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When Daisuke caught up to Ken, he had already crossed the street and was past the next street’s intersection. Night was beginning to set in, and the crisp breeze from an hour ago had begun to pick up into a turbulent wind.
Near each building, Christmas lights set into various shop displays shone against the dusk-blue of an early evening sky. They gleamed brightly, and even if their glitter was more artificial than the glow of real stars in the sky – either in the Digital World or this one – there was something comforting about them.
"Hey," Ken said. "Did you finally catch up? It took you long enough." His eyes were serious, but his smile was frank.
Daisuke dumped each bag unceremoniously on the pavement. "You jerk," he said, although his words lacked any real heat. "That was exhausting. The next time I go shopping, I'm not bringing you with me again."
“I’m sorry,” Ken said, not sounding as sorry as Daisuke thought he should have been.
Luckily, Ken had stopped in front of a bench. Daisuke sank down onto it in relief, stretching his swollen fingers. Ken sat down next to him, relaxing his own posture.
Chibimon, who had been in Daisuke's backpack all the while, leapt out of the bag and into his grip. "What’s the matter, Daishuke? Are you mad because the others tricked you into going while they set up the decorations?” he squeaked out, wriggling energetically. Unlike humans, some Digimon never lost energy.
"They didn’t trick me, I wanted to do this!”
“But didn’t they tell you that this would be easier? They had so many things on that list, and it’s all so heavy.”
“It’s not that heavy.”
“But you were falling over.”
“I can manage!” Daisuke spluttered.
Ken tried not to laugh. “So you were okay with holding the bags, then!” he said, joining in. It was easy to tease Daisuke, though he tried not to go too far most of the time – that just wasn’t very fair to him.
“I guess,” Daisuke grumbled, caught in his own logic.
"It was a long list, so it makes sense that I’m here. If you were on your own, you’d have a harder time dealing with what they put down.”
Near Chibimon, Minomon nibbled on a piece of white chocolate that Ken had given him, lying warm and content within the folds of Ken’s unfolded scarf.
"True, but...who asked them to put down computer games, anyway?"
Ken shrugged. "There isn't much we can do about that. We'll just have to tell them that we couldn't buy them."
"Or that we ran out of money."
"Mm-hmm. Or that we couldn't bring all of them." Ken pointed to the list, which included every version of Harvest Moon.
"Or that they didn't have any of those games in the store."
"I don't think they'll believe that, Daisuke."
Daisuke shrugged.
"If they can pull a prank on us like that, I think we can tell them whatever we want." He flexed his fingers together behind his head. "We should make up a story that really catches them off guard."
"I see what you're saying," Ken started, uncertain, "but they'd probably try to play another prank on us for it." Then he tapped his fingers on the bench. "Although," he continued, "we might be able to beat them at their own game if it came to that."
“Yeah!” Daisuke said, catching on. "And I know you could come up with a great idea."
Ken tried not to flush at the easy compliment.
“I take back what I said before. I’m glad you’re here. After all, we’re unstoppable together.”
“Uh...” Ken said. “You might be, but I’m not sure that goes for me.” He didn’t take well to the idea of being pranked by the other four members of their team again, especially Miyako or Takeru.
“Well, we’re partners, so it has to.” Ken did laugh then, a little.
“What, just because you said so?” “Yeah, obviously.”
It was funny; when Daisuke said that, Ken could almost believe him. That was the way Daisuke often was, even when he sounded ridiculous.
It made him feel a little more comfortable with himself. “Well, I’m glad I came with you today,” he said. “I had a lot of fun.”
“Really? Even though they gave us that ridiculous list?” In the distance, they could pick up on more people passing down both sides of the intersection: talking, ducking into stores, and rushing to be on their way. In the bustle, few people stopped to notice a couple of boys with their not-quite-human companions, hanging out on a winter’s day.
“Yeah. Even that was kind of funny,” Ken admitted. “I got caught up in the mood.”
“So that’s why you ran off and left me with the bags.”
“I guess so. Sorry about that.”
“Well, I’ll forgive you this time,” Daisuke said, as Chibimon bounced in his lap. “But I’m definitely not doing that again.”
“You know, you forgive people too easily, Daisuke,” Ken said, and then wrinkled his eyebrows as he realized what he had blurted out. He really had become too caught up in the Christmas mood – that wasn’t the kind of thing he would have normally said out loud.
“No, I don’t,” Daisuke said, taken off-guard.
“You do,” Ken said.
“Nope.”
“You do, though. And it’s probably a good thing,” Ken said, awkwardly.
“Yeah?” His cheeks were reddening, like they often did when someone paid him a compliment. Sometimes even the tips of his ears turned red when he was embarrassed. It was cute.
“Yeah. It really is.” Now both of them were tongue-tied. Was he turning red too?
“Well...that’s good. That it’s good,” Daisuke mumbled.
“Yes.”
“But I don’t really think it’s a special thing.”
“To me, it is.”
“O, oh. Thanks.”
“Yeah, of course.”
I’m not like you. I couldn’t forgive my brother for how he treated me, and for how my parents acted. I couldn’t even forgive myself.
You did, though.
I can’t tell him that, Ken thought. So he said instead, “Anyway, I think this is going to be the best Christmas I’ve had in a while.”
“Really?” Daisuke perked up a little at that. A few annoyances when it came to shopping couldn’t overshadow how much he loved the holiday.
“What makes this one so special?” Their elbows brushed together.
“Nothing much,” Ken said. “It’s just something in the air, I guess.” He paused, and then smiled again.
But the real answer was something that hung in the air between them: It’s that we’re here together, Daisuke. Because we’re friends. And that I’m spending time with you.
For Ken, that was enough.