What a Life This Is - A Collection of Short Stories

Past and Present - Part 1

Ever since turning fifteen, Kadence had begun to rebel. While dishing out his concerns to Tadashi, Kaoru ends up sparking an important conversation about the past.
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"For the love of GOD, where is she?" Kaoru was practically seething as he paced back and forth in the living room, stopping every few seconds to peer out the window facing the sidewalk that led to their house.

For some context, Kaoru and Kojiro's fifteen-year-old daughter, Kadence, had left the house to meet with some friends at precisely 5:00 PM, and the agreed-upon curfew was 8:30 sharp, no exceptions.

As of right now, it was 9:55.

"Babe, I'm sure she'll be home soon, there's no need to freak out-"

"NO NEED TO FREAK OUT?! Kojiro, who KNOWS what she's doing out there?? I know for a FACT that when I was a teenager I was doing unsafe, dumb, and sometimes ILLEGAL things when I stayed out late!" The pinkette rattled on, his breathing heavy as Kojiro tried his best to console his rightfully frantic husband.

The man took Kaoru's hand and led him over to sit on the couch, wrapping an arm around his shaking shoulders, "It's almost ten o'clock, she has to be home by then, okay?"

"O-Okay.. yeah," Kaoru replied shakily, closing his eyes and beginning to mumble quietly to himself; "she's fine, she's fine, she's fine.."

To be honest, Kojiro was worried sick about their daughter as well, but he had to put up a decorum of calm in order to keep Kaoru from spiraling.

Another few minutes went by, then at 10:00 on the dot, both men whirled to face the door as it opened slowly, and Kadence walked inside with her back fac-

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Kaoru exclaimed suddenly, causing both Kadence and Kojiro to jump as the fifteen-year-old cried out, "AHEYH- PAPA! What the HECK?"

"Do you know what time it is? You were SUPPOSED to be home at 8:30!" The pinkette threw his hands up as Kadence folded her arms, "WHERE WERE YOU?!"

"Nowhere! I was just-.. o-out." The girl responded, and Kojiro finally got a chance to speak, "Out with who?"

"My friends!"

"I- Okay, look," Kaoru sighed deeply, rubbing his temples, "I get that you're fifteen now and you think you can just do whatever you want, BUT YOU CANT."

"Why NOT? Like you said I'm fifteen, I'll be eighteen in THREE YEARS."

"EXACTLY, in THREE YEARS. But for now, you're still fifteen, which means that your Dad and I are still responsible for you AND your safety."

"UGHHHHH, get OFF MY CASE! I can take care of myself, and I'm NOT a little kid anymore! Geez!"

"Excuse me? you- HEY!" Kaoru yelled after Kadence as she stomped past the couch where Kojiro was sitting and stalked up the stairs. The last thing the two men heard was her door slamming aggressively.

Kaoru scoffed, looking back at Kojiro with an incredulous look, "What's going on with her? It's been like this for the past month! It's like she thinks she can just go where she wants when she feels like it!"

The pinkette walked back to the couch, flopping down on it and groaning a bit, "I remember when she loved us.. I miss it.."

"Well, c'mon Ru," Kojiro replied, trying his hand at being the voice of reason, "She's a teenager, a-and they're supposed to rebel a little bit."

Kaoru sighed deeply, leaning against his husband, "Well why doesn't she just spend all her time on Instagram or whatever that TikTok thing is?" He scoffed, "You know, like a normal teenager?"

The two men were silent for a bit, the Kaoru heard a muffled, "Pfft-" sound come from beside him, and he turned to see Kojiro with a hand over his mouth, eyes squeezed shut and holding in laughter.

Making a face, the pinkette pinched the other man on the bicep, "What're you laughing at?" He asked accusingly as Kojiro yelped a bit through his chuckles, rubbing his arm as he replied, "You know good and well that you were the complete opposite of normal as a teenager, Blossom."

"Well- Uhm- I-.. I w-wasn't that bad!"

"You weren't that bad?! Kaoru, babe, one night you bought alcohol with a fake license, had me drive to an abandoned drive-in theater, where we got drunk and then proceeded to have several rounds of you-know-what."

Kojiro stared at Kaoru. Kaoru stared at Kojiro. Then, the pinkette sighed in defeat.

".. M'kay, maybe I was running a bit wild.."

"Mhm."

"But I was fun, though." The pinkette said with a smirk, and the two men chuckled a bit, "Yes, you were." Kojiro replied, and Kaoru went on, "But still, Koji, that night you were turning eighteen in a few months, and we were both practically adults. She's only fifteen!"

"I know, but my point is that if that's what we were doing, then you can be pretty confident that Kadence isn't," Kojiro countered, "We raised her to be tough, and like she said; she can take care of herself."

"I know, but-" Kaoru paused, sighing deeply as he rubbed his temples again, "I need alcohol," he said as-a-matter-of-factly, standing up and turning to Kojiro, "You want any?"

"I could go for a glass."

"Mkay, be right back."

The pinkette walked out of the living area and into the kitchen, and a few minutes later, came back with two glasses of wine, handing one to his husband as he sat back down.

"Auugh, this is so stressful.. I hope Miya and Reki stay nine and thirteen forever."

"That might be a tad too wishful."