she is love
🎶 taichi + sora // [day 3] music (for @digiweek 2021) ok, i know it might be more appropriate to post this on day 5, but it's also about music and i have other ideas for day 5, so... been wanting to make a fic out of my digidestineds as camp half-blood's demigods (pjo universe) headcanon for a long time, so here it is. it's better if you read the headcanon first (part 1, part 2) before proceeding so you won't get confused about which one's the child of this or that god/goddess, or who's doing what. surprisingly, while i was quite in an agony for any other days, i wrote this in just one night. idk why, but most probably because it's taiora duh. however, the interactions that you'll see are more of taichi/mimi, and somehow in the middle of the way i decided that i wanted to write a long conversation between taichi/yamato. also, there's a faint hint of mimato; an appearance of koushiro, jyou, takeru, and daisuke; also a mention of hikari and miyako. (sorry ken and iori. next time.) i put the link of the song in the narration, even though i also add it on my taiora fanmix. happy reading!
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“I’m going to confess to Sora.”
At first, it was a piece of information that only Koushiro knew after Taichi told him somewhere in the middle of June. However, the information then became available to some of the prominent figures in Camp Half-Blood, and it wasn’t because Koushiro couldn’t keep the secret. It was Taichi himself who actually went around and made a big deal out of it.
He went to the Camp Store as a start, where Jyou had his shift as usual, accompanied by Mimi who was doing her floral craft—currently the hottest item in the camp—on the back of the register. Taichi was wandering around searching for something that he could present to Sora as a confession gift, but it took him so long that Jyou finally spotted his bushy hair at one of the isles.
“Ha! Got you now, Yagami!” Jyou yelled; his left foot climbed the register agitatedly. “There’s no way I’m going to let you steal something today! Your lucky streak is over!”
“Relax, relax,” Taichi sneered half-offended, making his way to the register. “I’m not planning to steal anything today anyway. I’m looking for a gift for Sora.”
Jyou was not buying it. “And you think a freebie will be a perfect choice, huh?”
“No—geez Jyou, stop making me look like a bad person. There’s no way I’m going to give a stolen good for a confession.”
Mimi gasped, immediately stopped doing her crafts and jerked forward. “Tell me about that again!” Her pitch raised in excitement. “You’re going to confess to Sora?!”
“Yes, but—”
“Oh, for the love of Olympus—at last! Finally!” Mimi’s scream echoed through the entire store. Fortunately, there were only the three of them inside. “Thank you so much, my dear mother Demeter! I can’t bear any longer to see my soul sister waiting for this idiot to make a move!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Now, now.” Mimi knocked the surface of the register demandingly. “Tell me how you’re going to confess, young man.”
“Well, I’m thinking about keeping it simple. Just the two of us, probably later in the annual fireworks. I’m going to search for a secluded place and give her something thoughtful—”
“Stop it right there,” Mimi interrupted with no hesitation. “Hello? It’s too ordinary. You’re going to confess to the daughter of the love goddess. Do you think her mother will accept you as her suitor if you use such an artless plan?”
“Mimi, it’s Sora I’m going to confess to. Why do I need to care about her mother’s opinion? I’m not signing up for Aphrodite’s harem.”
“Oh, don’t talk as if you have a chance. Your charm doesn’t even reach a thousandth of Adonis’ finesses,” Mimi warned in annoyance like she was the biggest fan of that mortal lover of Aphrodite. “You need to make it as grand as possible, Taichi. Make it a confession she will never forget and worth to tell your future sons and daughters.”
He would never even dare to dream about it—they always said demigods were short-lived thanks to the monsters that would chase them endlessly for the rest of their lives. “Okay,” Taichi huffed. “So, what are you proposing?”
Mimi paused and looked up. She did glance at Jyou, only to turn away barely a second later as if she was sure a love pariah like him would not know the answer (and of course, Jyou recognised her suspicious little attitude and started to nag in protest). When an idea finally struck, her eyes and smile grew simultaneously wider. She even leaned forward to emphasise her enthusiasm.
“John Cusack,” she announced. “Say Anything.”
“Anything?”
“It’s a movie title—oh Goddesses, you’re still an idiot,” Mimi groaned, grabbing her cell phone and showed him a clip from the internet. “This! This is just a perfect, all-time classic but timeless way of professing your feelings! I know Sora’s heart is going to melt, and she definitely won’t say no.”
Taichi would never admit it blatantly in front of Mimi, but he actually liked the idea. That was why on the following day, he went to the storage hoping to find some sort of audio system. As if the universe blessed him with a ton of luck, he quickly discovered a boom box that looked exactly like the one in the movie. He immediately brought it to Koushiro for a quick fix, and right there in his workstation, Koushiro—with his ever-perfect rationale—finally asked the most critical question.
“Which song are you going to play for her anyway?”
Of course, Taichi—with his ever-perfect nonsensicalness—didn’t have the answer yet.
Shortly after, Taichi decided to see Yamato who was nesting with his guitar at his cabin’s front porch. After greeting him with the most original salutation (“You look like a broken-hearted emo guy waiting for a cupid to pass by, you know?”), Taichi explained his strategies from former to later, and instead of giving any supportive signals, Yamato squinted his eyes looking somewhat appalled.
“It’s a great plan, right?” Taichi was obviously oblivious to Yamato’s reaction because he kept blabbering without knowing how to pull the brake. “That’s why I need you and your outstanding musicality to provide me with a song.”
Yamato sighed, slowly turning his attention back to his guitar and trying his best to ignore Taichi. Little did everyone know, Yamato once had a feeling for Sora, so to help Taichi with his plan seemed to be a bit awkward for him—not that he was jealous or anything. “Why does it have to be a song?”
“Why not?” Taichi pulled out a reverse card. “That, or you have to lend me your other Apollonian knack of writing a poem. A super romantic poem, to be exact, with words that are so sugary and flowery—hey, wait, is that a flower on your guitar pick?”
It was indeed a flower—a pressed baby’s-blue-eyes encapsulated in a transparent guitar pick, to be exact. As soon as Taichi exposed him, Yamato got nervous all the sudden and threw the little thing inside his jeans pocket. A crease formed between Taichi’s brows after he managed to connect some tiny dots flying inside his head.
“…is that from Mimi?”
“Shut up.”
“Wait, are you guys that close? She doesn’t make a guitar pick for sale, I know that for sure.”
“You’re a pain in the arse, you know?”
“I prefer the term ‘strong-willed’, thank you very much.”
Takeru stepped out of the cabin afterwards, greeting them with such a bright smile. He carried a quiver on his back alongside a bow in one of his arms, which meant he was going to the Archery Field. Yamato found the moment as a perfect diversion, so he asked, “Oi, Takeru. Can you write a poem for Taichi? He wants to—”
“—send my mother a heart-warming birthday present!” Taichi immediately jumped in while trying his best to strangle Yamato. “But don’t worry, Takeru. It’s very kind of your brother to be my personal Shakespeare.”
He was never a prejudice to begin with, so Takeru just giggled at their bromance before went away. Yamato shook Taichi off, looking extremely pissed as he scowled at the son of Hermes. “The hell?”
“Takeru must not know about this. He’s going to tell Hikari.”
“Hikari doesn’t know yet?”
“I find it weird consulting my love life to my little sister.”
“Yeah? And when is your mother’s birthday really?”
“Uh… March thirtieth?”
“And you think Takeru isn’t going to ask Hikari right now on the archery practice when your mother birthday is? He’s going to find out that your mother’s birthday was in spring, and Hikari will be able to tell that you hide something anyway.”
Realising his stupidity, Taichi cursed low under his breath. Yet again, Hikari and Takeru should be his least priority for now, so he tried to resume with the main topic. “Whatever. Just give me the song already.”
In a half-hearted tone, Yamato finally gave an option. “You guys are best friend, right? Lucky, then. Jason Mraz and Colby Caillat.”
“I know that song from the radio. Man, that’s too mellow. She’ll never hear it even I put them in the highest volume. Give me a more upbeat one. Not a death metal upbeat, but not that slow.”
Yamato figured out he would never hear the end of this if he did not take the matter more seriously. Therefore, he went inside his cabin to pick up his iPod and started scrolling his music library. He let Taichi listened to each of his recommendations so it would be easier for him to settle on one song.
By the time Taichi finished his preparation, the initial information had turned into a rumour spread like a wildfire in the entire camp. Maybe someone heard Taichi, Mimi, and Jyou’s conversation back then at the store. Maybe Miyako saw Taichi visited the Hephaestus’ cabin when he was asking for Koushiro’s help. At this stage, it wasn’t impossible if Sora had gotten a spoiler of Taichi’s plan—especially knowing that most of her siblings had a reputation of being a tattle-tale.
Nevertheless, Taichi did not seem to care and remained focus on his plan.
It was the first day of July when he stepped out of Cabin Eleven and walked across the campfire to reach the front yard of Cabin Ten. The time was around seven in the morning, which meant roughly an hour before the cabin inspection. Sora had to be inside carrying her role as Cabin Ten’s Head Counsellor and supervising the cleaning.
Some people passed behind him, either giggling or whispering much to his ignorance. The boom box was tucked safely under his arm; thanks to Koushiro’s prodigal hands, the device was now fully functional, and Taichi only needed to press a single button to play the song in the right volume. And that was what he did before he raised the boom box above his head; exactly a mimic of John Cusack.
Soon, music blasted right from the pair of speakers. It was more of a pop-rock song and everything but hardcore. However, with a bit of twist from Yamato on the bass and treble, it came out quite nicely for such a beautiful morning like this. And indeed, it was loud enough to attract more attention as the number of passers-by who decided to stop and watch from afar grew.
It didn’t take more than one minute for his target to come out of her cabin. Her face looked more curious rather than irritated, and when Sora found out it was Taichi who stood there, her expression turned into an amusement instead. She remained unfazed, watching his sheepish grin as the song continued. The only move she did was covering her mouth in disbelief when she listened thoroughly to the lyrics.
The music came to an end after three minutes, and Taichi finally lowered the boom box. They exchanged a meaningful gaze and a sincere smile in silence—even the whispers around sounded loud enough to fill the dead air. Taking this as a positive sign, he decided to open his mouth.
“Sora,” he began. “Listen. I—”
“WHO THE HELL WAS PLAYING A MUSIC SO LOUD IN THIS HOUR, FOR TARTARUS’ SAKE?!” Daisuke suddenly stormed out of Cabin Twelve, just next to Cabin Ten, yelling like a mad man from the porch. “CAN’T YOU SEE THAT SOMEONE IS STILL SLEEPING? I WILL REPORT THIS TO MY FATHER, MARK MY WORD! HE SHALL BE THE BANE OF YOUR EXISTENCE, AND YOU WILL—”
He was still in his pyjama and his eyes were half-closed, so when then found out it was Taichi—the senior he respected the most—who caused the commotion, his eyeballs almost popped out of his skull. As he caught the sight of Taichi’s death glare, he realised he was the one who was going to be in very deep trouble.
“Oh, sch—naps. Gods. I’m an idiot. Dammit. Uh. Yeah.” Daisuke literally couldn’t help himself. “H, hello, Taichi! Good morning to you too, Sora! And all of you—how are you guys doing?!”
It was as if they were in a concert, except no one was really shouting back.
“I, I’m just going to return to my den. Don’t forget the inspection’s coming, guys!”
Daisuke took one last glance at Taichi in hope for a forgiveness, but seeing that the glare didn’t die down after his pathetic effort, he quickly flew back into his cabin.
“I’m so going to kill him,” Taichi grumbled as Sora approached him, stopping just a few centimetres in front.
“Well, I don’t know about that….” Sora hissed; her tones were rather playful. “If you kill him, Mr D won’t let you live long enough to see the fireworks. I thought you want to bring me somewhere secluded on the beach and give me something thoughtful?”
Taichi smirked. “Okay, now who’s telling you about that? Mimi? Jyou?”
“What if I said it was Yamato?”
“Then I have two heads to kill,” Taichi concluded. “Nevertheless, you’re still going to love me just like I love you, right?”
“Don’t put your words in my mouth, idiot.”
Because her mouth had its own way to give an answer: by leaning into his mouth for a kiss, leaving the entire camp gasping in unison.