Yay – back with another chapter (sorry for taking so long!). Also, a warning in advance for it being all over the place and because I just realized I made them out to be raging alcoholics (but they are college students so I suppose it's fairly reasonable).
As he glanced at the clock that read nearly six o' clock, Taichi exhaled slowly.
He could think of only one plausible explanation for the butterflies that were currently uncomfortably flittering around in his stomach, and that explanation was hunger. After all, he hadn't eaten for at least 5 hours! (Okay, he'd had two cookies an hour ago, but those barely counted.)
As he gulped down some water, he pointedly ignored the Hikari-like voice in his head that reminded him that butterflies in his stomach generally pointed to nervousness, not hunger. That couldn't be true. After all, Taichi didn't really get nervous, unless it was before a major soccer game or if he was in a hospital (he hated hospitals).
And why would he be nervous about this anyway? He was going to be doing some of his favorite things: drinking, eating tacos, and hanging out with Yamato.
Sure, these events happened to be occurring at a gay bar, but why did that matter? It's not like he was some kind of homophobe. He hesitated slightly while thinking the last word.
For maybe the fiftieth time this week, an image of Yamato liplocked rather passionately with another guy flashed into Taichi's head and his insides squirmed uneasily.
"If you're not a homophobe," a voice sneered at him, "then why does that sight bother you so much?"
Taichi barely resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall behind him in an effort to get back at the voice. After all, it's not like the sight bothered him, per se, it was just… a little unusual- or rather, he hadn't see that before, or specifically… imagined Yamato that way, but-
"Ouch!" He groaned as he accidentally stubbed his toe turning a corner too quickly.
Get it together, Taichi! He mentally scolded himself while grabbing his shoes. Yamato's your friend, your best friend, for almost as long as you can remember. Whether he likes guys or not doesn't affect that. You're not the kind of person who would judge someone for that.
He still couldn't figure out exactly why Yamato had tried so desperately to hide this all from him. But, something had changed in their friendship two years ago, and no matter how persistent Taichi had been he could never repair it. Now, ever since he had found out Yamato's secret, he could sense that Yamato was slowly lowering the walls around him again and, stupid butterflies be damned, he was determined not to screw it up this time.
Plus, if Yamato thought Taichi was uncomfortable being around him (which he wasn't!) because he was gay, he would definitely push Taichi away again. So, as Taichi walked out of his apartment, he shoved any and all foreign feelings to the farthest recesses of his mind, and focused on enjoying a night out with his best friend.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Yamato had just brushed his hair for the seventh time and checked whether he had left the fridge open four times, even though he hadn't used it all day.
Sure, he could have said that he wasn't nervous at all. But he wasn't supposed to lie anymore, right?
Finally deciding he had spent enough time looking in the mirror, he headed outside to meet up with Taichi, reminding himself for the final time that this was nothing like a date.
Yamato didn't really date. He'd tried, of course, at first. One-night stands had sometimes turned into brunch dates or occasionally he'd responded to a phone number he'd been given. But away from the dim lights of the club and the guise provided by alcohol, it would become painfully obvious after a single conversation that every guy paled in comparison to what he really wanted.
They were either not funny enough, not sweet enough, or just flat-out disinterested in Yamato for who he really was. Sometimes they were none of these things, but Yamato just couldn't enjoy himself anyway. How could anyone else really compare when even stupid things like getting a simple text from Taichi or having a class together could make Yamato's entire day?
"You're royally screwed, you know that? You're going to be single forever if this keeps up." Kyo had told him once when he mentioned his predicament.
So Yamato decided he would just stick to sex, where the expectations were consistent, the commitment was minimal, and the returns were pretty satisfactory.
"I'm just spending time with my really nice, really straight, best friend. The only difference now is that he knows that I'm gay." Yamato repeated forcefully, probably looking like a crazy person as he shook his head while he walked. Any way you viewed it, this was just two friends getting food and drinks together. At best, it was a celebratory "coming out" treat for Yamato from Taichi.
They had made plans to meet up outside a café called Sugaland before heading over to the taco place, Estella's, that was on another side of campus and not very far from Cloud 9. Yamato was hoping to take a route that wouldn't pass Cloud 9 as he didn't particularly want memories of that night resurfacing.
Yamato tugged his sleeve back to look at his watch. He'd gotten there early. Fortunately for him, Taichi had too and was waving to him from across the street.
He couldn't help but give Taichi a once-over as he crossed the street, privately deciding that teal was a really good color on Taichi. Like pretty much every other color. Ugh, I'm incorrigible.
"How's Carla doing?" Yamato asked after they greeted each other and started walking, partly to be friendly and mostly to remind himself to stop staring.
"She's good! Haven't seen her as much lately since she's been at other schools for competitions."
"Oh yeah, she's an ice-skater right?"
"Yeah, she's super good too. We went to an ice-skating rink on one of our dates and I totally embarrassed myself."
Yamato laughed, imagining Taichi wiping out the moment he stepped onto the rink (which, admittedly, was pretty much the exact scene that occurred).
"I think you would be good at it though." Taichi said thoughtfully. "You move a lot more gracefully than me."
"Yeah, well, that's not saying a lot." Yamato said, shrugging off a blush. "Probably two out of every three toddlers move more gracefully than you."
"Hey now, coach says I am the epitome of grace on the soccer field."
Yamato bit his tongue before he could voice his wholehearted agreement with coach. Taichi on the field was beautiful, after all. Instead, he just rolled his eyes, rattled off a comment about Taichi's ego, and pointed down the street.
"Almost there, it's just at the end of this street."
"Great, I am so ready for tacos and tequila!" Taichi said excitedly, his hand over his stomach.
XxXxXxXxXxX
The pair entered the part-restaurant/part-bar, immediately greeted by an exciting atmosphere and loud latin music. They took a seat at a small table near the bar.
"Hey Yamato!" The bartender gestured kindly to him. "I'm guessing you'll get your usual?"
"Sure, and can I get a menu for my friend? He hasn't been here before."
The bartender nodded and walked off.
Taichi was looking at him in a somewhat impressed way. "People know you pretty well around here, huh?"
"Like I said, I come here pretty regularly. The food is actually surprisingly good."
"So this is what you were doing instead of working out with me?" Taichi pouted slightly. Before Yamato had a chance to feel guilty and explain himself, though, Taichi started laughing. "I'm just joking! This seems like more fun anyway."
Part of Yamato's brain was still processing the current situation. A month ago, this would have been completely forbidden territory. A part of him was elated just for the fact that he could mostly be himself around Taichi again, but another (larger) part of him couldn't help but run through all the terrible ways this could go.
As if to prove the latter part of him right, Yamato felt an arm drape over his shoulders and a loud voice say, "Hey Yamato!"
Yamato recognized the voice and turned to greet the older student. "Hey there, Jayce."
"Sooo, care to introduce me to your friend?" The subtle look in the other male's eyes and the suggestive inflection of his tone was enough to set Yamato on edge.
Taichi who overheard the question started saying, "Hi, I'm Taichi-" before Yamato cut him off.
"It's no use, Jayce." Yamato forced himself to say calmly, before Jayce could get any ideas. "He's just a straight guy that I happened to drag here."
"Yep," Taichi smiled lightheartedly. "Just a straight guy who likes tacos." Yamato winced internally. Was he trying to look so damn cute?
"Aw, that's such a shame..." Jayce looked over at Yamato unhappily. "He's totally my type too."
Yamato tried his best not to look annoyed. You've met him for all of 2 seconds and he's already your type? Get in line, man.
Yamato then glanced at Taichi, who fortunately looked more amused than uncomfortable, before hurriedly changing the subject. "Isn't that what you said about the last guy, er, Frank or Franz or whatever? What happened to him?"
'Frank or Franz or whatever' seemed to hit a sore spot, as Jayce rambled on for nearly an hour about a break-up story that had apparently involved McDonald's, several geese, and prison time.
By the time he had finished, both Yamato and Taichi's food had arrived and a few other friends of Yamato had also joined their party. One by one, Yamato had introduced them all to Taichi, taking extra time to emphasize to the ones who were gay that Taichi was straight (and therefore, off-limits).
"Well, I think I know what a story like that calls for…" Taichi was telling Jayce empathetically when Yamato tuned back in. He pointed to the bartender. "A round of tequila shots, please!"
There was a round of enthusiastic agreement and cheering while Yamato resisted the urge to roll his eyes. There was no group of people that Taichi couldn't get along with, particularly with the help of alcohol. (Never mind that this was already their third round of shots.)
Regardless, he couldn't help but smile along with Taichi as he grabbed a lime and knocked back the fiery liquid. He was also extremely thankful that tomorrow was Friday, and neither of them had classes.
The night continued to progress, to Yamato's amazement, fairly normally. After some time, the conversation had transitioned into some sort of eating competition.
"Yeah, well, I bet I can eat 8 tacos!" Taichi exclaimed loudly to a small crowd at one point, causing Yamato to snort into his drink. "Only 4 to go!"
"Channeling your inner Agumon, huh?" Yamato said, eyebrow quirked. Remembering that they weren't technically supposed to talk about their Digimon, he scanned their surroundings quickly but fortunately everyone was engrossed in their own conversations.
"Who do you think Agumon gets it from?" Taichi smirked, puffing out his chest slightly.
"I don't know if that's something you should be so proud of…"
Taichi laughed, but after a moment his smile started to fade.
Concern immediately colored Yamato's features. "What's wrong?"
"Ah.. it's nothing really. I just… I miss him a lot, you know? The others too."
That was just like Taichi. Yamato smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, I do too."
Taichi looked up at him. "I'm really glad that we've still got each other, at least." Yamato felt a wave of warmth wash over him as Taichi's eyes burned into Yamato's with their typical intensity.
"I… am too." God dammit, do you not know any other words Yamato?
Before Yamato could improve upon his response, however, their moment was interrupted by a short sophomore with curly hair and dimples grabbing onto Taichi's arm with a slight wobble.
"Hey Taichi, the kitchen just closed so you technically lost your bet!"
Taichi groaned. "Hey, that's not fair!" He muttered, "I so could have done it too…"
The dimpled boy ignored Taichi's complaints and said cheekily, "Don't worry, we've got just the punishment for your loss!" He pointed to Yamato as an afterthought. "And we'll be needing you too. Could you be on guitar? We're doing live latin music!"
Before the two had a chance to say anything, the boy dragged Taichi to the small stage in the corner of the room before dressing him with a sombrero and a pair of red and green maraca shakers.
Yamato, who had also walked over to the stage, had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud at Taichi's dismayed expression.
"Actually this is going to be really embarrassing…" Taichi said, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his index finger. "I have no sense of rhythm- you can ask Yamato."
Yamato thought back to freshman year when Taichi had begged Yamato to teach him how to play the guitar "because it was the ultimate chick magnet". The first lesson had led to two broken guitar strings, a bruised temple, and a promise that Yamato would never attempt to teach Taichi music again.
Yamato just nodded and said bluntly, "It's true, guys. He's really bad."
Taichi pouted in the background. "Aw Yama, did you have to say it so mean?"
"Yes." Yamato said simply.
The dimpled boy just laughed. "Oh don't worry, it doesn't take any rhythm for those things. You just shake them around." He added slyly, "I heard it helps to stay on beat if you shake your butt too while you're at it." His words were met with laughs from those in the vicinity, a slight redness on Taichi's face, and a sharp 'Oi, stop that!' from Yamato.
After a bit of live music which somehow transformed into several rounds of makeshift karaoke, the rest of the night had passed, somehow without mishap. Honestly, it was so fun it almost had Yamato regretting never telling Taichi earlier.
Had he overestimated how risky this would be? Taichi didn't seem to be any closer to suspecting that Yamato might have a crush on him, though that may just be because he was sufficiently distracted by all the other new things.
"Be sure to come back for next week's Taco Thursday night!" they heard the bartender call after them as they left.
"That wasn't so bad, huh?" Yamato laughed carefreely, the alcohol affecting him more than he had expected.
"Not bad at all. And here I was expecting to catch gay cooties…" Taichi said sarcastically. "I really don't know what you were so worried about."
"Of course I'd be worried!" Yamato feigned an extreme look of concern. "You know, Taichi… gay cooties are…" Yamato leaned in slightly and lowered his voice, "incurable."
Taichi just raised his eyebrows in response, probably silently questioning Yamato's state of mind.
Yamato blinked. "Yeah, I have no idea why I just whispered that. Blame the tequila."
"Yep, I think it's time to sleep. Thanks for inviting me along tonight." Taichi paused to flash him a smile bright enough to see through the darkness, before waving good night.
Taichi faced his reflection in the mirror and groaned as he realized, for the third time, that his silk black tie hung too far over his belt. Putting on a tie was never particularly enjoyable for Taichi, and constantly getting lost in his own thoughts only made the task that much more difficult.
Taichi grumbled as he untied the knot. Why again did he have to promise Yamato that he would dress up tonight? Oh right, because he made those eyes at me.
It was Saturday night. It had now been exactly 3 weeks since Taichi had walked in on Yamato at Cloud 9 and incidentally discovered that his current best friend (who half the female population fawned over) was actually into guys.
It had been approximately two weeks since taco night which had been followed by several similar events, at straight and gay bars. At each one, Taichi and Yamato had a great time, and never strayed too far or went home without the other, similar to Fortune Fridays.
Pretty much, things seemed to have almost instantaneously returned back to normal between them. At least, that's what the situation might have looked like to an outsider.
Taichi Yagami, however, would beg to differ.
Normal, my ass. Nothing was normal! He gritted his teeth as he pulled the material around his neck tight once more. The last three weeks had been… confusing, if he were to put it mildly. Sure, some of it had been really fun, but other parts could only have been described as excruciating.
Admitting that something wasn't normal was the easy part, unfortunately. Trying to figure out the exact reason for this was where Taichi was repeatedly hitting a wall.
At first, Taichi had attempted to rationalize his unusual behavior by saying that he wasn't used to seeing two guys together, as if that was what bothered him about the whole Yamato situation. This theory was quickly debunked when he started actually going to gay bars and finding he had no problems with other same-sex couples. Even when hit on by guys, his own reaction had always been more flattered than disturbed.
Then, Taichi had tried to associate the difference with the fact that they were now going to gay bars, which somehow caused Yamato to act differently which in turn caused Taichi to somehow perceive Yamato weirdly.
To avoid this issue, he had convinced Yamato yesterday that he just wanted to stay in and hang out, hoping desperately that that would cause things to truly go back to normal. But then, that had happened.
xXxXxXxX (flashback)
They had ended up staying at Taichi's apartment, choosing to put on a movie and order wings for dinner.
Things were going okay, until they were sitting on the couch in the middle of the movie, and Taichi noticed that there was a bit of sauce stuck to the corner of Yamato's cheek. It was not really unreasonable, considering what they had just ate. Frankly, Taichi thought it was kind of adorable. (wait, like baby Hikari adorable, he clarified to nobody in particular) Anyway, Yamato hated being messy, so Taichi decided he would be a good friend and let him know.
"Yama-"
"Hm?" Yamato turned to look at him from his spot next to him on the couch.
'You've got food on your face' – was what Taichi wanted to say. Except that there were no words coming out of his mouth at all.
And, wait, why the hell was his hand moving forward instead?
Yamato stared at him curiously while, from Taichi's perspective, everything had turned into slow-motion like some sort of damn cliché in a movie scene.
All of a sudden, Taichi's heart was hammering against his ribcage and every individual nerve in his finger tingled as he brushed against Yamato's cheek and rubbed away the sauce.
His surroundings sped up again and Taichi snapped out of the weird trance that had possessed him.
"Ah-" he stuttered. "You just had something on your face. It's- it's gone now though." He could have smacked himself in the face. Duh, it's gone now – I just wiped it off!
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Yamato registered that it was weird that Taichi stuttered. He didn't think he'd ever heard the brunet stutter before. But rather than dwelling on that insignificant detail, he focused his attention on the portion of skin on his face that literally felt as if it were on fire.
And, yes, Yamato was aware of just how absurd this all was. He'd already made a regular habit of giving blowjobs in public restrooms like it was nothing, so why in the hell would one touch affect him this way?
Is he trying to kill me? How was Yamato supposed to hide the fact that he was in love with the other when Taichi looked at him with those endearing eyes and touched him with those sensitive fingers like it was the most natural thing in the world?
Yamato consciously put on his best nonchalant face, the one he had perfected out of necessity over years of pining for this stupid and adorable and oblivious idiot.
"Oh- thanks. This is why I hate eating those things." Yamato responded, begging his voice to come out steady.
Of course, Yamato didn't realize that he could have said or done anything at that moment and it wouldn't have registered to Taichi. The brunet was too busy contemplating what the hell just overcame him to pay attention to anything else.
A few jabs about being sloppy and one angry retort later, the two had resumed watching the movie, though Taichi would later have a hard time remembering exactly what movie it was.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx (end flashback)
Taichi furrowed his eyebrows. That moment shouldn't have been any different than the hundreds –thousands?- of times they'd exchanged small touches here and there since they'd first clashed in the DigiWorld, right?
And yet, it had definitely been different; Taichi would be stupid to claim otherwise. Yamato had been different somehow. But was he? He had the same face and the same hair and the same enthralling eyes and the same enticing mouth and- wait, what was he thinking?
It was beyond Taichi's capacity to finish that thought. Or maybe he could do it and just didn't want to.
Of course, given these circumstances, the most rational course of action would probably be to somewhat limit his contact with Yamato until he figured out what the hell was wrong with him.
And yet, here he was, putting on his dress shoes and getting ready for a night out in the city at some club he'd never heard of, Revival (or was it Revelry? or Revolver?).
Because, when it boiled down to it, he couldn't say no. Not to Yamato. In fact, he found he didn't even want to say no. He was actually really looking forward to it.
After all, Taichi had always adopted a sort of dive-in-first, and figure-out-the-consequences-later attitude, and it had mostly steered him right thus far. What was the point of overthinking things?
Yamato's hands fidgeted nervously against the black material of his pants.
This was a mistake. This was a horrible idea. What possibly could have possessed Yamato into thinking that inviting Taichi along to Revelry was a smart move? Cloud 9 and Estella's, sure, great, but Revelry was an entirely different animal. Exactly what good could come out of having his obsession see him in the most sleazy of settings he'd visit to distract himself from that exact obsession?
But the moment he made eye contact with Taichi he couldn't help but forget all his worries. It may have helped that his brain short-circuited temporarily at seeing the brunet in dress clothes.
"Taichi, this is Micah," Yamato pointed to a boy with a good-natured smile and freckles. "And this is Cai," he pointed to a slightly younger looking boy whose hair was streaked with blue. "They're distantly-related cousins and they both live in the same dorm as me. And Kyo will be here too but I think he's already inside."
"Nice to meet you both!" Taichi waved as they all waited in line together outside the club.
"So, have you ever been here before Taichi?" Cai asked amicably and Taichi shook his head in response.
"Well, be prepared for a wild ride. The last thing I remember from my first time coming here was ending up stripping down to my underwear and putting on a unicorn costume. Oh, and I might have thrown up into someone's shoes."
Micah narrowed his eyes at Cai, while the other laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, those were my shoes." Micah turned and smiled warmly at Taichi, "You'll be fine. Just watch out for the absinthe-flavored lollipops. And I wouldn't use the bathrooms on the third floor."
Taichi's face was an interesting cross between fascination and uncertainty. "Thanks for the warnings." Taichi looked at Yamato wryly, "Someone had omitted those when inviting me."
"What, did you want me to print out an entire legal contract entailing what the Revelry was?"
"No, but you know I love lollipops. Those would have been the death of me."
"I don't see how it's my fault that, despite years of warnings, you still accept candy from strangers."
Cai and Micah watched entertained as the pair bickered until they were all interrupted by the bouncer asking for IDs.
As they all walked into the sweaty interior of the club, Yamato watched nervously as Taichi's eyes widened as they picked out the outfits of some of the more risqué partygoers in the club.
Fortunately, before Taichi could have the chance to process what he was really doing here (at which point Yamato was certain he would want to leave), Kyo came up to the two of them with hurricane drinks in each hand. He handed the purple one to Taichi and grinned, "You're going to love these, Taichi. They're Revelry's specialty."
As he passed the drink to Yamato, Yamato just gave him a grateful smile, silently thanking Kyo for distracting Taichi, if only momentarily, from the raunchiness of the club.
Kyo understood and responded with a quick wink before saying, "And this is for you, Yamato. I know you always get the strawberry one. Though I can't imagine why since it tastes like cough syrup."
"Well, Yamato's always had a penchant for pink drinks." Taichi supplied playfully.
"What's wrong with that? That's just because they always taste the least like real alcohol!" Yamato defended.
"Tch," Kyo clicked his tongue, "This is why you're always getting mistaken for a girl, Yamato."
"I don't want to be hearing that from you of all people!"
"What's that – did I hear that Yamato's dressing up as a girl?" Micah chimed in over the loud music in the background.
"In your dreams!"
"Well, it wouldn't be the weirdest dream I've ever had."
"Anyway, we'd better hurry or we won't get a table." Yamato muttered in an attempt to steer the conversation away from whatever it had developed into.
Micah chortled in response, "You really think Zach would deny you a table?"
"Who's Zach?" Taichi questioned as Yamato's face blanched.
"A total creep-"
"The main host for this floor. Whenever Yamato's with us, he always gives our table extra attention. Well, he gives one of us extra attention, anyway." Kyo said, smirking at Yamato. "I don't see him here tonight though."
"Ugh, I don't want to take my chances." Yamato said, clearly revolted. "Let's go to the second floor this time."
XxXxXxXxX
"So you guys have been friends since like, grade school?"
Taichi and Yamato nodded in unison, amused by the disbelieving question they received all too often.
Taichi clarified, "Well, I guess we weren't always friends. We got on each other's nerves a lot back then."
Cai's eyes glinted mischievously. "Okay so tell us, Taichi, has Yamato always been this much of a tease?"
This time, Taichi and Yamato both sputtered into their drinks simultaneously.
Taichi recovered first. He placed one finger thoughtfully on his chin while starting, "To tell you the truth…" He paused a few seconds for dramatic effect. "Totally."
Yamato, caught off guard by Taichi's response, managed an irritated "Hey!" while the others snickered.
Taichi elaborated, "I mean you should have seen the type of stuff he would wear for his band gigs. And mind you, this was in high school! You could literally hear the ovaries of high school girls everywhere exploding every time they performed. And that would be fine and all, except for the fact that every time a girl would approach him after said performance, he would turn them down right away!"
Taichi paused, suddenly feeling like an idiot. Wait, had it always been that obvious? Since back then?
He continued, "I mean… it makes sense now, considering the being gay thing and all. But, at the time, yes… a total tease move."
"Yep, sounds like Yamato," agreed Kyo.
Taichi continued telling funny stories from their high school times, with Yamato occasionally correcting him (which, of course, would lead to a small argument over which version of the story was the right one).
"But yeah… safe to say it was somebody else's kid." Taichi finished saying and everyone else hollered while Yamato just shook his head.
Cai turned to Yamato with an excited expression. "Yamato, you know, I think those ice shots are calling your name!"
"I really don't think so," Yamato resisted, "Are you sure those aren't just the voices in your head?"
"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" Cai insisted, dragging a displeased and tipsy Yamato towards yet another portion of the club.
"Ice shots?" Taichi questioned.
"They're another one of Revelry's specialties." Kyo replied, smiling again as if referring to an inside joke. "You should go check it out."
Taichi got to his feet to follow the other pair. When he stood up and the room spun for a moment he realized that he was much drunker than he thought. I guess that's why those hurricanes are so famous… they seriously sneak up on you. He was actually starting to regret his last drink as he stumbled through the crowd after Yamato and Cai.
Ice shots, it turns out, were just shots done on ice (or rather, shots poured down ice sculptures into the mouths of their takers). Taichi thought that it seemed to be a somewhat excessive method of consuming alcohol, but that was probably the point. And as Yamato bent down on his knees so he could position his mouth to be able to swallow the falling alcohol before it hit the ground, Taichi's mouth went dry and he realized, that yes, that was the exact point.
His eyes were glued to the sight, so much so that he could track the slightest movement of Yamato's throat as the last of the liquid went down. Through the pounding in his ears, he faintly heard cheers from the nearby clubbers.
A part of Taichi was insisting that this was the last straw and that there was probably, definitely, a question that needed to be answered right now regarding the direction the blood in his body was currently flowing. But another part, which was emboldened by the alcohol running through his veins, vehemently denied it.
Fucking fuck it, he would think about this in the morning. Right now, he needed another drink. Now.
He wandered over to the closest bar while willing his eyes to focus on something- anything really- other than the blond. Fortunately for him, his eyes were having a tough enough time focusing on anything for that to be too much of an issue.
Taichi grinned as he saw familiar green hair at the bar, deciding that talking to Kyo would serve as a great distraction from his inner turmoil.
He sidled into the bar stool next to Kyo, very pleased with himself when he managed not to fall over.
Kyo, picking up on how drunk the other was, quickly ordered a glass of water. "So what'd you think of the ice shots?"
You're supposed to be the distraction, so why are you asking me about it? Then again, Kyo didn't exactly know he was the distraction, so Taichi forgave him.
"They were… cool." Taichi responded as vaguely as possible. "No pun intended."
Kyo chuckled and it abruptly occurred to Taichi that Kyo would probably be considered attractive, in a pretty sort of way.
And for some reason this realization caused words on the tip of Taichi's tongue, words that he was certain he didn't want or need to say, to spill out.
"So uh… have you and Yamato… ever been a thing?"
Shit, why did he just ask that? He was just… making casual conversation, of course... Small talk. To be polite. He wasn't even curious, really.
"Huh?" Kyo was looking at him like he had two heads. Maybe Taichi wasn't the only person who was currently seeing double of everything.
"Well, you just seemed to get along well. With Yamato. And well… it's Yamato, so it's kind of surprising. I mean because he doesn't always open up that easily." Taichi hoped that counted as enough of an explanation.
It seemed to do the trick as Kyo's features transitioned to understanding and he let out a laugh. "I can see why you'd think it, I guess, but no way. We're in a 100% platonic relationship." He added jokingly, "Maybe think that's why we've been friends this long."
Taichi instantly felt a little lighter at Kyo's response. Kyo noticed the way Taichi's face visibly relaxed and smirked to himself. The two of them grabbed their drinks (Taichi's was just water) and made their way back to their booth.
"So, how's your girlfriend doing?"
"Ah she's good… she's been busy though."
Kyo was about to respond, but his words were tuned out by Yamato and Micah who had also made it to the table.
"And I was thinking like, what would Yamato do in this situation? Since I know you're so well-versed with this problem."
"Well, if you want my holy opinion, it sounds like you're screwed." Yamato teased.
"Actually, getting screwed doesn't sound like a bad plan." Micah said thoughtfully, getting up from the table. He turned to Taichi as he left and waved cheerfully. "Oh, in case I don't get a chance to say goodbye, Taichi, it was nice meeting you! Hopefully we'll be seeing you around more. I promise we aren't always this gay." Taichi laughed while Yamato and Kyo rolled their eyes.
"Man, I gotta pee. I'll be back." Kyo said a moment later, leaving Taichi and Yamato as the only ones on the table.
Taichi turned to Yamato, specifically pushing the last scene he'd witnessed of the blond as far into the back of his mind as possible. "Your friends are seriously funny… and they're so nice too."
Yamato smiled. "Yeah, I don't know where I would've been with without them." He added quickly, "It's not like it is with the Chosen, of course, but they really have been great."
Taichi nodded understandingly. He motioned broadly to the rest of the club, "I have to hand it to you and gay bars, though… I'm pretty freaking smashed."
"You too? I nearly walked into a glass door on my way back here. Actually, maybe I did because my nose hurts."
They both started laughing, probably much harder than was warranted by the comment. They only stopped when Cai came back to the table, clinging onto Yamato's elbow.
"Yamato, come dance! Please? You can be my wingman."
Even in his intoxicated state, Taichi saw Yamato's eyes light up at the mention of dancing.
But, Yamato looked over at Taichi carefully. "Is it okay if we go? Do you... want to join?"
Taichi waved his hands, indicating that he was totally fine with them going. "Yeah, go, I'm definitely at a good spot already. I'll pass on the dancing though or I might end up kissing the dance floor."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
To Taichi's drunken mind, watching Yamato on the dance floor was an ethereal experience. How could it have been so many years and Taichi never knew that Yamato could dance like this? He was easily better than most girls Taichi had known.
Now that he thought about it, he'd never really seen Yamato dancing because, well, it hadn't really been considered normal for guys to dance together whenever they'd been out. That was more of a thing girls did. The more he watched Yamato's body move rhythmically to the music, though, the more he thought he wouldn't have minded if it was a guy thing to go dancing together.
Taichi frowned slightly, realizing that in the seconds that he had zoned out, he had lost track of Yamato. He looked out into the crowd for the unique blond hair that was usually so easy to pick out. He looked for Cai, hoping to find Yamato next to him, but was unable to find him either.
A few more minutes of frantic searching confirmed that Yamato was nowhere in sight and Taichi's chest tightened with what was likely an irrational paranoia.
Where did he go?
Aghh, I hadn't meant to end it exactly that way but this chapter ended up getting too long so I split it up with the next one so I promise the next chapter will feel a bit more conclusive in terms of Taichi and his feelings.
In the meantime, let me know what you think? Thank you for reading to the end- I know it was painfully dragged out at some points which I'm sorry for, but I was trying to make it more realistic (and I'm also awful at writing Taichi). I do love Taichi as a character, which might be why it's so much easier for me to write Yamato ;).