Edited 4/30/2021

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or the Song New Years Day, by Taylor Swift.

Don't read the last page
But I stay when it's hard or it's wrong or we're making mistakes
I want your midnights
But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day

One Year Later

The snow crunched beneath my feet as I made the frigid, New York, walk from the subway to our apartment. It was about ten at night on New Year's Eve, I stopped out to a party earlier with some of my castmates, and now I hurried home to spend the rest of my night with TK.

He'd been working, tirelessly, on his book. I'm not sure the last time I remember him falling asleep at the same time as me, as he was constantly working by the dim light of a table lamp, while everyone else slept. He often drifts out into space, staring at his screen, but will snap to attention if you might be trying to read over his shoulder, fiercely protective of the creation he has in front of him. On Mondays I have off from the show, so he worked his schedule at the bar around it so we always have the day together. We spend those days wandering the city, wrapped in blankets for the day, or binge-watching shows we've long missed the bandwagon for.

The guys and I are working on an album in our spare time. It's a slow go, but it seems to be coming together. It's been Matt's total focus, it's funny though because unlike TK he sleeps like a log after ten at night and works all day. The brothers, so similar in obsessive tendencies when it came to their work, but so different in their execution. Colin still has a regular DJ gig, and John works the door at the same bar to bring in some extra cash. We're hoping to have a few songs to shop around to record labels within the next six months, and we keep a regular monthly gig to see how the new stuff is working in front of a crowd.

Sora passed on a few assistant designer positions, and started to build up her own business, she landed a famous blonde songstress as a client and it's slowly grown from there.

Trevor finished his stint in rehab and took off for a while. He came back about a month ago. I found him pacing outside the apartment, discarded cigarettes laid on the ground around him. His eyes widened when he saw me, and I thought he might take off, but he just stood there staring like I was a ghost. I walked slowly to him, his eyes started to gloss over, and I put my arms around him and hugged him tightly. He cried over my shoulder, apologizing for things I forgave him for months ago. I held him tighter, "Forgive yourself," I said. He promised he would.

After that he started coming back around, everyone was happy to have him back, but we made it a requirement that he start seeing a therapist and get a sober companion. Matt went with him to meetings every other week, always a watchful eye. Trevor acted annoyed but we could all tell how much it meant to him. He was slowly getting more comfortable again, he let his edginess down, over time realizing that we really had, and could, forgive him. He started to open up about his childhood and what life was like before his sister's death, it was like we were finally getting to know who he really was.

I'd been in the show for almost a year now and it was about time to start looking into other things. I stayed in the role a bit longer than normal, but I was thriving and wasn't looking to move on for just anything. It was weird to go from being desperate to being picky, but I was enjoying the comforts it offered. I'd been going back and forth between taking some time off or jumping right into another show, unsure if it would conflict with a possible tour on the horizon.

Whatever I decided I knew I would be okay, a far cry from the mindset I had a year ago.

The sun had set long ago; a group of girls bounced past me with those cute little New Year headbands on, excited for the night ahead. I toasted the city in my head, as it came to life around me, and was grateful we all ended up back here the way we did.

I relished the warmth that greeted me once I made it to our building. I sometimes wondered if I would ever get used to the bitter cold the city offered some days. The apartment was dim with just the light from a desk lamp. There was a mix of smells wafting through the air, a sweet, artificial, vanilla scent from a candle, and a rich spice from food that was recently cooked. "TK?" I called out, assuming he was in the bedroom working.

"Out here," came his voice from the balcony.

He stood with his gloved hands wrapped around the railing, staring dreamily out at the bright city lights. Fireworks went off in the distance, "It's early for that isn't it," I said, as I moved next to him. He put his arm around me and sweetly kissed the top of my head. "Started up about a half-hour ago."

"Distraction from work?" He shook his head, no, to me.

"I'm done." A smile grew across his face, his tired eyes crinkled with a joy I missed the past few months while he lost himself in his process.

"Wait? Totally? Really?" I tugged on his arm playfully, selfishly excited I'd reclaim some of his time, and thrilled for him and the accomplishment of finishing an entire novel.

"For now, but the hard part starts after tonight. Tomorrow I'll start sending it out, and cross my fingers someone sees something worth publishing."

"Do I get to read it?"

"Anytime after midnight? I made dinner for us. I know it's late and all, and maybe you already ate but I-"

"Dinner sounds great," I said, placing a kiss on his unsuspecting mouth. He smiled and pulled me back into the warmth.

We ate and drank wine in the dim light of the apartment. I caught him up on the past week, we hadn't talked much since he'd cooped himself up to finish the book. I, dramatically, recalled the party from earlier, one of my girlfriends in the show was trying to get with a crew member, and it turned out once he had two beers in him, he was as hopeless as she was.

His charming smile stayed plastered on his face, while I told stories for the next hour. I tried to pry information out of him about the book but he didn't want to give any of it away. He changed the subject, telling me about the others getting ready for their own party earlier and their persistence to get us to meet them out. We decided a few weeks ago to stay in for the night and watch the fireworks from the quiet of home. The clock was at 11:30 pm when he changed the music in the room, pulling me up from my chair to dance around the apartment, the way we danced at Matt and Sora's wedding a few months earlier. We fell onto the couch in a fit of laughter after he tried to spin me around in some complicated manner. I pulled his face to mine and kissed him, digging my fingers into his hair, begging the night to end with us tangled up in bed. I heard a firework go off again and he pulled back from me. He looked at the clock, it was five minutes to midnight.

"Let's go watch the fireworks," he said, nuzzling against my neck. The idea of standing in the cold wasn't nearly as inviting as the one spinning in my head, but he looked so excited I could do nothing but agree.

We watched with wide eyes as the city lit up around us, it was excessive and blinding, but as people cheered from the streets, I smiled through my own exhaustion. I'd been up for about 30 hours, desperately working to finish my book. The rest of the time was spent working up the nerve I needed for tonight. Shouts of, Happy New Year, drifted up from below and I pulled her to me for our midnight kiss but stopped short. One hand was around her waist, while my other was hidden in my pocket, fiddling with the small box I'd been keeping since the fall.

I brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, looking down into her eyes, shining a bright mahogany color as the sky lit up around us, "I wanted to wait for a New Year, wanted to wait until I was finished, because I wanted to give us the best possible beginning," I took a moment, as she searched my eyes, my hands reached for hers. The cold air around us was visible as I exhaled.

"When I try to picture my perfect life, the only thing that's consistent is that you're in it. It doesn't matter if we're here, or back in Japan, because home is you, it's always been you. We've seen some of the ugliest things together, but we've always managed to come out of it, and nothing ever taints this, it only makes me sure of our strength together." I let go of one of her hands and reached into my pocket. I got down onto one knee, keeping my eyes on hers, and opened up the little box.

We were walking around the city one day a few months back, looking for a gift for her mother's birthday, when we wandered into a small jewelry store. I saw her gaze linger on a ring for a little while, so I went back a few weeks later and saw it was still there. It was a vintage, low-set, diamond ring from the 1930s. It was white gold, and had an etching on either side of small flowers, with smaller diamonds.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Marry me?"

For once, the tears in her eyes didn't break my heart, because the smile on her face told me they were happy. She threw herself into my arms as she said yes, holding me tightly. She pulled away and pulled me back to my feet to kiss her, which I gladly did, as sparks from fireworks continued to litter the sky.

I pulled her back from me, and gently placed the ring on her finger, she gazed down, as it sparkled against the lights around us.

"We're getting married." She said dreamily, winding her arms around my waist again, holding me tightly. I felt so lucky, knowing for sure now that our stories were, in fact, always meant to be intertwined.

She snaked her hand behind my head and pulled me towards her, kissing me, while she played with the little hairs at the base of my neck. We stumbled back into the apartment and into our bedroom.

About an hour later, we laid in bed, the light from the city peaking in through the windows, enough to highlight the edges of her face. I brushed her hair back and kissed my way down her cheek and across her jaw before capturing her mouth in my own.

"Can you read a bit of the beginning now?" I burrowed my head into her neck, asking what I maybe should have asked before we ended up together in bed.

"Now, after that?" The corner of her mouth quirked into a smirk as we laid with nothing but the sheets covering us.

"Just the first page? Then bed." I knew I should just wait, but I needed to know if I was crazy and if I'd just spent the last year and a half writing something I could never share.

"Okay, one page." She kissed me sweetly on the cheek before stealing the sheet and wrapping it around herself.

"Hey!" I chuckled, as I got up quickly and found a discarded pair of sweat pants to throw on.

She sat at my desk, wrapped in that sheet, staring dreamily out the window, the light glistening off the ring that sat on her left hand.

"What?" She turned, and saw me staring, holding my laptop.

"Nothing," I said, still feeling high from her decision. I set my laptop down and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. "Okay, just know it's going to labeled as fiction, and I changed the names, but you'll know..."

She eyed me curiously, opened it up, and shooed me away, "I can't read if you're over my shoulder judging your words."

I went over to the bed, sitting on the edge, patiently waiting for the only critic I cared about at the moment.

I clicked open the file he'd pointed to labeled, "Adventure."

ADVENTURE

Dedication:

"To the friends who became family,

and to the light that kept hope alive.

This is for you."

Chapter One: "And so it Begins"

"That's home, planet earth, but I'm not sure that's where I am right now..."

I read the words on the page and stopped to laugh when he had my brother call him dopey. I kept going past the first page, reading as he described our friends and the little quirks they had. He brought the world to life in a way I didn't realize was possible with words. It had always been so hard to describe the bright landscape that could turn barren at a moment's notice, but somehow still feel magical. I spun around in the chair, he was fidgeting on the edge of the bed, looking towards the floor nervously.

"TK?"

He looked up, hopeful.

"Yes," I said. I got up with his laptop, bringing it towards the bed. I set it down and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

"Yea?" A smile tugged at his lips.

"It's going to be amazing," I said with confidence, knowing that if anyone could capture our stories, it was him.

Warmth grew in my chest, humbled by his words before the story started. "The dedication, you didn't have to," I started, but he moved his hand up to my face.

"You did keep it alive. You always did. You guide the way, and I'll keep us going."

I looked down at him, his clear blue eyes, and ran my hands through his hair, before lowering my head down to kiss him.

I dreamed of this life once upon a time, back before I ran away, and for so long thought it was lost forever. Getting back to this point was more than I ever could have asked for, and I'd never let it go. Life made sense again, and no matter what came for us, I knew we would get through it, together.

Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you
And I will hold on to you

The End