[Valentine Event] Satisfying Curiosity [Nik/Alan]

In spite of the snow and the wind chill, Alan Pantell would take an unnaturally long to walk from the Trailmon station to the Snowflake Inn. At the very least, he was far better dressed for the weather than he was his first time here. Every minute or so he would stop in his tracks and shut his eyes tightly. After opening them, he would proceed to either continue walking forward or pace back and forth before continuing to walk forward. When he would squeeze his arms around himself, the young man wouldn't be clutching a small Veemon in his arms. This stood out to him. Additionally, it stood out to him that it stood out to him, as he realized this is the kind of thing he had gotten used to!

But no, Levi was not by his side that night. He was out on a date of his own. In a way, this should have given Alan confidence - he had seen how quickly that romance had started. It became clear that "should" doesn't cut it. He was anxious as all heck. He needed to just get out of this cold already.

He stepped through the doors of the lobby into the warm light, purposefully looking at and walking towards the nearest wall, to get his bearings. Not while looking as if he was purposefully looking away from something, of course. He stood near the wall, rubbing his hands together to warm up, taking off his gloves, orange winter jacket and black fleece, revealing a warm, modest, long-sleeved red shirt underneath. Next, he tried to gently peel off his grey hat, but as usual, it messed up his dark blonde hair. Luckily, he always kept it rather short, so he was able to pat it down enough to make it look neat, save for the spot of a few cowlicks on the front. He always considered those to be well-placed - even cute, dare he say. He dusted some of the excess still-frozen snow off of his dark blue jeans. He tightened his belt a little, made sure all his various gadgets were still where they were supposed to be on his person, adjusted his glasses, and prepared to turn around.

First, he took a moment to remember what Levi had said to him just before he left for the evening. "You'll do great. You're a wonderful person," he said. He even gave him a kiss on the cheek. Remembering that moment could be likened to putting on a makeup of sorts. It was most likely blush. Finally, Alan gathered his courage, and casually turned to look around, as if looking up from his phone. He gazed across into the dining area, wondering if his blind date happened to be the gentleman nervously eyeing the entrance to the inn. He began to slowly walk over, chuckling at himself.

Heh. Dating. If I still lived in the human world, I'd wouldn't DARE call myself the type. That's what's so good about here, I guess.

"Excuse me," he began, approaching the young man sitting alone at a table for two. Levi had taught him, the first time the tamer and partner had come to this inn, not to be afraid to ask people if they want someone to talk to. Chances are, most of the time, they do. And if not, they say so, you move on. Even so... he still couldn't quite bring himself to ask the question as he meant it.

"...are you... waiting for someone?" He rubbed the back of his head with one hand, offering a good-humored smile.

Alan nodded, clearly and concisely. "Yep! That's me. I'm Alan Pantell. And... yes. I believe he did. Ehehe…" The young man might have been intimidated by the size of his blind date, but he noticed something. Nik was bigger than him by far, and yet both of them seemed equally as nervous about this. Plus, he said his partner set him up on this date. Could it be possible, that Nik, too, had a partner that tended to act as a "social coach" of sorts? "Is your partner here, by the way? Mine couldn't come, he and his boyfriend already had something planned." He looked down a bit wistfully as he said that, likely making it clear just how much he valued his digimon partner, but then he turned his head back up with a smile to eagerly shake Nik's hand. "It's so nice to meet you!" You know, now that he... really... got a... good look... at Nik... it really was nice to meet him. He immediately struck Alan as the type it was hard to be sad around, and the currently partnerless tamer hoped that would indeed be the case throughout the night. Not to mention, well... he was pretty cute, too.

Alan looked over at Nik's partner when he was pointed out, and stopped himself from audibly squee-ing. It was an adorable sight. It was times like this that he wished that he could still take pictures and have people in the human world see them. It seemed to be something the internet would appreciate, whether it believed what it saw or not. However, either way, he wasn't about to try and take pictures of someone without permission. He accepted Nik's offer to sit down at the table. "Ah, I don't mind the leg space."

The tamer's eye's widened as Nik made his order. "Oooh, I could go for some of those right now. I'll have the same. So anyway, your partner's a bassist? That's interesting. I'm a drummer. Well, I'm not... in anything at the moment, but I played drums for Haunted Threnody for a bit, if you're, uh aware of them. Do you play any instruments yourself?"

Alan thought for a little bit about how exactly to answer Nik's question. When he says "kind," what does he mean? He supposed he'd simply start describing. "My partner is a Veemon! His name's Levi. He's... super nice, and incredibly supportive. When I first met him... I was... how to say this... a walking self-esteem issue. If it weren't for him, I definitely wouldn't have been able to do something like this... to go on a blind date... heh, let alone just talk like this when I did. Hmm. So, how about your partner? What's he like?" He gestured his head towards the Grizzlymon bassist, who seemed to still be looking at him from earlier.

"Oh, of course you can hear me play sometime! Once I find another chance to play on a kit. I don't really get that opportunity very often at the moment. And no worries about your English! I understand you just fine!" Alan also found Nik's speech pleasant to listen to, but that seemed like a strange thing to compliment first, so he kept it to himself for now.

"Aw, thanks! Don't worry, I wasn't kicked out or anything. We agreed the chemistry wasn't there. Doesn't mean I don't still wish I could become better friends with them and try again, or at least the first part, but anyway!" He chucked. "No, I'm not familiar with the Haka. I'm always happy to learn something new, though, if you care to tell me about it!"

Alan was taken slightly off-guard when Nik began describing how he first met Brad. Weirdly enough, it wasn't something he often thought to ask other Tamers. He couldn't imagine why. Had he gotten the impression that people considered it a private matter? Well, in Nik's case, it was clearly nothing to be ashamed of. Alan leaned forward in interest, uttering silent "aww"s at the other young man's short story. Something had caught his ear, two things really, but he saved them until afterwards.

"Aww! That's adorable! But, uh, two questions: how do you know you missed signs in the first place if you missed them? Sorry, three questions: What were those signs? Last question: He digivolved into a... champion the moment you touched? O-oh, don't get the wrong idea; this isn't about disbelief! I-I just wanna know... Levi and I had a lot harder of a time getting him to champion, but, now, well, now that I know what his champion form looks like, I'm pretty glad that one wasn't spontaneous. Eheh. I really wanna know about those 'signs.' If there were signs, if- if there were supposed to be signs, signs before you two met... how did I miss them? How did Levi miss them? How did we find each other, spend nine days together, and still miss the signs?" Alan touched his hand to his face. His hand met with a single tear that had escaped. He let out a quiet gasp, and wiped it away. "I-I'm sorry. F-for... uh... for losing my composure."

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

"It was... strange, for us. It was like, I dunno… almost like lag, or a glitch, or... I dunno. The point is, we met and it was awkward. I found my digivice a day later, but it wouldn't turn on or do anything. Eight awkward days passed. We tried going to the digital world for the first time. We had a falling out before the Trailmon even left the station. We split up the moment we arrived in Terminus. The digivice turned on for the first time to show me my balance when I was doing some light shopping in the digital world for the first time. Only then did my digivice start guiding me to him. We found him in a bar in Old Terminus. A human doctor - according to Levi her name was Cassandra Cross -  had patched him up after he got assaulted by a few thugs shortly after we split up. He started sobbing the moment he saw me. I talked to him for a while. Then we hugged. And that part was nice. After that, I reckon we were about as tight as you two, so that leaves me confused: what the heck were those first nine days? Aw, man... I always claim I don't want to talk about it, then blurt out the entire story, we-we're supposed to be on a date... I'm not even talking to you, I 'm talking at you, and this... this is why I like having Levi along. He keeps me from getting stuck in my own head. Urgh. Need I remind myself we're supposed to be on a date? That's good to hear, though. I'm glad it worked out so well for you two."

Alan wasn't ever sure what the drinking age was anywhere in America, so he didn't do much more than stutter a bit in his thoughts when Nik ordered a pot of beer. Meanwhile, Alan asked for a glass of water, specifying that there should not be a slice of lemon on the glass.

"I can understand that. I've never had an alcoholic drink before, but to hear other people speak of it, sometimes I suspect I need an 'icebreaker' too. I... probably won't ever start, though. As for me, as a little kid, I always got a stomachache, every time I went out to a restaurant. Eventually I figured out that that was because I always ordered milk, and always drank it too fast. So now, even if I order something else, I mostly just get water."

Alan indeed tried to picture Brad doing a war dance, and he pictured him doing so on a field with all of the other players being human. Of course, he didn't do too much in picturing the field itself. He was somewhat ashamed to admit he wasn't entirely sure what rugby was, apart from hearing American Football jokingly referred to in a fashion that seemed to imply it was some kind of toned-down version of rugby.

---

"Ah!"

Alan felt Nik touch his arm.

Trauma? Really? Am I traumatized?

He looked around at his surroundings. The lighting was warm and pleasant. The dining area was cozy. It was quiet, save for the music playing. The music was relaxing, too.

"Oh, uh... thank you. I mean, for snapping me out of it. It's- it's fine. I'm sorry, too. I should... probably start using a stock response to replace that story, like, 'we had a rough first week or so,' eheheh. That... that sounds nice. Let's talk about that, instead." A spark of happiness lit in his heart when the food arrived. "The pork ribs should help a lot. Oh yeah, and the vegetables, too!" He chewed some of the meat with his head back and his eyes closed. "Mmm! Divine... and not in the Luminas sense, in the good sense. Very good, I should have said." He hadn't ever been to Luminas, as he had been instructed not to go there by Levi's rescuers, and someone in a different, less seedy bar also didn't seem to think too highly of it, so he figured it was a safe joke to make. Unless Luminas happened to be so bad it was a touchy subject, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Other interests... well, even in the digital world, I still value my video games, but I've found, now that I live in this world, I spent a lot more time just... exploring. Wandering around. I don't go outside of the established settlements without accompaniment, though. We're pretty cautious, but even where we allow ourselves to go, there's just... so much to see. And so many interesting people to meet. The first time we came to this inn, we met a digimon… I don't think she told us her species, but her name was Cion, and we became good friends. Turns out she leads something called the ASCIENSION Project. Trying to make some kinda utopia, they say. I was turned off by the wording, so I didn't join, but as it turned out, we had already met 80% of that project's members by chance without so much as knowing it existed. This included all five other members of Haunted Threnody. Not a single peep. Started wondering if we'd be approached on the basis of being in the band, but then we realized we'd technically already been asked. This isn't going anywhere, it's just funny is all. The point is, social interaction is a much better pastime for me than it used to be."

Once Alan was finished speaking, he looked down and remembered that he should eat his food before it got cold. It'd be a shame to let those delicious ribs go to waste. He took another bite and savored it, kindly making sure to swallow it and put the rib down before asking saying anything else to Nik. "But that's enough out of me. I wanna know more about you!" He smiled and leaned forward slightly. "So, you mentioned earlier you played rugby. You still do that now?" Alan happily continued eating his meal as he listened to what Nik had to say, making sure to make eye contact and a gentle smile when he wasn't taking a bite.

It came as a mild surprise to Alan that Brad had approached the table. He had been wrapped up enough in the conversation with Nik that he hadn't noticed the large bear leaving his seat. It appeared that Brad was someone else who knew Cion. There was a skeptical part of Alan that wanted to ask if being on "good terms" with Cion was a bad thing, if Brad knew something about her that Levi and he didn't. However, Alan pushed those worries aside easily. "Yeah, we're good friends! We get together ever so often to work together on some of the community service-type jobs around Rosewood Town."

Ah, yes... Alan should have been eating more of this right from the start. The ribs and vegetables were still quite warm, and the taste, the texture, the feeling of it all soothed his mind and body. The atmosphere was finally getting to him again. This was a good thing. The young man was happy to be learning more about his date. The smile on his face grew when Nik began to describe his experiences with high school literature club. He remained focused on the conversation, though every now and again he would entertain the little images Nik's stories would put in his mind. Nik sitting there in the literature club, in a place where he could participate in something that made him truly happy... cuddling up his partner and reading a book to him... Alan wouldn't have minded Nik reading to him in such a fashion... but he was getting ahead of himself. He liked hearing Nik talk was all. "Aw, that's sweet!" Alan remarked.

The young man, now completely relaxed, was glad that Brad was happy with his answer. "That's great to hear! Oh, and it's very nice to meet you, Brad! I'm Alan! My partner Levi isn't here at the moment, but I'd love for the both of you to meet him some time!"

Brad's blush in response to Nik's vigorous petting was so adorable that Alan blushed a bit, too. Mainly because it made him want to ask if he could pet Brad as well, but he was too shy for the moment. Next, Brad said he just wanted to come over to say hello. "Well, I'm glad you did," Alan responded, "so don't worry about 'interrupting!' I don't wanna keep you from your band for too long, though, 'specially since we'll get more chances to talk later. Great job on bass so far, by the way! You sound amazing! And the rest of the band does, too!"

Alan turned back to Nik. "I think it's really cool that you've fit in by finding something you love to do! I need to read more myself... Maybe you could recommend me some books some time? It's been a while since I've found something I've wanted to just... sit down with and read, y'know?"