Author's Note: I am so sorry about the lack of update! You can read my profile for my excuse, if you're interested in my extremely boring life, lol. Thank you for your patience!

This is somewhat of a side chapter. I don't necessarily want to call it a filler because it should still be read for the story to make sense, but it also isn't a "main" chapter... hope that isn't too confusing, lol. I hope you enjoy and would consider leaving a review!

SKYLINE

– Before Winter –

Koushiro Izumi, or "Izzy" as many would grow to calling him after catching onto Tai Kamiya's nickname for him, was, to say the least, a smart guy. "Smart" was really rather an understatement at the insistence of numerous people, but he was humble and always found it difficult to accept such compliments – or any expressions of praise, admittedly. He wasn't like Joe, naturally intelligent and passionate enough to endure the medical field without pressure holding him back. He wasn't like Tai, innately funny and particularly charming with people, a weakness of his own. Hell, he felt he could barely compare himself to Davis, who was indubitably a goofball but loved by all.

Often, Izzy acknowledged it was as though he blended in with the background, and he didn't mind at all. He was keen to liking the idea that he was more of a behind-the-scenes type of guy, and didn't like attention all that much. He much preferred to hide in his own insecurities, rather than have people try to fix them. Most people couldn't look past his "smart guy" persona anyway, and would often overlook that he had many flaws of his own.

It couldn't be helped.

Still, in times like these, sometimes he wish he was a blend of Joe, Tai, and Davis, and whoever else, because he didn't know what to do. It wasn't like he could research this type of thing on the Internet. A socially inept person such as himself would have to succumb to doing what he didn't do best – communicate verbally with his peers. Well, with one peer in particular – a hard-headed Tai who wasn't giving him any hints or clues as to what was going on.

Izzy sat awkwardly on the couch, hands folded politely on his lap, eyes tracing back and forth as he observed Tai pacing the living room as he spoke almost frantically into his phone.

Based on his examinations of the scenes leading up to this moment after he had first woken up, Izzy had deduced to several things:

1. Sora had been in town, which he found strange because Tai would often tell Izzy ahead of time if he knew she was coming to visit from Kyoto. Over the years, Izzy had found himself too busy to socialize much with the Digidestined, especially since Izzy was graduating a year earlier than most his age, but Tai would usually update him on what Sora and the others had been up to, since Tai would be the one to hang out with them whenever they visited. Not only had Sora been in Tokyo, but Izzy concluded she had spent the night at their flat. What had, had happened between Tai and Sora last night led him to believe that,

2. Catherine found out what happened between Tai and Sora last night, and even Izzy could pick up the social cues that Catherine sounded pissed. Tai and Catherine hadn't been dating long, but Izzy, who had been single all his life, could only assume that having another girl spend the night, especially with someone who was as close to Tai as Sora, was not the wisest idea. Izzy never gave Tai dating Catherine much thought. He never thought they'd last, but perhaps he had underestimated their relationship. After all, at one point it seemed as though Tai was bringing home a new girl every other week.

And 3. Now Tai was trying to make up to Catherine for whatever happened last night.

What did happen last night?, Izzy wondered. He paused before finishing the thought. Maybe he didn't want to know.

Still, it wasn't like Tai to cheat on a girlfriend. Tai had always been a genuine person – maybe stupid at times, and always irrational, but he'd never intentionally hurt someone. It just wasn't in his character.

"She's my best friend," Izzy heard Tai say firmly into the phone.

Izzy was only half-listening, partially because he was lost in his own thoughts, and also because he didn't want to be too nosy.

To think that Tai and Sora had hooked up, though, wasn't a surprise to Izzy. In fact, he could only wonder what took so long, and why it hadn't happened sooner. Izzy didn't know anything about relationships, but even he could see there was undeniable chemistry between the two, even if they did often bicker because of Tai's naivety and Sora's stubbornness. Even when Sora had moved to Kyoto to live with her father to attend college, Tai still spoke highly of her to this day.

He supposed that if Tai did ever cheat – which he still couldn't bring himself to believe – it would be with Sora. There just couldn't have been anyone else who would make Tai succumb to doing such a thing. Then again, he also couldn't imagine Sora to be the culprit behind an affair either. She, too, didn't have it in her character. None of the events unfolding before him made sense. Izzy silently nodded to himself, furrowing his brow, mentally noting that the complications of relationships may be a thing that better remained a mystery to him and not to be a part of. In fact, he believed he'd rather be facing an evil Digimon than the wrath of an angry girlfriend.

"I'm sorry I didn't pick up your calls, but–" he heard Tai say, and was cut off when Tai nearly slammed the door of his room shut behind him. He hadn't noticed that Tai had even left the living room in the first place.

Izzy sat awkwardly on the couch, hearing the tick, tick, ticks of the clock as the walls muffled out Tai's conversation.

He slowly stood up, ambling over to the hallway, and paused before stepping into his own room. He could hear Tai still speaking almost quietly, and gently.

"He'll be fine," Izzy said to himself aloud, attempting to reassure himself. He stepped inside his room and placed his hand on the edge of the door, hesitating to close it, and he didn't know why.

Izzy had attempted to study for his upcoming courses, but found it hard to concentrate even after several hours, a first for him in a long time. He could still hear Tai speaking on the phone from across the hallway, and he couldn't tell if he was arguing or speaking normally. Tai had always been an easy person to read; it didn't take a genius to figure if Tai was happy or sad. With the way this was going, Izzy simply could not figure out if his phone call with Catherine was going well. It was just strange to him that Tai could stay on the phone with someone for that long; Izzy couldn't stand being on the phone for one minute.

He jumped, startled, when his own phone sitting next to his laptop suddenly started ringing, playing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, a ringtone he hadn't heard in ages because Izzy would almost never get phone calls, save for the occasional check-ups from his parents, or people who would accidentally buttdial him (more often than not it was usually Tai).

He reached over, raising an eyebrow at the caller ID. Sora Takenouchi.

Perhaps she had rung the wrong person. Although hesitant initially, he picked up the phone, ready to hang up again in the event that he was correct.

"Erm, hello?" he stammered.

"Hi, Izzy!"

He was wrong.

"Hello, Sora," Izzy responded, surprised. He lifted a hand up to his hair to scratch his head in confusion.

"Hi, Izzy," she repeated in the same cheerful tone. Despite the sincerity in her voice, he couldn't help but feel curious, and even, to a slight degree, suspicious of her motives.

There was a pause. Izzy pursed his lips, unsure of how to respond.

"How are you?" she asked, voice nearly croaking. He was certain she felt the same way, even though she was the one who called him.

"I'm doing fine, Sora. I haven't heard from you. How are you?"

"Good, good."

Izzy wished she would get to the point – there must be a reason why she was calling. She never called him just to ask how he was doing – that was often something she'd do with Tai.

"Er, is there something you need help with?" Izzy asked. Usually when people rung him up it was less about how Izzy was doing and more of a computer-related question that required assistance. He had grown accustomed to it, to the point where he nearly expected it every time he received a phone call. Still, Izzy wasn't naive enough to believe that Sora, all of a sudden upon returning home to Kyoto, had an inquiry regarding her computer at these early hours in the morning, and so he added, "Uh, were you trying to reach Tai? Do you want me to get him for you?"

"No!" Sora said quickly in a tone a tad higher than normal, almost with the sense of urgency. She lowered her voice, "Um, I mean, no, thank you. I wanted to talk to you, actually."

"You did?" he inquired, confused. "Are you sure?"

She laughed in response. "Yes, I'm sure! I, er, actually stopped by your place last night after I hung out with Tai."

Izzy wasn't certain if he should tell her that he was already aware of the fact, although either way all he could muster out was an, "Oh?"

"Yeah, I would have loved to say hello, but you had already fallen asleep. You're a deep sleeper, Izzy! With how loudly Tai was speaking, you'd think he was talking to someone who was hard of hearing."

He let out an exasperated sigh, clearly no stranger to the notoriously, and quite frankly obnoxiously, noisy Tai. Whether he was sad, happy, surprised, angry, you name it – Tai never learned how to express his emotions in a tone appropriate for the indoor setting. Much like a child, Izzy thought to himself. He raised his head, perking up his ears. Through the layers of walls, he could still hear Tai speaking on the phone, yet was still unable to distinguish the status of the conversation; while it didn't sound like a breakup, it didn't sound any more promising than a compromise. Suddenly, he remembered he hadn't responded to Sora, who was quiet on the other line. It would be easier if she had just texted me, thought Izzy. He said, "After living with him for several years, you get used to it."

"I can imagine," she said, chuckling quietly.

Izzy smiled too. "It's never boring with Tai around, though, I suppose."

"Oh, never," she agreed. She continued, "I just wanted to ask ... gosh, I don't know why I'm having such a difficult time just saying it! I, um, have a huge fashion show that I'll be part of this upcoming winter for my internship and was wondering if you'd come?"

Izzy waited a moment, uncertain of how to respond, and ensuring she had no further comments to add. Of all his years of living, he had never been so confused, unable to calculate the situation. Sora was asking Izzy to go to one of her events? He hadn't been invited to anything of hers since her days in tennis, and even then she'd invite the whole Digidestined gang, not just him. Was she asking him out? What in the hell did Tai do to screw up so bad that Sora would resort to asking me to go anywhere with her?, Izzy contemplated.

"As in... just me?" Izzy said slowly and cautiously.

"Oh, well, I'd actually like to invite everyone since this is my biggest project of my final year in school. It's really important to me and last night made me realize that I haven't reached out to everyone as often as I should've... Do you think Tai would want to come?"

Finally – an answer, which Izzy was desperately scrapping around his brain for. She was obviously trying to have him invite Tai on her behalf. He sighed in relief, unable to imagine what he'd have to do in the event he actually been invited on a date with Sora, let alone declining his first invitation to a date by a girl. He could never do that to Tai, despite Tai and Sora having never dated. To him, it just wouldn't feel right based on the sheer suspicion that, at some point, the two had liked each other. Perhaps that point was now. Izzy was feeling more and more at ease with the comfort of being able to calculate what the hell was going on between those two.

"Of course he would want to come. Why wouldn't he?" Izzy inquired.

"Well, I think I sort of got off the wrong foot with his girlfriend... I met her last night," she replied sheepishly. "Can you just, maybe, find out he'd be able to go without pissing off his girlfriend? Like, maybe see if it's something that wouldn't cause any conflict between them. He seemed happy with her and I'd hate to come in between them. Plus, we already both know he'll say yes if I ask. He just needs a third party to remind him he's got a girlfriend whose feelings he needs to consider. You know how slow Tai can be sometimes."

They both laughed.

"Sure, Sora," Izzy said softly. "That's considerate of you. Honestly, either way, if I mention it, Tai is going to want to go, no matter the opinion of Catherine."

She sighed. "I figured, which, don't get me wrong, makes me ecstatic, but... you know. I don't want to ruin something he's really happy with."

"They've dated for a few months. He's known you his whole life. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it means that much to you, he'll make it, but I'll talk to him."

Izzy hardly thought this conversation was needed; he believed they both knew Tai was going. Perhaps Sora just really wanted him to convince Tai to consult with his girlfriend first – an action Izzy could already foresee would not end well, and it wasn't like Tai was going to take any dating advice seriously, coming from Izzy, of all people.

"I know. I'm not worried about him not wanting to go. I'm afraid he'll go without realizing it might hurt Catherine's feelings."

"Hm. I think your concerns are quite valid when it comes to Tai's ignorance."

She chuckled in response.

"Ignorant Tai – sounds about right. Thanks, Izzy. Don't tell him about this call, okay? Just be secretive about it, if you can. Like, you know, ask him if he thinks Catherine would mind if he went to a friend's thing. Er, and that friend is me. And you and everyone else are invited too! So it isn't just him and me only."

She seemed as though she were trying to convince herself of what she was saying.

Izzy wasn't sure about the "be secretive" part, but he was willing to follow through with Sora's favor. She was just being a good friend, and he cared for both of them. It was the least he could do since the two seemed to have the most complicated of friendships, and Tai was already off to a rough start to his day.

"I hardly think he needs permission from his girlfriend to go this event of yours, but I'll try."

He smiled to himself. He really, truly did not believe Tai would care at all for Catherine's opinion when it came to this event, but he could be wrong. After all, Tai was still on the phone with her, and it seemed unrealistic for him to be on the phone for this long with someone whose opinion he supposedly would not care about... but, then again, this was Sora. Izzy decided to not think too much of it, and to just go along with Sora's request.

"You're the best, Izzy. I'll text you the details when I get them, okay? I just know it's this winter," she said excitedly. He could sense she was grinning. "I really miss you guys."

"We–" Izzy began, when suddenly his door bursted open. Tai was never one to knock. "Miss you too," Izzy finished simultaneously.

The expression on Tai's face shifted in a matter of seconds. At first, he had a flat affect, void of emotion, unclear of what he may be thinking. Then, he grinned widely, almost in a manic manner. Izzy froze.

"Oh, no, was that him?" Sora asked. Leave it to Tai to make entering a room without saying a word that obvious. "Don't tell him! Uh, I'll hang up! I'll text you!"

There was a click, indicating the end of their short and rather perplexing conversation.

"You were talking to a girl!" Tai exclaimed. He walked over to Izzy, who backed away from the approaching Tai by rolling his computer chair backward.

"It was my mother," Izzy said quickly.

"Yeah, right! You never say things like that to your mom! Who is it?! Why didn't you tell me?! Do you need girl advice?! I'm offended I didn't know about this."

Izzy panicked. He was a bad liar – no, he'd go as far as saying he was a terrible liar. Sure, he could have talked to Tai about Sora's request when he could mentally prepare for the conversation, but who the hell barges into someone's room without knocking? Oh, right, Tai, who apparently knew no boundaries.

He mentally scanned the room, as if looking for answers – not that any object in his room would actually help with the situation at hand.

"It was just a classmate," Izzy grumbled, avoiding eye contact and latching himself back onto his laptop, pretending to type away furiously. Doing this often indicated to Tai that Izzy was in do-not-disturb-me-I'm-doing-tech-things mode.

Tai didn't get the hint this time around.

"So now it's a classmate? That you miss?!" Tai said excitedly. He flopped onto the edge of Izzy's bed, resting his elbows on his knees and cupping his face with his hands, as if Izzy was now the most interesting person in the world. Sometimes, it was hard to tell if Tai was the living, carbon copy of a male Mimi, with their love for being nosy and all.

Like many times in the past, Izzy was asking himself why he had chosen to live with Tai, of all people.

"You're being annoying," Izzy said flatly.

"If I'm not being annoying about your dating life, are we really friends?" Tai countered.

Izzy continued to fixate his gaze on his computer screen, typing meaningless, nonsensical words into a random program application he had opened.

"Is it someone I know?"

"No."

"It is!"

"No."

"Is it Mimi? No, it can't be Mimi – she's way out of your league. No offense. She's out of my league, too, don't worry."

"I won't."

"It's obviously not Kari or Yolei; they're taken... Plus you'd need my approval first even if it was Kari... Maybe it is someone I don't know..."

"You're right. You'll never guess," Izzy said nonchalantly. Good lord, he'll never give up, Izzy thought, quickly mentally calculating the possible answers he could give Tai so he could leave him alone.

"So it is someone I know!" Tai smirked. Izzy pursed his lips. Was he really just the bad at lying, or was Tai just messing with him?

"It's nothing, Tai. Nothing as solid as you and Catherine."

Tai scoffed, but made no further comment.

Ah, so that was able to shut him up. However, Izzy was unsure what this meant for Tai's relationship with Catherine. Perhaps they had broken up? If that was any indication, then Tai would be able to go to Sora's show with nothing – or, rather, no one – to worry about.

"Girls are complicated," Tai said simply.

"I take things did not go well with that phone call earlier this morning?"

Tai didn't answer. Izzy peered at him at the corner of his eye, and realized Tai had looked solemn again. Talk about bipolar.

"I don't know," Tai finally replied sheepishly. "That's all I can say. Heh."

"What happened?"

Groaning, Tai, fell backwards onto Izzy's bed, placing his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "I'll explain later. I'm too mentally exhausted to even be able to process what's happened in the last twenty-four hours."

"Are you happy with her?" Izzy asked suddenly.

It was strange, as the two of them never spoke of either of their love lives ... openly? Tai had never been in a relationship long enough to warrant such a topic, and Izzy had never come close to anything more than a friendly conversation with the opposite sex. The closest thing they had to such a conversation was when Matt and Sora first started dating, which Tai was initially unhappy about. Hell, Izzy, to this day, still wasn't sure if Tai was ever able to accept they had dated.

Izzy hadn't intended to follow through with Sora's favor today, but he sensed he and Tai would never have the opportunity to really discuss how he felt in his current relationship. Might as well get it over with.

"Well... yeah..." Tai stated in pauses.

"You don't sound certain."

"I mean, we haven't been dating long. Maybe you could give me some advice since it seems like you've got a girl you haven't told me about," Tai joked.

"I'm really not dating anyone," Izzy said, rolling his eyes. "Well, if it's any case, I think you'll be fine. You seem to always get yourself out of jams... like you used to with Sora," he added carefully, hoping to ease his way into bringing up Sora's fashion show as casually as possible.

Tai chuckled softly. "Well, Sora's Sora," he said, without further explanation.

"And that's different from Catherine being Catherine?"

"Totally different."

"Good different?"

"...No."

"Oh."

"Izzy, get yourself a girl who'll get ice cream with you in the middle of the night, okay?"

He had no idea what Tai was talking about, but he sensed he wasn't referring to a girlfriend like Catherine. He knew all too well from Tai's many complaints that Catherine hated sweets.

On the other hand, there was only one other girl Tai could have been referring to, if he were referencing anyone at all.

Izzy gulped. He was just going to go for it. After all, if this show meant so much for Sora, and she wanted Tai to go so badly, shouldn't they both have the right to be happy and just go? Tai didn't even know what the hell was going on between Catherine and himself anyway – their relationship may not even last until winter. Izzy continued to convince him of these unknown predictions before saying, "I heard Sora's got a big fashion show thing this upcoming winter."

There, he said it.

"A fashion show?" Tai asked curiously, voice a tone higher. "Sora?"

"Yeah. I think we're invited. She called me about it while you were on the phone – wanted to know if we wanted to go–"

"What? Why didn't she just tell me herself?" Tai asked, immediately sitting up. He quickly paced out the door, then returned with his phone in his hand before Izzy could let out another word, fingers already tapping away at his screen. "Is she crazy?"

"Wait, shouldn't you ask Cath–" Izzy began.

"Sora? You're freaking nuts! When is it? What do you mean when's what? Your fashion show! I'm going," Tai said into the phone, ignoring Izzy, though Izzy could't tell if it was intended or not. "I'm not missing out on it!"

With that, Tai turned his heel, casually closing Izzy's door behind him, and Izzy could hear the faint sound of Tai's own bedroom door closing.

Well, I tried, Izzy thought.

The conversation was easier to have than expected, but only because of Tai's sheer impulsiveness. Izzy sighed. So much for reminding him to consider Catherine's feelings, he thought.

"Sorry, you are freaking nuts. Why wouldn't I go? You should've told me last night!" he heard Tai exclaiming.

If he had to conclude anything from today's disasters, Izzy was glad he wasn't anywhere close to being in a relationship. Izzy slouched downward from his computer chair, relieved that the hard part, for him, was over. For now. Sora won't be happy that Izzy wasn't able to tell Tai to consider Catherine's feelings.

Still, he didn't know what Sora was thinking; it was without a doubt Tai was attending the event no matter what Izzy told him – or tried to.

"It's going to be awesome!" he heard Tai exclaim across the hallway.

Izzy smiled to himself, shaking his head. He felt bad, but it couldn't be helped. He cared for Sora, and he respected her concerns for Tai's relationship, but it was obvious to Izzy that Tai cared more for her than he cared for Catherine, whether he realized it or not. Izzy believed he would be forgiven after Sora's forthcoming, inevitable scolding. Izzy was certainly no Joe, Tai, or Davis – he couldn't help but be himself, and all he hoped was that, that meant he was just being a good friend to both Tai and Sora. That's all he simply wanted to be – a good friend.

Tai's voice was now muffled, and not that he was trying to listen, but he couldn't make out what Tai was saying anymore.

This time, though, he could tell, despite the walls in between them, he could sense Tai was happy – the vibe in the apartment had lifted – and that was all it took to reaffirm that Izzy's failure to keep completely honest to Sora's request was worth it, at least for this moment.

Author's Note: Again, so sorry for the lack of update! I hope everyone is well, and I appreciate the time you've taken to get this far! Gosh, I get so nervous every time I publish a chapter for anything, haha! I felt so bad when I finally logged into FFN and read comments of when the next chapter will be up, especially since I said I predicted I'd update before the end of March - oops! Sorry the focus was mostly on Izzy this time around. Those who've read my past stuff will know I love Tai and Izzy's friendship, lol.

I hope you consider leaving a review with your thoughts! Read my profile for updates – I'll try to update it when I get better ideas of when the next chapter will be posted.

Also, off topic, I'm probably a couple months late, but have you guys watched the movie Kimi No Na Wa ("Your Name")? SO GOOD! I'm obsessed with it, to say the least. Please watch it if you haven't, lol.

Take care!