A/N: Name changed to 'Koisuru' which generally means to be in love.
If it were up to me, I'd write the whole story from Jyou's perspective which would turn out to be the most confused narrative ever. Also is it Jyou or Joe? Cuz I think I used both.
About the late update, I'm sorry, really. I just didn't get the drive to write it. But yay I got it today and ta-da, a decent sized chapter has been born.
Thank you chaosoulg, MoustachedCat, angelxchild for reviewing, always appreciated. And special thanks to soojinah for messaging me and informing me that the editing of the story might not allow people to leave a review for a while.
-x-
It was a chilly morning but Jyou didn't mind walking as this was one of the first weekends he had off after a long and hectic month of college and since he was going to spend it with Yamato, he was more relieved than anything else. After entering college, he rarely got the time to see his younger friends, even though he was in the same city. He'd catch them on train stations or at convenience stores sometimes, but he was always in a rush and hence was never able to hold a full-fledged conversation. And after the tension he had witnessed a few days ago, he felt the need to sit down and talk to them and figure out what exactly was happening, because he'd hate to find out that there was a rift between them. They'd been going strong for about six years now, and Jyou was pretty sure that the calmness and 'at home' feeling he felt when he was with the other seven was something he wouldn't be able to find anywhere.
He was a little surprised however, when it was Koushiro who answered the door instead, "Koushiro-kun! I didn't know you were here too."
The geek stepped aside in order to allow the older boy to come in. Jyou quickly entered the living room and was happily surprised to find Takeru scribbling furiously in a notebook, most of his bandages gone, in a corner on the floor and Taichi lazily sprawled over the couch, accurately displaying his intentions of not moving for the rest of the day. Yamato greeted him from the kitchen and Jyou waved back, a smile on his face as he noticed that the blond was making something for the rest of them.
"Yeah, Jyou-senpai. I'm here too. You see, ever since my best friend shunned me for being a traitor, I have nowhere else to go on a Saturday." Koushiro replied in a flat tone as he picked up his tablet and settled next to Takeru.
"Oh boohoo, my best friend is the sexiest girl in Odaiba, my life is so sad." Taichi cried out in a mocking voice.
Koushiro looked up from the screen to shoot a glare in the brunet's direction and then went back to his tablet.
Jyou fumbled with his spectacles, he was still unsure of what was happening so he murmured to himself quietly, "Mimi-chan is the sexiest girl in Odaiba?"
"Jyou, you're still standing? C'mon make yourself comfortable." Yamato commented as he entered the living room carrying a tray filled with different coloured beverages. Jyou nodded in reply, quickly grabbing a chair and settling down on the other side of the coffee table. He watched as Yamato set the tray on the table and forcefully pushed Taichi aside to make space for him on the couch.
"Iced tea for Koushiro, orange soda for Takeru, green tea for Jyou," The blond pointed to the glasses on the table and everyone reached forward to pick up their glass, "and some whisky and cola for me and this idiot."
"You're drinking alcohol?" Jyou almost dropped his glass of tea as he stared in bewilderment at the two teenagers sitting in front of him, "During breakfast time?"
"Well senpai, desperate times call for desperate measures." Taichi replied casually as he grudgingly settled into a sitting position, giving more space to the blond next to him.
"What desperate times?" Jyou questioned, still a little shocked by their choice of drink.
"You guys are forgetting that Jyou-nii doesn't know anything. He's been missing in action for about two months now." Takeru pointed out as he sipped his soda, careful about not spilling any on his notebook.
"Oh right," Taichi said, "I guess we start at the beginning then?" he turned to look at Yamato who nodded. The two clinked their glasses together and the other three boys watched wide-eyed as they gulped down the drink in one go.
"I'm in love with Sora."
"And Mimi's in love with me."
Jyou had only just taken his first sip of the tea and he ended up choking on it, "Wha-huh-whaah-..what?"The two boys sitting in front of him avoided his gaze as colour filled their cheeks, so he turned towards the younger two, who looked completely unfazed by this piece of information. Jyou admitted to himself that he had indeed been gone for too long, if this was what normal looked like.
"Also, I fucked up big time." Taichi added.
"And apparently, I don't have a heart." Yamato concluded.
The older boy turned to look at the younger blond again, his eyes begging for an explanation.
"You guys have to be more specific than that." Takeru sighed, "Tell him everything."
-x-
It was Koushiro's idea to order pizza as he could guess that Yamato wasn't in the mood to cook anything. The five of them had been talking for three hours, with Taichi and Yamato leading, Takeru and Koushiro occasionally pitching in, and Jyou interrupting with questions. When the pizzas arrived, relief was visible on everyone's faces and as they started on lunch, a comfortable silence settled in with only the sound of chewing and pizza boxes opening. As the older boy ate, he analysed all of what he had just heard in his head. He came to the conclusion after he finished his third slice that he really wouldn't be able to help Taichi, since he had no experience in those kinds of fights. He barely ever got to see his girlfriend because of their busy schedules, so every time they were together, they'd only chat happily (among other things), and fights were almost negligible. But Yamato on the other hand, he could definitely help out somehow.
His relationship with the blond had somehow always been deeper than what he shared with the others. As the eldest one, he was always looking out for the rest of them and running around trying to make sure that they were always on the right track. So he had been immensely surprised when Yamato looked out for him, took care of him instead. Jyou had forgotten the number of times he had asked the blond for help starting from working at that shitty restaurant in the Digital World to delivering a home-cooked meal at midnight the night before his college entrance examination because Jyou hadn't eaten anything at all the whole day, Yamato always came through for him. And there were times when Yamato didn't want to be the rock anymore, times when he didn't feel like handling Takeru or Taichi, and at those times he came to Jyou asking to be pampered, to which the older boy always willingly obliged.
"Taichi, have you tried apologising?" Jyou asked him, picking up another slice, but it was Koushiro who replied.
"Senpai, you should've seen Sora in school on Wednesday. I've never seen her act so steely before."
Jyou looked at Taichi, who met his gaze, his deep brown eyes reflecting regret. The blue haired boy wasn't used to seeing that kind of expression on the younger teen's face so he quickly looked away, unsure of what to say next.
"Well he has to do something," Yamato said, "Sora can't stay mad at him forever."
"Don't make it into a challenge. Don't even say that in front of her, okay?" Taichi muttered grumpily.
"And what is Yamato planning to do?"
Jyou's question was followed by complete silence as everyone looked at the older blond, awaiting his answer eagerly. But Yamato just shrugged and avoided their gaze by staring intently at his now empty plate. This was Yamato's escapist attitude taking control, something Jyou had seen quite a few times. It was known to all that Yamato often underestimated himself, and though he had become quite confident ever since his band got popular and they entered high school, but still he had these certain moments when he felt weak and incapable. And every time the blond felt that he wasn't good enough for something, he would just hide from it and ignore it till it went away. Unless of course, halfway through Taichi forced him to feel confident and go forward, which usually led to a happy ending.
So the blue haired boy turned his gaze towards the brunet instead, hoping that the latter would somehow instigate Yamato into opening up, because Jyou had to admit that Taichi was pretty good at riling up people and making them wear their hearts on their sleeves. But it looked like the soccer ace was feeling quite down himself, and wasn't planning to annoy the blond into talking anytime soon. He figured then, that it would be Takeru who'd take the mantle next but it seemed like Koushiro was full of surprises today.
"Yamato, I don't understand why you hold such a bad perception of yourself," Koushiro said, making everyone's gaze land on him. Jyou noticed that the genius' eyes were full of determination as he said it and he didn't give the blond any time to retaliate, "I mean, do you really think Mimi-chan is some angel who deserves to be worshipped?"
Jyou was pretty sure that Yamato was going to nod in reply to that but before he could, Koushiro continued his outburst of sorts.
"No she isn't. She has tonnes of faults. Just like you, just like the rest of us. Remember that day you guys had lunch together and she got really mad at you and left, you know why she did that? Because apparently, you didn't give her the kind of attention she wanted.
Yes, she is kind and helpful and benevolent, but aren't you the same? Name one instance when Takeru-kun or Taichi or any of us, for that matter, were in trouble and you didn't drop everything to go help them. You won't be able to because you always help people you care about no matter what the situation.
Yeah, you can be sarcastic and pessimistic at times, but Mimi is equally childish and demanding. So don't for a second think that you don't deserve to be with someone like Mimi, because that is just so wrong. If everyone who was meant to be together was perfect all the time, then Taichi and Sora wouldn't be fighting like this."
The silence that followed was so absolute, that the sound of a pin dropping might've actually echoed loudly throughout the room. Nobody moved a muscle for some time and after a while the only sound that was heard was of Koushiro catching his breath and gulping down water. Takeru's mouth was hanging open, the pizza slice still in his hand, waiting to be eaten. Taichi and Yamato's face held similar expressions of confusion as they stared at the dark haired boy with wide eyes and gaping mouths.
"I'm a little honoured and insulted that you used me as an example," Taichi was the first one to recover, "But damn! Good job little guy, I don't think any of us could've said it any better. Yamato, I'm gonna write all of that on a card and give it you tomorrow because if you read it every day in the morning, I think you can really overcome your problem of self-doubt." The cheeky grin on the brunet's face brought some life back into the blond as he punched his friend's shoulder, his pale face now tinted with a deep shade of red.
"Kou-nii, I love you." Takeru dropped his pizza slice and jumped on the dark haired boy, enveloping him in a hug that he couldn't get out of. Koushiro flushed and he tried to justify himself by saying that he only said things that were obvious, yet the younger blond refused to let go of him for full five minutes. Soon, everyone had a smile on their face and the last few slices were picked up and stomachs were filled. When they started clearing up the dishes and empty boxes, Taichi and Takeru very politely kept reminding Yamato that he thought Mimi was an angel, and after a lot of smirking and teasing and turning red on Yamato's part, Jyou finally asked them to leave the blond alone. As Yamato finished up with the dishes, the other four calmly settled back in the living room, making plans to catch a movie before dinner time. So when the blond came back, looking unsure with a slight pink tinge still visible on his face and didn't immediately take his seat next to Taichi, Jyou got a little worried.
"Do you really think it'll work?" Yamato asked, "Me and Mimi, I mean…"
"Even if it doesn't, at least you would've tried right?" Jyou smiled encouragingly.
"If you let this go right now, Yama…" Taichi trailed off, averting his gaze towards the floor.
"You'll regret it for sure, Nii-san." Takeru finished for him instead.
-x-
Sora's eyes were fixed on the cup of vanilla ice cream kept in front of her, she was waiting for it to melt slightly, so that it would be the perfect balance between not too cold and creamy. Mimi on the other hand, had already finished her blackcurrant scoop and had gone down to the kitchen to ask for some chocolate. The auburn haired girl had woken up in the morning with the thought of wanting to spend the day with her best friend, doing absolutely nothing. And that is what they had been doing since morning, sitting in the brunette's room and watching romantic anime and Korean variety shows on YouTube. Sora started to dread that Mimi's obsession with Korean idols was going to rub off of on her if she watched one more episode, so she distracted Mimi by asking for ice cream. While the brunette inhaled her first cup in less than a minute, Sora only had just begun eating hers.
"How could you just let that ice-cream sit there for so long?" Mimi remarked as she entered the room, holding a mixture of chocolate and strawberry ice cream in a larger bowl than her previous one.
"Do you guys have every flavour stored up in your fridge?" Sora retorted, eyeing her change of utensil.
"Well, me and Mama have a very distinct taste pallet." Mimi stuck her tongue out as she settled back next to her friend on the bed. The brunette noticed that Sora had turned off the laptop in her absence, so she shot her friend an exasperated look to which the auburn haired girl replied with a small smile.
"So are we going to finally talk about the elephant in the room?" Mimi asked, in a challenging tone.
"Can we start with yours first?" Sora pleaded in reply.
"I don't have an elephant. Yamato-kun made it pretty clear that he's not interested." The brunette stated flatly.
"You're giving him less credit than he deserves." Sora sighed.
"I tried to start something and he shut me out." Mimi had to stop herself from crying out, lest her mother heard her.
"Meems, you have to be patient with him-"
"Why? I don't want to be patient, I've been patient for far too long!" The brunette realized that it would be too difficult for her to hold her voice down any longer if they talked about this any further, but her friend wasn't going to drop the subject so easily.
"Mimi," Sora started in a calm voice, "you have to understand that Yamato hasn't had the best example of a romantic relationship while growing up courtesy of his parents. So it's natural that he's sceptical about this stuff and not willing to take an initiative, you have to push harder. You've liked him for so long, what's two more months?"
"But what if those two months turn into six? Or ten years? And I'm forever stuck with this one-sided unrequited love in my heart?"
"It won't. If you just go a little further, work a little harder, those two months can be turned into a week. The Mimi I know doesn't give up so easily," replied Sora, a gentle smile on her face.
"Do you know how much it hurt, when I actually told him what I thought about him, and he just brushed it off like it was nothing?" Mimi whispered, turning to other side so she didn't have to face the auburn haired girl.
"He panicked, Meems. You know how under-confident he is about himself. You said all those great things and he just didn't know how to accept it," Sora said, "And yes, I do know how much it hurts. But you know what the biggest difference between Taichi and Yamato is?"
Mimi reluctantly turned back to face her friend who was smiling at her, despite of the pain reflected in her eyes, "What?" she asked quietly.
"Yamato is a gentleman, unlike Taichi, who is an asshole of the highest order." Sora grinned making the brunette burst into a fit of giggles.
"I can't believe you were going to give up so easily." Sora commented.
"I was planning to join Tinder actually." Mimi smirked at her. She was expecting the other girl to reprimand her for the silliness but instead she saw Sora's eyes brighten at the mention of that app.
"That's it." Sora said, her eyes sparkling up as if she had just had the most amazing idea.
"I was kidding, Sora-chan. We're not going to join Tinder, we're in high school!"
"No, no, not Tinder, idiot." Sora frowned at her, perplexed as to why the brunette wasn't understanding what she was trying to say, "Don't you get it, Meems?"
"Get what?"
The smile that engulfed the auburn haired girl's face was something that Mimi had never seen her do before, it was full of mischief and slyness and it didn't really fit well with her gentle face.
"We just have to make them jealous. Yamato's mind works fastest when he's competing and Taichi… well, Taichi hates sharing."
-x-
A/N: Okay so that's that. Uhm, not sure about the next update, maybe a month or maybe 2 weeks? I mean depends on my college really. And oh, I'm also planning to post all of my Mimato Week contributions, so maybe you could read that in the mean time? Anywho, reviews and criticisms are always welcome, do let me know what you thought of this!