BLACK COFFEE
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by flipstahhz
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The black coffee steamed.
He appeared serious. One leg folded over the other, he sat straighter on the rigid chair. The man was decked in a grim-ash tailored suit, expensive leather shoes and the grey silk tie he wore around his neck was loose. His long fingers almost tore at the pages as he flicked through the newspaper, creating a ruffling racket.
As he tried to concentrate on a soccer article in the Sports section, the words were droned out as his impatience and irritability escalated.
Taichi Yagami did not like waiting.
When one the pages did tear, a few customers cast curious glances at him. He gave a sheepish smile, folding the newspaper into squares before roughly placing it back into his briefcase.
With nothing left to fiddle with, Taichi focused onto his beverage. He frowned, observing his shadow in the mug of caffeine.
He held it up, closer to his face and whiffed the sedating scent of the strong caffeine. To him, coffee was like a poisonous beauty - an addiction that he could never get enough of. Coffee had stuck by Taichi through thick and thin and was now ranked above his family and friends, for coffee provided instant reliable company. For instance, coffee was more reliable than the person he was waiting for.
Why is he late? Is he illiterate at reading clocks?
Taichi sighed. At least coffee would be there for him. By now the tip of his nose had turned a light pink. As he inhaled the scent, Taichi's jittering slowly ceased. He settled on droning his thoughts into the depths of the searing black liquid and wondered how perfect caffeine would be if it was a mysterious, voluptuous female who-
"Stop moping around and drink your darn coffee."
Cool blue eyes met his; eyes filled with sarcasm and curiosity.
Taichi scowled at his best friend. He hadn't noticed Yamato slide into the seat next to him.
Donned in a dark green hoodie and black jeans, Yamato still managed to get heads to turn at his direction even when he was dressed to not impress. And, much to Taichi's dismay, the sad thing was that he knew Yamato wasn't even trying. In spite of it all, Taichi was used to the attention Yamato attracted considering he had once been a popular bassist to an underground rock band during their high school days.
"Drink it."
"No."
"Then stop moping!"
"I am not moping," Taichi growled. He kicked out a seat from under the table. "And give me some personal space, will you? If you sit right next to me, people will get the wrong picture."
"Hey." Yamato shrugged. "You're the one who asked me out during my busy schedule."
"It's your day off. This is my lunch break and you're late, so be a good friend and listen to me." Taichi crossed his arms.
"You mean, listen to you mope around like a sorry ass?"
Taichi kicked the chair again, but this time with more brute force that the chair almost tumbled over.
"Fine, fine," Yamato concurred.
However, as he switched seats, Taichi could hear him grumbling under his breath how there was nothing wrong about two grown men sitting side-by-side.
It was funny how the tables had turned. Around this time, last year, the pair would be often found in local bars, drinking to their hearts' contents. Yet, here they were...meeting at a coffee shop.
"What have you been doing to keep you all busy?" Taichi questioned, mildly interested.
Yamato grinned. "The laundry. It's become one of my favourite hobbies. Do you know how good softener smells?"
"Am I really having this conversation with you?" Taichi chuckled. "My God. She's turned you into a woman."
His best friend shrugged, smirking. "Perhaps that's her ulterior reason why she decided to live with me. But there may be other reasons like how attractive she is in-"
"Stop."
It wasn't like Taichi had anything against Yamato being with Sora. It's just that he didn't want to know anything about their sexual affairs. After all, Yamato was his best friend and Sora was too. Taichi had crossed paths with them during different periods in his life; Sora at the elementary soccer camp, while he had met fought with Yamato in a History class during secondary school. Taichi had introduced his best friends to each other and now they were very much in love.
Whenever an opportunity arose, Taichi never failed to boast or gloat that his almighty existence had brought them together. And, that if it wasn't for him, they'd be a hopeless mess.
….just like how he currently was.
"Maybe I should get Sora to introduce you to some of her friends from-"
"Looks like your drink is here!" Taichi exclaimed, grateful for the distraction, happily cutting Yamato off mid-sentence.
The pretty waitress placed the mug onto the wooden table. Her hair was styled different. Taichi was certain that a few days ago there were streaks of pink in her long chestnut wavy hair. That day, the streaks seemed to be replaced with bright red streaks. It suited her.
"Thanks Mimi," Yamato muttered after he had read the waitress's name tag, making the waitress's cheeks flush.
"You're welcome." The waitress stammered, giving a polite bow before gliding away to serve the glass of orange juice to the table besides them.
Taichi sulked at his friend who had now focused onto his freshly-made cappuccino. Trust Yamato to not notice the waitress's reaction. He wished he could steal Yamato's natural smoothness.
They comfortably sat there for few minutes in silence.
Yamato had become immersed with his cappuccino, while Taichi kept gazing down at his beverage. When Yamato noticed that the brunette hadn't annihilated the beverage, like he had, he scowled. The coffee had remained untouched.
"It's not often you ask me out on a coffee date." Yamato muttered, "Tell me what's bothering you?"
"Isn't my life like black coffee?" Taichi brooded like a philosopher, evading the question his friend has asked him. "It's so bitter..."
"Then add more sugar." Sighing, Yamato literally reached across the table and dumped four teaspoons of brown sugar into Taichi's mug. "There."
"Asshole," Taichi growled, picking up his spoon and trying to dissolve the lump of sugar at the bottom of his mug. He looked up at him and accused, "You know what I meant."
"Perhaps." Yamato shrugged. "But life can be bitter. Any you should already know that mulling around, doing nothing, won't do yourself any good."
"I'm not mulling."
Yamato frowned. "That's it. Spill it, Tai. What's bothering you?"
"I will not be ordered around."
"Too bad," Yamato grunted with no signs of remorse in his tone. "If you don't, I'm leaving."
Taichi knew that it wasn't an empty threat, as Yamato bullshit tolerance was not high. Like Taichi, Yamato was extremely impatient and even rivalled his own. They were a hot-headed pair, constantly bickering, and saying what was on their minds to each other without hesitating. Yet, it worked for them. The next day, they'd cool off and get over their petty arguments, talking to each other like nothing had happened. Taichi could pretend and say that Yamato and himself only argued like that when they were younger, but the tradition had continued on to that day, despite them being in their late twenties.
"Your parents aren't sick, are they?" Yamato asked, suddenly concerned.
"No."
"It won't be about work because you know I hate listening to you talk about salary man like things." Yamato scratched that proposition out. If Taichi wasn't going to tell him, Yamato would have to go through the elimination process. "Then how about your love life? Wait...no. You said you'd only be worried about finding a partner is after you've turned thirty."
Taichi glowered at Yamato. "You know me too well, but that doesn't mean I don't want a love life-"
"Then is it about how you want to find your own missus?"
"No!" Taichi denied.
"Then it's about Hikari," Yamato confirmed. And, from the sour expression on Taichi's face at the mention of his sister's name, Yamato knew he was right. If it was about Hikari, Yamato already knew what it was about. He sighed, "Come on, Tai. Don't tell me it's because she's engaged?"
Bullseye.
Taichi gripped onto his mug of coffee, so tightly, that his fingers almost turned white. His eyes were wide in disgust and lips were in a straight, unimpressed, line. He neither was smiling or frowning.
"You can't be serious? Relax. You, as well as I knew, that this was bound to happen," Yamato told him. "It's good news. You should be happy that, at least, her fiancée is decent kind of guy."
"It's ridiculous! My sister-my sister," Taichi seethed, "Is leaving me for another man!"
"Taichi-"
"How can I be calm about this?" Taichi continued on, "My baby sister is too young to get married! Hell, I'm not even married!"
"She's not leaving you. You're being impossible," Yamato attempted to reason out. "Just because she has a ring on her finger doesn't mean you're out of her life completely. She mightn't get married till later. Maybe she'll only move in with him and in the meantime-"
"And turn into you?" Taichi snapped. "I do not want her to become unholy! She needs to get married first."
"I don't think living with your partner before you propose or get married is a bad thing," Yamato said, coolly. "Sora and I are doing fine."
"But my sister is different! And now she's engaged to a brute-"
Yamato hissed, "That's my brother you're talking about, Tai. You take that back."
"No! Any person with my sister is not good enough-"
"Tai," Yamato warned. His patience was quickly running out. Yamato didn't care that Taichi was talking down on him, but now that he was attacking his innocent younger brother, it was a different story.
"I don't like him!"
Yamato spoke, "It's Takeru. You know Takeru. He wouldn't hurt a fly."
"What if-"
"Can't you be happy for them?" Yamato sighed. "We used to talk about how great it would be if our siblings got married because then we'd be brother-in-laws! Don't you remember?"
"But-"
"No wonder they told you last!" Yamato exclaimed. "Stop being stubborn and just accept them. It's going to happen, whether you like it or not. We can't control their lives forever. We're past that age now. She loves Takeru, Takeru loves her. Let it happen."
"You don't understand!" Taichi complained, "Hikari said that she wanted to marry me-"
Yamato rolled his eyes. "What? When she was five? And if she did marry you, that would be incest."
"Then why-"
Yamato reached over the table slapped Taichi across the face.
Bystanders looked at them, shaking their heads at their immaturity - not that the two men cared. Yamato looked the least bit apologetic and Taichi was pouting like a little boy, as he rubbed his cheek.
He stared at his best friend and mumbled, "You didn't need to do that."
Yamato gave a careless shrug. "Hey, you were asking for it."
"I guess I was," Taichi breathed out, giving a stretch. "I still don't like it, Yamato. I just don't want her to forget me."
"Deal with it."
"And I can't even badmouth Hikari's fiancée in front of you because he's your brother. She's not old enough to get married."
"She is grown up now," Yamato disagreed. "You need to at least try to get that image in your mind. She's in her twenties, has a steady and stable job and she's turned into a fine woman. What more could you ask for, Tai?"
Taichi scratched the back of head. Yamato did have a point. Yamato had always been his second conscience, the reasonable one who'd hold him back whenever he did anything reckless. Though, Taichi knew he had the right to panic. His sister, his kid sister, was now an engaged woman.
He didn't think he could ever accept that, but he knew he would have to. That was the reason why he needed Yamato there, Taichi had wanted somebody to bounce his thoughts off. Even though Yamato did pack a mean slap, his words were enough to pull himself together.
"If she's a woman, then we've grown up too. We must be old men then, huh?" Taichi gave a small smile. "Two old men drinking coffee together is kind of romantic, isn't it? Are you going to tell Sora that you've been cheating with me?"
"She'd probably reward me for it. Thinks that we've been neglecting you," Yamato smirked. "You're like our little boy. I remember when you'd dry retch over caffeine. And now, look at you, all grown up."
"Shut up," Taichi snickered. "Talking about dry-retching...I remember when you pretended to vomit in front of Jun when she tried to give you some chocolates-"
"Don't remind me," Yamato closed his eyes, pained by the memory.
Taichi chuckled. It was odd how they had known each other for almost half of their lives, yet they still had managed to remain good friends. Despite the different career pathways they had taken, they got along well despite seeing each other less frequently.
"I'm sorry about what I said about TK," Taichi finally admitted. "It's just hard letting go, you know? I know Takeru's a really good guy for her. If anything, he's the only person I'd be happy for Hikari to be with."
"I know," Yamato said as if he had stated the obvious. "I guess you've played cupid again, huh?"
"Unintentionally this time," Taichi muttered, giving a tiny smile.
Yamato laughed, glad that Taichi was feeling slightly better. The ex-musician clapped a hand onto Taichi's shoulder. "I guess you're good now. You need to get back to work and I need to get a move on. I promised Sora that I'd drop by the market to buy fresh fruits."
"Whipped," Taichi said, under his breath, while Yamato chuckled in response.
Before Taichi could reach the counter, Yamato had already paid for the bill. After they exchanged goodbyes, they left the cafe. Yamato waved at Taichi has he headed off the opposite direction.
As Taichi strolled down the street, Taichi took a deep breath. Everything was changing around him. From the brand new stores on the street, to his sister being engaged, Yamato deciding to become a guitar teacher...and even the changes he had been experiencing. Taichi would have never thought that he'd become accustomed to taking flights back and forth, to and from Japan to deal with international businesses around the globe. Was this maturity? He wasn't sure.
By the time Taichi had made it back to the office, he took his phone out and realised that Yamato had sent him a text. Why had Yamato messaged him when they had just seen each other?
Sheepishly, when nobody was watching him, Taichi opened the message at an angle so only he could see the text.
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Tai,
Here's Mimi's number: 90 6107 3605
Although you were moody the whole time, I saw you staring at her.
And, well, I saw her staring at you too.
You did say that you wouldn't mind a love life...right?
So let me play cupid for you this time.
Cheers!
Your brother-in-law
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Taichi chuckled.
Why did his best friend have to be such an over-observant idiot?
Asides from acting like a miserable jerk in front of Yamato about his sister, Taichi had specifically chosen that cafe because, for the past month, he had developed a slight interest for the pretty waitress.
He crossed his fingers, wishing for the best.
Holding his breath, Taichi he dialled the number.
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Last Edited: 24.02.16
(a/n)
I felt nostalgic. With all the hype of Digimon Adventure Tri, I couldn't help but revisit this fandom. I might write a new Sorato story at some point, but I'm not making any promises. Hope you all have been doing well. xox flipstahhz