Again, I am majorly sorry for the long delay with this chapter. I hope you enjoy i.

The Final Act

"I can't believe it." Takeru stared at the image of his older brother on television in amazement. "He actually told them."

"Why shouldn't he?" Daisuke asked his friend, a bit defensively.

Takeru held a hand to his forehead. "No reason, except, Yamato hates media attention. He's not going to be able to get away from the cameras now. This is just huge."

"I really don't see what the big deal is," Jyou commented. "I'm sure Yamato knew exactly what he was going to have to deal with if he said anything, It's the price of fame I guess."

"He must have had another reason," Iori mused.

"A very good reason," Miyako argued.

Hikari smiled gently. "Oh, I think he had a very good reason." They all looked at her and nodded. For Taichi, they were sure Yamato would do anything, or say anything.

* * *

Mimi halted mid-step as she heard Yamato's admission. Her manager also stopped pacing to stare at the television screen.

"Matt," Mimi's eyes brimmed with tears. "Oh, you shouldn't have ... not because of something like this! Oh, I'm going to hate myself if his career gets ruined because of this stupid thing." She glared suddenly. "Then I'm going to sue every magazine that published those stupid articles!"

"Mimi," her manager gasped in exasperation. "You can't do that."

"Well, maybe not, but Matt still shouldn't have done that." She frowned suddenly, thinking of something. "But Matt could have come up with some other reason why we weren't going out, why did he tell them?" She looked back at the television screen to see Yamato looking slightly relieved and even a bit happy at the revelation. She laughed and her face lit up with a brilliant smile.

"Of course! He and Taichi! I'm sure Matt would hate having people think he would be with anyone but Tai." Stars seemed to appear in Mimi's eyes a the thought of this. "Oh, those two are simply adorable. I hope they'll be all right after this."

* * *

Sora looked around at the stunned soccer team curiously. "Taichi," she asked, "why do most of these guys seem so surprised?"

Taichi shook his head warningly, but Ayoru looked at him curiously.

"You knew about Ishida being gay?" He thought about this for a moment then sighed. "Of course, you're his closest friend."

"Yeah," Taichi agreed, "but I didn't think Yamato's private life should be told to everyone." The team nodded at this, it seemed fairly reasonable.

Sora was still frowning about something and Taichi was feeling a bit nervous. "But still, you didn't tell them about …" she trailed off seeing the look on Taichi's face. She blushed slightly. "Never mind."

"Tell us about what?" Ayoru asked curiously.

Taichi looked around nervously. Sora grinned in apology and shrugged her shoulders. Taichi sighed then glanced lastly as Ryotu who smiled encouragingly. "I guess I should have said something earlier," he muttered before taking a deep breath and looking around. "I'm gay and I'm actually dating Yamato."

The soccer team stared at him before their many reactions kicked in. Some shrugged, not really caring, others looked at him strangely while some looked disappointed. Ayoru grinned.

"All right, pay up." To Taichi's surprise, some of the team grumbled, glaring darkly at Taichi and handed Ayoru money. He counted it up and grinned at Taichi. "Sorry Tai, but we sort of had a bet going about you."

"Oh." Taichi thought this over. "Because f why I wouldn't go out with you guys after training and stuff?"

"Yeah, I won. I had my suspicions since you told us about those guys on the other team, Ken and Daisuke."

"Oh, right." Taichi looked around. "And most of you were in on this." Some of the team looked a bit shamefaced, but Taichi just grinned. "What were some of the others possibilities?"

Ayoru thought for a moment. "You were married, engaged or involved seriously with someone in a long distance relationship. You had a really bad break up and were still recovering. You were an alien." Taichi laughed at this one. "You were castrated at birth." Taichi wasn't the only one who winced at this one. "And the one with the most supporters was that you were a closet case nerd and didn't want anyone to know."

Taichi laughed. "Wow, you guys put a lot of thought into that bet. But Ayoru, I'm sorry, but you'll have to split your winnings, one of the other possibilities was right too."

"The nerd one?"

Taichi shook his head and grimaced. "Definitely not. No, the break up one. It was true for a while."

"You broke up with Yamato?!" Sora yelled at him furiously. Taichi jumped in surprise, he'd forgotten she was there. He glanced over at her with a weak smile then shuddered at the dark look she gave him. "When did this happen?"

"Three years ago."

Sora stared at him in shock. "And you didn't say a word? Either of you? You didn't speak to each other for THREE YEARS??!! You two were supposed to be best friends! What the hell happened?"

Taichi looked away. "That's private and it doesn't matter. We got back together."

"How long ago?"

"Recently."

Sora continued to glare at him. "What are you doing here then? I will not have you both risking something serious happening again, not after all the trouble I went to getting you two together."

"Like you didn't benefit anything from it. As I recall, you began a very serious relationship as a result of everything that happened that month."

Sora blushed. "Don't change the subject Tai. Did you know about that?" she pointed to the screen.

Taichi shook his head. "No, if I did I would have tried to talk him out of it. Do you realise what an admission like this could do to him and his career?" Sora was stunned by Taichi's intensity. Even after being apart for son long, Yamato could still inspire very passionate emotions in Taichi.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "But it's done now and he'll need someone there for him."

Taichi nodded. "You're right and I am his best friend after all." He grinned. "Among other things." Sora laughed at him. He looked around at the team who were staring at the two of them intently. "I'll be back later," he told them, getting up quickly and moving over to the door, leaving his team and Sora behind.

Sora grinned at his departure and looked around. "I suppose you guys want know everything that happened?"

"Keep talking," Ryotu advised, knowing he was not the only one who wanted to know everything about how Taichi and Yamato got together.

Sora grinned. She loved telling this story.

* * *

Taichi was breathless by the time he reached the television station. It was a long run from the hotel. He walked a bit slower over to the reception desk and waited for the receptionist to finish the call before asking her anything. At least that's what he told himself, he was actually getting his breath back, but it wouldn't do for a super sport's star like him to admit something like that.

"Can I help you?" the woman finally asked pleasantly.

"Yeah, is Ishida Yamato still in his interview?"

"He is, but unfortunately you can't go and see him without an appointment made through his manager." Taichi grimaced but nodded.

"Is Mr. Ishida in then? Yamato's father?" Taichi frowned suddenly. "He does still work here right? Last I checked he was one of the managers."

"Mr. Ishida is now assistant vice-director of management, you can't just see him without an appointment."

"Is he seeing anyone right now though?"

"No, but you still have to make an appointment." Taichi could see the receptionist was getting a bit fed up with him.

"Could you just call him up and see if he would like to see me?"

"And your name is …?"

"Yagami Taichi."

The woman dropped the phone she was holding and stared at him in shock. Taichi rolled his eyes at the reaction and the woman blushed slightly at her fumbling. She quickly dialed a number and waited. "Yes, this is main desk, Yagami Taichi is wondering if Mr. Ishida is free to see him." She waited again and nodded. "Of course, he'll be here. Thank you." She hung up and turned back to Taichi. "Mr. Ishida will see you as soon as he arrives downstairs. You're lucky, you caught him just before his lunch break.

"Great." Taichi normally would have grinned, but he was feeling a bit nervous. He hadn't seen Mr. Ishida for a long time. He wondered f Yamato had told him about their breaking up and making up. He didn't have long to wait before he heard a cheerful yelling from the direction of the elevators.

"Taichi!" Taichi looked over and grinned.

"Hey, Mr. I, how are you?" Taichi was grabbed in a huge hug which he returned with a huge smile.

"Great. I saw your win. I always knew you'd make it to the big time Taichi."

"What about you? You've moved up in the world. You're family's a pretty successful one."

Mr. Ishida looked at him slyly. "You came here to see Yamato, didn't you?" Taichi's nervous blush said it all and he laughed. "Come on. He should almost be finished his interview. We can hang out with the band while he wraps things up."

"Sure." Taichi followed the man that had been like a second father to him through the maze of hallways within the television studio. Finally they arrived at the door to a studio. They went through a side door guarded by security who let Yamato's father in without hesitation. In the small side room, Taichi saw the rest of the band gathered nervously around a small screen.

"Hey guys."

The four turned around and grinned seeing Taichi. Kiromi patted him on the back, muttering, "Really glad you're here man." Ji nodded to him then went back to biting his nails in worry. Urinto didn't even move his eyes from the screen and Seiyo grinned at him.

"Good to see you Tai. Guess you came over as soon as you heard 'Mato's big confession."

"Yeah." Taichi looked around. "Did you guys know?" They nodded. "You aren't worried about the repercussions."

"Look, if some fans don't support Yamato, then we don't want those kind of fans," Urinto said simply. "Of course that doesn't mean I'm not worried about the media digging their claws into Yamato and not letting up."

"Do you really think Yama will put up with that for long without getting annoyed and retaliating in some way?" Taichi grinned and the others laughed, relaxing a bit.

Mr. Ishida got their attention suddenly by saying, "It's over, Yamato's coming back here." Taichi and the others waited expectantly before finally the door opened to reveal a very weary Yamato.

Taichi could tell his boyfriend was surprised to se his father and himself there, but his grin of delight soon covered it up and he rushed into Taichi's arms.

"I am so glad you're here," he whispered before he kissed Taichi softly.

"Me too, especially getting a greeting like that." Taichi grinned and Yamato laughed with everyone else. "Come on, you look like you need to get out of here."

"That's certainly true." Yamato disentangled himself from Taichi, but he kept a tight hold on Taichi's hand as he left the side room. Mr. Ishida led them to a back door where no reporters would be waiting for Yamato to appear.

"So why did you do it?" Taichi asked quietly once they were on their way back to the hotel.

"Because I didn't think I should have to hide the fact that I love you."

Taichi beamed. "You did this for me? You would risk your career for me?"

"You thought otherwise?" Yamato looked surprised.

Taichi just shook his head and kissed Yamato deeply, ignoring the catcalls from the band members. "Don't you dare do something like that again," he said, pulling away.

"You're telling me you wouldn't risk your career for me?" Yamato pouted and Taichi struggled to reply.

"Well … I … that's an entirely different … uh …" he hung his head. "Fin, you got me, I would."

"Good, so we'll say nothing more of this?"

"Not if you don't want to."

"Good, because all I want to do is jus enjoy being with you again without having to worry about what anyone else would think." Yamato kissed Taichi again and leaned his head on his shoulder.

"That sounds perfect," Taichi whispered, smiling.