1st July 2003
Kyaaaa... Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out! Exams and an increased workload rather took it's toll... ^^;; And then it overran as well, from how long I was expecting it to be. *shrug* Ah well. Should hopefully be a bit more cheerful than the past few have been...but you decide. Here goes...
Late Night Radio (Edition 2) Pt. 6
Dreaming
~Jheya Ono~
"Yeah, what is it?" Yamato almost snarled into the phone as he answered a call. He ran his fingers through his blonde locks and sighed, praying for god, any god, to give him strength. He really didn't want to have to deal with his management company. Not when he was meant to be taking a well-earned break. And especially not now...
After having fled the cinema, he and Taichi had ended up in a small cafe, and once there they had started to talk about the past... A topic that had been inevitable really, even though it was painful...or at least held the promise of being painful. The blonde had finally dared to ask his friend a little about what he had been up to over the last five years, asking the questions carefully, hesitantly, because he wasn't sure that he really wanted to know the answers that had remained unknown for so long...
Bullshit. His mind helpfully provided him with. Of course you want to know what the answers are. You're just afraid of what those answers might be...
He was pretty sure that outwardly he seemed reasonably calm, even as he raged against that inner voice. What it was saying was perfectly true, but dammit, that did not make it any easier to deal with...
He could almost hear the person on the other end of the phone recoil from his unexpectantly violent response, and mentally smacked himself one. Way to go... What happened to professionalism? To getting the job done with no unnecessary display of emotion, just like he had been taught to do after a few unfortunate temper flare-ups during press-conferences...? Where had all that gone? Why, straight out the window as soon as it came to any matter concerning Taichi by the looks of things...
It was true. The logic and reason that he was usually so good at always seemed to vanish whenever he was around the brunette... That lack of common sense was largely responsible for the totally stupid and often utterly hilarious stunts the two friends had pulled when they had been younger... A small smile tugged at the blonde's lips as he remembered a few of the more outrageous ones...and then winced as he also remembered just how often those same stunts had ended rather painfully.
While Yamato loved the spontaneous and reckless streak that Taichi's company brought out in his personality, it wasn't the most useful thing at times... Damn inconvenient at others.
Like when I'm meant to be behaving professionally... Like now in fact, when I'm meant to be talking to my management company, rather than nearly biting their heads off for merely calling me and interrupting a conversation! He thought wearily, momentarily closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. I mean it's not like they knew that they were interrupting something... It's not like they were doing it on purpose...
"Er, Ishida-san?" a voice squeaked nervously in his ear, and Yamato realised that he hadn't been paying the blindest bit of attention to anything other than his own internal dialogue, even though he still had his cell phone clamped to one ear. "Um... Are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm still here..." he sighed heavily, trying to drag his thoughts into some semblance of order so that they wouldn't drift again. "Sorry... What were you saying?"
"Oh, erm..." the woman on the other end of the line cleared her throat in an attempt to get the squeak out of it. Not his manager, he couldn't ever imagine her squeaking, it sounded like her secretary... He recognised the voice in any case, but was currently unable to think of the name that went with it. The singer frowned slightly, wondering why he was being called so late...
"Um, hey..." he interrupted, as the woman still hadn't quite collected herself. "How come you're calling so late? It's out of usual office hours..."
"I tried calling earlier Ishida-san, several times in fact, but there was no answer..." There was no hint of reproach in her voice, but Yamato grimaced anyway. Damn, damn, damn! He should have remembered to check his phone for missed calls, what with having slept most of the day away... But he hadn't, too caught up with the whirl of emotions at having unexpectedly found his missing friend again. He wouldn't have even gotten this call now if his phone hadn't so happened to be in the pocket of the coat he had chosen to wear due to the cold weather.
Should have worn a different coat. He thought wryly. Then I wouldn't have known I had a call, and with how distracted I've been today, I doubt I'd have even realised that I'd missed some calls for a few days yet... Although if they're still trying to get hold of me at this hour, it looks like it's got to be something reasonably important, so maybe it's just as well I had my phone with me...
A part of him railed against that thought, saying that no, dammit, he wanted to talk with Taichi! But thankfully, some of his absent professionalism seemed to be coming back to him, and he could push that part of himself to one side for the moment, and concentrate on the woman's words as she continued to speak.
"Hironobu-san would have called you herself..." she continued nervously. "She was trying to call you earlier, and it would be her calling now... Only she had a prior evening engagement that she had to go to..."
"It's fine, I understand." she said soothingly, knowing how busy his manager was, and how many formal occasions she was obliged to attend either on the behalf of her clients or her company... Something he didn't envy her for in the least. He would have hated it if he had been forced to attend so many staged events, and so was grateful that Irina Hironobu understood his feelings and spared him from as many as possible. His first management company hadn't, wanting to show off their poster boy at every possible event... One reason that the Teenage Wolves had quickly switched to Irina's company early on in their career.
"So what did you need to talk to me about?" he asked.
"Oh, Hironobu-san wanted to remind you that as you have a photo-shoot early tomorrow morning, you ought to have an early night-"
"What?" he interrupted. "What photo-shoot?"
He was vaguely aware at having frozen, that his voice was tense and that Taichi was looking at him questioningly, confused by his reaction... But he paid these things little attention as his mind raced. Photo-shoot? There had never been a photo-shoot scheduled... Had there?
"Um..." There was the sound of nervous movement. "I'm afraid that I'm not in the office at the moment, Ishida-san, so I don't have the files with me. I can't currently remember which one, but you're scheduled to have a photo-shoot for a magazine tomorrow. Hironobu-san has booked a limousine to take you from the hotel to the studio, so you needn't worry about transport..."
"Shit..." he muttered, closing his eyes and leaning on the table in front of him, one hand against his temple. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell when Taichi moved. A moment later he felt a hand briefly touch his arm.
"Matt?" the brunette asked, voice concerned. "Are you okay? What's the matter?"
"Don't worry..." he said quietly, moving the phone away from his mouth momentarily. "It's nothing much. Just something I wasn't aware of..."
"Ishida-san?" the secretary queried.
"Uh, listen..." he said, shifting the mouthpiece back over to his mouth. "Is there a way of rescheduling or...?"
"I'm afraid not, Ishida-san. It has to be tomorrow."
"Damn."
The blonde played with a few strands of his hair whilst he thought.
"Right." he finally sighed. "But I'm bringing a friend with me." It wasn't a request, it was a statement, and his tone left no room for argument. "What time's the limo coming?"
"Scheduled for 6am."
"Ah hell..." he groaned. "I should call it a night about now then..."
"Sorry, Ishida-san..."
"Don't be. It's not your fault. Thanks for calling with the warning."
"No problem, Ishida-san. Good night."
"Good night..."
He hung up, and let the phone fall from his fingers to land with a clatter on the table in front of him.
"Damn it all to hell and back again..." he muttered under his breath.
"Matt?" Taichi asked, and Yamato shifted his gaze away from the tabletop to focus on his friend. "What's the matter? What was that phone call about? Are you okay? What's happening? Where are you going tomorrow-"
The blonde held up a hand to cut off the frantic flow of words.
"First off, I'm not going anywhere tomorrow, we are. Well..." he paused and rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling tired. "That is, I have to go, but if you don't want to, you don't have to..."
"I'm going with you." the brunette immediately replied, and the singer's spirit rose a little at the complete lack of hesitance in his friend's voice. Taichi gave a little snort of laughter a moment later, and Yamato looked at him questioningly.
"What?"
"Just... I guess I better ask what I just let myself in for, huh?" he said, grinning ruefully.
"Oh, it's nothing bad..." he said, radiating innocence. "It's just a minor matter of you having to strip down to your underwear on stage..."
From across the table Taichi stared at him speechlessly for a long moment before uttering a strangled choking noise as a mouthful of hot chocolate went down the wrong way.
"Tai!" the blonde scooted round to the other side of the table and thumped his friend on the back until the coughing fit passed.
I should probably be looking concerned... The singer thought idly, whilst doing no such thing. A cheerful grin curved his lips instead as he fought back a laugh. But I can't. This is just too funny, too much like old times...
"Th-that's..." the brunette managed between gasps for air, now that he could actually breathe again. "That's your idea of...nothing bad?!"
"It was a joke!" he protested, trying and failing in his attempt not to snigger whilst doing so. "Jeez, Tai... I thought that even you would get that!"
"Baka..." Taichi grumbled, massaging his throat. "You have to go and say that whilst I'm drinking something, don't you? Now I've got hot chocolate in the lungs, so if I end up drowning later you do realise that it'll be all your fault."
"Eh?"
"Something like that anyway." he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Hot chocolate... It's a liquid, same as water. Water in the lungs; means that you drown, yeah?"
"You didn't inhale that much!"
"Ah, but you never know..." the brunette was grinning as he spoke, and Yamato knew that his friend found the whole situation just as funny as he did. "It all counts right? I might have inhaled the critical value that means when I lie down to sleep tonight, it'll all accumulate in a certain way that means that I can no longer absorb oxygen. Then; BAM! I'll have drowned."
"Drowning in hot chocolate..." the blonde grinned. "Well, I guess that there are worse ways to go..."
"Any case... If that was the joke answer, then what have I really let myself in for tomorrow?"
"As I said, nothing bad." he shrugged. "Actually, I'd be extremely surprised if you'll be doing anything but watching. You'll probably get pretty bored... You sure you want to go? I don't mind if you stay behind and sleep..."
"Matt, stop trying to put me off already! Yes! I want to go! Providing you stop avoiding the question and actually get round to telling me what that thing is that you have to go to!" Taichi pouted petulantly and Yamato couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay, okay... It's a photo shoot."
"Really?" The pout vanished to be replaced by a smile. "Cool!"
"Not really..." he sighed, making a face. "Early starts, lots of hanging about, and about a gazillion outfit changes... Having brushes and things poked in my face for hours on end is not one of my favourite ways to spend my time."
"Hmm... But I've never been to one before." the brunette mused. "So it still sounds pretty cool to me. Hang about... What did you mean by 'early starts', and that I could 'stay behind and sleep' if I wanted to? Exactly how early are we talking here?"
"To get to the studio on time a limo's been ordered to collect us from the hotel at 6am. Uh... That means that I'll have to wake up at about 5am, possibly a bit before. But if you can still get ready as quickly as I remember you doing when we were kids, you can probably sleep in a bit longer than me." he added, when he saw the growing look of disbelief on his friend's face.
"How early?! Okay, maybe not so cool then..."
"Hey, I've done worse than this." he shrugged. "There have been occasions when I've had to do a shoot after an awards ceremony or something. Problem with doing that is that I'm obliged to go to the after show party, which sometimes doesn't end 'til...maybe 3am. Then I've got to get back to wherever I'm staying at the time, then be up before 5, possibly by means of having a bucket of ice-cold water dumped on me... And then, having had practically zero sleep, I then get told to 'smile for the camera'. Now that is hell."
Taichi winced.
"Ouch."
"Yeah. So, I was wondering... I mean, I know you probably think it's kinda early and all..." Yamato said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "But would you mind if we headed back now? I'd completely forgotten about this shoot until I got that call, and I'm kinda going to need the sleep so I don't snarl at everyone in sight tomorrow..."
"Sure!"
The brunette immediately downed the last of his drink and rose to his feet.
"Thanks, Tai."
"Don't be daft! You have nothing to thank me for."
The blonde just smiled at him, and walked over to the counter to pay their bill. He hummed quietly as the cashier rang up the total and got him his change, his mood lighter now than it had been at the beginning of the evening. He had Taichi with him now, and their recent bout of silliness showed that, deep down, not all that much had changed between them. And he was grateful for that, even if... Even if he still didn't understand just what had gone so wrong between them five years ago.
He still wanted to know; hell yes. But the urgency he had felt about finding out the answers had passed for now, replaced with a calm born of tiredness in preparation for the early morning to come. It could wait a little longer.
"Your change, Ishida-san."
"Thank you."
He smiled at the girl, who blushed pinkly, before moving back to Taichi's side, and together heading towards the exit.
"U-um... Ishida-san? Y-Yamato?"
The singer stopped and turned to see the boy who had served them their drinks earlier standing behind them, blushing furiously with his eyes averted.
"Yes?" he said good-naturedly. "Uh... Kichiisai, wasn't it?"
The boy nodded, and coloured even further at Yamato having remembered his name, even though it couldn't have been more than half an hour since the blonde had requested it so he could sign the autograph he had been asked for.
"Um, h-hai. I was wondering... I m-mean, that it, if it wouldn't be too much trouble..." he stammered nervously, and Yamato just waited for him to finish, not hurrying or rushing the already flustered teenager. "I, uh... Could I possibly... I mean, you don't have t-to if you don't want to, obviously, but... Could I... Get a ph-photo taken...with y-you?"
"Sure! Why not?" the singer said, grinning widely. "Taichi, would you do the honours?"
"What? Oh yeah, sure!" his friend grinned, moving from his side to take the camera. The brunette gave the boy a good-natured shove in Yamato's direction, for Kichiisai seemed to have frozen in shock at actually having had his request agreed to. He stumbled a few paces before he managed to regain his balance, approaching the blonde carefully as if he couldn't quite believe that this was real.
"You're not dreaming..." the singer murmured in the boy's ear once he was close enough, and suppressed a laugh as a jump and a widening of the eyes in surprise told him that he'd guessed the boy's thought correctly.
"You two ready?" Taichi asked, looking through the camera lens and backing away to get them into shot better.
"Not quite..." he called back. He glanced at the boy beside him, saw awe and adoration showing so clearly in hazel eyes, and with it nervousness... And he knew that he was the one who would have to move closer, as the teenager was too timid to do so himself. He didn't mind. In fact he couldn't help but smile as he sidled that little bit closer, and he knew that Kichiisai saw him doing so by the way a blush once again rose on his cheeks. He preferred this type of fan to the ones that were the polar-opposite, too loud, overconfident, and forever trying to grab hold of his backside...
"You ready?" he asked, as he slung one arm casually about the boy's shoulders. He felt an arm very tentatively sneak about his waist, resting there lightly, ready to move away instantly should Yamato show any sign of protest... Not that he would. The singer had endured far worse situations without his smile ever slipping from his face. He actually found the whole thing quite...sweet with the boy's hesitance, although if he were to blush any more, he might just spontaneously combust before the photo could be taken...
"Ready?" he asked again, amusement dancing in his eyes from the thoughts running through his head.
"Un..." The soft sound of affirmation was almost lost beneath the background noise of the cafe.
"We're all set, Tai!" he called, signalling to the brunette.
"Okaaaay... Big cheesy grins now, both of you!" Taichi joked, and the blonde gave him a withering look for his efforts. Even so, his smile was back in place before the flash went, and the picture was taken, only with perhaps a touch more amusement showing than had been there before.
"Thank you..." Kichiisai murmured quietly, but earnestly, his shy smile amazed and delighted.
"No problem!" Yamato replied with a wink, and the warm arm about his waist shifted, and began to draw away. But the movement was reluctant, the teenager obviously not wanting to let go, not wanting this dream to end... And the singer could sense another question, hovering unasked in the air, the boy not willing to push his luck with another request, but all the same wanting to ask so badly, knowing that this chance would likely never come again...
"So should I end this the traditional way?" he asked lightly.
"The...traditional way?"
"With a kiss on the cheek."
It was almost comical, the way the boy's eyes widened in delighted comprehension, realising that what he had so wanted to ask, but had been too scared to do so... Realising that the impossible dream was being offered to him, without his having needed to say a single thing...
If something so small could make someone this happy... How could I not offer that to them?
A small, nearly imperceptible nod answered his question. The gesture would have been unnoticeable, had he not been looking for it, but the colour that rose on Kichiisai's face was glaringly obvious.
As he leant down a little to lightly brush his lips against one flushed cheek, he wondered if the boy would simply burst into flames at this, even though it was fleeting, as innocent as a kiss could get...
He was nearly right.
With his arm still about the boy's shoulders he had been aware that the teenager had been trembling slightly, body tense due to nervousness and suppressed emotion... But all that suddenly stopped, as he drew back from that slight contact, and he was only grateful that he had quick reaction times, as Kichiisai simply fainted clean away in his arms...
* ** *
"I still don't believe it!" Taichi exclaimed as Yamato opened the door to the penthouse suite and they both entered. The blonde gave a long-suffering sigh, and gave his friend as despairing look.
"Tai, that's about the only thing you've said the entire way back here! What's not to believe anyway? It's not like the world blew up or neon polka-dot puppies fell down from the sky or anything... The kid just fainted!"
"Yeah, but..." he gestured randomly in the air, unable to verbalise what he meant. Yamato just looked at him coolly, and simply arched an eyebrow and waited for the brunette to continue.
"Well, it's just..." Taichi looked at him demandingly. "Well, you know...right?"
"Assume for the moment that I'm stupid and I don't." he remarked dryly, and got rewarded by a glare.
"Fine, be difficult why don't you..."
"Don't mind if I do."
"ANYWAY," the brunette continued loudly, as if the blonde hadn't spoken. "Anyway... It's just that one second he was there, and he was standing upright perfectly fine, even if he was the colour of a tomato... Then the next he just keels over and you have to catch him so that he doesn't hit the floor! You can't tell me that that's normal behaviour?!"
He shrugged elegantly.
"It happens."
"You're not telling me that you're used to people fainting on you, are you?"
"Not used to it, no. It still comes as kinda a shock whenever someone just faints like that... But it's happened before, it's no big deal!"
"It is a big deal!"
"Why?!"
"Because..." Taichi began, and then floundered for words. "It just is!"
"Tai-" Yamato said warningly, his patience beginning to wear a little thin, but the brunette interrupted him before he could finish.
"You kissed him!"
"I...what?" was his incredulous response as he stared slack jawed at his friend. The brunette blushed as he realised what he had just blurted out, evidently not having meant to have phrased it quite that way.
"Well, on the cheek..." he amended weakly.
"It's a fairly common request."
"But..."
"But what?!" the blonde couldn't help but sound a little angry. Just what was the big problem?! Why did Taichi seem to be making such a big deal over something that really wasn't anything?
"...but he was a boy..."
"Why..." His train of thought suddenly hit a brick wall at that quietly murmured reply, not having expected a response anything like that. "Why would that make a difference?"
The brunette shook his head slightly, quite obviously evading the question, but before Yamato could call him on it, he asked a question of his own.
"Do they all faint on you?" he demanded.
"...the fans?" he asked, momentarily confused at the sudden switch in conversation from the route he had wanted to go down. Taichi nodded. "Well, not all of them, obviously, but quite a few of them I guess. I never really thought to keep count or anything!" he added in defence of his somewhat vague answer.
"The boys too?"
"Some of them, yes. Look, where is this leading?" he snapped, starting to feel exasperated by the peculiar nature of the questions he was being asked. The brunette, however, would not be distracted from whatever course he had decided to follow. Whatever that course was...
"Are those the ones you kissed?"
"I don't-" the blonde began automatically, then stopped and actually considered the question. "Like I said before, I never kept stats or anything... But thinking about those I remember meeting on our last tour... I guess a significant number of those who fainted were amongst the ones I...kissed..." he answered, sounding surprised. He'd never really connected the two before...
Taichi gave a snort of laughter.
"What now?"
"Ishida Yamato... Exactly what kind or narcotic do you regularly apply to those magic lips of yours?" he asked sweetly.
"I don't... What?" he blinked. "What are you talking about? I don't put anything on my lips! It's just...me..." He glared at the grinning brunette. "You really enjoy making me sound as if I have a gigantic ego, don't you?"
"Naw... I just like having you admit to having a gigantic ego!"
"Baka..." he muttered. "Any case, a narcotic wouldn't work." the blonde added more loudly, trying to distract his grinning friend.
"Why not?"
"Well, it's not like I ever kissed them properly, it was only ever a peck on the cheek, like with that kid at the cafe. So there'd be no way for the drug to enter the body. I suppose there could be something that only requires contact with the skin to work... But in order for something to act that quickly, with only minimal contact... I'd be flat out unconscious on the floor before I ever got the chance to get near anyone!"
"Hmm... I suppose I'll have to agree with you on that point." Taichi admitted grudgingly, but the mischievous grin was back on his face a moment later. "So no narcotics involved then. I'll just have to go back to the theory that when all that glorious Ishida magic flows into a person via those pretty lips of yours, it makes them pass out, ne?"
"Taichi..." Yamato spoke mock-fiercely, though the exasperation in his tone was genuine enough, his hands on his hips as he glared at his friend, and his gaze dancing merrily with an amusement he refused to let any other part of his body show. "Even I'm not so dense as to fall for the same trick twice in a two minute interval! My ego is not the size of a major planet no matter what you may personally think..."
"You know I don't really think that about you..." the brunette said softly, his teasing grin changing to a much gentler smile. Almost...tender...
"Yeah, I know..." he smiled in return, arms dropping down to rest at his sides, and altering his stance subtly into a more relaxed pose. "Still, sometimes I wish you'd stop teasing me about it, even if I do know that you're only joking..."
"Where would be the fun in that?" Taichi said lightly, tone amused. Then abruptly he seemed to sober, and when he spoke again he sounded different, voice filled with an emotion that the blonde couldn't place, couldn't give a name to... "Really? You kiss them... They faint?"
"Well, some of them..." he replied, sounding confused. There was something else going on, some other question, a deeper meaning to the brunette's deceptively simple words... Something he just couldn't quite see, and so couldn't understand, no matter how much he wanted to.
"So, that means if I were to be... I would probably..." The words were so softly spoken, the barest whisper, that Yamato nearly didn't hear them at all.
"Tai?" he frowned, moving towards his friend in concern. Taichi's eyes snapped up to meet his, and from the way they widened, and the way his cheeks suddenly blazed scarlet, the blonde knew that the whispered words had never been meant to reach the air at all. "What-"
"Nothing!" The brunette answered too quickly, too loudly, confirming that something wasn't quite right even as he sought to negate it with that single word. "Any case," he went on, changing the subject. "Weren't you meant to be getting some rest so that you can impress everyone with your beauty tomorrow? You'll have a hard time doing that if you're a grouch with bags under your eyes from too little sleep. To bed with you now!"
He pointed imperiously towards the bedroom, and the blonde grinned at the bossy tone and manner his friend had adopted.
"You remind me so much of Naoko when you do that..." he laughed a little wistfully as he thought of the woman who was probably still attempting to restore order to the bomb site his home had likely become, due to the redecoration process it was currently going through. He missed her...
With his thoughts thus occupied, he nearly missed the flicker of emotion that passed across Taichi's face. He did see it, but it was gone too quickly, hidden away before he had the chance to identify what it had been. So fast that he almost wondered whether there had actually been anything there to see, whether if had been nothing more than the imaginings of an over-tired mind... Almost. What had he said to provoke that reaction?
"Bed!" the brunette repeated emphatically, when Yamato made no move towards the bedroom door, pale eyebrows drawn slightly together as he tried to figure out the latest puzzle added to the growing mound. He just knew he was missing something important, but he couldn't see what...
"Hang on a minute," the blonde said, as something else occurred to his already overtaxed brain. "If I'm sleeping in there-"
"Where am I sleeping?" Taichi finished, and the singer nodded. "On the sofa of course." he replied promptly.
"But..." He began to protest, but quickly trailed off as he realised that he didn't have the words. The massive king-sized bed was more than big enough for two...
But how the hell am I meant to tell him that without sounding totally...wrong?! It'd mean a comfortable night for us both, and it wouldn't bother me... But I don't know if he'd want to hear that... he thought, mind clouded with indecision.
"Matt," The brunette spoke as the silence began to stretch onwards. "Don't look so worried! I'll be fine on the sofa!" He smiled reassuringly, but Yamato felt inexplicably saddened that his dilemma had been misunderstood. "I had the bed last time... And besides which, it's not me that has to look pretty tomorrow. So there!" he added, as if that settled the matter, and his friend couldn't help but smile.
"Well, if you're sure..."
"I am! Now will you get going?" he said severely, though his eyes gave him away.
The blonde smiled again, and finally moved, opening the bedroom door and heading purposely towards the wardrobes.
"I'll just get you some nightwear and the spare duvet and stuff... It'll probably be a cold night..."
A short while later, and they were both tucked in for the night. The bedroom door remained wide open, Yamato unwilling to have that separation between them, even though it made no sense as the fact remained that they were in separate rooms... But he felt better without that extra boundary, even so.
"Night, Tai..." he called softly into the darkness.
"Night, Matt..." came the equally soft reply.
Yamato must have been more tired than he had realised, for with those words spoken the world soon faded away, and he drifted off into the welcoming arms of sleep...
* ** *
"Tai!"
Yamato sped up the stairs to the Yagami's apartment, taking the steps two at a time, having far too much energy coursing through his veins to have the patience to wait for the lift. He skidded to a halt in front of his friend's door, nearly sliding past it due to the speed at which he had been moving at, and slightly out of breath, he began to pound rapidly on the wood.
"Tai!" he yelled excitedly. "Tai, come on, open up! You'll never guess what's just happened!"
He suddenly stopped hammering on the door as he belatedly realised that it was unlikely that Taichi was alone in the apartment, and that he sounded like a lunatic. He fidgeted instead, almost dancing from one foot to the other, unable to keep from moving as excitement still bubbled through him. The Teenage Wolves had been away for the past three days, taking part in a music festival, so he hadn't seen his friend in all that time...
Not a long length of time, by most peoples standards, three days being practically no time at all... But the two friends usually saw each other every day, and were always round each others places, so three whole days seemed like a lifetime to the blonde eighteen-year-old... And to him their separation seemed even longer than that, what with all that had happened, and all the news he was bursting to share.
It had been the first festival they had ever played in, and the biggest audience they had ever faced... Admittedly few, if any, of the many thousands in the crowd would have been there specifically to see them. Most would have been there to see the other, more established bands, for the Teenage Wolves were only really just starting out in the professional music industry. They'd been together for years, but they'd spent most of that time playing for friends, family, and at fairly small, unpublicised functions, just honing their skills to near perfection before trying for the big time. However, the response they'd received whilst performing had been overwhelmingly positive. It promised for even better things to come... A promise that looked set to come true extremely soon, what with everything that had happened after the festival had been over...
He executed another nervous jig as the door still showed no signs of opening. What was taking Tai so long?! Someone usually opened the door before this...right? Unless, of course, everyone was out...
He swore quietly under his breath. Dammit... He probably should have checked they'd be in before he'd run all the way over and made enough noise to disturb the entire floor. But who had the sense to call on ahead when they were as excited as he was?
Turning, he was about the head back home, rather more sedately then he had arrived, when there was a soft click, and he spun back round to see the door finally opening. It didn't really register that the movement was slow, that something wasn't quite right, as the energy that had died down when he had thought that no one was at home flared immediately back into life.
"Tai!" he began, starting exuberantly forward... But then suddenly stopped as the door opened a little further and he realised that it wasn't his friend, but Hikari. Only the young brunette didn't look anything like he remembered her looking when he had last seen her, mere days ago. Her face was pale, and her eyes dull and red-rimmed; she'd obviously been crying recently. Her hair clung to her face in places, limp and lifeless... And worst of all was the way she usually sparkled, so happy and full of life, that was gone, replaced with an all-pervading sorrow, and worry that he just didn't understand...
"Kari? Hey... What's wrong?" he asked softly, voice concerned. He began to move towards her, wanting to take her into his arms to comfort her as due to their long friendship, she felt more like the sister he never had than his friend's sister... But she held up a hand and shook her head slightly, keeping him away, and he stopped, looking confused. "Kari?"
She shook her head again, and bit her lower lip slightly, a few new tears welling up in her eyes but not yet falling.
"Hikari..." he said softly, awkwardly, unsure of what to do or how to act. Unable to imagine just what had gone wrong to cause such a reaction as this.
"You... You don't know... Do you?" she said quietly, and he couldn't help wince a little as he heard her voice, usually so soft and sweet, now with a raw edge from some unknown grief.
"Know what?" he asked, panic beginning to rise in him. "I... I only just got back a little while ago... I just dumped my stuff at home and then ran over here to see Tai-" He stopped, seeing her flinch. "Tai... What's happened? What's happened to him?!" There was a hysterical note to his voice, but he didn't care, couldn't help it as he tried to think just what could have gone wrong in the three days he had been absent for.
"I don't know... No one knows... He's just...gone..."
"What do you mean...gone...?"
The world seemed suddenly very far away, even his own voice sounding distant to him, and he wasn't really aware of his surroundings any more... Could only hear the words that filled him with worry and dread, with no chink of sunlight to tell him that this was all just some stupid mistake... That this was just a misunderstanding, it wasn't really real...
"Just that, Yamato, he's gone. I don't know where... He...he just vanished..."
He could easily hear the tears in her voice, but couldn't seem to focus, couldn't seem to concentrate...
"The...the police... Have you contacted-" He cut himself off as he saw her shake her head, and a touch of anger involuntarily entered his voice, even though he knew he shouldn't be angry. "Well why not?! He could be-"
"No... He's fine as far as we know-"
"You can't presume that if he's missing! And who's this 'we'? What if-" He knew he was being irrational, that this was the last way he was supposed to act, but he couldn't seem to stop.
"Me... My parents... And he's not missing, even though no-one seems to know where he is, he's just gone." The way she said it, that distinction made his blood run cold, and his voice stuck in his throat. "He...left a note. Two days ago. It just said that... That he needed some space, and not to worry about him." Hikari laughed a little bitterly before she continued. "That's all. Nothing more. Some of his stuff's gone... Clothes, his passport, a few other things... And I'm just so worried. I don't know why... I don't know where... And if he's taken all that, it doesn't look like he's planning to come back any time soon...
"We... My parents... I hoped that maybe... Maybe you'd know where he went..."
Yamato just shook his head dumbly.
"From your reaction just now... I realised that you didn't." she said, her voice eerily emotionless. "My parents have gone to your place, to ask you if you know where... Your father told us that you'd be back about this time today. You probably just missed running into each other... We tried to get hold of you before, but no one could ever seem to find you when we called... When you were at the festival. I thought that... We thought that if he'd told anyone where... It'd be you."
Her flat, emotionless tone struck chills down his spine, and spoke of how, after the constant worry and fear of the past few days, she'd passed onto some calmer plateau beyond.
"I-I don't... I don't..." the blonde tried to speak, but his thoughts were wildly disorganised, his voice sounding far too high-pitched and frantic to actually be his. He backed away from her a few steps.
"Yamato?"
Hikari seemed to rouse out of the apathy she had sunk into after her initial show of emotion, and she looked at him with concern.
"Hey, Matt... Are you okay?"
"No, no... I..." He continued to back away until his back bumped into the wall behind him, the other side of the corridor, putting as much distance between them as possible... As if by doing so, it would make her words less true. "There's nothing... No one you can call to help? The police... Can't they send out a search or something?"
"He's eighteen... An adult, despite his frequent immaturity... So as far as they're concerned he can take off when he wants, to wherever he wants... There's nothing they can do. Matt!" she called out in alarm as the blonde's legs suddenly buckled, and slid out from under him, and he landed with a thump on the floor.
He looked up at her from where he sat, making no attempt to rise. The elation he had felt mere minutes before, the happiness and excitement at having just been signed by a major record company, with a contract for an album, and maybe more to follow... That had all vanished, swept away by a growing feeling of disbelief, of shock and worry... And infinite sadness for all he had lost in his absence, far more lost than he had gained.
His vision blurred as tears welled up in his eyes; tears from a boy who had rarely cried, even as a small child, and who hadn't cried in years... Tears that silently spilled over and rolled down his cheeks.
He felt a pair of arms wrap round him as Hikari knelt down beside him, holding him close. Yamato buried his face in her shoulder as the tears continued to fall, unbidden, and even though she was so close to him he felt more alone than he had felt for seven years... He felt isolated in a way he hadn't felt since he had been eleven, before he had met Taichi for the first time.
And the worst part... The worst part was that he didn't know why it had all just so suddenly changed. Didn't know what had made his world crack and fall apart...
He didn't know what he had done, to make it all go so wrong...
* ** *
"Matt? Yamato? Matt!"
Someone was shaking him by the shoulders, and opening his eyes, Yamato found the world to be blurred and out of focus. For a moment he was disorientated, wondering if this was just the dream continuing... But then he blinked, and his vision cleared, and his eyes focused on not Hikari, but Taichi, concern etched all over the brunette's face.
Not still the dream then. I'm awake now, right? He had a momentary panic that this was the dream, that Taichi was still gone from his life... But the hands holding tight against his shoulders reassured and comforted him. Real. The other part was the dream, not this... Though it wasn't exactly a dream. That happened too. Five years ago now, but it still happened... I was just dreaming. Dreaming of a memory I wish I didn't have...
"Matt?" His friend was still looking at him with worry in his eyes, and the blonde realised that he hadn't yet spoken, or given any indication that he knew the brunette was there at all...
"Tai?" he asked weakly, then coughed to clear his throat, surprised at how unsteady his voice had sounded. "What is it? Is it time to go-"
"No." Taichi shook his head, and slowly released his hold on the blonde's arms, but didn't move away. "It's only...maybe one or so. You can still get a good few more hours sleep, before you have to be ready."
"Then...?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows. He rubbed at his eyes with one hand, and then stared in surprise at his fingertips as they came away wet.
Tears?
"You... You sounded as though you were having a bad dream..." the brunette murmured softly, and looked away. "Sorry. I... I probably shouldn't have woken you, seeing as you have to be up so early-"
"No... I think... I'm glad you did." he interrupted his friend's self-recriminations, grateful that the details of the dream...the memory... Grateful that it had all begun to fade from the surface of his mind, slipping somewhere deeper where it was not forgotten, but was at least not as painful. "Thanks..."
"...No problem. Well, I guess I had better let you get back to sleep then..." He made as if to rise from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed, but Yamato quickly grabbed hold of his sleeve, preventing him from doing so. "Matt...what-"
"Stay... Please?" Although most of the dream had already vanished from his mind, that awful sense of loneliness that such memories had stirred up... That still lingered with him, and he let go of Taichi's sleeve to wrap both arms around himself as he shivered.
"Hey... Are you okay?"
"Yeah... Maybe. But... Could you stay with me? Just..." He shivered again, even though the room wasn't all that cold. "I just...don't want to be alone at the moment..."
He stared up at his friend, blue eyes silently pleading the brunette to just stay. Taichi didn't have to say anything, he didn't have to do anything... Just stay with him, until he fell asleep...
"Sure... If you want me to stay... Hell, I'm not going to just leave you, am I?" the brunette smiled, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little. The blonde nearly winced at his choice of words, for they struck far to close to what he was trying to forget...
But you did leave me once... You just left, without a single word, without giving me a chance to figure out just what I did wrong...
He shifted over on the bed, making room. Taichi paused for a moment before climbing into bed beside the blonde, pulling the covers up as protection from the slight chill of the night air.
Once the brunette was settled, Yamato hesitated over what to do next. There was only a small distance between them, only a few inches... But he didn't want there to be even that slight separation between them. He wanted to be close enough to touch, to know that his friend was solid, and real, and truly with him...
He struggled with indecision for a few moments more, unsure if what he wanted to do was a wise course of action... But then he decided to just go for it, and snuggled up to Taichi's side, resting his head against his friend's chest.
For a long moment he lay perfectly still, not even daring to breathe as he waited for something to happen. Should he have done that? Had that move been the wrong one to make? But then a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders, and he let out a sigh of relief, relaxing into that warm embrace.
"Thank you..." he murmured, not quite sure why he spoke. His eyes felt heavy, and gradually they slid shut, not needing visual confirmation of his friend's presence any more... Not when he could feel the gentle movement of the brunette's breathing.
And with the reassuring beat of Taichi's heart sounding in his ear from where the blonde's head lay against his chest, Yamato felt safe and secure, and gently slid into a trouble-free sleep...
To be continued...
~
Anyone feel sorry for Yama in that dream bit? I felt so horrible... ;_;
Hmm... So a bit of a mixed chapter. Some angst, yes, but also some (hopefully) funny bits...and a nice squishy sappy ending that should hopefully act as insulation for the major angst that is likely to occur in the next chapter of this edition. Poor Yama... _
Review? Please? I'll try to be quicker with the next part of you do... *laughs*