Tai walked in through his apartment door and removed his shoes that night after Matt dropped him off. He peeked at the clock across the living room and saw it was after 11 at night.

"Uh oh..."

He looked around the corner and saw his dad and Kari sitting on the sofa watching TV, and his mother was putting some clean dishes from that night away in the cupboard. He tried to sneak to his bedroom without being caught, but...

"Stop right there, mister," his mother's voice said. She didn't even have to turn around to know he was there.

Tai stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Busted!" Kari whispered, from the couch and smiled at him.

"Oh shut up," he whispered back to his little sister.

"Taichi Yagami, where have you been? You know your curfew is at 10 o'clock," his mother said, walking out of the kitchen to him.

"I was with Matt, we went to the Karaoke bar downtown then saw a late movie, that's all." He said honestly.

"We there any girls or beer involved?" She asked, tapping her foot. She always asked a million questions when he came home after 10. But he hated when she talked to him about girls, he didn't even want to see any girls...

"No... I told you where I was and that's the truth!"

"Don't talk back to your mother Tai," his father said, still watching the TV.

Tai glared at everyone in the room.

"Why can't you all just leave me alone!?" he shouted, and stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him.

"My goodness... I wonder what he's so angry about?" His mother said after a moment. "I didn't think I was being hard on him."

"He's a teenager dear, they get mad easily." Mr. Yagami replied from the sofa.

Tai's mother shrugged and went back to what she had been doing in the kitchen to tidy up before bed.

Kari hesitated for a few minutes and then got up off the couch. Inside his room, where Tai had his head buried somewhere in his pillow, he heard a faint knocking from the door and a small voice call out to him.

"Tai, can I come in?" Kari asked.

"Whatever..." He sighed. She took this as a yes and entered, closing the door softly behind her. She sat down on the edge of the bed and Tai rose and sat next to her.

"What are you so upset about, did you and Matt get in a fight?" She asked him calmly.

"No... I'm just confused about something," he answered truthfully, but wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her what he had been experiencing lately.

"Like what?" His 13 year old sister asked. Though she was only in the 7th grade now, she sometimes seemed a lot wiser about the world than anyone else Tai knew.

"Kari... you have to promise not to tell anyone about this ok?"

She seemed a bit confused but nodded, "I promise."

Tai sighed and tried to gather himself. "I think... I might, I mean... I don't really.... like..." He leaned forward and held his face in his hands for a second. He sprung up quickly and started pacing around the room.

"I don't think I like girls anymore, at all. I don't think I ever did actually..." he finally said.

"You like Matt, don't you?" she said. Tai looked up at her in complete shock and his mouth fell open.

"How did you know that!?" he shouted.

Kari smiled at him. "Little sisters just know these things." She giggled slightly. "You act differently around him, you always have."

Tai sat back down next to her on his bed and folded his legs under him.

"I don't know what to do..."

"Do you think he feels the same way as you?" Kari asked him. She knew that Matt acted differently around Tai as well, but wanted to know what Tai thought.

Tai had promised not to tell anyone what Matt had confessed to him earlier, so could only reply with,

"Maybe..." He blinked and looked around the room, trying to sort things out. "Why did this have to happen to me..."

"You're going through a change," Kari said, patting her brother on the shoulder. "And it's not going to be an easy one."

"No kidding..."

"Why don't you just get some sleep for now," Kari suggested, getting up to leave the room.

Tai sighed once again and stared at the floor.

"But you're going to have to tell him eventually," she added, and walked out, leaving Tai alone with himself.



The next morning Taichi woke up, almost in a daze. He walked slowly through the apartment to the bathroom and shut the door. Peeling off his clothes, he looked in the mirror and wondered where his life was heading. He stepped carefully into the shower and let the warm water spray in his face and flow over his body.

Without the sound, the shower door opened up and there was a figure standing outside. The brunette gasped and looked up to see Yamato step into the shower with him. The steam rose up around them and the blonde gracefully slipped his arms around Tai's torso, letting his lips wander down the smaller boy's neck and along his collar bone. Matt looked up and smiled softly at him, and Tai gratefully opened his mouth to let the musician kiss him deeply. Tai began breathing heavily as his felt strong hands dance across his chest and abdomen. He closed his eyes and heard a husky whisper in his ear,

"Taichi... I want you."

Suddenly those same brown eyes shot open and he gasped. Tai sat up in his bed panting, covered in sweat. He had fallen asleep in his clothes last night after he came home from his day with Matt.

"It was only a dream... why..." He held his head in his hands and his body shook as he started to cry.

Outside his bedroom, Kari was passing by the door. She heard her brother's sobs and wished she could help him, but decided he would not want to be seen like this.

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.

"Taichi?"

It was his mother. He dried his eyes quickly and tried to regain his composure before answering.

"Are you awake son?" She asked, tapping on the door again.

"Yeah, come in."

The door creaked open and she stepped inside with the telephone in her hand.

"You have a phone call, sleepy head. It's Matt." She handed him the phone and left the room to get to work in the kitchen.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Good morning, sleepy head," Matt said from the other end, laughing slightly.

"Oh shut up..." He blushed even though Yamato wasn't actually there. "What's up?" he continued.

"Sora and Izzy asked me to go to the mall with them today, do you want to come?" He asked.

"Sure, what time?"

"Around lunch time, we're eating lunch there."

"What time is it now?" Tai asked, knowing he must have slept rather late.

"It's 10:30, so can I come pick you up?"

"Ok, I just have to take a shower and get dressed and everything."

"Fell asleep in your clothes again I bet," Matt added.

"Yes..." Tai smiled to himself, his best friend knew him too well.

"I'll come get you in a little while, ok?"

"Alright, bye for now, Matt"

"See ya," Matt said, and hung up.

Tai took a shower shortly after, though no one came to join him this time. He got dressed and tugged a blue pullover down over his hair, brushed his teeth, and exited the bathroom just in time to hear the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it, mom," Tai called to his mother, who was pulling things out of the cabinets to make... something.

Tai opened up the door and Matt was waiting outside. The blonde was wearing a tight black turtle neck, black pants and a belt, and had his hands shoved into the pockets of his long trench coat. Tai couldn't help but notice that he looked quiet handsome, but then again... he always did.

"Ready to go?" he asked, smiling.

"Yep," the little brunette pulled his sneakers and coat on and said goodbye to Kari who was sitting on the sofa reading a book and petting Miko.

"What time will you be home, Tai?" Mrs. Yagami said, coming out of the kitchen for a moment.

"Uhh... I dunno, later?"

"Don't worry, I'll have him home before curfew this time, Mrs. Yagami," Matt said, laying on an extra helping of Ishida charm as he spoke to her.

"Ok then, have fun!" She said as the two boys left the apartment.

She stood between the living room and kitchen table for a few seconds, looking at the door.

"Is Yamato gay?" She said to Kari out of no where.

Kari's eyes popped open and she looked up from her book at her mother.

"Um, what makes you think that?" she asked uneasily.

"Oh I don't know," said Mrs. Yagami, going back into the kitchen and pouring some ingredients into a bowl. "I guess I read too many women's magazines. There was an article last month called 'How Straight Is He?' and..." She glanced back towards the couch and saw Kari was looking at her strangely.

"Oh never mind," she said, and continued making whatever strange concoction she had thought up this time.

Kari sighed and shook her head.

"She can tell that Yamato is gay but she doesn't even know her own son is..." She thought, knowing how ironic this situation was.



After a few hours at the mall, Izzy had dragged them into ANOTHER computer store and was looking at some weird, hi-tech gizmo and getting overly excited about it as usual.

"Ugh... this is so boring," Tai groaned, playing with a display electronic cash register and making the draw pop out, hitting Matt in the back.

Matt pushed the draw back in and took Tai's hand away from the displays before he could break anything.

"How about we ditch Izzy and Sora for now and go see a movie," he suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Tai said. While Izzy was going nuts over whatever he was looking at and Sora was nodding supportively, they snuck out of the computer store and made their way to the movie theater.

As they walked, Tai wished Matt wasn't wearing such a long coat so he could have a better view of his butt, and then bit his lip and turned away.

"I can't go getting turned on in the middle of a shopping mall..." Tai said to himself, trying to push all thoughts of hot blonde bass players out of his mind.

"Which movie do you want to see this time?" Matt said, looking up at the list of pictures playing above the ticket booth when they finally reached the movie theater at the center of the mall.

"Harry Potter!" Tai squeaked, and then cleared his throat, blushing.

"Uhh.... ok then," Matt said, raising a blonde eyebrow and buying two tickets for Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets.

"You don't have to pay for my ticket, I've got money," Tai said as they entered the theater and bought their snacks.

"It's no problem."

They went and found some seats near the front and removed their coats. The previews began to play shortly after, and Tai watched Matt eating his Junior Mints.

"He's awfully sweet to me..." Tai thought. "Maybe I actually have a chance with him...." He sighed and stared at the floor for about the first 20 minutes of the film.

"Psst, Tai," Matt whispered, when he noticed his friend didn't look very cheerful. "What's the matter, you're not even watching the movie."

"Nothing, I'm fine." Tai answered.

Matt placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it gently.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah..." Matt held Tai's hand out and dumped a few candies into it, smiled, and went back to watching the movie.

"I can't keep lying to him," the brown eyed boy thought, continuing to talk to himself inside his head. "He's my best friend, he's going to figure out what's going on eventually..."