Rebuilding the Bridge

Bridging the Gap

Or something along those lines

Our hands clasped together, desperate for each other's heat and comfort. I seeked it from you, and you from me.
At those times, even when we had almost lost hope for return, I was not lost. I had you.

But that was years ago.

It was senior year, and they still were in the same homeroom. Yamato almost wished they weren't; he hated seeing Taichi everyday. It was the simple fact that they didn't talk any more; it shouldn't have bothered him, but it did. Taichi was the star of the soccer team, and Yamato was the front man of a popular band. Yamato had glimpsed the head of bushy hair maybe once or twice at the club he played at, always surrounded by friends that Yamato didn't know. Always after that, he had a glancing thought of visiting a soccer game, see the star of Odaibah's team in action. He had never gotten around to it; his band practiced every day, and if he did have the time, he made up an excuse (even to himself) to walk away. Taichi and he were far apart now. It would just be weird for him to suddenly approach him again.

It was Friday night, and the Teenage Wolves were playing at the club again, playing their last song of the night before handing the stage over to the local DJ. Yamato found it amusing that the screaming fans on the floor were probably drowning out his voice. As he struck another chord on his guitar, he noticed a group of soccer players and cheerleaders come in to the club and pull up chairs around a table. His mouth went dry when he noted that among them was a certain Tachi, laughing loudly at something his teammates had said. The league finals had been that night, and judging by the jovial air about the group, Odaibah High had won. Yamato suddenly wished that the song would end. Stumbling over the last three lines, he kept his eyes over in the corner. They were busy celebrating their victory, but once, maybe twice, Taichi had looked up and directly at him.

"Hey Yama-chan," the guitarist Hanaichi said, bopping the singer on the head as they packed up their gear. Actually, he had to yell to be heard over the song DJ Nana was blasting to be heard. "What was with that last song?"

Yamato gave a good natured laugh. "I forgot the words," he said. "It happens to the best sometimes."

At the same time, Taichi was laughing loudly with his friends. They had all changed from their uniforms into more clubbing appropriate clothing, though Taichi and a couple others had opted to wear their jerseys as a show of pride. One of the cheerleaders, seated in her boyfriend's lap, suddenly giggled and said, "Hey, wasn't the band that played just now the Teenage Wolves? And the singer is Ishida-kun, from our class?"

Taichi nodded, sipping at his soda through a straw. "Yeah. Hey, have I ever told you that I used to be friend's with him?"

There would have been a deafening silence if they weren't at a club. "What! You never told us!" The four cheerleaders that had come with the team were suddenly by Taichi's side, praising Yamato, his looks, and his oh-so-sexy voice, making Taichi roll his eyes. "What's he like?"

"Well, we haven't talked in a while, but he's always been the emo-poster child you see today. He actually used to play the harmonica a lot, but maybe that was because we met at a summer camp, and they hadn't allowed him to bring a guitar," Taichi explained.

One of the girls made a face, as if she didn't believe him. "Why don't you talk to him?" she demanded to know.

Taichi looked as if he had never thought of the idea. "We haven't really talked in a while though, you know. And our interests now are so different--"

"Go talk to him!" the girls chorused, pulling Taichi out of his chair. "Go on, he's over there, at the bar."

Taichi glanced over there. "Come on ladies, do you really want me to go? I mean, we were only just starting to have a good time..."

"Go!" And so he was pushed into a massive crush of people who danced to whatever beat DJ Nana chose to play. Sighing, Taichi decided that he might as well, and made his way to the bar.

"Is this seat taken?" Yamato looked up, about to say that yes, Hanaichi was going to come back from the bathroom in a minute, but the words got stuck in his throat. "I'll take that dumbstruck expression on your face as a yes." Yamato figured it was just as well, because Hanaichi was probably hitting on someone and be too busy to come back. Taichi slid onto the bar stool beside his old best friend and called to the bartender to get him a coke. "You look surprised to see me."

Yamato eased his expression into a smile. "Well, we haven't really talked in say, almost four years. I was kinda thinking that you never wanted to talk to me again."

"Really?" Tachi was just as surprised. "I thought... I thought that you didn't want to talk to me!"

They just looked at each other, and started laughing. And Yamato felt like his soul was lifting; he had never felt this good before. He hadn't realized that he had missed Taichi that much.

"So, how're things going? How's Takeru and your band?" Tai said, sipping his drink.

"Ah, Takeru's good. You probably see him way more than I do." Yamato laughed at the irony. "I mean, he's been hanging out with Hikari and Daisuke a lot, and he only comes by to see me every couple of weeks. As for the band, we're negotiating a record deal right now. How have you been holding up? I heard that our soccer team went to the district finals."

Taichi grinned. "Yeah, we just played, actually. Won, eight points to six."

"Good job," Yamato drawled.

"Yeah, actually," Taichi continued, "I came here with a bunch of guys from the team. A few girls tagged along, and I accidentally let it slip that I, you know, knew you." Taichi laughed a little. "They wanted proof of that, so here I am."

Yamato had just been settling into hearing the brunet's voice again when he'd heard that sentence. "What?" he asked. A weight sunk like lead in his stomach at the words.

"I was just saying, some girls I know wanted to meet you and--" Taichi gulped, silenced by the glare Yamato was sending at him.

"So you're just fucking with me?" Yamato hissed, gripping the front of Taichi's jersey. ("Ah!" Taichi squeaked.) "You think you can just waltz in after all these years, hold a casual conversation, make me even think that you wanted to talk to me again, all for a fucking dare?" Taichi was shocked the other boy's complete one-eighty change in personality as Yamato slammed in down onto the barstool again. "You know, Tai, you and I? All those nights we camped out under the stars, next to each other? I can still remember how you smell you know. And it was so fucking long ago." Yamato stood up, pulling a few bills out of his wallet and slapping them on the counter next to his unfinished drink. "I've woken up more than once since then. And sometimes I could swear that I smelled your scent in the air. But when I opened my eyes and you weren't there, I got mad at myself for even getting happy." With a last venomous glance, Yamato stood up and pushed his way through the crowd and out the door, leaving a confused Tai to wonder what he had said wrong.

(tbc)