Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: Matt and Tai definitely have a few things to work out! Here's the next chapter!

My Best Friend's Girlfriend

Chapter 26: The Crest of Courage

Tai Kamiya

"Yolei, for the last time, would you please leave me alone? I'm not going to tell you anything, so quit bugging me!" Tai shouted, glaring at the lavender haired Digidestined who was following him down the hallway. "Why don't you go bother Mimi or something?"

"Mimi's avoiding me," Yolei sniffed, her amber eyes flashing with anger and annoyance. "Can you believe the nerve of that girl? I just want to know why she won't come anywhere near Sora!"

It's because she's in love with Matt, and she knows I'm in love with Sora, but if you think I'm going to tell you that, forget it!

Tai frowned and glanced impatiently at his female friend. "Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

Yolei muttered something under her breath and gave him a dirty look. "Tai, it's lunchtime. What do you think this period is for? Oh, forget it. You're such a guy. You'll never understand what I'm trying to say!"

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

Yolei elbowed him in the stomach and stuck her nose in the air. "You are coming to sit with us today, aren't you?"

Yes, but not because I want to.

Tai let out a sigh and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He had not seen Sora or Matt since the day before, but he knew he could not avoid them forever, and that was why he had decided to sit with his friends at lunch instead of hiding out in the locker room after gym class. He was hoping Matt and Sora would not show up, and then no one would be able to accuse him of being a coward.

What am I going to do? Matt knows I'm in love with his girlfriend, and sooner or later he's going to find out about Mimi, too. The same goes for Sora. She's never going to forgive me for keeping my feelings a secret from her, and I'm pretty sure she's never going to forgive Mimi for falling in love with her boyfriend, either. Well, I guess that's not really true. She probably would forgive Mimi, but that doesn't really mean anything. In the end, I'm pretty sure their friendship would still crumble into pieces because of the tension between them. Mimi's been keeping a huge secret from her best friend, and I don't think Sora's ever going to get over that no matter how many times she forgives Mimi. They're going to drift away from each other eventually, and I have a bad feeling the same thing is going to happen to the friendship I share with Matt...

Matt's actions the day before had given him hope, and for the first time since he had lied about his soccer game he had truly believed there was a chance their friendship would remain intact. Unfortunately he no longer felt that way, and it was all because of the nightmares he had suffered during the early hours of the morning before school. His dreams had been unpleasant, to say the least, and they had caused him to doubt his best friend and himself all over again.

If only there was some way I could make him understand...

"Yolei! Tai! What took you guys so long? I thought I was going to have to eat by myself today!"

Tai looked up and spotted Izzy sitting at their usual table in the centre of the room. The computer expert was waving his hands in the air in an attempt to get their attention, and there was a rather anxious expression on his face.

"Come on, let's get over there before Izzy's arms fall off!" Yolei sighed.

Tai allowed himself to be dragged over to the table and frowned when he realized Izzy was watching him nervously. "Hey, Izzy. What's up?"

Izzy avoided his eyes and shrugged. "Not much. I was just wondering where everyone was."

"Hey, you got your laptop back!" Yolei said, eyeing the portable computer Izzy was currently trying to hide behind.

"Um...yeah...Matt finally gave it to me in exchange for a little bit of advice."

Tai raised his eyebrows and sat down across from the computer expert. "I'm not even going to ask. Um...where are the others?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Izzy replied, watching him closely.

Tai blushed and lowered his gaze to the table. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Well, they'd better get here soon, or else!" Yolei shouted.

"Or else what?"

Tai jumped at the sound of Matt's voice and almost fell out of his seat. He twisted around in his chair and swallowed hard when he realized the blond was standing directly behind him. Matt's sapphire eyes were calm and cool, and the expression on his face was hard to read. He looked like he had slept through the whole night, and he did not appear to be the least bit concerned about Yolei's threat.

"Where have you been?" Yolei demanded, her eyebrows narrowing into a frown.

"Why does it matter?" Matt shot back. "Besides, I'm not staying."

Yolei crossed her arms and glared at the golden haired Digidestined. "Why not?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I need to talk to someone."

"Who?" Tai blurted before he could stop himself.

Matt's blue gaze came to rest on his face, and he held his breath.

"You," the blond said quietly.

I think I'm going to be sick...

"Matt, maybe-"

Matt held up his hand for silence, and Izzy quickly snapped his mouth shut. "Don't worry, Izzy, I'm not going to start shouting my head off, if that's what you're worried about."

"Are you sure? What happened with-"

"I'll tell you everything later," Matt replied, giving the computer expert a warm smile.

Tai glanced frantically towards the front of the cafeteria and sighed when he realized it was useless to try and make a run for it. The doors were too far away, and he had already made the power of his crest look bad enough as it was. Matt's right. He isn't going to yell at me. He's going to skip all of that and go straight to the part where he cuts me out of his life forever...

"What if I don't feel like talking?" he mumbled, avoiding his friend's eyes.

Matt smiled slightly and shrugged. "You don't have a choice, Tai. Come on."

"Hey wait! Where are Mimi and Sora?" Yolei shouted, poking Matt in the ribs to get his attention.

A strange look flashed across Matt's face, and he gazed thoughtfully at the table. "I think they're together, but I'm not sure. I hope everything's okay between them, wherever they are."

Tai let out a gasp and clapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from saying something really stupid. No way! Matt knows Mimi's in love with him? That's impossible. I'm the only one who knows her secret, and I definitely didn't tell anyone, especially my best friend! Unless...no, that's stupid. Mimi wouldn't have confessed her feelings to Matt. She cares about Sora a lot, and she would never do anything to ruin their friendship. Maybe it's something else...

"What's wrong?" Matt asked, looking concerned.

Tai blushed and gazed nervously at his hands. "Nothing," he mumbled.

"Well then what are you waiting for? Let's go before the bell rings and we run out of time to talk."

"Matt, your last class just ended not that long ago. There's plenty of time!" Yolei snorted.

Matt ignored her and held out his hand. "Are you coming?"

Tai sighed and finally nodded. "Alright."

He took Matt's hand, and the blond quickly pulled him to his feet. They made their way towards the cafeteria doors in silence, and luckily Yolei did not try to follow them.

That's a relief! The last thing we need is an audience!

"Where are we going?" he asked, glancing nervously over his shoulder.

"The music room. There won't be anyone in there right now, and it'll give us some privacy."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

A small smile slipped across Matt's face, and the blond shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out."

"Why do I feel like I'm on trial or something?" Tai muttered to himself. He followed Matt into the music room and sat down on a small, raised platform which was located at the back of the room. It was used as a stage for class performances, and often the music teacher would use it for his long dramatic speeches. According to Matt, Mr. Arishima was very fond of his own voice and loved to hear himself talk.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked, staring miserably at his feet.

Matt sat down next to him and leaned against the wall. "Do you really need to ask me that question?"

Tai found himself unable to look at his best friend, and he rested his forehead against his knees. "I never meant for any of this to happen," he choked out after a long moment of tense silence.

"Maybe not, but it did happen, and now we're going to have to figure out what to do about it," Matt said quietly.

Tai slowly lifted his head and gazed sadly at his best friend. "You really know, don't you."

He did not feel at all surprised when Matt finally nodded. The expression on the blond's face yesterday had already told him all he needed to know.

"Yes, I know, and I don't think it was really necessary for me to answer that question. I can read your emotions better than you think I can. Unfortunately I didn't catch on soon enough this time."

Tai squeezed his eyes shut and covered his face with his hands. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you would have an answer for me," Matt said softly. "How long have you been in love with her?"

Tai opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling without really seeing it. "I'm not sure. Maybe since the day I met her. She's amazing, and I've never felt the same way about any other girl before."

Matt moved closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He could feel the warmth of his friend's fingers through his shirt, and it made him feel slightly better.

"Why didn't you say anything?" the blond whispered.

"Matt..."

Matt quickly shook his head and took a deep breath. "No, Tai, I don't mean me. I mean Sora. Why didn't you ever say anything to her?"

Because I'm not as brave as you think I am.

"Tai-"

"I'm an idiot, that's why," he said shortly. "I was too afraid to ask her out because I thought she would turn me down. When I did finally work up the courage to tell her about my feelings, it was already too late."

Matt remained silent, and Tai let out a shaky laugh. "Pretty pathetic, huh? So much for the Crest of Courage. I didn't even have the guts to tell you. This is all my fault, you know. I'm the reason our friendship is falling to pieces. Now I've lost both of you, but I guess I deserve nothing less for being such a coward."

"You're not a coward, Tai," Matt said softly. "I probably wouldn't have asked Sora out either if she hadn't made the first move."

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still a coward. I should have told you, but I...I couldn't..."

Matt stared at him for a moment and sighed softly. "Tai, I'm not going to ask you why you didn't tell me about your feelings for Sora because I think I already know what you're going to say."

"Let me guess. My answer isn't good enough, is it."

"That depends on whether or not we really know each other as well as we think we do," Matt said slowly. "Do you believe you have a good enough reason for keeping such a huge secret from me?"

Tai leaned against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut again. His heart was pounding so fast he could barely concentrate on what his friend was saying, and his head felt like it was going to explode. For the first time in his life, he truly understood the meaning of the word fear. He had taken on Myotismon, the Dark Masters, and Apocalymon, and none of those digimon had scared him as much as the thought of losing his best friend did, despite the fact that the fate of two worlds had been at stake.

Even the incident with the firewall in Etemon's pyramid paled in comparison to the amount of fear he was currently struggling with. The only other time he had ever been so afraid was when Datamon had captured Sora. Unfortunately, back then, he had been too young to understand the depth of his fear, and it was only now that he realized just how frightened he had really been for Sora's safety.

I was right all along. Somehow Matt was able to figure out the truth, and I think it's because of something I said yesterday, but there's still one thing I don't understand. Why isn't he angry? I thought for sure he would start yelling at me, but he hasn't. In fact, he doesn't even look upset. What in the Digiworld is wrong with him? I just admitted I'm in love with his girlfriend! Maybe he really does understand after all...

Tai slowly turned to look at his best friend and managed a shaky smile."Matt, I know this is going to sound really corny, and I think I've said it before, but...um...you mean a lot to me, and I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you, either," Matt whispered, his sapphire eyes glittering under the fluorescent lights.

"Really?"

Tai studied the unreadable expression on his friend's face for a moment and frowned. Does that mean there's still a chance we can save our friendship?

"Tai, there's something I need to tell you, but first I want you to answer a few questions for me. You are going to give me some answers, aren't you? Oh, and Tai? No more lies, okay? I want the truth. You owe me that, at least."

Oh no...

Tai plastered a fake smile on his face and nodded. "Trust me, Matt, I've learned my lesson. No more lies. What did you want to ask me about?"

"I have tons of questions, but I'll get to the most important one first," Matt said after a brief moment of silence. "Do you believe we can still be friends after everything we've been through?"

Tai's eyes stung with sudden tears, and he gave his best friend a hesitant smile. He already knew what he was going to say, and hopefully his answer would be enough.