Chapter Ten - Fair
Although Taichi had rented a private suite, the hotel room was not big enough for thirty people, their digimon, and whatever they'd brought with them. Noriko, therefore, did not complain about being wedged between Daisuke, Ken, and Iori, who were the best of the lot, by the foyer area. For her, anyway.
"Your idea?" She asked Daisuke, watching Hikari dance with Miyako in the worst way possible. She was so cute. They were disgusting.
"Everyone's," Daisuke said without hesitation. "But I was just gonna bring you guys dinner. Mimi decided we needed balloons."
"Hikari-san really needs to check the group chat," Iori says wisely, sipping mineral water like the old man he was inside.
The group chat that Noriko also ignored. Funny thing about that.
"I'm pretty sure this was just an excuse for a party anyway," Ken added. He put his D-Terminal away. "There's been a lot of stress going on with the Union Project. Has it been hitting the schools?"
"Why are you guys talking shop?" Daisuke complained, sitting against Ken's arm. Ken flicked him right in the forehead, but did not stop him. She was not infiltrating that polycule bullshit. Lui and Rhythm were so weird about it. It was wild.
"Some of us are weird," Noriko said, letting Ken drag her into conversation. "But yeah, it has. Curriculum changes are hell. I don't know how Hikari hasn't killed anyone."
"Who says she hasn't?" Daisuke muttered. But he looked utterly fond over the concept, absolute fucking enabler that he was.
"I'm going to be her lawyer if she has," Iori pointed out dryly. "I need some plausible deniability."
They all snorted. Hikari had to know how to hide a body. She had Takeru around. Who knew how many skeletons they had between them?
Terriermon nearly fell into the punch bowl trying to catch Chibimon. They all snorted.
Meanwhile, Miyako dragged Hikari to the opposite wall now, chatting her ear off about her latest coding endeavor. Hikari nodded along, not understanding much of it even after years of exposure. It was never frustrating and Miyako never got angry any more. Her intelligence and enthusiasm were unmatched, and those were things Hikari loved the most about her.
Miyako's roll slowed suddenly, egged on by the way Hawkmon leaned on her back. A sly smile crossed her face and, with her hair tied up, she looked impossibly young.
We're barely thirty, Hikari, calm down.
"You look happy," she said.
Hikari glanced at Kei, surrounded by his friends with his partner in his arms. She looked at Noriko, who was now arguing with Daisuke about something or other.
She looked for Tailmon, who was helping Wizarmon hoist Terriermon into a pile of towels.
"Near everyone and everything I love is in one place," Hikari said with a smile. "Do you think I'd be upset about it?"
"No," Miyako allowed. "I'm sure Yamato-san would be annoyed about it." They looked over at said blond and he was deep in conversation with Koushiro, holding Sora's hand as he did.
They shared a laugh.
"If she fucks up again," Miyako said conversationally. "I am absolutely going to wreck her shit."
Hikari exhaled, sipping her drink (non-alcoholic, she hadn't had a drink since the night she conceived Kei. It had been more than a bit of a motivation killer.) and contemplating how she survived life with two people who worried for her well being that were only civil to each other almost seventy percent of the time. "Bold of you to assume I can't do it myself."
"No, you can," Miyako agreed without hesitation. "It's just that Kei shouldn't see his moms fighting, especially when he knows you'll win."
"What about when I fuck up?" Hikari asked, trying not to remember Kei's ashen face from back then. Because Miyako was probably, unfortunately, correct.
"Oh, don't worry, I'll take care of that too."
Hikari sipped her drink. "Maybe you and Daisuke-kun should swap digimentals for the heavy lifting."
"He's got the love down pat," Miyako said without missing a beat. "Now, I heard your school is trying to add the baby's first coding toys in. How is that going?"
Hikari snorted laughter. "Horrible. It's because of smartphones, I think. I've started having kids run around with…"
Kei woke them up that afternoon. Or specifically, his partner woke him up, yodeling obnoxiously because someone's digimon outside was sniffing at their door. Kei rolled over and sucked her into his digivice without even opening his eyes. His friends, sharing the bed with him, groaned in agony.
"Your partner sucks, Kei," Kaito groaned.
"So does yours," Kei retorted sweetly, before rolling over again.
Hikari and Noriko shared a silent, amused look and got up, anyway.
They had a busy day, after all.
Corralling the kids to go to school was easy enough. Most of them wanted to brag about going to New York. Kei just yawned through breakfast and fed Plotmon scraps of hotel bacon.
Noriko drowned herself in creamy coffee. Hikari, who was an early bird anyway, drank orange juice.
It was an uneventful start to the rest of their lives.
"Ready to go?" Noriko asked. She grunted, snagging the rest of Terriermon's donut.
Kei played with the buttons of his nice shirt. "Yeah."
Hikari squeezed his shoulder. "It'll be fine. It's not a life or death battle."
"It's better," Kei protested. "You'll be my moms forever."
Noriko squawked. "I thought we were!"
Kei gave her his best unimpressed look. "Yeah, but now no one can say you're not."
"Who's telling you they're not, huh?" Noriko mimed a threatening pose, Terriermon mimicking her on her shoulder. "Do we need to give a stern talking to?"
"No!"
But Kei was laughing and Wizarmon solemnly carried his book and pen out the door. Tailmon trailed after them, twining once around Hikari's ankles.
This was the life she wanted to live, the world she wanted to see. This was everything.
She was just making it undeniable.
"I'll need another vacation from this vacation," Hikari decided, and promptly ignored her wife-to-be making playful noises about the matter.
(They changed Noriko's number that very same day.)
A/N: And another one bites the dust. This was a strange one for me, fluffy and warm with a lot of thoughts that have changed now that I'm around their age. I don't know. I hope I can explore them more in later stories. Thanks for reading everyone!