Dance along to the beat of your heart

"So how was band practice?" Tai asked casting a quick glance at Matt before turning his head to be able to watch for cars as he backed out of the parking spot. As much as he wanted to look at his friend, making sure they didn't get into a car accident was probably a better use of his time. Matt shrugged as he moved to mess around with the old stereo in the car.

"It went well. Akira only had to hit Takashi with a drumstick once." Matt continued to fiddle with the radio, smiling faintly when he heard Tai chuckle at his explanation. It didn't surprise him; Tail was fully aware that Matt judged a band's practice by how many times Akira threw a drumstick. One to two meant it was a good practice, three to four meant it went ok and anything more than four meant that it was awful and Matt would be a bad mood for a couple days.

"Maybe one day he'll be able to get through practice without getting a headache." To Tai's knowledge there was never a practice when Takashi was not nailed with a drumstick. Still it could be possible in the future. Matt did not share this belief and found himself laughing, shaking his head as he looked at Tai as though he had sprouted a second head.

"That's a good one," he managed to breathe out, shaking his head in amusement, "that's like suggesting Izzy will one day get tired of computers." As far as Matt was concerned there was no way that could be possible. Just as you could expect the sun to rise you could expect Akira to throw a drumstick at a misbehaving Takashi. It was just the way the world worked according to Matt. Tai rolled his eyes at Matt's metaphor entertained that he couldn't think of something better.

"Of all the comparison in the world to choose from that's what you went with?" There was a friendly teasing tone in Tai's voice, unable to resist poking fun at one of his closest friends. Matt sighed glancing over at Tai.

"Hey I just spent hours only listening to music that was not always played correctly. I'm allowed to get a break from being clever." He retorted trying to maintain his reputation of being the king of comebacks intact. Tai rolled his eyes chuckling lightly as he stopped at a traffic light.

"Fine, but tomorrow I'm going to call you to ask for a wittier response."

"Deal." Matt couldn't find an issue with that arrangement since once he got a good night's sleep he would be back on his A-game. Well a good night's sleep and a decent meal considering at that moment a loud rumble erupted from his stomach. It was a clear indication that the blonde-haired boy was currently suffering from hunger pains. Though he didn't remark about it and instead choose to turn up the blink-182 that he located on a rock station, Tai still heard it.

"Crazy idea, but how would you feel about grabbing a bite to eat?" It was a casual suggestion as Tai did not want to tease him about his stomach growling. If he so much as mentioned it he knew Matt would just deny being hungry and refuse to eat until he got home and was alone. He was stubborn as a mule sometimes. For a moment there was silence as Matt contemplated this idea before finally shrugging.

"Maybe as long as it's not your cooking." Of course it couldn't be one of Matt's responses without an insult coated in the sentence. Tai frowned looking a little upset about this remark as he turned to drive towards an open Gyudon-ya.

"I cook just fine!" Matt snorted, amused by this reply as he rolled his eyes.

"Right and the fact I came down with food poisoning after eating your dinner was just a coincidence." Tai quickly nodded glad that Matt had come to his senses.

"Yes, yes it was. Your stomach's too sensitive." Before Matt could comment anymore to continue to what he believed was a ridiculous argument Tai suddenly made a sharp turn into a parking lot. Matt gripped the car handle shocked by this sudden turn that seemed to come out of the blue. "See? I bet you suddenly feel sick." Tai said with a voice of confidence as though he had proven his point by putting their lives at risk.

"Fuck you." Was the only response he got as Matt quickly scurried out of the car the second Tai parked the car. Tai smirked glad with his brilliant move as he followed Matt out of the car and towards the Gyudon-ya doors.

After they ordered their food they sat down to wait until their order numbers were called. Matt was still glaring daggers at Tai and Tai was sitting there still feeling pleased with himself. It only took a few more minutes until their food was ready and by the time they got some food into their stomachs the mood had lightened up.

"Feeling better now?" Tai asked looking at Matt as he wolfed down his food.

"Yea," Matt said with a nod, putting his chop sticks down for a second so he could actually talk, "thanks but you know you didn't have to pay."

"I know but I wanted to." Tai said quickly, hoping that would be the end of that conversation. He secretly had hoped this may turn into a sort-of date, but for now he didn't want Matt to think there was anything odd about this Matt. Although Tai's reaction did cause Matt to raise an eyebrow curious about how fast he responded.

Before he could say anything more though he suddenly heard the imperial march from Star Wars erupting from his pocket that indicated Kuro was calling him. "Hang on." He mumbled quickly, shooting an apologetic look at Tai as he took out his phone and answered. "Kuro, what is it? You literally saw me an hour- Wait, fuck are you serious? No that is important enough news to call. Yea I'll come to the meeting tomorrow. Yes on time."

With that he hung up, meeting Tai's questioning face with a look of shock. "We might have an opportunity to tour in America." Voice was almost breathless and the smile looked so unnatural on his face especially given recent circumstances. Matt the boy who always played it cool, rarely expressed any excitement because he always believed something could go wrong, was now ecstatic. He almost looked like a kid at Christmas and while Matt seemed happy about this potential advancement in his music career, Tai wasn't quite on board.

Tai's jaw dropped as he stared at Matt follow his announcement, unsure how to react. It just came out of the blue and right after he was trying to patch things up with Matt. Still even though he was stunned he knew how he should be reacting at this moment, especially since Matt's face was slowly morphing into a look of confusion at how long it was taking Tai to say anything. Happy, he should express happiness. Or excitement, something other than the blank stare he was currently sporting.

"That's, that's great Matt. Congratulations." He finally managed out, forcing a smile on his face as he watched his best friend's face almost glow from this amazing opportunity. He tried not to show that he swore he could hear his heart shattering into a million pieces. He wasn't ready to say goodbye.

Dinner had not progressed well after that, at least not for Tai. It turned into a conversation about America, how exciting the opportunity was. Honestly Tai tried his best to tune Matt out, only nodding along as he saw how happy his friend was. He was happy for Matt but the happiness was surrounded by thoughts of losing Matt. Who knew what would happen once he went overseas. He could forget about Tai, forget about everyone and end up just staying there forever. Pessimistic thoughts but they were still slowly consuming him. After dinner and dropping off Matt he just went to his room. For the past few hours he had just been flopped on his best, staring at the ceiling with a blank expression on his face.

He did not know what he was going to do. He couldn't tell Matt to stay here, not when he had such a fantastic opportunity in front of him. And worst he couldn't even tell anyone about how upset this was making him because Matt made him promise not to say a word.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone," were the last words he spoke before he got out of Tai's car and into his apartment, "I don't want to jinx it."

Tai had agreed, how could he argue with that logic? They said their goodbyes and now here he was, lost in his thoughts. It was the worst feeling in the world. Bottling up emotions like this was not who Tai was. He would always tell people everything that was on his mind, he was an open book not a closed bottle. That was Matt's specialty. That was why they got along so well, they were complete opposites. Tai admired how Matt could function on his own and over the years that admiration had morphed into affection.

A loud sigh escaped him as a couple tears dripped down his face. He knew it was wrong but he silently hoped the meeting tomorrow would end terribly tomorrow. Fuck he was a selfish bastard wasn't he? But right now he didn't care; he just wanted to keep Matt here until they could figure out everything. And by figure it out he of course meant for Matt to finally realize he also had feelings for Tai. It was a long shot but still Tai hung onto this hope. No matter how awful the intentions were.

I'm selfish as selfish comes

I know this is a short chapter, but I do have plans for the next one. Thank you everyone still interested in this story. :]

Thorn dark angel: I think some jealousy will definitely be in order considering the recent turn of events.

I promise this story will slowly progress forward. ^^ Feel free to review, follow or favorite this story. The more I get the sooner I'll get the next chapter out. Also I'm giving everyone a little present, a small snippet of the next chapter that includes the band they will meet:

"All time low? What kind of name is that anyway?" Matt asked, as he slumped down in the chair in the conference room. Eyes darted around the room, studying it. The first word that popped into his mind when he studied it was, depressing. The walls were plain white, no pictures or posters anywhere to be found. There was only a single window, and the dark gray chairs that looked comfortable at first were actually stiff and would probably cause back problems if you sat in them for too long. If this was where Kuro spent most of his time no wonder the man was such a pain in the ass. Only five seconds here and Matt already wanted to high-tail it out of here.

"Beats me," Akira said sitting down in the chair next to Matt frowning as he looked at the room, "Americans are just weird I suppose."

"I like the name." Takashi chirped as he flopped down into his chair, grinning at the other two. "It sounds pretty cool to me."