You think—if you hadn't been so scared.
You and Taichi managed to escape into a cave, but the force of the blast has caused the front to collapse in behind you. You've been navigating deeper into the darkness by the dim light of your Digivices. There's a green tinge cast over Taichi's right hand and wrist. He looks over at you and smiles, but there's something slightly different in the upturn of the mouth.
When you finally stop, you sit down and draw your knees up to your chest. You've been on your feet since mid-afternoon without a rest. You wonder what time it is now—not that there's any real difference between day and night in the cave, but it must be late into the evening. You think of the filtered light of the moon and the bright, bright stars shining in the sky outside.
The ground is cool and the stone is rough against your back. Taichi sits down besides you and puts his arm around your shoulders. You mean to offer to share the watch, but you are practically shivering from cold and tiredness and fall asleep, half slumped against the side of the cave and half curled into the warmth of his touch.
You think—if you hadn't been so scared. You think—if you hadn't been so young and if it hadn't been so obvious you would have recognized it as love.
You ask him about the dot blinking in the top right corner of his Digivice. He tells you he's not sure but he's obviously distracted, as though something else on the screen that only he can see has riveted his attention.
You're used crowded relationships—Jun and your parents, Takeru and Hikari. You asked him for advice about his sister once. He let out a surprised laugh, which made you slightly upset even though you knew the sincerity of his intentions.
"Being in love when you're in high school is very different than when you're in junior high. You're a different person."
You nodded even though you didn't understand, and you still don't really understand but the way you feel about him now is very different from even the way you felt about him then. He is your idol, your mentor. But now he is your brother-in-arms, your partner too. He is the one person who has such faith in you, the person you respect and trust even across paths you can't quite follow.
Taichi is older, but it's not just that. While you balance your life in these two worlds Taichi has grown up twice. You're used to crowded relationships, but you're not quite sure where you fit into this one, between Sora and Yamato, the intersection of time.
There's a crack running along the rock overhead, and you can see how far you are underground from the distant sliver of sky. You're not bad off, but when you stop to eat Taichi takes off his school jacket and puts it around your shoulders anyways. It's a little big, and smells just like him. The air has become cooler and cooler as you've gone deeper and deeper into the cave. But at this moment, what you think of instead is the warmth.
You had your backpack because you were running late from class so this is what you have in terms of supplies: a Japanese textbook and an English workbook, the pencil you borrowed from Hikari almost three weeks ago and the graphing calculator your sister left on the table this morning, the bento lunch you didn't have a chance to eat because you hadn't finished an assignment from the night before and an assortment of snacks from Miyako's family's store.
You think—Ken would discuss navigation and Hikari would consider anchor points and Miyako would worry about bats and Iori would understand opposition.
But you're with Taichi, who sweeps his eyes upward and says, "The thing about this is, you can only look up."
Author's Note: I write in the second person. and I'm not quite sure where this is going, but I'll most likely add to this chapter as I write. Thanks for reading, and reviews are much appreciated.