Of Astronomy, Psychology, and Deep Thoughts
Pilot02
=====
The ice cream was good--and Taichi was a humble winner. A
few teasing comments made by each of the boys, and then the subject was
changed, no feelings hurt, no prides damaged.
Daisuke, being the defeated one in the soccer match, had offered to pay for the
ice cream, and Taichi had not refused.
"Tai-chan, what do you want to do now? There's still a few hours until it
gets too dark to see, and I really don't want to go home. You have any
suggestions?" Daisuke asked from where he lay beside Taichi on the bench
near the ice cream vendor, looking up at him.
Taichi looked at him and grinned. There were a lot of things that he would like
to do with Daisuke, but in reality, they weren't an established couple, so
Taichi had to back off. Instead, he gave serious thought to find an answer to
the question, and found several possibilities that were to his liking. He
leaned back against the cool metal of the bench and began to run his ideas past
Daisuke for approval. "Amusement park?"
"Too late, would be a waste of money to go at this time of the day."
"Mall?"
"No, we'd probably meet up with Miyako or someone else we know. I'd kinda
like to keep it like it is, with just us." He blushed lightly, but Taichi
didn't notice, as he seemed to be staring into the distance.
"Walk in the park to the hill to watch the sunset followed by a late night
horror movie, then I drop you at your house and make up some incredibly bizarre
yet totally believable story as to why you were home so late?" He tried,
hoping Daisuke would go for it. Luck must have been on his side, for Daisuke's
grin seemed to overtake his whole face, and he sat up on the bench to face
Taichi.
"You'd do that? For me?" Taichi nodded and smiled, a sincere, private
smile, and Daisuke threw his arms around the older boy in a tight hug.
"Thanks, Tai, that means a lot to me."
"Hey, it's no problem, Dai. I'll pay, ok, since you got the ice cream.
C'mon, I'll bet we can make it to the top of that hill in time to see the
sunset. You like to watch the sunset? I do," Taichi said while hugging
Daisuke back with equal force. Daisuke released Taichi from his near death
grip, and sat back on the bench again. He took Tai's hand when it was offered
with no hesitation and a small smile.
They walked through the park as was promised, making small talk part of the
time, but mostly walking in a companionable silence. Daisuke felt that his
heart would most likely burst from pure happiness as a result of the fact that
Taichi had yet to separate their hands.
The walk to the top of the hill took a rather long time, but since both were
athletes, neither boy was winded. Tai settled down on the grass near the base
of a tree, and tugged on Daisuke's hand, motioning for him to sit down. Daisuke
complied, sitting near but not crowding Taichi.
Brilliant reds and oranges filled the sky, staining the clouds and the water
with golden light as the sun slipped behind the horizon. It was a particularly
beautiful sight, surpassed only by the one that sat to the side of either of
the boys, and by their feelings for one another.
"Usually I would've said that I enjoy the moonrise better than the sunset,
but I didn't this time. I'm glad I didn't--that was incredible. I don't think
I've ever seen it that colorful before." Daisuke murmured, scooting a bit closer
to Taichi to share his body heat. With the disappearance of the sun, the cool
temperatures made an appearance as they do every night.
"Yeah, it was. Thanks for coming with me, that only made it better. One
question though. Why do you like watching the moon?" Taichi caught on to
the coolness of the air temperature about the time that Daisuke did, and also
figured out the theory of shared body heat. Throwing all caution to the wind,
he scooted up flush to Daisuke and wrapped his arm around the younger boy.
"Well, the sun shines with its own light--it doesn't depend on any others.
But the moon, in a kind of delicate way, it uses the light of others to enhance
itself. Its light isn't harsh like the sun's is, it's soft and cool." He
shrugged, scooting even closer to Taichi, in defiance of all the laws of
physics that said the movement was impossible. "I suppose it's because I
subconsciously realize that the moon is a lot like me. I shine because others
help me. I'd be nothing without them. One in particular, but I won't get onto
that subject."
Taichi shook his head with a grin on his face and turned to face Daisuke.
"You amaze me, Dai. Here I am, barely able to put a coherent thought
together, and you're talking about stuff that sounds like a professional
psychologist or someone was saying it. But, it does make a lot of sense.
Unfortunately, I disagree on one part. Without others around you--your friends,
family, whoever--you may flounder a bit, but you wouldn't be nothing, as you
said. Or, to put it more in tune with what you were saying, without the others,
you wouldn't be nothing, only an eclipse. You would be hidden a bit, but you
could still pull through."
"Thanks, I'm glad you think that way." He turned his head and found
it mere inches from Taichi's own. Seconds ticked by with neither boy moving,
but then Daisuke turned away. It was either that or blush like mad, and he
didn't want to do the latter, though the former wasn't his favorite choice
either. "Tai, I think we'd better leave now to get to the movie on time,
don't you think?"
Taichi's face showed surprise, both because of the sudden change of topic, and
because he knew Daisuke was right, though it hadn't seemed like much time had
passed since they had gotten to where they currently were. He jumped up,
pulling Daisuke with him. "C'mon, Dai-chan, I'll race you to the bottom of
the hill, 'k?" At Daisuke's nod and grin he got into position. "Get
ready, get set," he took off, though the sound of footsteps behind him
told him that Daisuke wasn't far behind. "Go!" He yelled, grinning
like a madman, or just someone who was out having a good--safe--time with their
crush.
Daisuke ran as hard as he could, and it was showing. He was steadily catching
up to Taichi, and soon he would be practically on top of the older boy. The
thought caused him to blush, but he was secure in the knowledge that it would
only look like he ran harder than he did. Mere feet separated the two when an
idea crept into the back of Daisuke's consciousness and started making a racket.
Soon the idea gained a foothold in his mind, and a grin formed on his face.
With a sudden burst of energy, he leapt at Taichi, who had just reached the
bottom stretch of the hill, where the slope became less steep and the grass
grew in more abundance and thickness.
The extra weight threw Taichi off balance and the two landed in a tangle of
limbs; they rolled a few more feet before coming to a complete stop. Daisuke
was lying underneath Taichi with a huge grin on his crimson face, and his
breath was coming in short gasps, as Taichi's was. "You... You little
brat!" The harsh words were offset by the matching grin on the older boy's
face, and he lowered his head onto Daisuke's chest to rest.
Several minutes later Taichi was the first one to move. He raised his head from
where it lay and glanced up at Daisuke, who was lying beneath him still, his
eyes closed and his face brightened with happiness. Taichi's hand reached out
seemingly of its own accord and gently traced the curve of Daisuke's jaw, then
ran back over the slightly colored cheek and into the hair. Daisuke's eyes shot
open at the feather light touches and even farther at the sight of the
tenderness on Taichi's face as he stared in wonder at the path his hand just
took. Daisuke's hand reached up to mirror the action on the face opposite his,
and Taichi's eyes shot to Daisuke's.
Their eyes caught and they stared at each other, all the words and looks and
touches finally clicking into place, the answer finally puzzled together from
the clues provided. Taichi realized that it didn't matter if they were
"officially" going out--what they had going for them was much more
than a few simple words could ever do for them. Lying together in the park at
this moment, the realization that their feelings were both mutual, all this was
more than they had bargained for when they set off together hours
earlier.
Daisuke opened his mouth to say something, anything, to make the situation more
perfect than it already was, but he found nothing that was able to even do it justice.
His mouth slammed shut and he was sure that he looked like a drowning fish, but
Taichi took all the thoughts out of his mind and replaced them with thoughts of
moonlight and pure bliss by one simple action.
He leaned down and gently pressed his mouth to the other boy's, feeling his
heart swell as the kiss--their first kiss shared--was returned in full.
