Hey everybody, I'm back; and I come bearing a new fic!
* Everybody else: "Woooo about time!" *
What, have you missed me? =D
* Everybody else: "Yeeeeah, we've missed you!" *
Ahem...alrighty then. Once again I feel the need to apologise. Fanfiction, as amazing as it is, has taken a backseat recently; and it's going to remain that way until the summer. It's a huge shame, I know. But I'm not gonna be giving up on it anytime soon! You can expect something from me every now and then, ok? It'll just be slow work. =)
Now, this fic is a bit of a strange one. In short, this is where I'll place all of my short, wacky ideas for this pairing. You'll see what I mean...
A Snapshot of Forever After
"What do you mean you 'don't know where they are'?" Matt asked in disbelief, waving his arms about in the air, wildly. Sometimes, he just couldn't believe how much of a klutz his boyfriend could be. Of all the things in the world that Tai could have misplaced, why; oh why, did it have to be their precious collection of photos?
"What I mean…" Tai began, sensing the initial feelings of guilt brush against the back of his neck. "…is that I don't know where they are, ok? They just…they got away from me, a little."
"What, did they grow legs and run off?" The blonde asked, sarcastically. He knew the comment would rile Tai up; but sometimes, he just couldn't help himself. As expected…
"Maybe! I wasn't watching them all of the time, Matt!"
"Argh, you're impossible Tai!"
"…and that's why you love me." The brunette replied, smoothly, flashing his signature, toothy grin. Matt, unfortunately, couldn't help but smile back. Just a little. That didn't mean he was going to let his boyfriend off the hook, though.
"That's beside the point, and you know it. We're gonna find them – all of them – and we're gonna find somewhere safe to keep them, alright? They were all here at one point, so they can't have gone too far."
"Awww but Yamaaaaa! That takes so much effooooort!" Tai moaned, sinking lower into the soft, cushy couch that he was currently occupying.
"Yeah, well, it wouldn't have come to this if you'd just taken care of them in the first place. Now c'mon, get your pretty ass in gear and start searching."
"And what, exactly, are you gonna be doing?" Tai replied, rising to his feet grudgingly and stomping off towards the bedroom to begin his quest.
"I'm going to be finding somewhere to put th…" He cut off, abruptly, with a thin smile. When Tai turned back around to see why he had stopped talking, he found that his boyfriend was laid down on his chest, butt stuck up in the air, with his arm stretched out underneath the couch.
"…Matt? What are you doing?"
"Acting on a hunch. You lose everything under here."
"…so?" Tai replied, defensively, as Matt rolled out a small, orange ball, swiftly followed by a shoe.
"So…do you know what else you might have left under here?"
"Er…" Tai started, picking up the newly revealed shoe with a grimace. He had lost the pair the very day that he'd bought them. "The other one of these?
"Nope." Matt answered, lifting himself back up to his feet with a wide grin, and a photo clasped in his hand. "I was thinking something more along the lines of…this." A moment of shock passed across Tai's face at the sight, but it was soon replaced by an enthusiastic grin.
"Damn! I look great, right?"
"…"
"C'mon, you know you love it! You're just jealous…Matt?"
"…"
"…Matt?" Tai attempted, again, but to no avail. Matt was long gone; trapped in a montage of chocolate ice cream, and wedding bells. Tai sighed to himself and sat back down. This could take a while.
Matt reached the door to his apartment, wearing a backpack that was filled to the brim with an unreasonably large amount of ice cream for his boyfriend. Earlier that day, Tai had called him at work with an urgent request to fulfil his sudden craving. Matt had risen to the challenge, of course, and had spent the last half an hour trawling about the local shops with unrelenting vigour, in the hopes of finding Tai's favourite flavours. He'd succeeded, too. As was custom, though, the blonde was going to run an overly dramatic guilt trip for his efforts. Fair was fair. He opened the door, loudly, and strolled in, feigning fatigue to the best of his abilities.
"I'm absolutely exhausted, Tai. Next time you want a life supply of ice cream, you can carry it back home your damn se…" He cut short, and dropped the bag in utter shock, causing it to split at the bottom. Tubs of various ice creams rolled out. No one paid it any attention, though. Tai was currently gawking towards the TV, absorbed in some unfamiliar show, and hadn't openly reacted to Matt's odd entrance. His cheeks, however, had reddened slightly; and he had noticeably tensed up around the shoulders.
In Tai's lap was an extremely oversized tub of ice cream. By the looks of it, he had given up on using a spoon - his hand must have proven to be the more efficient ice cream collecting tool. That didn't throw Matt, though. No. What really threw him was that the brunette was wearing a white, frilly, wedding dress.
"So…" Matt attempted, feeling utterly, positively, astronomically perplexed. Was he really expected to bring up normal conversation in a situation like this? "…ok, am I asleep Tai?"
"Nope." The brunette mumbled.
"…so what's happening, Tai?" This time there was no reply; just the sudden, panic inducing sound of crying, and of Tai's ice cream tub falling to the floor with a crash. Instinctively, Matt rushed over and took hold of the brunette's hand. "It's ok, Tai, I'm here." The reply, if there was one, was totally inaudible behind the extensive choking sounds.
They remained in that position for a few painfully drawn out minutes. Matt tried to ignore the unreasonably surreal fact that he was currently knelt down on one knee in front of a male bride.
"I'm s-sorry, Matt. I must look so s-stupid right now."
"Maybe stupid isn't the right word, Tai." Matt replied, stroking his boyfriend's hand gently. "But maybe you could tell me what this is all about? It looks like you're having a mental breakdown."
"Way to be sensitive…" Tai replied, croakily.
"I'm sorry, Tai. I'm just not sure what you want me to do here."
"I don't want you to do anything!" He screamed out, bursting into a fresh set of tears.
"Ok, ok…" Matt attempted, soothingly. "…I'm just afraid, Tai. Normally you're the one picking up after my little pieces of crazy." Tai sniffled, suddenly wearing a small smile despite his current state. "I need your help here, ok? Tell me what's happened."
Tai seemed to consider Matt carefully for a moment, before he dried his eyes to the best of his ability, and replied. "O-ok, Matt. I'll talk. I just…I'm not sure it even makes s-sense, you know? Before I knew it, I was wearing this stupid thing, and eating s-stupid ice cream on the couch. And this stupid dress is itchy, too. Don't see why it was so expensive..."
"You bought it?"
"Not likely. You should have seen the price tag, M-Matt. I only rented it for one day."
"But…are you sure you can give it back if it's covered in chocolate?" Matt asked, softly, pointing out the previously unnoticed stains. Tai looked ready to cry again. "Woah, it doesn't matter ok? For now, just tell me what brought this on. It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense."
"O-ok…" Tai rubbed his eyes, this time with the back of his hand, before he took a deep, shaky breath, and began. "…well, I got up today after you left this morning, and sat down to watch this s-stupid show." Matt turned his head for a second, and found that a bridal show was currently playing on the T.V. "It was all about marriage, and s-stuff, and it's been going on for hours since! It started getting me all excited just watching it, y'know? With the super big cakes, and all the people d-dancing, and the two…the two…but we're…w-we…we can't…" Tai gave up and dropped his head onto Matt's shoulder, lightly. He resumed crying. "N-next thing I…I knew…I…big dress…and…ice cream…and…"
And it was at that precise moment when the hilarity of the situation hit home. Matt began chuckling quietly under his breath, at first, and over the next few seconds that chuckling became full out, 'no consideration for his distraught boyfriend', roaring laughter.
"It's not funny, Matt!"
"I…know…Tai…!" He bawled, despite himself, falling backwards onto Tai's unfinished ice cream tub with his eyes streaming. "I'm…sorry…! I can't…I can't…help it!"
"Yes you can!" Tai retorted, bounding down from the couch and landing noisily on top of the blonde with retribution streaming angrily from his eyes. "Just shut up, Matt!" The pair wrestled chaotically, with Tai yelling random, nonsensical insults at his astounded partner; who, much to his own annoyance, could do nothing more than laugh incoherently in reply.
By the time they had finally ran out of energy, and by the time they had finally sat up from the floor with resigned faces, Matt's hair was covered in the chocolate ice cream that he had been unknowingly rolling in. Not that Tai was going to inform him of that fact.
"I'm sorry, Tai. I really didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just…it's so funny!"
"It is not!"
"Oh, come on Tai. If I was wearing a dress; and a wedding dress, at that, when you walked in, what do you think you'd do?" Matt asked with a knowing smile.
"I'd…I'd…" Tai thought carefully for a moment, before admitting defeat. "I'd laugh my ass off…"
"Exactly." Matt put an arm around Tai's shoulders, and sighed. "Tai, I get what you said back there. I do. And I guess I understand how you feel, too. It's hard, knowing that we can't have that title of 'married'. And I feel it too, y'know?" He ended, with a kindly grin. "But you don't see me freaking out and renting a dress, do you?"
"I guess not. Heh…" Tai sniffled, and rubbed his nose gently. "…I'm not really sure what possessed me to do it, Matt. I'm kinda starting to wish you weren't here right now, y'know?"
"It's a little late for that, Tai. Besides, you don't look half bad..."
"…really?"
"Yeah. It shows off your body pretty well..." Compliments; the sure-fire way to divert Tai's attention. "Besides, it kinda says something about you. You're daring, and…"
"…out of my mind?" Tai interrupted, almost smiling, as he looked down at himself. He seemed to be checking his body out, as if he liked what he was seeing all of a sudden.
"Yeah. In a really cool way."
"So…it's a good thing, then?"
"Yeah, Tai; so long as I don't have to pay for the dress, that is." Matt smiled, lightly rubbing Tai along the arm as he stood up.
"I think…I think we should take a picture together, Matt!"
It took a few moments for the content of that outburst to fully register in Matt's utterly confused, worn out brain. That couldn't possibly have been what he said, could it? "…did I hear that right, Tai?"
"Yeah, you heard it right! We should take a picture!" Tai jumped up, with a mischievous grin plastered across his face. "It'd make for a great memory! We can label it 'Tai's first breakdown', or 'Matt's first chocolate hair mix up', or something!" Matt's hands automatically shot to his hair; which, currently, looked to be browner than it was blonde. He looked ready to explode. "Oh, come on! I'm dressed like a bride! I don't think anyone in this room, or anyone looking at a picture of us together, is going to judge you too harshly. You big drama queen…"
"D-did…" Matt began, unable to believe his ears. "…did you just call me a drama queen?"
"Sure did." Tai smiled, licking Matt's hair. "You taste nice!"
"Thanks, Tai…" He replied, rolling his eyes. "Go get the camera, quickly; before I change my mind and back out of this." Tai's gasped in response, lifted his dress up by the waist so he wouldn't trip over it, and hobbled off into the bedroom as quickly as he could go. Matt almost fell to the floor with laughter just watching him. Maybe this picture would come in handy, after all. Without it, he might accidently convince himself that this was all some weird, utterly out of character, dream.
Soon enough, Tai was back with his big, orange camera. He had a huge smile on his face. "Are you really enjoying this that much Tai?" Matt asked, laughing.
"Surprisingly…yeah, I am. This'll be so funny to show people someday!" At that moment, Matt knew that Tai was the single bravest person on Earth. He smiled, as the brunette set the timer and put the camera down in a position that would catch them fully in the shot. "Ready, Matt?"
"When you are, Tai!" He shouted, unexpectedly, lifting the shocked guy up into his arms with a big, cheesy grin across his face.
*click*
"Y'know, Tai…we kinda look like a newly wedded couple in this." Matt said, pulling out of his trance. Tai was currently laid down on the couch, nodding off. "Don't you think?"
"Yeah, it's great…" He yawned, snuggling into a nearby cushion. "…does this mean we don't have to look for photos anymore?"
"Well, have we found them all yet?"
"…no…" Tai mumbled, sadly, sitting up from his position in defeat. "I'll get looking…but, you get moving and find something we can stick them in, ok?"
"Way ahead of ya." Matt replied, bending back down and reaching underneath the couch again. His hand landed on something new. Something flat, and hard. A book of some kind. Upon pulling it out, Matt saw that it was a crisp, hardback scrapbook. Something Tai had lost before he'd got the chance to use it, probably.
"What's that?"
"Well, I guess…" Matt replied, flicking through the many blank pages. "…this is our new photo album. Maybe we can glue the pictures into it, or something?"
"Sounds good to me…" Tai answered, dully. He was lying down on the couch, again, and had cuddled back into his favourite cushion. Matt took a deep breath, and with all the volume he could muster…
"Tai!"
Well, there we have it. These guys are going to find a picture each chapter, and that picture will cause one of them to flashback to the depicted event. Should be interesting, right? Hope you had fun reading it, at any rate, and I hope you come back for more when I upload the next one! :D
Thanks for reading! Tell me what you thought, yeah? :)
P.S This is dedicated to the amazing lil fanficer that is Takato The Dreamer. I'm sure he can guess why. :)