of work after the break is always hell..."

After awhile, Tai was finished his shower . He got himself dressed into his bed time attire before crawling into bed and resting, letting out a lengthy sigh of relief.
"Tai..." Matt softly whispered as he leaned in and hugged Tai from behind, pressing his face against the back of his neck, inhaling his freshly cleaned shower scent.
Tai smiled lightly to the embrace, enjoying the feeling "Do I smell nice?" he whispered back, Matt nodding "You do"

Tai quietly huffed a small chuckle "I should hope so, I just washed myself"

Matt smiled lightly as well as he embraced Tai closer to him, kissing the back of his neck, leaving trails of kisses from the top to the bottom.
Tai lifted his hand and pushed on Matt's face "Dooon't~" Tai playfully declined Matt's eagerness "Reiki is trying to sleep, wait until we're alone"

Matt huffed a disappointed sigh, but his frown turned into a light smile again "Alright, I'll just hold you instead"

"That's permitted" Tai whispered, his smile remaining.
Soon they both closed their eyes, slowly falling asleep together in bliss, enjoying each other's company.

"Papa... Dad..." a voice came from their doorway.

Both Tai and Matt sat up slowly to look over and see Reiki standing at the door, holding his hands close to his chest in an apologetic manner.

"Reiki? What's wrong?" Tai asked, noticing his son's sorrowful expression

"I went to bed but I had a bad dream..." Reiki mumbled.

Tai and Matt looked at each other before both of them smiled sympathetically at Reiki "Oh Reiki" Tai spoke with a kind a gentle voice before patting the bed, letting Reiki know he could come sit next to him.

Reiki smiled as he ruched towards his papa's side of the bed and crawled onto it, only to be suddenly picked up by Tai playfully "Yaaa!"

Reiki giggled to his papa's playfulness as he was then brought down beside him, having Reiki in between both of his parents.
Matt ruffled Reiki's hair as he smiled at his son "What happened in your dream?"

Reiki looked at Tai, then Matt, then stared down at his lap "Well... There was a scary figure, I couldn't see him because he was pure black, but I also saw both of you, and the figure attacked both of you and I stood there watching..."
Reiki's sorrowful expression returned "You guys weren't dead, but you were both suffering, the figure grinned at me with big razor sharp teeth and that's when I woke up"

Tai tilted his head curiously "A dark figure? Hmm..."

Matt was just as curious "Razor sharp teeth..."

Tai looked at Matt as they both exchanged concerned expressions.

"Well" Tai shrugged "It was just a nightmare, Reiki, it's not like it actually happened right?"

Reiki looked up at Tai a bit, his smile slowly returning as he finally nodded in agreement "Yeah!"

Tai leaned down and kissed Reiki's head, followed by Matt doing the same.

"Do you want to sleep with us tonight, Reiki?" Matt asked, a small smile on his face as well

"Yes please" Reiki said as he looked at Matt with a bright look in his eyes, making Matt smile to his son's pureness, he was nothing like Myotismon, which was a good thing, even if his eyes were Myotismon's... Reiki is still a good kid despite that.

The family then cuddled each other as they soon fell asleep, Reiki in between his parents, Tai and Matt on each side of Reiki, all sleeping comfortably and calmly.

As they lied asleep in the bed, a dark figure stared through the window directly at them, before flying away swiftly into the darkness of night.

(Awww what a nice chapter! 3 And who is the dark figure!? /0o0\ I hope everyone enjoyed it! Look forward to the next one!)