~~~~
As it was, Yamachi ended up having to spend three days without recess, while Hiroshi, the bully who had pushed Tuesday to the ground, received no punishment. Though a child's playtime privileges may seem meaningless to most people, the injustice surrounding the incident was very vexing for the Ishida and Takaishi families. A child injures a little girl, simply because his parents have been spreading homophobic lies, and it is tolerated. Matt, Tai, TK and Kari made an agreement, that if these problems continued, they would organize a group to appear at the next school board meeting and bring the situation into the light.
For the time being though, they tried to put it behind them. Kari's position did not seem to be in jeopardy, and Matt and Tai hoped that Tuesday's teasing would quickly end. They were putting their faith in people to do the right thing, although most rarely do.
"Matt, I'm going running," Tai said, heading to the door one Friday afternoon.
"Kay," Matt said from the couch, not even looking up from his book. Tai stepped to the front door and pulled his sneakers on, and just as he was about to step out of the apartment, he felt a small tug on the back of his pants.
"Daddy, can I come too?" Tuesday asked, looking up at him with her sneakers in her hand.
"I run a long way, sweety, I don't think you could keep up the whole time," he said, causing her to pout.
"I can!" She said loudly.
"Tai, why don't you just take a quick jog through the park today, she'll be ok," Matt suggested, looking up and adjusting his reading glasses.
"I guess so," Tai said. He smiled down at Tuesday, who was pouting up at him. "Go put on your exercise clothes, hurry up!" he said, giving her a quick pat on the bottom. Tuesday nodded and ran as fast as she could into her room. She came back just moments later in a pair of blue gym pants and a T-shirt.
"Ready daddy!" Tai helped her tie the laces on her sneakers and they departed.
"Have fun you two," Matt called after them as they closed the door behind them.
Tai jogged very slowly that day, Tuesday nearly having to sprint to keep up with him. She ran alongside her father quite well though, considering, her endless childhood energy powering her.
"Did you have fun at school today?" He asked.
"Yeah," she said, panting slightly as they made their way down the sidewalk towards the park.
"Daddy, what does gay mean? People at school keep saying you are that." She said.
"That's when a boy loves other boys instead of girls," he said. Tuesday blinked, thinking for a moment. She looked up at him as then ran.
"Is that bad?"
"No, of course not," he said, laughing slightly. "Daddy Matt and I love each other, right?"
"If it's not bad, how come they say it mean to me...?" She said, looking down at her own feet hitting the sidewalk.
Tai sighed and stared ahead, furrowing his eyebrows. They had reached the park by now, and he halted suddenly in a small field of grass with a bench sitting in the middle of it.
"Are we done?" She said, confused as to why they had stopped their journey already.
Tai bent down and picked her up, sitting on the bench and pulling the little girl into his lap.
"Tuesday, sometimes people say bad things about other people, and the kids at school are trying to make fun of you when they say things about Daddy Matt and I."
She fiddled with Tai's headband and quietly thought things over. She breathed deeply, her four year old mind trying hard to figure out how to say what she was feeling. Tai watched her blue eyes focusing on something in the distance, and wondered what was going on underneath those blonde pigtails.
"Why do they make fun of me 'cause of that...?" She asked.
"Some people think it's bad for kids to have two dads instead of a mom and dad," he explained sadly.
"But I like you," she said.
"I know, but there are people that don't care about that. They just think it's wrong."
"Daddy, does that mean they hate you?" She asked, leaning against his chest.
"Yeah, something like that," he said, hugging her tightly.
"I thought you and Daddy Matt said you shouldn't hate people."
"You shouldn't, but some people do anyway."
"Even grown ups?"
"Especially grown ups," he sighed. Tai felt upset that he had to explain a thing like prejudice to his daughter at such a young age. When she was born, many friends and relatives warned Matt and himself how hard it would be for two men to raise a child, but he never thought that hatred would really reach him. Things like that happened on television, or on the news, not to his own family. But now it was here, and little Tuesday simply could not understand how someone could disagree with a lifestyle that to her was completely normal. She had always assumed that parents were just two people that took care of you and loved you, and never considered that the idea of parenthood meant a both mother and father to most people.
"I don't want to go to school anymore..." She whispered.
"But you love school!" Tai said, startled. She leaned back and looked into his chocolate eyes, and began sobbing.
"I don't want people to hate you so I won't go to school anymore!" She cried. Tai wrapped his arms tightly around her and let her teardrops fall onto his shirt.
"It's all right, sweety, you can still go to school. If people say bad things to you, just ignore them, and if they won't stop, let Aunt Kari know so she can help you out." He rocked her gently and kissed the top of her head.
"But I don't want them to hate you..." She said again from deep within his embrace.
"Tuesday, do you love Daddy Matt and I?" He asked, tipping her head up to see her face.
"Yeah, I love you, daddy," she said, sniffling.
"As long as we all love each other, you don't have anything to worry about. Those kids at school can't hurt you as long as you remember to love your family no matter what they're like."
He flashed his famous Tai grin at her, making her smile again and throw her arms around his neck.
"Can we run some more now?" She asked, wiping the last remaining tears from her eyes.
"Sure, we can get some ice cream on the way, ok?" He said, getting up from the park bench.
"Daddy Matt says no ice cream before supper!" She squeaked.
"Shhh, Daddy Matt doesn't have to know," Tai said, leaning down and winking at her. She covered her mouth and giggled, and they started off on their afternoon run once again.
~~~~
Children at school soon grew tired of teasing Tuesday and things slowly turned back to normal, at least on the classroom level. During breaks in the teacher's lounge and weekly meetings of the PTA, Kari could hear hushed whispers, fragments of conversations, and noticed glances in her direction that told her the problem was not entirely over.
Matt sat with Sora in the living room of the Ishida family's apartment one Friday morning. Shinji sat playing on the floor, Tai was at practice, and Tuesday was, of course, at school. Matt and Sora sipped coffee and talked while the baby entertained himself. Lifelong friends, the couple had been relying on Sora for advice since they were young. She visited often, and was like a mother to the children, taking care of them whenever a baby-sitter was needed.
"I'm praying this Toshi woman is done harassing us. It's been almost two months and Kari is still hearing shit about it at school."
"Matt..." She gave him a disapproving look.
"Oh, sorry," he said, glancing down at his son. "I've been a father for five years and I still forget not to swear in front of them."
She laughed slightly and finished up her coffee, setting the empty cup on the table.
"A little slip is nothing," she said. "Actually, I really hope I can be as good a parent as you and Tai are."
"Are you pregnant?" He asked bluntly.
"No!" She exclaimed, nearly choking on the bite of cracker she had just taken into her mouth. "I'm just thinking about the future," she explained quickly. Though her wedding to Izzy was drawing nearer, thoughts of a family were still a long way off.
"I'll settle for practicing on Tuesday, Shinji and Yamachi for now," she said, smiling.
"Auntie Sowa," Shinji said, toddling up to the two adults with a sheet of paper in his hand. "I dwoo dis," he announced, shoving it into her face and climbing onto the sofa.
"Shinji, it's... beautiful," she said, examining the mass of green scribbles on the page. She turned the paper over several times and Matt grinned on the arm chair, wondering how Sora could work her way out of the situation.
"Why don't you tell me about it?" She asked, instead of risking hurting Shinji's feelings by inquiring what it was.
"Um... well," he started, smiling cutely and shifting around in her lap.
The phone rang then, and Matt rose to answer it while Shinji explained his latest piece of artwork to Sora.
"Moshi moshi," he said, picking up the cordless phone from its base.
"Ishida, is that you?"
"Coach...?" The person on the other end of the phone was Tai's soccer coach, and a voice that could be recognized immediately by anyone who had ever heard it before. Coach was a tiny, dainty looking woman with dark, narrow eyes and long, jet black hair. Seeing her on the street, one would take her for a meek, quiet lady, but she was anything but. She was tough as nails, took no lip from any of her players, and was a complete expert when it came to the sport of soccer. She was extremely strict with the members of the team, but they played all the better because of it. She also demanded to be called only 'Coach' by all the players, and even a hint of hearing 'Mrs' start to leave someone's mouth and they would be running half a lap. She did not deny her womanhood, but wanted to make sure that on the field, everyone knew she was in charge. Tai called her coach so often even at home, that Matt had all but forgotten her real name. He sometimes felt sorry for her husband, though he had never actually met the man. She could be brutal, but was a kind person at heart.
"Drop whatever you're doing, blondy," she commanded.
"What...? Why, has something happened to Tai?" He asked, sensing slight worry in her voice under the firm instruction.
"The klutz landed himself in the hospital, you'd better get down here," she said. "He's been whining for you."
Despite the insults, Matt knew she would never have bothered calling him at home unless it was something serious. He quickly wrote down the room number Tai was in before hanging up the phone. He explained to Sora the situation and asked her to gather up Shinji and pick Tuesday up from school. She understood fully and hoisted Shinji up in her arms and began dressing him to go right away as Matt left.
The blonde raced out of the apartment with his shoes barely on all the way and sped towards the hospital the second he could place the key in the ignition of his car. He tapped the steering wheel impatiently with his index finger as he drove, knowing he was going far too fast but not caring. His husband was injured, that was all that mattered at that moment in time. He sped through a red light, begging whatever powers that be to let him off the hook and keep him from getting stopped.
He reached the hospital in record time, pulled lopsidedly into a handicapped parking space, only because it was the closest to the door, and left the car, not even bothering to lock it. He nearly tripped walking up the step as he hurried inside and looked around the emergency room for Coach or another member of the team. The emergency room was thankfully not busy, but just as he was approaching the desk to ask the receptionist for help, he heard someone calling out to him.
"Matt!"
The musician looked up and saw Joe rushing down the hallway with a bundle of papers in his arms.
"Joe! Do you know where Tai is?"
"Yeah," the frazzled doctor panted when he had reached Matt. "I was just in the other room looking over his x-rays."
"But... you're an obstetrician," Matt said, puzzled.
"I was on break when Tai arrived and since we're close friends I was assisting the doctor on call in the emergency ward." Joe regained his breath and adjusted his glasses. "I normally wouldn't interfere with another doctor's patient but Tai and I have known each other so long the emergency staff cut me some slack and let me help out even though I'm not really a member of this department. Actually I think--"
"Joe!" Matt yelled. "I just asked where he was!" Joe had a bad habit of babbling under tense circumstances, and Matt was in no mood to wait through endless minutes of Joe talking at the moment.
"Oh, right, he's down the hall here. It's pretty bad," Joe sighed, shuffling through the folder of papers he was holding.
"What happened?" Matt asked as they walked swiftly down the hall, fearing the worst.
"Well, apparently he's got a major tear in his gastrocnemius. That crazy coach lady told me they were running drills and he stumbled over a--"
"He's got a... what?" Matt interrupted the blue haired doctor again, not even attempting to pronounce what he had just been told.
"It's a main muscle in the lower leg," Joe explained. "He was practically screaming when they brought him in..."
Matt bit his lip, relieved that Tai had not suffered some kind of fatal injury, but knowing that whatever had happened to his leg must have be incredibly painful to produce a result like that. Tai was very resilient when it came to pain, anything that hurt enough to make him scream was a very big deal.
They rounded the corner and entered the recovery room, the brunette was lying in bed wearing a hospital gown and Coach was standing at his side.
"Took you long enough," she said to Matt.
"Taichi..." The blonde knelt down quickly next to his husband and kissed his forehead, clasping both his hands. "What happened?"
"Just running and something made me fall and mess the hell outta my leg..." He said softly. He winced slightly as he spoke, still obviously in a great deal of pain.
"It's a grade three muscle tear," Joe said forebodingly.
"What does that mean?" Matt asked, holding Tai's hands tighter, not at all liking the tone of Joe's voice.
"Grade three is as bad as it gets, and this is pretty bad. He's going to need surgery but the doctor on call will tell you more about that. He's reviewing the charts down the hall right now."
"I'll go tell that no good quack to hurry up," Coach announced. She grabbed Joe by the arm as she walked by Tai's bed. "You too, skinny," she said, dragging the spectacled young doctor out of the room, giving the couple a chance to be alone together.
"I don't think I've ever felt so much pain all at once," Tai said to his husband once they were alone.
"I guess a massage would probably make it hurt more..." Matt said, looking down at Tai's calf.
"Yeah, I can't even move it."
Matt slid up and sat lightly on the edge of the bed, holding Tai's upper body in his arms. He kissed the injured athlete on the cheek and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Sora's bringing the kids over, I asked her to get Tuesday from school early," he said, holding Tai close.
"All right, does she know where to go?"
Matt nodded, and kissed his brown eyed angel once again. Tai leaned up onto Matt's chest the best he could, rested against him while Matt stroked his soft hair affectionately.
"Yami, what about Tuesday and Shinji, how am I going to help you take care of them if I can't even stand up?" Tai said, clutching Matt's shirt and pressing close to him.
"Don't worry, the good thing about being the child of a digidestined is you have twelve adults to take care of you instead of just two," Matt smiled. Tai sighed and relaxed a bit, trying hard to enjoy the feeling of Matt's arms around him and not of the pain in his leg. He knew the kids would be all right, but he had always hated the idea of being helpless.
"I was so scared when Coach called me..." Matt said in a breathy whisper, holding Tai to him as tight as he could without making the brunette uncomfortable. "I thought you had... I don't even know what I thought. I just kept fearing the worst."
"What could be worse than a soccer player not being able to run?" Tai groaned.
"A soccer player not being able to do anything at all..."
Tai tipped his head up, those two brown pools of chocolate staring at Matt sadly. They kissed, and each tried to fathom what life would be like by himself, and soon found it was impossible to even imagine such emptiness. Since they day they had joined forever in marriage, even before that, all that they were was summarized in the other's loving smile. They were everything to each other, their passion and their children were the living representations of that undying love which was stronger than any feeling that can be experienced. To live with only the memory of one in their child would be unbearable for the one remaining. Alone, Yamato and Taichi were nothing.
"I'm so glad nothing life threatening happened," Matt said. "But the car's probably going to have a ticket on it when we leave..."
"Why?"
"I left it parked halfway out of a handicapped space by the door, I was in a rush to get in here..."
"Just go outside and park it somewhere else," Tai said. "I'll be all right for a minute."
"I don't want to leave you alone," Matt protested.
"Coach and Joe are here."
"Oh, like that's any comfort," the blonde scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Daddy!" A little girl's voice cried from the entrace to the room.
"Don't jump up on the bed, Tuesday!" Sora walked into the room after Tuesday, holding Shinji by the hand. Matt lifted his daughter up into his lap so she could give her other father a kiss, and Sora slid up a chair for herself, holding Shinji in her arms.
"Kari's worried sick," Sora said. "She and TK are coming as soon as school lets out."
"It's gonna be a party in here," Tai laughed.
"Daddy, is your leg broke?" Tuesday asked worriedly.
"It's not broken, but it's hurt really badly," he said to her. She looked down at his leg and around the hospital room. No one in the family had ever been seriously injured before, this was a new experience for her. The last time she had been in a hospital was the day her brother had been delivered, but she was far too young then to remember.
"Oh, Matt, when we pulled in there was a cop outside putting a ticket on your car," Sora said.
He moaned and stood up from the bed, placing Tuesday down next to Tai.
"I guess I'd better go move it before they tow it away," he sighed. "I'll be right back," he said, mostly to Tai though, and kissed him lightly on the cheek before walking out.
"Oh, looks like the two little cupcakes are here," came a voice from the door only seconds after Matt had walked out. Coach strolled in and Tuesday nearly leapt into her arms. All of her sarcasm, criticism and smug attitude vanished when it came to the Ishida children, it was like she was a completely different person towards them.
"How about we get you some candy?" She said to Tuesday. The little girl agreed wholeheartedly and had slid down from the woman's embrace and was racing for the door in an instant.
"Uh, Matt won't like that, they'll ruin their appetite for supper," Tai said.
"He'll get over it," she said, winking and grabbing Shinji up out of Sora's lap, whispering promises of candy that would excite any young child.
"She's very... sure of what she wants, isn't she?" Sora said when Coach and the two children had left the room.
"Tell me about it, and she lets everyone else know what she wants too," Tai said, shifting in the bed. "The whole way over here in the ambulance she told me to stop complaining and be a man."
"I think she's extra mean to you because you're her favorite player," Sora said, smiling. "She likes teasing you."
"Well she could at least save her teasing for a time when it doesn't feel like a thousand knives are stabbing into my leg."
"What happened, anyway?" Sora asked.
"The doctor guy that was in here before said my muscle was probably already strained, and when I put too much tension on it while I was running drills it just tore." He sighed, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head. "I haven't even been thinking about keeping in good shape lately, I've been too busy worrying about this whole thing with that Toshi lady. What if Kari loses her job just because of some dumb woman's prejudice?"
"That won't happen, Tai," Sora assured him. "If that woman starts problems with the school board, we'll all be there to support you. Our kids will all being going to that school some day too, just like we did. I think we have a say in what goes on."
"Yeah..."
Matt reentered the room, crumbling a parking ticket up in his hand and grumbling.
"Can't they give a guy a break during an emergency?" He growled, sitting back down next to Tai. "Hey, where are the kids?"
"They went with Coach to get some candy," Tai said.
"You let her buy them candy? They'll ruin their appetite!"
"Told you," the brunette said to Sora. She nodded and laughed slightly, Matt and Tai could predict each other all too well.
TK and Kari arrived to see their brother soon after. They were followed an hour later by Davis and Ken, who had apparently heard the news from their close friend Yolei, who had heard it while visiting Cody, who had heard it during a phone conversation with Izzy, who had heard it from the overly talkative Mimi, who had heard it from her husband Joe. Even though Joe had been there to witness everything first hand, by the time the information got to Davis, who naturally relayed it to Ken, the rumor was that Tai had been hit with a flying soccer ball, fallen in a ditch and broken his hip.
Tai was helped into a wheelchair and moved out of the emergency room to another bed upstairs. While there, a surgeon showed up to explain to everyone present what had happened, and what the surgery on Tai's muscle would involve. It was scheduled for late the next day, and Tai was to stay in the hospital overnight. When visiting hours were over, everyone hesitantly went home, TK and Kari taking their niece and nephew with them. Matt had decided to stay with his husband throughout the night and all through his surgery the next day.
Later that evening, just as the night shift was coming on, Matt snuck quietly into Tai's room and knelt down by the side of the bed. He watched his love sleep, the shine of the moon and city lights lit up his face as he slumbered. The musician brushed Tai's bangs from his brow and admired the peaceful beauty. The painkillers he had been given erased the hurting in his leg enough so that he could sleep soundly.
"My poor angel," he whispered. His blue eyes, half closed, looked over every inch of his husband's face. It amazed him how Tai could remain so gorgeous, even after all he had been through that day. The shabby hospital gown and plain white sheets could not take away from the spell he cast on Matt's heart each time the blonde looked at him.
"Yami...?" Tai said groggily, opening his eyes and yawning when he sensed a presence in the room.
"Mmph... I didn't mean to wake you up," Matt apologized. "You need all the rest you can get."
"I'm fine," he said, wiping the sleep from his eyes and turning his face to see Matt. "What time is it?"
"A little after midnight," Matt answered, checking his watch.
Tai smiled at his husband and held his hand gently.
"Wouldn't it be great if we could lock the door and do it right here on the hospital bed?" He said, giggling and toying with Matt's hair.
"I don't think that's such a good idea right now," Matt laughed.
"This whole thing is really gonna mess up our sex life though," Tai sighed.
Matt laid his head down on the pillow next to the brunette and rubbed soothingly up and down his arm. "Everything that surgeon said wasn't exactly something to look forward too, huh?" he said. "Long recovery time, lots of physical therapy..."
"This sucks," Tai whined. "I'm getting horny just thinking about it."
"Maybe we can spend our nights doing something else for the next few months," Matt said, trying to comfort him.
"Like what, crossword puzzles?"
"Dirty crossword puzzles," Matt said, grinning slyly and winking.
"Yami! Now you're making me even more horny."
Matt kissed the brunette's nose and draped one arm over his body.
"We'll get through it somehow," he promised. "We've been through everything under the sun, things will turn out all right in the end."
Tai smiled and nodded, knowing how true it was. "They always do."