#I wish tri hadn't gone so overboard with koumi

[triplet-vo]

the best laid plans (pt 1)

DigiOTPWeek Day 11: Disney AU

Word Count: 1820

Pairing: Izumi Koushiro/Tachikawa Mimi

Palmon looked, then looked again. She scratched her head. “He’s… not your usual type, is he?”

Mimi’s head whipped around, “What do you mean? I don’t have a type.”

“You sort of do.” Palmon ticked off her vines. “Tall, kind of brawny, with good hair and good style. Remember?”

Sniffing, Mimi took her puppy back from Palmon. “Well, maybe. But I’m allowed to appreciate different types of people, aren’t I? And – anyway – I wasn’t staring!”

The Digimon’s grin was knowing. “Whatever you say, Mimi.”

“Ugh, you’re impossible. Katsu, I hope you never learn to be difficult to Mommy like Palmon is,” Mimi cooed to the puppy, who woofed and licked happily at Mimi’s face. She giggled.

Palmon glanced back at the man on the bench. He really wasn’t Mimi’s usual type at all. But maybe that was a good thing. Her friend had had a string of terrible luck with men lately, and Palmon had started to feel helpless over the fact that Mimi couldn’t find someone who appreciated how special she was. Bench-Man might not have the looks (or, to be honest, the height) of the men of Mimi’s past, but he had kind eyes.

Eyes that were worth getting to know, in her opinion.

“You should talk to him,” suggested Palmon, reaching over pack up their uneaten picnic food.

“I could never! What would I even say?”

“Saying ‘hi’ sounds like a good start to me.”

Mimi shook her head and pointed out, “He’s busy working on something on his laptop. He’d hate it if a stranger just bothered him. I know I would.”

Hmph. Palmon was of the opinion that if someone wanted to work undisturbed, they would have either stayed at home or gone to someplace quiet, like the library. Out in the open in the park was the very opposite of quiet. “I bet you’re just scared,” she said slyly, trying another tact.

Wagging her finger, Mimi stuck out her tongue. “I know what you’re trying to do. But I’m not being a coward. I’m being polite. You should try it some time.”

What else could Palmon do but stick out her tongue at that?

Katsu began to scramble for the ground, and Mimi obligingly got to her feet. “Looks like this little one wants to play. Shall we all play fetch?”

“After I drink water,” Palmon promised. They parted ways: Mimi and Katsu for the field, where there was space to run, and Palmon for the water fountain. While she was there, she ruminated on what she could say to help Mimi change her mind. That, of course, was impossible. Mimi was very stubborn and she seemed dead set against even going over to say hi.

Of course… if Palmon figured out a way to bring Bench-Man over to Mimi instead…

“Are you done with your work yet?”

“Almost, Tentomon. I have to run one last test on this program before I send it to Willis for final checks. How was your walk?”

“It was very good.” The Digimon buzzed up to his shoulder level so that he could look, hooking Kondo’s leash onto the bench. The dog lay panting in the shade behind Koushiro’s feet. Tentomon said, “Do you think this one will be successful?”

“The test or the whole project?” asked Koushiro, distracted as he set the last test parameters.

“Both.”

“It’s highly probable that the test will succeed. The whole project, on the other hand, is only a possible success for now.” He set the test to start, and they both watched anxiously as the progress bar began to tick: one percent… five percent… eight…

Neither of them noticed when Kondo lifted his head, having seen a chicken drumstick hanging from a strange vine nearby, drifting back and forth tantalizingly just out of the dog’s reach.

“Hmm. Where did Palmon go? She said she was just going to get water.” Mimi looked worriedly over the field, shading her eyes from the sun. There were so many people and Digimon out today, and to make matters worse, Palmon did tend to blend in the greenery a little too well.

Katsu licked at Mimi’s calves and she looked down grinning. “Shall we play some more? Or do you want to look for Auntie Palmon so we can go home?” She rubbed at Katsu’s ears, and the puppy barked once. “Okay, we’ll play a little bit longer. Fetch!”

“Sweet success!” Grinning, Koushiro backed up the data to his cloud before powering his laptop down. He slipped it into his messenger bag. Then he stood up to stretch. “This calls for a celebration. What do you feel like doing tonight, Tentomon? We can do anything you want.”

“To celebrate?” The Digimon looked like he was a loss for words. “Can we go out to eat?”

Koushiro nodded. He put on the bag and took Kondo’s leash in hand. “Of course we can. Anywhere you want to go. Is there a particular cuisine you feel most hungry for?”

Tentomon rubbed his face. “To be honest, Koushiro, I will be happy eating anything besides junk food and oolong tea. It’s all we’ve been eating lately. I don’t know how much more I can handle.”

“Ahh… ” Koushiro winced. “You’re right. I’ve been pretty neglectful these past few days, haven’t I?”

“It’s nothing I’m not used to. It’s a good thing I was here to take care of Kondo.”

“I would be useless without you, my friend,” said Koushiro, quite sincerely. “And – whoa! Kondo! Kondo, stop! Where are you going!”

I’m a genius, Palmon thought gleefully. Bench-Man’s dog – and if his also being a dog owner wasn’t a sign that this was fate, then Palmon would forgo food and eat fertilizer for a month – had done exactly what Palmon had intended. As soon as that drumstick had left her vines, it had gone racing off after it, dragging along its owner by the leash. Bench-Man’s partner Tentomon buzzed quickly after them.

“It’s a good thing he’s short after all,” Palmon said to herself, watching dog and Bench-Man heading for a direct collision course with Mimi and Katsu, “because that would have never worked if he was Mimi’s usual type.”

Then Palmon saw her throw had overshot. Rather than landing on the ground just in front of Mimi, the drumstick had splashed in the pond just behind Mimi.

I’m an idiot.

There were so many dogs and so many people at the park that Mimi had completely tuned out all the sounds around her to the exclusion of Katsu. Therefore, she had no warning whatsoever when dog and human plowed right into her with so much force that all three of them were propelled into the water.

Mimi’s first thought, when she surfaced, spluttering, from the water: I just bought this dress yesterday!

Then, wiping her face and only belatedly remembering that she hadn’t been wearing waterproof mascara: I am going to kill someone.

She brought herself to her complete height, fully intending to unleash her wrath on the poor soul who had the gall to shove her into the slime-infested pond – only to come face-to-face with the cute nerd she had been sneaking peeks at all afternoon, now looking completely hapless and anxiously concerned across from her. Before Mimi could even finish processing what was happening, he was already halfway through his rapid apology and helping her step out of the pond with him.

“Stop!” Mimi cried out. He did so immediately, his mouth snapping close. “I didn’t understand a word of what you just said.”

He bowed deeply to her. “I take full responsibility for what happened. You see my dog – Kondo,” he gestured at the soaking wet but happy dog, who was currently eating some disgusting thing it had fished out of the pond, “for some reason decided to chase across the field. I was holding onto his leash but he was really determined and – ”

“He ran right into me and knocked us all in the pond,” Mimi finished. She sighed, all of her anger deflating out of her. If it had been someone playing games to knock her into the pond, she would have given them a piece of her mind. How could she get mad at a dog, though?

“I really am very sorry to have gotten you mixed up in all this.”

She sighed again. “Things happen. It’s not your fault. I mean, we both got knocked into the pond together.” Then Mimi’s actually registered what she had said. “Oh no! Did you get your laptop wet too?”

“What? Oh – oh.” He groaned unhappily.  “Well, it’s not the end of the world. I did back up all my work. But still… it’ll be a lot of work to set up a new laptop now.” He looked down at his dog, whose leash was now being held quite firmly by a Tentomon. “Thanks a lot, Kondo.”

The dog barked at hearing his name, and Mimi couldn’t help but giggle. “Beautiful dog. And you know what? It’s such a coincidence. I have a Dalmatian, too.” She whistled, and her puppy came trotting over. “This is Katsu.”

“Hello, Katsu.” He bent to scratch the puppy behind her ears. She closed her eyes in pure bliss. “She seems very sweet. Did you name her after the, ah, the musician? I mean, the singer. From the band?”

Amused, Mimi shook her head. “Actually, Katsu is her nickname. I named her after Katsushika Oi.”

“Ah, the artist? A fan of the ukiyo-e style?”

“I’m an artist by trade,” Mimi explained, impressed by his knowledge. It wasn’t the kind of reference that she expected people to know. “What about Kondo? Who did you name him for?”

“I named him after Koji Kondo. A music composer, though I don’t think - ”

Mimi began to smile. “You mean the composer for Mario and Zelda?” She laughed when he blinked at her in amazement. “A few of my friends really enjoy playing video games. It’s hard not to pick up things after listening to them go on and on about it.”

“Koushiro is a video game developer,” the Tentomon offered up when the man – Koushiro – seemed to have been stunned into silence.

“Ahh, I see.”

Palmon returned then, her eyes wide as she took in the scene. “What happened here?”

Mimi waved her hand. “We had a small accident. But look Palmon! We’ve made some friends.” She grinned widely, hoping to convey wordlessly to Palmon that she was not to say a word about their earlier conversation regarding Koushiro.

“I didn’t catch your name,” Koushiro said, having recovered from his momentary loss for words. He stood up. “We’ll need that, I think, to be friends.”

“Tachikawa Mimi,” she said, sticking out her hand.

He shook it. “Izumi Koushiro.”

Strangely, she didn’t want to let go. From the peculiar look on Koushiro’s face, he seemed reluctant to let go, too.

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