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I hope to get the next chapter out soon!
Fly Away From Here
Chapter 4
Taichi pulled Yamato's unresisting
body between the tables in the restaurant, not stopping until they reached
the door to the men's bathroom. It was only then that the brunnet let go
of the blond's arm, as he pulled open the door and motioned the taller
boy through it.
This isn't happening. He isn't
doing this. I'm dreaming. I'm going to wake up any second now and wipe
the drool off my face and go to school and -
"Yamato, we need to talk." The bearer
of the Crest of Friendship looked on in silent shock as Taichi pushed open
the door to the single stall, but instead of entering, walked back to the
door they had just come through, and locked it. This isn't happening!
Taichi turned away from Yamato and looked at his reflection in the mirror,
running his hands through his hair. I wish I dared to just walk up behind
him, put my arms around his waist and rest my head on his shoulder. I wish
he would turn around and throw himself at me and we'd fuck each other right
here, right now!' Yama glanced down at the floor. 'Maybe not right here.
We'd probably get infected with something unpleasant.
A strange silence settled on the
two teenagers. Yamato stood in the middle of the restroom, his hands clenched
into nervous fists, his face pale and his eyes wide with fear and desire.
Taichi leaned against the dirty sink, his hands gripping the basin so hard
his knuckles turned white, with his face lowered. Yamato couldn't see his
expression, and the silence stretched on between them for a long moment,
so that when the brown-haired boy finally spoke, his friend jumped, startled.
"We definitely need to talk, Ishida."
Yamato tried to speak, but his voice
wouldn't obey him. He cleared his throat and tried again. "What about?"
Is this it? I never thought he'd be interested in me. I can never tell
what he's thinking! We've never talked about each other's sexuality before.
He's just standing there. Why won't he answer me? What is he going to say?
Yamato's mind raced in furious circles. He stared at Taichi's back, his
eyes taking in the curve of his spine and travelling it upward until it
disappeared into a bush of brown hair.
"About you, man." Taichi turned around,
but his eyes were focused on the floor. "Koushiro said he saw you standing
outside my building."
Yamato swallowed, his throat suddenly
very dry. "I was on my way home from band practice."
Taichi shook his head, his hair bouncing
back and forth. "I know where you practice. You had to go out of your way
to walk by my place on your way home." His eyes suddenly rose up and captured
Yamato's frightened blue gaze. There was a fierce intensity burning behind
the brown flecks.
The blond stuck his hands in the
pockets of his school jacket. "I - I like to take the long way home sometimes,
I guess." He forced himself to laugh, but it sounded hallow even to his
own ears. "I didn't know you were so territorial, Tai."
Taichi dropped his gaze back to the
floor. "Koushiro said something else to me today, too," he went on, his
voice low.
Yamato waited for him to continue.
His eyes roamed all over the dingy restroom, seeing everything except the
goggle-headed boy standing only a few feet away from him. The silence grew
to uncomfortable proportions. Yamato didn't want to ask, though; he wanted
the former leader of the Digidestined to say whatever he had to say on
his own terms, without any prompting.
"We used to be really close."
"What?" Yamato felt his heart bottom
out. Where is this going? Why does he keep changing subjects on me?
"We used to see each other more than
once or twice a month. We used to talk on the phone every night." Taichi
paused, shifting his weight so that he could rub the back of his neck.
"What happened to us, Yama? It's like we're strangers, the way you keep
yourself so far away from me - not just me! Everyone! Sora told me that
you stopped talking to her, too, and she doesn't know why.
"It really hurts, you know."
Yamato's eyes flashed angrily. He
thinks he knows hurt? He should suffer from unrequited love for
as long as I have, then he can talk to me about hurt and pain!
"Man, I don't know what else to say.
I thought that if I just got you alone, and told you that - that -" Taichi's
voice cracked and he coughed, turning his head away and looking at the
wall. "- That I thought you trusted me. You can trust me, Yamato!
I may not be the smartest, or the most reliable, or even the best listener,
but I will listen to whatever it is that you're afraid to tell me!"
He broke off and looked down at his hands clenched into fists in front
of him.
Yamato was flabbergasted. How
do I answer that? Should I tell him how I feel, what I am? Can I trust
him? I used to . . . He chose to walk the safe road, though it only
added to his inner turmoil. "What makes you think I have something to tell
you?"
Taichi laughed suddenly, but it sounded
as forced as Yamato's had been earlier. "Maybe I'm psychic. Maybe because
I wouldn't be cornering you in here if it wasn't just Koushiro who's seen
you outside my window at night."
WHAT? "Who else thinks
they saw me, Tai?" he asked, his voice angry and shaky as panic took hold
inside.
"Hikari," came the subdued answer.
"Hikari said that you've been out there nearly every night for the past
two weeks." Taichi's voice trembled with an emotion that Yamato couldn't
place. "Dammit, don't you trust me any more? I'm still your friend!"
Yamato went slack-jawed at Tai's
sudden outburst. For a brief second he was struck by the strange contrast
in the young man before him: Taichi was trying hard to act mature and help
his friend, yet he was wearing a coat that looked like it had come from
the children's department.
He wasn't done speaking, though.
"Whatever the problem is - your dad, or school, or your band, or even one
of us, your former friends -" Yamato winced. " - you can tell me!
Don't go on camping outside my window at night! Just get it off your chest!
You'll feel a lot better, trust me!" Taichi wound down, seeming to deflate
as his anger left him.
The two teenagers stood in silence
once again. The same thoughts flew around in Yamato's mind, like vultures
in the desert, circling above carrion. What they all came down to though,
was one thing: Can I trust him? Is it time? I could tell him that I'm
gay, but if he can't take that, then I never have to let on that I'm in
love with him or that he's all I can think about.
Or that I've nicknamed my left
hand Yagami.
He shook his head, cleared his throat,
and took a deep, ragged breath.
"You win, Taichi. There is something
I've been wanting to tell you for a long time. I'm -"
"Hey! Open up in there!" The restroom
door shook as a man outside tried to open it and, failing that, pounded
his fist against the wood.
Both boys hurried to unlock it, and
Yamato caught a mouthful of brown hair when Taichi beat him to it. They
walked out, their faces red, with the entire restaurant staring at them.
"Suddenly I'm not so hungry any more,"
Tai whispered. Yamato gulped nervously, nodding. Motioning for Koushiro
to get up from the booth where he still sat and follow them, the three
Digidestined left the restaurant. As Yamato collected his guitar, he burned
with embarrassment upon hearing the words that the people refused to whisper.
"What were they doing in there?"
"Kids these days -"
"Snorting up in a restaurant like
this!"
"That tall blond - I've seen him
playing at school dances before. Rock'n'roll and drugs go hand-in-hand,
you know."
" - in the bathroom?"
" - illegal, not to mention how *young*
they both are."
"Fucking heroin-addicts."
"Stupid fags."
* * *
Leelee's endnote: This didn't really
accomplish much, I know. It's a bit drawn-out, but I don't want the story
to move too quickly. ^__^
