Disclaimer: Nope, still do not own them. If I had, they would have ended up together.
AN: This has actually been done for about a week, but editing it was kicking my butt. Also, I'm not happy with this chapter, but it works for what I want to do, even if the words didn't come the way I wanted them to. Of course, then there was being evil and refusing to upload it.
I would say that it might be close to a month and a half until my next update (at most), but don't hold me to that. I actually already started it, I just have to...do something else first. I started yet another story, but I also took about 4 days off in a row at work next month. Maybe I'll be able to do some writing. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter.
To all those who have reviewed - Thank you very much. It's so nice to see that people are enjoying the story, and it makes me feel as though I'm doing a good job, which gives me the motivation to keep trying. I still do not know how long this story will be, but I'm honestly hoping no more than 15 to 20 chapters.
Chapter Five
It had been three weeks and to Matt his relationship with Tai felt like it had been going nowhere. There were a few things about it that were bothering him, things that he wanted to address with the brunette, but for some reason never had the time to. He wasn't sure if it was because of his schedule or the brunette's schedule, but something would need to be done and done fast.
His gig three weeks ago had been a great success, and even though the band was no longer performing concerts together they still met and plotted music. Instead of concerts they would be producing a CD to start, having been offered a small deal by a tiny record label at their last performance.
He had been jubilant about this turn of events, if the CD did well enough then he would be able to move out into his own place from the proceeds made off the CD. Of course, he had known nothing would happen right away, not with his school and work schedule and everyone else being in another city. Things would take time and despite his band's pressure for him to drop out and work on the CD full time, he decided that finishing school, as dreary as it was, was more important.
Going to school also gave him a chance to see Tai. Although he definitely had not seen as much of him as he wanted to. Matt had thought that the night they shared together was the starting point of their relationship. He thought it would mean that there would be hand holding, kissing, little notes and dates. He had been sorely disappointed when he realized that Tai just didn't have time to do some of those things.
The last three weeks had been a series of 'catch me if you can' acts by Tai and admittedly by himself. First and foremost, Tai's time was extremely limited due to being grounded. Matt didn't even get to see him at work anymore, Tai had been forced to quit when his father had demanded that he be at home any time he wasn't at soccer practice, and had even gotten a list of the practice schedule so he could check up on Tai.
This meant that Tai had stopped working at The Grill, since his dad was unaware that he was employed. Matt could already see the stress not having a job was causing Tai, and instead of using that time to sleep and such (which Matt grew more concerned about day by day); he seemed to be brooding and agitated. Matt still didn't know what Tai did during that time at his house, and if his sister knew, she wasn't telling him. He had tried every form of bribery he knew to get the information too.
So things had been at a standstill in their relationship. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Matt knew that Tai wasn't comfortable with going public about their relationship. Sure, he would still kiss and hug Matt, but only when nobody was around. Which in a school environment, wasn't often.
Matt could feel his own frustrations building and decided to confront Tai on a number of things involving their relationship, and things about Tai that had him particularly worried. So he had sent Tai a note during first class that told him to meet on the roof of the school during their lunch hour and to come alone. The last thing he wanted was witnesses when he became a drama queen.
He was currently standing at the railing at the edge of the school roof waiting for Tai. He had brought their lunch from home that day, somewhat of a peace offering to Tai before he brought up all his concerns. While he was dreading the discussion on some level, he also knew that if things were left as they were then things between him and Tai would be over before they even started.
Hearing the door that led to the roof open, he turned around and watched as Tai emerged quietly. Tai was moving slowly, almost as if he sensed that he wasn't going to like the conversation, but still willing to come and see what the blond wanted.
Matt gave Tai a hesitant smile and wave and headed over to where he had set his backpack, pulling out their food.
Tai joined him, sitting across from him instead of beside him and started eating. He was looking anywhere but at Matt, and Matt found that extremely frustrating.
After eating in silence for almost ten minutes, Matt finally decided that he had been patient enough. If he didn't start talking now, then lunch would be over by the time they were able to resolve anything.
Matt took a deep breath and set down his bowl and waited for Tai to look at him. Once he had Tai's attention he got down to business. "Tai, a couple things have been bothering me, about our relationship and well, you."
Tai closed his eyes as if gathering his thoughts and then opened them and looked Matt squarely in the eye, "I knew you weren't happy with the way our relationship is evolving, and I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want to spend time with you, I do; it's just that I don't have enough time to devote solely to you and when I am with you I want to be able to give you my undivided attention." Tai shrugged and shifted his gaze off to the side, "I'm sorry, what more can I say?"
"You could say a lot more Tai. We almost slept together – I did things with you I swore I would never do again unless I was in a serious relationship. You slipped past all the guards I had set up for myself and now that you have I'm just supposed to act like nothing happened?" Matt had tried for the most part to keep the hurt out of his voice, instead focusing on his anger at the situation.
Tai wasn't fooled though, he knew that Matt was more upset than angry, but he didn't know what to do to make things better. "I don't want you to act like nothing happened. I still want to be together with you, it's just that I don't know if I can give you all the time and attention that you deserve. Is it really fair to you to ask you to walk me home, which is out of your way? Would it be fair to include you on trips with my family when you couldn't sit there and hold my hand in public like I know you want to? I can't even invite you over to my house because I'm so worried about doing something that would tip off to my father that I wasn't a perfectly straight human being." He looked at Matt pointedly.
Matt countered Tai's argument easily, "You think I would mind taking a whole 20 minutes out of my day to walk you home? You think I have to hold your hand everywhere we go? You think I don't have to will power to stop you from doing something that would tarnish the oh-so perfect image that you present to your family?"
"I don't know," Tai said quietly, "I don't really know who you are. We've only been dating three weeks Matt, and even before that we barely knew each other."
"Then why did you want to sleep with me? Why did you take it as far as you did unless you were willing to get to know me? It has to start somewhere Tai, I'm not just here for you to make out with and fool around with whenever you want," Matt's voice was wavering and he was blinking rapidly. Images of his freshman year floated before his eyes and his voice cracked as he whispered brokenly, "Am I just a piece of ass to you too?"
Tai's eyes widened as he heard what Matt said, and his heartbeat increased dramatically. "I don't think that at all Matt! I never did!" He got up and knelt in front of Matt, putting his hand under Matt's chin, forcing him to look up and meet his gaze. He swallowed hard when he saw the hurt in Matt's eyes, hurt that he had caused because he had been afraid of what other's would think. "You are not a piece of ass Matt, especially to me. I do want to get to know you better and I'm sorry that I pushed so far so fast."
Matt searched Tai's eyes almost as if trying to pull an unidentifiable emotion from them. Not seeing whatever he was looking for he gave a sad smile. "What is it that you want Tai? Do you want a boyfriend or a bud?"
Tai was silent for a moment and Matt could see him giving the question serious thought. Seeing that Tai was actually taking the time to think about it, instead of just saying the first thing that came to mind, eased Matt's worries just a bit. Normally someone would answer right away, but Tai was showing that he really cared since he was taking the time to think about it and answer truthfully.
Finally after what seemed like forever, but was probably only a moment or two Tai responded. "I want you as a boyfriend, Matt." He looked at Matt pleadingly. "I didn't try to sleep with you just because I wanted a piece of ass. I won't lie to you though, part of my interest in you stems from the fact that you are attractive."
"But that's not the only reason, is it?" Matt asked softly, wanting more than anything for the answer to be 'no'. He knew that most relationships started off based on attraction and that alone. While there was nothing wrong with it, that wasn't how he wanted this relationship to be. He had broken his own promise to himself; he had gotten involved when he swore to himself that he wouldn't. He practically slept with Tai when he swore that he would never do that with a person unless he knew they would be staying together. He didn't want something that made him do those things to be only about attraction. If it was, then there wasn't any point to continuing things.
Tai shook his head, "No, it isn't the only thing. I'll admit that when I think about you I get completely turned on just by the thought of us together in bed. But no, it's not just all about that. Sure I think of you beneath me, squirming, calling my name, and yeah, it excites me, but I also think about us just sitting together watching television, or at a movie or out for dinner and it makes me happy too. It's not just about sex, Matt. It's not even close to just being about sex."
"Then why won't you do any of those things with me? I know you don't want anyone to really know. I know that you're hiding us from your family and I understand that, and can even accept it for the most part. But Tai," Matt's voice took on an almost desperate nuance, "Dreaming and thinking about doing things are not like actually doing them. You can say all you want that you have thought about how nice it would be to do those things, but until we do, then how do you really know?"
Tai released Matt's face and sat back on his heels, rocking his feet back and forth. "Look Matt, I promise to try harder to find times when we can be together. That way we can learn more about each other and this won't seem just like me trying to get you in bed, since that isn't what I want this to be about anyway."
Matt nodded, "Fair enough."
Tai grinned and stood up, holding his hand out for Matt to grab. "Now that we've discussed this, what do you want to do?"
Matt took Tai's hand, but didn't release it once he was standing. He wasn't ready yet for this time to be over and now that his major concern was taken care of, he didn't want to ruin things by talking about his other concerns. In answer to Tai's question he just shrugged. Things weren't resolved to the degree he wanted them to be, but at least he had been able to talk about what was bothering him.
Tai pulled Matt over to the railing and looked down at all the groups mingling on the school grounds.
They stood like that for the remainder of lunch, not talking, but holding hands and for now it was enough.
When the bell rang they went their separate ways, promising to meet sometime later, though no time was specified.
It had been two days since then and while Matt could say that he had seen Tai more than normal, it wasn't necessarily as much as he would have wanted. Needless to say he was surprised when he closed his locker after school to see Tai standing there, waiting for him.
Shouldering his backpack he looked at Tai curiously, "Don't you have to go straight home? There isn't soccer practice today, is there?"
Tai shook his head wildly. He was practically bouncing in place, he seemed so hyper. "Nope, no soccer practice today. I do have a surprise for you though," he said grinning.
Matt raised an eyebrow at Tai's antics. "A surprise, huh? What kind of surprise?" He leaned against his locker looking at Tai expectantly.
Tai reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Matt.
Matt looked at the piece of paper and saw that it was a printed receipt and then looked back at Tai, "You want to go to a movie?" At Tai's nod he continued, "But I thought you were grounded?"
"Not anymore! As of this morning I was officially of grounding, so I went and ordered the tickets online today, so that we could go directly after school."
Matt bit his lip. He had already made plans with Kai for that evening so they could go over some music. Normally he wouldn't have cancelled, but Tai looked so excited.
Tai saw Matt's look and his bouncing slowed. "What's wrong, can you not go today?"
"No, I can go," Matt said, pulling out his cell phone. "I was supposed to be Kai today to go over some music, but I'll reschedule with him. I'm sure he won't mind."
Quickly he called Kai, letting him know the change in plans. Kai teased him a lot, saying that he was love struck, and a total pushover, but was happy to reschedule to another day. By the time Matt ended the call, he was practically dying from embarrassment.
"You know, you always get happy whenever I see you talk with him," Tai said quietly as they walked out of the quickly emptying halls.
"Hmm?" Matt looked puzzled for a moment, before it dawned on him what Tai was possibly implying. "Oh," he started laughing a bit. "Kaishi was one of the only people who stayed with me during my rough times back in my freshman year. He's a great friend, but that's all that we are." Matt made a face, "It'd be way too much like incest if I liked him like that."
Apparently appeased Tai nodded, but to Matt's surprise Tai took his hand as they were walking. Matt could tell that Tai was jealous, even though he had no reason to be. Seeing as Tai was holding his hand, in public at that, Matt decided not to further disabuse the brunette of his thoughts. If Tai being jealous made him more open to showing others their relationship, then Matt could handle a little jealousy.
They made their way to the movie theatre, holding hands the entire way. It made Matt almost giddy, though he was too much of a private person to show such emotion. The movie that they were going to see wasn't something that Matt found particularly interesting; in fact, he would have rather watched almost any other movie that was showing at the theatre. He hated admitting it out loud, but horror movies scared the shit out of him. Of course Tai wasn't aware of that since they barely knew each other, but Matt had a feeling that by the end of the movie there would be no way that he would be able to keep that little fear a secret. Of course, he could definitely play it up to his advantage.
They didn't get very many snacks to take in with them, Matt because he really didn't want to eat anything while watching a scary movie. He had bad experiences in the past while eating and watching a scary movie at the same time. He really didn't want Tai to see him spit half chewed popcorn out of his mouth if he got scared mid bite. He also didn't want to start choking if he happened to get scared while swallowing. He knew these were possibilities because they had happened in the past.
So they got a large soda and went into the movie theatre, and after a brief argument about to sit, they compromised, sitting almost dead center in the movie theatre. Tai had wanted to sit closer to the screen, because he said it would make the movie more authentic and scary. Matt had wanted to sit at the back, so that nobody would be able to see him covering his eyes at the scary parts.
They weren't very far into the movie when Tai realized exactly why Matt had been quiet upon finding out what type of movie he had chosen to see. If the fingernails digging into his hand weren't enough of a clue, then Matt practically having his eyes covered with his other hand the whole time was a dead give away.
He leaned in close, whispering so as not to disturb anyone else in the movie theatre. "Are you really this scared of horror movies?"
Peeking through his fingers at the screen Matt nodded and a slight whimper escaped, as one of the characters headed up a flight of stairs.
"Why didn't you say something earlier then? We could have gone to see something else," Tai said, still facing Matt, but with his eyes trained on the screen.
"Its fine," Matt said, squeezing his eyes shut, "You obviously wanted to see this movie, otherwise you wouldn't have bought the tickets for it."
Tai didn't say anything, easing back into a more comfortable position in his seat. It was true that he had been waiting weeks to see this movie, ever since he had gotten grounded. In the future he would have to make sure to check with Matt if there were things that he didn't want to do. It seemed Matt would do a lot to make him happy, even torture himself with watching a film when it was obvious that he wanted to be anywhere else at that moment.
Finally halfway through the movie Tai gave up trying to watch it. Instead of just murdering the flow of blood from Tai's arm to his hand, Matt was practically hiding his face in Tai's shoulder and shaking. As much as Tai wanted to see the movie, enough was enough.
He silently pulled Matt from the theatre and out into the rapidly darkening sky. It looked as though they had just missed the sunset. He waited for Matt to pull himself together; he just somehow knew that Matt was very good at using masks to hide behind, though obviously not all the time.
Once Matt's shaking had subsided and he was breathing easier he turned and looked at Tai. "We didn't have to leave you know."
Tai shrugged and decided to keep the conversation light, so he did a bit of teasing. "I was losing too much feeling in various parts of my body from excessive glomping. I figured it would be best to get out while the getting was good." He gave Matt a suggestive look, "Not that I minded getting felt up or nothing."
Matt grinned at him, glad that Tai wasn't going to make a big deal out of his pointless fear. "Got it. Feel Tai up more often."
They walked together to the park and sat down on a bench overlooking a small playground.
Matt could feel Tai looking at him, but stubbornly kept his gaze on the children who were playing. As nervous as having Tai's undivided attention made him, he had a feeling he would have a problem keeping his hands (or in this case, lips) to himself if he faced Tai right now.
Tai studied Matt unabashedly, working out exactly how much he knew about the other boy in his mind. Certainly it wasn't a lot, but there were a few important things he had managed to figure out in the last three weeks without openly asking. Most of those things had been realized in the last few days, but he couldn't help but wonder what made the blond so intriguing for him, and once he knew everything if he would still be as fascinated with him then as he was now.
He made a list of the things he knew about Matt starting with the little things and working his way up. In the back of his mind, he had the fleeting thought of keeping a journal and adding to it every time he learned something.
First, he knew that Matt had a strong sense of who he was. He wasn't big on pleasing others or his peers, but went out of his way to please the ones he cared about. That was a great quality to Tai and one that he knew he would have to work on himself. He always felt that he had to please his peers and his father, or else he was doing something wrong. He always tried to stay in the norm, though he did crazy things to make up for it. He felt two faced because he wanted to be one way, but always acted the complete opposite. Whenever he did things outside of the norm, he did them in secret and didn't acknowledge them ever. If he didn't admit it to himself, then there wasn't a problem and he was normal.
Then there were the things that he knew Matt loved. Not only did he love them, he was good at them too, music and cooking. Tai knew that no matter what happened Matt would always have those two skills to fall back on. Tai felt jealous of Matt for that. He didn't really have any great skills he had to fall back on, which is why he always tried three times as hard as anyone else. Well he had soccer, but the fact that soccer wasn't really considered a career had been drilled into his mind so many times that he had started to believe it. It was true though, one injury could end a career in sports, and when that happened, what did that athlete have to fall back on? Nothing. They usually became a burden on the ones they loved.
Matt was apparently terrified of scary movies. That intrigued Tai since he had never met someone who was more scared of horror movies than Matt. Not even being able to sit through a tame horror movie like the one they had seen was unheard of. He would have to find out one day why Matt was so scared of them. There were a lot of other little things; Matt enjoyed attention, Matt wasn't as confident as he always appeared to be, Matt always did his homework, Matt hated his mother, Matt was totally hot naked.
Then there was the big mystery that Tai needed to uncover. He remembered the look in Matt's eyes when Matt had asked him on the roof that day if all he was to him was a piece of ass. Obviously something had happened to Matt at one point in time if he felt like that. It could have been something small and insignificant, or something huge and mind blowing. The problem was that Tai wasn't sure how to get the information from the blond, and he honestly wasn't close enough emotionally to Matt to dig it out of him. Whatever it was, it made Matt almost prudish at times, made him feel like he was only an object, and brought down his self esteem about ten notches.
Perhaps a notebook wasn't such a bad idea after all. It wasn't like anyone would see it, and it would help him puzzle out Matt a little better so that he could try and please Matt the same way he could tell Matt was trying to please him. He knew, despite his efforts, that Matt was being extremely patient with him, almost as if he sensed that if he pushed too far too fast then things would crumble. Tai was almost wishing that Matt would rock the boat, just to see if it was the one push that Tai needed to get his ass in gear.
Abruptly he asked, "What's your favorite color?"
Matt turned to look at Tai, surprised to see just how intense his eyes were for such an insignificant question. Automatically he responded, "Dark green."
"What's your favorite food?" Tai asked his eyes still intense.
"Um, I don't really know. I guess salad." Matt saw Tai make a face at that admission. "What?" he said defensively, "It's healthy and it isn't fattening."
Tai rolled his eyes. "Matt, I don't think you have to worry about being fat. You're practically a twig anyways." He poked Matt softly in the side, "You could stand to gain a few pounds actually."
It was Matt's turn to make a face at Tai's suggestion. "No thank you, I could stand to lose a few more pounds. Didn't you know that your looks are half of what makes you famous?" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. "Being in a band, performing on stage and off of the stage, you are always scrutinized. Someone somewhere is always watching you, how you look and how you act."
Tai shrugged. "It still doesn't change my opinion though. So, who is your favorite band?"
"I don't know," Matt said honestly. "My favorite band changes to match my mood, so does what type of music I listen to. What's with all the questions?"
"Well you said we barely knew anything about each other. So I was trying to correct that a little. Don't you want to know what my favorites are too?"
Matt got a mischievous look on his face. "Let me guess first and then you can tell me if I'm right."
Tai agreed with an amused noise and moved to sit behind Matt, so that Matt could lean against him.
Matt leaned backwards, looking up at the now dark sky. He could just barely see the stars in the city, but it was still relaxing. "You strike me as a yellow person, but not. My guess it that your favorite color is gold." He felt Tai tense a little and then relax. "I'm right, aren't I?"
He felt Tai nod his head, since the top of his chin was resting on the top of Matt's head. "Okay, one point for me. I bet your favorite food is pizza, simply because it's not healthy." He felt another nod. Now he was onto guessing territory because Tai was such a contradiction that there were so many possibilities as to which band he liked. "You're a Green Day fan?" he guessed.
Tai shook his head giving a negative response and Matt sighed. "So what bands do you like?"
"I'm like you on the bands. I like a lot of different ones, but I wouldn't be able to choose. Green Day is okay, but I also enjoy listening to hard rock and the like. I rarely listen to music though, since I'm not allowed to turn the radio on at my house."
The conversation died down, both of them just relaxing with each other. Matt found it incredibly enjoyable, having Tai's arms wrapped around him, not worried that Tai would tense or pull away. It was dark enough that no one would be able to tell who they were unless they got up close and personal. It also made him feel wanted and secure.
They stayed like that for quite a while, until Tai reluctantly told Matt that he needed to get home and start studying before his father got angry at him again for slacking off. Matt agreed, knowing that he needed to get his own school work done. They parted ways at the park, agreeing to meet at Matt's apartment the next morning before school so that they could walk together.
It was that Saturday, when Matt was over at Tai's house with his brother that he got his first real glance at Tai's home life. He honestly couldn't fathom how his boyfriend put up with his father and all his expectations. Maybe his own family had been too lax, and this was something that was standard, but Matt was disgusted.
The moment they had arrived Tai had gone to the phone and pulled a list out of seemingly nowhere. The list looked small, but as soon as Matt got a look at how tiny the handwriting was he winced. Sure, it was only a small piece of paper, but it looked to have about 15 different tasks listed, with timetables and everything.
"What's that?" Matt asked, peering over Tai's shoulder.
"My dad's lovely list of suggestions. Basically, the list of things he wants me to accomplish today. He must have left it when I was picking you and TK up." Tai rolled his eyes before scanning the list. "He must have been in a good mood, there's less on here than normal and most of them I've already gotten done." He grinned at Matt, "That means more free time for us."
Matt looked at Tai in bewilderment after reading through the list. "Wait Tai, this is weird. Some of the things on this list are schoolwork that isn't due for a few weeks! Your father wants you to do them today?"
Tai shrugged as if the answer was obvious. "I always have to have my homework completed ahead of time. It builds character and leaves me more time to study for tests."
Matt made a face of disgust, clearly showing what he thought of that response. "Well, whatever. So what do you want to really do?"
Tai stuck the list in his pocket, deciding that today he would dedicate to just spending time with Matt. "Do you like video games?"
Matt grinned. "What teenage boy doesn't like video games?"
"Good point," Tai said, matching Matt's grin. "You wanna play here, or go to the arcade?" He gave Matt a quick list of games that he had.
"Let's play here. Maybe we can watch some movies when we're done," Matt said, his grin fading into a shy smile.
"Deal," Tai said, his grin growing even wider if possible. "I promise to not put on too many scary movies."
Matt stuck his tongue out at Tai and they went to his room to begin their day of vegging.
Surprisingly they were left alone pretty much the whole day, Tai's mom was keeping an eye on Kari and TK, while his dad was busy with a large amount of paperwork. Dinner was strained and quiet in Matt's opinion, though not too terribly different than a dinner at his house. He missed dinners with his friends and his dad, where there was always more talking and laughing than eating.
After dinner TK went home and Tai and Matt made some excuses about schoolwork that Tai's father seemed to buy. This meant that Matt got to stay the night, something that apparently rarely happened at Tai's house.
Seeing as how they had not been bothered all day while they were playing video games, they decided to be a little more daring while watching the movies. They chose three movies to watch, one action, one romantic comedy and Matt agreed to watch an older scary movie that he had seen before, saying that it usually wasn't as bad watching it the second time around. However, they agreed to watch the scary movie first, and the others after, so that it wasn't the last thing they watched before going to bed.
In truth, Matt barely watched the screen during the scary movie, instead focusing his attention on how absolutely comfortable he felt being wrapped in Tai's arms. It was actually a bit of a turn on for him, which was a surprise. With all of his past boyfriends, he wasn't big on the cuddling, not enjoying being pampered. With Tai though, it was different. Perhaps it was because it wasn't something that Tai did often and that made Matt want it more. Or then again, it could just be because Matt was completely crazy about Tai. In any case, cuddling was quickly becoming his favorite pastime.
He stifled a sigh as Tai got up to change the DVD. He had been so comfortable and for the first time had wanted a scary movie to last longer. He was surprised that Tai chose to put the action film in second, instead of the comedy, but he didn't say anything. Truth be told, he wasn't a huge fan of action movies, the explosions and special effects hurt his eyes when he was in a dark room. He was happy that when Tai got back onto the bed, he immediately pulled him back into his arms, nuzzling the back of Matt's head with his nose.
Matt relaxed and got comfortable almost instantaneously, wriggling backwards so that there was no space between him and Tai. He watched the movie and surprisingly found it pretty good. It had a plot at least, and so far there hadn't been too many bright flashes coming from the screen.
They were about halfway through the movie when he noticed Tai kissing the back of his neck, just below his hairline. Giving a content sigh he smiled and squeezed Tai's hand, letting him know that he was enjoying the attention.
When Tai rolled him over onto his back, he allowed it to happen, not putting up any resistance. He looked up at Tai, who had a weird expression on his face, like he was trying to figure something out, but the answer wasn't coming to him.
Just when Matt was about to ask him what was wrong, Tai's expression cleared and he leaned down and gave Matt a soft kiss on the lips.
Matt returned the kiss back, just as softly and wrapped his arms around Tai's neck, pulling him closer.
They stayed like that, softly kissing, occasionally deepening their kisses, before moving back to the soft, almost experimental, kissing. Neither one of them were paying attention to the movie any longer, instead just focusing on each other. It wasn't nearly as heated a display as they had the last time they were alone in a room in the dark, but it felt nearly as good as the last time.
This time it was just gentleness coming from both of them. It was a soft exploration, not rushing anything, keeping it simple, yet sweet. To Matt, it was perfect.
Well after the movie had ended, they finally broke up the make out session, both breathing surprisingly heavily, for how slow they had been going.
Matt smiled up at Tai. "What was that for?" he asked softly, enjoying the way Tai's eyes had darkened with suppressed passion.
Tai traced a finger of Matt's lip and shook his head softly. "That wasn't for anything, I just felt like doing it." He smiled down at Matt, "You know the other day when I said I also thought about us just watching movies, enjoying each other's company?"
Matt nodded, waiting to see where the conversation was going.
"It's even better than I dreamed," Tai said grinning, before he kissed Matt softly again.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door, which shocked them. Tai quickly got off of the bed and went over and unlocked the door, to reveal his mother standing there.
"It's time to turn off the television, Tai," she said. In her arms were a spare futon mattress and some blankets. "Go ahead and set these up and get ready for bed."
Smiling he took them from his mom and arranged them on the floor next to his bed while his mother closed the door. Matt couldn't help but pout a little. He wanted to sleep in Tai's arms, since he wouldn't be able to be as close to the brunette the following week because of school.
Seeing the look on Matt's faced Tai stopped what he was doing and gave Matt a quick kiss. "Don't worry, I plan on having you sleep right where you belong," he grinned and winked at Matt.
"And where do I belong?" Matt asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.
"In my arms," was Tai's simple response, as he stood up and turned on the table lamp beside his bed.
Matt watched Tai get ready to sleep for the night, not at all surprised when Tai changed into just a pair of boxers. He himself hadn't brought any clothes to sleep in, since it had been planned at the last minute, but he borrowed a pair of Tai's sweatpants, which were surprisingly loose on him. Tai locked the door and turned off the light before getting into bed and pulling Matt into his arms.
Matt was surprised at how tired he felt. With the television off he no longer had a distraction to stay awake. It was surprising how the pace of Tai's breathing was almost like a lullaby, because he was asleep before his mind could even form the thought to tell Tai what a good time he had that day.
He woke up a couple of hours later because he felt Tai get up. Blearily he opened one eye and made a questioning noise. Tai kissed his forehead and whispered that he would be back, that he just needed to use the bathroom. Appeased, Matt rolled over and pulled more of the covers onto him to regain some of the lost warmth that left when Tai had gotten up. Snuggling into the blankets he fell back asleep.
After a few more hours of fitful sleep he woke up once again, noticing how nothing had changed in the room. Sitting up he glanced around trying to find out where Tai was. The sky was lightening, which provided him with just enough light to see that Tai wasn't in the room. He could tell that Tai hadn't gotten back in to bed, as the spot next to him was cold. Glancing around, he saw that Tai wasn't in the room either. He did however see all of Tai's schoolbooks scattered across the floor of the room and that Tai's door was ajar.
Quietly getting out of the bed, he went as silently down the hall as possible looking for any sign up Tai. No normal teenager would be up this early in the morning on a Sunday, but then again he already knew that Tai wasn't normal.
His eyes widened when he peeked around the corner of the hallway and saw Tai and his father at the dining room table, going over the list he had seen the other day. Tai's father was checking the list and when he came to each item on the list, he saw Tai present each assignment to his father. To Matt's astonishment he realized that Tai must have been working on his schoolwork after he had fallen asleep the second time, not coming back to the bed like he had promised.
He was just about to turn around and head back into the room, now upset at realizing that Tai had lied to him, when he heard Tai's father raise his voice.
"That is not what happened in that chapter of Lord of the Flies, Taichi. You're lying to me, aren't you? You didn't read it did you?"
Matt couldn't hear what Tai's response was because it was too low, but there was no mistaking that whatever it was, did not fly well with his father.
"Leaving the book at school shows irresponsibility, Taichi. You know that you must be on top of things at all times. Having a lapse in memory is no excuse for not doing the things that I have set before you. I don't want this to become a repeat of what happened before your last soccer game. You will find a friend to borrow the book off of and I expect you to be read up to the chapter that I listed before the end of the day."
This time Matt could hear Tai as he responded to his father, "I'm already three chapters ahead of the rest of the class, father. You said that I would be able to do what I wanted to today."
Matt heard more than saw the dull thud of one of Tai's textbooks hitting Tai in the head. His eyes widened slightly before narrowing. True, the textbook hadn't been thrown hard, and it couldn't have hurt at all, but that wasn't the point of the matter.
"You will do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it, Taichi. How many times do I have to explain to you that if you slack off now, you'll never make it anywhere in life? You're completely worthless as you are now, don't you realize that? The only way you will become anything is by staying ahead of the others and making the best of the time given to you by studying," Tai's father said harshly.
Matt heard Tai making a noise of agreement and quietly seethed as he crept back down the hall into Tai's room. It was no wonder to him now why Tai had broken his word and stayed up instead of going back to bed. Matt had a feeling that if he hadn't then Tai would have been in a lot more trouble than a mere tap and harshly spoken words. Once again Matt wondered if most families were like Tai's and if he were the abnormal one, but quickly dismissed the thought just like he had done on previous occasions. There was nothing normal about Tai's father.
Instead of heading directly to the bedroom, he went into the bathroom to give himself some time to calm down. It wasn't really his place to confront the situation, Tai did seem to have it under control, and Tai's father hadn't done anything that truly warranted him getting involved. It didn't mean that he wasn't angry at Tai's father for being such an ass because he was angry. It didn't mean that he wasn't upset with Tai for not standing up for himself, because he was. Seeing that encounter had raised alarms in his head, and he knew that he would be paying closer attention to Tai. It also explained why Tai seemed to sleep so little, he probably had to work late into each night to get whatever his father set for him done. It wouldn't have been so bad if studying was the only thing that Tai concentrated on, but it wasn't. Tai still had soccer, the youth center, and various club functions that he had to attend.
Matt washed his face and left the bathroom, intent on getting Tai to sleep for a few more hours. Not getting more than two hours of sleep couldn't possibly be good for a person, especially since Matt had a feeling that it was a normal occurrence for the brunette.
As he walked into Tai's room he saw him poor what looked to be quite a few pills into his hand and swallow them. Eyes wide, he couldn't stop the words that came out of his mouth like an accusation.
"What the hell are those?"