Summary: He yelps in surprise and I swear to God I'm not any less shocked than he is. I mean I certainly didn't plan to do that.

I guess it's just because I've got this reflex that always causes me to do stuff that pops up in my head –which could be practically anything.

This time, the idea of kissing him popped up in my head and so I did, much to my own surprise.

In just a matter of a few thoughtless minutes, Yamato managed to change everyone's opinion about him, his friendship with Taichi, and last but not least -in fact, a whole lot more than he ever realized- his self-identity.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, or any of the characters

Warnings: graphic language

Chapter one

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"Hi guys!" A girl with short red hair waved at her two friends who were sitting at a table, just starting to eat. It was Wednesday, and one of those generous days where the students managed to drag themselves out to eat lunch outdoors at the school's cafeteria.

"Hey Sora", Yamato greeted and continued eating. She sat down next to Taichi and placed her food on the table.

"Where's Mimi?" said boy beside her asked around the junk food that was supposed to be his lunch.

"She took the day off so that she and her mom could go on their 'special shopping trip' they do like once a year. Isn't that the most stupid thing you've ever heard?" the redhead exclaimed, not bothering to hide the side of her that separated her from her best friend.

Yamato swallowed and answered quickly. "Nope."

She looked him. "Huh?"

Yamato pointed at Taichi across the table, smirking evilly. "Actually, the most stupid thing I've ever heard was when Tai tried to explain to Mrs Aoki why he hadn't done his homework…" Yamato started, happily ignoring his best friend's groan and 'not this again..'.

Sora smirked and glanced at Taichi. "This is gonna be good…"

"Shut up", Taichi muttered and took another huge bite of his burger.

"We were supposed to read these certain pages in our chemistry book, which every one did – every one except this rather odd guy named Yagami Taichi."

Sora giggled and Taichi gave Yamato a weird face. Yamato ignored him and continued his story

-'-

"… so then she said 'Okay Tai, so if all of that is true –witch I doubt- how come you remembered to bring your chemistry book?' and he just stands there for a few seconds and looks stupid…"

"Shut up…"

"… and then he said 'Well… you see, I put it in my bag, so wouldn't forget it, 'cause I often do that…'"

Sora looked at Taichi, looking almost sorry for him. "Oh, Tai... you are so, so-"

"Well what the hell was I supposed to do? I'd just completely used all my brilliant ideas to make up that incredible story, and then she just blows it all by asking me that question!"

"Tai… I don't think she would've bought it anyway…" Yamato commented, giving him a grin that made the brunet want to punch him.

"What do you know anyway…?" Taichi muttered, glaring at him.

"Enough to do my homework…" Yamato retorted easily, leaning back from his finished meal and put his hands behind his head.

"Who does homework when there are so many better things to do?" the brunet shot back, genuinely confused.

The blond raised his eyebrows. "…Like…?"

"Well let's see… watch TV, eat, play football, sleep, eat… uh… not doing homework…"

Yamato and Sora glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

-'-

"I did not!"

"Yeah you did! And then she couldn't even say a word! She just stood there, staring at the ground until they came back and picked her up."

The three friends were sitting in the hallway, not having class for the next twenty minutes. The two guys laughed at Sora, who was blushing.

"You don't get it! He was so hot! I just went completely dumb."

"Sora has a crush on Haruhiko…"

"Shut up, Tai! It's not a crush, he's just… aw, come on, you've gotta admit he's gorgeous!"

"Sure, he's so cute I just wanna eat him up!" Taichi said perkily.

"Tai, you're so gross…"

Taichi turned his attention to the blond teen. "What? I'm just telling the girl what she wants to hear! That's what friends are for, right?"

"And those muscles…" Sora continued with a dreamy face. "He must work out… "

"Hey, I work out too!" Taichi protested. Sora glanced at him. Then she looked at Yamato. He nodded, a bit reluctantly.

"He actually does."

Sora shrugged. "Well, it doesn't show anyway…"

"You just can't admit it! Look at this!" Taichi raised his arm and pulled the sleeve back to show his bicep.

Yamato rolled his eyes and Sora giggled.

"Go ahead –feel! Hard as rock!"

There were some girls at a table not far away, who were watching them. Sora felt his biceps –sure, he had some muscles, but not like Haruhiko.

"Very impressive, Tai…" she said sarcastically.

"I know! " Taichi said happily and turned to Yamato. Sora shook her head, chuckling at his unawareness.

After having the brunet staring expectantly at him for a few seconds, Yamato shot back a questioning glance. "What?"

"Feel!"

Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't think so…"

"Aw, come on! You know you want to…" Taichi wiggled his eyebrows and the girls who were watching them giggled. Yamato sighed and squeezed his upper arm a little.

"Pitiful", he smirked and the girls laughed at the brunet's expression.

"Like you've got any!" Taichi shot back, pouting.

"Maybe not, but at least I'm not bragging over nothing." his friend reasoned with a shrug.

"But Matt, you run, right?" Sora said over Taichi's shoulder. The blue-eyed teen nodded.

"Which was my idea!" Taichi interrupted. The blond shrugged. "Yeah, he was kinda the one who dragged me into it. But it's great! I'm really starting to see results. In the beginning it was so painful and just way too exhausting…"

The girls at the table looked very interested by now. Yamato didn't seem to notice.

"…but then it actually started to get better –just like you said it would." Yamato continued, turning to Taichi.

More giggles were heard from the table, Taichi and Sora exchanged glances but then just shrugged it off and looked at Yamato again.

"Yeah, it does get better after a few weeks" Sora agreed. "I used to do it like a few months ago, but then I got tired of it."

"You should start again!" Yamato said enthusiastically "It's great!"

A guy sat down on a bench pretty near them, obviously bored and maybe curious of what they were talking about.

"Where do you do it?"

Taichi leaned back, not even bothering to answer since Yamato was already so into it.

"Well, sometimes it's on the beach and otherwise in the woods. Woods are best, less people." Yamato answered.

By now, Taichi noticed the guy on bench staring at them oddly. He looked away quickly when Taichi glanced back and the brunet turned his attention to Yamato again.

"So, how often?" Sora kept asking, pretty interested by the subject.

"Well, if it was up to Tai… every day" Yamato said and glared at Taichi. The girls gasped and the guy stared even more.

"He's absolutely crazy, he could go on for hours! I can't believe how he does it. I'm exhausted after like two minutes!"

-'-

"Hey, Eisaku, listen to this!" the guy on the bench said to his friend who was just coming back from his locker. Said boy stopped at the bench and sat down beside his friend.

"Listen to what?"

"Sch! Blondie over there."

Eisaku looked at where he was pointing. The guy with messy brown hear was glancing at the two of them, obviously aware of them looking at his friend.

More and more kids were listening now. Taichi was pretty sure of what the interesting thing was in Yamato and Sora's conversation.

-'-

"Someone told me it's easier if you listen to music," Sora offered.

"I do that, it's way better! First you start slow, right, so it doesn't really matter what music you play. But then in the end you speed up, so you have to have an energetic song. And Tai always speeds up, I can hardly keep up!"

That was it. Taichi cracked up before he could hold back. Yamato looked at him strangely.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked suspiciously. Taichi just shook his head. Yamato shrugged.

"Anyway… I'm getting better; at least I don't die every time. But in the end I almost feel like I'm gonna explode."

Taichi chuckled, shaking his head. Yamato glared at him.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

"Aren't you gonna tell her how sweaty we get and then hit the showers afterwards as well?" Taichi asked with laughter in his voice.

Yamato narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Geez man, look around!"

Yamato did, and to his surprise he immediately met about twenty eyes, oddly staring back at him.

Even though he didn't know why they were staring at him, he could see in their eyes that he'd done something really embarrassing. He felt his face heat up and looked down at the floor. The worst part of it was that none of them looked away; the just kept staring and the whole hallway was completely silent. Taichi, who couldn't hold back his laughter anymore broke the silence.

"Matt, do you have any idea what you made it sound like?" Yamato glared at him. He had no idea what he was talking about, but he couldn't just say no. Sora started to giggle.

"It did sound kinda suspicious…" she agreed. Yamato stared at her. 'What are they talking about?'

"Start off slow… speed up at the end…? Every day...? At the beach…? Come on, I bet you never even mentioned the word 'running'!" Taichi grinned at him. Yamato stared back, totally confused. Sora was still giggling.

"And on top of all that you made it sound like it was all my idea!" Taichi said in a mock upset voice.

"What? It was your idea!" Yamato protested, confused beyond belief.

"Matt-"

"You're the one who dragged me out there! If you hadn't, I never would have started!"

The brunet threw his arms out. "Start what, Matt?"

Yamato was totally confused. Their audience were still staring at them, more curios than ever. Taichi put a hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I know what you're talking about, but they don't. Okay? Matt, you make it sound like we're…"

The audience held their breath. Yamato kept staring, still not getting it. Taichi trailed off, not exactly knowing how to continue. To his relief, Sora took over.

"…like you're fucking each other every day after school" she finished. Taichi's eyes went wide. Out of all people, he'd never think she would say something like that. It was completely silent for a few seconds. Then someone popped the question.

"Is it true?" A girl in dark brown hair asked.

The two best friends stared at her. The audience stared back.

"No!" Yamato blurted out, and made everyone jump. They glanced at each other, some looked hesitated, some disgusted and some just amused.

Yamato couldn't believe they'd even think that.

Taichi looked at them. To him, this situation was just funny. The weird part was that no one was laughing. They seemed to have taken it seriously. He glanced at Yamato who looked panicked. He knew the blond often cared a lot about what other people thought of him. If these kids started a rumor about the two of them, his friend would be completely devastated.

'God, how can they even think that! Me and Tai? That's just gross! Fuck, what was I thinking? And why was I talking so loud?'

Yamato glared at Taichi.

'He knew, but he didn't stop me. Why the hell didn't you stop me!'

'Oh, so now this is all my fault?' Taichi mentally shot back, catching his accusing glare. 'Sorry Matt, but you're the one who didn't keep your mouth shut.'

"Look, I was talking about running, okay? I'm not gay!" Yamato said, out loud this time, and towards the other teenagers.

Taichi sighed. 'Perfect, now he's getting desperate'

"Matt, just drop it, okay? They know you're not gay. Besides, we have class now." Taichi got to his feet and dragged both him and Sora up.

"Let's go."

Their audience stared after them as they walked down the hall.

"Don't worry about it Matt, I don't think they took it that serious" Sora comforted him.

"Exactly. Just act cool, otherwise they'll think it was true" Taichi said in a low voice.

"I can't believe they… god, I'm so stupid." Yamato groaned, hanging his head.

His brown-eyed friend nodded in agreement. "You sure are, now let's go before we get late."

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Taichi glanced at Yamato for like the tenth time on their way home. He wanted to break the silence, he wanted to cheer Yamato up and make everything as it was before. But there was nothing he could say. He couldn't turn back time. All he could do was hope that a more interesting rumor would show up and make everyone forget about Yamato's mistake.

"So… up for a run today?"

Awkward silence.

"That's not funny Tai," came a muttered reply that betrayed just how low his friend's spirit had sunk.

Taichi sighed. Yamato was cold as ice. It would take weeks before he'd recover from this.

"Matt, if you think about it, it's not that bad at all-" The brunet started, trying to come up with something that could've been worse.

"Yeah, you're right –just because the whole school thinks I'm screwing my best friend, my male best friend, doesn't mean I have the right to be upset! Of course not, how stupid of me!"

Taichi waited a few seconds. "Are you done?"

"No! My life is ruined!"

"Matt, will you just listen to me!" Taichi stopped and grabbed Yamato's arm, but he jerked it away.

"Don't touch me!"

"Oh for Christ's sake-"

"No Tai, you don't understand! It's so easy for them to think I'm gay! I mean, look at me!"

Taichi sighed. "Matt-"

"I'm like one step away from being a girl! I have no self-esteem, I'm like afraid of everything, I'm weak, I'm skinny, I'm-"

"You're not skinny." Taichi protested, scowling.

"Yes I am! And… I've never had a girlfriend." Yamato finished, fixing Taichi with his gaze as though he was daring him to come up with something that would save the blond from being what the kids at school thought.

Taichi sighed again. What was he supposed to say to that?

"Well… so? That doesn't mean you're gay." It didn't sound very convincing, but he knew that it was true -thinking otherwise was just stereotyping.

"Maybe not technically, but I'm still girly and… gay. In their eyes."

"Stop it! You're not gay!" Taichi shouted. He became silent and hesitated a little before adding "Well… maybe you are, but that's none of my business…" he trailed off, noticing the other teen's widened eyes.

"What? Taichi, I'm not gay!" Yamato shouted offensively.

"Okay, I was just… checking… I don't wanna judge before knowing. Anyone could be gay, you know?"

"But I'm not. I don't like guys, okay? It's disgusting…"

Taichi didn't answer. Why did he feel insulted every time the blond said something like that? It wasn't like he said directly to him, that he was gross and would be a lousy boyfriend. But for some reason it felt like he did. Not that Yamato was to decide that.

"You don't have to say that to me, I'm not accusing you of being gay."

Yamato sighed. "I know."

Taichi was quiet for a while. He wanted to ask his friend why he had such bad thoughts about gay people. Until now, he had been given the impression that the he was a pretty open-minded guy. Maybe it was just the pressure from earlier.

"I don't think everyone is a homophobe anyway."

"Yeah, but most of them are. And the rest just follow the others, afraid to be different."

Taichi glanced at him. "Like you?"

Yamato was silent for a moment, slightly caught off guard.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to get away.

"If there was a gay guy in school… I mean for real, would you like talk shit behind his back and stuff?"

Yamato looked at him for a while, trying to figure out what his friend was trying to say.

"I wouldn't… talk behind his back or spread rumors or anything" Yamato started. "but I don't think I'd-"

"Argue. Right? If someone was trashing that person, you would just nod and agree."

"I… well… yeah?"

Taichi smirked. "Thought so."

His friend rolled his eyes. "And let me guess; you wouldn't."

"No," the brunet said simply.

"But that's who you are, Tai. You're the brave one. The goddamn hero."

"Or maybe I'm just not a homophobe. Like you." Taichi met his eyes and looked at him until Yamato looked away.

"I'm not a-"

"Yeah you are."

"It's not that I…" Yamato sighed. Taichi didn't say anything. They continued walking in silence.

"Tai?" Yamato spoke up after several awkward minutes.

The brunet jumped when he heard Yamato's sudden voice.

"Yeah?"

"It's not that I have anything against homosexuals, I'm just afraid of conflicts, and I don't want to be different."

"Does different have to be bad? I mean, why spend your life trying to blend in? Don't you want anyone to ever notice you?"

Yamato shrugged. "If you stand out, there's a bigger chance that people don't like you." he tried.

"So what? There's always gonna be someone who doesn't like you. But that's their problem, not yours!"

"I know…"

"You know what everyone always will respect and admire?" Taichi asked suddenly. Yamato rolled his eyes. It was hard taking his friend seriously when he started preaching like this. Sure, right now he was making a lot of sense, but Yamato was used to take his friend's ranting with a bit of skepticism.

"No?"

"A person who doesn't give a fuck. Who doesn't care about what other people think. I mean, wouldn't you like rather be a guy who's kinda weird, stupid but not afraid to be himself, than a guy who's weirdstupidanddont'thavethecuragetobehimself?" the brunet babbled, gesturing almost hysterically.

Yamato stared at him.

"What...? Tai, you've gotta breathe when you talk! How many times do I have to tell you? Breathe!"

The brown-eyed teen laughed. "Yeah… but you know what I'm saying, right?"

"Yeah, I know. And you're right. As usual." Yamato said dully.

Taichi looked satisfied and Yamato didn't bother telling him that he was still terrified about people talking behind his back.

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Please review! :)