MPC 38 (55X): You Can't Fill My Shadow (Slightly M Themes)

MPC Number: 38
MPC Name: All The Me I Could Be

Reward: Posts

Leith was uneasy in his sleep. Little did he, or either of his two digi-friends yet know, that a mischievous Pillomon was in their shared room, playing a little prank on them...

"Hey, Mom?" Leith didn't normally announce his presence into the kitchen, preferring to eat and leave without a word whenever he could get away with it. This time, though, he wanted to ask about whether she had fed the dogs yet. "Should I feed-" But Leith came to a dead stop with wide eyes when he saw the sight at the table. There, eating a pair of PB&J sandwiches, were Veemon and Shoutmon. The young man had never told his parents about them, but there they were... just eating in the kitchen casually like it was completely normal. "Whoa, OK. Mom? I can ex-"

"Oh! Uh, dude, whoa, this is really awkward." Leith had heard that voice before, he was extremely shocked to hear it now - for it was his. When the young man turned around, he saw-

"Actually, not quite." This other person - this Leith, and yet not quite Leith - then asked of his mother, "I think I better tell him." Leith's mother obeyed, but instead of watching her leave, Leith - the real one - couldn't help but stare at this alter. It wasn't quite a perfect copy, he noticed; this copy had longer hair that came about a third of the way down his back, no glasses, was a little less skinny, had whiter, straighter teeth... basically, "I'm basically you, but, like, everything's better. So, uh... yeah. I replaced you. By the way, you don't live here anymore, and you're not a Tamer."

Leith's eyebrows furrowed. "Do you think you can just drop that kind of bomb on someone and not explain it?"

This copy, the better Leith shrugged. "Dunno what to ya. I'm just here. Does it matter why?" Before Leith could answer, Better-Leith interrupted, "Right. You're me. You're not gonna let it go."

"Guys, come on!" This time Leith made his plea to Shoutmon and Veemon, who looked at their former Tamer with a little bit of pity. "We... we've been through so much! Now I'm just- just gone, like that?"

Shoutmon's response was nothing short of brutal: he leaned back in his chair shrugged, and spread his arms casually. "He plays guitar better, he's a better singer, he can actually get our band gigs-"

"And the real world," Better-Leith added, "Rolling Stone Magazine called us, 'the reason metal is profitable again.'"

"Leith!" Shoutmon then clarified his interruption with, "Not you. The cool one."

"Nah, he came all the way to Tokyo just for us," Better-Leith informed his counterpart, "Wanna come? Can't promise Shoutmon will be nice, but the other guys are cool. Just, uh, don't tell 'em who you are." Before the original could respond to the offer, Better-Leith turned to Veemon, the only one who had yet to say a word. "Hey, I'll be back later, K, Blueberry?"

"What did you just call-" It all made sense when Veemon smiled, took Better-Leith by the collar, pulled him closer, and planted a smooch on his lips. "...oh. You two actually... OK. Yeah, no, that's... cool for you guys. I guess." Leith's cheeks turned red as Shoutmon's when he witnessed that little exchange. His heart began to beat a bit faster. He felt the need to swallow a lump forming in his throat. Holy shit. Am I jealous?

"I mean, it's not just us. We've got a few other partners in this little love family of ours." Better-Leith seemed to take amusement from Leith's reaction. "Don't even pretend, man. You can't hide anything from me because you are me. I know exactly what you're thinking and your next question: 7 other digimon, 2 other humans."

"Uh, yeah. Every night." Somehow, Leith's cheeks found a way to become even redder. "Turns out that's what happens when you actually put yourself out there and take a risk. Who would've thought? Oh, they're not all guys, though. Couple of girls."

Better-Leith shrugged. "More options can't hurt, can they?"

Veemon giggled and turned away bashfully like a schoolgirl. "Of course you will, my little rockstar! Maybe you can get me a backstage pass?"

The young man didn't dignify that with a response. "Just- what the hell is this? How did this happen? What did I do wrong? What do you have or do or say or think or believe that I don't? How do you have this perfect life if I could have had it but don't? I mean, I guess the house is still the same, but still-"

Leith was losing it. He couldn't find any more words, so he just growled in frustration. Just after, though, Veemon's expression completely changed. When he called out, "Leith!" urgently, he seemed to look panicked for no reason at all. Also notable, he was looking at the original Leith. "Leith, wake up!"

"I said wake up!" The sound of Veemon's voice finally got Leith to jolt awake in his bedroom - alone, at least save for Veemon, Shoutmon, and... whatever it was Shoutmon was hitting over and over with his mic stand.

"You think you're tough picking on a sleeping kid? Huh? Ya feel tough now?" Shoutmon said as he gave some lump on the floor another few good whacks. The lump was hard to identify, but as Leith warily arose from bed and hit the lights he found the little pillow-digimon lying on the floor, whining and whimpering each time Shoutmon beat her yet again.

"Jesus, Shoutmon, ever heard the term 'minimum necessary force?'" the Tamer had to scold the little red digimon. Uncomfortably, he looked away from watching Shoutmon beat the little lump senseless.

"Hmph." Shoutmon gave Pillomon one more good kick before he growled, "Don't come back unless you want more of the same!" Shoutmon then picked the little pillow digimon up and threw it out of the open window it came in from. "No need to thank me. Leith was talking so much in his sleep I had to do something."

"Well... thanks anyway." It was only when the boy lay back down he realized, "Wait, I was talking in my sleep? And uh... Veemon, did you hear-?"

"-Yep." Leith and Veemon simultaneously broke eye contact and stared in different directions while blushing, each seemingly waiting for the other to make the next move.

Leith knew he had to be the one to break the silence, else it'd never break. So, when he and Veemon only made eye contact out of the corners of their eyes, Leith tried to ask, "So... what do you thi-?"

So, as an alternative, Veemon smiled sheepishly and inclined his head toward the bedroom's door, then mouthed the words, 'Let's talk outside.' Leith, feeling those butterflies in his stomach multiplying by the second, gulped and followed behind the little blue digimon.

Word count: 1,374