Disclaimer: Digimon is not mine. There, I said it. :)
Author’s Note: I wrote this on a sugar rush, so please forgive me. No flames please.

“Ask her out.”

“No”

“Ask her out!” Henry said with a little more force.

“No.” replied Takato yet again stubbornly.

“Takato. Ask. Her. Out!” Henry ground out in a whisper.

Takato opened his mouth to protest again only to stop short as Jeri walked by, her smile warm, sweet and carefree, wiggling her fingers at him and Henry who were sitting at a table near the trees eating lunch. Henry merely waved back, trying to suppress his grin at the sight of his friend’s cheeks turning pink as they always do when Jeri is around.

“Hi Henry.” She said to him, then turned to Takato with a more gracious smile. “Hi Takato.”

The light brunette’s face spread into a tiny grin and waved back at her. “Hi Jeri.” He murmured, blushing, watching her with his eyes as she went her way to her girlfriends’ table. Henry was getting a real kick out of watching Takato even though it irritated him as well that he refused to admit that he liked Jeri even if it was so obvious to the world that his denies were laughable.

The silver-eyed boy threw a fry at Takato to get back his attention and his grin grew at his startled expression.

“Hey! Wha-”

“Ask her out.” Henry started again.

Takato was taken aback by the command and once again shook his head. “No.”

Henry groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Takato, for the love of God, please ask her out!”

“No, I don’t think I’m ready.” He replied as he tried to eat his meal.

“You are so ready, Takato. Now ask her out.” Henry commanded again determined to push his friend in taking the first step.

Takato put his fork down and glared at his friend. “What makes you think I want to ask Jeri out?” He asked.

'Now there’s a dumb question' Henry chuckled to himself. “Because all I have to do is say her name and you’ll blush.” He replied.

“Nuh-uh!”

A fine dark-blue eyebrow arched. “Jeri.” He said slowly, enunciating the name.

Sure enough a fine pink blush spread over Takato’s cheeks and he stopped glaring and instead covered his face with his hands. “You suck.” Came the muffled reply.

“Yes, I do. Now ask her out.” Henry commanded again before taking a sip of his soda.

Takato sighed, not saying no to the command and instead began to think. It’s been a year long that he has known Jeri. A year of blushing and stumbling and stammering. In reality he did want to ask her out, but he just couldn’t fine the nerve to do so. They’ve always been friends, Jeri and he, and he worried about ruining it, or worse, being rejected, yet the idea of her going out with someone else bothered him deeply.

Henry waited patiently, wondering if he was finally going to give in. “Takato?” He called softly, curiously.

“No.” Came the final answer, muffled under his hands.

“Man, Takato, you are stubborn.” Henry sighed, then he decided to move to Plan B. “Fine, you leave me no choice.” And he got out of his seat and disappeared into the crowd. Takato looked up in time to see his friend leave and he frowned curiously, fearful of what Henry might be doing.

Suddenly his eyes finally spotted Henry’s dark blue hair and with great horror realized that he was standing next to Jeri, talking to her in earnest.

'Oh God! He’s telling her how I feel!! No! Henry would never do that! Oh but then what the heck is he doing over there!! Why is she nodding?? Why is he nodding?? Why did he just hug her?! He shouldn’t hug her!! Well at least it was brief. Oh good, he’s coming back….but I don’t like that smile on his face….' Takato thought to himself, his emotions all a jumble in his head as Henry, with a triumphant look on his face, returned to their table and sat down with a content sigh.

“Okay, I’ll leave you alone now.” He said simply before going back to his lunch, a look of pure mischief in his gray eyes.

“What? What happened?? What did you two talk about??” Takato asked squirming on the bench. “Come on, tell me!”

Henry merely shrugged. “Oh nothing….Except I’m taking Jeri on her first date. Pretty neat, huh?” He replied casually.

“WHAT!!” Takato cried out before he fell off the bench and hit the pavement.

TBC….