Author's note: This is the seventh chapter to 'Love Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be'. The series was originally only five chapters long, but as inspiration strikes, I have added the sixth and seventh chapters. The series is not technically ongoing, so view this as the final chapter. It has more of a resolution than any of the others, though there may one day be an eight or ninth or tenth.

This part, then continues after Chap 6, where Tai and Matt have been at college for a long time, and Miya, Kari, TK, and Davis are just entering. This chap is within the first few days/weeks of school for the younger ones.

~~~~~____~~~~~

Daisuke walked across the campus, his books tucked against his chest as the wind blew against him. It would figure that the day he stayed late after Biology, he'd forget his jacket and the cold would creep up. He moved quickly, his long legs taking him in the direction of his dormitory when he saw something that left him feeling very displeased.

Yamato, his Matt, seemed to be having a rather heated discussion with several of the guys that Daisuke recognized from the football team. He narrowed his eyes, his feet changing direction without conscious thought as he moved to protect his boyfriend.

"Missy told me about you, queer-bait." One said, though Daisuke couldn't tell which. He shifted his books, ready to drop them at the first sign that he would be needed to defend Matt.

"I heard that you were hitting on Lissy before your little boyfriend showed up. Think you can play it straight with our girls, and then make asses of us all by whoring around with that little bastard?" The redhead, now close enough to see the fear in Matt's eyes, and read the intent on the faces of the would-be attackers, smirked.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a small group of small-minded individuals who lack commons sense and have shriveled dicks." Six pair of eyes swung to look at him, one gaping open in shock, and five more becoming increasingly pissed off as they recognized him. "Oh, look, I've already found you."

"This is the little cock-sucking bitch?" One asked another, rubbing a fist into his palm as scenes of violence played behind his eyes.

"Um, I object to that. So far, we've done less together than what you do with your dog on a daily basis." Matt rolled his eyes. He enjoyed being rescued, he'd be a liar if he said he didn't, but watching Daisuke slowly dig a hole that could only collapse in after him was beyond even his sadistic fantasies.

He stepped around the guys that had been bothering him, and grabbed Daisuke's arm hard, pulling him backwards. The punks followed, but Daisuke didn't turn his back to them as he walked backwards, lead by Matt as he grinned and taunted them.

When they closed around them, forming a mini-circle, his confidence didn't waver. He reached up with his free and placed it over one of Matt's hands, squeezing it. "Let's see. How many brainless trolls does it take to beat up two pansies? Please, don't tell me it takes this many. That can't be possible. We are so weak and defenseless, how could it take that much brawn to take us out?"

"Shut up, queer-bait."

"Actually, that statement is ignorant." Daisuke looked at Matt out of the corner of his eye; his body tensing up as he prepared for the fight he knew was coming. "Cause, if I'm a bait for queers, and you guys can't leave me alone, that only leaves one question for me to ask. When you're all together, who's the bottom?"

~~~~~_____~~~~~

"I hope you're satisfied." Matt said, wiping at Daisuke's face with a paper-towel. The redhead grinned back at him, looking very pleased with himself. He had a black eye, split lip, and a bloody nose, but the sparkle in his eyes marked him as a winner.

"I love you." Was Daisuke's reply, his hand coming up to still the motion of Matt's. They looked into each other's eyes, before Matt leaned down with a soft smile and pressed his lips lightly against Daisuke's. Despite the pain that that small motion caused, Daisuke said nothing, instead reveling in the feel of Matt's lips against his own.

The blonde pulled away, his eyes light as most of his worries disappeared. "You were great, you know."

Daisuke nodded. "I know." Matt laughed; returning to his ministrations to get Daisuke cleaned up. "You weren't so bad yourself, you know. If I didn't know better, I would think that you and Tai were still beating the crap out of each other. You took out that one guy so fast, my head was spinning."

"That could have been due to the fact that your head was being pounded into the ground."

"You think?" Daisuke chuckled. "My head hurts, and my body's so sore in places, the thought of moving hurts."

"You shouldn't have started a fight you couldn't win."

"But we did win, Yama. Or, at least, you did." If Daisuke had been the one trapped alone, he would have ended up worse off than he was, if he lived at all. Matt had handled most of their attackers, taking them out one by one as the rest continued to be distracted with the task of beating Daisuke to a pulp. "Thank you."

"For what? If you hadn't come along when you did, they probably would have beaten me within an inch of my life, and then left my dying corpse some place. At least this way I had something to fight for."

A moment passed without conversation as Matt finished cleaning up his boyfriend. He threw the wet paper-towel away and moved to stand in the middle of his room. His roommate was gone for the weekend, and he had no place better to go, as long as Daisuke deigned to stay in his room.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and then it moved so that arms could wrap around him from behind, Daisuke's breath warm on his neck. "I love you, you know. You are my reason to live, to face each day." Matt turned in his arms, and they held each other in stillness for several seconds, before Daisuke finally lead them across the room and maneuvered their bodies into a sitting position.

Matt placed his head on Daisuke's shoulders, feeling tired and drained suddenly. Daisuke rubbed his back.

"Go ahead, love. I'm here, and I love you." Matt squeezed his eyes shut, the tears stinging his eyes as he pressed his face harder against the crook of Dai's neck. The tears leaked out regardless, and suddenly he was sobbing, his body trembling with each ragged breath that entered and exited his lungs. "I love you."

Daisuke used his declaration of love like a mantra, repeating it over and over as he held the love of his life in his arms and let him weep. He knew that the man who's strength had fended off three men was only as strong as the trust he placed in Daisuke, knowing that he could be weak in the arms of love.