Chapter 7
Just Can't Win
Disclaimer- I own nothing!
"What do you mean you may not be coming back to France?" René sat on his bed on the phone with Michael. He knew he would be pissed but he wanted to tell him of what could possibly happen. Nothing was final yet, he didn't know what he wanted to do. Both options were still open for him so he could really think this through without being rushed. It just seemed right to give him a heads up that it may happen.
"It's just as I said I may not be attending school over there in the fall."
"But why? What about us? Is something going on over there? Is everyone okay?"
"Everyone is fine, it's just that my dad doesn't like the risks I've taken over there and suggested I attend school here. And I've thought…"
"So your dad is forcing you to stay there? Why am I not surprised and how do they know about what happened here?"
"The school told him that I had taken a pregnancy test at the lab."
"So? It's not like it came back positive."
"Michael I'm really messing up my life over there and my parents lost their trust in me."
"So you'll forget about us just so you're your parents perfect son again, is that it? I can't believe I actually thought I meant something to you. I forgot I'm just a nobody in your plans to take over for your dad, how dare I intervene!"
"You mean something to me and I never sa…."
"Just forget it René! You're nothing but a rich spoiled asshole that can't stand to be less than perfect! God forbid anyone thinks less of you! Hope you and your stupid high class perfect life enjoy each other. Sorry for bringing you down."
"Michael that's not…" He heard the line go dead. Flipping onto his stomach he screamed into his pillow. He knew Michael would take this the wrong way but he thought he would at least be able to explain. Getting up he grabbed his sports bag, maybe he would hit some balls for awhile at the cage. It was a great way to blow off steam. It seemed no matter how hard he tried he couldn't make anyone happy. If he studied at school like his parents wanted Michael got upset that he was wasting his youth. If he went out his parents got mad.
Heading downstairs he heard his father in the living room, he should tell him his plans.
"Father, I'm going to the park I'll be back later."
Turning around at René's tone he knew something was wrong. Hearing the front door close he quickly passed Isabelle over to Kyouya who was lost by what was going on. Tamaki went to follow René and figure out what happened. He was already halfway down the yard by the time he got outside, he really was fast. He must be really mad at whatever happened if he was walking to the batting cages, they weren't close to it.
"René, hey wait up. Come back and talk to me." Catching up to him he was finally able to grab his arm and stop him. "René tell me what's going on? What's gotten you so worked up?"
"It's Michael, we broke up. He broke up with me."
"What? Why? I'm sorry René."
"I just wanted him to know that I was thinking about staying here this fall and before I could fully explain myself he got pissed off."
"Why were you thinking of staying here? You know your dad wasn't serious."
"I know but you both were right. I'm messing up my life in Paris and before I ruin it for good I want to try to get it back on track here in Japan. I can always go back to France later. Michael can't understand my true intentions for wanting my dreams to work and thinks I'm only doing it to please you. He thinks my plans to stay here are so I don't ruin my image but that's not really true, he said I hate not being the perfect son."
Tamaki pulled him closer as he noticed René started to cry. It was evident that he truly cared for Michael and their conversation carried much weight in it before it ended.
"I really love him father I don't want us to be over." Tamaki just let him cry on his shoulder, he knew it was hard to possibly have to let someone go, especially when your heart was in love. He also got the feeling this wasn't their first fight about René's upbringing and future. This was just the last straw for Michael.
"Why not wait awhile and try to call him again to see if he will listen?"
"I can try but I doubt he'll pick up."
Tamaki tried to think of something that could help him, There had to be something he could do.
"Why don't we go out for awhile."
"What?"
"I think you need a breather from this place, in the last couple of weeks you've had a lot to deal with and think about. And it's been so long since we've gone out without the family so what do you say? Unless you think your too old to just hang out with me."
"No, that sounds good actually." He wasn't kidding it really did, it had been years since he had spent the day out with just his father.
"Great I'll get my wallet, you think of what you want to do."
Stepping away from René to go in the house Tamaki smiled a little. He felt horrible that his son was heartbroken but maybe he could help him feel a little better.
Kyouya stood at the bottom of the stairs still holding Isabelle. He wanted to know what Tamaki said as he ran past him to go upstairs. What was going on?
"I never seem to know what is going on here Isabelle I swear." Seeing Tamaki coming back down he stopped him from running out the door again.
"René got into a huge fight over the phone before with Michael and it didn't end well. So I decided we would spend some time together. Maybe I could get him to feel a little better."
"What did they fight about?"
"René is waiting for me so I'll tell you more about it when we get back. Watch the kids for me okay, thanks. Love you."
"Tamaki…"Watching the front door close he looked down at Isabelle. "See what did I tell you, I know nothing, ever. Well at least you'll be easy to watch. Oh and promise me right now that you won't go to France. You'll see soon enough that there is nothing but drama in that country."
René was glad he agreed to go out with his father. They didn't go anywhere in particular but just being able to talk was great. They talked about everything and anything, from what happened to small stupid things. This time to René was precious since it hardly ever happened. As he was laughing with his father he couldn't pull his mind from something Michael said. It wasn't that he tried to be the perfect son it was just that he had wanted this time when he was little and once he got it he never wanted to let it go. He loved his parents and all they stood for and he didn't want to let them down, he didn't want to ruin his family by doing something stupid and preventable. Aside from that reason though this was what he dreamt about growing up, to have his father taken care of so they could enjoy moments like this when they got to have them. He didn't want his father to have to go back to how things were when he was little. No one should have to live that way. He also didn't want to live that way once he was out of school. Michael couldn't understand why he focused so hard and wasn't like the other guys they knew. Michael believed it was because of money, status, and partial upbringing but really it was just who he was. He didn't see how they lived back then so he didn't know why he was pushing himself so hard. He couldn't figure out why that bothered Michael so much. There had always been a class line between them. In France Michael had been middle class while he was in the lower, poor class. Now Michael was middle class and he was in the higher class. Was that it? Was Michael jealous that he had jumped classes without doing anything to get there while his family stayed the same? But that jumped happened years ago so why was he bothered by it now? He never cared then but now all if sudden he did, that didn't make sense as to why he was getting pissed off now.
"I know that look all too well, what are you thinking about?" Tamaki stared at René while they waited for lunch to arrive.
"It's stupid, I was thinking about the fact that I've known Michael my whole life yet I still don't know him it seems. Growing up how we lived didn't matter; now that's all he talks about. He knew from the start about my plans so if he hated them so much he never should have gone out with me."
"Maybe it's jealously now or maybe he thought you would give up trying to takeover for your dad if you two started going out. It could be a number of things really since you have known each other all your life. What started the argument today again?"
"I told him I may not be going back to France for school. Father he was yelling at me before I even told him why I was thinking about it. He already hated the fact that I was lying to grandfather about us. And he doesn't understand that I actually like this field and am no longer doing it just for dad."
"That's right. Do you really want to stay here? I mean while I miss you I want you to be happy."
"I don't know yet what I want to do. And that's what I tried to tell him. I love school and living back in France has been fun but I feel that it's not me. I'm not one to go out drinking and hitting clubs it's because of the guys but it's not really me. If I stayed in Japan then I wouldn't do those things. All the shit that keeps happening to me is because I go out and party, though I have only gotten wasted twice which was how I ended up with Amber so it doesn't help my case."
"You shouldn't be drinking at all. Isn't the law twenty-one?"
"Yes…the guys know the owners of the club we go to that's how Michael and I get in. But I stopped drinking when I go out so please don't get too mad at me."
"René I want you to know something, I'm not going to get mad at you for being a teenager and trying to figure out how to be one. You are going to make mistakes but they will be your own and only you can fix them. I can't, your dad can't, only you can. Staying in Japan won't stop you from making mistakes you'll just make different ones here."
For the rest of the day and for the ones that followed those words stayed with René.
It had been days since René got into that argument with Michael and Michael still wouldn't talk to him. He had decided to go back to school in France and he would be roommates with Michael again. He really missed talking to him since he was or had been his best friend but maybe this was for the best. Maybe they just weren't meant to be. This was probably why best friends never dated each other, so this wouldn't happen. Not letting Michael bring him down he put his phone on the backyard table and dove in the pool with his family. Tomorrow was his birthday and while he should be flying back to move in he didn't want to. The first would be pushing it but oh well waiting was worth it.
"Master René your phone went off." Coming up for air he noticed everyone was looking at him as was the housekeeper. Swimming over to her he saw his phone in her hands along with a towel to drive his off. Looking at the screen it read that he had a new text message from Michael. Tamaki swam next to him curious to know what it said. He knew René had been trying to contact him for days now.
"What does it say? Does he want to talk?"
"…go to hell." Handing the phone back to the housekeeper without texting him back he let go of the side of the pool to fall back under the water. Tamaki looked at Kyouya before watching René slowly come back up. He was really hoping things would work out between the two of them. Obviously Michael didn't want to try and fix things though and personally he thought Michael was staying mad for stupid reasons. René hadn't cheated on him he was just trying to figure things out. Though he tried not to talk about it he could see how much René was hurting, not being able to help sucked. Or maybe he could.
"Don't even think about it Tamaki."
"But you don't even know what it was."
"You can't get them back together and involving yourself will only make things worse."
René woke up to the sound of a new text message. It was probably one of the guys asking when he was moving in though he told them a thousand times before. They all already knew what room and building they were in and were excited to know that they were all on the same floor, just down the hall from each other. Sitting up he just stared at the screen, it was Michael. His heart hurt every time he thought about him, why was he contacting him? Yesterday he told him to go to hell, so much for a good birthday. At least he would be with his family for the day.
*My mom wanted me to wish you a happy birthday.*
*Tell her I said thank you.*
Maybe all wasn't lost, while Sara would wish him a happy birthday it wouldn't be through Michael through a text. Maybe they could make small talk and be able to stand each other since they would be roommates again. They couldn't change rooms until October at the earliest.
* Sorry for being a dick to you this past week .When you get back to school can we talk?*
Seeing it was from him again René smiled as he got dressed, he really hoped this was a good sign.
He didn't do anything for his birthday; he didn't want or have to. Just spending the day with his family was great and going out to eat was something they hadn't done since he came home for the summer. The cook loved making meals for them so unless he had time off they ate at home.
"René I got you something."
"Oh?"
"Yea dad helped me get it since he saw how perfect it was for you too."
Taking the gift wrapped box from Sophia he opened it at the restaurant. Where had she hidden it? It wasn't exactly small and easy to hide on you.
"Do you like it?"
"I do, Sophia you're the best."
"Yay!"
Looking in the box he saw a custom designed plaque with his school team on top.
"You can add pictures to the top and how many championship games you win can be added."
There were enough spots to add ten championships to it, too bad he only planned to play for the four years he was at school. It seemed that even Sophia wanted him to play once out of school. The picture in it now was the one taken the day after they won in front of their hotel.
"You can bring it to your school right, for your room?"
"I'll put it next to the family photo I have, and I guess I need a new picture for Isabelle."
Again he was waiting for his flight. Though now he hated it even more than before. Sara was being nice enough to pick him up from the airport since he wasn't on good terms with Michael yet. He was scared to see him again since the last time they actually spoke to each other was when Michael broke up with hi,. He wanted this to all work out. He wanted to be with him again, all this hoping was making him feel sick.
"Just remember to relax and be yourself René no more trying to be someone else."
"Alright father, I promise to stop acting like someone I'm not."
"Good luck over there, I'm sure it will all work out."
"I hope so."
Once René was heading to the plane Kyouya moved closer to Tamaki.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing I swear. I just want to see him happy, he deserves that. But Kyouya we may have to help him soon."
"With what?"
"Your father."
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Short but I my hand is having issues so I wanted to get it up with what I had at least. Please review and I hoped you liked it.
~Femalefighter~
