A/N: If you wanna read the disclaimer, it's in the first chapter! (If you're really that interested..^_^) And, this is important, this is not a sorato fic. It's only got a one-sided crush of Sora's. And also, I apologize if this is going to be incredibly badly written (maybe a small sap warning ahead), but it's the first thing I've written in English for a long time (I've written Swedish stuff for school), and it takes a little while for me to get used to the language again… Please have patience with me! *I'm in addition very sleepy-hyper-sugar-high now as well, and that might show in this too … huh*  :)

Plus! Thanks to: KoNy, Aria, anonymous, Angel, Misty Ishida, CSMars, Kyuuen, Yamato's Tiger Lily, Sapphire Goddess, kamui, koss owl, Sophie V, Chi-chanlover, Destiny, Jo Jo Lie Lie, happy little lemonbread woman (Nooooooo! No more evil Pikachu's!! *scarred for life* hehe), taito queen formerly missy, KinuEnhjorning, Linnda, yamatoforever (yup, you had me figured out there! Lol), and Miss Mew, for the reviews! I love em all!

Linger by ThatGirl

~chapter two, Fools, suggestions and heart wounds~

Matt had stopped running, and was now walking silently down the street. The bag with his belongings in was heavy, but not anywhere near as heavy as his heart felt. It weighed his entire body down, throbbing and painfully pounding inside of his chest. He stubbornly blinked away the tears that pricked his sight.

Where could he go?

He stopped walking and gazed around slowly. Didn't Sora live close to here?

Matt went around the nearest corner. From here, he could see the apartment building she lived in, so he hurried over the street and pushed the code of the entrance. When inside, he took the stairs to the second floor and quickly spotted Sora's front door.

Ringing the bell, he waited until the lock clicked and Sora opened.

"Matt?" she asked, looking both surprised and a little confused. She hadn't seen him in about a week or two and couldn't deny the fact that she still liked him… at least a little, having had a crush on him for some time now, but she quickly gathered herself again and continued, "Hi, how are you? Don't stand there all night, come in!"

Matt managed a weak smile and let himself get ushered into the living room, where he sat down in the couch.

"You want something to eat or drink?" Sora wondered.

Matt shook his head.

"I'll be fine, thanks."

"Okay…" Sora gave him a worried mother-like look before sitting down beside him. She cast a glance at the bag Matt had put down in the hall. "What's that?"

Matt swallowed.

"M-My stuff", he said.

"Matt, what's happened?" Sora asked seriously and placed a hand upon his. At that, Matt finally cracked.
Tears leaked out of his eyes and he buried his face in his hands, his shoulders quaking with sobs.

"Tai…" he wept.
"What about him?"
"I…We… I think we're not together anymore…"

Sora's eyes went wide.
Tai and Matt not together? No matter what she felt for Matt, she knew, and everybody did, that those two were the most perfect couple ever.

"I left him in the apartment… and all just because of…" Matt hiccupped, but his last words were muffled as he tried wiping away some tears from his face with his sleeve.

"Shh…" Sora soothed, and wrapped her arms around the blond, carefully rocking him back and forth.

All Matt wished for, though he ashamed of admitting it, was to have Tai back with him, to hug him and to kiss him. Not that he didn't appreciate Sora, no, she was a great friend, but… she simply wasn't Tai.

He was so stupid…

They sat there for a long time, Matt trying his best to explain what had happened to Sora, until his tears finally ceased. Then, he wearily straightened his back, his eyes still red and swollen.

"Y'know what?" he said sadly to Sora, sighing. "I'm such a fool… I didn't think… I already miss him, Sora. Maybe I was just being paranoid about Musuku… I've probably ruined everything now!"

"No, you're just a fool for Tai." Sora said. "It's totally obvious that you really like him, and it's never too late… Why don't you call him? I mean, maybe you just need to talk about it a little?"

Matt nodded solemnly. "I hope you're right."

"I KNOW I am." she said with a grin, and the Matt felt a small smile tug the corners of his mouth.

"Thanks, Sora. I really, really appreciate it", he said, and then paused slightly. "Mind if I use your phone, please?"

Sora laughed and shook her head.

"Go on. Want me to wait outside?"

"If it's okay with you…"

"Okay." Matt looked thankful, and Sora went out in the kitchen.

The blond took a few deep breaths before picking up the telephone and dialling the familiar number. He waited fretfully while the signals sounded, and was just about to hang up when someone finally picked up.

"Hello?" Tai's voice was a little raw, Matt noticed, and wondered if Tai too had been crying. He quickly shoved the thought away and opened his mouth to speak.

"Hi, Tai." he said.

On the other side of the line, Tai sat up hastily in the bed where he had been laying, drawing in a sharp breath.

"Matt?" he said. "God, I… Shit, I'm so sorry, I was so scared you'd--"

"I'm really sorry too… I shouldn't have done that, I was just so mad, but I… I'm sorry, Tai", Matt paused slightly, before continuing. "And about Musuku, maybe I'm just paranoid or something. But I felt so abandoned, like if you didn't even want to come home and see me anymore."

"Matt, if you'll just forgive me, I promise you I'll try to spend more time with you. Please, Matt, I don't want you to go", Tai begged, putting his pride to the side, his throat straining more and more with every

word spoken. The last hours when he had thought Matt was out of his life had been torture for him.

It was quiet for a while, and then a whimper escaped Matt's lips.

"Love you", he whispered, clasping the receiver in his hands and biting his lip.

"I love you too", Tai said. He could almost see his boyfriend's actions, and felt horrible for making him so upset. Matt sniffed and Tai winced.

"But…" Matt began.

"But what?" For some reason, Tai didn't want to hear what he had been going to say. Not here, like this, on the phone, anyway. "Look, it's really late now, and I don't want you to go home all by yourself, so do you think you can sleep at Sora's place? And then we can meet after work someplace tomorrow, maybe that little bar, you know?" he hurried to say.

Matt hesitated for a few moments, but at last said, "Okay"

They talked for a little bit longer, but then eventually they had to say goodbye and hang up.

Matt sighed, sinking deeper into the soft cushions of the sofa. He hadn't got the chance to tell Tai, but he… he felt more and more uncertain when it came to their being together now. It wasn't because of Tai, God, no. He loved Tai with every little bit of his soul and body and mind and everything, but it felt like if he'd seen this before. The fighting and the hesitation...the concluding end… His parents.
Ever since the divorce, he'd wondered if that was the way he'd end up as well some day. He loathed those thoughts and mostly pushed them away, but they kept on gaining ground on him when he came to situations like these. Finally, he managed to get the thoughts out of his mind, at least for the moment, and remembered Sora. He instantly rose from the sofa.

"Sora? You mind if I spend the night at you place?"

*****

~*{The next evening}*~

 Tai was walking briskly out of the building where he worked as a voice called his name and Musuku came up behind him, placing an arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, Tai man", he said. "Wanna go out tonight? Just chill, do whatever?"

Tai shook his head.

"I can't. My boyfriend, remember?"

For a moment, Musuku looked about blank, but then he seemed to recall Matt.

"Oh, yeah… You guys were gonna meet at that bar, huh?"

"Yeah."
"Well, I'm going there too. I'll keep you company until he gets there."

Tai hesitated, Matt's previous thoughts of his friend coming back to him. Musuku noticed the wavering in Tai's eyes.

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun. And I'll get to meet that boyfriend of yours as well." he added. "Matt was his name, right?"
"Right." Tai said.
"Well, let's go."

"Musuku, I…"
"Let's just go."

Tai bit his lip slightly, but then forced himself into a happier mood. Musuku and he were just friends. Matt probably wouldn't mind.

"Ok", he said, and then the two were on their way.

When they got to the bar, a small place on the corner of a crossing that actually was more a café than a bar, they went inside and ordered a coffee each.

"So, what was that fight of yours about?" Musuku asked after a minute or two.

Tai looked down, as if the cream in the coffee cup had formed a perfect little picture of his grandmother.

"It… It wasn't anything big, really…" he said, pressing his lips together tightly, but then he lifted his head. "I… Do you think he trusts me?" he asked. "I mean… Or… How… After the fight, I felt really guilty, and I want to make it up to him, because I think I acted really thickly"

"Why don't you just leave him?" Taken off guard by the question, Tai nearly spluttered coffee over the counter.

"Leave him!?" he choked out, gasping and coughing to prevent the hot drink from slipping down his windpipe. Musuku merely gave him a frank face.

"Yeah, if all you two does is to fight all the time, why bother keeping together? I mean, you could easily find another boyfriend, Tai."

"Leave Matt!?" Tai still hadn't completely digested Musuku's prior words. Leave the wonderful, adorable boyfriend he had? Leave Matt? The thought hadn't even crossed his mind until Musuku had voiced it. For the first time, he actually felt aggravation towards his new friend. "Leave him?" he said. "Why I want to bother keeping together? I'm freaking in love him, that's why!"

Musuku's expression remained, though he narrowed his eyes and pouted somewhat.

"So~rry. It was just a suggestion. How long have you dated Matt anyway?"

"Five years", Tai replied automatically.

"That's a long time. Maybe you should try other people for a while?"

Tai stood up and began walking out of the bar, and Musuku followed.

"I've already told you; No. I love him."

"You seem to say that a lot. Do you really mean it?"
"Yes, of course I d--" Tai's voice was muffled by a pair of lips pressing against his own. He gaped out of surprise and instantly felt a tongue slip into his mouth. Immediately snapping out of the slight shock, he pushed Musuku away from him.

*****

Matt hurried down the street as fast as he could. Having rehearsed all day with the band, as their next concert was coming up in about two weeks, he was a bit tired, and they had needed to change a song text a bit so that it would fit with the melody, and so now… he was late.

He cursed silently as he rounded a corner and a (doubtlessly speeding) car almost hit him, making him nearly drop the guitar case he carried in the back.

Was he very late?
He didn't have a watch to glance at, but the latest time he'd checked the time, the clock had showed 08.25 p.m. That had been in the place he and the band practised, of course.

Even though he was a little nervous about how Tai would be, if he'd be sorry, still be a little angry with him, or maybe act totally normal, he'd longed for his boyfriend the entire day.

Matt turned left by another corner of a tall building and came out on one of the streets of which the bar's corner was. "The green Hunter". A strange name, but in some way, it fitted.

He glanced up, and abruptly stopped walking. A strange, dreading feeling stabbed through his chest and right into his heart.

Tai…

And Musuku…

And they were… Kissing.

Kissing?
But… No… No!

Matt swivelled round and ran, fleeing from the scene.

He had trusted Tai's words… But he had been right all the time… Why had he trusted him?

It hurt so much…

A/N: Hmm… I didn't like that so much… But please write a review anyway!