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“-So then, get this: I turn around and now there's this hole in the goddamn wall that goes through 3 rooms, and that was Boston ! I'm serious! It was like something straight out of a cartoon!"

And that was when Evan couldn't hold it in anymore. He let out a snort, failed to cover it with his fist, and began to giggle incessantly.

“ Boss ! On his ass like that? Because of a waiter ? Oh my god!" he genuinely squeaked out loud, it only got louder and higher pitched when the Terriermon in question tossed him a withering glare.

A part of him, a rather large part, felt terrible about laughing, but he just couldn't help it! The image of Boss getting tossed on his ass was just unfairly funny to him and the Digimon's reaction only made him laugh harder.

“Yeah, keep laughing Ev," Boston growled. “Rina's not the only one who knows a couple good stories about someone here."

And that was when the laughter unceremoniously fell into a pit and died. “Hey, we don't have to go there!"

Boston just nodded. “I think we do. Rina, did you ever hear about that Ship of Theseus incident? I think I remember it was in a couple of newspapers, in fact!"

Evan groaned and covered his face. He tried to distract himself from Boston's story by focusing on his surroundings instead.

It was a rather charming house at least: the walls were a nicely muted shade of pink. The flooring was wood and there was a nice accent of off-white with the baseboards. The furniture and appliances were even Victorian-styled. It all felt exceedingly quaint and comfy.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows of course. The place was cramped , too. The roof felt like it could rest on his shoulders. He barely fit into the chair that was offered to him. Even the cups and plates had to be perched in his palm or plucked between his fingers. His only saving grace was that the whole house was all one big room. He shuddered to think how he'd get around the place if it was even more closed off than it was.

Sitting in a little lopmon's house out in the digimon sticks, Evan found himself feeling about as out of place as he probably looked. He felt tall for the first time in his life, much too tall. He swore to never ask someone how the weather was up there again. Well, he never did that, but he'd stop thinking it at least.

It was all very strange to the smaller-than-average human, but he supposed it probably shouldn't be anymore.

Evan Viridian was a human in the Digital World.

“-after a couple of years, he started likening it to a new house." Wait, how long ago did the ship story end? Evan forgot how quickly Boss could talk when it was about something that interested him. It didn't feel like it happened often when it was just the two of them these days…

Boston, a terriermon, was his… bodyguard, technically. Assistant too, but only on occasion. Yet, saying it in such a detached and professional manner both felt wrong and yet all the same, sadly right at points too. What even were they to that digimon, anyways? The scientist to his bodyguard or were they friends? Science Buddies? Though at this point, brokers of embarrassing stories seemed more accurate.

He wished he could clap back more, but Boston was simply too cool. At least to him. He would never try to embarrass Boston for the hell of it! Rina, however was a completely different beast. If she wanted to share a few good stories? Well, he wouldn't be against hearing them. She had welcomed him easily and he no longer felt strange against his surroundings.

“Cute story," Rina said, completely stone-faced. “Speaking of cute stories, you never really told me how all this began, Boston. Think you even promised me you'd tell me the story in person when you got the chance."

Boston just leaned back into his seat before giving Evan a side-eye. “Well, it's not all my story to tell."

“Right. So, I had just finished up my Ecology degree at Aero University, and I guess my research was enough to turn some heads? That or they were just desperate. Let's just say they wanted people to study the digital world, and I was one of the few who put their hand up."

Rina looked ready for more. Nothing was coming. “How'd you meet?"

“Oh, well, The digital world can be a scary place for any human. I needed a guide and Boston was kind of assigned to me."

Boston took over from there, “They offered me a pile of cash and a digi device that happened to be attached to a human. It was a nice surprise when that same human happened to be Ev." He took a sip of his drink as he gathered his thoughts. “I think we hit it off rather quickly."

That was a lie and they both knew it. The first few months were a rather unpleasant experience. Evan couldn't deny that a lot of that was because of him. A new digital partner, an alien ecosystem, and all the excitement bubbling in his chest didn't help matters.

He felt it was hard on Boston too. Evan knew he wasn't the partner Boston expected. Or, in some sense, probably wanted. Boston was a very adventurous type, and he wasn't, at least back then. They made it work though, and while he was wrong about them hitting it off immediately, they did hit it off.

“You two sound like a hoot and a half," Rina said dryly. “Anything juicy or spicy ?" she asked them both.

“Um. No?"

“Well," Boston said at the same time.

“What?"

“Well."

Rina looked between them, an amused smile was finally breaking out over her face. “I sense intrigue. Spill it."

Evan looked helplessly between the two similar digimon. “I know nothing," he said.

“Ev's pretty sharp."

“Pretty pretty, more like," Rina countered.

Evan went red. “ What ?"

Boston laughed. “Don't tease the poor human, he can't take it. Trust me, I've seen his breaking point."

"Oh!" Rina perked up. "And what does this breaking point entail, Boston?"

"Well, it started when we had to take sand samples from this beach. But, what we didn't know what that this beach actually--"

“I think I'm gonna have to step outside for a moment," Evan said, getting up from his chair. The blush on his face was practically crimson. He stood up a little too fast, bonking his head against the roof of the house.

“Okay!" Rina called out in a sing-song voice. “Don't knock yourself out there, honey!" Boston gave his friend a light glare but didn't do anything further.

He sighed, “It's okay, bud, feel free to get some fresh air. Don't wander too far!"

Evan huffed a little with little more than a pout, before squeezing his way out of the house. He looked around, still feeling quite disorientated with his location.

Ember Valley was a small town, clearly modelled after a suburb on Earth. It looked similar on the surface, anyways, but the disparity was almost creepy. Some homes were smaller than his shoulders and for others he had to crane his head just to see their doors fully. Even the doorknobs were the size of his head.

His watch began to vibrate. He pressed the button without even seeing it.

“On the scenic route, Ev?" A very familiar voice came out.

“Sorry, Walt. Must have been too preoccupied to call. We made it to Boston's friend. She's quite the uh… well… interesting figure."

'Hahaha, you seem a little out of breath, Ev.'

Evan huffed out a breath, blowing some of the hair out of his face. “You couldn't believe what it's like when you've got two of them teaming up on you."

'Hey, I also work with Al and Mink. They got a bit of a doubles routine.'

“I thought they didn't like each other?"

'Oh, right, so they're dating now. Turns out they have a lot in common, like hating everything else around them. It's kinda adorable if it wasn't terrifying at the same time.'

So, Walter did get it. “How do you manage?"

'I laugh at them.'

Evan tried to picture doing that. “I'm pretty sure Boss would call me a geek if I tried that."

'Boss?'

“I mean Boston!"

There was laughter from the line. 'Sure you do, Ev. Sure you do.'

“Not you too," Evan groaned, slumping in place for a moment.

Walter kept on chuckling at him but he managed to add in, 'Well, alright, practice on me.'

“That sounds worse."

'Come on, pretend I'm Boston. Call ME Boss. I already technically am.'

“I'm going to hang up now."

'Oi-oi-oi-oi-oi! Okay, fine, fine. Let's talk about something else then. Excited to tackle Meteor Range?'

Relaxing a little at the change of topic, Evan nodded at the phone. “It's been on my mind for years, jeez. Really? Years?"

'Closer to four than three on my count.'

“Yeah?"

'I wonder what else has been on your brain for years…?'

“Walt!"

'Hahaha. I can't help it. You're too easy to mess with, you know?'

Evan grumbled something under his breath.

'If it actually bothers you, I'll stop.'

He sighed, “No, it's fine. I just wish I knew how to respond sometimes."

'Practice on me.'

“No!"

'You're already getting it.'

Evan laughed, it felt nice to laugh at himself sometimes. “I needed that. How's Earth?"

'Still Earthin' it up. There's a string of new Digimon-directed movies coming out that people are excited about, things are pretty good actually.'

“Can you send me one?"

'Illegally, sure!'

“Walt! Isn't this recorded?"

'If it was, I wouldn't let you ramble on about how sexy Boston is now would I?'

“I… I do no such thing!"

'You totally have.'

“What? When?"

'Hard to say. We were pretty drunk. I might have dreamed it, actually.'

“W…when were you drunk? This is your job, Walt!"

'Perks of workin' from home, Ev.'

“You're crazy." Evan couldn't help but laugh. “I'm glad. But why were you dreaming about us?"

'As if you don't dream about you and Boston.'

Evan groaned as Walter laughed at him. It was nice, however, and so he did not end the call even as his wandering feet pulled him into the town. They were chatting when Evan nearly walked into a digimon.

A large deputymon who blinked owlishly at him. “What'r you up to, partner?"

“Oh, uh, sorry, I just wasn't watching where I was going."

“Make sure to look both ways," the digimon replied. “Can't be having human code all over the ground, y'hear?"

“O-okay."

He tipped his hat and Evan kept on. “Sorry, I almost walked into someone."

'El o el.'

Looking around at the digital town, Evan felt a pang across his chest. “You know, Walter, I've been… I've been thinking lately."

'Yeah?'

“How likely do you think it would be for the government to extend my contract? Maybe by another 5 years? I'd settle for 3, or 2 honestly."

Walter didn't say anything for a moment. 'You're really gonna miss him, aren't you?'

Evan cringed. He didn't want him saying anything out loud. “Of course I will… and honestly? The more I've been thinking about it the more stressed I've been getting. It's not like I can take him back to Earth. You know better than me how much of a mess that whole ordeal is." It's not like he knew if he'd even want to come with him…

'Well… listen, Ev, all I know is that the moment the contract expires, they'll want you back here pronto. Honestly, you've gotten some solid data throughout the years, but I think you're looking at five to ten years before they're willing to send another set of teams. I don't even know if another Ecologist would be on the table for that, even if a guy like you with experience might be notable.'

Evan sucked in a breath and stared down at the ground. His mind was preoccupied with far-off thoughts when he blurted his next question. “Do you think a human like me could make a life over here?" There was a pause. Walter sighed.

'To be honest, you could answer that question far better than I could. I haven't even stepped one foot in there. With the way things are now, you could probably move there. Nobody would be happy about it though. Every day people worry about one of you guys turning up dead. It would be a nightmare for the digital world's public perception. All those scary stories you reported about a few of those places really didn't help matters, Ev.'

“It's not about if they'd let me live here, Walt. It's about… It's about if I could live here, you know?"

'I… I couldn't answer that for you. I just know that you probably wouldn't have me, you might lose your lab and I mean… how much work would you even get over there? Do Digimon even need ecologists?'

Evan's mind pictured Boston a few months ago. He was giving Evan a rare, bright smile. He replayed all the little moments of them. Hanging out, sassing each other, and just quietly travelling together, side by side. All these moments played out in his head, faster and faster but he hung onto each and every one. How did Boston remember these moments? Did he feel as strongly as he did?

“No, no I don't think they do, Walt…."

Neither talked for a long time, after that.

'Thanks for checking in, Ev. You'll hear from me again in a few.' The line turned dead, and Evan's wrist went slack.

He put his hands in his pockets, and just began to wonder with no real destination in mind, feeling really low at the moment.

In the Digital World though, things were never quiet enough to give you time to be sad.

He saw a Digimon couple fighting out in the streets with attacks one second, they began kissing each other out of the blue. Then they'd go back to trying to rip each other's throats out. He saw a bunch of Fresh and In-training Digimon laughing and running around on these funky-looking playgrounds.

He even saw a pickpocket try to loot two passers-by and run before getting clotheslined by the Deputymon from before. It even turned into this huge, cinematic brawl! People were sidestepping this whole thing like it was just another Tuesday!

Ev began to chuckle at himself for being so mopey.

Ah, Digimon. He found the Digital World was really, truly, nothing like Earth but not really like what he had expected either. Growing up, dreaming about it, then getting the chance to walk across the skein of reality into one not his own.

And a part of him wanted to see so much more than the time he had left to see it offered. What he did see was nothing short of incredible!

In some ways, he'd expected a world nothing like his own. Digimon were a people without question, but it was easy to forget they were born from human ingenuity… probably. The more people seemed to study that question, the more theological the question felt, rather than scientific.

Still, they carried many similar values. Clustered in communities or staying home to watch reruns. The amount of Digimon into Family Feud was truly startling.

The biggest thing that threw Evan for a loop was the disparity in a lot of places. He and Boston could travel from a bustling city not too different from New York or Sydney, then traverse through a wilds of aggressive, bestial digimon and then to a sleepy village based on the seventeenth century straight back to a city.

The different ways the Digimon lived left him feeling the ironic idea that humanity was somehow more cohesive than Digimon were.

So, he had to know more.

Much, much, much more.

He had to travel to the cities and towns, across the mountain ranges and deserts. He was safe, he was always safe. Boston packed much more of a punch than his body implied, and a human and Digimon duo brought airs of respect or at least acknowledgement of their combined strength.

Humans were rare and almost a commodity. It meant a lot of Digimon were kind to him. Unfortunately, it also meant….

“Oh my gosh, is that a human!?"

It meant Digimon had a habit of flocking towards him. Some were curious, many wanted to 'pair' with him. Boston had no end of joking about what that would entail.

“Human, over here!"

“What do you eat?"

“Do you really eat anything?"

“Human!? Human!? Oh my gosh, it looked at me!"

Evan tried wordlessly backing away but bumped right into someone else. In an instant, he was surrounded by Digimon on all sides. Some were bigger than him, many smaller, but any one of them could take him down if it wanted.

“Hey! Hey! HEY!"

The sound of a familiar voice lightened Evan's heart and he squirmed, even giving a weak push, spotting the terriermon flap his big ears over the group and yelped out, “Boss!"

“Back off, get back! Now, before I MAKE you."

Pushing liberally, Boston began shoving Digimon back until he could grasp Evan's wrist with an ear and began to pull him out.

“I said BACK OFF!"

That was enough to leave pouting faces as Evan was released enough. He winced from Boston's grip on his wrist, all the hands and paws going for him had left bruising marks on his skin.

“How did you know that I was in trouble, Boston?"

“You were taking too long and I know what that means by now. I wouldn't last too long being your babysitter if I hadn't learned, thank my sixth sense!" He continued dragging him. It was awkward with the difference in their size, Evan had to bend just a little.

“Evan," Boston said tensely once they were free. “Why didn't you tell them to fuck off?"

“No one was hurting me," Evan protested.

“Really? So, you were just shouting for help just… because?"

He didn't remember shouting. “Well…."

Boston sighed, loosening his grip on the human slightly. “You're too nice, I swear the Digital World would eat you for breakfast if I wasn't here to bail you out."

“Sorry, Boss."

“Now, I am going to go and make some food for us back at the house. You are going to entertain Rina so she doesn't drive me absolutely crazy while I'm cooking. That girl always has a snarky comment in the chamber."

“It's like looking in a mirror, isn't it, Boss?"

The little Terriermon let out a long genuine laugh that made Evan happy to hear. “Shuddap, Ev~"

---

The dinner was pleasant yet short. After everyone was done eating, Rina slept in her bed, Boston took the couch since it was way too small for Evan, and the human in question slept on the floor in his sleeping bag. The duo woke up just as the first rays of light fluttered through the window. They were halfway done packing when Rina woke up, rubbing the drowsiness out of her eyes.

“You two are leaving already?" Rina asked, glancing between the duo. Evan had just about finished up stuffing every scientific equipment he both needed, probably needed, and just wanted on his person. He also nabbed the lightest amount of snacks just so that Boston didn't complain about him coming unprepared.

“Of course!" Evan said brightly, “We didn't just come out here to leech off of you after all!"

“Coulda fooled me," the girl mumbled. “I do hope that fancy government of yours is willing to reimburse me for all that food you two ate! My cupboard wasn't exactly built to handle two guests and a human-sized stomach!"

“Trust me, Rina. They are loaded with a capital L." Boston cut into the duo.

“Right, how much are you getting paid, Boston?" The terriermon just smiled. Rina rolled her eyes but said nothing. “So, how long are you two gonna be up there anyways? You know those mountains are deadly, right?"

Boston waved his paw with a smirk. “Don't worry about it, me and Ev have been to lots of dangerous places! Meteor Range won't even crack the top five. Remember Lava Lake? Why did we go there again?"

“Magma samples," Evan answered.

“Sure. 'Magma Samples'. Anyways, we'll be gone for a day or two, and be back just in time for dinner!"

“I hope so. I know a lot of good people who went up that mountain and never came back. What's two more, right?" She smirked in a hollow, sarcastic sort of way. Evan shied away from her eyes as he flipped the bag onto his back.

Boston pinched the bridge of his nose. “We'll be fine, Riri."

“Don't call me that!"

“What do you think, Ev?"

“Sounds pretty good," Evan replied. Rina glared at him, betrayed. “Wait, what did I agree with?"

Sighing at the human just agreeing without listening, Rina shook her head and shooed them off. “Come back, alive , please."

The two gave a wave to her, and with that, they were off. The journey to the mountains had been quick and quite uneventful. The duo had spent what must have been weeks worth of time, just walking together, sometimes talking, sometimes not.

The reasoning for visiting the place had been simple, yet twofold: First, they needed a sample of snow to compare it to regular earth snow. This might have seemed crazy, but from experience, lots of things in the digital world looked similar to Earth samples, but actually tended to be wildly different.

The biggest example of this was the plant matter, which under a microscope looked nothing like the blocky, wall-covered cell most earthlings would be familiar with. Leaving the big wigs even more interested was example two: The Autumn Mountain was supposedly autumn all year round. Evan was curious what that entailed: were they constantly dying plants, or were they more so plants that happened to be in autumn colours?

In about half a day, the duo was at the base of the winter mountain. The place seemed a lot more dangerous than it actually was, or at least, that's what the locals said. They claimed the cold and the wind was the worst of it, and that one would never be the victim of an avalanche while climbing. Whatever that meant. They never extrapolated.

Evan found the extra-digital nature of the mountain fascinating. As the snow piled up higher and higher it risked building to a degree that could cause trouble and then simply disappeared. Resetting back to a light frost once a certain level was reached. The samples disappeared even from his containers.

“I wonder if taking them off the mountain would prevent the reset?" Evan pondered. He had tracked that the snow disappeared not at a certain time but at a certain level, yet any snow removed from that pile disappeared with the main pile once it reached that level.

“Take some to Autumn Mountain, we can make the trip fast enough."

It took longer to reach Autumn Mountain. Having to trek through the snow, even snow that disappeared periodically, slowed them down.

Autumn Mountain, however, was absolutely gorgeous. The first may have been a winter wonderland but a heavy blanket of white over everything reflected the light into blinding flashes. It was difficult to take in the beauty when that beauty was trying to blind you.

Autumn Mountain, however. Brown, yellow, and orange leaves fell constantly from a forest of trees yet not a single tree was barren. The leaves drifted down slowly, carried by puffs of wind to settle like a mosaic on the earth. They crunched pleasantly underfoot, vanishing into code once enough leaves had fallen.

“It's a lot like the first mountain," Boston pointed out but he had a slight smile on his face, one that vanished whenever Evan glanced at him before returning once he was looking up at the distracted human.

“Do the leaves get recycled?" Evan asked excitedly. “Or are the trees constantly sprouting new ones!? Is each leaf its own little bundle of code? Are these trees some sort of cleanup feature for the Digital World, erasing extraneous code? Or are they the progenitors, creating code that gets swept into the digital currents!? This is so exciting!"

That led to them staying a lot longer exploring the Autumn Mountain, far longer than they were supposed to as Evan took scans and samples of hundreds of individual leaves and trees to start creating his own data collection to study later.

However, the thoughts of what Spring and Summer might be holding tantalised the mind and eventually Evan didn't resist when Boston insisted they head to the next one.

One thing that could be considered the same no matter what world you were in was just how quickly everything could go wrong.

As Evan and Boston were carefully walking down a steeper slope, Boston using his ears with the gusting wind to help Evan keep his balance, the world twisted around them.

There was no sign, no warning, no nothing. One moment they were struggling downhill and the next….

Perhaps there was a warning of some kind. The pounding of the wind began to sound more intense even with no increase in pressure. Then, the sun went out and everything around them began to twist like a tumultuous fall. Evan screamed, or maybe Boston did, something all around them felt like it tried to tear them apart but Evan's hand miraculously caught Boston's little paw and he held on with all his strength.

If there was a warning then it was pointless.

Then, as fast as it began, it ended.

The first thing that could be heard as the wind suddenly halted and they were left in pitch blackness was Evan's terrified breathing. Almost hyperventilating, the only other sense available to them was the feel of Evan's hand almost crushing Boston's paw.

“Ev," Boston said, trying to blink light back around them.

“W-what happened?" Evan managed between frantic breaths of air. “Where are we? Why is it so dark?" Evan's breathing was increasing in franticness and he began to tremble. “Oh my god, Boston, where are we!? What just happened? Are we underground? Are we trapped? Oh my god oh my god OH MY GOD!"

“Ev, calm down," Boston said sternly, trying to face where his partner was panicking.

Evan's hand left Boston's as he gripped his head in panic, then realised he just let go. “BOSTON?"

“I'm here!"

They scrambled a moment, Evan's hand smacked Boston in the face before gripping onto his fluffy cheeks. “Oww, let go."

“I can't. Oh my god, oh my god."

“Evan," Boston said sharply, grabbing the human's wrist and detaching his face from his hand, gripping onto the hand with his paw instead. He winced as Evan's grip resumed crushing his bones but he didn't complain. “Breathe. Deep slow breaths, not fast little ones. Breathe, like this."

He breathed in deeply and held and released, continuing until Evan mimicked him and his trembling began to relax. “Jeez, man, freaking out isn't going to help. Do you still have our stuff?"

“Uh. Y-yeah, it's on my back."

“We got flashlights, right?"

“And my w-watch," he tapped the high-tech gizmo and it lit up, offering them some light that Boston used to open the bag and fetch a flashlight for each of them.

“What happened?" Evan managed, now catching his breath as they looked around. To their relief they weren't encased in stone, there was a path leading forwards although the roof was low and the walls were cramped leaving Evan shuddering as he tried not to think about just how bad it would be if the walls closed down on them.

“That's gotta have been a reformatting," Boston said grimly.

“What!?" Evan gasped, he'd never encountered one in the flesh before. “Why did nobody tell us?"

Chewing his lip, Boston didn't really know the answer to that. Not wanting to show that, however, he said, “Reformatting can happen pretty much whenever, not everyone knows they're gonna happen when they do. Just a big chunk of the Digital World just turns into something else."

Evan grumbled a light curse. “Damn, now of all times? The soil samples are probably really interesting," he looked at the walls hopefully but they were solid stone, as was the ground below them.

“Just before we start moving," Boston said, catching Evan. “Do you know how dangerous these places can be?"

“Uhhhhh."

Boston sighed. “Yeah, figured. Alright, places in the Digital World we mostly go to have already been 'smoothed over'. They're not as dangerous as they used to be. Even the wild places. But a fresh reformatting? There's gonna be fuckin' terrible things all around. We gotta be careful . This is the job for the Mega Digimon, not a rookie and a human."

Sufficiently terrified, Evan managed a weak nod before saying, “Th-then… should we wait?"

Boston shook his head. “How much food and water have we got?" Evan looked at his bag. “Not enough if we're in some place deep. We gotta get out of here or we're gonna starve. And if I have to eat you I'm going to be very upset about it."

The joke pulled a weak smile to Evan's face and he gave a more determined nod. “Right. Right. We gotta… okay."

“Let's just stick really close."

Evan wasn't going to argue that idea.

He tapped at his watch but other than offering a brief bit of extra light, there were no signal bars, and he couldn't contact Walter. He kept on checking, however, just in case.

For the first hour, there was little but grey, untextured, rock walls and silence between them. There was air, thankfully, but Evan wasn't sure how much they had. Thus, he tried to focus on breathing calmly and slowly.

Boston had begun to squirm a little as Evan flashed him constant glances, even though the human had his hand in Boston's paw, the glances seemed to be affirming he was still there.

Evan wanted to ask to carry him, just to 'Be sure they didn't get split up' but he really just wanted to hug the small Digimon. He couldn't bring himself to ask and so he just stayed silent.

The silence was agitating, nothing but Evan's forcefully-slow breaths and the sounds of their feet on the stone could be heard.

“So?" Boston said, finding his limit reached. “Digital World, huh?"

“Hm?"

“Pretty weird isn't it?"

“Um, do you find it weird?"

Boston shook his head. “Nah, it's normal to me but something like this doesn't happen on Earth, right?"

“Mm. Well, earthquakes and volcanoes aren't too far off."

“...okay."

“You must be sick of it," Boston said, still sounding light.

Evan couldn't really see him, but in a way that made it easier. “No, I love… it here."

Boston was the one who was silent after that.

Evan's hand squeezed down a moment. “Certainly not as exciting," he said under his breath.

“What was that?"

“Oh… nothing."

“Exciting, huh?"

A weak smile touched Evan's face. “You know why I came here."

“Tell me again," Boston said casually. So casually that Evan's expression flickered into concern before it melted away.

“Right, the silence thing. Sorry."

Boston grimaced, eyes slipping away from Evan and they walked in that same silence but even more awkward for a minute.

“I never really talked about my life before I came here, have I?"

Boston thought for a moment, replaying old conversations they'd had over the years. “Eh, we've talked about a lot of things. I know you were picked on in school and was always a nerd."

Evan gave a cough that sounded like a laugh. “It was pretty boring in comparison," he said, smiling a little. “Looking back, everything was kinda the same. Even before I graduated school with all the honours. Wake up, study or research, sleep. It kinda was always like that."

Boston frowned, eyes set forwards. “It's kinda like that here too, isn't it?"

To his surprise, Evan shook his head. “I like doing it, but it was all the same. Here I get to live a new day every time, even though I'm still doing what I like I'm doing crazy things to achieve it. It's kinda wild, I was never an outdoors type."

“What made you come here?" Boston asked. He'd asked this before, more than once. The answer was always a little different, depending on how well they knew each other, how much Evan had grown, the mood he was in and more.

“I wanted to live," Evan said. “And, ironically, it looks like that might kill me."

Boston's reaction was immediate, intense, and honestly surprising to both of them. “Don't you DARE say that!" he almost shouted.

So surprised, Evan actually let go of his paw. “Woah, woah, Boss."

“Don't Boss me," he snapped and then caught himself. Boston took a breath, his ears twitching along his body as his fur had raised a little. He smoothed himself down. “I'm your bodyguard for your not-so-scrawny-anymore ass. You ain't dying on my watch."

Touched, Evan glanced at his butt as well, he took Boston's paw again. “Sorry for saying it."

Boston glared at him briefly but then shook his head. “Keep your head about you, Ev. We're not done yet."

They couldn't talk much right after as Boston's concerns were proven true. Deadly parts of the path began to make themselves known, electrical wires dangling, trap switches that sent arrows flying and false paths that led to death began to impose themselves on the duo.

Boston had to throw Evan over a pit and sail across, gliding with his ears. They were forced to crawl under electrical wire buzzing above their heads and rely on Evan's logical skills to solve some riddles that presented themselves to them.

“...and so that makes a tablet screen the gomamon," Evan murmured, finishing a tablet puzzle. He nervously placed the last tile and breathed a sigh of relief when the apparatus clicked and opened the door rather than suffocating them with deadly gas.

“Thank the tree you're here with me," Boston sighed in relief as they moved on. “Well, I mean, it'd be better for you if you weren't but I'd be shit out of luck."

Evan smiled at the words that were spilling out of Boston. “I got to pull my weight, remember?" He meant it as a little joke, but Boston only frowned and glanced away from him.

They walked. They had been walking for so long. Everything smelled like a vacuum cleaner had gone off, like freshly disturbed dust. It was unpleasant but they'd gotten used to it.

“I miss showers," Evan said suddenly, out of the blue.

Boston looked up at him. “What are those like?" he asked.

“Not as relaxing as a bath but you feel cleaner afterwards."

“Neat freak."

“Wild Digimon."

“Wild enough."

“Wild enough," Evan agreed. Boston had a small smile again, so he counted that as mission success.

He clearly looked too happy with himself as Boston asked, “What are you smiling about?"

“Oh. Uh, nothing really."

“There's not much to smile about right now," Boston said. “Can you share it?"

Evan looked back at him. The terriermon never dropped even a hint of fear besides their hand in paw, but there was something to his eyes. Something straining that needed to be soothed.

“I'm just… happy you're with me," Evan said. “Even though I kinda wish you weren't. Then you'd be out there, safe somewhere."

Boston's expression immediately turned to protest, but before he could he remembered he said the same thing just a moment ago and the words faded.

Boston squeezed his hand a little. “We'll be out of here in no time," he said quietly as if saying it more to himself. “Then we'll be laughing about this later, imagine the stories you'll have when you're back home after this!"

Home…

Home….

“Home?" Evan asked, perplexed.

“Yeah?"

“I don't think I have a home," Evan said simply. “I mean, everything I had is in storage now."

“I meant… Earth."

Evan's eyes flickered behind his glasses but he didn't say anything.

“Your mission was for five years," Boston pointed out.

“Yeah, that's-" he said automatically and then stopped. He almost stopped walking, but Boston's paw tugged him along before he could. “...yeah."

“Did you really forget? I thought that was why you finally came here?"

Evan looked away, his conversation with Walter flashing through his mind. He hadn't forgotten. It was all he could think about lately.

“Don't you miss Earth?"

I'd miss you, was on his lips but he caught himself then wasn't sure why he did.

“I think I'd miss the Digital World," he said instead, technically honest. The best kind of honesty.

“Just the Digital World?" Boston asked with a smirk that almost looked normal again.

Evan was quiet.

His smirk slowly faded.

“Have I… ever told you how much I admire you?" Evan began, stiff and formal.

“Uh, all the time?"

Evan gave him a disbelieving look. Boston gave him a toothy grin that was all teeth and no smile.

“I would never pump up your ego like that," Evan said.

“Sure you would. Call me Boss."

“B-no."

“You almost did."

“I did not!"

“You so did. Call me Boss, do it. The Boss would like it, please."

“I." Evan flushed a little. “You can't do that."

“Do what?" Boston's shit-eating grin was growing.

“Distract me," Evan said. Boston's grin froze. “Boss… I could never have gotten anywhere without you. I'd be dead in a ditch or ran back to Earth ages ago without you. I-"

“Evan," Boston cut it, voice sharp. “Don't."

“Don't what?"

“Don't talk as if you gotta get stuff off your chest," Boston snapped back, his belly heaved a moment as he was suddenly short of breath. “I don't… I don't want to hear it. Save it until we're out of here."

“Boss, we might-"

“Ev, shut up."

At any other time, any other place, any other situation he'd do as he was told and quiet down. Today was not any other day.

“If we die I want you to know how much I'm so grateful for everything you did for me," Evan said with a firmness that could not be interrupted.

Boston was silent.

“I know we were put together because they hired you but… I know you could have left at any point. You got so strong, you wouldn't even need me to digivolve anymore, but you stuck with me anyway. I know I can be annoying and I'm nerdy and can't shut up at the best of times and I got us into this and I'm fucking sorry."

Boston was silent a time longer.

“Boss? Boston?"

“Do you really think I stuck around for power?" Boston asked.

“...isn't that why you joined me at first?"

Boston sighed hoarsely. They had never broached this subject before and for once the confidence faltered to discomfort and unsureness. “...yeah, at first." He swallowed. “Seemed easy. Use the newfangled link device, bodyguard a human until I soaked up enough juice until I could go on my own without needing to worry someone bigger was gonna bully me."

“But. I didn't stick around just for that, you know? The things you talk about are interesting, and it was always fun even from the start seeing how excited you'd get at everything around you. To be honest, I thought it was cute. I still do actually."

“Cute?"

“Yeah. You're adorable, Ev."

“You. You are the cuddly little Digimon!"

“You're still cuter."

Evan actually pouted a moment before the walls around them reminded him of where they were. A dusting of red that had touched his face lingered a little as he looked around.

They still held hand and paw.

“We're gonna get out of here," Boston said as he saw Evan's expression at the walls around him. “Nothing's taken us down yet. Remember Vulturemon?"

“Couldn't forget it if I tried."

“We survived that. We can survive this."

Evan squeezed back.

But no matter how far they walked, there was bound to be something they couldn't climb over eventually.

“Any luck?" Boston asked tiredly. They had run into a proverbial brick wall. Maybe literally too, he couldn't punch through it no matter how hard he tried.

“If I had any luck, I would have said something!" Evan snapped. He pressed something in, it gave an unsatisfying click, and he yelled out in outrage, “I can't fucking figure it out!"

They had reached maybe the second day? And before them sat an impenetrable wall covered in dents and dials. They could be pressed in and something else would click out. No matter how much Evan poked and prodded, he couldn't find any common link or idea at all if he was doing anything right.

“Can't you digivolve?" Evan said snottily and regretted it immediately. Boston's tired but hurt look only drove it in more and he muttered, “Sorry."

He kept at it without any heart before just pressing his head against it. “I can't do it," he muttered. “It's too dark." One of the flashlights had died. “I'm too tired and hungry and thirsty." And he hated that he took more resources than Boston did.

“We… gotta," Boston said, poking at something he could reach. Yet another unsatisfying click as something else popped out. “We're not just giving up."

He couldn't muster much enthusiasm and Evan just stared at him. “Come on, we gotta… figure this out."

“There is nothing to figure out," Evan said, voice tense before he just sagged again. “I'm tired, Boss."

He slunk down, covering his face. He wasn't crying but he looked close. “We're gonna die."

“We're not gonna die."

“We are because I can't figure this out!"

“Just… just take a break."

“There's nothing to DO!" Evan managed a bit of energy. It didn't last. “Boss… did I ever tell you-"

“Nope. Not doing it again." Boston backed away, but there was nowhere to go.

Evan caught him by the ear. “Please, just… let me talk." Boston shivered at the feel of his ear being grabbed and relented.

“I started thinking about it a few months in, figured it'd go nowhere or disappear in time. It didn't. I started f-feeling it more."

“Ev."

“Just… please. You can say what we both know once I'm done. You stood up for me. You listened to me talk about anything. You made me feel brave and go out and do things. I never thought I'd do anything with my life. And… and I wouldn't even really care if I didn't as long as I was with you."

Evan wasn't looking directly at him, eyes trained somewhere on his chest instead, barely able to see him in the dim light anyway.

“I don't really know if that's what love is but I think it is. I really… really love you and it tracks that I can only say it when I'm going to die."

“Ev…."

“That's all. Sorry for making it we-"

He was cut off when the terriermon knocked their heads together. It was probably supposed to be a kiss but the rough tug, forceful press, and dim lighting really just achieved knocking their heads together like coconuts.

“Ow, dammit! Boss!"

“Fuck, sorry, I meant to kiss you."

“If that's how you kiiiiahhh, what ?"

Standing by his shoulder, Boston grabbed his head more gently this time and pulled him in. “Dammit, why'd you say that now?" Boston muttered. “Why not a year ago? Two? A month? When you first felt it? You can't imagine how I wanted to jump your skinny ass over the last couple of years. Figured you'd completely freak out and run back to Earth so I never said anything."

“Y-You?"

“Yeah."

“You're the confident one!"

“Are you arguing? I'm saying I love you too."

Evan suddenly smiled. It was a smile that could be felt as much, if not more, than seen. “I… I am so happy to hear… that. I just wish we weren't going to die."

“Don't think about that," Boston said and this time he managed to kiss him pleasantly. Their mouths were very much not sized for each other and the bunny Digimon wound up nibbling on Evan's lower lip. But it was a kiss, not a headbutt.

The kiss was gentle and testing at first and then Boston pressed in hungrily, Evan gasped against his fur before a shiver ran up his body and he pressed back.

It was clumsy, dark, the fur was tickling his neck and Evan began to giggle nervously, interrupting the kiss.

“Watcha laughing at?" Boston growled softly.

“D-D-haha-dunno?" Evan said, still giggling helplessly into the darkness.

Boston made a sound like, “Tch." And moved, scurrying along his body. Fearing he'd messed up, Evan began to shimmy himself up the wall to stand but Boston swiftly said, “Nope." And Evan yelped as his balance suddenly abandoned him and he tripped.

Boston caught him before his upper body could smack against the ground, leaving a xylophone-like sound as he slapped a few nodes as he went down. “Hello there," Boston purred, right against Evan's ear.

“H-hi," Evan breathed back. He giggled again as he felt a tongue against his neck. “Haha, I'm sensitive!"

“I can tell," Boston murmured, the rumble of his voice causing Evan to shiver and giggle yet again. “You got too much of that on." He began to paw at Evan's clothes.

“Too much what? Clothes?"

“Yeah, those, dunno why you have to wear them all the time. It's not like I do." Paws deftly slipped around zips and buckles, as his mouth distracted Evan. “Being naked is so much better."

“F-for you maybe," Evan said, not being able to focus on being embarrassed as Boston undressed him, or really just pulled his pants off.

“Dunno, you look pretty good," Boston murmured, almost loud in the silence around them.

Evan flushed, squirming a little as his pants were stripped off. His legs crossed, somewhat trying to hide himself but let himself be opened up when Boston pressed his legs apart. “Should I stop?" Boston asked before he went any further.

Maybe if they weren't going to die, Evan wouldn't be confident enough to say, “Go ahead." It came out like a sinful little whisper, an admittance of deviancy but it sounded like love to Boston's ears.

Evan's bulge in his underwear was soft and Boston rubbed his paws along him first, then his cheek, then ran his little fingers under the waistband and began to slip his dick out into the open.

“Sorry," Evan apologised, fearing Boston would be offended. He wasn't hard yet, there was some action going on but it fought against the lingering anxiety swarming within his stomach.

Boston didn't respond at first, not with words at least. Evan knew, he remembered, Boston liked to talk more with actions than words. A paw touched his length, rubbing gently along his shaft. He twitched slightly.

Then the terriermon leaned in fully and opened his mouth. Evan's breath caught in nervous excitement and another giggle escaped him as his partner licked his cock.

It was a soft lick at first, barely a testing taste. A light touch of something warm and wet against his member. Evan twitched again and Boston pressed his body in all the way.

His fluffy chest teased Evan's balls as he took the human's dick in both hands, hefting him up and massaging his length slowly, applying pleasurable pressure along his shaft to the head of his cock. He continued squeezing and rubbing him as he rubbed his nose against the tip before opening his mouth again and lapping at it.

Evan's giggles shifted into a nervous moan, legs clenching as his cock twitched again, blood filling it. In Boston's warm grip, he began to grow, getting harder and pressing urgently against the Digimon's tongue.

Boston was not discouraged by Evan being soft in his mouth. It let him tease the human's length, map it out with his tongue, feeling it twitch to life in his mouth. His tongue circled the tip before slipping below his foreskin, dragging his ravenous tongue through and tasting Evan completely.

He busied his paws in stroking what his mouth couldn't reach as well as tugging at Evan's balls, rolling them between his paw pads and massaging them gently. Evan's moans were soft, almost nervous as if they were sneaking around and risked being heard.

He tousled a hand in Boston's fur, around his horn and along one of his ears. “Boss," he whispered against the darkness. Boston gave an approving sound as he felt Evan growing in his mouth, getting hotter, throbbing and twitching.

The pleasure was overcoming the situation and Evan's legs began to relax around him, Boston taking just as much pleasure in pulling Evan's mind away from the darkness around him as he was in taking his human in his mouth at last.

His lips began to be pressed further apart as the human hardened in his maw and soon, he was tasting more than just Evan's dick. The first splashes of precum were lapped up eagerly, Boston's mouth working Evan relentlessly. He was so much smaller than Evan, but he more than made up for it in sheer eager talent.

Evan's hand tensed and relaxed against Boston but they both knew who was in charge. He couldn't push Boston's head down when Boston was already sucking him down as much as he could take.

When Evan began scraping the back of Boston's throat he thought that'd be the point Boston would stop at. He was wrong.

“F…oh," Evan moaned as Boston gagged, throat showing a bulge as he slowly pushed himself even further down. Evan threw his head back with a moan, accidentally bumping another of the switches. He raised his head back in time to catch how Boston's throat was showcasing his dick sheathed inside it before Boston pulled back, coughing.

“That wasn't too much was it?" Evan asked, concerned even as his dick was throbbing in Boston's paw

Boston wiped drool from his mouth and splashed a cocky grin across his face. “You think anything's too much for me?" he asked, leaning against Evan's dick as he rubbed it with a paw. He jacked him faster and faster as he grinned lecherously up at his partner, even in the dark Evan could make out that smirk.

Blushing furiously, he couldn't retort, only managing a strangled moan as he knew he'd always think of this moment when Boston smirked now.

“I wanna see your o-face," Boston whispered, rubbing Evan's cock against his fluffy cheek before dragging a tongue up the shaft while keeping eye contact. “I wanna hear you moan as I make you cum for me."

Evan made a cute little whimper that stirred the heat in Boston's stomach. He was focused on leaving Evan shaking in pleasure, but he couldn't deny he was enjoying this himself.

One of his ears slid around his body, the firmer ends of one of them slid up his own leg and began to poke and tease at his entrance. It was unorthodox but he had his hands busy at the moment.

He kissed the tip of Evan's cock before sliding him back into his mouth. Bobbing his head up and down, his ears dangled down, brushing Evan's inner thigh and leaving him shivering at the tingling sensation.

Evan's hands rubbed and stroked Boston's head but otherwise, he let the terriermon have his way with him. Eyes open or closed didn't matter, all he could feel was Boston, all he could hear was Boston, smell, he wanted to taste him too.

He couldn't bring himself to say it, even now as Boston took him down to the base. A heavy flush painted his face and chest red but the words stumbled over themselves. However, as Boston made pleased noises as he throbbed in the Digimon's maw his courage slowly built.

“Ah, B-Boss?" Evan asked.

Boston flicked his eyes back up to his but didn't stop. Meeting his eyes as Boston went down on him nearly choked his words away, but he managed. “Would… would it be more fun for you if I-?"

Boston popped his mouth off him and Evan cut into a soft moan. Boston panted for breath, gripping him with both hands and slowly stroking him. He was eyeing him in a hungry way.

He licked his lips again and then said. “Hold onto something."

Evan's expression was questioning.

He yelped as Boston crawled onto him. He turned around, grabbing his knees to keep himself steady. His stubby little tail twitched as he lowered himself down, grinding Evan against him.

“Ah."

“Ahhh," Boston purred. “You can't imagine how long I've wanted to ride your nerdy brains out."

“Boss… you'll hurt yourself," Evan winced, feeling his dick slide against Boston's smooth fur. He could work just with this.

Boston couldn't.

Boston's ears twitched as his little stub tail did and he glanced behind him. “You're gonna fuck me," he said in a way that Evan knew meant he was taking this as a challenge.

He grabbed the terriermon's fluffy rump before he could damage himself. “Slow down," he said, squeezing him.

Boston gave a surprised purr before saying, “Good idea. Stretch me out with those human fingers of yours, Ev." He stopped trying to break something in both of them and turned around, grabbing Evan's wrist and opening his mouth.

Boston had sharp teeth but Evan had just learned for himself he knew when to bite and when to nibble. His fingers tingled as Evan sunk two into his mouth and down his throat. He got a cheeky smirk as taking his fingers was easy in comparison and popped his mouth off. “There."

Evan might have pointed out he was a lot bigger than two fingers but that sounded like bragging and he couldn't do that. Boston leaned up and kissed his nose before turning around, “Come on," he ordered.

Evan's first touch drew a hiss out of Boston and Evan felt his stomach dancing in nervous excitement. He could feel his heartbeat as he trailed a finger around Boston's entrance, other hand spreading him wide.

It was a little easier with Boston not facing him, Evan wasn't sure if he could look him in the eyes as he pressed a finger inside him. Boston hissed and Evan stopped but he barked, “I'm not a doll, fingerfuck me!"

With Boston's casual orders keeping Evan's mind on track, he pressed a finger up to the knuckle. The terriermon was astoundingly tight and very warm around his finger, he could feel his rim clench rhythmically around the intrusion, massaging his finger as he began to wiggle it.

A surprised sound escaped Boston and Evan found that he loved the sound. His dick twitched and Boston began to rub him again with his paws, murmuring, “That's it, Ev."

Boston began to loosen up to the one finger, the muscles clenching firmly before being rubbed into submission. Evan was able to squeeze another finger into him, scissoring him as Boston hissed and barked at him if he began to slow down.

By the time he could press his fingers in and pull them apart, Boston said, “I'm gonna take you now."

Evan felt his stomach jump into his throat. Part of him still believed Boston would fuck him and he began to heat up. “R-Really?"

Boston stood up, Evan's fingers slipping out of him before he grabbed his knees again. He glanced back, and to Evan's delight there was a colouring to the skin he could see around his eyes and nose. “Think I just had you rooting around in there for treasure?"

Evan couldn't help but laugh, anxiety washing out of him at the words. For a moment he forgot where they were and why they were doing this now and just felt happy, excited, brimming with anticipation as Boston covered his cock in spit and precum.

“This is gonna hurt," he whispered as Boston shuffled in place to fit his dick between his legs and against his hole.

“I'm tough," Boston said.

“I want you to enjoy this," Evan whispered. He winced as the head of his cock kissed Boston's entrance, pressing firmly but not in yet. “Boss?"

“I will," Boston assured and glanced back, twisting his upper body to meet him. There was a tinge of embarrassment in his voice. “I really want this inside me. You can't believe how much I've thought about it."

“Probably not as much as me," Evan said.

Boston smirked, the grin curling his lips. “Thinking about fucking me all the time were you?"

“Wha! Well. Um."

Boston chuckled and he laughed as well. Distracted enough that he didn't immediately feel Boston moving until the head of his dick had pressed harder until it slipped through the tight ring of muscle.

Boston hissed and Evan moaned as suddenly clenching warmth took the head of his dick. He brought a hand up, holding Boston's shoulder as Boston took a few deep breaths. “You okay?"

“Fine," Boston grunted.

“We don't have to," Evan said. “You can fuck me."

Boston grit his teeth and pressed down another inch. “No fucking about it," he said. “You're gonna make love to me." He chuckled when he felt Evan twitch inside of him. “You like that, don't you?"

“Maybe," Evan breathed, head pressed firmly against the wall until he pressed another switch in.

Boston grinned at the breathlessness in his voice and pressed down more. He let gravity do its job and then gasped as he felt his tail hit Evan's groin. He looked down, rubbing his stomach as he felt all of his human inside him.

Evan kept his head back, breathing almost as hard. It felt like his everything was enveloped in tight heat, Boston's walls clenching and rippling around him as he adjusted to the stretch, almost milking him already as he unloaded precum inside of him.

Boston looked down, moaning deeply as warmth pooled in his lower body. As he focused on bringing Evan up for action the pressure of the moment had stopped him from getting hard. But now that Evan was sheathed inside him, he could feel himself growing, hardening, dripping with precum of his own that slid down his sheath to his fluffy balls.

He groaned as he pushed himself up, holding Evan's trembling knees, feeling the human's length pull at his insides as it slid back. His own cock jumped once and then he pressed back down, gasping as he was speared again.

Finding his footing, he moved a paw from a knee to himself and began to rub himself as he bounced up and down. Drinking in Evan's moans as he took his cock, the normally-verbose human was reduced to guttural gasps as skin met fur in a slap that was as loud as bells in the silence around them.

They began to fill the crushing silence of the undermountain with the sounds of their pleasure, Evan's soft gasps and Boston's low curses. Evan's hand remained on Boston's body, one hand around his waist as the other braced against the ground.

Boston's paw sped up against himself, gasping in unison with Evan once or twice as something really nice was struck in coordination with the strokes of his paw. His precum was already drenching his paw as it oozed from his tip, dripping down his balls and along Evan's cock as he pulled up.

Evan bravely began to flex his hips in time with Boston's motions, thrusting into him and the terriermon's moans grew sharper before he tried to regain control. “L-ah-loving that?" Boston said, masking his stutter.

Evan nodded emphatically.

“Can't, mmm, hear you, Ev?"

“What do you want me to say?" Evan whimpered, groaning as Boston slowed down to a persistent grind.

“Tell me how much you love it."

Evan leaned up and over. He kissed the top of Boston's head, the terriermon going violently red underneath him and thankful for the dim light and his fur. “Love you," he murmured against his fur. His hands slipped around his waist and down his arm, his fingers curling around Boston's cock.

Boston suddenly swore, “FUCK!" And clenched, hard, around him as his cock erupted in splatterings of white along the dark ground.

Moaning unabashed in pleasure, his walls clenching and milking Evan's cock and drawing some curses out of his human, thrilling Boston more. Evan's hand began slick with his cum as he continued planting kisses on the top of his head. Moaning in kind with Boston as he was milked, Boston grinding harder against him until the throbs began to lessen and Boston sighed in relief.

They were silent a minute as Evan remained sheathed in Boston, the smell of sex filling the room as Boston panted for breath.

“Liked that, huh?" Evan asked.

“Shut," Boston said, even more flushed and breathless. “You just…."

“Got you good?"

“Mmmmshut up." Boston tried to move but hissed as everything was overwhelmingly sensitive. “Ah, fuck. Fuck… gah, sorry I can't."

The terriermon stewed as Evan seemed to envelop him in his arms, pushing his legs up as well until he was surrounded by human, Evan hugging him like a plush toy.

He began to kiss him, his hands stroking his fur in ways Evan had always wanted to do but could never ask. Touching anywhere he wanted, asking if it was alright and always receiving an affirmative, and some teasing comments about just asking for this earlier.

Privately, Boston was loving the feeling of Evan's fingers running through his fur. The few times he'd pet him by accident, or maybe not accident, in the past had been pleasant but Boston could never forsake his pride and ask for pets.

“You're so sexy," Evan hummed as Boston rubbed his cheek against him.

“I know," Boston said.

“You're cute too," Evan said.

“No, that's you."

“Can be both," he said.

Boston might have refuted that, but, “That's true. You are sexy."

“So are you."

“I know."

“And cute."

Boston gave a sigh, relaxing. “Only to you."

Evan's hand ran along his belly and Boston caught it and guided it back down again. Evan hesitated before taking Boston's half-hard length in hand and gave it a squeeze.

Boston squeezed back, Evan giving a pleased sigh.

“Are you good?" Evan asked.

Boston nodded. “Yeah," he breathed. “Come Ev, I need you to cum. Inside me would be nice."

Evan felt a thrill go up his spine and blurted out, “Gonna beg?"

He immediately felt mortified at himself but Boston smirked, looking up with doe-eyes. “Please fuck me until you cum your brains out, Ev."

Evan felt his whole body going red but he managed a shaky smirk of his own. “Alright."

Boston blinked in surprise before yelping as he was picked up, Evan standing up, pulling him up with his cock until he was being held like a toy. His ears trailed down Evan's knees as he clenched around Evan, surprised and delighted at the change of pace.

“Seems I finally, WOA-"

Evan pressed him against the puzzle wall, facing him. Boston caught some of the switches to hold himself, staring up at Evan in naked want and moaning as the human pulled his hips back, gasping as he slammed into him.

Boston squeezed his eyes shut, moans breaking out through his clenched teeth as sweet nerdy Evan began to fuck him against the wall. It was slow and uncertain at first but as he picked up steam he picked up the pace, balls slapping against Boston's tail as he really began to release some pent-up frustration.

“I fucking love you," Evan blurted out. He wished he could kiss Boston at the same time but he was a little too small to do that at the moment.

“Fuck-fuck, fucking love you too," Boston gasped back, body shaking as the full length of the human slammed into him over and over again. His walls clung desperately to the human's cock but he couldn't hold him, pulling out and ramming back in without pause.

The terriermon's cock was jumping between them again, spilling jets of precum against their bellies. His body was bouncing gently as Evan fucked him, balls bobbing and sticky with drying precum.

Evan brought the hand covered in Boston's cum up and pressed it into Boston's mouth, sighing as his sensitive fingers were sucked and Boston's moans getting distorted by the fingers down his throat. His eyes focused on him, staring piercingly into Evan's own until Evan felt a jolt strike through his spine.

He wasn't sure what it was that made him last so long, probably lingering stress but in that moment the rest of existence was gone and it was just them and he could finally let the weight fall away.

Evan shouted out in rapture as his balls pulled up, slamming into Boston frantically as he began to cum. Boston felt his prostate get battered as Evan jackhammered him and his shout joined Evan's as they came together, human cum spilling out of the terriermon as they shouted as one.

Evan pressed down, sinking into Boston and holding still at last as his balls pumped cum into his partner, flooding him with the humans seed until it was dripping down onto the floor beneath them.

Boston gasped for breath, feeling like the air had been punched out of him by strikes to his diaphragm before he gave a satisfied moan. “Damn, Ev," he said, breathlessly impressed. “That was." He threw an arm to emphasise and smacked a switch.

And then the wall disappeared.

“A-" Evan yelped as all the weight he was placing on the wall was suddenly met by air and he tumbled over, landing on Boss who grunted.

“Ooph, fuck, Ev! Get off me!"

In a tangle of words, sweat, and limbs they managed to part, the afterglow being set aside for shock and wonder as they were blasted with sunlight, they thought they'd never see again.

“Did we… fuck our way out?" Evan asked in shock, looking back at the tunnel into the mountain. “Or am I dead?"

“If humans die after sex you could have told me first," Boston snapped, trying to stand but his legs were a little… numb at the moment. Whole lower body, really. He looked back at himself and winced. “Jeez, you did a number on me."

“I thought we were going to die!"

“And that's the only reason you'd fuck me."

“I thought it was making love ?"

“Yeah. Well." Boston glanced away, embarrassed. He got grabbed by Evan and pulled against his chest. “Okay."

“Okay?" Evan asked softly. “Not just a 'we were gonna die' thing?"

“I figured I'd give you an out if it was for you."

“No, Boss, no. I really… I really do l-"

A polite cough interrupted that. They looked up in horror as none other than Rina was standing there. She seemed out of breath and a bit harried with sticks and leaves sticking to her. “I've been looking everywhere for you two," she began, calmly. “And I find you just FU-"

Before she could finish that, Evan's watch beeped. 'EVAN!' Walter shouted through the connection, causing Evan to cringe back. 'Oh my god, I've been trying for- what are covered with? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO BOSTON!?'

The little hologram of Walter looked very shocked, looking between everyone.

“You said it," Boston said, not having a single mote of shame in his body. “He fu-"

“I was talking first," Rina said. “We'll tease you about this later an-"

'No, let's do that now,' Walter cut in.

“A reformatting just happened. I'm stunned they're still alive!" Rina protested.

'That was a reformatting?' Walter spluttered. 'Oh my god, how are you still alive? Boston, how much are we paying you because it's probably not enough?'

“Well," Boston began, looking most cute in Evan's arms. “To be fair, Ev did most of the work down there."

'Clearly,' Walter said dryly. 'Put some clothes on Ev, I don't want to be looking at that.'

Evan flung the watch to Rina as he scrambled to duck into the cavern to grab their stuff.

“Nice ass," Rina complimented. She backed away when Boston tried to bite her.

“Mine."

“Heh, sure," Rina said. “I knew you'd stop pining eventually. Bow chika bow wow, by the way. Always knew you would be the bottom, Boss ."

'Oh, are we teasing them now?' Walter asked. 'Since you went for Evan I'd offer to take Boston but it looks like Ev already did that.'

“Hah! Nice."

'I know. I'm Walter, by the way.'

“Rina."

“WOAH!" Evan yelped as the ground shook again, he backed away just in time to see the door vanish. With all the samples and all of their belongings.

He stared blankly at a cliff wall, buck naked with a breeze flowing by.

“...well I'm not gonna complain about getting to see more of that," Boston said, trying to lighten the mood. “What I am going to complain about, is that everybody in town is going to see my new lover naked for the next… Hey Walt? How long will it take for the government to send replacement clothes and gear?"

'Oh uh, probably a month or two?'

“Oh yeah, for the next month or two."

Right about now, Evan wished he could huddle into a non-existent corner and just die. “We didn't even keep the samples. That trip was literally all for nothing. In fact, it's worse! It set us back!"

'Ev, has anyone ever told you you're a bit too focused on your work?' Walt piped in.

"Yeah, sometimes."

“Look, what I think what your watch friend--"

'Walter.'

“Oh, excuse me, Walter – what Walter is trying to tell you is that you should take a break from your work and explore this."

“Trust me, I would have LOVED to do that if I wasn't naked and covered in cum!"

'You really don't have to spell it out for all of us, Evan. We are well aware of your cave gremlin antics.'

“Can you guys PLEASE take this seriously?" Evan whined out loud.

“I mean, it is rather hard when you're… well, naked and covered in cum ."

“Oh my god just stop, I'm begging you."

Boston cut in with a stern glare. “Don't bother with the peanut gallery, Evan, it's fine. Nobody wears clothes in the digital world anyways! Even if everyone seeing your big floppy cock in public would draw a lot of unwanted attention. Oh hey, it's kinda starting to harden up, neat!" Evan covered himself as they snickered at him.

Boston crawled towards Evan's ear. “I know lots of romantic places both in the area and further away, Ev. What's say you and me check them out? Together?"

“Y-yeah. I think I would like that quite a bit, Boss…"

Boss, in turn kissed Evan, but it wasn't a passionate kiss: it wasn't Boston sucking Evan's tongue or a long breathless make out session. Instead, it was a simple peck on the cheek that seemed to heat up long after the Terriermon grabbed Evan's hand and went with Rina back to her home.

There was still so much to figure out: so much to do, to say, to work around but for now, Evan was merely content to travel with his partner for however much longer he got to spend with him. He knew that as long as they were together, they'd be fine. Just the two of them.

---

Thanks to the commissioner, who actually helped write bits of this chapter~