Fascination (UruhaxAoi) (boyxboy)

Chapter One

I wasn't surprised to come home and see that my father wasn't home. This was nothing new, it was routine in fact. I had the house to myself on most days and I usually spent it by studying or playing video games with friends. Sometimes, the housekeeper was still there when he got home, and other times, she had left hours prior. She had a family to go home to, after all. 

What did surprise me, however, was once I sat at the breakfast bar to eat the snack and tea she had made me and after I answered her usual question of how my school day had been, as was our routine, she told me that the driver would be over in an hour to pick me up. 

"Mr. Takashima wants to take you out for dinner. He also asks that you wear something nice." She said, taking my empty plate of biscuits and washing it in the sink, her movements quick and precise.

I gave her a look of disbelief, sipping my milk tea. "And is it just the two of us going for dinner?"

She looked back at me knowingly, but without saying it. "I think Mr. Takashima mentioned something about a guest."

I snorted. "I wonder what kind of guest." 

She said nothing, but we both knew. With my father, there were only two kinds of guests. The business or pleasure kind. 

"I'll be in my room. I've got some homework to do." I said, leaving behind my tea. "Call me down when he gets here, then you can go home."

She nodded, going back to her work while I went upstairs to my room. I tried to focus on my study guide, but my eyes kept wandering around my room. Instead, I spent the hour with my head tilted back against my desk chair, gazing at the ceiling with my earbuds tucked in my ears, iPod on shuffle. I would have rathered having been excluded from this dinner date.

~

As promised, in an hour, the driver arrived to pick me up. The drive was quiet and I simply asked him to turn up the radio. I knelt my head on my hand, elbow on the door. I watched the slowly darkening city scroll by in the rare moments we weren't stuck in traffic. We were running late, but even so, I arrived at the upscale traditional restaurant first. At the name Takashima, the hostess led me eagerly to the best table, one on raised tatami mat that had rice paper doors that closed, giving the guests privacy. I removed my shoes at the door, before stepping in, taking the menu that was offered to me and the sparkling water, the doors closing behind her once she left. 

I sat uncomfortably on my knees. I wasn't used to this, our house and everything about it was modern and western, no shoji or seiza there. I looked at the menu, then picked at any lint on my suit. I complained about my father's demands and actions, but I still followed them. I dressed nicely when he asked, got straight A's when he asked, shut my mouth when he asked. Whatever he asked, I did. I was a well-trained puppy who hated its collar.

Finally, I could hear voices and laughter approach. One was my father, the second the hostess, but the third I couldn't place. I felt the weight of dread crushing my shoulders. I wasn't looking forward to another meeting with a smarmy business partner or the new blonde gold-digging girlfriend. 

The door slid open and I didn't see the pencil-skirted hostess or my father, instead, I saw something breathtaking. At first, I thought the person was a woman, but at closer inspection, I realized that I was wrong- he was a he and he was stunning. He had ink-black hair, snow coloured skin, and the softest, warmest smile I had ever been given. He was clutching a clasped purse to his chest, which was the same pattern as his white and purple yukata, tied with an obi in the feminine style.

I didn't know what to do. I felt dumb, just staring at him like a parched man would stare at a stream. I was stranded in the desert of his gaze. 

My father stepped forward, placing an arm around the beautiful man. "Yuu, this is my son, Kouyou. Kouyou, this is Yuu."