NOTE: Wait what? Psycho has finally come back and updated this story? D:

Indeed! 'Tis I! After battling through college midterms and homework, I finally got a chance to sit down and work on the story! Other than school, there were some things I felt needed to happen before the rest of the story could happen. Hopefully, I did it's justice...Enjoy! ^_^

Chapter 8. Love's Melody

"Grandma!" the young Ishida boys cheered and raced to greet the elderly woman at the door. Their grandmother bent down to embrace each of the boys.

"Hello children!" Grandma Takaishi smiled and looked down at them. "My! How much you've both grown!"

"Hi Mom," Matt and T.K.'s mother greeted and hugged the elderly woman. "Did Dad come too, or are you here on your own?"

"Oh your father is here too," she gestured behind her. "But you know how he is. Always stopping to chat it up with whoever passes him by."

"I heard that Lisa," an elderly man called out from the hall way. Mother and daughter giggled as Matt squirmed his way past them and looked down the hall. The older man was walking down the hall and was holding a small bag in his hand.

"Grandpa!" Matt yipped in happiness. He charged forward and hugged his grandfather's legs tightly.

"Whoa!" the elder man laughed and hugged the young blonde tightly. T.K. came following after his older brother and joined the group hug. "Hey there kids!" He led the brothers back into the apartment. "Hello Nancy."

"Hi Dad. How was the trip?"

"Oh, not too bad. The subway seems to be getting slower and slower, but what can you do?" The elder man turned back to the young children staring at the bag with curiosity. "Have you boys been nice to your Mommy?"

"Yes!" they both answered. The couple smiled at each other.

"Well, this bag here is for T.K.," Grandma Takaishi explained, handing the bag to the young boy. "It's a bunch of new colorful blocks." T.K. stared into the bag and pulled out a bright red block. He gasped at the brightness of the block and then started rummaging through the rest of the bag to see the rest of the colorful blocks.

"And this here," Grandpa Takaishi continued. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, dark blue, rectangle case. "Is for Matt." The older man opened the case and revealed a shiny metal rectangle inside. Matt stared in awe at his reflection from the small rectangle. He picked it up and saw that there were small holes on one side of it.

"Wow!" Matt said, examining the object closely. "…what is it?"

"It's called a harmonica," his grandfather explained. "And with this harmonica, you can express how you feel. Like, if you're happy, you can make your song sound happy. If you're sad, then you can make your song sound sad." He took the object and blew into the holes. A small happy melody rang out from the instrument and Matt grinned widely. Grandpa Takaishi placed the harmonica back into his hands. "I know how much you like the music I make Matt, so I decided to give you something that you can make your own music."

"What do you say kids?" Matt and T.K.'s mother said.

"Thank you!" T.K. grinned and quickly hugged both of his grandparents.

"Thanks Grandpa," Matt smiled at the harmonica in his hands and then gave his grandfather a big hug. He then went over to his grandmother and hugged her too. "Thanks Grandma."

The adults went to the kitchen and continued their conversation there, while the two brothers started playing with their new presents. T.K. set himself to work on a castle made completely out of his new blocks, while Matt went to sit by the window with his harmonica. Matt wanted to make great music like what his grandfather made, but every time he tried, it just sounded funny.

The young blonde took a short break and watched his younger brother's progress on his castle. The younger boy was having struggles in getting some blocks to stay, but he'd simply keep trying to make them work. Matt smiled and gently blew a few notes, trying to see if he could make a song out of it. If something sounded really off, he'd simply try a new hole to blow on. Slowly, he started placing all the notes together in short melodies, like his grandfather had done before. Matt smiled at his progress.

Suddenly he heard the sound of blocks tumbling over, which soon followed with a loud wail from his younger brother. Matt stopped blowing and saw T.K. face down on the floor and crying. Matt placed the harmonica in his pocket, then stood and walked over to the crying child. He gently picked up his younger brother and smiled at him. Upon feeling his brother, T.K. stopped crying and looked up at him intently.

"Atta boy!" Matt smiled. T.K. continued to stare at him.

Suddenly, the phone rang and the two boys jumped slightly. Matt left his brother sitting on the ground and went to go answer it.

"Hello?" he spoke into it.

"Hi is Matt there?" a little boy spoke into the phone.

"This is him."

"Matt! It's me! Tai!" Tai? Tai was calling him?

"Tai!" Matt gasped happily.

"Matt? How come you don't come and play with me and Mimi anymore?"

"Because I was supposed to be waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"To think about things and see what happens. That's what my mommy told me."

"Oh…For how long?"

"Huh?"

"How long have you been waiting?" Matt opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it. Matt didn't know how long this waiting had been going on for, but it felt like forever! There had been a few times where Mimi would stop by and ask Matt if he could go and play with them. However, doing what his mother asked of him, and seeing that Tai was never there to ask with Mimi, he simply said he had to wait at home.

"For a really long time," the blonde finally answered.

"Oh," the young brunette simply said. Matt felt very happy to be talking to his husband once again. "I've missed playing with you Matt."

"Me too Tai," Matt sighed sadly.

"Can you play right now?" he asked. Matt looked at his younger brother, who was now rebuilding his castle, and then at the kitchen where the adults would be.

"I don't think so," the blonde frowned. "My grandma and grandpa from the United States are visiting right now."

"Oh…ok…" Tai sounded very sad. Matt tried to think of someway the two could be together again…but nothing was coming to mind.

"But," Matt started to offer. "Maybe…if I go out and play for a little while, they won't know that I was gone."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure." There was a short pause between their conversation.

"Ok Matt," the daring knight finally said. "If you're really sure, then I'll see you at the park."

oXoXoXoXo

A little while turned out to be the whole afternoon and into the night. The two boys played together on the jungle gym, in the field and everywhere in between. Matt was so happy to be with his best friend, and husband, again. All of this waiting made their reunion sweeter than any candy he had ever tasted. The two of them were now laying on the field and looking up at the stars.

"Look Tai!" Matt exclaimed and pointed up to one part of the sky. "Those stars look like a doggy!"

"Wow! Yeah!" Tai gasped in awe. He then pointed up into a different part of the sky. "That one right there looks like a big orange dinosaur!" Matt looked up at the area of stars that Tai was pointing at.

"How can you tell it's orange?" the blonde asked, seeing the dinosaur, but not the orange part.

"Because I made it up so that it was orange," Tai beamed. Matt giggled at his friend's logic and continued to look for more stars. Suddenly, Matt remembered the present his grandfather had given him earlier.

"Hey Tai," Matt grinned as he sat up. "I want to show you something!" Tai sat up too as Matt started pulling out the harmonica from his pocket. The brunette stared curiously at the small rectangle in Matt's hand. Matt smiled, placed the harmonica to his lips and started blowing the soft melodies that he had created earlier. Tai grinned widely as he listened to his husband's music.

"That's so cool Matt!" Tai applauded once Matt finished. "Where did you get that?"

"My grandpa gave it to me when he came to visit us," Matt smiled and placed the harmonica back in his pocket.

"That's a really cool present," the brunette said. "Oh! That reminds me! Sora told me that she was going to have a birthday party!"

"Really?" Matt frowned. Tai nodded.

"Yeah, she's going to have the party right here in the park. And there's going to be cake and ice cream and hot dogs and we'll play soccer and tag and…" Tai stopped and stared at his friend. "Are you ok Matt?" The blonde stayed quiet. "Matt?"

"I think Sora is a witch, Tai," Matt muttered. Tai stared at his friend.

"Why?" he asked. Matt took a deep breath in before starting his explanation.

"Because in my story, there's a knight and a prince and they're the best of friends. But then they get sent on a secret mission by the queen to stop a wicked witch. The wicked witch finds out about the plan and then sends her evil dragon to stop them. The prince goes with the dragon to save his friend and then is taken to the witch's evil hide out, where soon the knight follows and defeats the evil witch and his dragon. But the reason why I say Sora is a witch is because she is making us separate and not letting us play with one another." Matt sighed deeply, having almost run out of breath. Tai blinked in surprise. "And also, Sora and the witch also has red hair."

"…Matt, Sora is my friend too," Tai frowned. Matt felt kind of sad that his knight called the evil witch a friend too.

"I know she is," Matt muttered in defeat. He looked down at the ground.

"But…that doesn't mean that you're not my friend either." Tai placed a hand on top of Matt's. "Or that you're not my husband anymore…I still love you Matt." The young blonde stared wide-eyed at the brunette.

"Love?" Matt said quietly.

"Mm-hmm," Tai nodded and kissed Matt on the cheek.

"…I love you too, Tai," Matt blushed. They sat there smiling at each other, and then went back to staring up at the stars.

"Matt!" The two boys sat back up and looked to the direction of where the shout came from. Matt saw his parents wandering the park and calling out his name. The boys stood and ran over to the blonde's parents.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Matt called back. Upon seeing her son, Matt's mother ran to him and embraced him tightly. Matt hugged back as his father ran over to the two of them. Tai stayed back and allowed the reunion to happen.

"Oh Matt!" she whispered. "I was so worried!" She hugged him tightly, then pulled back and started at him hard. "What are you doing out here so late at night? And why didn't you bother to tell me you were coming out here in the first place!"

"I'm sorry Mommy," Matt frowned.

"Do you know how worried sick your father and I were when we couldn't find you?"

"I just came out here to play with Tai." His mother looked up to the brunette and back down at her son. "I know you told me I had to wait to see what happens…but we really missed each other and—"

"It's alright son," Matt's father interrupted. His mother looked up at him.

"No it is not alright Hiro," she said as she stood back up. "Matt has been gone the whole afternoon and it's night time right now."

"Well he's alright now," he motioned to the boy. "He wasn't hurt or killed or anything."

"But what if he was? We would have had no idea what would have happened to him."

"Oh come on Nancy. This is a safe neighborhood."

"You never know Hiro!"

"Um…Matt's Mommy?" The bickering parents looked down at brunette who stood next to Matt. "It's my fault that Matt came out without saying anything. Please don't be mad at him." Matt's parents looked at each other then back at the boys.

"We're not mad," Matt's father smiled.

"That's right," his mother sighed. "We were just very worried." She looked back at her son. "But, you are grounded Matt. For sneaking out and not saying anything." Matt lowered his head and nodded sadly. Tai took hold of Matt's hand for a moment. "Well…my parents are back at the apartment watching over T.K., so we should head back."

"Right. I'll take Tai home first," Matt's father said. He took the brunette's free and started to lead him away. Matt's mother took Matt's had and led him back to the apartment. The two young boys held on to each other for as long as they could, and then sadly watched as the other left the opposite way they were going.

Hmm...Interesting how listening to "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" actually helps me to write when it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the story. XD

So, please let me know what you think. It really helps me out as an author and I love hearing from you as the readers! :)

(Oh...P.S. In case you didn't catch it, the harmonica is NOT the item Matt gave to Tai in the prologue. Here are a couple of hints to what it might be though...1. It's something you wouldn't really expect. 2. It's briefly mentioned in this chapter. Yep..."And it's so easy when your evil!" Mwa-ha-ha! Ahem...good luck guessing. ;) )