Yagami Taichi meandered slowly along the sidewalk that ran outside of his High School, ignoring the cool winds whipping his blue-and-gray wool scarf behind him, tossing it about like a kitten with a yarn ball. His thoughts were elsewhere; namely, dwelling on the upcoming High School homecoming. He didn't have a date to the dance. Not that it mattered to him; he wasn't a girl, after all, obsessing over which dress to wear, which makeup to apply, which guy to take. He listened in on the other guy's conversations in the halls, and the general consensus among them was that dances were only good to get girls, and get them in some rather odd ways, from Taichi's perspective. For some reason, he couldn't understand the interests of some of his friends.
Of course, none of his Digidestined friends had such conversations. They were a tight-knit group: one of the few circles of friends that had been together since grade school. They had to stick together; there was no way to share an experience like they had without bonding. Some of the digidestined, however, hand bonded closer than others. It was a well-known fact that Jyou and Mimi had been dating for a while now. Ken and Miyako shared an extremely close relationship, and Taichi's sister, Hikari, was fulfilling the suspicions of the original eight digidestined by dating Yamato's younger brother, Takeru.
Ishida Yamato, now there was a young man Taichi shared a close bond with. It wasn't the bond that Jyou and Mimi shared, but rather a very close one of friendship. The rocky areas of their past had long since smoothed out, and the boys rarely argued anymore. They had come to a mutual understanding of each other's problems, faults, and no-fly zones. When one was hurting, physically or spiritually, they usually turned to the other before anyone else.
Yamato's house was Taichi's eventual destination. He wanted to talk to Yamato and see how he was faring in the dance area, and how many girls had asked him to go already. He knew his blond, blue-eyed friend had many, many female admirers, and Taichi didn't blame them. His friend was extremely good-looking. Not that Taichi found him handsome in that way. He was just recognizing his friend's good attributes.
Eventually his feet carried him to his friend's door, and he rang them bell, hoping someone would answer quickly. The cold wind had managed to seep through his scarf and coat, and he shivered slightly. Luckily, Yamato must have been expecting him, because he answered almost immediately. Of course Yamato was expecting him. It was Monday, and on Monday Taichi, unless he was ill, always visited Yamato's house. In the case of illness, of course, Yamato would visit him, and probably bring something tasty to cheer his friend up.
"Come in. You look like you've been attacked by a Garurumon pack! Is it really that cold out there?" Yamato asked, ushering Taichi in.
"I don't think I realized it'd be this cold this late, or I would've driven this morning!" Taichi laughed, removing his scarf and heavy coat in Yamato's front hall.
"Mom baked some cookies today. They're still warm, too. I'll go get them," Yamato said, heading for the kitchen.
"I'll come, too. Is anyone home? The place looks deserted," Taichi commented, slipping his shoes off for some more comfortable and appropriate slippers.
"T.K. is out with Hikari, and Dad's still at work," Yamato said, lifting the cookies down off of a shelf.
Taichi nodded. Takeru was staying with his brother and father for a while, while he and Yamato's mother was away on business. It would make sense that T.K. would be out with Hikari; the two were almost inseparable. One often slept over at the other's house, for the sake of convenience. Taichi would have been worried for his sister's safety, had he not known Takeru from the time he was 6. The first eight digidestined still thought of Yamato's little brother as 'little', even though he was 14 now, and not quite so little anymore.
Taichi followed Yamato upstairs and into his room, where he immediately plopped down in a chair the wrong way, resting his crossed arms on the chair's back. He snagged a cookie from the bedside table Yamato had put them on, and chewed it thoughtfully while Yamato sat down comfortably on the edge of his bed. It was almost a ritual, sitting across from each other like this, Taichi in his chair and Yamato on his bed. If one of their partner digimon happened to be around, he would most likely be curled in a heap of fur or scales at the foot of the bed, sleeping. The digidestined surmised that their digimon partners slept little in the digital world, because they were always pooped when they came to visit. As it was, neither Agumon nor Gabumon was in the real world, and the house was absolutely deserted, save for a pair of goldfish Yamato had rescued from the science lab a year ago. Picese and Whaemon, as they came to be known, just swam in lazy circles, ignoring the cookie crumbs Taichi dropped in their bowl. The pampered goldfish weren't hungry, amazingly enough.
"So, what's up?" Yamato asked, choosing his own cookie from the plate on the bedside table. "You look preoccupied."
"Yeah, it's girl trouble," Taichi sighed, flicking the rest of the crumbs from his fingers to the goldfish.
"Can't find anyone to ask to the dance?" Yamato asked.
Taichi laughed. "You know me too well," he said ruefully. "I'd ask Sora, but I'm sure she's already going with some blond jock. Not that blond is bad," Taichi said, correcting himself, much to Yamato's amusement, "but I swear, they follow her like cats on a fishmonger or something."
"That's a nice analogy," Yamato laughed. "I sorta know what you mean, though. You're a jock too, you know," Yamato pointed out. "You're the star player on the soccer team. I still don't know why you're not the captain."
"I turned down the job," Taichi shrugged. "I don't need that along with my schoolwork."
"Well, I've got girl trouble too, but not the same kind. So far, I think five different girls have asked me to the dance, and I don't know half of them!"
"What do you expect," Taichi said, grinning, "while Sora has the jocks following, you attract the cheerleaders like flies!"
"Thanks," Yamato said blandly. "It's our Senior year. We've got to find someone to go with. Everyone else is going. Surprisingly enough, Koushirou dug up a girl from the computer club to go with. I think Daisuke's sister found him a date."
"Now there's an idea," Taichi grinned, eyes twinkling mischievously, "I could set you up with Jun!"
"Look, I'm not desperate," Yamato said, pulling a face. "I'd rather not dance with a stalker, if you take my meaning."
Taichi laughed and shook his head. "Poor Jun, she just doesn't know when to quit!"
"We're still stuck then." Yamato scratched the back of his head and leaned against the wall. "We've got to find some girl to take. I'll just pick out of a hat, and tell the rest of the girls that you're my best friend. I'm sure they'll flock to you."
"I'm the second choice, huh?" Taichi muttered in mock irritation.
"What do you want, you're just not quite as hot as I am," Yamato said jokingly.
You're right, Taichi thought, no one's as hot as you... now where the heck did that come from? He shook his head slightly, hoping none of his thoughts could be picked up by his friend. Yamato was too busy laughing to notice.
"It's the hair," he responded. "I'm just not blond enough."
"You don't need blond hair and blue eyes, Taichi." Yamato's demeanor suddenly turned serious, and Taichi looked up into his friend's pricing blue eyes, one eyebrow raised. "You look very good on your own." Could Taichi detect something in Yamato's eye? Something... very reminiscent of what Taichi himself felt when he looked at Yamato sometimes?
"I know but not like..." Taichi started, but Yamato leaned down and looked straight into his eyes, holding him in place with his gaze.
"I mean it Yagami," Yamato said, his voice low, almost inaudible. "You are a very attractive man." He reached out one hand and seemed about to run a finger down Taichi's face, but stopped, and a look of fear came into his eyes. "Taichi, I'm sorry..."
"Don't be, my Yamato," Taichi whispered softly, bringing his face closer to Yamato's.
"Your Yamato," the other boy gave a half-smile and raised one eyebrow.
"Yes, my Yamato. And I'll be your Taichi."
Yamato bridged the gap between them with a light kiss, and Taichi reached his arms up to wrap them around the other boy's shoulders, their foreheads touching, looking into each other's eyes. Through that single glance, a wealth of unspoken information passed between them.
"Well, now I know why I can't get a date," Taichi murmured softly, giving that half-smile Yamato had always loved.
Yamato draped his arms about the other boy's shoulders and grinned back. "There's a solution to that..."
Taichi leaned up to take another kiss, but the chair beneath him slipped and both boys fell into a laughing heap beside Yamato's bed.
After disentangling themselves, almost reluctantly, they both sat on the bed together, leaning on each other. "I'm glad this is out in the open now," Yamato sighed, turning his nose to smell the scent of Taichi's hair which, he noticed, was freshly washed.
"Sora will never let us hear the end of this, I'm sure," Taichi laughed.
"What will Kari and Takeru think?"
~*~
Taichi stepped into the dance hall in a strapping blue-gray tuxedo, his hair freshly brushed and smooth, the blue band somehow complimenting the rest of his attire. His face glowed, his smile matched only by Yamato's. The other young man wore an equally strapping tux of deep green, and his blond hair gleamed like gold. They walked arm-in-arm, so close their shoulders touched, and everyone stared. Their wide eyes were soon accompanied by open mouths as Taichi turned and kisses Yamato, and when that kiss was returned, more than one person thought they must be imagining it. The soccer jock, Taichi, and the blond bishounen Yamato... together??
Several girls narrowed their eyes beadily at Taichi, and Sora laughed inwardly remembering the number of times she had received such glares. Of course, she and Yamato had never really been going out; she had suspected this for years.
When the pair passed her on their way to the punch bowl, she leaned over and muttered "We were wondering when you two would figure this out."
Taichi flashed her a quick grin, a grin of friendship and not false love this time, and continued watching. Beaming.
Yamato had helped him find a date, after all.
