Diary of a Young Prince_Part 4
Diary of a Young Prince
Chapter: 4/4 (oneshot in four parts)
Pairing: Tora x Saga x Oc (mainly, but there are others)
Rating: NC-17
Genre: POV, slice-of-life
Warnings: Polyamory, male x male, adult themes, foul language
Summary: The life of a young man and his highly unorthodox family.
Comments: And here is part 4, at last!
***
I bring Akane over for the first time.
I'm a little anxious, because no matter how much I love them, my family doesn't exactly qualify as normal.
Normal to me and my sister, not exactly to our friends. Its saturday afternoon, we spent the morning walking around harajuku, eating street food and drinking iced-coffee, and I invite her for dinner. We've been dating a few weeks, at an easy pace, but I feel that the sooner she gets to meet my crazy family, the better my chances of her not being completely weirded out are. My dad is excited when I call to ask if I can bring my girlfriend for dinner, and he asks a million questions about what she likes, and her favourite dessert, and if she has food allergies, until I pretty much have to pretend my phone is losing signal to get him to stop.
She laughs when I finally hang up, completely flustered. Her teeth are white and straight, her mouth is wide, lips plush when I kiss her. The sun catches in her lashes and hair. She tastes like coffee. Right then I tell myself that I could get used to this. We start walking again, my arm around her waist.
"You father sounds nice."
"Hmmph…"
We come in and my sister walks across the hallway, stops, backtracks. She's looking more and more like my father every day, her silky black hair cascading down her back, eyes like green gold. She's got the attitude to match too, already rebellious with her hatred of frills and girly stuff, black nail polish and band tees. She looks at Akane with hardly repressed curiosity, bottom to top, and nods approvingly, gives me a thumbs-up.
"Well done bro, well done. Akane right? I like your style…"
And then she disappears, and for some reason I feel like strangling her.
"That was Suzume, my most annoying sister."
"She's cute!"
"Hmmph."
We get to the kitchen where my dad has about every cookbook he owns open on the counter, studying the pages with an annoyed-but-adorable look on his face. He pulled back his ebony hair in a loose bun with a chopstick, and of course he looks stylish as hell with his black v-neck and dark jeans. He looks up and smiles when I stroll in, trying to look cool and casual. He gets my drift and gives me a fist-pump rather than our usual, most-unmanly hugging.
"Dad, this is Eri Akane."
And my oh my is my dad acting charming, elegant deep bow and everything, and I have to say that it kinda makes me smile to see my loud-mouthed, definitely un-shy girlfriend blush a pretty shade of pink as she shakes my father's hand.
"Amano Shinji, but please, call me Tora my dear."
I can see from the glimmer in her eyes that she is mentally squealing fan-girlishly.
I wish I even had a fraction of my father's suave elegance. But no, I got all of his tsundere-clumsiness instead. At least I have his eyes…
It doesn't get much better when Saga and my mother arrive from their weekly shopping date. Akane nearly swoons when Saga gallantly kisses her knuckles, and blushes when my mother raves about how pretty she is, and how she likes her hair. And then insanity ensues, as usual. My father kisses my mother a minute too long, palms Saga's ass when he thinks we can't see him, and all three of them are spewing their usual nonsense without a care in the world as they prepare dinner. Akane is smiling wide the entire time, entranced. I'm half-embarrassed, half-amused.
After dinner, Akane asks my father and Saga if they can play some Alice Nine songs for her. We gather in the basement studio, my father picks up his guitar, Saga his bass, and my sister joins in too. We sit on the couch with my mother as they plug in their equipment, give the guitars a quick tune-up. My father looks up to Akane with a smile, and once again I envy his natural charm.
"Ask away, my dear. What would you like to hear?"
"Anything I want?"
"Anything you want."
She looks thoughtful, and then her entire body perks up as she sits on the edge of the couch, bristling with excitement.
"Could you play that acoustic version of Kiss Twice, Kiss me Deadly?"
Saga chuckles.
"Thats an old one, my, my…Okay, sure, but I haven't sang in a while, it may not be as good as Shou-kun's vocals."
My father picks up the slide and hands it to my sister.
"You remember how it goes sweetie?"
My sister rolls her eyes.
"Of course…"
To her credit, she does. Her solo is just as good as Hiroto's. My father is proud. And Saga's voice is beautiful, no matter how much he wants to deny it.
Later, we cuddle in my bed, naked underneath the comforter. My parents already allowed me to bring girls over a few months ago, as long as they get to meet her first. Mission accomplished in that department, they definitely got to meet her, but not nearly as much as she got to meet them, with their absolute lack of shyness and normal manners. We just made love, very quietly, a little self-consciously, but it still felt good when she arched with pleasure underneath me, her skin soft and slick. Her head of ash blonde hair is settled in the crook of my shoulder, her body fitting against my side.
"Your family is amazing…"
"You think so?"
"They really are. You are so goddamn lucky. Your dad is the sweetest, and he's gorgeous. Your mother looks stunning, and she's outspoken, and funny. Saga is…so charming and smart, and gallant. They love each other, so much, its beautiful. Oh and your sister is feisty, and loud! I really love that, she's gonna be a strong-willed girl…My older sister is a huge fan of your dad's band you know?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, her room was plastered all over with Alice Nine posters, and she'd listen to it non-stop. I think my first karaoke song was an Alice Nine song…"
"That's so strange…"
"Its surreal actually."
"I mean…I never think of my parents as rockstars. To me they're just dad and Saga. They cook dinner, take care of me and my sister, vacuum-clean, tease my mother…"
"You consider Saga one of your parents?"
I chuckle, wrap my arm tighter around her waist.
"Saga is just as much of a father to me. He's been there from day one. He fed me, changed me, rocked me to sleep, sang me lullabies. He packed me lunches, drove me to school, listened to me, for hours. He gave me a shoulder to cry on when I needed one, and sound advice too. I can't…I can't imagine my life without him. I have two fathers and a mother, and honestly, I'm really happy about it."
***
Today is my 18th birthday.
My father bought me my first car, because he's crazy like that. He said it was also to congratulate me on getting accepted to the Tokyo University of the Arts in their coveted graphic design undergraduate program, but I have the nagging feeling that he wanted an excuse to test drive another Audi.
Not to say that I'm unhappy with it, hell no.
Akane and I are still dating. We have our highs and lows, like any teenaged couple, but we make it work the best we can. She made pancakes with my dad this morning, playfully poking at him with the spatula. Once she got over her initial awe and shyness over my family, she became just as bad as they are, if not worse, much to my amusement, and dismay when she decides that I am to bear the brunt of their jokes.
The morning is spent eating and opening all sorts of presents. Saga bought me a really nice, and expensive looking, leather jacket. My mother got me a new laptop, the one I had coveted for a few months without saying anything. Nao and Yukio bought me my very first Justin Davis ring, a custom made, platinum replica of my father's favourite silver one. The one I keep stealing because it looks awesome. But oddly enough it's Shou and Hiroto's present that actually brings me to tears. They bought me an open-ended, round-trip ticket to Italy, so I can finally go see all those amazing works of art, in museums and churches, that I've only been able to read about in books and see in documentaries.
My eyes water and I hug them both for a long time, and then blame all my sentimentality on lack of sleep.
Alice Nine has a Tokyo Dome show tonight. A sold out concert no less.
It isn't their first one, and it probably won't be their last, but it really feels special that it falls on my birthday, and that I'll get to see it backstage, like I did as a child. The band is less active and has been for a few years. They are getting older, have children to take care of. They don't go on tour as often, and they all have side projects. Nao started his own drum label, Murai, a few years ago and business is booming. Shou became an extremely prolific talent scout for emerging music, and his skills as a vocal coach and lyricist are highly in demand. Hiroto has a plethora of solo projects and collaborations that keep him busy, and he seriously picked up photography, with Yukio's instruction. Dad and Saga started their own recording studios, and they work as consultants for indie labels, producing albums for those young artists that deserve a shot at glory.
But when all five of them get together in the studio to make music, they are Alice Nine. They always will be.
We meet them backstage where they are getting ready, the stylists and makeup artists fluttering around them. Their stage clothes are definitely more subdued that they used to be, yet my mother bursts out laughing when Saga comes out of the dressing room wearing thigh high boots and very short shorts, looking pretty proud of himself.
"Oh dear, aren't you a little old for absolute territory?"
Saga shrugs, patting his bare, and still very toned and slender thigh.
"Meh, if Yoshiki and Sugizo did it at my age, I guess its good enough for me. Wait until you see what Pon is wearing…"
As it turns out, Hiroto's shirt is completely transparent, and pretty much open to the waist. Saga's got nothing on him. They all look rather dashing to be honest.
It feels like a flashback as I stand just off the edge of the stage in the darkness with Yukio, my mother leaning against me, my sister, Hanako and Masashi plopped down on the floor at my feet, my arm around Akane's shoulders, looking at my father perform. I'm reminded of my earliest memories of this life, screaming fans and flashing lights, struggling in my mother's arms to go to my dad. I'm amazed at how good they are, how they've still got it, their audience screaming and yelling and jumping and head-banging along to the music. I laugh when Saga hops on to the stand and does his classic, making-out-with-his-bass routine. When Hiroto sidles up to Shou seductively, rubbing against each other, half fanservice, half something more. When Nao has the packed stadium participate in his drum solo, clapping and screaming as he guides them with playful flicks of his drumstick like a conductor. I'm moved to tears when Saga and Shou perform the piano version of Waterfall they arranged for the occasion, and then Mugen-Electric Eden, my favourite song. I smile wide enough for my mouth to hurt when my father hops on that platform to play Heavenly Tale's solo, complete with backbends and sexy hip sways, wooing the crowd, and I can tell my mother is smiling in the darkness.
They come backstage to change for the encore, and I sneakily spot my father pushing my mother against the wall, just out of sight in the dressing room, and they make out like teenagers. I sigh, thinking that maybe I should find an excuse to go sleep at a friend's house, because if the heated look in my mother's eyes is any indication, they are gonna be loud later tonight.
They get back onstage, and instead of starting with another song right away, Shou and Nao motion for the crowd to quiet down with their arms, and they do, the entire stadium falls silent. I'm puzzled when Shou hands my father the microphone, and he hops on the platform. My father pauses with a smile, lifts the microphone to his mouth.
"How is everyone doing tonight?" he asks, and is replied to with cheers from all sides, "Good, good because tonight is a really special night. On this night, 18 years ago, my son was born."
I feel my face getting hot as this announcement is welcomed with cheers. And then Hiroto is walking backstage and grabs my hand, and starts pulling me to the stage, and I just look back to my mother with a bewildered look on my face while she smirks. She knew this was going to happen, the witch. Hiroto is laughing at my reluctance, and I am utterly blinded by the hot stage lights as we emerge, in front of about 50 000 people screaming and cheering. To say that I'm nervous is a gross understatement.
Hiroto leads me to the platform, and my father's smile is devious as he gives me a hand up so I stand beside him. He enfolds me in a tight hug, and the cheers only get louder.
"You're evil." I whisper, and he chuckles.
"I know. Its all because I love you."
He turns to the crowd again.
"This is my son, Isamu."
I bow a little awkwardly as the crowd welcomes me, and I feel a surge of adrenalin as I hear them chant my name. Is this what it feels to be a rockstar? If so, I can totally understand what my father and Saga mean when they say its addictive. I could get used to that kind of attention. Maybe I am rock-royalty, as my mom likes to say about my sister and I.
"I'd like you guys to sing him happy birthday with me, if you'd like."
Saga and Hiroto start playing the opening notes, Shou and Nao share a microphone, and I feel my heart tighten when my father starts singing, his eyes moist and glittery. When the entire crowd picks up with him, sounding like the roar of a waterfall, I feel like I'm on top of the world.
I hug my father for a long time afterwards, I don't care that there's an entire stadium looking at us, and that we're delaying the show with our tenderness. All I want to do is engrave all those details in my memory, so that years later, when I think back on this day, I won't need a photograph in a black frame to remember it.
And I wont.
My father's eyes, Saga's smile, my mother laughing-crying, my sister clapping with the widest grin twisting her mouth. Shou, Hiroto, Nao, their children and beloved ones. I'll never forget this moment. They are my odd, mismatched, unique family.
My perfect family.
***
Holy shit…I'm exhausted. This is four times as long as I was planning it to be because every time I would put it down, I would add fuckloads more every time I'd pick it up again -_- So I wanted to give this particular universe some closure, I don't know, the idea had been floating in my head for a while and then it just demanded to be written. I've debated a long time with myself about posting it at all because I knew I was pushing boundaries when I wrote On Fairytales, and this one is really pushing it far in a sense. I decided on posting it anyway, I feel like its a good, but long, epilogue. So yeah this is my take on functional polyamory. I know not everyone agrees with this way of life, but I have been through polyamorous relationships myself (although no children were involved) and I can vouch that they exist, and often turn out beautifully with healthy boundaries and foundations. So here we go, this is the end of this series, I hope you enjoyed the ride :D Love y'all xoxo