Title: The Art of Matchmaking
Author: Kicks (kick_flaw@hotmail.com)
Archive: fanfiction.net under Kick_Flaw
Pairing(s): Taito, smidgens of Kensuke, Jyoura, and Mishiro
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: fluff
Feedback: Please, please, please, please, please!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. If I did Iori wouldn't exist, the Teenage Wolves would be in Warp Tour, Sora would be a lesbian, Matt and Tai would be writing each other wedding vows and Daisuke would've slept with everyone under 20. Twice.
Notes: Gah! I love it when TK and Kari plot! Fun fun fun!
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The Art of Matchmaking
Picnic, picnic, they were over fifteen minutes late for the picnic. Tai hopped back and forth from one foot to another impatiently. He hadn't seen Matt for four days, damn it, why was she taking so long?
"Kari!" he hissed, for the three-hundredth time. "Move it!"
Kari slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed towards him quickly. He turned for the door.
"Wait! Wait!" the younger Yagami grabbed her elder brother's sleeve and tugged him away from the doorknob. "I forgot my colored pencils!"
Tai frantically checked his watch. "Kari, you already have your pastels, your watercolors." Disregarding his aggravated tone, she whirled back towards their room. Instead of stopping, his voice steadily increased. You know, just to be sure she heard him from the opposite end of the house. "Your markers, your dual spiral sketchbook, your designer pencils." she tripped out again, struggling with her backpack. "And your multi-colored erasers!"
Rolling her eyes, the twelve-year-old finally forced the zipper closed around her overwhelming art supplies. "Yes. And now I have my colored pencils. Your point?"
There was no time to answer as far as Tai was concerned. He grabbed his sister by the wrist and dragged her out of the apartment as fast as he could. They raced down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk as one, spraying gravel in their haste. Tai's tennis shoes skidded dangerously as they rounded corners and pedestrians with equal fury. A businessman on lunch break glared at them as they nearly upset his coffee.
"My point," the elder Yagami panted as they counted off the blocks. "Is that we're late. Very, very late! And if you hadn't spent thirty minutes rounding up your stupid crayons we wouldn't be late!"
"They're not crayons! And they're not stupid!"
"I don't care what they are. Matt's gonna re-ream my ass with a live wire for this!"
Kari flinched at her brother's choice of words. Honestly, the older he got, the more.liberal his language became. Her sensitive twelve-year-old ears almost couldn't handle it. "Well TK would never have forgiven me if I'd forgotten!"
The park came within their sight. Tai threw another look at this much- abused watch. Twenty-three minutes. They were twenty-three minutes late. He was so dead for this. Like, punched-into-the-next-millennium dead or hi-you- must-be-my-great-great-great-great-great-
"Tai! Watch out!"
Uh oh. Biker. Straight ahead.
"AAGH!"
Amidst the newly made pile of fallen metal and limbs, Tai clutched his bleeding knee, moaned, and glared at his sister, who was failing to hide her laughter. Next to him, the displaced biker shook his head carefully and looked a little disoriented. Upon examination, the brown-eyed boy realized he was right in front of the park entrance, in full view of his reunited friends, and that he'd forgotten to turn. Maybe he should have been paying attention to his surroundings rather than counting his descendants. Twenty- five minutes late, with the added bonus of a klutz-of-the-year award winning entrance.
"I'm really sorry." He mumbled and had the decency to look ashamed. The biker blinked.
"Oh.no problem." He untangled himself from his vehicle and clamored to his feet a little dizzily. "It's half my fault too."
"No, it's really all my-"
Please, don't let Matt have...
"Don't be silly." A smooth tenor cut in out of nowhere, gently patting the dazed biker on the shoulder. "It's all his fault. You were the victim here."
Tai sighed. Well, it was better this than getting pounded into the dirt. Although the fact that he'd actually done that within sight of his best friend was far worse than any punishment Matt could have dreamed up. How embarrassing. Flicking some gravel out of his wound, he desperately avoided looking up as the blonde sent the biker on his way with more suavity than Tai possessed in his entire body. So what else was new?
Silently, he took the hand Matt offered and levered himself to his feet. The blonde glared at him.
"You're late."
"I know. But Kari had to find her crayons so---"
Kari squeaked indignantly and joined them in the middle of the sidewalk. "They're not crayons! I won't let you blame this on me, Tai!" She turned and gave Matt a knowing look. "He wouldn't let me in the room for an hour and a half this morning."
Matt's mouth twitched. "Let me guess. The hair?"
"Everything!" the younger Yagami threw up her hands. "He preens."
"I do not!" Tai squawked. Unfortunately, this had the negative side effect of returning Matt's attention to him. The blonde narrowed his eyes.
"I'm gonna re-ream your ass with a live wire, Yagami."
It was Tai's turn to give Kari a knowing look. "See? What'd I tell you?"
She shrugged. "As if he could. And if you hadn't wanted to impress him so much I would've been able to find everything sooner, Tai!"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You know what it means!"
"You've been reading my journal again, haven't you, you little brat. That's it! When we get home I'm breaking every one of your precious crayons!"
"They're not CRAYONS!"
Matt stepped between them smoothly and held his hands up for peace. Both steamed, but they stopped. Matt had that sort of affect on people. "Enough already. Let's forget about this, ok? Mimi's here."
That distracted them real fast.
"Mimi!" Kari squealed, tearing into the park without a backward glance. Tai and Matt watched her go, chuckling together. Not a ward, and their little tiff was a thing of the past. It was nice; No matter how many times they fought, their friendship always seemed to restore itself without effort. A quality Tai appreciated imminently.
"Hey," Matt punched him in the arm. "I didn't know you kept a diary."
Uh oh -again. "It's not a diary, it's a journal." Tai said defensively.
"Whatever. I believe you about Kari anyways. TK was frantic when I came to pick him up and he couldn't find his sketchbook."
"Hmmm." He considered that as they trekked over to the picnic. "They've been into that a lot lately."
The blonde nodded. "Ever since Daisuke won that award for his portrait of Ken."
"How funny."
"Agreed."
Then Mimi, in all her pink and gold glory, caught sight of Tai and nearly gave him an apoplexy, she glomped him so hard. He laughed and hugged her back. It was hard without her around. Matt was such a loner all the time, it was tough having a party without her exuberance to even out the spectrum. But he'd very confidently bet his goggles that if anyone missed her the most it was Koushiro.
Even now, the redhead was watching her, smiling. Tai caught his eye and winked, which caused a blush the color of his hair to fill up his cheeks.
"Hey Mimi, you better go save loverboy over there from burning me up with jealousy." He teased softly, so only she could hear.
Mimi flushed prettily. "Yeah. Great to see you again."
"You too."
She went: slipping through the group of digidestined all gathered around the delicious lunch Yamato had prepared for them. The faded king size sheet Sora had brought ruffled lightly as a soft breeze played in the air.
After an affectionate hello to the rest of the gang, Tai collapsed on the picnic blanket next to Matt and smirked silently at him. Late or not, nothing could dim the day. The blonde merely shook his head patiently, offering him an apple slice. Without hesitation he opened his mouth, awaiting the delicious fruit shamelessly. Matt fed that one to him, then another.
Yes, it was all very romantic.
Kari and Takeru grinned at each other in their carefully chosen position out of sight of their elder brothers.
"They're so cute." Kari murmured.
"Yeah." Takeru nodded, endeavoring to pull his sketchbook out of his backpack. The stubborn book eventually acquiesced, but it dragged a box of crayons and some bottled water with it. "Stupid backpack. Why can't they make these things bigger?" he hissed.
"No kidding." Hefting her own, the brunette settled with just dumping everything in hers out onto the ground. "I can barely fit my supplies anymore!" She picked up her best friend's fallen crayons and grimaced at them. "Oh god, don't let Tai see these ok? I'll never hear the end of it."
He laughed. "I heard. Did you really read his journal?"
"How do you think I knew about his little crush?"
"You're wicked."
She smiled mischievously. "I know."
They grinned at each other, sharing in the thrill of what exactly they were doing. It was bold. It was daring. It was Kari and Takeru: Matchmakers extraordinare.
"Hey, have you seen Dai?" Takeru asked. He didn't even glance up from his quick sorting. "Didn't you bring your colored pencils?"
"Yep. Right here. No, I haven't. But he better get here soon, I need to pay him." Kari didn't look up either; she was busy shading a sketch of Matt she had in her book.
"That's because you're both blind." A dry voice said. The would-be artists jumped and, dropping their work, turned their eyes to their smirking confidant. Daisuke plopped down between them and grinned. "And you owe me twenty-five, remember."
"Hello to you too, Dai." Kari greeted sarcastically. She dug through her wallet. "Here. Twenty-five. You better have them."
"I do." The redhead pulled his own sketchbook out with no trouble at all, wringing a glare from the other two. He shrugged and held out a sheaf of papers. Takeru snatched them up instantly, eager to see what the talented boy had come up with.
Funny, considering Kari had to cajole him into this in the first place.
"These are...wow." The younger Ishida marveled.
"Let me see...oh...oh, Dai, you really are good." Gently, almost reverently, Kari flipped through images, silently debating. Daisuke had done a series of drawings at their commission, with preliminary sketches they'd done themselves. Now all they had to do was pick the one they thought was best suited to their purpose and add the color.
"What, you doubted it?" Daisuke joked. "Of course I'm good, I placed first in the national competition. So which one do you want?"
Takeru and Hikari looked at each other. As one they picked up the same drawing.
"This one."
Daisuke looked back and forth between them wide-eyed. "Yikes."
They shared a devious grin.
"Now, which color yellow do you think..."
Sora lay her head on Jyou's shoulder and watched as Mimi and Koushiro practically tripped over each other dancing around a formal relationship. It was funny, but she worried about them. They had it hard being separated by an entire ocean the way they were. Not that she doubted that they'd eventually get together. It was completely obvious, especially to someone with the intuition for love she had. And they made no effort to hide their feelings for each other. Neither was the type.
Taichi and Yamato on the other hand, now there was a pair that disguised their crushes with all the might they possessed. Everyone knew that they were painfully sprung on each other --even Daisuke, who had the emotional perception of a squid. They themselves knew it, she sensed, which made it all the more complicated considering they refused to do anything about it.
With Tai, she'd known way beforehand that he'd fall for Yamato. Tai was practically her brother; she could read him like a billboard. Sora smiled, remembering the day he'd called her at four a.m. The poor boy had been panicked, as he finally understood why he'd hated all of Matt's girlfriends. She'd laughed and mentally patted herself on the back. Point for Sora Takenouchi and the ball sails cleanly into the other court.
Matt, on the other hand, was a pain in the ass to figure out. At first she thought he liked Mimi -but then she found out that their relationship extended no farther than shared clothes and beauty tips. Next it was Ken. The two spent a suspicious amount of time together. Of course, when Ken had appeared with a hyperactive Daisuke attached to his hip after the art competition that guess was blown to hell. The bond they had still boggled her though; Jyou believed it had something to do with their mutual experience being evil.
And throughout the whole process of unraveling Matt's tangled psyche, she ached for Tai. What if Matt liked someone else? He'd be crushed. Tai wasn't the sort of person to just get over someone. When he gave his love, he gave it helplessly, single-mindedly, and with fierce devotion. He was the once- in-a-lifetime kind.
But then she'd found out Matt liked him back, and all was happy.
Now she was waiting for the day they announced their engagement. Those two were so melodramatic.
"Hey, Sora?" Jyou tapped her on the temple, scattering her thoughts. The redheaded girl looked at him sweetly.
"Yes?"
Jyou would have none of it. "You have that look again."
"You couldn't see my face, how do you know what expression I have?" she protested, laughing. Her boyfriend narrowed his eyes.
"You think I need to see your face to know when you're plotting?" he rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you exude it. Who're the victims this time?"
Wordlessly, Sora pointed to Tai and Matt. Tai had his head in Matt's lap and was watching him intently as the blonde peeled an orange for consumption. Bits of the juice dripped down Matt's hands and onto the brunette's tongue intermittently. It was adorable.
Jyou shook his head. "I don't think you need to worry about them."
"Oh come on! They're worse than those two!" she thrust her finger at Koushiro and Mimi, currently caught up in a tickle-war as the pink-haired flirt tried to pry her crush out of cyberspace. "They definitely need some prodding, if you ask me."
"That's not what I mean." Carefully, brimming with amusement, the blue- haired boy turned her eyes to a small niche in the bushes behind Matt and Tai. There, sneaking covert glances at their brothers, Kari and Takeru huddled together over a sketchbook and looked utterly wicked.
The redhead slowly began to smile. "Well, with those two on the case, there's no way our victims are getting out unscathed."
"Most definitely."
"Jyou?" Sora's voice was serious now.
"Yes?"
"Did we ever have any problems like that?"
Jyou bent and softly kissed her cheek. "No. As I recall, you asked me out after I nearly broke my leg letting you teach me soccer."
She laughed. "Yeah. And you fainted."
"See? No problems at all!"
Snuggling into her boyfriend's embrace, Sora closed her eyes, content. "I'm glad."
The picnic was a blast. As far as Matt was concerned, it was all due to his efforts cooking up a finger-food feast. Nothing was better than hanging out with friends. Except hanging out with friends and munching on gourmet rolled sandwiches. God, he loved summer.
"God, I love summer." Tai said.
Matt blinked at him, then grinned. Stuff like that always happened to them. Once when he'd gone away to visit his Aunt in Kyoto, they'd been apart for a month. And upon seeing each other again had said in perfect unison: "You asshole, why didn't you call?"
Daisuke ranted about it to this day. He claimed that the Ishida's and Yagami's were really aliens with a telepathic link, which was why Kari and Takeru suffered from the same thing. Daisuke was amusing.
"You know what else I love?" the brown-eyed boy in his lap asked.
"Jun?" he responded sweetly.
Tai hit him. "Ick. No. I love Mimi and Koushiro. Aren't they hilarious?"
Matt looked up at their two friends, silently pondering, as his best friend continued.
"I mean, here they both know they're head over heels for each other, and still all they do is.I dunno. Dance around it like it's some kind of cliff." Tai's voice softened, changed. Almost as if he were talking to himself. "He really loves her, you know. Really, really loves her. Sometimes, he thinks she loves him back -she's good at giving that impression, only then she'll turn around with a new boyfriend just when he's about to tell her how he feels and he'll retreat. She's probably not doing it consciously, but she's toying with him. It's like some silly play, where they keep missing each other, over and over again."
Matt's eyes widened marginally. Gulping, he looked down again. This was hitting a little close to home here.
Tai was staring directly at him. "I wish..."
It was hard to breathe. "What?"
"That they could just---"
"Matt! Tai!"
Both boys flinched --hearts beating triple time-- as their moment of truth fled with Hikari's happy exclamation. The younger Yagami bounced into their line of sight, beaming and utterly ignoring their glares. Matt suddenly wanted to help Tai break every single one of her crayons whenever he got the chance. Damn it.
"What?" And Tai sounded like he was plotting the breakage of something more.
"You've gotta come here. Me and TK have a surprise for you."
They looked at each other, sighing. Ah, the trials and travails of younger siblings. Couldn't hate them, couldn't deny them anything. Matt flicked his bangs out of his eyes and rolled them before dumping Tai off his lap so he could stand. The brunette followed, shooting daggers at his sister with his gaze. She winked at him.
What was that supposed to mean?
Suddenly this was much more intriguing.
"OK, ok, we're up. What-"
"Over here!" she bounced off towards the swing set. They were being led.
Another look, another sigh and they complied, grumbling to each other about how much they wanted to be only-children. Sora, Jyou, Mimi and Koushiro watched them go.
"Fifteen dollars says they come back a couple." Koushiro said.
"OK, just add a little more of the sienna to his eyes and we're all set." Daisuke commented, bending over Takeru.
Takeru did as he was told, touching the mahogany they'd chosen for Tai's eye color with the warmer brown. It added just the right amount of emotional glow to finish off the image. "Dai, you are a genius."
"Nah. Ken says I'm aesthetically inclined, whatever that means, but I'm no genius." The blooming artist picked up his bag and started towards the oak tree, waving to his friend. "Speaking of Ken, I'm supposed to be making out right now. Here comes Kari and the hapless victims, so look sharp, buddy! Seeya!"
"Yeah." Takeru gulped. God, he hoped they were right on this one. If not, Matt was going to kill him.
But he was pretty sure they were right.
Kari sat down in the swing beside his, idly swaying as their brothers caught up with them. Matt towered over him, hands on hips.
"This better be important, TK." He said.
"Takeru." The younger blonde automatically corrected. His three companions rolled their eyes tolerantly. Yamato had gone through the same thing at that age; they knew he'd get over it. "It is."
Silence.
Finally Tai let out a loud breath. "Yeah?"
Kari and Takeru looked at each other.
"TK." Matt warned, threats spilling from his tone.
"OK, ok." He tossed one last glance at his partner-in-crime and gripped the edges of his sketchbook, where Daisuke's commission was carefully arranged, complete, under the cover. "Kari and I have been working on something -a picture. You probably noticed we've been a little art-obsessed lately."
"No, really?"
"Shut up. Anyways." very slowly, Takeru lifted the cover, presenting it to the older digidestined with more excitement than trepidation. "This is it. And by the way, it's Takeru."
Kari giggled.
Matt didn't reply. Matt couldn't reply. Tai was in the same state of shock -awe- as he unconsciously reached and took it, brought it closer for a more detailed examination.
"Um.Dai did the actual picture. We just gave him some sketches and paid him to come up with something like this. Then we colored it." Kari added.
No response. "Uhh.I guess we'll leave you alone now." Takeru muttered, grabbing his partner and dragging her away. The glade of swings was left empty except for the two boys and this most revealing picture. A warm breeze hurried through the air, sending the loose swings swaying and bumping into each other. Late afternoon sunlight caused a glow to spark off of the metal chains as they clattered. It was a scene much like the one they held in their hands.
The image was clear -simple lines and defined edges. No extravagant and unnecessary detail, just enough to make it seem more like a photograph than a drawing. Real. In the background, the swings played gently with each other, blown by a summer breeze you could almost feel. Matt's black button- down was smoothed away from his thin waist in the same wind, along with the grass that brushed against Tai's bare feet. Both were wearing fitting jeans, though the brunette's were rolled up to just under the knee and his yellow T-shirt clung close, refusing to be displaced like Matt's. The sunlight was captured in the soft white-blondes of Matt's hair as he rose on his knees, face turned upwards; Clouds cast warming shadows in Tai's dark hair as he bent at the waist. Their lips were inches apart, parted with anticipation. Eyes -locked-- open just enough to catch the hue and warm ardor reflected there. Between their bodies, only the air existed, and Matt's left hand linked intimately with Tai's right. They seemed to be pulling towards each other and hesitating at the same moment. As if they were savoring that simple, sweet moment with all the heart they possessed. Trapped in the instant before a first kiss. And the color was incredible. Vivid. Living. Vibrant in a way that made the image into a memory rather than a fantasy.
Tai felt his breath catch. "Matt." he whispered.
"Yeah." The blonde whispered back. "We need to talk."
But neither could form words when they finally tore their gaze from Kari and Takeru's gift and looked at each other. There was too much to be said.
Slowly, Matt sat down on one of the swings and began to push himself in a lazy lilt. Tai stood next to him, intent on memorizing the picture before they went any farther. He was afraid it might not be real. He was afraid of what it might do to them if it was real.
Ultimately Matt, ever the smooth one, got to the point with a soft murmur: "They know us better than we know ourselves."
Tai plopped into the swing next to him. "I dunno about you, but I wasn't trying to hide it."
His best friend wouldn't meet his gaze. There was shame in his voice. "Yeah, I know."
"Then why did you let it go on for so long?" Tai didn't mean to sound accusatory, but somehow, he did. Matt winced.
"I don't know. It's complicated."
"Or you're a jerk who gets off making people fall in love with him and leaving them hanging!" Now that he said fully aware of how mean it was.
"Then you're a hypocrite. You claim to be courageous but you can't haul off and go for it, can you?"
Oh god, that hurt. It hurt because it was so true. Tai put his head in his hands. "I'm trying right now, ok?" he moaned. "You're not making it easy."
An awkward silence fell between them. It was one of those moments when every breath is pivotal. When an entire life could switch courses in an instant. Neither was prepared for it, but it was happening whether they liked it or not. It would have come around eventually.
"I wish." Tai murmured under his breath.
"What?" Matt asked, whispering.
"I wish that we could just plunge in. I don't want to talk about. I want to feel it. I'm not very good at talking."
"Neither am I."
The brown-eyed boy darted a glance at his companion, wry humor touching his mouth. "Want to?"
A small smile played over Matt's lips. "Only if you promise we won't end up like Sora and Jyou."
"What's wrong with Sora and Jyou?"
In conjunction, they both answered that question, laughing.
"Boring!"
Kari and Takeru high-fived as their brothers recovered from the brief stint with angst and made good on that first kiss. They grinned so widely their faces hurt.
"By the way," Takeru asked as they walked back to the picnic, leaving the two in privacy. "I recall you owing Daisuke five for each sketch. Shouldn't that make it thirty, not twenty-five?"
Kari clapped a hand over his mouth, hissing. "Don't say that where he can hear you!"
He cackled. "You're wicked."
El-Endo
Author: Kicks (kick_flaw@hotmail.com)
Archive: fanfiction.net under Kick_Flaw
Pairing(s): Taito, smidgens of Kensuke, Jyoura, and Mishiro
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: fluff
Feedback: Please, please, please, please, please!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. If I did Iori wouldn't exist, the Teenage Wolves would be in Warp Tour, Sora would be a lesbian, Matt and Tai would be writing each other wedding vows and Daisuke would've slept with everyone under 20. Twice.
Notes: Gah! I love it when TK and Kari plot! Fun fun fun!
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The Art of Matchmaking
Picnic, picnic, they were over fifteen minutes late for the picnic. Tai hopped back and forth from one foot to another impatiently. He hadn't seen Matt for four days, damn it, why was she taking so long?
"Kari!" he hissed, for the three-hundredth time. "Move it!"
Kari slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed towards him quickly. He turned for the door.
"Wait! Wait!" the younger Yagami grabbed her elder brother's sleeve and tugged him away from the doorknob. "I forgot my colored pencils!"
Tai frantically checked his watch. "Kari, you already have your pastels, your watercolors." Disregarding his aggravated tone, she whirled back towards their room. Instead of stopping, his voice steadily increased. You know, just to be sure she heard him from the opposite end of the house. "Your markers, your dual spiral sketchbook, your designer pencils." she tripped out again, struggling with her backpack. "And your multi-colored erasers!"
Rolling her eyes, the twelve-year-old finally forced the zipper closed around her overwhelming art supplies. "Yes. And now I have my colored pencils. Your point?"
There was no time to answer as far as Tai was concerned. He grabbed his sister by the wrist and dragged her out of the apartment as fast as he could. They raced down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk as one, spraying gravel in their haste. Tai's tennis shoes skidded dangerously as they rounded corners and pedestrians with equal fury. A businessman on lunch break glared at them as they nearly upset his coffee.
"My point," the elder Yagami panted as they counted off the blocks. "Is that we're late. Very, very late! And if you hadn't spent thirty minutes rounding up your stupid crayons we wouldn't be late!"
"They're not crayons! And they're not stupid!"
"I don't care what they are. Matt's gonna re-ream my ass with a live wire for this!"
Kari flinched at her brother's choice of words. Honestly, the older he got, the more.liberal his language became. Her sensitive twelve-year-old ears almost couldn't handle it. "Well TK would never have forgiven me if I'd forgotten!"
The park came within their sight. Tai threw another look at this much- abused watch. Twenty-three minutes. They were twenty-three minutes late. He was so dead for this. Like, punched-into-the-next-millennium dead or hi-you- must-be-my-great-great-great-great-great-
"Tai! Watch out!"
Uh oh. Biker. Straight ahead.
"AAGH!"
Amidst the newly made pile of fallen metal and limbs, Tai clutched his bleeding knee, moaned, and glared at his sister, who was failing to hide her laughter. Next to him, the displaced biker shook his head carefully and looked a little disoriented. Upon examination, the brown-eyed boy realized he was right in front of the park entrance, in full view of his reunited friends, and that he'd forgotten to turn. Maybe he should have been paying attention to his surroundings rather than counting his descendants. Twenty- five minutes late, with the added bonus of a klutz-of-the-year award winning entrance.
"I'm really sorry." He mumbled and had the decency to look ashamed. The biker blinked.
"Oh.no problem." He untangled himself from his vehicle and clamored to his feet a little dizzily. "It's half my fault too."
"No, it's really all my-"
Please, don't let Matt have...
"Don't be silly." A smooth tenor cut in out of nowhere, gently patting the dazed biker on the shoulder. "It's all his fault. You were the victim here."
Tai sighed. Well, it was better this than getting pounded into the dirt. Although the fact that he'd actually done that within sight of his best friend was far worse than any punishment Matt could have dreamed up. How embarrassing. Flicking some gravel out of his wound, he desperately avoided looking up as the blonde sent the biker on his way with more suavity than Tai possessed in his entire body. So what else was new?
Silently, he took the hand Matt offered and levered himself to his feet. The blonde glared at him.
"You're late."
"I know. But Kari had to find her crayons so---"
Kari squeaked indignantly and joined them in the middle of the sidewalk. "They're not crayons! I won't let you blame this on me, Tai!" She turned and gave Matt a knowing look. "He wouldn't let me in the room for an hour and a half this morning."
Matt's mouth twitched. "Let me guess. The hair?"
"Everything!" the younger Yagami threw up her hands. "He preens."
"I do not!" Tai squawked. Unfortunately, this had the negative side effect of returning Matt's attention to him. The blonde narrowed his eyes.
"I'm gonna re-ream your ass with a live wire, Yagami."
It was Tai's turn to give Kari a knowing look. "See? What'd I tell you?"
She shrugged. "As if he could. And if you hadn't wanted to impress him so much I would've been able to find everything sooner, Tai!"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You know what it means!"
"You've been reading my journal again, haven't you, you little brat. That's it! When we get home I'm breaking every one of your precious crayons!"
"They're not CRAYONS!"
Matt stepped between them smoothly and held his hands up for peace. Both steamed, but they stopped. Matt had that sort of affect on people. "Enough already. Let's forget about this, ok? Mimi's here."
That distracted them real fast.
"Mimi!" Kari squealed, tearing into the park without a backward glance. Tai and Matt watched her go, chuckling together. Not a ward, and their little tiff was a thing of the past. It was nice; No matter how many times they fought, their friendship always seemed to restore itself without effort. A quality Tai appreciated imminently.
"Hey," Matt punched him in the arm. "I didn't know you kept a diary."
Uh oh -again. "It's not a diary, it's a journal." Tai said defensively.
"Whatever. I believe you about Kari anyways. TK was frantic when I came to pick him up and he couldn't find his sketchbook."
"Hmmm." He considered that as they trekked over to the picnic. "They've been into that a lot lately."
The blonde nodded. "Ever since Daisuke won that award for his portrait of Ken."
"How funny."
"Agreed."
Then Mimi, in all her pink and gold glory, caught sight of Tai and nearly gave him an apoplexy, she glomped him so hard. He laughed and hugged her back. It was hard without her around. Matt was such a loner all the time, it was tough having a party without her exuberance to even out the spectrum. But he'd very confidently bet his goggles that if anyone missed her the most it was Koushiro.
Even now, the redhead was watching her, smiling. Tai caught his eye and winked, which caused a blush the color of his hair to fill up his cheeks.
"Hey Mimi, you better go save loverboy over there from burning me up with jealousy." He teased softly, so only she could hear.
Mimi flushed prettily. "Yeah. Great to see you again."
"You too."
She went: slipping through the group of digidestined all gathered around the delicious lunch Yamato had prepared for them. The faded king size sheet Sora had brought ruffled lightly as a soft breeze played in the air.
After an affectionate hello to the rest of the gang, Tai collapsed on the picnic blanket next to Matt and smirked silently at him. Late or not, nothing could dim the day. The blonde merely shook his head patiently, offering him an apple slice. Without hesitation he opened his mouth, awaiting the delicious fruit shamelessly. Matt fed that one to him, then another.
Yes, it was all very romantic.
Kari and Takeru grinned at each other in their carefully chosen position out of sight of their elder brothers.
"They're so cute." Kari murmured.
"Yeah." Takeru nodded, endeavoring to pull his sketchbook out of his backpack. The stubborn book eventually acquiesced, but it dragged a box of crayons and some bottled water with it. "Stupid backpack. Why can't they make these things bigger?" he hissed.
"No kidding." Hefting her own, the brunette settled with just dumping everything in hers out onto the ground. "I can barely fit my supplies anymore!" She picked up her best friend's fallen crayons and grimaced at them. "Oh god, don't let Tai see these ok? I'll never hear the end of it."
He laughed. "I heard. Did you really read his journal?"
"How do you think I knew about his little crush?"
"You're wicked."
She smiled mischievously. "I know."
They grinned at each other, sharing in the thrill of what exactly they were doing. It was bold. It was daring. It was Kari and Takeru: Matchmakers extraordinare.
"Hey, have you seen Dai?" Takeru asked. He didn't even glance up from his quick sorting. "Didn't you bring your colored pencils?"
"Yep. Right here. No, I haven't. But he better get here soon, I need to pay him." Kari didn't look up either; she was busy shading a sketch of Matt she had in her book.
"That's because you're both blind." A dry voice said. The would-be artists jumped and, dropping their work, turned their eyes to their smirking confidant. Daisuke plopped down between them and grinned. "And you owe me twenty-five, remember."
"Hello to you too, Dai." Kari greeted sarcastically. She dug through her wallet. "Here. Twenty-five. You better have them."
"I do." The redhead pulled his own sketchbook out with no trouble at all, wringing a glare from the other two. He shrugged and held out a sheaf of papers. Takeru snatched them up instantly, eager to see what the talented boy had come up with.
Funny, considering Kari had to cajole him into this in the first place.
"These are...wow." The younger Ishida marveled.
"Let me see...oh...oh, Dai, you really are good." Gently, almost reverently, Kari flipped through images, silently debating. Daisuke had done a series of drawings at their commission, with preliminary sketches they'd done themselves. Now all they had to do was pick the one they thought was best suited to their purpose and add the color.
"What, you doubted it?" Daisuke joked. "Of course I'm good, I placed first in the national competition. So which one do you want?"
Takeru and Hikari looked at each other. As one they picked up the same drawing.
"This one."
Daisuke looked back and forth between them wide-eyed. "Yikes."
They shared a devious grin.
"Now, which color yellow do you think..."
Sora lay her head on Jyou's shoulder and watched as Mimi and Koushiro practically tripped over each other dancing around a formal relationship. It was funny, but she worried about them. They had it hard being separated by an entire ocean the way they were. Not that she doubted that they'd eventually get together. It was completely obvious, especially to someone with the intuition for love she had. And they made no effort to hide their feelings for each other. Neither was the type.
Taichi and Yamato on the other hand, now there was a pair that disguised their crushes with all the might they possessed. Everyone knew that they were painfully sprung on each other --even Daisuke, who had the emotional perception of a squid. They themselves knew it, she sensed, which made it all the more complicated considering they refused to do anything about it.
With Tai, she'd known way beforehand that he'd fall for Yamato. Tai was practically her brother; she could read him like a billboard. Sora smiled, remembering the day he'd called her at four a.m. The poor boy had been panicked, as he finally understood why he'd hated all of Matt's girlfriends. She'd laughed and mentally patted herself on the back. Point for Sora Takenouchi and the ball sails cleanly into the other court.
Matt, on the other hand, was a pain in the ass to figure out. At first she thought he liked Mimi -but then she found out that their relationship extended no farther than shared clothes and beauty tips. Next it was Ken. The two spent a suspicious amount of time together. Of course, when Ken had appeared with a hyperactive Daisuke attached to his hip after the art competition that guess was blown to hell. The bond they had still boggled her though; Jyou believed it had something to do with their mutual experience being evil.
And throughout the whole process of unraveling Matt's tangled psyche, she ached for Tai. What if Matt liked someone else? He'd be crushed. Tai wasn't the sort of person to just get over someone. When he gave his love, he gave it helplessly, single-mindedly, and with fierce devotion. He was the once- in-a-lifetime kind.
But then she'd found out Matt liked him back, and all was happy.
Now she was waiting for the day they announced their engagement. Those two were so melodramatic.
"Hey, Sora?" Jyou tapped her on the temple, scattering her thoughts. The redheaded girl looked at him sweetly.
"Yes?"
Jyou would have none of it. "You have that look again."
"You couldn't see my face, how do you know what expression I have?" she protested, laughing. Her boyfriend narrowed his eyes.
"You think I need to see your face to know when you're plotting?" he rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you exude it. Who're the victims this time?"
Wordlessly, Sora pointed to Tai and Matt. Tai had his head in Matt's lap and was watching him intently as the blonde peeled an orange for consumption. Bits of the juice dripped down Matt's hands and onto the brunette's tongue intermittently. It was adorable.
Jyou shook his head. "I don't think you need to worry about them."
"Oh come on! They're worse than those two!" she thrust her finger at Koushiro and Mimi, currently caught up in a tickle-war as the pink-haired flirt tried to pry her crush out of cyberspace. "They definitely need some prodding, if you ask me."
"That's not what I mean." Carefully, brimming with amusement, the blue- haired boy turned her eyes to a small niche in the bushes behind Matt and Tai. There, sneaking covert glances at their brothers, Kari and Takeru huddled together over a sketchbook and looked utterly wicked.
The redhead slowly began to smile. "Well, with those two on the case, there's no way our victims are getting out unscathed."
"Most definitely."
"Jyou?" Sora's voice was serious now.
"Yes?"
"Did we ever have any problems like that?"
Jyou bent and softly kissed her cheek. "No. As I recall, you asked me out after I nearly broke my leg letting you teach me soccer."
She laughed. "Yeah. And you fainted."
"See? No problems at all!"
Snuggling into her boyfriend's embrace, Sora closed her eyes, content. "I'm glad."
The picnic was a blast. As far as Matt was concerned, it was all due to his efforts cooking up a finger-food feast. Nothing was better than hanging out with friends. Except hanging out with friends and munching on gourmet rolled sandwiches. God, he loved summer.
"God, I love summer." Tai said.
Matt blinked at him, then grinned. Stuff like that always happened to them. Once when he'd gone away to visit his Aunt in Kyoto, they'd been apart for a month. And upon seeing each other again had said in perfect unison: "You asshole, why didn't you call?"
Daisuke ranted about it to this day. He claimed that the Ishida's and Yagami's were really aliens with a telepathic link, which was why Kari and Takeru suffered from the same thing. Daisuke was amusing.
"You know what else I love?" the brown-eyed boy in his lap asked.
"Jun?" he responded sweetly.
Tai hit him. "Ick. No. I love Mimi and Koushiro. Aren't they hilarious?"
Matt looked up at their two friends, silently pondering, as his best friend continued.
"I mean, here they both know they're head over heels for each other, and still all they do is.I dunno. Dance around it like it's some kind of cliff." Tai's voice softened, changed. Almost as if he were talking to himself. "He really loves her, you know. Really, really loves her. Sometimes, he thinks she loves him back -she's good at giving that impression, only then she'll turn around with a new boyfriend just when he's about to tell her how he feels and he'll retreat. She's probably not doing it consciously, but she's toying with him. It's like some silly play, where they keep missing each other, over and over again."
Matt's eyes widened marginally. Gulping, he looked down again. This was hitting a little close to home here.
Tai was staring directly at him. "I wish..."
It was hard to breathe. "What?"
"That they could just---"
"Matt! Tai!"
Both boys flinched --hearts beating triple time-- as their moment of truth fled with Hikari's happy exclamation. The younger Yagami bounced into their line of sight, beaming and utterly ignoring their glares. Matt suddenly wanted to help Tai break every single one of her crayons whenever he got the chance. Damn it.
"What?" And Tai sounded like he was plotting the breakage of something more.
"You've gotta come here. Me and TK have a surprise for you."
They looked at each other, sighing. Ah, the trials and travails of younger siblings. Couldn't hate them, couldn't deny them anything. Matt flicked his bangs out of his eyes and rolled them before dumping Tai off his lap so he could stand. The brunette followed, shooting daggers at his sister with his gaze. She winked at him.
What was that supposed to mean?
Suddenly this was much more intriguing.
"OK, ok, we're up. What-"
"Over here!" she bounced off towards the swing set. They were being led.
Another look, another sigh and they complied, grumbling to each other about how much they wanted to be only-children. Sora, Jyou, Mimi and Koushiro watched them go.
"Fifteen dollars says they come back a couple." Koushiro said.
"OK, just add a little more of the sienna to his eyes and we're all set." Daisuke commented, bending over Takeru.
Takeru did as he was told, touching the mahogany they'd chosen for Tai's eye color with the warmer brown. It added just the right amount of emotional glow to finish off the image. "Dai, you are a genius."
"Nah. Ken says I'm aesthetically inclined, whatever that means, but I'm no genius." The blooming artist picked up his bag and started towards the oak tree, waving to his friend. "Speaking of Ken, I'm supposed to be making out right now. Here comes Kari and the hapless victims, so look sharp, buddy! Seeya!"
"Yeah." Takeru gulped. God, he hoped they were right on this one. If not, Matt was going to kill him.
But he was pretty sure they were right.
Kari sat down in the swing beside his, idly swaying as their brothers caught up with them. Matt towered over him, hands on hips.
"This better be important, TK." He said.
"Takeru." The younger blonde automatically corrected. His three companions rolled their eyes tolerantly. Yamato had gone through the same thing at that age; they knew he'd get over it. "It is."
Silence.
Finally Tai let out a loud breath. "Yeah?"
Kari and Takeru looked at each other.
"TK." Matt warned, threats spilling from his tone.
"OK, ok." He tossed one last glance at his partner-in-crime and gripped the edges of his sketchbook, where Daisuke's commission was carefully arranged, complete, under the cover. "Kari and I have been working on something -a picture. You probably noticed we've been a little art-obsessed lately."
"No, really?"
"Shut up. Anyways." very slowly, Takeru lifted the cover, presenting it to the older digidestined with more excitement than trepidation. "This is it. And by the way, it's Takeru."
Kari giggled.
Matt didn't reply. Matt couldn't reply. Tai was in the same state of shock -awe- as he unconsciously reached and took it, brought it closer for a more detailed examination.
"Um.Dai did the actual picture. We just gave him some sketches and paid him to come up with something like this. Then we colored it." Kari added.
No response. "Uhh.I guess we'll leave you alone now." Takeru muttered, grabbing his partner and dragging her away. The glade of swings was left empty except for the two boys and this most revealing picture. A warm breeze hurried through the air, sending the loose swings swaying and bumping into each other. Late afternoon sunlight caused a glow to spark off of the metal chains as they clattered. It was a scene much like the one they held in their hands.
The image was clear -simple lines and defined edges. No extravagant and unnecessary detail, just enough to make it seem more like a photograph than a drawing. Real. In the background, the swings played gently with each other, blown by a summer breeze you could almost feel. Matt's black button- down was smoothed away from his thin waist in the same wind, along with the grass that brushed against Tai's bare feet. Both were wearing fitting jeans, though the brunette's were rolled up to just under the knee and his yellow T-shirt clung close, refusing to be displaced like Matt's. The sunlight was captured in the soft white-blondes of Matt's hair as he rose on his knees, face turned upwards; Clouds cast warming shadows in Tai's dark hair as he bent at the waist. Their lips were inches apart, parted with anticipation. Eyes -locked-- open just enough to catch the hue and warm ardor reflected there. Between their bodies, only the air existed, and Matt's left hand linked intimately with Tai's right. They seemed to be pulling towards each other and hesitating at the same moment. As if they were savoring that simple, sweet moment with all the heart they possessed. Trapped in the instant before a first kiss. And the color was incredible. Vivid. Living. Vibrant in a way that made the image into a memory rather than a fantasy.
Tai felt his breath catch. "Matt." he whispered.
"Yeah." The blonde whispered back. "We need to talk."
But neither could form words when they finally tore their gaze from Kari and Takeru's gift and looked at each other. There was too much to be said.
Slowly, Matt sat down on one of the swings and began to push himself in a lazy lilt. Tai stood next to him, intent on memorizing the picture before they went any farther. He was afraid it might not be real. He was afraid of what it might do to them if it was real.
Ultimately Matt, ever the smooth one, got to the point with a soft murmur: "They know us better than we know ourselves."
Tai plopped into the swing next to him. "I dunno about you, but I wasn't trying to hide it."
His best friend wouldn't meet his gaze. There was shame in his voice. "Yeah, I know."
"Then why did you let it go on for so long?" Tai didn't mean to sound accusatory, but somehow, he did. Matt winced.
"I don't know. It's complicated."
"Or you're a jerk who gets off making people fall in love with him and leaving them hanging!" Now that he said fully aware of how mean it was.
"Then you're a hypocrite. You claim to be courageous but you can't haul off and go for it, can you?"
Oh god, that hurt. It hurt because it was so true. Tai put his head in his hands. "I'm trying right now, ok?" he moaned. "You're not making it easy."
An awkward silence fell between them. It was one of those moments when every breath is pivotal. When an entire life could switch courses in an instant. Neither was prepared for it, but it was happening whether they liked it or not. It would have come around eventually.
"I wish." Tai murmured under his breath.
"What?" Matt asked, whispering.
"I wish that we could just plunge in. I don't want to talk about. I want to feel it. I'm not very good at talking."
"Neither am I."
The brown-eyed boy darted a glance at his companion, wry humor touching his mouth. "Want to?"
A small smile played over Matt's lips. "Only if you promise we won't end up like Sora and Jyou."
"What's wrong with Sora and Jyou?"
In conjunction, they both answered that question, laughing.
"Boring!"
Kari and Takeru high-fived as their brothers recovered from the brief stint with angst and made good on that first kiss. They grinned so widely their faces hurt.
"By the way," Takeru asked as they walked back to the picnic, leaving the two in privacy. "I recall you owing Daisuke five for each sketch. Shouldn't that make it thirty, not twenty-five?"
Kari clapped a hand over his mouth, hissing. "Don't say that where he can hear you!"
He cackled. "You're wicked."
El-Endo