Series: World of Wings||Title: Spilling Words
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 2,203
Ship: Taichi x Yamato
Genre: Friendship, Romance||Rated: G
Prompt: Taichi x Yamato Week 2022, day #3, AUs
Notes: World of Wings AU, season one, post Devimon, vaguely during Etemon
Summary: Taichi likes Yamato's golden wings. He'd like to see what they feel like, but that would be rude. So he keeps it to himself - for as long as he can.


His wings are gorgeous. Taichi wanted to keep his eyes off of them, but it wasn't easy. Bright gold feathers shone in the sun every bit as much as Yamato's hair did. The feathers were edged faintly in blue as well, matching his eyes. That sort of coloring wasn't unusual. But he was pretty convinced that Yamato's wings would be magnificent no matter what.

He couldn't decide if he wanted to touch those golden wings or the golden hair more. He'd so seldom seen either of those. It wouldn't be possible to touch both at the same time. Yamato was just a bit taller than he was, which made it a lot more difficult.

And he'd probably punch me in the face if I tried. Taichi held himself back no matter how much he wanted to do otherwise. Just because his trait was Courage didn't mean he should be stupid about it - he'd learned that the hard way. He refused to hurt Agumon like that just to get a feel of feathers.

"What are you doing?" Yamato glanced at him and Taichi jerked. Had he stared a little too long? He thought he'd kept himself under control. But now Yamato stared at him and he could feel himself blushing.

"Uh, looking for firewood?" Taichi wasn't often one to come close to lying, mostly because it was too annoying to keep track of, but all the rules seemed to go out the window when it concerned Yamato. He bent down and picked up a piece of wood, waving it in self-defense. "We need some, right?"

Yamato snorted briefly before spreading his wings and leaping up above the trees. Taichi followed him with his eyes, gripping the stick he'd picked up until he could feel it cracking.

I am an idiot. An absolute idiot. Other people had mentioned that to him before - Yamato among them, and probably more than almost anyone else - but it had never felt so true as it did now. Yamato probably wouldn't just consider him an idiot but wouldn't want to talk to him if he could get out of it.

He sighed to himself and started walking, roughly in the same direction that Yamato flew in. He could still see the blond, who hadn't vanished out of sight but remained just above the trees. Taichi peered a bit more closely and saw him pointing somewhere ahead. He hurried along and found a small clearing with a fallen tree in the center of it.

"There's dry firewood under there," Yamato told him, dropping down a little, a few stray leaves and tiny branches spinning by in the wind stirred up by his wings. Taichi admired his control. Most people couldn't fly that well at the age of eleven. But there he was, doing it. Mostly because he and Sora and Jou - those who had wings - had to make sure their wings didn't hold them back when they had to flee from rampaging Digimon.

Yamato had learned those lessons quickly, thoroughly, and well. None of them had forgotten the experience with Devimon - he'd not quite broken Yamato's wings but they'd been wrenched for days, and that was when Yamato really started to properly learn how to fly. Back home Flyers weren't allowed to do more than take lessons under strictly controlled circumstances at this age.

I bet he could ace all of those classes right now. Taichi let out a deep mental sigh and started to gather up what would be their firewood for the night and morning.

Yamato dropped down next to him and started to pick up wood as well. Taichi's heart beat a little faster and he hurried to get it all gathered. "So, what are we having for dinner tonight?" At least that was probably a question that wouldn't get him into trouble. He hoped.

"Fish, if we can get enough," Yamato said with a wrinkle of his nose. "Fried fish."

Of course. They ate more fish than just about anything else. Why normal fish existed in this world when almost no other animals they knew of did, he had no idea. But at least it was something they could eat.

The Digital World provided food of some kind just about anywhere they went. If it wasn't fish, then something grew from the trees or could be found hanging from vines on the ground, and none of them would forget the refrigerator full of eggs. Taichi kind of missed those. Especially if a few days passed and all they had to eat were the leftovers from the last time they stopped somewhere. That didn't happen too often, but often enough to make it a real pain.

"I think I saw some fruit over there," Yamato said, nodding towards the trees he'd flown over and Taichi walked through. "They were kind of yellow, but they weren't bananas."

Taichi glanced that way and thought he spied something in the trees as well. Bright yellow, that was all he could be sure of, so he headed over there, Yamato following, but higher up in the air. He only came back down when Taichi arrived at the tree that he'd missed on the way in.

The yellow fruit looked a lot like a bunch of grapes, but it didn't give off a smell of being unripe. After these last few months, it was a lot easier to tell what could and couldn't be eaten. Agumon and the others had assured them that there wasn't anything in the area that would poison them - though he hoped that the Digimon knew what being poisoned was. Sometimes you just didn't know with them.

While the two of them gathered firewood, Gabumon and AGumon were busy scouting the area to make sure there wasn't anyone around to cause trouble. If they'd found anything, they would have come running at once, and Taichi made a point to gather some of these yellow grapes to share with his partner. Truthfully being without Agumon made him a lot more nervous than just staring at Yamato's wings. The Digital World was more than a little dangerous on one's own, and he was pretty sure that regardless of how fast Yamato could fly, the blond couldn't carry Taichi out of there if there were troubles.

He plucked a few of the grapes and popped them into his mouth, before he tossed some towards Yamato. He winced a second later as all of the wood Yamato carried hit the ground and ferocious blue eyes glared at him.

"Sorry? I thought you'd want some?" He really had. He just hadn't thought it all the way through to the part about Yamato having his arms full.

"It's fine," Yamato grumbled, getting the grapes from where they'd fallen and blowing off the dust before eating them himself. "These are good, though." He started to gather up the wood and Taichi helped, getting a bit more of the wood in an attempt to make up for what he'd done. "You know, you have nice eyes, Taichi."

Taichi froze the second those words sounded. He turned to look at Yamato, who stood there staring back, as if he'd just heard his own words.

"What?" That was what he wanted to say. What came out was something else entirely. What came out was, "Your wings are really pretty. I keep wanting to pet them but I know you wouldn't like that."

Yamato flushed a deep red, and started to open his mouth again before he slammed his lips together as hard as he could, wings spreading wide. "If it was you - I mean, I'm going back to camp. We should probably talk to the others before we eat any more of these."

Taichi nodded quickly and hurried his way through the woods. Part way back they crossed paths with Gabumon and Agumon. Agumon sniffed some at the yellow grapes.

"Those smell good!" He started to reach for them, but Taichi kept them out of his reach. The look on his face almost made Taichi regret doing so, but once again words spilled out.

"These do something strange to you when you eat them. We're going to see if Koushiro can figure it out before anyone else eats some."

Agumon blinked briefly before he lowered his claws. "What do you mean strange?"

Taichi tried to think of how to answer it. The best he could manage was, "I just keep talking. Whatever's on my mind - like about how nice Yamato's wings are and how I'd like to touch them. He said that he liked my eyes."

"That's enough, Taichi." Yamato declared, having landed on a tree branch above. "You guys don't know anything about this, do you?"

Gabumon peered at the fruit but shook his head. "They're not like anything I've seen before. What did they taste like?"

"A little citrus-y," Yamato reported, and Taichi agreed. "But with a bit of a sweet aftertaste." He wrinkled his nose. "I'd eat more if they didn't do whatever this is to us."

They kept on heading back to where the others remained. Takeru and Jou had managed to pull in a very good haul of fish, which Sora had made significant inroads on cleaning them. Taichi and Yamato set the firewood down before taking the grapes over to Koushiro, who had his laptop out as usual.

"We ate some of these, and now we don't seem to be able to hold anything back," Taichi reported. "I told Yamato how I want to pet his wings, and he said -"

"Something I'd rather I hadn't," Yamato interrupted. "Can you figure out what these are and what they're doing to us?"

"And how long they're going to last," Taichi added. "I'd rather not keep saying what's on my mind."

"It surprises me that you've got things on your mind," Yamato retorted. "And keep your hands off of my wings."

Taichi glowered at him with as much annoyance as he could muster. "I told you. I know you wouldn't like it so I'm not going to."

Yamato just turned away and Taichi wasn't surprised any more to find more words spilling out. "What is your problem? What makes you think I'm going to do something you don't want me to? If you tell me not to, I'm going to listen to you! I have some manners!"

"But what if I want you to?" Yamato snapped, whirling back around. "No one's ever touched them before! No one who wasn't my mom or dad or Takeru anyway. I don't know what it would feel like and it's weird and I shouldn't want it, and I do!"

Taichi blinked several times. That wasn't at all what he'd expected to hear. It took him a few moments to work out an answer. Whatever that weird fruit did, it didn't seem to make him say anything. But when he spoke, he said exactly what was on his mind.

"I'd still wait until you said I could. They're your wings. Why would I do that without you saying it was okay?"

Yamato's cheeks flared as red as Koushiro's hair. The younger Chosen had spent all of this time examining the fruit, scanning it with his laptop, and checking with the other Digimon. Only when he checked into a specific file that had been a gift from Gennai did he have an answer.

"They don't specifically have a name. They're harmless for Digimon to eat, but for humans it seems they have a secondary effect - I think you've noticed it."

A quick look flickered between brown and blue eyes. Taichi pressed his lips together before he asked, "How long will it last?"

"It depends on how many you ate. The more you ate, the longer it will last. If you'd rather have secrets, my advice is to not talk to anyone until morning. It should have passed by then." Koushiro suggested. He eyed the fruit a bit curiously but shook his head.

Yamato nodded, picked up Gabumon, and leaepd into the skies, soaring away until he reached the top of the hill they'd camped underneath. He clearly had no intentions of spilling any more secrets, at least not to anyone who wasn't Gabumon.

Taichi considered doing something like that, but shrugged to himself and settled next to the fire. Whatever happened was going to happen and he couldn't think of anything that would be too ridiculous to talk about to anyone who wasn't Yamato.

At least Hikari wasn't here. She wouldn't hesitate to ask him the nosiest questions that she could think of. But that was the right of little sisters, and he really didn't want her in the Digital World at all.

He saw Yamato sitting up there, Gabumon next to him, and it looked as if they were talking about something. "Wonder what it is," he muttered to himself, and winced when he realized what he'd said. At least he hadn't eaten that many - but he knew he'd still have to deal with what he'd said already, once morning came.

Maybe, he hoped just the tiniest bit, he and Yamato would be able to work this out. Maybe.


The End

Notes: One day Yamato will allow it. Just not today.