"Once More Into The Breach Dear Tai" by Luke's' Dragon

Disclaimer,

I still don't own Digimon, and still have my cat to think of, so I'd better point out Digimon is not mine, since my cat would hate any legal proceedings against me to stop him having cat food, or catnip based toys… I also don't own "Wild Angels" by Smokie, which is the song Yamato and Tai listen to in the car, or William Shakespeare's "King Henry the Fifth" which is where the title comes from, despite the fact Yamato thinks it's from Macbeth.

Author Note

I was so pleased to get nice reviews after my first attempt at a Digimon fic, and wanted to write another, this one is going to be longer, and is set a few weeks from where my first attempt "Love on a Coin Throw" finished. Tai and Yamato are both twenty, and Takeru and Kari are seventeen (at least I think that's the right age gap)

Since getting back together with Tai three weeks earlier, Yamato Ishida had only a few wishes in life. Firstly he'd like to be a world famous rock star, and secondly he wanted Tai to get rid of his motorbike, or at least learn to drive a little safer. Every night it was the same, Tai would come over to Yamato's apartment and the two would do what ever took their fancy, sometimes it would be passionatly making love, or just laying together and listening to each others heartbeat. Every time Tai left, they would kiss and then he would get onto his bike and race off at break neck speeds, making Yamato worry that something had happened until his mobile phone flashed up '1 new message'. This happened every night, since the first when Tai had not let Yamato know he had got home, and Yamato had sat up until the early hours of the morning when he had rung Tai. Yamato smiled at the memory, he had been angry at Tai for not calling, and Tai had been angry because Yamato had rung him at quarter to four in the morning, still, we made up again which was fun. Yamato had considered buying Tai a car, but none of his arguments had worked, Tai loved his bike, and he does look cute in his leathers. Yamato had a car, it wasn't anything special, but it had a roof for the rain, a stereo system and a steel body between the driver and catastrophic accidents, surely these were all good reasons for a car over a bike, but no, Tai wouldn't listen. His third wish for his life was to have enough money to trade in his rather old car for a nice new, red sports car. Any two of these wishes would make him a very happy guy, but none seemed likely at the moment. He reached for his phone and read the message "Yama I'm home safe and sound, so you can go to bed and dream of me, Later, Tai" He smiled and fell into bed. Tai was right, he would dream of him again tonight; just like he had done practically every night since they had got back together. This was a good thing, because tomorrow was going to be a difficult day, before his could think any more, he fell asleep, and as predicted dreamt of Tai.

Yamato woke up far too early for his liking, he was quite happy to stay up all night, but in his opinion seven in the morning at a weekend should not happen to anyone, especially him. It had been Tai who had suggested that the two of them should tell people about them. Yamato thought it a totally pointless idea, when they had been together years earlier they had not told people, and surely it was nothing to do with anyone else. It's not like I'd make a big deal of telling people I'm straight, this whole 'coming out' thing seems stupid, but I guess I'm doing it for Tai. They had decided to tell only Kari and Takeru. I liked the sound of TK better, but I guess he's all grown up now.

Yamato had drawn the line at telling his parents and Tai wanted to tell his parents himself. It could be worse, he reflected we're not telling the other Digidestined, I haven't seen some of them for years, and I don't much fancy calling them up after all these years for this. It's not like it matters to anyone but us really. I don't see why we need TK or Kari's approval.

Takeru, as he called himself now, and Kari had been together for longer than Yamato could remember, and had a place together, the two wanted to get married, although Yamato though seventeen was probably too young. No I shouldn't be passing judgements on them; I wouldn't want them to moralize at me. They had taken Yamato's car, he was thankful that Tai hadn't got a sidecar for his bike, facing evil Digimon was one thing, but he was not under any circumstances going near that death trap that Tai had.

"Can we change the tape?" Tai's words interrupted Yamato from his thoughts

"Sorry?" He liked the tape; angsty rock ballads were his favorite

"This is getting me down, I want some cheerful music"

Yamato groaned to himself, 'cheerful' meant loud dance music, he hated it more than anything else about Tai, the fact that every trip was blighted by the latest club anthems

"Yama, can I change the tape?" he nodded, I know I'm going to regret this.

Yamato immediately regretted his hasty decision, after ten minutes of what sounded like the same song, even though Tai assured him it was actually three different tracks apparently, Yamato took charge and put his own tape back on.

"But I was listening to that!"

"Look, It's my car, and I am not driving with music that sounds the same"

"Oh, and I guess this is so much better, some old guy warbling on about his lost love"

"It's a meaningful heartfelt track, not some 'tune' made for people in clubs, drunk out of their skulls, and high on who knows what to enjoy". Yamato was impressed how he had managed to pronounce the punctuation around the word 'tune', Tai seemed not to have noticed and was sulking.

"Taichi, I'm sorry alright, but while I'm driving I pick the music"

"…" Fine if he wants to be a big baby about it, he can, I'll just listen to this and drive Yamato was snapped out of his thoughts by Tai running his hand slowly up his leg

"Bet I can persuade you to change your mind" That's nice, that feels really, really good"

"Can I have my tape back on yet?" You'll have to do better than that

"No, Tai and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise", it had the exact effect that Yamato was aiming for, Tai's hands became more adventurous, moving up to rest on Yamato's crotch, and his lips started planting kisses on Yamato's neck. Although this is very nice, I'd better start concentrating on the road, wouldn't want to crash if I wreck my car, Tai's going to drive us everywhere.

"Alright, Tai I surrender, you can have your tape on"

"Ha, I knew you couldn't resist me"

"I only made you stop or we'd have crashed"

"Yeah right, I'll do it again later, and you'll be at my mercy" Result! I may have to listen to this, but it'll be worth it in the end. The rest of the trip was uneventful, although Yamato made sure to complain about the music on more than one occasion in order to get Tai to run his hand along his leg in warning. Eventually they arrived at Takeru and Kari's home, It's been a while, and I wonder how they'll take this. Yamato noticed that Tai looked a little worried, this was unusual in Tai, and it was a little unsettling.

"Well, here we are. Once more into the breach dear Tai"

"Is that Shakespeare?"

"Yeah, 'Macbeth' I think"

"I didn't know you were into Shakespeare" The truth was Yamato didn't really know much about Shakespeare, but it had had the desired effect of relaxing Tai, I don't know much about literature, but if it makes Tai happy I'll pretend. Tai had already knocked at the door, and it was opened to reveal Takeru, looking much older than Yamato remembered, still it had been over a year since they had last seen each other.

"Matt, Tai we haven't seen you guys forever, come in I'll get you a drink, Kari's out right now, but she'll be back soon, we can catch up while she's out". Yamato and Tai were shown into a small but comfortable front room, with several photos, most of them taken by Kari decorating the room. Yamato noticed taking center stage was an older one, of him, Takeru, and their parents, both were very young. Must be from before the divorce, it seems odd that it takes pride of place though.

"What drinks do you guys want?" Why do people keep interrupting me when I'm thinking? Yamato wondered irritably, it seemed to be happening all the time. Tai and Takeru both had a beer, Yamato had an orange juice, the thought of drinking and driving, after even one beer was one he would not give any consideration to.

"So what brings you two over, we don't see you very much?"

"Me and Yama had something important to tell you, but we'll wait for Kari to get back" Yamato wondered why Tai had to use his pet name, it annoyed him and Tai knew it. I'll get him back tonight. He smiled to himself.

The three young men talked to pass the time until Kari returned, I can't believe I haven't seen TK for so long, I really should make more of an effort, I wouldn't want us to loose touch. Just then Kari came in, after the greetings Tai told them to sit down.

"Me and Yama have an announcement to make" he took a breath and continued, "We're both gay, and together and we're in love"

"Hey congratulations bro. I hope you're both really happy together. You make a good couple". That was Takeru, I don't know why but it meant the world to me that Takeru was happy for me, especially considering what followed.

"Tai and Matt, no I don't believe it. I, I hate you Yamato, It's all your fault, you've corrupted my brother! You're the lowest scum imaginable." I couldn't believe it, this was Kari, who was once the sweetest kid imaginable, now verbally ripping me to pieces. Tai looked as though his world had just fallen apart

"Kari…What's wrong with you?" he asked. Bad question I thought

"You ask me what's wrong! How dare you! It's wrong and I never want to see either of you ever again, now get out of my house!" It wasn't just what Kari said that shocked me, but the fact it was someone I thought I knew acting like this, reducing Taichi to tears. It was like being attacked by a loyal dog.

"Kari, what's got into you, Matt and Tai are our brothers, you can't just throw them out of your life" TK, Thank you

"You agree with this? Did you know about them?"

"I had my suspicions, Matt is my brother, and because of that, I'll always stick by him. And yes I agree with what they're doing, to be honest I don't care who Matt falls in love with" Kari launched a new verbal assault, this time directed towards Takeru, This isn't right, She's hurting the two people I care about most.

"Kari, lay off them, if you don't like the fact we're together, fine, but I'll not let you hurt TK or Tai". Things seemed to happen too quickly, her screech, the knife, and then pain, blood; my blood Kari had found something sharp enough to give me a viscous slash across my arm. Under siege from a barrage of curses we fled; TK paused only to take the photo of the two of us.

"Yamato, are you alright?" It seemed the wound was not too serious, it just hurt, but the pain I was feeling was nothing compared to the look of despair in the eyes of my brother and lover, there just didn't seem to be any words to say.

"I'm fine TK, but I want to know something, what's so special about that photo?"

"Way to change the subject bro. But you should remember it was taken on the last holiday we all took as a family before the divorce. I always kept it because it reminded me of all the happy times we shared as kids." Yamato remembered the holiday as well; it had seemed so perfect at the time. TK was right they had been through so much together, as kids and in the Digital World, and even now his brother had been there when he needed him. What would I have done if TK had reacted the same as Kari? I don't think I could have taken it.

"I don't know what to do now, the house is in Kari's name, and anyway, I don't think I could live with her, what with the way she treated you two, so I guess I'm homeless…"

"TK, I've got a spare room, stay with me, you're my brother right, we stick together"

"Thank you Matt." I noticed Tai was crying, damn it, brothers stick together, after how Kari had acted, that had not helped Tai, how insensitive am I?

"Tai lets go home, you can choose the music if you like"

"Thanks Yama, I think I need some of your sad tunes right now"

The ride home was so much more subdued than the trip there; all three sat in silence just listening to the radio.

Don't talk to me 'bout shattered dreams

Cause you don't know what it means to live for someone else you can't just take.

When you're bitten by the truth, you blame it on your misspent youth,

You never seem to learn from your mistakes,

Don't talk to me 'bout wild, wild angels, wild, wild angels on the skyways,

Those wild, wild angels on the highways of the night,

'Cause it's people like you who never knew, what wild, wild angels had to face.

"Told you it was better than your dance music" Yamato was pleased to see Tai singing along with every song that came on. Just a shame he's such a bad singer.

When they arrived back at Yamato's apartment and Takeru was busy getting settled into the spare room Yamato had chance to talk to Tai about the days events.

"I'm really sorry about how things worked out, I can't even begin to imaging what it feels like"

"It hurts a little, especially seeing how happy Takeru is for you, but the way I see it, if Kari cared about me at all then she'd understand that I am who I am, and I've fallen in love with Yamato Ishida, and nothing can change that"

"Tai, that's so sweet"

"Maybe some day she'll come around, but if she doesn't I don't mind, because I've got you. Hey that reminds me, we never finished what we were doing in the car"

"Tai, we have to be quiet, we've got TK in the next room"

"It's your house isn't it? Anyway he doesn't mind us being together, so he can't complain about us making noises. And Yama, you are going to make lots of noise, especially if I do this…"

I did make lots of noise, it's true, and so did Taichi, and he was right, TK didn't care. It's strange, things don't often work out the way you want them, like with Kari, I know what happened today upset Tai more than he's letting on but he says he's happy anyway, and I believe him. I thought that 'coming out' wouldn't be a big deal for me, and in some respects it wasn't TK acted just as I thought he would, but the fact he was happy for me, it meant a great deal to me. As for my wishes, I'm still not a world famous rock star, I still don't have a sports car, and Tai still drives his motorbike far to dangerously for my liking. But I have TK back in my life, and I know Tai loves me, and I love him, which is probably all I really want from life.

Although I wouldn't say no to a sports car…