A/N: Inspired by... actually, inspired by Hoobastank's "Inside of You". I was listening to their acoustic album for the first time while at work, hadn't heard this song before, and went, "Huh, pretty catchy tune... wait, what are they saying?" It was just unexpected for me considering all the other music I'd heard from them. My funny story for exactly how I got into Hoobastank some... I think eight, nine years ago will be saved for the blog.

Takes place likely somewhere during Formatting. And definitely Sorato.

Matt wasn't really sure what to do. On one hand, he really liked the beat and the sound of the song he had written. On the other hand, the lyrics were much more suggestive than how he usually wrote them, and the entire song was different from his usual style anyway. He wasn't even sure why he had written it. It just kind of… had to be penned down.

So he had, and for the most part he left it shoved away in some drawer in his room. Right now though, he had taken it back out and was sitting on the floor with his guitar, staring at the sheets and wondering exactly how he was supposed to reconcile this. He wanted to hear it done well, full band and everything. Against his better judgment, he wanted to be the one to sing it, rather than assigning Tai or TK as the lead singer.

Really, why was he so hesitant to share it?

"Dude, new music?"

He yelped as the sheets were pinched from his hands. "Hey! Give those back!" he glared at Tai, who to his horror was already reading them. Damn it, I always let my guard down when we're home, didn't even notice him sneaking up on me…

He was about to grab them back via crest power, but Tai was apparently a much faster reader than Matt gave him credit for. The boy's eyes widened as he stared at the page, mouthing a few words… and then he burst out laughing.

"Wow, I'm impressed," he grinned, handing the sheets back. "So is this our next song then?"

"No," Matt replied flatly as he took them back. "I don't even know why I wrote it."

Tai got a crafty smirk on his face. "Oh, I know exactly why you wrote it," he said with a light tilt to his voice.

Matt glared in response. "Shut up."

Tai shrugged and crossed his arms. "Well, what's it sound like?" At Matt's blank gaze, he rolled his eyes. "Come on, you're not gonna' have a song out and leave me hanging, right?"

"We're not singing it," Matt answered as he shuffled the sheets into a pile and moved to go shove them back in his desk. They could sit there for eternity for all he cared at this point.

Except that TK passed by his room at that exact moment.

"New music? Awesome!" he cheered as he entered, smiling. "So who gets to sing it?"

"No one. We're not singing it," Matt said, though in a much less exasperated voice than he would have with Tai. TK didn't deserve quite that treatment yet.

TK blinked, then glanced at Tai, who still had that stupid smirk on his face.

"He's embarrassed 'cuz the lyrics aren't ballad-like and longing and all, 'I wanna be with you my love' - "

Matt had half a mind to throw his shoe at his best friend's face.

Before he quite knew what was going on, TK was right next to him and leaning over to read the papers he had in his hand.

"No!" Matt jerked away. "We aren't singing this - "

He suddenly realized that the sheets were no longer in his hand and TK was back next to Tai, reading over his song with wide, slightly surprised eyes. He inwardly cursed. He'd forgotten just how fast his brother was.

Somehow though, he wasn't too horribly angry that they were forcibly reading over his song. He did, after all, want to hear it as full arrangement in the band, and he'd put the effort into writing it, it might be kind of nice to share it…

He guessed they were far enough down that he couldn't stop them at this point. With a pained grimace, he sat back down on the floor, guitar and all, to await judgment.

TK didn't laugh, but he did look very amused. "Wow," he said with a slightly goofy grin, "Didn't really expect this from you. It's not bad though… what's the song itself sound like?"

Matt glanced over at Tai, then back at TK. Both boys were looking at him expectantly.

With a sigh, he moved his guitar into place and began playing. He knew the chord progression, but even he hadn't memorized the words, so he hummed the melody as he strummed away. It was just the bare bones of the song anyway, and that was most important right now.

He finished with the chorus, then shrugged and stopped. "That's the gist of it."

To his absolute horror, he suddenly realized that both Joe and Sora now had their heads poked through the doorway, clearly interested. He felt his stomach freeze a little as both people let themselves into his room.

"Uh, hi, Joe, Sora," he said, swallowing a lump in his throat.

Sora raised an eyebrow, while Joe seemed more interested in what Matt had been playing. "The song's really catchy," he stated with an intrigued look. Both TK and Tai nodded in concurrence. "What're the lyrics?"

TK handed him the sheets. Matt felt completely mortified as Sora leaned over to look too.

"We're not singing it," he repeated again, reaching forward with the energy of his crest power to take the sheets back, but somehow Sora's eyes told him to stay put. He didn't know what was better any more, Sora's wrath if he took the music away, or Sora's wrath when she read the lyrics…

Tai was looking back and forth between Matt and Sora as though he had reached an epiphany of some sorts. He suddenly got a very devious grin on his face. "Oh, I see… I see why you're so embarrassed about this now…"

Matt didn't even wait to see Sora's reaction. Joe already looked fairly shocked, and he was sure Sora would be the same way or worse.

"… I'm gonna go hide in a corner now," he mumbled as he stood and moved to go do said statement. He ended up settling with sitting on his bed, removing his guitar strap and setting the instrument beside him.

Why did I decide to take it out to look at today, why did I even write the damn thing…

Someone was standing over him. He blinked and looked up to see Sora there, gazing at him with even eyes. He smiled weakly.

Her expression didn't change. However, she did grab him by the collar and pull him up towards her.

He went along with it, not really having a choice. A moment later, he was standing again, though with his head pulled forward so that he was slightly bent and their faces very close. He could smell the cherry scent on her.

"So, that song you wrote…" she began in a conversational tone.

"Y-yeah?"

For a moment, she still seemed expressionless. Then she suddenly gave him a seductive smile.

"I like it," she spoke, pulling his head forward so that she was breathing into his ear. "Catchy, and the lyrics are tasteful. I think it's a very sexy song."

Then she winked and released him, gently brushing a finger across his lips as she retreated.

Matt sat there gaping as she walked away and back out of the room with a slight sway in her step. He wasn't quite sure what to make of what had just happened, but she liked it… she wasn't mad, she liked it, she thought it was a sexy song…

"I love my girlfriend," he said dreamily.

The others in the room had watched the entire scene with a great amount of amusement. Tai in particular had a ridiculous grin on his face.

"Well, you heard the girl. This'll be our next song, yes?" he nodded confidently.

Matt was still too dazed to say anything of real note. "Did I mention that I love my girlfriend?"

TK chuckled and moved forward to bring his brother back to the present. "Yes, you did. Well come on, we've got some work to do on this. Don't wanna' disappoint her, right?"