A few things before you read this chapter...

+ thank you so much for the support via reviews. I do get them through email, and each one has put a smile on my face.

+ I'm sorry for the long wait. Some things have happened in my life... I mentioned on a couple of chapters that my health was declining... One side of my heart was getting too large, because I have a leaky valve since birth. So blood was slowly filling my heart. I needed surgery. I've had a few open-heart surgeries already, and the doctors said this looks like the last I'll need. So yeah, I had my last open-heart surgery Sept 2016. It took a long time to recover and gain my strength back. I was very depressed afterwards (which is apparently a side effect for such a harsh surgery). But I can say that I'm part pig now, because they used a pig valve to repair me. So...oink.

+ So you're thinking, okay, did it take that long to recover? Well, I was up and okay around summer time of 17', so I decided to buy a snowcone stand. (I had to borrow quite a bit of money, so yeah...it was probably a bad idea). At the same time I went back to work at my first job as an assistant manager for a theatre. They promoted me to manager shortly after. (I know, what does this have to do with anything...)

+ Anyways, during my surgery, there is this annoying guy...I mean, I like him, but I didn't want him to be there for my surgery. He came anyway...all the way from Florida to Louisiana where I am. Every time I woke up for a few minutes, he was by my bedside. He stayed a whole week with me in the hospital and helped my mom and sister. It was sweet. Well, he finally got me to fly to see him the summer of 17'. He took me to Harry Potter world and the beach. He actually proposed to me.

+So in short, I had surgery, recovered, opened my own business, got engaged, sold my business, quit my job, moved to Florida (he's in law school so not much choice). It's been a huge adjustment, but after going through what I had, I knew I had to just take a plunge.

So now you know why I've been MIA. I will try to update more now. I have more free time.

Coincidence

Chapter Seven: Exhausting Melt Drops

Within just a few weeks, Koushiro was able to complete his function for duplicating his body if need be. He actually was able to create the duplicate in plain sight, but with his body already there in the Digital World, the second body was only a hologram. He wondered if he would be able to actually transfer to such a body. He wrote the function very similar to how digimon reconfigure back to Primary Village, but instead his destination was the bed in his bedroom in his and Tentmon's house. So every time he regenerated, he would end up there.

One weekend, the first in March, Koushiro was typing away at his computer just after watching the sunset with his partner. Tentomon offered to take him out to eat again, but he declined as he was very excited about pouring code out to write more functions that would do him more good.

By midnight, his digimon was sleeping, perched in his tree in the living room. Koushiro was a bit tired but still willing and able to type away at a consistent speed. It wasn't until he hit a block in his coding that he paused for a moment to step away and stretch his legs. He usually went to get something to drink from the kitchen, but this time he paced around, trying to figure out why he was having trouble with the particular line referring to a call to action.

After a few minutes of stretching, he returned to his computer to see that he line of code he left halfway finished was now completed, and three equations before it were altered as well. He then felt that he might be way too sleepy to decipher what he had done and hadn't.

But just as he decided that it was enough for the night, a message in a separate window popped up on the bottom left side of his screen. The message was simple, "will that work, Knowledge?"

He rubbed his eyes and looked at the message with no known sender. In fact the message wasn't transported via any messenger program he had installed. There was only a white background, message board, and a text area. He didn't skip a beat as he wrote to the stranger, "it just might. Thank you."

The person messaged back, "You like to keep several tabs open at once. I am the same way."

He frowned, wondering how in the world the sender knew how many windows he had up on his screen, let alone how they altered his code. He asked the obvious question, "May I ask whom you are?"

"My name is Oshianamon," the sender answered. "I am an admin to the Digital World."

Koushiro's eyes widened as he read the last sentence about three times before responding, "I have so many questions for you. Do you mind?"

"I do not have much time, but I will tell you this..." Oshianamon replied. "I look forward to helping you with your quest of becoming admin. I do not know how you can, but I think you might be able to pull it off. Will you accept my assistance?"

The redhead became more excited, "help would be prodigious. I'm working on a series of functions that will allow me to edit the code via brainwaves."

"I have that answer. Allow me to type it up for you," the sender said.

Koushiro smiled, "I would appreciate that."

"It will be in a new document by morning. Will you wait until then?" Oshianamon asked.

The teen knew that he did need sleep, but he was just too excited to go to bed now. He answered promptly, "take all the time you need, Oshianamon. I look forward to testing it."

"We will talk again then," the sender told him before the window closed by itself.

He was too excited to sleep, but his body didn't allow itself to recharge with the newfound knowledge of an existing admin. In fact, he wondered why the person was so intent on helping in such a friendly manner. He knew he couldn't get too hopeful and trusting, but he was just too happy to receive some help.

Morning hit him like a truck, and he woke up on the floor with Tentomon shaking him frantically. "Izzy! Izzy! Speak to me!" the digimon cried out frantically.

Koushiro groaned and sat up with an overwhelming grogginess. He rubbed his face and sighed as Tentomon proceeded to poke at his arms and ask if he was okay. "I'm fine. I must have dozed off in my chair," he finally told him as his eyes shifted to his toppled-over rolling chair. He got up and stretched, "promise, I'm okay."

"You don't look okay. It looks like you have dark gears around your eyes," Tentomon scolded, referring to the sleep-deprived dark circles. "You need to get more rest! You need to really get away from that computer today and get a nap."

"Sorry, I know," Koushiro smiled nervously. "I was just really into writing the portion for my controlling certain attributes, and then I got a message-" He flinched and quickly hurried to his computer, where he woke up the machine. "That's right! I got a message last night, Tentomon. Apparently there is already an admin for the Digital World, which I guess I can see possible, but wow, so baffling and-"

"Izzy, you know I have no idea what you're saying," the bug cut him off as he lifted into the air and looked over his partner's shoulder.

Koushiro gaped a huge smile as he found a new document on his desktop. He opened it and skimmed it over, "amazing. Oshianamon really did it."

"Oshianamon?" Tentomon mimicked.

"Yeah, that's the name of the admin," Koushiro answered as he picked up his chair and sat down again. He put his hand onto his chin and began reading.

"Hey! What about getting a nap?" Tentomon asked.

"I will soon. You can't expect me to just leave this here without taking a look," Koushiro waved him away before dazing out.

Tentomon buzzed around his head, "don't you have school today? It's a Monday."

"Tentomon, this is huge. The admin might contact me again, and I want to be here."

"Are you sure it's okay for you to stay one more day?" the bug asked worriedly.

"It's fine. I'll go back as soon as I get to a stopping point today," Koushiro told him. "Look," he started as he opened his email in a browser tab, "I'll send a note to my dad explaining everything."

The digimon didn't say another word on it, but he did propose breakfast and hurried off to get it. Tentomon didn't know too much about human protocol and school and what not, so he trusted his partner to do what was right considering all of that.

Right before Koushiro was about to send his father the email, another mysterious message popped up. The sender wrote, "good morning, Knowledge."

Koushiro wanted to squee but held it together. He typed calmly, "good morning, Oshianamon."

"You found the document then. I hope you do not mind the format I use," Oshianamon wrote.

"Formatting is just a personal thing. I appreciate your help," Koushiro typed.

"I sent a copy of the document to your laptop, so that you do not miss school today," Oshianamon said.

Koushiro lost all expression on his face and sat there for a moment before responding, "you know quite a bit about me then."

"I am an admin here. I know about you, the other Digidestined, and every pixel here in this world. Now, please go to school. I would not want you to hinder coming here in the future. You know it is the logical thing to do,"

He looked at his watch to see it was a bit after seven AM in his world, but he didn't want to go. He sighed and typed back to the admin, "missing one day won't be-"

Before he could even finish his message to send it, the admin sent, "you must not like school and your human life to avoid it. Do not even finish typing the rest of your excuse."

Koushiro felt a chill run down his spine as he realized that he admin only chatted on his screen, because he couldn't see his/her words otherwise. The admin could in fact hear him and even read his thoughts…or the computer screen at least. He suddenly wanted to please this person and erased his current message to type a new one, "I will read the document at schoo-"

Again before he could even finish, the admin sent, "I look forward to your thoughts on it then. Have a good day."

Koushiro watched as the message box disappeared. He felt a variety of emotions. He was intimidated, excited, in awe… An admin really did have ultimate power, and he was all the more ready to accept his/her help to learn all he could.

Tentomon flew back into the room, "okay, bad news. I have no breakfast, but Palmon invited us to come to her place whenever we would like!"

"Sorry, Tento," Koushiro told him, getting up quickly and stuffing his laptop into his backpack. "I have to go to school."

"So you are going?" the digimon asked.

"Yeah," Koushiro mumbled blankly. He then looked to his partner, "I'll be back in two or three days, depending on how quickly I decipher the new document. Okay?"

Tentomon scolded him like a mother again, "you had better take care of your human world business, Izzy. I mean it."

Koushiro smiled gently, "I know, I know."

It didn't take long to get his things together. He was soon in front of the vacant computer screen near Beetleland, where he held up his digivice and transported back to his desktop at home. He was now a pro at it, so he landed onto his feet but stumbled due to lack of rest. He hit his shoulder against his closet door and hurriedly got dressed.

"Izzy? Is that you?" Kae's voice asked at his closed door. "You must have come back late last night."

Koushiro answered nervously, "y-yeah, Mom. Sorry about that! I was caught up in some ground-breaking stuff."

"So you're going to school today?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course, Mom," he answered, slipping on his jacket.

"I'll pack you a lunch and some to-go breakfast," she said before walking to the kitchen.

He didn't have time to wait on her too much longer, but he didn't say anything against it, even though he never ate lunch anyway. He looked into the small mirror on his wall and frowned at his dark circles; they really did look like black gears. He knew his mother couldn't see or else she would worry. He patted his face, rubbed his cheeks, but only ended up yawning and looking worse.

Not five minutes later, Kae knocked on his door, "you'll be late."

He took a breath and opened the door, bowing respectfully as he took the items from her. "Thanks Mom! See you when I get home!" he called as he turned away from her quickly and rushed to the door.

She followed him, "have a great day, son."

"Thanks!" he repeated as he slipped on his shoes and hurried out the door.

He rushed down the stairs, stumbling a few times. He didn't realize how disoriented he was until he began actually walking at a quick pace. He made his way to the sidewalk and looked at the bento in his hand and a bagel in the other. He frowned, feeling a bit sick, and the first opportunity he had, the bagel was discarded in a trash container. He didn't want to disrespect his mother's care, but he had that dizzy, motion-sickness feeling; he couldn't eat. The air was still cool but not as freezing as it had been. He wished it was colder out, because he was really sweaty all of a sudden. He knew it was because of his lack of rest over the past few weeks, but he didn't want to admit that he was neglecting his health. His foot hit a crack in the sidewalk, and he stumbled again but didn't fall. He ended up panting. He didn't feel well at all.

First hour seemed to go by so quickly, but perhaps that was because he slept most of it away. He was a little shocked that the teacher didn't say anything to him, maybe because he was an advanced student. However, he didn't get any of the lecture notes, and he wished he would have been able to stay awake for that at least.

Second hour was worse. He got there and drudged to his desk, which was closer to the back of the room near Taichi's. He walked down the aisle, and due to his fatigue, he tripped over his own feet. He luckily caught himself on someone else's desk, but he dropped his book. He panted shakily, but his ears perked when he heard a voice.

Taichi was out of his seat in a flash, and he now had his hands on one of their classmates, "did you trip Izzy?!" He had a frantic rage about him, "why would you do that?!"

Everyone, including Koushiro, turned their attention to Taichi making a scene.

The boy being blamed began to shiver, "n-no! I didn't do anything!"

"I'm fine, Tai," Koushiro said, trying to rescue the boy in trouble. "I tripped over my own feet."

Taichi reluctantly let go of the boy and frowned at his friend, who made his way to his seat tiredly.

The boy scowled at Taichi but didn't say anything as he sat down, mostly because he feared the futbol player's temperament.

Taichi walked to his own desk with a flustered face and sat down silently, too. He couldn't believe he leapt into action like that. From his point of view, he saw Koushiro trip right at the boy's desk as if the other student did it. He honestly didn't know if that's what happened, and Koushiro downplayed it to avoid confrontation. Or if his friend was really that tired. He sort of got his answer when he stiffly eyed the redhead. He gaped when he saw Koushiro's hand holding up his face, but he was out like a light. Taichi had never seen someone fall asleep so quickly in class, which hadn't even started yet.

When the teacher arrived and began to take roll, she snapped at Koushiro to wake up. She slammed a ruler against his desk and made him sit up straight. Taichi could see that his friend was desperately trying to stay awake, but it just wasn't happening. He felt terrible for him, and decided to help him out. Every time Koushiro would doze off, Taichi would throw a ball of paper at him, sometimes a pencil, or an eraser. Koushiro would wake again but never know what woke him. Taichi felt like a little guardian angel; it wasn't common that he could help the boy genius.

This protection went on until break, and Taichi didn't feel quite right leaving Koushiro to wander off alone. He knew that his friend was probably going to push him away, so he stayed at a distance and followed him to the computer lab. He waited until his friend was inside and waited outside the door, eating his lunch standing up. He noted that Koushiro didn't even take his lunch with him, but he didn't try to chase him down about it. He only stayed in the shadows, watching him carefully. He began to worry when he saw that Koushiro slept the entire break. He wondered if the teenager got any sleep the night before.

By the time the final bell of the day rolled around, Taichi was deeply worried. Even after a nap in class, he would be perked up, but Koushiro seemed to be a zombie the entire day. The darkness around his eyes seemed to only get worse, too. He knew that Koushiro would be walking home, and he made the decision again to protect him. So many instances of trouble and accidental death befalling Koushiro ran through his head; he had to follow him home like a creep to ensure he didn't pass out in the street or fall from the stairs.

At first, he saw that Koushiro seemed awake enough to gather all of his books and swing his backpack over his shoulders. He watched his friend leave campus, and he followed silently, sneakily. He kept debating on whether he should talk to him or not, but he never did. Bittersweet as it was, they were soon halfway to the Izumi residence.

Koushiro was sweating and panting more than he had all day; he felt like he was in a dream. His entire body began to feel numb. He knew it was because he hadn't been eating and resting properly. It was logical to feel this way, but he didn't want his mother to worry. He didn't want to go home in such a state. When he was closer to home, he made a detour into an alley between apartment buildings.

Taichi flinched when he saw his friend walk into the narrow pathway and stop at a closed dumpster. He followed to the entrance and peeked like a stalker.

Koushiro leaned against the brick wall and panted, lowering his head and bowing over. He just needed a moment to rest, but he felt so cold and hot at the same time. He was so exhausted and sick. He kept telling himself to straighten up, to just go home, eat, sleep, and get to work on that code. He knew he needed to get back to what the admin sent to him; he hadn't be able to look at it all day due to his fatigue.

Taichi couldn't take it any longer; something was wrong. He hurried into the alley and spoke desperately, "Koushiro!"

The redhead froze and lost his breath. He had no time to react.

Taichi touched his shoulders, "let me take you to the hospital-"

Koushiro flinched before jerking his body forward to get away from him, but he stumbled again and fell to his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut and panted again.

"Koushiro," Taichi breathed worriedly as he knelt with him. "Please, let me help you-"

"Leave me alone, Tai!" Koushiro cried out sadly. Tears pricked his eyes, and he wondered why in the world he was so emotional at that moment. He bit his lip and quickly wiped them with the back of his hand.

Taichi frowned, "I know you hate me, but you need help. I'm not leaving you alone!" He waited but didn't get a response. He frowned more, "I'll take you home." He still didn't get anything. "Hospital or home, Izzy!" he gave him a choice.

Koushiro was ashamed, scared… He didn't want Taichi to see his weakness, because he didn't want Taichi to worry. When he witnessed his worry, he felt more attached to him…like he had hope that he could really keep loving him. But that was foolish, and he would rather Taichi just ignore him than give him that sort of false expectation.

"Fine hospital," Taichi snapped as he managed to scoop his short friend into his arms in order to lift him.

Koushiro gasped as he was cradled perfectly into his friend's grasp. He felt Taichi's strong arms under his knees and around his back. His dark eyes connected with the chocolate irises, and he begged, "no! Home!" His parents would only have matching heart attacks if they had to find him in a hospital bed; he couldn't have that.

Taichi's eyes softened as he paused from picking him up of the ground, so the result was Taichi knelt on his knees, holding the boy to his chest, staring down at him. He suddenly felt like he was in one of those yaoi novels, and his entire face went red. Koushiro's cute pout and blushing cheeks teased him. This wasn't want he was going for; all he was trying to do is get his friend some help. His heart began beating faster as he looked into his eyes.

Koushiro felt so light-headed, and his heart raced uncomfortably. He began shivering, too. Taichi had him in his arms… He was in his arms… Taichi was so warm and strong; he wanted to be held forever. It was…comforting, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't enjoy it.

"You look so sick, Koushiro," Taichi whispered sadly.

The redhead frowned, "I'm not… I just haven't had enough sleep. I'm fati…fatigued." His words were slurred, and the warmth from Taichi was enough to lull him to sleep.

Taichi watched his friend's eyes slowly roll and flutter. He had an urge and just went with it. He pulled the boy closer and hugged him tightly. Resting his face onto the red hair, he whispered, "if something serious is wrong…tell me." He meant it so much; seeing his beloved this way was tearing him up.

Koushiro felt his ears heat up as he was cuddled. He knew he would only worry his friend if he didn't tell him, but he was afraid to be on close terms with him again. He bit his lip and rested against the older boy's chest, taking in his soothing scent. "I've been working on code," he told him simply, knowing anything beyond the word would be over Taichi's head. "I haven't been sleeping at night and devoting all my weekends to it. I keep forgetting to eat, too. So…"

A sharp pang hit Taichi's heart; Koushiro was losing sleep because of some code…not him. He smiled softly, knowing it was just like him, "really…"

Koushiro didn't know if he should say anything, so he stayed silent. He enjoyed this…this one solitary moment of bliss. He felt that if he were a girl, this would be normal. If Taichi were a girl, it would probably be the other way around. But if they could be together, there would be no limit to being so close. He got emotional again but managed to keep it in.

"Let me walk you home," Taichi ordered; it wasn't a plea. His voice was strong, "I don't want you to fall."

The younger boy closed his eyes and relaxed in his arms, "n-not yet. I don't want to scare my mom. I need to calm down."

Taichi cuddled him again, "okay…" After a minute or so, he apologized, "I'm sorry for grabbing you…again."

"No," Koushiro responded too quickly, "I…I was cold anyway."

That made Taichi happy, because he wanted to keep holding him. He really wanted to keep him in his arms, and after not speaking to him for so long, it felt like a dream come true. He smiled to himself and murmured, "are you still cold?"

Koushiro hesitated, "uh…y-yeah…"

Taichi squeezed him a bit tighter, "just…um…tell me when you get warm."

"Okay," Koushiro whispered quietly, but he didn't feel nervous or scared. He was too sleepy to care if this was crossing the line. Taichi was being a good friend and warming him up, and he was taking it the wrong way. "Tai?" he started sadly.

"Hm?" the older boy asked.

"I'm sorry," he told him, "for…you know…the things I said."

"No, it's okay," Taichi mumbled. "You're not like the others, Izzy. You really put your all into a friendship, and I know when I started being weird, it must have hurt your feelings a lot."

Koushiro's blush burned at his cheeks as he unconsciously buried his face into Taichi's chest.

Taichi was now seeing the fault in this tangle of embrace; he was getting…aroused. He wanted to kiss the younger really hard and hungrily. He wanted to shout out his feelings, confess to every single time he wanted to hold him just like this.

"I don't want to lose you, Taichi," Koushiro said with a slight whine.

That sleepy tone and desperation pushed Taichi over the edge, and he squeezed the boy even tighter. His lips pressed hard against the red hair, and his nose inhaled a huge whiff of the sweet scent. He could feel his arousal growing by the second, and he had to make a choice: allow his secret to be revealed or not.

Koushiro's eyes were wide as he felt lips on his scalp; Taichi was giving him a long, firm kiss. He couldn't take it. It had to be a dream. It had to be some sort of hallucination, and if he was having such a real hallucination, he needed to get away from him before he did something very revealing and bad.

At that point, Taichi made the brave decision to tell him. He opened his mouth, ready with a burning courage.

"I have to go," Koushiro pulled away from him weakly.

Taichi frowned, slowly letting him go.

Koushiro scrambled to his feet and panted again, "I need to get home."

Taichi saw how deeply crimson his friend's face was, and he couldn't tell if he regretted kissing him. He stood and reached for him, "you look really upset."

Koushiro looked at him shyly and frowned, "does it look really bad?"

Taichi couldn't help but to smile, "a little, yeah." He carefully slipped Koushiro's backpack off of him and swung it over his shoulder, "let's go get something to drink. That'll make you feel better."

Koushiro reached for his bag, "I can-"

"No, you really can't," Taichi cut him off. He offered his free hand out to him.

Koushiro stared at that courageous, confident Taichi smile. He missed that look so much, but it made him wonder a little. However, he was happy. He was really, really, really, very happy in that moment. He lifted his hand and hesitantly took the tanned one.

Taichi pulled him along. He didn't know what he was doing, if it was even the right thing. He wanted Koushiro to be by his side, and he realized the only way to have that happen again was to build trust between them once more. Koushiro was like a skittish woodland creature; Taichi's drama scared him away. He still didn't know what he was going to do with his feelings, but that kiss wasn't a total fail. Maybe to some people it was a fail, but he didn't feel that it was. It felt right, and the vibes he got, even though Koushiro pretty much wanted to leave, were good. He figured he would test more affection out on Koushiro, because had to face that his feelings weren't going to go away. He loved Koushiro. He loved him enough to accept any answer to his feelings he would get. He loved him enough to put aside his turmoil and help him. He loved him too much to have him withdraw from him ever again.

I know, Taichi is being really flip-floppy. I meant to have him drag it out more before coming to terms, but I thought you all would want some romance already.

Thank you for reading thus far.

And for those of you who waited so long, you are superstars.

(Hoping everyone has a great Valentine's Day, single or not!)