Bowling
Part 1: Foreplay
By AngelVampyr
Disclaimer – Digimon is not mine.
Rating – PG13
Pairing(s) – Yamachi (Yamato + Taichi).
Warnings – Yaoi/Slash, minor het.
Summary – Yaoi. Yamachi. Mishaps during the digidestines' bowling trip lead to some awkward situations and unexpected revelations for Yamato and Taichi. Revised.
Authors Note – This is a revision of my first ever fanfic, and hopefully the improvement is apparent ^_~. I originally wrote this story 1½ years ago, and looking back at it persuaded me that it was in serious need of revision and completion; having unearthed my ancient story outline, I'm now getting to work on it.
Feedback – Feedback, comments and constructive criticism all appreciated. Pointless flames or complaints due to failure to read the warnings will only show you up.
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Yet again, Ishida Yamato shifted in discomfort on the hard plastic of the booth's seat, its cheerful yellow colour only serving to increase his irritation. Music, that was certainly not of his taste, blared from the overhead speakers, and he was sure it was a direct attempt to inflict permanent damage on his hearing. Or, more likely, an unsuccessful effort to down out the equally loud banging and clattering making him wince every other second. The rowdy teens that milled about the building, hollering, screeching and laughing in their excitement were, Yamato thought, obviously having a much better time than he was.
Sparing his limp chip a final look of disgust he chucked it back into the polystyrene tray, reaching instead for his coke. It was probably safe if it wasn't prepared on the premises, right? For gods sake! The food wasn't even good. And people really brought their dates here? He couldn't help but feel a little incredulous at the very idea. With a sigh and a disgruntled glance around the too cool, brightly lit space he resigned himself to his fate.
They were bowling.
Despite the many trials faced together in the digital world, it was inevitable that the digidestines' lives wouldn't mesh in the real world – with the age range, their attendance at different schools and varied interests it was to be expected. But none were willing to abandon the bonds of friendship that had been formed, hence, the gathering that occurred every weekend. It was unspoken agreement that every effort would be made to attend these meetings. And that, was why Yamato now found himself in this loud, over populated building with really terrible food.
He hated bowling.
But even the prospect of bowling seemed a little less daunting as distraction arrived in the form of his best friend, Yagami Taichi. The shorter boy slid fluidly into the seat opposite Yamato, leaving the blonde to wonder exactly how it was possible to look even remotely comfortable on these seats. He concluded that it probably had to do with Tai's laidback attitude, determination to have fun or idiocy. He also concluded that analysing Tai raised questions he didn't want to answer.
"You okay Yamato? You haven't stopped scowling since we got here."
"I hate bowling." He said simply.
Tai snorted. "Well, I still don't see the problem then, considering you've managed to get out of both your turns so far." Brown eyes turned to him, more amused than accusatory. "You should have used the bursting-for-the-toilet excuse after the dying-of-dehydration one."
Yamato glared at him but said nothing. At least he wasn't the only one paying attention to his best friend's actions … paying more attention than he probably should be. He sighed. No matter how much he tried to ignore them, the arising questions were still there.
His friendship with Tai had grown immeasurably since their time in the digital world, and he could now say, without a doubt, that Tai was the closest friend he'd ever had … but that was where his conviction ended. At what point did the lines between friendship and love blur? Or shatter?
He turned to watch the lanes, two of which had been booked by the digidestines, his eyes catching on a pretty red-headed girl. Sora. It was during his brief period dating her that his doubts had begun; she was an attractive young woman, he enjoyed her company and greatly valued her friendship. And yet his feelings for her didn't progress in the way he expected. After several weeks of dating, he was aware of their closer friendship but was surprised to find that that was all. He'd considered continuing the relationship, expecting romantic feelings to develop with more time, but Sora was way ahead of him. Though a little hurt that he'd been unable to feel more than friendship for her, Sora had ended their relationship on good terms, and there were no hard feelings to speak of.
For once, everything in Yamato's life had been fine. Until he'd experienced that damned dream.
It was a one off, but it was enough to spark a barrage of questions and doubts that he now struggled to be rid of. Erotic dreams about your best friend tended to do that, he supposed.
Mostly, he just hated feeling so confused. A thousand different contradictory thoughts swirled in his head, and trying to rationalise only ended with him thinking in circles. It'd been so simple before – the sky was blue, the grass was green and Tai was his best friend. Ah, memories.
The problem was, that he didn't know whether his feelings for Tai did go beyond friendship. He honestly couldn't say. Yamato knew he felt more strongly for Tai than he had ever felt for anyone outside of his family, but Tai was the only person he'd been this close to before. Just because his friendship with the brunette was strongest he'd experienced, didn't automatically mean it was more than friendship. But it could mean it was more than friendship. And this was why rationalising got him nowhere, he thought, resisting the urge to bash his head on the solid seat back.
In the end, he'd boiled it down to one question that would probably answer them all: If Tai had romantic feelings for him, would he take their relationship to the next level?
That he would never find out the answer was both a blessing and torture.
It seemed that Yamato had been deep in thought for longer than he realised, as a glance at the computer score board revealed that it was nearly his turn to bowl again. Deciding a hasty retreat was in order, he slid off the unbearable plastic seat and headed for the dimly lit snack bar.
He barely made it two steps. "I'm just going to get some food." He explained, turning to face the owner of the warm hand on his wrist.
"You already have food." Tai pointed out, nodding in the direction of the tray of limp chips.
Yamato bit back the urge to dispute it's worth as food and shrugged. "It's cold." He looked desperately back to the lane where Miyako was throwing her last ball, and he decided that distraction was worth a try. "You want me to get you something, too?"
"No –"
"C'mon, Tai. It's not like you to refuse food…" And the knowing smirk on Taichi's face was enough to let him know that his bowling-avoidance-tactics had completely failed.
"Yamato, I know damn well it's your turn to bowl, so stop with the pathetic excuses and go get a goddamn ball."
Yamato eyes closed, pained at the horrific visions of the near future. Sure enough, Miyako finished her rather unsuccessful turn and headed back toward the booth, sheepish smile firmly in place.
"You're turn, Yamato." She said, then, perhaps seeing his expression, added, "Don't worry, you can't possibly do worse than me" Her wave at the score board indicated that he would, indeed, have to make a diabolical attempt to drop below her score … but he didn't doubt that he could manage even that feat.
The problem being, that he had never actually bowled before.
Dread building in the pit of his stomach he trudged over to the ball rack, picking out the most harmless looking one he could find.
"Oh come on, Yamato! That's a girl's ball. Try one of the heavier ones."
Skewering his best friend with a murderous glare, he slammed the ball back onto the rack, with such force it shook, but complied, picking the heaviest ball he could find. Despite his disinterest in sports, Yamato's time spent hefting around equipment for gigs had left him quite strong, and he was able to carry the ball without too much difficulty. Before moving toward the lane, he strolled over to Tai, pointedly thrusting the heavy ball in his face in acceptance of the unspoken challenge – hey, they may be best friends, but that wasn't to say all the past rivalry had dissipated. Tai nodded, acknowledging this, and, Yamato noted with some satisfaction, his best friend even seemed mildly impressed that he'd been able to lift the ball. Tai hadn't been using one this heavy, had he?
But heading toward the lane, with a sense of impending doom, Yamato reminded himself that he wasn't likely to impress anyone any further. He'd never bowled before, he had no idea how to bowl and he was never going to live this down. He briefly entertained the thought of turning back and refusing to do it … but he couldn't let Tai win that easily.
...
Now, he just had to work out how to bowl.
He really hated bowling.
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Coming in part two - Yamato has his first ever attempt at bowling. Will he succeed, or will it all go disastrously wrong?