Chapter Two: In The Dark
The boys leant back slightly to admire their art. They'd just spent five minutes carefully writing in permanent marker on Taichi's wall. The finished message read 'Yamato and Taichi forever', the first half written in Yamato's neat italicised scrawl, the second half in Taichi's bold print. Taichi had finished it off by marking the date underneath.
"Just so I never forget," Taichi whispered, smiling at the wall.
"You'll never need a reminder," Yamato traced his hand along Taichi's neck, making him shiver in delight. He pulled down the poster they were using to cover their names and re-attached it to the wall with blue-tack, the names now hidden from sight. He then leant over and pressed his lips to Taichi's, kissing him eagerly as he pushed Taichi down onto his back on the bed.
---
"Can we do something tomorrow night?" Taichi suggested, snuggling into Yamato's nude chest.
"Like what?" Yamato replied, mindlessly running his hand through Taichi's wild hair.
"I dunno. Let's go out, we can go to the cinema or something. We never go out," Taichi moaned.
"With good reason. Neither of us want to be seen together,"
"Suppose. Fine you can come here again then,"
"Hmm, why don't you come to mine? You never do and my uncle's out all tomorrow night, which means we get the TV all night," Yamato said happily, "Plus we can have a few drinks then, right?"
Taichi rolled his eyes. Yamato didn't drink that much, but he certainly enjoyed it a lot. Personally, Taichi had no particular interest in it, but he'd drink with Yamato every so often. It was no big deal and he didn't intend to do it much, he cared about his health, but he was a teenager, and he was allowed a little fun, right?
"Sure. I'm choosing the first movie though!"
"Fine, fine. I'd better be going soon," Yamato sighed, gazing over at Taichi's digital clock.
"Do you have to? Can't you stay?" Taichi pleaded as sweetly as he could.
"Taichi, it's gone half eleven. Its Saturday tomorrow, remember? Your friends are coming in the morning to take you out. I don't even want to imagine the looks on their faces if I answered the door in my boxers,"
"Hah! It would be worth it just to see their faces! Along with your lovely body. But I get your point. Let me walk you home?"
"I don't know…"
"Come on Yamato. No one's going to see us, number one it's dark. Number two, it's half eleven on a Friday night, no one's gonna be out around here, everyone's in house parties or town. And number three… number three, it's dark!"
"That's some argument Yagami. Alright, let's go," Yamato laughed at Taichi's reasoning then stood up, pushing the quilt away from Taichi and himself. He grabbed his clothes from the floor, pulling them on quickly as Taichi did the same.
The two boys headed quietly from the apartment, being careful not to wake Hikari or Mae.
-
The walk from Taichi's to Yamato's took a short fifteen minutes. Their homes weren't far away from each other, but they were extremely different. Whereas Taichi lived in a nicely furnished typical city three bedroom apartment, Yamato and his uncle lived in a rundown suburban two storey house that was practically empty and complete with an overgrown front garden.
"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Taichi double-checked as they stood outside Yamato's front door that was in dire need of a lick of paint.
"Yeah, come by whenever," Yamato assured before leaning in for a goodbye kiss, "Ring me when you get back home okay?"
"Why? Worried about me?" Taichi teased, his voice echoing gently in the darkness.
"Of course. See you tomorrow," Yamato gave Taichi's hand a small squeeze before letting go and pushing his key into the lock.
"Speak to you soon," Taichi turned and slowly walked away. Yamato hovered in the doorframe for a second watching his boyfriend before he disappeared around the corner at the end of the street.
---
The next morning Taichi woke typically early and was ready and dressed well before his friends came to pick him up. They had no particular plan for their day but to hang out in their usual group and traipse around the town centre. They'd probably eventually split up in to smaller groups and shop at some point, considering it was hard to keep such a large group together.
At 11.30 on the dot, the doorbell rang and Taichi rushed to the door.
"Hey-hey-hey!" He greeted his friends Sora and Mimi. The girls were best friends which always confused Taichi. Sora was so down to earth whereas Mimi was so… high maintenance. Sora played tennis and used to be on the soccer team, and Mimi was a cheerleader. They were just so different it seemed strange for them to be so close. But then he knew first hand that differences were only skin deep, no one would ever think him and Yamato were a couple just to look at.
"Morning you! Jyou and Dais are outside in Jyou's car," Sora explained, "We're meeting Hiraku, Koushiro, Kuuya and Aimi in the mall in a half hour," Kuuya and Daisuke were both on Taichi's soccer team and were both fairly close to him, Daisuke really looked up to Taichi. Jyou and Koushiro were best friends and had known Taichi since they were little. They were both smart and fairly nerdy, and Koushiro spent as much time as he could stuck to his laptop. Aimi was one of Mimi's cheerleading friends. Hiraku joined them due only to the fact that he and the others got on fairly well, and that no one else really noticed how nasty he could be to Taichi. Not that Taichi cared; it didn't really matter to him.
"Okay so come on Taichi, let's go!" Mimi practically yelped, grabbing Taichi by the arm and dragging him out of the apartment as he yelled a brief goodbye to his mother and sister.
The trio sped down the stairs of the apartment building and outside, squeezing into Jyou's car. It took them ten minutes to drive to the mall and in that time the car was a buzz of conversation as Taichi and Daisuke talked soccer, Mimi nattered at Sora about new shoes and Jyou wished they'd all stop talking so he could focus properly on the road.
When they arrived at the mall, all their friends were already there. They were greeted with friendly hugs and smiles. The group sat around and talked for a half hour or so before they all split up and headed off in separate directions after arranging to meet up again in an hour for lunch. Mimi and Aimi headed for the popular clothes and shoe shops, with Hiraku trailing close behind, he'd been after Mimi for quite some time now. Whether he actually liked her or not Taichi wasn't sure, he often wondered if it was just another attempt at popularity, Mimi was head cheerleader after all. So far Mimi hadn't been very receptive to his attempts, and Taichi had his own opinions on who she should be with, a certain red haired laptop lover who happened to be going off in the direction of computer and game shops with Jyou and Kuuya, which left Taichi, Sora and Daisuke to head for the sport and music shops.
The groups went their separate ways, enjoying the freedom of not being cooped up in school or their houses, though Taichi really couldn't wait to go to Yamato's in the night, however much he loved spending time with his friends.
Taichi, Sora and Daisuke headed to a music shop first and each separated to look for the various CD's of their choice. Taichi fumbled through a number of different albums until he found an interesting looking, well-priced Placebo album. True to say they weren't his typical first choice of music but after listening to one of Yamato's albums, he found he actually rather liked them. He carefully ran his eyes over the track listing, contemplating buying it.
"Hey Taichi! Whatcha lookin' at?" Daisuke loudly made Taichi aware of his presence.
Taichi showed Daisuke the album cover, waiting to see how the younger boy would respond.
"Pla-ce-bo," Daisuke read from the cover, "Placebo? Didn't think they were your kinda thing Tai!"
"They're actually pretty good," Taichi justified as they were joined by Sora.
"Cool… but isn't the guy like, gay?" Daisuke frowned.
Taichi stopped, rather startled Daisuke knew anything about them, and also affected by the way the boy had uttered the word gay, like it actually mattered.
"S-so what? Can't help who you're attracted to and fall in love with and all that jazz," Taichi reasoned, trying to sound as casual as he could.
"Hmm, guess so," Daisuke mused, not noticing the faint blush on Taichi's cheeks, or the slight stilt in his voice. Sora, on the other hand, had noticed both, and watched Taichi carefully with the hints of a slightly satisfied smile on her face, as though she thought she knew something no one else did.
--
Within the next hour the group had rejoined and were all sitting in a booth in McDonald's as Mimi showed off her new clothes.
"Oh my god! I forgot about this!" She exclaimed, pulling a pink jacket out of a shopping bag, "It's totally the best bit!" She tugged the jacket on and stood up, modelling it for her friends. It was bright pink denim and fitted, paler pink tassels falling in a line across the chest. On one of the pockets a pale pink stallion was embroidered, in true cowgirl fashion. It was a very attractive jacket, and suited Mimi's style perfectly.
"That's really nice Mim," Sora complimented, backed up by the other's approving smiles.
"Looks hot on you, obviously," Hiraku winked.
"Thanks," Mimi beamed, "What do you think Izzy?" Hey honey eyes trained in on the red head who looked up from his phone he'd been using to surf the net.
"Oh, um, looks really good," He blushed furiously, turning back to his phone before anyone noticed. Mimi smiled light-heartedly, cheeks turning a faint shade of pink. Hiraku picked up on the moment between the two and jealously took hold of Mimi's waist, pulling her onto the seat beside him.
"You know I mean it," He whispered into her ear, "You look really hot in that, but of course you do so in anything,"
Mimi giggled shyly, "Thanks," she muttered, smiling.
"Whatcha doing tonight anyway?" He asked loudly so the rest of the group heard.
"Nothing," Mimi shook her head in response, staring intently into Hiraku's emerald eyes, thinking she knew what was coming. She and Hiraku had been flirting for weeks, and he was yet to ask her out. She only hoped she was right, after all she found the boy extremely attractive.
"Wanna do something? Just the two of us?"
"Hmm maybe," She joked brightly, "Pick me up at seven?"
"Okay,"
"It's a date!" Mimi grinned at Hiraku, then turned to Sora and flashed her one of excitement, not noticing the brief scowl and flicker of hurt in Koushiro's eyes that he flashed them before turning back to his phone.
On the other side of the table, Daisuke gave Taichi a discreet nudge.
"I don't get it! Didn't you say you thought she liked Koush?" he whispered.
Taichi nodded slowly, frowning at the couple, "Guess I was wrong," he sighed, "But whatever makes her happy. I'm going to get more food, coming Dais?"
"Sure," The two boys stood and headed to the counter.
"Can I help you?" A slim brunette boy on the tills asked.
Taichi leant his elbows on the counter and smiled up at the other boy, "I'll take a cheeseburger, fries and a shake! Oh, and whatever he's having," He nodded towards Daisuke.
"Same, but a cola, not a shake," Daisuke ordered.
"Right, two cheeseburgers, two fries, a cola and what flavour shake?" The cashier questioned, smiling at Taichi.
"Chocolate," Taichi answered slowly, leaning further onto the counter before the cashier went to sort the order.
Two minutes later the cashier was back, placing the tray neatly into Taichi's hands.
"Enjoy your meal," He winked briefly.
"Thanks," Taichi held his eye just a little longer than normal before returning to the table, Daisuke close behind.
-
After an hour or so, the group started to become bored and gradually dispersed. For the few who realised Koushiro's feelings the atmosphere had become stale and they all itched to be elsewhere. Mimi of course wanted to be home with Sora and Aimi sorting out her outfit for her date. Koushiro wanted to get away from Mimi and Hiraku, preferably at home where he and Jyou could play their new games. Taichi just wanted to get home and change so he could go to see his Yamato. The others were just plain bored.
"Alright well we're going back to Izzy's now," Jyou finally said, "Anyone who wants to go too can get a lift with us now. Taichi?"
"Yup, I'm all ready to go," Taichi sighed with relief; he'd been waiting for someone else to start the leaving.
"I'll come back to Izzy's with you," Kuuya stood up, more than ready to leave.
"I'll get a lift too!" Daisuke chirped in.
"Alright, that's it. There's no room for anyone else, sorry girls," Jyou stood up, flicking a strand of his long blue-black hair behind his ears.
"Well girls, looks like it's just you and me. I'll drive you all back to Mimi's," Hiraku offered.
And so they all made their ways home, thanks mostly to Jyou and Hiraku's cars. Daisuke asked Taichi if he could hang at his for a while, and being too nice to say no, Taichi let him.
"So what are these Placebo like then?" Daisuke questioned as he sat on Taichi's kitchen table eating left over pizza he'd found in the fridge and swinging his legs beneath him.
"Have a listen. You know where the CD player is," Taichi passed Daisuke the CD he'd bought in town and Daisuke put it on. The first track started off slow, then picked up quickly, getting heavier and faster. Daisuke tilted his head to the side, listening intently.
"Hmm not half bad," the mahogany haired boy pondered as his feet began moving in time with the music.
"Told you," Taichi smiled casually.
"Right. So anyway, anything good on telly?" Daisuke jumped up from the table quickly, already bored with just sitting and listening. Of course Taichi didn't blame him, just sitting and listening could be boring, but right now he just wanted space so he could get ready for the night.
"Err I dunno," Taichi rolled his eyes as Daisuke rushed past him into the lounge, jumping on to the sofa and flicking on the TV.
"Oh, Sleepy Hollow's on!" Daisuke shouted over-excitedly, "Aw but it's already half way through, oh well!" He settled further into the couch and Taichi groaned under his breath, he liked having Daisuke around but he'd much rather be with Yamato.
"You enjoy that. I'm gonna go shower, okay?"
"Okay," Daisuke replied absent-mindedly as he watched Ichabod Crane's face splatter with blood from cutting open someone's stomach.
Taichi wandered into the bathroom shaking his head, Daisuke had a strange attention span to say the least. Before getting into the shower, Taichi grabbed his phone from his pocket and sent Yamato a text.
'Dais is round. Can't get rid of him. Be round when he's gone x'
He then clambered into the shower, spending a lengthy ten minutes washing his hair and cleaning himself in preparation to see his beautiful boyfriend before clambering back out and drying himself off. He wandered to his room and pulled on some casual looking clothes before heading back into the lounge, towel drying his hair.
"Enjoying?" He asked Daisuke who was happily munching away at a bag of crisps he'd helped himself to whilst engrossed in the film. He merely nodded leisurely in response, not taking his eyes from the TV.
Taichi sat down next to him stealing a handful of crisps and watching the film. They were soon interrupted however, by the text alert message on Taichi's phone. He opened the text quickly, recognising the number as Yamato's.
'K, hurry him up. Wanna cu. I'll leave the front door open, just walk in'
"Who's the text from Tai?" Daisuke nosed.
"Some phone company," Taichi lied, sliding the phone back into his pocket, "Look Dais, I'm really sorry but I've got a lot of work to do for Monday, you're gonna have to go soon sorry," Taichi hated lying, but there was no other way Daisuke was ever going to leave.
"Okay, no worries!" Daisuke finished his crisps then jumped up, flicking off the film, "I'll see you Monday right?"
"Sure," Taichi walked the younger boy to the door where they said their goodbyes and Taichi hurriedly finished getting ready for Yamato's, scribbled his mum a quick note saying he'd be home Sunday afternoon and left, quickly walking the distance between his and Yamato's houses.
-
Taichi warily pushed open Yamato's front door, not used to walking in on his own. He heard the faint strum of a guitar starting out a cheerful riff and followed the sound, figuring he'd work out which room Yamato was in that way. He came to the dimly lit lounge and stood at the door, watching the slim blonde figure strumming at his guitar. Taichi smiled, trying to stay unnoticed, he hadn't heard Yamato play before, just seen the guitar lying around his room. As Yamato continued the chords he eventually began to sing the words to the song he was playing, and Taichi bit his lip, he hadn't ever heard him sing either, and it truly was beautiful.
"In the dark, in the darkness you will find, dirty little secrets we all hide, cause we all have a darker side, a place we keep where no one else will find,"
Yamato's voice was strong and warming, so stunning it caused Taichi to gasp which in turn made Yamato jump at Taichi's presence having not realised he was there previously.
"Don't stop," Taichi whispered, almost mesmerised.
"Hey," Yamato blushed slightly at the other boy's reaction, putting his guitar down and standing up to greet him. He drew Taichi gently into his arms.
"Missed you today Yama," Taichi sighed, breathing in Yamato's tantalising scent, something like citrus.
"You too Chi" Yamato pulled Taichi's chin towards him and kissed him gently, before pulling away and dragging him through the house to the kitchen by his hand. He opened the fridge pulling out two cans of cider then dragged Taichi into the back garden. Taichi hadn't been out the back before; it was a fairly small garden, with patio doors leading out onto decking atop a wide area of weedy grass. There was little out there bar a tree growing out of the grass and a bench central on the decking. Yamato sat down on the bench, signalling to Taichi to do the same.
"So how was your day?" Yamato enquired as he pulled open the can, letting it finish fizzing over as he withdrew a tin from his pocket, taking out everything he needed to roll a cigarette.
"Not bad," Taichi gazed up at the sky, by the time he'd managed to get rid of Daisuke and walked to Yamato's it was getting fairly late, the sun was setting, painting the sky pink, flicking the clouds with orange, "Your usual Saturday - town, shopping, fast food. Mimi and Hiraku are going out tonight, like out, out,"
"Hiraku? Ugh. Why?" Yamato was fairly open with his distaste for the boy, unlike Taichi.
"Who knows? Guess he's kinda cute," Taichi joked.
"Yeah if you're into that arrogant bastard sort of thing,"
"True, very true," Taichi laughed, "Anyway, how was your day?"
"Oh, boring," Yamato rolled his eyes, "Didn't wake up 'til late, watched TV, showered and waited for you," His tongue darted out of his mouth, licking the glue of the cigarette paper, fastening it down in a perfect cylinder, then carefully slid in a filter. He stared down happily at his work of art.
"Yeah, sorry I was so long. Daisuke decided to get glued to Sleepy Hollow," It was Taichi's turn to roll his eyes.
"Not a bad film I guess," Yamato reasoned before placing his work of art gently between his lips and lighting it, taking a deep drag.
"It is when you just want to come and see your beautiful boyfriend," Taichi blushed slightly. Yamato smiled and leant in towards Taichi, capturing his lips in another open mouthed kiss, letting the smoke pass between their mouths. Yamato was the first to pull back in a want for fresh air. He gazed happily at Taichi as he passed him his can of cider.
"We should order pizza," Yamato stated happily, watching the lips of his lover form a perfect pout around the top of his can, eyes half closed as he swallowed the cool appley alcohol.
--
Not too long later the boys were cuddled under a blanket on Yamato's comfy sofa. Taichi was stretched out across the blonde's lap with a box of pizza on his. Yamato's hands were draped across Taichi's chest. A number of cans cans stood on the floor beside the sofa, most empty, two half drunk. The room was dark, the only light emanating warmly from the TV, their main point of focus as Taichi's choice of film played, though every so often their focus flickered to each other. Minds slightly intoxicated from the drink they found everything just that tiny bit more interesting than usual, and were definitely more open about it.
At some point though, something - and Taichi didn't know what, could have been the drink, could have been the film, could have been just plain curiosity - inspired the brunette to try asking Yamato about his past once more.
"Yamato, where were you before you came here?" He delved straight in.
Yamato groaned, and seemed to tighten up. "I told you before Chi, I grew up in Gunma then came to live here with my uncle about seven months ago,"
"Exactly Yama, that's all you've told me, and I can't help but wanna know more," Taichi sat up and faced the blonde rebel, so he was staring directly into the blue eyes. Normally Taichi wouldn't pry, he'd let Yamato tell him he grew up in Gunma and then not ask anymore, but the past had been itching him for too long now, and he wanted to know, the intoxication gave him the extra courage to ask. "Like who did you grow up with? Why are you living with your uncle now?"
"Why do you have to know? It's not like it matters!"
"But it does to me Yama, you know everything about me. Sometimes I feel like I just don't know you. Why won't you tell me?"
"Because I don't want to. Now drop it Taichi," Yamato snarled.
"No, you know what? I won't. I just wanna know, I wanna know more about you because I love you. What's the big deal? I mean it's not like it can be terrible or anything! All I'm asking is who you lived with!"
"Fine. I lived with my father okay? Will you give it a rest now?"
Finally, he was getting somewhere.
"So why did you leave him to come here?" Taichi asked and studied Yamato's face in the light from the T.V. The boy looked paler than usual, eyes almost frozen.
"I didn't leave him," he whispered bitterly, hanging his head so that his blonde hair flopped down over his face leaving Taichi unable to see his eyes or expression.
"Yamato? What happened?" Taichi probed, suddenly concerned.
"I… I…" Yamato stumbled for words in defeat, then raised his head to look at Taichi. His face was ashen, his eyes were filled with something not far different from hate and remorse, but at the same time longing and loss. He trembled slightly, and growled out the last words in a raspy, disturbed voice, the words that made Taichi's eyes burst wide with shock, the words that he hadn't uttered out loud to anyone but himself before; "I- I killed him,"
No, I'm not turning Yama into some psycho murderer or anything of the sort, you'll see what I mean next chapter.
Apologies to any Koumi fans... they'll be getting together eventually though.
Oh, and plenty of metaphor in this chapter for what's to come. Some of the scenes may have seemed pointless, they weren't. :)
-- Even Gods Dream, 2007