This was a fun chapter – poor Tai and Matt although Matt technically doesn't know about Gabumon yet, but I always did have fun torturing him even when I was younger. Oh right, I'm rambling again but warning for both sexual harassment and sexual assault in this chapter, as well as coercion and blackmail. I'm going to go hide from T.K. now before he reads over my shoulder. Enjoy!

3. Coming Together

Kari hadn't said she needed to meet him face to face and that it was an emergency for years so Tai wasn't exactly sure what to think. There was no way his sister would insist this much if it wasn't an emergency, so he had made time to meet her at their favourite spot from when they were kids.

"Kari, what's going on that you had to call me here so fast?" Tai asked with a small frown. "You're never this…" His frown deepened as he saw the look on her face. Something was wrong – something was seriously wrong in the digital world, and this made his heart sink. He may not have thought of the digital world in a while, but he still cared about Agumon. They were more than just partners; they were best friends, and they had been through a lot together.

"Agumon's in trouble," Kari said biting her lip. "The big kind of trouble that could lead to everything being destroyed if we don't get to the digital world soon. There's a new enemy from what we know so far and it…it wants Omnimon and Imperialdramon on the side of darkness. I don't know how they're going to do that, given you and Matt are still on our side but…"

Tai's heart sunk even further. He had felt something was weird – he couldn't explain why because he had been unable to get his material crest to glow again. He had thought it was because of his own indecision to really take risks on what he wanted to do with his career but the idea that it could be because of Agumon had not even occurred to him. But if someone was trying to force him against his own will to turn evil like this, could he have lost his courage?

"There are objects that can do that, remember? Dark rings, dark gears and who knows what else this freak has come up with?" Tai said, voice sounding a little on edge. "Dark spirals could also make Agumon evolve to MetalGreymon, so who's to say this new creature hasn't found a way to do the same with DNA digivolutions as well? We have to go."

Kari shifted and nodded. "There is one other thing."

Tai raised an eyebrow. "More bad news?"

"Worse," Kari said. "Gennai closed the gates to the digital world. The Hollow which is what the enemy calls itself might have scared him enough because he agreed to close the gates to stop us from going through if the Hollow didn't capture him."

Tai's jaw dropped and he stared. "Gennai did what now?! How the heck are we going to help our digimon when he was a coward?"

Kari shook her head. "It's okay, some of the digimon along with a human girl were able to get through to the real world and we'll be able to make one jump back into the digital world…it's just…since the gates are closed, we don't know when we'll be able to come back. We might be stuck there for a while."

Tai's shoulders sagged in relief. Somehow, that didn't matter. Agumon was in trouble and in this moment, he felt like he was a little kid again. He needed to be there for his friend – he needed to save him.

"That doesn't matter," Tai said firmly. "It's not like we haven't been stuck there before but it's about time we teach Gennai a lesson to stop being a coward and that we haven't forgotten our responsibility."

"Maybe we did and that's why Gennai forgot it too," Kari said softly causing Tai to frown a little now.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked.

"The digimon and the digital world are our responsibility," Kari answered softly. "Relying on Gennai to take that on…maybe that was our mistake. You can't trust anyone in the digital world, remember?"

Tai's face fell a little at that as he thought of DemiDevimon and other digimon who had tried to take advantage of them in the digital world, but Gennai had always seemed different. Then again, maybe he had seemed different because this was the first time his own interest had come into play. His own life had been put in danger and that was when he had made the decision that loyalty was not worth it even it meant hurting those he had always helped. Maybe Kari was right – maybe they were the ones who failed but he couldn't think that way anymore. It wouldn't help him move forward and fix things.

"Maybe but we have to focus on how to fix it now," Tai said softly. "We're going to go back to the digital world."

"Okay, T.K., I'll meet you by the bridge then," Matt said to his little brother as he headed to leave the building but Katsuya, one of his newest band members who helped set the background music stopped his way. "I'll call you when I get close, ok T.K.?"

"Ok, take care, Matt," T.K. said before Matt hung up and turned to Katsuya. Band had wrapped up like 30 minutes ago and he had just been finishing some last-minute things himself when his brother's call had come in.

"Is everything ok, Katsuya?" Matt asked softly. "Band wrapped awhile back."

Katsuya didn't say anything at first, stepping a little closer to him. His eyes looked him up and down. Matt frowned – the look in his eyes was odd, he had seen it before in many fans' eyes although normally they weren't that close to him and the security was good enough to make them back off but why was Katsuya looking at him like that?

"You've filed out nicely, Matt," Katsuya hummed. "Being close to you all this time and not being able to say that, do you know how frustrating it was? I come from a pretty big family, haven't you ever wondered why I chose to work in your band of all places?"

Matt's fist clenched, about to say Katsuya was being inappropriate but the other did not let him as he continued.

"I've always been a big fan," Katsuya said softly. "But watching you from afar didn't feel like enough. I always wanted to be this close to you." He quickly moved even closer, snaking a hand down his clothed chest causing Matt to flinch slightly and step back before his expression hardened.

"That's enough," Matt said firmly. "This is extremely inappropriate behaviour. I don't want to see this again or I will have to both fire you and report you to security."

He couldn't deny that he was shaken on the inside, but he couldn't show that. He just needed to get out of here. He made to move past Katsuya but the other blocked his way again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Katsuya said simply. "I could easily use force and just rape you here and now. With my connections, no one would ever be able to do anything to me. But that's too easy, Matt. I don't want to force you. That's not fun. So, I will offer you something. Accept my love. Become mine willingly. Or I will have to seek pleasure from your baby brother instead. He's a cute one too. Not as good as you but still."

Matt stared. This couldn't be happening – he had always thought Katsuya had joined the band because he wanted to make something of himself outside his family's money, it was the excuse he had always given but now…he wasn't so sure. Had anything he ever said been the truth?

"I…I'm seeing someone," Matt said, not sounding as firm as he would have liked. "And I'm not gay. Leave T.K. out of this, ok? We don't have to tell anyone what happened here."

Katsuya sighed at this. "Yes, your girlfriend, Sora." He closed the gap between the two of them, Matt being pushed into the wall, dropping the bag that he had picked up to take with him. "She doesn't deserve you. She wouldn't treasure you the way I would. Her gaze wouldn't stop at you even amongst a million people."

"Get off me," Matt said, trying to push him off. "Katsuya, this is…"

"This is what?" Katsuya said, undoing a few top buttons of his shirt causing Matt to shove against him again. "Inappropriate?" He slipped a hand into the opening, brushing his thumb against a nipple causing a gasp to leave Matt. "Is it sexual harassment? Now imagine if I were to do the same to T.K.? Or I drug him and rape him because you said no? Do you want T.K. to go through this?"

Matt hated the way his body was responding – it felt disgusting, and he wanted to scream, gather people around but at the same time, what if he was telling the truth? What if he really did go after T.K. if he said no?

"How…" Matt was trying to focus even as Katsuya's fingers played around with his nipple artfully. "How do I know you won't go after him if I say yes to you?"

Katsuya chuckled, stopping his playing but didn't button up Matt's shirt either. As Matt startled struggling to push him off again, he pinned him harder against the wall. "You don't. But I have no interest in T.K., he does nothing for me. That would just have been a compromise. What I really want is you, Matt. I want to be close to you. Closer than anyone has ever been. I'm your biggest fan. I never want you to forget that."

His mouth closed around Matt's left nipple, and he twirled his tongue around it, Matt's unwilling moans filling him with delight even as he pulled away.

"So, what will it be?" Katsuya said, licking his lips.

Matt shivered, trying to curl away from the other's hungry gaze. "I'll do it." He felt sick to his stomach as he said this. "But leave T.K. out of it."

Katsuya smiled, buttoning up Matt's shirt and pulling away. "That's good. I'll call you, ok beautiful?"

Matt flinched, but didn't respond, just looked away from him even when Katsuya left.