Growing Together

Summary: A tasty treat for TaiYama Week 2018. The blossoming of a new relationship; the development from friends to lovers. Blissful moments and the hardships faced.

D-Angel: I'm not working today, so I actually had the time to write something a little bit more detailed :) Plus, onsens! I was obsessed with them both times I've visited Japan xD Hope you all enjoy this chapter :D

Chapter 4 - Onsen

Taichi was bubbling with excitement on the entire journey over to the resort. Yamato had decided to whisk them away to the Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma, and had even booked them an overnight stay at the ryokan. It was an early Christmas treat, and it would have been a surprise, had not Taichi already known about it.

"Perhaps if you stopped leaving your intentions laying around in notepads, I wouldn't keep finding out these things."

Yamato could not argue. Taichi made a very compelling point.

Once they had checked in, and had been shown to their room, it was not long before Taichi suggested they should head down to the hot springs.

"You can go first," Yamato said, pretending to search for something in his backpack. Taichi frowned. He was certain Yamato had been to an onsen before, so he must have been familiar with the protocols. It was only when Taichi ran over them all in his head that everything suddenly twigged. A vibrant laugh rolled out from the depth of his throat.

"You didn't think this through, did you?"

Yamato narrowed his eyes, a warning snipe Taichi was all too familiar with, yet he chose to ignore it.

"Or, maybe you did. Jeez, you're perverted, Yama."

Again, the blond shot him a venomous glare, although there was now a lovely blush accompany his porcelain skin. In truth, the reality had only just dawned on Yamato that he would be getting completely naked with Taichi, within a public space. A sly grin stretched across the brunet's face. He loved just how shy Yamato could be.

"I promise, I won't look," Taichi vowed, placing his hand on his heart.

The pink tint on Yamato's cheeks still remained, but the weight of anxiety hanging on his shoulders appeared to have partly been lifted by Taichi's promise.

Soon before long, they were ready for a few solid hours of pure relaxation. With the world's shortest towels wrapped around their waists, they stepped out of the warmth of the male changing rooms into the biting cold of the outdoors. Boldly removing his towel, Taichi draped it over a pile of nearby rocks before stepping into the milky pool of warm water.

Yamato hesitantly removed his own towel, then followed Taichi into the water, trying hard to focus on the stunning mountainous scenery around them, rather than the athletic figure in front of him.

A blissful sigh fell from Taichi's lips as he fully submerged his body into the soothing hot water and shut his eyes. Yamato kept a noticeable distance from Taichi as he sunk down beside the brunet. Opening his eyes, Taichi turned his head and nodded at the blond, who returned the gesture with a slight smile.

They sat in a peaceful silence for the next several minutes, watching other people coming and going from the hot springs; friends, families, work colleagues. In this time, Taichi had gradually drifted closer to Yamato, until their arms were touching. Taichi closed his eyes and drifted off into his own private bubble.

It was only the gentle sploshing of the water, when Yamato eventually stood up, that alerted Taichi. Before the brunet could voice his concern, Yamato announced that he was heading back inside.

As Taichi sprung up to follow him, his eyes locked onto Yamato's physique. The blond had always been taller and leaner than him, but over the last couple of years, he had certainly upped his muscle definition. It was no surprise, Yamato was fairly awesome at swimming and running, despite putting minimal effort into either activity.

"You're looking," the blond hissed. Taichi snapped back into reality before realising that his eyes had indeed drifted a little too much.

"Ah, sorry, sorry."

Taichi made a conscious effort to avoid staring at Yamato until the blond had covered himself back up with his towel.

"Sauna?" Taichi suggested once they had stepped into the indoor bath area.

Yamato nodded.

"I'll grab us some water first," the blond decided, tightening the knot of the towel that was hanging off his slender hips. "Wait here."

He disappeared off to find a water dispenser. Taichi was about to sit down on the nearby wooden bench by the changing room entrance, until something caught his eye- an empty plunge pool tucked away in the corner.

Venturing over, his gaze peered up at the digital screen on the nearby wall which displayed the temperature. At fifteen degrees Celsius, it was about twenty degrees colder than the natural hot spring outdoors. An ideal way to cool off, he decided.

Placing his towel down onto the edge of the pool, he almost shrieked as he dipped his foot into the water. How people managed to do this willingly was beyond him. Still, he grit his teeth and quickly immersed himself into the ice cold water until it reached his waist.

Slowly counting to ten in his head, he had already reached his limit by the time he got to seven and swiftly hoisted himself up and out onto the side.

He froze the instant he was back on his feet. Double of everything danced in front of his eyes, swaying round and round, as if he had just stepped off a rollercoaster. His heart pounded heavily, as the dizziness only grew worse. Instinctively, he slumped down onto his hands and knees. His vision felt like it was fading, all colours running into one. Panic gripped his chest. He was naked and alone; he could not pass out like this.

Moments later, a warm pair of arms wrapped around him.

"It's ok, I've got you," a deep voice soothed, laying his body across their lap. The brunet immediately felt his muscles relaxing as Yamato held onto him and instructed him to take long, deep breaths. Gradually, the spinning stopped and Taichi's heart rate returned to a steady beat.

"You're an idiot," Yamato sighed as he affectionately brushed his fingers across the brunet's forehead. Sometimes, he really struggled to understand how Taichi's brain functioned. No one in their right mind would choose to go from extreme hot to cold without at least allowing their body to gradually adjust to the change of temperature.

Once the brunet was able to stand back up, and had covered up his dignity, he sipped gratefully on his cup of water. Yamato placed his arm around the brunet and relished the moment.

He was never going to let Taichi live this down. Not ever.

D-Angel: And then we can naturally assume they returned to their room for some sexy time xD I'm actually finding it tough not to turn each little chapter into a full out sex fest, but I guess the challenge of keeping things tasteful is actually pretty fun :)

Fun fact: the dizzy spell thing actually happened to me in the very same onsen the DigiDestined visit in Digimon Tri. Definitely not my finest moment I can tell you!

Anyways, tomorrow's prompt awaits... See you there ;)

D-Angel
17/05/18