It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (part 7) a little MummArch fic by Lithrael
Happy discalimers & warnings: Well, you're already past all the scarey stuff. Barely more than innuendo in this chapter. I don't own nuthin'. I'm just borrowing the characters to be mean to them for a bit and then smoosh them together. On with the fun.
After some awkward juiciness and cleaning up, and joking about how appalled Cody would be if he knew what his picnic cloth was used for, they were on their way again. The forest seemed ethereal now, the midafternoon air was cool, a light breeze drifted between the trees, sunbeams broke through the canopy in a camouflage dapple. Arukenimon was silent but she looked happy, and Mummymon, not wanting to break her mood, decided to save the things he wanted to say for later.
Eventually they approached the area where they'd left the jeep. Mummymon spotted a huge shape lurking amongst the trees and balked. Arukenimon recognized it, though. "Don't worry," she said. "That's just Cyclomon. He's..." she stopped. She was going to say "he's a friend," but she didn't like the taste of the words in her mouth. "He's harmless," she continued, frowning at the curious look Mummymon was giving her. "He helped me find some Control Spires yesterday. I mean, he led me to them. I made him show me where they were." She cursed to herself. Tsukaimon had helped her.. just for the hell of it. Really, he had saved Mummymon's life.
She hated not being self-sufficient.
They went ahead to where Cyclomon was waiting, and he greeted Arukenimon enthusiastically. Mummymon hung back, fussing with the jeep, tugging broken branches out of the wheel wells, trying not to be jealous.
Arukenimon tapped on Mummymon's shoulder. He turned and started, surprised by Cyclomon's massive form standing so close, just beside Arukenimon.
Arukenimon chuckled. "Cyclomon seems to have found something of yours," she smirked, and stepped aside.
Cyclomon held out a massive paw, delicately clutching a bottle of wine. "I thought this might be yours," he thundered, looking a little cowed. "I, uh.. I ate the food. It was really good."
"...Thanks," Mummymon said, staring. Cyclomon nervously turned and gave the bottle to Arukenimon, backed off and left, crunching his way noisily through the trees.
Arukenimon smiled at him, raising one white eyebrow. "Wine?"
Mummymon was too stunned to respond.
Cyclomon had also found Arukenimon's hat, shades, and missing glove, and they were all laid out on the jeep's passenger seat. She reached for the shades first and slipped them on. Mummymon watched wistfully. He wished she wouldn't hide those beautiful eyes.
"Well," she said, tugging her other glove on and adjusting her hat, "I for one need a serious shower. And a long rest. Shall we go?" She vaulted easily over the door and made herself comfortable in the passenger seat.
Mummymon slid behind the wheel and gave her a long, appraising look. There was so much he wanted to say... but would she listen? "I guess we shall," he said, and fired up the engine.
When they got back to Oikawa's house, he wasn't there. It wasn't unusual. Their standing orders were to wait for him, report in, and be given new instructions. Until he returned, they could rest, relax a little. Mummymon used times like these to make treats for Arukenimon, or mend her Human clothes. Or if she was in a huff, or on a mission by herself, he might slip away to the park and watch the Humans for a while.
For now, he was just waiting his turn for the shower.
Arukenimon's current dress was a total loss, and she had several more anyway, so he reluctantly got rid of it. He scolded himself for wanting to keep a piece of the fabric, permeated with her light scent. That would be a little too stalky. Besides, he didn't need it right now- his coat smelled like her. Thankfully it hadn't gotten anything suspicious on it, so he wouldn't have to wash it right away.
He was still recovering and therefore still hungry, especially after all that exertion, so he fired up the stove and made some soup. Steamy, shampoo-scented air drifted into the kitchen; Arukenimon was out of the shower. He brought the food out to the living room, where she was just settling down on the couch, wrapped in a fluffy white towel, turning the on television. She already had her shades on. He smiled, bemused.
"Are you hungry, my dear?" he asked, walking in.
She looked up at him with a little acknowledging smile. He loved it. "Sure."
He set some soup and tea out for her on the coffee table before sitting at the other end of the couch to finish his meal. They ate in silence, Arukenimon still in a good mood and Mummymon still afraid of spoiling it. At last he cleared away the dishes and headed in for his turn in the shower.
I will not even attempt to describe the cuteness of Mummymon-in-a-towel. All clean, he went back to his room, got dressed, and came out to try to brave conversation with Arukenimon.
She wasn't on the couch anymore, and he wandered around looking for her. She had gotten dressed and was outside on the stairs, looking out over the street. He climbed down and sat beside her.
"...Arukenimon? Do you want to talk?"
She looked over at him, the late afternoon sun reflecting off her shades. "Alright," she said.
"No, I mean... is there anything you want to say?"
"Not really. Don't be so cryptic. What do you want to know?"
He took a little while to decide how to say it. "It wasn't a fluke. A moment. You... you'll have me now?"
"I'll have you when I want you," she replied with a smile. It didn't look like that was what he wanted to hear, so she started over. "You want to know what's changed. Right?"
He looked up. "Yes, exactly."
She sighed. "I'm not sure..." Was it really a good idea to tell him how deeply she'd felt about him in those moments?
"Oh..."
"I realized that I like having you around," she said at last.
Well, that was better than nothing, he figured. And considerably better than just being tolerated. "I'm glad," he said. He wanted to say he loved her. But she already knew that. He wondered if she considered it a boast, a challenge. Maybe even a demand. He hoped not. It was a plea, at least a little bit. He didn't like that, but he couldn't help it. He watched the heat rise off the pavement and was grateful to be sitting in the shade.
"You can touch me if you want," Arukenimon said quietly.
Mummymon smiled and put an arm around her, and she leaned into him. He stroked her shoulder. Then they turned to each other for a tender, lazy kiss.
"Hm..." she muttered afterwards, suddenly put off. "We probably shouldn't do this in the Human world. I don't want Oikawa finding out."
Mummymon blinked. "Why not?"
"I don't know what he'd do," she said.
Well, he couldn't argue with that. Couldn't say he liked the idea of keeping things from Oikawa, either. He wondered why she would be so apprehensive. A horrible thought occurred to him. God! Could he even ask? "He's not... attracted to you, is he?"
She hunched her shoulders, looking sour. "I don't know. But he thinks..." She paused. How to explain it? "He doesn't know Digimon can have sex," she said at last, going for the simple approach. "I just don't know how he'd take it if he found out we were."
Mummymon gave her a confused scowl. "He doesn't? Where does he think little Digimon come from?"
She looked at him in disbelief. "Where do you think little Digimon come from?"
He looked back at her in twice as much disbelief.
She blanched, though pale as she was you really couldn't tell. "Mummymon... If you thought you could get me pregnant, you should really have mentioned it at some point."
He shrank back. "Oh... I wasn't thinking of it... You didn't say anything..."
"Of COURSE I didn't say anything!"
"God... Do you think you might be?"
"NO!"
"Oh... Well then... I don't understand."
"I can't get pregnant, you moron. We're Digimon."
Mummymon blinked. "But we..." He was looking lost again.
She rolled her eyes, getting impatient. She grabbed his arm and got up, hauling him obediently along. "Let me show you something."
He followed her back inside and down the hall to Oikawa's den. She stopped in front of Oikawa's computer, nudged the mouse to wake it up, and started tapping at the keys. Mummymon stared. She was opening a Digital port. "What are you doing?" he asked, genuinely surprised. "We can't just leave without permission!"
She chuckled. "You're such a momma's boy." She stopped and turned to look at him. "We can do whatever we want, as long as he doesn't find out. And I'm not afraid of getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar." Behind her, the port shined to life, and she smiled. "Do you know how jealous he is of us, just for this? Let's go."
Reluctantly, he followed her into the Digital World.
Elecmon wriggled in a cocoon of Spider Thread, outraged and afraid for his charges, and cursed himself for being unable to protect them. He prayed Arukenimon and Mummymon weren't warped enough to harm fresh Digimon.
"Well.. what do you think?" Arukenimon smirked, rolling Elecmon off to the side with one of her long, clawed legs. Mummymon had forgotten which form he was in and was leaning on his rifle, plainly blown away by the sight of the place.
"What did you say it was called, again?" he asked.
"Primary Village." She waited for a response, but he was too stunned.
Hundreds of eggs and fifty-some cradles were spread out over the gentle, grassy hills. Some of the tiny Digimon in the cradles were looking at them, attracted by the commotion of the fight with Elecmon. The large, colorful buildings were in good repair again. Her expression soured a little, remembering the poor fight her Control Spire creation, Thundermon, had put up against the Digidestined on her last visit.
"This is where Digimon are formed," she continued. "In eggs, at first, while its data matures, and then when they're ready they hatch into those things," she gestured towards one of the cradles. "And then Elecmon here takes care of them until they can Digivolve."
"This... is where we came from?" he asked, amazed, walking up to one of the eggs and kneeling down to look at it.
"Well, that's what Oikawa said. He figured if we attacked the Digidestined here, they'd be too worried about the nursery to put up a good fight." She grimaced. "Didn't work out though."
Mummymon looked back at her. He didn't like the idea that Oikawa would use such cowardly tactics. But then, that was probably why he'd been left behind on those first few attacks. Suddenly he wondered what else she'd done back then.
But really, it didn't matter. Oikawa was the boss... and that was that.
Mummymon got up and walked slowly, mechanically, between the rows of small cradles and the smaller Digimon inside. He couldn't believe it. They were so... So tiny. So beautiful, and so full of need. He couldn't take it, not all at once like this. They looked up at him with big wet eyes, full of innocence, and his heart was so full he just didn't know what to do.
Arukenimon followed Mummymon, picking her footing amongst the cradles with a little too much speed. She kicked one accidentally, tipping it over and spilling a soft little Botamon out onto the grass. It went 'oof' in a tiny voice. Arukenimon looked back, raising the offending leg curiously. "What have we got here?" she grinned, and picked up the fluffball, pet it a little and scratched one claw down through its fur. It was paralyzed with terror. "I do believe I've got a new pet." She grinned at it, maliciously. "Would you like to belong to me? I promise to feed you every day." Its fur stood up and it shivered. She chuckled.
Mummymon's voice sounded in her ear, angrier than she'd ever heard him before. "Stop that."
She jumped. Mummymon had walked up when she wasn't paying attention and now he was glaring at her from inches away. She was too astonished to speak. What was this?
"Give it here," he said, reaching out for the frightened Botamon. Arukenimon let him take it. He retreated a short distance from her with the Botamon held tenderly in his arms. He pet it gently with his black claws, soothing it, talking softly to it.
Arukenimon just stared. Mummymon and insubordination didn't fit in the same sentence. And had he just scolded her? The hell?
Three minutes passed and he was still just calming the stupid thing down. Arukenimon was getting impatient. "Well, if that's the one you want," she spat, "let's go."
He looked up sharply. "What?"
"If that's the one-"
"WE ARE NOT GOING TO STEAL ONE!"
She snatched up the empty cradle and belted it at him. He gasped and curled around the Botamon, and the cradle broke against his shoulder. "WHY THE HELL NOT?"
She was worried for a moment that she might have gone too far, but Mummymon had snapped out of it and was back to looking melancholy.
"They're not ours," he said simply. He looked at the beautiful little fresh Digimon in his arms and all of a sudden he realized that he would never have one of his own.
All the time he'd spent watching the humans go about their lives, daydreaming about doing the things they do, he'd never realized his dreams were simply impossible.
Sometimes he would see human women that reminded him of his Arukenimon, and he would watch them smile and laugh as they walked by, talking to their friends, and he would imagine what those warm smiles would look like on Arukenimon. Some of them had boyfriends, and he would imagine what those gentle, familiar touches would feel like for him and Arukenimon. One of them... One of them had a child, a little short human even smaller and weaker than the Digidestined. When the thing's parents looked at it, there was something in the eyes of the woman that looked a little like Arukenimon, and in the eyes of the man that looked nothing like Mummymon, that he longed to feel, to understand.
Arukenimon's Shoujo manga explained how human children happen. He'd assumed, since as far as he could tell they worked the same way the humans did, he and Arukenimon could technically have little ones of their own someday. But no- they were Digimon, and Digimon hatch from eggs, and eggs form alone in Primary Village.
Arukenimon blinked, confused. She was at a loss as to what his logic was. If they took one, then it'd be theirs... and now he was standing there, petting the Botamon and crying silently. What in the hell was wrong with him? "If you don't want one, then let's get back. This place gets on my nerves," she said, scowling around at all the pastel colors.
The Botamon had calmed down enough to notice that its rescuer was sad. It shuffled around to look up at him and blinked its big yellow eyes. Maybe he was worried that the red one had hurt it? "Don't be sad," it said in its small, soft voice. "I'm okay."
Mummymon opened his eye and found the Botamon looking up at him with innocent concern. He sniffed, blinking his tears back, and ruffled its fur. "I'm glad," he smiled. He looked around for the pieces of the cradle, which had cracked in half, and bound them back together with a little Snake Bandage. "I'm sorry we broke your bed," he said softly, setting the Botamon back in its hastily repaired cradle.
"That's OK," it said, wriggling to get comfortable in the bedding. "It feels the same." Then it blinked up at him. "You're still sad..."
"Yes," Mummymon admitted, "but not because of you. I guess... I guess I'm just lonely."
"You don't have to be lonely. You could take me with you."
He smiled. How kind these little Digimon were... How unlike his beloved. "Thank you," he said, petting it affectionately, "but I don't think that would be a good idea. My friend doesn't know how to be gentle."
"She's your friend?" it asked. "Why?"
"I don't know." How could he explain? The first time he'd seen her he'd known. There was a hole in him and it was shaped like Arukenimon. Alone, he just wasn't... finished. He wondered if she felt anything like that. He patted the Botamon goodbye and walked back to Arukenimon.
She was waiting for him just outside the field of eggs and cradles, looking annoyed. "If you're quite finished," she said, "shall we be off?"
"Yes," he said despondently. "I'm... I'm sorry I yelled at you."
She shrugged. "I can't say I understand."
"I don't either, not really. Let's just forget about it?" He didn't sound bitter, just sad.
On their way back to the Digital Port, Mummymon trailed behind. As he passed by Elecmon, he leaned down and sliced through most of the Spider Thread with one sharp claw, so the little ones' caretaker would be able to escape it more easily.
By the time Elecmon worked free, Arukenimon and Mummymon were long gone. He surveyed the field for damage and was relieved to see one broken cradle was the extent of it. The Botamon inside looked calm. "You okay?" Elecmon asked.
"Yes," it answered. "Are you?"
Elecmon nodded, shifting the Botamon into a new cradle.
"When they fought with you, I was scared."
"So was I," Elecmon confessed. "I'm glad you're all alright."
Elecmon looked back over the field and noticed a new egg. He stared at it for a few seconds. "I hope that one takes a long time to hatch," he mumbled to himself.
Hehehe. I really don't have anywhere for the story to go after this, so this will be the end for now. See you around!