Hired Help

Chapter 11 - Crash and Burn

When Matt awoke, he found that he was sprawled, rather unceremoniously, on the top of his own bed, fully clothed and suffering from one hell of a headache. He squinted into the darkness, his mind whirling in confusion, and lurched upright, clasping his head in pain. He cursed, wondering what the hell he had done the previous night in order to be in such a state, before noticing the sound of low voices coming from his living room.

He froze, suppressing the urge to squawk in panic, because it was just typical that he was being burgled while he was still in the apartment, until one of the voices rose an octave, and Matt jolted with recognition. It was funny, because it actually sounded like Tai.

Almost tripping over his own feet as he scrambled to the door, Matt held his breath in anticipation, wondering why Tai was in his apartment, and who the hell he was talking to. As he got to the door however, he suddenly realised he should have stayed in bed - maybe forever. Because at the sound of Ikato's incredulous reply, everything came rushing back to him like a blow to the head.

Last night he'd met up with Ikato - a client, and Tai's ex-boyfriend! - got absolutely plastered, and proceeded to spill his guts about absolutely everything. And then, just to make matters that much worse, Tai had shown up, just as Ikato was leeching all over him.

Oh god. He was screwed. Absolutely, completely screwed. Tai was going to kill him.

Matt creaked open the door, wincing at the flood of light, and strained to hear their voices, wanting to access the situation before he burst into their conversation, delirious with panic, and an made an utter fool of himself. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought - maybe Tai knew it was just all a big misunderstanding.

Or maybe not.

"Don't give me that Ikato," Tai was saying, his voice rough and tinged with anger. "You just - you couldn't just leave me alone, and let me be happy."

"What?" Ikato exclaimed, disbelieving. "With him?" He sounded disgusted, his contempt for Matt heavy in his tone, making no attempt to be quiet now. Did they think he was deaf? "He's a little slut, Tai, and tonight just proved you'd never be able to trust him."

Matt's mouth dropped open in indignation, but he remained silent, mostly because he really wanted to hear what Tai would say. He'd defend him, surely?

"He's not -" Tai trailed off, and Matt's heart sunk through the floor, because Tai didn't sound angry or incredulous on his behalf, only confused. He changed tact a second later though, and snapped, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Um, yes," Ikato replied, "I do. Blondie told me everything last night. He was more than willing to fill in the blanks for me. He was never your boyfriend, just a hooker you hired for the night to make me jealous."

Matt's heart was thumping in his chest, so loud he was convinced they could hear it, and his stomach was filling with dread. He wanted to say something, to defend himself, but he was frozen to the spot, because everything Ikato was saying was true. And evidently Tai had realised it too. He said nothing for a long while, shaking his head, and Matt could practically see Ikato smirking in victory.

"Maybe that's how it began," Tai said after a pause, but he sounded shaken now, unsure, "But we're together now. He does like me."

"What, and is faithful to you?" Ikato asked with a laugh, answering his own question before Tai had a chance to reply. "Yeah, right. You didn't see him last night - he was all over me."

Matt swallowed, praying to the high heavens that Tai would just ignore him, because honestly, he couldn't even remember the night before. Was he all over Ikato? He didn't think so - he couldn't do that to Tai. Could he? He really hoped not.

"You're lying," Tai replied, but he sounded smaller than before, like he was wilting under the power of Ikato's stare.

It was distressing to listen to, because Ikato was manipulating him, making him doubt everything, wrapping him round his little finger, and Tai was just letting him. Matt could barely believe it - fun, bubbly Taichi was being reduced to this. Should he say something? Try to defend himself? He doubted that it would even make a difference, because at the end of the day it would his word against Ikato's. Tai was just going to have faith. Their relationship would never work if he didn't.

"You know I'm not," Ikato continued, something victorious tinted in his voice now, like he knew he was winning, "You saw him."

There was a pause for a long moment, and Matt cringed, because he remembered Tai's appearance that night, when Ikato was draped all over him. It had looked bad - very bad - but surely Tai should know that Ikato had instigated it, and that really, Matt would rather not touch the raging sociopath with a ten foot barge pole.

However, Tai seemed to have no reply to Ikato's words, and instead snapped, "Well, I guess you know all about being faithful, considering you cheated on me numerous times when we were dating."

Matt's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open slightly, because that explained so much. No wonder Tai was so funny about other people touching him - and why he had really not liked Matt's work to begin with. He hadn't wanted to go through the same thing again, and the blond was suddenly flooded with guilt, because he'd made an awful lot of mistakes - Tanaka, and Ikato, and even Daisuke. Oh god.

"Which is why I find this so strange, Tai," Ikato continued, evidently getting ready to deliver the killing blow, "When you finally dumped me you said that you couldn't be with someone who could do that to you anymore - and yet here you are, in a relationship with a prostitute."

Tai inhaled a lungful of breath, and choked, "He's not - he doesn't sleep with anyone else."

"He seemed pretty willing last night," Ikato replied, either not noticing or simply not caring how nauseous Tai was beginning to look. "Why are you with him? You obviously don't trust him."

Teeth snapping together in anger, Matt lurched forwards, unfrozen from his spot in his bedroom doorway, unable to listen to the conniving bastard for one second longer. Tai was letting himself be manipulated, Matt could hear it, and he wasn't going to stand by and do nothing for one moment longer. He had hoped that Tai would trust him, and see through Ikato's lies on his own, but it just wasn't happening. Ikato was playing Tai like a violin. He'd obviously had a lot of practise.

Matt marched down the corridor, fully intended to barge straight in and forcefully remove Ikato from the building, until he reached the entrance of the living room.

Tai was backing himself up into a corner, looking confused and uncertain but not necessarily scared, and Ikato was advancing on him. He stopped when they were inches apart, breathing each other's air and staring into each other's eyes, unblinking, and Matt froze, panic lurching in his gut. Neither man seemed to notice him stood in the living room doorway, so engrossed in each other, and suddenly he just knew what was about to happen.

"I don't trust you," Tai said into the silence, a statement rather than a accusation, and although he wasn't insisting he did trust Matt, at least saying he didn't trust Ikato was something.

"You know what you're getting with me, Tai," Ikato breathed, and his voice was soft like velvet, smooth and caressing, and Matt almost shuddered in disgust. "You seemed happy enough the two years we were together. And you're obviously still attracted to me." He flicked his gaze down to Tai's lips, and the brunette shivered, in a way that didn't look entirely revolted. "Why else would you hire someone to make me jealous in the first place?"

Tai's brow furrowed, face flushing, and he argued, almost instinctively, "Daisuke hired -"

Ikato raised a hand to Tai's lips, and to Matt's complete astonishment, the brunette instantly fell silent. What kind of spell did Ikato have Tai under? It was disturbing to watch, but Matt found that he couldn't look away, almost transfixed by the sight. Tai was happy, and loud, and outgoing, not this shadow of a man how seemed too spellbound to push Ikato away and tell him where to shove it.

"Don't lie," Ikato breathed, smiling, "I'll always be your first love Taichi - and you'll always have feelings for me."

Tai shook his head violently, seemingly trying to arrange his jumbled thoughts into something resembling sense, when Ikato moved forwards, and closed the remaining distance between them. Matt saw it coming, but did nothing, watching with a strange sort of detachment as Tai squawked slightly in surprise, and made to move away. But Ikato arms were bracketing him, effectively pinning him to the wall, and Tai struggled for a moment as his ex-boyfriend assaulted his lips, until suddenly, he had begun to kiss back.

It was only for a moment, their mouths moving together for a little more than second, but it was enough. Tai had kissed Ikato back.

Tai could deny it until he was blue in the face, but their was obviously still something there.

Matt's heart skittered in his chest.

"I don't mean to interrupt," he said, announcing his presence to the room at large, his voice croaky, but clear enough, not even shaking, "But if you're going to make out, I'd really appreciate it if it wasn't in my apartment."

Tai ripped himself out of Ikato's embrace, seemingly finding the strength now, and turned to face his so-called boyfriend, looking surprised, panicked, and a little bit bewildered. He mouthed silently for several seconds, his face crumbling, and choked, "Matt - no - I - I don't know -"

Matt watched him flounder, expression cold, and attempting to salvage at least some of his dignity, said, "The door's that way - I hope it hits you on the way out."

Tai shook his head in dismay, hair bouncing with the movement, and although he looked like he wanted to protest, he said nothing. He glanced at Ikato, who was watching the scene unfold with crossed arms and a smirking face, and turned to the door, evidently wanting to escape as quickly as possible. He offered a, "I need - I need to think. I'm sorry," before fleeing the apartment, but seemed unable to say anything more.

Matt inhaled a lungful of air, his face scrunching and eyes stinging, because after everything, Tai was just going to leave. He wasn't even going to try and fight for him? Obviously the relationship wasn't worth as much as he thought it was. He thought that was what he wanted - he thought he had wanted Tai to leave. But he hadn't actually expected the brunette to listen. Tai had never run away from him before.

"Sorry, blondie, nothing personal, but Tai will always be mine," Ikato said, patting Matt patronisingly on the arm on his way out. "Better luck next time."

Something snapped inside of him, and pure undulated hatred boiled in Matt's stomach, until he was almost blinded by rage. He latched onto Ikato's arm before he could escape, and did the only thing he could of, that didn't involve bursting into tears - he pulled back his arm, drove it forwards, and punched Ikato right in his stupid, smug face.

The crack of his nose almost made Matt feel better.

Almost, but not quite.

"Hey Matt!" Sora greeted the next day, looking far too cheerful for his liking. She took one good look at his face, however, and her expression crumbled, twisting in concern and alarm. "Are you ok? What happened?"

"Nothing," Matt replied tonelessly, collapsing down onto the seat opposite her and curling himself up in his hoodie.

He thought back to the previous day, to what Tai had done to him, and he couldn't even bring himself to be angry, because hadn't he brought the whole thing on himself? He'd kissed Daisuke, Tanaka, and plenty of others while he'd been with Tai, so it's not like he could even claim the moral high ground. It just hurt. "I got what I deserved, I guess."

Sora frowned, peering at him in concern, and said, "What?"

Matt shook his head, unwilling to tell her the whole story, because he really didn't want to relive it, and offered instead, "I just, I can't do this anymore."

"What do you mean? Can't do what?"

Matt flung up his hands in frustration. "Tai. Work. Everything." He looked down at the table, unable to meet his friend's eye, because he was ashamed - ashamed of most his actions over the last couple of months. Ashamed of Daisuke, Tanaka, his drunken escapades, and of the way he'd treated Tai. He knew he wasn't the only one in the wrong, but it was his actions that had shaken Tai in the first place. He'd drove him away. "It's messed me up - made me miserable, and I just can't carry on like this."

"So what are you going to do?" Sora asked, reaching across the table, clasping his hand, and squeezing it reassuringly.

"I'm not going to be an escort anymore," he announced, the words sounding strange on his own tongue. He'd thought about quitting before, of course, numerous times, but he'd never quite had the courage. What else could he do? How was he going to pay rent? They were all questions he still didn't have the answer to, but he knew he just had to stop.

Sora blanched, eyes widening and mouth gaping. "What? Why?" she squawked, her voice having risen several octaves, "I thought you needed the money!"

Matt nodded, smiled, in a way that was attempting to be reassuring but just ended up looking kind of sad. "I do," he replied, before gesturing to himself - to his unclean hair, dishevelled clothes and sunken eyes. "But nothing's worth this."

Sora surveyed him for a long moment, nodding her head slowly, before venturing in a soft voice, "Are you doing this for Tai?"

Matt laughed, but it sounded strangely hollow in the silence. "No," he insisted, finding it wasn't a lie. It wasn't about Tai, it was about him. "We're finished. Or at least I think we are - him fleeing from my apartment after making out with his ex-boyfriend right in front of me made that pretty clear." He shrugged helplessly. "I just - I need to do this. For me. I've done some pretty shitty things, and I need to stop, before it goes too far."

After a pause, Sora smiled, a genuine smile, full of relief and maybe even pride. "I'm glad," she muttered, giving his hand a loving squeeze, "You deserve better than that."

Matt nodded jerkily, more grateful than he should have been for the gesture of support, and murmured a heartfelt, "Thanks."

To be continued…

A/N Sooo….um, I'm back. With more angst. Three years later. Is anyone still there? I'm so sorry about the long wait for this, and I don't even really have any excuses - I've just not been feeling inspired by Taito. I know how annoying it is when fics you like don't get finished or are abandoned, so I'm trying to push myself to get this done. I'm not making any promises, however, just that I'll try my best to finish it. Please review and let me know if you're still interested!