Live Like Today - Chapter Three: Izzy
Title: Live Like Today - Chapter Three: Izzy
Pairing: Matt/Tai
Type: Fluffish
Rating: PG-13
I think I was still recovering from Tai's mom's cooking when a new wave of drama hit the lives of us Digidestined - or, at least, a few of us.
It all started with a phone call. I was in my room, getting frustrated with a new computer program I'd been working on, when my mom knocked on the door. "Telephone," she called, and I stood up and stretched, glad for the break.
"Who is it?" I asked, as I relocated myself to the living room for a change of atmosphere.
"Matt?" She didn't sound sure, but I took the phone anyway, knowing it was probably right. I remember being worried that there was some new crisis about the digital world.
"Hey, Izzy?" Yup, definitely Matt.
"Hey," I said, taking a seat on the couch. "What's up?"
"Look, there's..." he hesitated. I wondered what could possibly make Matt, of all people, sound so unsure. My first thought was, of course, that something had happened to TK. "...something I need to talk to you about."
"Sure, anything." Now I was getting a really foreboding feeling.
"But you've gotta keep it a secret!"
"Matt," I said patiently, "think about who you're talking to for a second. I'm not going to tell anyone." It wasn't like I was his best friend, not in name, but if it had to do with secrets, it was understandable that he came to me instead of Tai.
"...All right." The voice on the oher end of the line paused, took in a deep breath, and let it out. "A couple of days ago, when I got back from my grandma's house... well, I went over to Tai's, to hang out. You know."
So this was about Tai. Suddenly, all the hesitation and secret-keeping paranoia made sense. "Uh huh." I could see where this was going - or at least, I could predict a very probable outcome. Especially after they DNA-digivolved to become Omnimon.
"Well..." He dithered for about the next five minutes, which I won't repeat verbatim, but after a bunch of mumbling and pointlessness he finally told me the reason he called. "...he kissed me. It wasn't just any kiss, either... okay, wait, I won't go into detail but you get the picture. And then... I dunno, I asked him why he did it. Was that a bad thing to do?"
Great, he was coming to me with his relationship problems. Well, I guess I was expecting it at some point - ever since that one day, and the conversation that probably changed Matt's life.
It wasn't a big deal for me. All I did was tell him what was blatantly apparent - that he had the biggest, most obvious crush in the world on Tai Kamiya. He tried to deny it; I wouldn't let him. He told me Tai was his best friend; I said best friends don't hold hands. Come on, Matt. Myotismon battle. We were all watching, you know.
Eventually, his defenses broke, and he admitted the truth - and swore me to a vow of secrecy, which I have to say, I've kept faithfully. So I guess, being the only one who knows, I'm going to be the dumping place for Matt's emotional turmoil.
Okay, it's not that I really mind. I just don't understand him sometimes. Maybe that'll change if I ever fall in love, but I just don't see that happening for a long time.
Anyway, back to the phone conversation. I pretty much told him he was a dumb idiot, and even if Tai was just acting on subconscious - well, if his subconscious was telling him to kiss Matt, that's a pretty clear sign, right?
Of course, Matt had to be a girl about it and analyze the scene from five different angles. But that wasn't the important part. After that, he told me about their conversation afterward - and how Tai had somehow inerpreted this to mean 'go around and kiss everyone', which apparently began yesterday with Sora.
This was officially too much drama llama to deal with. I told Matt to go back to sleep, or go see his brother or play video games or do anything that didn't involve too much thinking. I'd call Tai, talk to him, see if we could sort things out.
My conversation with Tai went something like this.
Me: Hey, Tai, listen -
Tai: Izzy! Great! I was just about to call you!
Me: You were?
Tai: Yeah! Listen, are you free today? Can you meet me down by the park?
I could see where this was going, too. But at least it would give me a chance to talk to him in person. But on the other hand, I was hungry.
Me: ...let's get some burgers, then we'll talk.
I met Tai at our favorite burger joint. We had lunch, and talked about a few different things - Tai sure seemed gabbier than usual, and I could guess that it was nerves. Finally, as we were cleaning up, I launched into the real discussion.
"You know, I was talking to Matt this morning."
I watched the play of expressions across his face - surprise, anxiety, excitement, nervousness, before they all melted into that smile he puts on when he's really worried about something. "Really?"
I tried to think about how to bring the subject around without actually telling him how Matt felt about him. I supposed a straightforward approach would be fine, this was Tai, after all. "He told me you were going around kissing people," I said, with a bit of a smile. It was a joke.
Tai sort of chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess you could say that," he muttered, as we started wandering in the vague direction of the park.
I stuck my hands in my pockets and looked up at the sky. It really was a gorgeous day. "Tai, why'd you kiss Matt in the first place?"
I heard him heave a sigh next to me, though I kept my eyes away. I didn't want to push him into saying somehing insignificant. "The truth?"
Well, duh, Tai. No, I want you to lie to me. It makes me feel better. Not. "The truth."
"....It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Never let it be said that Tai Kamiya is not a dumbass.
I think I must have sighed, or made some aggravted you-are-stupid noise, because he immediately went "Hey, it's not like I regret it or anything! I was right, it was a good idea."
"So why are you kissing everyone else, if he's the one you really want?"
Simple question, right? There should be a simple answer. But of course there wasn't. Tai hesitated, and drew back in on himself a little. "Look, I'm just not sure how I feel about everything. I'm not stupid, I know where this is all going, but - he's my best friend. That's the most important thing to me in the world. I don't want all this kissing stuff to get in the way of that, you know? So I made a joke out of it and I'm following through, and giving myself some time to think."
Woah. So not expecing that kind of heavy thinking behind all of that - heavy thinking by Tai standards, that is. "Not to mention, you do get to see if he's the best kisser?"
"Haha, yeah, that too." Tai grinned, his real grin this time, big and full of sunshine. "And I've gotta say, of the two people I've kissed so far? Matt's way, way better than Sora."
I had to laugh at that, too. "Well, what did you expect?" And there was another round of laughter.
"You know, no one would think less of you if you told them what you were doing," I said as we found a soccer ball o kick around a little. I wasn't any good, but it was nice to be outside.
Tai snorted. "What, tell them I think I'm gay for Matt, but I just want to make sure? Yeah, that'll go over well."
"You never know." I tried to kick the ball, missed, had to go running after it. "And, well, I don't know how to say this... but... you guys are kind of obvious."
"What do you mean?" Tai kicked it up off the ground, bumped it with his head, hip, elbow, then back to his feet - and off I went, running again.
"Well..." Huff, huff, huff. "I mean, I knew you guys liked each other since..." I made a show of thinking about it, though I already knew the answer. "...Well, since the fight against Myotismon, at least."
"What?" Tai looked geniunely surprised. "Come on, I didn't even - we were kids!"
Ha ha, Tai, very funny. It's not like that was a long time ago or anything. "Yeah, well, let's just say it's not going to be a surprise, all right?"
"...If you say so." Tai still looked uncertain.
We walked back to my house, as if we had some weird mutual agreement that the park was way too open. I was thinking the elevaor would work - short amount of very enclosed privacy, but he didn't do anything, so we ended up just kind of hovering outside the front door.
I didn't tell him it was the first time I'd kissed anyone. It would probably be the first time for all of us - except for Tai, of course. It was... kind of strange, but I can't really say that it was a bad experience. I wouldn't let myself think about what he was thinking; we'd already established that none of it would mean anything.
"I'll see you," he said, with a smile.
I was in my room before I realized it was the other smile, his fake smile. I'm not sure why that bothered me so much.
previous chapter - next chapter
Pairing: Matt/Tai
Type: Fluffish
Rating: PG-13
I think I was still recovering from Tai's mom's cooking when a new wave of drama hit the lives of us Digidestined - or, at least, a few of us.
It all started with a phone call. I was in my room, getting frustrated with a new computer program I'd been working on, when my mom knocked on the door. "Telephone," she called, and I stood up and stretched, glad for the break.
"Who is it?" I asked, as I relocated myself to the living room for a change of atmosphere.
"Matt?" She didn't sound sure, but I took the phone anyway, knowing it was probably right. I remember being worried that there was some new crisis about the digital world.
"Hey, Izzy?" Yup, definitely Matt.
"Hey," I said, taking a seat on the couch. "What's up?"
"Look, there's..." he hesitated. I wondered what could possibly make Matt, of all people, sound so unsure. My first thought was, of course, that something had happened to TK. "...something I need to talk to you about."
"Sure, anything." Now I was getting a really foreboding feeling.
"But you've gotta keep it a secret!"
"Matt," I said patiently, "think about who you're talking to for a second. I'm not going to tell anyone." It wasn't like I was his best friend, not in name, but if it had to do with secrets, it was understandable that he came to me instead of Tai.
"...All right." The voice on the oher end of the line paused, took in a deep breath, and let it out. "A couple of days ago, when I got back from my grandma's house... well, I went over to Tai's, to hang out. You know."
So this was about Tai. Suddenly, all the hesitation and secret-keeping paranoia made sense. "Uh huh." I could see where this was going - or at least, I could predict a very probable outcome. Especially after they DNA-digivolved to become Omnimon.
"Well..." He dithered for about the next five minutes, which I won't repeat verbatim, but after a bunch of mumbling and pointlessness he finally told me the reason he called. "...he kissed me. It wasn't just any kiss, either... okay, wait, I won't go into detail but you get the picture. And then... I dunno, I asked him why he did it. Was that a bad thing to do?"
Great, he was coming to me with his relationship problems. Well, I guess I was expecting it at some point - ever since that one day, and the conversation that probably changed Matt's life.
It wasn't a big deal for me. All I did was tell him what was blatantly apparent - that he had the biggest, most obvious crush in the world on Tai Kamiya. He tried to deny it; I wouldn't let him. He told me Tai was his best friend; I said best friends don't hold hands. Come on, Matt. Myotismon battle. We were all watching, you know.
Eventually, his defenses broke, and he admitted the truth - and swore me to a vow of secrecy, which I have to say, I've kept faithfully. So I guess, being the only one who knows, I'm going to be the dumping place for Matt's emotional turmoil.
Okay, it's not that I really mind. I just don't understand him sometimes. Maybe that'll change if I ever fall in love, but I just don't see that happening for a long time.
Anyway, back to the phone conversation. I pretty much told him he was a dumb idiot, and even if Tai was just acting on subconscious - well, if his subconscious was telling him to kiss Matt, that's a pretty clear sign, right?
Of course, Matt had to be a girl about it and analyze the scene from five different angles. But that wasn't the important part. After that, he told me about their conversation afterward - and how Tai had somehow inerpreted this to mean 'go around and kiss everyone', which apparently began yesterday with Sora.
This was officially too much drama llama to deal with. I told Matt to go back to sleep, or go see his brother or play video games or do anything that didn't involve too much thinking. I'd call Tai, talk to him, see if we could sort things out.
My conversation with Tai went something like this.
Me: Hey, Tai, listen -
Tai: Izzy! Great! I was just about to call you!
Me: You were?
Tai: Yeah! Listen, are you free today? Can you meet me down by the park?
I could see where this was going, too. But at least it would give me a chance to talk to him in person. But on the other hand, I was hungry.
Me: ...let's get some burgers, then we'll talk.
I met Tai at our favorite burger joint. We had lunch, and talked about a few different things - Tai sure seemed gabbier than usual, and I could guess that it was nerves. Finally, as we were cleaning up, I launched into the real discussion.
"You know, I was talking to Matt this morning."
I watched the play of expressions across his face - surprise, anxiety, excitement, nervousness, before they all melted into that smile he puts on when he's really worried about something. "Really?"
I tried to think about how to bring the subject around without actually telling him how Matt felt about him. I supposed a straightforward approach would be fine, this was Tai, after all. "He told me you were going around kissing people," I said, with a bit of a smile. It was a joke.
Tai sort of chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess you could say that," he muttered, as we started wandering in the vague direction of the park.
I stuck my hands in my pockets and looked up at the sky. It really was a gorgeous day. "Tai, why'd you kiss Matt in the first place?"
I heard him heave a sigh next to me, though I kept my eyes away. I didn't want to push him into saying somehing insignificant. "The truth?"
Well, duh, Tai. No, I want you to lie to me. It makes me feel better. Not. "The truth."
"....It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Never let it be said that Tai Kamiya is not a dumbass.
I think I must have sighed, or made some aggravted you-are-stupid noise, because he immediately went "Hey, it's not like I regret it or anything! I was right, it was a good idea."
"So why are you kissing everyone else, if he's the one you really want?"
Simple question, right? There should be a simple answer. But of course there wasn't. Tai hesitated, and drew back in on himself a little. "Look, I'm just not sure how I feel about everything. I'm not stupid, I know where this is all going, but - he's my best friend. That's the most important thing to me in the world. I don't want all this kissing stuff to get in the way of that, you know? So I made a joke out of it and I'm following through, and giving myself some time to think."
Woah. So not expecing that kind of heavy thinking behind all of that - heavy thinking by Tai standards, that is. "Not to mention, you do get to see if he's the best kisser?"
"Haha, yeah, that too." Tai grinned, his real grin this time, big and full of sunshine. "And I've gotta say, of the two people I've kissed so far? Matt's way, way better than Sora."
I had to laugh at that, too. "Well, what did you expect?" And there was another round of laughter.
"You know, no one would think less of you if you told them what you were doing," I said as we found a soccer ball o kick around a little. I wasn't any good, but it was nice to be outside.
Tai snorted. "What, tell them I think I'm gay for Matt, but I just want to make sure? Yeah, that'll go over well."
"You never know." I tried to kick the ball, missed, had to go running after it. "And, well, I don't know how to say this... but... you guys are kind of obvious."
"What do you mean?" Tai kicked it up off the ground, bumped it with his head, hip, elbow, then back to his feet - and off I went, running again.
"Well..." Huff, huff, huff. "I mean, I knew you guys liked each other since..." I made a show of thinking about it, though I already knew the answer. "...Well, since the fight against Myotismon, at least."
"What?" Tai looked geniunely surprised. "Come on, I didn't even - we were kids!"
Ha ha, Tai, very funny. It's not like that was a long time ago or anything. "Yeah, well, let's just say it's not going to be a surprise, all right?"
"...If you say so." Tai still looked uncertain.
We walked back to my house, as if we had some weird mutual agreement that the park was way too open. I was thinking the elevaor would work - short amount of very enclosed privacy, but he didn't do anything, so we ended up just kind of hovering outside the front door.
I didn't tell him it was the first time I'd kissed anyone. It would probably be the first time for all of us - except for Tai, of course. It was... kind of strange, but I can't really say that it was a bad experience. I wouldn't let myself think about what he was thinking; we'd already established that none of it would mean anything.
"I'll see you," he said, with a smile.
I was in my room before I realized it was the other smile, his fake smile. I'm not sure why that bothered me so much.
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