A/N: Yes, finally finished this chapter. Sorry for the wait. Hmm...I seem to always be apologizing. Well, I was stuck halfway through this one, but then I watched a movie, and it all laid itself out for me. You'll find out which movie in the next chapter...anyways, I'd like to give a little thanks to the following people for helping me through this chapter, even if they don't know that they did:

Coco Lee and Yo-Yo Ma, for making such beautiful music and inspiring me.

Reep, for everything, forever.

Neil, just for being there and making me smile again.

nEo-cHaN and FireDemon, for staying with me through my difficulties, continuing to read my stories, and continuing to write theirs. You don't know how much it helped.

Note: This chapter is in Matt's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or the characters.

"It's about time to leave already."

"Okay."

I turned back to the picture on my dresser, gave a small, tight smile, and followed Jyou out of my room. I always felt weird when I turned my back to that picture. It's the only picture I have where my entire family is together and we actually look happy. I don't know why I kept it, but for some reason, I just couldn't let my dad burn that one.

I walked to the door, pulling my hoodie on over my head, and calling to my dad. "Dad, I'm going out. I'll be back before two."

My dad yelled an "Okay" in response. He used to get angry whenever I would just walk out like that, or say I was going to be home any later than midnight, but now he's gotten so used to it that he's become indifferent. Sometimes I think I liked it better when he used to get mad at me. At least then I knew he cared.

On our way to Takeru's house, Jyou stopped at Sora's. She climbed into the car and shut the door, completely silent. I glanced back at her to make sure she was actually alive.

"Hey," I greeted her.

Her shoulders were hunched up and her hands rested palm-up on her lap, crossed at the wrists. Her knees were drawn up close together, and she was pressing herself against the door. I could barely see her light brown eyes through her reddish-brown shoulder-length hair. I could tell right away that she was uncomfortable.

"Hey," she responded quietly after a few seconds.

I hadn't talked to her in a long time. I wondered when she had become so sullen.

"What's up with you?" I asked, raising my eyebrow a bit.

She turned and looked straight past me at Jyou. "Thanks for the ride."

"Yeah."

I glanced at Jyou. He looked tense, too. Soon, I too felt uncomfortable. I hadn't known the breakup had been this bad.

I turned around and stared out the window at the passing lighted buildings. On any other ordinary night-drive, I would have marveled at them. I've always thought the lights of the city were beautiful at night. Now, they seemed out of place somehow, like the atmosphere was too bright all of a sudden.

I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the drive, though my hand itched for the button to turn the radio on. After an eternity and a half, we reached Tai's house, and we got out of the stuffy car and rushed up to the house.

Mimi greeted us at the door and led us into the house. We seemed to have arrived a bit late. Everyone else was already there, and the party seemed to be in full swing.

Takeru was seated on top of the table with the food on it - yes, on top of it - and was talking to Miyako. I walked over to him, said hi, and then decided to look for Taichi. For some reason, I missed him.

I finally found Tai in the kitchen, raiding the refrigerator, which was exactly what I'd expected him to be doing.

"Hey, Tai, you realize there's already food out there in the living room, right?"

"Yeah, but Takeru keeps the good stuff in here, saved for himself."

Tai pulled his head out and smiled at me. I smiled back, giving him my special smile reserved for him. He held a bottle of water out to me.

"I know you don't like to drink coke."

I took the water gratefully and opened it. "Thanks. Who'd you come with?"

"Hikari, Daisuke, and Koushirou. What about you?"

"Jyou and Sora."

"Eek. That must have been traumatizing."

"Somewhat."

"You should have asked me for a ride."

"I promised Jyou I'd be there for moral support after Sora made him give her a ride. He didn't want to be alone with her."

"Is he getting over it?"

I smiled slightly. "I think he's starting to. What about her?"

"She's trying to. Like I said, she's doing stuff with Daisuke."

"What kind of stuff?" I asked warily.

"No, nothing like that...at least I don't think. Just going out for dinner and stuff. I'm pretty sure Dai-baby's still a virgin."

"I don't know, Tai...he does take off after you, you know."

"I know, but...hey, just what is that supposed to mean?!"

I smirked and drank more of my water. He pouted at me for a few seconds before getting over it and sipping his coke. I stared at it. I just knew then that he would be getting caffeine-happy later on.

"Sorry for that comment. I know you're still a virgin."

Tai looked down at the floor and sipped his coke again. I stared at him intently, watching his reaction. When he glanced up, then looked away quickly, I became suspicious.

"You are...aren't you?"

Tai rolled his eyes and grinned at me. "What does that matter? Yes, I am, okay? I am a-hey, Koushirou!"

I turned and looked at Koushirou, eyes slightly wide.

"You are a what?" the redhead asked, pulling himself up onto the counter next to me. He crossed his legs the way he always did, Indian-style, and looked at Tai intently.

"I am a...pig. Matt caught me raiding Takeru's fridge."

Koushirou grinned, and his hollow black eyes flickered with some unidentified emotion.

"We all know that, Tai."

Tai stuck his tongue out at him and Koushirou snapped at the air with his teeth. I laughed at them.

"Are you sleeping over?"

"It's a sleep-over?"

"Yeah. Takeru barely told me a minute ago. Apparently, I was supposed to have guessed it before." Koushirou rolled his eyes. "You know Takeru."

"Yeah," Tai and I said simultaneously, and we both rolled our eyes.

"He thinks just because he's psychic, that means we all have to be."

I figured I could call home later and ask Dad to bring me my clothes. I wondered about the sleep-over and who would be staying, and what would happen, for surely something would. Something always happened when we got together.

Jyou walked into the room, smiling at us and walking to lean against the counter next to me. I reached forward and affectionately ran a hand through his hair. I'd gotten him to wear it loose for tonight, so it flowed freely down over his shoulders, a shimmering blue ocean. I'd always thought Jyou was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the one I was in love with. I looked forward at him, and he stared at the hand running through Jyou's hair, and I thought his eyes looked almost jealous.

"Jealous, Tai?" I teased.

He looked straight at me and grinned sideways. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Tai was a different type of beautiful. Tai had the courage of a lion and twice as much heart. He always appeared to be optimistic and caring, even though I knew he harbored a darkness that we all carried. I had seen it before, but only once or twice. He never let a frown touch his face, in case anyone ever needed to see his smile. I think he could be crying and dying on the inside, but if I was in a bad mood, he'd be smiling as brilliantly as ever and doing anything he could to make me feel better. That was Tai, thinking of everyone before himself.

He had begun giving me a strange look, and I realized I'd been staring at his face the entire time I was musing. I blushed slightly and covered it by looking over at Jyou to grin.

"Having fun?"

He gave me a dry look. I knew he wasn't. Jyou and I had become so close that we'd gotten to the point where we could read each other's emotions if we only looked into each other's eyes. I enjoy teasing him about things and flirting with him just to see him blush prettily, and it's okay because he knows I don't mean anything by it, and I know he doesn't, either. He's in love with someone, too, and pretty much in the same situation as I am. That's a little part of why we're so close: we can understand each other perfectly.

The reason we're so close, Jyou and I, is because one night when he was at an all-time low and in desperate need of some sort of attention, he dug out his list of phone numbers (he doesn't like talking on the phone, but he always makes sure he gets everyone's phone numbers down, just in case of an emergency). He just so happened to find mine first and called me immediately, and we ended up talking for twelve straight hours about nearly every topic there is in the world to talk about. I'm not exaggerating, either. The phone has a sort of mechanism that records how long a conversation lasts, and once we'd hung up (because we realized the light outside was the sun rising and we were nodding off too much), the time said 12:34:57. After a conversation like that, it was hard not to become close. We'd bared our souls to each other, without even knowing if we could trust each other that much.

"Matt."

I glanced up at Jyou, blinking slowly. I began to wonder if thinking as much as I did was even healthy.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts."

He gave me a sort of knowing smile. Koushirou was raising an eyebrow at me. Tai looked sort of worried about something.

"I'd love to analyze you," Koushirou stated, and sipped at his soda, staring at me. I looked at him and grinned.

"Yes, and letting you examine my mind is on the top of my list of things to do."

"Good, because it's going to happen soon."

Something about the way he said it seemed ominous. I gave him an odd look and he merely smiled at me.

This conversation was getting a little too weird for me. I smiled at them all and politely excused myself, then walked out of the room and down the hall. I remembered I was supposed to call home and tell Dad I was sleeping over, so I walked to the living room.

Takeru was still sitting on top of the table, this time with Daisuke and Sora sitting next to him. He was talking to them about something in a low voice, and when I approached, they all quieted quickly and smiled at me.

"Need something, bro?"

"Can I use your phone?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

I thanked him and walked to the phone. As I walked away, I glanced back at them over my shoulder, and they had huddled together and continued their discussion, sometimes glancing over at me.

I chose to ignore their behavior and dialed home. I asked my dad if he could bring a change of clothes over for me, because I was going to sleep over there, and he said he would and hung up. I set the phone down and stared at it, eyes half-closed. Suddenly, I heard the TV being turned on, and saw that Daisuke, Takeru, and Sora had gotten tired of plotting, or whatever they had been doing, and were trying to decide on a movie to watch.

"I'm telling you, Unbreakable is awesome."

"Yes, it is, but I've seen it already. I haven't seen this one."

"I haven't seen this one, either!"

"Shut up, both of you! We're watching this one!"

They quarreled for awhile as I watched Koushirou walk into the room and go over to pick out a movie from the shelf. He grabbed a DVD, took it out of its package, slipped it into the DVD player, and turn it on. Takeru, Daisuke, and Sora quieted down when they saw a movie was already playing, and the three hopped onto the couch and began watching quietly.

I stared at Koushirou in wonder and he grinned at me and shrugged. I shook my head and walked towards him. I glanced at the three on the couch and then turned to talk to him.

"When did you figure out how to do that?"

He looked at me. "Really, Matt, how stupid do you think I am?"

I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to see which movie he'd put on. As the music began, I automatically recognized it, and my eyes went a little wide. I stared at the screen as the title came on, and then slowly turned to stare at Koushirou.

He gave me a sad smile, and his eyes shimmered for a second or two. He turned away and began to walk out of the room, bumping into Jyou in the process. Jyou stood in the doorway, staring at the TV screen, his mouth open. He slowly looked down at Koushirou, who backed away a few steps, staring at the ground. He slowly looked up into Jyou's eyes, and Jyou stared down into his, and then I looked away because I felt like I shouldn't watch something like that.

I turned and walked to the couch, sat down next to Takeru, scooted close to him, and watched the movie intently, knowing most of it by heart, and listening to the sad-yet-beautiful music playing in the background.

I knew it all by heart because of how many times I'd listened to it; it was the soundtrack to Jyou's soul.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: And I promise that the ending of this chapter will be explained in the next chapter. Yay, my story is taking on some sort of direction! (Unless I change my mind AGAIN and decide to do something completely different.) Thanks all of you who have stayed with me throughout the story, and I'd love it if you reviewed. You don't have to make it long or anything; you can even review just to say hi. I don't mind. Anyways, I'll try to hurry with the next chapter. By the way, it's going to be in Jyou's POV.