There You'll Be 'chapter two'

~=~Dish Pan Hands and Strawberry Pocky~=~
Chapter Two

Koushiro’s restless night kept him stirring for many hours until he finally awoke around seven the next morning. What he woke to was a missing Taichi and a pleasant aroma coming from somewhere. “What in the world?” Koushiro outwardly asked as he made his way out into the living area and found Taichi, with his crazy hair going every which way and still wearing the clothes he was given last night, cooking breakfast. “Tai’, what are you doing?”
“Making some breakfast,” Taichi smiled,” I was hungry and I’m sure it’s been a while since you’ve had a good home cooked meal since you never were the best cook. I also wanted to do something as thanks for helping me last night.”
“Aw, Tai. You really don’t have to.” Koushiro said sitting down at the table outside the small kitchen room.
“Come on Koushiro, you’re way too hard on yourself. Too independent. Just let me help you this time.” Taichi smiled brighter as he flipped over the two eggs he was making onto the plate. Koushiro smiled as he watched his busy friend at work and felt that same strange feeling he felt last night before getting to sleep. ‘Why do I keep getting this feeling and what’s it for?” Koushiro thought very frustrated.  
“Voila! Breakfast is served.” Taichi sang out as he carried over the two plates full of delightful smelling food. He sat one plate in front of Koushiro and then sat the other one down across from the red haired boy for himself. They ate in mostly silence, once in a while striking up something to talk about, but it never lasted long. Taichi was more into sports whereas Koushiro stuck to computers and electronics so trying to talk to the other about these topics was like speaking in different languages to each other.
“Wow Tai, I forgot how good of a cook you were.” Koushiro said as he pushed the plate away from him, signaling he was finished. He leaned back a rubbed his stomach as he stretched out.
“Thanks Kou.” Taichi smiled and then started laughing,” I should move in with you and cook meals for you all the time! It’d be like we were married or something!” At this remark Koushiro jumped slightly in the chair causing it to fall back.
“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” Koushiro sat up quickly looking straight at his friend who had stopped laughing when the red haired boy crashed landed on the floor.
“I was just joking Kou. You sure are uptight all of the sudden.” Taichi eyed him strangely and then stood up. Koushiro could feel his face was burning from the inevitable blush that had crossed over it. He gave a heavy sigh and then followed his friend’s action by standing up as well.
“Well Tai, since you made breakfast I’ll be the one to clean up. It’s only right for me to.” Koushiro insisted as he picked up the plates from the table.
“Come on Koushiro. I’m the one who messed them up so I should be the one to clean them. You always try doing everything, it’s time you let someone else do things for you.” Taichi rebelled and went to take the plates from the shorter boy, but Koushiro held on tight. Both boys were stubborn and neither one would give up and Taichi knew this. So he compromised. “How about this. You can clean up, but I’m still going to help you. Deal?”
“…. Fine.” Koushiro sighed as he and his spiky haired friend made their way to the kitchen sink.  

Koushiro hadn’t cleaned up his kitchen for the past few days so there was quite a pile up of dishes and Taichi insisted on cleaning all of them. Seeing as how Koushiro wasn’t about to let him do all of them by himself he helped clean them. Koushiro wasn’t one for cleaning whereas Taichi had become quite a clean freak over the years. Koushiro was organized while still being a pig. Taichi wasn’t one bit organized but everything was always clean. They stood side by side at the sink, each cleaning their own stack of dishes and then putting them away. Koushiro had finished his pile of dishes before Taichi and still felt bad by letting his soccer-loving friend clean up the mess he didn’t even make so he decided to grab a few of the remaining dishes to clean them. The first one he grabbed though just happened to be the same one Taichi was about to clean. They’re hands met, Tai’s on top of Kou’s. They didn’t pull away instantly, but instead stood there.
‘W-what’s going on?’ Koushiro thought to himself. His mind was racing as fast as his heart was beating. The blush on his face was even more fiercely burning this time than before and he couldn’t move.
“Geez Kou, you should quite now before your hands shrivel up and fall off.” Taichi laughed as he made the move to loose contact. He just carried on with cleaning the remaining few dishes and said nothing more. Koushiro picked up the troublesome plate and cleaned it quickly. After he put it away he looked down at his hands. ‘Wow, they are a kind of bad. Wait what am I doing!’ Koushiro quickly put his hands down, another slight pink discoloration came across childish face as he walked out of the kitchen and headed through the messy apartment to the bathroom.
“Hey Kou! Where you going?” Taichi yelled out to him as he put away the last two clean dishes and began drying off his wet hands.  
“I…uh…uh---I’m going to go…go to the uh…bathroom! Yea the bathroom, just real quick!” Koushiro shakily responded to Taichi as he dashed into the small bathroom. “What’s wrong with me?” Koushiro asked to his pale reflection. Turning the faucet to let water flow he splashed a hand full of the cold water onto his burning face, then sat down against the bathroom wall. He sat there hugging his knees to his chest and remained in deep thought. ‘I’ve never felt this way before. Am I like….sick or something? No, that can’t be seeing how I only feel like this around---“  His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as another scarlet expression came across him. ‘But….that can’t be. Taichi’s my best friend and nothing…more. So why, then…do I feel like this?’ His eyes tightened and he was more confused than ever now. As he went to stand up, his hand ended up landing on the rain soaked pants his friend had left on the floor. Out of the pocket, a small, folded piece of paper fell out in which Koushiro curiously picked up. Without opening it he walked out of the bathroom and returned the kitchen to cleaning the rest of the small apartment. Koushiro, still deep in thought and confused, didn’t seem to care and made his way over to the couch. Seeing Koushiro’s return, Taichi joined his friend on the black leather couch Kou’s parent’s had given to him as a moving out present.
“Hey Koushiro, what’s wrong with you today? You’ re so edgy and stuff. Loosen up.” Taichi laughed, nudging his friend’s shoulder.
“Oh, sorry Tai. I just have a lot on my mind right now.” Koushiro smiled then hand Tai the note. “This fell out of your wet pants. I hope it wasn’t too important.”
“It…it was…nothing. Thanks Kou.” Tai sighed, and then smiled at his friend. Looking back to the note his smile faded away and another sigh escaped from his lips. “Truth be told, this is part of the reason of why I was drunk and…why I have no where to go now.”
“Taichi?” Koushiro looked upon his friend in disbelief. “Are you saying…your parent’s kicked you out?1”
“Yeah. All from this silly little not, pretty sad, uh?” Taichi attempted to laugh, but he was trying to hold back the tears that were ready to fall. Koushiro still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. None of it seemed possible because aside from his own parent’s with him, Tai’s parents were the closest and most understanding parents around. What could have possibly caused them to just kick out their son?
“Well, Tai, if you don’t mind me asking, what was in the note?” Koushiro gently asked. Taichi normally wasn’t an emotional person so this was somewhat of a new experience for the red haired boy. Taichi stared at him blankly for a second before sighing once more and standing to make his way over to a nearby window. Koushiro followed the brunettes every movement and took hold the image of the boy’s tan skin, illuminated by the slight light from the sun flooding in through the window, along with the boy’s slender figure covered by the borrowed clothes from last night, and of course his spiky brown hair randomly going in every direction. In short, to Koushiro, he was beautiful. ‘Wow. I’ve…I never knew Tai was so…beautiful.’ The genius boy stared in awe, quickly shaking it off before his new attraction noticed.
“It was a love note to someone. However, I never finished or delivered it to them. Now, I don’t think it really matters. I know there’s no chance for me so why bother?” Tai explained, not looking to Koushiro at any time. “My parents found it and freaked at what I had written, but more so about who it was to. They didn’t want to accept the fact I was in love and decided I was old enough to live on my own so they kicked me out. So now I have nowhere to go. Unless…” Taichi’s eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face as he looked over to Koushiro.
“I’ve seen that smile before. What are you planning Tai?” The younger boy questioned his friends scheming mind. There was no telling what crazy ideas the fearless leader was coming up with.
“Welllll…..maybe I could….live with you? At least until I found my own place that is.” Taichi responded, adding the last part in quickly. He stood there and observed his friend, waiting for a response. Nothing. Silence was sitting in the air between him. Koushiro just looked upon in a dumbstruck expression. This wasn’t what he was expecting to hear that’s for sure. Finally he found words to speak.
“Tai…I..I just don’t know. Do you think it’s a good idea? I mean, what am I saying. Yea it’s a good idea but, hmm…” Koushiro looked down to the ground and thought deeply about his friend’s request. He knew having Taichi around more often, as in every minute of every day, would be a nice change because he’d have someone to talk to and hang with when the day hit the point of boredom, but he wasn’t sure how his emotions would handle having the boy around. He knew that the feelings he was having were in fact because Taichi was around. There was no other logical explanation to it but that. He, Koushiro, was in fact attracted to his best friend.
“Come on Koushiro. It won’t be for too long. You won’t even know I’m here!” Taichi smiled brightly at him. Koushiro looked over to him and melted away in his smile. What was he doing? This was Taichi, his best friend, and the chance for him to do something to help him. His confused and troubled face slowly shifted to a serious glare then finally a heart-warming smile.
“Why not! It’ll be nice having someone around for a change.” The red haired boy nodded and just watched his friend’s ecstatic response.
“THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!! I’ll find someway to repay you for this. Not sure how but don’t worry I will! Just…THANKS!”
“Aww, Tai. Don’t even think about needing to repay me. It’s the least I can do for my best friend and all.” Koushiro smiled. “So how about some pocky to celebrate!” The smaller boy jumped up from where he was sitting and rushed into the kitchen to grab the small box of strawberry flavored pocky sticks.
“You sure do know how to treat a friend, don’t you Koushiro?!” Taichi happily smiled as he sat down on the couch, Koushiro soon joining him. The red haired boy pulled out a few sticks of the pocky and handed them to his spiky haired friend. They sat there eating the sugary sweet candy sticks, mostly in silence, until one remained which Koushiro immediately snatched and devoured.
“Hey! I wanted to eat that!” Taichi, sarcastically hurt, exclaimed to the boy. He crossed his arms and pouted slightly, trying not to laugh.
“Well you just weren’t quick enough.” Koushiro laughed, still with some of the pocky left in his mouth. “If you want it so bad then try and take it.” Tai turned his head and slyly looked at his friend. In one swift movement Taichi pounced onto of his friend and forced his mouth down upon the other boys mouth. Koushiro couldn’t believe what was happening. His mouth dropped open in utter shock, but this only allowed for Tai to sneak in and take would he had planned to get. But surprisingly enough…. it didn’t stop there.