A/n: Oh, one month since the last update so I guess I'm not doing too bad in that department. I saw that this story gained a few more readers in the pandemic and I'm glad I was able to help people have a little bit of fun during this hell of a year.
Thank you everyone for reviewing the previous chapter, and once again I bring to you another one without Sora! Well she's there, but not enough I guess. This is a bit longer than the last one, and I think things are starting to pick up pace now. So I won't take up more of your time, happy reading!
Ten
-x-
Yamato stood with his forehead pressed against his shoe locker, his eyes were squeezed shut as the blond tried to understand why he had done what he had just done a few minutes ago. After racking his brain for an answer and simultaneously trying to get his skin to return to it's original paleness, removing the crimson tint that had seemed to settle comfortably on his cheeks and ears whenever his thoughts wandered off towards a certain brunette. He concluded that the only way to return to his normal, not-a-nervous-wreck self, was to completely clear his mind and forget all about what had happened and the brunette in question. He lifted his head from the locker and shook it vigorously in an attempt to get his memories to fall out of his head. He felt his face get a bit cooler and his heartbeat a little bit more steadier. He opened his eyes and took a deep, calming breath which helped strengthen his resolve to be his usual, cynical self again.
"Dude, are you okay?"
Yamato turned his head to find Taichi standing near the entrance door, right before the row of shoe lockers began, staring at him with an incredulous look on his face and a smile playing on his lips. He was in his sports tracksuit with his school bag strung on one shoulder and sports bag on the other, which could only mean that practice had just ended making Yamato wonder just for how long had it been since he exited the library and how many people apart from his best friend had seen him acting strange.
"I'm fine now, I just needed a moment." Yamato replied hastily, turning to face his friend completely.
"Clearly." Taichi snickered, his cocoa eyes showing a hint of disbelief as he eyed the blond closely, hoping that the latter would elaborate more.
"Are you done with practice?" Yamato asked, changing the subject before Taichi used his interrogative techniques with him.
"Yep. I was just heading home, you're welcome to join me, if you promise not to have any more moments along the way."
Taichi dashed out laughing loudly as Yamato picked up the bag lying at his feet and chased after him swinging it around in hopes of hitting it straight across Taichi's big head but his best friend had always been good at evading, so it wasn't until they reached the train station with Yamato heaving and Taichi still laughing that the former finally gave up his attempts and slung his bag across his shoulder with one last glowering look in the brunet's direction, who promptly returned it with his trademark grin.
"Shouldn't we have waited for Sora?" Yamato wondered aloud as they passed through the station gates and headed towards their usual waiting spot on the platform.
"She left straight after school ended, so technically she didn't wait for us." Taichi's whole expression changed as he talked about Sora and it was hard for Yamato to miss the furrowing of his eyebrows or the stiffening of his shoulders.
As Taichi settled himself on the bench at the end of the platform, Yamato halted at a vending machine, picking out both of their favourites. If he was going to do Sora's bidding without telling Taichi, he felt the need to at least treat his best friend with a little reward. He knew it wouldn't be easy, trying to pose Sora's question without having Taichi get suspicious about it, but that was the deal he had struck with his friend so there was no going back now. Ever since they had started high school, Taichi had become strangely perceptive of people and while it usually saved the blond a lot of time as he no longer had to use words to explain his feelings to his best friend, Yamato feared that this quality of Taichi's would prove to be a hindrance to his current objective. When he took the seat next to the brunet on the bench and passed him the sports drink, the blond reassured himself that he would tread carefully no matter what.
"Look at you, knowing her whereabouts even when you're furious with her. May I suggest you look up the word stalker in the dictionary?" Yamato remarked snidely, opening the coffee can he had gotten for himself and taking a long sip. Even without sparing a glance in Taichi's direction he knew he was being scowled at. The blond knew from experience that if Taichi was angry or defensive, he usually didn't bother thinking through anything, and being the expert that Yamato was at riling Taichi up, this was the only plan he could think of that would lead him to accomplish his goal without arising any form of suspicions from the brunet.
"I never said anything about being mad at her," Taichi muttered, slumping a bit in his seat.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm not blind or oblivious."
"Things are fine between us so can we move on from this?" Taichi groaned, having finished his drink in a single gulp he was now gearing up to throw the pet bottle in the trash can that was a few feet away from them.
"They're not fine. And I'm not asking to be involved in whatever is happening between you two, just kept in the loop enough so I don't accidentally make things worse for either of you."
Taichi stopped aiming the bottle and lowered his hands, turning to look at Yamato with a guilt ridden expression.
"I didn't mean to make you feel excluded-"
"I don't feel excluded, I'm just worried that I'm going to make things worse by saying something or you know, acting like my usual annoying self," Yamato interrupted his friend quickly with a small smile.
In this moment Yamato was actually speaking the truth and he wanted to make sure that Taichi understood his intentions. He had started to notice the tension rising between Sora and Taichi from the day of his live and to him the whole thing had felt like a ticking bomb, just waiting to reach zero so it could explode on the perfect world the three of them had been sharing up till now. He knew that both of his friends were trying to be considerate of his feelings, not wanting him to be in the position of having to pick sides, and as grateful Yamato was for that, he also felt that he deserved a simple explanation so he knew where he was supposed to draw the line and hold himself back.
"Like, take right now for instance, if you'd just given me a heads up from the start, I wouldn't have brought up Sora at all!" Yamato added, hoping to make himself more clear to Taichi.
"Yeah, I get it now. I'm sorry," Taichi started, he fidgeted with the empty bottle in his hands and shifted his gaze to the ground as he continued, "She's been so distant and weird this past month and I don't know, I've started feeling like I'm not getting through to her at all."
"It's Sora, she's always been weird and a little spaced out." Yamato stated in reply, he knew he wasn't the best at comforting people but he also couldn't stop himself speaking his mind.
"This is different. She got so mad at me on the day of your gig, basically acted like I didn't exist and then she didn't even tell me why she was mad!" Taichi groaned, once again taking an aim in the direction of the trash can, he threw the bottle, making it fall easily into the bin. The accomplishment made him relax a bit, the frown on his face lightening just slightly.
"Wasn't it because you made her wait too long?" Yamato asked, a speculative look settling on his face as he tried to recall the events of the day.
"No, I asked her that when we sat down at the table and she just avoided the question and didn't meet my eyes thought out the performance. Afterwards, she ran off with Mimi chan, probably 'cause she didn't want to be around me."
"Wasn't it because her mother needed her to do something, and Mimi was going to help her solve the problem?" Yamato wondered aloud and the scowl thrown at him by Taichi made the blond reconsider his choice of words. He winced in response and shifted away from the brunet, just to be safe. Noticing this Taichi sighed and shook his head, dropping the scathing look from his eyes.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to, I know you're just trying to…" he trailed off wearily, diverting his gaze back to the ground.
"To look at things objectively." Yamato finished for him, feeling guilty about his own behaviour he added, "I just don't want to take sides, you know."
"Even though Sora always does when we fight." Taichi murmured quietly.
Yamato bit his tongue anxiously, this wasn't how he had hoped their conversation would go. As much as he had wanted to let Taichi and Sora know, that their situation was making him feel worried for all three of them, he hadn't meant to actually discuss the issue with either of them. Solely because doing that would mean that he'd eventually end up having an opinion about who was right and who was wrong, leading to an imbalance in their perfect trifecta.
"Well, she mostly does that because when we fight, it's usually pretty obvious who's in the right." Yamato answered, expecting another intense glare from the brunet for yet again defending Sora, but he was surprised to see his best friend still facing the ground, with his shoulders still slumped dejectedly.
"Yeah I suppose. But…" Taichi started then completely hid his face from the blond before adding, "I wish you'd take my side anyway."
Yamato was speechless. He'd never heard Taichi sound so lonely and it filled him with guilt and confusion over what he was supposed to do. This was the first time after his parents' divorce that he was feeling so lost and uncertain about doing the right thing, mostly because just like back then, he couldn't tell what was the right thing to do. It was impossible for him to imagine Taichi without Sora or vice versa, even the first time he had met them, Sora had been the calm to Taichi's storm, the reason why Yamato hadn't felt nervous to follow them into the playground. He'd never thought about how he would be put in a position where he'd have to pick one over the other, or even where one of them would ask him to pick one over the other. Just like his parents had.
The train they were supposed to take arrived on the platform, the doors opened but neither of the boys made a move to get up. A minute later the train departed from the platform, the display reminding them the next one to their required station won't show up for another thirty minutes but the two best friends were still heavily caught up in their own thoughts to even care.
"I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry Yamato."
Taichi was the one to break the silence. Yamato turned to look at him and was immediately taken aback by the sincerity in his friend's eyes. Yamato's hunch about Taichi being more perceptive was right after all, he'd understood exactly what Yamato was feeling without him ever speaking.
"You don't have to apologise. It just feels weird to be in this position." Yamato muttered, wondering how often Sora felt like this because of his and Taichi's childish behaviour.
"Let's change the subject shall we?" Taichi replied cheerfully, completely wiping out all the frustration and dejection he had been displaying until now from his face within seconds.
"No, Taichi, I don't want…"Yamato started and seeing as how the brunet's grin faltered at his rushed voice, he continued choosing his words carefully, "I don't want you to think that you can't talk to me about this stuff. We're best friends after all." As embarrassing as it was for Yamato to say this, he didn't want Taichi to push him away when he needed someone, because that feeling would be much worse to handle than this.
"Yes. But you're also Sora's best friend and we're both equally important to you so I shouldn't be putting you in the spot like this." Taichi spoke calmly, the grin now just a small smile as he tried to hide how he was really feeling behind a bright demeanour, "Sora definitely isn't."
Yamato couldn't decide whether he should be relieved that Taichi was seeing things from his perspective or a bit worried that he had begun to compare himself to Sora, something Yamato had never seen him do before. He was silent for a while after this, contemplating his next words that would help him in making Taichi understand that he'd be there for him whenever needed but would do the same for Sora too without choosing between either of the two.
"I just want you to know that I'm here if you want to vent whenever you're feeling upset. But I'd do this for Sora too. At the same time I definitely will not act as a messenger and if you have something to say to Sora or vice versa, I expect you to do that much yourself."
"Roger that." Taichi smiled, and it finally felt genuine enough for Yamato to sigh relievedly.
Only the difficult part of the conversation wasn't over yet because he still had Sora's request to take care of.
"Did she make you apologise to Mimi chan then?" Taichi grinned at him, taking his lack of reply as a chance to change the subject finally.
"She didn't make me do anything, I was going to do it anyway." Yamato retorted. He tossed a quick glare in Taichi's direction when the brunet snickered at him.
"Is that why you were taking a moment?" Taichi's teasing tone made the blond's ears turn slightly pink, which just made Taichi laugh out loud and Yamato long for the uncomfortable silence from a few minutes ago.
"New rule, no talking about Sora or Mimi." Yamato declared loudly, folding his arms across his chest as he shot Taichi a warning look which dared him to challenge his statement.
"Yama, guys are age our supposed to talk about girls, especially when they make us have moments-"
"Will you let that go already?" Yamato interrupted him loudly, feeling the pink spread from his ears to his cheeks as Taichi continued to laugh at him. And then it hit him, "Okay, you want to talk girls, I have some news for you."
Taichi raised an eyebrow, curiosity lacing his eyes as he motioned for the blond to continue and Yamato was glad to finally have his turn to smirk.
"On my way to apologise to Mimi, I overheard the rumour that you and the transfer student seem to be getting along way too much."
"What? That is ridiculous!" Taichi's response was loud and defensive and but what amazed the blond was the lack of any blushing or stuttering, the brunet seemed shocked definitely, but he wasn't embarrassed.
"Someone saw you talking to her outside of school," Yamato repeated Sora's words to him from earlier, making sure to study his best friend's expressions carefully for any extra hints.
"That's it?" Taichi scoffed, shaking his head as he relaxed into the bench once again, "She lives the same apartment complex as me and our moms apparently know each other from school or college or something, so yeah occasionally I do see her outside of school. But that doesn't mean there's anything going on between us, my longest conversation with her involved two phrases, hello and goodbye."
"Well that still seems to have upset your fan club." Yamato remarked, earning an eye-roll from Taichi in response. In his head the blond was already framing his message to Sora and he hoped that he didn't look too relieved on the outside because of how glad he was that he had been able to get exactly what he wanted from Taichi without raising any suspicion over his true motive.
"The kids in our school are unbelievable, here I am losing my head over Sora and they're off talking about me being into Mochizuki."
Taichi mumbled to himself quietly probably because he thought that Yamato was no longer paying attention to him, which the blond really wasn't, as he was busy rejoicing being back in Sora's good books in his head. His best friend's voice had been completely inaudible and yet the statement managed to reach Yamato's ears, making his train of thought halt abruptly as the implication behind the words registered in his brain. He had to put all his energy into restraining himself for breaking into a grin and confronting Taichi about what he had just said. However, Yamato managed to hold himself back, of course reducing Taichi into an embarrassed, blubbering mess was his duty as the brunet's best friend but he decided, that this time, he'd let it go on account of not being able to give the kind of support Taichi had sought from him earlier.
So Yamato continued to pretend to have not heard Taichi's statement, internally resolving to himself that if his friend was to make such a slip up ever again, he would take every available opportunity to tease Taichi about it relentlessly, but for today the brunet was safe.
X
Sora was mindlessly flipping between channels as everything currently airing on the television seemed to be making her more frustrated than letting her relax and zone out of her head like she had hoped it would. Another extreme cooking reality show, another drama set in a hospital, another news story about a disturbing set of murders, Sora groaned in frustration and switched off the television, if it hadn't been for her phone suddenly buzzing in continuation and stealing her attention, she would've definitely thrown the remote control across the room.
She quickly picked up her phone and her heart immediately began to beat faster as she saw that she had received a string of messages from Yamato.
I discreetly apologised to apologised to Mimi. You can confirm that with her.
She forgave me by the way. So things are cool between us now, I guess.
I talked to Taichi too.
He's not interested in Mochizuki. At all.
Trust me on this one.
-x-
A/n: Well there you go, in the previous chapters Sora had been so confident about knowing what was going on in everyone's head, but she clearly hasn't realised that Yamato watches everyone just as closely.
With this I think Taichi is the only one who hasn't gotten a proper POV, aside from the bit in the fourth chapter, so maybe I should work on that next hehe.
Well let me know your thoughts and comments through reviews, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Also hope that everyone is safe and healthy.
