Warning for Door to Summer spoilers and eventual tooth rotting fluff. Also past character death. Edited 7-17-23

I.

"You know, all things considered, this wasn't how I figured this whole thing was going to go down."

"You mean without nearly blowing up New York City and not traumatizing a small child?"

"I'm pretty sure we went past traumatizing a small child, Daisuke."

"… Spoilsport."

"How you can confuse being a spoilsport with not wanting to lose my head is beyond me."

"You need to have more faith, Wallace."

Wallace falls back on the bench. "With you, I need a miracle."

Daisuke grins. "That works too!"

Daisuke hates failure. It's the main reason he gets relatively average grades rather than purely poor ones barring the classes that he likes. He hates feeling disappointed and how others pick up the slack. At least average has hope. Besides, he doesn't do horribly. He's just not Ken or Miyako or even Takeru.

The times you fail are the times you remember the most. He remembers Taichi-senpai telling him this after finding him staring at the goal net, frustrated with a nearly deflated ball. His senpai had looked so wistful. He'd found out why eventually, but Taichi-senpai doesn't really talk about that kind of thing.

And then they'd failed over and over, even when they won. He doesn't linger on it much. Brooding was Ken's thing. Or Ken called it evaluating. They disagreed on this.

Then, right after one of the most terrifying final exams of his life, he gets a message from Wallace.

He can only guess someone gave the blond guy his D-Terminal address (Koushiro probably) because he hadn't. Mimi-san gave them the update whenever she saw him anyway. So Daisuke doesn't know where this message came from or why him and particular but he figures when you armor evolve your Digimon together, something special has got to happen. Or maybe he was just easy to talk to. Everyone said that.

Daisuke, busier than before, takes half-an-hour to read it. There's no hello, no 'sorry to bother you' that Ken has, or even the 'how is everyone' of Hikari-chan when messages come through like this.

The message she reads is simple: I miss Chocomon.

Unfortunately, either Wallace is trying to screw with him, or that is the only thing he can get out and say. Either way it keeps Daisuke staring up at the ceiling for a good few hours, thinking of Wallace with tears in his eyes, and his own face flooding with them. He thinks of a lot of snow and cold and the ringing of a too-small bell.

"Man," he says finally, around eleven and still wide awake. "This sucks."

Chibimon makes a sound like he agrees, though Daisuke isn't sure if that's because he woke him up or because his partner actually agrees with him. It can go either way.

He tries to sleep that night, but the email haunts him even after he answered it. After all, he had been there. If you're there, shouldn't you be able to do something?

Daisuke thinks about this in his sleep, but in the wake of two tests, forgets about it the following morning.

He remembers hours after school, of course, when Wallace messages him that the whole thing was nothing to worry about. Being childhood friends with Hikari-chan gave Daisuke the ability to see through bullshit. Therefore, with the spirit of the goggles in him, he knows what he has to do: help. The only problem is that right now he can't afford another ticket to America. Just to New York even. He probably couldn't get straight out to Colorado without a lot of stops. At least those summer tickets have been courtesy of Mimi-san… oh duh.

Daisuke scribbles eagerly into his notebook. His parents probably think he's studying. Joke's on them, he did that three hours ago! Without Ken! They need to have more faith in him, seriously. (Then again, did he have faith in himself with studying? Not really. He has never figured out the magic formula everyone else has.) Soon his plan, so epic when looked at from a distance, was roughly figured out. That said, he still is gonna need a lot of help. And he knew how to get it. His friends never let him down before! He probably wouldn't even have to convince them either.

He presses send one more time and waits.

Just before bed, he gets five resounding versions of 'yes' and 'what friends do you think we are?'

Daisuke whoops (quietly) and punches the air. "Hey, Chibimon," he says. "What do you think about winter break in New York?"

"Will it be like last time?" Chibimon asks from where he's fluffing a pillow he stole from Jun.

"Probably not."

Chibimon plants a flipper on one cheek. "Imma have to think about it."

"Don't be a spoilsport!"

Wallace is perfectly fine. He repeats this to himself in every stretch of silence. It's another holiday, going on the sixth, without Chocomon, but on an upside, he's not running for his life or alone this year, so it's a step in the right direction. Terriermon counts, of course, but he always gets melancholy too. So neither of them were in a festive mood.

However, Mimi-san had invited him to a party. There is no way that could go wrong at all, especially with Terriermon occupied by free food. Maybe Wallace could find a girlfriend. Life will be so much easier with less hitchhiking and ticket purchases. His mother really wants him home this year and it would be a lot faster if he just went through the digital world.

First though, is taking care of this report on… the Industrial Revolution? Don't teachers get a hundred of these every year? He rubs his head with a sigh. You'd think they'd switch topics after a while, but you couldn't get that lucky. Education systems, they never changed.

His D-Terminal beeps, almost in exact unison with Gumimon's humongous snore. Wallace tries not to laugh too loudly in his rummage for a camera. The flash wakes his partner but hey, it was worth it.

He goes to send the picture around (he'd seen Mimi-san do it in recent years) and finds a cheerful message from Daisuke, saying something about hotels. What, is he somehow getting his butt to New York?

"You'd need at least six people to a room and none of you would have to hate each other," he replies. Not even that always worked.

By the time he's come back, pasta and meat sauce cooling in a bowl, he can almost see the smug grin on Daisuke's face at the reply.

"Challenge accepted."

Wallace briefly considers throwing his D-Terminal at the wall, but it doesn't deserve that. He doesn't even want to ask.

"Probably shouldn't have sent that self-pity message." Gumimon lifts his head up from the pillow, half covered in drool.

"Shut up Gumimon. Eat your pasta."

"I want cheese," the blob says stubbornly. "And a fork."

Wallace shoots him what is hopefully a withering look and replies in as flat of a tone as possible. "Gumimon, you don't have arms right now."

Gumimon grunts and just out of spite, evolves to his fluffy rabbit-dog self. "Fork!" His voice is petulant, as if to just prove Wallace's point.

Wallace rolls his eyes and goes to give his delightfully spoiled Digimon what he wants. Daisuke's trying to come out here, to one of the more expensive cities in the United States.

He tries not to pretend his chest is as warm as a fireplace.

A/N: citrus-cactus! Happy Secret Santa/Merry Christmas. Don't worry, yours isn't that short. We'll have another five chapters to go! We're at least going to have Daisuke/Wallace (Meiko/Mimi too!), fluff, dorks, the whole works! I hope you enjoy it! Third version of the fic is a charm!

Challenges: Pairing Diversity Boot Camp prompt - spark, Chapter Set Boot Camp prompt - 6, Rare Pairs Challenge, Easter Egg Advent day 18, and Diversity WRiting Challenge H10.