Boys Of Summer Chapter 5 PART ONE
Disclaimer: No digimon ownings for me.
Title: Boys Of Summer
Series: Adventure/02 characters.
Rating: PG13 for now.
Pairing: Taito
Genre: Romance, Drama.
Chapters (5/?)
Dedication: It's sort of an anti-dedication if that makes any sense. To my ex-girlfriend and anyone else who's been standing in my way. Screw you basically.
Summary: [AU] Matt has been unwillingly shipped off to Summer Camp after his father decided to go away for the summer. Tai has willingly spent his last few summers there and this year takes a liking to his blonde roommate.
NOTES: Firstly, sorry this has taken so long to get up, it's actually been up on ff.net for a while now, I've just had problems uploading it here. Secondly, apparantly I went a bit too crazy this time and it won't all fit in one entry, so this is just part one. Part two will be uploaded in a second entry straight after.
Since the start of Camp, Matt had suffered his fair share of rude awakenings, but so far this was the rudest yet.
“Eep! Guys, wake up! Wake up!” Davis practically yelped as he jumped across the cabin. He climbed onto Tai’s bed, smacking him across the head with a pillow, and from there - before Tai had a chance to retaliate, he bounced across onto Matt’s bed, bouncing up and down until the blonde sat up, giving Davis the hardest evils he could muster at such an early hour, at which point the younger boy leaped across the room to wake Izzy.
“Davis?” Tai groaned, “Shut up,”
“Then wake up,” Davis grinned, spinning on his heel to face Tai.
It was first thing Monday morning and the blue group were preparing to go outdoor camping for a week. Davis, being his usual excitable self, was up, dressed and raring to go.
“Jesus Dai, you’re like a four year old on Christmas morning,” Matt yawned, “What’s the big deal about camping out anyway?”
“Davis just gets excited over everything. Believe me, in a few hours he’ll be whining about the walk there,” Tai muttered, mirroring Matt’s yawn.
Davis, choosing to ignore Tai’s comment, turned to face Matt.
“Come on Matty, up and dressed,” The mahogany-haired teen grinned, bounding back over to Matt. He grabbed the blonde’s arm and yanked him out of his bed, steadying the blonde at the waist as he stumbled. Both boys remained unaware of the disdained scowl they received from Tai at the gesture.
“Daaaavis-” Matt started.
“I’m sure Matt can get up on his own. Can’t you?” Tai asked pointedly, swivelling around in his bed so that he was facing them, legs hanging over the side.
“So? Would have taken him longer on his own,” Davis chirped, “Now hurry up and get dressed. I’ma go wake up Ken!”
“Have fun,” Matt muttered, watching in disbelief as Davis literally skipped out of the chalet. “Guess we’d better get dressed then,” He added, turning to Tai and Izzy.
“Mmhmm,” The other boys murmured in sleepy, subdued agreement.
“Right, I’ll have the bathroom first, seeing as I’m already up.” Matt picked up the clothes he’d set aside the previous night.
Within half an hour, the blue group were all in the Block having breakfast and getting ready to leave for the near two hour trek to the campsite where they’d be spending the next week.
“Right can everyone listen please?” Alex called, silencing the group. “We need to sort out tents and everything so if you all settle down into groups, Kim, Joe and I will be coming around to work everything out. Make sure you’re sitting with who you want to tent with,”
“Well that’s obvious,” Tai muttered, then with a grin added “And we already are. Hey, let’s try and get one of those eight-person tents!”
Davis was about to agree when Izzy chipped in. “Tai, I’m afraid to inform you that the chances of that happening are ridiculously small in our favour. There are two eight-person tents and most people want one. They’re starting at the front of the room and we’re at the back. I don’t think we’re going to get one,” The redhead stated, “Which is a good thing really, do you have any idea how cramped those things are?”
“Way to step on my parade Iz,” Tai scowled jovially.
“No worries,” Izzy grinned.
“’Step on my parade’? Is that even a saying? Does it even make sense?” Davis asked, and was met with a series of shrugs.
“Ah well.” Ken shook his head. “So if there’s no eight tent whose sharing with who, or need I ask?” He added the last section carefully, glancing between Davis and Tai.
“Well we’ll share,” Tai grinned knowingly at Davis, patting him on the back.
“Oh god,” Matt muttered at Ken, rolling his eyes as he wondered what on earth the troublesome twosome had planned.
“Yeah and Eric and I will share,” Izzy said, signalling the freckled boy next to him who he’d met in the computer room.
“Guess it’s me and you then, Matt,” Ken grinned.
“Mhm,” Matt smiled, sighing slightly as he glanced dejectedly at Tai. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Ken, no, he thought the younger soccer player was great, but he’d much rather have shared with Tai.
“But we’ll pitch tents next to each other’s right?” Ken asked, glancing briefly at Davis.
“Too right,” Tai grinned, meeting Matt’s bright blue eyes.
“Of course,” Davis smiled simultaneously, “We’ll try and get a four anyway,”
Matt smiled tenuously back at Tai, before shifting uncomfortably and turning his stare to his lap.
It wasn’t long before Kim approached the group to sort out their tents. She took one look at the six boys before crossing her arms across her clipboard and raising an eyebrow.
“So whose sharing with you lot then?” she questioned, somewhat suspiciously.
“Well me and Davi-“
“Nuh-uh, no way, not happening,” she stated. “I’m not having you two sharing a tent. Not after your escapades last year.” She frowned, though the corner of her mouth was twitching in an attempt to conceal her amused smile.
“Aw what?! Come on Kim. We’ll behave, I swear!” Tai whined, something he was more often than not rather good at, just seemingly not on this occasion.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Tai. Why not share with Izzy or Matt?” she suggested.
“Well Matt’s sharing with Ken and Izzy’s with Eric,”
“Well me and Ken can share man, so why don’t you share with Blondie?” Davis suggested
“Matt. The name’s Matt,” the blonde boy frowned.
“Sorry,”
“But yeah, Tai, we can share,”
“Fine,” the brunette sighed, not noticing the way Matt flinched at his tone, “So it’s me and Matt, Ken and Dai, Izzy and Eric. Unless you want to give us an eight or four person tent?” he added hopefully.
“All gone, sorry boys,” Kim shook her head, jotting down their arrangements on her clipboard. “Right, the good news is the tents have been left at the site so you don’t have to carry them. Bad news is it may well rain this week, so have you all packed waterproofs?”
“You’re joking,” Matt scowled, looking at his neatly packed bag, which was unsurprisingly devoid of waterproof garments.
“Not at all. Have you got any?”
Tai, Davis, Eric, Izzy and Ken all nodded, whilst Matt sat there looking blank.
“I didn’t even bring waterproofs. I don’t even own waterproofs. Unless a faux leather jacket counts. It keeps the rain off I guess,”
“Er, no, Matt. Don’t worry, I’m sure there are spares up there. Just make sure you’ve got some sort of jacket, just in case,”
“Sure,”
“Good. You boys all okay with this now?”
“Yep”
“Right. Five minutes or so and we’ll be leaving, ok? Make sure you’re ready,” Kim said, then turned and left.
“So this could be fun,” Davis beamed at Ken.
“Totally,” Ken smirked back.
As the two slightly younger boys went off into their separate conversation, Matt caught Tai’s eyes but glanced away and fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
“Do you mind sharing with me?” He asked bluntly yet quietly before forcing himself to stare defiantly back at Tai.
Taken aback by the question, it took Tai a few seconds to answer.
“No! Of course not you big dummy.” He half frowned, half smiled, giving Matt a playful punch to the upper arm. “Why would I mind?”
Smile breaking out, Matt replied, “Dunno, you just seemed to,”
“Nah I don’t. Unless you mind sharing with me?”
“Yeah, yeah I do actually.” Sarcasm danced in Matt’s voice. “I somehow don’t fancy sleeping through your snoring for the next week,”
“Hey!” Tai objected.
“But no worries, I’m sure I can shut you up with a pillow to the head,” Matt threatened.
“Oh?”
“Mhmm,”
“Oh, you’re so on!”
“Bring it,” Matt smirked, but regretted it the minute Tai grabbed one of the cushions from the sofa they were sitting on. He raised it threateningly above Matt, grinning manically before proceeding to clout the blonde boy about the head with it.
“Hey, no fair!” Matt squealed in protest, backing into the corner of the sofa.
“Aww, poor Matty,” Tai laughed after finishing Matt’s beating. “No one ever said anything about being fair,”
“Sucks to be you then,” Matt retaliated, not even giving Tai a chance to see what was happening as he grabbed the nearest cushion and attacked Tai with it.
Their shouts and squeals were shortly silenced by Davis interrupting them as he pulled both cushions from their frantic grasps.
“Ladies, let’s save the pillow fights for underwear-clad nighttimes shall we?” His face was an image of mock disappointment as he shook his head.
“Yeah right Dai,” Tai frowned, grabbing the cushion back from his friend and preparing to hit him with it. He was stopped, however, by the group leaders silencing the group and informing them it was time to leave.
-x-x-
More than an hour later, they were still trekking to the campsite over a well-trodden path that ran through fields, between trees and bridged over many small streams. The sun burned down harshly on the group who were mostly silent due to the heat. Matt shifted his bag on his shoulders before wiping away the myriad sweat beads on his forehead.
“Davis, remind me again why you were so excited to do this.” He scowled at the mahogany haired boy who struggled alongside him.
“I couldn’t say myself right now,” Davis mumbled, taking a sip from his bottle of water.
“There are showers on the campsite right?” Matt double-checked. “If there aren’t I may kill someone.”
Putting on an irritating posh voice, Davis replied, “I regret to inform you Matthew, that…” He left the sentence hanging for a moment, “there are indeed showers on the campsite. But there’s no hot water,”
“Right now I only need cold water,” Matt breathed a sigh of relief. “But don’t call me Matthew.”
“What? Why not?” asked Davis, looking fairly put out.
“Because it’s not my name,” Matt stated, as if everyone should already have known.
“Yes it is,” Davis frowned, “Matt, short for Matthew,”
“No,” Matt stated patronisingly, “Matt short for Yamato,”
“Yamato? What kind of name is that?”
“I believe it’s Japanese,” Izzy chipped in.
“Yeah, my mom’s mom was Japanese. Guess she kinda liked the culture. My brother’s name is too,”
“Oh yeah? What is it?”
“TK short for Takeru,”
“Very nice,” Izzy smiled.
“Wait a minute! Guys, I know this bit! We’re like ten minutes from the campsite!” Davis shouted, suddenly gaining a burst of energy and speeding up.
“Finally, you’d better be right y’know,”
And right he was, less than half an hour later, the group were at the campsite, had all been registered and were settled down for lunch. Matt gazed cautiously around the campsite; so far it just looked like a field nestled between mountains with some picnic benches and two buildings at one end- as Tai had explained, the bigger one was for ‘leaders beds, first aid and stuff’ and the other contained the toilets and the showers. He figured it would look more impressive once the tents had been set up.
It wasn’t long before they’d finished their lunch and been given their tents with written instructions on how to put them up. Each tent had been given a specific section to be set up in so that a semi-circle was formed opposite the two buildings.
“So, wait, this bit goes through here, right?” Matt glanced from the pole in his right hand, to the instructions in his left, to the tent material on the floor, then back to Tai.
“No-no, come here,” Tai smirked, grabbing the pole from Matt, “Right, hold up the tent for me,”
Matt looked at the tent, confused, then picked it up, facing Tai with it.
“No, grab the other bit, toward the end,” Tai instructed.
Matt attempted to do so as Tai continued to smirk at his failing.
Eventually, after much of a struggle, they managed to get the tent up. They were just bickering over which way they were going to sleep when Davis burst in.
“You two still arguing over that semi-naked pillow fight?”
“Shut up Dai,” Tai snapped. “You actually got your tent up then?”
“Yup. Me and Ken were dab hands at it, unlike you and Matt,”
“Hey, I’ve never camped before. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing,” Matt defended.
“Spoilt little rich kid that you are,” Davis commented.
Matt was about to retaliate when he was interrupted by the sudden noise of music.
“Er, dude, I think there’s someone singing in your bag,” Tai scowled at the rucksack in question.
“Oh shit! That’s my ringtone! Of all the places to get signal…” Matt sighed as he dug through his bag to find his phone.
“Hello?” He answered.
“Yamato, it’s your father,” Hero Ishida’s voice sounded immediately.
“Oh. Hi.”
“How are you Matt? You’ve answered none of my calls,”
“Yeah, there’s no signal onsite,”
“You’re offsite now? God, Matt, I can’t leave you for a-“
“No, we’re camping,”
“Oh, I see,”
“Mhm. But what did you want?”
“I need to talk to you about something,”
“Can it wait? I’m sorting out my tent,”
“Okay, I’ll call you in a few hours, or maybe tomorrow,”
“Fine, if I’ve got battery left,”
“Bye Matt, enjoy yourself,”
“Bye.” Rolling his eyes, Matt hung up and flung the phone across the tent.
“Let me guess,” Tai commented having been listening to every word of Matt’s side of the conversation, “Your dad?”
“Mhmm.” Matt nodded.
“What did he want?” Davis asked.
“Dunno. Said he needed to talk. Guess I’ll find out tonight,”
“Righto. Well anyway, I actually came here for a reason. Mimi and Yolei got a four-person tent with their roommates so considering we’ve got nothing to do for the next hour or so we were gonna go hang out in there. You coming?”
“Why the hell not?” Tai grinned, scrambling out of the tent. “Come on Matt,” he shouted back, “We can finish this later.”
“Alright then.” Matt crawled out after him.
They wandered past the two tents that separated them from Mimi’s large tent.
“Oh, hey boys,” Yolei smiled as she wandered out of the tent that was separated into three “rooms” - one large social area and two sleeping areas, one on either side of the main room.
“Yo Yolei,” Davis winked, “Ken inside?”
“Mhmm, I’m just going to the toilet. Be back in a minute,”
“See ya,” Tai muttered as he ducked into the tent.
Along with Ken, there were three girls inside the tent - Mimi and her other roommates, Sophie and Jane.
“Hey girlies!” Davis greeted, bouncing down in a space between Sophie and Ken.
“Hey guys,” Mimi smiled as Tai sat down next to her and Matt settled next to her. “Tai, I heard you and Davis aren’t allowed to share this year. Unlucky,”
“Yeah,” Tai nodded.
“But you’re sharing with Matt, that’ll be cool. And I take it these two are sharing,” Mimi signalled to Davis and Ken
“Yup,” Tai rolled his eyes, watching his two younger friends and wondering if they’d get up to any of the sort of mischief he and Davis did.
-x-
“Yamato,” Tai whispered into the silence.
It was the first night of camp, everyone was settled in their tents and the campsite was pitch black and pretty much silent.
“Hm?” Matt rolled over, startled, unaware that Tai had taken in any of the morning’s conversation about his name.
“Yamato,” the brunette repeated, “It’s really different, really interesting. So, so…”
“So…?” Matt urged when Tai failed to complete his sentence.
“So beautiful,” he whispered, even quieter than before.
Another silence ensued - neither boy sure of what to say and both blushing in the darkness - before eventually Matt spoke.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
“Anytime,” Tai smirked, “Listen, once Joe’s come in to check on us, I have something I want to show you,”
“That sounds more than ominous. What exactly is it?”
“I’ll show you when we get there,”
“Wait a minute, this doesn’t involve more walking, does it?”
“A little, just make sure you have a torch and jacket with you,”
“Oh God, what am I getting myself in for?” Matt sighed.
-x-
“Seriously Tai, are you sure you know where we’re going?” Matt groaned half an hour later.
“Yes,”
“You’d better, cause I’m not sure about you but being out in a forest I don’t know in the dark with just a torch and a temperamental phone does not make for good safety. In fact it reminds me of a certain movie we were watching the other night,” Matt shuddered as he tried to follow Tai as closely as possible.
“Don’t tell me you were scared of The Blair Witch?” Tai scoffed.
“No. Well not until I was pretty much in the setting of it at least,”
“Matt it was just a movie. Stay close to me and you’ll be fine, I promise,”
“Fine,” Matt muttered, “But if I die or get eaten or mauled or turned into a wax model or anything like that, I swear I’m holding you very much responsible,”
“Great,” Tai laughed. “Calm down, we’ll be fine,”
“Better be,”
Tai was just opening his mouth to attempt more comforting words when there was a loud snap and a hurried rustle from one of the nearby bushes. Matt jumped about a foot in the air. His heart battered inside his chest. His breath caught in his throat. Even Tai looked a little startled but he shook it off as he felt Matt draw closer to him.
“What the fucking hell was that?!” Matt whispered huskily, grabbing onto Tai’s arm.
“I dunno. A squirrel? A wolf? A bear?” Tai shrugged, voice at his normal tone and pitch, unlike Matt’s. “Nothing too scary anyway,”
“There are wolves and bears out here?” Matt hissed, eyes wide, “Nothing too scary? Are you fucking crazy?!”
“Probably,” Tai ran his flashlight over the area in question, “Nah, I don’t think there are bears out here. I’ve never seen one anyway,”
“Tai that’s not fucking comforting,” Matt moaned, drawing even closer to Tai.
“Look, Matt, there’s nothing there. It probably really was just a squirrel,” Tai turned Matt around to see the area he was pointing at.
“That proves nothing Tai. Seriously, can we just go back now?”
“Aww, is little Matty chicken?” Tai teased, knowing it would irritate him into staying.
“No! I’m just… cold,” Matt scowled defiantly.
“There’s really no point in going back now, we’re nearly there,” Tai promised, giving Matt’s arm a comforting squeeze, “If you’re cold you can borrow my jacket,”
“Meh, I’ll be fine,” he sighed.
Another ten minutes passed with Matt all but clinging to Tai and Tai refusing to tell him where they were going. After a brief two minutes of silence, Tai stopped in his tracks, let out a low chuckle and sighed.
“What? What is it?” asked Matt.
“Um… so I kind of have some bad news,”
“Oh no. No, no, no,” Matt muttered, knowing what was coming.
“I think we’re a bit lost,” Tai frowned as he looked around, chewing his lip lightly.
“You’re taking the piss,” Matt scowled, voice flat.
“Not exactly,” Tai admitted.
“Ah, shit Tai! What are we meant to do now?”
“Er, wait ‘til sunrise?” Tai suggested sheepishly, “I’ll know where we’re going then,”
“You said you knew where we were going before and look at us now,” Matt growled.
“Well I can try and get us back to camp I guess, but it could take a while,”
“No. No way. What’s Davis’s number? Or Ken’s? Mimi? Kim? Anyone? I am not trusting you to get us anywhere. We’re staying right here until someone comes for us,” Matt fumbled in his jeans pocket for his phone then pushed it at Tai. “Phone Davis. Now.”
“Alright, alright. Just chill out, okay Matt?” Tai took the phone from Matt then punched in Davis’s number. He raised it to his ear for a few seconds before sighing and hanging up.
“It’s turned off,” he stated, rolling his eyes, “Dai doesn’t normally bring his phone up here. No point once the battery dies,”
“Shit. You’re kidding,”
“Nope,”
“Well try someone else,”
“I don’t know anyone else’s number by heart,”
“Argh. This just isn’t happening. It can’t,”
“Matt, calm down. Look, come sunrise I’ll know where we are and how to get us back,”
“Sunrise? Dude that’s fucking hours away! I’ll freeze by then! If I don’t get killed first that is,”
“Matt, you’re being a drama queen, like I said, just chill,” Tai put a steadying hand on the blonde’s back. “Take a deep breath and just-“
“Don’t touch me, Tai,” Matt pulled away from his friend’s touch.
“Fine, whatever.” Tai rolled his eyes, moving away from Matt and sitting at the base of a bulky tree. He tugged off the large zip-up jacket he was wearing and threw it at Matt. “There. Now don’t complain about being cold,”
Matt looked down at the jacket that had fallen at his feet. Stubborn streak getting the best of him, he refused to pick it up and paced straight past it. Said pacing continued for quite a while, until he managed to calm down slightly. He glanced at Tai who was still leant against the tree trunk, eyes shut, seemingly asleep. The brunette shivered slightly, reminding Matt that he too was rather cold. Begrudgingly, he leant down and picked up the jacket, walking over to Tai.
He nudged the other boy over with his foot, whispering for him to budge up, which Tai did though still half asleep. Then Matt settled in the space next to Tai and threw the jacket over both of their laps as though a blanket. Snuggling into his friend for warmth, it wasn’t long before Matt was also more than half asleep.
PART TWO
Title: Boys Of Summer
Series: Adventure/02 characters.
Rating: PG13 for now.
Pairing: Taito
Genre: Romance, Drama.
Chapters (5/?)
Dedication: It's sort of an anti-dedication if that makes any sense. To my ex-girlfriend and anyone else who's been standing in my way. Screw you basically.
Summary: [AU] Matt has been unwillingly shipped off to Summer Camp after his father decided to go away for the summer. Tai has willingly spent his last few summers there and this year takes a liking to his blonde roommate.
NOTES: Firstly, sorry this has taken so long to get up, it's actually been up on ff.net for a while now, I've just had problems uploading it here. Secondly, apparantly I went a bit too crazy this time and it won't all fit in one entry, so this is just part one. Part two will be uploaded in a second entry straight after.
Since the start of Camp, Matt had suffered his fair share of rude awakenings, but so far this was the rudest yet.
“Eep! Guys, wake up! Wake up!” Davis practically yelped as he jumped across the cabin. He climbed onto Tai’s bed, smacking him across the head with a pillow, and from there - before Tai had a chance to retaliate, he bounced across onto Matt’s bed, bouncing up and down until the blonde sat up, giving Davis the hardest evils he could muster at such an early hour, at which point the younger boy leaped across the room to wake Izzy.
“Davis?” Tai groaned, “Shut up,”
“Then wake up,” Davis grinned, spinning on his heel to face Tai.
It was first thing Monday morning and the blue group were preparing to go outdoor camping for a week. Davis, being his usual excitable self, was up, dressed and raring to go.
“Jesus Dai, you’re like a four year old on Christmas morning,” Matt yawned, “What’s the big deal about camping out anyway?”
“Davis just gets excited over everything. Believe me, in a few hours he’ll be whining about the walk there,” Tai muttered, mirroring Matt’s yawn.
Davis, choosing to ignore Tai’s comment, turned to face Matt.
“Come on Matty, up and dressed,” The mahogany-haired teen grinned, bounding back over to Matt. He grabbed the blonde’s arm and yanked him out of his bed, steadying the blonde at the waist as he stumbled. Both boys remained unaware of the disdained scowl they received from Tai at the gesture.
“Daaaavis-” Matt started.
“I’m sure Matt can get up on his own. Can’t you?” Tai asked pointedly, swivelling around in his bed so that he was facing them, legs hanging over the side.
“So? Would have taken him longer on his own,” Davis chirped, “Now hurry up and get dressed. I’ma go wake up Ken!”
“Have fun,” Matt muttered, watching in disbelief as Davis literally skipped out of the chalet. “Guess we’d better get dressed then,” He added, turning to Tai and Izzy.
“Mmhmm,” The other boys murmured in sleepy, subdued agreement.
“Right, I’ll have the bathroom first, seeing as I’m already up.” Matt picked up the clothes he’d set aside the previous night.
Within half an hour, the blue group were all in the Block having breakfast and getting ready to leave for the near two hour trek to the campsite where they’d be spending the next week.
“Right can everyone listen please?” Alex called, silencing the group. “We need to sort out tents and everything so if you all settle down into groups, Kim, Joe and I will be coming around to work everything out. Make sure you’re sitting with who you want to tent with,”
“Well that’s obvious,” Tai muttered, then with a grin added “And we already are. Hey, let’s try and get one of those eight-person tents!”
Davis was about to agree when Izzy chipped in. “Tai, I’m afraid to inform you that the chances of that happening are ridiculously small in our favour. There are two eight-person tents and most people want one. They’re starting at the front of the room and we’re at the back. I don’t think we’re going to get one,” The redhead stated, “Which is a good thing really, do you have any idea how cramped those things are?”
“Way to step on my parade Iz,” Tai scowled jovially.
“No worries,” Izzy grinned.
“’Step on my parade’? Is that even a saying? Does it even make sense?” Davis asked, and was met with a series of shrugs.
“Ah well.” Ken shook his head. “So if there’s no eight tent whose sharing with who, or need I ask?” He added the last section carefully, glancing between Davis and Tai.
“Well we’ll share,” Tai grinned knowingly at Davis, patting him on the back.
“Oh god,” Matt muttered at Ken, rolling his eyes as he wondered what on earth the troublesome twosome had planned.
“Yeah and Eric and I will share,” Izzy said, signalling the freckled boy next to him who he’d met in the computer room.
“Guess it’s me and you then, Matt,” Ken grinned.
“Mhm,” Matt smiled, sighing slightly as he glanced dejectedly at Tai. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Ken, no, he thought the younger soccer player was great, but he’d much rather have shared with Tai.
“But we’ll pitch tents next to each other’s right?” Ken asked, glancing briefly at Davis.
“Too right,” Tai grinned, meeting Matt’s bright blue eyes.
“Of course,” Davis smiled simultaneously, “We’ll try and get a four anyway,”
Matt smiled tenuously back at Tai, before shifting uncomfortably and turning his stare to his lap.
It wasn’t long before Kim approached the group to sort out their tents. She took one look at the six boys before crossing her arms across her clipboard and raising an eyebrow.
“So whose sharing with you lot then?” she questioned, somewhat suspiciously.
“Well me and Davi-“
“Nuh-uh, no way, not happening,” she stated. “I’m not having you two sharing a tent. Not after your escapades last year.” She frowned, though the corner of her mouth was twitching in an attempt to conceal her amused smile.
“Aw what?! Come on Kim. We’ll behave, I swear!” Tai whined, something he was more often than not rather good at, just seemingly not on this occasion.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Tai. Why not share with Izzy or Matt?” she suggested.
“Well Matt’s sharing with Ken and Izzy’s with Eric,”
“Well me and Ken can share man, so why don’t you share with Blondie?” Davis suggested
“Matt. The name’s Matt,” the blonde boy frowned.
“Sorry,”
“But yeah, Tai, we can share,”
“Fine,” the brunette sighed, not noticing the way Matt flinched at his tone, “So it’s me and Matt, Ken and Dai, Izzy and Eric. Unless you want to give us an eight or four person tent?” he added hopefully.
“All gone, sorry boys,” Kim shook her head, jotting down their arrangements on her clipboard. “Right, the good news is the tents have been left at the site so you don’t have to carry them. Bad news is it may well rain this week, so have you all packed waterproofs?”
“You’re joking,” Matt scowled, looking at his neatly packed bag, which was unsurprisingly devoid of waterproof garments.
“Not at all. Have you got any?”
Tai, Davis, Eric, Izzy and Ken all nodded, whilst Matt sat there looking blank.
“I didn’t even bring waterproofs. I don’t even own waterproofs. Unless a faux leather jacket counts. It keeps the rain off I guess,”
“Er, no, Matt. Don’t worry, I’m sure there are spares up there. Just make sure you’ve got some sort of jacket, just in case,”
“Sure,”
“Good. You boys all okay with this now?”
“Yep”
“Right. Five minutes or so and we’ll be leaving, ok? Make sure you’re ready,” Kim said, then turned and left.
“So this could be fun,” Davis beamed at Ken.
“Totally,” Ken smirked back.
As the two slightly younger boys went off into their separate conversation, Matt caught Tai’s eyes but glanced away and fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
“Do you mind sharing with me?” He asked bluntly yet quietly before forcing himself to stare defiantly back at Tai.
Taken aback by the question, it took Tai a few seconds to answer.
“No! Of course not you big dummy.” He half frowned, half smiled, giving Matt a playful punch to the upper arm. “Why would I mind?”
Smile breaking out, Matt replied, “Dunno, you just seemed to,”
“Nah I don’t. Unless you mind sharing with me?”
“Yeah, yeah I do actually.” Sarcasm danced in Matt’s voice. “I somehow don’t fancy sleeping through your snoring for the next week,”
“Hey!” Tai objected.
“But no worries, I’m sure I can shut you up with a pillow to the head,” Matt threatened.
“Oh?”
“Mhmm,”
“Oh, you’re so on!”
“Bring it,” Matt smirked, but regretted it the minute Tai grabbed one of the cushions from the sofa they were sitting on. He raised it threateningly above Matt, grinning manically before proceeding to clout the blonde boy about the head with it.
“Hey, no fair!” Matt squealed in protest, backing into the corner of the sofa.
“Aww, poor Matty,” Tai laughed after finishing Matt’s beating. “No one ever said anything about being fair,”
“Sucks to be you then,” Matt retaliated, not even giving Tai a chance to see what was happening as he grabbed the nearest cushion and attacked Tai with it.
Their shouts and squeals were shortly silenced by Davis interrupting them as he pulled both cushions from their frantic grasps.
“Ladies, let’s save the pillow fights for underwear-clad nighttimes shall we?” His face was an image of mock disappointment as he shook his head.
“Yeah right Dai,” Tai frowned, grabbing the cushion back from his friend and preparing to hit him with it. He was stopped, however, by the group leaders silencing the group and informing them it was time to leave.
-x-x-
More than an hour later, they were still trekking to the campsite over a well-trodden path that ran through fields, between trees and bridged over many small streams. The sun burned down harshly on the group who were mostly silent due to the heat. Matt shifted his bag on his shoulders before wiping away the myriad sweat beads on his forehead.
“Davis, remind me again why you were so excited to do this.” He scowled at the mahogany haired boy who struggled alongside him.
“I couldn’t say myself right now,” Davis mumbled, taking a sip from his bottle of water.
“There are showers on the campsite right?” Matt double-checked. “If there aren’t I may kill someone.”
Putting on an irritating posh voice, Davis replied, “I regret to inform you Matthew, that…” He left the sentence hanging for a moment, “there are indeed showers on the campsite. But there’s no hot water,”
“Right now I only need cold water,” Matt breathed a sigh of relief. “But don’t call me Matthew.”
“What? Why not?” asked Davis, looking fairly put out.
“Because it’s not my name,” Matt stated, as if everyone should already have known.
“Yes it is,” Davis frowned, “Matt, short for Matthew,”
“No,” Matt stated patronisingly, “Matt short for Yamato,”
“Yamato? What kind of name is that?”
“I believe it’s Japanese,” Izzy chipped in.
“Yeah, my mom’s mom was Japanese. Guess she kinda liked the culture. My brother’s name is too,”
“Oh yeah? What is it?”
“TK short for Takeru,”
“Very nice,” Izzy smiled.
“Wait a minute! Guys, I know this bit! We’re like ten minutes from the campsite!” Davis shouted, suddenly gaining a burst of energy and speeding up.
“Finally, you’d better be right y’know,”
And right he was, less than half an hour later, the group were at the campsite, had all been registered and were settled down for lunch. Matt gazed cautiously around the campsite; so far it just looked like a field nestled between mountains with some picnic benches and two buildings at one end- as Tai had explained, the bigger one was for ‘leaders beds, first aid and stuff’ and the other contained the toilets and the showers. He figured it would look more impressive once the tents had been set up.
It wasn’t long before they’d finished their lunch and been given their tents with written instructions on how to put them up. Each tent had been given a specific section to be set up in so that a semi-circle was formed opposite the two buildings.
“So, wait, this bit goes through here, right?” Matt glanced from the pole in his right hand, to the instructions in his left, to the tent material on the floor, then back to Tai.
“No-no, come here,” Tai smirked, grabbing the pole from Matt, “Right, hold up the tent for me,”
Matt looked at the tent, confused, then picked it up, facing Tai with it.
“No, grab the other bit, toward the end,” Tai instructed.
Matt attempted to do so as Tai continued to smirk at his failing.
Eventually, after much of a struggle, they managed to get the tent up. They were just bickering over which way they were going to sleep when Davis burst in.
“You two still arguing over that semi-naked pillow fight?”
“Shut up Dai,” Tai snapped. “You actually got your tent up then?”
“Yup. Me and Ken were dab hands at it, unlike you and Matt,”
“Hey, I’ve never camped before. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing,” Matt defended.
“Spoilt little rich kid that you are,” Davis commented.
Matt was about to retaliate when he was interrupted by the sudden noise of music.
“Er, dude, I think there’s someone singing in your bag,” Tai scowled at the rucksack in question.
“Oh shit! That’s my ringtone! Of all the places to get signal…” Matt sighed as he dug through his bag to find his phone.
“Hello?” He answered.
“Yamato, it’s your father,” Hero Ishida’s voice sounded immediately.
“Oh. Hi.”
“How are you Matt? You’ve answered none of my calls,”
“Yeah, there’s no signal onsite,”
“You’re offsite now? God, Matt, I can’t leave you for a-“
“No, we’re camping,”
“Oh, I see,”
“Mhm. But what did you want?”
“I need to talk to you about something,”
“Can it wait? I’m sorting out my tent,”
“Okay, I’ll call you in a few hours, or maybe tomorrow,”
“Fine, if I’ve got battery left,”
“Bye Matt, enjoy yourself,”
“Bye.” Rolling his eyes, Matt hung up and flung the phone across the tent.
“Let me guess,” Tai commented having been listening to every word of Matt’s side of the conversation, “Your dad?”
“Mhmm.” Matt nodded.
“What did he want?” Davis asked.
“Dunno. Said he needed to talk. Guess I’ll find out tonight,”
“Righto. Well anyway, I actually came here for a reason. Mimi and Yolei got a four-person tent with their roommates so considering we’ve got nothing to do for the next hour or so we were gonna go hang out in there. You coming?”
“Why the hell not?” Tai grinned, scrambling out of the tent. “Come on Matt,” he shouted back, “We can finish this later.”
“Alright then.” Matt crawled out after him.
They wandered past the two tents that separated them from Mimi’s large tent.
“Oh, hey boys,” Yolei smiled as she wandered out of the tent that was separated into three “rooms” - one large social area and two sleeping areas, one on either side of the main room.
“Yo Yolei,” Davis winked, “Ken inside?”
“Mhmm, I’m just going to the toilet. Be back in a minute,”
“See ya,” Tai muttered as he ducked into the tent.
Along with Ken, there were three girls inside the tent - Mimi and her other roommates, Sophie and Jane.
“Hey girlies!” Davis greeted, bouncing down in a space between Sophie and Ken.
“Hey guys,” Mimi smiled as Tai sat down next to her and Matt settled next to her. “Tai, I heard you and Davis aren’t allowed to share this year. Unlucky,”
“Yeah,” Tai nodded.
“But you’re sharing with Matt, that’ll be cool. And I take it these two are sharing,” Mimi signalled to Davis and Ken
“Yup,” Tai rolled his eyes, watching his two younger friends and wondering if they’d get up to any of the sort of mischief he and Davis did.
-x-
“Yamato,” Tai whispered into the silence.
It was the first night of camp, everyone was settled in their tents and the campsite was pitch black and pretty much silent.
“Hm?” Matt rolled over, startled, unaware that Tai had taken in any of the morning’s conversation about his name.
“Yamato,” the brunette repeated, “It’s really different, really interesting. So, so…”
“So…?” Matt urged when Tai failed to complete his sentence.
“So beautiful,” he whispered, even quieter than before.
Another silence ensued - neither boy sure of what to say and both blushing in the darkness - before eventually Matt spoke.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
“Anytime,” Tai smirked, “Listen, once Joe’s come in to check on us, I have something I want to show you,”
“That sounds more than ominous. What exactly is it?”
“I’ll show you when we get there,”
“Wait a minute, this doesn’t involve more walking, does it?”
“A little, just make sure you have a torch and jacket with you,”
“Oh God, what am I getting myself in for?” Matt sighed.
-x-
“Seriously Tai, are you sure you know where we’re going?” Matt groaned half an hour later.
“Yes,”
“You’d better, cause I’m not sure about you but being out in a forest I don’t know in the dark with just a torch and a temperamental phone does not make for good safety. In fact it reminds me of a certain movie we were watching the other night,” Matt shuddered as he tried to follow Tai as closely as possible.
“Don’t tell me you were scared of The Blair Witch?” Tai scoffed.
“No. Well not until I was pretty much in the setting of it at least,”
“Matt it was just a movie. Stay close to me and you’ll be fine, I promise,”
“Fine,” Matt muttered, “But if I die or get eaten or mauled or turned into a wax model or anything like that, I swear I’m holding you very much responsible,”
“Great,” Tai laughed. “Calm down, we’ll be fine,”
“Better be,”
Tai was just opening his mouth to attempt more comforting words when there was a loud snap and a hurried rustle from one of the nearby bushes. Matt jumped about a foot in the air. His heart battered inside his chest. His breath caught in his throat. Even Tai looked a little startled but he shook it off as he felt Matt draw closer to him.
“What the fucking hell was that?!” Matt whispered huskily, grabbing onto Tai’s arm.
“I dunno. A squirrel? A wolf? A bear?” Tai shrugged, voice at his normal tone and pitch, unlike Matt’s. “Nothing too scary anyway,”
“There are wolves and bears out here?” Matt hissed, eyes wide, “Nothing too scary? Are you fucking crazy?!”
“Probably,” Tai ran his flashlight over the area in question, “Nah, I don’t think there are bears out here. I’ve never seen one anyway,”
“Tai that’s not fucking comforting,” Matt moaned, drawing even closer to Tai.
“Look, Matt, there’s nothing there. It probably really was just a squirrel,” Tai turned Matt around to see the area he was pointing at.
“That proves nothing Tai. Seriously, can we just go back now?”
“Aww, is little Matty chicken?” Tai teased, knowing it would irritate him into staying.
“No! I’m just… cold,” Matt scowled defiantly.
“There’s really no point in going back now, we’re nearly there,” Tai promised, giving Matt’s arm a comforting squeeze, “If you’re cold you can borrow my jacket,”
“Meh, I’ll be fine,” he sighed.
Another ten minutes passed with Matt all but clinging to Tai and Tai refusing to tell him where they were going. After a brief two minutes of silence, Tai stopped in his tracks, let out a low chuckle and sighed.
“What? What is it?” asked Matt.
“Um… so I kind of have some bad news,”
“Oh no. No, no, no,” Matt muttered, knowing what was coming.
“I think we’re a bit lost,” Tai frowned as he looked around, chewing his lip lightly.
“You’re taking the piss,” Matt scowled, voice flat.
“Not exactly,” Tai admitted.
“Ah, shit Tai! What are we meant to do now?”
“Er, wait ‘til sunrise?” Tai suggested sheepishly, “I’ll know where we’re going then,”
“You said you knew where we were going before and look at us now,” Matt growled.
“Well I can try and get us back to camp I guess, but it could take a while,”
“No. No way. What’s Davis’s number? Or Ken’s? Mimi? Kim? Anyone? I am not trusting you to get us anywhere. We’re staying right here until someone comes for us,” Matt fumbled in his jeans pocket for his phone then pushed it at Tai. “Phone Davis. Now.”
“Alright, alright. Just chill out, okay Matt?” Tai took the phone from Matt then punched in Davis’s number. He raised it to his ear for a few seconds before sighing and hanging up.
“It’s turned off,” he stated, rolling his eyes, “Dai doesn’t normally bring his phone up here. No point once the battery dies,”
“Shit. You’re kidding,”
“Nope,”
“Well try someone else,”
“I don’t know anyone else’s number by heart,”
“Argh. This just isn’t happening. It can’t,”
“Matt, calm down. Look, come sunrise I’ll know where we are and how to get us back,”
“Sunrise? Dude that’s fucking hours away! I’ll freeze by then! If I don’t get killed first that is,”
“Matt, you’re being a drama queen, like I said, just chill,” Tai put a steadying hand on the blonde’s back. “Take a deep breath and just-“
“Don’t touch me, Tai,” Matt pulled away from his friend’s touch.
“Fine, whatever.” Tai rolled his eyes, moving away from Matt and sitting at the base of a bulky tree. He tugged off the large zip-up jacket he was wearing and threw it at Matt. “There. Now don’t complain about being cold,”
Matt looked down at the jacket that had fallen at his feet. Stubborn streak getting the best of him, he refused to pick it up and paced straight past it. Said pacing continued for quite a while, until he managed to calm down slightly. He glanced at Tai who was still leant against the tree trunk, eyes shut, seemingly asleep. The brunette shivered slightly, reminding Matt that he too was rather cold. Begrudgingly, he leant down and picked up the jacket, walking over to Tai.
He nudged the other boy over with his foot, whispering for him to budge up, which Tai did though still half asleep. Then Matt settled in the space next to Tai and threw the jacket over both of their laps as though a blanket. Snuggling into his friend for warmth, it wasn’t long before Matt was also more than half asleep.
PART TWO