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Takuma paced around the corridor restlessly. Any other day, at any other place, he wouldn't be able to lift a finger with all the tiredness in his body— but being in this strange world, in this decrepit school, really gave him goosebumps. It had been rough today, with that of tracking down Shuuji and Saki and… losing the Professor… Plus whatever happened to Fangmon. Takuma's nerves were more than a little rattled. It was funny, when they arrived back at the school, he felt he couldn't keep his eyes open, but when he tried to nap his heart was beating like crazy; now he couldn't stay still. Agumon has been acting like his little shadow, going back and forth with him.
Out of the blue, the wooden stairs started creaking. Takuma and Agumon looked at each other. It was likely one of the others, but they couldn't be sure there weren't any spiders lingering behind or something like that. Takuma nodded to Agumon, who seemed to understand him perfectly and took position in the opposite flank of the stairs to the one Takuma had taken. They waited with bated breath.
"Hey, Falcomon, riddle me this: Why does the owl go whoo when you look at them?"
"I'm afraid I do not know of the wisdom you speak of."
Minoru belly laughed. "Man, I have a lot to teach you!"
Takuma could breathe again. They wouldn't have to push anyone down the stairs today.
"What do we have here?" Minoru finally got to the second floor. "A surprise party? You shouldn't have!"
Sure, they could go with that.
"Something like that."
Minoru chuckled and rested his arm over his shoulders. "Takuma, I knew you were a prankster at heart!"
"I was actually worried an enemy would show up." Agumon covered his mouth with a claw. "Didn't know we were doing this prankster thing."
"Then allow me to demonstrate!" Minoru petted his head. "This is a school, after all. Class is in session."
"Class?"
Oh boy. Agumon didn't even seem to have a good grasp of what a school was. Explaining could be kind of a bother, but he supposed it couldn't be helped.
"It's—It's like when someone teaches you something."
That seemed simple enough for Agumon to understand.
"Oh, like right now, with you explaining things to me?"
Sure…
Takuma nodded.
"Anyway, Minoru, what do you have in mind?"
Minoru scratched his chin in faux thoughtfulness, doing his best to sound deep: "Let's see, my dear pupils, we got limited material to work with here so…" He smirked. "What about chalk balloons?"
"Chalk balloons? Where are we even gonna get the balloons?"
Minoru wiggled his eyebrows. "I gotcha covered, man." He dug a fistful from his shorts pockets, dangling them triumphantly. A few fell to the ground. "Oops, three seconds rule!"
"Errr… Put those away before you keep dropping them. Do you always carry them or what?"
Minoru scooped the balloons off the ground and stuffed them in the same pocket… It'll probably be fine.
"Yeup! Balloons are a very versatile weapon in your arsenal! You can get water balloons, do the static trick, pop them for a scare. Really, you can get a lot of mileage out of them!"
Minoru's commitment to the bit was impressive. Agumon and Falcomon seemed to be thoroughly entertained by it, at least.
“Ok, what now?”
“Hmm… Well, we need to search for some chalk and a ruler. We grind it to dust in a desk and fill the balloons. Simple, right?”
Right. What the target would be worried Takuma a bit, something like throwing them at the cafeteria window from outside to surprise them seemed ok, but hitting them directly with chalk right now could be a little more complicated. He had the feeling Ryo would straight up punch them if they targeted him. Well, he'd save discussing the details for later. For now, it was harmless fun.
The boys chose a random classroom to look for a metal ruler and chalk.
"How do you even come up with this stuff?" Takuma asked as he settled on a desk. Minoru was dragging a chair to sit backwards on it while he used Takuma's desk to work.
Minoru flashed him a smile. "My cousins taught me. Those two were always a riot in family meetings."
"Sounds fun." Takuma watched him crush the chalk with the edge of the ruler like he was chopping something up with a knife. It looked like he did this kinda thing a lot. "Can't imagine all the things you guys got up to."
Minoru laughed. "Got a lot of good stories, for sure. Those were good times."
"Haven't seen them in a while, huh?"
Minoru shrugged. "They're like five and seven years older than me. They're busy with college stuff, I guess. That uncle was my dad's older brother, too."
He was getting uncharacteristically gloomy talking about it, so Takuma decided not to press any further. They were supposed to have fun with this, after all.
"Pass me one of the balloons to start filling them ."
"Oh, you gotta stretch them out first so they're easier to pop."
That made sense. It's how you made water balloons too. Takuma started inflating one. Agumon's eyes practically glistened at the sight.
"Me too, me too!"
It turned out that having long claws and a wide dino mouth full of fangs wasn't too conducive to inflating balloons, though. Takuma tried holding them for Agumon and positioning them in his mouth, but all it amounted to was Agumon spitting a lot. Falcomon didn't fare much better. It was kind of cute watching their strong partners struggle with something they took for granted. It was cackling Minoru up pretty hard, judging by how he couldn't stop laughing while taking some shaky videos of the ordeal. Takuma himself was also giggling, his anxiety long forgotten.
Once they got a handful stretched, Minoru started to fill them. Unlike water balloons, you still had to blow them to finish the thing. Minoru got to it expertly, and passed Takuma one to start with. However, Minoru neglected to tell him something very important… Takuma exhaled a long breath into the balloon, but as he was drawing more air, all the chalk suddenly blew in his face, getting up his nostrils and mouth. Minoru broke out into an endless guffaw. Geez, when Takuma was thinking about who their target should be, he didn't mean to volunteer himself!
"Takuma, are you okay?!" Agumon panicked.
"Such terrifying weapons," Falcomon mused while Takuma and Minoru were out of breath, for two very different reasons. "Minoru, this was your doing! Be considerate and help Takuma!"
Minoru wiped some tears out of his eyes. "Gotcha, gotcha."
He grabbed his water bottle and practically showered Takuma's face with it. It kind of worked, Takuma supposed. Minoru patted him in the back.
"Sorry, dude. Should've told ya about having a tight grip on the air flow." He laughed some more.
Takuma sighed. Sometimes the prankster becomes the pranked. He spent a good part of the afternoon still sneezing, as if in penitence.