Lookey, another chapter. And I've noticed that no ones caught onto this, so if anyone can tell me the connection between the Story Title and the title of the chapters I'll give you a cookie or something. Uh, I'll just figure it out when someone guesses right. ^^

Disclaimer: I own only Sephyr, Logan, and Leon. Jennifer belongs to my mom (she doesn't know about the yaoi, but I forced her to come up with an OC, hehe) Everything else belongs to it's original owners.

Chapter 7 -- Only Solution

The music was ear splitting, the instruments falling apart, and the players were haggardly and unpresentable. Yamato doubted, even with a makeover, most of them would still be less of the beauty and more of the beast. Not that looks mattered, but he wanted the last few members of his band to be trustworthy, and he knew from experience that first impressions could make or break any chance you had at a job or fame.

"So, how did I do?" asked the twentieth guitarist they'd had that day. Frankly, she hadn't been as bad as most they'd had that day, but the fact that her hair looked as if it needed a good scrubbing and the tattoos running down one arm, Yamato doubted that she would make the cut. Plus, the way she stood just irked him. The blonde singer turned to the first band mate to join his group. Sephyr had the same look in her eyes he did.

With a sigh, Yamato answered, "You weren't bad, honestly, and you're very pretty," the girl giggled, "but, we're still not sure you're what we're looking for."

The girl pouted and slung her scratched up red guitar off her slender shoulders. "Fine, I see."

"We'll give you a call if we change our minds," said Sephyr. The orchid highlighted hair girl sighed and turned to her blonde partner who was currently banging his head on the table.

"Ugh," Yamato groaned. He didn't want to be here anymore. He was tired, stressed, lonely, and depressed: each caused by the fact that he and Tai had been running rings around each other for the past week. Every time the blonde tried to talk to Tai, he either chickened out or the brunette was pulled aside by someone else. And when Yamato even thought Taichi was coming to talk to him, he would turn tale and run. He really just wanted to go to bed and sleep for ten years, though he knew that wouldn't work either because his dreams recently had been plagued by rendezvous with Tai. It was enough to make him want to commit murder. Of course, Yamato wouldn't do that because he knew he'd never make it in prison and there was no one other than himself that he felt like putting a bullet through, but that would be suicide and the blonde wasn't ready to die just yet. Again, Yamato groaned.

"Hey, Matt, stop beating youself up. What's wrong?" Sephyr asked.

Yamato stopped pounding his head on the desk he was judging from long enough to roll his eyes at Sephyr and reply, "Do you really want to know?"

"Hmm, if it'll keep you from committing suicide by desk banging, then yes, please do drop your worries my way."

"How many more people do we have left?" Yamato asked.

"We've got a five minute break before the last batch comes through," answered Sephyr.

"I don't think five minutes will cover it all."

"Summarize."

Taking a big breath, Yamato started talking. "To put it simply: your little suggestion after you left Lights Friday night to have fun with Tai was taking a little too literally. He got his kiss and I got laid."

"Wait, hold on. You guys actually had sex," Sephyr said smiling broadly.

"Why do you look so happy about it?"

Sephyr waved her hands dismissing her outburst. "Sorry, sorry, even in my mid-twenties, I'm still a full fledged Yaoi fangirl. Forgive the random moments."

Yamato looked toward the sky (or more appropriate, the roof which he noticed could do with a new paint job) he just had to pick a Yaoi fangirl as one of his band mates. "It really isn't something you should be excited about."

"Why, was it bad? The sex, I mean."

Yamato widened his eyes. "Heck no, it was the most amazing thing ever!"

"Then why the 'I just want to sink into the floor and be stepped on' expression?"

The blonde looked away and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "It's because when I woke up I freaked out and ran him out of the house."

"Ooh, harsh. I reckon the pour boy's heart broke after that."

Both Sephyr and Yamato suddenly looked up at the new arrival. A medium height girl with long straight red hair and a gray felt hat stared down at them with ice blue eyes. "Hey there, I'm Jennifer Brash," she said extending a hand.

"Uh, hi," Yamato said taking the hand. "What is it you need?"

"Well, ya see, I was just waitin' outside with the other gals tryin' out during the last block when I realized it was my turn to com on in. Didn't think ya guys were still in a discussion, and such a serious one at that. I didn't think that the lead singer of this new band was goin' ta be in some sort of pickle before I even got here. Usually I'm that one that causes the trouble."

"Well, do you have any suggestions for Matt?"

"Sephyr!" Yamato warned not wanting everyone to know about his personal life.

The slate eyed girl just shrugged innocently. "If she wants to try out, she might as well get use to the idea of dealing with a drama queen of a lead singer."

Yamato wanted to argue he point that he wasn't a drama queen, but kept quiet instead.

"No prob," answered the girl named Jennifer. "Why did ya kick 'im out?"

Yamato gave in. "Because I got scared. He's my best friend and it was my first time."

"And ya love 'im," added Jennifer.

Yamato blushed. "Y-yeah, but I don't know about his feelings."

"If he's ya best friend then he already loves ya and I reckon that he wouldn't take ya like that unless he wanted more than just friendship. If he didn't, well that wouldn't make 'im worth calling a friend, am I right?"

"Y-yeah," Yamato agreed. What this random girl that he just met was telling him actually made sense. Tai wouldn't just do something like that as a game, the brunette knew he'd hurt Yamato. They'd been friends for so long that they wouldn't do anything drastic without both parties prepared with both heart and soul to take the plunge. He just wished Tai would tell him that he at least liked Yamato as more than a friend.

Sephyr was just staring at Jennifer in pure and utter amazement thrown completely off by the sheer brilliance of her words. At least that's what Yamato decided her wide eyed, yet otherwise blank look meant.

"Look," continued the red haired girl, "if you're really concerned, the best thing is to just come right out and ask 'im whether or not he wants ta date ya. The worst ya can get from that is a no."

It actually sounded like a good idea. "Okay, thanks a lot, uh…"

"Jennifer, Jennifer Brash. Now, if ya don't mind, I'd like to play for the both of ya."

"Y-yes, of course," Sephyr said pointing to a red X in the middle of the floor finally snapping out of her daze. "You're aloud a couple of warm up cords first."

"Ah, there's no need for that. If we're going to be working together, ya'll hafta hear be on my bad days anyways. I'll just get straight to the song."

"O—kay. Go right ahead then."

The first line strung hit straight to Yamato's soul. Not only could this girl come up with a solution to his personal problems with her words and thinking, but the music she created. Yes, he would take her advice and maybe he'd keep her around in case she had anymore words of wisdom to light up his the darker parts of this crazy game he and Tai were playing.

"Tai!"

The brunette suddenly stopped walking and turned around, eyes going wide when he saw who was calling after him. "Matt?"

The blonde stopped once he reached the fluffy haired brunette. He took a couple of seconds to swallow the lump in his throat and build up his confidence. "T-tai, I, um." He mentally slapped himself. He could do this, he had to. "Look, Tai, I'm sorry about Saturday morning."

"Oh, that."

Yamato could tell Tai was getting nervous. In the middle of the sidewalk was probably not the best place to talk about sex. Quickly, he started up again not wanting to loose this chance. "I shouldn't have kicked you out like that, but we need to talk. Can you come with me to my house?"

Tai looked at his watch then fidgeted with his book bag. "Okay, but can we go to my dorm instead."

"Uh, sure," Yamato agreed and fallowed Taichi as they made their way to the college dorms.

They had to endure a two block walk and three story elevator ride in silence before Tai pulled out his keys and unlocked a door with the number 6969 on it. Yamato almost shook his head in exasperation at the sight that greeted him. Yamato's dorm was just what you would imagine a teenage boy's room to look like except one side was at least slightly tidy if you could call stacks of clothes and random items arranged by color on the floor tidy.

Tai threw his bag onto a couch off in one corner almost completely hidden by a pile of blue and headed for the bathroom. "Have a seat on the bed. My roommate won't be back for another hour so we have some time to, um, talk."

Yamato nodded and scooted over an empty box of pizza on the orange covered bed before sitting down. He was really nervous, but knew this had to be done. He fiddled with his thumbs for a while waiting for the brunette to emerge from the bathroom so he could ask him the very important question that had been plaguing his mind ever since he and Sephyr had agreed that Jennifer Brash was the right guitarist for them.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Tai emerged from the bathroom and took a seat beside Yamato. "What is it you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about Friday night."

"Yeah, I know that, what about Friday night?"

Yamato pursed his lips and concentrated. How to start? "Well, the fact that we had sex. How did that happen?"

"We were both horny," answered Taichi with a silly grin that didn't reach his eyes.

"No, I mean, you only wanted a kiss, and I could deal with that to some extent, but… thang it Tai, you took my virginity! I'm not saying it was bad, I enjoyed it, but why?" Yamato could feel that scared hysteric feeling rising up inside him same as he had the morning after.

There was silence from Tai for a few moments. Suddenly, Yamato felt a hand on his and looked down to see the brunette work their hands together. "Tai?"

"Matt, go out with me."

Yamato thought he felt his heart stop. Did Tai really just say that? No, no, he was supposed to ask not Tai. "Huh?"

The brunette ran his free hand through his hair and chuckled. "Well, I was your first kiss, your first screw, why not add your first boyfriend to the list?"

"You're serious?" Yamato asked, his heart pounding.

"Yeah, definitely," Tai answered smiling hopefully at the blonde.

Yamato wasn't sure what to do. If Taichi didn't like him even the littlest bit, he would never have asked that question. Going out, like, as in kissing and cuddling and maybe more nights like that one, met something way out of the comfort zone from friendship. Somewhere inside Yamato, he felt he wasn't far from finding out the truth behind his friend's weird actions. As Sephyr had said at the beginning of this, just go with it.

Yeah, fallow even the dimmest light of hope no matter if it led to happiness and bliss or destruction and doom. It was his only solution.

The blonde smiled as well. "Yeah, okay."

A large familiar smile brightened the brunette's face at Yamato's answer and he suddenly lunged at the blonde in a big hug. Yamato eeped and tried to struggle out of the brunette's grip.

"Get off me, Tai, you're heav—ee," Yamato said as he fell sideways onto the bed. He groaned then looked up to see a still grinning Tai hovering over him. A hand came up and caressed his cheek. Instinctively, Yamato closed his eyes, tingles traveling down his skin from the contact. Then, there were soft lips on his and he popped his eyes opened only to close them again as the kiss deepened. His arms came up and wrapped around the brunette's neck causing their chests to connect, shirts, skin, and muscles the only barrier keeping their hearts from connecting.

Tai removed his mouth from Yamato's to trail intense kisses down the blonde's neck nipping at sensitive spots every now and then. While, Yamato on the other hand, was having trouble breathing with how hot he was getting. He really didn't want to have sex on Tai's dirty bed, or just after establishing that they were going to date. He would have liked to keep from doing that again until after the first real date at the very least, but if Tai kept doing what he was doing to his throat, he'd soon be putty under the other screaming with every thrust.

Yamato thought he heard a feral growl when the brunette's kisses finally met the collar of his black dress shirt. He couldn't help but giggle a little when Tai became frustrated with the buttons trying to expose more of Yamato's pale flesh. Once he'd gotten a couple of buttons undone, the brunette immediately attacked Yamato's collar bone causing him to mewl lightly. Tai worked on that spot for a while sucking and nipping and kissing it as if he were punishing it for giving him such a hard time. Once satisfied, he planted a quick kiss on Yamato's lips before looking down at the blonde beneath him.

"I think this is a good idea."

"Yeah, it's a great idea, you're a genius," Yamato agreed quickly really wanting the brunette to continue playing with his neck.

Tai just laughed and started at the other side. It was just as one of Tai's hands was snaking its way up Yamato's shirt that the door opened and a very disgusted shaved head young man came in. "Ugh, Yagami, what are you doing?"

Immediately, Yamato pushed Tai away from him and tried to fix his shirt. Tai just started laughing at the disgusted faces his roommate was making. The blonde humphed and started for the door only to stop and turn around making a 'call me later' motion with his hand leaving Tai to stare after him with a 'don't leave me now' look plastered on his face.

Yamato was in dreamland as he made his way back to his house.

Ring ring.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Yamato growled as he walked out of the bathroom still towel drying his hair, only clad in a pair of black boxers. He picked up the phone and answered, "Hello?"

"Hey, Matt."

A smile brightened the blonde's face when he heard the familiar voice on the other line. "Hey Tai. How did it go with your roommate?"

Yamato heard a groan on the other line and laughed. "That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you. I had to fend him off myself. I didn't know the guy was such a homophobe, jeez. He left as soon as he realized he couldn't talk me out of it. I think he might actually try and get his room switched."

"Is that bad or good?" Yamato asked sitting down on the stool next to the phone.

"It's great, but kinda sucks to. They'll probably make me switch instead of him, the creeps."

"If he gives you anymore problems you can just spend the night here," Yamato offered.

"Well, I'd probably end up doing that eventually anyways now that we're…"

"Boyfriends," Yamato finished.

"Yeah," the brunette said and Yamato could hear the smile spreading across his face through his words, "boyfriends."

"Heh, yeah, it's strange to think about it," Yamato admitted.

"Yeah, but when I think about it, Matt, I would have asked you out before if I'd known you were gay," Tai admitted.

"Really, why?"

"Well, we were already good friends it might have been nice to try dating even if it didn't last long."

Something inside the blonde dropped and he asked, "You don't think we'll last?"

"Well, I'd like it if we did. I mean, you're my best friend and all. I might have said I was bi, but you're really the first guy I ever thought of chasing cause I already love you as a friend, Matt, and …you're thang good in bed."

"Ta—i!" Yamato smiled, yet even though his best friend was telling him all of this, it wasn't enough to ease the ill feelings he had inside. Was friendship and lust enough to keep the brunette with him or was Tai still holding back the real reason the he'd wanted to kiss him in the first place?

Taichi laughed. "Hey, look, man, I'm sorry about Friday night, too. Not about doing you, but doing that without thinking that it was your first time."

"Was it yours?" Yamato asked.

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before the brunette answered. "Look, Matt, I've dated a lot, mainly just month long flings, but still, you know that. And a couple times things went too far because I slip up sometimes."

Yamato listened silently. His heart felt like it was breaking a little with every word his friend said. He knew very well that his friend had dated a lot. Tai was always happy with the girls when he first started dating them, but toward the end of each month, he'd announced they'd broken up for unknown reasons. Inside, the blonde prayed that he wouldn't end up like those month long flings.

"Hey, Matt, you are the only guy I've ever been with, okay," Tai tried to comfort.

"How many?" Yamato asked. "How many girls did you sleep with?"

"Two girls, only once each," Tai answered. "And I've never regretted it until Friday night. Hey, Matt, if I could, I'd make that night my first."

Yamato wanted to cry, but didn't. If that fluffy haired idiot didn't stop saying those kinds of things, he'd make Yamato fall for him again. Yes, the blonde decided, Tai was definitely hiding something because those weren't things you said to someone you weren't romantically inclined to.

"Okay, Tai, I get it."

"Did I hurt you?"

Yamato shook his head though the brunette couldn't see him. "No, though my back was a little sore."

Taichi laughed. "Sorry about that." Yamato could just see him grinning stupidly and scratching the back of his head.

"No you're not, you're grinning proud of yourself," Yamato said.

"Yeah, so, what are you wearing?"

Yamato smacked his forehead and groaned. "Tai."

"Ah, come on, Yama-kins, it'll be fun."

"Fine only if you don't call me Yama."

"Can't promise you that," said Tai.

The blonde leaned back against the counter and crossed one arm over his bare still slightly damp chest. "I'm wearing black boxers and they're really short. They're a little wet because I just stepped out of the shower and I'm still damp. A water droplet just fell from my hair and it's making its way down my chest slowly. It just reached my boxers and is soaking into the waist band."

Yamato heard a groan from the other end of the line and smiled triumphantly to himself. "What are you wearing, Tai…chi," he asked in a sultry voice.

"Man, you're good at this Matt. I don't think I can beat that," Tai said, a whine in his voice.

The blonde just laughed and crossed his legs.

"Hey, Matt, let's go on a date this weekend," Taichi suggested.

"Okay, I'm free, where are we going?"

"Don't know yet," answered the brunette simply. "I'll tell you tomorrow. Shit, my roommate's back, I'll see tomorrow at school."

"Okay, don't get yourself in trouble, I don't want to have to pull your unconscious body out of a gutter tomorrow," teased Yamato.

"Eeh, yeah, I'll try, bye."

"Bye."

Neither hung up for a minute listening to each other breath. After a while, Yamato laughed lightly into the phone and hung up going to his bedroom too finish getting ready for the sweet dreams that were sure to come.

Read and Review. Same number and I'll start typing. ^^

-- Zee ;)