Man will not live without answers to his questions.
-Hans J. Morgenthau
"So you actually saw him?" Sora questioned as she sat on her bed, phone held up to her ear.
"Yeah! He just walked up behind me and was all over me like nothing had ever happened!" Tai exclaimed from the other end of the line. Sora nodded to herself and rolled onto her stomach, turning on the TV and focusing on Tai's predicament.
"What'd you do about it?"
"Nothing! I couldn't really say 'Hey Haru, I still hate you so go away!' when Yama was standing right there."
"What'd Matt say about it?" the redhead raised an eyebrow, turning down the volume on the TV to listen to the boy.
"Nothing really. He just asked me who he was and left it at that."
"Did you tell him who he was?" Sora asked. She heard Tai snort in disgust and could visualize the brunet rolling his eyes.
"Are you kidding? Of course not!" he shouted.
"Why not?"
"Because then I'd have to answer all of those questions I don't want to answer right now," Tai explained. "Knowing Matt, I'd get the entire drill. 'Who is he? How long did you guys date? How far did you go with him? Are you sure that the entire relationship is over?' Honestly, I don't feel like answering those at the present time."
"Tai, you're going to have to answer them sometime," Sora pointed out with a small sigh.
"I know, but I'm not sure if I even want to tell him so soon."
"Soon? Tai, technically speaking, you guys have been together since February and you've been friends since October."
"Not really friends, per say."
"Tai…"
"Okay I get what you're saying," Tai cut her off again. "But seriously Sor, I don't want to talk to him about it right now."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know if Yama realizes I'm not a virgin!" the brunet shouted. Sora's eyes widened and she stared at the phone.
"…seriously?"
"Yeah! And if he does find out before I have time to explain what happened, he might get the wrong idea and get mad at me," Tai sighed. Sora rolled her eyes at her friend's logic.
"Tai, don't you think that if you told Matt what happened, he wouldn't get angry and he's like…sympathize with you?"
"Yeah, of course."
"So…?"
"So what?"
"Why don't you just tell him?" she suggested. She heard the mud-eyed boy sigh again and waited.
"Because I don't think I'm ready to say it out loud, that's why," he explained quietly. Sora sat still for a moment, a sudden sense of sympathy taking over.
"Tai…it's okay. It wasn't your fault remember?" she said slowly.
"Yeah I know, but that doesn't make it any easier to say, Sora," Tai argued. "Besides, it kinda was my fault."
"…how do you figure?"
"Well think about it. If I hadn't gotten involved with him to begin with, I wouldn't have been kissing him and stuff and nothing would have led up to it."
"Tai, that still doesn't explain how it was your fault."
"It just was, okay?"
"Stop it."
"Sora, it's okay, really. It was my fault, so I deserved it."
"Stop it, Taichi!" the redhead finally shouted, sending her childhood friend into silence. "Look, it was not your fault! Haru was just a big jerk who ra-"
"Don't say it."
"Tai, you need to get it through your head! You were not guilty for this. Look, say it out loud. Getting raped was not my fault."
"Sora…"
"Say it!"
"Okay, fine! Getting raped was not my fault! Are you satisfied now? Does it make you feel better to know that I'm lying not only to you but to myself?" the brunet ranted. Sora sighed loudly and went quiet for a moment. Tai continued to rant until he realized that Sora was silent. "Sor?"
"I don't know what I have to do to get you to believe that none of this was your fault," she said to him.
"Look, just admit that it was my fault and we can drop the entire subject," Tai argued back.
"Tai, it's not your-" Sora stopped herself abruptly. "No you know what? I don't think I can just drop the entire thing. It's not like you skinned your knee falling out of a tree. This is like, major!" Tai groaned loudly and Sora could imagine the brunet rolling his eyes again.
"Sora, calm down. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were the one who got raped, not me," he lightly joked, hoping to steer the redhead away from the topic.
"Yeah well, one of us has to have some sort of reaction to it. You're acting like it doesn't even bother you!"
"Well maybe it doesn't okay? Maybe I just accepted the fact like I said before. Look, it's not a big deal."
"You know what? I don't think I can talk to you right now when you're being so stubborn about this, so I'm going to hang up on you until you get it through your head that it wasn't your fault," Sora said flatly, glaring at her wall in frustration.
"Kay, talk to you later then," Tai replied casually and hung up before Sora could get in another word, tossing the phone on the bed. He knew that he probably angered the redhead even more but that wasn't his main concern at the moment. He rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling and staying quiet. He could hear pop music coming from Kari's room down the hall and Daisuke's voice from downstairs as he and Ken headed upstairs. He suddenly sat up and pushed himself off of the bed, crossing the room swiftly and heading out into the hallway.
He needed to speak to Kari, now.
He knocked on her door lightly and opened it without waiting for an answer. Luckily for him, his sister was merely sitting at her computer, typing to her friends online. Kari looked up briefly and spotted Tai, smiling at her brother.
"Hey," she greeted him, turning her attention back to the computer. Tai entered the room and closed the door behind him, crossing the floor and sitting on his sister's bed, moving aside a few of her stuffed animals and holding a pink and white tiger in his hands. He stayed silent for a moment or two, gathering his thoughts and toying with the tiger in his hands.
"Kar, can I ask you something?" Kari stopped typing briefly and looked back at her brother, taking note of his somber expression. She quickly typed a "be right back" to each person she was chatting with and turned around again, giving her brother her full attention.
"Of course you can. What's up?" she questioned, leaning her elbows on her knees and watching Tai closely. The older brunet continued toying with the tiger plushie, avoiding Kari's stare.
"Okay so…I think I have a problem…and I'm not sure what to do about this problem."
"What's the problem?"
"Um…well," Tai started off, obviously trying to stall for just a little longer. "Hey, did TK give you this? Because really, it looks like a TK thing." He indicated the tiger in his hands.
"Tai," Kari spoke in a warning tone. "What's the problem?" Tai sighed heavily and leaned back against the wall.
"Okay so, Matt and I went to the mall today right?"
"Right…"
"Well, we were hunting around for a birthday present for him and we were just about to leave and…well, to sum it up, we ran into Haru who's acting like nothing horrible ever happened between the two of us," Tai ranted out, closing his eyes and folding his hands in his lap. "He even went as far as touching me and he called me beautiful."
"…wait, Tai, what kind of touching?" Kari asked suspiciously, slightly worried by the outcome.
"Oh! No, nothing like that," Tai answered quickly, attempting to sway Kari away from the wrong idea. "Just a hand on my shoulder, an arm around my waist, and then his chin replaced his hand on my shoulder. Matt's really suspicious though."
"What'd you tell him?"
Tai bit his lip and continued playing with his fingers in his lap. "That it was nobody important," he mumbled out, causing Kari's eyebrows to rise up in alarm.
"You told him what?" Kari shouted, staring at her brother in shock.
"Kari I choked! Okay, I was going to tell Yama who Haru really was, I swear, but I just couldn't!"
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want anything fucking up our relationship and I think Yama finding out about Haru would fuck everything up beyond possible belief," Tai explained, opening his eyes.
"Tai, didn't we already go over this once?" Kari interjected, scuffing her toe against the ground.
"Yeah, probably. But I mean, Yama doesn't have to know everything does he?"
"He should know."
"Nah, then he'll just know that I was a reckless dumbshit." Tai shrugged carelessly. Kari's eyes flickered up to meet Tai's and she frowned slightly.
"Tai…everything that happened between you and Haru wasn't your fault," she started in before Tai groaned loudly.
"Not you too! Man, Sora told me the same thing like five minutes ago!"
"That's because it's true!" Kari shouted back, glaring intently at her brother. "I don't know why you don't want to believe us."
"Because I already told you, if I hadn't been reckless and even started fooling around with Haru, none of it would have happened."
"Tai, none of us knew that Haru was going to do what he did to you."
"Yeah well…" Tai trailed off, unsure of what argument he had now. Kari gave him a knowing look and leaned back in her chair, allowing her expression to soften.
"Well?" she prodded, interested in what she had to say.
"Maybe it wasn't rape. Maybe I wanted it."
"No Tai, you're not going there. You told me and Sora and Daisuke that you didn't want it, therefore, it could be charged as a rape."
"Well maybe I changed my mind," Tai argued back, starting to get a little angered now.
"You can't change your mind about a rape!" Kari exclaimed, beginning to get frustrated herself.
"Watch me."
"Tai, you can't keep denying that Haru hurt you both emotionally and physically. It's not a healthy habit." By then Tai had already rose from the bed and was heading for the door.
"Kari, it's not a big deal, really," he insisted. "Look, I'm sorry I even brought it up. That's why I haven't brought it up to Matt yet either."
"Because you don't want people being concerned about you?"
"Because I don't want everybody turning it into such a big deal. It was the past, get over it. I did and I'm doing just fine," the older Yagami sibling insisted as he opened the door.
"But Tai-"
"I'm going downstairs to play with the Playstation," he retorted, ignoring his little sister's feeble attempts to keep his attention and shutting the door behind him. Kari closed her eyes and sighed loudly, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Obviously he's not fine…and he's the only one who can't see it," she mumbled to herself, turning back to her computer and resuming her previous activities.
Matt was suspicious. He had every right to be suspicious though; after all, it wasn't every day that you went out with your boyfriend only to watch him get hit on by another boy.
Another pretty boy, in fact.
Therefore, Matt felt that it was time to start investigating. He came to that decision after the events of the previous day at the mall. Something was up and Matt didn't like not knowing; he needed to find out just what Tai was trying to hide from him. After all, he didn't seem too comfortable with the fact that Matt was standing right there. That had to mean something, didn't it? With that in mind, Matt sat up from his bed and reached over to his bedside table, grabbing a hold of the cordless phone that was laying there. Taking a quick glance at the clock, he noted that Tai would be at work right now.
Perfect time to call his house.
Punching in the number for the Yagami-Motomiya household, Matt held the phone to his ear and waited patiently, praying that the right person would answer.
"Hello?"
Perfect.
"Hey, Kari," Matt greeted her, leaning back against his headboard.
"Oh, hi Matt. What's up?" the younger girl questioned, sounding a bit surprised. "Tai's not here, he's working."
"Oh, I know, I was just wondering-" he stopped suddenly, pausing to think his plan through. What if Kari didn't want to rat her brother out? What if she didn't even know? Then what would he do?
"Just wondering…?" Kari pressed on, her curiosity growing more by the moment.
'Okay, we've got to have a back-up plan in case Kari doesn't spill. But what? Who else would know about what's going on other than Tai and Kari? Who else would have been around as mu-…Sora! Sora would know! But I don't have Sora's number.' He pondered silently, chewing on his lip in thought.
"Matt?"
'Bingo.'
"Oh, sorry, I had to go grab something from TK," he lied really quick. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you had Sora's number. I wanted to ask her something really quick."
"Oh, yeah sure. Ready to write it down?"
"Yep." Matt grabbed a piece of paper from his bedside table and uncapped a pen, eagerly awaiting the numbers.
"654-7313. That's her cell phone number," Kari explained as Matt scrawled down the numbers.
"Okay great, thanks. Oh, I have one more question for you though," he asked, throwing the pen across the room.
"What's that?"
"Has your brother been seeing anybody over the summer?"
Here Kari paused, allowing her mind to mull over what Matt was asking her. "No…he's been sitting here waiting for you. Why do you ask?"
"Uh, no reason really. Are you sure he's not like, hiding anything from me?" Matt questioned again, confused by Kari's hesitance.
"Matt, I don't know if I should really be telling you anything. After all, I don't know what Tai's told you so-"
"So it's possible that he's hiding something?" Matt cut her off, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't think-"
"Kari, please?"
"Matt, it's not my place to tell you, but honestly, I think if Tai had something to say, he'd tell you on his own," Kari grounded out, relieved to finally get a sentence out. Matt huffed quietly and contemplated his options, picking his words carefully.
"Okay, thanks. I'll talk to you later then; oh, and my brother said that he's picking you up for your date tonight at 6:30."
"Okay but Matt, don't try to pressure Tai into answeri-"
"Bye Kari!" Matt cut her off again and hung up. He now knew that Kari and Tai knew something that he didn't; that made him slightly nervous but even more curious than before. He glanced down at the piece of paper in his lap, reading over the numbers carefully and lifting the phone once more, dialing Sora's cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Sora, hi," he said in relief, glad that Kari gave him the right number. "It's Matt," he added quickly.
"Oh. Hi Matt, what's up?" Sora jogged off of the tennis court and sat on a bench nearby, waiting for Matt to continue.
"Nothing…but I have a favor to ask of you."
'Talk about déjà vu.' Matt thought to himself as he fidgeted on his bed.
"What favor?" Sora asked, trying not to let her own suspicions rise.
"I need you to tell me something about Tai."
"…about…Tai?" she repeated, blinking in surprise.
'Oh boy. Bet I know what this one's all about.' She inwardly sighed, preparing herself for a long interrogation.
"Can I trust you? To tell me the truth I mean," Matt added hurriedly, hoping Sora wasn't getting the wrong idea.
"I…suppose so. Depends on what you're asking me; some of your questions you might have to just ask Tai himself."
"Okay well…first, I'm going to tell you something."
"Shoot."
"Okay so, yesterday, Tai and I were at the mall and just as we were leaving, this guy comes up to us and totally starts hitting on Tai like I wasn't even standing there!"
"Uh-huh…" Sora nodded, waiting for Matt to continue.
'Great, he's going to be asking me about Haru! Ugh, what do I tell him, that the bastard raped his boyfriend? I can't do that! …but I can give him a little bit of a heads-up.' She smiled suddenly and realized that Matt was finishing his story.
"And when I asked Tai who he was, he said nobody! Now don't get me wrong, I totally trust Tai but really, I doubt that the pretty boy was 'nobody'. So what I want to know is, can you tell me who he was, er, is?" the blond boy stumbled over his words while Sora attempted to gather hers, thinking of a way to lead Matt into reality gently.
'Okay, I can just say that he's Tai's ex and that they're over and stuff and Tai can fill in the details. But what if Tai gets mad at me? Better yet, what if they both get mad at me? Ah man, why do I always get the hard job?' She sighed heavily and took a sip from her water bottle.
"Okay well, as a matter of fact, yes, I can tell you who that is. I just don't know if I should be the one to tell you. After all, it really is Tai's story to tell."
"Yeah, but in case you haven't noticed, Tai's not telling me anything. That's why I'm resorting to asking you," Matt pointed out, eyes narrowing suddenly. "Sora, please stop stalling and just tell me what you know!"
"…okay look. His name is Haru and he's Tai's ex boyfriend. They broke up about four months before you and Tai met. Actually no…they broke up broke up in February…Tai just stopped talking to him at the beginning of last summer," Sora explained, practically hearing the wheels turning in Matt's head.
"So…why'd they break up?"
'That, I can't tell you.'
"They just realized that they were different than they used to be and they broke up."
"Who dumped who?" Matt continued with the questions.
"Haru dumped Tai."
"How long did they date?"
"Um…well, I think it was for a while. From this time last year to January, so…six months? Tai met him in May or so of last year."
"Are they completely over?"
"Of course they are! That's why Tai's with you now," Sora retorted.
"Yeah but then what was Haru doing hanging on Tai like that?" Matt questioned, already coming to the conclusion that he needed to ask Tai about it rather than his friends.
"Who knows. Hey listen, Mattie, I gotta go, my tennis partner wants to continue our match. I'll talk to you later though if you want more answers though okay?"
"Right, okay. Thanks Sora," he answered rather hollowly, barely hearing her rushed goodbye before he hung up the phone, looking up at his ceiling.
He was back to square one, but at least now he had more paths to follow to make it to square two, wherever that was. He now knew that Pretty Boy was Tai's ex and that apparently, the ex wasn't quite over Tai yet.
"Six months though? Why didn't Tai tell me that when I asked him? What the hell is going on?" he pondered to himself, glaring up at the ceiling. "Why wouldn't Tai just tell me all of this and get it over with? What's so horribly hard about saying 'Yama, that's my ex but I love you more'? Damn." He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and stood up, slipping on his shoes and heading out of his room, padding down the hall. Without warning, he opened the door to TK's room and stuck his head in the door, looking right at his younger brother.
"Hey, I'm going to the Yagamis' house. Wanna come?"
"Hey Ken, is it okay if Kiseki comes to the movies with us?" Ken looked up from the task of tying his shoes and met Daisuke's eyes.
"Oh. Uh, I guess it doesn't matter. If he really wants to come, that's fine," the older boy replied, standing up from his position on the floor.
"Okay good because-" Daisuke was cut off by the doorbell from the main floor. "Well, that's him. You ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's go," Ken replied and headed out of Daisuke's room, lightly jogging down the stairs with Daisuke barreling after him. The excitable brunet got to the door first and flung it open, positively beaming at the black-haired boy on the other side.
"Hey 'Seki, ready to go?" Daisuke greeted his other friend as he stepped out to join him on the porch.
"Yep, are you guys?"
"About as ready as we can be to go see a movie," Ken answered as he also joined the other boy on the porch, closing the front door behind him. Daisuke bounced off of the porch and began leading the two older boys down the sidewalk at a quick pace.
"You guys are going to love this movie, I swear! Well I mean, I know Kiseki will because he's totally into the whole gore scene. Besides, it's also got a mystery tied into it that you try to figure out and since Ken wants to be a detective when he grows up, I thought it'd be a good movie," the younger boy explained.
"You still want to be a detective?" Kiseki asked before he could stop himself. Lucky for Ken, Daisuke was too busy giving Kiseki an odd stare to notice the panicked look on his own face.
"I wasn't aware that you already knew," Daisuke said slowly, raising an eyebrow at the black-haired boy.
"Well I mean, Ken told me yesterday when you were upstairs tending to Kari's yelling," Kiseki quickly covered, sending Ken his own look that clearly said 'I've got it covered.' Daisuke looked over his two friends warily for a brief moment before simply shrugging his shoulders and continuing on his way.
"Well that's cool." He nodded and stopped in front of the movie theatre, walking into the lobby. "Why don't you guys give me the money for your tickets and go buy snacks while I do that?"
"Yeah, sounds great!" Kiseki agreed almost too quickly and not only reached into his pocket but Ken's as well, grabbing a fistful of bills and shoving them into Daisuke's hand. "We'll meet you by the door to go into the movie!"
"O…kay?" Daisuke replied unsurely, watching his best friend be all but dragged across the lobby by his ex boyfriend. Without another thought, he jumped into line to buy the tickets.
Meanwhile, Kiseki kept a firm grip on Ken's wrist, continuing to pull him along. As soon as they reached their destination though, Ken yanked his arm away and stared at Kiseki in disbelief.
"Way to almost blow our cover, 'Seki!" he all but shouted, glaring at the other boy.
"I couldn't help it! It just kinda…slipped out!" Kiseki argued at the two moved closer to the snack counter.
"Yeah well now thanks to that, Daisuke's suspicious about what's going on," Ken groaned as he fished into his pockets for some more money.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we have to tell him," Kiseki pointed out, also looking for his money.
"Don't you think we should though? Just so he doesn't think it's a little weird?"
"Probably. It wouldn't cause much harm, would it?"
"Maybe, I don't know. Daisuke's kind of a tricky person to figure out. He could either a.) be totally cool with it or b.) blow up and kill us both. Are we willing to take that risk?" Ken gave Kiseki a questioning look.
"Um…"
"Exactly. So maybe we should just wait to see what happens, gently lead him into it."
"I still don't see what the problem is," Kiseki said flatly, turning to the girl at the counter and briefly pausing their argument. "Hi can I get a small popcorn, a medium Pepsi, a box of Sour Patch Kids and," he stopped to look back at Ken. "What'd you and Daisuke want?"
"Medium popcorn, medium Pepsi, and a large Mountain Dew."
"Jeezes, who's the Dew for?"
"Dai. Every time we went to the movies, that's what we would order. He would end up eating most of the popcorn though…and now that I think of that, maybe we should make that a large popcorn." Ken handed Kiseki the right amount of money and the other boy placed it on the counter for the girl working, taking the food and drinks from her, motioning for Ken to do the same. The two began walking away from the counter and headed toward the ticket boy where they knew Daisuke would be waiting.
"So…what are we going to do?" Kiseki brought up their original point.
"I already told you what I thought we should do."
"Yeah, but your idea stinks."
"Hey!"
"Think about it, Kenny," Kiseki cut him off, pretending that Ken wasn't glowering at the nickname. "If we just bite the bullet and tell Daisuke, he'll appreciate it rather than bite our faces off. Especially since we told him sooner than later ya know?"
"…I guess you're right," Ken sighed in defeat. "But if he does get mad, I'm blaming you entirely."
"Not a problem!" Kiseki grinned cheekily and stopped talking as they approached Daisuke who was holding three tickets.
"Sweet, you remembered!" the mahogany-haired boy exclaimed to Ken as he reached out to take the Mountain Dew.
"Well of course I did," Ken replied and shifted the popcorn in his arms. "Got the tickets?"
"Yep!" Daisuke handed the other two their tickets and gave his to the ticket boy. "C'mon." The other two followed in suit as Daisuke led them down to the other end of the theatre, stopping in front of a door. Ken peered up at the sign above the door and read it aloud.
"Saw?"
"Daisuke, you really want to watch Saw?" Kiseki inquired, glancing at the younger boy unsurely.
"Yes." The tanned boy marched into the theatre, leading his two friends up to the top and settling down in a seat, leaving Ken to sit on one side and Kiseki to sit on the other. The two older boys looked over the top of Daisuke's head at each other with worried glances.
"How did you even get us in here, Dai? The movie's rated R," Ken pointed out, munching on some of his popcorn.
"Just paid extra for the tickets. They don't really care," Daisuke replied and also grabbed some popcorn, taking the bucket from Ken's lap and moving it into his own. "Besides, you're acting like this movie's really that scary," he chided and continued eating his popcorn as the lights went down and the previews started rolling.
"Okay, Daisuke, if you say so," Kiseki replied and settled back in his seat, pretending not to notice that Ken had draped his arm behind Daisuke and that his finger was jabbing into Kiseki's shoulder.
By the time the movie was over, Ken realized that (much to his dismay) Kiseki was right; they needed to tell Daisuke about them no matter what, just in case they slipped again. The lights in the theatre came on and he stood up, waiting for Daisuke and Kiseki to do the same. The three boys headed out of the singular theatre and into the lobby, blinking at the bright light.
"That wasn't too bad," Kiseki spoke first, throwing away his trash and slipping his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah, I liked it," Daisuke nodded earnestly as he finished up his Mountain Dew. "What'd you think, Ken?"
"It was interesting, trying to figure out Jigsaw's motives and stuff. I liked it. Reminded me of another movie though." Ken chewed on the straw of his soda as the trio headed outside to start heading home.
"What movie?" Daisuke asked curiously as he wedged his way between Kiseki and Ken.
"This movie that was made like, ten years ago. It's called Seven."
"Oh!" Kiseki exclaimed, bouncing suddenly. "Isn't that the one that we watched at your house that one night that your parents left Osamu to babysit us and we ended up hiding under his bed? Damn, that was when we were like, 11!"
"Kiseki!" Ken shouted, eyes widening in shock along with Daisuke's. The mahogany-haired boy stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked at his two friends closely.
"Wait, wait, wait…when you were 11?" he slowly repeated, clearly waiting for an explanation. Ken shifted nervously and Kiseki grinned broadly, although it was apparent that he was apprehensive too.
"Okay Dai…we kinda have something we need to talk about," Ken started out slowly before Kiseki jumped in.
"Daisuke, remember when I said that the Niwas sent me to the Academy because I was gay and found out about my boyfriend?"
"…uh…huh…" Daisuke nodded slowly.
"Well…meet my ex, Ken Ichijouji." Kiseki grinned awkwardly while Ken rolled his eyes.
"So basically, we've known each other for a while and I just never got around to telling you," Ken added.
"And I didn't drop a name because I never thought you would know him," Kiseki quickly said. Daisuke blinked once, twice, and shook his head, staring at the other two in disbelief.
"I can't believe you two didn't tell me!" The two boys winced, expecting the worst. "That would have made everything so un-awkward!" Daisuke laughed and began walking again, sipping on his drink.
"Wait what?" Ken blinked, hurrying to catch up to Daisuke.
"What, did you think I was going to be mad or something? C'mon, Ken, I thought you would know me better than that," Daisuke teased as he looked forward. Kiseki glanced over at Ken this time and glared, promptly blowing a raspberry at the other boy.
"See! I told you he wouldn't get mad!" he exclaimed as the three re-approached the Yagami-Motomiya house, walking inside and closing the door.
"Well you never know!"
"I thought you were a genius though."
"Shut up."
It was about that time that the doorbell rang again, causing the three boys to stop in their tracks. Daisuke looked at his companions and shooed them away.
"Just go to the den, I'll join you in a second," he assured them and headed back toward the door, opening it just as Ken and Kiseki disappeared, still bickering.
"Oh, hey Matt," Daisuke greeted the taller blond boy, stepping out of the way so that Matt could enter the house.
"Hey Dais, is your brother home?"
"He should be. Check upstairs in his room," Daisuke suggested and shut the door. "Oh and for the record, you don't need to ring the doorbell, just walk on in next time," he added and walked away, heading toward the den where Matt could hear two other voices. Shaking his head, Matt began his ascent of the stairs, making his way to the second floor of the house and stopping in front of Tai's door.
He may not have to ring the door bell but he should at least knock on the bedroom door.
"It's open," Tai called out shortly after Matt knocked. The blue-eyed boy pushed the door open and stepped inside, finding Tai on his bed watching a small TV. The brunet turned his gaze from the screen and smiled upon seeing Matt.
"Hey Yama," he greeted his boyfriend and sat up, keeping his eyes on the American boy.
"Tai, who's Haru?" Matt bit the bullet, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible. Tai, on the other hand, didn't bother to hide his surprise by the question.
"What?"
"Who's Haru?" the blond repeated, standing his ground. Tai heaved a sigh and turned off the TV, giving Matt his full attention.
"Who told you about Haru?" he countered with his own question.
"Sora. She said that he's your ex."
"And she's right."
"What?" Matt blinked, expecting more of an elaborate answer.
"Haru's my ex, just like Sora said. I don't get why you're asking me if you already knew," Tai said calmly, already plotting ways on killing Sora without anybody noticing.
"…that's all?"
"Yes."
"You dated for six months?"
"…yes."
"And he dumped you?"
"Gee, sounds like Sora gave you plenty of information," Tai said dryly, leaning his chin in the palm of his hand.
"That's not the point, Tai!" Matt shouted, refusing to back down now.
"So what is the point, Yamato? What exactly is the point of questioning me about stuff you already know?" Tai argued back.
"I want to know why you didn't tell me! I want to know why Kari couldn't even tell me!"
"You asked my sister too! What the hell, Matt?"
"Tai, all I wanted to know was why some strange guy was hanging all over you yesterday and you didn't do anything about it. That's it."
"Uh hello! Did you not see that I was trying to get his arm off of my waist?"
"Tai, you could have just opened your mouth and told him to go away."
'Yeah, easy for you to say.' Tai all but snorted.
"I know, I didn't know how to react. I'm sorry," he apologized with large puppy eyes, looking up at Matt. "If it helps, I don't love him anymore. He's pretty much nothing and you're my everything, kay?"
Matt blinked at the choice of wording, tilting his head to the side. "Really?"
"Really, really." Tai smiled brightly. Matt pondered for a moment, folding his arms over his chest.
"You promise?"
"Of course I do. What's the matter, you don't trust me anymore?"
"No, that's not it…" Matt trailed off.
'It's everybody else that I don't trust.' He mentally added.
"…c'mere," Tai said gently, reaching out and grabbing onto one of Matt's arms, pulling him down onto the bed with him. Matt reluctantly settled down next to Tai but didn't fight off his boyfriend as he cuddled against him. "Listen, Haru and I are over and I love you more than enough to convince me to stay away from him all right? You're worrying about nothing."
"You really think I am?"
"Yep. Nothing's going to come between us. Haru's history," Tai reassured him, lightly pressing a chaste kiss to Matt's lips. "I can assure you of that."
"…okay. I guess, if you say so."
"I do. Trust me, everything between me and Haru is history." Tai suddenly pulled away and climbed off of the bed, extending his hand to Matt. "I'm suddenly in the mood for ice cream. You in?"
"…yeah. Here?"
"Downtown. I'll buy."
"…yeah, sounds good." Matt grinned and grabbed Tai's hand, walking out of the room with him. It didn't matter what Haru and Tai used to be; all that mattered was what he and Tai were now, right?
As long as he had Tai like he did now, happily chattering about…something and holding his hand tightly, it didn't matter what Haru did. Matt had Tai; Haru didn't.
Matt was pretty sure that he was the victorious one in the picture.
The next week or so passed right by for Tai as his birthday drew nearer. The days seemed to bleed into each other as he continued counting down until the 22nd. Finally the big day came. The brunet opened his eyes and glanced at the clock, noting that it was nearly ten in the morning. A small grin spread across his face as he sat up, jumping out of bed and slipping on his pajama bottoms that were on the floor. Daisuke wasn't in the room with him, he noted. Slipping on a dirty shirt from the floor, he thundered down the stairs in attempts to find his family.
"Hello?" he called out.
"Hello!" Kari called back from in the kitchen. Tai skidded to a halt and turned, walking into the kitchen and finding his younger sister pouring two bowls of cereal.
"Hey Kar," Tai greeted her, grabbing his own bowl.
"Hello Mr. Sixteen," Kari responded, giggling slightly at the dopey grin on Tai's face. "Happy Birthday."
"Thanks! Where's Mom, work?" Tai asked as he took the box of Frosted Flakes from Kari's hand, pouring himself a large bowl.
"Yes. And I already know what your next question is and no, you can't have your presents. Mom said to hide them from you until she gets home, which is at like, 5:30." Kari grabbed the milk out of the refrigerator and poured some into the two bowls in front of her.
"Ah man, are you kidding me! That's like, forever from now!"
"Yeah well, she's bringing home your cake too. In the meantime, you can watch cartoons with Daisuke and I," Kari offered, picking up the two bowls of cereal and grabbing two spoons, making her way back toward the den. Tai poured milk into his own bowl and grabbed a spoon, following his sister down into the den where Daisuke was already curled up on the couch, watching The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.
"Here, Dai." Kari handed Daisuke his breakfast and settled in on the other end of the couch.
"Thanks." The youngest Yagami-Motomiya sibling turned his head to look at Tai. "Hey, happy birthday!"
"Thanks," Tai replied and curled up in the chair next to the couch. He chewed on a spoonful of cereal briefly, casting Daisuke a curious look. "Say Dai, you wouldn't happen to know where my-"
"No Tai," Daisuke cut him off. "You have to wait until Mom gets home."
"Man, you guys are no fun!" Tai sulked, continued to eat his cereal.
"Well we're more worried about Mom killing us than being fun, right Daisuke?" Kari said, turning up the volume on the TV.
"Totally," Daisuke agreed around his cereal. Tai stared at the TV blankly, mindlessly eating his cereal.
"You guys suck," he said after some time, standing up from his chair.
"But you love us!" Kari gave him a wide grin.
"Yeah, I know. Sad huh?" Tai returned the smile and headed for the stairs. "I'm gonna go shower."
"Kay." Daisuke nodded, never taking his eyes off of the screen. Tai jogged up the stairs to the main floor, first stopping in the kitchen to put his bowl in the sink and take his medication.
'Hmm, almost out. I have to ask Mom to grab some more next time she's in town.' He noted, setting the bottle back in the cabinet and grabbing a glass of water, swallowing the pills quickly. He left the kitchen and jogged up the stairs, returning to his bedroom and opening his closet, grabbing a clean shirt. He turned to the dresser and pulled out his khaki shorts and a clean pair of boxers, slamming the drawer shut and heading into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and turning on the shower water.
By the time Tai finished his shower and morning routine, it was nearly 11 o'clock. He had just gone down the stairs in search of his younger siblings when the doorbell rang. Changing his direction, Tai headed for the door and opened it, instantly regretting it.
"Oh…hi Haru," he said, truly surprised to see the older boy standing on his doorstep. Haru smiled suavely and leaned against the doorframe.
"Happy birthday, Taichi," Haru replied, watching the brunet closely. "So close to being legal huh?"
"Er, yeah, I guess so." Tai's eyes darted left and right as his brain racked for an excuse to shoo the other boy away.
"Anyway, I just came by to see you and give you your present." Haru's eyes narrowed coolly as he reached into his pocket, aqua gaze never leaving Tai's muddy one.
"You got me a present?" The tanned boy raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I did, Taichi babe. It's your sweet 16, it only happens once," Haru explained as he pulled something out of his pocket, thrusting it into Tai's hand.
"Uh, Haru?"
"Just look at it." And so he did. Tai found himself holding onto what he assumed was supposed to be a rose made out of two condoms. "Up for a go?"
"What the fuck, Haru!" Tai shouted, throwing the condoms back at Haru. "Are you insane, I thought we were over!"
"Depends on your definition of over," Haru retaliated.
"…I have a boyfriend."
"So? I had a girlfriend the same time I was fooling around with you. What's your point?"
"Haru, just stop! Okay, this is not going to happen!" Tai exclaimed, fully prepared to slam the door in the silver-haired boy's face. However, Haru's hand stopped the door from closing.
"Oh come on, Taichi. It'll all be okay," Haru purred, leaning forward so that their noses were brushing.
"Haru…stop."
"It'll be our little secret," the older male whispered, closing that small space between the two of them and pressing his lips to Tai's, kissing him hard. Tai let out a muffled yelp as he attempted to push Haru away, only succeeding in the boy pushing his weight on top of him. Haru slowly pulled away and licked his lips, smiling satisfactory.
"Think about it," he said coyly with a quick wink, turning and walking away. Tai continued to look at his feet, trying to catch his breath. He finally regained the courage to look up.
"Matt!" He shouldn't have looked up. The blond boy stood a few feet away from Haru just was, staring at Tai in disgust, anger, and disappointment. "Wait a sec, that wasn't what you think, okay?"
"Save it, Tai. I get it," Matt cut him off, walking closer to his boyfriend.
"But-" Matt shoved a box into his hand and stepped away.
"Just wanted to drop by and say Happy Birthday," he said, albeit choked.
"Yama," Tai tried again but Matt merely shrugged, turning on his heel and walking back in the direction he came from. Tai held the box limply in his hand, staring at the velvety little container. He closed the door then, standing inside the foyer with his back to it, simply trying to gather his thoughts. Soon he pried the box open gently, peering inside and spotting a hemp necklace decorated with cream and dark brown beads curled up along with a small little note.
'To replace the necklace you always wear. It's beginning to look a little old. I love you so much. Happy 16th.
–Matt.'
"Ah shit…" Tai groaned, slamming his head back against the door. "Shit, shit, shit," he repeated, hitting his head with each word. "So much for not fucking up our relationship." He moved away from the door, heading toward the front closet to slip on a pair of flipflops.
"Kari, I'm going to Sora's!" he shouted over his shoulder, opening the door and closing it before Kari could answer. He stepped out onto the sidewalk, hands flying up to his neck and unlatching the old pooka shell necklace, staring at it darkly.
"I hate you. I hate you so much right now," he muttered, shoving the necklace into his pocket and picking up the hemp necklace. "And you…I'm so sorry," he said quietly, fastening it to his neck tightly in hopes that it would knock the lump in his throat loose.
...eheheh, hi guys. Been a while, huh? I'm so sorry, I got so busy with school (senior year, go figure. All sorts of preperations for graduation) and of course, dance. Then I got on my Kingdom Hearts trip but we won't get into that.Not only that, my Taichi muse left. Yep. I told him that he could have a vacation since he helped me with Black and the first two chapters non-stop.
I just found him last week, in California no less. Disneyland if you want specifics, but I'm sure you don't. Anyway, thank you guys for bearing with me and being so patient (and some..not so patient. You know who you are -wink-). Anyway, it's up, it's here, and hopefully will be updated more frequently now.
Thanks to: neo-chan (wow, when did you change the funky letters?), ClintonBradford, Mimi-102, DarkMetalAngel of Destruction, Tai-an-yama's-boy, Lord Sylak, Dark-lil-devil, Tyleet27, Dreamcrafter, Devildelivery, Sovereign of Silence3, Kaiya5, Coldplayer, Emu, JohnneyAntonelli, Scorn-Silverstar, The Kaizeress, born a dreamer, r e d m u s h r o o m s, Angel Born of Darkness, Pikke Wood, CircleKV12, Largo-sensei, WRXgurl, regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Kaizen, missa1, Puffgirl117, SelenaWheeler, inoku, Kearia Hikari, fluffys-sidekick, Autum Otnorot, Yamato-Taichi-4ever, TaitoLove, husShh, and blitzdragon. You guys rock so hard and I appreciate every single review I've received from you.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please don't kill/fire me. I need to finish the story, just remember that!
Love you all, Ty.