Digiweek 2022 Day One: First Night in the Digital World
This month ended up being super busy, so I wasn’t able to get anything set for DigiWeek, so I’ll be posting some of my old Jyoumi fics from past Jyoumi challenges! This one is the two during the original Digidestineds’ first night in the Digital World!
If you want to read other pieces from this challenge, you can check them out on ao3
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“Do you mind if I stay up with you…?”
The meek, lilting voice spoke up behind him, and Joe choked on nothing once he heard it, and slowly turned his head around only to see the girl in the bright pink cowboy dress and big cowboy hat standing behind him.
Joe had opted to stay on watch for a few hours before Tai would relieve him in the early hours of the morning, and so far the boy hadn’t made it all too long in, and had spent all of his waking time so far terrified. Gomamon was sleeping by his feet, and he wasn’t sure where Mimi’s Digimon partner was.
“Oh, uh, s-sure. Are… is everything alright, Mimi?” he asked, brow creasing with worry as he looked up at her.
“I just couldn’t sleep…” she trailed off before sighing, “I’m scared.”
Joe frowned, feeling as if there was something he should’ve done. He was her counselor at camp, and now here they were, in some weird place with a bunch of weird, adorable, and terrifying monsters, and there was nothing he could do.
Tai’s and Matt’s Digimon could turn into bigger, stronger versions, but Gomamon couldn’t, and it felt like soon enough they’d just keep running into Digimon that were even bigger and stronger than they were… It wasn’t good, and Joe felt absolutely, utterly useless despite the fact that he was the oldest.
Mimi moved to sit next to Joe on the small long he was sitting on, hands clasped together nervously as she looked out at the dark ahead of the two of them.
“There’s nothing out there, is there?” she asked quietly after a few moments of silence, hoping not to wake anyone else up, and Joe shook his head silently.
“N-No, I don’t think so. I haven’t heard anything in a little while besides the cable car squeaking, so I think we should be fine,” he told her, before his head drooped a bit, “…I hope, at least…”
Mimi’s frown went deeper, before she sighed, “I can’t believe we almost got killed by a giant sea monster and in the morning we have to go and walk forever again and find more monsters and we don’t even have showers or new clothes or anything,” she whined out, lower lip pouting. Joe looked over to her, concern in his eyes, but equally so a hint of frustration.
Frustration at the situation they were in as a whole, but also some at the fact that Mimi had completely shirked her duties carrying the medical bag earlier.
At the same time he had to do… something. He couldn’t just sit there being useless. Especially not for one of the other kids he had been in charge of.
Joe’s silence left Mimi looking at him curiously, watching him fidget nervously for a bit before she cleared her throat.
“Are you scared, too?” she asked quietly, and Joe wasn’t sure what to say.
Was he scared? Of course! How could someone not be scared of some place terrifying and unknown with all sorts of talking monsters and giant terrifying bugs!? But at the same time, could he say that? He was her counselor, he had to make sure she was doing ok!
And how would anyone be able to trust him or rely on him if he was scared? He couldn’t let them down…
He swallowed hard and did his best to put on a brave face (which, admittedly, wasn’t all that brave) and shook his head.
“N-no, not at all! We’ll be fine!” he said quickly, the words tumbling from his tongue as clumsily as Joe Kido was in general. He forced a smile, which he hoped would be reassuring, but given Mimi’s still relatively flat expression, he had a feeling it was backfiring.
“…I hope so. I mean, I like Palmon, and all of our Digimon are really nice and helpful, but this is just so scary… I’m not made for this,” she said, now starting to sniffle as she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them to herself.
Joe froze, once again unsure of what to do, and started to wring his hands together, his stomach twisting up in tight knots that left him feeling nauseous.
Slowly he pulled his hands apart before bringing one up, clenching nervously a few times before he brought it down onto Mimi’s shoulder, patting it gently.
Mimi’s eyes went wide with surprise, turning her head to see Joe staring at the ground as he tried to reassure her. A small smile graced her features.
“We’ll make sure to find someone and get back to camp safe, I promise.”
Joe’s voice was shaking, and even Mimi could tell as such, but she could tell she was trying his best, and that alone was enough to have some tension dissipate from her body, shoulders slouching from relief.
“Thank you, Joe,” she whispered. The boy merely nodded in silence, feeling as if all of that false bravery he had managed to pull from somewhere would vanish in an instant.
Silence filled the air again, the two kids sitting there next to each other as time ticked by slowly and the night dragged on. After a long stretch of silence, Mimi finally spoke up again.
“You don’t mind if I sit up with you for a little longer, do you?”
Joe was confused— he would’ve thought of all the people to want to sleep, it would’ve been Mimi Tachikawa.
“Are you sure you won’t be too tired if you do? We’ll probably have a long day tomorrow, and we’ll all need to make sure we’re as rested as possible,” he told her, brows once again creasing with worry as he looked at her. Mimi shook her head quickly.
“I’ll just try and go back to sleep when you do. I’ll be ok,” she assured him, to which Joe nodded slowly, admittedly not entirely believing her.
It was another hour the two were up, remaining quiet most of the time aside from the occasional chuckle as Gomamon squirmed in his sleep whenever one of the two would reach down to scratch him, or one aiming to reassure the other whenever there were some sounds out in the forest.
Finally, footsteps from behind them nearly caused Joe to jump from where he was sitting, relief instantly flooding him when he saw that it was just Tai.
“Didn’t expect to see you up doing watch with Joe, Mimi. Everything ok?” he asked the two, who both nodded quickly.
“Yeah, I think this area is pretty safe now. The rest of the night should be alright, I hope,” Joe told the other boy, who shot him a thumbs up.
“Thanks for handling it, I’ll take over now. Make sure to get some sleep— and try not to focus too hard on Matt’s snoring,” Tai laughed, which caused Mimi to giggle.
“We’ll do our best!” Mimi said as she got up, Joe following suit after he scooped up the sleeping Gomamon into his arms. The two kids started to pass by the rest of the kids as they slept, before settling in towards where Palmon was, Mimi sitting up on the seat before lying down. Joe sat on the seat across from her, leaning back against it as he gave the cushion next to his to Gomamon.
“Hey Joe?”
“Yeah Mimi?”
Joe looked over to Mimi, to see her with her eyes closed already, curled up to Palmon as best as she could.
“Thanks for letting me sit with you tonight. It really helped.”
Joe let his head rest against the back of the seat, folding his arms, and unable to help but smile to himself.
“I’m glad I could help. But, really, we should probably get to sleep so we aren’t too tired,” he said, unable to stop himself from one last, little lecture. Mimi let out a quiet sigh.
“Ok, I’m sleeping…” she trailed off, taking in a breath before speaking again, “G’night, Joe.”
“Night, Mimi.”
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Digiweek 2022 Day Two: Start of a Relationship
So like before, this is a repost of an old piece, this time the last piece from Jyoumi Challenge 2020! I was a really big fan of this one and though I had a few ones I could pick from/wanted to pick from, this one wins in the end because it’s based on a moment from Digimon The Movie (bless that absolute bizarre incredible mess) that spawned a brainworm that has lasted all these years.
No shock to people who have seen my writing or interacted with me that I absolutely ADORE Jyoumi, both as friends and as a ship, because I absolutely LOVE their dynamic and chemistry, they play off each other so well and in so many fun ways, and their time together in Digimon Adventure is just, really fantastic. Even coming back to rewatch Digimon Adventure back in 2020, it was so great to see how well they play off each other and how two people who would be so unlikely to interact can be so close (honestly it’s just probably my favorite play on the beauty & the dork trope, given joe’s general super caring, worrywart, always wanting to help nature and mimi’s just pure goodness and kindness despite what one could easily assume from her being a rich stereotypical girly girl type. I just, I love them y’all). The Dark Masters arc in particular has a lot of great character moments and development for the two of them, and I just absolutely love what it does for their characters.
Anyways sorry for this super long preamble, but I just couldn’t resist going into WHAT makes joe and mimi probably my favorite human duo in Digimon (both platonically and romantically) before posting this. This is from the same collection as before, so feel free to check it out on ao3 and without further ado, here we go!
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“Sooooooooraaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I can’t believe it took you so long to call me!”
“Mimi, when did you get back from Hawaii?”
“Today! We just got back a few hours ago!”
Mimi’s voice was bright as could be, still staring at the big, pink heart that sat on her vanity next to the mirror, unable to stop herself from feeling both nerves and butterflies deep in the pit of her stomach.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep? Isn’t Hawaii like a day behind us?”
“I can’t sleep, Sora! I’ve been waiting to tell you something ever since I got home and it took you forever to call me back!” she said, ignoring Sora’s sigh on the other end of the line.
“Sorry, I was playing soccer with Tai. He wanted to get some practice in before school started so he’d be ready for tryouts.”
Of course, that was no surprise, coming from Tai. Mimi lightly shook her head, smiling at the thought.
“So what’s up? What’s so important that you couldn’t even take a nap before you told me about it? Did something happen in Hawaii?”
Mimi shook her head again, despite Sora not being able to see, “No! Something happened when I got home!”
“Wait, what happened? Is everything ok?”
“Everything is great! I can’t stop smiling, Sora! I mean, I am freaking out a little bit, but not in a bad way! More just anxious? I’m not really sure!”
“Maybe you should start with what happened and we’ll work from there?”
Sora’s reminder made it all click for Mimi, and she nodded to herself, taking a moment to reach out and gently touch the valentine that was sitting there, smiling to herself. Her fingers traced along the words, Mimi letting herself zone out for a moment as she continued to stare.
“Mimi?”
“What was that?” Mimi asked, finally clicking back to reality.
“You were going to tell me what happened?”
“Oh, right!” Mimi said with a snap of her fingers, “So, when we got back, there was a giant valentine for me hanging on our mailbox!”
“Whoa, wait, really? But it’s not even Valentine’s Day? Or White Day?”
“I know! But the surprising thing is who it gave it to me!”
“Who?”
“Joe!”
There was a pause, nothing but the occasional static over the phone line, and Mimi was still smiling wide. Finally, Sora spoke up.
“Kido?”
“Yes!”
“Joe Kido.”
“Yes, Sora!”
“Our Joe Ki—”
“Yes! It says ‘To Mimi, from Joe’,” she told her friend, “He gave me a valentine, Sora! Isn’t that the sweetest?”
“It is! Six months late, sure, but it is really sweet. Have you talked to him since you got back?”
“No, you’re the first person who knows. I mean, besides mama and papa, at least,” she explained.
Her dad hadn’t seemed entirely too enthused by the idea of some guy sending his precious Mimi a valentine, but her mom thought it was sweet— not that it was hard to get her mama on her side.
“Well, thanks, that means a lot, Mimi. What do you think about it, though? You sound really excited.”
“Oh, I am! It’s my two favorite shades of pink, and it’s just so cute, and huge! I just want to hang it up on my wall so I can always look at it!” she said, letting out a happy sigh as she looked at the valentine.
“Well, I guess that too, yeah. But also, what do you think about the valentine? And the fact that Joe sent it to you?”
The question rang in Mimi’s mind for a few moments, and she frowned to herself.
“It is a really nice valentine,” she said, and Sora sighed.
“Mimi, I think you missed my point…”
“No, I didn’t, Sora, I just…” she sighed, staying quiet for a few moments, “I guess I don’t know what to think about it. It’s just a lot, you know?”
“I guess I can’t entirely relate.”
Mimi was tempted to ask Sora how she could relate, and wondered just who it might have related to, given the remaining guys in their group, and knew that soon enough she’d poke her friend more about that.
“Joe and I were so close back in the Digital World. I mean, he was so brave and strong! But now we’re back home and…” she trailed off.
“And you’re afraid it won’t be the same?”
“Mm… mhm…”
That was the greatest fear, wasn’t it? That maybe what she started to feel during their time fighting to protect the Digital World only happened because they were in that situation in the first place. Mimi knew there was a point where she started to feel butterflies swirl in her stomach when she looked at him, when he protected her and others. Now they were all back home, back to their normal lives, and the last time she was able to even see Joe was a week before she left for Hawaii…
“But Joe still feels the same about you, clearly, even with how long its been? That’s good, right?”
Sora’s voice was hopeful, which was both helpful and not for Mimi in those moments, the girl deep in thought again, before she finally spoke after a few moments.
“It is, yeah. But at the same time, I guess I’m worried that Joe might get hurt…” she frowned, which was clear in her words.
“Get hurt?”
“Yeah. But I mean, if this I just have some little crush I don’t want to mess everything up. Our friendship, the group… it just feels like there’s a lot at risk if it doesn’t work.”
“Wow, Mimi, you’ve been thinking about this a lot, haven’t you?”
“A little bit, yeah. I mean, you did take a while to call me back,” she teased, finally laughing for the first time since the mood darkened over their conversation, “It wouldn’t be fair to Joe. He would never deserve to be hurt like that.”
“Mimi… I don’t think you would mess anything up with the group, and I’m sure Joe would get over it eventually.”
Mimi let out a huff, “It still wouldn’t be nice and I still think he deserves better than that! After everything he’s done for everyone, and after everything we’ve been through… I couldn’t do that to him,” she sighed.
“It almost sounds like you know what you want to do…”
“You think?” she asked, pausing for a moment, “I mean, maybe… Maybe I should talk to him…”
“I think that’s a good idea, but maybe get some rest first? I think it’d only stress out Joe more if you fell asleep when you went to talk to him.”
The two girls started to laugh, “Yeah, and that boy is already stressed enough!”
“Whatever you do, though, you know I’ll support you, right?”
Mimi stayed quiet, sucking in a silent breath, unable to stop herself from tearing up a bit.
“Thanks, Sora,” she said, blinking away the tears before they could get out of control. “I think I’m going to lie in bed and think about this for a while before I sleep. I am starting to feel a bit tired now…”
Sora laughed on the other end of the line.
“That’s probably a good plan. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you slept for a whole day!”
“Oh, that sounds lovely right now. I’m going to sleep for a nice, long time, have something delicious to eat, and then go see Joe!”
“I hope it all goes well, Mimi. Let me know how it goes?”
“You’ll be the first to know!” Mimi chirped happily, “I’ll talk to you later, Sora.”
“Later, Mimi, have a good nap!”
Once Mimi hung up the phone, she moved over towards her bed, crawling onto it and letting her head rest on the small mountain of fluffy pillows, her eyes falling back towards the valentine. A soft smile came to her lips, Mimi unable to help it, and even if nerves were pooling in her gut, there was just as many butterflies there, and as she started to drift off to sleep, all she could think about was seeing her friend and what she would say.
***
Sweltering summer heat drove the guys to the Izumi home, two fans blasting on high in Izzy’s room, as the group of them sat in tank tops and shorts with a box of popsicles in the middle of the floor. All except for TK, who hadn’t been able to get all the way out to Odaiba, they were all there enjoying their last days of summer vacation as best they could.
Somehow, they had even managed to convince Joe not to bring along any books or practice exams, though that didn’t stop the frantic energy radiating from him in the slightest.
“I swear, man, you’re the only kid who gets stressed out during summer vacation,” Tai said, pointing his popsicle over at Joe.
“To be fair, Tai, you and I were pretty stressed out a few days ago when it came to fighting Diaboromon. Matt was too,” Izzy shot back, to which Matt scrunched up his mouth, looking away.
“You know what I mean! That’s different!” Tai said quickly, popping the popsicle back in his mouth.
“I still can’t believe an evil Digimon nearly destroyed Japan with a missile…” Joe said, feeling nauseous just thinking about it again, setting the popsicle stick from his first, now finished popsicle onto a nearby plate, before falling back onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling.
“No kidding. I’m just glad that barber shop had a computer. Even if it barely worked,” Matt said, unable to help but smirk in hopes of seeming cool and collected about it.
“I just can’t believe my last moments could’ve been trying to finish a test,” Joe said, letting out a long, loud sigh, “Not to mention Mimi would’ve never seen what I gave her.”
Silence blanketed the room, Izzy, Tai, and Matt all instantly confused, looking between each other quickly. Finally, they all looked to Joe, who was still lying down.
“What did you give Mimi?” Tai finally asked, to which Joe’s eyes went wide, quickly turning red.
“What? Nothing!” he shouted as he shot up, hands gripping onto his knees, slowly starting to white knuckle, “Why would I give Mimi something? I mean, what would I have to give her?” he asked, quickly waving his hands to try and dismiss it, though the panic in his voice left that unconvincing.
“Why don’t you wanna tell us? Was it embarrassing?” Tai asked, starting to laugh, at which Matt quickly shot a glare at his best friend.
“Lay off, Tai,” he snapped, which quieted Tai quick.
Joe looked over to Matt, still grimacing, but the look in his eyes was incredibly appreciative of what was just done.
Izzy, who had been quiet for a short while now, finally cleared his throat, “So what did you give Mimi, Joe?” he asked, tilting his head curiously.
Joe let out a sigh, his head hanging and shoulders slumping, “You’re all gonna laugh…”
“We won’t laugh, honest,” Matt said in hopes of reassuring the boy. Joe let out another sigh.
“I gave her a giant Valentine…” he finally said after a few moments.
Silence once again, and Joe clenched his eyes shut, afraid of his friends bursting into laughter at the very idea. Him? Sending a Valentine to Mimi? The only reason he had even done it was the fact that he knew Mimi was on vacation. Even after everything that had happened in the Digital World, he knew that doing this was a complete and utter risk, what with how awkward he was and how completely extroverted and incredible she was.
“…You do realize that White Day was nearly half a year ago, right?” Izzy asked.
“I mean, I was too nervous to give it to her then! What was I supposed to do, just head to your guys’ school after I was done and give her a big pink heart?” he asked, Tai scoffing near immediately after.
“Well, yeah? That seems kind of obvious. Better than giving it to her in August!” Tai said, feeling this was the most obvious thing in the world. Joe understood where he was coming from, but…
“Giving it to her in public, in front of you guys and everyone? She would look at me weird and laugh at me! And then everyone else would laugh!”
“C’mon, Joe, Mimi wouldn’t do that…” Matt tried to reason with him. The boy sighed, shoulders slumping.
“I know she wouldn’t, I’m just… I feel so stupid about it.”
“Why?” Izzy asked, the other two boys pointing towards him in agreement with the question he had lobbied towards the Kido boy.
“How could I not!?” he asked, though all of his friends looked at him, all dumbfounded.
“…Am I missing something? I think I’m missing something…” Tai said.
Matt reached over to the box, grabbing a few to pass to Tai, Izzy, and then one for himself, as they all waited to listen to him.
Well she’s just so cool… and I’m so…” he gestured to himself, “Bumbling.”
Matt scoffed, “Man, you spent more time with her than the rest of us, I’d hope you’d be the first to realize she wouldn’t think about something like that.”
Another sigh fell from Joe’s lips, “I know! She’s super nice! She’s perfect!” he said, “I just… am afraid.”
“Afraid of her saying she doesn’t feel the same?” Izzy asked, and Joe slowly nodded.
They all hated to see their friend feeling so low, and Joe hated looking like this in front of his friends.
“But… you already gave her the valentine? As soon as she gets home she’ll know how you feel?” Tai asked, at which Joe paused.
A moment later, Joe let out a loud groan, falling back onto the floor.
Tai got up and walked over to Joe, pushing him up and clapping him on the shoulders.
“Bud,” Tai started, and Joe’s head dropped again.
“Here he goes,” Matt mumbled to Izzy, who had to stifle back a laugh.
“Mimi is gonna know as soon as she’s home, so you gotta just go with it! Next time you see Mimi, you gotta walk up to her as confidently as possible and tell her how you feel!” he told his friend, who slowly looked up at him with an unamused look.
“Tai?”
“Yeah?”
“What I wouldn’t give to understand just how your mind works,” he deadpanned.
Tai rolled his eyes and playfully pushed him back over, causing Joe to let out a yelp as Tai plopped back down where he was before.
“So you’re really not going to talk to Mimi?” Izzy asked, Joe sighing.
“That would probably be the best option,” Joe droned out, sounding defeated.
“Until we all meet up and then you two are in the same room again,” Matt brought up.
“…Oh, yeah,” Joe said after a moment.
“I still think my plan works pretty good,” Tai shrugged.
“Well, we could just never invite me to the same things as Mimi and vice-versa…” Joe mused.
Matt looked unamused at the idea, “No way. You’ll have to talk to her about it someday, Joe. It might as well be sooner than later.”
“Agreed,” Izzy chimed in.
Slowly, Joe pushed himself up, looking across at his friends weakly.
“You guys really think it’ll go well?”
“Of course, man! We wouldn’t tell you over and over and over if we didn’t think that,” Tai said, giving him a thumbs up. Matt and Izzy followed suit.
It was enough to get the edge of Joe’s mouth to turn upwards into a partial smile, “Thanks,” he said, before checking his watch, jaw dropping, “Oh, geez, I didn’t realize it was this late, I gotta get going! Sorry! I’ll talk to you guys later!” Joe said, scrambling up and out of the room in a flash.
Of course, such a situation wasn’t exactly new to the three, and they all looked at each other, Izzy the first to speak up.
“…So what do we do if Joe doesn’t actually go and talk to Mimi?”
Tai and Matt looked at each other, already on the same wavelength, both grinning.
“We just shove him in the same room as her and lock the door until he actually talks to her,” Matt said.
“It’ll probably be easier to get done than getting Joe to see her at all,” Tai laughed.
***
Cram school was going to be the end of him.
Even if his middle school entrance exams went well, Joe knew he couldn’t take it easy and relax. He was doing this for his future, so he could end up getting into a good school and have success as a doctor, and make his family proud.
Being so frayed and worried and continuing cram school also meant that he didn’t have to worry about the Valentine or Mimi’s reaction. Out of sight, out of mind wasn’t normally a phrase that Joe followed, but he definitely would follow that bit of advice now if only to avoid worrying about it.
With a heavy sigh, he unlocked the door to his home, trudging in with exhaustion clear in his body and his steps, looking up to see Jim standing by the door.
“Long day at cram school?” he asked, and Joe nodded weakly.
“Don’t get me wrong, I know how important it is, but I’m definitely thinking about resting for a few hours before dinner,” he said, and Jim smiled softly.
“You might want to put a rain check on that nap,” he said, Joe tilting his head in confusion.
“You got a call from Mimi.”
Joe’s jaw dropped and his eyes went wide, “What!?” he shouted out, and Jim nodded.
“Yeah, about an hour ago, actually. She wanted to meet you at Burger Jack. It’s very important,” he said, now grinning, “Looks like somebody’s going to get himself a girlfriend,” he teased, to which Joe turned bright red.
“If anything she’s going to let me down kindly over burgers,” he sighed.
“You gotta have a little confidence. You saved the world! You saved two worlds, little bro! Chicks dig both world saving and confidence. Besides, I doubt she’d ‘let you down kindly’ over a late lunch. She’d probably tell me to tell you how she felt about it,” he explained.
Maybe it was one of the rare times Joe wanted to be positive, but he chose to believe his brother, quickly nodding.
“Yeah, yeah! It’s gotta be good! Ok! I’m gonna go right now! Thanks Jim!” Joe said, before pausing for a moment, “Oh, and uh, if mom and dad get home before me, can you tell them I stayed at cram school longer today?” he asked sheepishly. Jim laughed and nodded.
“Sure thing. Knock her dead, Joe.”
The words rang in Joe’s mind as he held on tight to his bag, starting to run as fast as he could to the burger place in question, remembering how so long ago now that was their first meal back after being in the Digital World.
…Well, not for him and Izzy.
The trip took longer than he wanted to, given the rush hour on the subway, and as he continued to run towards the place in question, he quietly hoped Mimi hadn’t left in a huff yet. By the time he reached the stairs to head up, he was taking two at a time, just about tripping as he pushed the door open. He hung onto the handle, eyes wide, as he looked around, seeing Mimi looking out the window, the Valentine on the table. Joe gulped hard, before walking in, slow, quiet steps as he approached the table. As he stopped in front of it, he offered her a quiet, awkward wave, before sitting across from her.
“Uh, hey Mimi…” he said, eyes falling towards the Valentine for a moment before looking at her, noticing that she had done the same. The boy swallowed hard, only feeling his chest tighten with nerves even more as she offered him one of her trademark smiles.
“Hi, Joe, it’s been so long!” she chirped, “Did you get my postcard? Oh! Do you like my tan?” she asked, holding out her arm. Joe’s cheeks started to tinge a light pink and he nodded.
“Y-yeah, it was— it was nice, thanks. A-and so is your tan!” he told her, unable to stop his stuttering and stammering, eyes once again focused on the Valentine.
“So… you got it…”
Mimi nodded, excitement on her face, though Joe couldn’t place whether it was excitement over the valentine or if this was just the usual, excitable Mimi Tachikawa.
“Yeah! Oh, I love the colors!” she cooed sweetly, her gaze falling to it for a moment, the girl looking even happier when she did.
“O-Oh… I’m glad…” he said slowly, absolutely confused and terrified. He felt like he had just jumped into the deep end and was barely treading the water that was all of the stress he was feeling at the moment.
When she looked back up at him, he went red, forcing a nervous smile as he looked at her, sucking in a breath.
“I didn’t know you felt that way,” she said, and Joe slowly nodded, adjusting his glasses to give his hands something to do with all the nervous energy that was just about spilling out of him.
“Well… yeah…” he said, turning his head to look out of the window, scratching the back of his head, “How could I not?”
Mimi’s eyes went wide with surprise, unsure of what to say.
“You’re really great, and with all the time we spent together I just… liked you. It mostly happened once we went back to fight the Dark Masters and it was just you and me. I know we talked about how we’ve both really grown up while we were there, but it really showed me the type of person you are…” he said, pausing for a moment before quietly adding, “…And I like that person.”
The air was pushed from Mimi’s lungs, his words so sudden, so direct, and so unlike Joe Kido— even considering the valentine he had given her.
“Oh, Joe…”
His frown was so sudden as he stared at the table, at the valentine in particular, his body language showing how clearly down he was.
“I’m sorry. I mean, I know this was a lot to drop on you right as you came back from Hawaii, but I didn’t know when else to do it, because I was too afraid to do it in person.”
“I don’t mind that you did, Joe,” she assured him, though it didn’t seem to assuage his nerves in the slightest.
“I’m glad, but I figure it isn’t exactly something you… wanted to have… and I really don’t want to make things awkward between us and the group, like making anyone feel like they have to choose a side or something! I just want us all to be friends but… I just wanted to tell you, too,” he sighed.
“Joe, I’m really not upset,” she said, her own cheeks starting to match the color of her dress, and her words confusing the boy across from her.
“You’re… not?” he asked, blinking a few times, absolutely confused.
“No! I mean, it was surprising, yes, but… it was nice…” she told him, now much shier than before. They were both blushing and both awkward, which for Joe was something he would have never expected from his crush.
“O-Oh.”
“It made me think about all of our times in the Digital World together… and it made me think about how much I enjoyed being around you. And just…” her fingers went to lightly graze across the valentine again, “…Realize how much you mean to me…”
“You mean a lot to me, too.”
The two of them were quiet, in their own little world amongst the busy fast food restaurant, focused only on each other.
Joe couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and for a second he was tempted to pinch himself just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming this all.
“I like you a lot, Joe,” she said, finally breaking the silence that grew around them. Joe started blushing, something that Mimi thought more than ever was incredibly adorable.
“I-I like you, too… but I’m sure you already know that,” he laughed awkwardly, Mimi giggling after.
She brushed some loose strands of hair back behind her ear, unable to stop the smile on her face, “I’d love to be your valentine, if it isn’t too late,” she teased sweetly. Joe nodded quickly, and Mimi reached her hand for his, feeling happy.
“Of course!” he said, still bright red, but looking like he was on cloud nine.
“And… maybe I could be your girlfriend?” she suggested, Joe suddenly deadly quiet, with a look of shock on his face Mimi hadn’t seen before even during the most stressful of situations, “…And you could be my boyfriend?”
She waited a bit, realizing that she probably threw just as much his way that he was worried about throwing her way.
“If you want, of course,” she added quickly, and Joe nodded quickly.
“O-Of course! Yeah! I’d love that,” he said.
Mimi’s smile turned soft, squeezing his hand gently for a moment, “I’d love that, too.”
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