((CW: mature themes, homophobia))

(Saturday, 11.45 am)
(Tachimukai)

I couldn't believe I was doing this, acting like Shannon's servant whilst she socialises with the high society. Who does she think she is? Dragging me and Natalie here for her little soirée, I should be soaking up the sun with my boyfriend but no, in Shannon's world she's the only one that matters! How does this woman have a husband again?

"Yuuki, Yuuki." Natalie shouted, shaking me slightly. "You were spacing out again and you look like you could murder someone. Shannon right?" I grimaced at her and she smiled, patting my back gently. Just then a small girl came running up to us, pulling on my trouser leg. She had silky brown hair that was pulled into a tight bun and was wearing a frilly pink dress with matching shoes. She looked like she was only five "I'm hungry, where's my food!" she said, pouting up at me, I looked down at her "Uhh..." She huffed and crossed her arms. "Excuse me? Is the food being served yet? My mum wants to know when it'll be ready." Another voice added from behind me, I turned around to see another girl, dressed exactly the same way and in the same colours but she looked as though she was about fifteen.

I looked at Natalie and we both shook our heads "Er, I'm afraid it's not quite ready yet." I replied politely and I noticed how the girl looked slightly panicked. Wait a sec, mother? "Umm, is your mum...Shannon by any chance?" She nodded and I felt as though I'd just been hit by a ton of bricks. "Yeah so um, if you could...could you ya' know, get it out a bit sharpish...mum's preeeety mad." I sighed, Shannon would obviously blame us for this. "Uh we'll get right on it." Natalie explained and the girl walked away with her little sister.

"So Shannon has kids then. Why does that surprise me?" I remarked as I carried a plate of canapés outside to the hungry guests, which included myself, I hadn't been able to have a nibble at all yet. Natalie laughed behind me and then stopped as we approached Shannon who was surrounded by a bunch of rich men in suits and women in large hats sipping cocktails.

Well I say 'approached' Shannon, for me it was more like I was walking normally for one second, and then I just wasn't...I must of tripped over something because a second later Shannon's dress became a mixture of crab and spinach canapés. It took me a moment to realise what had happened "Argh! What the hell is wrong with you, you clumsy little- do you know how much this outfit cost?!" She shrieked as I stood frozen in place, Natalie sniggered uncontrollably, Shannon glaring at her "What are YOU laughing at, this is coming out of your paycheques don cha' know!" She spat.

"You're not even paying us for this!" Natalie remarked, placing a hand on her hip angrily "You forced us to come and be your waiters for the day! We do have lives you know?" My friend continued and Shannon's eye twitched, she glared at me and my blood ran cold. "Does she speak for you then?" I gulped, trying to find some sort of a comeback but nothing would come out.
She grinned evilly at me "You're so useless Tachimukai, I should've fired you weeks ago!" She stomped her foot down in anger, sending bits of crab splattering to the floor. "I mean, you don't even know the difference between a Latte and a Cappuccino!" She yelled and someone laughed behind me. I grit my teeth, trying to respond but it was no use. 
'Stand up for yourself Yuuki, like Jousuke said, show her what you're made of!'

"Hey leave him alone you cockroach!" Natalie spat, putting her arm out in front of me, Shannon looked as though she was about to physically fight her. "There you go again, defending him as always!" She pointed a finger at me "And you call yourself a man! Yet you can't even speak for yourself." I clenched my fists 'You're such a wimp Tachimukai, she's completely right.'
I closed my eyes, tried to calm my thoughts and breathing 'Don't listen to her, she doesn't know what she's talking about.'
Shannon let out a haughty laugh, bright red fingernails covering her bright red lips "I suppose that must make you the girlfriend in your relationship!"

My eyes snapped open "Shut up." I muttered, she continued laughing, there were more laughs coming from the group. I shook my head "I've had enough."
"What was that Tachimukai?" She asked, a grin on her lips. I looked up at her angrily " I said I've had enough. I've had enough now Shannon! I'm done okay! You have no right to make us run around after your every little whim, we've got enough on our plates without you constantly shouting your mouth off at us to get you a damn latte from the cafe across the road!"
"Or forcing me to come in an hour and a half early every morning so you can force me to wash your stinking little devil dog!" Natalie added, throwing her tray down angrily.

My boss seethed at the words, a fire alight in her eyes.
"You know what you are Shannon? You're a bully, you don't care about anyone but yourself and all you do is make people's lives hell! I was meant to be spending the weekend with the man of my dreams, finally being able to catch up a little because I've missed him so much, but no I'm here, on my day off, acting like a waiter because of you Shannon! Are you happy now? Is that what you want, just to make people unhappy? How sad.

And you keep saying you should fire me but if that's the case why don't you just do it then! We both know all you'll do is just replace me with some other person you can boss around and treat like dirt! You must honestly be on of the worst people I have ever met in my life Shannon. But someday you'll get what's coming to you, I can promise you that!"
I had to stop and take a few breaths, I'd never shouted at someone like that before, especially not someone of authority; and it obviously shocked Natalie because she was staring at me dumbfounded.

I kind of felt really proud of myself actually, for finally standing up to my boss like that- wow Tsunami was right- I really should have done this sooner. It felt pretty damn good. Shannon just stared angrily at me, slowly becoming more and more red, she balled her pale hands into tight fists and walked towards me; she got right up in my face, towering over me slightly due to my short height. Tsunami would never have this problem.

"Are you done now, Yuuki? You've had your little tantrum now, you gonna go home and cry to your little boyfriend; whatever the hell his name is."
'Because that's what you always end up doing-'
I folded my arms carefully and looked her dead in the eyes "Oh no, I'm most certainly not done Shannon, there's a million more things I would absolutely love to say. But I am done with you. I'm done with this job, all the shit you've put me through, I'm not gonna put up with it anymore. I won't be your personal doormat anymore. I QUIT." I said calmly before making a mock bow and turning on my heel and walking off, Natalie ran up to me, stopping me "Natalie don't try to stop m-"

"You forgot your phone." She said, smiling at me. "I can't believe you just did that, I have tell Riku right away, he's gonna love it!" She exclaimed, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye, I frowned "Thanks Nat, I'm really gonna miss you guys you know that?" I hadn't really thought about that part, I'd really grown close to those two and leaving so abruptly felt so wrong. My friend just shrugged her shoulders slightly and smiled. "Yeah, we'll miss you too, but I think this is for the best. And hey, my door's always open if you want to come along and bitch about Shannon!"

"Aren't you worried she'll fire you?" I asked, remembering what she'd said, I would hate for her to get fired just because she was defending me. 'Hey, she's the one who called Shannon a cockroach.' Natalie just laughed, slinging her arm around my neck "Yuuki, she'd be screwed if she got rid of me, she knows that." She gave me a large pat on the back "Now hurry up and tell that gorgeous man of yours the good news!"
Right, this is good news isn't it?...

"Tsunami, it's me...um I kinda don't have a job anymore." I said quietly, sitting in my car.
"Whuh? Did that she-devil fire you?-"
"N-no, I quit actually, I think..."
Tsunami's voice instantly became happier. "Yuuki, you finally stood up to that witch, I knew you had it in you! Aw I bet the look on her face must've been priceless! That'll teach her not to mess with my boyfriend-"
"Uh but Jousuke this is serious..." I said nervously, my boyfriend didn't reply.

"I just quit my job. Do you understand what that means Tsunami?"
"What's the matter-"
"Oh my god what have I done? My last paycheque was three weeks ago, I haven't even paid last month's rent how in hell am I gonna pay this month's now?!" Anxiety began coursing through my body as I gripped my hair in panic.
"Tachi just st-"
"What am I gonna do? I have to get another job now- oh god what if they ask for an employer's reference? Shannon would do everything she could to stop me from ever working again! This is it, my landlord's already pissed at me, she's gonna evict me for sure!"

"Tachi please-"
"And I can't ask Alice for anymore money, I already owe her a lot, plus I promised myself I would stop mooching off my friends..."
"You could always-"
"It's just-"

"TACHIMUKAI!" Tsunami yelled and I was finally brought back to my senses, his voice calmed a little "You're blowing this way out of proportion. You're worrying about things unnecessarily, stop worrying alright, everything is gonna be absolutely fine, I'll make sure of it. Just go home and get some rest okay?"
"B-but-"
"Ahbubup, I don't want to hear it. Just rest up. And hey, it's not long now anyway!"
"Not long til what?" I asked in confusion before remembering "Oh right, I'm coming down to visit you next weekend, how could I forget." Well, technically it was supposed to be this weekend but we had to reschedule thanks to my stupid boss.
"You know...you could stay for a lot longer if you wanted, I mean, since you don't have a job anymore..." My heart stopped momentarily.

"Y-you mean like...move in with you?..." I said nervously, my boyfriend laughed slightly "Yeah, I mean why not?"
"Um I just really need to sort some stuff out right now..." I said and I heard his voice drop "Uh okay sure, no probs, we can talk about it later then...I love you Tachimukai, please don't ever forget that." And he hung up, I sighed but carried on walking, I just wanted to sleep now.

I opened the front door of my apartment block wearily, for how great I felt quitting my job I sure felt defeated right now. I sighed, maybe I'll feel better later. I headed up the stairs to my floor, not feeling in the mood to listen to cheery elevator music.
"Like I said, I'm afraid he's not in right now, he's doing something for work today so you'll have to speak to him later." I stopped hearing Alice's voice, her American accent easy to detect. Someone was looking for me? Jeez, no offence but I really don't want to talk to anyone right now. It could be important though. I was about to turn the corner of the stairwell that lead to my apartment when a voice made me stop.

"But we really need to talk to him, it's urgent." That voice. No, it couldn't be. Why now, why why? I looked down at the floor, then down the stairs; I could make a run for it right now, but after everything that's happened today...
My thoughts were rudely interrupted when I suddenly lost my footing (seriously what the actual hell is up with me and tripping today?!) and had to grab hold of the bannister for dear life so I didn't plummet to my death.

"Hmm, what was that?"
"N-nothing! A-actually, on second thoughts, um I don't think that Yuuki will be um home until like aaaages, so you know maybe you should just leave this for another time!" Alice said hurriedly, she must have quickly put 2 and 2 together.
"No no that was definitely-Yuuki!"
I looked up from my perilous position at the two people that were now staring down at me. The two people I hated the most in the world.
I put on what I guess could be classed as a smile and gritted my teeth "Hey mum and dad, what are you doing here?"

I walked up the rest of the stairs and glanced at Alice who was mouthing sorry to me. "Yuuki dear, we were just chatting to this charming young lady about you." Mum started, grabbing Alice's hand and dragging her forcibly towards me "Alice was telling us lots about you Yuuki, you two must be really close..." Dad continued, I smiled through gritted teeth as my neighbour tried to slink away "Oh you know what? I think I um left my...cookies in the oven! Sorry gotta go, it was nice meeting you though!" And she ran into her apartment, slamming her door behind her.
Mum sighed unhappily, I looked angrily at the two of them who still had their fake smiles on.

"Alright so can we finally cut the happy families crap already, what do you want, I'm busy." I said closing my front door behind me, their faces instantly became stern and they looked at me coldly "Yuuki, sweetie, we need to talk." Mum said, sitting down at my tiny dining table and helping herself to the plate of freshly-baked cookies Alice had made, dad following suit of course. "You know, we have tried to talk to you son but-" I shook my head angrily "Oh you tried did you? Well you mustn't have tried very hard, not one phone call, not one text, not one email just to check that, you know, I was still alive. But I mean you tried right so who really gives a shit about me anyway?"
"Language!" Dad exclaimed and Mum just scowled at me and kissed her teeth, a habit I was seriously beginning to hate now.

My dad folded his arms and beckoned me over "Just sit down already."
I reluctantly sat opposite them, maybe this will go quicker if I just shut up and listen. Mum cleared her throat "Sweetie, you know we love you very much and you know we just want what's best for you-"
"You love me?! If I remember correctly you kicked me out when you found out I was gay, I think your words were 'you better not come back here unless you have a girl on your arm you useless fag!' Or did you forget that?" I couldn't believe they were bringing this up again, normally I would have just let them get away with it, probably ended up crying and running away but after this morning, I had to put up a fight and stand up for myself just like Tsunami told me to.

I never used to have problems with my parents. They loved me a lot and kept me very sheltered, which is probably why I grew up to be so shy and socially anxious- but I know they only did it because they wanted to protect their only child. They only ever wanted to keep me safe, they loved me and I loved them. We were just a simple, ordinary family unit. Then I became a teenager, and the combination of teenage hormones and my own confusion about my sexuality created a distance between us. I think they knew something was up, I constantly avoided them, spending most evenings in my room (texting Tsunami) and skirting around any questions to do with relationships.

I came out to them when I was 18-after secretly dating Tsunami for two years. I remember my mum cried and my dad yelled, saying they wouldn't accept it. They said it was just a phase and I'd get over it.

Then they found out I had been dating Jousuke, and everything just got 10 times worse. I refused to go back to being normal, and they kicked me out. Luckily (if anything in those years could be counted as lucky) I had started university at the time, so I didn't have to see them, Jousuke would come up to visit me as often as he could and I'd always spend the holidays with him. He wanted me to meet his parents, but the thought of that was just too terrifying to me, I didn't want to be reminded about anything to do with parents or family- I just wanted it to be us. He respected that. Tsunami always respected my wishes.

My parents didn't speak to me for those three long years, and I was fine with that. But a few months ago they decided to break the silence- and god I wish they hadn't. I can't see them as my parents. It's like they became different people, I can't recognise them anymore. It's like they forgot I was their son and that they were supposed to love me...

Mum was speaking again, I looked up.
"If I told you once I told a thousand times, you're our only child and I will not tolerate you just 'deciding' that what you want to do with your life is just have meaningless sexual 'relationships' with a different man each day. It's just absolutely disgusting, so unnatural, I can't even bare to think about you doing, 'those things' it makes me feel sick it does!" Dad just nodded his head, he was never much of a speaker but just the way he looked at me, the way he'd always looked at me, showed his hatred for me. "You're wrong! It's nothing like that at all, Tsunami loves me more than the world itself he-"

"Tsunami?! We told you to stay away from that bastard didn't we!" Dad exclaimed, I rolled my eyes at him, trying to act confident "Well I ignored you." Mum's face grew red with anger "You think this is funny?! We forbade you from ever seeing him after we found out that you were secretly dating."
"But why though, why did you hate him so much?" I questioned, not realising how much of a dumb question it was until I'd already said it. "Well besides from the obvious, there's the age gap of course-"
"Age gap? It's only three years! You and dad are eight years apart so what the hell kinda reason is that!" I shouted angrily. "Yes but when you were dating he was 19, you were only 16 years old, meaning he was an adult and you were still just a-" I didn't let her finish her sentence. That really caught me off guard, I'd never seen it that way...I shook my head 'don't listen to a word she says.'

"Tsunami's not like that, he would never do anything to hurt me or anything wrong, he's sweet and kind and always looks out for me. He cares about me and treats me with love and respect! Plus, through the whole time we were dating the most we ever did was like hold hands, we never even kissed!" I admitted.

Mum clutched her pearl necklace "Clearly he has seduced your young, impressionable mind into going along with this; believing that this-this way of life is acceptable!"
"He's just a player, son, like the rest of them, you're just gonna end up getting hurt." Dad added and I could feel anger rising up in me
"A player, how the fuck can you even say that?!" I shouted but dad just looked at me smugly, getting out his phone and typing in something. "You don't believe us? Take a look at what we found about your so-called boyfriend." he threw the phone at me, it was on Tsunami's Surf School website "Great so you're actively stalking my boyfriend now are you?" 

"Well." My mum said "You have to keep tabs on a man like that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I exclaimed- this was so stupid, and not to mention creepy!
"He's a player, and I for one will not have someone like him around you." My mum replied, crossing her arms.
"Are you serious?!"
My father just looked at me smugly, clicking on a picture on the site. It was of my boyfriend, standing next to a woman in a yellow t-shirt and bikini bottoms. She had her arm on his shoulder and was leaning into him, they both had huge grins on their faces, as if they'd been laughing when the picture was taken.
For the first time ever I felt a jealousy tug at my stomach as I looked at the photo carefully.

'What?' Why was I getting so jealous suddenly? My parents were trying to manipulate my mind, there's no way I would let them.
"He's a surfer, that's not even a proper job!" My dad said with a disgusted look on his face. "You really want to throw your life away for someone like that!"
'He's not JUST a surfer, he has his own business, he teaches people, he does a lot of other stuff too!'
My mum leaned forward "Don't you see Yuuki? He doesn't love you, he only wants you for your body, he just wants you to be his little bit on the side, he doesn't care about you at all. They're all like that, all the same. He just wants you for sex, and what what will happen if you say no Yuuki, huh what will he do to you? If you don't give him what he wants he'll just leave you, throw you aside, or worse, then will you still say how amazing he is?"

I couldn't take it anymore, my blood was boiling and my heart was racing "Shut up, you know nothing about Jousuke, he loves me more than anything ever and I love him just as much! In fact, we're moving in together, he's on his way right now actually and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" I lied, I didn't care though, I loved the look of horror on my parents' face. "And for the record, Tsunami and I have had sex many times, and every time it was ME who said I wanted it actually, he's never forced me because like I said, HE'S NOT LIKE THAT!" I lied again, mum recoiled in shock and dad balled his hands into fists.

"That fucker! I swear to God I'll kill him!" He shouted, bringing his hands down hard on the table. "Yeah well you'll have to go through me first then dad!" I shouted back and stood up from my seat, I looked at them both angrily before pointing to the door. "You know what, just get the fuck out of my house already! I've gotta get ready for Tsunami. Just go and take your shitty opinions with you! I never want to see you to ever again!"
"Fine! Have it your way but mark my words-"
"Oh shut the fuck up!"

I pushed them out the door and slammed it angrily. I slumped down against it and buried my head in my knees. All I care about now is seeing my Tsunami.

((Ahhh finally got round to updating this chapter, I still feel like it's not perfect but for now it's good enough.
As always, thanks for the support!))