It was another peaceful morning, with the silence broken only by the sounds of the local wildlife.
"ZZZZZZ... ZZZZZZZ..."
The tamer was wide awake, staring at his bedside clock.
6:57AM
Glowing in the early morning light, the little red numbers were an agonising reminder of how little sleep he'd gotten.
"...ZZZZZZZ... ZZZZZZZ..."
...which may have had something to do with the digimon leaning on his side and snoring like a diesel tractor.
"You're lucky you're massive, otherwise I'd be pushing you off the edge, you damn brat."
Completely unaware of the tamer's evil thoughts, Kiyu continued snoozing.
The tamer sat himself up on the edge of the bed, staring back over his shoulder at the digimon blissfully snoozing.
Jealousy got the better of him.
He got up and stepped around to the far side of the bed, before leaning over Kiyu to scritch under his chin.
It took a moment, but the digimon eventually started leaning his head towards the source of the scritches. Even in his sleep, it seemed Kiyu couldn't resist chin rubs.
The tamer slowly moved his hand away, all the while continuing to scritch and enticing the digimon to roll over.
Eventually Kiyu was teetering on the edge of the bed.
The tamer gave a few more scritches.
*WHUMP*
The digimon rolled off the edge of the bed and landed flat on his back, much like the tamer had earlier in the night.
The tamer had to cover his mouth, trying to contain his snickering as he waited for Kiyu's reaction.
"...ZZZZZZZ... ZZZZZZZ..."
His expression dropped as he realised the big fox was somehow still asleep.
"Are you kidding me?! How are you still asleep?"
"Snrrk... ZZZZZZZ..."
The tamer's gaze narrowed, not missing the brief snort in between snores.
He stepped a leg over and straddled Kiyu's chest. He grabbed hold of the digimon's forelegs to brace himself, before leaning in and whispering.
"Something funny, brat boy?"
Kiyu's head flipped up to fix the tamer with an annoyed glare, giving away his act.
"Augh! Don't call me that!"
"Ha! I knew it, you faker!"
The digimon gave a huff.
"Why'd you kick me out of the bed?"
The tamer gave an innocent shrug.
"I didn't. I was just rubbing your chin. Not my fault you rolled over."
"But that's not fair! You know I can't resist."
"Meh. Seems perfectly fair to me, seeing as how you did it to me."
"I didn't mean to!"
"Yeah, yeah."
The tamer moved over and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes.
"...anyway, that's payback for the worst night of sleep I've ever had."
The digimon was taken aback by the tamer's claim. He rolled himself upright to regard the tamer with a confused look.
"It wasn't that bad... was it?"
"Kiyu, I almost had a heart attack, and then I ended up falling flat on my back."
"Well... ok. But it could've been worse."
The tamer gave a blunt stare.
"Seriously, that's your argument? How could it possibly have been worse?"
"You could've been attacked by a Skullgreymon..."
The tamer scoffed at his digimon's wild imagination.
"You might be worrying just a little bit too much."
"It could happen!"
"Well, even if it does, that's what I've got you for."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You could fight it off while I run away."
Kiyu gave an exasperated cry.
"What?! I'm not fighting one of them just so you can run away."
"Not even to protect your tamer?"
The digimon turned away childishly and grumbled.
"Don't wanna fight a Skullgreymon."
The tamer couldn't help throwing in an additional jab, teasing Kiyu's competitive side.
"I bet Ren would fight it for me."
The digimon gave him a petulant glare, unwilling to let his rookie counterpart outdo him, even if it was all hypothetical.
"Yeah, well I'd... uhhh... you know..."
Kiyu fumbled his words, trying to come up with something impressive to retort.
The tamer simply raised an eyebrow at the digimon.
"... I could... I could fight like ten of them if I had to, so nyeh!"
Kiyu finished by sticking his tongue out.
"Only ten?"
"Grrr... fine. A hundred."
The tamer gave a silly smile.
"Alright, let's bring in the army of Skullgreymon."
Kiyu's eyes widened briefly, before quickly narrowing into a scowl as he realised the tamer was playing with him. He gave a slow, disapproving shake of his head.
"Not funny, Tamer."
"I know. I'm just messing with you."
The tamer flopped down to rest atop the digimon's back. He wrapped his arms around Kiyu's neck and started gently rubbing his chest to calm him down.
"...you don't have to fight anything if you don't want to."
"Good."
"Anyway, it's not gonna happen, so... keep dreaming."
"I would if you didn't wake me up."
"Heh. Alright, smartass."
Still feeling tired from his lack of sleep, he laid his head down on the big fox.
"...mmm, good pillow."
"You stole that joke from Yuki."
"Maybe I did. Guess he had the right idea."
The pair sat quietly for a while, with the tamer continuing to stroke through the big fox's fur.
Eventually, Kiyu spoke up.
"I like having you close to me like this."
"Why? So I can rub your ears? You know, seeing as how that's all I'm good for apparently."
The digimon turned his head back to the tamer, sticking his nose up and speaking in an imperious tone.
"I never said that."
"Uh, pretty sure you said exactly that."
"No way. I know you're worth much more than just ear rubs."
The tamer lifted his head to look at Kiyu curiously.
"Oh? How so?"
"Well... you're also really good at belly rubs."
The tamer faceplanted into Kiyu's mane, before heaving with muffled laughter. He tilted his head to the side to breathe.
"Hewww. Glad to know I'm so useful to you. Anyway, I'm still really tired. I'm gonna try get some sleep, so... don't move, ok?"
The digimon gave a huff, before resting his head down on his paws.
"If I have to."
Despite the unusual position atop his digimon, the tamer managed to get a few hours more sleep
Eventually his slumber was broken by the sensation of being shaken and a voice in his ear.
"Tamer?"
Stuck in a half-conscious state and not wanting to rouse, the tamer simply grunted.
"Nnhhh."
After a moment, he received another shake and the voice persisted.
"Tamer."
His brain slowly came to full awareness, before picking up a familiar sensation.
Once again he had a mouthful of fur. He realised he was face down in his digimon.
Groggily, he pushed himself up on all fours. However, a sudden yelp from beneath startled him to full alertness.
"...OWWW! Tamer!"
He found himself suddenly pushed sideways, bumping up against the bed.
"Unff. What the heck?"
From his new sideways position against the bed, the tamer could see it was not Kiyu that he'd been sitting on, but Ren.
"...Ren? What happened?"
"You knelt on my tail."
His now much-smaller partner was sitting up and gingerly rubbing his tail. The tamer realised he must have pinned Ren's tail with a misplaced knee when he tried to get up.
"Aw, shit, I'm sorry. Are you alright?"
He realised Ren still looked upset, despite his apology.
"...what? Something else bothering you, too?"
Ren hesitated for a moment, before bluntly voicing his concern.
"You drooled on my fur again."
"Oh... sorry... again."
Only after Ren mentioned it did the tamer notice the patch of damp fur around the digimon's neck. With a sigh, he pushed himself to his feet and offered a hand to help Ren up.
"...come on, we'll get you cleaned up."
Once again, he led the digimon to the bathroom. He turned on the tap, letting the water run for a moment to heat up, before wetting a hand towel.
Wringing it out, he handed it to Ren.
"...here you go."
"Thank you, Tamer."
"No worries... and sorry for drooling."
Ren gave a small nod before turning to the mirror and focussing on cleansing his fur. The tamer sat down on the edge of the bathtub to wait.
"...so... were you able to make sense of Kiyu's memories?"
He could see Ren's eyes briefly shift to meet his gaze in the mirror.
"I was."
There was a look of something in the digimon's eyes that the tamer couldn't quite place his finger on. However, before he had a chance to ponder it further, the look was gone and Ren had focussed back on his fur.
The tamer brushed it off as his imagination and kept talking.
"So you can remember what happened?"
"Yes. He is rather... well..."
The tamer opted to finish the sentence given Ren's hesitation.
"Childish? Bratty? A real pain in the back?"
Ren gave a small smile.
"I think all of the above might apply. Is your back alright?"
The tamer gave a dismissive wave.
"Yeah, it's fine. It was more shock than pain, I reckon."
He gave a small chuckle.
"...and maybe just a little bit of early-morning grumpiness."
"I am sorry, Tamer. Kiyu should be more considerate of your needs."
"Meh, you don't need to apologise for him. And really, I know he couldn't help it. If he moves in his sleep, well... what can you do? It's like me drooling, just can't be helped."
He gave the digimon a cheeky grin, which Ren returned with a scowl and a grumble.
"Hrmm... indeed."
The digimon paused his washing and turned to fix the tamer with a blunt look.
"...it might not be so bad if it was not accompanied by snoring."
"Yeah, Kiyu's pretty loud when he's snoring."
"I meant you."
The tamer gave a scoff, considering Ren's suggestion to be nonsense. A cocky smirk grew on his face.
"Pssh. Come on, I don't snore."
The digimon simply raised an eyebrow at him.
The tamer's confident expression faltered, knowing Ren wouldn't lie to him.
"...do I?"
"You do."
"Shit, really?"
Ren gave a slow nod.
"...oh. "
The tamer pondered for a moment.
"...still, can't be as bad as Kiyu, right? That guy snores like a chainsaw."
"I think he would have some objections to that statement."
"Well, he's not here to tell me off, so I can get away with it."
"He will definitely make you regret it later, though."
"Yeah, probably. Anyway, you done?"
"Nearly."
The digimon finished tidying his fur, using another towel to dry off.
"Come on, then."
The tamer headed through to the lounge, with Ren following behind.
He flopped down on the couch. Ren took a seat on the armchair opposite.
"So... you can digivolve at will."
"I can."
"Ok... and?"
The tamer made a gesture with his hands as if to tell Ren to carry on.
The digimon simply gave a shrug. The tamer rolled his eyes at his partner's apathy.
"...well, what was it like?"
"It... was interesting."
Ren's demeanour as he spoke was subdued, sitting quietly on the chair with his gaze fixed on the floor. The tamer had expected him to be much more enthusiastic about his new ability, and he quizzed the digimon accordingly.
"You're not very excited about it."
"I am. Just..."
Ren sat restlessly, something obviously gnawing at him. He made to speak up several times, but stopped on each occasion.
The tamer could sense the frustration consuming his partner.
"What is it, Ren? Tell me what's bothering you."
Eventually, Ren gave a frustrated whine.
"I wanted it to be me."
The tamer gave a perplexed look.
"What are you talking about? It was you. You were the one who digivolved."
"I know, but then it wasn't me. Kiyu got all the glory and I was stuck floating in the back of his mind. I just had to watch as you had all this fun with him."
"Oh. Well, I know, like... I snuggled with Kiyu. But it wasn't anything we hadn't done already."
"You went riding around on his back. I know he nearly traumatised you by going so fast, but he got to share that experience with you."
Despite his usual restraint, emotion was starting to slip into Ren's words.
"...when we first talked about me digivolving into a Kyubimon, I know you were joking when you said you could ride around..."
As he spoke, Ren became increasingly exasperated. With each word, he spoke faster and became more emotional.
"...but you also sounded like you actually wanted to try it and I thought I could digivolve and we could do it together and it would be fun and then we could snuggle but then you did all that with him and I was just stuck watching and you were having all this fun with him and just... and just..."
The digimon was basically bawling as his words petered out, trying to wipe away tears with his gloves.
"...I just... I wanted it to be me-ee-eeee."
The last word was more of a wail than actual speech. Ren let his arms fall limply to his sides in despair, giving up on trying to control the tears. In between choked breaths, his chest heaved with his sobs.
The tamer wasn't sure what to say, caught out by the sudden rush of emotion from the usually stoic digimon. He struggled to find the right words.
"Ren, I... I didn't... I..."
He realised he didn't have anything he could say to comfort his partner. Instead, he did the only thing he could. He stood and moved over to the armchair, squeezing himself between Ren and the armrest. He wrapped an arm around the wailing fox and pulled him close, guiding the digimon's head to his shoulder.
Once he had Ren cradled against his shoulder, the tamer began rubbing his arm along the digimon's back soothingly.
The digimon continued sobbing while the tamer tried to comfort him.
"...it's alright. Just let it out."
They remained like that for several minutes, until Ren's sobs started to ease up. The shaky, shallow breaths he was taking evened out to calmer, slower ones. Eventually the distressed digimon gave a few final sniffles, before taking a deep breath.
Having vented his pent-up emotions, Ren wrapped his arms tightly around the tamer.
"I hate digivolution."
Whilst the tamer considered it a bit of an extreme reaction, he figured it wouldn't help to argue given Ren's current state.
"I know, bud. It's stupid."
"Why do I have to be so broken inside?"
"You're not..."
The tamer was about to protest, when he realised it was hard to disagree with what the digimon had said. What Ren was going through clearly wasn't normal, having not one, but two alter egos trapped inside him. As much as the tamer didn't like the term, saying Ren was broken seemed like a reasonable assessment.
"...I dunno, Ren. I really don't know anywhere near enough about digimon, and this is, like... really crazy stuff. All I know is you've gone through some challenging things, and it's left a mark on you."
He moved his hand up from Ren's back to rub his shoulder, brushing across the digimon's fluffy spikes.
"...and you know, there's nothing wrong with that. Nobody would expect anyone to go through something really tough and just come out completely unaffected. I... I sort of know what it's like, feeling you have to hide everything from others. It's not healthy. In the end... it just messes you up. So, if you need to let things out, I'm here to listen."
He moved his free hand to wipe some of the wetness from under Ren's eye.
"...alright?"
The sullen fox didn't look up, but he did give a quick nod followed by another sniffle.
"...good."
He coddled his partner closer, before giving a chuckle at the feeling on his shoulder.
"...on the positive side, I think we might be even now."
Ren lifted his head and gave the tamer a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I drooled on your fur, and you cried on my shoulder."
He stretched the fabric of his shirt taut so the digimon could see the wet patch he'd made around the collar.
Ren gave the faintest hint of a smile.
"I guess I got my revenge. Although... I think it cost me most of my dignity. That was embarrassing."
"Nothing wrong with having a bit of a cry, Ren. We all get upset sometimes."
"But I don't want you to have to deal with it."
"Isn't that a tamer's job? To help their digimon partner?"
"Not when their partner is an emotional wreck like me."
The tamer took on a matter-of-fact tone.
"Well, I guess we're just special, then. Anyway, don't worry about your dignity. Hell, I gave mine up years ago, and I turned out alright... I think. You know, once you stop worrying about your dignity, you get to make all the really good jokes."
Ren was about to give him a dubious look, but the tamer interrupted before he could make any remarks, preemptively wagging a finger at the digimon.
"...and don't even think about raising that eyebrow at me."