A/N: First of all, sorry if I kept you waiting too long. Second of all, I shouldn't have drunk all that coke...ugh.
Ikky: O.o' She doesn't own Digimon or any of the characters, thank God.
**Seething glare**
Ikky: Er...yeah. Hope you enjoy.
The party raged on for most of the night. Takeru's mother called once from her hotel to ask if things were going okay. Takeru reassured her and told her everything was going to be just fine.
Matt crept up beside him, smiling down at his little brother. Takeru grinned up at him and waved at him.
"Hey Mom, Matt's right here. You want to talk to him?"
Matt stopped smiling. He hadn't known Takeru had been talking to their mother. He shook his head as Takeru handed him the phone. Reluctantly, he took it. He took a deep breath before lifting it to his ear.
"Mom?"
"Hey, honey. How have you been?"
"Er, okay. Where are you, anyways?"
"I'm at a hotel...you know, a trip for work. How's the party?"
"Um, okay."
There was a brief silence.
"So...how are things with you?" he asked.
"Oh, fine, fine. Say, Matt...how's your father?"
Matt shut his eyes and gripped the phone cord. "Uh, Dad's doing good."
"Is he still a lousy drunk?"
"Don't call him that," Matt said quietly, hanging his head a little.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Can we please not talk about this?"
"Fine, we won't. So...do you have a girlfriend?"
Matt nearly laughed out loud at how absurd that sounded to him. "Hmm, no, I don't have a girlfriend."
He heard Takeru give a snorting laugh. He reached out a hand to smack his brother's arm.
"Why is that so funny? Is that Takeru laughing?"
Matt regained composure. "Yes. And it's funny because...I definitely would not, and never will have a girlfriend."
There was another small silence, probably confusion. "Why?" she asked uncertainly.
"Because I'm gay," Yamato said, grinning.
He heard his mother gasp. "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry, Yamato! I forgot."
"Obviously," he muttered, twisting the phone cord around his finger.
He could still hear Takeru laughing. Yamato rolled his eyes at him. Takeru stuck his tongue out.
"So...do you have a boyfriend?"
"No."
"Do you like anyone?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"None of your business."
"I'm your mother, of course it's my business."
"Oh, please," Matt muttered. "You are hardly my mother anymore."
The second he let that slip out, his eyes went wide and his hand darted up to cover his mouth. There was dead silence over the phone. Takeru had raised his hands to cover his mouth, also, and then they slowly rose to cover his whole face.
"Please put Takeru back on the phone," he heard his mother say in a quiet, deadly voice.
Yamato did exactly that and quickly left the room.
~ ~ ~ ~
Taichi noticed Yamato enter the living room looking slightly upset. He frowned and watched as Yamato sat beside Jyou and quickly started talking with him about something. Taichi smiled a little as he watched as Yamato realized Jyou was still staring at Koushirou and he had to shake his friend's shoulder to get his attention. After Yamato and Jyou had begun talking to each other, Taichi stood and began walking towards the kitchen. Once inside, he saw Takeru hanging the phone up, frowning. He walked over, guessing that it had something to do with Yamato's mood.
"Hey, what's up?" Tai asked gently.
Takeru turned to look at him and bit his lip slightly, hugging himself. "Nothing."
Tai looked him over, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Don't look like nothing."
Takeru sighed and turned to raise himself up onto the counter. Taichi did the same, looking over at the young blonde.
"See, Matt and our mom are sort of unfriendly with each other without meaning to be because Matt is kinda biased towards Dad in this whole divorce thing, and Mom likes bringing up Dad's faults all the time when talking to Matt, like she's trying to get him on her side. He hates it."
Taichi nodded slowly, looking at the floor. "It upset him."
Takeru rubbed his arm, sighing. Taichi reached a hand out to give him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. Takeru glanced at him and smiled gratefully.
"Hey, Tai...do you like my brother?"
Tai's eyes widened slightly and he looked around, as if checking to see if anyone heard them. Takeru grinned widely at the panicked look in his eyes.
"You do, don't you?"
Tai turned to look at him uncertainly. "Actually, I don't know...I'm really confused right now. I mean, I think I like him, and at the same time, I think maybe I don't."
Takeru smiled. "I felt the same way before. Now, I know I'm in love...but before, I was confused as all hell."
Taichi's head snapped up. "You're in love? With who?"
Takeru laughed and looked down, blushing.
"No, now you have to tell me," Tai demanded.
"I'm afraid you might get mad," Takeru said, rubbing his neck.
"No, I won't, just tell me."
Takeru rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, then looked at Tai again. He smirked and sat up straight. "Okay, I'm in love with your sister."
"I KNEW IT!" Tai screamed, poking wildly at Takeru.
Takeru held his hands up. "Hey! Stop it! Argh, Tai!"
"It was so obvious you guys were, like, totally in love with each other," Tai said, actually giggling.
"You aren't going to kill me?" Takeru asked, sounding surprised.
"Not unless you hurt my sister. Then, I'm afraid I will have to kill you."
"If you kill me, Matt will kill you."
"Well then I'll leave a note to Daisuke telling him to kill Matt."
"Er...Jyou will not only kill Daisuke for killing Matt, but he will skin him, burn the flesh, and then pour the melted flesh over Matt's bones."
"Dude, ew. True, though."
"What are you talking about?!" Hikari asked, walking into the kitchen with her hands on her hips, a slight look of disgust on her face. "Pour the what?"
"Nothing," Taichi said, smiling innocently.
Takeru offered Hikari a shy smile, and she smiled back. She moved past Taichi to stand before Takeru.
"Hey, Take-chan...are you going to show me that picture you said you were going to show me?"
Takeru grinned a little goofily. "Oh, right, I had forgotten."
He held his hand out and she took it, lacing their fingers together. Taichi watched as the young couple walked towards Takeru's room.
"And that better be the only thing you show her, Takeru!" Taichi called after them.
They both cried an embarassed "Taichi!" before closing the door, and Taichi smiled gently to himself as he moved into the living room again.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yamato was sitting down on the couch next to Jyou and Koushirou. They were talking in hushed voices and Koushirou and Yamato were both hugging one of Jyou's arms, seeming to be pretend-arguing over the blue-haired boy.
"But Jyou told me I was his knight in shining armor," Yamato was saying, pouting.
"Yeah? Well, Jyou told me I was his sex kitten," Koushirou shot back, smirking.
Yamato grinned and let Jyou's arm go, looking away and laughing to himself. Jyou was blushing wildly and Koushirou was doubled over laughing. Taichi got the feeling that Koushirou was telling the truth.
"So are you two, like, back together?" Taichi asked his friends.
Jyou and Koushirou turned to grin up at him. Koushirou turned Jyou's face towards his and gently planted a kiss on his boyfriend's lips. He then looked at Tai. "That answer your question?"
Taichi laughed and smiled at the two. "I'm happy for you guys, then."
He plopped down on the couch beside Yamato and smiled gently at the blonde.
"Our siblings are in your brother's room, together, alone," Taichi told him.
Yamato gasped and held his hands up to his face. "Oh no, their innocence will be corrupted."
Taichi rolled his eyes and slid an arm around Yamato's shoulders, letting his hand rest over Yamato's left shoulder. Yamato settled back against his arm comfortably and turned to smile at him. Taichi smiled back, lazy and slow. His eyes were half-lidded and something undeterminable was swirling in their depths. Yamato felt his face heating up and quickly turned away, suddenly becoming interested in whatever was going on at the other side of the room.
Ken and Iori seemed to be arguing and playing cards.
"You are cheating," Iori accused Ken.
"No, I'm not," Ken told him flatly, eyes half-lidded and managing to look sarcastic. "You're just a crappy card-player."
Iori promptly threw his cards in Ken's face and Ken continued to sit there, only now he was grinning.
"Shut up," Iori told him before the violet-haired boy could say anything.
"Have I ever told you that you're insane?" Ken asked him, seemingly out of the blue.
"Twenty-three times, but who's counting?"
"KEN! IORI!" An angry-hyper-looking Miyako promptly dragged them to their feet by their ears. The boys winced from just looking at her face. Angry-hyper-Miyako was never a good thing.
"We're going to the store!" she yelled at them, marching to the door.
They looked at each other, the same question flashing in both pairs of eyes. Whaaaat?
"Why us?" Iori asked stubbornly.
She turned in the doorway and fixed them with a death-glare that made both boys take a step back.
"Because," she said, and Ken swore he could feel an icy cold wind blow past them in that moment.
Miyako whipped her head toward the couch. "You four! You're coming, too!"
Taichi, Yamato, Jyou, and Koushirou stood up automatically and began walking toward her, not wanting to argue with her when she was like this.
~ ~ ~ ~
Taichi glared darkly out the window as they drove along. He was getting smushed because he, Yamato, Koushirou, Jyou, and Ken were all stuck in the backseat of Miyako's car, and he knew Miyako didn't even have a license yet and wasn't in the mood to get in trouble with the police.
And to top it all off, Yamato was sitting all the way on the other end of the seat, leaning against the other door. Taichi grumbled again and pressed himself against his door.
"Tai, stop whining and shut up. We're almost there, I'm sure you can stand it," Miyako snapped.
Iori looked at her warily from his place in the passenger seat. He knew something was wrong with the purple-haired girl, but was almost afraid to ask.
Taichi suddenly got struck with an idea and wondered about it. His eyes slightly widened, and talking before he thought about the consequences, as usual, said, "You walked in on Takeru and Hikari kissing on Takeru's bed, didn't you?"
Miyako swerved to the right and they all screamed as she came to an abrupt stop on the right side of the road. Miyako shifted to Park and covered her face with her hands. She began crying. Iori turned in his seat to give Taichi a dirty look. Taichi cringed.
"Oops," he said quietly.
Iori undid his seatbelt and cautiously slid over to put his arms around Miyako. Miyako gratefully wrapped her arms around the younger boy and cried on his shoulder, asking, "Why? Why her? Why not me? Am I really that unattractive?"
Koushirou and Jyou frowned and looked at each other and Yamato pressed the palms of his hands against his forehead, shutting his eyes.
"You aren't unattractive, and if I ever hear you say that again, I'm going to smack you," Iori said calmly, brushing her long, silky hair with his fingers. "I thought you said you were over Takeru."
"You believed me?" Miyako asked incredulously.
Iori thought about that. "Oh. How stupid of me."
She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. She suddenly turned and glared at Taichi. Taichi made a sound like "Meep!" and slid down the seat under her heated gaze.
"You insensitive jerk," she hissed.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Taichi whined.
Yamato eyed him, wondering why this seemed oddly familiar.
"Will all of you please shut up?! Miya-chan, drive! We're almost there, and I don't know what the hell we're going to be doing there, but I want to get it over with already!" Koushirou yelled at the front seat.
Miyako, gritting her teeth because she didn't like being told to shut up, or being bossed around, reluctantly turned and shifted gears from Park to Drive, doing as the frustrated redhead said.
They got there after what seemed like a million years and tumbled out of the car.
The tension seemed to ease away as they separated to wander around the grocery store aisles. Miyako hugged herself as she allowed Iori to slip an arm around her waist, walking with her through the aisles.
"So, why are we here?" he asked gently.
Miyako was suddenly glad that Iori had the power to be totally calm and in-control no matter what situation he was shoved into.
"I needed to get away from that house, and I didn't want to be alone. I don't know why I dragged so many people along, since it was sort of on impulse, but now that I think of it, Hikari had been crying for someone to do a chip run."
"Chip run?"
"Yeah, you know, going out and getting more chips. Hikari is a potato chip fiend."
Iori blinked at her. "I didn't know that."
Miyako smiled tearfully at her friend.
Jyou and Koushirou sauntered around, eyeing things on the shelves, arms around each other's waists. Jyou found that he was having some trouble lowering his arm that much, so he lifted it to circle around his boyfriend's shoulders. Koushirou looked up at him out of the corner of his eyes and smiled affectionately when he saw the glimmer of child-like fascination in his boyfriend's eyes as Jyou closely inspected a can of what claimed to be chili.
Taichi and Yamato walked alongside Ken, tailing the rest of the group, and cracking jokes about the various oddly named foods on the shelves. Ken doubled over and held his stomach, falling behind the others as he cracked up next to a peculiar display of boxes.
Yamato smiled as he watched Taichi laugh mirthfully, hugging his stomach and wiping at the corner of one eye.
"You're beautiful," he whispered, shaking his head slightly in amazement.
Taichi's laughter subsided into a nervous smile as he stared at Yamato.
"Why have you been doing that all night?"
"Doing what?" Yamato asked, sounding distracted.
"Hitting on me."
Yamato stopped smiling and walking and stared at Taichi. Taichi's expression turned even more confused.
"I haven't been hitting on you," Yamato said, trying to sound innocent.
Taichi gave him a dry look. Yamato looked away and rubbed his arm, blushing slightly.
Ken stopped laughing and was about to say something to the pair when he saw the looks they were giving each other. He slowly turned around and tiptoed away to find his other friends.
"Matt, please just tell me the truth. I'm going to go insane if I don't find out right now. Do you like me as more than a friend?" Taichi asked bluntly.
Yamato blushed even darker and lowered his eyes from view. "Maybe," he said softly.
Taichi leant back against the shelf of food, rested his hands on the cool surface behind him. He tried not to knock over any cans.
They stood there in silence for a long time.
Tell him! Tell him you like him back! Taichi's mind screamed at him. He worked his mouth open, but couldn't bring himself to make a sound. His mouth drifted shut again.
Yamato's head was drifting farther and farther down, until his chin could have rested on his chest. He suddenly felt ashamed. He was going to ruin his friendship with Taichi and it was his entire fault. He felt he couldn't take any more of that dreadful silence, turned, and walked out of the aisle.
Taichi continued to stare blankly at the space in front of him. After a few moments passed, he brought his hands up to his face and swore.
I really am an insensitive jerk.
Jyou poked his head around the corner. "Taichi! We're leaving!"
~ ~ ~ ~
A/N: Gah! This chapter...is finally...done! **Eye twitching and whatnot**
Ikky: **Eyes her warily** You shouldn't have drunk so much caffeine.
Shut up, blondie. Well, this chapter is longer than usual. Yay. Hmm, sorry about the cliffhanger. Review and the next chapter may come sooner. **Odd grin**
