Disclaimer: Digimon does not belong to me.

"If you don't go now, you'll lose her forever."

It's Tai's last chance with Sora.

MATURITY.

Izzy burst into the room, letting the door bang into the wall.

"Tai! What are you doing? Why are you still here?"

The brown-haired soccer player looked around at his friend from where he had been sitting on the bed, looking absently out the window. "Oh, it's you, Izzy."

"Yes, it's me," Izzy said impatiently. The boy genius stomped further into the room, his face anxious. "More importantly, what are you doing here? Sora's gone! Don't you know?"

Tai looked at Izzy for a moment, his brown eyes seemingly composed before he turned back to the window. "Yeah, I know."

"Tai!" The frustration was evident in Izzy's voice. "You know where she's going, right?"

"She's going to see Matt," Tai said into the glass. "To give him cookies. And tell him she likes him."

"She even baked cookies?"

"They're good," said Tai. "She tested them on me… I ate a lot of burnt ones while she was practising."

"Tai…" Izzy's face was pained. "You're going to stop her, aren't you?"

This time, Tai took a moment to answer. Although he seemed to be wearing his hopeless grin as usual, the way his shoulders were hunched slightly looked pitiful. He sat cross-legged on the side of his bed, lanky arms reaching over so his hands just touched the mattress in front of him, fingers clasped uncomfortably together.

"…I already tried," his voice had a smile in it. "I said her cookies weren't good enough. I told her that Matt didn't like that flavour. I said that she should try making something else. I…" Tai's voice faltered for a second before he quickly recovered with a shrug and a forced chuckle. "…haha, well, you know how stubborn she is."

Izzy stared at his friend. He'd been in such a hurry rushing over that he hadn't even brought his laptop with him.

"You didn't tell her how you feel?"

Tai looked down at his hands, studied the pattern of his bedspread, glanced up at the ceiling, tried desperately to transfer the grief somewhere else. "I did," He said lightly, a laugh in his voice. "But she rejected me."

"I don't think you should give Matt those cookies," he had said.

"Why not?" She looked up at him with wide, curious red eyes.

She really didn't understand. He found that he couldn't look her in the eyes, that there was a strange tightening on his heart; like it was being squeezed tight and he couldn't relax.

"I just…" he glanced down at her and her questioning look, but seeing her pretty face made it hurt more. So he looked upwards and away, shoved his hands into his pockets, muttered clumsily.

"I just don't think he'd appreciate it as much as he should."

"Well…" He straightened up and turned around to shrug at Izzy, as if it was no big deal. "I guess it was to be expected. She never took me seriously; you know how she was always telling me off for being immature."

"That's not the point. Why aren't you going after her? Aren't you going to stop her?" Izzy stared critically at his friend, his shoulders rising up and down, still breathing heavily from his run over.

"…I just thought I'd be mature this time." Tai smiled dryly.

"Why are you always so immature? What were you thinking?" He could imagine Sora's huffy voice as she snapped at him- running amok, getting into trouble as usual. Yet she was always there to get him out.

"I told you, that's got nothing to do with it!"

"Sora likes mature guys. That's why she chose Matt. All I can do is play soccer and get into trouble; I'm not talented and capable like him. It must be the guitar, huh? Guys in a band score more points, haha-"

"TAI!" Izzy shouted. He'd been so frustrated that he'd stomped his foot onto the floor with such force a small tremor spread through the room, and the wooden furniture rattled slightly.

Tai looked over at him.

"You like her, don't you?"

When he thought of Sora Takenouchi, he thought of red hair and how she liked to wear hats. He thought of accusing red eyes, the way she was always scolding him for getting into trouble, for being immature, for being reckless, for getting hurt. The way she crossed her arms across her chest when she was angry, how she put her hands on her hips while making a point.

"Why do you have to be so reckless?" He did things without thinking, sometimes, most of the time- on instinct. Sometimes, most of the time- he had just wanted to protect her.

"…did you know there are different ways to love someone?" He spoke up suddenly, "Like there's an immature love where you selfishly want her all for yourself, where you wish to be the only one beside her, the one that makes her smile. And there's a mature one, where you just want her to be happy, even if the person who makes her so isn't you."

He spent a lot of time trying to make her smile, a lot of time chasing after her. Their relationship was ups and downs and misunderstandings and clumsy attempts to explain and repair. Always, he was always trying to explain himself, falling all over his feet to fix things up between them, because she was a sensible woman and he was just a love-struck boy.

"Stupid Tai! Stupid, stupid Tai!" The weight of her fists on his chest bounced right off. He'd always found it kind of weird that she was the one crying when he was the injured one.

"…I thought that even though I've been immature all this time, that this time, at least, I'd be mature for her."

He just didn't want to be stupid anymore.

"Do you think you're living in a soap opera, Tai?" Izzy exploded. "If you love her, let her go kind-of thing? It doesn't work that way!"

The room was silent. Tai was still sitting at the window; he'd drawn his knees up and now looked over at Izzy with a somewhat bewildered expression.

Izzy let out a low sigh after his outburst. When he spoke again, his voice was composed, quiet but blunt.

"Tai. If you don't go now, you'll lose her forever."

The brunette was silent from where he sat.

The computer genius stood there, shoulders squared and hands clenched. "If you really like her, then go after her!" Izzy exclaimed, "All that conjecture- maturity, immaturity, whatever- that's all rubbish! Don't think about what Sora said to you about being immature; don't think about the difference between you and Matt, don't think about that! You're allowed to be selfish, Tai; you're allowed to want her! If there's something you want, you're allowed to chase after it!"

Izzy was shouting at him:

"Be immature, Tai!

.

The sky outside his window had turned a deep blue; the remains of the last orange hues from the sunset were vanishing behind the city buildings. As night fell over Odaiba, he reached out to draw the curtains.

He paused for a moment, searching the empty streets outside the apartment window. The nightlights were slowly flickering on, floating yellow lights in a sea of gloomy bue.

Somewhere out there, Matt was walking Sora home.

Tai pulled at the cord, but the curtains jammed and refused to close.

He was surprised to find that he was crying.

…oh.

He was immature after all.

Hello, happy new year! It's certainly been a while. I know you might've expected a new long-running taiora fic, but that was just a one-shot, sorry. To be honest, up until the last moment, I hadn't decided on whether it would be a happy ending or not, so I'm sorry it had to end like that.

I hope you liked it anyway, and I promise happier stories in the future! emichii.