To clear some confusion in the last chapter, Takeru and Daisuke are not an item. Yamato was just being snappy. AND YAMATO'S DAD DOES NOT HATE HIM!! Sorry it took me so long to get this out, but hey – this is the ending!
* * *
You're out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you're not moving anywhere
Yamato twisted one string around the other five with the grace of an expert craftsman. After running completely out of flour for four weeks in a row, Sora demanded that Yamato find something else to do at night than bake cookies; although, she did love those little gingerbread ones. Carefully deliberating his choices, Yamato took up a hobby that Kari was often at work doing – when she was awake, that is – which was making friendship necklaces.
Lines of colored strings were spread across the table. Currently, Yamato was finishing one that was graced with the colors black, orange, and white. He didn't make these necklaces for himself. Kari was delighted to see that he could twist so easily and insisted he finish some of them up for her since she never had the time.
Of course, the finishing point never came as Kari constantly bombarded him with more requests and more string, but at least it was better than plastering the walls with old coloring book pages and having Taichi go out of his mind.
With a sigh, Yamato tied up the end of the necklace and looked at the clock on the wall. 1:00 AM. He groaned and ran his hands through his hair, slumping in his chair. Making string necklaces was a very boring task. It wasn't fair that Taichi got to take the night astronomy class and the day one. Yamato would love more than anything to be able to sit outside and stare at the stars through a telescope instead of listening to a teacher drone forever inside a classroom with no windows.
It would be another hour and half before Taichi came in at 2:30. Yamato leaned forward and rested his chin in his hand, drumming his fingers on the table. What could he do till then?
Sora's car keys glistened at him from their place on the counter where she'd left them. A small smile spread across Yamato's features and he leaped out of his seat, causing it to fall backwards. He paused instantly, waiting to see if anyone heard. The house was silent except for Palmolive's little bell that she kept hitting with her beak.
Yamato moved quietly through the rest of the apartment after getting the keys. He grabbed his jacket, apartment keys, and slipped into his jack-flaps. Hopefully Sora wouldn't mind him taking her car for a little joy ride. Besides, would she rather have him use molasses to paint the walls with?
The night air was warm, but the wind made Yamato shiver and he pulled on his jacket as he skipped down the stairs. He never took the elevator now unless it was really cold, and he leapt off the stairs, skipping the last few. Sora's car had been fortunately parked close by, and he happily went to it.
The night astronomy class usually met at a homemade observatory a little ways outside of Tokyo. Maybe the professor would let Yamato sit in and watch. He'd be happy to simply sit and gaze at the sky. Taichi said the night professor was a lot nicer and funnier than the day one, which helped Yamato's enthusiasm level raise enough that he became giddy. It would take about fifteen minutes to get to the hill that overlooked the city, which was where the observatory was.
In no time, Yamato was pulling onto a gravel road, turning out his headlights so that he didn't disturb the class, and to make a surprise entrance. He pulled in beside some other cars, looking round for Taichi's. When he saw it, he figured he was at the right place and got out, again being very quiet. I could be a cat burglar if I wanted to. Yamato smiled at the thought as he sneaked through the shadows to where the class was looking through several telescopes.
The professor was talking with one of the students on one side and on the other Taichi was looking in a telescope every so often and recording something on a tablet. Someone was standing with Taichi, sharing the telescope, and she noticed Yamato as he snuck up behind Taichi. She smiled, recognizing him, and stayed quiet for Yamato's sake.
Taichi had headphones on and was wrapped in a blanket, so he heard nothing as his 'attacker' crept closer. He sat back in his chair and started to write something on his tablet when someone pulled his headphones off and stuck their cold hands over his eyes. He startled and pushed the hands away, spinning around to see whom it was behind him. "Yamato!"
Yamato smiled brightly. "I thought I'd come up and see what you lot did."
"Wonderful," Taichi said, light sarcasm. He sighed and sat back in the chair, continuing to write down his observations. "How'd you get here anyway?"
"I borrowed Sora's car."
"Yamato, you can't just borrow a person's car whenever you want to," Taichi scolded calmly, keeping most of his attention directed on what he was writing. After a moment or two he again looked through the telescope.
"So…" Yamato started, feeling bored already, and pulled a chair up next to Taichi. He waited for Taichi to answer, but when he realized Taichi wasn't going to bother to initiate a conversation. At least he was intent on doing his work, which was a stark contrast to his high school years. Yamato sighed and tried again. "What are you lot doing?"
The girl that had been sitting with Taichi, and had yet to move, grinned deviously to herself, mumbling quietly while eying Yamato from top to bottom, "Checking you out."
Taichi snapped his head up to look at her and Yamato instantly noted to not make eye contact with her later into the night. Taichi smiled lightly, giving Yamato a sideways glance after winking at the girl. "We're looking at the planets tonight. Want to take a peek?"
At the suggestion, Yamato's eyes lit up. "Yes!"
They switched chairs and Taichi fixed the telescope so Yamato could see Saturn, which had been one of Taichi's favorites. It seemed to Yamato that he was looking at a fake picture placed neatly at the end of a tunnel. The planet appeared light brown and it was frozen. All the same, Yamato was enthralled by it and he insisted Taichi fix the telescope on another planet. This time Taichi put it on Mars, and Yamato felt his giddiness return. He was making all kind of analogies about what he saw that Taichi wrote a few of them down for his observations.
After a little while, Taichi finally looked Yamato over, frowning at the pajama bottoms and oversized T-shirt. "Aren't you cold?"
"Huh?" was all Yamato could form. He was completely absorbed in looking at the different planets, having learned how to work the telescope very quickly.
Taichi took hold of Yamato's arm and pulled the excited blonde from the telescope. "Cold. Aren't you cold? You're not even wearing a jacket!"
"Too bad he's wearing that much," the girl murmured again.
Yamato blushed and looked into the telescope again to avoid her eyes. Taichi laughed quietly and shook his head at her amusedly. With a sigh, Yamato went back to the topic. "I guess I'm cold. I haven't thought about it much."
"Here." Taichi pulled the blanket that he had wrapped about his shoulders, shivering a bit at the cold even though he had his long coat on, and re-wrapped it around Yamato's body, making sure his friend was tucked tightly in the blanket.
"Do you lot do this every time?" Yamato asked once he was comfortable and looking through the telescope again.
Taichi pushed his chair closer to Yamato's, needing the warmth, and sat back to stare at the dark sky. "No, we do all kinds of things. Actually sometimes we just come out here and sit under the stars to talk."
A sound of a throat being cleared behind Taichi made him jump. The girl, too, startled, but Yamato was engrossed with staring through the telescope. They looked back to see the professor standing with a disapproving frown in Yamato's direction. Taichi smiled sheepishly and the girl had a mischievous grin. The professor turned his eyes upon Taichi and raised an eyebrow. "Who is this?"
"Ishida Yamato," Taichi said quietly. "He kind of… showed up… just now…"
Another careful scan was done of Yamato. "Is this the one you say wrecks your apartment?"
"Yes…"
The girl suddenly sat up in her chair, the grin having not left. "You know, like I said before, he can spend the night at my apartment anytime, Tai. I wouldn't mind at all."
Despite that he was supposed to be professional, the professor smiled a bit. He shook his head at her and went back to Taichi. "Okay, Tai, I don't mind him being here, but make sure he doesn't break anything. I don't want to have to explain to my boss why a student's friend was touching a telescope when he was not in my class."
"Yamato's crazy, but he wont break anything," Taichi assured him quickly.
"We hope," Yamato said quietly. The other three looked at him, and he barely glanced at Taichi with a smirk.
"Ah ha! You were listening! I knew it!" the girl exclaimed. She fell into another evil grin. "Sexy and sneaky; just the way I like 'em."
Yamato quickly looked the other way, blushing furiously.
"Yorika, why don't you come with me?" the professor suggested. Yorika flashed Yamato another smile and got up to follow the professor, stopping only to lean over and whisper something in Taichi's ear.
Taichi and Yamato sat quietly, with Yamato staring through the telescope and Taichi watching him calmly, attentively. As much as he hated to admit it, Taichi found his friend absolutely captivating, a person that people flocked around, hoping that they just might be noticed. Yet Taichi was already noticed and now he didn't know which level he stood on with Yamato. He had to admit… Yamato was rather attractive for a moody blonde…
"So, you tell your class about me?" Yamato asked, his voice making Taichi jump. He smiled to himself, knowing that Taichi had been staring at him. He couldn't help feeling an intense joy over playing with someone's mind, and because of that he also felt sadistic.
"Well," Taichi looked about the area at the six other people taking the class, "Yeah. I do. We tell each other a lot. We discuss everyone's problems and tell funny stories. We're good friends."
"I imagine." Yamato moved back from the telescope to give Taichi a kind smile. "What exactly do you say about me?"
"That you're crazy."
Yamato playfully pushed him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Taichi kidded and caught his hand before he could draw it back. He idly began to play with Yamato's fingers.
"Do you suppose they'd let me switch to this class? It wouldn't mess up my schedule really, and they're both astronomy, so the professors could just transfer grades," Yamato asked.
Taichi moved so that he was sitting half on the edge of his chair and half on the edge of Yamato's. "I'm sure they could do that…"
"It would give me something to do every other night, you know?"
Now he moved to gradually slip one arm around Yamato's waist, still holding his hand. "Yeah…"
"Do you think it would work?" Yamato was completely oblivious to Taichi's moving, his mind set on getting in the night class. He was enjoying looking at the stars.
Taichi didn't answer. Instead he leaned in and kissed Yamato, pressing him back into the chair. Yamato squeaked but otherwise didn't move, his mind suddenly reeling from the beautiful stars to how close Taichi was to him. Taichi rubbed his thumb gently on the back of Yamato's hand, comfortingly almost. Slowly, but surely, Yamato started to relax…
"Hey! No sex in the lawn chairs!"
The voice made Taichi jerk away from Yamato to give whoever had yelled a very dirty glare. The other six people started laughing and the professor cracked yet another smile. Yamato's back was to them all, but he felt a wave of horror spread through his body, and as Taichi went to move close again, he hastily ducked away. Confusion swept across Taichi's face, but he quickly got the hint and let go of Yamato's hand, leaning back.
"Yama?" he asked softly, the hurt entirely evident in the wounded tone he used.
"I need to get back to the apartment, Taichi," Yamato said awkwardly, and hopped out of the chair, tossing the blanket away from him. He didn't even bother to glance back as he rushed to the car.
Taichi slumped into the chair, suddenly feeling very depressed.
--
Mr. Ishida hated being woken in the middle of the night. He thought he'd never have to suffer again since Yamato left, but apparently that wasn't the case. The neighbors couldn't be complaining about noise again, since his little rock star was gone, and the dog was in its pen – it never barked in its pen. Who could possibly be banging on his door so early in the morning, and what did this person want?
Swinging the door open with a distinctly hateful, "What?" Ishida Masaharu was quite surprised to find his eldest son standing on the doorstep, eyes wide and afraid. Not of the wrath from his father, but… something else. As soon as he saw this expression, Masaharu's anger drifted away and he pulled his beloved first child inside.
"What's wrong, Yamato," he demanded, vaguely thinking in the back of his mind that even with Yamato out of the apartment he was still being woken in the middle of the night. His protective fatherly instincts were stronger than the irked emotions, though, and he led Yamato to the couch. "Come out with it. What's getting to you?"
Yamato blinked, eyes still wide, making him look like a little child again. "Taichi kissed me." He blinked again, and a look of absolute horror suddenly appeared. "He kissed me! Oh, why did I leave?!"
You thought you'd found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace
* * *
Sora pulled on her purple mittens as she stepped into the kitchen. One of her nails caught on a string, making her frown. Her nails had been done only two days before; they couldn't already be breaking! With a disheartened, weak sigh she sat in her usual chair at the table. "Yamato, do you have any fingernails clippers? I seem to have…"
Upon looking up, Sora was surprised to find that the only other person sitting at the table was Kari, who was eating cereal and reading a magazine. This was odd, since Yamato was normally the first person awake and tended to have a warm breakfast on the table for everyone. Sometimes he did leave early for class, but still made pancakes or something warm. The cereal was Taichi's snack in between classes.
Kari noticed Sora's confused expression and dropped her spoon in her bowel. "I know. Isn't it weird? I even checked the oven in case he left muffins in there like last time, but there's nothing. It took me forever to find this cereal. I don't know how old it is, but I'd rather not."
"Where's Taichi?" Sora asked. It was natural for Taichi to wake up later than everyone else, usually Sora and Kari were already gone, him having a midnight class and all, but just in case…
"In his room, asleep, but he's still wearing his clothes from yesterday, and his shoes." Kari was every bit as confused and curious as Sora. She, too, had walked into the kitchen speaking to Yamato and found that she was simply speaking to air.
Sora thought about the situation for a moment, wondering what had gotten into her two boys. Eventually she decided that males were just strange and chose to eat cold cereal with Kari, trying to ignore how stale the little bits tasted. She kept expecting Yamato to walk in at any moment, take their bowels away, and make them something good, yet that never happened. Before long, her cereal was consumed, and the clock neared seven.
"I would wait up for Yamato, but you've got to be at school in five minutes, and a friend is expecting me to meet him at the library half an hour before class," Sora stated with a sigh. Kari nodded and they stood to leave.
As Kari grabbed her books, Sora peeked into Taichi and Yamato's room at the still sleeping figure. Her eyes moved to the clock on the nightstand and she was shocked to find that the alarm was not set. While, in his younger years, Taichi had been a constantly mixed up person, he did try to be organized and act mature. Being late to class was not mature.
Seeing as Sora was female, and often felt like a mother to Taichi, she marched into his room, flipped on the light, and ripped his blankets from the bed. "Yagami Taichi, get your rear end out of that bed! You're going to be late! I understand that you're tired, but you shouldn't sign up for night classes if you can't handle the load!"
Seeing as Taichi was male, and often felt like Sora was his mother, he gave a sleepy whine, shielded his eyes from the bright light that had suddenly appeared in his nightmare, and lazily reached for the covers that were cruelly taken away. "So~ra! I'm in the middle of a crisis! Can't you find someone else to pick on?"
Sora opened her mouth to retort, but when she lifted her hand to point threateningly at Taichi she caught sight of her watch and gave a startled squeak. She spun around to leave, but spun back around just as sharply and narrowed her eyes at Taichi. "I have to go, but I'd better not find out that you were late to class, or no dessert tonight!"
Feeling like she'd accomplished something, Sora marched back out of the room, meeting up with Kari in the hallway, and the two left, leaving the light over Taichi still on. It was cruel, but necessary.
Taichi groaned and rolled onto his back, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He felt grungy in his dirty clothes, and thinking about it reminded him of the night before and the reason he hadn't bothered to take a shower and change. He glanced at Yamato's bed, wondering if the other had returned as well, and wasn't surprised upon seeing that it was empty.
However, he was surprised when an angry Sora came howling back into the apartment.
"Where is my car?" she demanded, hands on hip and eyes threatening death. "I realized I hadn't grabbed my keys, but that was because they weren't where they usually were so it threw me off, but my car isn't even there! Where is it?"
By the end of her rant, Sora had moved to the side of the bed and was gripping Taichi by the front of his shirt. In an act to protect what he considered a handsome face, Taichi held up his hands and tried to squirm away. "I don't know! The last time I saw it, Yamato was driving it!"
"Yamato?" Sora was now confused and she let go of Taichi to think. There had been times where Taichi and Yamato often joked that she played favorites with the two of them, and, while they laughed together at those jokes, it was eerily true. Yamato was definitely her 'favored child' and anything he did was okay.
Now her anger was gone and replaced with worry. First Yamato wasn't there to make breakfast, and then he had her car. What had happened to him? She hoped nothing serious. Her eyes drifted back to Taichi staring guiltily at the blankets on the floor. "What did you do?"
Taichi's head snapped up. "What? I didn't do anything!"
"You had to have done something! Yamato's gone, I don't have car, which means that both Kari and I are going to be late!" Sora shouted. It sucked when you weren't the favored child.
"You can use my car," Taichi, in hope to cool Sora down a little, offered.
Sora looked incredulous. "Like I'm going to use that POS car! Now tell me…"
The phone beside the clock on the nightstand rang, cutting off whatever she was about to scream. They both jumped, as did Kari who was standing in the doorway watching – she knew better than to become a part of Sora's rant. The phone rang again, and this time Sora reached for it, answering with a crisp, worried, "Hello?"
Her eyes slid back to Taichi. They narrowed as each second passed, and then she held the phone out to Taichi. "It's for you. Yamato's father."
Taichi shakily took the phone from her, Mr. Ishida's wrath being much scarier. While the reporter often denied being Yamato's father, saying that Nancy must have had an affair, he was very caring father and extremely protective. Mess with his little baby, and you might as well mess with the entire Japanese army. Yamato was the only 'non-mistake' in his life – Takeru having been a surprise, not a mistake, mind you – not that he'd ever admit it out loud.
"Hello?" Taichi asked quietly, already wincing even though Mr. Ishida had not spoken yet.
"Taichi, this is Ishida Masaharu," the other drawled, sounding tired. "I don't normally interfere with other people's relationships, but your relationship just moved back into my apartment and wont stop crying."
Relief waved over Taichi. He wasn't being yelled at after all! "What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know!" Masaharu snapped. "Come over here, declare you love, and take him away! I can't stand it anymore!"
Ah, yes. Back to the denial of fatherly love. And the yelling.
"Uh, so you don't have a problem with… with him and me?" Taichi liked this idea, but Yamato wasn't innately a person to hide feelings. He'd been taught lessons from the master of acting.
"I couldn't care less! Now hurry!" Masaharu shouted into the phone. "I'm leaving in five minutes for work. I expect to see you driving up as I pull out."
With that, the phone was slammed into place, and Taichi shuffled out of bed to get into some clean clothes and over to the Ishida apartment before five minutes was up.
--
Mr. Ishida was glaring, but at least he was in the other car and not slowing down to kill Taichi. Sora was the first to get out of Taichi's car, Kari having been dropped off at school on the way over. She was delighted to see her car, but upset to see that it was muddy. The blame was placed on Taichi, of course, since Yamato could do no wrong.
Taichi wearily dragged himself out of the car and to the elevator. Sora griped at him the entire way to the complex Mr. Ishida lived in, and his ears were ringing. On the way up, however, he started to wonder just what he was going to say to Yamato. And what was Yamato going to say to him? Mr. Ishida made it sound like he might actually have a chance at finally getting the adorable blonde to claim as his own.
The door was unlocked and partially open when Taichi walked up. Sora stayed downstairs with her car, examining it to make sure nothing was wrong with it. Pushing open the door, Taichi stepped inside the apartment and looked around. He glanced into Yamato's old bedroom, which had been turned into an office, and into the bathroom, but no Yamato. The next room was Mr. Ishida's and he decided he'd look everywhere else before venturing into there.
Luckily, he was fortunate to find Yamato sitting on the floor of the kitchen, cutting out shapes from elaborately colored construction paper. All around the kitchen these shapes had been attached to strings and now little stars, circles, squares, and triangles hung from the ceiling. The table also had nice array of cut out animals taped to it, as did the counter and cabinets. The refrigerator and oven were lined with frilly lace – what it was even doing in the Ishida apartment anyway kind of worried Taichi.
Yamato stopped his cutting to look at Taichi standing in the doorway. His eyes immediately started to fill with tears and he whispered quietly, "I'm sorry."
Seeing that the object of his adoration was having some sort of break down, Taichi quickly slipped to the floor and pulled Yamato into his arms. "Sorry? Why are you sorry? Don't be sorry, Yama-chan."
"I'm sorry I left last night," Yamato replied even softer.
"It doesn't matter. Forget it. You're here now and that's all that counts for me." Taichi hugged Yamato tighter. "I really like you, Yama-chan."
"You're not mad at me?"
The tone of voice, that child-like manner that Yamato was using, bothered Taichi. It worried him just as much and all he could do was hug Yamato even tighter. "Of course not."
Yamato seemed to relax at that and snuggled closer to Taichi. "Okay."
-
-
Three months, nine sessions with a psychiatrist, about eight different medications, two incidents involving a disappearing Yamato and Sora's car, five mornings of waking up to find whipped cream all over the kitchen, four nights of waking up Mr. Ishida at midnight, a bad sunburn, a broken leg, a lost pair of swim shorts, and many intimate experiences later, Taichi finally felt he'd tamed the wild Ishida Yamato – who, by day, was as normal as everyone else, even acted cool and calm, but by night was a whole other person.
Life is fun.
It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get awayTHE END!!
Yes, I know that ending really bites, but hey – this wasn't supposed to have a fancy ending! Just plain and common and silly. Please review!