Christmas one-shot #1

Yamato x Taichi

Twice Over

Can't I just graze your skin for the rest of our time? But time isn't letting this night go on.
'Till then and there, the wind in your hair, nothing in this world could keep me from staring at you,
and all I need now is for that sun to stay under its glowing horizon for good
- Making April

Yamato frowned as he slowly woke, feeling the painful brightness of the sun against his closed eyes and the beginnings of a headache forming at his temples. Presuming he must have left the curtains open when he went to sleep, he thought of last night, only to find that he did not have that much recollection of it. Slight shadows danced blurred images against his closed eyelids, but nothing solid came to him.

He remembered playing an excellent gig, one of the best so far for the band, and deciding that they should all go out for a celebratory drink afterwards. And of course, with the combination of his band mates and their fans, it had not only been one drink. Several at the first bar, more at the second, on to the third… and then he could not honestly remember that much more, only vague displaced snap-shots of memory that he could not place.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes with his fists. Slowly cracking one open, he peered at the window, then opened them both quickly as he realised something.

He did not recognise anything.

This was not his room.

He took stock of his surroundings. The room was quite large and painted white and pale green, and he was currently on a large bed which had white sheets. He could see, bunched up on the floor, the green over-throw that hotel rooms always seemed to have over the beds, and the windows where the offending light was streaming in from was a floor to ceiling one, with wooden blinds still open, and floor length white curtains. The bed covers were crumpled and thrown about, and the door was slightly ajar.

This room was clearly a hotel room, and the bill was clearly going to cost him.

On the laminate floor lay a mix of clothes, some of which he recognised as his own, others which were not.

Matt groaned to himself. He'd promised not to do this anymore! After he'd… had a… a realisation, he'd sworn that he would stop sleeping with whoever he wanted, whenever. He didn't think it was fair. To himself, to the name-less people, to him.

He rested his head in his hands, feeling guilty. He was not in a relationship with anyone, but there was someone he cared for very deeply, and he felt as if he had cheated on this person, although he had no clue whether or not this person returned his feelings. He felt slightly disgusted with himself. He was so sure that whilst he cared for this person, he couldn't be with someone else, and to break this to himself… did he have no self-control?

He pulled himself out of bed, and located his trousers lying forlornly against one of his shoes and over a jumper, which presumably belonged to this other mysterious person.

All of a sudden, a noise that he did not realise was there stopped. It had been a low electronic sounding hum, which he had not noticed until it was gone. It seemed most likely that this was a shower, and Matt froze as he waited for this other person to appear in the room.

After a few minutes, when they did not appear, he relaxed again.

'Who could it have been?', he wondered vaguely as he knelt down and sorted out the clothes, searching for his shirt, which did not seem to be present. Neither, he noticed, was the other persons, but his jumper was. Perhaps it had been tied around the other's waist?

He shook his head irritably as he stood up again, still desperately trying to piece together the events of the previous night, in vain.

You see, it wasn't so much that he'd broken a promise to himself, because he'd done that plenty of times before. He'd promised to curb his temper, to stop being so damn arrogant about things. He'd promised to tell… that person. He'd promised to let Sora down easily when she asked him out. He'd promised not to let the band hear that song he'd written about that someone because he knew they'd make him perform it…

And what had happened? He'd remained arrogant, because it was part of who he was and he couldn't change it. He'd been too afraid, too embarrassed to tell him. He'd blurted a straight out 'no' to Sora, without any kind of sympathy, because he hadn't been expecting it right then, in the middle of the street, in front of the gang, and hadn't thought of anything to say. And the song? He'd played it last night, his face burning up because Tai had been at the gig, grinning up at him from the bar, surrounded from the guys from his team.

It was the fact that he felt he'd cheated on him that really hurt.

Him.

That one single person who could make time go a little bit slower, but never slow enough.

Whose laughter would always lighten his spirit, just a little, because when Matt knew that it was when he wasn't laughing that the blonde would have a problem.

The one who he'd argued with so many times.

The one who he'd been cheered up by so many times.

The one person who'd forced him, without even realising, to commit.

Tai.

And what was really painful was the fact that he knew if he went to look, it wouldn't be Tai.

It would just be another faceless, meaningless guy who he'd picked up after the gig, who he'd never talk to, or even think of again, and the burning sense of guilt was eating him up.

There was a loud crashing sound from out of the room, and a muffled swear word, and Matt sighed loudly.

He knew he'd have to face the guy sooner or later, since he couldn't leave without his shirt, and he'd probably be between Matt and the door, so he picked up his shoes, shoving his socks in them, and walked out of the room.

There was a corridor, with two doors leading off it. Matt gulped. Not just an expensive hotel room, it was a suite. This was going to cost him serious money on his overdraft.

He stopped outside the door closest to him, seeing a shirt crumpled on the floor. It wasn't his. Steam curled out of the top of the door, the long fingers stretching out before slowly disappearing into the colder air in the hall. It was an oddly depressing sight.

Matt hesitated outside of the second door, shoes still in hand, the other shirt left on the floor.

He rested the palm of his hand on the wood, pausing a moment before slowly pushing open.

There was no ominous squeak of hinges, no sinister sound whatsoever.

He stepped into the room.

The room was painted in faded blue, and the door was right opposite the one he was standing in the doorway of. There was a small kitchenette to the left of him, and shards of a white mug were piled on the counter, explaining the crash.

Matt gulped, and looked around the door.

To the right of the room were the tall windows present in the bedroom, and the floor length white curtains were pulled open, flooding the room with light. He could see a balcony outside, just a narrow one with a couple of chairs. The smell of strong coffee perforated the room, adding to his headache. In front of the windows there was a pair of blue sofas, opposite each other. The back of one faced Matt, the other the window. A TV sat against the wall. A coffee table lay between them.

On the sofa with its back to Matt sat someone, someone hunched over with his head in his hands, the coffee in front of him.

The other straightened a little, sensing someone had come into the room. There was an audible intake of breath, and the brunette spun round.

There was a long pause.

"Hi", Tai said weakly, smiling in a decidedly awkward fashion.

Matt said nothing, too shocked to speak, and simply sat down opposite Tai, on the other sofa.

They regarded each other for a moment, in silence.

Matt, shirtless, his normally styled hair messy, his bare toes curling up in embarrassment. He was frowning slightly, in confusion or because of his headache. He simply didn't know what to think. His eyes were surrounded by dark shadows, and he had pillow creases up one side of his face.

Tai was also shirtless, his jeans from the night before pulled on casually after his shower, and a towel was slung around his bare, tanned shoulders. His chest shone from the bright light and the damp skin. His hair was sagging slightly because of the shower, and his eyes were wide with worry.

Eventually, Matt spoke.

"Do… errm, do you remember what happened last night?"

"Most of it, I think."

"Ah."

Silence again engulfed the room.

After a few minutes that felt like a few hours, Matt spoke again.

"Could you tell me?"

"Well… me and the team went to your gig, right? And then we went out for a drink, because we'd won our match earlier that day, and we were having fun-"

"And me and the band went out for a few as well, didn't we?"

"Think so, yeah. And then we'd been out a while, but you know I don't drink that much, right? So when we bumped into you, I wasn't that drunk, but you were gone mate, absolutely gone-"

"Did I make an idiot of myself?"

"No more than usual. You ran across the street and fell on me, I think."

"Ah. Smooth."

"You always are."

Thinks were starting to flood back to him now. They'd gone to several bars, but weren't in the mood to stop. Matt wasn't a good drinker- he didn't need that much to get drunk. They had been walking down the road- the guys in his band, a few fans, and himself- and they'd seen the team. They'd yelled cheerful abuse at each other, and Matt had seen Tai…

And suddenly, had wanted to hug him.

So he'd run over the road, like Tai had said, and he'd tripped on the kerb alright, and fallen on Tai. They'd sat there in hysterics for a while, before sitting on the kerb whilst the two groups merged and then wandered off, everyone too drunk to notice that they had lost two of their members.

So they'd been sitting there, just talking…

And then what?

He looked up a Tai, who had his head thrown back on the top of the sofa, with his palms covering his eyes. His stomach muscles were thrown into sharp definition as he moved his hands backwards, pushing his hair away from his face.

He sat back up, and Matt carefully averted his eyes.

"You want to order room service?"

"Don't you think the bill's going to be expensive enough?"

"Probably, but you know me. I need food. We'll worry about the bill later."

Tai wandered over to the phone mounted on the wall by the door, and Matt closed his eyes.

What the hell happened? Why was it so unfair that he might have just had his dream come true, but he couldn't remember?

Why?

And then another question loomed into Matt's mind like a floating iceberg, dark and tall and unbeatable.

Did Tai mind?

He took a swig of Tai's cooling coffee absentmindedly, more streams of memory floating their way back to his subconscious after Tai came back over.

"We went to another bar after, right?"

Tai blinked in surprise.

"Yeah. Is the memory all coming back now?"

"Kind of… You were wasted later on, after that..."

"Only because you kept on buying me drinks!"

"I was only getting in my round! You bought me just as many as well! And then we… and we came here… and… ah, I see."

Tai stared at him nervously, but his words were cut off by a loud knocking on the door.

"Room service!" Came a muffled voice.

"That was quick."

"I only ordered toast and coffee."

As Matt rolled his eyes at the idiocy of Tai, for ordering coffee when there was obviously a kettle and instant coffee in the suite, Tai opened the door to a smiling maid, holding a tray. She entered the room, placing the tray on the coffee table, unfazed by the slight of the half-naked men. She pulled out a notepad.

"Mr Agumon and Mr Gabumon, right? Room 309?"

Tai blinked.

"Of course! Thank you very much."

"You're welcome sir." She winked as she left. "Have fun, sirs. And Merry Christmas to you both."

Tai sat back down, grinning.

"We always did have vivid imaginations, didn't we?"

Matt smirked.

"I'm sure it was my idea."

Matt picked up the coffee, winced at how the heat of it had spread even though the handle, and poured it into the two cups. He pushed the toast towards Tai, who nodded his thanks and reached for his drink.

"Ah! Fuck!"

He stood up suddenly, waving his hand around in the air.

"What the hell?"

"The cups were pre-heated! It's fucking burning!"

"Oh, you're being melodramatic. Come here, let me see it."

Matt stood in front of Tai, one eyebrow raised as the other continued to wave his hand around. Matt made to catch it, but missed, stepping forward accidentally, their chests brushing.

They both stopped, faces inches apart.

"You going to let me see your hand or not?"

Matt found his voice had caught in his throat a little, making it sound deeper and husky.

The only reply he got was a slight shake of the head, and Tai, very slowly, moved slightly closer.

"Let me see it?"

Matt's voice was barely above a whisper now, deep and tender.

Tai lifted the injured hand up, fingers splayed out. There was a faint red mark across his palm, and Matt traced it with his own fingertips. Slowly, cautiously, he linked their hands and let them fall down to their sides.

"About last night…" started Tai,

"Hmmmm?"

"Well… I wasn't that drunk. I feel, I mean, I like you, in way that is more that I used to… you know that? For a while now."

Matt hooked his free arm around Tai's neck, leaning in closely and whispering in his ear.

"Did you like the song?"

"The new one?"

"Yeah. It was about… caring for someone who you'd do anything for…"

"Yeah, I quite liked it."

"It was about you."

"Well, I think I've guessed now."

Matt laid his head on the crook of Tai's neck, smiling against the skin, only moving when Tai untangled his hand from the blonde's. Matt took a step back, looking at him, eyes hopeful.

Tai flexed his hands a couple of times before grabbing Matt by the waist, pulling him back, and kissing him firmly on the lips. His hands were on the other's hips now, and the small of his back, pulling him in. Matt's moved to the brunet's hair, twining his fingers in the mess of tangles.

Matt broke away suddenly, his body still pressed close, panting slightly.

"When's check out time?"

"Few hours."

Tai grinned.

"Come on. I'm going to make you remember, this time."

"Where did you put my shirt last night?"

"I don't know, I threw it somewhere. You don't need it now, anyway."

"I feel like I'm being screwed over here." He paused, smirking. "Twice over."

Tai kissed his way along his collar bone, trying to distract him.

"I'll screw you twice over, if that's what you want…"

Matt smiled coyly.

"We're going to run up with bill if we exceed a few hours, aren't we?"

Tai stroked the sides of the blonde's torso, making him shiver and gasp.

"Oh, so you want me to exceed a few hours? You're wish, my command. And with names like Agumon and Gabumon? Screw that, we'll skip the bill."

It was slightly muffled, as Tai had attached himself the Matt's neck, softly biting the pale skin. Matt moaned almost silently, pushing their hips closer together.

"You're such a bad influence."

"And you love it."