The four of them piled out of Joe's car. "So, guys, how's about we meet at the Food Court around
five?" asked Tai. TK, Joe, and Matt shared glances.
"Well, I shouldn't take too long. I'll be able to meet up with you," said Joe.
"Yeah, same here." TK put in.
"Matt?" Tai looked over at Matt.
"I'm only tagging along. I'll be there." Matt said, smiling.
Tai wandered off to the sports gear.
TK slipped into the Disney Store hoping no one would notice him.
Matt...um, he was in Spencers. [AN: It's suggestive card/prank shop in my hometown. It's Cool!]
Joe? He was at the Health food store.
Matt walked into the back of the store. It was much easier to think back here, among all the
spinning lights. He got himself as close to the dark corner as he could. He looked at all the kids
there, looking and laughing over the cards and posters, chatting. Some of them were getting
shocked by the plasma lamps, even though you weren't supposed to touch them. Why did he
have to be so different from them? Why was he the one who had to like guys? Then again,
maybe, maybe he didn't. So, he'd thought Tai was cute. Handsome, even. How could anybody
not think that? Sora was pretty lucky to have him, goof though he was. Maybe it was just a phase.
He sure hoped it was. He left the store.
Tai was about to buy something from the sports gear when he saw Matt running past the store.
He watched him a moment, then began running after him.
"Matt!" he yelled, but unfortunately, Matt couldn't hear him among the large crowd that was now
surrounding them.
TK smiled and waved goodbye to the woman at the counter of the Disney Store. Someone
bumped into him, which caused him to drop his bag, pick it up and look up. The person had
already ran past them. Though, TK could still see who it was.
"Tai?" he asked himself. What was going on here?
"What about my brother?" another voice asked. He turned around.
"Kari! I didn't know you were at the mall!"
Mimi was tapping her foot. She was outside this stupid software store waiting for stupid Izzy. She
was once again back from America for a few months. She was happy about it, sure, but she was
begging to regret that she didn't insist on shopping with Sora instead of letting Kari do it. Izzy may
be a nice guy, but did he have to spend an hour looking around for computer parts? She grinned
to herself when she remembered something...Izzy had promised to take her to Ambercrombie
and Fitch, hadn't he? Well, he'd get to know what it felt like having to wait an hour. Izzy exited the
store, holding a large black bag. Mimi gave him an exasperated sigh, and turned to him.
"Well, it's about..." She was cut off by Matt running past them, followed by Tai. She and Izzy
stared after them for a moment. "Time." she finished.
Joe walked out of the Good4You, happily chewing his Ginseng gum. Matt had been acting a little
strange lately, he thought to himself. He'd always been a pretty distant person, and kept to
himself, but now it seemed even worse. He didn't really have a reason to be concerned, but
yet...he was. Why?
Tai grabbed Joe's arm as he sped past. "Joe...you gotta help me..." he panted. Joe pulled Tai
back towards the store, to get away from the crowd. "What's the matter, Tai?" He asked his
courageous friend.
"It's...Matt..." Tai sat on one of the benches oh-so-graciously next to the store. "I don't know
what's wrong, but I just know something is. He was running out of the mall, and I saw him when I
was at the sports place. I started going after him, and almost twenty minutes later I finally caught
him...but..." Tai took a deep breath. "He wouldn't talk to me at all, he ended up punching me in
the gut, and by the time I could recover, he ran away...and I can't find him..." Tai's head hit the
brick wall rather painfully. "Joe, can you try finding him for me? I know you two are good friends,
and not former rivals and everything...he might talk to you." Tai took another breath.
Joe nodded. "Sure, I'll look for him, Tai. Don't worry." He gave his friend a pensive look. "You
want me to call Sora first?" he asked.
Tai smiled. "That'd be great, Joe." Joe pulled out his cell phone and dialed Sora's number.
"Hey, Sora. Oh, you're at the mall? That's good. Tai wanted me to call you. We're at the
Good4You. Uh-huh. Yeah...it's right next to Camelot. It shouldn't be too far. Why? Tai's been
looking for Matt, and he's a little winded." Joe nodded and handed the cell to Tai. "She wants to
talk to you," he said. Tai took the phone, and talked with Sora for a while. Then he groaned.
"Fine, fine, I'll buy you a coke. See ya later." he said. Tai looked up, and was going to give Joe
his cell phone, except there was one problem. Joe wasn't there.
"Not again..." Tai groaned.
Izzy, Mimi, Kari and TK were all sitting near the burger joint in the mall. The only one who'd
actually ordered from there was TK. And he actually bought two large orders of fries. One for him,
one for Kari, much to Mimi and Izzy's teasing. Mimi had bought a few eggrolls and a berry
smoothie. Izzy bought lemonade and a salad that he was sure had cashews in it, not that he was
complaining. As they were all chowing down, Joe sped by. TK looked up. "First Tai, now you?" he
asked. Joe backed up to where they were sitting. "I just came to tell you guys that Tai's gonna be
late." He said, then was going to run off again, but Kari grabbed his wrist.
"Why, Joe?" she asked. Joe looked at her for a moment. He knew Kari and her older brother
were very close, as were TK and Matt, so he'd better tell them. It's just that he really wanted to
find Matt as fast as he could, before something happened to him.
"Well, Tai says he saw Matt running out of the mall, and he tried to find him so he could make
sure everything was okay, but when he did, Matt punched him in the gut, so he needs a moment
to rest. He'll be with Sora, so everything's okay." He wrenched his wrist free from Kari. "And I
need to go find Matt." he stressed.
"Wait a second, Joe, I can go with you!" TK protested. Izzy reached up and placed a hand on
TK's shoulder. This was rather difficult, considering that TK was a few inches taller than he was
and was standing, while Izzy was sitting down. TK reluctantly sat down. "I'm sure you can find
him, Joe." TK said. Mimi was grinning.
"Gee, Joe, do you have a crush on Matt? You sure seem worried about him..." she teased.
Joe bit his lip. "No, I do not have a crush on Matt! Geez!" He shook his head, and then starting
running off.
Izzy watched him for a moment. "He sounds like me..." the redhead computer genius
commented.
"Hm?" Mimi gave him a quizzical look.
"Nothin'." A blushing Izzy mumbled, and dug into his salad. Kari giggled and TK stole one of her
fries. Kari looked down at her pack of them. "Hey!"
Joe Kido looked around the huge crowds. No sign of Matt yet...oh, where could he be? Joe
leaned up against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Things began replaying in his mind. That
day at Vegiemon's diner, when Matt had saved him from near death, when he went on his own to
find Matt after he had decided to quit the Digidestined team, how he had kept comforting him
before then....
"Gee, Joe, do you have a crush on Matt?" Mimi's words came back to him. He told her no, but
that wasn't true, was it? His mind snapped back, as he spotted a young man with golden hair
headed towards the parking lot. Matt...
Joe ran off after him. "Matt!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The young man turned around and
faced him for a moment then opened the door to the long hallway out to the parking lot. Joe ran
after him as fast as possible. The hallway was dark, the gray walls covered in graffiti. It reeked of
pot. Joe was quite happy to get out. He looked up. Matt was facing him eye-to-eye.
"Why did you have to follow me, Joe?" he asked angrily.
Joe took a few breaths, and wiped his brow. "You're a fast runner, you know that?" he told Matt.
Matt looked at him for a moment, then turned away from him.
"Look, Matt, whatever it is..." Joe began.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU'D NEVER UNDERSTAND, YOU GAY FREAK!!" Matt yelled,
punching him in the face.
Joe took a deep breath and faced Matt.
"What makes you think I don't?" Joe was staring right into Matt's troubled sapphire eyes.
"You gay freak." he finished. Matt's eyes widened.
"I...I'm not...I..." Matt fell down to his knees.
Joe just watched him, knowing that he shouldn't really be doing anything right now. Matt needed
a moment to really come to terms with this.
"I was so scared." whispered Matt, his voice very small. "So scared of what Mom, Dad, and my
fans would think...what TK would think..." he lowered his head, and sighed.
He got up and looked at the older boy. "I'm sorry for...hitting you, Joe. I shouldn't have..." Matt
looked away.
Joe put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right." he comforted the boy.
"Joe..." he looked up at him.
They kissed.
Of course and typically, everyone ran out to the parking lot at this time.
Tai was the first to speak. "M-Matt..." he slurred.
"Wha--?" Sora asked, trailing behind him. He pointed forward, and Sora understood. She smiled.
Behind them came Mimi, Izzy, TK, and Kari. The comments went along like this:
"Um..." from Izzy.
Mimi giggled, and said "I knew it!" to herself.
TK copied exactly what Tai did.
Kari giggled and smiled.
Joe and Matt then realized what they were doing. They parted, and faced everyone, both
blushing like mad.
"Um, show's over, you can go home now." Matt said very fast.
"He-eey Matt?" asked Tai with a little hint in his voice. Matt blinked.
"Why don't you two give us another show?" he asked. Matt looked at him like he was nuts.
"NO WAY, TAI! IT'S NOT LIKE I ASK FOR A SHOW WHEN YOU KISS SORA!!" he screamed.
The two boys instantly got into a fight. Everyone sighed, then Sora and Joe, with much effort,
separated the two.
"Now, you two, this isn't the time." Sora reprimanded, shaking a finger at them. She then smiled.
"What we should be doing is congratulating Matt and Joe for finally getting together after all this
time."
Matt and Joe looked at each, then at Sora. "Huh?" asked Matt. Sora sighed.
"Come on, it was pretty obvious. You two were always looking out for each in the Digiworld. We
all knew it'd happen one day." Sora smiled again at the two.
"Yeah, I guess..." Matt combed his hair through his hair. It had just hit him, but he really did care
for Joe. Sora was right.
TK and Kari were whispering something to each other. TK nodded, and they stopped whispering.
"So..." TK asked Joe. "You think we can all fit in your car?"
Joe seemed suprised by this question. "It'd be a really tight fit, but we could."
TK nodded. "So, how's about we go for pizza to celebrate?" he asked.
Matt looked at his little brother, then at his new boyfriend. "Shall we?"
"As long as mine doesn't have any anchovies. I'm allergic." Joe reminded them all. Everyone
laughed.
Matt promptly kissed him. "You're not allergic to that, are you?" he asked. "Even if I was, it'd be
well worth it." Joe said to the blonde.
Then, all the Digidestined walked up to the car of Joe Kido, who had his arm around his Matt.
Review this thing, baby!
five?" asked Tai. TK, Joe, and Matt shared glances.
"Well, I shouldn't take too long. I'll be able to meet up with you," said Joe.
"Yeah, same here." TK put in.
"Matt?" Tai looked over at Matt.
"I'm only tagging along. I'll be there." Matt said, smiling.
Tai wandered off to the sports gear.
TK slipped into the Disney Store hoping no one would notice him.
Matt...um, he was in Spencers. [AN: It's suggestive card/prank shop in my hometown. It's Cool!]
Joe? He was at the Health food store.
Matt walked into the back of the store. It was much easier to think back here, among all the
spinning lights. He got himself as close to the dark corner as he could. He looked at all the kids
there, looking and laughing over the cards and posters, chatting. Some of them were getting
shocked by the plasma lamps, even though you weren't supposed to touch them. Why did he
have to be so different from them? Why was he the one who had to like guys? Then again,
maybe, maybe he didn't. So, he'd thought Tai was cute. Handsome, even. How could anybody
not think that? Sora was pretty lucky to have him, goof though he was. Maybe it was just a phase.
He sure hoped it was. He left the store.
Tai was about to buy something from the sports gear when he saw Matt running past the store.
He watched him a moment, then began running after him.
"Matt!" he yelled, but unfortunately, Matt couldn't hear him among the large crowd that was now
surrounding them.
TK smiled and waved goodbye to the woman at the counter of the Disney Store. Someone
bumped into him, which caused him to drop his bag, pick it up and look up. The person had
already ran past them. Though, TK could still see who it was.
"Tai?" he asked himself. What was going on here?
"What about my brother?" another voice asked. He turned around.
"Kari! I didn't know you were at the mall!"
Mimi was tapping her foot. She was outside this stupid software store waiting for stupid Izzy. She
was once again back from America for a few months. She was happy about it, sure, but she was
begging to regret that she didn't insist on shopping with Sora instead of letting Kari do it. Izzy may
be a nice guy, but did he have to spend an hour looking around for computer parts? She grinned
to herself when she remembered something...Izzy had promised to take her to Ambercrombie
and Fitch, hadn't he? Well, he'd get to know what it felt like having to wait an hour. Izzy exited the
store, holding a large black bag. Mimi gave him an exasperated sigh, and turned to him.
"Well, it's about..." She was cut off by Matt running past them, followed by Tai. She and Izzy
stared after them for a moment. "Time." she finished.
Joe walked out of the Good4You, happily chewing his Ginseng gum. Matt had been acting a little
strange lately, he thought to himself. He'd always been a pretty distant person, and kept to
himself, but now it seemed even worse. He didn't really have a reason to be concerned, but
yet...he was. Why?
Tai grabbed Joe's arm as he sped past. "Joe...you gotta help me..." he panted. Joe pulled Tai
back towards the store, to get away from the crowd. "What's the matter, Tai?" He asked his
courageous friend.
"It's...Matt..." Tai sat on one of the benches oh-so-graciously next to the store. "I don't know
what's wrong, but I just know something is. He was running out of the mall, and I saw him when I
was at the sports place. I started going after him, and almost twenty minutes later I finally caught
him...but..." Tai took a deep breath. "He wouldn't talk to me at all, he ended up punching me in
the gut, and by the time I could recover, he ran away...and I can't find him..." Tai's head hit the
brick wall rather painfully. "Joe, can you try finding him for me? I know you two are good friends,
and not former rivals and everything...he might talk to you." Tai took another breath.
Joe nodded. "Sure, I'll look for him, Tai. Don't worry." He gave his friend a pensive look. "You
want me to call Sora first?" he asked.
Tai smiled. "That'd be great, Joe." Joe pulled out his cell phone and dialed Sora's number.
"Hey, Sora. Oh, you're at the mall? That's good. Tai wanted me to call you. We're at the
Good4You. Uh-huh. Yeah...it's right next to Camelot. It shouldn't be too far. Why? Tai's been
looking for Matt, and he's a little winded." Joe nodded and handed the cell to Tai. "She wants to
talk to you," he said. Tai took the phone, and talked with Sora for a while. Then he groaned.
"Fine, fine, I'll buy you a coke. See ya later." he said. Tai looked up, and was going to give Joe
his cell phone, except there was one problem. Joe wasn't there.
"Not again..." Tai groaned.
Izzy, Mimi, Kari and TK were all sitting near the burger joint in the mall. The only one who'd
actually ordered from there was TK. And he actually bought two large orders of fries. One for him,
one for Kari, much to Mimi and Izzy's teasing. Mimi had bought a few eggrolls and a berry
smoothie. Izzy bought lemonade and a salad that he was sure had cashews in it, not that he was
complaining. As they were all chowing down, Joe sped by. TK looked up. "First Tai, now you?" he
asked. Joe backed up to where they were sitting. "I just came to tell you guys that Tai's gonna be
late." He said, then was going to run off again, but Kari grabbed his wrist.
"Why, Joe?" she asked. Joe looked at her for a moment. He knew Kari and her older brother
were very close, as were TK and Matt, so he'd better tell them. It's just that he really wanted to
find Matt as fast as he could, before something happened to him.
"Well, Tai says he saw Matt running out of the mall, and he tried to find him so he could make
sure everything was okay, but when he did, Matt punched him in the gut, so he needs a moment
to rest. He'll be with Sora, so everything's okay." He wrenched his wrist free from Kari. "And I
need to go find Matt." he stressed.
"Wait a second, Joe, I can go with you!" TK protested. Izzy reached up and placed a hand on
TK's shoulder. This was rather difficult, considering that TK was a few inches taller than he was
and was standing, while Izzy was sitting down. TK reluctantly sat down. "I'm sure you can find
him, Joe." TK said. Mimi was grinning.
"Gee, Joe, do you have a crush on Matt? You sure seem worried about him..." she teased.
Joe bit his lip. "No, I do not have a crush on Matt! Geez!" He shook his head, and then starting
running off.
Izzy watched him for a moment. "He sounds like me..." the redhead computer genius
commented.
"Hm?" Mimi gave him a quizzical look.
"Nothin'." A blushing Izzy mumbled, and dug into his salad. Kari giggled and TK stole one of her
fries. Kari looked down at her pack of them. "Hey!"
Joe Kido looked around the huge crowds. No sign of Matt yet...oh, where could he be? Joe
leaned up against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Things began replaying in his mind. That
day at Vegiemon's diner, when Matt had saved him from near death, when he went on his own to
find Matt after he had decided to quit the Digidestined team, how he had kept comforting him
before then....
"Gee, Joe, do you have a crush on Matt?" Mimi's words came back to him. He told her no, but
that wasn't true, was it? His mind snapped back, as he spotted a young man with golden hair
headed towards the parking lot. Matt...
Joe ran off after him. "Matt!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The young man turned around and
faced him for a moment then opened the door to the long hallway out to the parking lot. Joe ran
after him as fast as possible. The hallway was dark, the gray walls covered in graffiti. It reeked of
pot. Joe was quite happy to get out. He looked up. Matt was facing him eye-to-eye.
"Why did you have to follow me, Joe?" he asked angrily.
Joe took a few breaths, and wiped his brow. "You're a fast runner, you know that?" he told Matt.
Matt looked at him for a moment, then turned away from him.
"Look, Matt, whatever it is..." Joe began.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU'D NEVER UNDERSTAND, YOU GAY FREAK!!" Matt yelled,
punching him in the face.
Joe took a deep breath and faced Matt.
"What makes you think I don't?" Joe was staring right into Matt's troubled sapphire eyes.
"You gay freak." he finished. Matt's eyes widened.
"I...I'm not...I..." Matt fell down to his knees.
Joe just watched him, knowing that he shouldn't really be doing anything right now. Matt needed
a moment to really come to terms with this.
"I was so scared." whispered Matt, his voice very small. "So scared of what Mom, Dad, and my
fans would think...what TK would think..." he lowered his head, and sighed.
He got up and looked at the older boy. "I'm sorry for...hitting you, Joe. I shouldn't have..." Matt
looked away.
Joe put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right." he comforted the boy.
"Joe..." he looked up at him.
They kissed.
Of course and typically, everyone ran out to the parking lot at this time.
Tai was the first to speak. "M-Matt..." he slurred.
"Wha--?" Sora asked, trailing behind him. He pointed forward, and Sora understood. She smiled.
Behind them came Mimi, Izzy, TK, and Kari. The comments went along like this:
"Um..." from Izzy.
Mimi giggled, and said "I knew it!" to herself.
TK copied exactly what Tai did.
Kari giggled and smiled.
Joe and Matt then realized what they were doing. They parted, and faced everyone, both
blushing like mad.
"Um, show's over, you can go home now." Matt said very fast.
"He-eey Matt?" asked Tai with a little hint in his voice. Matt blinked.
"Why don't you two give us another show?" he asked. Matt looked at him like he was nuts.
"NO WAY, TAI! IT'S NOT LIKE I ASK FOR A SHOW WHEN YOU KISS SORA!!" he screamed.
The two boys instantly got into a fight. Everyone sighed, then Sora and Joe, with much effort,
separated the two.
"Now, you two, this isn't the time." Sora reprimanded, shaking a finger at them. She then smiled.
"What we should be doing is congratulating Matt and Joe for finally getting together after all this
time."
Matt and Joe looked at each, then at Sora. "Huh?" asked Matt. Sora sighed.
"Come on, it was pretty obvious. You two were always looking out for each in the Digiworld. We
all knew it'd happen one day." Sora smiled again at the two.
"Yeah, I guess..." Matt combed his hair through his hair. It had just hit him, but he really did care
for Joe. Sora was right.
TK and Kari were whispering something to each other. TK nodded, and they stopped whispering.
"So..." TK asked Joe. "You think we can all fit in your car?"
Joe seemed suprised by this question. "It'd be a really tight fit, but we could."
TK nodded. "So, how's about we go for pizza to celebrate?" he asked.
Matt looked at his little brother, then at his new boyfriend. "Shall we?"
"As long as mine doesn't have any anchovies. I'm allergic." Joe reminded them all. Everyone
laughed.
Matt promptly kissed him. "You're not allergic to that, are you?" he asked. "Even if I was, it'd be
well worth it." Joe said to the blonde.
Then, all the Digidestined walked up to the car of Joe Kido, who had his arm around his Matt.
Review this thing, baby!