higuchimon | [fanfic] Digimon Adventure 02: An Evening In

Title: An Evening In
Characters: Hikari & Ken
Word Count: 1,385||Status: One-shot
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Challenge: Diversity Writing Challenge, section D33, write in the friendship genre; Halloween Trick or Treat Bag (Advent), day #23, write a fic that is harmless fun; Mahjong Tiles Challenge, prompt random character: Yagami Hikari
Note: This takes place a couple of years or so post defeat of BelialVamdemon. Epilogue ending is optional; nothing confirms or denies it here.
Summary: Hikari and Ken are the sweetest, gentlest members of their teams. Surely if they're going to watch movies together, those movies will be nothing but sugar, spice, and sweetness. Yup. Nothing but fluff!

Hikari set the bowl of popcorn down on the table in between the two chairs, moving over to take one of them. “Anything else you'd like?” she asked Ken, though she knew the answer already. They'd had these movie meetings at least twice a month for going on three years now. She knew the routine as well as he did. Maybe even a little better.

Ken shook his head, putting the two drinks down where they could each get to theirs, and going for his own chair. “What are we watching tonight?” Tonight was Hikari's turn to choose their movies and by their long-standing agreement, he couldn't even get a glimpse of what she'd chosen until she was ready to get the first one going. He could ask, but the only answer he would get would be the opening credits rolling.

Hikari smiled at him, a tiny bit of an edge to it. This was a smile that very few other people had ever seen and Ken counted himself privileged to be among them.

He didn't think even some of the other Chosen knew that Hikari had a very strong affection for horror movies of all kinds, from the cheesiest ones where someone could point out the rips in the special effects suits to the most expensive modern versions, be they remakes or originals. He had no plans to tell anyone, either.

He didn't think most of them knew that he liked them, either. They all knew that he wasn't going to 'go Kaiser' – to quote Daisuke – on them just from watching fictional people get mauled, but so far as he could tell, it was just something they didn't expect.

Once she was settled properly into her seat, Hikari picked up the remote control and hit play. She'd had everything else except their fresh snacks ready since before he came over, just like he would have had when it was his turn to host their little meeting. They were very, very used to this after all this time.

Ken watched curiously as the screen darkened, then slowly lightened, and music began to play. He tilted his head, trying to figure out where he'd heard it before, as Japanese subtitles began to play across the bottom. He spoke and understood English well enough to understand the movie without them and he thought Hikari did too, but a little help was always useful.

It took only a minute or so of dialogue for him to click to what he was hearing and his eyes widened. “Night of the Living Dead?”

“One of the remakes, technically,” Hikari said, a satisfied grin teasing at her lips. “This is one of my favorites of them.”

Ken nodded and reached for a handful of popcorn. He'd seen this before; there were few horror movies that he hadn't seen. But there was always a special thrill to re-watching something with a friend. I think I'm glad Wormmon's not here, though. He loved his partner dearly, but Wormmon didn't share his taste for horror movies, and so generally spent this time in the Digital World having fun with some of the other partner Digimon.

Seeing the opening banter between the brother and sister made him a touch nostalgic for Osamu. He didn't always think of his brother when he watched these movies, and he wasn't certain if Osamu would've liked these anyway. But he wouldn't have been at all surprised to hear Osamu teasing him to the effect of the dead being displeased or something, just to see if it bothered him.

He put the further thoughts of what that might mean in the terms of the movie out of his mind. He wanted to enjoy himself tonight.

Hikari chewed on her popcorn, somewhat similar imaginings of what Taichi would be like in this situation going through her mind as well. He was a genuine pain; it was part of his job description as an older brother. Thankfully this wasn't something they'd ever have to go through. Unless an actual zombie apocalypse happened, which Hikari hoped it never would. They'd gone through enough of those that were Digimon based.

“I think I'd probably react the same way that she did,” Hikari mused as the lead female character ran screaming from zombies that seemed to rise up from everywhere without any sort of warning. “The dead aren't supposed to do that.”

“The dead aren't supposed to do anything but lie there,” Ken pointed out, the side of his mouth quirking ever so gently. “Anyone would freak out, really.”

Hikari wasn't going to argue about that. She took a sip of her soda and tried to imagine a world where nothing she knew made any sense anymore.

Then she stopped, stifling a giggle as she realized she'd gone through that once already, when she was eight years old. Not really the same thing, but it definitely changed my world forever.

Ken glanced over at her, tilting his head, and she quickly shook her own. “Digimon aren't zombies,” she said, trying hard to keep herself from laughing out loud and not at all certain she was succeeding as well as she really wanted to. She waved one hand at the look on his face. “It made more sense in my head.”

“I would hope so,” Ken said, a small smile touching his own lips. “I think Tailmon would be insulted if you called her a zombie.”

“Which is why I'm not going to do it,” Hikari agreed. She snatched up another handful of popcorn and used it to distract herself from those ridiculous thoughts, focusing on the movie again. Thankfully it was a lot more engrossing than trying to define the world-changing differences between Digimon and zombies and soon enough the thoughts were nothing more than giggle-fodder in the very back of her mind where she could safely ignore them.

The movie continued to play out, the core group coming together and trying to get to know one another, while at the same time the seeds of their eventual failure could so clearly by seen by anyone who'd watched the movie before, or had a reasonable knowledge of how zombie movies worked. Since both of them qualified on both counts, Ken and Hikari just had to sit back and enjoy the drama as it played out in front of them.

When it finally came to an end, all the zombies disposed of or being disposed of, and humans having shown themselves for what they were, Hikari picked up the remote again. “At least humans treat Digimon a lot better than they would zombies,” she said, those same thoughts stirring just a little now that the movie had ended.

“It probably helps that Digimon can talk and aren't trying to eat us,” Ken replied, getting up. “I'm reasonably certain the 'not trying to eat us' part helps a lot, too.”

“I wouldn't be surprised.” Hikari stood up herself, ready to stretch and take the customary break before their second movie. She had something other than zombies in mind for that.

At least not the normal zombies. There were so many variations on the theme, and she liked watching all of them. Among other things, they always knew that somehow or other, the forces of good, or at least sanity, would come out on top more than they wouldn't. And the ones where that didn't happen, she knew to avoid.

She wondered what Ken would choose when it was his turn again. Liking horror movies didn't mean she could guess at what would strike his fancy. Their only rule was not to double up, which meant that he'd be avoiding the ones she picked for at least another couple of months.

Well, she'd find out when the time came. Anticipation was part of the fun they had together, after all. She would have to hide the movies once the night was over; Taichi still thought the two of them watched nothing but sweet sugar-fluff and she wasn't going to be the one to break his poor mind about this.

Not right now, anyway. Maybe someday. Until then, she'd let him have his delusions. Right now, she had monsters to watch and this time she wasn't the one helping to destroy them. Everyone needed a break now and then.

The End

Note: Thank you for reading and a hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.