Disclaimer: Digimon is not, has never been and will never be mine.
This was written for the SecretSantamon activity in tumblr for tumblr user fizzingwizard.
Fourteen Floors in Heaven
"The fourteenth floor? Are you sure?" Taichi stared at the building. When they first began playing that game, it seemed like something innocent, something even fun. But as the game kept going forward, the fun behind it simply disappeared and it turned into a bloody competition – without the blood, that is.
It was Jou's idea, for everyone's surprise. He was sick of how everyone seemed to text more than actual talking with each other in every meeting they had. So he thought, what about a small competition? Everyone then dropped their phones and began listening. The idea was simple, he would leave clues around Odaiba and the gang would have to follow them, divided two teams: girls vs boys. There would be a grand prize at the end of the treasure seeking, for the first team to reach the final location.
One of them would be deciphering the clues from a computer, and let the rest of the team know where to go next, with the help of a digital map. The other two would be following the instructions from the streets. Jou chose Takeru specifically to help him select the perfect spots from Odaiba to place the clues; he knew the young Takaishi had an evil mind. Jou himself would be waiting for the winning team at the final spot, with the treasure.
"Yes Taichi, according to the coordinates of the last clue it should be inside of that building." The brunette took off his headphones and faced Yamato. "Koushiro says it's on the fourteenth floor."
"Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to get to the four-"
"There they are!" A squeaky voice appeared right behind them, as they both jumped. "Come on Sora, we have to get there before them!"
"I didn't know you did cardio," Sora laughed. "Thanks Hikari, it was here. The fourteenth floor you say?"
"Sora, they are going to win if you don't move those legs!" Mimi was desperate at the entrance of the building, which had, in fact, fourteenth floors total. This was the final clue, which meant Jou should be waiting for them on the penthouse of the place – which was where his older brother, Shin, lived.
Both Hikari and Koushiro were helping them on the opposite sides of a coffee shop. Mimi and Sora believed – they really thought it was cheating, having Koushiro behind the screen. No one really imagined how Hikari could turn out to be an internet genius. When she volunteered to be the one helping them, everyone went silent. Turned out they had been underestimating her and she was actually some kind of genius, Koushiro shivered.
"Let's go then!" Sora saved the headphones on her pocket and ran after Mimi. Taichi and Yamato looked back to each other, pretty shocked about the whole scene.
"They are ahead of us and it's your entire fault!" Yamato turned to Taichi, furious.
"I really needed to have some food, why do you always blame me?" They both went inside of the building, but there was no gaze of either Mimi or Sora. "Chill, we can still win."
Yamato rolled his eyes and turned back to Yagami.
"And how do you believe that will be possible?"
"Just look at that." Taichi pointed to the elevator, which looked quite terrifying.
"You must be joking if you believe we are getting on that. It must have been 1950 when someone last used it."
"Still way faster than Mimi wearing heels while climbing fourteen floors of stairs," the brunette went inside of the elevator. "Are you staying there or will you get your ass here and show the girls who's in charge?"
Yamato rolled his eyes again; nevertheless he stepped inside the elevator, next to Yagami. "If they win, it'll still be your fault."
Taichi smiled wide, while pressing the button of the top, the one with a 14 well drawn. When the screen stated that they were passing floor number nine, the elevator suddenly stopped.
.
"We did it! We totally kicked their asses!" Mimi jumped as they reached the fourteenth floor, Sora right behind her.
"Are you telling me the secret of your sudden condition? And you were wearing heels for sake!"
"Never underestimate the power of a girl with winning thirst.
"Although… isn't it a bit weird? Yamato and Taichi didn't even try to overtake us. And this is Taichi who we're talking about; he'd never give up that easy!"
"They probably decided to take the elevator," Mimi shrugged; ready to knock the door of the only room in the fourteenth floor.
"They probably did…" Sora looked at the sign pasted in the door of the elevator and she went pale. It was very clear and very bright, with big bold letters it stated: OUT OF SERVICE.
"Have you seen a ghost or…?" Mimi went blank when she saw the sign Sora couldn't stop staring at. "They're screwed."
.
"What are we going to do now? God, the girls won't even remember we exist because they'll be enjoying their damn prize! I knew I was meant to die young but not inside of an elevator and especially not with you!" Taichi was in the verge of tears, walking in circles between the four walls.
"Can you calm down for a second? We've only been here for about five minutes," Yamato closed his eyes and crossed his arms, trying his best to ignore Taichi.
"I don't even have signal! Do you have signal?" Yamato denied. "Well, of course you don't, you didn't even bring your phone because it was one of Jou's stupid rules." He took a deep breath and sat on the floor, holding his head. "I bet it was his idea all along, it was the perfect way to get rid of us and stay with both Sora and Mimi!"
"Just, shut up," Yamato looked down at Taichi, who was sweating. "I didn't even know you were interested in them."
"I'm not," Taichi looked back at Yamato, they both looked away immediately. "Why do you care, anyway?"
"I don't care of course!" He pouted. "Now shut up, I'm not willing to spend more saliva in your nonsense. This is your entire fault, after all."
"We are so going to die!"
.
"Are you sure they used the elevator? They could've gotten away, you know? Considering Taichi's lack of patience," Jou tried to calm the girls down, they didn't even ask about the precious prize. Koushiro and Hikari were apparently on their way.
"They would never let us win without trying, Jou! Don't act as if you didn't know them!" Sora, who never really lost her mind, was about to. They went straight to the lobby to ask if someone had seen two guys going inside of the elevator. Turned out the receptionist hadn't seen anything, but the cameras pointed out the contrary.
"They are such cheaters; they actually dared to use the elevator! Guess it's karma they ended up stuck in there."
"Mimi! Stop saying that. They probably didn't even see the sign, how can they be so irresponsible, I won't be here taking care of them forever."
"Calm down Sora, they'll be fine." In that exact moment, Takeru, Hikari and Koushiro entered the building. They all knew about the situation beforehand, thanks to Jou who was the only one with a decent cellphone.
"But Yamato suffers from claustrophobia," she cried.
"He'll be fine, Sora," Takeru kept on talking. "The worst that can happen to him is ending up fainting." Sora widened her eyes, wasn't feeling better about the situation. "Plus he's with Taichi," the young blonde smiled. "Now that I think about it, they probably will end up confessing to each other."
"At least something good would come out of this situation," Mimi smiled as big as Takeru, moving her eyebrows around.
"I called the firefighters, they shouldn't take so long to get here," Hikari told everyone, who let a sigh out.
"At least we have someone intelligent and who thinks coldly in here," thanked Jou.
.
"I am thirsty," Taichi stated, as he sat down for the tenth time.
"I know, you've said that at least a thousand times. You wouldn't be so thirsty if you remained silent!" Yamato yelled at his companion, if there was something he didn't have, it was more patience.
"Are you feeling alright?" Taichi moved his face closer to Ishida, who evaded his gaze. "You look paler than the usual – if that's even possible."
"I suffer from claustrophobia, you should already know that," Yamato bit the inside of his cheek. "Can you take your ugly face away from me? As if I wasn't suffering enough already"
"Do you actually want to survive?" Yamato rolled his eyes at him, but didn't reply. "Then we should be saving oxygen by breathing…" he shortened the distance between them, Yamato blushed lightly. "… Closer."
"No, Taichi back off," he pushed Yagami aside, crossing his arms afterwards. "If we're actually going to die I want to do it with my pride up high":
"You always put your pride before everything," Taichi mumbled. "Do you have any idea of what time is it?"
"Of course I do!" Yamato took off the phone Jou had given them, and went silent.
"What is it?" Taichi took the phone from his pale hands and went blank as well. "We're out of battery."
"No shit, Sherlock, I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't told me!" Now Yamato was the one half inch away from losing his mind. He had tried to stay calmed using his breathing exercises, but it seemed like none of that was working. "Now we're really going to die."
"We could try to break the door!"
"You know it's made out of metal, don't you?"
"We could get out through the hatch!" Taichi pointed out the square above them, Yamato rolled his eyes.
"Taichi, you watch too many action movies."
"Is that a bad thing?" He let a cheeky smile slide, Yamato shook his head.
"We could start having faith in our friends instead," Yamato stretched his arms, closing his eyes one more time. "Do we really think they're such assholes to leave us stranded in here?"
"You're right; there probably wasn't even a prize anyway. You know how Jou is."
"Right," Yamato laughed lightly. "The prize was probably the value of friendship or of teamwork, something like that."
"You know, you were there the first time I thought I was going to die as well." Taichi said after a few minutes of remaining in silence.
"Is that so?" Yamato opened his eyes slowly. "When was that?"
"In the File Island, when we were left together," he moved his hand towards Yamato's, who didn't take his own apart. "It was so cold; I really thought I was going to die." Taichi laughed loudly, for the first time since they had started the competition. "I guess being stuck alone with you just makes me want to die."
"Don't forget about the snow fight, made me feel pretty miserable myself." Yamato joined his laughter, the environment turning lighter after hours of stress. "But I didn't think that I would die back then. I guess your punching wasn't though and the cold has always been my friend."
"You always know how to ruin the moment," he shook his head. "But anyway, if we are going to die today, I guess I have nothing to lose."
"What are you talking about?"
Taichi moved his face towards Yamato's, placing his lips against his'. All the tension disappeared, Yamato didn't feel overwhelmed anymore. He suddenly wasn't locked inside of an elevator anymore; he was back in the File Island, with Taichi by his side. Yamato locked his arms around Taichi's neck, deepening the needed kiss.
Light came through the door, showing the shocked faces of their friends, and especially from the firefighters. It took a few seconds before Yamato and Taichi realized they had been saved, and to finally break the kiss.
"Don't mind ourselves, we aren't here," Mimi winked, as she took a photo of them with Jou's phone.
"Talk about goddamn time," Takeru gave them thumbs up.
"Wait, how long did we stay locked in here?" Taichi wondered, trying to focus again to the natural lighting.
"About an hour," said Koushiro.
"You can't be serious," Yamato stood up slowly, with Taichi's help. "It must have been way more.
"It was an hour. Oh and I have something to say," Sora had her hands on her hips, which meant she was being absolutely serious.
"Yes?" The two boys asked at the same time.
"You are a pair of losers and cheaters." She raised her eyebrows. "Let's go guys, lunch's on me."
Notes
Since it had been like 300 years since I last uploaded something here, I figured I should upload this small gift here.
This fic is pretty special to me, because it's my longest work in English and it's my first Taiyama/Taito, which is crazy.
It was lot's of fun, I really enjoyed writting this! And I hpe, dear reader, you enjoyed it as well.
Please review :)