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Can I Ask a Question?
There were many other shows of affection between the two digi-destined. It seemed to many that they were trying to outdo each other in shock value and original ideas.
After the event in the hallway, they went to English class, where Taichi and Yamato exchanged notes of detailed affection that, inwardly, had them rolling around on the classroom floor in hysterics, but outwardly added to the competitive nature of the relationship they were showing the others.
With each note, the receiver would send the other a sickly love-struck expression of happiness after reading the contents and then write a lengthy reply to which the original sender would beam at the original receiver with an even more sickly love-struck expression of happiness.
It was just a repetitive cycle of the same sickly sweet sappiness, enhanced with every revolution of the loop.
By the time English class had ended, the other students in the class were so grateful to get out of the stiflingly, cloyingly sweet atmosphere of the room and the newly pronounced couple.
By this time, everyone in the school knew about the relationship. Surprisingly, very few people said anything against it openly. The majority of the opposition against the coupling was from the fan bases for the school band and soccer team. Many girls that day had red eyes and sniffled a lot with miserable expressions on their faces.
There were a few jeering comments from some of the dumbasses of the school who didn't understand the concept of free-thinking, but they had always ignored them any way, so why would now be different?
When Lunch finally rolled around, Taichi and Yamato were old news, everyone knew about them.
"Man, I can't believe how many people are so supportive of this." Yamato looked around at the people who stared at them then smiled. A few people had already come up to them and told them what an inspiration they were for their generation.
"Yeah, who'd have thought we'd end up being role models for social morality." Taichi looked a bit frightened at this thought.
Yamato smiled as he picked up on this. He wrapped an arm around Taichi and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "You know, I don't think I've ever had so many people admire me before. Some of these people hate my band and our music, but now they're coming up to me and asking for an autograph. It's quite flattering really."
Taichi smirked at him and whispered back. "Don't get a big head Yama, or I'll have to find some way to bring you down to earth." To highlight his point, Taichi pinched Yamato's butt.
Yamato yelped and glared at Taichi as a few people snickered. "I'll pay you back for that," he promised.
"I'm looking forward to it." Taichi winked and walked off seductively to where their friends were sitting.
"Damn, now how am I suppose to stay angry when he acts like that?" Yamato shook his head and walked after Taichi, leaving people behind him dumbstruck at the many implications inferred from their conversation.
* * *
The rest of the day passed without much further incident. In the period after lunch, both Taichi and Yamato had maths, but because Taichi was in a different class, they had an opportunity to act out a disappointed farewell in front of a few people in the hallway.
They both inwardly felt like laughing hysterically as their overacting turned even more melodramatic than they intended, but it got the desired affect from their crowd. Yamato saw a few girls from his fan club wiping away tears at the sappy scene, which was rather strange, as they were some of the fans who burst into tears when they found out he was with Taichi.
/I guess they changed their mind about us. We must be better actors than we thought./
Their last period for the day was social studies.
Now, as every single student in the school knew about and were talking of nothing else besides their relationship, it was safe to assume that a fair few of the teachers, if not all, knew about it too.
Ms. B, their social studies teacher was one of the first to find out.
Being a human rights activist among other things, including an environmentalist, a member of various charitable organisations to help third world countries as well as an animal rights activist, Ms. B was bound to say something about the couple.
And she did.
For the whole period, she praised Taichi and Matt for being so forthright with each other and fighting against the social norm to stand up for what they believe in. The class eventually turned into a lecture on how society was trying to stifle humans and turn them into mindless drones unless someone stood up against the oppression and fought for what they believed in.
She never remembered that she had set them a huge essay for homework the previous lesson, much to the delight of most of the class, as they hadn't done it. That was another point for Taichi and Yamato.
After school, the digi-destined were meeting to have coffee or something and to talk about pointless things that no one really cared about. Taichi and Yamato knew that Sora had just planned the outing so that she could tell everyone that they were dating. But they didn't care and went anyway.
Sure enough, by the time they arrived everyone else was there and were giving them knowing looks.
/We aren't that late are we?/ Taichi looked at his watch and realised that in her usual rambling manner, Ms. B had kept them after the bell and since they thought they were early, Taichi and Yamato had taken their time walking to the café.
Shrugging at Taichi, Yamato sat down in the booth they'd chosen and Taichi slid in beside him.
"What?" Everyone's grins and annoying looks were getting on Taichi's nerves. Yamato just called over a waiter and ordered a coffee. Then they waited for everyone else to talk.
And they did, all at once.
Hikari and Miyako were squealing about how cute a couple they made while Iori was asking what the difference between a relationship between a girl and a boy and two boys was. Mimi was smiling at their dazed expressions and chimed in with an "Adorable" every so often. Takeru was grinning at Yamato and saying smugly how he knew all along that they'd get together while sending innocent seeming jibes his brother's way. Innocent seeming, but what he said could be taken in many ways. Taichi was shocked that sweet little Takeru could say such things.
Koushiro already knew about everything so he just smiled at everyone else's reactions to the news and smirked at Takeru's comments. Jyou looked a bit shocked at first but what he said later with a gentle, accepting smile actually made the two feel really warm, but also slightly guilty. Ken was looking at the two of them thoughtfully and said a soft "congratulations" to them before going off into his own world as he thought.
However, it was Daisuke who caught Taichi's eye. He was sitting quietly (which would have made anyone suspicious) and looking over at the two of them wistfully, almost enviously. He gave them both a small smile and, like Ken, congratulated them before being silent once again.
They stayed for a bit, talking and laughing, before a few people realised they had to leave. Hikari left first and Takeru offered to walk her home. Miyako and Koushiro walked off soon after, the former looking a bit serious about something. Mimi and Sora left soon after, glancing at Taichi and Yamato in a way that made them shiver. Ken went to catch his train before it left and soon, only Daisuke, Jyou, Taichi and Yamato were left.
"Well, I should get going," Yamato got up and Taichi got up to left him out of the booth.
Seeing how he was so conveniently close, Yamato leaned in slightly and kissed Taichi's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah." Taichi tried not to think of how the feel of Yamato's lips on his skin lingered and filled his thoughts.
"Hey Matt!" Jyou called out, "wait up, I'll walk home with you."
"Sure." Yamato waited near the door and waved to Daisuke before leaving with Jyou.
"So what's up?"
"What makes you think there's something up?" Jyou had always been a terrible liar. Yamato just looked at him and Jyou sighed. "Fine, it's about Koushiro and Miyako …"
* * *
"Hey Tai."
Taichi turned to the boy walking next to him and smile at Daisuke. "What's up Davis?"
"Oh, uh nothing, I just realised that I never actually said 'hi' to you today." If Jyou was a bad liar, then nothing could be said about Daisuke that could describe his aptitude at deception. Taichi decided to ignore the obvious cover up and play along since he knew that Daisuke would open up easier if he did.
"Right. So, how's things?"
"Things are good." /Man, I really want to ask him, but I'm not sure how he'll take it./ Daisuke was growing increasingly more nervous as they walked and prayed that Taichi didn't notice.
Taichi noticed, but didn't say anything. "That's good. So … how's Ken?"
Daisuke jumped slightly at the mention of Ken's name and he looked at Taichi with a weird expression on his face, a mix of fear and innocence. "Uh, I don't really know, I mean, it's not like I keep tabs on the guy or know every little thing about his life Taichi."
"Chill Davis, I was just wondering how Ken was fitting in at your school. Things must be pretty different since he moved."
"Oh. Yeah I suppose that's true. He's doing well." Daisuke calmed down a bit.
/I wish he would just get to the point and tell me what's bugging him./ Instead of saying this, Taichi smiled and changed the subject again. "So," he smiled knowingly at Daisuke, "are you still trying to get Kari to go to the dance with you?" Taichi gave Daisuke a friendly punch on the arm and grinned, but was rather surprised at Davis' reaction.
He didn't seem to react at all to Taichi's words and looked at Taichi so strangely that he had to take a mental step backwards. /Woah! Something is really wrong with Davis. I hope Kari didn't hurt his feelings or anything … no, it's not that, there's got to be something else bothering him./
Daisuke was studying how Taichi studied him. /Tai's probably thinking Kari shot me down or something. If only he knew …/ Davis looked away from Taichi's scrutinising eyes.
"No Tai, I'm not going after Kari any more. It's obvious even to me that she and TK are meant to be. Besides, Kari's a nice girl, she deserves someone like TK who'll love her for everything she is. I never really loved her like that, it was just a crush."
"Davis?" Taichi knew there was definitely something now. When had he ever heard Daisuke talk like this? "Is there anything wrong?"
Daisuke shook his head. "No, not really, I just realised a while ago that I actually like someone else, but everyone still thinks I like Kari. Not that she's not a nice girls," he added hurriedly, just in case Taichi was insulted by his comments, "it's just I don't like her like that any more."
This was a lot better than some of the scenarios that Taichi had thought up in his mind. He let out a breath and smiled at Daisuke. "That's okay man. Actually, it's great, who is she?"
"Uh, well, actually —"
"Is it Miyako? You do know she and Izzy are together right?'
"Yeah, I do, but it's not —"
"What about Sora? Or Mimi?"
"No it's not —"
"Is it someone I know?"
"Yeah. Look Tai, I really need your —"
"One of Kari's friends?"
"Yeah, he's one of my friends too."
That stopped Taichi's enthusiastic babbling. "He? It's a guy?"
"Yeah, that's why I figured you were the best person to get advice from, seeing as you're going out with Matt."
"Oh." Taichi realised that they'd stopped walking and were now near the park. He walked through the gate and sat down on a nearby bench. Daisuke followed him.
/Gods, he thinks we're serious! How many of the others do too?/ Taichi looked over at Daisuke sitting a bit nervously beside him. He couldn't help but feel empathy for the guy when he stared into those deep brown puppy eyes. /Man, he looks really upset and unsure about this. He needs my help, I can't let him down./
"All right Davis, tell me what's up." Daisuke perked up and smiled at him.
"Well," he started after taking a deep steadying breath, "you see, I kind of realised a while ago that I was thinking about … this guy a bit differently than before. I stopped trying to get Kari to like me and I stopped disliking TK so much for stealing her away. Anyway, last month he was over my house and I started thinking about what it would be like to kiss him."
"What did you do?"
"Well, I didn't kiss him. The thought totally freaked me out and I started avoiding him a little bit. It's not like I hate guys who date other guys, but I just didn't want to lose Ken's friendship over something as stupid as a little crush."
"Ken?"
Daisuke's eyes opened in horror at his slip-up. "Oh, I didn't mean to say that."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Daisuke looked relieved. Taichi contemplated the situation. "If it's just a crush, why are you agonising so much over this?"
"I kept trying to tell myself it was just a little crush, but when I started hanging around him more again. I realised that I couldn't keep deluding myself forever, I'd never felt like this before about anyone." He paused, taking a deep breath and looked directly at his friend. "Taichi, I think I'm in love with Ken."
/Oh shit!! What the hell do I do?!/ Taichi just stared at Daisuke. "Oh," he finally said.
Daisuke looked away quickly, the shimmer of tears in his eyes giving away the hurt he felt inside. "Tai, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bugged you." Daisuke was about to get up, but Taichi grabbed his arm before he could and pulled him back down.
"Davis, wait, I'm sorry. I was just a little surprised, that's all. You're really good at hiding your true feelings."
"I had to be. I wasn't sure how people would react."
"Well, your friends will always be there for you no matter what, so who cares what everyone else thinks."
Daisuke smiled. "You're right. Is that how it was with you and Matt?"
/He's going to keep coming back to that./ "Yeah, I suppose was, and still is." /I guess that is true, neither of us care about what anyone else thinks about what we're doing./
"I wish I could have that with Ken, but I'm afraid I'll lose him totally if I tell him."
Taichi thought for a moment then found the most perfect advice for Daisuke. "Matt and I made a promise to each other that nothing would ever get between our friendship. You and Ken are really close, like us, and a friendship like yours isn't thrown away easily, nor will it be broken because you care even more for Ken. Love helps to strengthen a relationship, not break it. You should know that, you're the Guardian of Friendship."
"Yeah." Daisuke smiled at him. "I also guard Courage. Maybe I should stop being such a coward about this and just do it."
"Thinking things through has never stopped you before. I wonder why you didn't just rush in this time like you usually do?"
Daisuke glared at the grinning Taichi. "Ha, ha. Maybe I should go to Matt for advice next time, at least he won't make fun of me."
"Relax Davis, I'm just trying to lighten things up."
"Yeah." Daisuke smiled wryly. "It worked too. I feel a lot better than I did. Thanks for this Tai, you're a really good friend." He got up.
"I know. Don't be afraid to tell Ken how you feel."
"I won't."
"And I hope everything turns out all right with you."
"Me too. I'll see you tomorrow at practice." Daisuke waved to him and started walking off. "Oh, Tai," he called out behind him. "Matt's really lucky to have you."
Taichi smiled and waved back as the younger boy continued walking home. He sat on the bench for a bit longer and thought over his conversation with Daisuke. He was really glad that Daisuke was feeling better about everything, but he was feeling quite lousy himself.
"I'm a fraud." Taichi put his head in his hands and groaned miserably.
