Chapter Three- Missing You



Tai ran out of his bedroom and picked up the phone. A few months had passed and it was now mid winter vacation. He and Matt had not seen each other since two days before when school ended. Tai was excited to have a whole week with no school that he could spend with Matt.

"Hello, Kamiya residence, this is Tai." he said, and sat himself down in a kitchen chair.

"Hey Tai, It's Matt."

"Hi Matt! I was just thinking about you."

"Aren't you always?" Tai could hear Matt laugh softly from the other end.

"So what's up?"

"Well... I kind of have some bad news. I don't think we're going to be able to spend much time together over vacation."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Well we'll be able to see each other next Friday but I'll be out of town for the rest of the week."

"How come? Where are you going?" Tai's heart sank when he realized he would have to spend a whole week away from Matt. They hadn't spent that much time apart in over a year.

Matt, who was sitting at the dining room table at his own apartment, was equally depressed about being away from Tai.

"Well TK and I are going away for this brotherly bonding type thing."

"A what?"

"We're going away to the mountains and spend the week alone in a cabin. It was my mom's idea. I have a feeling my dad and TK both think it's stupid, and I'm not that crazy about the idea either."

"You're going to some cabin with TK in the middle of winter?"

"Hey I said it wasn't my idea. I bet you'd think it was great if I was spending a week alone with you in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah...but then I'd have to be your brother."

Matt and Tai both snickered and could practically see each other smiling over the phone.

Matt sighed so Tai couldn't hear him. It was going to be hard enjoying his time with his brother knowing Tai was back at Odaiba without him.

He and Tai stayed on the phone and talked for at least an hour after that, until Matt's father came home and told him he should begin packing for his trip. He and TK would arrive at the cabin early the next morning.

Matt stood in his room stuffing clothes into a suitcase. When he had packed everything he thought he would need he lied back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His long, skinny legs draped over the side of the mattress. A week without Tai, after being by each other's side for almost every minute of every day for over a year, it wasn't going to be easy.

Matt picked his harmonica up off his bedside table and held it up.

"Man, why did mom have to have such a stupid idea anyway?" Matt sighed and looked up at the harmonica. The light shining through his door from the kitchen reflected off the metal and made it shimmer like a diamond.

"I haven't played this thing a in a while." He brought the harmonica to his lips and began playing a sweet but solemn tune. The music echoed against the walls of his unlit bedroom and spread throughout the apartment. Matt's very soul went into the beautiful song he played. The sound floated through the air like a butterfly in the breeze.

Tai lied on his bed in his own apartment. He lied on his side and watched a soft snow falling. The white flakes clung to the window as they fell. Tai sighed and thought about Matt. He missed him already, even though he knew Matt hadn't even left Odaiba yet. Tai's eyes started to close and he imagined the feel of Matt's arms around his waist, holding him close. As Tai fell asleep, he swore he could hear the gentle song from a harmonica playing.



Snow blew in the door as Matt came inside. He pushed the large wooden door with his foot and it slammed shut. He walked across the room and set the pile of wood he had been holding down next to the wood stove.

TK was sitting on his bed on the other side of the one room cabin they had been staying in. He switched the portable radio he had been listening off and set it down next to his bed.

"This sucks, I have to go out and chop wood in the freezing cold for this stupid fire. This has got to be the worst idea mom has ever had." Matt took his scarf, gloves and boots off and hung his coat up on a hook. "At least I'll be nice and buff for Tai when we get back tomorrow." He grinned and flexed his arms.

"I don't know if we're going home tomorrow Matt. I was just listening to the radio and they say there's a pretty bad storm coming."

"Whatever, we'll be fine." Matt opened up to the ice box and peered inside. "What do you want for supper? And your only choice is the same garbage we've been eating for the past week."

"It doesn't matter." TK sighed and laid back on his bed. "Matt aren't you worried the roads will get snowed in?"

"TK just forget about it," Matt said as he took food out of the ice box and began heating up a pan on the stove. "By this time tomorrow we'll be back in Odaiba."

During the night, snow began to fall. It started out with a few light flurries, but then developed into a blizzard. The world outside the tiny cabin was a whirling mass of white. By morning, over 2 feet of snow had fallen and the mountain roads leading to Matt and TK's spot in the woods were all blocked.

"What happened to being back in Odaiba?" TK glared at Matt after looking out the window the next morning.

"Shut up..." Matt was putting his boots on to go outside and shovel the walk.

"Well we're probably going to be stuck a few days, the roads are all blocked off. I guess we're snowed in huh?"

"Try being a little more optimistic will you?" Matt buttoned up his coat and stormed outside. TK could tell he was getting a little more than agitated. He bent over and shoved a few more pieces of wood into the fire and decided to just stay out of Matt's way for a while.

Outside, the bitter cold had turned Matt's pale cheeks a rosy red. He wrapped his scarf tighter around him to keep the snow swirling in the wind from hitting his face. He jabbed the snow shovel into the snow and tossed it over his shoulder, getting angrier with each scoop. He had already struggled through a week without Tai, and now he was going to have to be away from him even longer. Matt's eyes started to water but he sniffed back the tears. Ice was already starting to form on his long eyelashes.

Not only was Matt's heart missing Tai, but his body was too. He hadn't gone this long without making love to Tai in several months. He had been having dreams about Tai for the past few days, so erotic he could hardly control himself. His hormones were going nuts, how could he last even more time away from the one he loved, and needed so badly.