Work Text:
Forza! Forza!
Author’s Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Digimon series.
Pairing: Takuya x Tomoki.
Summary:
A fire and a snowman build in size, winter after winter.
Today was the last day they would take the same train. They took the same train, and Takuya watched him grow.
The tunnel and years speeding by, the boy Tomoki formerly was now in his sixteenth year, and thus he himself no longer “Takuya-oniichan.”
Tomoki chewed his lip nervously, something he hadn’t done in a while thanks to Takuya’s good example. Today was the last day they would take the same train because Takuya was leaving at the end of the week, and it was all Tomoki could kick around in his head.
Kick. That was what Takuya was leaving to do. He was leaving to kick the ball around in a whole other country.
It might as well have been the Real World and Digital World!
Tomoki wouldn’t see Takuya anymore, and Takuya couldn’t comment on Tomoki’s height anymore.
It wasn’t fair.
He’d added this much above Takuya. Campaigned for a leadership position and emulated Takuya. Yet, taller than Takuya, he was that small, scared kid again.
Desperate for an older brother figure, to stand in for the older brother who was always so hard on him.
Desperate since he was after that security net. Someone to fall (back) on when he became overwhelmed.
His heart was twisting in his chest.
“Something wrong, Tomoki?”
Yes, Tomoki told himself.
“Nothing, Takuya-san,” Tomoki told Takuya.
Takuya had no reason not to believe him or his word.
When they were in the Digital World, time passed.
When they returned, no time had passed in the slightest.
Tomoki wanted to freeze it all here. His fingers shivered around the grab handle like he’d touched ice.
Takuya. Tomoki wanted Takuya.
People couldn’t judge Tomoki for it on the surface since they were both tall.
Tomoki thought that by catching up to Takuya, Takuya could accept him.
But Tomoki was frozen in a bad way. Not the way he wanted things to be, his feelings catching in his throat.
So, Tomoki tried feeling happy for Takuya and did the only thing he could.
Grin and bear it, Tomoki. Grin and bear it.
Grinning could be quite painful.
“Then I’ll kiss you on the cheek!”
It was a long shot, but worth a shot. Everybody else had been listing off rewards if Takuya and Kouji defeated Cherubimon. The worst response Tomoki could get was a “Really now…” or “No thanks!” No one would take his offer seriously. No one would know Tomoki was getting his hopes up. Tomoki’s suggestion wasn’t even outrageous. Bokomon promised them handmade haramaki!
But Tomoki was just a child when he said that. He was a big boy now, and Takuya even bigger than him (age-wise, not height-wise).
He needed to do something. Before Takuya disappeared forever.
“Snowboarding in Niigata? What a great idea, Tomoki! I’ll ask the others when they’re available!”
Tomoki cringed seeing Takuya’s phone. Takuya hadn’t upgraded. He was still using outdated tech in this day and age. The kind with actual buttons and a teensy screen that didn’t do anything when you touched it!
“Takuya-san.”
“Hm? What is it, Tomoki?” Takuya waited for Izumi to pick up.
“Please hang up.”
To avoid stumbling over his first (spoken) words to Izumi in months, Takuya ended the call before he was patched through to her.
“Let’s go snowboarding now, Takuya-san.”
“What? And not invite everyone?”
Tomoki swallowed, his hair covering his eyes. “I don’t want anyone to be on the ski lift with you but me.”
Dot dot dots appeared over this screen.
“Really now…” Takuya responded.
And here comes the no thanks…
“You know Izumi’s abroad right now? You couldn’t have interrupted sooner? They almost charged me international rates!”
“Takuya-san, that’s what you’re focusing on?” Tomoki’s jaw slackened. “You’re not offended I’m asking you to go with me and only me to GALA Yuzawa Snow Resort?”
“I don’t see why we can’t!” Takuya hehe’d. “I had a hunch! Good on you, Tomoki! That was a mature decision!”
Takuya still treated him like a baby sometimes.
Tomoki almost had an immature overreaction. Almost. But Takuya’s praise made him pull it back.
…
That size. That green scarf. That orange knit cap with a hard-to-miss poof ball.
There’s no mistake…That’s Tomoki! Takuya grinned triumphantly with his nose to the snow.
Playtime was over. He had this in the bag!
Scaling the ice on his stomach, Takuya rapidly closed the gap between himself and Tomoki, confident he could win their little contest if he had the element of surprise.
This is almost too easy!
Tomoki didn’t notice Takuya’s red coat or hear his light, irrepressible snickering, hence he was frozen in one spot.
His back was facing Takuya.
Too easy!
“I HAVE YOU NOW!” Takuya aimed his body low on purpose. Not to get the Icicle Fall on Tomoki and flatten him; merely to tackle him into the soft safety of the snow.
Nonetheless, Tomoki was crushed to pieces in his bear hug.
“What? Chackmon?”
For a few tense seconds, Takuya thought it was really a bear – Chackmon – he’d hugged, explaining why Tomoki collapsed into a snowdrift.
It was a snowman built to look like Chackmon, bundled in Tomoki’s winter clothes.
A trick.
A trap.
Melt-freeze crust.
“Takuya-oniichan, think fast!” Tomoki appeared from a tree, hurling a snowball at Takuya.
“Ouch! Why you! Tomoki, get back here!” Takuya was up faster than –
His foot sank into an impression left by Tomoki’s boot and he stumbled forward, face-first into the snow.
“OUCH!”
…
Love is a long game.
The decoy snowmen Tomoki built grew with him, continuing to fool Takuya winter after winter, whichever winters they opted for a rematch.
Of these, Takuya frequently walked away with icicles of frozen snot hanging from his nostrils, and colds to boot!
“ACH-CHOO!”
So Tomoki was afraid for nothing. The last same train…It wasn’t the last same train they were on after all.
Tomoki ran a hot water bucket for Takuya.
“I’ll win next time, Tomoki!”
“Yes, Takuya-san!” Tomoki knew Takuya wouldn’t give up. “Forza! Forza!”
“Do your best! Do your best!” said the catchphrase – the slogan – passed down from Izumi to Takuya, and from Takuya to Tomoki.