Perfect Situation

Right now Taichi was pissed. It had been hard enough to convince Yamato to do the date in the first place. But their siblings hearing their older brothers plans invited themselves along, and while Taichi had tried to tell them to scram, Yamato had only smiled and said that it was ok that Hikari and Takeru joined them.

Taichi glared at Yamato’s back, grumbling to himself that the bastard knew that Taichi had said this was suppose to be a date, not an outing that was open to any damn person! Even if it was his little sister.

This was just another thing to add to the growing list of things going wrong in his and Yamato’s relationship. If you could call it one. As they have told a total of six people that they are a couple, and that did not include their families. Yamato was worried that the little brother that worshiped that ground he walked, would think differently of his brother being in a gay relationship. And since Takeru was dating Hikari and couldn’t keep a secret from each other to save their lives, Taichi wasn’t allowed to say anything either.

They were walking to the sushi bar Taichi had picked out earlier; for the fact alone that it wasn’t too far from their apartment, was the main reason for Yamato’s agreement to the date. Hikari’s arm was linked with Takeru’s daringly, while Yamato walked on beside his brother, hands in jean pockets and a soft smile directed to his brother, as he listened to whatever tale they were chattering on about.

Because of his bad mood, Taichi kept a few paces behind them, letting himself stew before having to sit down and pretend that he’s having fun. His sneakers scrape up gravel as he shuffles along, head hung to hide the frown on his face. He doesn’t care that Yamato knows of his annoyance, but he doesn’t want to hurt his sister’s or Takeru’s feelings, they have no idea of the situation they’re in the middle of. And Yamato is to blame for that.

They’re a store down from the small sushi bar when a loud voice calls out, “Senpai!” startled, Taichi turns back behind him, and sees Daisuke waving with a big grin gracing his lips, and dragging a compliant Ken along by the wrist. Taichi can’t help but smile when the two boys finally reach him, struggling for breath and leaning into each other for support.

Daisuke’s voice has a slight wheeze when he looks to Ken, and says, “I told you, I saw them!”

Ken takes it all in stride and smiles, looking at Taichi before saying, “Yes, you did.”

Daisuke laughs and claps Ken on the back, causing the dark haired boy to stumble a little bit. “Oops, sorry,” Daisuke mumbles, as he helps his friend keep his balance.

Laughing, Taichi waves and greets them, “Hey, guys!” he says with genuine cheer, “it’s been a while.”

Ken nods as Daisuke says, “Heh, it has, hasn’t it,” and Taichi is a little enchanted with the grin that Daisuke flashes at him.

“Yeah, a couple weeks or so,” Taichi has to wonder how he was able to say anything with that smile directed at him.

“Hey, brats,” Yamato’s voice is behind him and Taichi can’t help but jump when a pale hand comes to rest on his shoulder. He suddenly feels guilty and he can’t figure out why.

“Ishida-san,” Ken says politely but Taichi can tell that it is strained. Daisuke only glares at the tall blond, before tackling into Takeru, and starts talking excitedly.

And the hand on Taichi’s shoulder is gone, leaving it cold, and Taichi feeling as if he’s just been disserted. He pushes down the hurt that Yamato has to be so careful and make sure he doesn’t touch Taichi too much in public. It’s near impossible but Taichi manages.

“Hey, Ken!” Daisuke yells out suddenly, even though his friend is only a few feet away, “Takeru and them are going to eat sushi, they want to know if we want to go too!”

Taichi watches the frown come over Yamato’s face. Knowing what the other man is about to say, Taichi makes sure his grin is big and welcoming as possible, and invites Ken and Daisuke along, “Yeah, why don’t you guys come along, more the merrier I say.”

He ignores Yamato’s glare, instead focusing on Ken, who looks uncertain, but he agrees anyways. And Taichi has his suspicions that it was the puppy eyes Daisuke was sending his way that changed the boy's mind.

“Great! Lets go!” Daisuke cheers, and takes hold of Ken again and stalks up to where Hikari and Takeru are waiting. They set off without the two older boys; laughing and talking about something that is happening at Daisuke, Hikari, and Takeru’s school.

Taichi goes to follow but is stopped by a hand taking hold of his arm. Taichi doesn’t have to turn around to know that Yamato is directing his famous glare at him. “What?” he asks, not turning around, instead watching the kids reach the door to the bar.

“Why did you invite them, Tai?!” Yamato asks annoyed, “I thought this was a date.” The last bit is mumbled so only Taichi can hear it, and not the random pedestrians walking past.

“Was, Yamato, was a date,” Taichi hisses and almost turns to look at the other man but changes his mind, “but that was before you let Takeru, and Hikari tag along.” He shrugs off Yamato’s hand and stalks up to the kids where they are waiting by the sushi bar’s door.

He sees the frown on Hikari’s face, Taichi makes his smile a bit bigger and opens the door, “Whatcha' guys waiting for? Come on before I eat all the sushi,” he makes sure that he laughs and ignores the grumpy Yamato that has finally caught up with them.

The kids laugh and file into the bar, and Taichi chooses to ignore Yamato, when he hisses into his ear about ‘talking about this later’. He lets go of door as he walks in and leaves Yamato to struggle with the closing door.

‘Dick‘, Taichi thinks as he walks to the stool that Daisuke is patting for him to sit on. He smiles when he sees that he’s squished between the boy and his sister. And he can’t help but thank whatever god is up there for sending Daisuke his way.

It’s a while later after they’ve ordered and received their expensive meal. Taichi is listening to Daisuke go on and on about his last year of summer soccer camp before he starts his senior year of high school. The stories have him laughing so hard that it’s easy to ignore the pissed off Yamato two seats away.

They finish eating and are heading off to their separate destinations, but Daisuke stops Taichi and practically begs him to come to his first game. Taichi says, ‘yes’, without hesitation, and tells the boy to give him a call when he finds out the date of the game.

Taichi goes home in such a good mood that he’s barely bothered with the fight Yamato starts the moment the door of their apartment closes, but just, barely.