Chapter Text
It fit on the tip of his pinky finger, the white gold delicate and thin, the sparkle of the diamond barely there. Sitting just below the crease of his knuckle was its matching partner, scuffed and dirty from use.
“She's got really skinny hands.”
Davis gave the ring a firm twist until it could go no further. He wondered if her finger looked as weird as his did right now, a pale ring of skin where their wedding bands used to sit.
“I wanted to get her the really big one, but I knew she'd be pissed off if I spent all my savings on it. I'm pretty sure she wanted a bigger ring, though. Probably why she chucked this one at me.”
Veemon sunk at Davis's feet as they walked, looking nearly as dejected as his partner.
“I mean, it's good it's over, you know? We kinda sucked together, right? I mean we weren't happy.”
“You did yell a lot,” Veemon said.
Davis winced. “And threw things.”
“And she was always hitting you.”
“And acting like she was smarter than me.”
“And she always beats you at wrestling.”
“Uh yeah...” Davis went pink and quickly added, “She's a terrible cook.”
“Except for her udon. She picked up some good pointers from you. And she makes good cake.”
“Ugh, I'm gonna miss the cake...why'd you have to mention the cake?”
“Sorry, I'm hungry.”
“Now I am too.” Davis yanked the rings off his finger and shoved them in his pocket. “Ken better get here soon.”
They had to kill a good fifteen minutes before Ken and Wormmon showed up. They found Davis lying like an upside down U, his belly strewn over a large stone with a pack of punimon jumping happily on his back.
“What are you doing?” asked Wormmon.
Davis groaned and swatted at the tiny digimon until they cheerfully hopped away. “Impaling myself. The punimon wanted to help.”
Ken shifted the soccer ball under his arm into his hands, his long hair already tied back for the occasion. “I think you'll need a sharper rock.”
“Or heavier digimon,” grunted Davis.
“He's worse than I thought,” Wormmon muttered.
“He's just hungry,” said Veemon.
Wormmon pulled a ridiculously large backpack off his second row of legs and turned it upside down, spilling a horde of junk food onto the earth. With a pathetic moan, Davis rolled off the rock and began slinking along the ground like an earthworm before snatching a bag of Cheetos from the pile and ripping it open with his teeth.
“I shoulda married you,” Davis told Ken, pieces of manufactured cheese crunching between his teeth. He rounded up the snacks into a pile between his arms. “You know how to make me happy.”
Ken nodded with the kind of nod that meant he wasn't about to take any bullshit. “Yolei makes you happy.”
Davis answered by tearing apart a candy wrapper into tiny pieces and stuffing the entire bar into his mouth. He jammed the trash into his pocket and his fingertips hit lint and precious metal. A lump crawled into his throat and it took him a minute to choke the chocolate down.
A soccer ball rolled into his snacks and Davis looked up to find Ken smiling down at him.
“Let's play.”
After a long game of two on two, it became a game of one on one, Davis and Ken playing long after the digimon had tuckered out. They were both soaked in sweat and panting for air when they finally quit.
Davis collapsed on the ground with a groan. “I'm too old for this.”
“Davis, you're 26.”
“And you're mean. My marriage just failed, you could at least let me win at soccer.”
Ken took a deep squat beside his friend and before Veemon could come to his rescue, had Davis's ear clutched between his fingers, pulling him to his feet.
He flailed, almost clubbing Ken in the face. “The hell, man?!”
Ken did a number of fancy dodges, tugging his ear until he finally stopped fighting. “You're coming with me.”
“You coulda just asked.” Davis dusted off his shorts. “Where are we goin?”
Ken shook his head and, without further explanation, motioned for Wormmon to bring him the backpack. After shuffling around, he pulled out four saran-wrapped rice balls.
Davis caught one mid-air. “Your mom made these?”
“A light lunch. We've got a little hiking to do.”
Davis raised a brow, but he unwrapped the rice ball anyway and after taking a bite, moaned in ecstasy. “Marry me.”
Ken rolled his eyes.
“Better yet, how'd you like to call me Papa? Your mom—“ Davis was silenced by Ken's Emperor glare. “Just kidding.”
He took another bite of the rice ball. “Mmmmmm. Better than sex balls.”
Even Ken cracked up at that one.
Davis grinned. “Seriously, she should go into business with me. Maybe that's what the noodle cart's missing. We'll call it Ramen Balls. Oooh, wanna hear my costume ideas?”
“As long as it doesn't involve my mother.”
“You're no fun.”
After they passed the punimon village (Davis had to give them the soccer ball as a parting gift in order to keep from being smothered to death), the four friends fell into silence. Davis guzzled a bottle of water and tied his bomber jacket around his waist, briefly checking the pocket for the cool metal that rested inside. Maybe he could pawn the diamond and install a new fridge into his noodle cart. The old one was on its way out, already having undergone multiple repairs by none other than his soon to be ex-wife.
Davis yanked his hand from his pocket and the world in front of him came back into vision. Beside him, water was gently lapping against Digiworld's infamous swan boat. He stopped in his tracks to stare at it.
“Okay... where the hell are we going?”
“To visit a friend,” Ken said, looking back over his shoulder.
“You're freakin' mystery man today, aren't you?” Davis grumbled, kicking a pebble into the lake. It sent out a shock wave of ripples, muddying the shallow water.
Ken gave him a Ken smile, the kind that didn't reach his eyes.
“Don't look at me like that. It's depressing.”
Ken frowned.
“I know what you're thinkin' and you can stop. I'm fine,” Davis said. “Seriously. So quit with the surprises and fess up.”
“You're not going to like it.”
“It's not Yolei, is it?”
Ken shook his head.
“Thank God.” Tight nausea spread through Davis's chest instead of relief. “Why would it be? I mean, you all saw this comin', right? I'm surprised we lasted this long.”
Ken didn't answer and Davis took another second to stare at the lake before shaking away a head full of memories. He gave Veemon a friendly kick in the tail, motioning for them to continue.
“Did she really say she wanted a divorce?” Ken asked after they had walked awhile.
“Yeah,” said Davis, remembering the fight that led up to the D-word. It wasn't even one of the loudest ones they had had, but it was certainly the weirdest.
They were butt naked.
Not sexy naked. That had happened before, that kind of fight right before sex when somebody starts talking when they should be kissing, bringing up the wrong thing at a very wrong time, resulting in a screaming match that may or may not still end up in sex.
And it especially wasn't the after-sex , somebody got offended over some constructive criticism sort of naked (that had happened before too).
This was just plain naked. Like on the way to the bathroom, scratching your ass naked. Crazily searching for something to wear naked. That you just get used to seeing after awhile and think nothing of it naked.
It was certainly not the way Davis imagined his marriage to end, shouting at each other with everything hanging out, too shocked at the ring in his hand to get dressed until she was long gone.
But then again if he went far back enough, Davis had never imagined marrying Yolei in the first place.
He let out an awkward snort and laughed to himself a bit. “She said it more than once actually. That was one crazy fight.” His chuckle quickly went sober. “I can't even remember how it started.”
Ken gave him a look, somehow both concerned and critical at once and Davis practically tackled Wormmon in order to steal another candy bar from his pack.
“I'm gonna be the size of a whale by the end of the month,” Davis grumbled around a mouthful of caramel. “That'll show 'er.”
“Sure will,” Veemon agreed wholeheartedly, earning a bonk on the head.
“I'll pack veggies next time,” said Ken.
“I take back my marriage proposal.”
“Good, I'm not really into polygamy.”
“You're missing out. I'm totally magnanimous.”
“True, but also incorrect.”
“I'm a total bachelor now. We should have like a reverse bachelor party – with nuns instead of strippers.”
“What?”
“You know, like a bachelor party but backwards?” Davis tried to dig the caramel out of his teeth with his tongue. “It sounded right in my head... Wait a minute, what were we talkin' about?”
“Before you rescinded your proposal?”
“Before you brought up my divorce.”
A moment passed where all Ken did was stare at him again.
“Where we're going?” Veemon supplied.
“Oh yeah. So I'm not gonna like your friend, huh? Is she any worse than that girl from Kyoto you dated?”
“It's not a girl,” said Ken.
“Too bad.”
“We're here.”
Davis came back to reality as they stopped, for the first time noticing just how far they had come. He should have recognized the path, he'd walked it many times before.
A small pack of huts with brightly colored walls popped out of the dark foliage and a great sign curved above them.
The Digidestined Memorial School for the Glitched and Impaired
“I still don't get that name,” said Davis.
“It's definitely a mouthful.”
Ken took a step into the small village and it was as if he set off a friendly underground mine. A rush of digimon flew out of nowhere: a tsunomon with a stub for a horn, a chuumon that froze every few seconds while he buffered, twin yokomon stuck together by their petals, and even a numemon that was... a numemon.
Wormmon greeted them with affectionate cuddles and Davis grimaced when the numemon left a long streak of slime on his antennae.
“You guys been comin here a lot, huh?” Davis asked, carefully stepping over a scurry of metalkoromon, who kept emitting uncontrollable electric shocks.
Ken nodded. “I've been working on some new programs with Izzy that could restore corrupted code, reversing viruses completely. A couple of the students here volunteered to be test subjects.”
“Digi-rats, got it,” Davis said, cutting Ken short. He wasn't in the mood to listen to anything he needed to think about. To be honest, he really just wanted to collapse in front of the TV and binge on old shounen anime until his head hurt. “So who's your friend?”
Ken gave a hobbling monochromon a pat and Davis and Veemon cautiously dodged around it when it gave a loud snort.
“He's inside,” Ken said, gesturing to a hut on the edge of the small village.
“He? You know I'm cool with that. I mean I'd date you.”
Ken remained silent.
“You're wantin' see that adorable surprised face I make, aren't you?” Davis asked. “I can save you the trouble.” His mouth dropped to an O and he fluttered his eyelashes.
Ken didn't give him the time of day.
“Guess not,” said Veemon.
Davis pouted. “Okay, so in the couple seconds it takes to walk over there, let's do 20 questions. Is he a human?”
“No.”
“Digimon or space alien. Check. Have I met him before?”
“Yes.”
“I don't like him?”
“No.”
“No I don't like him or no I do like him? Or is it coming here that I don't like because I'm starting to lean that way.”
“Davis,” Ken stopped feet from the door and turned to look at him. “You just have to trust me.”
“Okay,” said Davis. His mouth slid into a flat line. “I trust you.”
“Good,” Ken said. “Remember, I just want to help you.”
“Dude, you're startin to freak me out.”
Ken opened the door and before Davis even saw him, he knew.
The digimon sitting in the cottage held a cup of tea in his pale hands. Red markings ran up his wrists and his human smile threw chills down Davis's spine.
“Hello, Child of Miracles.”
Ken was the one who answered.
“It's nice to see you again, Animamon.”