#his hips. took me OVER AN HOUR. WTF. 45 minutes of that was dedicated to attaching those little side pieces with the red dots to the main

[bluecookiesabi]

I ASSEMBLED. A BOY!

[city-writes]

No, I Won’t Back Down

When Matt comes home with a black eye, Tai is understandably worried. What worries him more is that Matt's remaining tight-lipped about the issue.

Warnings: OCs (Matt’s Bandmates), Post-Canon/Not Epilogue Compliant, Implied slurs Pairing(s): Matt Ishida/Tai Kamiya (Yamachi? Taito? TaiYama? wtf is the fandom consensus on their name)

Read it here on AO3! Commission info!

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In the months Tai had been dating Matt, and the fewer months the duo had been living together, Tai came to realize how dedicated Matt was to his band. Any free moment the blond had that wasn't spent with his boyfriend, Matt was either practicing with his band, or at his and Tai's shared apartment, writing out lyrics or stringing together chords into fragments of songs.

Which was why it was weird when Matt came home early from band practice one evening.

Upon hearing the door unlock, Tai looked over at the door from his spot on the couch, a confused frown on his face. Matt was home already? He had another 45 minutes before that happened.

As the door opened, however, and Matt came into view, Tai's expression morphed into one of concern, the brown-eyed male standing up and beginning to walk towards the door. "Matt?!"

Matt closed his eyes and sighed, knowing that he couldn't hide the black eye he'd come home with. Before he could respond, a young woman poked her head over Matt's shoulder, her black hair in a wild ponytail. "Hey, Matt's boyfriend!" She gave a bright, though somewhat forced smile, waving at Tai from behind Matt. At the same time, a male with square glasses and short black hair peered at Tai from behind Matt's other shoulder, giving a meek wave to the soccer captain. "Hey."

By this point, Tai was at the door, and upon seeing the young woman and man, he was a little taken aback. "Aiko? Yuuto?" The two were some of Matt's bandmates, and should have also been at band practice, not here. "What's going on? Matt, why do you have a black ey--"

"It's nothing." Matt snapped, opening his eyes and stepping by Taichi to get into the apartment.

"Matt." Tai frowned, turning to watch as his boyfriend headed to the kitchen. "Come on, you can't just--"

"We just wanted to make sure Matt got home safely." Yuuto said, folding his arms. "Just to make sure he didn't have a concussion or anything."

"Why does he have a black eye?!" Tai asked, turning back to the doorway. "What happened?!"

Aiko opened her mouth to speak, but then seemed to second guess herself, closing her mouth and exhaling out her nose. After a second or two, she spoke again. "He... got in a fight."

"Obviously." Tai deadpanned, sighing as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just... Why? What happened?"

"Its nothing." Matt repeated from behind Tai, causing the Digidestined leader to turn around once more. Matt was holding an ice pack to his eye, seething slightly, but still managing to speak. "You don't need to worry about it, alright? I'll be fine."

"I can't just not worry about it," Tai said, his fingers curling into fists in irritation. "Yuuto said you could have gotten a concussion!"

Matt's lips formed a thin line then, and he glared at Yuuto, then spoke. "Yuuto was just playing things up. Being dramatic. Right, Yuuto?"

Before Yuuto could speak up, Aiko butted in, frowning as she spoke. "Listen, we walked home with you because we were concerned. Like it or not, you took a hit to the head, and yes -- could have gotten a concussion." She then put her hands on her hips, and leaned in ever so slightly. "Not only that, but knowing you? You would've more than likely purposefully sought out a Round Two if we hadn't been here to make sure you didn't."

"Round Two?" Tai asked, looking back and forth between Aiko and Matt. "Did..." He looked to Matt then, somewhat bewildered. "Did you start the fight?"

Matt remained silent at the question, only to turn and walk away into the apartment.

"Matt!" Tai called out.

Yuuto sighed, placing a hand on Tai's shoulder. "Hey, just keep an eye on him, ok? Don't let him fall asleep for the next couple of hours."

"Fine." Tai agreed, turning to face the duo, "Just please, one of you tell me what's going on."

Aiko and Yuuto both shared a look, before Aiko looked back to Tai. "It's... It's not our fight to tell." Tai opened his mouth to protest, but Aiko held up a finger to silence him. "I want to tell you, really. We both do." She tilted her head in Yuuto's direction at that, then kept speaking. "But this? This is something you need to talk to Matt about."

"Honestly, in my opinion?" Yuuto spoke up then, Tai looking at him now. "I think if I were you? I'd rather not know."

Tai frowned. Well shit. Now he wanted to know even more.

Sighing, Aiko scratched at the back of her head. "Listen, Yuuto and I need to head back to the practice hall. Just take care of the blond idiot for us, alright?"

Tai cracked a weak smile at that, and nodded. "Alright. Thanks for bringing him home." Yuuto and Aiko both nodded at that, before turning and taking their leave.

Closing the door, Tai then turned to the living room to look for Matt, only to jump slightly as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind. He was quick to regain his composure though, quickly identifying the arms as Matt's, and gently leaned back into his hold, frowning slightly as he felt Matt's head nuzzle against his shoulder.

"You're not wearing the ice pack."

Matt gave a small grunt of acknowledgment, but was otherwise quiet, holding Tai close.

Tai frowned still, a hand hesitantly placing itself over one of Matt's. If he hadn't been concerned before, he definitely would have been now. Matt wasn't one to initiate the little bits of physical affection. Tai himself was the overly affectionate one, and Matt would just accept it. The rare times he did initiate affectionate interaction was either a) after the two had an argument, or b) when he wasn't feeling well.

Before Tai could question Matt, the musician spoke. "Hey... You know how much I care about you, right?"

Tai blinked at that. While the sentiment was far from unappreciated, Tai couldn't help but wonder where the fuck this was coming from.

"Yeah." Tai's thumb brushed over the back of Matt's hand. "Yeah, I know."

"Good." Matt punctuated his statement with a kiss to Tai's neck, and then pulled away, headed towards the kitchen. "I'm gonna make dinner. And don't worry, I'll put the damn ice pack back on."

Tai said nothing and watched with a melancholy expression as Matt went into the kitchen, and began prepping to cook.

_______________________________

The next couple of days were the same. Matt would spontaneously hug him or kiss him or snuggle up to him, and frankly? It was a little offputting.

Not that Tai disliked the affection, not by any means! But with little to no information about this fight Matt had, Tai couldn't help but feel this outpour of affection had something to do with that fight, but as for how, he had no idea.

Not only that, but Tai had noticed that the black eye wasn't the only injury Matt had. The blond had been hiding various bruises on his torso - one square in the chest, one in the gut, and one in his left side. Tai only noticed these when he playfully offered to join Matt in the shower, and saw the discolored splotches through the glass. This resulted in another back and forth between the two, of Tai trying to question Matt and Matt deflecting everything.

Finally, Matt was spending little to no time doing anything productive toward his band. When questioned about it, Matt simply said, "The band's taking a break right now."

"But why?"

Matt sighed and muted the tv, looking at his boyfriend. "Creative Burnout."

Tai blinked. "Huh?"

"Creative Burnout. We've been working hard for a while now, and we can't think of anything new to do; Lyrics, Sheet Music, or otherwise."

"Oh." Tai frowned and shook his head. "But you love playing with your band. When will your break be over?"

Matt was silent at that, quickly changing the subject. "Speaking of the band, I need to pick up my bass from the practice hall." He pulled himself away from Tai then, and stood up, going to unplug his phone from its charger. "Hey, I'll be back in a little bit, alright?"

"Yeah, alright, but--"

Matt cut Tai off with a brief kiss, then pulled away and began heading for the door. "By the way, you had soccer practice today, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Tai asked.

Matt shrugged. "I just wanted to double check, in case you weren't going to be home when I got back. Text me when you're headed home so I know when to start dinner, ok?" Tai merely nodded in response, and Matt was out the door.

An hour passed, and Tai got a text from his coach, saying that he'd come down with a fever, and that practice was cancelled for the day. Taking this as a sign to relax for now, Tai began headed to his and Matt's bedroom to take a nap. He was barely in bed for 10 minutes when he heard the front door open. Was Matt back already?

Tai began getting out of bed, when he heard a voice that wasn't Matt's.

"Hey, Matt! I've got the instruments! Well, everything but the drums. You in the bathroom or something? I saw your shoes by the door so I know you're here!"

That was Aiko's voice! What was she talking about, saying she's got the instruments? Wasn't that the reason Matt left, to go get his bass?

"I used the key you guys leave under your doormat, the one you mainly leave for Takeru? Anyway, I'm just gonna leave the guitars and keyboard by the couch!"

Tai peaked out the cracked bedroom door, and saw Aiko with a guitar in either hand, and a black case down the length of her back, which Tai could only assume held the keyboard she was talking about.

"You said your boyfriend's at soccer practice, right? Did you listen to me and Yuuto and tell him the truth about the band, and not that bullshit 'Creative Burnout' reason you said you were gonna tell him?"

Tai's eyes widened at that. Matt had lied to him about the band? Why?

"Sooner or later, you're gonna have to tell him why you and Shoji fought. If he doesn't find out from you, he's not gonna be happy."

Shoji? Shoji... That was the name of Matt's drummer! He fought with their drummer?

"Alright so you're either ignoring me, or you're not here. Cool. Either way, I'm leaving. I'll try to convince Shoji to give me the drums, but I don't think he'll...--" Aiko stopped in her tracks as she watched the bedroom door open, and Tai walk out of it. Her eyes widened as she realized she'd been talking not to Matt, not to an empty apartment, but to Tai, and a look of pure 'oh shit' melted onto her face.

Tai folded his arms, and stared her directly in the eye. "We need to talk. Now."

___________________________

Aiko found herself at Matt and Tai's tiny kitchen table, with her sitting on one side, and Tai sitting opposite her. She'd been given a glass of water by him, and with no other sounds in the apartment besides the two of them, considering the circumstances, Aiko felt like she was in an interrogation room.

They were silent for a few moments, before Tai spoke. "Well?"

Aiko sighed. "We wanted Matt to tell you, but the asshole is stubborn. He wanted to protect you."

"Protect me?" Tai's nose scrunched at that. "What does Matt fighting Shoji have to do with 'protecting' me?"

"I shouldn't be telling you this." Aiko raised a hand to hold her head. "I'm not involved with-- I take that back, I'm kinda involved since I helped stop the fight, but I'm not a main..." She frowned as she struggled to think of the words. "... Main involvement person."

Tai snorted slightly. "Involvement person?"

"Don't make fun of me," Aiko snapped, "or else I'm not telling you what happened."

"Alright, fine. Sorry."

Things were quiet for a few moments as Aiko took a sip of her water. After placing it back down, she stared at the rim of the cup and spoke. "Ya know, Matt was real scared about us finding out you two were a thing. He let it slip accidentally that he was dating a dude when we were pestering him about what girl he was dating. It didn't take much to figure out it was you."

Tai was quiet, not wanting to interrupt Aiko. He watched as she swirled her glass, the water inside of it swirling as well.

"I thought we were all cool with it. It didn't bother me none." Aiko stopped swirling her glass, and let it clink back onto the table. ",So long as the idiot was happy and still gave the band the time it deserved, I couldn't care less who he dated. Yuuto feels more or less the same way. We thought Shoji did too."

"But?" Tai prodded, feeling there was more to that sentence.

"But apparently not. These past few weeks, he's been teasing Matt about being bi, but like... maliciously. We don'tknow where it's come from." Aiko looked at Tai then. "Matt's put up with it, saying that it was fine, he didn't care what Shoji said, so lomg as the asshole still paid attention to the band and played the drums as well as he did, he'd live with it."

Aiko went silent then, and Tai frowned. "What changed?"

"I shouldn't be saying this..."

Tai folded his arms, leaning back in his chair. "You said you'd tell me everything."

"No, I mean..." Aiko sighed and rephrased herself. "I don't wanna say the word."

Tai's head cocked slightly at that, at her tone change and the disdain in her voice. What word? He stared her down though, wanting answers.

Feeling the pressure of Tai's gaze, Aiko scratched at the back of her head. "Alright, listen. Shoji used a word that starts with 'f' and rhymes with 'maggot'."

Tai frowned. A word that starts with 'f' and rhymes with--

Oh.

Oh.

"Shoji called Matt a--"

"Not Matt." Aiko cut him off, shaking her head. "You."

Tai blinked. "Me?" He barely knew the guy... What the fuck?

Aiko nodded. "Matt was texting you or something in the middle of practice, and Shoji got annoyed, and started ragging on Matt, and when Matt brushed him off, Shoji got pissed, and said 'Fuck you Matt, and your...'" Aiko waved a hand in a circle, as if to say 'Insert Word Here', "...'boyfriend.' That's when Matt went for him."

"Wait... So Matt got in a fight... because of me?"

"Kinda, yeah?" Aiko leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. "He said to Shoji that he didn't care what Shoji said about him, but he had no fuckin' right calling you a... ya know."

This kinda explained why Matt was being more affectionate than usual..."Is this why he told me the band was taking a break?" Tai asked.

"Yeah. The truth is, Matt kicked him out of the band. But without a drummer, we're kinda up shit creek. So that, plus Yuuto moving away to a new college next semester, we all decided to just... put the band on an indefinite hiatus."

Tai's eyes widened at that. "He's quitting the band... because of me?"

"No, no, of course not! He just--"

It was then that the sound of the door unlocking drew both of their attention, and they both froze.

As the door opened, Matt's voice called out. "Aiko? Your shoes are still by the door, you still here?"

"Y-Yeah, Matt."

"Why? You still dropping off instrume--" Matt stopped walking into the kitchen to put up his grocery bags upon seeing that Aiko was sitting with Tai at their dining table. "T-Tai...? I thought you were still at practice...?"

"Coach cancelled." Tai explained. "I've been home all day."

Aiko was doing all she could to avoid eye contact with Matt. Upon seeing this, Matt frowned. "Aiko..."

Aiko closed her eyes and sighed, finally turning to look at Matt. "I'm sorry, I told him the truth."

"You what?!"

"Don't be upset with her, Matt," Tai said, defending Aiko. "I made her tell me what happened."

Matt scoffed, a hand going to rub at his face. "... Aiko, I think you should go home."

"Matt, I'm sorry--"

"Go home, Aiko."

Aiko swallowed harshly, and nodded, thanking Tai for the water before taking her leave. As soon as the door closed, Matt sighed and sat where she had been sitting. "... What all did she tell you?"

Tai frowned as Matt failed to meet his gaze, and was instead looking down at the table. "I think everything. What happened between you and Shoji, the band basically breaking up..." Tai was silent for a moment, before speaking softly. "I'm sorry."

Matt's head snapped up at that, his gaze now fiercely locked onto Tai. "Why are you sorry?"

"The band's breaking up because you kicked your drummer out over an arguement you had over me!" Tai shook his head. "I know how much you care about your band, and---"

"This is why I didn't want to tell you." Matt sighed, "I didn't want you thinking that." Matt reached over and grabbed Tai's hand. "Listen, the band was falling apart regardless of what happened with me and Shoji. Yuuto's going away to university in a city 5 hours from here. Aiko doesn't like talking about it, but she's starting to develop carpal tunnel in her hand because of how much she plays as well as too many video games. Shoji was just being an ass and honestly? I truly have gotten kinda burnt out. I haven't been making as many songs recently, and its been harder for me to find unique rhythms. But you were never the issue. Shoji being a fucking asshole just happened to be the straw that broke the Monochromon's back."

Tai was silent for while, before finally speaking. "Next time you get in a fight, please, just tell me what's been going on. Don't hide it from me. Promise?"

"...Promise."

Tai interlocked their fingers, brushing his thumb against the back of Matt's hand. They stayed like that a few moments, before Matt perked up. "Oh shit, I need to start making those burgers!"

Tai immediately perked up as well. "Burgers?"

Matt let go of Tai's hand and stood up, headed to where he put the grocery bags down. "Yeah, I asked Aiko to bring all the instruments she could here, so I could get the ingredients to make burgers. I know they're your favorite, so I was going to surprise you by making them, then putting them in a basket so we could head to the Digital World to eat with Gabumon and Agumon."

"God, I love you."

Both young men froze at that, Tai's mouth snapped shut after have spoken without a filter. They'd told each other how much they cared about one another, but had never openly stated they loved the other. Tai's eyes were wide in panic, though as Matt spoke, Tai relaxed, and felt his heart melt.

"I love you too, Taichi."