Digimon - Twelve Years of Christmas (1/3)
Title: Twelve Years of Christmas
Disclaimer: Me no own Digimon. Me no speaka de english.
Rating: K+
Pairing: Taito/Yamachi. Later/mentioned Takari and Daiken.
Chapters: 1/3
Summary: [Christmas Fluff] Twenty-four presents. Twelve years. Three
parts. Two boys. One relationship. Twelve different Christmases of Yamato and
Taichi's relationship.
Notes: Next chapter should be up in two or three days. Comment yo! I'm still not sure what I think...
There was only one thing more excitable than Taichi Yagami at Christmas time, and that was a five year old sugar-high Taichi on Christmas Morning.
Underneath the Yagami family’s Christmas tree, Taichi sat with a face full of glee and excitement, tearing the paper from his presents and babbling on about how amazing Santa was. It was a rather regular method: he’d rip one open, quickly take in what it was, and then move on to the next one as fast as lightning. He’d done the same thing for the last three years, returning to the large pile of presents later in the morning to thoroughly peruse each in turn.
“Taichi, why not calm down and give your sister a chance to open her presents?” Yuuko Yagami calmly suggested, clutching the one year old girl in her arms.
Taichi, surrounded by wasted and torn wrapping paper, pouted for a few moments before giving in, rushing to the tree and picking out a present for his sister that was from him. He sat in front of her intently as their mother and father helped Hikari open the present that Taichi had tightly wrapped himself.
And so on went the morning; Taichi enthusiastically tearing open presents left, right and centre whilst Hikari happily opened one every so often, her young eyes filling with wonder.
Once the majority of the presents had been opened, Yuuko began the preparation of their Christmas dinner. It was when she was halfway through that she felt a small tug on the bottom of her apron and looked down to see her bushy haired son - still dressed in his pyjamas with a new t-shirt pulled over the top - looking up at her with bright, begging eyes.
“What is it Taichi?” She asked kindly, setting down the onion she’d been chopping.
“Where’s Matt?” He questioned, using the name he’d been using for his friend since they’d first met; he’d found himself unable to properly pronounce Yamato.
“In his house honey,”
“Can we go see him?”
“Not now, darling, it’s Christmas. Maybe tomorrow,”
“Awh, but muumm, I wants to show Matt my new soccer ball!” Taichi whined.
Indeed, it was such whining that later resulted in Yuuko phoning the Ishida residence to see if they were free for them to call around that afternoon.
-
“Yamato, time to get dressed now,” Natsuko Ishida called into the lounge, where her son was playing with his new fisher price guitar.
“Aw but-”
“Taichi’s coming over to see you,”
“Really?!”
-
Twenty minutes later, Taichi was showing off his new soft soccer ball to Yamato whilst Yamato showed off his toy guitar. Their mothers watched and nattered, clutching their younger children and rolling their eyes at their husbands who were fiddling with and showing off their new gadgets, much like Taichi and Yamato themselves.
After that, it became almost tradition for the two families to spend late Christmas afternoon together, though after Yamato’s parents divorce, it wasn’t uncommon for Yamato to just be dropped at Taichi’s house, rather than have the two families get together.
---
NINE YEARS LATER
“Taichi, Yamato’s here!” Hikari yelled up the stairs as she opened the front door to the blonde.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute!” Taichi called back. Looking in the mirror he gave himself one last once over, tousling his hair just to make sure he didn’t look like he’d tried too hard. He wasn’t exactly sure why, yet, but he always felt the need to look good for Yamato. He flashed his reflection a winning grin before bouncing out and down the stairs to greet his best friend.
“Merry Christmas!” He yelped, jumping at the blonde and throwing his arms around him.
“You too,” The blonde grinned, hugging back.
“Get everything you wanted?” Taichi laughed, pulling away from Yamato.
“Almost. Oh, these are for you,” Yamato signalled to the bag in his hands, and pulled out two gift wrapped presents and a card.
“Eep! More presents!” Taichi beamed, tugging them from his friend.
“Yeah, well one’s the usual tray of mint chocolates for your parents,” Yamato laughed, taking both presents back and poking his tongue out, “But the other’s for you,”
“Yay! Well mine for you is under the tree!” Taichi grabbed Yamato’s arm and dragged him into the front room.
He ran over to the tree and bent down to turn on the fairy lights, then sat down in his usual present unwrapping position, slapping the floor in front of him for Yamato to sit down on.
“Ok, here’s yours,” Taichi grabbed a present from under the tree and shoved it at Yamato, quickly taking his from the blonde, “Ready on three?”
“Yep,”
“One,”
“Two,”
“Three,”
And both boys ripped the paper from the presents, huge smiles gracing their faces.
“How did you know?!” Yamato beamed, seeing the two CDs that Taichi had bought for him.
“Oh like you hadn’t dropped enough hints!” Taichi nudged his friend, “And oh-my-god Yamato! Thanks for this!” Taichi grinned, holding up the soccer merchandise he’d been after for ages.
“No worries bro,” Yamato’s attention was now glued to his new CDs, “Seriously Tai, thanks for these,”
“You’d better be man, it took me a lot of effort to find those! E-bay’s no fun,”
“I am, Tai, believe me,” Yamato smiled, enjoying - though not completely understanding - the shivers that shot up and down his spine as he locked eyes with his best friend.
Later that night, as they were lazing on Taichi’s sofa, picking at the box of chocolates Yamato had bought the family, Taichi’s head began to loll against Yamato’s shoulder and Yamato found it much comfier to rest his arm around his friend.
It was during that night, that somewhere, somehow, the boys crossed the boundary of friendship. Somewhere between the brushing of skin against cloth and the comfort of the old movie on TV and the general romance of Christmas, each began on a path of realisation and questioning that could have left their entire friendship on the rocks, or could have led them down a road of romance, comfort and beauty.
Over the next year, things for Yamato, Taichi and their group of friends changed a lot, but it took the two boys months to admit to themselves and their friends that their relationship seemed deeper than a friendship should, let alone to each other.
-
That Christmas morning, it took Taichi longer than usual to wake up, and in the end required Hikari to come in and shake him awake. He groaned and blinked his eyes into focus, then, looking up at his sister’s face, gradually tried to piece together the night before. As Taichi learned, it’s hard enough to do that first thing in the morning, without having been intoxicated the night before.
That Christmas Eve had been Taichi’s first experience with alcohol, as had it been all of their friends. There’d been a Christmas party organised by their friend Sora’s parents, and each of her friends and their families had been invited to attend. It was a rather posh do in a rented hall complete with chandeliers, women in little black dresses, and waiters walking around with trays of entrées and champagne. Hence the several jolly teenagers that were to be found sitting at a table in one corner of the hall.
Through the blinding lights and fancy suits, Taichi could remember their friend Mimi making a comment about Matt’s sexuality, to which Taichi stood up for him and received several pairs of rolling eyes and someone muttering: ‘well you two would stand up for each other’ before several of them fell about in giggles.
Another glass of champagne later, and Taichi had grabbed Matt and dragged him onto the dance floor, spinning the blonde around and around, all the time keeping his hand on his waist and staring intently into his bright blue eyes.
Eventually, the two boys found themselves rather bored of tripping over each other’s feet and one of them - Taichi was yet to remember who - dragged the other for a walk. It was when they were around the back of the building, Christmas stars shining down on them, that they drew closer to each other for warmth, arms enclosed tightly around each other as they giggled at something that wasn’t particularly all that amusing.
The next thing Taichi could remember was Yamato’s warm breath dancing along his lips and chin, and then wariness as they got caught up in a moment and his heart caught in his chest. Their lips were touching, brushing lightly against one another before Taichi slowly pulled his head away, glancing into Yamato’s eyes then back at his lips.
“I want this,” One of them whispered, and still Taichi couldn’t remember who. It may as well have been both of them for all it mattered, because suddenly both heartbeats were pounding. Taichi had grabbed Yamato and spun him against the wall. He pressed his body in against him, still staring lustily between his eyes and his lips. Then lips raced to each other, crashing, crushing, hungrier than ever before. Taichi could remember dancing tongues and willing moans, then pulling away from each other long enough to reassure themselves it was what they wanted.
“If I act like I regret this tomorrow, I promise you now…” Taichi whispered huskily into his best friend’s ear, “I don’t.”
“Me neither. I really want this,”
“I’ve wanted it too long,” Taichi murmured, before their lips locked again.
And that was all he could remember, other than eventually making it back inside to the party, he couldn’t remember how he found his family and got home or how he even got into bed, but in all honesty he didn’t care. All that mattered to him now was the pounding in his heart and the fluttering in his stomach every time he thought of what had happened between him and the blonde the night before.
“Hey! Taichi! Come on, wake up,” Hikari shook her brother again, rousing him out of his thoughts.
Gradually, he came around properly, jumped out of bed and pulled his stocking off the wall, then ran into his parent’s room to begin his traditional Christmas day.
-
Several hours later, Taichi was sitting on the sofa waiting for Yamato to arrive. So far he was ten minutes late, and Taichi was already worrying that he was freaking out and wouldn’t come at all, that the previous night had ruined their friendship. Or even worse, what if it had been a dream? But no, it couldn’t be, he would swear he could still taste the blonde on his lips.
He was more than relieved then, when he heard the steady knock at the door he knew was Yamato’s. He bounded down the corridor to answer it and flung open the door to reveal two very cold looking blondes, one only slightly more nervous than the other.
“Hey Matt!” Tai grinned, “Oh, hey Takeru,”
“Hey Taich, hope you don’t mind but I brought Teeks along to see Hikari,” Yamato explained hastily.
“Mmhmm,” Taichi was more focused on the blonde that was speaking, rather than the actual words that were coming out of his mouth, “I mean, yeah, that’s cool. You two gonna come in? Don’t want you freezing!”
After a quick awkward laugh, both blondes were inside, and before long Yamato and Taichi were in their usual position beneath the Christmas tree. They opened their presents quickly, with their usual countdown, and typically both boys were more than happy with what the other had bought them: Taichi had given Yamato two band t-shirts and Yamato had given Taichi a couple of CDs.
“I’ve got something else for you too,” Taichi smiled, though inside his heart was beating enough for the both of them.
“Oh yeah, what?”
“Close your eyes,” Taichi instructed and Yamato obeyed.
Brunette eyes gazed over the blonde in front of him, pale face lit up by the changing coloured lights of the Christmas tree. Cautiously, he raised a hand and cupped Yamato’s face, leaning in and gently kissing his friend’s perfect lips. Before the blonde could respond, Taichi pulled back and looked at Yamato expectantly.
The blonde inhaled deeply and fluttered open his eyelids.
“Tai-” He breathed softly.
“Um, do you wanna take this upstairs? More privacy and stuff,” Taichi suggested, then realising how it had sounded, forcefully corrected himself, “I don’t mean like that, I just mean to talk,”
“Sure,”
They quickly raced up the stairs, and Yamato took a seat on Taichi’s bed as the brunette shut the door.
“Taichi-“
“Yamato-“
They started simultaneously, then giggled slightly, smiling widely at each other.
“You go first Tai,”
“Nah, you go,”
“Ok. Shit man, I’d thought this was going to be weird. I thought you’d freak out on me or it would just be awkward and stagnant for days, but it’s not-”
“It just feels totally freakin’ right,” Taichi finished his friend’s sentence, grin still set on his face.
“Exactly,”
Taichi walked forward and pulled Yamato up off the bed, wrapping his arms around the blonde and kissing him softly. It was a kiss of course, that was perfectly reciprocated, until Yamato pulled away a mere centimetre to innocently ask
“Tai, what are we?”
“Mm… depends what you mean. I’d go with crazy right now though,”
“No, like, friends? Boyfriends?”
“Boyfriends eh? I like the sound of that,”
“Me too,” Yamato giggled.
“Boyfriends it is,”
--
ONE YEAR LATER
“Y’know what Tai? I still can’t believe last night went so well,” Yamato sighed, as he lay next to Taichi on Taichi’s bed. Yamato lay on his back staring up at the ceiling, whilst his boyfriend was on his side looking down at Yamato as they played with each other’s hands.
“Heh, I know,” Taichi murmured, tracing a circle on Yamato’s palm.
The previous day - Christmas Eve - had been the day they’d decided it was finally time to tell their families that their relationship went further than friendship. Although perhaps decided was the wrong verb to use. They had been talking about telling their parents for a while, but it was by chance that Yuuko Yagami had walked in on them sharing a kiss, whilst Yamato and Takeru’s family were downstairs for a rare Christmas get-together. During the next half hour, they’d had to explain their situation under the heavy gaze of four adults and two twelve year olds.
Both families had handled it much better than the boys had expected, Natsuko and Yuuko shared a knowing smile, telling the boys that they’d suspected something for quite some time. Hiroaki Ishida had rolled his eyes, clapping his son on the back and telling him he should have been able to tell him sooner, and Susumu Yagami had smirked, saying he was proud of his son and that he really didn’t care as long as Taichi was happy. Takeru and Hikari had basically known anyway, and seemed to have more interest in each other than their brothers’ revelation.
And now, a day after that they were hiding in Taichi’s bedroom, the door shut tightly to drown out the noise from downstairs - this year Yuuko Yagami had planned a dinner party for their whole family including all of Taichi’s aunts and uncles.
“Y’know we should really make an appearance down there sometime soon,” Yamato murmured, although the idea wasn’t all that appealing to him.
“Mm. I’m actually pretty hungry,” Taichi commented, “Wanna get some food then come back up?”
“Sure,”
Almost grudgingly, they meandered downstairs and into the front room, where a large buffet was spread across the table just in front of the Christmas tree.
“Ah finally they emerge!” Susumu Yagami commented on his son’s entrance. He and his brother were sat on chairs just away from the table with a plate of food and a pint of beer, each wearing a flimsy paper hat pulled from a cracker. Much like Taichi and Yamato, they were hiding away from the bustle of the rest of the family who were at present all sat around the sofas and floor in the lounge, occasionally popping back into the front room to refill their plates.
“Ahh, who are ya again?” Taichi’s rather drunk Uncle joked.
Taichi laughed off the comment before explaining that they’d just come down for a plate of food each before they went upstairs to watch the DVDs they’d bought each other for Christmas.
“Ah, have a drink as well!” The Uncle ordered amiambly, “Go on, a pint on me!”
“Nah thanks, Unc, we’re alright,” Taichi grinned as he filled his plate with everything from mince pies to sausage rolls.
“Go on! At least have a snowball! Here, I’ll fix you both one!” He slurred, stumbling up out of his seat and over to a table filled with bottles.
“A damned strong one,” He chortled to himself, grabbing two glasses and a bottle of Advocaat.
-
Half an hour later, the two 16 year olds were back on Taichi’s bed, full of Christmas buffet food and arguing over what film they were going to watch. It was an argument which seemed to hold Yamato in the lead.
“You know what?” Taichi pouted.
“What?”
“I don’t care what film I’m watching right now as long as it’s with you,” He whispered, fingers tracing up and down Yamato’s chest.
“Mmm,” Yamato smirked, as he felt Taichi’s lips against his own and kissed back briefly before pulling away.
“Nice try Chi, but we’re still watching my film!” He grabbed the DVD box and was about to jump up to put it on when Taichi rolled over and pinned him to the bed.
“I meant it,” He whispered, mouth inches from Yamato’s, sending chills up and down the blonde’s spine and twisting his stomach in knots.
Their lips met naturally, enfolding themselves in a kiss which slowly became hungrier as they moved their bodies closer into each other, heartbeats racing as Taichi fell into place between Yamato’s legs. The DVDs were fast forgotten as Yamato’s hands roamed through Taichi’s soft hair, and Taichi’s hands moved under Yamato’s t-shirt, tracing lusty patterns over the silky skin. As Taichi began to rub against Yamato, and Yamato moaned heatedly into the kiss, neither boy could - nor wanted to - hide the passion of the moment from each other.
Eventually, Taichi pulled away from the kiss and stared knowingly into Yamato’s eyes.
“Do you want to do this?” He asked slowly, softly.
Yamato nodded, ready and willing as he crashed his lips into his boyfriend’s once more.
Both boys knew there was no better time or place to do it; to take their relationship to the next level. So as the party went on downstairs, they were locked in their own display of passion, filled with the warmth and joy of Christmas and the fulfilment and wholeness of being with each other. It was a night they would forever remember as their first, and the first time they truly realised there was no one else for them except each other.