Note: I've never written a story about Tai before, his thoughts and everything. I've always had everything from Matt's perspective. So I hope I did ok!

"Damn it!!" The tall, slender blonde slumped down in the driver's seat of his car and slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

The smaller brunette sitting next to him raised an eyebrow and backed away a bit, until he was brushing against the car door.

"What's the matter this time? I've been waiting in here for ten minutes," he said.

"I failed my god damn math homework AGAIN," he ran his hand through his baby soft hair absent mindedly and tossed the paper he had brought with him in a random direction. It landed in the other boy's lap. "This is the third time this week! If I keep failing I'm going to have to take stupid calculus again next year and be in the same class as Izzy."

Taichi Yagami lifted up the paper and glanced over it. It was filled with slanted handwriting and numbers and figures he didn't even understand. There was also a grade on the top of the paper, 35%.

"Ouch..." he said softly, referring to the failing mark. "Why don't you ask them to put you in the regular math class with me? You can say you weren't ready to skip ahead."

Yamato Ishida picked his head up which he had leaning against the steering wheel and looked out the windshield.

"I'm not stupid, I know how to do it." Tai winced a bit at Matt's remark, like it was beneath him to be the in regular math class. "I just can't concentrate," he continued.

"Well what's the matter?" He leaned back closer to his friend wishing he would make eye contact and stop acting so cold, but he didn't.

"Just... stuff. I don't know, I'm confused." He sighed, ran his hand through his blonde hair again and leaned back in the seat.

"About what?" Tai took the paper and slid it gently into Matt's school bag that had been tossed on the dashboard.

"Forget about it."

Tai sighed, his best friend could be so closed off.

"Are we still going ice skating?" The brown eyed boy asked.

"Yeah..." Matt jammed the key into the ignition and the engine started humming. Tai eased back into his seat and tried to think of something else to talk about as the car pulled out of the student parking lot.

"So, been on any good dates lately?"

"I'm sick of dating, it's stupid." He said emotionlessly.

Tai grumbled and tried to think of something else. Matt was hard to get out of a bad mood when he decided he was going to be mad.

"Did you remember to bring a scarf?" He asked. He smiled and little and hoped it would lighten the atmosphere.

"I don't really know how to ice skate you know."

"Huh?"

"I said I don't really know how to ice skate!" he snapped.

"Then how come you said you would go ice skating with me?" Tai folded his arms across his chest.

"Because, I didn't want to be a jerk and say no. You can ice skate, I'll just hang out and watch." He ran his fingers through his hair for a third time. He seemed to do that a lot when he was frustrated.

"No way!" Tai protested. Matt gave him a dirty look and then shifted his eyes back to the road. "I'm not gonna let you sit around in the cold. I'll teach you how, it'll be fun!"

"I don't feel like having fun."

"Yes you do." Tai punched him in the arm lightly and grinned. "I'm gonna make you have fun Ishida and then tomorrow we can have Joe or Izzy help you with your math. Don't you have a test coming up on Monday?"

"Yeah..."

"Good, we can study then." He placed his hand on Matt's shoulder and leaned over. "Now smile, let me see the Ishida charm."

"No."

"Come on... I know you can." He started poking at the corners of Matt's mouth.

"You're going to make me run somebody over!"

"DO IT!"

Matt flashed a cheesy looking and obviously fake smile and shoved Tai back into his seat. Tai giggled impishly and grinned. He glanced back over at the handsome teenager and saw a real smile creeping onto his face, success. He felt satisfied knowing he was the only one that could cheer Matt up and watched the emotions written in his friend's features on the way to the ice skating rink, trying to imagine what he was thinking about.

Matt laced up his ice skates and Tai sat next to him on the bench. He had already gotten his on and tied quite some time ago. The blue eyed boy's hair kept falling into his eyes as he fiddled with the last few laces.

"You have pretty big feet, Matt." He had been a little surprised when the tall blonde had asked for size 12 and a half skates at the rental booth. Tai smiled as his friend brushed the same few strands of hair behind his ear over and over.

"Well you know what they say about guys with big feet." He pulled his pant legs down over the top of the now tied skates and sat up.

"Huh?"

Matt smirked a bit and shook his head.

"Nevermind.."

"Ok, so are you ready?" Tai got up onto the ice and held his blue mitten covered hands out for Matt to grab on to.

"Err... Do I have to?" He took one of the mittened hands reluctantly.

"You took 15 minutes getting your skates on, now you're gonna learn how to skate, mister." Tai grabbed his other hand and pulled the owner off the bench. As soon as he rose to his feet, his lanky legs folded underneath him and he started to sink to his knees. The shorter boy reached under Matt's arms and pulled him back up.

It must have looked comical to see Tai holding up someone so much taller than him. Halfway through their tenth year of school, Matt had grown to be just over 6 feet tall while Tai remained short and petite, around 5 foot 8. Tai's hair, however, made up for the difference in height.

"Can't you hold yourself up at all?" Tai said, now struggling with almost all of Matt's weight leaning against him.

"No, it's too slippery!"

"Duh, it's ice, stupid." He hoisted Matt until he was standing straight up with his toes pointed slightly in. He skated back a few feet and waited to see if the other boy would start to fall. When he was still standing after about a minute Tai decided it was time to try moving.

"Ok, now just do exactly what I do, kay?"

"Tai, I can barely stand up!" The brunette had started to skate away and now turned back around. Matt looked so adorable with his scarf and earmuffs on, and his long legs bending awkwardly inward. Tai grinned.

"Don't worry, it's easy once you get going." He pulled his blue headband down over his ears a bit to block the icy wind and started to skate around the rink. There weren't many other people there at the moment and he was glad, this way Matt wouldn't have to worry about bumping into anyone. He made one lap around the ice and came back to the pale skinned boy, whose cheeks were starting to turn pink from the cold. He hadn't moved an inch.

"Ok, now you try, just move your feet like I did."

"I'm going to fall..." He looked down at the ice uneasily. Tai didn't usually see Matt in a vulnerable position such as this. He never relied on anyone for help, part of the reason he was failing math. He thought he could do it all himself. The little tan skinned boy noted that his partner was usually the best at everything he did, best musician, best cook, best dancer, best looking...

Tai took Matt's hand, which was clothed in a black glove, in his own.

"Hold my hand, I won't let you fall." He smiled and Matt smiled back, though not quite as enthusiastically.

He squeezed Tai's hand tightly for support and pushed off slowly as his best friend moved forward.

"Woah, don't try to go so fast," Tai said, when the blonde started to topple backwards. He skated behind him and held onto his shoulders.

"How about I'll give you a little push and you try to skate?"

"Just don't push me and let me go because I guarantee you I'll land right on my face."

"Well I just saved you from landing on your butt. I'm not gonna let you fall, stop worrying!"

He skated forward, pushing Matt gently. His blue eyes glanced behind him and soon the two boys' feet were moving in the same rhythm.

"We must look like we're in a really short conga line," Matt said, once he had mastered the art of moving forward without breaking his neck. Tai giggled slightly.

"Do you wanna try going by yourself?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be alright now." Tai let go of Matt, he wobbled for a second but managed to get back into the rhythm again. He went along with the flow of the other skaters around the rink while Tai did little figure eights around in the middle and then started going in circles around him.

"Quit showing off!" Matt said, trying to sound annoyed but laughing at the same time.

"Why? You always do." Matt blushed slightly as Tai stuck his tongue out and skated backwards away from him. He skated around the outside of the rink and watched the bushy haired boy do tricks in the middle, until he tried to pull a backwards figure eight on one foot and landed on his toosh.

The tall boy skated quickly over and kneeled down on the ice.

"Are you ok, Tai?" He sat up and rubbed his rear end for a moment.

"Yeah... I think I'll stop showing off now." He got up and brushed the ice shavings off his pants, but Matt stayed in a crouching position.

"Try to stand up and get going by yourself now." He said.

Matt nodded and slowly got to his feet without slipping. He skated carefully across the ice, turned, and came slowly back to Tai, bumping against him softly to stop himself. Tai wrapped his arms around Matt's waist to help him stop and smiled.

"See? I told you it was easy!"

"Yeah..." Matt smiled too and looked down at his friend. They held each other, not moving, and Tai stared up into the blue eyes in front of him. He began to feel so warm pressed up against the other boy, despite the chilly December temperatures. Beginning to lose himself in the blue pools, Tai thought about the change he had been feeling lately.

"Matt and I seem like we're getting closer than we used to be. Why do I feel like I want to be around him all the time? Maybe it's because we're getting older. We've finally gotten over all those fights we had when we were little. But what if it's more than that, what if I'm.... No, this is just too weird... this can't happen, not to me."

"Hey Tai!" The voice sent his train of thought flying off a bridge and broke his stare.

"What? Sorry, did you say something?"

"Are you done hugging me now, Miss?" The tall blonde said. Tai realized he still had his arms around his waist and let go. He backed up, scratching the side of his nose.

"Heh, sorry..." He could tell he was blushing deeply, but hoped it could pass off as red tint from the cold.

"It's starting to get kind of dark, maybe we should head home," Matt said, apparently unconcerned about what had just happened and not noticing Tai's blush.

"Sure."

Matt tucked his loose hair behind his ear.

"Thanks for teaching me how to skate," he said as they skated back to the rental booth to return their skates and put their shoes on.

"No problem!" Tai said cheerfully.

"Do you want to come over for supper?" Matt asked as they put their shoes back on.

"Only if you're cooking."

"Naturally."

Matt took his earmuffs off and combed his hair when they got into the car. Tai wondered how anyone could touch their hair so much, trying to remember the last time he brushed his own. He stared at Matt in the rearview mirror, his blue eyes locked on the road as they pulled out.

"He's got such pretty hair..." He thought. As he began to picture his own hands running through Matt's blonde hair, he caught himself and looked out the window.

"What's the matter with me... Why can't I stop feeling this way?"

~~There is more coming, I think this is going to be a good one... uh, at least I hope so! Please review.~~