Coming Home

by SplashTOMATO

Sequel to Seesaw. Post-canon, post-epilogue ToMaTo Tohma x Masaru/Thomas x Marcus BL. To the other side of the seesaw.

14. 14 - To What End

Chapter 14: To What End

Notes:

Ough, the final chapter is taking me longer than I planned, but it's getting there! So in the meantime, here's this.

.~.~.~.~

Tohma, with another certain burden off his mind, set to regaling Masaru with the finer details about the future plans for the Digital World as they ate dinner. They'd brought takeout food from the nearby eateries back to the villa. Finally, the noble could speak his full mind without any filters for the presence of government authorities, oppressive family, or other things clouding his mind.

"There's so much I need to discuss with you, but I always assumed I should just play it by ear since that's more your style anyway. If you're going to be with me, however, I'm going to be rather incessant about this whenever the opportunity presents itself..."

"And you know what? That's fine. I'll just shut you up or do whatever else I need to when the time comes. And you're fine with that."

The blond grinned with a strange mix of success and defeat lined on his lips. Despite his partial surrender, he was able to summarize many of his ideas for Masaru to ponder as they ate.

"I wonder what Yggdrasil thinks of all this..." Masaru said between gobbles of food. "I still haven't heard from it after all these years, after all. It hasn't said anything about what I've been doing in the Digital World, setting up these cities and getting all these followers wherever I go... Heck, I haven't even talked to any of the Royal Knights since that time, though it looks like I'll need to once we get this plan going."

"Not even Kudamon?"

"Huh... I forgot he's one of them. Does he even count?"

"Of COURSE he counts. We owe the most to him out of any of the Royal Knights in the overall scheme of things."

"Hmm..." Masaru pondered half-heartedly. "He's still slinking around in that little mongoose form, so it's hard to think of him as a Royal Knight. Last I heard, he was setting up a chain of hot spring inns? We should totally check them out sometime."

"Hot springs..."

"Yep, hot springs are the trendy vacation spot for Digimon these days."

"Well... that's a welcome sign of peace, if anything."

"Yeah. Even someone as strict as Kudamon can handle babysitting Royal Knight trainees for only so long. He said he wanted a new project, and the PawnChessmon apparently coaxed him into the idea."

"I would think even as trainees, the Royal Knights would be able to take care of themselves. LordKnightmon and Duftmon... They still need babysitting?"

"They're still Child level after all these years, and they're taking their sweet, fine time getting back to full strength. Doesn't help that they have new personalities and no memories of the past and all that. Kudamon claims he's been giving them Spartan training... Now that I think of it, I finally saw the two kids at the boxing center in Digicon Valley the same day Gaomon came with your message."

"I should pay them a visit sometime, then. Especially since I'm responsible for LordKnightmon, in a way..."

"They don't even remember you, man."

"It's just a matter of principle..."

"Suit yourself."

After some light banter, Tohma went straight to another point. "You've been living amongst Digimon for the past six years, yet I don't think you know that much about what they really ARE, Masaru. After all, they're Digital Monsters, and you have a special... talent when it comes to technology blindness."

"Haa? What do you mean?"

"Take their basic anatomy, for example. Are you able to tell me what their wireframe does, what purpose it serves?"

"Their... what?" Masaru had a feeling he'd heard that before, but he was drawing a blank.

"A Digimon's wireframe is basically what we see as their skin and muscles. After all, they're digital creatures, so they don't have the same kind of anatomy that we as humans do."

"Mmm."

"...Yeah, you don't get it."

"Nope."

"So I was right. Still as technologically blind as ever."

Masaru grit his teeth in full view, shaking his head in exaggerated fashion. "But you've seen firsthand that I can still learn how to use technology, EVENTUALLY. I can use the Digivice just fine, and did you already forget about all that phone translating I've been doing on this side of the planet?"

"I'd hardly consider auto-translating things to be an achievement..."

"Yeah, fine. Point is, for someone you think is so techno-whatever blind, I'm getting a hang of the new Digivice pretty quickly. Even before you taught me about the translation function, I was using it to read stuff that Dad's writing for his book. I even left some notes for him..."

"Mm, so that's what you were doing on the plane ride over. I was going to ask back then, but next thing I knew, you were dead asleep with the screen on sleep mode."

"Hah... You'd fall asleep too after reading so many notes about daily routines like 'the importance of brushing your teeth even in the Digital World' and all of his weird observations on the Digital World's... archi...tecture and... eco...logy... and... words like that..."

Tohma gave a sly grin as Masaru struggled with words.

"Do you actually enjoy giving me such a hard time when it comes to this stuff?!"

"Not exactly. I just end up thinking about how... back in the very early days... I used to find explaining things to you absolutely unbearable, but now I'm quite... Comfortable with it."

"..."

"I think we've both matured to a point where we can work together professionally and pleasantly."

"Ugh... That sounds so gross to hear, but I get ya... And the fact that I get ya just proves the point. Pisses me off somehow."

Tohma simply continued to sip on his drink as he finished up his meal.

Masaru made one of his rare sighs and finished eating as well.

.~.~.~.~

As they got ready for bed, Masaru found Tohma swiping his thumbs on his phone with great intensity.

"What's going on, Tohma..."

"Clarisse texted me. Said she did what she was going to do, and she thinks she may be getting my grandmother to understand that it's not the end of the world if I don't marry another noble."

"Hey... that's great."

"She also recommends that we leave town for a while. I was already intent on doing that, though."

"Leave town, huh."

"And before you say that we're 'running away' again..."

"Don't worry, I wasn't thinking that. Not anymore, at this point..." Masaru pondered idly as he sat down next to the blond, who continued to swipe around on his phone. There appeared to be grids of words on the screen, and the fighter quickly decided that he wasn't going to be able to decipher any of it. "Cooking up some plans on the phone then, huh. What happened to your bigger device?"

"Bigger device?"

"Yeah, the one you used to lug around everywhere... it folded up like a book."

"Oh, the DigiWindow... Phone hardware has improved significantly since then, so I finally retired it."

"Eh? That was only two years ago..."

"Two years is a long time when it comes to this technology. You remember the conversation we had with Todomatsu-san back at the Confidentiality Ministry, about filtering human emotions, right?"

"Sure... What about it?"

"If things go smoothly, all phones within the next few years will be equipped with the capability to allow humans to interact safely with the Digital World."

"And it'll also let other people find Digimon partners like me and Agumon, right? That's honestly the most I really remember out of it..."

"Yes. Things will certainly move even faster once that gets going."

"But man... I hadn't really thought about other people getting Digimon partners until you brought it up. Honestly, I still haven't wrapped my head around Chika saying she wants to work with Piyomon once she graduates college. She's assuming a lot's going to happen by that time, isn't she?"

"Her timeline is on the reserved side in my books, actually. I've been pushing things perhaps... too quickly, comparatively," Tohma noted with a tint of guilt. He looked straight into Masaru's eyes for his next statement, however. "Since... The sooner we get the ball rolling, the sooner we can stay together."

"But we're already staying togeth-..." Masaru blurted out at first, then after seeing Tohma's serious gaze on him, he gave a fast blush as his heart skipped a beat. "...Yeah, I get it..."

It honestly wasn't such a bad thought... If Masaru could be with Tohma like this, not just for another night or two, but for as many nights as he wanted. Technically, he had it in him to stay for as many nights as he wanted ANYWAY, but at some point, he knew he had business to take care of in other places.

Tohma's gaze lightened up. "I know I said one world isn't big enough for either of us. I'll always leave it as your choice for where you want to be. These steps with re-opening the connection to the two worlds are to ensure that you'll have that option. It's just... Up until now, you've essentially been living with only Agumon, right?"

"I guess..." After everything that had happened in the week, it was strange to think of how he'd spent six years with Agumon. He often thought of Agumon as a younger brother, but he also recognized that at the same time, they depended on each other especially when the fight got tough. All for the presence of Digisoul...

"And has he known life without you always around? Aside from these temporary situations like the current."

"This right now is the longest he's been without me. But I know he's fine... He was ready to be without me six years ago, so I don't see how it'd be any harder now. Besides, what about you and Gaomon? Has he ever been without you before going to the Digital World?"

"Practically never."

"Hehh? He does pretty well for himself as a lone ranger or whatever he's doing."

"I know."

Masaru hung his head. "Right, of course you know... since apparently you talked to him over the communication device even while the Digital World was fully closed off."

"For your information, there was still a lot of red tape I had to go through to send any communications until recently. I didn't send anything more than what was absolutely necessary."

"Suuure..." Masaru remembered at that moment, back after Tohma graciously landed on him at the start of his Digital World trip, when he was complaining about not having Agumon for a full week... And more specifically, how dramatic Tohma sounded when he had said he'd been without Gaomon for over three years. Tohma's was the more justified kind of dramatic, though... "Fine. I'll need to pry your brain about you and Gaomon later. As for Agumon, he's done plenty of growing up on his own by now, but sounds like I'll need to have a good, long talk with him when I get back. In the meantime... Got plans figured out then, Mr. Finally-Taking-a-Break?"

Tohma made a gentle grin, approving the move to a more pressing topic. "Yes. I'll show you around the capital, Vienna, for a few nights, and we'll come back here afterwards. I intend to make up for our interrupted date by multifolds."

Masaru let out a whistle to mock being impressed.

.~.~.~.~

The following morning started off on a slightly different edge as the two cuddled in bed... until Tohma decided they needed to clean up properly in the shower, since they'd both fallen asleep after an exceptionally passionate night together. He got off the bed and nudged Masaru to do the same, but the brunet resisted. Tohma went on to physically tug an arm, but Masaru remained planted with his face buried in the pillow.

After several unsuccessful tugging attempts, Tohma resorted to messing around with Masaru's exposed body in other ways. Masaru flung himself off the bed eventually, needing to regain his bearings.

"Ugh... back in the Digital World, I pretty much didn't have to shower, ever," Masaru muttered as he scratched the back of his head.

"But you still did, once in a while."

"Yeah, 'cause sometimes it just feels nice. And there're still times when I can't wait for the reset to happen and all."

"There's no reset here in the Real World. Clean up or it only gets worse, Masaru."

"Fine, fine. For the record... It's okay to have an itchy butt, Tohma."

"...What?"

"I get it all the time too, man. Happens to all of us... nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Why are you even bringing that up..."

"I mean, it's not just about itchy butts, either. The same goes for a lot of things. Doesn't matter whether you're a nobleman or a genius or another guy who's completely different from me... When your butt gets itchy, you do what you gotta do to relieve that itch."

"Haa... Just when I thought I knew what to make of your occasional ineloquent lectures, you go off and say something like that..."

Tohma started chuckling behind his raised palm.

Masaru smiled. "You need help? One-time offer."

"Are you seriously still on this?" Tohma balked in Masaru's direction. "I have absolutely no need for that kind of... assistance, thank you."

"Hah, silly. I was kidding anyway..."

"Of course you were..."

"I was kidding about the one-time offer."

"?"

"It doesn't have to be your butt, you know... Any spot that's hard for you to reach, any time it gets itchy..."

"Scratch my back, I scratch yours?"

"That's the easy way to say it. But I mean it when I say 'hard to reach', if you catch my drift. Good morning to you, Tohma."

"Good... Morning..." Tohma replied, finding himself surrendering to Masaru's 'logic' yet again. "...I'll be sure to bring it up if I need it... As long as we're in private."

"Awesome." Masaru did some chuckling of his own.

.~.~.~.~

Masaru stood by his word and made his intention clear that he'd stick around with Tohma for the next few days. After freshening up in the morning, they embarked on their way to Vienna by train. They had a private booth to themselves for the ride.

On the train ride, Masaru even accepted another one of the genius's extended lectures about his detailed plans for the Digital World (in exchange for extended boxing sessions later on). Each time this lecture came up, Tohma would re-emphasize that there was no strict, straightforward way to get the ball rolling, and then proceed to list off a number of ways to distinctly get the ball rolling. Masaru would roll the balls in his eye sockets in response.

"Ugh, which is it? Are we clear on how we're doing this or not?"

Tohma gave him a pointed stare as they sat across each other in their booth. "Well, remember, this whole plan relies on both Digimon and humans acknowledging the way the system works. Education is a key factor, but bringing in new knowledge is always a difficult hurdle. For this, you have allies who can help out like Hippogriffomon. She can ensure that those in her region are up to date, and the knowledge will continue to spread... Taking time, of course."

"Say, Tohma... What's Relena doing lately? I think you mentioned she's in Japan, but don't you miss her?"

It wasn't COMPLETELY Masaru's intention to change the subject, as he was genuinely curious, but Tohma left him a notable pause... and a knowing look before replying.

"Yes... She chose to be there, specifically to be with Chika and Ikuto. I miss her, but I know she's in good hands, so I'm not worried for her."

"It's pretty cool seeing her get along with Chika. You think Relena will get a Digimon partner too, someday?"

"Oh, yes. Relena absolutely wants one, although she hasn't mentioned that to our grandmother for obvious reasons."

"Heh."

"She has the freedom to make her own choices and seek her own desires... and I'll do whatever I can to protect those freedoms."

Masaru simply nodded in silent, manly agreement.

Tohma checked the time on his phone. "We're about halfway there... so we have a bit more than an hour to go."

"Good, 'cause... I've been thinking about our Digimon partners. Thinking about what I should say to Agumon, if you have any pointers..."

"You're asking ME for pointers?"

"Hey, who else am I supposed to ask? And it's not the first time I've asked you for advice, honestly..."

"True..." Masaru's ask for advice was simply a rare occurrence, as the last time Tohma clearly remembered it was way back when Chika was first going to be scouted into DATS along with Piyomon. There were probably other instances, although Tohma couldn't recall them at that moment. "You really haven't spoken to him about us?"

"Naw, I keep putting it off or forgetting about it... 'cause well, we're just fighting together all the time, y'know? I focus solely on the fight when I'm on it."

"True... and knowing Agumon, he has no idea what an intimate relationship is to begin with."

Masaru pouted as if taking personal offense. "What, and Gaomon does?"

"Of course. He shares essentially all of my knowledge and vice versa."

"You and Gaomon have such a weird thing going on. I've never seen you two disagree on anything whatsoever. Complete opposite from me and Agumon... Is it 'cause he's got that loyal dog personality?"

"Gaomon insists that he's not a dog... And that's not only because he's a Digimon, but because of what he originally evolved from... A Wanyamon."

"Wanyamon?"

Tohma showed Masaru the entry for Wanyamon on his phone.

Masaru looked at the phone screen for a few seconds and spoke his mind. "It's a blue fur ball. With stripes."

"Is that all you see? Any way you look at it, that's a cat-like Digimon... Without legs, at least. There aren't many In-Training forms that have legs to begin with."

"Well, even if he looked like that in the past, right now he looks way more like a dog than a cat. And he acts like it too, with how... loyal he is and everything. Dog things, you know."

"That's Gaomon being Gaomon. That doesn't have anything to do with whether he's like a cat or a dog."

"I always figured cats were always aloof, though. Back at home, there was always this cat wandering around the rooftops like he owned the entire neighborhood. It tried to get in my room a bunch of times... I blame Chika 'cause she kept leaving out treats for it."

Tohma gently rolled his eyes. "How about we just leave it as every Digimon having their own personality? Agumon isn't just some giant yellow frog to you, right?"

"...Sure."

"Then that's all there is to it. Gaomon's not just a dog to me."

"So... you admit he's a dog."

"You're overlooking the point..."

"Just teasing ya. So what's Gaomon's story? I asked him a couple years back about how you two met, but he wouldn't tell me... Said I should hear it from you instead."

"How we met, huh... I'm not familiar with how you met Agumon, either. I only know that he's one of the Digimon that was born here in the Real World."

"My story with Agumon is simple enough... He escaped the DATS laboratory and came across me during one of my turf fights. We fought man-to-man and he liked me enough to become my subordinate. That's all there is to it."

"Mm. My story is definitely not that simple."

"Yeah? So tell me. I've got time, and it's for you."

Tohma did a poor job hiding a blush before looking Masaru in the eye. "I thought you wanted advice on how to talk to Agumon."

"That can come later. I've been wondering about Gaomon for way longer, so let's get that out in the open first."

"Fine. Get comfortable..."

.~.~.~.~

At 10 years old, Tohma spent the early part of his mornings jogging around the proximity of the Austrian Norstein mansion. He was simply following the training regimen of his favorite boxers with this exercise, but he never imagined that it would've led to his life-altering encounter with Digimon.

He found Gaomon (Wanyamon at the time) in a cardboard box just barely a block away from the mansion gates. The box itself had been there for a few days, and Tohma had thought someone had left it there for reasons beyond himself, but there was a distinct tremor when he passed it this time. Curiosity got the better of him, and he inspected the contents of the box.

At first, it looked like an abandoned pet cat, but the creature insisted that it had just found a place to sleep there, and it was comfortable with the spot.

Gaomon... Wanyamon back then was very docile, barely willing to swat away a fly if it got on its face. Tohma kept frozen in a standstill as he realized this creature was talking to him, in his native Japanese tongue.

"You can talk..." The young Tohma said in awe. "And why in Japanese?"

"Is it so strange that I can talk?"

"Yes, only humans should be able to communicate in that language."

Tohma took a quick look around him to see if anyone else was around. No one usually came to this part of the street anyway, being so close to his mansion property, unless they had business with the Norsteins.

"I'm not a human. I'm Wanyamon," the creature said, nonchalant and plain as fact.

"Wanyamon?"

"Yes, and you?"

"Tohma."

All of a sudden, he had exchanged names with this strange creature. He shook his head in slight disbelief at what just happened.

A thought ran through his head that perhaps this was some super high-tech AI robot and not some actual organic creature. He didn't believe in aliens or anything cultist of the matter, either. He expressed these concerns, and...

"I'm not a robot or an alien. I'm Wanyamon."

"Wanyamon?" Tohma repeated, amused by the strangeness of the sound of it all. But he still had his logic circuits in control. "Well, that's not getting us anywhere. Unless you were programmed to specifically never tell a lie, you could just be covering up the fact that you're a robot. I can't tell for sure right now though. Even if you were, that begs the question of how you ended up here in the first place..."

Regardless, Tohma couldn't find it in himself to leave the creature alone. It was so small, and it didn't even have appendages, save for a wonderfully fluffy tail... Tohma couldn't possibly see how it could've defended itself if left to its own devices. Its fur was matted in places and looked very unkempt altogether. Tohma had to assume the poor thing had all of its limbs amputated before their encounter.

Wanyamon quickly corrected those assumptions.

"I never had limbs. If I get stronger, I should get them."

'Get' them? The creature had some strange logic going on, whatever it was. "Get stronger, huh. Whatever the case, you look like you're in need of some care. I'll bring you home."

"Home?"

"It's sure to rain later today, and you wouldn't want to be stuck out here when that happens. Come on."

.~.~.~.~

It was still early enough in the morning that all of the maids in the Norstein mansion weren't up and about the entrance area. Tohma was able to go in by himself and leave with a large shopping bag without anyone noticing him. From there, he went back to the door where he had left Wanyamon outside for a few moments, and scooped it up. Putting the creature in the bag, he took it inside the Norstein mansion. Once again, none of the maids or even his butler had taken notice. His butler was generally in the kitchen area preparing breakfast for the Norsteins around this time. He was definitely feeling the most amount of gratitude he'd had for the amount of freedom he had in the mornings, when otherwise he'd be surrounded by attendants for the rest of his day.

First order of business was to give Wanyamon a shower. Food would have to wait until after breakfast at least, assuming the creature even ate.

From the shower came another revelation.

Wanyamon...

Was blue.

Before the shower, it was in an array of dirty orange shades, like a tabby kitten. But as soon as the shampoo was applied, the orange started coming off...

Wanyamon explained that it had found some orange dye leftover from a pet grooming salon to roll around in. It thought that if it looked a little more like the other stray animals in the area, it could get along with them. But that was definitely not the case. The stray animals were brutal, with no regard to its appearance. And without even limbs to fight back, getting away unscathed was impossible. Amongst the areas that lacked matted fur were various spots where it had apparently struggled against the teeth and claws of other animals.

"How long were you doing that? Trying to... Fit in..."

"Around a month."

"A whole month, on your own? You didn't have anyone to help you?"

"If I had someone to help me, then would I still need to fit in?"

"..."

Tohma knew enough about 'trying to fit in' that he didn't need to ask any more from the creature.

Tohma saw something of himself in Wanyamon, not fitting in with anyone around him just because of who he was. Tohma was neither a full noble nor a full Japanese, and he was plenty aware of how ostracized he was for it. If there was the opportunity to reach out and just be there for Wanyamon, like Relena did for Tohma...

He brought Wanyamon back to his room to let it dry up, using the low setting on his hair drier to let the furball relax and take in the warmth. They hadn't exchanged any words since the shower, but that was completely fine.

It was his first encounter with Digimon. He hadn't even known the existence of 'Digimon' at all, and thus Wanyamon was just a 'creature' back then. And instead of freaking out about it, he found himself quietly and completely captivated. The existence of another form of life beyond normal human knowledge that was able to fully communicate with him... Again, Tohma didn't really believe in aliens, but he knew he had to get to the bottom of whatever Wanyamon's existence meant.

For his sister. For himself.

Perhaps for humanity while he was at it.

The possibilities were just starting.

Wanyamon coming into his life was the spark of something big, he just knew it.

Except... What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't just tell his attendants that he was keeping some alien lifeform in his room.

Maaaybe he could start with his butler. His relationship with his butler was already fairly strong back then, but he still felt that he needed some time to sort out what was going on with Wanyamon before revealing it to anyone else. He sighed a bit to himself as he realized he would need to keep Wanyamon a secret from everyone else until the time was right, and that would be a difficult task considering how little privacy he got after the mornings.

Tohma's afternoons were packed with lessons every day, nonstop. He had a few hours at night to himself to do all his self-studying and settle in for bed, but once lunch was done, he'd never have the time to go back to his room for anything. Even if he never left the Norstein mansion that day, which was often, the mansion was HUGE, and he would easily spend entire afternoons on the lower floor, taking lessons from visiting tutors.

He knew that there were always maids coming into his room at least once a day for cleaning during the afternoon, and they would undoubtedly see Wanyamon in the room at some point. Fortunately, Tohma quickly noticed that Wanyamon had a particular talent in... being dead still, like a stuffed animal. It turned out Wanyamon had been occupying the box where Tohma had found it ever since it was placed there, but only that one time when Tohma passed by did he happen to catch Wanyamon actively doing something (setting some bedding) in the box.

He set some rules with Wanyamon-Whenever someone came into his room, Wanyamon would have to pretend like it was a stuffed animal. Even if it was just Tohma himself coming in, Wanyamon should still pretend to be a stuffed animal, until Tohma gave the word that things were in the clear.

"I'll make it clear with all of my attendants that they shouldn't touch you or anything."

It was far too risky letting Wanyamon out anywhere where it might be seen. At the same time, Tohma felt bad for keeping the creature cooped up in his room. Wanyamon expressed no concern over the circumstances, however.

At night, Tohma returned to his room with a bowl of food that he'd requested from the resident chef to 'snack on' during the night as he studied. In reality, all of it was for Wanyamon. If anything, the chef had already suspected that the young noble was keeping a pet in his room. The chef was fine with secretly providing Tohma the plentiful leftover stashes at the end of the day.

Wanyamon wasn't picky with any of the food provided.

With that, food matters were settled as well as bowel matters, as Wanyamon was able to make use of Tohma's private bathroom, much to Tohma's fascination. After confirming Wanyamon's safety and satisfaction, the young noble immediately set to his studies next. Wanyamon hopped over to Tohma's study desk and peered at his books.

"What's this mo-le-cu-lar bi-o-lo-gy you're reading about? And tri-go-no-me-try..." the furball asked.

"You can read these? But these books are in English... Do you know other languages?"

"Languages..." Wanyamon repeated, hesitating to answer. Tohma wasn't sure if it was struggling to understand what the word language meant in the first place, or... "I know a lot of them."

As a test, Tohma asked some basic questions, each time in a different language. Italian, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Indonesian... Wanyamon was able to answer all of them, mirroring the same language. Tohma then started asking more advanced questions pertaining to his direct study material, of molecular compositions and compounds, of refactoring complex algebraic expressions... and Wanyamon was able to answer them as well.

This being was at pace with him, no matter what subject he spoke of. Never before had anyone been able to keep up with him... Even his tutors would often have trouble finding ways to challenge him during their teachings, even in their specialized fields, but with this Wanyamon...

Tohma's spirits lifted in ways he never thought possible. From that point on, he'd spend a part of his studies going back and forth with Wanyamon, quizzing the creature with his study materials, translating them into various languages while he was at it. Wanyamon would reciprocate every challenge Tohma threw at it with nonchalant ease, which only fueled Tohma's motivation further.

A few days passed in this manner, and Tohma had to awe at how smoothly things were going with keeping Wanyamon a secret from the rest of the world.

"Are you sure you aren't getting bored just staying in my room all day?"

"I get to read through your study materials. There's so much to learn in them."

"But what about... Doing anything else? There's so much more you could be doing..."

"I could say the same for you. What else do you do besides study?"

"I do a lot of things!" Tohma pouted. "Sure, sometimes I have to attend social events with other nobles, and those aren't very interesting... But I have my own hobbies to pursue, like boxing. I even have professionals training me with boxing every day."

"Boxing?"

"I should show you sometime. I'm sure you'll love it too! Err, once you get limbs like you said you would? How does that work, by the way?"

"Once I've gathered enough strength, I'll be able to evolve into something stronger."

"'Evolve'... But evolution of physical features isn't something that happens within a single lifespan, it's something that occurs over thousands of years, across many generations. Maybe you're thinking of a metamorphosis?"

"I read about those, too. But no, the evolution I speak of is a different kind of evolution than the one described in your books."

"Huh... Well, not much point in debating it when I haven't seen it for myself."

"Yes... Please don't worry about it in the meantime," Wanyamon said with a certain robotic politeness that Tohma had gotten used to already. Tohma remained silent for a while, and Wanyamon spoke up again to recall the earlier question about getting bored. "Your room gets an excellent amount of sun during the daytime. I can sit at the sun windows and look outside comfortably, as long as there are no humans within sight."

The shades had been pulled over the sun windows while Tohma was out during the day. It was a normal part of the maids' routine when they cleaned his room.

Wanyamon continued. "Seeing anyone out there is a rare occurrence, with the lawn caretaker there for only certain hours in the week. It's easy to avoid their line of sight once you know when they're around."

"You noticed their patterns already?"

"They were easy to figure out. It's always the same person who comes in with a very loud machine."

"It's quieter here in the winter, at least."

"I'll look forward to seeing what that's like."

Tohma stirred at the comment. He'd only had Wanyamon under his care for a few days in the spring, and the creature was already talking about intentions for the end of the year. Maybe it wasn't aware of how long that really was...

In fact, what sense of time did it have in the first place? If it was like other animals, in particular, other cat-like animals of its stature (minus the lack of limbs), did that mean it had a lifespan of 20-ish years? How old was it right now?

Wanyamon had difficulty answering Tohma's line of questioning. It had never considered its own lifespan or had any awareness of the lifespan of others.

A few more nights passed before Wanyamon finally shared some of its more personal thoughts, as Tohma settled into bed.

"I enjoy your company. Being with you is far better than any other experience I've had here in the human world."

"That's because your experience is that limited, then..." Tohma said in a slight mutter, grudgingly aware of Wanyamon's perspective at that point. "There's so much more out there in the world. I'm going to make sure you'll be able to see it someday... Safely."

"You would... Do that for me?"

"You're not the first... living being I've made this promise to. I promised my little sister, too."

"Little sister?"

"You'll meet her someday. I don't know when right now, but I know you will. Her name is Relena, and she's the reason why I spend so much time studying. She has a sickness that can't be cured with the medicine we have today, so I'm going to become a doctor and find a cure for her."

Wanyamon sat silently for a moment, and Tohma had to wonder how much the creature actually understood. The fact that he was still able to communicate with the creature this far... His walls of perception were constantly falling left and right.

"Where I come from, we can catch viruses and get sick, too."

Tohma tilted his head in curiosity. "Is that so..." He was about to ask for more details, but the creature was already looking towards its bed spot.

"I've been wondering about this symbol..." Wanyamon bounced over to the desk, next to its pillow. "What is it?"

Tohma had arranged the pillow for Wanyamon to rest on at night, sitting it directly on his side desk.

Tohma originally had Wanyamon sleep on it to help contain fur shedding... But curiously enough, he'd never seen Wanyamon shed fur. The maids who cleaned up his room on the daily would have also noticed otherwise.

Wanyamon used its tail to point at the embroidery on the pillow, and Tohma answered. "It's the Norstein coat of arms. A symbol of my noble lineage."

The fur ball leaned over in one direction as it stared at the design some more, admiring its newfound information in a new context. "It's an excellent design."

Noble families with long histories each had their own coat of arms. It was the same as how every country had their own flag, except that for the nobility, only the oldest and most prolific families still had a coat of arms in present time. Up until that point, that was all Tohma had ever thought of it. "I never thought much of it... But if you like it, then that's good."

"Yes... The shape of the animal portrayed on it speaks to me. It emits a strong sense of power, power used for the good of all."

The animal that Wanyamon spoke of was the side profile bust of a blue and white canine. Tohma had to wonder what part of the animal spoke to it specifically... the fact that it was also blue?

"'The good of all'... Do you truly know what that means?" Tohma questioned if this creature understood such a social concept.

"Of course I do. Although... I know the meaning of it inherently, but I couldn't say the same for others of my kind."

"Wait... There are others like you?"

"In the Digital World..."

"The Digital World..."

It was his first time hearing about another world actually existing. It wasn't just some hocus pocus fairytale, alien work, or other nonsense that came out of unproven fiction. It was something he could tangibly acknowledge, as one of its very inhabitants was right there with him.

Also, seeing that he had spent all this time with the creature, yet he still didn't have any context as to how this creature's existence was possible in the first place... He had to know more.

Unfortunately, the creature didn't know much more. It had spent all of its time in the human world as far as it was aware. It only knew of the existence of what it called the Digital World, by a form of intuition that was just as mysterious as how it happened to know every language that Tohma knew.

The mysteries waiting for resolutions only grew. Solving those mysteries became just another goal for Tohma to latch onto. The young boy was already studying to be a doctor with the intention of finding a cure for Relena; perhaps the 'Digital World' that Wanyamon spoke of held some relation to the solutions he sought. He couldn't fathom such a unique happening with any other explanation. Or perhaps he could, but either way, it was something to keep himself motivated.

Wanyamon picked up Tohma's thirst for knowledge as he spent more time with the boy, and together they studied the most hardcore of medical materials in preparation for the future ahead.

Wanyamon developed his loyalty towards Tohma in quite a natural fashion, similar to a dog being raised from a pup... except Wanyamon didn't look like a canine. Still... For three years, the Digimon maintained his secrecy in Tohma's room, simply absorbing the wealth of knowledge Tohma provided him in his studies.

And after those three years, Tohma had a PhD in hand.

.~.~.~.~

A genius fast tracking through University doesn't do so by magically knowing the answers to everything. It wasn't as if Tohma literally walked into the institution one day and walked out the other end a couple years later with a PhD in hand. There were still tons of steps of the process in between.

Although honestly, if nothing had interfered on his way, it may have very well been just a walk in the park. Obviously, real life didn't work like that. Other people existed. Some, he needed for the knowledge and experience... While others... needed something from HIM.

More specifically, they needed his bloodline. His nobility. The thing he was born with, regardless of his intentions.

These others who needed things from him... They were seen as obstacles. Obstacles standing in Tohma's way, always in the wait for him to drop his guard. If he ever did drop his guard, there would be no end to the exploitations they'd heartlessly involve him in.

The path to graduation was meant to be a pitstop, a stepping stone towards the goals in his grander plan.

He didn't have time to deal with obstacles.

Tohma just had the sheer determination to work past the obstacles that would have delayed his graduation. Along with his determination, Wanyamon was there to keep him on his toes.

But even as he breezed through obstacle after obstacle, things still affected him. He wasn't immune to stress.

Tohma had quite the stressful time dealing with the tutors that his grandmother sicced on him, insisting that they were essential to his education. More often than not, they were hyper fixated on methodologies and behavior correction... Not enough on actual practicality. For example, one of the tutors would nitpick the way Tohma explained a certain part of a solution to a problem... The tutor had no interest in the actual use of the solution; they were solely caught up in Tohma's 'unrefined' way of speech at the time.

Tohma didn't have time for it. He knew better than to keep them around for long. He'd ace through their lectures, preemptively drilling through their main points to impress them on early notice, swiftly followed by measures to evade having to spend further time with them. Once he was free of them, only then would he be able to focus on what he truly wanted-needed-to study.

Anything and everything that could help him find a cure for Relena.

Once the tutors saw the massive stacks of research papers and books that they couldn't even begin to comprehend for themselves, they finally laid off Tohma's back. At last, the boy had free reign over his building priorities.

In that three-year timespan, Tohma looked into Wanyamon's mention of the Digital World. With enough research (which may or may not have involved a certain amount of hacking into government security), the prodigy came to learn about the existence of DATS and was able to make contact with them. While the main headquarters was in Japan, they had established recent facilities in the EU and were looking to recruit.

Tohma remembered a moment of apprehension before his first in-person encounter with DATS. He had just graduated university with a PhD in medicine, and his reputation as a genius nobleman was something he knew he couldn't conceal in any form. The best he could do was work into it, use it to his advantage.

When Tohma made his way into DATS, he'd done so without informing the other members of Wanyamon's existence. He was recruited for his prodigious knowledge and drive for new technologies. He fully intended to use the facilities at DATS to his full advantage, and for that, he needed to feign some lack of direct experience with Digimon.

DATS brought Tohma onboard primarily as an engineering genius to develop technologies related to Digimon and the Digital World. DATS had some limited technology built to contain loose Digimon when he started out, and it even already had memory manipulation under its tool belt, but there were plenty of areas for improvement.

Digimon capturing tools, Digimon detecting tools as they Realized into the Real World, capturing their signal in order to track them down in real time, the Digital World Dive Gate... Tohma helped develop most of the modern technology used at DATS.

At the time, Digimon appearances were far and few in between. The squad consisted of only a few ladies with their Digimon partners, along with a few men who mostly ran the administrative side of things, including Satsuma Rentarou himself, who hadn't been appointed Captain yet. Either way, Tohma spent most of his time remotely communicating with the Japanese headquarters as he did his physical work in Austria. Tohma's efforts were immediately recognized and the technology he developed was implemented just as immediately.

At last... he further developed the memory manipulation tool. The tool at the time was only able to erase a small chunk of one's most recent memories, and it could only take out a few hours of memories at most. For most situations, that was enough, as it would eliminate the memories of Digimon that were seen at the scene where DATS performed cleanup duties. However, there was a growing need for more advanced memory manipulation, for cases where humans spent longer than a few hours with a Digimon... Cases that would come in the future such as Hanamura Neon, who managed to hide Keramon for an extended period.

Cases such as himself, who still had Wanyamon waiting for him in his room.

For a long time, he didn't even reveal Wanyamon's existence to his father, who could only gawk in astonishment and let Tohma do as he wished concerning his sudden employment with DATS. His father understood that DATS was a highly confidential government agency that was employing a number of highly esteemed scientists to make breakthrough discoveries. He had his hopes on those scientists... and on Tohma... that something could be done for Relena as a result.

Under usual circumstances, it was probably okay to let the Norsteins know about Wanyamon as soon as he started his employment at DATS. Instead, when Tohma first joined DATS, he revealed Wanyamon to his butler and maids, and then to no one else.

He made a certain twist to the reveal, however, and postulated that Wanyamon was a robot that would only respond to Tohma's commands. The noble claimed to be developing a line of products called Digimon, who would be robots with artificial intelligence to serve as companions for future generations. To his attendants, DATS was his new employer and partner for the development of the new technology he was working on.

It was a mixed bag of truth and lies. He had reasons for limiting their knowledge for the time being.

After Wanyamon's 'reveal', Tohma would bring the Digimon to his meals outside his room, where he previously ate alone. It was rare for any of the Norsteins to actually eat together or even see each other during the day, and unless they specifically summoned one or another, they would generally only see each other during arrangements such as pre-scheduled tea sessions, noble balls, and other such similarly formal meetings. Apparently, nobles led very, very busy lives such that they couldn't see their fathers or sons on a regular basis even when they lived under the same (massive) roof.

Anyway, he ensured Wanyamon's interactions with the butler and maids were kept fairly minimal, as if Wanyamon were an actual robot commanded to only respond to Tohma himself. Wanyamon didn't speak to the attendants, and as far as they were concerned, their knowledge of 'Digimon' was just that they were a new form of intelligent animal robot that Tohma was developing for the government. They didn't question why this certain robot somehow enjoyed the food they provided, either.

For those few months, as Tohma acclimated to the work environment at DATS, he had Wanyamon's companionship during his meals in the Norstein mansion. In a broader sense, he didn't even need to acclimate-he was practically running the show at DATS with all of his contributions. No one even questioned him when he had a blue Digivice produced from Daimon Suguru's blueprints, even though there was normally an approval process to having them produced.

The day he had his first Digivice in hand was also the day he had finished upgrading the memory manipulation tool.

He needed to perform one last, real test with the memory manipulation tool. And for this, he chose to erase the memories of DATS, Digimon, and of Wanyamon's existence, from his butler and maids. It had been his intent from the start, as he was only going to reintroduce them afterwards, anyway. And reintroduce them without distorting the truth, this time...

He had his attendants lined up in front of himself after dinner that evening, and he had instructed all of them to look at the device he had held up. With one flash of light, they instantly fell into a deep stupor. When they had awakened, Tohma had already sent Wanyamon back into hiding in his room, and the butler and maids continued on that evening as if nothing strange had happened.

Tohma had to request an extra plate of after-dinner fruit, which the maids had previously done for Wanyamon. Before heading to sleep that night, Tohma asked his butler about his schedule for the next day, as he typically did. The butler opened his schedule book, and the first thing he did was give confused comments about its contents. He asked Tohma if he understood what 'Wanyamon' was referring to. After an additional series of confirmation questions, and after observing the behavior of his attendants for the following days, Tohma had his answer.

The upgraded memory manipulation device worked flawlessly. Months of knowing about Digimon (in a rudimentary form), about Wanyamon... had been successfully purged, just with a literal flash of a light. All of Tohma's attendants knew nothing more about Tohma's professional life other than that he worked for the government. There was no recollection that Tohma had developed any sort of animal robot, and they didn't even know the name of the agency where Tohma was stationed. The existence of DATS in their memories had been successfully wiped as well.

Tohma was well aware that there was something twisted about using his own attendants for the test. Still, he had to do the test SOME way or another, and this was the most manageable control group he could work with. He internally swore that he'd never do any memory manipulation on his attendants again without full transparency and consent... not that he anticipated ever having to do so again.

And now with a Digivice, and his obtained knowledge on Digisoul, he was ready to reveal Digimon properly to his attendants... and everyone else relevant while he was at it. He brought Wanyamon to DATS's headquarters in Japan.

Tohma immediately indicated that the Digimon was not to be reverted to a DigiEgg and sent back to the Digital World, as he had already established a link and found Wanyamon to be suitable as his partner. In the presence of as many authorities that could be present at the time, Tohma charged his Digisoul with a snap of his fingers and held his Digivice against it. It was Wanyamon's one-way ticket to evolving into Gaomon.

Even Tohma didn't know what to expect when the evolution occurred, but he could scarcely hold back his grin as he realized Gaomon had come with boxing gloves, all ready for action.

Thus, Gaomon was chosen to be Tohma's partner for 'compatibility' with Tohma, although Tohma already knew at that point, as soon as he learned it from the DATS database, that it was his own emotions that had summoned up Wanyamon's presence in his life. It was the only explanation he had for Gaomon's ability to share his staggering amount of language knowledge.

There were two types of Digimon encounters in the Real World at the time: Digimon who got pulled into the Real World through intense human emotion, and DigiEggs that appeared in the Real World and hatched. Hatched Digimon would need to find a human Tamer to partner with, lest they be turned back into DigiEggs and sent back to the Digital World like the rest of the rogues. As far as he had learned of the other Digimon Tamers at DATS, Digimon who had been born in the Real World had instantaneously been found by their respective Tamers. That's how it went with Shirakawa Megumi, Kurosaki Miki, and Fujieda Yoshino.

Yet... Tohma still remembered that Wanyamon had spent a month wandering on its own. Wanyamon had stated that it hadn't come from a far spot when Tohma had found his box. It was more than likely that Wanyamon had hatched from a DigiEgg near the Norstein mansion itself. But it had taken Tohma a whole month to actually FIND his partner despite the Digimon apparently being near him all that time. He recognized that he wasn't necessarily at fault for the delay, yet he continued to keep that timeline in mind whenever he thought about their first encounter.

And despite it all... he still had a mission. He needed to find a cure for his sister, and he needed every resource possible that could get him closer to it.

As much as Tohma refused to lose sight of his end goal, he was also still a young human being, subject to influences. Years of being raised under the noble conditions of the Norsteins had irrefutably shaped a part of his outlook and his interactions with others. And as his reputation as a genius nobleman continued to increase, so did the expectations from those around him. They were expectations he had to continuously live up to, continuously portray himself as the perfection they thought him to be. Once he had joined DATS and proven his effectiveness, he had already built a front that he had to maintain.

Tohma wanted to prove himself effective out in the field, too. He wasn't just a technology genius, but also one physically as well. He knew he could perform better than any of the Tamers scrambling around to detain Digimon that had been detected through the technology he himself developed.

Perhaps it was a matter of assertion. Perhaps it was a measure of insecurity with his circumstances outside of DATS, although certainly, he'd never admit it.

The first thing he ordered Gaomon upon his evolution was that the Digimon would refer to him as 'Master'.

"For our own ease and efficiency, you need only to acknowledge my orders with a 'yes', then simply follow through with them. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Master."

Tohma smiled. "You've already gotten the hang of it. Good work, Gaomon."

Gaomon's tail wagged.

Things were so simple between them. Tohma never went a day without appreciating their partnership, and Gaomon did the same in return. They never let each other down, nor did they provide any means for the possibility of that to even happen.

Tohma kept his front up, and Gaomon stood by him no matter the circumstance. Through thick and thin, through all the rough patches... through betrayals, even though they were only temporary... Gaomon was always there to help him with his goals.

And whether he was conscious of it or not, the two influenced each other on the regular. Tohma's genius, Gaomon's reliability, Tohma's boxing fervor, Gaomon's boxing fervor, Tohma's formality, Gaomon's... blueness.

The white collar uniform for DATS happened to use a blue theme as well. When Tohma joined up at DATS in Japan's active field position, he was offered to choose a custom color for his uniform. But he just wanted the same blue as the white collar ones. That request was easy enough to grant, however, another request followed suit.

"I know just the thing that this DATS headquarters needs... A boxing arena."

Tohma spoke directly to Captain Satsuma, who gave him a confused look through his sunglasses. "Pardon?"

"It's imperative for those out in the field to be in top shape for the type of work they're bound to do. I've personally found boxing to be an excellent source for this, as it trains all the important aspects of the body, including form, reflexes, and mentality. I can fund the addition myself if necessary-"

"No, we have the funding for it, and you make a valid point," Captain Satsuma said with authority. "I'll have it built within the next month."

"But Captain..." one of the white collared men behind him said apprehensively.

Captain Satsuma merely stood his ground. "Please see to the paperwork for it, Saitama-san. We have plenty of space in the fitness center if you've ever checked it."

"True..."

.~.~.~.~

Back in the present, Masaru had moved over to the same side of the seats as Tohma and was fiddling with the back of Tohma's neck with one hand as he listened on. Just for the feel of it.

"The earlier days at DATS were definitely the simplest in getting things going, compared to the red tape that came with everything nowadays," Tohma stated as he gently leaned back into the neck rubs. "But I'm digressing... The rest is just DATS history at this point."

"So six years ago... what was the deal with Gaomon getting a communication device for your messages? Why didn't you give me one? I remember you were all up in my space getting rid of things that you thought I didn't need in the Digital World, but you didn't think to give me a communicator back then, too? We probably could've stayed in touch, at least..."

"Masaru... would you have really done that? Stayed in touch with me, after what happened between us before you left?"

"..."

Things always started off on the rough end when it came to these two.

Masaru withdrew his hand and crossed his arms. "Well, we patched that up, now didn't we? But you still didn't leave me with a communicator after your trip a couple years ago, too."

"It wasn't as simple as making a phone call back then. Two years ago, I still needed government approval just to send out communications to the communicator, as it's in the Digital World. Considering that, I decided that Gaomon would be the most reliable party to hold onto the communicator. If you were the one to have it, I'd be constantly worried that you'd lose it, get it destroyed, or even just forget about it and not receive my messages until it was too late."

"Hey, I managed to keep my Digivice all those years! A communicator wouldn't have been all that extra..."

"But you use the Digivice on a regular basis in order to evolve Agumon and live off its Digital World conveniences. In contrast, the communicator has only been used a few times in those six years while you were in the Digital World. Do you know how many days you would've had to keep track of it without knowing if it was going to be important or not?"

"Uh..."

"Over 2,000 days is what. Gaomon never once lost track of the communicator in a single day during all that time. Would you have been able to do the same?"

"Mmmmm..."

"Either way, we won't even have to worry about it anymore. With this new phone... This new Digivice... You'll be free to communicate with me whenever you'd like."

"...Right..."

"No more need for government approval. No barriers from the Digital World to the Real World and vice versa. No more limitations."

"Yeah... that's gonna be different." Masaru moved off from Tohma's side and went back to his own seat. "Either way, I'm not much of a phone guy. Don't expect me to call unless I have a particular reason to."

"Then you'll be making those particular reasons at your own convenience, I assume."

"...Sure. And... you can keep giving me those reminder calls to charge my phone if you need to."

"You won't need to charge it in the Digital World."

"Oh, right. Well, even so..."

After sharing some smug grins, Masaru looked outside the window for a solid few minutes. He could've asked what Tohma's plans were for Vienna, but he felt like he'd heard the blond blabber long enough for that leg of the trip, and he just wanted to see where he was going, in the moment. Not that there was too much to see, as most of the scenery was covered in snow. That in itself was a sight to see, but the same white-on-white scenery over and over again could only keep him occupied for a few minutes. Soon enough, however, he started seeing more city life rush past the window. They were almost at their destination.

Masaru had been doing more traveling in the Real World than he ever had during his first 14 years, but the overall pace wasn't too far off from how it was back in the Digital World back when he had done his 'worldly' tour that had started with the Southern islands. The main difference now... Tohma was there with him.

He thought back on the conversation the two had while waiting for the concert in Digicon Valley. Normally, the fighter wouldn't have vivid memories of such a typical waiting period, but he still distinctly remembered how awkward he felt admitting that he hadn't been overseas in the Real World. Back then, he didn't know where he stood in Tohma's thoughts, and even in some of his own thoughts...

Things were different now. But just like back then, they were once again waiting around to get to the next place. Tohma gave the fighter a heads up that they were arriving soon, as expected. A thought came to mind, and he decided to ask on a tangent...

"Hey, Tohma. What's the one thing you've always wanted to do here that you haven't done yet?"

"In Vienna?"

"Yeah."

Tohma made sure Masaru was looking him straight in the eye before answering. "Attend a romantic concert performance and have dinner with the one I love."

It was so plain and simple. The genius didn't even need time to think about it.

"That's two things. And already on the schedule, aren't they."

"Yes."

Blunt. Masaru had unintentionally asked the genius about his plans anyway.

"I can do that," the fighter replied with similar bluntness. He inserted his next bit with the slightest hint of reservation. "...You sure that's all you want?"

Tohma gave him a raised eyebrow. "What makes you think there's more?"

"Just a hunch..."

"A hunch, really."

"I mean, a concert and dinner... those aren't things we absolutely have to do here, right? We could do those in other places too..."

"The Vienna Philharmonic performs in Salzburg once a year, if that's what you mean. They tour Japan and other countries as well. But the Musikverein concert hall is an exclusive exp-"

"I'm not talking about that kind of thing. I mean... what else do you REALLY want to do?"

"I'm quite sure everything that I've got planned for us should cover my priorities."

"Yeah, and they're still things we can do in other places, even if the atmosphere's different or whatever. I'm talking about something that you can only experience here. Not in Japan, not in the Digital World. Something you want to do in Vienna and nowhere else."

Tohma gave it another thought. "I see... In that case, perhaps it would be... A nightly ball with you."

"...Uh, come again? What's that?"

"It's an event where you enjoy elegant festivities at a prestigious ballroom and dance long into the night. It was one of the few forms of 'entertainment' the nobility would offer of which I could appreciate the concept. I've been to a select few, but I never made the time to stay long since there was nothing for me to truly enjoy by my lonesome... I would always leave as soon as the free dancing started. But... Surely, they're out of your element, Masaru. Can you even dance?"

"Hmm... Well, I like festivities."

"But it's ballroom dancing. There are just as many rules to the event as there are for the tea session we had with my grandmother, perhaps even more. Do you really want to go through learning another set of rules for something like that?"

"Rules, again? I thought this stuff was supposed to be fun?"

"Yes..." Tohma was at a loss for words. "I won't force you. I only brought it up since you asked. As I said before, I've already scheduled enough for us to make the trip worthwhile."

"You and your schedules..."

"You're welcome to make changes to it as you see fit to your whims, as that's well within my expectations at this point. You and the rest of the Daimons have a strange relationship with schedules, after all."

Masaru gave him a funny look just as it was time to get off the train.

.~.~.~.~

Masaru's first day in Vienna went by relatively peacefully, with the pair checking into a grandiose hotel and Tohma making it a point to show off its facilities-admittedly, the gym area was really impressive. The dinner there-held on the top floor with sky high views overlooking the city-was also impressive, with delicacies of a large global variety served in buffet style. Masaru tried to go for a bit of everything they had to offer, but he hit his limit around halfway through the selection. Tohma assured the fighter they'd go again on a later day so that he could finish off the other half.

Masaru's next full day in Vienna flew by like the shortest typhoon he'd ever been through, however, in the fact that it'd been hyped up the entire time getting to the destination, but once the event actually happened, the experience had been far shorter than he anticipated. The day was over before he could fully recognize that it was even happening.

They went through a flurry of historic buildings, sightseeing this and that ancient relic, with Tohma taking the occasional picture here and there. The noble even made some attempts to do 'selfies' while Masaru dazed out in awe of the mass of grand structures surrounding them.

Masaru recognized that he'd fallen asleep during the concert, and that was why a certain portion of the afternoon disappeared from his perception of time. By the time he had fully woken up from his extended nap, he was somehow in the middle of a 16-course dinner at a fancy restaurant. Since each of the portions were small and it took another full hour to get through the remaining half of the dinner, he'd spent the rest of the dinner vaguely deciphering what the heck he was eating as Tohma explained each dish to him (it all tasted fine, at least).

On the final course of the meal, Masaru idly poked his sachertorte with the small fork that had been provided for the dessert. Tohma simply sat across from him, waiting for him to take the first bite.

"Hey... Sorry for falling asleep at the concert."

Tohma blinked a couple times in confusion. "I can't say that I expected you to stay awake for the full duration. But I also didn't expect you to apologize for it."

"Yeah, but I was completely gone as soon as intermission started... and barely made it through before that... I didn't even wake up until everyone stood up at the end to clap."

"At least you got to hear the encore."

"I might as well have been asleep for that, too. I don't remember it..."

"Incredulous..." The blond kept staring. Masaru still hadn't taken his first bite. "Masaru, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine... I just went to sleep late last night."

"Was the bed uncomfortable?"

"It was fine..." The brunet mentally grumbled about how even the hotel that Tohma booked for them had ridiculously luxurious bedding, and he briefly lamented how spoiled he felt. He finally dug his fork into his dessert. "I was... Looking up stuff in Vienna after you went to sleep."

Tohma sat in silence, once again hearing the unexpected. He watched Masaru finally take his first bite of the dessert and smiled a bit as the brunet lost his trail of thought from the delight of the treat.

They finished eating before Masaru finally got back on track.

"You mentioned going to a ball yesterday and all..."

"You're still interested..." Tohma let his sentence hang a while before speaking again. "There actually is a rather famous one happening tomorrow, if you wanted to go. I know someone who can get us in on short notice."

"You've probably had enough with your noble life... Aren't you sick of ballrooms?"

"Not if you're the one there with me."

"...The food better be good."

"Hmph, of course it is. Wait, you're really, actually interested in going?"

"Sure... I mean, it's something I haven't experienced before and this sounds like a good chance for it, so why not?"

Tohma still gawked at him, but he spoke calmly. "We'll have to suit up for it. The dress code requires men to wear tailcoats. I do have one custom fit for your size, luckily. Had it done right after the Coming of Age set like what you wore to the tea gathering."

"The heck... How many custom fits did you get for me... And WHY?"

"That's the last one... for now. As for why... It's to be prepared for anything life might throw at us. Things are always chaotic when you're involved, and you're just proving me right to have this prepared ahead of time."

"Hey, it's not like I'm constantly TRYING to make it that way... But sometimes that's just how I like it?"

"... And the same goes for me."

"Tohma..." Masaru didn't miss the noble's quick change of tone, but he left his thoughts hanging for the moment.

Their server came by with the cheque, and Tohma had his card ready. The server bowed as he acknowledged receipt, then left the table to process the payment.

"I have to warn you, however... if we go to that ball, we would likely be dancing with strangers the entire time. They're very strict on the appearance of dancing pairs, so each suit has to be paired with a floor-length dress, and there are many other rules th-"

Masaru raised his chin. "Actually... Let's ditch it after all."

"Eh?"

The brunet pulled up something on his phone and handed it over to Tohma. "We should do this one instead... it's a few days later, but that shouldn't be an issue, right?"

"That's fine with me, but..." The blond was still in a state of bewilderment and delayed looking at Masaru's screen. When he finally did, and when he finally read it through the content, he fell into silence again.

Since Tohma wasn't saying anything, Masaru gave him a nudge. "At least this place doesn't have all the rules that the other one has."

"You checked?"

"Yeah... I just figured that... Well... That it'd be more comfortable at a ball like this one. Let loose without the extra concern and all. Does it still qualify for what you had in mind?"

Tohma exhaled with some vocality. "It seems fine. I doubt I know anyone there... which could be a good thing. And entry is still available."

"Then we're going?"

"Let me get this straight with you... There may be fewer rules with this other ball, but the basics are still expected. It's not a place for fights, either."

"I'm here for a different kind of fight, Tohma. I've known that from the start."

"...Right. Then I hope you're ready to be swept off your feet..."

"Challenge accepted."

.~.~.~.~

Vienna... It was such a big city, full of new people at each and every turn. Even though Masaru had already spent a few days in the capital, he never saw the same face a second time. Well, except Tohma's. But even within the confines of their hotel, it was always a new face greeting them whenever they left or entered the lobby.

As they took their sweet time over the next few days in the vast city, Masaru often thought back on the times when they were together in the Digital World. Back in the Digital World, he wondered if they'd been together, if they would be spending the day like they were, just watching people pass by...

This time, it was actually happening. This time, they were actually together.

And within the smallest moments, Tohma would occasionally take Masaru's hand in his to walk down a crowded street. Perhaps the chillier-than-average weather contributed to Tohma's willingness. Perhaps it was the grander scale of strangers around them, meaning no one to judge them beyond their care. Perhaps something else had changed in his outlook of their relation to the public...

Whatever it was, it was bliss.

'If Tohma had any idea how much I love holding his hand...'

Not that he needed to say it out loud. Surely, Tohma already understood Masaru's feelings to some extent, every time Masaru gripped back with equal vigor.

.~.~.~.~

Several nights later, they went to the ball that Masaru had picked out.

Tohma had an idea of what to expect from reading through the introductory website, but Masaru instantly knew that the noble was having... a moment as soon as they reached the venue proximity. The crowds of people heading in were unlike any of what they'd been used to in Austria, or even anything in the Real World up until then. Tohma had spent a good portion of his life in this country, but he'd never seen anything like what was there that night.

Masaru, on the other hand, felt like he had re-entered the Digital World to some extent... in the most uplifting sense possible. He had the same tingling sense of knowing that everyone in the vicinity had a shared connection, even if it was as specific as the circumstances that had led them all to gather at such a place... To have a good time that night.

The two of them arrived in the suited tailcoats Tohma had arranged for them, as would have been required of any typical formal ball. However, this ball was out of the typical... And out of formal, for that matter. Still, there were others like them who also wore tailcoats... Perhaps a good 20% of them, of which Masaru noticed about half of those 20% were not necessarily men.

The remaining 80% majority showed a mixed bag of semi-formal wear to over-the-top, lavish fashionistas in unsurmountable amounts of colors.

It was all good with him though.

...At least until people started to come up and speak to him in German. It was a couple of relatively burly men in semi-formal who looked very obviously intrigued by Masaru's appearance some way or another...

He pulled his phone out in a quick attempt to make things comprehendible, and he just as quickly realized getting anything translated in real time was impossible with all the other conversation happening in the background. There was too much noise. Meanwhile, the two strangers looked closer upon him, expecting a response.

Tohma stepped in and held onto Masaru's arm with a certain decisiveness. The other two men said something to him, and Tohma's grip moved onto Masaru's waist instead. The motion seemingly convinced the strangers, and they moved on.

"Was that what I think it was?"

"They weren't trying to pick a fight, if that's what you mean."

"Oi."

"Apologies, you deserve more credit than that these days."

"Hell right I do. I've had enough people make a pass on me back in Japan to know what it looks like purely from body language..."

"That happened, truly?"

"Yeah... Obviously, a good chunk of brats just want to fight me, but then there were occasionally ones who looked like they wanted shadier things out of me..."

"What... At your age, back then?"

"Yuh-huh. Lemme guess... You don't know much about the red-light district," Masaru said with some smugness.

"The red-light... I'm a little flabbergasted that you DO. You were only 14 back then! What were you doing around there?"

"Hey, if you wanna rule over Yokohama and Japan, you gotta know about those parts all the same. You'd have to be a total shut-in or hermit to not know about it."

"Tomfoolery."

Their back and forth rallies of non-German caught the attention of those around them, and lo and behold, another group of men approached them, curiosity laced in their eyes. Tohma entertained them with an answer, evoking more talk from the strangers. Their demeanor seemed amiable in all respects, and Tohma seemed to respond in kind, but Masaru was still reading the blond's body language as well... And something was not sitting right with him.

Eventually, the inquisitive group of strangers moved on. Masaru ogled the food some people were holding as they passed by, and he started gravitating towards the bar and buffet area, making sure Tohma tagged along. He could see multiple tables lined up at the far end of the long hallway, each filled with delicacies waiting to get into his belly.

Food was within sight... and then another group approached them. Masaru had kept up a neutral face until then, seeing as he didn't understand anything of what was being said and having to rely on physical cues the entire time. Tohma, however, was starting to seethe with muted belligerence.

The exchange this time happened so quickly that before the brunet knew it, Tohma was already leading the two of them out of the food reception area to a quieter room... The coat room.

The coat room had racks for hundreds of coats if so needed, lined up one-by-one along the long walls. Murmurs of the crowds they had just been mingling with could be heard through the walls, but otherwise the only other people going in and out were doing just that; they hung up their coats and then left just as quickly.

Tohma brought Masaru over to a private corner, going far out of the way to find an area away from other people's attention.

"I had a feeling things like this would happen, but not on THIS level."

"It's not like I'm doing anything special to get people's attention, am I?"

"It's not that. It's because you're..." Tohma paused to consider his words. "...For one thing, you're very obviously not from around Austria. Some people just tend to be curious about what they don't commonly see or experience, even within groups that are already marginalized. I know they still mean well, but I just..."

"Hey, I'm just here to have a good time with you, Tohma. If they aren't looking for a fight, I don't mind humoring the folk a bit if it keeps everyone happy."

"So you're okay with completely random socializing, even though you don't understand anything of what they're saying?"

"D'ya mind interpreting?"

"Well, it's fine with me... But Masaru... do you really want to stay the entire night?"

"Is that how long this goes?"

"We can leave anytime. There are a few performances scheduled in the program, but following that, it's free-for-all dancing. And that dancing goes until 5am."

"I've done overnight celebrations before. Tropiamon hosted a huge bonfire banquet when I first stopped by the Southern islands. We ate until none of us could move anymore."

"Well, here, you dance until you drop. A lot of people use alcohol to 'help' them do that."

"Do we join 'em?"

"Not if you value your oxytocin levels."

"...Huh?"

Tohma blinked a couple times at the brunet, then changed gears in his demeanor ever so slightly. "I mean... Not if you still want to keep up the boxing routine we have going in the mornings."

"Oh... Yeah, I'm not giving that up."

Tohma paused for a bit to hold his head in an odd gesture of unreadable thought. When he brought his hand back down, he smirked in relief. "Hmph, I'm glad our priorities align. I mentioned I only drink socially, but for me, that just means that given any other option, I'd likely prefer those options... So I was right to pick that hotel with its gym facilities. We can't stay here too long if you want your morning fight."

"You got me there. So yeah, fine... How about we leave around midnight?"

"I can accept that. That still gives us an hour or two to enjoy the open dance portion."

"I mean... what about the FOOD, though..."

"We have all the time to eat before the scheduled programming starts. And they'll always have some concessions available throughout the night."

"Good, but I'm hungry. Now. So let's get going."

Masaru started on his way out when Tohma grabbed him one more time.

"What now, Tohma..."

Tohma took a heavy breath, not as a sigh, but as a measure of self-preparation. "I lied. I did have one more thing prepared for you besides your suit."

Masaru's shoulders dropped. "I'm not surprised anymore..."

"Then I wonder if this will surprise you either."

The blond took out something from a small box in his jacket pocket. Passing the one single warning, he gripped Masaru's left hand and slipped a ring onto the fourth finger.

Masaru stared at it blankly. It was a simple, silver ring with barely any embellishments, but it carried the expected weight from a ring of real, full metal.

"Hey, isn't this..."

"Anyone at a ball with any decency won't excessively heckle someone with a ring on this finger. I'll put one on as well."

"I-Is that how it works..."

"As long as you make sure people see it."

"Yeah, but..."

"I know... It's not fair of me to put a ring on you like this."

"Fair...? I don't even get what you mean."

"I don't mean to propose to you here."

Masaru went still for a good ten seconds, then broke his stillness with intensity.

"Then when do you mean to?"

"Eh?"

"Why not now?"

"Masaru, do you know what you're-"

"Is it that much of a different thing compared to when I asked you to be part of my family?"

Tohma went still next, reflecting Masaru's intensity in his stare.

The brunet loosened up. "Hey, hey..."

"That's not the first time you've asked me that..."

"Huh?"

"It's not the first time you've asked me to be part of your family. Perhaps you don't remember... When you said that to me, at DATS..."

"No... I do remember."

"Even if you did, I assume you weren't... back then..."

"I..." Masaru didn't finish. This wasn't where he wanted to bring up that kind of topic. But... He did want to bring it up. "We can have a good talk about this after tonight. I'll just keep the ring on for now."

"Thanks."

Masaru felt all sorts of heat rush to his cheeks as Tohma put a nearly identical ring on his own left hand, and the two headed back out into the main hall.

.~.~.~.~

The ring did absolutely work to keep strangers from prying their way to Masaru... But not necessarily because of its physical presence, but because of how its presence, along with Tohma's, resonated between the two of them. Combined with the circumstances surrounding the event, they had all but no reason to make the most of the opportunity presented to them.

That night, at that ball... Even if it was only for those fleeting hours, they were given full reign to express themselves without even needing to consider if anyone would object to their relationship.

It was like a limiter had been broken off.

Of all things that could've happened that night... Tohma's extra displays of intimacy were the greater reason that kept others from making deep advances. From the strategic waist tugs to the occasional outright arm-over-shoulder, hand-in-hair displays of possession, Masaru had only to accept that the atmosphere had allowed Tohma to be more... touchy than usual in the presence of other people.

And that was fine. No one judged them for it. People would still approach them, but they were always with kind intentions. Tohma would interpret when necessary, and Masaru would smile in kind. They had a wonderful time.

The event choice was spot on as well. The ball and all of its happenings provided plenty of entertainment during their stay. While people weren't dressed as glamorous as Tohma was used to, it didn't take long for him to disregard the difference and instead focus on enjoying himself in the moment. It didn't matter that the setting wasn't in the largest ballroom in the city. It didn't matter that the prestigious philharmonic orchestra wasn't playing live music for them.

As far as Masaru was concerned, even when he didn't understand their language, everyone at the ball was deeply welcoming and charming to them. He felt as if he could mentally fist bump anyone and it would be enough to recognize the best out of anyone. Despite not KNOWING anyone else before going in, or even understanding what anyone was saying, he came out with his heart touched.

And even though Tohma had to do the explaining for both of them, and Masaru couldn't fully keep up with what was being said during any of those exchanges, Tohma remained sincerely level-headed during every interaction. Masaru had a slight deja-vu, thinking back on the time when Tohma went to the town hall meeting at Digicon Valley. Tohma never once faltered in the constant onslaught of attention.

At some point, they'd been at the venue long enough that everyone who was curious enough had spoken to them, and they were left to their own devices. Yet... Everyone would still smile at them fondly as they passed by, and that was enough.

They were accepted. They were able to be themselves and to be proud of it without barriers. There were others who showed affection for their partners just the same, and for once, Masaru and Tohma were just another two men looking to enjoy themselves for the night.

They decided to join in on the first open dance after the programmed sections finished.

While they were fully intent on only staying until midnight, they both agreed that they would've enjoyed the rest of the night had they stayed.

The rings had been prepared solely for the ball, but Masaru pointedly decided not to give his ring back after that night. Instead, he added it to his necklace along with his father's dog tag.

Tohma was prepared for this outcome too, as he handed over a clear silicone cover for the ring as they settled down into bed that night.

"To protect the metal surfaces, since they'll be rubbing up against each other otherwise."

Masaru thought it was unnecessary, but he let the genius put it on for him and ended up impressed at how unnoticeable the difference was from a visual standpoint.

"Thank you, Masaru. I had a wonderful time tonight. I didn't actually think you'd do a slow dance with me, let alone a second and third..."

"Hey... After the overload of other stuff that happened, it was nice to have some calm minutes to ourselves."

"Aah, so that's how you take it."

"Yeah."

"Well... I'll say it again. I really enjoyed it all."

Some couples were talkative during the slow dances, but the music covered up their conversations, and it wasn't as if Masaru would've understood them anyway. Beyond all that, all he had to do was focus on Tohma, there in his arms, in close vicinity, staring into his eyes...

The two of them could've talked, too... But they didn't. They'd spent so much other time going back and forth in banter earlier that evening, it was a relief to finally get a break. They could've spent all night blabbing away, of course, but... There at the dance, it was just the music and their bodies, gently rocking against each other in slow rhythm.

'It's calming in your arms, without any conversation occupying us...' Masaru said in his mind, but he was definitely too embarrassed to say it out loud. He'd never done slow dances before that night, but now that he'd experienced them... He quietly realized that he liked it more than he ever expected. He wanted more. But again, it wasn't something he'd outwardly admit. It wasn't in him to ask for another dance...

He'd definitely admit that he had a good time, at least.

"Same." Masaru felt a blush on his cheeks as he agreed with Tohma, and he let the blond take satisfaction in his flushed appearance for the sake of not having to elaborate on his inner thoughts.

There was still so much out in the world... the worlds... yet to be experienced. And he was there, experiencing it with Tohma. A part of him wished it never had to end, but the rest of him knew that it was time for him to go back to the Digital World soon enough.

.~.~.~.~

Notes:

The entire Gaomon story here is pretty out of field for my standards, as I'd prefer if the canon story actually explained or even properly hinted at this. I mean... we HAVE a hint, and that hint is that Gaomon came as a DigiEgg that hatched in the Real World, and Tohma was scouted by DATS since his Digisoul was compatible. That's pretty loose. I mean... Yoshino's story is supposedly the same, but they never made it clear how long she and Budmon/Lalamon were together before Yoshino joined DATS. She didn't join when she was a tiny kid, I'm sure?

I think more realistically, they haven't been partners as long as I headcanon'ed them. So basically, Gaomon, like Agumon, was born and raised at DATS and Tohma was "assigned" to him for compatability when he joined. They'd use a silly notion that "I've known you your whole life even though we've never met" type of weirdness that early generations of Digimon does.

But... I don't really care for that tbh (it smells too much like the tensei/isekai stuff that's oversaturated now), so here's my take.