When there is an unknowable, there is a promise.
-Thornton Wilder
For the next three days, Tai wasn't himself and everyone could tell. The cheerleaders attempted to make him feel better by going out and buying him a personal chocolate cake, only half of which he ate. The other half was still sitting in the mini-fridge, pushed into a far corner. TK attempted to make him feel better by cracking his usual corny jokes and playing video games with him, in which most cases Tai lost against him. Kari had her own share of attempts by taking him shopping around town, mostly watching her buy things for herself with Christmas money she received.
The only one who hadn't tried anything was Matt. So far, the only thing the blond had done to help out his friend was accompany him to the hospital to visit Daisuke. Those visits often did more damage then help to the brunet's emotions, leaving Matt to pick up the pieces and make sure Tai made it back to the hotel before he collapsed and slept for the rest of the day. It was routine by this point in time. The boys would go and visit the youngest Yagami-Motamiya sibling and Ami, who had been staying at the hospital with her son, they would leave by noon, Tai would start to feel guilty and blame himself again, they would arrive at the hotel once more, Tai would sleep until dinner, and Matt would wander downstairs to the competition with TK.
Naturally, Matt felt guilty about just giving up on trying to help cheer up his best friend, but what could he possibly do? Tai was too stuck on the idea that it was his fault and there was definitely no way to convince him otherwise at the current time.
And besides, the blond had his own problems to worry about.
"Guys, guess what day it is?" TK brought up at the breakfast table. Matt reached over for the bottle of syrup and proceeded to drown his waffles.
"Uh, Friday?" the older boy answered his brother. TK rewarded him with a frown and shook his head.
"I meant besides Friday," he replied. Tai chewed on a piece of sausage thoughtfully before grinning slowly.
"New Year's Eve," he answered. TK's eyes glimmered in excitement.
"Exactly; I knew you two were smart," he said with a smug expression. Tai snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, what's so exciting about New Year's? It's not like we have anything to do, we're in a stupid hotel," he said through a yawn and a scowl.
"Easy, Negativity. It was just a comment and besides, who says we don't have anything to do?" Kari appeared out of nowhere, leaning herself against the back of TK's chair with a small smirk on her lips.
"I'm not negative, I'm just tired," Tai protested and rubbed at his eyes.
"What are you trying to imply, Kari?" Matt brushed off Tai's attitude and focused on the brunette in front of him. Sitting down on TK's lap (since there weren't any more chairs), she took a sip of his orange juice and smiled.
"Well, because we did so well," she began but was interrupted quickly.
"Well? Try we got second place, baby!" Jun crashed into the table, landing on top of Tai in the process. Tai raised his eyebrow and laughed.
"Morning, blurball," he greeted the eccentric girl. Jun winked in return and sat up.
"Right, so we got second. Anyway, so I came up with this plan," Kari started talking again but was once again interrupted by someone clearing their throat.
"Uh, you came up with a plan? I do believe it was a team effort, missy-miss!" Mimi stated and leaned against the back of Matt's chair. Kari narrowed her eyes and sighed.
"All right, we got second place and we came up with a plan. Is that better?" she asked her two teammates. Both of the other girls nodded and smiled. "Good. Okay, so we thought about it and we decided we're going to throw a New Year's party!" Kari beamed as she finally got her point across.
"Yeah, we're going to hold it in Alice and Auttie's room," Mimi added into the discussion.
"Question is, are you guys in?" Jun finished with a slight twinkle of mischief in her eye. The three boys exchanged glances with each other and then back at the girls, each one with the same thought running through his head.
'This is gonna be wild.'
"We're in," Tai spoke for the group, suddenly coming back to life.
"We are?" TK said warily.
"Of course, why not? Parties are awesome. Wait, that means we gotta buy food and supplies and stuff!" Tai suddenly exclaimed and shoved the last waffle into his mouth, swallowing it down with a gulp of orange juice. "The girls need help picking out stuff, so hurry up guys. I'm going up to get dressed, just hang tight everybody!" he explained in a rush, pushing Jun off of his lap and darting for the elevator, dashing in to go back up to his and Matt's room.
"…wow," Matt said in awe at the sudden reaction from his best friend. The three girls shared a similar triumphant grin and giggles arose from them.
"Told ya it would work," Kari said to her companions.
"Yeah, but who knew it would work so well?" Mimi replied.
"Who cares, I'm just happy it did," Jun voiced her own thoughts.
"Whoa there, chickies, what's going on?" TK interrupted the excited chatter of the females. The three turned their heads back towards the blond brothers and smiled the same proud smiles.
"Okay, you can't tell Tai this," Kari began.
"At all, because he will flip out on us," Mimi took over.
"And then we'll just be right back where we started," Jun finished up the sentence.
"Are you sure you three don't share the same brain or something?" Matt quirked an eyebrow and set down his fork. The three shared another glance and nodded.
"Well, it is possible," Kari replied.
"Maybe it's just what happens after being friends for so long," Mimi said as she swept her hair back and secured it with a black hair clip.
"Besides, it's not like you and Tai don't do the same thing," Jun reminded Matt as she leaned back in Tai's, or rather her, chair.
"Who cares! Just what are you three talking about?" TK interrupted them suddenly.
"Yeah, what aren't we suppose to tell Tai?" Matt reminded them of the subject at hand.
"Well…we didn't want Tai to be depressed anymore about Dais," Kari said to them and drank the rest of TK's orange juice, much to the blond's protests.
"So truthfully, this all started because it was Daisuke's idea," Mimi filled in and pushed herself away from the back of Matt's chair, insisting that Jun scoot over so she could sit down instead.
"We just finished it. Basically, Daisuke was getting tired of seeing Tai depressed too and came up with the idea to throw a party because, well, Tai loves parties. It'll definitely cheer him up and besides," Jun began to wrap up the entire point they were trying to make.
"Daisuke's being released tomorrow morning!" all three of the girls chorused simultaneously.
"Really?" TK blinked in surprise at the idea.
"Isn't that kind of soon?" Matt also blinked in surprise.
"Nah, they examined him and they're not finding anything wrong. Mom told me all of this this morning, but you can't tell Tai anything! We want it to be a surprise." Kari winked secretively and glanced back towards the door. Tai came charging into the room, dressed out of his sweats and into a pair of dark green pants and a black t-shirt. Written in red across the front was, "Curiosity Killed The Cat, But For A While, I Was The Suspect."
"Okay, ready to go!" the hyper brunet grinned widely.
"How many shirts with sayings on them do you have?" Jun laughed and got out of her chair.
"Too many to count, way too many to count," Tai replied and dragged his sister onto her own feet.
"Aren't you cold?" Matt asked, noticing that his best friend was wearing nothing over his short-sleeved shirt.
"No. Should I be?" Tai tilted his head to the side like he often did when he was confused.
"Um, well it's only the middle of the winter!" Matt exclaimed and gestured to his own body covered in his black Volcom hoodie and dark blue jeans.
"What are you wearing under that?"
"Say what?" Both of the older blond's eyebrows shot into his hairline, leaving Tai to appear innocent.
"What are you wearing under that?" the darker boy repeated himself.
"Why does it matter?"
"Because, if you're dressed in layers, you'll be warmer!" Tai said off of the top of his head. Kari, Mimi, and Jun exchanged more glances, letting each other know that they knew Tai just wanted to see Matt's body.
"A shirt," Matt replied hesitantly, unsure of where this whole conversation was going.
"Which one?" Tai asked a new question, not about ready to give in until he got the answers he wanted. He failed to notice the fact that TK was rolling his eyes. He also failed to notice the fact that Kari was standing behind him and mouthing, "Horny bastard" behind his back. Matt sighed and tucked him arms into the sweatshirt, lifting it off of his head. Underneath was yet another black shirt, only this was much different than the kind Tai had seen on his best friend before. This one had orange writing, tiny letters that read, "The dark carnival presents" and below it in very large letters, "Insane Clown" written in the same orange with a blue shadow. Under the words was a picture of two clowns, decorated with black and white face paint, one blond and one brunet, each with a cynical, crazed look on their face. Finishing off, the word "Posse" was printed below the psycho clowns. Tai's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.
"Fucking scary clowns!" he shouted loudly and covered his eyes with his hands, attracting the attention of more then a few guests in the hotel.
"Tai, quit being so loud! You're starting to scare the other people!" Mimi scolded the older boy from her spot at the table. Matt gave his friend a questioning look.
"What in the hell…" Kari sent the blond an apologetic look and shrugged.
"Have we ever mentioned Tai's deathly terrified of clowns?" she said offhandedly as she tried to pry her brother's hands away from his eyes.
"No, Kari! The clowns will get me!" Tai whined and kept his eyes squeezed shut, backing away from the group. Matt stared at his friend for a few moments before bursting into a fit of laughter.
"Tai, it's just a shirt, and it's just ICP. What's so freaky about clowns anyway?" he questioned the brunet.
"Just get rid of the fucking things!" Tai yelped as he crashed into the wall behind him.
"Y'know, I think that's the first time I've heard you say fuck. Good goin', Ace," Matt congratulated the Japanese boy and slipped his sweatshirt back onto his thin frame. "Okay look, Tai, no more clowns." Tai cracked open one eye and peered at the blue-eyed boy through his fingers. Seeing that it was safe, the eccentric teen dropped his hands from his eyes and grinned.
"Good." He shoved his hands into his pockets and resumed his cheery nature quickly.
"That was kind of weird," TK commented.
"Oh shut up," Tai snapped back and smiled brightly. "Are we gonna get going or what?" he asked rhetorically and proceeded to pull Mimi and Matt up out of their chairs, leaving TK to stand on his own (which he didn't really mind because he wasn't too keen on Tai touching him in the first place).
"Yes, we're going. Everybody chipped in some money to pick up all of the supplies," Mimi said and grabbed her jacket from off of the back of her chair.
"What kind of stuff are we going to need?" TK questioned the girls as he linked his arm with Kari's, following the group out of the dining room and into the lobby.
"Well, we came up with a list." Jun reached into her back pocket and pulled out a large sheet of pink paper.
"Hey, that's mine!" Mimi whined and pointed at the stationary adorned with sparkles and a large silver M written in cursive.
"Well, that was the only kind of paper we could find on short notice," Kari explained to her best friend with a shrug. Mimi sighed in response and waited for Jun to begin to read off the items.
"Auttie, Alice, Ai, Shiuchon, and Itami helped me make this list so if some of the things sound out of place, you know why," Jun warned the group and cleared her throat to read.
"We will be needing the following items to hold an ultra-fabulous party: candy…wait, scratch that, lots of candy. Sodas, ice cream, preferably Rocky Road or Cookies N Cream, chips, a deck of cards, a glass bottle, Lavender incense, paper plates straws, cups, a stopwatch, a blindfold, a flashlight, batteries, silly string, confetti, noisemakers, paint, marshmallows, tarot cards/Ouija board…" Jun stopped reading abruptly and pulled out a black pen.
"The last thing we need is Alice trying to summon up some killer ghost and tell our fortunes about our death after finding love and winning the lottery," Kari pointed out while Jun crossed both items off of the list.
"We'll buy her fortune cookies; she can still do the same thing," Mimi decided and Jun wrote out "fortune cookies" on the list. Placing the pen back in her pocket securely, she continued reading.
"Whipped cream, chocolate sauce, duct tape, white bed sheet, safety pins, scissors, bouncy balls, Legos, permanent marker, make-up, and one silver slinky."
"Oh, and we need music too!" Mimi pointed at the list, showing that music wasn't on it.
"Well, we figured Matt could help out with that, he's got about 110 CDs with him," Kari said and poked the blond boy in the chest. "Think we can use them for tonight?" Matt shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah sure, that's no problem. After all, it's our party too." The other two males nodded in agreement.
"That's true. What time did we agree to start this party, you two?" Kari looked over at her female companions.
"We figured we could order pizzas at seven and go from there," Jun said and Mimi nodded.
"Well then, let's get everything we need and figure out what we're going to do with all of it." Kari clapped her hands together and started to direct everybody out of the hotel.
"Party!" Tai squealed and took off running, narrowly missing crashing headlong into the automatic glass doors.
"Tai, you gotta wait for us!" Matt shouted after him and began running at his own pace.
"No! You stay away from me, Clown-Worshipper!"
"Tai, I am not a clown-worshipper!"
TK looked back at the girls and blinked. "Think we should catch up with them?" he asked as he led Kari out of the lobby at a much more normal pace.
"Nah, Tai knows where to go," Kari replied and leaned into TK's embrace.
"And besides, we all know Matt's going to follow Tai wherever he leads him," Mimi added as she and Jun followed the couple.
"Yep, he's made that perfectly clear over the past few days." Jun nodded to herself thoughtfully. Mimi sighed wistfully and walked along with her friends.
"What?" Kari looked back at the strawberry-blonde girl at the sound of her sigh.
"Oh, nothing," she replied airily.
"Okay then." Kari shrugged and turned her head around again. Mimi stared at her silently, walking along in TK and Kari's path.
"It's just," she began followed by a groan from TK. "I just wish your brother would tell Matt how he really feels about him and get it over with!" Kari's eyes went wide and she turned again to face Mimi, sending her a look to shut up. TK raised an eyebrow and looked at Kari skeptically.
"Yeah because it's pretty obvious Matt feels the same way…somewhere in his little black heart," Jun continued talking, also earning herself a shut up look. TK kept his jaw firm and his eyes inquiring as he turned Kari's head back towards him.
"What are they talking about?" he asked her seriously. Kari gave her boyfriend a nervous grin in return.
"Um…how would you feel about our brothers dating?" she asked, laughing slightly as TK's face changed from confusion to shock.
"Oh lord…" The blond boy covered his eyes with his hat and continued walking down the street. The two girls in the back giggled and Kari rubbed TK's neck.
"I'm surprised you haven't noticed anything," she said through her own giggles.
"I was just hoping I was imagining things," he moaned mostly to himself.
"Nope, welcome to the world of the Yagami clan!" Kari grinned cheerfully and the three girls herded the now-bewildered TK into a store on their right.
"Where do you think they are?" Jun asked as the group of four traveled up and down the various aisles.
"Yeah, you'd think they'd be here by now," Mimi commented as she poked at a large blue balloon.
"Are you sure Tai knew where he was supposed to go?" TK asked doubtfully, occupying himself with a candy bar he found in his pocket.
"Well, he should know. Unless he decided to take Matt somewhere else…" Kari trailed off as they stopped moving completely, each trying to figure out what to do next. They weren't standing for long before they heard a rolling sound in the distance.
"Heads up, everybody!" Tai shouted as he and Matt coasted towards them, Tai standing in a shopping cart and Matt riding on it like a scooter. The four younger teens jumped back in surprise, allowing the cart to whiz by them and turn around the corner. Jun was the first to recover from the dumbfounded state.
"Well, we found them!" she said cheerfully as she turned on her heel and bounced around the corner as well. It wasn't until they heard a rather loud crash that the others hurried after her. The shopping cart was now tipped on its side with Tai sprawled on the floor, Matt in front of him and Jun to the side snickering at their misfortune. After all, how were they to know that there was a display case of hair glitter around that corner?
"Are you two okay?" Mimi asked immediately and helped the blond to his feet.
"Hey, what about me?" Tai whined from his place on the floor, laying flat on his back in the middle of the aisle. Mimi rolled her eyes but heaved the brunet up as well.
"We're fine, but man, that was fun!" Matt laughed and brushed some dirt off his shoulder.
"You two are such morons, has anybody ever told you that?" TK asked rhetorically as he and Kari joined the group around the corner.
"Yeah, plenty of times!" Tai gave the younger blond a wide grin.
"Oh good grief," Kari said with an eye roll, but shared a grin with her brother.
"Anyway, now that we've made complete retards of ourselves, let's get this shopping done all right? We officially have," Matt stopped talking long enough to look at his watch. "Okay, we officially have seven and a half hours left until this party gets started."
"That's quite a long time, you know," Mimi pointed out and leaned against the now-upright cart.
"While this is true, when dealing with these two," Kari jabbed her thumb in the direction of Tai and Matt. "It's hard to get stuff done in a short amount of time." Tai blinked at the statement and tilted his head to the side, feeling rather puzzled.
"I don't know whether to resent that or absolutely agree with her," he stated after quite some time, resulting in a few face-faults from his friends.
"Honestly, Taichi, you are the densest person I've ever met," Jun sighed and shoved her hands deeper into her pockets.
"That's why you love me though, right?" Tai looked over to Jun with his large puppy-eyes, causing the younger girl to sigh and shake her head.
"No, Tai, I don't love you at all. I just hang out with you for lack of anything else!" she swatted the brunet behind the head, even though he would never feel the impact thanks to his big cushion of hair. "Of course I love you, idiot."
"Yay! I feel loved!" the older boy all but squealed as he threw himself at Jun. Thankfully, after years of this kind of experience, Jun was able to brace herself so she didn't tip over. Matt looked on with wary eyes, carefully analyzing Jun's actions. He didn't really need to be concerned about what Tai was doing because, well, Tai was flirty with everybody apparently. It was just his typical flamboyant nature, even though Matt disapproved of it. But Jun however, he had no clue what to expect.
Matt had spent the whole week watching his best friend be flirted with by random girls he knew nothing about. But he didn't really mind about that. The worst part though was Tai flirting back. Truthfully, the blond wouldn't mind in any other circumstance; that is, if it wasn't for the fact that Tai also flirted with him.
Time and time again, Matt had told himself that he didn't want Tai to be flirting with him at all. But now, he was starting to like the extra attention from the Japanese boy. He was getting used to it and subconsciously, he was flirting right back. Not that he would ever admit it, of course. Normally, the idea of flirting with anybody, much less another male, really crept him out. However, once again, dealing with Tai was a whole other circumstance.
Needless to say, having Jun and Sora and half of the cheerleading squad hitting on Tai didn't make Matt happy. Not one bit.
"Anyway! If you guys want to keep goofing off, that's fine with me. But I for one would like to buy the party stuff and go set up," Kari announced loudly and grabbed the cart in front of her. She was getting annoyed with the fact that she was the only one who seemed serious about the whole idea and she was going to let them know it.
"Kari's right. Let's get this show on the road, kay?" Mimi looked up from examining a can of the glittery hairspray. "Besides, by the time we finish shopping, we can grab lunch!" she winked and tossed the can into the shopping cart.
"Lunch?" Three pairs of eyes blinked as the males stared at her.
"Yeah, lunch. Some of us didn't eat breakfast you know," Kari reminded them as she began to push the cart down the aisle.
"Besides, you can't tell us you're going to pass up another meal, are you?" Jun asked rhetorically as she linked her arm with Tai's, marching him forward after the others.
"I'd have to say no to that one," Tai replied as he grinned widely and fell into step with the other girl. The two blond boys blinked and suddenly snapped into action.
"You can't just leave us behind!"
"Kari, I thought you loved me!" Both boys turned and ran quickly to catch up with their friends, only to have TK trip over his shoelace and crash headlong into a pyramid of toilet paper. With a heavy sigh, Kari reached into the rubble and pulled him up by the collar of his blue polo shirt.
"This may take a while," she commented lightly before turning the corner, beginning the quest of shopping.
Three carts' full, two hours, and one threat from the store manager later, the group of six walked out of the store, each carrying various bags of supplies.
"Guys, I'm hungry!" Mimi whined from the rear of the group, dragging her feet and bags on the ground.
"There's a restaurant just ahead. We can stop in there," TK suggested as he herded the entire gang to their left, walking inside a small café of some sorts. It was slightly dark on the inside with disco lights and reading lamps being the only source of light. The windows had the blinds pulled down so no one could see in and no light could come in. Loud rock music blared and bounced off every wall in the building and posters and memorials of bands hung on every available space. Tables were set up in little groups, some meant for two people and others meant for parties of at least twenty, all set with silverware, napkins, and water pitchers.
"You know, for a place that looks small, this actually covers a ton of area," Jun commented as they moved forward to the podium. Reaching for the small gavel, Mimi swung forward and connected with the miniature gong that was placed in front of her. No more then five seconds later did a young man with green hair and violet eyes answer their call.
"Hey, welcome to Kiyo's. Six in your party today?" Without waiting for a reply, the host grabbed six menus and led the teens to a back corner, seating them at a black and red marble table surrounded by a booth.
"Something to drink while you choose your meals?" he asked as he handed out the menus.
"Coke!" Tai and Matt said together, rewarding each other with strange looks.
"Sprite," Kari replied. TK and Mimi nodded in agreement with Kari's choice.
"And I'll take a Sunkist," Jun decided before she buried her nose in the menu. The host nodded and grinned.
"All right, Arial will be right back with your drinks and to take your order!" he said and walked away, heading back into the kitchen areas. The group went back to looking over their menus quietly. That is, until TK decided to speak.
"Isn't Ariel the name of the little mermaid?"
"Yeah…it's a pretty name though," Mimi replied back as she turned the page of the menu.
"Hmm…wonder if there's a pretty face to match such a pretty name," Tai wondered idly as he continued to choose between a normal cheeseburger and a plate of calamari. Matt blinked at him once, taking in the words slowly. For crying out loud, why was Tai suddenly so fascinated with women! Was it just because there were hardly any at the academy? Maybe he was looking into it too much. Yes…that was it. With a sigh, Matt dropped his menu on the table and looked up as a blue-haired male practically skipped over to the table with their drinks.
"All right, who had what?" he asked bluntly, flashing a charming grin their way. Jun and Mimi giggled slightly at this gesture as Tai looked straight into the waiter's bright blue eyes.
"I had the Sunkist," Jun informed him once she had gotten a grip on her giggles. Setting the orange drink down in front of the girl, he curiously looked at the remaining five.
"And the rest goes…" he trailed off. Tai suddenly snapped out of his watchful stupor and pointed at himself and Matt.
"The Cokes belong to us and the rest of them have the Sprites," he said to the bluenette who obediently placed the drinks in the correct locations. Whipping out a pad of paper, he turned to a fresh sheet and grinned again.
"Hey, I'm Arial and I guess I'll be serving you this lovely afternoon. Have you all decided?" he spoke casually and leaned against the outside of the booth.
"I think so," Kari responded with a smile of her own. TK watched her protectively, just to make sure she wasn't about to be reduced to a puddle of mush like Mimi and Jun. "I'll take a teriyaki chicken rice bowl please," she continued as she handed over the menu. Arial jotted down the name of the dish and collected the menu from the young girl's hands.
"I'll take the same," TK said to him, practically throwing the menu into Arial's face. The blue-eyed waiter blinked and caught it easily, writing a number two next to Kari's order.
"I'll take the plate of calamari and noodles please," Tai told the blue-eyed waiter and also handed him his menu, allowing his touch to linger on the waiter's hand just a little longer then normal. However, Arial didn't seem to mind, for in fact, he smiled that same suave grin at the brunet teen.
"Just a regular cheeseburger for me," Matt interrupted quickly, causing Arial to remove his hand from Tai's menu and take his own food booklet.
"What kind of fries would you like with that?" Arial asked as he scribbled out the last few orders on the sheet of paper.
"Regular fries are fine," Matt answered and avoided the other set of blue eyes. Nodding to himself, Arial wrote that down and turned to the last two girls.
"A plate of stir-fry if you don't mind," Mimi said and giggled again, handing over both her and Jun's menus.
"No trouble at all," Arial reassured her and wrote the order, looking back at Jun. "And what about you, miss?"
"Um, I'll take the barbeque ribs with fries," Jun confirmed and leaned back against the booth. Arial nodded again and finished writing, stacking all of the menus together and smiling once more.
"All right, I'll have that out to you soon!" he said to them, adding in a flirtatious wink before he walked away from the table. As soon as he was out of hearing distance, both Mimi and Jun let out identical squeals.
"Cute!" they giggled together.
"You guys, shut up," Kari said to her friends in a joking manner.
"Oh come on, Kar. You can't say you didn't think he was dreamy." Jun poked her friend in the shoulder.
"Yes, I can. He wasn't because I have my own little dreamboat," she replied and pinched TK's cheek lightly.
"Ow, let's not leave marks please!" TK whined and pulled Kari's hand away, rubbing his tender cheek.
"Aw, did I hurt the little baby?" Kari cooed and nuzzled her nose with TK's.
"Yes!"
"Oh get over it," she rolled her eyes and poked him in the forehead, pulling away from his face. TK stuck his tongue out and drank some of his soda, showing Kari that he wasn't going to continue being ridiculed. Jun then decided to change the subject.
"What do you think, Tai?" The mud-eyed boy looked up at his name and gave her a thoughtful expression.
"Well," he started to say as he toyed with his straw. Matt watched him closely, sitting intently and waiting for his answer. Tai fished out a piece of ice from his glass and chewed on it carefully.
'Oh hurry up and spit it out already!' Matt bit his lip in agitation and bore his eyes into the side of Tai's head.
"What do I think about what actually?" Tai asked in his confused state. Jun and Mimi both sighed loudly.
"The waiter!" Mimi practically shouted as she pointed across the room where the blue-haired boy was attending to another table. Matt couldn't help it when a sigh of relief escaped his lips. On the bright side, he wouldn't have to worry about Tai's answer to anything.
On the down side, he still didn't know why Tai was so flirty with girls all of a sudden. Tai's face lit up in realization and rewarded the girls with a goofy grin.
"Well, let's just say, I was right about a pretty face matching a pretty name," Tai replied nonchalantly as he slurped up his soda. Matt's relief suddenly turned into alarm and confusion. Whatever he had been expecting from Tai's mouth, that most definitely wasn't it. Wide blue eyes turned to stare at his best friend.
"What?" Matt managed to squeak out as he continued to gawk at his companion, who in turn chewed on his straw as if this were an everyday occurrence.
"What do you mean what?" Tai asked calmly as he lifted his gaze to meet the blond's.
"I-you-but I thought," Matt sputtered and blinked rapidly, unable to keep his thoughts, much less his sentences, coherent.
"Yes?" Tai pressed on and gave the other boy a smirk. The three girls giggled behind their hands at Matt's display of shock and TK rolled his eyes at the display, muttering under his breath about stupid older brothers.
"Are you gay?" he finally managed to spit out, much to his own satisfaction. Tai raised an eyebrow and began to chuckle.
"Uh, no. What gave you that idea?" the brunet smiled at the image his best friend was portraying at the very moment.
"Well, you just said the waiter was pretty! Doesn't that say enough?" Matt practically shouted but then remembered where he was. "You don't just go around saying members of the same sex are pretty! Hell, most guys don't even like being called pretty!" he ranted on for a few more moments before he calmed down long enough for Tai to defend himself. Tai propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in the palm of his hand.
"Look, just because I say some guy looks pretty doesn't mean I'm gay. I just happen to appreciate true beauty when I see it, whether it be male or female. It comes with being an artist," Tai explained to the American boy, keeping his tone calm and rational.
'Besides, being bi and gay are two totally different things. Now, had you asked me if I was bi, it would be a whole different story.' Tai watched his friend closely to see if he would buy his story.
"All right, if you say so." Hook, line, and sinker. Tai nodded and looked over his shoulder.
"Hey, looks like our food's here," he announced as Arial came bouncing back, balancing two trays on his hands. Handing out each plate, he shoved the trays under one arm and smiled down at the group.
"Anything else I can get you guys for right now?" he questioned them as he glanced around the table.
"Nope, I think we're good thanks," Matt replied for the group and sent Arial on his way. Out of the corner of his eye, the blond saw that Tai was watching the blue boy prance out of sight. With a sigh, he quietly picked up his cheeseburger and began to devour it.
"Mimi, what's going on between you and Daisuke?" Kari suddenly asked her best friend, swallowing a mouthful of her lunch afterwards. The strawberry-blonde shrugged in response and played with her plate of stir-fry.
"Don't have a clue. It was his idea to do the trial thing, not mine!" she pouted at this statement.
"Well, you haven't really done anything to encourage it, now have you?" Tai reminded her as he twirled his noodles around on his plate.
"Well, what am I suppose to do? The poor kid's in the hospital. You can't go on dates in the hospital!" It was then she realized what she had just said. She looked into Tai's eyes fearfully, afraid of what his reaction would be to the fact that Daisuke was still in the hospital. Surprisingly, Tai managed to remain calm and didn't say a word, merely picking apart a piece of his squid.
"…anyway, how should we set up for this party?" Jun hastily changed the subject, wanting to avoid as much conflict as possible. Looking down at his watch, Matt shrugged and shoved a few fries into his mouth.
"Right now, we have five hours until the time we decided on. I suppose we could work on moving furniture, picking out music, decorating, all that jazz," he replied with a swallow.
"That sounds good," TK spoke in agreement for lack of anything else to say. Kari also nodded and turned her head to look at her brother. Judging by the way he was stabbing the bits of squid with his chopstick, she could only assume he wasn't really happy at the moment.
'Somehow, I have a feeling it's because of what Mimi just said. Of course, I could be wrong…but I doubt it.' The younger Yagami shook her head to clear her thoughts, refocusing on her food and the conversation present.
"It shouldn't take us five hours though, should it?" Tai questioned as he took another drink from his glass, being extremely careful to avoid Mimi's eyes.
"Well, if we involve everybody else to help us, including the guys…" Kari trailed off, images of the pure chaos that would most definitely occur coming to her mind.
"We are going to have so many messes and squabbles and basically pure pandemonium to deal with!" Jun exclaimed as she too began to see images in her head.
"Yeah, but that's what makes things fun!" Tai replied cheerfully and gave the girls a wide grin.
"Yeah, you're only saying that because you'll be causing most of the chaos," Kari mumbled under her breath.
"I heard that!"
"Good!"
"Now, now, children. Do I have to go find your mother to separate you two?" Both Yagami siblings looked up and landed their gaze on the blond boy wearing a white bucket hat, who had finished his rice bowl and was watching the banter between the two of them.
"Shut up, Takeru!" both of them cried and frowned, sending identical evil glares his way.
"Okay, sorry! Calm down!" TK said with a laugh and held up his hands in mock-defense. Matt snickered at his brother's misfortune and chewed on the last of his lunch, allowing his gaze to wander. It was then he spotted that stupid blue-haired freak skipping over to them again with their bill in hand.
Wait…bill…
"Oh no!" Matt suddenly shouted, causing everybody else to look up from their empty plates.
"What oh no?" Mimi asked him.
"Does anybody have any money left over to pay the bill?" Matt ran a hand through his hair as logical thoughts started to return to him.
"Um…I have a little bit but probably not enough," TK answered and dug some coins out of his pocket.
"How much?" the older blond turned towards his little brother.
"About 630 yen."
"…"
"That's about six dollars in American currency," Mimi informed the confused boy.
"That's it? That's all we have?" he sighed in exasperation.
"Well, I might have 525 yen in my pocket…or rather five dollars in your world," Tai corrected himself as he produced a note similar to a five dollar bill and a few extra coins.
"Yeah, that's definitely not going to be enough to pay our stupid check!" Matt yelled and slammed his fist down on the table.
"Whoa, am I interrupting something?" Arial's voice came from somewhere above Matt's head.
"No not really. May we see our check please?" Kari asked politely, holding out her delicate hand to take it from him. Arial tucked the slip into Kari's hand and leaned back against the booth to watch the scene play out.
"What's the total, Kari?" Jun asked as she leaned over her friend's shoulder. Glancing over the numbers briefly, Kari let out a low whistle and set the check facedown on the table.
"Well?" Tai prodded her to speak.
"Well, it seems we're about 2,521 yen short guys," she replied and groaned.
"Uh…"
"That's roughly 24 dollars, Matt."
"Oh all right…wait are you serious! Why didn't anybody think this one through?"
"Do we ever think anything through?" Tai shot back another question in return. Matt shrugged and shook his head.
"What seems to be the problem? Not enough cash to pay?" Arial folded his arms across his chest and crossed his left ankle over his right, staring down at the group of teens in front of him.
"No, we don't. What are we going to do now?" Mimi whined as she zipped up her jacket. Arial was about to say something else but his eyes caught sight of something rather interesting on Mimi's jacket.
"You guys are from the Odaiba cheer squad?" the bluenette blinked in surprise.
"Actually, just those three are," TK pointed at the three girls across from him. "But we're all from Odaiba."
"So then you know Auttie," Arial continued on, a rather pleasant smile crossing his lips.
"Yeah, she's on our team. She's back at the hotel actually setting up for a party and how do you know her?" Jun suddenly switched gears in her sentence. Arial laughed out loud and his grin grew wider.
"She's my younger cousin," he explained to them.
"I didn't know Autumn had family in Kyoto," Tai commented as he continued to study Arial's figure.
"That's because she doesn't know that I moved here," Arial replied with a wink sent in Tai's direction, causing the younger teen to look away from him quickly.
"Arial, stop flirting with the customers and get back to work!" a black-haired male shouted from across the room, pointing at a dirty table next to the one he was cleaning himself.
"Hold on, Ryan, jeeze!" Arial shook his head and looked back to the group. "Here's what we'll do. I'll take what money you have right now and I can finish paying for the rest of it, just because you know Auttie and because you guys did great at your competition a few days ago."
"You were there?" Mimi's eyes lit up at the idea that a cute boy was watching her perform.
"Oh yeah, you guys were awesome. Aren't you the flyer that did a flip from way up top and landed on your feet?" he turned his attention towards Kari.
"Actually, it was just a somersault but yeah," she laughed slightly and grinned.
"Yeah, that was pretty awesome. We never did that kind of stuff on my squad…" Arial said thoughtfully.
"You were a cheerleader?" the three males asked him simultaneously, each sharing identical looks that said they were scared of the thought.
"Oh yeah, back when I was in high school. It was originally the end result of a bet I lost, but I stayed with it just for fun. That and basketball wasn't enough."
"Arial!"
"All right!" Arial snorted and rolled his eyes, adjusting the earring that was in the cartilage of his left ear. "Ryan can be such a tight-ass sometimes. But anyway, yeah, I'll cover it just because you know Auttie, you guys were awesome, and because you're cute," Arial said to Tai with another charming grin.
"Thanks a lot!" the three girls chorused and began to climb out of the booth with their bags of supplies.
"No big. Have fun during the rest of your stay in Kyoto!" Arial waved them off and took their check and money, disappearing out of sight just as suddenly as he came.
"Tai, are you blushing?" Jun squealed and pointed at his cheeks that were slightly pink.
"No!" the brunet denied angrily and clambered out of the booth.
"Yes you are!" Kari giggled and took TK's hand, helping him out of the booth as well.
"Shut up, Hikari!" Tai growled and began to walk out of the restaurant. The three girls continued to giggle and poke fun at the brunet, not bothering to notice a blond who was shooting a murderous glance at the showy blue-eyed waiter who was currently talking to his black-haired companion.
'Who does he think he is, telling Tai he's cute? Hello, that's not his job! It's just…not! He can't be saying stuff like that to his customers! Argh!' Matt continued to glare as he followed the group outside back onto the streets. He repeated such thoughts in his head as they made their way back to the hotel, the girls still making fun of Tai, Tai still blushing and denying the fact he was blushing, and TK just along for the ride.
Matt didn't realize that Tai wasn't the only one in denial by this point. He just didn't see it in himself. It was easier for him to point out the flaws of other people then of himself.
And yet, maybe having certain thoughts about Tai wasn't as big of a flaw as he thought it was.
"Hirokazu Shioda! I am going to freakin' kill you if you don't give my hair glitter back!" Mimi shouted as she chased the male cheerleader around the room.
"It would help if you could catch me!" Kazu continued to taunt her. However, as fate may have it, he crashed right into Matt, who was holding an open can of soda.
"Dude!" Matt yelped as the soda splashed all over the front of his ICP shirt, much to Tai's delight (he was still convinced Matt was a clown worshipper).
"Oops, sorry," Kazu gave him a sheepish grin while Matt gave him another icy glare.
"Now I get to go find another shirt. Grand!" the blond continued to scowl as he started to walk out of the room, taking off his shirt in the process, also much to Tai's delight (he loved it when the other boy removed his shirt, even if he did have a girly upper body). With the other boy out of the room, Tai returned to his task at hand, which was nothing more then arranging the tables in a group to hold all of the food.
"Kari, how much more time do we have to wait?" he whined and flopped down on Autumn's bed.
"Alice and Ai just went down to order pizza. It should be here thirty minutes or less." Kari walked out of the bathroom with her hair fixed up and her make-up reapplied.
"That's a really long time if you think about it," her brother pointed out and rolled onto his stomach, watching the other cheerleaders and TK busy themselves with assigned tasks.
"Well then find a way to entertain yourself!" Kari snapped as she dug through her pockets for her chapstick.
"I don't know how."
"Tai, stop whining!" Matt commanded the brunet as he reappeared in the doorway, dressed in a clean shirt and his dark blue jeans. Instantly, Tai shut his mouth but quickly began to snigger at Matt's shirt.
"Is that true?" he asked while pointing at the swirled white letters that read, 'Drink What You Want, Drink What You're Able, Drink With Me, You'll Be Under The Table".
"I'm not sure," the blonde replied as he smoothed out the fabric of the reddish-pink shirt. "Wanna go back to our room and help me pick out music?"
"Yeah, let's go," Tai said and proceeded to pull Matt out of the room by his wrist and away from the eyes of the curious girls. Autumn, Mimi, Jun, and Kari occupied the empty space Tai had left on Autumn's bed and watched the door.
"Hey Auttie, did we tell you we saw your cousin today?" Kari asked casually as she stretched out on her back, hanging her feet over the edge.
"Huh?" the red-head looked up from the teen magazine in her hand.
"Yeah, his name was Arial," Mimi filled in as she continued to read over Autumn's shoulder.
"You saw Ari? When! Why didn't you guys tell me earlier?" the green-eyed girl shouted in a mixture of excitement and anger, glaring at her three friends.
"Just remembered it," Jun replied and took off her sweatshirt.
"Guys!"
"Auttie, chill. We have a point to this statement other than to watch you freak out," Kari informed her cheerleading friend who proceeded to stop screaming at them.
"Really? What point would that be?" Autumn asked curiously, tilting her head to the side a bit. It was then Mimi went into high hysterics and excited babbles.
"He was totally hitting on Tai and naturally Matt was starting to get jealous but Arial didn't care and he called Tai cute and Tai continued blushing the entire way back to the hotel but we're mad that he didn't just tell Matt that he was bi when Matt asked him if he was gay, even though bi and gay are two different things but anyway, the point is, Arial threatened Matt's security which means that pretty soon Matt will tell Tai how he feels and Tai can claim his prize!" she explained all in one breath and continued bouncing on the bed. Autumn blinked at her long-winded friend and nodded.
"So…what are you trying to say? You think they'll hook up tonight?"
"We hope so. Sora told me that Tai wants to be with Matt so bad. She cornered him on the issue when she went to go visit them in November," Kari said in response as she fiddled with the bedspread.
"What does Matt want?" Autumn shot back and stole the chapstick that was in Kari's other hand.
"He doesn't seem to know," Mimi responded and flipped the page of the magazine.
"You know what's scary though?"
"What?" Jun looked over to the other girl.
"You know the shirt Matt's wearing right now? The under the table one?" Autumn asked rhetorically. "That's a girls' shirt."
"Nu-uh!" Kari yelled and blinked in surprise at the volume of her voice.
"Yeah, it is."
"How do you know, Auttie?" Jun asked. Wordlessly, Autumn lifted up her light pink hoodie and pulled on her t-shirt; the same shirt that Matt was wearing.
"…do you think Matt has any idea what he's wearing?" Mimi questioned and closed the magazine to give her full attention.
"Probably. It wouldn't surprise me any. But I'm willing to bet two Oreos that by the stroke of midnight, those two will kiss." Autumn set down two of the black and white cookies on a plate on the bed between her and Kari. Jun reached over to the food table and grabbed a chocolate fudge brownie filled with walnuts, dropping it on the plate with a 'slap!' sound.
"I bet a brownie that they'll kiss and admit their feelings for each other," she said in assurance. Mimi narrowed her eyes and grabbed four packages of M&Ms, spreading them out on the plate around the brownie and the cookies.
"I bet four mini-packs of M&Ms that they'll kiss, admit their feelings, and go further physically all by the stroke of midnight!" she grinned widely, turning to Kari with a smirk on her face, almost as if she was challenging the brunette to do better. Reaching into her pocket, Kari pulled out a box of strawberry-flavored pocky and her beloved strawberry lip gloss along with about 214 yen in coins, throwing all of the items onto the paper plate in the center of the bed.
"I bet all of this junk that they'll be an item by midnight tonight!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, arousing giggles from her companions. Suddenly a tanned hand reached out and snatched the plate and a low voice murmured from behind them.
"I bet I'm going to kill you all if you continue placing bets on what's going to happen tonight between me and my best friend." All four girls jumped and looked behind them, only to spot Tai glaring at them irately with an Oreo hanging out of his mouth.
"Oh come on, Tai…you can't tell me you wouldn't be ecstatic if any of that happened," Kari said to her brother with a nervous grin, seeing how he wasn't showing any signs of letting up his glare any time soon.
"While you're absolutely correct about that, Hikari, that doesn't mean you four can be placing bets. Also, you shouldn't even dare interfere just so one of you can win your bet. If you do, I will not hesitate to skin you alive in front of the rest of the squad. Have I made myself clear?" he glanced at each girl carefully, keeping his low tone in check so no one else could hear him.
"Crystal," all four of them replied together. Tai nodded once and walked away from them, taking the plate with him.
"Hey, give me my lip gloss!" Kari yelled in protest at her brother's retreating figure. Tai narrowed his eyes and took the tube off of his plate of food and money, throwing the item across the room into his sister's hand. He walked out of the room, assumingly back to his own room to find his blond friend.
"Kari, as much as I love your bro, there are times when he's really scary," Autumn breathed out as she watched Tai leave.
"What can I say, Tai's a psycho. Literally." Kari shoved the lip gloss into her pocket. "But anyway, I have a feeling something's going to go down tonight and I will so be the first one to know it!"
"You have to tell the rest of us then because it's only fair," Mimi informed her cheeky best friend as she continued watching the door.
"Don't they go back to the school on the third?" Jun asked as she bounced off of the bed, snatching some potato chips from the bowl on one of the tables.
"Yep. So to sum it up, we have three days, counting tonight I mean, to try and push them together. If we can't do it by then, it's all up to Tai," Kari said in reply and sighed.
"But don't you think Tai has everything under control? I mean really, it seems like he has Matt right where he wants him," Autumn pointed out.
"Seems like and actually having are two different things, Auttie-love. You should know that," another voice burst into the conversation. The four girls looked up and spotted Itami standing behind them, blowing bubbles from her wad of watermelon Bubblicious. "What are we talking about?" the purple-haired girl asked as she snapped another bubble. "Tai and Matt's wanna-be relationship?"
"Exactly," Mimi replied with a nod. Itami nodded in return and grinned.
"Tai has a plan."
"What?" Kari turned to look at her taller friend whose eyes twinkled with mischief.
"Tai has a plan. You can tell by the look in his eyes that tonight he's going to make his move. That and I overheard his phone conversation to Sora."
"When did he call her?" the petite brunette sat up to her full height and gave her undivided attention to Itami.
"Sometime this afternoon…or maybe it was yesterday. I don't know, point is, he was telling her that he has a good idea on how to bag the blond. But of course, he wouldn't come out and say it!" Itami huffed and sat on the floor in front of them.
"That means Sora already knows what's going on…" Kari stated thoughtfully, leaving the other four girls to nod in agreement. Getting off of the bed, Kari pulled TK's cell phone out of her pocket and held up two fingers. "I'll be right back," she said to her friends and headed out into the hall, dialing Sora's home phone number along the way. Sinking down to the floor, she settled herself on the plush carpet and let the phone ring once, twice, and then she answered.
"Moshi moshi, Takenouchi," Sora's voice chirped through the line.
"Sora, it's me, Kari. What's going on between Tai and Matt?" she wasted no time in beating around the bush.
"It's nice to hear from you too, Hikari."
"Sorry Sora, but this is really important!"
"What's so important, Yagami-girl?" Sora used her nickname for her younger friend and waited patiently until Kari calmed herself down.
"Something's going to happen tonight between Tai and Matt and Itami told me that she heard Tai talking to you on the phone sometime recent and that you knew the plan and I really wanna know!" the brown-eyed cheerleader proclaimed and slapped her hand down on the carpet, as if to emphasize her point.
"Chill out, Kar. I know you really want to know because you're worried about what Tai's getting himself into right?" Kari sighed again and closed her eyes, running a hand through her short hair.
"I'm not letting him set himself up for another Haru mishap. I'm just; no! He can't do that to himself again!"
"That's what I said to him too. But you know, somehow, Matt just doesn't seem like the type of person to be a Haru. I could tell right away that he was possessive of Tai and not the fake possessive either. And you know Tai's not going to listen to us anyway. He truly believes that Matt's not like Haru. He's fully convinced…but yeah, Tai told you about our first plan, didn't he?"
"I'm not sure," Kari answered truthfully. After all, her brother seemed to have a knack for thinking up new plans in the blink of an eye.
"Well the first plan was that when I went to go visit them, y'know that one week or so in November, I was going to act all clingy to Tai and basically test out Matt's reaction. We both realized he was becoming a little jealous, which made Tai happy to no end. Of course, he had to pretend like he didn't like me clinging to him and so that he could tell Matt he had no worries."
"So basically, it's the same plan he was having some of us do here. Only not."
"What?" Sora questioned and Kari could just imagine her staring into the phone with her eyebrow raised.
"He was being openly flirty with some of the girls on the squad and they complied to flirting back and that made Matt want Tai's attention and blah. I'm sure Tai's told you this. You two tell each other almost everything." Sora laughed at Kari's blunt statement.
"You're right, Tai did tell me. But he didn't tell me his plan for tonight. He just said he had a plan."
"In other words…"
"He's just going to bite the bullet and dive right in," Sora confirmed Kari's fears. Kari's eyes widened at the thought.
"That's not going to work! That never works, ever! Oh, he's so doomed!"
"Not necessarily. Every Friday, Tai sends me emails updating about his progress with Mr. Ishida and from what I'm reading, I think he stands a pretty good chance no matter what he does. Besides, that's pretty much what he did for Christmas." It was Kari's turn to stare into the phone and raise her eyebrow.
"What happened on Christmas?" Sora then realized she had said too much and laughed nervously.
"Um, he gave him a present. Listen Kari, I have to go, I'll talk to you later okay?"
"Wait, Sora!"
"Bye Hikari," Sora said and hung up the phone. Kari stared at the little silver device blankly before hanging up herself, indifferently shoving it back into the pocket of her jeans.
"Fine, if that's how those two wanna play it…let the games begin," she murmured to herself and stood on her own two feet, a sneaky little smile worming its way onto her face as she walked back towards the hotel room, just as Tai and Matt came around one corner with the CDs and Alice and Ai came around the other with the pizzas.
'This should be fun,' the brunette thought to herself with a smirk still planted on her face as she followed the others into the room. 'Most fun indeed.'
"Okay, what's next on our agenda for the last party of the year?" Mimi asked the others as she swallowed the last bite of her Hawaiian pizza (without the pineapple, mind you). Everybody was gathered up in a circle on the floor in front of the two beds, each with a paper plate in their lap and listening to a band called Stroke 9 in the background.
"Well, we have a few options," Jun said as she pulled out a list from under Alice's bed. Izumi leaned over and read over Jun's shoulder.
"Well, we have the options of playing I Never, Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare, or strip poker," the blonde girl said and looked up at the group once more.
"We are not playing Truth or Dare," Matt immediately protested.
"Why not?" Jun glanced over at the blond male.
"Hello!" Matt shouted and tugged at a lock of black hair that was slowly fading back to blond.
"Oh…well, what about the other three?" Autumn asked everyone.
"Let's play Spin first and then we can play I Never," Junpei suggested as he unwrapped a chocolate bar he grabbed from the table above him.
"What's I Never?" TK questioned from his place next to Kari. Matt shot his little brother a grateful look. At least he knew that he wasn't the only one who didn't have any idea.
"Normally, you play it with vodka but since we don't have any, we'll use marshmallows and whipped cream. Basically one person says something like, 'I've never eaten frog legs'. Anybody who has done so has to put a marshmallow in their mouth and a squirt of whipped cream," Kari explained to refresh the rules to everybody.
"Do you think it really should be a marshie and a squirt of whipped cream?" Mimi inquired and took a drink of her Sprite.
"Okay how about a marshmallow and when we run out of those, whipped cream," Kari compromised.
"Sounds fine, but I think we should skip Spin and just play I Never. We can play Spin later," Hirokazu interjected and snatched a chunk of Junpei's candy, much to the other boy's disapproval.
"You just don't like Spin because you never get kissed," Shiuchon giggled, causing Hirokazu to frown deeper.
"Maybe!"
"Oh please don't start, Kazu. Okay, Ai, grab the marshmallows. Everybody else, get ready," Kari directed the entire group, sending an evil eye to her brother who was completely oblivious of her master plan. Ai threw the package of marshmallows at Kari and they began to distribute them to each person in the room, one fluffy puff each.
"All right, so who's going to start?" Izumi questioned as she got comfortable on her stomach between Junpei and Takato.
"I will!" Itami volunteered and grinned widely, causing all nine males in the room to share identical scared looks. Ignoring their fear, Itami started the game.
"Okay, I've never made out with somebody on a see-saw," she said gleefully. Kari shot the violet-haired girl a murderous look and picked up her marshmallow, shoving it into her mouth and reaching for another. TK, Izumi, and Autumn followed in suit.
"You made out on a see-saw?" Tai raised both of his eyebrows at his sister. In turn, Kari shrugged casually and held her new marshmallow in her hand.
"Well, yeah. What's your point?" she asked him around a mouthful of sugary goodness. Tai shook his head and said no more.
"Okay, my turn," Autumn decided. "I've never gone skinny-dipping." Tai, Noriko, Alice, Ai, Itami, Takato, Hirokazu, TK, Jun, and Shiuchon all popped in their marshmallows, leaving the rest of the group to snicker while the retrieved new ones. Matt stared at Tai and his brother in shock but quickly got over it. It was just skinny-dipping, who cares?
"Me next," Izumi said and smiled at the group. "Okay, I've never egged somebody's house before." Matt was the only one who shoved his marshmallow into his mouth.
"Who's house?" Tai questioned his best buddy while handing him a new marshmallow.
"My eighth grade science teacher's," the blonde replied simply, leaving no room for anymore questions.
The game continued on, going around the circle slowly. So far, Tai, Izumi, Autumn, Kari, Matt, and Jun had the most marshmallows in their mouth, followed shortly by Hirokazu and Itami. It was Kari's turn to say 'I never' and she knew just what to say.
"I've never had a crush on somebody of the same sex," she said almost gleefully, knowing who was going to eat their marshmallow. Itami placed hers inside her cheek next to the other ones with no shame, followed by Tai doing the same at a slower rate. Matt's eyes widened and Kari leaned back, waiting for the scene to play out.
"I thought you said you weren't gay…" the blond trailed off, his large blue eyes examining Tai's facial expression closely.
"And I told you the truth. I'm not," Tai shot back coolly, beginning to think of ways to harm Kari in her sleep.
"But yo-you just ate your marshmallow and…what the heck, Tai!"
"Uh, it's called being bisexual, dude. Chill out."
"Chill out? Tai how do you really expect me to chill out! Why didn't you just tell me that you were bi when I asked you this afternoon?" Matt ranted on. Tai's head snapped up and he bore his brown eyes straight into Matt's, causing a shiver to run up the pale boy's spine.
"You didn't ask me if I was bi. You asked if I was gay. Two different things, two different answers, deal with it," Tai said sharply and ended the discussion. All eyes were trained on the tan boy, watching to see if the time bomb within him would go off. Tai sighed and dropped his new marshmallow on the floor.
"Whatever, can we just play something else? I don't think I want to keep playing I Never," he informed the group sourly.
"Sure. Anybody up for strip poker?" Hirokazu suggested with a wink.
"Perv!" Mimi shouted and threw a pillow at the back of his head.
"Ow, hey!" The group laughed and the party resumed back to its light, airy atmosphere. Everybody started talking and laughing, drawing their attention away from Matt and Tai and onto the deck of cards Hirokazu held in his hand. Cobalt eyes flickered up to the form of his best friend who was sitting perfectly still, staring darkly off into space.
'Way to go you freakin' idiot. You made him mad. But seriously, it's a little weird to suddenly find out your best friend is bisexual after living with him for the past three months. But still…it's Tai. It's not like it's something totally unexpected.' Matt sighed to himself and clutched the marshmallow in his hand, squeezing the life out of it easily.
'Oh well…at least he can be truthful to everybody in the room.' The blond shrugged and looked around the room. He noticed that everybody was already absorbed into the game of poker taking place and watching how Mimi removed her necklace and Izumi lost her shoes. Without a second thought, Matt placed the marshmallow in his mouth, chewing on it carefully and quietly, thinking he had gotten away with the act unnoticed.
Too bad he didn't notice a pair of brown eyes staring straight at him. Brown eyes that had witnessed the event and brown eyes that were now lit up with inspiration.
"Hey, wanna get out of here?" Matt looked up at the sound of the voice. Hovering above him was Tai, looking less dangerous then he had earlier that evening.
"Huh?"
"I said, wanna get out of here? I don't know about you, but I'm really not up for another game of Truth or Dare," the Japanese boy explained and gently poked his bellybutton.
"Sore?" Matt smirked and jumped to his feet, walking out of the room with Tai following him.
"Yeah, it wasn't a few days ago. I just hope it's not like, infected or anything. Mom would slaughter me." Tai winced when he brushed his fingers against a tender spot.
"Lemme see."
"What?" Tai blinked in surprise.
"Let me see it. I can tell if it's infected or not," the blond explained. Tai stopped walking in the middle of the hall and lifted his shirt slightly, albeit reluctantly. Matt crouched down so that he was eye-level with Tai's navel, prodding and examining the hole in his friend's body.
"It looks fine, just a little raw, which is totally normal. You're fine," Matt reassured the brunet and stood at his original height once more. Tai pulled his shirt back down and the pair stepped into the elevator. Not really caring, Matt pressed a random button and the lift began to descend. Tai continued to fiddle with the hem of his shirt and Matt drummed his fingers against the railing on the wall.
"How do you know about stuff like that?" Tai's quiet voice broke through the awkward silence. Blue eyes fixated on him while he continued being fascinated with his feet.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean like, how do you know about piercing infections and stuff?" Matt gave off a half-shrug and the elevator dinged, announcing that the two boys had arrived at the lobby.
"One of the guys I used to hang out with owned a piercing parlor," the blond said half-heartedly at the two of them walked out of the area.
"I thought you said you didn't have any friends?" Tai blinked and followed his American comrade.
"Did I say friend? I said guy that I used to hang out with. There is a difference," Matt informed him. Tai nodded absently and they continued walking, vaguely registering that the noise level was slowly increasing as they kept moving.
"Are we friends?" the brunet suddenly pulled out of nowhere. Matt blinked at the question and rewarded Tai with a lopsided grin.
"Of course we're friends. Why?"
"Because of the way you reacted when you found out I was bi."
"Well shit, Tai! You just flippin' sprung it up on me! What did you really expect?"
"I don't know, maybe I thought you wouldn't think so much of it!" Tai fought back as they entered a large ballroom. It was crowded with executives in black suits and cocktail dresses. An orchestra was at the front of the room, playing melodic music as couples danced across the floor gracefully. Food lined the walls of the room and waiters ran around with trays of drinks on their hands.
"Of course I'm going to think so much of it!" Matt shouted again. The music and conversation was loud enough to cover their shouting as they weaved their way through the crowd.
"Are you like a damn homophobe or something?" the brunet questioned as he stopped walking, leaning against the wall behind him.
"No! For crying out loud, Tai, it was just so unexpected! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Matt cried out angrily, banging his fist back against the wall right by Tai's head. Tai opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by someone clearing their throat.
"I hate to interrupt, but you gentlemen seem like you could use a few drinks," a cool voice said from behind them. Matt turned his head and spotted a young man dressed in a tuxedo with a silver tray balancing on one hand, champagne glasses adorning it. His chin-length crimson hair was bright under the lights and his ice-colored eyes smirked at the two teens.
"Uh, no thanks," Tai said and began to push the man away. However, Matt had a different idea. Swiftly reaching behind him, he grabbed a glass of champagne from the tray and downed it in one go. Licking his lips, he grabbed another.
"Thank you, that will be all," the blond dismissed the waiter. Flipping his hair behind his ear, which was decorated with many earrings, the waiter nodded and winked.
"No problem," he replied and began to walk away. "Yamato," he said quietly and teasingly, only loud enough for said boy to hear. Eyebrows shooting up, Matt turned around to face the waiter, only to find he was gone.
'Akira?' the young teen blinked and looked around, searching for a sign that it was indeed the driver that had just given him alcohol. Shrugging to himself, he began to sip his second drink and turned his attention back to Tai, who by this point was absolutely fuming.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? You're too young to be drinking alcohol!" the mud-eyed boy exploded, waving his arms frantically.
"Relax, Tai. It's no big deal, it's just champagne. Champagne won't mess you up," Matt calmly explained as he finished off his second glass.
"That's what you think," Tai whispered under his breath. He cleared his throat and spoke a bit louder. "Anyway, back to the subject at hand!"
"Tai, can we not talk about it right now? It's New Year's Eve. Time to celebrate, not argue," Matt pointed out as he grabbed another glass of champagne from a tray passing by.
"No, I am not letting you intoxicate yourself. I think we need to discuss this whole thing while your head is clear," Tai said firmly and reached up to grab the wine glass. Matt swiftly dodged the Japanese boy and drank the bubbling liquid quickly, handing Tai the now empty glass.
"Honestly, Tai, you worry too much. Relax!" It was obvious that the bubbles were already going to Matt's head as his blue eyes darted around the room. Spotting another waiter, he bounced up to them and took a glass off of the platter in the server's hand.
"Do you even realize what you're doing?" Tai shouted at his friend as he came jogging up behind him. Matt shrugged and swallowed half of the glass.
"Easy there, killer. Your New Year's won't be much fun if you drink until you pass out," the waiter spoke from above them. Two pairs of eyes ascended until they reached the face of a teen with blue hair and an earring in his left ear. Matt blinked slowly and stared at the other blue-eyed male.
"Hey, I know you…" he said slowly as he continued to examine the bluenette.
"Don't you work at the restaurant?" Tai asked, keeping one worried eye on his best friend who was currently staring at Arial's earring in fascination.
"Yes, and because I work at the restaurant, I was placed here for the evening. What's going on with you two and aren't you a little young to be drinking?" Arial raised his eyebrow at the blond who merely giggled.
"The guy with bloody hair gave it to him," Tai explained agitatedly, glaring daggers at the man he was talking about, who was currently coming closer to them.
"Huh?" Arial looked up and spotted the other waiter charging at him at a rapid pace. Bracing himself for the attack, Arial had about three seconds before the red-head crashed into him head-long, sending both them and their trays of drinks flying into Tai and Matt.
"Ari!" the other boy chirped and rewarded the bluenette with a wet and sloppy kiss.
"Gross! 'Kira, don't do that!" Arial attempted to scowl but couldn't help chuckling as he sat up. Champagne dripped into Matt's eyes as he stared at the red-head nuzzling Arial's cheek.
"You!" he exclaimed, pointing an index finger at the driver.
"Hello!" Akira waved cheerfully. Arial looked back and forward between the two younger teens and Akira.
"Do you guys know each other?" Akira nodded enthusiastically.
"Uh-huh! Yamato, the blond one, attends the academy I told you I work for on the side! I don't know who the other dude is though," the blue-eyed boy said suddenly and blinked at Tai.
"Tai goes to school too," Matt informed them, still amused by the fact that he and Tai were drenched in the sticky, bubbly liquid. Arial and Akira nodded in unison.
"Well, in that case, Yamato, meet my boyfriend Arial! I don't know how you know him already but you better keep your hands off!" Akira smiled cheekily and hugged Arial tightly.
"These two, along with three of the cheerleaders and another blond boy, came into the restaurant today," Arial explained, fighting off a blush that was forming from Akira's showering affection.
"Oh, okay!" Tai shook his head at Akira's carefree attitude and grinned slightly.
"Okay well, we better get going…this isn't even our party. Nice seeing you and meeting you and stuff and yeah, uh…bye," the brunet trailed off and waved, walking away with his arm linked with Matt's. The American boy didn't seem to be fazed by this and waved bye-bye to the two older waiters.
"Tai-Tai, I wanna go swimming. I'm all sticky," the blond whined and began to drag Tai in the opposite direction of the elevator.
"Whoa, uh, Matt? I don't think that's a good idea, man. You could like, drown?" Tai tried to rack his brain for some excuse not to let his friend go to the pool, but all he could think about was how the last part of Matt's sentence could be taken in two ways.
"Silly Tai! I won't drown, I swim better than you," Matt cooed and continued pulling his friend behind him as they turned down the hall to the pool room.
"Seriously dude, this is definitely not a good idea," Tai continued to say as the hallway got darker and darker. Sneaking a glance at his watch, he saw that it was just barely a quarter past nine in the evening.
'What have I gotten myself into? He's seriously going to end up hurting himself or something.' The brunet inwardly sighed and tried ripping his arm from Matt's vice-like grip.
"I think you're just scared," Matt said vaguely as he turned down another hallway with Tai still in tow. That got his attention.
"Scared of what?"
"Everything," the blond replied and the two boys walked into the pool room. The underwater light was bright beneath the clear surface and the moonlight shone through the windows surrounding the area. Not even bothering to strip his shirt, Matt jumped right into the pool, splashing his darker companion with water droplets. Shaking water from his hair, Tai scanned the bottom of the pool, seeing no signs of his friend.
"Great, we haven't even been here for two minutes and I've already lost him," the brunet said to himself as he continued searching.
"Hey Tai! Over here!" Matt shouted from the other end of the pool. Tai blinked in surprise. How the pale boy managed to get to the other side of the pool without him noticing was beyond him. But there Matt was, swimming around like a duck just as happy as could be.
"What are you doing over there?" Tai asked his friend and walked towards the other end, stepping in puddles along the way.
"I swam!" Matt announced proudly and ducked under the water, doing a back flip before popping back up.
"So I see," Tai replied and crouched down, balancing himself on the edge of the pool. Matt nodded again and smiled.
"Get in," he said, motioning for Tai to jump in next to him.
"Are you crazy? I'm dressed in my favorite jeans and a cool t-shirt and-ack!" Tai didn't get to finish his sentence as he was tugged forward and fell into the water headfirst. He heard the sound of Matt giggling somewhere off in the distance when he emerged from the water, growling at his slightly tipsy friend. Deciding that it didn't matter now that he was wet, he swam off in the direction he heard Matt's laughter.
"Oh Matt…come out, come out, wherever you are," he called out softly, slowly paddling towards the water cove they had discovered their first day there.
"Come and catch me," Matt's voice rang out in a sing-song tone, somewhere inside said water cove.
'Great, just what I need; water-sex.' Tai shook his head and swam forward, following the path into the cave where he found Matt leaning against one of the rocks, admiring the view around him.
"You know what I've realized?" he said calmly, never taking his eyes off of the roof of the area.
"What?" Tai questioned as he moved over towards the other boy.
"After a few bubbles, I'm a lot more like you, and you're a lot more like me." Matt shook his hair out, causing it to poof out instead of stick straight up.
"I didn't even drink anything though," Tai pointed out. By this point, he was standing in front of his friend, staring into his eyes. The normally calm cobalt eyes were now dancing with excitement and darting around all over the place, mainly all over Tai's body. Matt licked his lips and smiled slightly.
"Exactly."
"Huh?" Tai quirked up an eyebrow, coming to the conclusion that his friend was making no sense. Obviously.
"You need to share the taste of champagne," the lighter boy explained, waving his hand vaguely in the air.
"And how do you suggest I do that?" Tai inquired, quite curious to hear what wacky idea Matt had come up with in his screwy state of mind.
"Kiss me."
"What?" Tai's eyes widened ten times their normal size. Whatever he had been thinking Matt was going to say, that most certainly wasn't it. That wasn't even close to what he had been thinking Matt would say.
"Kiss me," the blond repeated himself.
"Matt, I'm not going to kiss you! You don't know what you're talking about and I'm not going to take advantage of you and-"
"Blah, blah, blah. Tai, I don't care. Just kiss me before I change my mind," Matt demanded, pulling Tai closer to him by his necklace.
"Don't break it!" Tai yelped and pulled the other boy's fist off of his jewelry. Blue eyes blinked at the reaction and stared at the necklace.
"Sorry…" Matt trailed off, lowering his eyes back to the water. "I just thought…"
"No! Matt that's not it! I just…it wouldn't be right…you're not in your right mind." Tai moved closer to his comrade and leaned his forehead against Matt's, closing his eyes with a sigh. "Look, no matter how much I want to, I just can't. Not when you're so out of it and you don't know what you're saying."
"Tai, shut up! I know exactly what I'm saying okay? Just do it!" the American boy exclaimed, causing Tai's eyes to fly open. Staring into the depths of brown, he could see that Tai was fighting his own internal battle, struggling with the decision that was placed before him.
'I don't know what to do. Like I told him, I really want to kiss him, but I don't know. It just feels so…wrong, knowing that he's totally screwed up from the bubbles.' Tai looked back into his friend's eyes, eyes that were filled with longing and amusement. A pale pink tongue darted out between dry lips, licking them slowly. Tai shook his head furiously and sighed again.
'Well, I suppose that he's not going to remember any of this in the morning, so it couldn't hurt, right?' the brunet shrugged to himself and leaned forward, capturing the blond's lips with his own. Not at all surprised by Tai's decision, Matt reached up and put his hand behind the tanned neck, bringing his friend even closer to him as his eyes fluttered shut. Tai continued leading the kiss, using one hand to brush fingertips up and down Matt's spine while using the other to push the boy down on the rocks behind them. Matt gently bit on Tai's lower lip, although it must have been too hard for he managed to draw blood.
'Okay, so maybe it could hurt. But it's so worth it.' Tai ran his tongue over his lip before tracing the outline of Matt's, begging for entrance into the unknown crevice of the other boy's mouth. Knowing very well what Tai was trying to do, Matt obliged wordlessly and parted his lips, acknowledging the warm and wet feeling as the tanned boy's tongue darted into his mouth. He felt his knees grow weak and leaned back against the rocks for support, feeling Tai's hand continue to tickle his spine, icy-cold fingers sending all kinds of sensations soaring through his body. Tai continued to deepen the kiss, examining every dark undiscovered area of Matt's mouth and causing the other boy to feel light-headed and dizzy. Regretfully, the submissive pushed the dominant away and rubbed his temples.
"Wow," he breathed out, shaking off the woozy feeling he was getting.
"You okay?" Tai tilted his head sideway, panting to catch his breath.
"Yeah, fine. Just kind of dizzy…must be from the champagne." Matt smiled weakly, pushing himself away from the rocks.
"Probably. Wanna head back up to our room?" Tai suggested, already leading his companion out of the water cove and into the regular pool area.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea actually," Matt agreed and followed the boy with the thick mass of hair. Guiding the slightly drunken one through the water, Tai pulled both of them out of the pool, soaked clothing and all. Not bothering to stop long enough to dry off, Tai and Matt crept down the hall and jumped into the elevator, pressing the button to ride up to their floor. They stood on opposite sides of the squared lift, occasionally sneaking glances at one another. The entire ride up was silent, each boy lost in his own thoughts. However, the thoughts were very similar and very unexpected.
'Oh God, what have I done?'
Tai reached into his wet back pocket and pulled out the room key, sliding it into the slot. The green light lit up and the door swung open, allowing the pair entrance. Matt walked in after Tai and shut the door behind him, immediately stripping his shirt off and tossing it into the bathtub.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Tai questioned as he watched his friend remove his jeans as well.
"Well, I don't particularly like the feeling of being wet, so I'm changing into some dry clothes. Is that a problem?" Matt looked up from the drawer his clothing was in, a clean pair of boxers and wife-beater in hand.
"No, not really," Tai replied and walked over to his own drawer of clothing, pulling out an outfit similar to Matt's. The blue-eyed boy ducked into the bathroom to change, leaving Tai to just strip and change in the middle of the bedroom. He had just finished tugging on his shirt when Matt came out, toweling his hair dry. He started walking towards the bed but tripped over his own foot, sending himself flying onto the carpet below him.
"Matt! Are you okay?" Tai asked in alarm, rushing over to where his friend was sprawled out. The only response he got was another fit of giggles. Tai snorted on his own laughter and pulled Matt up by one skinny arm, dragging the other boy over to the bed and dropping him on it.
"You're easily amused aren't you?" he asked rhetorically as he stepped across the room to his bag, rummaging around inside of it.
"You bet!" Matt chirped and laughed again. Suddenly his face went somber and he stared at Tai's back. "Why do you hate clowns?" Tai froze in his movements and looked over his shoulder, blinking at the innocent bubbly boy bouncing on their bed.
"Excuse me?"
"Why do you hate clowns?" Matt repeated himself. Tai swallowed a lump in his throat and coughed.
"Um, well…" he began, trying to find a good excuse. If Matt knew the real reason why he was afraid of clowns, he wouldn't let him live it down.
'On the other hand…' Tai ran through his thought process as he watched Matt pull feathers out of the pillow, blowing them up in the air and clapping his hands. Swooping down, he grabbed an old sketchpad from his canvas bag and shuffled back over to the bed, sitting on the covers next to the temporarily-wasted boy.
"You really want to know why I hate clowns?" he questioned the blond, holding the sketchbook firmly in his lap. Matt nodded enthusiastically and squinted at the book. Tai sighed quietly and opened the book, turning the pages slowly. "Promise not to laugh?" he asked as an afterthought.
"Why would I laugh?" Matt blinked at the question and watched with fascination as his friend passed over pages and pages of colors and lines. Tai didn't answer as he stopped on a page, handing the pad over to Matt wordlessly. Matt could feel his jaw drop as he stared at the strange drawing in front of his eyes.
Drawn out in black ink and colored with colored pencils was what was obviously a clown; however, this was an evil clown. Half of its face was black and the other was white, only to his nose and then the rest of his face was white. A red heart was drawn at the top of the white area, right near the skull. The clown had what seemed to be a flame for hair, sticking straight up like a volcanic eruption. Dressed in a long red overcoat with a white ruffled collar and puffy white wrists, green pants, and yellow boots that came up to his knees, the clown was in a fighting stance, holding onto four swords with his white-gloved hands. Two blue ribbons came up from behind his back, sort of like a pair wings and a demonic smirk adorned the mime-like face. Tai had drawn many little details on the clown's outfits, everything from the gray skulls on the shoulder of the jacket to the yellow buckles on the pant legs.
"Whoa…" Tai nodded and pointed at the clown.
"That's Piedmon," he said quietly. Matt looked away from the drawing and at his friend instead.
"Piedmon?" he mimicked the other boy. Tai nodded and leaned against the headboard.
"Yep. Remember when I told you that I heard a voice telling me to do stuff, before I found out I was schizo?" It was Matt's turn to nod and motioned for Tai to continue. "Well, it was Piedmon talking to me. I heard his voice and I just imagined what the face would look like. That's what I came up with. That's why I'm afraid of clowns. Because clowns cause me to do bad things." Matt was doing his best not to burst into giggles again.
"Tai, please don't be offended if I start to laugh, blame the alcohol. But really, you're afraid of clowns because of a drawing?"
Tai frowned at his friend's obvious amusement. "I knew it was a bad idea to tell you," he said harshly and ripped the book away from Matt's hand.
"Hey now, I wasn't done!" Matt protested and took the book back, flipping through the pages on his own. "Besides, that clown was pretty freaky. But still." He stopped on a page with a little orange dinosaur on it, staring at Matt with bright green eyes and a ball of fire shooting out from his mouth. "So what's that?" Tai looked over Matt's shoulder and a small smile came to his face, anger fading away from the Piedmon explanation.
"That's Agumon. I always wanted a pet, so I thought a dinosaur would be cool." Matt turned the page and revealed a white little kitten, only it wasn't a normal kitten. This kitten had large green gloves on her front paws and a purple-striped tail two times the size of her body, adorned with a golden tail ring and a purple tip, much like the purple tips on her ears.
"And that?" he asked and pointed at the kitten's bright blue eyes.
"That's Tailmon. That was when I wanted a cooler cat because I didn't like my sister's." Matt nodded and turned the page again. The only way to describe the next drawing was a blue Saint Bernard with a yellow horn on its forehead, a yellow stomach, and purple claws on its hands.
"And that?"
"That's Gabumon. I wanted a dog but I wanted a cool dog that shot out ice breath," Tai explained.
"Why do they all end with mon?"
"Mon is short for monster. And it sounds retarded to say Piedmonster, Agumonster, Tailmonster, Gabumonster, and anything monster. Mon just sounds cooler."
"You're right, it does," Matt agreed and continued looking through the book. He found a little pink bird named Biyomon, a red bug-like thing called Tentomon, a little orange and white pig with bat wings named Patamon, a white and purple seal with a reddish-orange mohawk called Gomamon, a plant-humanoid thing called Palmon, a light blue dinosaur thinner then Agumon named V-mon, a little hawk with a headband attached to it named Hawkmon, an armadillo (or at least what he thought was an armadillo) called, what else, Armadillomon, and last but not least, a little green caterpillar named Wormmon.
"You really do have an over-active imagination don't you?" Matt stated rather then asked as he closed the book on a pink cannonball with wings named Piximon.
"Yeah, I guess so. They may not be real to anybody else, but they seem real to me. I know that sounds weird but it's true." Tai shrugged and tossed the book back over by his bag. Matt nodded, only half-understanding what Tai meant.
"So like, can you hear all of their voices?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Most of the time. I've only heard Piximon speak once and I hear the others from time to time. But the ones I hear the most are Agumon and Tailmon. After those two, I hear Gabumon the most."
"That's so…I don't know, Tai. That's just kind of weird."
"Well, I'm crazy. I have an excuse, remember?"
"This is true." Matt glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. "Hey, it's 11. Want to head back over to our original party to ring in the New Year?"
"Let's go!" Tai bounced off of the bed, shortly followed by Matt who quickly sprinted for the door. Tai's eyes widened and he chased after the blond, calling out to him from the doorway.
"Yama?"
"What?"
"Put some pants on, you crazy drunk!" Matt looked down and noticed that indeed, he was only sporting his Scooby Doo boxers.
"Oops."
Fully dressed once more, the boy arrived back at the party room by 11:15 where a good game of Twister was going and one of Matt's blink182 CDs was playing.
"There you guys are! We were wondering where you had gotten off to!" Mimi practically pounced on them, causing everyone around her on the game mat to fall over.
"Mimi!" Jun whined as she pushed Takato's elbow out of her face.
"Thanks a ton, Meems," Autumn grumbled as she and Hirokazu tried to untangle themselves.
"Sorry. But they came back!" the strawberry-blonde pointed at Tai and Matt who were still standing in the doorway. Kari looked up from the stereo and grinned.
"Hey guys, welcome back!" Tai returned the grin, feeling less like killing her now.
"What did we miss?" the brunet asked, leading his friend into the room after him and sitting on the floor in the circle the group had formed.
"Nothing, just an interesting game of TOD and Izumi losing at strip poker, badly I might add." Hirokazu smiled wickedly.
"Shut up, Kazu," Izumi shot back instantly and it was then that the two boys realized she was just sitting there in here lavender-colored bra. They each gave her a skeptical look before she started to explain.
"Somehow, I lost my shirt somewhere in the room and part of a dare I had was I couldn't have it back until the party was over."
"Oh. Makes sense," Matt replied and stretched out, leaning his back against Tai's shoulder.
"So, now that these two are back, who's up for a game of Spin the Bottle?" Kari waved the empty glass bottle around in the air. Several nods and verbal responses arose and Kari plopped herself down in the circle, setting the bottle in the middle.
"Okay, who's going to start?" the younger Yagami asked and looked around the circle.
"I will," Izumi volunteered and reached out, spinning the bottle around on the carpet. It soon stopped on Junpei, who was sitting across from her in the circle. Izumi blinked in surprise and Junpei stared back at her, giving her an awkward grin.
"Uh, Zu, you don't have to kiss me if you don't wanna, I understand," he began to say as Izumi crawled across the circle.
"No way, Junpei. That's how the game is played!" she remarked and placed a quick kiss on his lips, scooting back to her original spot. Junpei nodded mutely and spun the bottle, obviously still in shock that the blonde girl had gone through with it. The bottle landed on Autumn and after a quick kiss, the red head spun.
The game continued, some people kissing who they wanted to be kissed by (TK and Kari for example) and some kissing who they didn't want to be touched by at all (such as Mimi and Hirokazu). It was then Matt's turn to spin the bottle. The American boy stretched his arm and spun the glass lazily, watching it go around and around. It landed on Kari, who was sitting on Tai's right. Quickly glancing around to make sure she wasn't being watched, she "accidentally" kicked the bottle, forcing it to point at Tai.
"Well, look at that!" she said loudly, bringing all attention back to the bottle. Giving her brother a triumphant look, she glanced over at Matt and smiled.
"Pucker up, Matt!"
"Wait a second, are you sure Kari? They're both guys," Ai began to protest.
"So? Itami kissed me and we're both girls and I didn't really like it but I went with it. Besides, it doesn't mean they have to make-out, just a quick kiss," Alice pointed out. Kari nodded her agreement.
"Exactly, so hurry up boys!" Tai rolled his eyes at his sister's obvious enthusiasm and looked at Matt. The other boy shrugged and leaned in towards Tai, leaving the brunet to close the gap between them. It was quiet as they stayed like that, lips pressed against lips. Matt soon initiated an open-mouthed kiss, followed by Tai's eager cooperation and gasps and hushed whispers from their friends. Matt didn't seem to notice as he continued to go further, pressing himself further into Tai. It wasn't until Matt tried slipping some tongue that Tai pulled away.
"Wow, okay, I think that's enough," he said and gently pushed Matt away. The blond gave him a semi-hurt and confused look, puzzled as to why Tai pushed him away now when he had been so excited about it the first time down in the pool. Tai gave the boy a quick wink and looked at his watch.
"Hey, check it out, we have five minutes until midnight," he announced to the group.
"Cool!" Jun squealed and bounced off of the floor, ripping all of the noisemakers and confetti out of the closet. Passing them out to each person in the room, she pulled up the blinds to reveal the night sky.
"I heard Kyoto has a pretty fireworks display at midnight," Noriko commented as she tested out her noisemaker.
"Cool, I love fireworks!" Junpei grinned and trotted over to the window, leaning out to get a better view.
"Anybody have any resolutions for the New Year?" Alice questioned and sat on the bed next to Autumn.
"Ooh, I do! Mine is to get my parents to let me dye my hair pink!" Mimi bounced around the room, flinging little handfuls of confetti everywhere.
"Mine is to keep a good relationship with 'Keru," Kari said and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend who nodded.
"Same with me, only, keep a good relationship with Kari, not with myself."
"Well duh, TK," Tai laughed at the younger blond.
"Okay Tai, so what's your resolution?" Jun challenged the brunet.
"Easy! Land a hot boy for myself!" he announced with no shame, knowing very well that Matt knew Tai was referring to him.
"And Matt's?" Itami looked over to the older blond boy. Matt racked his brain for any resolutions, coming up with none.
"Well I-"
"Hey guys, countdown!" Shiuchon interrupted him and pointed at the clock. In unison, they began to count.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, Happy New Year!" they all shouted and threw their confetti. Noisemakers went off and fireworks lit the sky. While everyone was distracted with the commotion outside, Tai stole another kiss from Matt.
"What was that for?" the American boy licked his lips, still tasting Tai on him.
"What? It's tradition to kiss somebody on midnight you know," Tai said with another grin and pulled Matt over to the window, throwing both of them into the celebration of the evening. Shortly after, Matt tugged on Tai's sleeve. The other boy looked over to him.
"What's up?"
"Tai, are things going to change?"
"Probably."
"But we'll be friends still, right?" The blond nervously bit his lip.
"Of course. Would I ever stop being your friend, Yama? Seriously."
"...no."
"Exactly."
"Do you promise?"
"What?"
"Do you promise we'll stay friends?" Tai stared at the pretty blue eyes, seeing that look of longing in them once more. That was all it took for him to know that Matt was serious. Leaning closer to him, he cupped Matt's face into his hand and kissed his ear, whispering into it softly.
"I promise." And that was all that it took for Matt to trust him.
After partying for most of the evening, the two boys had crawled into bed around 3am. The next morning, sunshine hit Tai's face brightly, alerting him that the day had started. With a slight groan, he rolled over and felt…empty space. His eyes shot wide open and looked beside him, finding the space Matt had occupied only hours earlier vacant. Sitting up in the bed, Tai looked around for any sign of his best friend. He quietly sneaked out of bed, tiptoeing over to the bathroom door. He was about to knock when he heard something from inside. Lowering his fist, he pressed an ear to the door and listened closely. From inside, he could hear quiet cries and a small voice whispering the same word over and over again.
"Why? Why oh why oh why?" Tai swallowed his spit and stared at the door in horror, listening to his roommate continue to cry and repeat his mantra. Sinking to the floor, he continued to listen as Matt's sobs grew louder and the answer came to him in a flash, not even needing to ask to know he was right. It didn't take a genius to figure it out.
Matt woke up that morning and he remembered everything fromthe previousnight.
Again, it's edited. Woot-ness, right? This chapter was pretty fun to write too. I love editing these, so many memories.
Thanks to: DarkMetalAngel of Destruction, Tsuki no Lomelinde, SnakeMistress, Octavo, DawnAurilain, Chibi Yamachi Neko, Prozacfairy, Kaiya5, Dreamcrafter, Kaizin , Crushed Lily, Black Mirror, Melissa-T, SelenaWheeler, Rabid Tyson Foxflame fanboy (aka: Burning A.), Dreamer, angel-demoness7, Lugga, nEo, LuV2Writ3, Sovereign of Silence3, JohnneyAntonelli, Mystery, CrimsonAnjel, Rika, Mrpointyhorns, hikkix2, essenceofthedark, Tammy, Yagami Yamato, missa1, Prince Izzy X, and YugiYamiforever.