Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

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Digimon OTP Week (15 – 29 August)

Prompt 1: Your friendship is precious

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Yamato awoke with a start. He looked around his darkened room, wondering whether he had been dreaming, or if someone was really at the door.

The doorbell buzzed again, and Yamato threw the covers off, placing his feet on the cold floor. He crept to the front door, wondering whether to open it. What if it was some random drunk again? Dare he open the door?

Yamato's eye widened and his hand shot to the lock, before his brain had even had time to comprehend that he recognised the knock: it was Taichi's.

The door was opened to a sheepishly-grinning brunet, clad in the pale yellow t-shirt and grey shorts he slept in. "Hi."

"Hey." Yamato smiled back, opening the door wider, allowing the brunet in.

"I'm really sorry for waking you up in the middle of the night." Taichi toed off his shoes, and followed Yamato into the living room. He settled on the sofa, staring at the floor. "I just didn't know where else to go, or what to do..."

"It's ok, Taichi. Do you want a drink or food or anything?"

Taichi lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Could do with a drink, please."

Yamato smiled gently, knowing his friend didn't need prying questions just yet. "Hot or cold?"

"Coffee?" Taichi lifted his gaze with the suggestion.

"Oh, good." Yamato said, moving into the kitchen. "I need a cup."

The brunet let out a light laugh, also getting up and moving to lean against the kitchen's entrance.

"This isn't anything serious, you know."

"Doesn't have to be." Yamato said, busying himself with measuring out the grounds.

"I honestly don't get you sometimes."

"I don't get you most of the time, but you don't hear me bitching about it all the time." Yamato paused, mug in hand. "Actually," he flicked the coffee maker on. "You do hear me bitching about it most of the time."

"True." Taichi laughed. "I just meant that I'm here at three in the morning, and you open the door, inviting me in with a smile. What if I'd been a serial killer or rapist."

Yamato motioned for Taichi to sit at the kitchen table, pulling out snacks, before settling across the brunet. "I did hesitate; we had a random drunk at the door when I was younger. He had the wrong apartment building. Thankfully dad was at home, and he yelled at the drunk, and got rid of him. It was scary, though." Blue eyes met brown. "I recognised your knock."

Taichi shook his head in amusement. "You really are something." He grabbed a stick of pocky, devouring it in two bites. "Aren't you the least bit mad that I'm here in the middle of the night?"

"Of course not. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have a good reason."

"I told you already, that it's nothing serious."

"Big or small, I don't care. You need me, and I'm here for you. It's as simple as that."

"What have I done to deserve you?"

"Quite a lot, actually." Yamato stood to pour the coffee into two mugs, adding sugar and a spot of milk to one. "You've done more for me than you'll ever realise, so the least I can do is be there for you whenever you need me. I want to be there for you."

"Thanks." Taichi took the mug, then grinned at the blond. "When did you turn into such a sap?"

Yamato shrugged. "I didn't. I'm just making statements." He took a sip of his black coffee. "Time to start prying?"

Taichi chuckled, grabbing another pocky stick. "I had a dream."

"Ah, Martin Luther King Jr. in past tense. What killed it?"

"Your shit jokes."

"Touché."

Both teens laughed.

Taichi took a drink before continuing. "It was more of a memory. From the Digital world. When we had been separated by Devimon, and the two of us reunited on that snowy island. I dreamt that I didn't catch you. You fell into freezing water, breaking the ice, and you got lost somewhere under it. Somehow, I managed to get down, and tried looking for you, but I couldn't see through the ice. I woke up to the panic that I was feeling in the dream."

"Hmm." Yamato hummed, taking yet another sip of his cooling beverage. "That's another thing to add to the list."

Taichi looked up from the table. "What list?"

"Of things you've done for me. You saved my life back then, Taichi. I don't know if I ever thanked you for it, but thank you. Really."

Taichi laughed under his breath. "How do you manage to make things better so quickly?"

"We've known each other for ages, Taichi; I know how to make you feel better." He paused. "That usually just involves telling the truth or stating a fact."

"I guess you're right. I mean, I know it didn't happen like that, but the panic just felt so real."

"That's what nightmares do—make stuff seem real, even when it's not. It's all happening in your head, though, so it kind of makes the emotions real, I guess."

"Guess so." Taichi said with a shrug. "But enough about me and my stupid dreams. What are these other things that I've done for you? I'm really curious now."

And Taichi's posture—leaning over the table, eyes sparkling—verified this curiosity.

Yamato adopted an opposite reaction, pushing back slightly, looking uncertain.

"I don't know whether I should share..."

"Oh, come on! You know we share just about everything, and would never think less of one another."

"I know, but it's not something I like thinking about—much less talk about..."

Yamato was rubbing his arm, looking at the floor, instead of the warm brown eyes boring into his face. Noting the level of reluctance, Taichi sat back, finishing off his drink.

"Never mind, then. Wanna watch TV?"

Blue eyes shot up, and a gentle smile graced his features. "Thanks." Taichi just shrugged, grabbing the box of pocky and moving into the living room. He clicked on the TV, just as Yamato flopped down next to him on the sofa, a pale hand reaching over to pull out a stick of pocky.

"I'm sorry, it—"

"Don't be."

"No, really, Taichi. I feel like I need to explain some things; I don't want you thinking—for even a second—that I don't trust you with that information, or that I don't want to share it with you. I just know that you'll have a hard time understanding most of it, and I won't be able to explain it well enough."

Taichi turned to the blond, ignoring the TV. "I know you'd trust me, but I also know that there are things you don't want to talk about. It's true that I don't really understand why you avoid talking about your past and stuff, but I can accept that."

"I really hope you will never fully understand everything—you'd have to go through something similar, and that's not something I'd want anyone—least of all you—to have to go through."

"You mean with the divorce and stuff."

Yamato let out a chuckle. "And stuff."

The two sat in silence for a bit, both staring at the carpet under the coffee table.

"Dad tried to get me to go see a shrink after we had settled into this apartment. He took me to an evaluation meeting, but I was too clever as a kid: I knew what answers to give. I gave the shrink all the right answers, making him think I was perfectly fine."

"Do you think it would have helped?"

Yamato shrugged. "No way of knowing, is there?"

"I suppose. Do you think it would help at this stage?"

"Probably not."

Silence filled the living room again, both boys lost in their thoughts.

"You know," Yamato started after the long silence. "For the longest time, I didn't think I was worthy of friends; if my own mother didn't want me, then why would anyone else? I didn't try to make friends, fearing rejection, thinking I would be fine alone."

Taichi remained quiet, not wanting to disturb the flow of thoughts.

Yamato smiled at the ground. "I fucking hated you for not leaving me alone." Taichi chuckled. "Honestly, I tried to push you away, but you were either too stupid or too kind to stay away."

"I hated you right back." Taichi admitted, meeting amused blue eyes. "But, at the same time, there was something about you that just pulled me back." Taichi's nest of hair swayed from side to side, as he shook his head. "I still don't know what that something is, but there was—still is—something about you that just draws me in. You have this kind of aura that just—" He shook his head again. "I really can't explain it."

"Stupidity, then, I guess."

Taichi gave the blond a playful shove, before throwing the arm around the other's shoulders and pulling Yamato into his side.

"But stupidity has its perks: no one else would humour me at four in the morning like you do. Especially when we have school in a few hours."

"Guess so." Yamato snuggled into Taichi's warmth. "You're extremely lucky to have me, you know."

"Apparently I've done more than enough to deserve you. And, just for the record, I am expecting a full, detailed list of all these things before we turn 20."

"We'll see." Yamato smiled, closing his eyes in hopes of getting at least an hour more of sleep.

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