"Laws of Motion"

Fandom: Digimon Adventure/02
Genre: General/Romance
Summary: Adventure/02: Taichi gets a crash course in physics from the person he likes most. Taishiro.
Rating: G
Warnings: None

This could be seen a standalone or a short sequel to "The Great Unknown," whichever your pleasure.

This isn't so bad, Koushiro thought as he glided cautiously along the wall of the rink. Learning how to ice skate was, after all, just a simple application of physics. It was a matter of keeping your balance, maintaining a low center of gravity, and most importantly, taking it slow and not rushing into anyth—

WHAM.

Taichi wasn't really sure how he had ended up here. All he knew was that at some point he realized he was moving much too fast, and his body had already outstripped the part of his brain that remembered how to slow down or stop. He hadn't even been able to shout out a warning before colliding with someone, a poor, defenseless soul who just happened to be his favorite redhead in the entire world. The two boys had gone flying, sliding and spinning across the ice. Koushiro had somehow managed to fall backwards onto his seat, but Taichi had gone down face-first, and was now sprawled gracelessly in the vicinity of Koushiro's lap.

"Um. Hi there, Kou," he said sheepishly. He tried to extricate himself from the other boy's legs, but slipped again in the process. Despite the cold, he could feel his ears burning with embarrassment. "Are you OK?"

Koushiro took a quick mental inventory. He was still a bit stunned, but didn't seem to be any worse for the wear. "I'm all right," he said, carefully sliding out from underneath Taichi. "What about you?"

"M'fine," Taichi mumbled into the ice. After a few more flailing attempts, he finally managed to roll over onto his back and sit up. "Not sure I'll ever manage to get the hang of this, though."

Kousiro saw the hint of frustration on his boyfriend's face, the tangled nest of hair falling into dark brown eyes, and the nose that was starting to turn red with cold. "Nonsense," he said with an encouraging smile. "You'll get it, you just have to remember that the laws of motion affect you a little differently out here."

Taichi looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Koushiro began. "For example, an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless it's acted upon by an outside force. Since there's less friction on the ice, it's a lot easier to move, and you don't need to work as hard to maintain or increase your speed." He stood up slowly, brushing himself off in the process. "Of course, the faster you go, the more momentum you gather, and the more energy you impart when you collide with something."

Taichi grimaced. "I'm... really sorry about that."

Koushiro shook his head. "Don't worry about it. But it does bring us to one final concept: that every action has an equal and opposite reaction." He pressed the gloved heels of his palms together by way of demonstration. "When you fall, your body pushes down on the ice, but the ice pushes back on your body with the exact same force," he explained. "Luckily, we can apply the very same principle to get you up again." He held out a hand and began helping Taichi to his feet.

Taichi wobbled upright. He stood unsteadily for a few seconds, lost his balance, and pitched forward. He would have gone down again if he hadn't managed to catch hold of Koushiro's forearm, but after all that he was still technically standing, clinging to the other boy as if he were a life preserver.

"See?" Koushiro said, still smiling. "You're pushing on my arm, but I'm pushing right back against you. That way, we support each other, and neither of us falls."

Taichi looked somewhat mollified. "Yeah. I guess so."

"No one starts out good at this sort of thing. Just take your time, listen to your body, and eventually it'll start to feel more natural," Koushiro said, leaning down to plant a kiss on his boyfriend's frozen cheek. "It also might be a good idea for you to learn how to fall, because I would really hate to see you get hurt. I can help you with that, if you want."

Taichi nodded, aware of the reassuring pressure of Koushiro's hand on his as they started to drift forward together. But even though Koushiro felt completely solid and steady next to him, Taichi couldn't shake the feeling that he himself was still careening out of control. He wondered if maybe he had hit the ice harder than he thought.

No, that's not it, he corrected himself. Perhaps it had taken that one spectacular fall and Kousihiro's physics lesson to help him realize it, but this— the feeling of being dazed and exhilarated and unable to stop— was how he always felt when he was around Koushiro. Koushiro, who provided the momentum for him to keep going forward. Who was in so many ways his compliment, his equal and opposite force. Who, as it so happened, had been right about him all along.

Taichi was still learning how to fall.

And honestly? He wouldn't have it any other way.

~Fin.