Series: Double Up||Title: Choice To Court
Characters: Takuya, Shinya, Kouji, Kouichi
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 2,000
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Notes: This is a Healer/Firestarter AU, post-canon by a couple of years. Summary: Takuya's Firestarting powers have grown so much stronger since returning from the Digital World. He's not the only one, either. Decisions need to be made.

Looking back later, Takuya really wasn't surprised that he held the Spirit of Fire. He was, after all, a Firestarter. One that had barely Sparked before the whole adventure, and all the tests then indicated that he'd never be a very strong Firestarter. About average, he was told, which wasn't anything to look down on. Even average-level Firestarters could do amazing things with their talent.

I don't think I'm average anymore.

He twined a rope of fire around his wrists, watching as the flames danced over his skin and slid all around him. He'd never been able to do this before. But since their Digital World trip, it had just come so easily to him.

He wasn't the only one. Junpei's Fires – while looking far more like lightning bolts these days – were also a lot stronger than they had been. Kouji, Kouichi, and Izumi – well, he didn't know what they'd been like before but they had definitely grown so much stronger since then.

Tomoki hadn't Budded or Sparked at all and he'd never seemed to think that he would. He'd grown stronger, of course, but Takuya wondered if he were now a nascent Frostflame that just hadn't gotten around to Sparking yet.

"That's amazing!" Shinya breathed from the door, staring at Takuya and the glimmering flames that encircled his brother's arm. "Since when could you do that?"

Takuya shrugged. They'd all agreed not to tell anyone what had happened to them. No one else would understand, after all.

"I just practiced a lot," he said, which wasn't entirely a lie. Shinya hadn't Sparked yet – their family line tended to Firestarters. The way he stared at the flames said that he wanted to so very badly. "You want to try and touch them?"

Shinya's fingers stretched out, then he pulled them back, biting his lip. "Better not. Dad said until I Spark, they could still burn me."

"Oh, right." One thing Takuya liked about having Sparked was that fire didn't burn him. He'd never even thought about it when he was in the Digital World. He'd been the fire and the fire had been him. That was all that he needed to know.

Now he sat up and closed his fingers around the flame rope, absorbing it back into himself. A sense of warmth filled him for a few seconds as it did, then faded away, becoming a part of the general feeling of fire that filled him.

"Did you want something, squirt?" Takuya wondered. He had somewhere to go and he didn't really want to be late. Kouji got mad when he was late and when Kouji got add, he tended to get whacked upside the head with vines. OR tree branches.

Shinya watched him for a few seconds before he answered. "You're going to go see them again, aren't you?"

Something about the way he said that sent a bright blush creeping up his cheeks. He tried to say something, but Shinya giggled a very mischievous giggle.

"I knew it. You're courting them! One of them, anyway." Shinya crossed his arms over his chest. "So which one is it?"

Takuya shook his head, trying to get himself a little calmed down. The fire in the fireplace wiggled and danced in reflection of his jumbled thoughts and he tried to calm them down as well. He wasn't really doing a very good job of it.

"Come on, tell me! I'm your brother. Shouldn't I know who your future Healer might be?" Shinya bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly ready to flee if Takuya got up.

The most annoying part was that Shinya was kind of right. He and Kouji had been circling one another ever since the Digital World – even while they were there, taking those first tentative steps to figuring out if each was the sort of person that the other wanted to bond with.

By the time they'd met Kouichi, Takuya already knew. Kouji was indeed exactly the kind of person that he would want to bond with. He wasn't sure then if Kouji wanted it – but these days, that seemed like a pretty good possibility.

"You're a pest, you know that, right?" He wasn't going to just tell his brother. Kouji would be furious if he did that without permission anyway. He'd always been so quiet about what happened between them.

Shinya wrinkled his nose. "I'm your brother. It's my job."

Takuya rolled his eyes, glanced at the clock, and rolled to his feet. Shinya didn't wait another second, but darted quickly back to his room. Takuya figured he could catch him if he really wanted to, but he wasn't in the mood. Not when he had this meeting – which really wasn't a courting date, not really.

And if he told himself that long enough, he might just believe it. And boy, would Kouji be upset about that.

"Gong out for a while, Mom!" He declared as he popped out of the door and headed down the street. She yelled something after him but he was already too far away to hear it. Probably telling him to come home at a reasonable hour or something like that.

He was fifteen. He didn't have to be back in before dark.

He met Kouji at a little cafe halfway between their two houses. Kouji sat at their usual table already, texting someone, that usual annoyed quirk to his lips. As soon as Takuya came into view, he finished the text and raised his head.

"Took you long enough," he muttered. "What if I'd decided to leave?"

"You wouldn't." Takuya settled into the waiting chair and gave his order to the waiter who came over. "Shinya's asking questions. Wants to know who I'm courting." His lips quirked. "He suspects both you and Kouichi."

Kouji blinked briefly, then snorted. "If it'll keep him out of your hair, then you can tell him."

"Seriously?" Takuya hadn't expected that. "You mean it?"

"I said it, didn't I?" He sipped at his cup of tea – he always ordered tea. Takuya hadn't ever seen him truly wired on caffeine and wasn't sure what it would be like. Part of him was intrigued. Part of him didn't want to ever see it.

Takuya nodded, not bothering to hold back his grin. He fidgeted for a second. "What about my parents?" For a second he hesitated, then plowed forward. "Would you want to meet them? I mean, really meet them?"

All of his friends had met his parents, and he'd met all of theirs. It had just sort of happened as they'd gotten to know each other better in this world. But no one had ever introduced anyone to parents and siblings as their potential future Healer or Firestarter.

Kouji didn't answer right away. Takuya held his breath, trying not to actually vibrate and not sure exactly how successful he was being at that.

"On one condition," Kouji said finally. He glanced over and Takuya followed his gaze until he spied Kouichi standing not that far away. He blinked a few times.

"Kouichi?" Takuya turned to Kouji, confused. What made it worse was that the part of him that resonated to strongly to Kouji's warm light did the same thing for Kouichi's darkness. "What's he doing here?"

Kouichi sat in the third chair between Kouji and Takuya. His gaze flicked between the two of them, before he nodded towards Kouji.

"We've been talking about this," Kouji said. "But you're the one who has to decide. Remember what we heard in the Digital World? About how some Firestarters are so strong that one Healer isn't enough?"

Takuya nodded. They'd had a lot of talks with Neemon, Bokomon, and a few others they'd met along the way, and that had come up more than once. Takuya wasn't sure of what he thought about it. It had always seemed to be one of those things where you talked about it over the evening campfire but it never actually turned out to be relevant to your life.

"We both want to court you," Kouichi told him. He raised his head to indicate to the waiter that he wanted to order. "But it's up to you. You're – you're a lot stronger than you think you are."

"Besides, it would probably take both of us to keep you corralled," Kouji added. Takuya's attention jerked from one of them to the other, trying to wrap his head around what they'd just told him. He knew that he'd gotten stronger since he'd carried the Spirit of Flame, but he hadn't thought he was that strong?

But if that was what they both wanted. It wasn't really that strange, now that he thought about it. He'd seen people who had a human partner and a Cat partner. It was kind of the same, wasn't it? Would Kouichi be the Cat partner? Loweemon and KaiserLeomon were both cats. Of a sort.

"Well – we can try?" Takuya offered. He'd just sort of got his head wrapped around courting Kouji. What would courting Kouji and Kouichi both be like? He knew Kouichi, though he thought he knew Kouji a little better, since he'd known him longer.

Strange enough to see two nearly identical faces, and even more so when both of them grinned at him. Kouji leaned back and finished his tea, gesturing or a refill.

"I was thinking we could go to the Gardens," Kouichi suggested, with Kouji nodding his agreement. "They're pretty nice this time of year."

Takuya grinned; he knew the Garden that they meant. He'd passed by there before, but he'd never bothered going on. While they weren't specifically for courting Firestarters and Healers, he'd never really felt right going in there on his own. He'd heard stories – he'd even seen pictures on the internet. There was supposed to be a broad man-made lake in the center of it, circled by a pleasant sidewalk for walking, which was then surrounded by trees, mostly cheery blossoms. That was just one part of it; it would take more than one visit to see it all.

"That sounds great to me," he declared, thinking quickly. "Want to see a movie tonight? My treat."

"Which one?" Kouji countered. "There are a few that I've been thinking about."

Kouichi nodded. "Same here."

Takuya lounged back in his chair. "We'll figure it out," he assured them. It didn't matter which one. What mattered was spending time with Kouji – and Kouichi. The thought of having both of them – well, the more time that passed, the more he started getting used to it. He'd known that he was a lot stronger now than he'd been. The fires that he created sang to him so much like the fire he'd wielded in the Digital World. Sometimes the fires that he passed here in the human world sang too, which wasn't surprising – but they sounded louder, rang against his skin, called for him.

The twins shifted, Kouichi going to the chair on the other side of him. Takuya caught his breath at the sensation of being enfolded in two entirely different Healer energies. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Oh. Yes. This was right.

He'd never heard of a Firestarter with two Healers before. There would be difficulties he couldn't even imagine. But right now, he didn't care. This was what they wanted and what he needed.

One hand of light rested on his right shoulder and a hand of darkness on the left. Takuya tried not to melt into their arms and suspected if they weren't in public, he would have done just that.

Maybe they could go to the Gardens and the movies later. He needed to become a functional human being again.

He thought he felt the Spirit of Flame, as strongly as he had in the Digital World. On one side was Wolfmon and on the other Loweemon. All three looked illegally satisfied with themselves. Agnimon smiled at him, and Takuya smiled back, relaxing into his future Healers.

The End

Notes: Yes, strong enough Firestarters or Healers can bond to two different people. It's not always a human and a Cat. It all depends (and twins are often bonded to the same person. Not always but it's been known to happen.)