Alfred exchanged a quick, suspicious glance with his boyfriend before quietly agreeing to follow Taro into the hallway. "Ok, sure..." were his last words before he shut the bedroom door behind him. He didn't sound so sure though, and Taro didn't give him any reason to be with his vague and off-putting words.
Briefly he wondered what he could have possibly done to bring on whatever discussion he would have to face next. They had only known each other for a couple of hours now, and so far all Alfred had done was introduced himself as Kiku's boyfriend, thereby telling him his son was gay, and then made the false assumption that Mr. Honda wouldn't approve of this. Ok, so he could think of a few things... But that was during breakfast, and he seemed to have gotten over the whole issue of his son coming out. In fact, the news didn't seem to bother him at all.
The question then became, what had he done since breakfast? Nothing, except playing music with Kiku, which Mr. Honda had obviously seen some of... How much, he didn't know. Why was he watching us? he thought to himself. Surely not because the man had a secret affinity for rock music.
Though, imagining a serious businessman such as Taro Honda rocking out to modern American rock songs was kind of amusing. Add in the mental image of him actually trying to sing to these songs was downright humorous. A small chuckle escaped his lips before he got himself under control again, willing himself to focus on trying to figure this man out. What could this man possibly want to talk to him about? As they stepped into Taro's office, he asked him exactly that, and then he waited for a reply, studying his facial features, trying to get an idea of what he was thinking. But it turns out that Taro Honda, Japanese government official, is even harder to read than his son.
Taro sat behind his desk and motioned for Alfred to sit in the chair in front of it. "I see you're a very serious young man when it concerns two things." He said, lacing his fingers together and resting his arms on the desk. "Music...and apparently my son." He cleared his throat and eyed Alfred, though no emotion showed on his face.
"So tell me...how correct am I in that assumption?" He asked. "Are those the only things you are serious about? And exactly how serious are you?"
Alfred obliged Taro's request and sat down in the empty chair. He shifted uncomfortably as the man stared at him silently, waiting for an answer. For the life of him though, he just couldn't sit still. It was that feeling of being trapped, in a room with an intimidating man, at his desk, in his office... That was it! The office... It felt like being in a principle's office all over again... Why did he have to close the door?
But since the situation felt so oddly familiar, at least he had something to go off of. So he did what he always did when sent to the principal's office: sit up straight, don't break eye contact, speak with confidence, and stop fidgeting. That last step was proving to be very hard though...
"Not very serious," he admitted. After all, there was no point in lying to the man. "My future's up in the air, I don't like school too much, and my permanent record... isn't spotless..." Alfred cringed at his own words as he gauged Mr. Honda's expression.
"This doesn't sound very good; I'm getting to a point, I promise!" he assured Taro with the best smile he could manage. "I don't follow orders, and sometimes I do things that even I don't expect. I'm probably not your ideal choice for the one your son... produces heirs with. But umm, with all due respect, Sir, it's not your choice, who he ends up with. Its his. We both know that. And if he eventually decides that I'm not what he wants, well- I'll respect that, and I'll let him go..."
He clasped his hands tightly together to make them stop moving, making him appear much more calm and collected than he had been a few minutes ago. "Because other than music, art, and sports, there's one other thing that I'm very serious about, and that's protecting the people I love, making sure they're happy and safe, no matter what. Your son will always be on that list... No matter what, he'll always be family. Family's important to you, right? It's important to me too, Mr. Honda. More than you know."
The only change in Taro Honda's expression was the raising of one eyebrow. Other than that, he remained emotionless. On the inside, however...
On the inside, Taro was incredibly impressed with Alfred's answer, and he could tell that Alfred had been rather nervous. To say what he did, with as much conviction as he had for as young as he was, was very impressive indeed.
And to have the nerve to tell Taro outright that it wasn't his decision to make on who his son ended up with? If this had been traditional Japan, and Taro was more a stickler for tradition than his wife was, then yes, it would have been his decision.
Not that he actually wanted to make it...Alfred was right. It was up to Kiku who he wanted to be with, and as long as Kiku was treated right and looked after and would be all right and happy, then that's all Taro wanted.
"Good. Very, very good, Alfred."
And then Taro did something that only his wife only really ever saw him do... He smiled. Not a big smile...Not a bright smile. Just a small, slight smile graced his lips. "That's all I wanted to know." He said, then looked at his watch. "You go back and keep practicing with Ki-chan. He loves music. He has perfect pitch you know." He bragged. "Not like me. I'm tone-deaf." He smiled that slight smile again, then stood. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in Japan and with us, Alfred. But right now, I have a few errands to run for my business. I won't be gone long, and then Miki-chan will make dinner." He nodded, then gently ushered Alfred out of his office, nodded his head once, then walked away down the hallway.
Alfred smiled and nodded. "Oh I know he does! But then again, he's a perfectionist, so no surprise there! And I know where he gets that from! Or at least, I've got a pretty good idea... Anyway, thank you, Sir; I'll see you later!" And with that, he gave a respectful head bow and quickly left the office. He couldn't help but feel satisfaction as he returned to his boyfriend's room. He had won over Mr. Honda... that was definitely something to be proud of.
"I knew your dad liked me," he said to Kiku confidently as he went to pick his guitar back up. "Or at least that he didn't want to kill me... Close enough, right?" He chuckled and winked at Kiku, while strumming a few notes on his guitar. "And," he added, lowering his voice, "I did learn one other thing from talking to your father... I'm not the only one who likes your singing. Just thought you might like to know that..." Alfred grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek before starting up another song. "He said you have perfect pitch! And I can't say I disagree."
Kiku blinked widely at Alfred's comments. His otosan liked his singing? Huh...He never would have guessed that...
Then the music started and he listened carefully for a few short moments before joining in. He smiled, as a thought suddenly occurred to him. He was definitely taking his bass with him back to the island...Of course they were going to New York and Canada before then, but he wouldn't mind lugging the beautiful instrument with him.
Of course, that was still a few days away, they had plenty of time to practice before then.
Kiku smiled as the two of them chose more songs to play together, some of them serious and some of them fun...But he did find that he loved to play music with his boyfriend...another thing in a long list of things he loved doing with Alfred, and he hoped to keep adding to that list as days went by.
Briefly he wondered what he could have possibly done to bring on whatever discussion he would have to face next. They had only known each other for a couple of hours now, and so far all Alfred had done was introduced himself as Kiku's boyfriend, thereby telling him his son was gay, and then made the false assumption that Mr. Honda wouldn't approve of this. Ok, so he could think of a few things... But that was during breakfast, and he seemed to have gotten over the whole issue of his son coming out. In fact, the news didn't seem to bother him at all.
The question then became, what had he done since breakfast? Nothing, except playing music with Kiku, which Mr. Honda had obviously seen some of... How much, he didn't know. Why was he watching us? he thought to himself. Surely not because the man had a secret affinity for rock music.
Though, imagining a serious businessman such as Taro Honda rocking out to modern American rock songs was kind of amusing. Add in the mental image of him actually trying to sing to these songs was downright humorous. A small chuckle escaped his lips before he got himself under control again, willing himself to focus on trying to figure this man out. What could this man possibly want to talk to him about? As they stepped into Taro's office, he asked him exactly that, and then he waited for a reply, studying his facial features, trying to get an idea of what he was thinking. But it turns out that Taro Honda, Japanese government official, is even harder to read than his son.
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"So tell me...how correct am I in that assumption?" He asked. "Are those the only things you are serious about? And exactly how serious are you?"
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But since the situation felt so oddly familiar, at least he had something to go off of. So he did what he always did when sent to the principal's office: sit up straight, don't break eye contact, speak with confidence, and stop fidgeting. That last step was proving to be very hard though...
"Not very serious," he admitted. After all, there was no point in lying to the man. "My future's up in the air, I don't like school too much, and my permanent record... isn't spotless..." Alfred cringed at his own words as he gauged Mr. Honda's expression.
"This doesn't sound very good; I'm getting to a point, I promise!" he assured Taro with the best smile he could manage. "I don't follow orders, and sometimes I do things that even I don't expect. I'm probably not your ideal choice for the one your son... produces heirs with. But umm, with all due respect, Sir, it's not your choice, who he ends up with. Its his. We both know that. And if he eventually decides that I'm not what he wants, well- I'll respect that, and I'll let him go..."
He clasped his hands tightly together to make them stop moving, making him appear much more calm and collected than he had been a few minutes ago. "Because other than music, art, and sports, there's one other thing that I'm very serious about, and that's protecting the people I love, making sure they're happy and safe, no matter what. Your son will always be on that list... No matter what, he'll always be family. Family's important to you, right? It's important to me too, Mr. Honda. More than you know."
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On the inside, Taro was incredibly impressed with Alfred's answer, and he could tell that Alfred had been rather nervous. To say what he did, with as much conviction as he had for as young as he was, was very impressive indeed.
And to have the nerve to tell Taro outright that it wasn't his decision to make on who his son ended up with? If this had been traditional Japan, and Taro was more a stickler for tradition than his wife was, then yes, it would have been his decision.
Not that he actually wanted to make it...Alfred was right. It was up to Kiku who he wanted to be with, and as long as Kiku was treated right and looked after and would be all right and happy, then that's all Taro wanted.
"Good. Very, very good, Alfred."
And then Taro did something that only his wife only really ever saw him do... He smiled. Not a big smile...Not a bright smile. Just a small, slight smile graced his lips. "That's all I wanted to know." He said, then looked at his watch. "You go back and keep practicing with Ki-chan. He loves music. He has perfect pitch you know." He bragged. "Not like me. I'm tone-deaf." He smiled that slight smile again, then stood. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in Japan and with us, Alfred. But right now, I have a few errands to run for my business. I won't be gone long, and then Miki-chan will make dinner." He nodded, then gently ushered Alfred out of his office, nodded his head once, then walked away down the hallway.
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"I knew your dad liked me," he said to Kiku confidently as he went to pick his guitar back up. "Or at least that he didn't want to kill me... Close enough, right?" He chuckled and winked at Kiku, while strumming a few notes on his guitar. "And," he added, lowering his voice, "I did learn one other thing from talking to your father... I'm not the only one who likes your singing. Just thought you might like to know that..." Alfred grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek before starting up another song. "He said you have perfect pitch! And I can't say I disagree."
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Then the music started and he listened carefully for a few short moments before joining in. He smiled, as a thought suddenly occurred to him. He was definitely taking his bass with him back to the island...Of course they were going to New York and Canada before then, but he wouldn't mind lugging the beautiful instrument with him.
Of course, that was still a few days away, they had plenty of time to practice before then.
Kiku smiled as the two of them chose more songs to play together, some of them serious and some of them fun...But he did find that he loved to play music with his boyfriend...another thing in a long list of things he loved doing with Alfred, and he hoped to keep adding to that list as days went by.
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