Quote of the day:
"We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives."
-Criswell, Plan 9 from Outer Space
As Yamato leaned on the railing of his balcony, he thought that the air of Osaka was cold, but it was cold in the way that an August twilight was cold, frigid maybe but with the promise of a warmer tomorrow. He enjoyed being out on that balcony, because it reminded of the city and the people that he left behind back in Odaiba. Yamato smiled as he a took a deep breath of the frosty night, glad that it also reminded him of Taichi. He played with the lighter in his hand, and was slightly annoyed with himself for, as Jun would put it when she felt like teasing him, acting like a sentimental mimzy.
"You hear from Takeru yet?" a familiar young man's voice came when he heard the glass door behind him open.
Yamato hid his smile when Taichi began leaning on the railing at his side, like they had done for so many years on so many different balconies, and as he stared out at nothing in particular, he wondered if perhaps Takeru was out there staring right back.
"No," he answered honestly and nonchalantly, trusting that little Teeks knew what he was doing.
Neither young man said anything for about a minute, simply watching the cold air form little clouds of vapor in front of them when it connected with their warm breath, and Yamato thought for a moment about what Taichi had just asked him. Takeru and Daisuke had gone missing three days prior to which no one had heard from them yet, but oddly enough, Yamato found that he wasn't all that worried about where the two teenage boys had gone off to. Having had a shit upbringing by a father who may or may not have been a pimp, he had developed a sixth sense when it came to tragedy, and right now he felt that his little brothers, both of them, were safe.
"My sister called me again," Taichi added, surprised that he was apparently more concerned about the situation than Yamato was, considering that his little brother was the one who had disappeared.
Yamato frowned at the thought of Hikari calling Taichi over and over again to see if he had heard from Takeru or Daisuke yet. "Was she crying?" he asked, knowing that if she was, that she wasn't the only person who had been doing so. There was Yuuko of course, and he could never forget about Jun either.
"Yeah, she's going a little crazy about it, but can you blame her? She's worried sick about the two idiots," a few seconds passed before Taichi remembered to add, "and if these two morons call us before they call Hikari, I'm going Godzilla on their asses."
He gave a grunt that was more of a hum than anything else, and Yamato flicked the flame of his lighter on, and simply remained silent as he admired the fire he created. It was a beautiful thought really, creating light, no matter how small, in the darkness that surrounded them that night. He wasn't sure if Taichi felt it or not, but as his eyes remained on the fire, as they continued to watch the tiny burning light that to him felt almost like a beacon at that moment, something tugged inside of Yamato. "Tell her I said that the two of them are going to be okay."
Taichi was silent for a moment, his eyes too finding the tiny flame at the end of Yamato's lighter. "I did."
He didn't say anything in response, knowing what Taichi probably meant. Hikari had most likely said something rude about him, about how he spent too much time brooding to let himself feel any kind of emotions for anyone else, but he knew that it was better to simply just brush it off, Hikari being too sweet and too distressed to actually mean it.
"Both of them are fine. Trust me," he reassured, Yamato's eyes still drawn to the fire in front of him.
"If you really think that they're okay, then I think so too," Taichi breathed out quietly and simply, admiring the conviction in the other young man's words.
Remembering all the different ways that Taichi had ever looked at him, and seeing the way that Taichi was looking at him that very moment, Yamato was well aware that the same reason he knew nothing was wrong with Takeru and Daisuke, was the same reason he knew nothing was wrong between Taichi and himself. "Daisuke is too protective of Takeru to let anything bad happen to him."
Yamato watched as Taichi pondered on his statement, and he could tell when it finally clicked in his head. He always wondered what Taichi would have thought of Daisuke had the boy been like him in more ways than he thought. He wondered what Taichi now thought of his protégé.
"You're acting like if the two of them," Taichi paused for a moment trying to think of the best way to phrase the rest of his comment, "are like us."
Yamato gave a smile to Taichi, a slight one that even said brunet could barely see, and he knew what to say without hesitation. "If Hikari weren't around they would be."
In Osaka, in Doyama, everything was supposed to be different, but even after spending two months away from Odaiba it all felt the same to Yamato. He still smoked the same brands of cigarettes, and he still felt the same cravings for them when he didn't smoke enough. He still talked to Jun when she called, and he still felt the same guilt and sadness that came with hearing her voice. He still had no job, and he still lived off the same money his father had left him when he was murdered. He still had the memories of said father, and no matter what he did he still had the same past that came with those memories. Feeling that Taichi was now inching closer to him as they were leaning on the railing of their balcony, like he used to do back in Odaiba, Yamato felt a tug in his heart.
He still had the same future.
