"What?" Tai blinked.
"I uh... just wanted to say sorry... that the place is so sloppy since we just moved in, you know?"
"You've said that five times, Matt."
"Oh, heh, sorry."
Matt forced himself to turn his attention back to the game.
Tai paused, setting down the controller. "Matt?"
"Yeah?"
"You have something on your mind. I know it. I may not be smart, but I'm not THAT dense. Now you can tell me what it is."
"N-nothing." Matt lied, doing his best not to blush.
"Okay, fine. Whatever." Pause. Blink blink. "Um... you have anything to eat?"
"Yeah. I learned from the restaraunt that you're a bottomless pit, but we SHOULD have enough here."
"Hey!!"
Minutes later, Tai was gorging on some leftover... well, leftover everything. You name something in that fridge, Tai was eating it.
"Wih ih goo." Tai blurbed, mouth full.
"Come again?"
Tai swallowed. "This is good." he repeated. "What is it?"
"Heh, nooo clue."
All conversation died off in some odd uncomfortable pause.
"So...." Tai tried to lighten the mood, still eating, though not close to as savagely as before. "You said you never had a girlfriend? Come on, out with it man. It's just guys here. What was her name? There's no way a guy like you couldn't have a girlfriend."
Matt shrugged, resting his head in his hands. "Nah. I got offers, but I really didn't like any of them. I did date ONCE, but that was just to wave off this nasty rumor that I wasn't dating because I was gay."
"Are you?" Tai joked.
Pause. "No! NO! I mean, nooo..."
Tai lifted an eyebrow. "Oookieee..."
"What? You don't believe me?!"
"No, you're just acting weird."
"I'm not acting weird!"
"Oookieee..." Tai repeated, clearing his plate.
Another awkward silence. "Y-you know, it's okay if you are." Tai finally spoke up. "I mean, I'm not predjudiced or anything."
"I'M NOT, OKAY?" Matt snapped.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh. I was just saying."
Matt glared, but only held it for a second. "Listen, didn't mean to yell, but just with you questioning me on that, you know? How would you like it if I came up and kept poking around saying 'you gay?', 'it's okay if you are.', 'you can tell me.'?"
Tai looked up. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry. I'd probably get touchy, too." Pause. "Soooo... up for some more PS? Or no?"
"I'm really not in the mood, anymore. Sorry."
"Sorry about that man. Really."
"Yeah, it's okay."
"I'll go. I probably pissed you off enough today. I'll see you around, okay?" Tai picked up his leather jacket, heading toward the door. "Sorry."
Matt watched the door close, and slumped back against the wall with a sigh. Maybe he knew? Or wanted to know?
"If only you knew, Tai-chan..."
*********~~~~~~~~~*********
Mrs. Kamiya looked up from the kitchen as the front door opened. "Tai? I wasn't expecting you home so soon!"
Tai just shrugged, silently walking to his room.
Mrs. Kamiya looked to Kari, who simply nodded in understanding. Her mother wanted her to talk to Tai and see what was wrong, and so she headed to Tai's room.
She found him laying on his back on his bed, silently tossing a soccer ball in the air.
"Tai?"
No response.
"Tai?"
Still.
"TAI!!!"
Tai snapped to, looking at her. "What?"
"What's with you?"
"Nothing." he stated calmly. Then, noticing the 'Don't give me that bullshit' look in Kari's eyes, he expanded. "I just think I really pissed off the new kid by mistake."
"How so?"
Tai stopped throwing the ball, and shrugged. "I asked why he enver had a girlfriend, and he ended up saying he only had one once to stop people from saying he was gay. I asked if he was and he got all pissed. I didn't mean to make him mad or offend him, I just wanted to know."
"And since when is Taichi Kamiya interesting in the sexuality of other boys?" Kari teased.
"Shove it before I find my old kendo stick and cram it down your throat." he scowled.
"Well, why WERE you asking then?"
"Conversation, I guess. Besides, I need to be prepared if any guy friends would want to put moves on me since I'm straight."
"I seeee..." Kari nodded, not fully believing.
"Kari?"
"Yeah?"
"Get the hell out."
*********~~~~~~~~~*********
Matt sat on the phone, on a long distance call to TK.
"Really? Sounds nice there." TK said, halfway through conversation.
"Yeah, I guess. Although I'd like it if you came here." Pause. "There's a girl here I'm pretty sure you'd like. Name's Hikari."
"Cool." Silence. One of those awquard silences that always take half of their airtime between relatives on phonecalls. "Soooo... found and girls there yet?"
Silence.
"Matt? You there?"
"Yeah, I'm here TK."
"Well?"
Pause. "I-- sort o--- not rea---"
"Ohh, you DID, huh?"
"No, TK, I didn't."
"Oh." Another long silence.
Matt took a breath. "TK?"
"Yeah?"
"Remember... those rumors?"
"Oh, yeah." TK laughed. "I just about beat the living hell out of anyone who said that."
Silence on Matt's part.
Such a long silence that-- "...oh God, you mean?"
Matt sighed. "Yeah. Please don't hate me or something. It's just... there's this one guy and..."
"Woah." TK cut him off. "I'm your brother. I could NEVER hate you."
"Thanks TK." Matt responded, voice cracking.
After a bit of silence-- "So, what's he like?" as if they were talking about a girl.
"His name is Taichi. He's Hikari's brother, actually. He's got the strangest hair. It's a huge mop thing that defies gravity." TK laughed at that. "He's... got these... chocolate eyes... and olive skin... he's a little taller than me... he's always happy, from what I've seen... thin... from what I've heard, he's the star on the school's soccer team... and he's really friendly..." Matt sighed. "And I yelled at him today. I didn't mean to, I just did."
"Well, he sounds really cool. If I was... erm... like you are, I'd go for him in a second, probably."
"Heh." Matt smiled. "Thanks."
"What'd you scream at him for?"
"For asking if I was gay."
"But you are."
"But I don't want HIM to know that."
"Ah, he's straight?"
"Far as I know."
"Then... why did he bring it up?"
"I sort of did. The rumor came up in conversation."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Another pause.
"Listen Matt, it's 12:56, I really gotta get some sleep. Mom's dragging me aroudn shopping and on errands and crap tomorrow."
"Oh, sorry for you man. Well, see you later."
"Yeah, see ya."
Matt hung up the phone after he heard the dial tone, signaling that TK had hung up.
*********~~~~~~~~~*********
One week passed, and then another. And another. And another. And finally, summer break was almost over.
But that wasn't what was bugging Matt.
He knew he couldn't keep it inside any longer. He had barely been here a month, and he felt ready to just about keel over if he didn't tell Tai. But then Tai would run. And without Tai... well... he didn't know what he would do if the two weren't friends. They had patched things up after their arguement, and recently, they had become best friends, even in such a short time.
Matt eventually began convincing himself that Tai might, just might, like him as a little more than a friend. And, on that day, he gathered up his courage, and headed over to Tai's place.
On the level where the Kamiya apartment sat, he saw Tai outside.
But it wasn't only Tai.
There was Sora, her lips pressed against Tai's.
With watchign only a half a second of that, Matt turned on his heel, darting away.
Tai shoved Sora away. "What the fuck?" he half asked her for what she was doing, half asked noone trying to figure out what the sound was.
"B-but Tai... I thought..."
Tai brushed past her. "Stay away from me." he looked over his shoulder as he went to investigate the noise.
Within going down only one level, he saw a familiar form. A young blonde, on the ground, knees to his chest, face buried in his knees, most likely crying.
"Yamato?"
Matt froze, looking up, quickly brushing away the tears covering his face. What was making him cry? He never cried! Even when he was pulled away from TK, he didn't cry, he got mad. Why was he crying?
"T-Tai..."
Tai walked over, sitting down on the ground next to him, leaning back against the wall. "What's wrong?" he didn't even wait for an answer. "Oh fuck. Was it about that kiss up there?"
No answer from Matt.
"Matt, talk to me."
Still no answer.
"Listen Matt, if you like Sora that much, go talk to her. SHE was the one that kissed ME, I don't want her as a girlfriend. Maybe she likes yo-"
Matt almost laughed at this, although he was still crying. "Me like Sora? The day I like Sora is the day I shoot myself in the head."
"Matt, come on. We all know you don't like to admit stuff, so just tell her."
"I DON'T LIKE SORA!"
And then, it clicked for Tai. Matt's snubbing everyone but him originally. The staring. His extreme denial. The crying. "Oh God, Matt..." he looked at the blonde. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"T-tell you?" Matt stuttered. "Th-there's nothing to tell!" he looked away.
"Don't lie to me, Matt." Tai said firmly. "Look me in the eye and say that."
Matt turned, looking into Tai's eyes. The eyes that seemed to swirl like chocolate pools to him. He opened his mouth to repeat himself, but couldn't. He couldn't lie. Not when looking into those precious, dark amber eyes. "I--I can't."
"And answer me now Matt. Are you gay?"
Matt looked away, but Tai made him look straight at him.
"I... guess." Matt answered. "But, not really." he could answer truthfully. "O-only... one person..."
"And who is that?" Tai asked, already knowing the answer.
Matt's breathing quickened as he looked around for ANY excuse to escape. But once again, Tai drew the blonde's attention back toward him. "T-Tai... i-it's... it's y-you..."
Tai stared, expressionless for a moment as he looked at the blonde, basically going over what was occuring before him and calculating it thoroughly.
Oh God... he hates me... Matt squinted his eyes shut, trying to look away, but Tai still had him by the chin.
"Matt, look at me."
Matt opened his eyes to see a softly smiling Tai, some kind of spark in his eyes he hadn't seen before.
Matt blinked for a second, trying to clear his blurry vision.
"Matt... I should have said this before..." Tai said softly, moving a little closer to the blonde. "I really care for you. As more than a friend." he took a deep breath. "And, I know it sounds strange since we've only known each other a month, but... I'm... pretty sure I... love you."
Matt froze. He liked Tai. Cared for him. But love? Was this love? Matt closed his eyes, going over everything that had happened so recently, so quickly. And when he opened them, he came to a decision. "Tai? I... love you, too."
Tai smiled, and leaned over, only an inch from Matt, as if waiting for permission. And when Matt leaned forward and met his lips, the permission was granted.
They didn't even hear the shriek as Sora came around the corner, seeing the two in a long, yet simple kiss.