As a short note to anyone who came here from my other on-going Digimon story: Don't worry. I know I missed the update planned for this month—life got really busy. But I swear I was not using that time to start a new story! This idea hit me like a freight train today and the details began ironing themselves out before I could stop them. I got home from work and immediately spent the next two hours or so writing this prologue. So… This story will get updated when it gets updated, not on a set schedule like Lost. But I do still hope for that to be in a timely manner. I don't plan for this story to be very long. Maybe 10 chapters or so. We'll see.
As another short sort-of disclaimer: This will be the first story of mine that features the Sorato pairing. I'm personally a huge Taiora fan, and that's always what I've written in the past. That hasn't changed. I like to think of this sort of as me coming to terms with Sora and Matt as a romantic pairing. (It's no exaggeration to say it felt like a personal betrayal as a child.) So this is not going to be one of those stories where she starts out with Matt in the beginning but gets together with Tai by the end. We'll talk about it more as the plot develops and you get to see what this story's actually about, but I do want to say from the start that the focus will be more on friendship than romance.
Oh, and this is an AU, in case you missed it. The Digimon will not be present.
Prologue: Drifting
As a child, if Sora had been asked which of her friends she was most likely to end up with, she would have pointed to Tai. Of course she would. In that regard, she was just like everyone else. In their early days, they seemed unable to escape this talk of how perfect they were for each other. How nicely they'd always fit together, how well she complemented him. It was only a matter of time, really.
But when they did come together, the perfect union ended up not being so perfect after all. Maybe it was the weight of all the expectations behind it. Or maybe it was just that they were thirteen and not as prepared for a serious relationship as they'd thought. In any case, it wasn't to be.
Sora was looking for a boyfriend. Tai expected their relationship to mimic their friendship, just maybe they'd be a little closer, spend even more time together. In the whole seven months they were together, they kissed maybe three or four times. Tai seemed a bit uncomfortable when she'd pushed him to hold her hand when they walked through the halls. They barely talked that summer after school let out.
They'd never really run in the same circles. Tai's sportiness made him popular. They'd reached an age where Sora's stubborn tomboyishness made others think she was a little odd. Or gay. (They were also at that age where stereotypes ran wild—and their peers actually believed them.) She returned to school their last year of junior high to one of his pettier friends taunting her with the knowledge that Tai had been seen with other girls over their summer break.
She was sure it was true. She knew Tai was something of a social butterfly. She knew he'd been out with his friends—many of whom were girls—over the summer. She doubted anything risqué had taken place, as this one girl was insinuating. Sora had begun to realize that Tai was a bit immature. She didn't think he was ready to pursue a romantic relationship with any girl just yet. Herself included, sadly.
Still, she held on for a while, reluctant to throw in the towel. In the end, Tai came to the same conclusion himself. He was the one to break up with her, and even though she'd known it was coming, she wasn't quite able to hold back her tears. It didn't help, of course, that he'd chosen to end things in the middle of a school dance, with more of their peers than she could count eavesdropping from the sidelines. (Nice one, Tai. Mimi had given him a thorough tongue-lashing the following day.)
And that was it. They were young and immature and they'd dated for such a short time. It really shouldn't have been the end of them entirely. But perhaps that also had to do with that middle school age. Things between them were just unbearably awkward in the aftermath. They tried to go back to being regular friends, but now there was this constant baggage hanging over them. They weren't just Tai and Sora anymore. They were now 'People Who Had Once Dated.' Or more importantly, 'People Who Had Broken Up.' They couldn't escape this knowledge that they had apparently not been so compatible after all.
Ultimately, they drifted apart. It was a lingering regret of hers. Most times, she tried not to let her mind go there. What's done is done. But when she did find herself reminiscing, Sora found herself wishing they'd never tried to be more than friends in the first place. Perhaps then they would at least still be friends.
…
They grew older, left their middle school days behind. Tai had a few more experimental girlfriends, none of whom lasted any longer than she had. Sora remained single… until their junior year of high school when an unlikely candidate made himself known.
Matt had been a mutual friend. He'd known Tai for almost as long as she had, and he'd never really fit into Tai's crowd either. Matt was a little on the fringe, a bit edgy and extremely self-reflective. He'd asked her out one day, barely able to look her in the eye. But she'd taken him up on his offer, and she hadn't regretted it yet.
They weren't as storybook opposite as she and Tai had been. She liked to think she and Matt complemented each other in different ways. He was quietly emotional and intense. She wore her heart on her sleeve. But they were usually on the same page, and he understood her. She loved their talks, and she often found she didn't have to explain herself to Matt—he already knew the things she valued most.
There were some who—even after all this time apart—saw it as a betrayal, her next boyfriend being one of Tai's closest friends. But they were upfront about it from the beginning, and Tai never seemed to be anything but supportive and happy for them.
Time passed, it slowly stopped being a taboo subject—Matt and Sora getting together. They had Tai's blessing, they were happy, and Sora was ready to believe they were in it for the long run.
…
They entered their senior year of high school and began preparing for the world beyond. Sora quickly noticed a theme amongst her assignments. All of her teachers were asking them to focus on the bare bones of their lives—identify the things that made them who they were.
It was an interesting shift in their education, if stressful at times. Sora did appreciate the effort being made to turn them into competent, well-adjusted adults. (Even if she did also believe that there were some things that could only be learned through first-hand experience.)
But something would happen the winter of her last year of high school that would break those bones that structured her life.
There are some things you can never be prepared for.
Review please!
I don't own Digimon.
A very prologue-y prologue. This should cover most of the background and give you a sense of where everyone's starting out in this story. I know I left a lengthy opening note… There's a lot more I want to go into… This is loosely based on an actual event in my life—a lot of specifics have changed—but the overall details I kept the same. This has been something I've wanted to mentally work through as a story for a long time, and I expect it to be an emotional journey, but I'm glad I've finally gotten around to it. Thank you for reading this far.
