(I look for you to come around and) anchor me back down

Summary: Good things take time; or how sometimes what we need is right in front of us, we just don't notice. Michi AU

Author's Note: My entry for Digimon OTP Week on Tumblr, I hope you'll enjoy it. This is long, and it's a big fat AU in which the Digital World doesn't really exist (yes, shame on me) because it was way easier to write this in a setting that was more familiar, especially since it's my first time writing for this fandom. I've thought about dividing it into more chapters, but as I kept writing it felt like cutting it would be taking away the whole purpose of the story. The first part is mostly focusing on friendship rather than romance and it's a bit faster as well, since I had to cover ten years of time, while the rest is pretty much only about two years, with Mimi being twenty-one and Taichi twenty-two.
I wish I could've written more characters in, but because there were already so many things to say in here and since it had already turned out way longer than what I'd expected, I mostly focused on Taichi and Mimi's friendship with Sora, Yamato and Koushiro. Everyone else is still present and is mentioned though. Sorato plays a pretty massive background part in this, plus there are a couple more ships thrown here and there.
I apologize in advance if there are any typos or grammatical mistakes, I've tried to correct everything but this is really long so I already know I've probably left something out. Again, hope you'll like it, and thanks for reading. Title comes from Mindy Gledhill's song "Anchor". Do not own.

29/10/15: I added a little number to each section so that it's easier for you to place the missing moments in the whole fiction. Also, I wanted to thank you all for your kind reviews. I would've never imagined I'd get such a positive response to something I thought no one was interested in. Thank you so much.

I.

The first time they see each other is at summer camp.

She's nine, he's ten, and for some reason they find themselves sorted in the same group during treasure hunt day at camp. She's not sure why, but he immediately becomes the unquestioned (actually, very questioned, since she thought Jyou, her camp counselor, was supposed to be it - you know, him being the oldest and wisest and everything) leader of the little gang. At first, she's a little wary of him, still relying on Jyou for directions rather than him, but it doesn't take long before she starts trusting his choices.

He is, after all, one of the most talkative kids she knows, and she trusts talkative people more than anyone else really.

II.

When they go back to summer camp the following year, it doesn't take long for the eight of them to find each other and auto proclaim their own little group for every activity since day one.

She mostly stays with Sora, which means having Taichi around really often, not that she minds. Sora is nice, and Mimi is still trying to convince her to let her pretty ginger hair grow long so that she can play with it, but Sora always says no (she states that short hair is easier to deal with when you play sports) (Mimi still doesn't understand how that can be a good enough reason to cut it short) (but then again, Mimi doesn't play sports either).

"I bet Taichi's hair is longer than yours."

Sora looks at her, puzzled. Mimi shrugs.

"Do you think he'll let me braid his hair?"

He does.

III.

Mimi daydreams about princes and castles and knights in shining armors when she's out on adventures with the gang.

That's also one of the reasons why she likes wearing her long pink skirt so often: she feels like a real princess in it. Another reason is that even Yamato complimented her about it one time she had been wearing a pair of beige trousers instead, stating that it was weird seeing her not wearing a skirt or something pink (alright, maybe it wasn't a compliment, but still). That was the beginning of the 'Yamato period', as Sora likes to refer it as.

The Yamato period is unexpected and awkward, because of out of the boys in their group, out of all the people really, Yamato is the only one with whom she doesn't talk that much. She becomes unusually quiet and shy whenever he comes near her, until Jyou one time asks her if she's sick or something, because they've never witnessed her shutting up for more than three minutes straight, and now it has been fifteen since the last time she spoke…

/

The Jyou period follows the Yamato one, and this time Mimi feels confident. She makes a point of trying to make him team up with her whenever they have to split up, and the fact that he has been her camp counselor for a couple of years now only helps her quest even more. Jyou, on his counterpart, is totally oblivious to Mimi's advances (at that point, she's not even trying to hide her crush, it's so blatant that it even becomes and inside joke between everyone else), not even taking cue when they all flee the scene to leave the two of them at the ice cream parlor.

He buys her a chocolate strawberry cone (because he's the gentleman, and that's the right thing to do), and gets a mint one for himself. Mimi plants a kiss on his cheek when she's done eating ("I can't wait to tell my classmates that my first date was with a middle schooler!"), he goes red, his cone almost drops to the floor, and soon he's rambling about how "you're a very pretty girl, Mimi, but I have to think about my future" and "I'm in middle school now, I can't-" and then she lets her head rest on the palms of her hands, her elbows on her knees, and she wonders how to break the news of the rejection to her classmates the following day.

/

"What are you doing?"

Mimi is peeking at his computer screen from the other side of the desk where he's sitting. She smiles at him, expectantly. He blinks.

"Playing?" He offers with an unsure tone.

She smiles wider.

He stares.

"Can I play with you?" She goes on, this time completely turning her chair so that she can sit properly facing him, instead of just turning. He's completely lost at this point, wondering why, for the seventh time that week, Mimi was so interested in anything related to his computer.

They had always been in the same class, him and her, but she'd never showed an interested in his hobby until recently. To be fair, she had never really even made an effort of trying to even understand what he was doing, not that he cared anyway, but that only made her newfound interest sound even more foreign.

The past week had been straight hell, if you asked him. She was everywhere, popping up behind him during lunch break, catching up with his steps in the hallway, she even brought him her mother's homemade marmalade cookies on Wednesday (and she never shared those with anyone else usually - she always went on about how afraid she was of someone discovering the secret recipe her mother came up with when she first made them, or something along that lines). Then it downs on him. The reason why she has been so… sticky, that past week. He's already seen her like that once before.

So his eyes get wider.

She tilts her head on the side, a strand of hair cascading over her left eye.

"I have to go." He squeals.

He snaps close his laptop, holding it tight as if it's his only steady grip on this world, and rushes to the door, leaving Mimi staring at him for a couple of seconds. Then she sighs, and that's how the Koushiro period ends.

/

It's probably the fact that he's the leader, always making decisions and proclaiming their next move. The fact that now he's standing on top of the old slide at the playground doesn't help either. It's like the construction is his castle, the playground is his reign, and suddenly Mimi sees him clothed in royal colors and brandishing a sword. He's the prince and the others are just his knights, and she can't really remember why she has spent time trying to catch them instead.

"Mimi?" She imagines him call out her name, heroically sliding down the slope and landing in front of her, ready to take her to some magical place.

Except he's really calling her, now standing dangerously close to her face, studying her eyes while waving a hand to see if she's still there with them or in some other planet.

"Stop that." She goes back to her usual self. She places her hands on her hips and she furrows her brows when Taichi keeps shaking his hand two inches away from the tip of her nose.

"I see the princess is back with us! What does your highness say? Is she down for the movies tonight?" He teases her. Mimi lifts her chin up so that she can look at him with a superior glance. Then she grins.

"Only if you're paying for my popcorns."

IV.

The summer between her sixth and seventh grade her parents tell her they're moving to America, and she's ecstatic. It's New York, and she's watched enough foreign television to understand that this is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her to be what she's always meant to be: a cheerleader.

There has always been this joke, between the eight of them, of that being her true calling. None of them really remembers how or when it started, it's one of those things that have always been there. It was probably that one time they were deciding whom should run track or in the relay race and whom should do the long jump or the high one, and at the end everyone - yes, including Jyou - had been sorted in an activity but Mimi. Hence, her role as the gang cheerleader.

It's only when she's about to board on the plane that she realizes just how far she'll be from her friends, and she wonders how come she didn't think about that detail earlier. She shakes it off together with her head, gripping her signature pink cowboy hat as she sits down on her window seat next to her father.

V.

Turns out, the Tachikawas find themselves home in Japan quite often, while still living in the Big Apple. The others never fully get used to Mimi's sudden appearances at their doors, but that's the fun of it.

It's on her thirteenth birthday that she's the one being surprised, though, when she opens the door to her room after an afternoon spent shopping with her mother to find the whole gang gathered there (cue delighted squeals and shopping bags thrown in the air); there are a couple of unfamiliar faces among the others, but the more the merrier, so Mimi is just glad her friends decided to bring their new acquaintances to her birthday party.

Her parents somehow know better than to check up on them after she closes her room's door, and she's quite thankful of it especially when she spots the empty coke bottle laying on the floor and a wild idea crosses her mind.

"We should play spin the bottle!", she lets out, as if it's the most natural thing to say.

Her words get different reactions, but she's putting her foot down (it's her birthday, so they don't have much of a choice) and she's pretty sure every guy secretly has a crush on her anyway so it's not really that big of a deal. If only, they should be glad she came up with such a brilliant idea.

Surprisingly, the maroon haired kid, Daisuke, one of the three she doesn't really know, is the one who looks the most enthusiastic about it, and soon enough he's the first one to spin the empty plastic bottle, which looks like is pointing at Hikari for a couple of long, agonizing, instants before it makes a full stop facing the other new girl, Miyako (cue Daisuke's pout that lasts for ten good minutes after he's forced to leave a butterfly kiss on an equally adverse Miyako).

Somehow Mimi finds herself waiting for her turn with no action happening to herself in between. She's unusually silent as she observes Yamato leaning towards Sora's spot next to her, him with his face imperturbably still, though relaxed, while her best friend's cheeks redden just slightly as Yamato closes the distance between them. Mimi smirks, realizing only then that that had been Sora's first kiss, and makes a mental note to ask her to stay for the night once the party is over, sensing there's a lot to catch up on.

When it's finally her turn, the bottle stops as it points to the youngest of them, Iori, who's now looking up at her with his cheeks flushed and unnaturally still. Mimi is careless, but she's definitely not stupid, so when she crawls to reach him a couple of spots down her left, she offers him a big smile and pecks him on his cheek, and Iori's shoulders relax ever so slightly.

She doesn't even think about the fact that she couldn't grant someone's wish by kissing them as she returns to her spots, instead she keeps enjoying looking at the different reactions from her friends as they spin or are chosen by the bottle (a particular highlight of the night is when it's Takeru's second time to spin and the object decides it's Hikari he has to kiss) (the girl smiles kindly at him and he responds with a shiny one of his own as he gets closer to her and aims for her lips) (except he quickly dives for her cheek when her eyes are already closed after he catches Taichi's death glare).

Then it's already pretty late, but everyone had another round except her so it's only natural that she demands for one more spin. Koushiro lets out a grunt, and she shoves him on the ribs with her elbow, which has the immediate effect of making anyone who was going to whine rethink about their life choices. Mimi prays she gets to kiss someone for real this time, and when she looks up as the bottle stops, she meets Taichi's happy gaze.

They meet halfway inside the circle and no one is really paying attention to them for the lack of interest, as Mimi sadly notices (she likes being in the center of attention, and while she's definitely in the center as of right now, she doesn't have the attention she deserves), due to the late hour and new conversations that have started as soon as the bottle finally picked its last victim. Taichi is smiling at her mischievously which does nothing but confirm to her that they all do, indeed, have a crush on her, and consequently makes her forget about how everyone else is not staring at her as they should.

"Princess Mimi." He says, finally stopping in front of her.

"Taichi." She smiles.

"My pleasure."

She'd thought it was gonna be sticky, considering he was usually rather sweaty because of his constant frantic movements (she was active, but he was worse), but she is surprised to realize that kissing Taichi is actually quite nice, his lips are smooth and his hair even smells good. She blinks twice, startled, wondering why she feels so weird, considering the fact that, unlike her best friend, this isn't the first time she's kissed some boy (she has her own experience, thank you very much). When she comes back to her senses, Taichi is already back to his spot blubbering to Koushiro about something she doesn't really care about, so she just shrugs and claps her hands.

"Who wants some cake to go?"

VI.

Living so far away is not that difficult, not when he makes an effort of trying to keep her updated on what's going on there in Japan to make her feel like she's still part of the group. She guesses it's something that comes natural to him, looking out for others; it's part of what makes him such a good leader, and Mimi is pretty sure that if he wasn't there, they probably wouldn't stick together as much as they do. She never tells him that she's grateful for having a friend like him, having friends like them (they don't need to talk feelings), but those emails are what bring her mood up on those rainy October days far away from home, and she makes sure the box full of American treats and gifts for each one of them gets to Odaiba in time for Christmas.

VII.

"What's up with pink anyway?"

Mimi shrugs, throwing two packs of bright pink hair dye at him and turning around to head for the checkout. She waits until they're back to her place to speak.

"I like it. Isn't it a good enough reason?"

Taichi stares at her with a skeptical look, like he's trying to choose his next words carefully. Not that she cares what he's gonna say anyway, especially since she's waited all those minutes before replying him to prevent him from trying to talk her out of this.

"I don't know Mi, you're still gonna have a pink head."

"Like you care about what you look like and what people think of you." She retorts.

Taichi has to admit, she has a point. He was never one for second thoughts or logic, cold blooded reasoning to begin with, which makes it even more difficult for him to try to be the mature one and make sure she really wants to do what she's about to do. So he lets out a defeated "if you're really that convinced" and soon after he's applying the dye on her hair.

One thing he didn't know about those things, is that they smell terrible. He's pretty sure Mimi wasn't aware of that fact either, because she's blabbering about something he doesn't remember only to keep him from making further comments. It takes two full bottles of it to cover all of Mimi's soft hair and once he's done she pulls it up in a bun to stall. They move from the little bathroom inside Mimi's room to her actual bedroom, both sitting on the fluffy white rug at the feet of her queen size bed.

"Want me to paint your nails?" She offers when she spots her nail kit still out on her desk from the night before.

"Does Yamato let you paint his nails?" Taichi asks her in order to fully understand if that's a line he's not supposed to cross. You know, in order to keep his masculinity and all that.

Mimi shakes her head, but she stands up anyway. "No, but I do his hair whenever I see him."

He doesn't need to reply, she's already gathering a bunch of colorful small containers and now she's back sitting with her legs crossed in front of him. Her brows are furrowed just like every other time she's concentrating extra hard on a decision (he notices these kind of things, despite how people are so willing to label him as oblivious).

"Green or orange?"

"Orange." He's quick to reply.

"Right, that was an easy one."

She's careful in painting his nails, keeping his hand steady in her small one and Taichi's mind trails off. Spending time with Mimi is always an adventure, and he doesn't really mind the fact that they usually end up picking flowers or braid each other's hair. It's probably the fact that they're all growing up, and even though she's still hectic and bossy, she's no longer obnoxiously loud as she had been when they were younger. Not that he didn't like her before, mind you, he'd just never really had to do with someone who could be just as intense as he was.

"So Yamato makes you play with his hair, huh?" He grins.

"Ever wondered why he's getting so much more popular lately?" She replies with a smile of her own, a wicked spark flashing in her eyes.

"That's because of the band factor."

"And the hair."

Taichi looks alarmed.

"I have nice hair." His tone is allegedly wounded, but it doesn't make Mimi look up. She's still focusing on his fingers, her mouth slightly parted as she finishes up his index nail.

"Not as good as Yamato's." Is her answer.

He suddenly tilts back, removing his hand from Mimi's grip.

"What's wrong with my hair?"

Mimi finally looks up and she has to repress a chuckle when she notices how Taichi's looking at her, as if she's hurt his pride with that comment.

"Nothing's wrong with you hair." - he cocks a brow, and she continues - "I mean, if you don't take in consideration when you play soccer. You look awful when your hair is not pulled back, Taichi. It's too long." She finishes matter-of-factly (she even has her hands on her hips in what they all registered as the basic bitchy Mimi position) and he pouts.

"You're just not blonde."

His eyes grow wider in disbelief, and Mimi rolls her eyes at his display (and they called her the drama queen).

"What is with you females and this sudden interest towards blondes?!"

Mimi sighs, finding herself in a whole new parallel world as she explains. "They just give you this prince charming vibe, you know?" Then she blinks, twice, and when her eyes find his again, she offers a mischievous smile. "That's okay though, Tai. You'll manage to find something by the time you're forty."

He grimaces, and he wonders why he even tries to put up with her in the first place. (And why did she say something and not someone anyway? He's not that bad, right? Right?)

VIII.

She's standing a couple of feet from where he's sitting, on top of the back of a bench in the park where they'd spent countless of afternoons playing together. It's mid august, but it's also late night and a light breeze blows through the trees, caressing their skin. The others have already gone home, but she had stopped him right as he was about to follow Hikari, and he'd waited a little more with her there in the playground under the excuse of not wanting her to walk back to the hotel her family was staying at alone at that hour of the night.

"I need you to do me a favor."

Her voice is soft as usual, but there's a hint of uncertainty as she speaks up. He furrows his brows, wondering what on earth could make Mimi, of all people, look so hesitant.

Mimi had come back to Japan in August to spend there her last month of summer break before she'd have to start high school back in the States. The thing was, for the first time since she'd left her home, she wasn't so keen on being back to her old life, and the reason behind it was pretty simple: there was someone in New York she wished she could see and spend time with. Of course, there was a part of her that felt guilty for not wanting to be with her best friends like she used to, but she couldn't shake the feelings she had inside for that blonde American boy.

"Of course, what is it?"

Taichi's voice resonates in the silence of the night as he hops down the bench and walks calmly towards her. Mimi is glad it's so late and dark, because she feels her cheeks burning up in embarrassment. She's not really sure how she's gonna do this, but it's too important. She counts to five, then takes a deep breath and starts explaining.

"Alright. Remember how I told you a while back about Michael?" She hesitates, waiting for him to acknowledge her. Taichi nods his head in recognition.

"The guy you met at one of your dad's business dinners this winter."

"Right. So we've been hanging out sometimes -"

Mimi's explanation is cut short by Taichi's sudden movement as he grabs her hands and stares at her with a look that is somewhere between surprised and worried.

"You're not telling me you want to run away with him, right? You know how bad I am with secrets, I'm going to let it slip up one way or another. Everyone else is better than me in this, Mimi, you know that. Well, maybe you shouldn't go to Koushiro though… Remember that one time we were trying to throw a surprise goodbye party for you and you tracked him down and forced him to -"

Taichi trails off in his memory and if Mimi wasn't feeling so utterly nervous she would've probably retort in some way (because that had been their fault if she'd gone nuts on Koushiro that time), instead the whole speech just makes her even more unsure about this whole idea she had come up with the other night when she couldn't sleep.

Truth is, Taichi is not entirely wrong. If she could've, she would've gone to Sora, except Sora has a boyfriend, and Mimi thought asking her that wasn't really fair.

"Will you just shut up for a moment?" Mimi breaks Taichi's trail of words rolling her eyes and she pulls him towards the bench where he was sitting earlier as she continues talking. "Lets sit. And let me finish."

Taichi follows her distractedly, wondering for the eighteenth time why she's so jumpy all of the sudden. He's seen countless of times how Mimi becomes when she likes a boy, and she's definitely not nervous. She's always been determined and confident, so different from the girl sitting next to him (except for maybe that week she liked Yamato when she was eleven, but they don't talk about that, ever).

"Just assure me you're not running away with him." He lets out in a tone that's a bit too apprehensive to sound familiar. She notices the foreign note and her glance softens up ever so slightly.

"I'm fourteen, Tai. They wouldn't even let me stay in a hotel alone."

"So you've thought about it." He jokes. He looks up at her and notices that even if she's now giggling, her shoulders are still somehow tense; realizing he's still holding her hands, he gently squeezes, encouraging her to go on.

"We started spending time together when we were forced to go to those dinners. You know, I didn't have much choice at first, since he was the only other teenager there, but after a while he actually asked me if I wanted to hang out sometime in a setting that wasn't related to our parents' job."

"So noble of him." His tone is sarcastic, but he's still smiling, so Mimi only shakes her head while she keeps on talking.

"So, you know, I spent a lot of time with him in the past few months. His school isn't that far from mine, so he often comes pick me up after class and drives me home. Which is always nice, if you ask me. Those school busses are too loud and the kids can get so obnoxious."

He releases his grip on her hands and looks at her once again with a startled stare.

"He drives?" He shrieks. "Mimi, how old is he, exactly?"

This time, Mimi sighs loudly. She wants to hit her head on the trunk of the tree standing a couple of feet away from where they're sitting for having thought this was gonna be fast and easy. It clearly is not, and she should've known. A little voice in the back of her mind whispers to her that she probably shouldn't have even come up with a plan as stupid as the one she was going to propose to him soon (or not so much).

"Oh my god, he's sixteen. You can drive when you're sixteen in the States." It takes all of herself to not start yelling in the middle of the night, so she opts for a high-pitched whisper. "I told you we would've been too young to run away."

"You said they wouldn't let you in a hotel alone. See? I listen."

"Just let me finish." Mimi's hands shoot up, covering her eyes, as well as her face.

Alright, she can do this. When she speaks this time, it's low and fast, and Taichi has to concentrate in order not to let anything slip out.

"I think something's changed lately. It's not like when we first started to spend time together. He's… I don't know how to explain it." The tips of her fingers rub her temples, and she still doesn't look up. "It's like one day we were friends, and the next it's like he's interested in me, doing all these things for me like paying for my ice creams and asking me if I wanna go to the movies-"

"You're pretty sudden with your crushes too, you know?" He offers gently. She doesn't acknowledge his comment.

"And the thing is, I like him too, but this time is different." She finally says, a little defeated.

"Different?" Confused, he wonders what makes her say that.

"He's sixteen."

Taichi places a hand on her bare knee in an attempt to catch her attention and make her look at him. He doesn't understand what she means, but she's one of his closest friends and he's determined to help her out any way he can, even if this girl talk is far from his steady grounds. When her eyes find his, she's chewing on her bottom lip. After taking a big breath, she finally finishes.

"The last time we were together, the day before I flew here, he tried to kiss me."

He exhales loudly, now palpably calmer. Now he feels more at ease. He'd thought, for a moment, that she was going to start rambling about feelings and all those things that he definitely doesn't do, but if all this is about something that practical, then it shouldn't be a problem. He can do this.

"And what did you do?" Taichi shudders slightly, imagining how that poor guy must have felt if, as he was imagining, he had been turned down right when he was about to kiss the girl he liked. Atrocious.

"Well, I stopped him and told him to keep it for when I'd come back, because if he did it then it would've been too hard for me to stay away for so long."

Mimi looks at him between hopeful and guilty and Taichi knows she's fully aware of the level of bullshit she'd pulled on Michael. He doesn't laugh though, still feeling for the poor guy.

"But you said that you liked him."

"But I've never kissed a guy."

His left eyebrow arches up and Mimi has to constrain herself from starting to hit him because of how slow he's being.

"Not with a real kiss, stupid!"

There's a "ooooh" and then a "what?" and then Mimi's face is once again covered by her hands and she feels the sudden urge to get up and run away since her fear of being ridiculed because of that fact is coming true, just like she'd imagined it would.

"See? This is why I stopped him! Imagine his reaction if he'd found out I still haven't had my first kiss! He would probably run away and go for someone who knows what they're doing."

Mimi looks so defeated sitting there, with her head in her hands and her back arched, that it comes natural for Taichi to put his hand on her shoulder.

"Not having kissed a guy yet is not something negative, Mimi. There's no deadline to those things, to someone it happens sooner, to others later. Maybe you're one of those on the 'later' side of it." He tries to reassure her patting the spot where his hand was resting, but his speech does nothing but increase the curve of her back.

"Even Koushiro's had his first kiss!" She cries out, moving so suddenly that he's surprised when she grips the fabric of his light t-shirt and looks at him straight in the eyes. "Koushiro!"

He looks scared now. "How do you know that Kou-"

"Same way I know you were betting with Daisuke on who between Sora and Yamato was going to make the first move."

He grins. "Good old Sora earned me the best free meal of my life." Then, noticing Mimi's death glare, he faked a look of regret. "Which I didn't enjoy because betting over your best friend's love life is terrible. Never do that. Ever."

"You're terrible at making people feel better." She says as she releases his now wrinkled shirt.

"So they tell me." He agrees, then remembers. "But Mimi, weren't you asking me for a favor?"

He notices her eyebrows shooting up when he brings back the subject of the whole conversation. Mimi's hands reach her signature high ponytail, and she's newly flustered, unsure of what wording is the best to use in a situation like the one she's experiencing. At the end, she just goes with the simple, laid out fact.

"Yeah, that. I need you to kiss me."

It's his time to look distressed now, with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly parted in a failed attempt to say anything. Mimi sighs, realizing that maybe she should've explained how exactly she'd come to that conclusion, so she offers a tiny guilty smile.

"I thought of asking Sora, but she's with Yamato now so I don't know if it was okay with him, you know? And besides, does it count if I kiss a girl? So I thought that maybe I should know how exactly boys kiss before I kiss Michael. Of course, I had to rule out Yamato as well because I would never kiss my best friend's boyfriend, mind you, and he's pretty all you want but between you and me, he can look a little scary. I couldn't ask Jyou because I don't think he would understand, you know how he is, he'd think it was all a scheme to get him to take me out, then he would freak out and get all crazy and you and I know how bad it is when he gets nervous. And Koushiro would just avoid me for the eternity, that is if he'd even agree on kissing me, and I'm pretty sure he'd say no anyway. Which leaves us to you."

He looks at her frozen on his spot. Looking at it from Mimi's perspective, that whole argument does have a point. Or, at least, it makes sense, which means that she's probably thought about it through and through, which again means that she, in fact, really cares about it (especially since she's pretty famous for her impromptu decisions). At last, he moves, standing up and placing himself in front of Mimi who is still avoiding eye contact. He offers her a hand.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

He asks it quietly in a sign of understanding, and Mimi takes it as a cue to finally look up at him. She's taken aback by the way he's waiting for her reply, like he's actually worried about her, like he wants to make sure that this is something that isn't gonna hurt her, as if she's not just asked him the permit to use him as a tool. There, in between breaths, she starts to wonder if what she's asking him is too much.

"Is it okay with you?" She questions him, but the only response she gets is his hand stretching out to reach hers. She grabs it and he pulls her up in a standing position, making her almost collide with him.

Almost.

Her right hand on his chest, her left one still in his, she realizes she'd never been this close to him with no one there to fill the space around them with laughter and background conversations. Funny thing is, she's suddenly not nervous at all, and confused by her own abrupt change, she focuses on his eyes, playful but confident.

"You sure?" He repeats, this time brushing a strand of her faded pink hair that had fallen out of the ponytail and was now covering a side of her left cheek. He puts it behind her ear and she smiles at him, expectantly, and when she finally answers him her voice sounds more vigorous and positive that it did the whole evening.

"Of course. I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't want to."

Mimi has aways dreamed of her first kiss. She had imagined it on innumerable scenarios: by the seashore when the sun was setting, under a big tree the first day of spring with a flower crown on top of her head, a surprise on a snowy Christmas night, but none of them had come close to that breezy summer night, and she's surprised to realize that in reality, no matter how far from her fantasy it could've been, it was still her first real kiss, and it felt right to share something important to her with someone who knew her at heart. So when Taichi's hand leaves her hair to cup her cheek, she takes one last glance of his bold face and then she closes her eyes.

A memory of months and months before flashes through her mind as his lips softly brush hers, and she's back to her room in front of him, except this time it's different, this time it wasn't chance deciding what was happening, this time she'd made the choice, this time they are standing and her hand automatically tightens around his when she feels his lips parting. He guesses she can only mask her tension that much, and with his hand still cupping her cheek, he moves his thumb to caress her just as slowly as it takes for him to taste her.

It isn't as she'd thought it would be, though now she's not even sure about how she was expecting it to be. It's weird, and soft, and she finds herself thinking that she could probably do this very often if it was always this nice. She doesn't know how much time it passes, she's only aware of the fact that now her fingers are entwined to Taichi's ones and her right hand has traveled up to reach his shoulder, and when they part there's no bashfulness, she only smiles at him and whispers a soft "thank you".

She tilts up her head one last time, leaving a peck on his lips, and then she embraces him like she'd done countless of times before, just this time she makes sure to squeeze extra hard to show him just how much she's grateful for having a friend like him.

"So I was the best choice, huh? Way to boost my ego." He comments on their way to her hotel. Mimi giggles.

"No Taichi, you were the only choice I had left."

He fakes a wounded look (Mimi shakes her head) and quickens his steps to walk backwards in order to stay in front of her.

"You still had Daisuke. Or Takeru. Yet you chose me."

"I don't go for younger boys!" She retorts.

"Right," he grins, "you go for the oldies."

She offers him a small pout, but otherwise she keeps silent, enjoying the fresh air of the late hour.

"Plus, I knew you wouldn't mind kissing me." She lets out randomly after a while, as if she'd been thinking about something but only decided to share with him the conclusion. He spins around again, facing her once more while walking backwards.

"What do you mean?" And Mimi notices that he doesn't sound worried or anything, just genuinely curious. A small smile paints her features and she looks down.

"I mean I know you've kissed all those girls this past year." She says simply. He doesn't look concerned, he only specifies.

"It was only three."

"Yeah well, Sora says you didn't even take them out."

Taichi slows his pace, letting her join his side.

"That's because I didn't want to take them out."

Mimi casts a glance on her side, but she doesn't find regret or confusion on his face. She sighs, shaking her head in such a light way that doesn't catch his attention.

"Just don't break their hearts."

IX.

"So he was laughing when he dumped her?"

"You know how he gets..."

"He's seventeen."

She hears Sora's tired sigh on the other end of the line, followed by the sound of what seems like a door shutting close.

"You talking about the Idiot?"

Yamato's voice is low and distant, but Mimi hears it nonetheless. She can imagine the look on his face, bored, as if this is the billionth time he's hearing this particular argument (and it probably is).

"Am I on speaker?" Mimi asks.

"You are now." Replies the voice belonging to Yamato.

"Has either of you seen him since he did that?"

Again, it's Yamato the one who answers. "Unfortunately."

Mimi hops down the bed, going for the big closet on the other side of her room. She puts her cordless phone between her ear and her shoulder and opens both doors, revealing a big mass of the most disparate things, from stuffed animals, to dolls, clothes and books. She bends down to reach a notebook with a colored cover and grabs it, trying to avoid making the pile of other books fall on the side and make the mess in her closet even messier. It seems like she's succeeded, only that as she sprawls on her bed again she hears a loud sound coming from the now closed wardrobe, so she sighs.

"You said she was one of your classmates in elementary, right?" Mimi asks while opening the yearbook from six years earlier.

"Are you looking her up on the yearbook?" She hears Sora's chuckle, which makes her smile.

"I just want to have an idea of what she looks like." She defends herself and her antics. "Not everyone is lucky enough to have met Taichi's first girlfriend."

"Ex-girlfriend." She hears Yamato specify as she quickly turns the pages of the yearbook to reach the section dedicated to the sixth years.

"Ah, here she is." She exclaims when she finally spots a pretty blonde girl. "Anna. And he was the one complaining about us liking blondes." She says more to herself than to her friends on the other side of the world. "So, how was he?"

This time, it's Sora the one who answers her. "Well, he's okay. I mean, he is the one who decided to break up with her in the first place. He told me he did it because he didn't want to hurt her, but God knows how incapable Taichi is of handling emotional situations…"

"He really doesn't feel guilty, Mimi." Yamato cuts in. "He thinks it was the right decision."

Mimi glances at her reflection on the tall mirror placed at the end of her bed: she looks skeptical, her hair up in a loose bun and her favorite green pajamas on.

"But he laughed when he told her that." She reminds him as if he's forgotten that particular detail of the argument, which she feels is pretty vital. She imagines how she would feel if Michael would suddenly be at her front door saying he wanted to end things with her and later laughing when she'd ask the reason behind his decision; she shudders at the thought, that poor girl must have felt useless and unworthy, and the thought of Taichi being so tactless makes her hands itch.

"Out of nervousness." Yamato specifies once more.

"Are you defending him?" She asks in a tone that could pass for outraged, but Yamato's answer is nothing but calm and pondered.

"No, I'm just trying to make you understand how the Idiot's mind works, just as I did until thirty minutes ago with your friend here."

She purses her lips together, still unsure about what she's feeling. Maybe it's a boy thing that only Yamato can fully understand, which would also explain why even Sora, who had always been so close to Taichi, can't truly let it pass. Mimi doesn't know why, but with every minute passing she feels a grip on her stomach tightening, as if that uneasiness is trying to warn her about something. She's brought back to the present by Sora's voice calling her through the phone.

"I'm here."

"Just don't say anything to him yet, okay? Wait for him to tell you." Is the last reminder her best friend leaves her before excusing herself and her boyfriend. When Mimi hangs up, she notices the yearbook is still open on Yamato's old class photo. She shoots one last look at Anna's young face before shutting the book close and securing it under her bed.

X.

Being back to Japan is bittersweet. No matter how often she'd come back during the holidays, how many summers she'd spent tasting meals she'd forgotten and catching up with old habits, when she finally comes back for good before the start of what would've been her junior year back in New York (here is only the second one), she finds it somehow hard to fall back into the old routine.

She won't admit it, not even to herself, but she feels like she's missed out on too much during those four whole years spent in a far away land. It's something she'd never noticed during her brief visits the times before (she was never one for details) but everyone is changed and nothing is the same. It's like they all drifted apart and she feels the distance between all of them when they finally manage to gather all together one night when school has already started.

When she'd told Sora, her friend had assured her that that distance was part of what growing up meant, but she shouldn't see it as something so negative. Sora was sure that it was just a matter of finding out who they truly were and who they wanted to be, only then they would've been able to find themselves back together like in the old times. Mimi had crinkled her nose and said something about how Sora was always so deep and philosophical, but later than night she'd pondered about what her friend had meant.

Now she is sitting on one of the benches in the back of her new high school, beside her a ever calm Yamato, who is eyeing his girlfriend playing soccer with Taichi (well, playing is a big word - they're passing each other the ball while trying to not get caught by the teachers); Mimi doesn't even know when or how Taichi manages to get a soccer ball to play with during break, especially since it's such a short one they have between second and third period, made up of only fifteen minutes.

"Did you spend the last four years like this?" Mimi asks Yamato as she checks her nails. She notices that one is cracked, so she makes a mental note to fix it as soon as she can get her hands on her to-go manicure kit she keeps in her locker. Meanwhile Yamato offers her a smile.

"Pretty much."

Mimi makes a face, but Yamato is quick to go on before she can open her mouth.

"I know how much Sora misses soccer sometimes, so as long as she keeps smiling like that it doesn't bother me. Besides, they're not even playing and they'll be back here in three, two, one…" Just as Yamato's fingers finish counting down the seconds, a distressed cry fills the air. Mimi watches Taichi run to them as if his life depends on it, and jump on the bench, placing himself next to Mimi with his left arm around her shoulders. Sora quickly follows him in a rush, hopping on Yamato's lap, circling his neck with her arms and offering him a warm, yet guilty, smile.

"The principal was walking downstairs." Yamato says simply, as if he's acknowledged the same scenario countless of times before.

"Maybe." It's Taichi the one who answers. Sora just lays her head down near her boyfriend's neck, and Mimi notices how Yamato's lips curl up as he places his hand on Sora's leg. Mimi is pretty sure they've never looked so bright, or maybe she just never really noticed. Maybe that's what Sora had meant, maybe those two had find out thanks to one another who they wanted to be and realized that what they truly desired was to be together, and that meant being able to grow up next to each other. It was utterly romantic.

She sighs, sliding a little down on the bench in a depressed movement that makes her end up with her head against Taichi's arm which hasn't moved. With a groan, realizing that that position is not comfy at all, she just tilts her head on the side, so that it falls on her friend's chest.

Now, this is better.

"What's up with all that grunting?" He asks her, but the only answer he gets is a further growl as she buries her head in his shirt. It takes twenty seconds of him patting her back before she comes up again, looking glum.

"How did you manage to find the right one at the first try?" She blurts out, earning a sympathetic smile from Sora and a "here she goes again" from Taichi. Yamato passes a hand through his shiny blonde hair (typical).

"Oh, Mimi." Starts Sora, "You know you can't control these kind of things."

"It's not your fault you had to move back here." Is Taichi's attempt.

"You'll find someone else in no time. Everyone likes you, you know that." Finishes Sora.

Mimi suspires once again, focusing more on Taichi's words than the others'. That was another thing: moving back to Japan had caused her to break up with Michael, or rather the other way round. She understood his reasoning, really. She even knew it was coming because she had thought about it herself as well (on the contrary of what the others might think, she still has a glimpse of reality, thank you very much), still she'd tried to hold on the tiniest bit of hope she had left that somehow they could've made things work as she did with her friends for the past four years. But this was a relationship, and as hard as letting go of her first love had been, deep down she knew that it had been the right thing to do.

So when she'd started school again back in her homeland a couple of weeks back, she'd made an effort of trying to be her old self as much as possible, and not let her broken heart stop her from enjoying being back with her best friends in the world. She knows she's had it easy thanks to the fact that three of said best friends are currently on their last year of high school, add that to the fact that half of the school swoons over Yamato's undeniable charm and the other half over Taichi's performances (she wants to believe those are strictly soccer related, she really does), she's all set for the year.

"About that, half my class is convinced you two are dating." Yamato comments casually without glancing at their side, instead his eyes are focused on his hand caressing Sora's hair. Mimi forgets for a moment what he's just said thinking she could probably set herself on fire from how cute the two of them are.

"But why?" Taichi's shriek makes Yamato's words sink in, and Mimi turns her head completely towards the couple complete with an unamused look. Yamato doesn't answer his friend's question, instead he gestures to the two of them; Taichi is still somehow slow to understand (God help his blindness), but Mimi doesn't miss a beat.

"We are affectionate people. We like to hug." She says defensive. When Taichi finally picks up on the argument, his right arm finds its way around Mimi, joining his left. She shoots a look up and watches his smile turn into a wicked grin.

"You know what? That's actually good, the ladies get thirsty when they think I'm unavailable."

He earns a shove on his ribs from her, but he only tightens his grip and starts smacking kisses on the side of her head, from her temple to her cheek and her ear. She starts kicking, trying with no real outcome to break free from his hold, but only managing to break into giggles.

"But that's not fair!" She exclaims in between gasps, "It only benefits you!"

"False! You get to pretend you're my girl, how cool is that?"

He stops playing with her as she threatens to cut his hair as soon as she gets to the nail kit. His doesn't move his left arm though, still letting Mimi's head lean drowsily on it when she stops with her intimidations. Then her smile gets mischievous.

"Please. I used to paint your nails and braid your hair. You're my bitch, Yagami."

"I see you've already decided our habits in bed, just let me tell those classmates of yours…"

His quick response makes her eyes go wide as she cries out in her best american accent an "OH MY GOD".

Sora giggles with her face hidden on the crook of her boyfriend's neck.

Yamato, on his part, wonders if Daisuke is still up for bets.

XII.

When Mimi enters Koushiro's bedroom, the first thing she notices is the huge amount of empty tea bottles piled up in the trash can, as well as on her friend's desk. She only manages to shoot a confused glance at Koushiro, who's sitting on his revolving chair with his chest against its back before the door slams open again to reveal an enraged looking Taichi shouting at the phone he has in his hand.

"Just tell him to move to Antarctica then!"

He doesn't bother checking if whoever it is who was speaking to him on the other line has replied, he only shuts the phone close and throws it, and himself, on Koushiro's single bed with a loud groan, covering his eyes with his arm. Mimi blinks, disoriented.

"Was that about…" She starts asking Koushiro, who looks incredibly worn out, as if he's witnessed hours of the latest Taichi lunacy. He nods weakly before she goes on, preventing her from saying the name out loud to avoid triggering another of their friend's rants.

"What is she doing here?" Taichi's voice surprises them as they thought he'd fallen in some kind of self-induced coma.

"What are you doing here?" Mimi gets back at him with a tone that matches his annoyed one. He stirs up, sitting straight on the bed. Mimi cocks a brow at him, challenging him to keep whining: she knows she can take him, and she's pretty sure he actually considers it for a few seconds before deciding to let it go.

"I just don't get it." Taichi sounds defeated as he rubs his face. Mimi rolls her eyes, but decides to play dumb to not give him a reason to go on with that nonsense.

"It's not that hard to get, people do it all the time during finals week. I help Koushiro with English, he helps me with Physics."

She doesn't check his reaction, knowing fully well that his face is painted with an unamused gaze that mirrors her own; instead she walks towards Koushiro's desk, hopping on it after leaving her brown backpack lying on the floor. She takes a peak of Koushiro's notebook, open on a fully written page, to check if he'd already started on their home assignments, but she's stopped once again by Taichi's loud remarks as he just doesn't want to forget it.

"What does she see in him?"

When Mimi casts a look on his way, she finds him laying on his back with his head upside down hanging from the bed. Koushiro just looks unimpressed and not in a mood to listen to his friend's rambling, so she answers for him.

"Takeru's cute, you know that." She tells him with a shrug. He rolls over to look at her.

"It's an act! He pretends to be cute just to lure poor innocent girls into him, but in reality he's just a nightmare!"

"Everyone knew it was bound to happen, stop being such a crybaby about it." It's Koushiro the one to answer him this time, cutting over Mimi's whispered "oh my God". She nods, confirming what the redhead has just said.

"Ever since they started hanging out with us when they were still in second grade. It's cute." She comments.

"It's not cute, it's wrong. Hikari is too young for those things." Taichi retorts, and Mimi notices how Koushiro's hand draws a little too close to the nearest full bottle of iced tea (she's not sure if he's about to drink it all in one take to help with the stress or empty it on Taichi's head).

"Hikari's sixteen." Specifies Mimi.

"Do I have to remind you what you did when you were sixteen?" Koushiro's wicked grin is the sign of his revenge on Taichi for bothering him that much, and the brunette's pale face screams that he's just won that round. Mimi sneers at the scene.

"Just because you haven't been on a steady relationship with someone for the past two years doesn't mean you have the right to bitch about your sister having one." She comments casually as she flips through the pages of Koushiro's notebook. Taichi grimaces and snorts loudly, but neither her or Koushiro care to turn their heads and look at him. If he had intended to deny anything, he changes his mind and keeps silent instead.

That is, for barely two minutes.

"I don't want to be related to those two blondes."

Mimi and Koushiro look at each other, exchanging a shared look of utter annoyance. With a silent agreement, they don't reply, leaving him to share his internal turmoils.

"What is it with all of them getting together with their childhood friends? Don't you guys know people outside of our group?" He asks rhetorically, palpably frustrated by the fact. Mimi sighs, amazed by the fact that her friend is still so slow when it comes to those things, even at nineteen. So she tries to explain it.

"It's because we're so close that stuff like that happens. We shared so much it's only natural to realize that the person who fits the most is the one right before our eyes, because we've been through the same experiences, good and bad, together."

She blinks twice when she's done talking. Taichi is now looking at her with a weird, surprised look; Koushiro's eyebrows are arched up. She tilts her head on the side, unsure of what is happening.

"You're spending too much time with Sora." Taichi resolves matter-of-factly breaking the silence. Mimi pouts, a little offended by how her deep speech was liquidated so easily by him.

"Anyway," he goes on, "what I meant was that next thing I know Mimi will get with Jyou and you'll start dating Miyako."

"Well, Jyou is going to be a doctor." Mimi ponders with a playful smile on her lips, now too interested in making Taichi go nuts over the argument to retort. Koushiro, on his part, grumbles.

"You've got it all wrong." He replies disapprovingly with a shake of his head, sliding the chair closer to his own bed occupied by their friend. "Out of the girls, I'd totally go for Hikari." He finishes with an innocent tone in such a casual way that makes Taichi almost miss the actual meaning of his words.

Almost, because when they sink in, there's a high pitched screech followed by a way too loud "WHAT THE FUCK" and Mimi watches Koushiro get up from his chair, trip on an empty bottle and run for his life out of his own room with an enraged Taichi cursing his way behind him.

XIII.

Mimi has always liked parties.

She remembers when she was little, when having one meant getting to see a bunch of people, some she knew and some she didn't, and interact with them, discovering new secrets and making other kids realize how incredibly amazing she was. And that went on for years and years, and now she's nineteen and not much as changed, except for maybe one thing: she didn't exactly like parties, she fucking loved them.

So here's the thing: social gatherings in general are Mimi's bread. She lives for those things: the excitement of the hours before when she has to get ready for one, the people she'll meet, the opportunities to expand her network of acquaintances, the dizziness from having drunk one glass of wine too many, the compliments to her outfit and her hair. The pretty boys.

"Maybe we should go back." Miyako's voice comes in an hesitant tone that reflects her appearance; it's probably because her friend's not wearing her signature glasses, but Mimi finds herself thinking that she looks different from the confident, optimistic girl she knows so well. She takes two steps ahead, reaching her.

"Miyako," she starts fixing her friend's hair, combing through it with her thin fingers, "like you said, it's too big of an opportunity to bail. Plus, we're only two doors away from an apartment full of university students. University, Miyako." Mimi stares straight into Miyako's eyes, and the latter can't do much but tilt her head to the side, unable to find an actual reason to flee the place.

Jyou had mentioned the girls about the party the guys were going to host at their place (him, Yamato, Taichi and Koushiro had been renting this apartment downtown since Yamato and Taichi had started university two years before; Koushiro had moved in one year after, when he'd finally graduated as well) out of forgetfulness rather than on his own will, considering that Taichi had done everything to keep it a secret from them, which had resulted into a heated argument between him and Mimi the day after the girls had seen Jyou for their monthly catching up session.

As she had told him, his plan of not telling them about the party was utterly stupid and full of holes. Starting from the fact that there was no way in hell that Yamato wasn't going to tell Sora anything (the two of them shared every single aspect of their life as an old married couple; it was scary sometimes, especially since it wasn't even in a gossipy kind of way), Koushiro would've ignored her for a whole week before that Friday if he knew he'd have to keep a secret from her, which would've resulted into her getting more suspicious and going full on berserk on him, which she knew it would work. Plus, she didn't even understand why Taichi didn't want them there, considering he was fully aware of how much better parties were if they featured herself.

At the end, she had succeeded in manipulating him so that it had been his idea to finally ask her and Miyako to come after a whole day of back and forth with him. And now they're standing there, at the front door of their building, all dressed up and ready to get the party started.

When they finally go in, she's surprised to find the relatively small apartment of the guys full of people as she's never seen it before. She fails to even recognize her friends' heads through the crowd at first, so she dives straight to their kitchen on the left of the front door followed closely by Miyako.

"I think I want to live this moment forever." The younger one comments as they make their way through a group of guys who are staring at someone's cell phone. Mimi smiles victorious before answering her a "told you so". They find Taichi first, deep in a beer pong match, so they decide to move back to the living room to see if their other friends are there.

"You have to improve your skills as a welcoming host, you know?" Mimi declares when Yamato approaches them. He shakes his head, placing his hands on the small of Mimi's and Miyako's backs and guides them out on the little balcony. The air is still somehow cool, but it's a nice May night, and Mimi doesn't feel cold in her little black dress.

"Are you all alone?" Miyako asks while she removes her light jacket. Yamato nods.

"Taichi has been in the kitchen since everyone started to show up, I think he's in one of his 'I'm the owner of this house and it's my duty to keep my guests entertained' mindsets."

"Which means he's orchestrating everyone's drinking turns." Cuts in Mimi.

"Exactly. I lost Koushiro half an hour ago, I don't know what he's doing or where he is, but he was drinking with Taichi prior that. And Jyou's not here, he's up north with Sora at the Takenouchi's cabin. They both have to prepare big exams." As he finishes explaining he turns to Miyako. "Want me to introduce you to some friends?"

Miyako's eyes lighten up and Mimi giggles, knowing too well how thirsty for new acquaintances she had been in the last months, ever since she'd started going on about how 'done she was with high school and immature people'; she watches her two friends walk back inside and waits a minute before following them, enjoying the quiet night outside, so different from what's going on inside.

To be fair, Miyako wasn't the only one eager for new contacts. From the day Michael had broken up with her (again) ten months before, Mimi had found herself feeling tied to the past and unable to move on. She'd gone on a handful of dates, but she'd never gotten past the first, somehow incapable of even kissing those guys. She was aware of the fact that it was normal to feel so attached to the first person she'd ever loved and given all of herself to, but she still wished moving on was easier, or that her friends were enough like in the old times. But she'd grown up, and that also meant that friendship wasn't the only source of affection she longed for.

She takes a deep breath, trailing off her own thoughts, and she concentrates on Taichi's figure now crossing the door to the living room with a bunch of guys just as strongly built as him. She thinks they must be his teammates, and with determined steps and a warm smile she approaches them.

She's decided: today is the day she finally lets go.

/

It's her third drink and she welcomes the familiar dizziness that comes with it. She's sitting on the right arm of one of the two couches in the living room, and she's been chatting with three of Taichi's soccer teammates for a while now (she's not really sure about what time it is and she doesn't care anyway), but it's the tall, slim blonde one the one who tries to catch her attention the most, offering to fix her another drink (he says he's attended a bartender class last year) and placing his hand on her bare knee as he talks. Mimi tries to be as much careful as she can to not show herself as too eager to listen to his banters; as objectively attractive as the guy is, she was wrong to believe that she'd be able to move on only because she thought so. His touch is unfamiliar, and it does nothing but make her conjecture how to move without him thinking she's craving his caresses.

It's Taichi the one who saves her, coming from the other side of the house and approaching her with a smile and a half empty beer bottle in his right hand. He glances at his friends, commenting something along the lines of "has she started singing yet?" just to make fun of her, but placing his free hand on her shoulder in what Mimi is surprised to find herself reading as a protective gesture, and she's even more surprised by herself as she leans her head on his side, closing her eyes for a couple of seconds as the guys call on Taichi.

When Taichi leaves, so does his blonde teammate with a bothered scorn, and she takes it as a cue to excuse herself as well. She spots Miyako sitting on the floor very close to a pretty brunette who's holding up her drink and offering it to Miyako. Mimi grins and, deciding that interrupting the two girls would be a bad decision, she heads to the kitchen with the intent of finding something else to drink since she'd long emptied her glass.

The hours pass quickly as she hops from a group to another, getting to know a bunch of other future engineers like Yamato and Koushiro and fellow business students of Taichi. She mostly stays with the guys, believing the girls present at the party don't seem too keen on trying to hold a conversation with her. At a point she even finds Koushiro standing on his bed in the room he shares with Taichi, yelling at group of two guys and a girl to go fetch him "his paradise juice", which Mimi lightheadedly imagines is the iced tea he normally drinks. She doesn't catch sight of Yamato for a long time, though, and she resolves the question concluding that he must've fled the place.

Taichi, on the contrary, is somehow ever present.

He's there when she's explaining Koushiro's friends how she'd lived in America, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as she talks. He dares her to empty her full glass in one shot, but she accepts only at the condition of him doing the same with the umpteenth beer bottle he's holding (they end up giggling all the way through it, even staining their clothes). He walks past her while she's deep into a conversation with the friend of Mina, the girl who she'd seen with Miyako some time before, and as he does so he grazes her stomach with his hand. She absently catches his fingers with her own, stretching her arm and accompanying him in his way until he's completely past her; it's only then, when he has to turn the corner of the hall, that they release the grip. He looks at her with eyes burning from something she doesn't recognize as she opens the door to the bathroom to go fix her makeup (that time, she stares at her reflection in the mirror for a minute before searching for her mascara in her purse).

He finally catches her alone with Miyako as she's about to ask her what was going on earlier, but she is interrupted by his raspy voice.

"I need to get something in my room. Come?" He asks casually, as if he's done it innumerable times before. He doesn't bother looking up at Miyako, instead he fixes his gaze on Mimi's petite figure who nods her head and follows him through the corridor to his room, now empty.

She aims for the bed on the right side of the room, sitting down on it and rejoicing the comfort after having spent numerous hours standing up. He's looking through his stuff piled up on the back of a chair at the desk when Mimi speaks up.

"This one's yours, right?" She asks referring to the bed where she's just sat. He turns, nods his head and grabs a watch from the pocket of one of his jackets.

"Yeah." He confirms and he takes three steps to get to the spot where she's sitting, then her face tilts up to look at him properly now that he's standing right in front of her.

She registers that he's kissing her a long way after she's welcomed his mouth on hers, as if doing so is the spontaneous reaction to a desire she didn't know she had in her. It's not like when they first kissed all those years before, it's more mature and clear, but Mimi still finds that note of tenderness she'd felt that summer night. When they part, he doesn't offer her a smile, he only turns to fix the watch on his wrist and it's Mimi the one who surprises him with another kiss as she stands up and takes his face in her hands.

He pulls her up and she wraps her legs around his waist, not even thinking about the fact that her tight skirt goes up in the movement and the door of his room is still open. Nothing is on her mind, she feels like she's floating somewhere far, and his grip on her thighs is the only anchor she has. Her hands travel to his hair that he's styled with extra care like she knows he does when he has to get ready for some kind of social gathering; his lips are soft and they feel like they are a perfect fit for Mimi's, they part slowly and risky and Mimi molds her actions to reflect his.

When she knows she can't hold herself up anymore she puts a foot down, then the other, but as she takes a step backwards with her brisk eyes steady on his, he grabs her hand and pulls her close to him again, keeping her from going anywhere, much more so when he lowers his face on hers again, capturing her lips in his in a motion that feels more eager than before. As she grasps his button up shirt in her hands, she's not sure if she'll ever be able to walk out the door of his room.

/

She stays the night, as does Miyako. Other friends of the guys are sleeping over as well, but are already fast asleep, some in Yamato and Jyou's room, some others in the living room, together with Miyako and Yamato himself. Koushiro's too drunk to notice anything, plus he'd passed out on his own bed before they even got to send everyone else home.

She's trying to sleep now, she really is. It's just that having him there, with his arms wrapped around her and his body coinciding with hers, is a big distraction (not to mention that she's always a little hyper after having drank more than usual). He's leaving a trail of soft kisses starting from her ear and descending on her neck, and it's taking him an agonizing long time to do so. She arches her back, inhaling a deep breath, but her movement only prompts him to tighten his hold around her, gently pushing his body against her back.

She tries to suppress a groan by turning her head into the pillow, but Taichi is again fast in his moves, sliding a hand down her stomach, brushing her skin with the tips of his fingers, and down again until he crosses the line of her lacy underwear and she feels his warm finger inside her. Her eyes snap open and she savours his movements for a minute before shifting to climb on top of him.

He removes his hand, and Mimi responds to his brow arched by reaching her back to unclasp her bra and removing it from under the shirt he's lent her when she'd realized she couldn't sleep in the dress she'd chosen for the night. She throws the bra on the floor, and he looks at her with an averted yet lively gaze.

"What are you doing?" He whispers with difficulty in her ear when she leans down to reach his chest with her mouth, softly kissing his bare skin, and her hips friction with his in a calculated move.

"Just messing with you." She murmurs back, careful not to raise her voice too much. His hand grabs the back of her head again, inciting her to look up. When she does, he dives for her lips, releasing the grip to place both hands on her bum. She smiles against him, pushing down with her hips. It's his time to moan in her mouth, making her head run wild.

Then Koushiro mumbles something in his sleep, shifting on the bed in a way that makes him turn towards them, and it's enough to break the spell. They both cast a look to their sleeping friend, and when they look back at each other they're aware they're both thinking the same thing. She gets off of him, lying down again beside him, but this time she really manages to fall asleep, with his left arm securing her chest and his lips grazing her hair.

/

She remembers everything the morning after, and the tender kiss he places on her shoulder when she's changing back to her dress indicates her that no matter how much he'd drank the night before, he remembers as well. It's like a weight has been lifted from her stomach, and as she watches him retort something to Yamato when their friend gets in the kitchen to have breakfast with them, she realizes that for the first time in months the thought of Michael didn't even come up once to her mind during the whole night.

Yamato casts an inquisitive look at her, but she ignores it altogether. She knows sooner or later she'll have to face the consequences of what has happened in the last twelve hours, she just decides to deal with those another time, enjoying her breakfast instead.

XIV.

He studies in Paris for six months in his third year, he comes back that summer with a girlfriend.

XV.

He's still protective when it comes to her, that much hasn't changed. She notices when he comes to pick her up from her late visual culture classes (they end past seven, but it's almost winter and the sky is already dark when she gets out of the university), and he places his hand on the small of her back, walking her to the spot where he's improperly parked his car.

They still talk and hang out, but it's whenever they find themselves alone that she feels the air get heavy and the tension build up. It's in the silence between word exchanges that she tastes doubts and ambiguity, and she finds herself often wondering how things could've been if they hadn't chosen to label that night as an incident that happens to the best of friends. She knows it was the easy road to take, but it had only occurred to her when she'd seen him with Catherine a few months before that maybe it hadn't been what she wanted, as uncomplicated it had been that way.

The selfish part of Mimi wishes she could find some way to blame Catherine, but the truth is that she's nothing but a kind and open girl who's trying her best to be liked by the friends of her boyfriend. And they all do, because it's impossible to hate her, but liking her isn't enough to erase the stolen looks they still sometime cast on Mimi's way whenever Catherine's around, and she's left with no other choice other than to keep pretending that everything is fine, because it's crazy to still speculate about something that's occurred an year before.

So she starts dating new guys, and that's enough to convince everyone that things have finally gone back to their normal state of being.

"You okay?" He asks her as he pulls over on her driveway.

"Yeah." She assures him. "You?"

"Yeah."

And somehow that's enough.

XVI.

Even now, she finds it hard to place the beginning of whatever it is that she has with Taichi. The funny thing is that she doesn't remember a time when it wasn't there, except for maybe when she used to date Michael, but even then he was always the first one she ran to when things got difficult.

It's something that's always there in the back of her mind, sometimes silent and sometimes loud, and it makes her fall into him over and over again in a never ending cycle of almost's and maybe's.

Like when it's New Year's Eve and they decide to celebrate at the guys' apartment, since it's the biggest and they're still pretty much the only ones not living with their parents. Those who have significant others have brought them as well, so the flat is a little more crowded than the usual, but it still gives off that familiar vibe that Mimi treasures at times of festivity.

She spots Koushiro's new girlfriend (he introduced her to them only a couple of weeks earlier even though he'd been going out with her for two full months prior that) (he'd said that he'd waited so long because he didn't want them to scare her off, the asshole) chatting cordially with Hikari; Daisuke is bantering with Miyako, whom she notices is trying hard to suppress a giggle. Sora, deep in a heated conversation with Jyou, is distractedly passing her champagne glass to Yamato, who quickly grabs it before it drops on the floor and goes to refill it, together with Catherine's one, while talking to the latter. Takeru has invited the girl he's dating at the moment, but everyone is pretty sure he only did so to be sure he'd have someone to kiss at midnight other than Daisuke, not to repeat the utter traumatic experience from the year before, as they both refer to it. Lastly, Ken and Iori are sitting on the smaller couch on each side of Koushiro, who's showing them something on his recently bought iPhone.

Mimi leans on the doorframe of the living room, smiling to herself at the intimate sight of her friends just being themselves. It's nice to know that even after all those years they still manage to get together on occasions like that one, and she feels calmer. She thinks for a minute about how she hasn't even asked the guy she's seeing to come there to celebrate with them, but quickly pushes the issue aside on her mind as she feels Taichi come up from behind her and rest his chin on her shoulder.

"Not bad, huh?" She asks him with a serene tone that he hasn't heard from her in a while. He smirks, turning slightly to get a better vision of her.

"Definitely not." He agrees, and she tilts her head on the side, just enough to take a look at him. Her movement makes him stir, and that's when Daisuke's voice tops the lively chit chat of the room as he starts counting down the seconds to the new year. The others are quick to follow his lead, and as they get to the last three digits they chant in unison: "Three… two… one… Happy New Year!"

She's not sure whom between her and Taichi makes the first move, but thinking about it, they'd probably came to the same conclusion as they'd both aimed for each other's lips. She knows he's aware of what he's doing, so the fact that it's over right after it starts doesn't surprise her. Still, she doesn't miss the shivers running down her spine as he trails his hand down her arm.

She casts a glance inside the living room: Catherine doesn't seem to have noticed anything. She's still beside Yamato near the table with the beverages, and he's just left a kiss on her cheek. Mimi takes a deep breath, but doesn't look at Taichi right away; the scene between Daisuke and Miyako catches her eyes, the two of them whining about having had to kiss the other, and she comes to the conclusion that at least for some of them not much has changed in almost ten years. Sora is patting Jyou's shoulder, laughing quietly at his distressed attitude coming from the fact that she'd left a peck on his lips when she'd seen that he wasn't gonna do anything after almost a minute.

Mimi finally looks aside, finding Taichi's eyes already fixed on hers with that hard look she likes to believe he reserves only to her in certain situations. She has to force all of herself not to reach out to him, grab his Christmas sweater in her fists and feel him. She doesn't even bother wondering why those desires are back altogether all of the sudden, so used to them waking up from time to time randomly; she only stares at him, not moving an inch nor offering a smile, fully aware of the fact that if she speaks, she'll break.

So she says silent, as does Taichi.

They don't notice Koushiro shaking his head.

XVII.

She'd thought that once he'd broke up with Catherine they'd find each other again to finally choose the road not taken in the past, but life for her just doesn't work that way and when he does leave Catherine after having been with her for the past nine months, it's when Michael shows up at Mimi's door.

It would be so easy to fall back into old memories and feelings, it would be as effortless as falling asleep, and she knows she'd feel a comfort and familiarity that she'd otherwise have to gain with everyone else. But that's the thing: going back to Michael would mean taking the easy way out, and deep down she knows that yearning for him was only a reflection of her old time desire to get with him one more time, a desire that had kept her awake for so many nights when she was eighteen.

When she tells him that, Michael understands. They both know they won't be hearing much from the other for another long time, just as they know they'll have to walk a long way before they'll be able to be good friends, but she'll always care for him no matter what decision they'd taken along the road, and she'll always treasure the memories they made as something dear to her, just as she'd done in the past years.

Michael leaves with a kiss on her forehead.

"You've really grown up." Sora's voice has that hint of proudness that makes Mimi feel like she's really accomplished something good for herself. She offers a tiny smile, yet somehow bittersweet.

"I still love him." She finally lets out, as if she'd waited years to declare that particular detail. "After three years, I still love him. The guy who left me after I gave him everything. I still love him." Mimi is shaking her head, but it's not disbelief what's painting her face, it's resignation.

"And yet you still chose to not go back to him." Sora's hands reach Mimi's over the small wooden table of the coffee shop they're sitting at, squeezing gently. "You can never truly forget your first love, Mimi. Learn to cherish the good memories you have with him. It's never all bad."

Mimi looks at her best friend for a couple of moments without saying anything, she only nods her head knowing that Sora is right again, and it's thanks to her if when they exit the little shop Mimi feels more ready to start over than she has been in a long time.

XVIII.

Sora's family cabin up north is smaller than what she remembers, and that particular detail is the primary source of havoc when they get there to spend the Golden Week weekend; she ponders that the fact that there are twelve of them would be an issue in general, as it had been all those times they had tried to find accommodations for their summer vacations in the past few years.

"Why would you have the right to claim that room?" Daisuke's voice is loud and skeptical as he points a finger at Yamato's chest. Yamato, on his counterpart, just looks utterly unimpressed as usual.

"Because it's Sora's cabin. And I am the one who's been in a relationship with her for the past eight years, so get out."

Mimi's eyes shoot up in a tired look. Daisuke had been going on about the master bedroom for so long that by now the majority of them were either sitting on the floor waiting for him to be done or had already fled the scene. Her head is leaning on Hikari's shoulder, the younger girl engaged in an intense texting session, considering she hadn't turned off her phone for the past twenty-five minutes.

"What do you even need the bed for then? You've had eight whole years to do each other, leave the opportunity to others!"

Mimi observes Miyako as her eyes snap open and she murmurs a "is that what all this is about?" in such a threatening whispered tone that makes Daisuke immediately shut his mouth and stare at her with a startled look on his face.

"God, you're so infantile!" Now she raises her voice as well as lifts herself up to walk straight to Daisuke's spot with a hand closed in a dangerous looking fist. "As if someone here would ever purposively sleep with you!" She cries out loud and even if he's a couple of inches taller than her, she still looks like she could end him right there.

/

Sora and Yamato really do end up sleeping Sora's parents' bedroom after Yamato reminds Daisuke of that one time he had to go out with his sister Jun before he got together with Sora, which at the time had caused friction between him and his longtime girlfriend (Mimi remembers how frustrated Sora had been when she'd found out he'd taken Jun on a date after having spent the past month giving Sora signals of his interest towards her) .

"You owe me one, Motomiya. Now move." Had been his last words before closing the door behind him, and Daisuke had been the only one left with no bed since everyone else in the meantime had claimed one.

Pretty much all of the guys were sleeping in Sora's room, which provided two sets of bunk beds that Iori, Takeru, Ken and Jyou had taken. Miyako and Hikari were sleeping on the fold out sofa bed in the living room, while Koushiro had declared the other tiny couch his after Mimi had argued with him over the single bed in the guest room (she'd gone full on Princess Mimi on him and he'd known better than to resist her after a while), which left Taichi and Daisuke to sleep in sleeping bags on the floor of Sora's room and while Taichi had affirmed from the start that he didn't mind where he'd slept, the younger was still pouting when Mimi had left the guys to retire to her own room to finally doze off after a whole day spent outside.

The guest room can easily be called a hole for how small it is, but Mimi doesn't mind as long as she can have her beauty sleep in peace without having to worry about hearing multiple guys snoring within her earshot. She's about to fall into slumber when she hears her door opening quietly, and she sits up to try to see who it is that is entering the room.

"Miyako?" She calls out softly, expecting her friend to show up as she'd done countless of times in situations like that to gossip about whatever had happened during the day. But it's not Miyako who's now closing the door behind them, it's Taichi.

"Sorry. Were you asleep already?" He whispers back, now walking to her bed. She shakes her head, positive that he can see her in the dim light that comes from the lamp outside on the porch through the window shutters, and she slides over on the bed, making space for him to sit. Except instead of sitting, he straightly lies down next to her on his back, looking at the ceiling. She mirrors his movements, lying flat on her back.

"Do you think Yamato and Sora are doing it?" He asks absentmindedly. She turns her head to look at him between bewildered and amused, keeping a giggle to herself because of how spontaneous the question had been.

"I think they prefer privacy." She replies, turning her face again to stare at the ceiling.

"False. Remember New Year's Eve 2009?"

"The noises from their room, oh god.", she finishes for him with a chuckle.

"The mystery of the squeaking bed -"

"- and the howling ghosts."

They break down into giggles, and Taichi covers Mimi's mouth with his hand when she suddenly raises her voice, unable to control herself.

"Shut up, Daisuke is gonna kill me if he knows I'm not sharing his pain sleeping on the floor like him." He fights to keep a straight face, but her raised eyebrows break him and he has to shut his eyes to try to contain himself. When they finally manage to calm down, she's facing him by laying on her side and his arm is spread under her head. She smiles at him, but they don't say anything for a while, occupied in listening to each other's steady breathing.

"Do you think they'll get married?"

"Why are you so obsessed with Sora and Yamato?" She replies his question with another ore, enjoying messing with him. He scowls.

"It's just a question."

Her hand falls on his chest, but she keeps it still, afraid that she'll cross a line she doesn't know where is placed.

"They've been together since they were fourteen, and they're twenty-two now. I think it's safe to say it's gonna happen sooner or later."

She'd thought about it, but she'd never dared ask Sora what, in fact, was their plan. Her best friend had always been the farthest thing that could ever possibly exist from her, but that was probably why their friendship had always been such a strong one. Mimi, on her part, as the years had passed had found herself to be not so keen on the idea of young marriage, but with Sora and Yamato she'd always known that it was something that would work out, purely because of the fact that it was Sora and Yamato together, and that's one of those things that just make sense and are there, always.

"They've been through half of their lives together, we all have. Them breaking up would be like thinking we could ever find another group of friends." She finishes, now moving her fingers to trace small imaginary curves on his chest. He shoots her a glance, half smiling, and her eyes softens.

"I mean, we did go through Jyou's first hook up with a random girl." He ponders.

"Or your reaction when you found that empty condom pack in your kitchen's trashcan." She recalls with a smirk painting her soft lines. His smile falls as he's hit with that particular memory.

"We don't talk about that." He grimaces. "And Takeru did it on purpose."

"We were all surprised when you didn't strangle him the next morning."

"Only because she loved him. I can kill him now no problem."

Mimi shakes her head, amused. She remembers how Koushiro had been the one to casually tip off Takeru to pull the prank on his then girlfriend's big brother when he was struggling with coming up with a way of not letting his mother discover he was sexually active (he had the whole angelical aura façade to keep intact).

His hand draws closer to Mimi's and she observes it as it twitches ever so slightly when it's almost over hers, but he must come to the conclusion that she'd wondered about a little earlier, and he places it instead on her forearm, rubbing the spot on her skin almost imperceptibly. She feels something rise inside her chest, and then she says the first thing that comes up to her mind just to keep herself occupied in every possible way.

"Has Daisuke told you anything about Miyako?"

"Nothing apart from the usual whining. Which has increased, now that I think about it."

"Same. She keeps whimpering about how annoying and childish he is. You've seen them today. They're so gonna do it." She comments, referring to the little scene they'd witnessed earlier, which had only been the latter of their never-ending back and forth that day.

"Wanna bet?" He offers with an expectant look.

"How many bets are going on between all of us, exactly?"

He stops his hand movement for a moment as he thinks intently with one eyebrow arched and his eyes looking up; her fingers keep moving, trailing up from his chest until she reaches the neckline of the soft t-shirt he uses as his pajama top, then she follows the line of his neck up and up to his chin, made rough by a layer of stubble.

She smiles, remembering how one time when she was eighteen and he was nineteen she'd told him how she liked him better with some scruff on his face instead of the clean shaven version of him. He'd started to grow this five days stubble look ever since, until he'd gotten together with Catherine, who Mimi had guessed wasn't a big fan of scruffy Taichi, since he'd gone back to his old clean look for a long time when he was in a relationship with her and some time after. But now it seemed it was back, and she was pretty pleased about it.

"Like you girls are that innocent." His voice brings her back to the present. "Sora's been betting with Jyou for years. And I know you do too with Koushiro."

She chuckles lightly, now tracing the lines of his lips absentmindedly. "Actually, usually it's me and Koushiro betting against Sora and Jyou. And we always win, always. Those two are terrible with placing bets." She comments without looking at his eyes, instead fixing her glance on her fingers and their light movements on his lips.

He doesn't make any retorts, and she doesn't draw back her hand. She's suddenly aware of how her body is now leaning against his, how his one arm is hanging down her back, gently caressing it, and how his free left hand is still gripping her right arm. She doesn't feel nervous, on the contrary: she feels calm and at ease just like many other times before, as if that's where she's supposed to be.

But she's also suddenly aware of where the line stands, and she knows she's not ready to cross it yet, because this time, unlike before, she knows she'd want to face the consequences of it, and not run away from them as they'd done all those months before. So they stay silent, each breath taken sounding like the ticking of a clock, reminding them that he'll have to leave the room before morning, and once he will they'd have to start pretending again that they're only friends, just as she and Koushiro or Takeru and Iori are. Just best friends.

"Where did we go wrong?" Is the last whisper she hears before she falls asleep in his arms. She looks up at him, finding herself unable to read into his eyes. She shakes her head, a hint of sadness painting her irises.

"I don't know."

XIX.

It's summer again, and they decide to spend a couple of weeks away from the city. She was supposed to go to Hawaii with her parents, but Miyako had begged her to come at the last minute and she couldn't say no to her younger friend who looked like she was in the verge of tears. Which had been only because she'd been afraid she'd sleep with Daisuke. Again.

So there she is now, in that summer house they rented on the hill (because near the beach was too expensive for their cheap asses), sprawled on the wicker couch in the backyard, trying to make some air by waving her history of media book she's supposed to be studying.

"Mimi. Study." Sora's voice calls her for the umpteenth time and Mimi rolls her eyes, covering her face with the book she's holding.

"Jyou? Is that you?" She gets back at her sarcastically, but Sora seems prone on staying serious. Bummer.

"He was the one who told me to keep an eye on you, you know that."

"Yeah, well, he was the one who decided to stay home just so he could write his dissertation in peace," she holds up her arm to mimic quotation marks, "so he can't really expect me to study all day, and all afternoon, and all night, and-"

She hears Sora's steps come closer to her, but she doesn't move; when her friend picks up the book from her face, Mimi still keeps her eyes shut.

"I'm going to the beach with the others. When I'm back I'm asking you everything that's written in chapter five. Everything, Mimi."

Mimi doesn't reply, she snorts only when she hears Sora shut the window door on the rear of the house.

Stupid exams. How could they possibly think that she could study while at the seaside? It was unnatural and just plain crazy. She turns her head on the side, looking at the empty bottles sitting on the small coffee table that had been there since the previous night when they had played a card drinking game. She doesn't even remember which one, she only knows that at a point Sora had wanted to call Yamato on the phone to propose to him and they all had to constrain her from reaching her iPhone until Taichi had grabbed it and passed it to Koushiro, kicking it as if he'd been playing soccer, and then Koushiro's own soccer instincts had taken over his body and he had thrown it between two trees he'd clearly mistaken for a goal with the phone disappearing into the wilderness over the fences of the property as a result. When Sora had woken up that morning, it hadn't been pretty.

Now that she thinks about it, she hadn't even seen Koushiro or Taichi at all that day. They'd probably been at the beach since the morning in order to avoid eye contact with Sora, and she doesn't blame them, really, she actually feels for them, those poor fools. Daisuke and Miyako, on the contrary, had been overly loud since they'd woken up, whining nonstop about how bad of an headache they had, as if they were the only ones experiencing it. Sora had spent the whole morning with Ken, who had been the only one brave enough to come near her, but it had seemed like his presence had been somehow therapeutic to her, since by lunch she'd looked a little calmer (the word 'phone' was still taboo though).

And that was it, just the seven of them because Jyou had decided to stay home to focus completely on his dissertation, Yamato and Takeru had bailed the sea to go on a hiking trip with Iori tagging along, and Hikari was currently in Colorado with her boyfriend Wallace, an exchange student she had met the previous semester (lucky girl).

She manages to move only after five minutes of questioning herself if eating something is really worth getting up. She reaches the open kitchenette on the side of the living room and she starts opening counters and cabinets in order to find something to put in her now growling stomach.

"Why don't we have anything to eat?" She whispers in a displeased tone to herself.

"Because we haven't gone to the store in three days."

Mimi jumps on her place, a hand shooting on top of her heart as to steady its pumping, scared by the sudden noise that she hadn't been expecting to hear, considering she'd thought everyone was out.

"Fuck you, Taichi, you scared the shit out of me." She snaps at him, and his reaction only fuels her exasperation.

"Love it when you talk dirty to me." He comments with an ever present smirk on his stupid face. He casually walks past her, reaching up the cabinet to get the pack of half eaten cookies and then reverts on his steps and leaves her there, with her hand still clutching her heart.

It had been weird, those last couple of months, between the two of them. Not necessarily in a bad way, just weird. Ever since that day in the cabin, Mimi had found herself back on what Sora and Yamato now called 'the Taichi mode', which basically meant that her and him had started to spend more time together unashamedly flirting with one another, and then denying that there ever was anything going on, except that she would bitch to Sora if he'd sleep with some other girl and he would bitch to Sora if she'd go out on dates, to the point where Sora had blocked both their numbers for a week, which had resulted in them turning to Yamato, except he didn't even listen, so they both went to Koushiro, but he had flipped them off, until all of their friends had one way or another started to ignore the whole situation.

Frustrated, she follows him up the stairs until she reaches the bedroom where he sleeps with Koushiro, finding him lying with his head on the end of the bed and his feet on the pillows. The cookie box is on the nightstand, untouched.

"Is that Koushiro's bed?" She asks almost rhetorically.

"That it is." He confirms. She considers it for a couple of seconds, then she climbs on the bed, lying flat on her stomach half on the mattress and half on him, with her feet on the pillow side of the bed as well. He grins, moving a hand to her head and passing his fingers through her soft long hair. She smiles back, instantly forgetting why she had been so flustered just a few moments before.

"What have you done all day?" She asks, her head leaning on his chest.

"Couldn't move, my foot hurts like hell." He explains with a grimace; she tilts her head up to look at him with an eyebrow arched, half amused.

"You played soccer with Sora's iPhone."

"Yeah, I remember it distinctly. Thank you." He retorts and she goes back to her position. Well, she considers, at least he'd been silent about his pain, unlike Daisuke and Miyako who managed to get her an headache of her own.

Without thinking about it, she moves so that she's now lying fully over him, her head resting on his chest in a way that makes her hear his heart beating, her legs tangled with his and her right hand searching for his left one. He grabs it and he links their fingers together, and Mimi once again is stunned by how natural it feels to be so close to him, as if they they're two pieces of the same puzzle.

She caresses the side of his hand with her thumb while he keeps playing with her hair, and in a moment she's back to that May of a couple of years before, when he'd first touched her differently and it had been like realizing that was what she'd really craved for as long as she could remember. Even after all those months, she'd still found herself dreaming about scenes from that night, wondering what could've happened if they'd been alone instead of being surrounded by all those people.

And they had been alone many times afterwards, but for a reason or another nothing had ever happened, except for some kisses here and stolen touches there, because there had been denial, Catherine, Michael, pretense, other girls, other guys, and after such a long time she hadn't been sure about what she really wanted, concluding at a point that maybe that thing for Taichi was only a fixation and nothing more. But she did want to find out how it could be, and they'd come so close to crossing the line that now she wonders why she'd resisted for so long.

Just a couple of months earlier she'd been in the same situation, but she hadn't taken the chance. Now she does, not sure if out of tiredness or desire. She only turns her head to him, surprised to find his eyes already fixed on hers, as if he'd been reading her mind the whole time, and it's no surprise when she stretches out to reach his lips.

He welcomes her free of doubts, his moves determined as he shift them around to make her lay under him, without releasing the hold of her hand once. She tightens the grip, parting her lips to catch his between hers, and he's sweet and it's right and as he pushes his body to coincide with hers a familiar tingling takes her whole. A groan almost escapes her when his mouth leaves hers, but it's replaced by a soft moan when he kisses her ear, tracing its line with his tongue; she feels a shiver run down her spine, and she's about to move her hands up to bury her fingers in his hair when he catches her, keeping her arms down pinned to the mattress.

When she looks up at him, his eyes are on her lips, and she instinctively bites her bottom one, shying away from him. He smiles tenderly at her display, shakes his head and leans down to kiss her again, this time on the mouth. Her hips push up to grind against his, and she smirks with her lips on his as she feels him through only two layers of bathing suits.

This time there's no "what are you doing", there are no words, only breaths and sighs and desires. She urges him to remove whatever small amount of clothing they're wearing to begin with, but he takes his sweet time to do so, to travel down with his tongue, to part her legs, to ease her need of him, of every part of him, to the point she's pretty sure she's going mad.

It's hot and then cold, and when she shoots a glance down and sees his scruffy jaw grazing her thighs she feels an even bigger, heavier sensation inside of her, but it's not low on her body, it's up, upper than her stomach, up where her chest is, but she can't quite put a finger on it. Her spine arches, his grip tightens, and when she's sure she can't take it anymore he stops, leaving her shaky and on edge.

She's about to ask him what he's doing, though she's not even sure if her voice even works, but she stops when she sees him dig through the unfolded clothes in his bag and then rise up with a small colored object in his hand. She watches him as he unwraps the aluminum envelope and rolls the condom down on himself. He walks to the bed, but instead of climbing on it, he picks her up; she wraps her legs around him and kisses him deeply as he moves to the bed on the other side of the room, where he lays her down and climbs on top of her.

When he's finally inside of her she feels full, as if all that time she'd been missing a piece. He never stops placing kisses on every free spot on her skin, and she never lets her hands not hold him. They move in unison, and it's not as she'd imagined it, it's frantic and soft and right and it makes her complete, and as she places her head on the crook of his neck, holding herself onto him, so close she doesn't know where she finishes and where he starts, she wonders if this is what's like to purposively jump and knowingly fall.

Even if it's not easy, even if she doesn't know how or when it will happen, even if she's not even sure if it would actually work, it would be impossible for them not to fall into one another after having spent so many years chasing each other without even realizing it.

Good things take time, and with all the time it took for this to happen, she's pretty positive it will turn out to be good. Even if it takes ten more years for them to make it.

So she lets herself fall under his touch.

XXI.

They schedule the wedding a few days before Christmas, so that it falls on their tenth year anniversary. She keeps going on about how utterly romantic it is. He thinks it's fucking cheesy, and he'll never stop reminding it to Yamato.

"Have you seen my hairband?" Mimi's voice comes from her bathroom. He smirks, peeking through the door.

"Pretty sure you forgot it at our place. You know, since you threw it on the floor when you were untying your hair while on top of me."

She stops for a moment what she's doing with the curling iron to her hair, which he has to admit looks pretty complicated, to shoot him an amazed look.

"How do you remember all those details but you can't recall your mother's phone number for the life of you?"

He tries to look innocent, but fails miserably. He's too pleased by his impeccable memory when it comes to his sex life (which he is very proud and very satisfied of, by the way).

"I have my priorities." He offers a big smile at her, then he steps in the bathroom, placing himself behind her and leaving a soft kiss on Mimi's ear.

It takes her by surprise, because her first instinct is to tilt her head to the side so that he can trail down with his lips on her neck.

"Actually, I have my priority." He rectifies, whispering in her ear. He feels her leaning back against him in a spontaneous non calculated way as he'd known she would've, but her eyes snap open when she figures out what he's doing. She shrieks loudly, brandishing the hot iron in her hand and turning around, and he has to duck when she does so in order to not let her burn his face in her act (Sora would go bonkers if he presented himself at hers and Yamato's wedding with a fresh bruise on his forehead).

"Stop that. We can't be late!" She cries out, and he knows she's trying to convince herself as well and not just him. He slowly stands up again.

"Doesn't take that long." He tries anyway with a shrug of his shoulders. Mimi's right eyebrow shoots up and her face just screams 'oh, really?'.

"Nine hours, Taichi. Nine hours." She reminds him while taking a strand of her long hair and curling it around the iron. He's reminded of their last encounter, ended not much longer than a couple of hours earlier.

"And it's not even the record." He adds proudly. She smiles amidst herself, not wanting to let him win that round, so she's quick to change subject.

"What do you think they'll say when they find out we are each other's plus one?" She wonders aloud. He sits down on the closed toilet.

"Dunno. They've probably figured it out already anyway. I think there were a couple of bets going on." He says casually.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." She resolves. She puts down the curling iron, unplugging it from the wall. Then she bends down, and reaching under her bridesmaid pastel blue skirt of the pretty dress she's wearing, she swiftly removes her underwear. He stares, his mouth slightly parted, taken aback from her sudden move. She looks at herself in the mirror, checking if her makeup is okay, then heads out of the bathroom to go fetch her purse.

He is frozen on the toilet seat, still staring at the place in front of the sink where she was standing just a minute before.

"You ready?" She calls for him from her bedroom, and he comes back to life.

"I was born ready!" He finally responds, sitting up so fast he almost blacks out.

It was gonna be an interesting wedding.