As Takeru was getting ready for bed, Yamato slipped outside onto their balcony to finally get some of the time he had wanted to himself to collect and process his thoughts. He took a deep breath in and let it out as he stood leaning over the railing, looking out into the night sky and city lights of Odaiba. The night, which had started as a light-hearted get together amongst friends, had quickly turned into an emotional evening assessing his relationships. Way too much had happened tonight and he was sure if he didn't clear his mind, then there was no way he was going to be getting any sleep.

As Yamato breathed in the night air, he let his mind go to where it wanted to, Taichi. Yamato knew he had been fighting these thoughts for a while now and it was about time to figure out what the hell was going on inside his head. He first thought about how everyone, himself included, had pushed Taichi into contacting Meiko to try and start some kind of long distance relationship with her. This thought made Yamato angry. After feeling so many conflicting and uncomfortable feelings about Taichi after their last big Digi battle, he had pushed him away and even worse, he had encouraged him to go after a girl they barely knew. Sure, he liked Meiko, but there was no way she was good enough for Taichi.

While he knew that Meiko liked Taichi, Yamato knew that Taichi didn't feel that strongly about her, and that thought made him glad. Sure, he liked Meiko, but he didn't think she was a good enough match for Taichi. But, who was? Yamato thought. In all the years he had known Taichi, Yamato had never really seen him express any interest in any of the girls at school, except maybe Sora for a minute, but no one really bought that. The only person Yamato thought of as an equal match to Taichi, was… himself. Yamato blushed and brought his hands to his face. Ever since they had almost lost Taichi, Yamato had felt this pull in his heart towards his best friend. Though he didn't realize it at the time, those few days without Taichi had forever changed the way Yamato would view him.

At first, Yamato thought if he avoided his best friend, then all these weird feelings and thoughts in his head and heart would stop. That didn't work. If anything, it intensified them. Yamato had originally thought these feelings were just built up anger and frustration, but the truth had come out tonight. The truth was that Yamato avoided him because he never wanted to feel that much pain again. Losing Taichi, even for a moment, shook Yamato to his very core. The pain had been excruciating and somewhere in his loner mind, he had reasoned that keeping his distance was the safest way to protect his heart. Yamato sighed, feeling ashamed of himself. The distance he purposely placed between them had only strengthened his desire to be closer to Taichi. And tonight, tonight Yamato had looked at Taichi differently. He had looked at him longingly and affectionately. He had wanted to lay his head on his shoulder. He had wanted to stay up on that hill with his arms around him. He had wanted to be close to him – closer than they had ever been. Yamato squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in his hands as if trying to hide his inner turmoil from the universe.

These thoughts just didn't make any sense to him. Yamato had liked Sora. He had gone out with Sora… he had held her hand, and he had even kissed her – several times! But, Yamato thought, he had never wanted more out of his relationship with Sora. He didn't feel the pull in his chest that he felt now towards Taichi. And, Yamato gulped, he never felt the desire to get closer to Sora, physically. Yamato blushed as his heart raced. He sat down on one of the balcony's fold-up chairs and put his head in his hands once more. He shook his head trying to stop the thought of Taichi's warm body on top of his. Yamato was losing it. This was the same Taichi he had grown up with. The same Taichi he had battled alongside and consistently tried to keep up with. How could he have a crush on his best friend? What about all their fights and bickering – was it all just a cover-up? Yamato took another drag of the night air. None of this was getting easier to understand.

He thought again of Taichi being with Meiko. No, Yamato reckoned, if Taichi had liked Meiko as more than just a friend, then he was sure he would have known about it. Yamato would've… felt it. He knew that was weird, but he and Taichi were connected. That fusion of friendship and courage was the strongest feeling Yamato had ever felt. When Gabumon & Agumon had come together, Yamato felt his heart and mind align with Taichi's and it was a feeling of wholeness, of being complete. It was a feeling that Yamato never knew was possible. His expression shifted to one of wonder. That was the power of his bond with Taichi. A bond so strong that neither one of them could ever explain it.

Yamato thought more about the bonds that he had with people. The strongest relationships in his life were the ones that needed no explanation. He thought fondly of Gabumon. The bond he had with Gabumon was incredible. Even when the Digital World rebooted and the Digimons had briefly lost their memories, Yamato knew he didn't have to say a word to Gabumon. He simply just had to be there and be around him, and the two of them would eventually feel the connection in their hearts and know they were and had always been partners. An unspoken bond. Yamato smiled softly. Those were his specialties. Gabumon was the only person, well Digimon, in Yamato's life that he had fully opened up to and allowed himself to be vulnerable with. Yamato laughed to himself. Of course, he'd open up to a Digimon before opening up to a human. He bet no one would be surprised to hear that.

The mood shifted as Yamato then thought of Sora and all the times she had tried to get him to open up to her. This thought made him frown. Why was it so hard for him to open up to Sora when it was so easy for him to talk to Gabumon? Could it be a person thing? Yamato shook away the thought as ridiculous, before thinking of Takeru. In the past, he had struggled opening up to his brother because he feared Takeru would think less of him. Being the older brother, Yamato had always wanted to appear strong and stable, someone who thinks clearly and always knows what to do. He wanted to set a good example for Takeru, even if he didn't always know how. Yamato sighed. He didn't want to share his feelings with Takeru because he didn't want to worry him and he probably didn't open up to Sora for the same reason. Sora always worried about everyone else more than herself. Surely, he didn't want to add on to her worries.

As he continued looking out at the city lights of Odaiba dancing in the night sky, Yamato thought back to his first date with Sora. She had come to one of his band's concerts and afterward, they had gotten ice cream and walked along the pier. It had been a nice evening, but still, as Yamato thought back to it, he frowned. He remembered feeling smug and superior that night because Taichi had invited everyone to his soccer game and Sora had told him she'd rather spend the night out with Yamato instead. Yamato wondered if he only said yes to Sora that night to rub it in Taichi's face. And for what purpose? To show him that Yamato was better than him because Sora preferred him? What a lousy friend. Yamato took his eyes away from the night sky as if undeserving to look at anything beautiful and looked at the balcony ground floor.

Even on his date, Yamato had thought of Taichi. This was a particularly upsetting thought to Yamato. Perhaps his relationship with Sora wasn't working out because it had never started out on honest ground. The more Yamato thought of it, the more he realized how unfair all of this was to Sora, and to Taichi. Sora didn't deserve to be ignored tonight and she definitely didn't deserve to be with someone who didn't return her feelings. Taichi didn't deserve to have two of his closest friends miss one of his soccer games. And he definitely didn't deserve to have a friend constantly trying to one-up him. Why did Yamato feel the need to compete with Taichi all the time? Yamato felt like he had won when Sora picked him over Taichi, but Yamato had won Sora and bragging rights, and it didn't take a genius to figure out which victory he was more proud of. How could he have not realized what he was doing? And what if going out with Sora was what made Taichi agree to call Meiko in the first place?

Yamato shivered, the night air finally catching up with him again. He didn't like the idea of Taichi and Meiko, but if he was being honest, he didn't like the idea of Taichi being with anyone. He wondered how Taichi felt when he and Sora went out. Could Taichi have been happy for them? Or, could he have felt hurt or alone? Yamato clenched his hands into fists as he shook with anger at his own stupidity. His friends meant the world to him, and here he had been hurting their feelings just because he wasn't willing to face his own.

"Not anymore." Yamato announced to the night sky.

He dug into his front pants pocket and took out his phone. Whatever weird thing he felt with Taichi, he was going to face… head on. Yamato didn't care what time it was. Too much time had passed already. He took another deep breath of cold night air, found Taichi's name, and - without another thought - hit dial.

The phone rang once and Yamato swore the world could hear his heart pounding like a drum from inside him. That didn't matter though, Yamato had made up his mind that no matter what he was going through with this. From this point on, he would be honest with himself and honest with his friends.

The phone rang again and Yamato gulped. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer. Answer Taichi, I know you're there.

As Taichi and HIkari reached their apartment, they walked inside and Taichi began rumbling through the cabinets.

"Hungry?" Hikari asked her brother, laughing.

"Starving." Taichi smiled and put his phone and keys on the table. "Do you want anything?"

"No, thanks. I'm going to bed." Hikari smiled fondly at her brother and then walked over to him wrapping her arms around his back and said, "Goodnight, brother."

Taichi smiled, "Goodnight Hikari, sweet dreams."

Taichi watched as his little sister walked into her room and then he sat down at their kitchen table with a bag of chips he had pulled from one of the cabinets. As he opened the bag and began eating, he replayed the events of the night in his head. He laughed to himself as he recalled the game of charades he had played with Mimi, Sora, Koshiro, Jou and Hikari. He almost choked on one of the chips as he remembered Jou 'swimming' on the ground pretending to be Gomamon. Leave it to Koshiro to come up with the best game, Taichi thought. They had only paused the game when the sky had turned orange and a miraculous sunset appeared before them. Taichi thought of Hikari and Takeru going on their walk. He made a mental note that he still needed to talk to Takeru about his intentions with his sister. Taichi was happy for his little sister, but as a brother, he still needed to talk to Takeru. Taichi's mind then went to the grassy hill and Takeru's older brother.

Yamato. Taichi stopped eating and looked down at the grass stains on his jeans. He smiled fondly as he recalled their impromptu wrestling when Yamato had spilled the beans on Hikari and Takeru. That Yamato, Taichi shook his head, always trying to protect me from myself. Taichi lifted another chip to his mouth, but then put it down. He was happy, but he wasn't smiling anymore. He and Yamato hadn't talked about what they really needed to talk about. Taichi wondered if they ever would. Maybe tomorrow. He took a deep breath and laid back on the kitchen chair, staring at the ceiling. He wasn't even a little bit tired.

Suddenly, a noise on their kitchen table startled Taichi. He jumped up out of his seat, just barely catching himself from falling off his chair. As he walked over to his buzzing phone, he wondered who would dare to call this late at night. Taichi picked up his phone and read the caller ID, smiling in disbelief. He closed his eyes and brought the phone to his heart, reveling in awe of the universe.

He took a deep breath as his heart beat a bit faster, "Hello?"