Digimon and the characters Ishida Yamato and Yagami Taichi do not belong to me. They belong to Toei, and I am using them without permission and for entertainment purposes only. My entertainment, specifically.
Warning:
M/M Lemon! Yamachi. AU.
Notes:
Written for the 30_Lemons Live Journal Community under theme #1 - Anonymity, or, “Taken by the Faceless Stranger”
The CD flashed, catching scintillations from a hundred random lights and throwing back split-second rainbows, as Taichi held it up and twirled it expertly between two fingers. A blink of an eye later, the flat disc had found a home within a tray jutting out from the imposing bank of digital and musical machinery in front of the young man. In the same move that he’d used to place the CD, Taichi slid the tray shut and pushed his rolling chair slightly to one side so that he could reach a switch on the board that would facilitate the transition from the end of one song into the beginning of the next. The fading beat of the former was still in his ears, still pounding somewhere within his head, even as the rhythm of the latter was starting, causing his headphones to vibrate. Taichi moved his head and body with the beat, keeping time as if he himself were a percussion instrument played by a somewhat erratic and uncoordinated drummer.
A content grin lighting his rounded and faintly feminine face, Yagami Taichi’s attention turned briefly from his equipment and out toward his nightly world and he tipped his head from side to side with the rhythm and drummed the flat of his hand against the arm of his chair. Beyond the thick bulletproof glass of his sound booth, and the chain link fence that crossed in front of it, was a riot of color, flashing lights and hundreds of individual movements that melded together into a sea of undulating illusionary grace. The dance club had been artfully converted from an old factory warehouse, an enterprise that seemed to be in vogue lately, and evidence of this still existed around the edges. Corrugated metal and thick supporting I-beams formed the walls, mammoth pillars of steel kept the high vaulted ceilings separated from the concrete floor, and old bits of chain and cast-off machinery served as decorative ambiance. Metal walkways followed the perimeter of the walls and crossed here and there over the floor. The owners had made heavy use of chain link fencing, since large rolls of the stuff came cheap, using it to cordon off important bits of the club, such as the bar and lounge areas, from the dance floor.
All throughout this jungle of industrial forms, hundreds of lights had been sprinkled. They flashed color and brightness in jumping patterns of measured randomness over the floor, the walls, the walkways, and the ocean of humanity that crowded seemingly every available foot of dancing space in the building; over the floor, up on the walkways, even spilling out of the building into the parking lot outside. Dark, light, dark, red, red, orange, dark, blue, dark, purple, yellow, yellow, green, dark, light, bouncing from every imaginable color which clothed the dancers… this was the chaotic pattern of Taichi’s world. The movement of bodies that melded with the beat of music, as if the two were one, was the melody that he lived by… a melody that he himself helped to create by operating the boards and equipment that broadcast song after song out through large strategically placed speakers to resound within the metal drum of the warehouse. The music was loud enough that sometimes it seemed determined to crowd out the dancers, but no matter how often Taichi nudged the dial on the volume control, that never happened. And he was glad, because he lived off the activity and energy of so many pressed so close together. He loved the crowds and chaos. He fueled himself every night with the light and sound.
It had been that way for nearly two years now, and with each day that passed Taichi found himself growing ever more addicted to his job, which had originally started out as nothing more than a diversion he thought he’d try until he came up with something better to do. After graduation, he had been mildly surprised to discover that he had made no plans for the future and had no goals of any significance. He’d spent most of his teenage years playing soccer and indulging in wild reckless behavior he was lucky to have never been caught at, not planning ahead. Consequences were never anything that Taichi particularly worried about, as his was a personality that lived from moment to moment, with no thought for what was to come and only a little more attention to what had already happened. He was not a thinker; rather, he conducted himself according to what his heart and feelings prompted him to do, and he didn’t seem to mind at all that they rarely gave him any advice regarding securing himself for the future.
Thus, attracted by the activity, he had wandered into the club on a whim one afternoon, while it was still in the process of being built and remodeled, and introduced himself out of the blue to the owner, tacking a casual “Why don’t you hire me to work here?” onto his opening greeting. Startled, but finding himself amused and maybe a little impressed by the young man’s audacity, the owner – himself rather on the youthful side and untested in the world of business – asked what Taichi’s skills were. Taichi had replied with a wide flashing grin and “Dunno! Try me out on some things and we’ll see what I can do!”
That broad and easy grin had become a reliable trademark of Taichi’s, an expression the owner and all of his coworkers could expect from him on a nightly basis. He could brighten anyone and put him or her at ease with that grin. It seemed right at home against Taichi’s warm olive complexion and on his friendly open face, comfortable and relaxed beneath glittering dark amber eyes. Taichi’s entire body matched his personality, from the slim lankiness of his casual form with its accidental grace, to the wild tousle of dark chestnut hair sticking every which way from his head like an eclectic earthen halo on angelic crack. Leisurely, and yet so filled with energy that it was often a chore to keep up with him, Taichi was a tornado of contrasts and changeability, adapting to fit himself in anywhere he needed or wanted to. He’d wanted to work at the club, and so he’d made himself a fixture there. It was just that simple to him.
The fast pace of the deejay position was ideal for Taichi, for although he was causal, his basic movements were often quick and darting, the trained result of so many years on the soccer field. He was swift with song changes and sound effects, on the spot when he wanted to time the lighting to the music, and could find any track in the overwhelmingly vast library of dance music CDs and other media within minutes of it being requested from the floor. And he loved it, every hectic frenzied moment of it. He danced to the beat, sang when he knew the words, made them up when he didn’t, and rolled his chair all around inside the small cozy sound booth to keep himself in motion. He adored watching the crowds heave and shift, he loved to hear people yell and sing. Taichi had made this into his world, and it was a reality that he had no desire to ever leave.
His last forty-five minute break was suppose to be at about 2:30 AM, but he often took it late because he lost track of the time and forgot about it, too wrapped up in the music, sound, and hypnotizing engrossing movement from the crowds beyond his window. Just like most every night, the owner or manager on duty had to call him on the intercom from the bar, located on the other side of the club, to firmly remind him that there were regulations and he was not exempt from following them.
With a private sigh of exasperation, Taichi put in a disc upon which was stored an extended mix of songs, so as to prevent any dreaded dead air from occurring while he was out of the booth. He pulled down the wide black shade of metal slats that covered the window when no one was in the booth and then flipped his headphones off, stretching lazily in almost the same motion, with long slender arms extended over his head, an accompanying noise growling from the back of his throat. That taken care of, Taichi swung to his feet and slipped out of the little sound booth. He locked it behind himself to protect the valuable equipment and music collection, took the couple of metal stairs leading to the floor with a bounce, and passed through a gate in the chain link out into the surging sea of bodies.
In truth, Taichi loved to be out in the crowd with the same height of passion that he felt when playing the music. To be surrounded by so much released energy and joyful abandon was intoxicating. Though his goal was to cross the club and end up at the bar on the other side, he nonetheless made himself a part of the surging movements, in much the same way a drop of water melds with the ocean to ride a wave to shore. Slipping between the press of bodies, Taichi moved with them, pausing every few feet to share a brief dance with a regular he knew or a stranger he didn’t. It made no difference to Taichi. Gregarious to a fault, Taichi’s principle had always been to view every person he met as a friend until they proved themselves otherwise. And friends he could dance with and touch were especially treasured, whether he’d known them for years, or for only scant seconds within the passage from one place to another.
Color and sound bounced off of him as he rode the rhythm of the music across the room, and he felt the pounding deep within his bones and head. He danced and touched and laughed and moved his slender body against others from one side of the warehouse to the other, emerging from the dance floor into the bar area – separated by the expected chain link – energized and with eyes sparkling bright and hot.
The realm of the bar was tucked away under the widest of the walkways, a long stainless steel affair that looked as if it had been hewn from industrial parts left behind by the previous owners of the building. Though shielded from the bulk of the noise from the dance floor, the beat nonetheless permeated the darkened shadowed space.
The lights here were neon, placed under and behind things to offer a more subdued ambiance than that which was available in other parts of the club. Heavy chains of various masses and strengths hung in rows from the bottom of the walkway and swayed with the movements of those dancing above and the vibrations of the music. There were some booths and comfortable lounges in the more private recesses of the bar area, each table lit with a pulsing plasma light, and illumination along the floor guided patrons and wait staff alike from one place to another. As out on the floor, the bar was filled with all manner of people, though in a more loosely arranged configuration. Some were black-clad and gothic, many were wild and punk with flashes of bright color. Sharply dressed and straight-laced businessmen drank alongside fetishists in bondage costumes.
Taichi himself was dressed casually and comfortably, in a loose white button down shirt that was embroidered with white geometric patterns and tucked into dark blue jeans. They hugged his form tightly and nicely showed off how trim and slender he was. A choker of dark blue and gold beads lay around his throat. As he slipped his way between patrons to draw close to the bar, the wild-haired brunette slid one hand into the pocket of his jeans and leaned in casually, for the moment taking little notice of those sitting close by. One of the bartenders paused when he arrived and tossed him a smile of welcome over her shoulder as she continued what she was doing, working a blender to crush some ice.
“Having a good night, Taichi-san?” she called over the noise of the blender, music and conversations going on all around her. She was wearing a short rather revealing leather dress in hot pink, something that pushed her cleavage up and out in what Taichi supposed was probably an inviting way… if one liked that sort of thing. He didn’t. But this particular girl was usually nice and since Taichi considered everyone a friend, he didn’t hold her choice of attire against her. No doubt, she attracted plenty of the right type of interest with the outfit.
“Sure, but every night is a good night,” he answered easily, throwing a grin back at her in return for the smile. He turned a bit to one side, leaning his hip away the bar and using his elbow against it to support his casual weight. A quick flip of the head flicked his heavy bangs out of his eyes, for exactly as long as it took them to fall back into place. “When you got a minute…?”
“Hai, I’ll get your drink,” she nodded quickly turning to pour the crushed ice she’d just made into a series of glasses. Taichi lost what small interest he’d had in her activities and instead turned his attention and a faint idle smile out toward the people at the bar in his immediate vicinity, his dark sparkling eyes going from one person to the next. His behavior had less to do with prying and much more to do with having a nature that was curious about and interested in other people. He enjoyed seeing how others were dressed, how they moved when they were dancing, what kinds of drinks they ordered, and whom they were talking to or socializing with.
And it would be a lie to say that he wasn’t also checking out those occasional individuals that especially interested him, or whom he found personally attractive. A flash of dark eyes here, the turn of a head, or the way that someone’s hair flowed there… there were a lot of little things that Taichi found fascinating and compelling, and whenever he would spot one of these small hints of potential, a lovely and addictive shiver would always work its way down through his spine.
One of the wait staff happened to stop next to the bar close to him and engaged Taichi in a quick friendly conversation while he waited for his drink order. Talking to him with part of his attention as he continued to survey patrons with the rest, Taichi mentally filed away a very nice looking energetic young man wearing black and grey, with dark skin and long hair pulled back into a tail. Taichi thought he might come back to look him over some more if he moved away from the girl he was currently attempting to obviously shmooze. As the waiter asked if he had any plans for after work, Taichi shifted his weight, turning back toward the bar and opening his mouth to reply… and suddenly, his wandering gaze was caught by a pair of brilliant blue eyes that narrowed quickly and then disappeared into the crowd.
Taichi felt a start jump through his entire body and he lost the thread of the conversation, quickly turning back to his previous position in an attempt to catch those eyes again. Unfortunately, the brief moment of contact was not repeated. Feeling strangely unsettled and looking a little lost, Taichi glanced through the mill of pressing bodies again, searching for whomever those eyes could have belonged to.
Even though the visual connection had lasted only a few scant seconds, the impact of those eyes was so powerful that Taichi had instantly memorized what they looked like. They had been a sapphire blue, as hard and faceted as the gem that gives the color its name, and there had been a bit of an exotic slant to their shape, which lent an angry and almost dangerous impression to that succinct moment of union. The shiver that traveled down Taichi’s back this time was one of appealing unease, and it did not dissipate in the same way as had all its siblings which had gone before it. Rather, it settled… in Taichi’s stomach and in regions lower.
Feeling an uncharacteristic leadenness that came from being disappointed in the disappearance of those eyes, Taichi accepted his soda from the bartender and downed a quick gulp of the clear fluid. The carbonation did little to settle the remaining traces of electric fuzziness in his stomach. Around him, the movement and music was still continuing as it always did, the lights were still flashing chaotic patterns of color over all they touched, but for the first time since he’d started working there, Taichi did not feel like he was a part of the noise and illumination. It was as if the brief touch of those eyes had pulled him out of his normal world and thrust him into a new one, a reality policed by shadow and gravity. It was not a feeling that Taichi entirely cared for – he was far too gregarious and addicted to interaction to be able to thrive in a realm of isolation – but at the same time there was a gentle buzz of appeal in this new existence as well. Because it was here that those eyes dwelled. This was where he would find them if he chose to seek them.
Taichi set his drink on the bar, leaving it unfinished, and moved away from it and the aborted conversation he’d forgotten about. Once more the wild-haired young man melted into the sea of people as he slipped out of the bar area and back onto the dance floor, but this time he was not a part of the waves and motion. He moved between atoms of humanity like a free electron, without touching, without being drawn in. He had no direction in mind; his only real desire was to simply search, looking for those eyes, and to explore the landscape of the new reality he was in, to experience the weight of separation and loneliness, to get a feel for what he’d been trapped into.
It seemed surreal to be in the midst of so many other people and not feel as if he were one with them, and Taichi was fascinated by how the difference of the experience lay over his heart. He stood at the center of the expansive dance floor and looked through the bodies around him, seeing the surging movements, feeling the pounding of the music in his bones and throughout his body, but recognizing these things as only distant and unimportant. He drew in a breath, acutely aware of how the stale hot air did little to satisfy his lungs, and was suddenly prompted to turn, chased into moving in a quick circle by the surging realization within that the only other soul to exist in this world was now approaching him. He could feel that as surely as he was aware of his heartbeat and the blood swishing through his veins.
And in the next moment he discovered that the prompt had been a ruse and he’d been pursued into turning in the wrong direction. From behind, another shimmered like a haze out of the close crowd and pressed in against Taichi’s form. Slender pale hands appeared as arms were slid around his waist. As he looked down, startled by the sudden invasion of his personal space and the electric feel of those arms around him, drawing him backwards, Taichi noted how nicely shaped and tapered each finger of the hands were, that the nails were trimmed and well-groomed, and that the wrists were cuffed with wide leather bands ornamented with silver studs and twin loops of chain. Black leather continued up the arms and disappeared behind Taichi.
The body against his own was sturdy, but felt as slender as those hands looked. Taichi’s trim figure matched against the other’s with a precision so perfect that it seemed machine-made, as if he were a part of a whole component being fitted back into place. One anonymous hand turned to press firmly against the center of the brunette’s chest, while the other went in the opposite direction, fingers splaying over his lower stomach, slipping just a bit under the waistband of his jeans. The hold, which pulled him in tightly against the other, felt possessive and insistent, as if it – and the perpetrator – were not interested in allowing Taichi any choice in the matter of whether or not he wanted to be there. He felt the person behind him lean in close, getting as much of himself in contact with Taichi as possible, and then a fresh new shiver was nudged into being as a warm exhalation melted against his ear and he heard soft breathing, even over the forgotten sound of the loud music still pounding around them.
Taichi grew in a gasp himself, startled by how heated just that warm breath threatened to get him. He tried to turn his head, hopefully to look over his shoulder and meet those cut blue eyes once more, but before he could, the hold on him tightened and he was given the smallest of shakes.
“No,” the breath said in his ear, in a rich tenor that caused another shiver to move through the brunette’s body. Though not the type of person conditioned to instantly obeying others, Taichi nonetheless found himself complying with this one, again almost feeling as if he had no choice. The hand that was resting just under his waistband worked itself a little lower. The hand on his chest moved upwards, so that slender fingers could grasp his chin and tip his head slightly back and to the side, making it easier for the faceless stranger behind him to gently bite the outer curve of his ear.
Whereas the potential for arousal had been smothering deep within Taichi’s stomach since the moment he had glimpsed those sapphire eyes in the bar, the feel of sharp precise teeth nipping his ear caused that smothering to ignite into a full blown fire. He felt his body temperature roar upwards by several ticks and the feeling of fluttering electricity drop from stomach into lower regions, real estate currently being teased by the steady approach of insistent fingers. In response, Taichi emitted a surprised sound that was a hybrid of a gasp and a throaty yelp, sinking back against the other willingly. Teeth and lips continued along the line of his ear, each small bite gaining poignancy. The tickle of breath made Taichi tingle.
They hadn’t been moving, but as the invading hand at his front breeched in far enough to brush with cool fingertips, the slim form behind Taichi pushed forward with his hips, moving in time with the beat of the music and forcing the brunette’s to do the same. Caught, Taichi complied, shutting his eyes tightly against the wave of dizziness the attention to his ear and growing arousal had generated into being. Now they were once again part of the dance and movement around them, but if Taichi had harbored any doubt that he was no longer in his usual reality previous to being constrained, it was now gone. The heaviness that surrounded them both was nearly crushing, and it almost seemed as if none of the random bouncing lights were hitting them. In this world, the only illumination came from sapphire eyes that Taichi remembered, but could not currently see.
As their pelvises moved in tandem, Taichi could feel warmth being generated by the one behind him in the same bodily region where Taichi’s own inferno was centered and being expertly handled, even despite limited room to move thanks to the tightness of his jeans. That helped to jangle him out of the gravity spell which had rendered him immobile and reminded him that touch was his own primary means of communication.
Though keeping his head where it was being held and his pelvis moving as prompted, Taichi reached back with both hands, one on either side, and encountered leather, warm and tight, stretched over the hips of the one behind him. Delighted by the feel of that beneath his fingers, he slowly ran his hands up and down in wide circles, emitting a noise that sounded for all the world like a purr rumbling from the back of his throat.
The attention to his ear paused briefly, in favor of a deep breath being taken, and then Taichi’s head was pushed to one side so to open up better access to his neck. He was hard pressed to concentrate on maintaining the contact with his own hands, to press those rubbing circles in deeper, as his neck was bit, just above the junction with his right shoulder.
This prompted another flare of heat that threatened to knock him down with its intensity, and a fresh gasping cry that was completely lost and swallowed up by the noise and music surrounding them. The pressure behind the teeth sinking against his flesh did not let up, but rather the perpetrator of the bite gave his head a rough shake that jarred Taichi and sent lovely uncomfortable quaverings of mild pain through his already jangling nerves. His eyes slipped open briefly and he glimpsed the muted shine of soft golden hair on the head of the one biting him.
Then, abruptly, the pressure was eased and his captor pulled back, removing his hand from where it had been nested deep within Taichi’s jeans. For several brief moments that stretched with disappointment like eternity, the brunette mourned the absence of the other’s body pressed against his own, the feel of leather under his own wandering hands, and even the mild pain that had been afflicted. A rushing feeling of being unsettled and out of sorts poured into Taichi’s heart and he barely controlled a surge of accompanying panic. Had he done something wrong? Had the other taken offense to being touched? He did not want this to end! Especially not if it was his fault that it had been ruined.
He was about to turn and ask, or at least try to catch a glimpse of the master of this reality before he disappeared back into the sea of others, when Taichi was startled to feel an insistent push against his back, propelling him forward. It was partnered with a clipped order in that same rich tenor which had shivered in his ear. “Your booth….”
Completely caught off guard and feeling rather bewildered, it took Taichi several heartbeats to wrap his head around what the other young man wanted him to do. He glanced in the direction of his sound booth, at the darkened window covered with black shade, focusing on it and hardly noticing all the people between it and himself anymore. His booth? What about his booth?
He didn’t think to wonder how a stranger could know that he worked in the club as a deejay if this encounter were as chance as it seemed. Taichi was far too addled to think logically about the situation. It took another push to the small of his back, the blonde behind him pressing in close again, to jar Taichi’s thoughts into running once more. All at once the notion that his booth was private and cut off from the noise and chaos of the club bumped the incomprehension out of his head and a figurative light of “Oh!” winked on.
A surge of arousal and desire flashing though him anew, Taichi carefully made his way through the crowded dancers, again moving with the rhythm to ease his transition, but still feeling that odd sense of disconnection with it all. The only thing that actually seemed real to him now was the feel of the blonde stranger’s hand, which stayed tight to his back the entire way across the club. Even though nothing had been said out loud, he could fairly feel the sense of possessiveness that seemed to tingle from the other’s fingertips, through the material of his shirt, and into his skin. He’d been drawn into a reality of shadow and seriousness, baited by a glimpse of those sapphire eyes, and he had been caught as surely as a wildcat in a trap. For tonight… for this moment, at the least… Taichi knew he belonged to this young man he had not been allowed to see.
They slipped together behind the chain link and Taichi climbed the couple of steps to the door of the booth, retrieving a single key from his pocket to unlock the door. It was darkened inside, darker than he remembered it ever being before, but that didn’t surprise him. Everything in this new world was dark. He felt the other enter behind him, pushing him further into the booth so that the door could be shut behind them, and Taichi heard the unmistakable sound of the lock being turned.
Though he was fairly shaking with the need to turn and face the other, he refrained from making that desire a reality, instinctively sensing it would not be well received. And though Taichi had never been the type that went for one-nighters – a fact that might of surprised his coworkers, considering how gregarious he was – or caved easily to orders from someone else…tonight he was a possession, as he’d already realized. Someone else was in charge here, and so, true to his nature of being whatever he was needed to be, Taichi was willing to adapt and let the other take the lead and call the shots.
He heard a breath being taken behind him, and then the tones of that rich tenor broke through the curtain of music and noise from the club, muted as it was by the perimeters of the sound booth. “How long do you have?”
At that point, Taichi was finding it extremely difficult to care about how much time he had. He made a whining noise and looked at the clock first to gauge how much time was left on his break and then – more importantly – he glanced at the timer on the equipment that would tell him how much longer his mix CD would run. A little less than thirty minutes according to the former, upwards of an hour according to the latter. It was rare anyone wanted to get into the booth aside from himself, so he wasn’t going to worry about another coworker or his boss knocking on the door. He turned his head to speak over his shoulder, but kept his gaze pointedly away from the other. “I got about fifty minutes of music left,” he explained.
That was, apparently, good enough, since there was no audible reply. And Taichi knew that, unless he got a request from the floor, he could easily extend that time by putting in another CD… though his boss might get suspicious if he recognized a second mix playing. But the brunette didn’t give much thought to that, because he was too busy trying to focus all of his concentration on the slight noises of movement coming from behind. There wasn’t anything distinct enough to really make out, save for the occasional gentle creak of leather, and so Taichi sensed more than heard as the blonde came close to him once more, stepping behind him and putting a firm hand on his shoulder.
The stranger pressed downward insistently and the message was clear enough. Taichi went to his knees… no small feat considering that his arousal had only mildly dissipated while they were crossing the dance floor, so he was feeling very tight and confined within his snug jeans. But he lowered himself to the floor, heart pounding hard in his chest over this entire situation. If Taichi had been the type to worry about consequences, then he might have recognized the potential danger he was putting himself into. But he was not. And it was doubtful he could have resisted even if he were, thanks to the very oppressiveness of the possessive aura generated by the young sapphire-eyed man behind him.
Fingers of a slender hand combed through Taichi’s unruly tousle of hair in a way that was almost fond and felt rather akin to someone petting a kitten in a shop while contemplating whether or not to buy it. Taichi shivered, shutting his eyes tightly and tipping his head back into the touch. He’d always adored having his hair played with and this time it was especially nice. Then he felt a movement around his head, the displacement of air from something being brought down in front of his face. Wondering, Taichi opened his eyes just in time to see a leather strap blindfold being drawn towards him. He pulled his head backwards a bit, since he hadn’t expected that, but it was fitted snug into place over his eyes and he felt it being tied securely at the back of his head with quick sure fingers.
Shivering warmth poured through the brunette’s entire body as his ability to see was taken from him, electric traces jumped from nerve to nerve in an excited dance that followed the beat set by this stranger, rather than that of the music beyond the booth. The other young man moved in close and crouched behind and beside him. Taichi’s hair was grasped and his head pulled back far enough that he was resting it against the other’s leg and would have been looking up at the ceiling if he had not been blindfolded. The movement disoriented him a bit and he had to brace himself with his hands against the floor, gasping with the suddenness and insistence of the tug. That breath was cut off as the stranger leaned in and covered Taichi’s open mouth with a kiss that wasted no time with preliminaries.
Taichi moaned shortly in surprise as he was pressed down and backwards by the force of the kiss, tongue invading and filling his mouth to establish immediate dominance. The kiss was coming from his side, so the positioning of all parts involved was odd and wonderfully different, as the blonde held onto his hair and chin, fingers gripping both tightly. Their mouths pressed together hard as one pushed down and the other up in an attempt to come together as completely as possible, light and buoyancy meeting darkness and gravity and locking together at a balance point midway between floating and being crushed. The kiss pulsed as the blonde pressed in and the brunette pressed back, and the pair of them shifted their heads wantonly from side to side in order to create friction. Noises of whining desperation came from Taichi’s throat, prompted by the rise of extreme heat through his body and the pressure of increased arousal. The heavy silence of the stranger conveyed a similar need, though one that demanded fulfillment rather than simply waiting around to be dealt with.
The blonde pulled back abruptly, breathing heavily, after several moments of wrestling with the kiss. He peppered a few more around Taichi’s mouth, avoiding the brunette’s attempts to reciprocate, and then the tips of cool slender fingers stroked Taichi’s cheek and jaw line. He got the sense that he was being looked at, scrutinized, studied. He could almost feel the hardness of those cut sapphire eyes etching over his skin, his mouth, even the blindfold covering his eyes… Taichi drew in a panting breath and offered a dazed smile, one that spoke of adoration, even if he could not see the one he was so growing to worship.
There was a pause, then another kiss, this one meant to simply press lips to lips, accompanied by an almost gentle touch to his chin. Then the other pulled back and Taichi heard movements that seemed to indicate that his partner had stood from his crouch. The noise of the leather moving over a firm trim body was unmistakable, as was the absence of its warm smell as the blonde stepped away from the deejay kneeling on the floor. The booth was small, and a bit cluttered with equipment, chair, and the music collection, so the stranger couldn’t go far, but even still the removal of his cool fingers and revocation of the intense kiss made Taichi ache inside, and that short distance of separation felt like a light-year. He straightened himself into a more upright crouch and listened fixedly as the other moved around in front of him, and pushed the chair out of the way.
He drew close enough that Taichi could once again smell the leather, heated by the warmth of a body, and instinctively knew from the way the pressure in the air brushed against him that he probably could have reached out and touched the other’s legs without stretching. He so longed to do just that, to make tactile contact with his authoritarian stranger. The desire was so strong that it made his fingertips tingle with need and nearly overpowered the tightness of the arousal trapped within his jeans. But Taichi held back, instinctively knowing that he was to wait until prompted, even without being told as much. Taichi did not want this to end. He did not want to make a fatal mistake that might ruin this incredible encounter and drive the other to leave.
Then came the sound of light chains rattling gently as they were moved, the slide of leather against leather, and small popping noises as a series of tight buttons were undone. Taichi’s mind easily filled in the blanks that his eyes could not see and he found his breath coming in harder pants once more just from the anticipation. When one of those slender hands reached around and grasped him by the hair at the back of his head, drawing him forward, Taichi knew exactly what was going to be expected of him, and he was immediately determined to do the best job that he could, as eager to please this stranger as a pet might be to obey its master.
The hold in his hair guided him to his goal, and from the angle of everything involved, Taichi was able to rightly guess that the blonde was leaning back against the counter which held all of the sound equipment, probably bracing himself with one hand while the other stayed at the back of Taichi’s head. Taking this as an invitation to use his own hands, the brunette reached up and found the heat that was his goal, wrapping his fingers around it in a contradictory manner that was both gentle and firm, so that he could bring it to his eager mouth. Taichi felt another dropping sensation from his stomach to his own groin as he wrapped his lips around the head of the other’s arousal, which was already quite nicely filled and firm. He simply sucked there for a moment, turning his hand so that his fingers created friction while he generated a firm solid suction. The close scent of another’s body and the tang of leather filled his nose. The taut heat of the flesh in his mouth felt like warmed silk.
His hair was gripped tighter in response to the initial enveloping of his lips, and tugged rather hard as he began to suck, but Taichi didn’t mind the little bit of discomfort. Rather, it sent more waves of shivering delight down into his own arousal, which was aching with the need to be freed from his tight jeans. And it drove him to engulf more of that heat with his mouth, to take as much in as he could and suck hard, possessed and determined. With his tongue, he stroked the warm and sensitive underside even as he drew suction solid and firm, constricting the back of his throat around the invading head. Taichi was pleased to sense a shiver moving through the body of his unseen partner, to feel those slender elegant fingers tremble as they continued to grip into his hair. But he took special gratification from the aching moan that escaped the blonde’s lips, and the further flare of heat and hardness through what his mouth was paying so much adoring attention to.
Though Taichi was not usually into casual sex and encounters, he was practiced enough at this activity – admittedly one of his favorites – that he knew what to do to deliver as much pleasure as he possibly could. He tried to lift himself higher on his knees, pressing his face in closer and closer to the body of his partner, and stretching his neck enough to crane… so that he could take even more into his mouth and throat. He swallowed down hard several times in succession, tightening and loosening the pressure against the stranger’s arousal using the muscle of his throat.
The moan he had drawn out of the other escalated into a sharp, though controlled, throaty cry. The grip in his hair tightened and pulled, and a second hand was added as if the need to hang onto something was overwhelming. Taichi could feel his partner’s body shake, hips buckling first back against the counter that was being leaned against as a brace, and then forward, pushing Taichi’s mouthful in deeper. He accepted the thrust readily, shifting his head back to accommodate, but keeping the suction and pressure continuous and firm.
Taichi was more than willing to take this stranger all the way to completion, and indeed that was his overpowering desire. He wanted to please the master of his new reality, wanted to earn the right to touch further… possibly to even see… And he could feel that his labors were bearing fruit. His partner was quivering, and the pressure was building up within his arousal, edging ever closer to the point of no return under the administrations of Taichi’s mouth, tongue, and throat. Both of Taichi’s hands were grasping leather, hanging on as hip thrusts rocked him, and he knew that release was going to come very soon. But all at once, the brunette’s expectations were dashed. With a determined and almost angry-sounding cry, the hands gripping his hair pulled his head abruptly backwards.
Try as he might to maintain suction and contact, the pull backwards was too strong to counter, and Taichi found himself being firmly held away from the blonde’s arousal by those tight twin fists in his hair, the tug yanking his head back hard. He gasped audibly and with obvious confusion and disappointment, mouth filling suddenly with cool unfulfilling oxygen.
From where his own hands still held onto the stranger’s leather pants, Taichi could feel that the blonde continued to buck his hips, though strangely as if trying to stop and maintain control. He had not hit release, but instead had put a stop to it before it could become inevitable. Bewildered, Taichi wondered why. He prayed he hadn’t done anything wrong. He could hear the other also gasping, and got the sense that his unseen master was fighting to keep rein over himself and his body.
“What - - “ the brunette breathily and shakily started to ask what was wrong, but was interrupted by his partner before he could get most of the first word past his lips.
“Shhh!” the leather-clad young man insisted, giving Taichi’s head a firm commanding shake, sounding rather out of breath himself. He shifted, and Taichi felt him lowering onto his knees in front of him, grip staying in his hair and still trembling from the force of the blonde’s efforts to keep control of himself. He was abruptly pulled forward once more, this time into a heated passionate kiss that communicated every iota of the aggressor’s arousal and dominant determination.
The wild-haired brunette accepted the kiss willingly, eager noises coming from his throat, as he was relieved that he apparently wasn’t being rejected for some unknown indiscretion. The kiss was heated and zealous… almost fanatical in a way… as the unseen blonde pressed in and compelled Taichi backwards with the force of the contact, driving him down until Taichi was forced to shift his legs out from under himself. Within seconds, he was jarred all throughout as his back firmly hit the floor of the sound booth, and he mff’ed in surprise into the blonde’s continuing kiss.
He quickly became aware of the feel and warmth of the blonde’s body over his own, straddling him, heat and hardness pressing down onto Taichi’s arousal, which was still unfairly trapped within his tight jeans. The other’s hands were feverishly working on unbuttoning his white shirt, even while the wild kiss of aroused abandonment continued. Taichi pressed up into that kiss, and arched his back so that he would press up against the other’s body as well. He pulsed his own hips, hoping to give his assailant further pleasure from the feel of denim friction against bare erection, and his hands fluttered upwards to grasp at the blonde’s leather-clad shoulders. Taichi moaned throatily as hands finally succeeded in invading under his shirt, and the consuming kiss was broken in favor of peppering smaller ones – no less passionate – over his lips, chin, and jaw line.
Taichi tipped his head back to facilitate the fervent little kisses, feeling hot, dizzy, and utterly overwhelmed. The force of the need and desire tornadoing through him from the unbridled passion of this amazingly unbelievable encounter was incredible. He was feeling a reeling high that no drug would have ever been able to match. He pumped his hips against the other, ran his hands in desperately massaging circles over the blonde’s shoulders and back… but in spite of these efforts at reciprocation, Taichi felt as if he were actually only capable of holding on for dear life as fever and passion roared through his body. His aggressor’s hands rubbed and stroked, moving erratically over Taichi’s trim chest and firm stomach. They pressed between them, seeking to undo the trappings of Taichi’s jeans and gain entry to what was inside, even as the brunette was bitten again, at the junction of neck and left shoulder. Those same precise teeth pressed into his flesh once more, but this time with far more aggressiveness and zeal.
He cried out, as that mild snap of pain shot straight into his arousal and threatened to topple it into climax, whether still trapped within his jeans or not. He gripped the other’s shoulders and his body went rigid, pressing up from beneath, as he fought against his own bodily demand for release. The biting let up then, and in the midst of the disorientating dizziness of over-stimulation, Taichi swore that he caught a soft breathy laugh of satisfaction from the orchestrator of this intense situation, apparently pleased that he’d forced a cry out of the young man quivering beneath him.
And then the blonde began to move more quickly, perhaps teetering on the edge of losing control himself and knowing that time was at a premium. Taichi felt him sitting back, shifting so that he could gain better and more complete access to the brunette’s jeans, which were acting as a barrier to fulfillment for both of them. The button and zipper were forcibly undone, prompting Taichi to cry out again; not from any sort of pain this time, but simply because he so desperately wanted those jeans opened up… removed… out of the way!
Because his partner had moved downward, Taichi found his hands now buried in softness he knew to be shining blonde hair, and he stroked the silken strands between his fingers, aware of the sensation but almost incognizant of it due to the intensity of his arousal. He arched his back and moaned out long and low again as the unseen stranger leaned in to press a kiss and sharp little nibble to the skin around his navel, while at the same time tugging down the offending jeans.
Taichi lifted his hips to make the action easier, and very soon the garment was out of the way enough that it would not matter anymore. The same was done with Taichi’s briefs, and at last his own hard aching erection was exposed to the air. The wild-haired brunette barely had time to savor the feeling of freedom before that arousal was firmly grasped by slender elegant fingers that somehow managed to feel cool in spite of all the heat swirling through the small confines of the sound booth. He was not stroked or manipulated in any way… simply grasped and held in a solid iron grip, and in the midst of their impassioned frenzy, there was a long moment of quivering silence between them, as concrete and unyielding as that hold, as thick and oppressive as the air around them.
Fighting for breath and control, Taichi understood the significance of the moment, even without an exchange of words or the ability to see the other’s expression. In this heavy reality of blind isolation, where only the two of them existed, the blonde stranger was the master, and with his grip he was laying claim to what Taichi had always assumed belonged to him alone. His body… that one part in particular… and Taichi’s entire being by extension. For this night, at the very least, what was in the blonde’s hand was not Taichi’s any longer. It belonged to the architect of this encounter, to the young man with the cut sapphire eyes that gave light to this world of passionate darkness.
Taichi nodded to show his understanding, tipping his hips upwards to press his arousal ever more firmly into the other’s hand, signifying his willingness to give himself up. He felt the touch of a kiss to the head of his erection, a gentle sensation that was soft, perhaps grateful, and almost reverent. That small contact of lips to such an ultra-sensitive spot sent a violently demanding shiver up his back that was almost debilitating, and prompted him to gasp and cry out yet again from the intense pleasure of it all.
And then things were moving fast once more. With a blur of sound and several rapid moments of movement, the aggressor had prepared and positioned himself and then slipped his hold under Taichi’s hips to lift them. The brunette lost contact with the soft stands of hair that had been pleasuring his fingers, and instead dropped his hands to the floor, clawing uselessly to try and secure a grip that the smooth tile would not allow. As he felt the head of his partner’s arousal stroking and probing, Taichi yelped and bucked his hips in desperation, wanting to experience that which had so recently been in his mouth entering his body and connecting the pair of them together in the most intimate of fusions. His yelp shifted into a deep moan birthed from the center of his chest as he was pushed into.
The pace was at first slow and accommodating, but demanding nonetheless. There was a contrast of heat and ice to the invading sensation, and Taichi fuzzily realized that the blonde must have applied lubrication to himself, and he had to wonder when… but it didn’t matter. Though at that point Taichi would have taken even a dry penetration, he was feverishly grateful for the thoughtful and considerate act.
He had not been stretched or prepped, however, so even in spite of the lubrication, the breach was intense and tight. Taichi tipped his head back, arching his back upwards; unable to keep himself still for how completely he wanted that penetration, no matter how it felt. He was not consciously aware of it, but from his throat came a staccato series of sharp little moans and cries, each a word in a primal language without real vocabulary, begging for further deeper invasion.
His partner complied, himself hard-pressed to contain involuntary vocalizations, pressing himself inwards with steady pressure. He let go of Taichi’s hips, trusting the physical connection to keep the receiving young man in proper position, and pitched his body forward over the brunette’s, pressing his hands against the floor on either side of Taichi’s head to act as a brace. The movement folded Taichi beneath him, and drove him in deeply, and they both cried out together from the overpowering sensation of filling and being filled.
Taichi felt a few unfocused kisses pelting his face around his mouth, undirected and random. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around his partner’s shoulders, forcibly drawing him down as close as their position would allow, wanting to be as tight against him as possible. The blonde willingly obliged, one of his hands slipping around under Taichi’s neck to act as a pillow. Their faces were so close that the young man underneath could feel the warm panting breath of the one above, even when vague and desperate kisses weren’t distractedly targeting his mouth. The heat between them was intense, an inferno threatening to consume them both in an uncontrolled bonfire, in sacrifice to whatever passionate gods had arranged this union of light and darkness, gravity and energy. Taichi’s erection was pressed against the other’s solid leather-covered stomach, trapped relentlessly in a world of friction that seemed on the verge of exploding apart.
It took only a few restless seconds for Taichi to get used to the concentrated feeling of invasion before he was eagerly pushing upwards, needing and wanting more. Then, in a burst of eager desire and need that could be controlled no longer, they began to move together in a frenzied desperate rhythm, the blonde pushing in against each of Taichi’s thrusts outward in counterpoint. Unable to see, Taichi was forced to concentrated only on sensation, on the feel of the stranger’s arousal moving within him and mailing him spot-on with almost each thrust, on the heated rubbing his own pressed erection was enduring thanks to the back and forth shifting of their movements, and on each earnest impassioned kiss that was pressed to his lips to punctuate every inward plunge. He tried to return the ardent gestures of affection, but very quickly he was reduced to such a state of arousal and primitive need that he was capable only of hanging on and crying out with calls of mindless extreme pleasure that were matched by his partner.
If there was a world beyond their private reality of passion, neither was aware of it. If the music was still playing and being broadcast out into the club, neither of them cared. They crashed together like a pair of frantic cymbals in crescendo. Taichi was the first to reach the point of no return, feeling all of the heat and flurry gathering in his stomach, a powerful storm of fervor that he had no desire to rein in or control. It would have been a futile effort if he had tried.
As his partner pounded into him, hitting that spot deep within just right, Taichi’s cry was long and strident. He tossed his head as all of the power and fire building deep in his gut forced its way downward and out. His entire body tensed and arched, and his erection beat a disjointed rhythm against the blonde’s stomach, releasing and discharging. A wave of shivering flowed through Taichi, starting from that point of liberation and gathering strength as it dashed upwards, following from one nerve to the next in an endless chain of electricity.
Within the next moment, Taichi’s entire being was over-sensitive to the point where the sensations were almost more powerful than his climax had been. He was jarred and rattled as the blonde continued for a few heartbeats more, before he too stiffened and cried out in a growling near-snarl, revealing a nature that was as primal and basic as Taichi’s own in a far darker way. He felt a pulsing within as satisfaction was gained on that front as well, and a filling heat that set off a second series of shuddering chain reactions up through his body, which caused him to tighten his hold around the other’s shoulders and vocalize instinctively again. The sound was lost and muffled under the force of another driving kiss created from leftover passion and the trembling remains of desperation and need. The wild-haired brunette pressed up into the kiss, trying to communicate the intense feelings and rolling passionate emotions in his own heart.
The kiss had to be broken so that they could both gasp and breathe. The blonde settled heavily atop Taichi, chest heaving in tandem with his as they tried to restore normal functioning. Taichi felt as though he had been picked up and wrung out like a wet towel, like he would never be able to move again… but it was a feeling he welcomed. That experience had been well worth being incapacitated. Along with the weakness, there was a glow within… a feeling of fulfillment and connection with another that he had never experienced before. Taichi felt as though he had been laboring his entire life under the delusion that he was a full person, only to be shown tonight how desperately he’d needed another to complete the wholeness of his being. He reached up with a shaky hand to stroke his fingers through soft strands of hair he knew to be blonde, distantly and drowsily marveling that they felt just as he imagined light would if it could be touched… which was altogether ironic considering the darkness of the reality this amazing and demanding stranger had created to draw him in and trap him.
Taichi’s touch to the blonde’s hair was rewarded with a kiss, and a serious bite to his lower lip that sent a warmth of pleasure through his recovering body. He felt the other shift a bit to better lay out on his chest, and then elegant fingers traced the edge of the blindfold still securely covering his eyes, tickling over the skin of Taichi’s face. He could almost feel the other considering whether or not to remove it… whether or not he wanted to reveal himself. Taichi prayed that he would. He so desperately wanted to look into those sapphire eyes, to be able to read what was in them and fill himself with an imprint of their piercing quality that would be so much stronger than the fleeting memory he had of them from previously. And he wanted to look into the face of the one who had captured him so completely and effortlessly. Taichi wanted to know the visage of his master.
He nearly jumped out of his skin; however, as the heavy contented quiet between them was shattered by the ardent buzz of the intercom nearby on the counter. The fingers on his face fled. The spell of gravity and isolation was broken as the rest of the world intruded to remind them both that it was still out there on the other side of the walls. The voice of Taichi’s boss invaded the air, unwelcome and unpleasant to the brunette’s ears for the first time ever.
“Taichi-kun!”
He groaned as the other pulled away from him, sitting up. He did not want to let go and tried to keep his hands on the blonde, but was unable to as his partner moved aside. Taichi felt as if he were grasping frantically after a ghost, a mere specter of what had gone on between them. He heard rustlings that obviously announced what the other was doing – shifting around to get dressed again. The creaking of leather seemed dry and cold now, the sound of movements quick and businesslike. Taichi felt his heart falling, plunging from the high precipice of passion where it had been teetering. Already grieving, he pushed himself reluctantly up into a sitting position as the boss called his name again.
“Hai, kaicho-san?” he called back, ashamed at the obvious irritation and even anger in his voice, but unable to prevent either from manifesting. Regretfully he listened to what the man had to say about a song request from the floor, as he slowly worked on putting his own clothing back in order, getting to his feet to pull up briefs and jeans. He distantly noted that he’d have to take a break soon and disappear into the nearest restroom to clean himself up, but the thought seemed unimportant. What his boss said was only half acknowledged. Most of Taichi’s attention was on the sounds of leather and jingling of chains behind him.
But he promised to get the requested song on as soon as he could, snapping his jeans shut and turning toward the sound of the other young man. It didn’t even really occur to Taichi that he should remove the blindfold himself and try to catch a glimpse of the blonde before he disappeared. The dark reality that had so mystified Taichi at first now seemed appropriate and even comfortable. As long as the stranger was near, then the darkness and gravity had to exist, and the brunette welcomed them as indication that the other was still with him.
But the movements that he could hear were shifting toward the door, and he inwardly jumped at the sound of the lock being undone. A fluttering panic lifted up through Taichi’s stomach and heart and he took a few quick misdirected steps forward himself, reaching out with a beckoning hand. Grasping after mist.
“Wait!” he called anxiously. Anything else he might have wanted to say was interrupted and utterly dislodged from his head as he blundered blind into his rolling chair and nearly ended up on the floor, saving himself from a fall only by luck as he caught the edge of the equipment counter with a flailing hand. What on earth was his chair doing there? He spent a few precious seconds being completely bewildered and unsure of his exact location in the small room.
By the time he’d mentally gotten a grip on himself, Taichi was sure it was too late to catch the blonde, and he stumbled back against the counter, leaning on it hard with his rear for desperately needed physical support. Disappointment and regret flowed into him as sure as if he were an empty glass being filled with some murky viscous sludge, laced with plenty of self-recrimination over having been so stupid and clumsy. He swore bitterly and reached up with the intention of grasping the front of the blindfold over his eyes and yanking it off sharply.
His heart nearly stopped when he felt cool slender fingers wrap around his wrist and hold tight, preventing him from completing the action. Taichi audibly gasped, surprised, and all the negativity that had settled into him did an abrupt about-face and scrambled to disappear. That reversal, and the intoxicating touch of the blonde stranger, effectively paralyzed Taichi’s mind and he froze. There was a soft mellow laugh from the other young man, and he leaned in to press a kiss to Taichi’s open lips.
The wild-haired deejay’s brain clicked back on under the influence of that kiss, and he returned it with eager affection, willingly granting passage of the other’s tongue into his mouth. Still keeping a firm hold on Taichi’s wrist, the stranger pressed in close, forcing the brunette tighter back against the counter, probing the kiss in with deep passion, ending it with a light nip on Taichi’s lower lip as he pulled back.
“You’re mine now, you know,” the stranger said quietly in a low throaty whisper, his face still mere inches from Taichi’s, close enough that each word was breathed into the brunette’s mouth. “Never forget that. You belong to me.”
A powerful shiver moved up through Taichi’s back, and he experienced a wonderful plunging sensation in his stomach. In spite of the darkness and gravity that surrounded him, pressing against him with tangible pressure, seeking to engulf and drown him… Taichi felt light and buoyant. He knew he would gladly accept any hardship or endure any harshness simply to belong to the master of this reality.
“H… hai…” the brunette nodded, wanting to melt as the stranger gently kissed and mouthed his cheek, the fluttering feel of his lips sending electric traces skating through Taichi’s nerves. There was still regret and disappointment when he let go and stepped away, but this time it did not lay so heavily over Taichi’s heart, because now he had a promise. It had been unspoken, but implied beyond doubt. This wasn’t the end.
Staying still… because he knew it was expected of him… Taichi listened as the other left, pulling all of his gravity with him. The deejay waited a few heartbeats after the sound of the door closing came sharply to his ears, taking several long deep breaths and allowing the real world to slowly come back to him. He became aware of the pulsing beat of the music first, the way that it drummed at the walls of the sound booth and how it felt under where his fingers rested on the counter. It came slowly, almost as if even something as overpowering and all pervasive as blaring music was hesitant to intrude into Taichi’s new existence.
Taichi then reached up, grasped his fingers around the blindfold, and drew it off over his head. Stripes of flashing light and color, a pattern cast on the far wall by illumination peeking between the closed blinds, hit his eyes and made him squint until he got used to the brightness. The small room seemed empty and barren, and he had to marvel at how strange that seemed when just moments ago it had been filled with an entirely different reality.
He turned and looked toward the window, seeing the muted vague forms of movement and dance beyond the shades. All those pulsating individuals seemed to meld into one strange alien entity that shifted and undulated with the driving rhythm of the music, as Taichi mentally lumped them all into a single category that he labeled “Not Him.” He shifted toward the window and reached for the wand to turn the shade, and drew back sharply with a wince as light burst into the sound booth.
It was difficult to put himself back into that world of light, sound, movement and color, and strange to think that he’d been so much a part of that world for two long years when it now seemed so distant and foreign to him. But, he had a job to do, and so Taichi adapted as he always did, hurrying to find the song that had been requested hidden in the huge library of CDs that lined the walls of the booth. He pulled his headphones on and worked his equipment automatically to get the song to play, threw out a few special lighting effects in order to please whomever had made the request, and then sat back to gaze out the window at the dancers and the rest of the crowd. His gaze went from one person to the next, searching but not finding. That didn’t surprise him in the least. He picked out the next series of songs he intended to play, queued them up, and then sat back to give some uncharacteristic thought to what had happened to him that night.
He was leaden, but hopeful. After a few minutes, he realized that his fingers were stroking something that was a curious combination of firm and pliable, and he looked down to find that he had the blindfold in his hand. Sitting back casually, crossing the calf of one leg to rest against the knee of the other, Taichi smiled and gazed at the strap of leather, working it in his fingers, feeling each nerve tingle as his skin remembered the sensations associated with that blindfold. He ran a hand through his hair, vaguely noting that it was far more wild and tousled than usual, and then turned his dark sparkling eyes toward the sound booth window once again. At all that was going on beyond which did not matter anymore… and how funny it seemed to him that it ever had.
He knew that he was now adrift in a world no longer his own, an orphan cast out of the darkness back into the light, but that was okay. He accepted it gladly. Someday he would feel the approach of the reality of isolation and darkness once again, and he would joyfully welcome it as it wrapped around him and pulled him in. Someday, the midst of the chaos of the real world, those cut sapphire eyes would flash at him and disrupt everything, bringing time and heartbeat to a halt. Until then… he was content with what he had and what he remembered. He had a promise, and he had only to wait.
With a flashing grin, Taichi straightened himself in his chair and got back to work.
******