Plastic Man

A/N: If you recognize the game referenced in this chapter, you get a Digi-cookie.

Chapter 4

Someday I know I'll find my place

The next morning, Yamato opened his eyes. For once, he wasn't alone. He pressed his nose into the back of Jyou's head, taking in the clean scent of sweet pea. "Jyou..." he whispered, wondering if the other was awake. He had never slept next to anyone without something sexual occuring, so he decided not to wake the other just yet and enjoy the moment.

That was... until he noticed the time- nearly nine in the morning. "Jyou!" he called, sitting up. The blanket fell to his waist and was tossed mostly off of Jyou. No time to admire him, now, Yamato... "Hey, wake up!"

The other scrambled up and looked around, "What? What?!"

"Your exam! Didn't you have an exam today?"

"What?" Jyou whispered, then looked at the clock. "Oh no! I missed it!"

"Jyou... it's such a tragedy..." Yamato snickered.

"Why are you laughing?"

"It's no big deal..."

"Then why did you wake me up so suddenly?"

"Well, you usually turn all basket case on me about these things. I wanted to get it out of the way now."

"You don't understand, Yamato... my father's going to come home and see my shoes by the door. He'll know I didn't go at all. I'll be... truent! My father's gonna kill me."

"Woah, relax. Let me take care of it."

"You?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here. That way he'll think you went to the exam."

"You don't know my father, Yamato. He checks into these things-"

"Jyou, no one is that anal."

"This isn't the time for sex jokes!" Jyou shrieked.

"But I wasn't-"

"I'll schedule the make up exam and tell my father when he comes home. That way, it will be the least painful as possible..." Jyou babbled on, pacing around the blankets until he tangled his feet in them and tripped. He landed on his knees and squinted his eyes in pain.

"That's it," Yamato said, standing over him. Jyou was uncomfortably at ankle height. "You saved my life, Jyou. I'm doing the same for you. Come on. Get your shit. We're going to my apartment and you're taking a vacation."

"...a vacation? But I have class!"

"Do you know how many times I've skipped class?" Yamato waved Jyou off and started gathering his own clothes. As he got dressed, Jyou wondered what he was doing. I am about to go to a friends house and ditch! What in the Hell is wrong with me? If my father finds out about the exam... But he rarely checks up on those unless they are mid-terms, so... what if everything will be okay? Jyou looked to Yamato. Do it, Jyou Kido. You wanted freedom. This is your chance. Just think, Gomamon would say live it up.

"I'm still a little unsure about all this," he admitted as they put their shoes on a few minutes later.

"Well, we are boyfriends now, right?"

"When did you decide that?" Jyou remarked.

"When you said you loved me," Yamato replied. "So, what I was saying was... it's the weekend. Let's treat it like an actual weekend for once in your life."

"Won't your Dad mind the company?"

"Nah. He probably thinks you're a wonderful influence. He'll be all over you to break my bad habits."

"Oh, we could study!" Jyou replied. "I mean, I am a grade higher, but still... I'm sure you could understand it." Then, the boy stopped walking down the steps a moment. "Yamato, have you told your Dad... you know..."

"I-I'll find time," the blonde said, hurrying down the final few steps of the complex.

Jyou looked around. He could see his father's car down the street and grabbed Yamato, rushing them over into a crowd of people, thinking, I can't believe I'm doing this.

I can't believe Jyou is actually going along with this. Maybe he'll lighten up after all. I'll tell Dad... What will I tell him? I mean, Dad probably won't care if I'm gay. Still, I never have boys over. Whatever. We'll have a time. Play some video games, eat pizza. Then... then I can worry about everything else.

The two didn't take too long to get to the Ishida apartment. Inside, the place was sort of clean, Jyou noted, in comparison to his own home. However, there was a small stack of dishes in the sink and the scent of cigarettes. The kitchen was right to the left of the entrance, overlooking the living room. Straight ahead was Yamato's room. On the other side of the living room was a bathroom and the boy's father's room. On the back wall was a glass door to a balcony. Jyou set his shoes aside in the jumbled mess of slippers and work shoes, then went into the living room to sit down. He noticed an older TV- unlike the one his father had gotten. 60" so you could see all that "medical detail" on the science channel. There was some sort of gaming console on the floor, but it looked ancient.

"I'll order us pizza and tonight I'll cook with whatever's in the fridge."

"Pizza... for breakfast?" Jyou wondered aloud. "Yamato, I hope this isn't your idea of a date."

"I'm not expecting anything, if that's what you mean," the blonde retorted. "Do I come off that way?"

"N-No! I just... You just broke up with Sora, right? Maybe we shouldn't be... doing... this... whatever it is."

Yamato mumbled something akin to "fuck Sora", but Jyou ignored it. He was already picturing how upset his father would be that his son wasn't home the entire weekend- although, he had left a note without Yamato noticing. Then, there was Sora to consider. She was probably reeling with confusion and Yamato hadn't made any efforts to explain himself outside the disaster he described last night. His father was still worrying- which reminded Jyou that he promised to call Mr. Ishida. Lastly, there was Takeru... "How is your little brother? You said you two weren't talking."

"What brought that up?" Yamato asked, dialing the pizza number. It was practically on speed dial for them.

"Weren't you on the way to see him?"

"I just made up something to get out of the apartment," the blonde snorted. "Takeru doesn't want to see me."

"Your his brother. At least call and see how he's doing."

"Jyou. No. Stop," Yamato said, covering the phone. Jyou could hear it ringing. "We are going to relax this weekend come Hell or high water. Both of us."

"Relax? Yamato..."

"Yes? Yeah, I want to order one Supreme and one Veggie pizza-"

"Yamato," Jyou insisted, but the blonde was ignoring him. You're just going to have to face your problems sooner or later. Am I just another distraction, like Sora? Like your band?

"They'll be here in thirty minutes," Yamato said, hanging up. "So, what do you want to do first?"

"I need to call your father and let him know everything is fine," Jyou said.

"He's busy at work. He mustn't be too worried if he just up and left, am I right?" Yamato said, sitting down next to Jyou. "Now, let's play some video games."

"But..." Jyou wondered, looking away.

"What is it?" Yamato asked, turning on the Playsation.

"...I've never played a video game."

"Oh, well, I can show you. This game is two-player, so I can help you."

"My father never let me play video games," Jyou said, moving his glasses up.

"Look, X is attack. R1, L1... also known as the shoulder buttons," Yamato explained, clicking the top buttons on the controller to demonstrate, "are for the special attacks when that pink bar is full. Now, there's HP at the top, if you need to heal-"

"HP?"

"Hit points..."

"Oh."

"Heal by standing in the corner," Yamato finished. "Now let's go check out this sea cave area."

"Okay," Jyou answered. "Isn't this depressing? She's going off to raise that penguin egg all by herself."

"...oh, you're not going to like this game much then. Everyone's either insane or stupid."

"Okay," Jyou answered again. "Poor pirate penguin..."

"I'm home," Hiroaki called. Yamato cursed loudly from his spot on the floor in the living room. Jyou was sitting on the couch, nearly as immersed in the game as the young blonde. "Nice to see you too, Yamato."

"Eh, Dad-" Yamato started but he had barely turned away when he was pulled back in.

"Does he always do this, Mr. Ishida?"

Hiroaki gave the blue haired boy a weird glance. Jyou knew Yamato's father was smart, resourceful and he would tell something was up, surely, if he didn't know already. "Don't call me mister... Makes me sound old."

"S-Sorry, sir," Jyou replied sheepishly.

Hiroaki glanced at the kid and although he knew he was one of the Chosen Children with the Digimon, he didn't really remember this kid. Still, Hiroaki smiled as he set down his keys and coat. His son actually made a friend... or if the father suspected right, something more. He felt proud for a moment because he had been kicking himself for sending Yamato to Natsuko's the night before. When he didn't show up, Hiroaki had been worried sick, angry and fuming, but work distracted him. He knew his son would be fine... even if his somber attitude had been worrying lately. "Yamato... you're not off the hook for skipping out on your mother again."

"Yeah, I figured," he replied.

Jyou blinked in shock at the casuality of the situation. Is this your father rampaging, Yamato? Because I don't see it. "Mr... er, Sir?"

"Just call me Hiro, please," Yamato's Dad insisted, pouring leftover coffee from two days ago into a mug.

"Well... Hiro, thank you for having me over."

"Are you leaving?" Hiroaki started. He noticed this comment got his son's undivided attention, too.

"J-Jyou," Yamato started, watching as his boyfriend stood to leave. He reached out and grabbed Jyou's hand, but the older one pulled away.

"I should... really get home. My father will want to know why I missed my exam."

"Want me to give you a lift?" Hiroaki offered, but Jyou declined, gathered his shoes and quickly left. Yamato sat on the floor, staring at the door for a long time as his character died on-screen. Hiroaki watched his son, finally speaking up, "If you didn't love Sora, why didn't you just tell her that in the first place, Yamato?"

"Huh?" the blonde whispered. "N-No, it wasn't like that. She's one of my best friends, Dad... it's just... I see Mom when I'm around her. You know, Takeru does, too... and well, for him, it's different..."

Hiroaki made a mumbled sound to agree, "This kid seems pretty well brought up. A little out of your league, I would say."

Yamato burned red, setting down the controller, "Dad... you're not angry with me?"

"I have no reason to be. Just because you're happy for a change doesn't mean you'll be any less of my son."

"...thank you, Dad. I'm not looking forward to how Mom and her cult will take it."

Hiroaki chuckled. I don't miss being Catholic, that's for sure. "Well, she can know when you're ready. Now, speaking of Natsuko."

Yamato cringed. "You'll call me Natsuko!"

"-you didn't go speak with your brother, did you? You stayed with that kid?" Yamato nodded. "Well, I'll ask Natsuko if Takeru will come visit this weekend, then. You two need to sort this out, because when I'm gone, all you'll have is one another and you need that."

"Dad... you're not going anywhere anytime soon," Yamato breathed, "Takeru's stubborn, anyway. Mo... She's just as stubborn as he is."

"Leave that to me. You remind your brother of what's important."

"Oh," Yamato said suddenly. "Dad, isn't that convention in Tokyo this weekend?"

"Yes, it is, but your mother doesn't know that," Hiroaki replied. "However, with school having just started, I don't see how he'll be able to come visit living all the way out there across the bay. After all that Digital whatever, you two don't realize how much you've changed. I can't bare to see you lose that over something as trivial as a revelation."

"...Dad..." Yamato whispered, soaking up the wise man's words. "...thanks for being there for me."

"...sure," Hiroaki replied. "Now, go to your room because you're grounded through the weekend."

"Grounded?!"

"You disobeyed me, ran away from home, worried your mother and I sick... this is an easy out, Yamato," Hiroaki warned, shaking a finger at his son. Silly gesture to most, but for Yamato it meant business. He sighed and tucked the two controllers away before heading to his room.

He had forgotten how lonely things were without Jyou around. The last night had seemed like a dream and he hoped as he laid down for sleep that he would never wake. But Yamato did wake. Oh, God, did he wake from the bliss that was Jyou...