Part 2
Then next day a little after lunch Matt fell asleep, leaning with his back against a tree. The others weren't very surprised, Matt hadn't woken anybody up for the 2nd watch and had gotten no sleep the night before.
In a way Agumon was glad, because with Matt asleep and Gabumon gathering firewood he could talk with Tai. He couldn't understand what was going on between Tai and Matt, and since Matt wouldn't talk it seemed like the only other person to go to was Tai.
Agumon knew Tai would clear things up, because while Matt clamed up about the way he was feeling or what he was thinking Tai was very verbal. Almost to a fault at times.
"Hey Tai, why are you and Matt fighting?" Agumon asked going to sit next to him.
"Because he's a fairy," Tai stated as if it were obvious. He very slowly sat up, still hardly able to move. He absolutely hated the position he was in. He was helpless, couldn't move if his life depended on it and the only person he could go to for help was Matt!
"He's not a fairy Tai," Agumon laughed. "Where are his wings."
"We aren't talking about the same kind of fairies," Tai said laughing at his digimon's naivetes.
"What kind of fairy is he then? Can he do magic?"
"No, no magic. A fairy is a gay person, a fag."
"Matt said that a fag is a very offensive name. You shouldn't call him that."
"I'll call him whatever he deserves," Tai said angrily. "It's not like he really cares, he knows it's true."
"What is a gay person?" Agumon asked knowing it was pointless to argue with the stubborn boy.
"A gay is a boy who like another boy. Or a girl with a girl, but they are called lesbians."
"What's wrong with boys liking boys, I like you Tai. You're my friend, and so is Gabumon and we're all boys."
"That's friendship liking, liking as in liking liking someone of the same sex is wrong."
"How? How is it any different then a boy liking a girl?" Agumon asked as he struggled to understand the whole thing.
"It's just wrong," Tai said firmly. "It just isn't natural."
"So you don't like Matt because he likes some boy?"
"Not just any boy, the fairy is in love with me," Tai said with a shudder.
"You wouldn't hate it if he were a girl though?"
"Probably not, but he isn't a girl and it's really messed up and nasty."
"You should at least try and be friends with him."
"Why?" Tai demanded as he glared at Agumon.
"Because he saved your life. We thought you were dead, and we tried to get him to come out of the water before he got himself hurt but he refused to quit looking for you. Then he found you, and he kissed you and you coughed up the water and were breathing again."
"He kissed me?" Tai asked disgustedly. Then he realized that Agumon was talking about CPR. Matt had preformed CPR on him. That was a relief, however small it was. Still the thought of Matt's lips on his made him shudder.
"Then he got you warm Tai. He didn't want to, he was crying and saying how you wouldn't want him to be near him because you hated him. It took us awhile to convince him he had to do it," Agumon continued ignoring Tai's outraged comment.
"Just because he saved my life doesn't mean I have to like him," Tai informed Agumon, and he laid back down in the sleeping bag.
"No, it doesn't," came Gabumon's voice. "You should like him because you were friends before you found he was different."
The words seemed to hang in the silence that followed, making Tai very uncomfortable. Finally he had to break the silence.
"I'll quit calling him names if it'll make you two stay off my case," he said. Agumon nodded, still slightly confused, and Tai didn't see the frown on Gabumon's face. Gabumon chose his next words carefully.
"You should do more than that. Thank him, be nice, and quit looking down on him. He might not be directly helping you, but when he keeps the fire going and takes watch to make sure nothing kills us he's also keeping you safe and warm. And if we end up having to run or leave for some reason, he'll be the one that'll help you leave. If a digimon just appeared and me and Agumon couldn't take him on, there would be no way you could get out on your own."
"If Agumon digivolves he can carry me," Tai said waspishly. He did not like the way the conversation was going.
"What if I can't digivolve?" Agumon asked backing up Gabumon in the argument. Tai glared at him, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"Is there anything else you'd like me to do?" he said finally. He didn't actually expect the digimon to say anything.
"Ask for his help when you need it."
"ONLY when I need it," Tai snapped in some form of agreement. He would only need help when he was in a life or death situation though, he thought grimly to himself. That was the only was he was going to accept let alone ask for Matt's help.
Gabumon looked satisfied and threw some of the firewood he was still holding onto the fire and stacked the rest a safe distance away.
Matt awoke later that afternoon, scared awake by vivid nightmares of drowning. Tai drowning, or him drowning trying to save Tai. In the last part Tai had drowned Matt as he laughed from above the waters, refusing to let go of Matt's shoulders until all the life had left his ex-friend.
Matt had to assure himself that while Tai hated him he wouldn't go to the extremes of killing Matt. As Matt calmed his breathing he noticed that Tai was glaring sullenly off to the left of him. Matt turned his head in that direction and found that Gabumon and Agumon were conversing softly.
He was disappointed that their words didn't carry to him, he would have like to have known what they were talking about, although he had a pretty good idea what it was.
Matt stood up to go see if there were any berries left for lunch, but as he was stretching he heard voices and froze. The other digidestined were making their way towards them. He didn't know whether to welcome their appearance or, well actually there wasn't much of a down side to their showing up.
If they didn't it just meant that he would be stuck with Tai and his obnoxious antics longer. Then again, after seeing Tai's reaction he didn't particularly care to have the others know he was gay.
Apparently Tai had heard the voices as well, but surprisingly enough he didn't seem all that happy about it. In fact he was attempting to crawl into the woods. While his spot had been moved closer to the woods there was no way that he would be able to reach the trees and their sanctuary in enough time to escape.
"Tai! Where are you going now? The others are coming, don't you want to see them?" Agumon asked once again confused by Tai's strange actions.
"I'm leaving. I don't want to deal with the others."
"What are you going to do Tai? Climb a tree and pray they don't notice you. There is no way you could crawl away fast enough," Matt said with a cold, wry smile on his face.
"I, oh hell. Matt, please help me. I can't deal with their pity right now. I don't want them to know how weak I am."
"Since you asked I'll help you. Agumon, Gabumon, you two stay here and met up with the others. All of you stay at this camp then so I can find you later."
"Where are you going Matt? What are we supposed to tell the others?"
"Tai and I still have to talk, so tell them that. We have something we have to sort out with just us. We'll be back by tomorrow morning."
"You can't go off on your own? What happens if you run into any evil digimon?" Agumon wailed.
"We'll be fine. Stay here.""
Matt helped Tai onto his back, piggyback style and started jogging off opposite the direction of the voices.
After awhile Matt slowed his pace, but he kept walking.
"Thank you for helping me," Tai said grudgingly. He didn't want to say the words, even if he was glad Matt was helping them.
"We can't hide you from them until you fully recover you know. It might be weeks until you regain all your strength."
"I know" Tai sighed. "But I just can't deal with them right now. I can do it tomorrow, just not right now."
"All right. I wasn't kidding when I said we needed to talk Tai." Tai sighed deeply.
"I know. Later."
"I know," Matt agreed. He didn't want to talk to Tai until they had stopped, but he didn't want to stop walking quite yet. They were silent from that point on.
Matt kept walking for a couple of hours, his stamina surprising. Even Tai had gotten worn out, and was asleep on his back. Finally though, he had to stop.
Matt gently sat Tai on the ground, trying not to disturb him. It didn't work though.
"Are we there yet?" Tai asked sleepily, not even bothering to open his eyes.
"Might as well be seeing as we weren't headed to any place in particular," Matt said sitting on a fallen log.
"Does that mean we have to talk now?" Tai asked, his voice suddenly weak as it tried to give out on him.
"Yeah, it does."
"All right then. Matt, I'm sorry I called you all the names I did. I didn't think they would hurt you all that much, but Agumon and Gabumon told me they did. Hurt you that is. They also let me know I was being a jerk acting the way I was when you had just saved my life. And risked your own."
Matt was surprised at the short speech and didn't say anything for a minute.
"Thank you Tai. Apology accepted. Look, I know it's going to be really weird having said what I did, but can we please still be friends?"
"Only if you promise not to hit on me" Tai said, a little shocked at his own words. He had grown up some without even realizing it. He now understood that being gay wasn't necessarily evil or wrong, though it still made him a little uncomfortable.
Matt smiled, a genuine smile, the first time in days, at Tai's words.
"I promise not to hit on you," Matt agreed. The boys laughed, the easy laugh of two old friends and things were easy between them for the rest of the day.
*~&~ (so what if this occurred hours before what I just typed?)
"Agumon!" Jyou yelled as he spotted the orange digimon. "Hey guys, I see the others!"
"What others?" Sora asked looking into the tree line. "I only see Agumon."
"Where are the others Agumon?" Izzy asked.
"Uh, Tai and Matt left to go talk. They want us to stay here and wait for them."
"What?" the group exploded.
"So where's Gabumon?" Mimi asked.
"He followed them. Just in case they run into something out there. He made me stay to wait for you guys."
"Why did they go off on their own?" Tentamon asked curiously.
"They had to talk, to sort something out."
"When are they coming back?" TK asked chewing on his lip. He had wanted to see his older brother.
"By tomorrow morning."
"What on earth could they have to discuss when they have had Almost a week to deal with it and expect to have it all sorted out by morning?" Izzy wondered allowed.
"It only happened the other day and Tai hasn't wanted to talk with Matt until now."
"Huh?" Palamon said.
"You know what's going on?" Tentamon asked Agumon. Agumon looked slightly guilty, knowing he had made a mistake in saying that much.
"What happened between them this time?" Sora asked.
"Sora, if they didn't want to talk about it in front of us then maybe they don't want us to know," Jyou said saving Agumon from having to come up with excuses.
"I don't see what's so bad they can't say it in front of us," she pouted.
"Why were you guys keeping a bonfire?" TK asked, his attention having wandered from the discussion.
"Oh, that was so Tai could stay warm."
"Why would Tai need to stay warm? It's hot enough out here as it is," Beumon pointed out.
"Uh," Agumon said as he desperately tried to think of something to say.
"Was he sick?" TK asked. "My mommy used to give me extra blankets to keep warm when I was sick."
Agumon backed up a few steps as the digidestined converged on him demanding to know what had happened.
*~&~ / / / *~&~ / / / ~&~* / / / ~&~*
Matt carried Tai back to the camp quickly, feeling worried. When he had been picking some near by berries when Tai had sunk to the ground from his previous sitting position. Matt had tried to get Tai's attention by yelling at him, but Tai hadn't moved.
Forgetting about the berries in his hands he had rushed back to where Tai was and shook him. Tai still hadn't responded, he was out cold, with a burning fever.
Matt had then scooped Tai into his arms and started jogging back towards camp.
As he half ran Matt berated his self, muttering furiously under his breath.
"This is all my fault, I should have made him stay at the fire, then he wouldn't be so sick. And Jyou could be taking care of Tai. I don't know how to do this, all I've succeeded in doing is getting him sicker."
"Matt, that's not true," came a voice from the trees scaring Matt so badly he nearly dropped Tai. Gabumon came out looking slightly guilty. "I know you wanted us to stay but one of us had to come.
"It's all right," Matt said, picking back up his pace. "Agumon stayed though, right?"
"Yes, he stayed to deal with the others," Gabumon assured Matt hastily.
"Good."
Matt never stopped, he only slowed his pace when he was forced to, and immediately speed up the second he was able to. After a while Gabumon was a long way behind him, unable to keep up and finally the digimon sat down, his legs buckling under the sheer exhaustion.
"Matt! Wait please, I have to rest," Gabumon yelled after his friend. Matt stopped and turned. A look of frustration crossed his face but he went back to where Gabumon was and set Tai on the ground.
Matt saw some near by blue berries and gathered them quickly, giving most of them to Gabumon and eating a few himself.
After fifteen minutes they started walking again, though at a slower pace so Gabumon could keep up.
Finally they made it to the camp, and Matt fell to the forest floor still holding Tai in his arms.
Then next day a little after lunch Matt fell asleep, leaning with his back against a tree. The others weren't very surprised, Matt hadn't woken anybody up for the 2nd watch and had gotten no sleep the night before.
In a way Agumon was glad, because with Matt asleep and Gabumon gathering firewood he could talk with Tai. He couldn't understand what was going on between Tai and Matt, and since Matt wouldn't talk it seemed like the only other person to go to was Tai.
Agumon knew Tai would clear things up, because while Matt clamed up about the way he was feeling or what he was thinking Tai was very verbal. Almost to a fault at times.
"Hey Tai, why are you and Matt fighting?" Agumon asked going to sit next to him.
"Because he's a fairy," Tai stated as if it were obvious. He very slowly sat up, still hardly able to move. He absolutely hated the position he was in. He was helpless, couldn't move if his life depended on it and the only person he could go to for help was Matt!
"He's not a fairy Tai," Agumon laughed. "Where are his wings."
"We aren't talking about the same kind of fairies," Tai said laughing at his digimon's naivetes.
"What kind of fairy is he then? Can he do magic?"
"No, no magic. A fairy is a gay person, a fag."
"Matt said that a fag is a very offensive name. You shouldn't call him that."
"I'll call him whatever he deserves," Tai said angrily. "It's not like he really cares, he knows it's true."
"What is a gay person?" Agumon asked knowing it was pointless to argue with the stubborn boy.
"A gay is a boy who like another boy. Or a girl with a girl, but they are called lesbians."
"What's wrong with boys liking boys, I like you Tai. You're my friend, and so is Gabumon and we're all boys."
"That's friendship liking, liking as in liking liking someone of the same sex is wrong."
"How? How is it any different then a boy liking a girl?" Agumon asked as he struggled to understand the whole thing.
"It's just wrong," Tai said firmly. "It just isn't natural."
"So you don't like Matt because he likes some boy?"
"Not just any boy, the fairy is in love with me," Tai said with a shudder.
"You wouldn't hate it if he were a girl though?"
"Probably not, but he isn't a girl and it's really messed up and nasty."
"You should at least try and be friends with him."
"Why?" Tai demanded as he glared at Agumon.
"Because he saved your life. We thought you were dead, and we tried to get him to come out of the water before he got himself hurt but he refused to quit looking for you. Then he found you, and he kissed you and you coughed up the water and were breathing again."
"He kissed me?" Tai asked disgustedly. Then he realized that Agumon was talking about CPR. Matt had preformed CPR on him. That was a relief, however small it was. Still the thought of Matt's lips on his made him shudder.
"Then he got you warm Tai. He didn't want to, he was crying and saying how you wouldn't want him to be near him because you hated him. It took us awhile to convince him he had to do it," Agumon continued ignoring Tai's outraged comment.
"Just because he saved my life doesn't mean I have to like him," Tai informed Agumon, and he laid back down in the sleeping bag.
"No, it doesn't," came Gabumon's voice. "You should like him because you were friends before you found he was different."
The words seemed to hang in the silence that followed, making Tai very uncomfortable. Finally he had to break the silence.
"I'll quit calling him names if it'll make you two stay off my case," he said. Agumon nodded, still slightly confused, and Tai didn't see the frown on Gabumon's face. Gabumon chose his next words carefully.
"You should do more than that. Thank him, be nice, and quit looking down on him. He might not be directly helping you, but when he keeps the fire going and takes watch to make sure nothing kills us he's also keeping you safe and warm. And if we end up having to run or leave for some reason, he'll be the one that'll help you leave. If a digimon just appeared and me and Agumon couldn't take him on, there would be no way you could get out on your own."
"If Agumon digivolves he can carry me," Tai said waspishly. He did not like the way the conversation was going.
"What if I can't digivolve?" Agumon asked backing up Gabumon in the argument. Tai glared at him, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"Is there anything else you'd like me to do?" he said finally. He didn't actually expect the digimon to say anything.
"Ask for his help when you need it."
"ONLY when I need it," Tai snapped in some form of agreement. He would only need help when he was in a life or death situation though, he thought grimly to himself. That was the only was he was going to accept let alone ask for Matt's help.
Gabumon looked satisfied and threw some of the firewood he was still holding onto the fire and stacked the rest a safe distance away.
Matt awoke later that afternoon, scared awake by vivid nightmares of drowning. Tai drowning, or him drowning trying to save Tai. In the last part Tai had drowned Matt as he laughed from above the waters, refusing to let go of Matt's shoulders until all the life had left his ex-friend.
Matt had to assure himself that while Tai hated him he wouldn't go to the extremes of killing Matt. As Matt calmed his breathing he noticed that Tai was glaring sullenly off to the left of him. Matt turned his head in that direction and found that Gabumon and Agumon were conversing softly.
He was disappointed that their words didn't carry to him, he would have like to have known what they were talking about, although he had a pretty good idea what it was.
Matt stood up to go see if there were any berries left for lunch, but as he was stretching he heard voices and froze. The other digidestined were making their way towards them. He didn't know whether to welcome their appearance or, well actually there wasn't much of a down side to their showing up.
If they didn't it just meant that he would be stuck with Tai and his obnoxious antics longer. Then again, after seeing Tai's reaction he didn't particularly care to have the others know he was gay.
Apparently Tai had heard the voices as well, but surprisingly enough he didn't seem all that happy about it. In fact he was attempting to crawl into the woods. While his spot had been moved closer to the woods there was no way that he would be able to reach the trees and their sanctuary in enough time to escape.
"Tai! Where are you going now? The others are coming, don't you want to see them?" Agumon asked once again confused by Tai's strange actions.
"I'm leaving. I don't want to deal with the others."
"What are you going to do Tai? Climb a tree and pray they don't notice you. There is no way you could crawl away fast enough," Matt said with a cold, wry smile on his face.
"I, oh hell. Matt, please help me. I can't deal with their pity right now. I don't want them to know how weak I am."
"Since you asked I'll help you. Agumon, Gabumon, you two stay here and met up with the others. All of you stay at this camp then so I can find you later."
"Where are you going Matt? What are we supposed to tell the others?"
"Tai and I still have to talk, so tell them that. We have something we have to sort out with just us. We'll be back by tomorrow morning."
"You can't go off on your own? What happens if you run into any evil digimon?" Agumon wailed.
"We'll be fine. Stay here.""
Matt helped Tai onto his back, piggyback style and started jogging off opposite the direction of the voices.
After awhile Matt slowed his pace, but he kept walking.
"Thank you for helping me," Tai said grudgingly. He didn't want to say the words, even if he was glad Matt was helping them.
"We can't hide you from them until you fully recover you know. It might be weeks until you regain all your strength."
"I know" Tai sighed. "But I just can't deal with them right now. I can do it tomorrow, just not right now."
"All right. I wasn't kidding when I said we needed to talk Tai." Tai sighed deeply.
"I know. Later."
"I know," Matt agreed. He didn't want to talk to Tai until they had stopped, but he didn't want to stop walking quite yet. They were silent from that point on.
Matt kept walking for a couple of hours, his stamina surprising. Even Tai had gotten worn out, and was asleep on his back. Finally though, he had to stop.
Matt gently sat Tai on the ground, trying not to disturb him. It didn't work though.
"Are we there yet?" Tai asked sleepily, not even bothering to open his eyes.
"Might as well be seeing as we weren't headed to any place in particular," Matt said sitting on a fallen log.
"Does that mean we have to talk now?" Tai asked, his voice suddenly weak as it tried to give out on him.
"Yeah, it does."
"All right then. Matt, I'm sorry I called you all the names I did. I didn't think they would hurt you all that much, but Agumon and Gabumon told me they did. Hurt you that is. They also let me know I was being a jerk acting the way I was when you had just saved my life. And risked your own."
Matt was surprised at the short speech and didn't say anything for a minute.
"Thank you Tai. Apology accepted. Look, I know it's going to be really weird having said what I did, but can we please still be friends?"
"Only if you promise not to hit on me" Tai said, a little shocked at his own words. He had grown up some without even realizing it. He now understood that being gay wasn't necessarily evil or wrong, though it still made him a little uncomfortable.
Matt smiled, a genuine smile, the first time in days, at Tai's words.
"I promise not to hit on you," Matt agreed. The boys laughed, the easy laugh of two old friends and things were easy between them for the rest of the day.
*~&~ (so what if this occurred hours before what I just typed?)
"Agumon!" Jyou yelled as he spotted the orange digimon. "Hey guys, I see the others!"
"What others?" Sora asked looking into the tree line. "I only see Agumon."
"Where are the others Agumon?" Izzy asked.
"Uh, Tai and Matt left to go talk. They want us to stay here and wait for them."
"What?" the group exploded.
"So where's Gabumon?" Mimi asked.
"He followed them. Just in case they run into something out there. He made me stay to wait for you guys."
"Why did they go off on their own?" Tentamon asked curiously.
"They had to talk, to sort something out."
"When are they coming back?" TK asked chewing on his lip. He had wanted to see his older brother.
"By tomorrow morning."
"What on earth could they have to discuss when they have had Almost a week to deal with it and expect to have it all sorted out by morning?" Izzy wondered allowed.
"It only happened the other day and Tai hasn't wanted to talk with Matt until now."
"Huh?" Palamon said.
"You know what's going on?" Tentamon asked Agumon. Agumon looked slightly guilty, knowing he had made a mistake in saying that much.
"What happened between them this time?" Sora asked.
"Sora, if they didn't want to talk about it in front of us then maybe they don't want us to know," Jyou said saving Agumon from having to come up with excuses.
"I don't see what's so bad they can't say it in front of us," she pouted.
"Why were you guys keeping a bonfire?" TK asked, his attention having wandered from the discussion.
"Oh, that was so Tai could stay warm."
"Why would Tai need to stay warm? It's hot enough out here as it is," Beumon pointed out.
"Uh," Agumon said as he desperately tried to think of something to say.
"Was he sick?" TK asked. "My mommy used to give me extra blankets to keep warm when I was sick."
Agumon backed up a few steps as the digidestined converged on him demanding to know what had happened.
*~&~ / / / *~&~ / / / ~&~* / / / ~&~*
Matt carried Tai back to the camp quickly, feeling worried. When he had been picking some near by berries when Tai had sunk to the ground from his previous sitting position. Matt had tried to get Tai's attention by yelling at him, but Tai hadn't moved.
Forgetting about the berries in his hands he had rushed back to where Tai was and shook him. Tai still hadn't responded, he was out cold, with a burning fever.
Matt had then scooped Tai into his arms and started jogging back towards camp.
As he half ran Matt berated his self, muttering furiously under his breath.
"This is all my fault, I should have made him stay at the fire, then he wouldn't be so sick. And Jyou could be taking care of Tai. I don't know how to do this, all I've succeeded in doing is getting him sicker."
"Matt, that's not true," came a voice from the trees scaring Matt so badly he nearly dropped Tai. Gabumon came out looking slightly guilty. "I know you wanted us to stay but one of us had to come.
"It's all right," Matt said, picking back up his pace. "Agumon stayed though, right?"
"Yes, he stayed to deal with the others," Gabumon assured Matt hastily.
"Good."
Matt never stopped, he only slowed his pace when he was forced to, and immediately speed up the second he was able to. After a while Gabumon was a long way behind him, unable to keep up and finally the digimon sat down, his legs buckling under the sheer exhaustion.
"Matt! Wait please, I have to rest," Gabumon yelled after his friend. Matt stopped and turned. A look of frustration crossed his face but he went back to where Gabumon was and set Tai on the ground.
Matt saw some near by blue berries and gathered them quickly, giving most of them to Gabumon and eating a few himself.
After fifteen minutes they started walking again, though at a slower pace so Gabumon could keep up.
Finally they made it to the camp, and Matt fell to the forest floor still holding Tai in his arms.