"Oi! Yamato! Wait up, will ya?!" Taichi Yagami pulled his bag to his chest and sped up to meet his best friend. "Are you trying to lose me or something?"

"Never." Yamato replied bluntly, keeping his pace. He let some of his hair fall forward to cover the side of his face.

Taichi rolled his eyes. "I'm glad to see you're chipper this morning. What's your problem?" The brunette playfully punched Yamato's shoulder but received little response.

The blonde pulled away and grumbled. "Knock it off, will you?"

Taichi dropped his arm but kept his teasing attitude. "Did someone not get a long enough nap last night?"

Yamato sighed, but let Taichi keep walking next to him. With a few years of being friends with the brunette under his belt, he'd learned to pick his battles. Yamato had decided that somewhere inside of him, there was a little fuse with Taichi's name on it. So long as Yamato was able to dampen it before it reached the stick of dynamite that was his temper, everything went swimmingly. It also helped that the two boys were more mature than they were in the digital world five years ago. The age of petty arguments that turned into fist-fights had long since passed, but Yamato remembered them ever-so-fondly.

"Oh come on man, what's wrong?" Taichi asked, throwing an arm around Yamato's shoulders. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Once again, Yamato pushed him away. He knew Taichi's teasing was all in good fun but he really wasn't in the mood for it.

"Oh, you're boring." Taichi sighed, giving up. The two walked along in silence for a few moments before a lightbulb went off in the boy's head. "Hey, didn't you and Sora celebrate your anniversary last night? What is it now, three years? Six?"

"One." Yamato replied, not taking his eyes off of the sidewalk in front of him.

"Well jeesh," Taichi grumbled, "I guess time goes by a lot more slowly when you have to listen to your two best friends be all lovey-dovey all the time."

Yamato rolled his eyes. Over the course of the past year, Taichi had grown more comfortable with the idea of him dating Sora. Whenever Taichi took shots at him about it, it was never serious. The brunette was happy that his friends were happy, and that kindness helped Yamato and Taichi grow a lot closer. Still though, in this moment, Yamato wanted to deck him.

The blonde's silence pushed Taichi to ask another question. "Did something go wrong?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Taichi shot him a skeptical look. He knew something had happened, and Yamato knew that he knew.

When any other person would have kept his mouth shut, Taichi opened it. "Listen dude, if Sora's mad at you-"

"She's not."

"No, really dude, I've been there before, and trust me I-"

"I told you, she's not mad at me." Yamato closed his eyes and pictured Taichi's fuse lit, burning closer and closer to the stick of dynamite. "And don't talk about her like that."

"Pft."

"I'm serious!"

"Did I say you weren't?" Taichi looked at Yamato innocently. Taichi knew Yamato though, and for as good as Yamato was at hiding his emotions, little things he did gave everything away. He was being short, he looked exhausted, and his ice-blue eyes were shooting daggers at him. "I just want to make sure the both of you are alright."

"Right." Yamato replied, ignoring Taichi's sudden seriousness.

Annoyed that his best friend had overlooked what the brunette considered a significant effort to console him, Taichi went back to pushing his buttons. "Fine. I'm sure Sora will tell me what's up during lunch."

Yamato felt the color drain from his face. She… she wouldn't, right? Yamato knew that Sora told Taichi many things. After all, they were best friends, and Yamato always made it clear that he didn't want to come between that. But she wouldn't tell him anything too serious, would she? "Don't." was the reply Yamato chose to give. Although he was pretty sure Taichi was kidding, the blonde didn't want to risk it.

"Wait, wait, wait." Taichi said, thrown off by Yamato's response. He stopped walking, so Yamato was forced to stop as well. "You didn't do anything to her, did you?"

"What are you talking about?" Yamato retorted, offended that Taichi would think he'd hurt Sora on purpose.

"I swear, if I can't find her at lunch because she's crying in the bathroom or something-"

"Do you honestly think I would make her cry?!" Yamato said in frustration. "You know I wouldn't!"

Taichi furrowed his brow. "Then what's going on man?! What could be wrong that you wouldn't want Sora to tell me about? Can you see why I'm concerned? I-"

Something about Yamato's look caught Taichi off guard. He looked desperate for Taichi to stop talking. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were wide, like he was nervous that the brunette would suddenly put the pieces together about whatever was wrong.

"Wait." Taichi said, struggling to keep his jaw from dropping. Everything suddenly clicked, and Taichi felt awkward in his own skin. "Alright dude. This is where being your friend and Sora's friend seriously screws me over. I don't know whether to high-five you or punch you." And, of course, being Taichi, he couldn't just stop talking there. He had to relieve the awkwardness somehow. "Why'd you have to tell me that, man?!"

"Are you serious?!" The blonde looked like he was ready to explode.

"How was it?" Taichi asked slyly. However, he quickly remembered that Sora was involved and changed his tone. "I mean. The sex. How was the sex? Not with Sora, just the sex."

Yamato sighed, realizing that he was now roped into the conversation. "I don't know dude, to be honest, I feel a little uncomfor-"

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Taichi exclaimed. "Isn't your first time supposed to be incredible or something?"

"How did you- nevermind." Yamato pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose in frustration. He'd never actually told Taichi that he was a virgin, so he was a little offended that he'd just assumed, but that was besides the point.

"Oh, you're boring." Taichi whined. "Wait. Is that why you're so down?"

Yamato didn't respond.

"That's it, isn't it?!" The boy grinned, proud that he'd figured out the mystery. "It wasn't incredible! Oh, now you have to tell me what happened."

Yamato felt his skin getting hot. His face was bright red, he was sure, and he knew exactly how this conversation would go if he refused. Taichi would call him boring a few more times, and then he would threaten to ask Sora. Of course, he knew Taichi never would, but Yamato just wanted this entire thing put to rest. He swallowed hard before opening his mouth. "I just… didn't… live up to expectations, okay?" The blonde hated himself more and more as each word rolled off his tongue.

Taichi's eyebrows instantly shot up. "How so?"

Yamato sighed, annoyed that Taichi had the brains to put everything together but the final piece. "It was just… er, well… short."

At first, there was no response. Yamato stared at Taichi while Taichi stared back. "Are you happy now?" The blonde asked.

Taichi bit his lip, trying to hold back the laughter. However, it burst out in full force. Yamato rolled his eyes and started walking again, only for Taichi to catch up a few seconds later. "Oh, man." The brunette said after catching his breath. He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and smiled over at his friend. "Did you cry, too?"

Yamato groaned and shoved his friend away, pushing him off balance. The school was in sight, so at least this horrid conversation could finally be over. Once they reached the gate, Yamato was more than ready to part ways.

"Hey," Taichi said, just before he could walk away, "you know I'm kidding, right?"

"Whatever." Yamato replied bluntly. He knew that, but he wasn't about to let Taichi off so easily.

"You're my best friend," Taichi smirked, "it's my job to do that. But I'm also Sora's friend, and I guess I would feel like I'm not fulfilling my role if I didn't say this, but don't you ever touch her again you scoundrel!"

Yamato rolled his eyes. Taichi probably thought he was so funny.

"I'm serious!" Taichi went on, forming a fist with one hand and punching his own palm. "Meet me back here after classes are out, I'll show you what's what."

"I'm not interested." Yamato raised a brow at him and turned to walk away.

"Oi, Yamato!" The brunette got his attention one last time. "Don't be scared! It'll only hurt for a few seconds!" Before he turned and walked off himself, he winked at the blonde and stuck his tongue out. "See you at three!"

This fic goes out to a dear friend who edited it for me (she knows who she is) and also convinced me that I wasn't out of my mind for thinking up this idea. Well, at least I trust her editing skills. At the moment I'm trying really hard to increase my characterization skills, so please leave some constructive criticism if anything about Taichi or Yamato felt off to you. I figured that this was a pretty awkward situation, and I'd really be able to test how well I understood their personalities. Thanks for reading.