Title: Family Ties
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Notes: For Mfreak89, who suggested I do these pairings. I thought, 'hey, I'll put them in the same fic! Multiple pairings FTW!'I've also decided that it's probably about time I got a beta, as I'm aware that this isn't all that great. Although, I feel that's because I rushed a bit and because I'm not used to these pairings. If anybody's interested in the position of my beta, let me know. And give me more pairing requests please.

The phone didn't even have time to ring once before Yamato answered. "Taichi? I was just about to call you."

"Uh…yeah, that's great." His friend was obviously distracted by something. "Hey, can I come over? There's something I really need to talk to you about."

Suspicion bubbled away in Yamato's mind at Taichi's hesitant and slightly guilty tone before it simmered down again, and he remembered that he wasn't exactly innocent either. "Yeah, there's something you ought to know too. That's why I was going to call you."

"I guess I'll see you soon, then."

There was a beep at the end of the line signalling that Taichi had hung up, and Yamato put his own phone down. That conversation had gone much better than he expected; he guessed he should have known that it would be the child of courage who pressed the 'call' button in the end. At least he wasn't the only one who needed to get something out into the open.

Before long his best friend was standing in his living room and looking rather awkward. He didn't move when Yamato suggested that he make himself at home, either; he didn't even take off his coat.

After a few moments of silence had passed between them, Taichi gathered his wits and decided to bring the subject up. "So…what did you want to say?"

"No, you can go first." Yamato tried to sound like he was being nice, but the truth was that he didn't want to confess his own secret without having Taichi's to defend himself with afterwards. That'd be really bad.

However, Taichi insisted. "Really, it's fine. I want you to go first."

"And I'm telling you that you can!"

Taichi sighed and scratched his head in defeat, not really wanting to have a huge argument before he'd even told his friend anything. He shuffled about a bit where he was standing before asking, "Is Takeru here?"

The suspicious feeling coursed its way through Yamato's veins again as he noticed that Taichi wasn't looking at him, and he began to dislike the way this confrontation was going. "No, why would he be? Is this something you don't want him to hear? Is it about him? Or what?"

"Yeah, I guess…sort of…no, it doesn't matter. It's irrelevant, anyway. Look, Yamato," Taichi did his best to steer the conversation away from Takeru, even if just for a moment, "you might want to sit down."

So Yamato did sit down; he had experienced Taichi making confessions before, and if the brunette ever suggested that he sit down, it was usually a very good idea.

But Taichi didn't say anything else; he just stood there, twiddling his thumbs and looking out of place.

"Come on, Taichi," Yamato prompted, "whatever you want to say, just say it. It can't be that bad. Besides, you didn't get the crest of courage for nothing."

"Crest of courage…right." Taichi took a deep breath and looked his best friend straight in the eyes. "Yamato, I'm dating your brother."

Neither of the boys moved nor spoke for quite some time after this, Taichi out of fear and Yamato out of a mixture of shock and anger. Had they been in a different situation, they might have even seen tumbleweed roll past. They were both still staring at each other though, and with every moment that passed Taichi feared how his best friend would react more and more.

Fortunately, he seemed calm and angry rather than agitated and angry. Of course, this could be interpreted as being a bad thing as well as a good thing, as Taichi well knew that the angrier Yamato was, the calmer he was.

"How long?"

"Nearly four months." Taichi paused, gulping in an effort to distract himself from the tension he'd created, and watched the blonde nod slowly as he digested the information. "You're not mad?"

Yamato almost laughed. "Of course I'm mad. I'm furious. I can't believe you've been molesting my little brother behind my back. And for four months, too. It makes me want to beat you into a pulp.

Taichi couldn't help but wonder, "Then why aren't you?"

This was as good a time as any, Yamato decided, to come clean himself. "Because I'm dating your sister."

Clearly this wasn't what Taichi had expected, and he didn't even think about exercising restraint as he reacted. "You bastard! You're supposed to be my best friend; how dare you start sleeping with my sister!"

This time Yamato did start laughing, and Taichi looked at him in confusion. "I'm sorry Taichi, but just stop and look at this for a second," he managed to say in between giggles. "We're both as bad as each other. I'm getting worked up that you're dating Takeru, and you're getting worked up that I'm dating Hikari."

Taichi was a little slow to get it, being a little preoccupied that his best friend and his younger sister were dating, but when he did he hesitantly began to laugh as well. Before long, both of them were laughing so hard that they were finding it difficult to stop, with Yamato clutching his stomach and Taichi rubbing his eyes, which were tearing from both the laughter and relief that the confrontation wasn't as much of a disaster as he'd expected it to be.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me this sooner," Taichi managed to say as his giggles began to subside. "Hell, I can't believe she didn't tell me this sooner. I tell you, when I get home Hikari is going to receive the longest, most embarrassing lecture about the birds and the bees that anyone's ever heard."

It took Yamato a while to reply, due to the fact that his laughter was taking a little longer to die down than Taichi's was. "I'm going to have to disagree with you there. The lecture I'm going to give Takeru when I next see him will be absolutely full of explicit and embarrassing references to sex between two men."

"Hmm…" Taichi pretended to think about it for a second, almost failing to keep his laughter under control, "I think you're right. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes at the moment."

"Neither would I."

The boys stayed where they were for a few more moments, neither one of them making an effort to move, each absorbed with their thoughts. Mostly, it was how unexpectedly easy it had been to break the news and how equally unexpected the other's confession had been. It was quite startling to each of them to realise just how calmly they were taking it all; clearly, their friendship could withstand such impact with less difficulty then they had anticipated.

When he was able to do so, Yamato rose from his seat and gestured towards his door with a wide grin on his face. "Well, don't you think you should make your way home to your sister? You have things to talk about, after all. Give her my love."

Taichi spun to face him and pointed his finger fiercely in his direction, a half-heartedly threatening look on his face. "Hey, don't think you're off the hook yet. We need to discuss all this in detail at a slightly better time."

"When Takeru and Hikari are with us, you mean?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Yamato raised an eyebrow as Taichi's threatening expression melted into a smile and he waltzed to the door, saluting as he stepped out into the corridor. At least, Yamato thought as he took a deep breath of relief, there weren't any hard feelings between the two of them. All things considered, the confessions had actually gone very well for them both. Of course there would be obstacles in the future, but those would be defeated when they came up against them. It was a thought that made him think fondly of his beautiful girlfriend, and he found himself very glad that Taichi hadn't been solidly against their relationship.

But man, when Taichi got home she would be in for such an earful.