Save The Date (N-Not That It's A Date Or Anything!) [Maia]

Hearing Maia's voice so small and so fragile struck Isaac hard. How could it not? He was worried that this little admission was going to hurt her. What if she started crying? Isaac didn't know if he could handle that. It would have broken him right in two. For that reason, was it any surprise whatsoever that he pulled the soft voiced girl in for a hug? It was firm yet gentle, as if he was trying his hardest to comfort Maia yet badly afraid of hurting her. "I wish I didn't have to leave, either," he choked out, his own voice growing softer as well. What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to say it? His heart was screaming at him incoherently, and he didn't even have a clue what was going on.

He didn't know if he wanted to end the hug, or if he never wanted to let go. He looked up at Maia as he gently held her, his face warm and hot from his blush. He kept trying to say something, anything, but the words tangled in his throat before he could even find what to say. Finally, he managed to find something. "I don't think there's anywhere I'd rather be than right here. With you," he concluded, the boy slowly yet surely working his way towards what he really wanted to say to her. Why was it so hard? Why was this choking feeling in his heart and throat so overpowering? More than anything he wanted so badly to tell Maia the truth, but he always felt himself falling silent at those last, critical words.

"I'll always try to make time, okay?" he asked, sounding somewhat resigned to his fate of leaving. "I promise, a day's not gonna pass where you don't hear from me. It won't be easy, but you're worth it to me." And yet a day like this would never be possible again, and Isaac had mo idea how to feel about that.

Isaac had no idea what to do or say next. He simply stood there, Maia wrapped in his arms and him wrapped in hers. He didn't want to let go. Not of the hug, not of this vacation, and especially not of Maia. He knew he'd have to eventually, but for the time being his mind was racing with excitement, possibilities, and even a little bit of fear. Sooner rather than later he'd have to go, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever end up seeing Maia again. This vacation was expensive enough for just two weeks of time. How would they ever be able to return? Between that and the time difference, he was terrified that he'd slowly end up fading out of her life.

He couldn't help but snicker a little at the girl's joke. His laugh may have been a tiny bit more sorrowful than usual, but there was at least some humor to be found in the situation. "Oh yeah, you bet," he said, a small smile on his face. "Waking up for school's gonna be a pain, that's for sure." Right, school. That'd be another thing he'd have to start back into once he returned from Japan. It was a transitional period for him and Elliot, where their status was ambiguous, but it seemed like they would be due for re-enrollment as soon as this little diversion ended. Back to school, away from Digimon. Was it possible life could return fully back to normal, and this whole vacation would be like one weird, forever unmentioned episode of his life.

"You're worth it for me," he admitted, a bit of blush spreading across his face again. "You've always been." That word had arisen again, and he almost wanted to kick himself for introducing it to the conversation. It was too convenient of an out, too easy of an escape. How would he ever be able to work up the nerve to tell Maia how he felt if he just had that door open to freely duck behind? He couldn't handle it anymore. He had to finally steel his nerve. He looked Maia in the eyes, trying his best to finally say what he had been dying to all day long.

"Do you think there's a better word?" he finally asked, feeling a weight sloughing off of his shoulders. "Because you mean a lot to me. Like, more than any I've friend I had before.

Maia, I think I-"

BZZZZT! The buzzer rang through the laser tag arena, signaling that their game time was over. Isaac looked around the room in a mix of shock and indignation. Seriously!? Now!?

Isaac was hoping he'd finally have the chance to tell Maia how he felt. It was the perfect moment, too, until that damn buzzer derailed his train of thought. It seemed like Maia was taking the opportunity to get out, too. She was leaving the room before Isaac even had a chance to collect his thoughts again, only giving him a sheepish smile in response. Was he ever going to be able to get this off of his chest? Or was the universe going to keep having a good old laugh at his expense?

Then Maia came to a stop, turning around to ask him what he had to say earlier. What seemed like another leg of this race they were running was now turning into the finish line right before his eyes. There was no more time to hide, but at this point he was sick and tired of hiding. Maybe he'd be rejected. Maybe he'd luck out against all the odds. In the end, though, it would all come down to this moment of truth. If he denied how he felt now he'd never have the chance to properly tell Maia how he felt. He sighed, trying to find the right way to word the thoughts completely engulfing his brain.

"I was just going to say that meeting you has been the best thing to happen to me on this vacation, and that, well-" He found himself faltering at the edge of the cliff, trying his hardest to work up the nerves to take that final plunge. Slowly he walked to the exit where Maia was standing, thinking as he wandered. Soon they were both standing at the door, and with that Isaac was officially out of routes for escape. It was do or die, and he was sick and tired of the die part.

"I like you, Mai. A ton," he finally managed, a light red dusting across his face. Despite that, he still managed to look Maia right in the eye. She deserved nothing less now that he was finally confessing what was on his mind.

With that, a weight had fallen off of his shoulders and instead taken residence in his stomach. It was a mess of relief and anxiety and doubt and giddiness and he had no idea how to even decide if he liked it or not.

When Maia went quiet, and couldn't even look Isaac in the eye, the boy found his stomach sinking into the ground. She didn't feel the same way, did she? This was a mistake. He should've never said anything. He was going to lose someone truly amazing. She just said she liked him a lot too. He wouldn't be able to look himself in the eye.

Wait, she said what? Recovering from his worries, Isaac found Maia looking him dead in the eye, and relief spread through his body as she managed to say the words he had been longing to hear for a long time now. The boy didn't even have time to blush. He was too busy grinning from ear to ear, barely able to contain his excitement. Part of him wanted to go charging through the arcade, laughing and loudly telling everyone that she said yes. As far as Isaac was concerned, this was the happiest damn day of his life. He couldn't even bring himself to second guess her words. There was far too much joy in his heart to hold self-doubts today.

When she took his hand he gladly reciprocated. Did it feel a lot warmer than usual, or was it just him? Still, he moved to exit the laser tag room with Maia, their hands as intertwined as their hearts. "Yeah. No sense sticking around here," Isaac said as he left. Maybe it'd be silly, but he didn't think he'd be forgetting this arcade anytime soon. It had just cemented itself as an integral part of one of his best memories on this vacation. It was going to be risky, and it was going to be stressful at times, but he'd be damned if he wasn't prepared to try his hardest for Maia's sake.

"Day's still young, Mai," he said, his voice far more confident now that he had just chased away the elephant in the room. "Anything else you want to do while we're here? Heck, we could even check out someplace else if you wanted." There were a lot of fancy businesses, stores, and restaurants at Society Hill. Today, the world was their oyster.

Huh? Oh, right! Elliot! Isaac was so distracted by his date that he hadn't even realized. Beyond that one emergency text for security, of course. He figured Elliot would've rejoined him after getting the guard for sure. Instead he just remained gone, and Isaac didn't even catch on until Maia finally brought it up. It was enough to make Isaac doubt that the boy was sick, honestly. If he was Isaac would have received a lot more complaining texts. Instead, Isaac's phone was starting to seem suspiciously barren.

With how today was going, he didn't know if he wanted to thank Elliot, or blame him.

"Starting to think he's avoiding us. Maybe so we can have some alone time. If we leave the arcade I'll try and grab him," Isaac concluded. It didn't help that he hadn't seen the other boy all day. He had to have been legitimately hiding, and doing an amazing job at it to boot. With that in mind Isaac began scanning the room once more, part looking for stuff to do and part looking for his brother. Eventually his eyes fell upon one of those little crane games. Sure, 11 times out of 10 they were rigged for the express purpose of taking all his money, but what self-respecting boyfriend wouldn't at least try to win a prize? Wait, were they boyfriend and girlfriend now? The words still felt weird in his mind, but also far too right. He really hoped he could make this work even after the vacation.

"Hold up, I'm gonna go win you something," he said, walking over to the crane. It stood there, taunting him with bright flashing lights and siren noises. There was a giant pile of stuffed toys sitting at the bottom. Were they moving slightly, too? Isaac figured this arcade would find new and innovative ways of rigging its crane. Every crane had its own trick. He put in a token, jiggled the stick to try and get a feel for how it moved, and then with the press of a button sent it descending into the toy pile.

"Yeah, but I wanted to- what the heck?" Isaac's proud smirk at beating the machine at its own game went away as he saw just what exactly he grabbed. Firstly, did it count at overcoming the rigging if he grabbed something that wasn't even part of the machine. Secondly, why was Kuu in the machine in the first place? That was really stupid and dangerous! Someone could've poked his eye out on the claw! He tried slamming the button to make the claw preemptively release Kuu, but instead it simply marched on to the duct where toys were released and dropped Kuu. Would he remember that he could float, or would he come tumbling out of the machine and end up joining the party.

"Kuu, what are you doing in there?" Isaac asked, looking curiously at the Digimon wherever it went. His voice was equal parts amused and concerned, leading to an overall sense of befuddlement. In other words, generally how everybody reacted to Kuu. Maybe one day he'd be able to win Maia a proper prize, but it seemed for today the universe was going to keep on conspiring against him. "In fact, how did you even get in there?"

He had to admit, he was a little relieved to see that Kuu hadn't disappeared off of the face of the earth, either. If he and Elliot got kidnapped while left alone, Isaac would've felt really bad. Sure, they could turn into a street shark and a scythe-fox and beat the crap out of any would-be troublemakers, but doing that in the human world was really risky. Knowing Kuu was okay meant knowing Elliot was okay, and that Isaac wouldn't have to kick anybody's ass for today.