Start notes:
Sequel to Seesaw, but can also be standalone... I guess? A later majority of the fic has nothing to do with what happened in Seesaw, but the reason this fic exists is because the events in Seesaw happened in this continuum. So uhhh why would anyone want it to be standalone anyway? Consume the tomatoes in order, please! XD
Sooo this piece is pretty different from what I normally do in that... Not every section is super romantically tomato charged. There are other stories, POV jumping, even other pairings... It's SEGMENTED to hell and back, it might as well be a collection of short stories, yet I still have things being connected, somehow... Heck, not everything is even laid out chronologically, but I hope that doesn't get too confusing when 'flashbacks' comes up. Gasp! There are just some things I absolutely wanted to get out there just because it's SAVERS and just goes to show how much I rampantly think about it.
Vague cryptic note, but since I'm meme-ing with the letter C, I might as well go all the way with it. It'll show up.
splashgottaito/art/Masaru-Birthday-2011-ToMaTopie-203383334
Timeline: Early official-but-not-public production notes indicate that Savers was supposed to take place in the near-future, but there's too much antiquated technology in the series for me to really believe that (Suguru reading a printed newspaper in the 5yr later epilogue? pfft), so I'm headcanoning that it was an alternate universe of present day, ie starting in 2006.
2007 (early) - Masaru leaves Real World
2010 (late) - Seesaw events
2012 (mid-late) - 5 year epilogue. Tohma gets his Nobel Prize (October ish)
2012 (late) - Tohma contacts Masaru
2013 (start) - This fic
Apparently in the original pitch for the series, Savers was supposed to take place "in the near future", so that wouldn't have been 2006 at all... but I could move this timeline up maybe 4 years and it would "mostly" be the same. Any more than that, then I'm not so sure though, lol.
Also, the notion of Savers being "in the future" also contradicts with the series composer (Yamaguchi Ryota) who explicitly calls out the 90s feel of the Digimon Savers anime. That makes it anything BUT futuristic, although he could also mean that the series is meant to look like it was produced in the 90s, and so being "near futuristic" seemed more plausible then.
I've always felt that most "futuristic" settings age really poorly though, and in any regard, Digimon exists in an alternate timeline from actual reality. It's fiction to begin with, so IT'S OKAY TO MAKE UP OTHER STUFF to a certain extent... is what I have to keep telling myself. Regardless, it's been really hard working with it... Heheh.
Thank goodness time flows at the same pace for the Digital World in Savers, unlike in a particular other canon where it doesn't even make sense to me except to add some kind of chuuni "wow" factor "technology moves in the blink of an eye"... Although what does matter anyway when everything here is chuuni anyway lol
Next, there's a big section on Austrian nobility. If Savers were to be referencing anything close to real life, they would know that the Austrian nobility was "officially" abolished in the early 1900s, but here we are with them still flourishing in the Savers world like no one knows. And in reality, the official abolishment doesn't carry its full weight in society. So I'm once again making up a bunch of stuff for it, and hopefully will not have to apologize for all the fiction... 'cause it's fiction! Anyway, I'm only touching on my more "modern" take on it for this fic, and I have plans for all the nobility junk in a mostly different direction for a future doujinshi. IT'S FICTION...
But also haha, big fear for me in all this is if Toei suddenly puts out more post-canon content for Savers and invalidates various headcanons I set up here, but that's just how it'd go if it does. Savers ultimately belongs to Toei and not me, so they can do what they want with it. I'm just one person with one imagination.
Big tl;dr... THIS ENTIRE FIC IS NOT WHAT I TYPICALLY DO, THERE'S A LOT OF NON-TOMATO IN CERTAIN PARTS AND THUS IT WAS VERY HARD FOR ME TO WRITE...
After this, back to the regularly scheduled shameless tomatoes, cuz I got a lot just waiting to Burst Mode.
And now, to the other side...
Coming Home
1. To the Other Side
The single bed suite that Masaru first roomed in those couple years back turned into his steady crashing pad whenever he stopped by Digicon Valley. The only time others had occupied the room was during his extended travel to the southern lands, when he made it a particular point to tell Tobucatmon to let others use the room. Back then, he didn't know how long the trip would take him, after all. It would've been a waste to let the room gather dust. If the room was still occupied when he was back, that would've been no big deal for him. During all other times, the room had been left open for him and his VIP treatment anyway.
He never requested for things to be like that, it was just what Tobucatmon (and Piyomon, by extension) insisted on in order to keep him coming back more often... And it kind of worked, since Masaru would eventually remember and feel guilty for not using the room during his frequent ventures to other regions in the Digital World. Still, he couldn't find it in himself to stay in Digicon Valley for longer than a few days before he headed out again. There was plenty of going in and out, as he never needed more than a few weeks in any land to come back with a new entourage of Digimon who wanted to check out Digicon Valley.
After staying in Digicon Valley for more than a few days, instead of being homesick, he'd come to miss camping out instead. After all, before Tohma's visit, he'd been camping out just about every day for over three years. He'd come to enjoy sleeping under the vast sky of stars within the Digital World. He'd come to enjoy the fresh, open air of the night. If he were back in the human world, there would likely be the sound of cicadas to lull him to sleep along with the rest of the nightly atmosphere of the wild...
Even back in his room in the Daimon house, he would fall asleep to the sound of cicadas during the warm summer nights. Sadly, there was no real equivalent of those sounds in the Digital World.
Still, he didn't NEED to feel any homesickness after Tohma's visit. Tohma had changed so much for him... in so many manners of the saying...
...
Sure, there were plenty of things he missed from the human world. He was just a lot more accepting of the fact nowadays, and knowing with confidence that he'd get to experience those things he missed again someday kept his spirits up and going. He had to remind himself on occasion that there was no point in constantly missing what wasn't there, and to just live in the moment. Remind himself that instead, there were always things to look forward to.
Learn from the past. Look to the present, to the future.
Speaking of things to look forward to... at long last, he was making a trip back to the human world.
Also known as the 'Real' World, as Tohma and apparently other humans preferred to call it. After hanging out with Digimon all these years, he habitually called it the human world like they all did.
The fighter had pretty much no idea why it took two years since Tohma's visit for things to be okay for him to make a trip back to the human world, but at the same time, it ONLY took two years this time.
He'd been in the Digital World for six straight years. He hadn't hit the big ten like his father had, but at least he was in his own body the entire time. And it wasn't like his time in the Digital World was ending. Coming back to the human world was just for a visit. Like visiting another region of the Digital World as he often did... kinda.
Considering that he'd spent such a large portion of his 20-year life in the Digital World, independent of other humans... it felt strange to consider that he was...'coming home'. Coming home, as in coming back to his hometown, back to the family house he used to call 'home'... Coming back to the place he had spent 14 years in... but for him, it used to be the only place he ever knew for those 14 years. The Digital World had changed everything about that...
The day for him to return to the human world wasn't far off now. Before his return, Tohma would spend a night in Digicon Valley with him, and he was definitely looking forward to showing his companion what had changed in the past couple years.
But even more than that, he was looking forward to seeing how the human world had changed. Looking forward to it... In both anticipation and nervousness. Seeing his family for the first time in six years, reuniting with the things he grew up with throughout his childhood... Even as aware as he was of the upcoming happenings, he wasn't sure what he could do in 'preparation' for the onslaught of nostalgia he would encounter. And forget about nostalgia... a lot of things were sure to be completely different for him altogether.
So he didn't really bother trying to prepare. He was going to let things happen as they came. That was how he normally let things fly, and things would just work out in the end. He was sure of it.
He walked in from one end and walked out the other in a seamless sequence, with Tohma's hand holding his as if guiding him onto a red carpet. There was certainly no red carpet to greet them on the other side, however... Just an assortment of large, strange gadgets... And Tohma's butler.
The first thing he noticed was that there was no one else in the vicinity of the massive room they ended up in. He wasn't expecting a welcoming party, since Tohma informed him that 'extremely restricted authorization' was required to be anywhere near a Digital Gate, and there were still various medical checks he had to go through before he could be 'released' and see any family members.
"Are we... in your library room?"
"Why, yes... I'm surprised you figured that out just at first glance. This room looks nothing like it did six years ago."
"It was just a hunch..."
Six years ago, this was what Masaru mentally called the Norstein library, with ceiling-high shelves covered end-to-end in books. He remembered a majority of them were on subject matters he had no idea about, like microbiology, genetics, and other specific science topics he couldn't even read the titles for... Now, none of those books were around. The shelves themselves were completely gone, replaced with computer equipment.
There used to be a set of giant couches in the center, and Masaru had spent a few evenings there in the past, as it was an excellent place to get some quiet downtime after a tough DATS mission. Whenever he'd gotten roughed up particularly badly, he didn't want to go straight back home and have his mother worrying about why he was wobbling around, so resting up at Tohma's place for a few hours was always enough to get him back solid on his feet. Sure, he could've rested up in the DATS doctor's office instead... but Tohma's place was way more comfy. The DATS doctors always seemed on edge whenever he was around... And Tohma always welcomed him, even if the blond made that cocky smile whenever he asked...
Thinking back on it, there was probably more to that smile even back then...
"I've donated the books to a university library, if you're wondering. I have digital copies of anything I wanted to keep for reference, or otherwise I'm fine with what memories I have of them..."
There was a pause between the two before Tohma spoke again. "I spent a lot of time here after you left, working with those books at my lab desk..."
Tohma looked over at his work station next to the gate they had warped through just earlier. It was actually a combination of three desks, each with their own setup of monitors and paperwork piled on top. Masaru could just imagine Tohma immersed at the center of the three desks, going back and forth among them and working through that genius brain of his.
"A lot's happened, even in just this one room, huh," Masaru noted. "Well, guess I'll see what six years has done to the rest of the world soon enough."
"Take your time, Masaru. I planned this to only be for a week so that you wouldn't get overwhelmed... But after this week, you can choose as you want... To be here, or to go back to the Digital World. Wherever you need to be to sort things out. For now, I'm assuming you're going back to the Digital World so that you can see Agumon again..."
"Hmm, I thought the week limitation was just because of that buffet thing or whatever you said it was last time."
"You mean the buffer? I've long solved that issue; it should be safe for even a large number of people or Digimon to traverse through this particular gate at any pace. Obviously, we're not just going to send troves of people through the gate anytime soon, and we still have to go through various red tape to actually USE the gate, but... We're in talks about scaling the gate for our future plans."
Masaru didn't respond. He assumed the 'we' Tohma spoke of referred to the genius and his circle of other scientists and government officials he worked with. That entire circle he didn't know the first thing about...
"That's something you don't need to be concerned about for a long while yet. Best concentrate on catching up with everything else first..."
Catching up... Yeah, he definitely had a lot of that to do.
"Shirts off, Masaru."
"Huhwha?"
"Medical exam. You've been in the Digital World for six years and I doubt you've properly visited a doctor in all that time. Anyway, this was also required by DATS whenever we came back from the Digital World, if you don't recall."
"Mmm..." Masaru grunted in displeasure. He DID remember, considering that he was thinking about the DATS doctors just moments ago. But he wasn't going to make a big point of it...
"But hey, this'll be done by yours truly. Beats having the DATS doctors or strangers poking at you, right?"
"I'm pretty sure you 'examined' me enough last night before we got here. We have to do this again?"
"Ma..." Tohma blinked several times as he cut himself off, seemingly holding back a blush. He subtly tilted his head towards the butler, and Masaru tilted his own head in return, with only a slightly apologetic look on his face. Tohma cleared his throat. "It's protocol."
"Yeah yeah, fine."
The top half of Masaru's garments went off, revealing his chest scar. An additional two years hadn't changed the scar's appearance all that much; if anything, perhaps the skin color difference wasn't quite as stark... Just perhaps.
"Does your butler have to stick around for all this?" Masaru looked over at the butler briefly, who otherwise seemed to have no reaction to anything, including Masaru's scar, as he brought up a tray of supplies for Tohma.
"He's just providing assistance. Don't worry, he's also medically certified to conduct this examination."
"How did you get a butler like that..."
"I think you'd find it interesting how many people with medical certifications don't actually work as doctors in our world."
"You're one of them too, I guess."
"I don't have an active practice, yes..."
"Mm..."
They completed the medical exam without much extra flair, and Masaru was cleared to head out into the world yonder once he put his clothes back on.
But before that, Tohma had some business to finish up. The butler brought in a tray with a thin block of some sort on it, and Tohma asked Masaru to sit down on the two-seater couch in one of the living rooms. Tohma sat down next to him with the block in hand.
"What's that?"
"The new Digivice."
The original plan was for Masaru to try it out back in the Digital World, but since he was going back to the human world anyway, Tohma decided to wait until he got back.
Tohma handed over the block, and Masaru just stared blankly at it. "This is... the new Digivice?"
"Yes, it's integrated into a smartphone. You saw me use mine back in Digicon Valley, didn't you?"
"This... flat thing is a phone?" Masaru blinked in slight disbelief, turning the device around in his hands. He did vaguely remember Tohma calling Gaomon into a mystery device, as Gaomon still wanted to use his Digivice bed for the night, but he hadn't really been paying attention to it otherwise. "Where are the buttons?"
"On the sides here. The only physical buttons are power and volume buttons; everything else will come up on the screen when you need it."
"Hoh..."
Tohma turned the phone on from one of the side buttons. After navigating through some menus, he handed the phone over to Masaru and asked him to follow the instructions on the screen.
Masaru sat there blankly again for a while, just staring at the screen in a bit of silent awe.
"Fingerprint calibration...?" he read off slowly after getting over the awe of the large screen overlapping his grip.
"There's a fingerprint reader on the power button, so as long as it recognizes your fingerprint, it'll unlock. I added my own fingerprint to it too, so if there's anyone else you trust with it, you can have them add theirs in this setting screen as well."
"Uh sure, maybe later..."
After the fingerprint calibration, Tohma proceeded to demonstrate various features about the phone.
"Now do note that certain functions involving Digimon will shift the CPU to prioritize those, so you might notice that some apps might not run in the background while you're doing something like realizing Agumon from the device. Although... I'll assume you won't be bothering with most apps in the first place..."
Masaru frowned and shrugged, and Tohma simply furled his eyebrows upward in sympathy.
"Yeah, I have no idea what any of that meant just now."
"And that's fine for now. Bottom line is... Take good care of it, Masaru. This device is hyper custom-designed and contains technology that's considered to be many years ahead of what the consumer market currently has to offer. Nevertheless, it's still our first run of combining it with Digivice technology. There's still plenty of room for improvement, especially as technology advances. For now, there may be some... Bugs involved, but nothing extreme... I would hope."
It was another whirl of words that went completely over Masaru's head, but Tohma knew it'd be like that already.
The blond turned his head abruptly as he remembered something. "Oh, and the charger."
"Charger?"
Tohma handed over a block of sorts and several cables. "These phones drain battery much faster than the old Digivices, and especially now that you're in the human world instead of the Digital World, you'll need to remember to keep it charged. The Digital World has the convenience of keeping everything charged without you having to do anything, so I'm sure it'll take a while for you to get used to it while you're here, but... here. The charging block, and the cable to charge it. A couple extra cables just for good measure. For now, it's best if you set it to charge before going to sleep every night."
Masaru remembered seeing some classmates with flip phones back in his school days. Having Tohma tell him that this... flat block thing... was a phone was rather unsettling, somehow.
"So... I can call up Dad and Mom with this? ...And Agumon, when I go back?"
"Well, cell reception doesn't work between worlds quite so easily yet-I'd have to set up a special line for the devices you want to reach, sort of like how Professor Daimon was able to arrange over-the-air updates for the old Digivice. Anyway, we'll get to that later. One step at a time, right? Get more familiar with the device first."
"Sure... You said it can do other things? Like what?"
"All the usual things your old Digivice did like keep a calendar and set reminders, alarms, other notes... But it can do plenty of new things, like surf the Internet, play some graphic-intensive games, take pictures and record videos..."
"Wow... a phone can do all that these days?"
"Yes. There are some development groups out there pushing for this technology to be applicable to other... accessories, like a watch or a pair of glasses. As for how long it'll take for such concepts to actually become practical... I wouldn't be able to say. It's not what I'm focused on at the moment, but it's out there. If you ask me, there are still far too many limitations with those peripherals to even consider them comparable to what we can do with a dedicated console that a phone brings to the table-"
"Tohma..."
"Oh... Not relevant to you, right. I went off kilter there, didn't I... Anyway, let's see how you handle it this week here in the Real World before you dive back into the Digital World."
Masaru thought back on Gaomon's smug face when they were discussing the new Digivice back in the Digital World. He had a premonition that the darn dog Digimon had every right to be making those expressions...
"For now... see if you can find the Digivice functions on it without my instructions. I'll observe."
One end of Masaru's mouth twitched, but he accepted the challenge.
First off... the screen was blank. He wasn't used to that, since the Digivice at least always showed something on the screen, such as the time...
"Uh... power button..."
It was pretty awkward for Tohma (and the butler) to be watching him as he fiddled with the device, as he eventually figured out how to get past the lock screen. After that... he started touching things on the screen left and right without really thinking about what he was doing. Tohma had to stop him not before long.
"At least read what's on the screen before you start tapping randomly!"
"I did! You expect me to know what it means?!"
Tohma wanted to bury his head in his hands for a moment. "Look, you just ended up in a note-taking app. What you need to do is..."
After a long session of literal hand-holding for explanations, Masaru finally found the Digivice functions. So much for Tohma just 'observing'...
Tohma sighed as Masaru continued to slowly process what was on the phone screen. "Your complete lack of intuition for navigating this shouldn't come as a shock to me, yet it does. You have no appreciation for how much engineering know-how was required to develop these to be user-friendly in the first place, do you..."
"Of course I don't. Err, I mean... Huh?"
"It's still a wonder to me how you managed to inherit your father's brawn, but none of his brain..."
"Hey, I'll get the hang of it eventually, like the old Digivice! Just... give me some time. Gotta tell you upfront though, you said I should charge it every night? I'm never gonna remember..."
"I'll call. And text. I'll force you to remember every night this week."
Masaru paused as he looked over at Tohma. "What, you gonna nag me like my mom does to clean my room?"
"No, I'm nagging you like your..." It was Tohma's turn to pause. "Your..."
"What? Boyfriend?"
Tohma blushed.
"I prefer the term 'partner' for now..."
Another pause. Masaru ended up blushing as well. "...Ah, sure."
So maybe that's what people call this, Masaru thought to himself. It was a different type of 'partner' from the one that Agumon and he used with each other.
Ah...
"Well, you can head out to your parents' place now, unless there was anything else you wanted to do first."
"Naw, I'll head there now. Say, isn't there anyone else in the mansion? Like your sister?"
"Relena has been staying here recently, yes..." Tohma's sentence drifted off, and he turned towards the butler.
"Lady Relena is out doing some window shopping at the moment. She'll be back before dinner."
"I see. Well, you won't see her today, but she'll be around for the rest of the week."
The butler left their presence to prepare the limousine for transport once they reached the front hall, leaving the two other men alone. Tohma immediately took the opportunity to pull Masaru in for a close moment.
"...T-Tohma, hey..."
Tohma spent one day with him in Digicon Valley before coming back to the human world with him. As for the 'examination' they were talking about earlier... That had happened in the shower of the hotel room. Being in the Digital World, Agumon and Gaomon were spending that night with them too, after all... The room next to Masaru's usual VIP room had been reserved for Tohma to have his own bed this time, although naturally it ended up being a trade with Agumon, who reveled in the thought of having his own room (Gaomon as usual still preferred the Digivice bed). Masaru reminded his yellow friend that he'd have the other room to himself too while he was back in the human world. In the meanwhile, they still hung out together in the usual room after doing some catching up around the city.
Masaru could still feel the swelling of embarrassment in his cheeks from when Gaomon tactfully pulled Agumon out of the hotel room to go on a lengthy 'nightly stroll' out in the city. But even with the two Digimon out of the picture, Masaru and Tohma didn't want to leave things... excessively evident before the midnight refresh, so they opted to take their business to the shower room.
That had been quite an experience in itself...
And of course it wasn't enough. It never was. In fact, Masaru thought taking in that 'dose' of Tohma before heading back to the human world might've been a mistake, since now it was all so fresh in his mind. Being in Tohma's arms like this, after those years of absence, feeling his warmth now...
He wanted more, but he also had a lot of things he needed to do first.
"I'm coming to spend the nights with you after a couple nights at home," Masaru spoke quietly near Tohma's ear.
"Yes, that's what we agreed on," Tohma replied in a similar tone.
Masaru was fine with crashing at any place as long as he was welcome-it was what he'd been doing for the past six years anyway, be it camping outside or visiting his pad at Digicon Valley. At first, he figured he'd just stay with his parents the entire time when he came back, but Tohma was the one who asked if he would come stay in the Norstein mansion. The thought of doing that hadn't even come to Masaru before then. After all, that would mean that...
... It meant a lot of things, really.
He insisted on needing a couple days back with the parents and Chika to start things off, so he could spend some proper time with them. He didn't need more than just those couple days. It wasn't like he'd be 'overstaying his welcome' by staying there longer either, knowing his mother would insist on him just staying for as long as he wanted, it was just...
Masaru had long left the nest. He was free to go where he wanted. His father was there to protect the family. They hadn't even seen him in six years.
Still, family was important. He hadn't been thinking too deeply about what might've changed with his family after all this time, but he was going to find out soon enough. A couple nights at the Daimon residence was enough for that. And he could always go to see them during the day afterwards, for the remainder of his trip. And even on later trips.
Right... he was back. Back in the human world. The world he was born in, the world he grew up in. The world he likely thought would be the only one he'd be on until he met Agumon.
Things were so different now, but he was fine with this.
Especially with this moment.
He tightened his grip around Tohma's waist, and Tohma did the same in return.
"Welcome back, Masaru."
The first thing Masaru noticed upon leaving the Norstein residence was... how freezing cold it was. In some part of his head, he did remember that it was January, and thus it was pretty much the coldest month of the year for Yokohama. At the same time, the Digital World mostly lacked the concept of seasons, with the temperatures being the same year-round and only changing depending on which region he was in. He rarely needed to head into the snowy areas during his travels. He'd gotten used to being in the warmer parts of the Digital World.
Even the cold mornings of the hotel room in Digicon Valley were nothing compared to this. After all, he was still sleeping with only a tank top on in that hotel room. The 'cold' there was only relative to the rest of the usually hot daytime. The human world, though... There wasn't even any snow around in the city, but it was still freaking cold.
Tohma offered him a winter coat before they stepped into the limousine outside the front entrance. A coat with modest style, coming from a noble like him. Meanwhile, the winter coat Tohma wore bore all the white fluff and sky blue flair to enhance his prince factor.
"Your mother picked this out for you, if you're wondering. She requested to have me give it to you upon arrival. She picked out the same size I wear, so I hope it's still an okay fit..."
Tohma... Of course he'd gotten taller. He was already a hint taller than Masaru two years ago, and the fighter had completely jinxed himself in hoping that the difference hadn't gotten worse. There was probably a full fist-worth of difference in their heights now. Masaru's eyes weren't meeting Tohma's unless he tilted his face upwards significantly. These... nutty Norstein genes or whatever...
Regardless, the coat was a fine fit. "Great, thanks," Masaru said quickly without bringing attention to the thoughts going through his head.
As the limousine headed out of the mansion property, Masaru let himself soak in the nostalgic view of the roads and other familiar man-made structures of his hometown of Yokohama. The limousine windows let Masaru look around as much as he wanted without letting anyone outside the vehicle see how much gawking he was doing. Tohma gave him that moment of nostalgia before he brought up a particular subject...
"I know you've already well... Accepted the challenge to come back to the Real World for a while, but... I have to warn you again. A lot has changed... and is going to keep changing drastically."
Masaru was still looking outside at that point, and he didn't really have any response to Tohma's comments.
"Some things... Are still high in the midst of changing. Some big things may happen even during the time you're here. You're sure about staying with me in a couple days?"
"Big things..."
"To be upfront, I mean... With my family. The Norsteins. As much as I wish I didn't have to deal with this particular part about it during a time like this..."
Ah, right. Tohma the nobleman.
Masaru thought to just brush it off like he usually did. "Never stopped me before, don't see why it would stop me now."
"I'm not sure if you're aware of everything I'm referring to... But all right. We'll take it slowly if we can. Either way, I doubt it's all going to happen during this first return."
"First return..." Masaru repeated.
"You'll be going back and forth in phases, after all... Mostly at your own discretion, of course. Although, I assume you'd still rather be in the Digital World for the most part, at least for a while yet..."
"..."
"Just remember, you don't have to stick with only one or the other."
Masaru took a deep breath before responding... With a grin. "Right on that."
Tohma smiled back.
"Besides, what do you even take me for? A man like me can handle whatever comes his way, regardless of which world he's in."
"I'm really counting on that 'never give in' aspect about you," Tohma said with a suddenly sullen tone.
Masaru turned away from the window to look at Tohma. "Hey, you've got it all the same. We'll be fine."
That said, Masaru finally took a moment to really process what Tohma was telling him. He'd only been thinking about his own family this whole time when it came to returning to the human world. Now that he was involved with Tohma, and seeing Tohma right there with him, he realized there was Tohma's family to consider as well...
Tohma's... family... The Norsteins...
Tohma H. Norstein.
'Huh. So this is a thing, too.'
Well, as Tohma said, he could take it slowly. Masaru needed to see his own family first.
Tohma gave him a smile of relief... and rested a hand on Masaru's.
Man... he was never going to get over this feeling in his chest, was he. That dose of Tohma back in the Digicon Valley hotel... Ah, his mind was going places again. This wasn't the time for it.
Still, he quietly accepted Tohma's hand for the rest of the ride to the Daimon residence, and he resumed looking out the window.
They were at the last street before arriving when Tohma finally let go.
"Relena and I will join you for dinner with your family on the third day before you come to stay with me. I'll call you tonight to remind you to charge your phone."
"Phone? Oh, the Digivice..." Masaru reached into his pocket, confirming to himself that all the things Tohma had given him were still there.
"It's a Digivice, but first and foremost, it's a phone. So I'll be calling it that, and you should as well. Keeps it confidential at the same time. Anyway, we're almost there, so... have a good time, Masaru. See you in a few days."
Masaru could see figures growing larger of people he mostly recognized as the limousine approached. They were all waiting outside the house for him.
Tohma pulled Masaru in for a kiss before the limousine came to a full stop.
The butler could see them... but Tohma had to be aware of that already. And his family, waiting in plain view outside the vehicle window... couldn't see inside the limousine's tinted windows. Right.
After some flustering moments, Masaru stepped out of the limousine.
"Masaru-niichan!" Chika was the first to respond as she immediately went to give him a hug.
She obviously looked the most different, while his parents looked mostly unchanged to him. He just stood there taking the hug at first, rather in awe of how she no longer had to hug his lower waist. It was (almost) a normal arms-around-shoulders hug.
"Chika! You got taller!"
Chika gave a small laugh. "You got taller too, Masaru-niichan!"
'Not as tall as Tohma...'
"Not as tall as Tohma-kun though!"
Masaru looked back at the limousine. The window was rolled down and Tohma was there, just quietly watching. 'Dammit, he probably heard that, too.'
Suguru and Sayuri chimed in and exchanged hugs with their son.
Amazing... six years had passed since his absence, but in just those few seconds of being with them, he almost felt like he had never left. Even with how much Chika's appearance had changed, she still exuded every aura of the younger sister Masaru remembered from years back. That bright smile, that blunt yet innocent attitude... they were only even more distinct now.
"Thank you for bringing him," Sayuri gave Tohma a gentle head tilt and her wonderful smile. "I'll be cooking all the big favorites when you and Relena-chan come over in a few days. Would you like to join us for lunch today too?"
"I appreciate the invitation, but I actually have some business I need to attend to. Bureaucracy concerning Masaru's return and all..."
"Huh? Is it something so urgent that you can't even stay for lunch?"
"Yes, actually... I'll talk to you later tonight, Masaru. Just focus on catching up with your family."
"..."
"Masaru, are you hungry? I've got curry ready for you in the house."
"Curry? Yes!"
His mother always did have the best things to say. He wasn't exactly hungry, but he definitely had no reason to turn down the offer.