One for the Band - Chapter Seventeen
'Send Out The S.O.S.'
"Dad?! What are... Why are... What are you doing here?!"
"I just got back from closing a record deal with-- Wait, what do you mean what am I doing here? Why are you here? Sora, does your mother know you're--"
"Dad, I'm here for the band compe--"
"Band? You don't play and instru--"
"No, no, I'm with the color guar--"
"Isn't that a girl's--?"
"No it isn't!"
Both sets of ocean blue eyes bore into one another, the boy pouting, the man frowning. But Sora had never been one for fighting unless it involved games, swords, and sunshine. He was quick to avert his gaze, a trace of a pout descending upon his face as he focused on the ground.
"It doesn't matter anyway. I missed the train..." he mumbled. Already, something inside of Sora knew what his father's reaction would be. He's probably wondering where he went wrong. How he ended up with a loser of a son like me, huh?
And the words were certainly there, churning and burning within his father's head, searing their way down towards the tip of his tongue, but it was there that they stopped. Instead of speaking, Sora's father simply stood there, suitcase in one hand, his free hand hanging numbly by his side. He simply stood there and looked at his boy.
"You've... ah..." A light cough escaped then, his free hand fisting to cover his mouth before he continued. "You've grown a lot, Sora. I haven't seen you in... a while."
That was it? It was nothing... no lecture about how irresponsible Sora was, no nagging tone, no superior attitude. Just a simple, though admittedly awkward, fatherly statement? ...Too weird. Sora instantly grew wary, tucking his hands into the pockets of his shorts as he gave his father a skeptical look. Maybe he was sick or something?
Almost as though reading Sora's mind, his father let out a deep sigh, shoulders slumping slightly under the expensive dark blue suit. He had the look and air of one who knew money; how to handle it, how to spend it. But in that one moment, Sora saw him as the defeated and tired old man he'd grown into and something in the boy screamed at him to hug him, reassure him... Sora didn't know what, he didn't know why, but family ties ran deeper than he'd ever expected, it seemed.
"Dad... um..." Sora fumbled senselessly for words, though nothing he could think of in the few seconds he gave himself really sounded all that great. Oh well. "Hey. I... missed the train for the competition. But... I'm uh... I'm here now, ya know. Mom said you wanted me to visit or something, so..."
The magic words had been spoken, eloquent or not. It was almost as though Sora had walked into his father's life and lit the fuse, causing a smile to explode onto the man's face, stretching from ear to ear. The sight itself was almost enough to make Sora laugh, momentarily forgetting his long-time feud he'd built up between his dad and himself.
His dad has his smile. And just like Sora's, that smile was infectious and there was no one who could resist the light it was bound to bring.
x x x
(Earlier that morning...)
"Yes. Yes, I understand... Yes sir. ...Let me check on that, just a moment..." Raigh glanced at his dim reflection through the window, frowning at the slight wrinkle in the lapel of his coat. Wondering why he ever bothered paying the dry-cleaners in the first place, flipping through the stacks of folders on his desk, and reaching for his coffee cup all while holding the receiver of the phone to his ear with his shoulder, Raigh once again managed to show the world who the master of multitasking was.
He took a sip from the steaming mug of coffee looking over the documents laid out in front of him. Black coffee, no cream, no sugar. If you were going to drink that stuff, you had to drink it like a man.
"Yes sir, there is an extra slot we can make available for you, but you'll need to stop by the customer services department in the building and ask for... Yes, that's the first floor, second room on the right. ...Yes. ...Yes. The receptionist will be able to show the way. I'll let her know you're on your way. Tomorrow then? Yes. Alright. Great. Not a problem, sir." Bleep. The phone was set back in its cradle, the coffee was picked back up, steam furling up from its rim in pale rivulets of gray.
A rather slow day, all things considered.
Leaning back in his oversized desk chair, Raigh swung one leg up over the other, resting his ankle on his knee as he surveyed his office. Sleek modern furniture and decor was its focus, creating a sophisticated and clean look. Bookshelves lined with biographies, autobiographies, photos and frames, all of the best and the brightest singers the record label had to offer.
Another nobody would swing by that day, take a shot at getting a recording. His chances were slim, Raigh thought with a smirk, for his telephone voice was hardly laced with honey and sugar. But who knew. The newbie may very well be another one of Crown Records' rose among the thorns.
Legends were often discovered in the most unlikely of ways, it seemed.
As Raigh's gaze came back to his own polished mahogany desk (it had cost the company a pretty penny, that desk), his eyes were drawn to the small black-framed pictures that stood there. His family, brilliant and smiling. His beautiful wife and his two stepdaughters, all smiling, all perfect, all supportive. He was the lone testosterone-driven figure the household had to offer. ...Well, with the exception of Pluto. The dog. The stupid dog. The very stupid dog.
Fingers came up to cradle Raigh's chin as his thoughts steadily grew further and further from the office, back towards warm white sands and sprawling ocean waters. Back to kind smiles and big blue eyes, sable hair. Back to his boy, Sora, still probably wasting his life away on the go-nowhere Destiny Island. Back with Bryna, back with the spark and flare of love which had diminished to a faint glow of embers, finally dying out in a last spurt of fire and smoke.
He often wondered where Sora was in life, if he was still as carefree as he had always been. Try as he might have, Raigh had never been able to shake the laid-back nature Sora had been born with, making it obvious to him that his son would never make it in the business world without getting trampled over in the process. It was a let-down, that much was certain. Bryna had argued about it with him day in and day out, their arguments growing more and more heated, angry, and fierce with every year that trickled by in their son's life.
Is it so wrong to want what's best for him?
And always, always he wondered what was best for his only real child, his only son to ever walk the world with a joyful grin and a radiant personality. It was the curse that hung over every firstborn child's head, the uncertainty that parents had when dealing with them. Everything was new and hardly in balance. Everything could be ruined so very easily.
And always, always Raigh would wonder if Sora would ever really and truly grow up.
The day had dragged on after that, meeting after meeting, decision after decision. Raigh left the building early to catch a train to the division of Crown Records located in nearby Traverse Town. He knew he'd be there only for a few hours and the thought of skipping the deal altogether had definitely crossed his mind more than once that day. He wanted to go home, spend the evening with his family. He wanted to eat a home-cooked meal and hear about their days, tell them about his own.
Raigh wanted and needed that string of normalcy in his life. But as always, work came first. He had to appear to show company interest and participation.
x x x
"So... where are we going?" Sora asked, turning away from the window of his dad's car. They'd caught the train headed back towards Destati and Raigh was driving them... somewhere then. Inwardly, Sora was marveling at the beautiful car he found himself riding in, skin savoring the feel of smooth and warm leather against it.
Taking up his old habit, Sora also took in the way his father drove. The same focused gaze, the same firm grip on the steering wheel. Not hard enough to make his palms sweaty, but not loose enough to ever look relaxed. Nothing was any different from years and years ago, it seemed.
"I'd like you to meet Marline and the girls..." Raigh said, though his voice was cautious. He quickly added, "If that's alright with you. My meeting was done sooner than I'd though it would be and they weren't expected me for dinner. But they'd be in for a surprise, huh?" He smiled as he said it, another pearly white grin, though his focus was still on the road ahead.
Sora smiled softly, though his stomach flopped at the thought of meeting some step-people he'd never even spoken to before. None of this was planned, absolutely none of it. At that moment, all Sora wanted was to be back with Riku, headed towards the competition. But there was nothing he could do...
Sora couldn't stand that feeling. That... helplessness.
"Sure. I'd... like to meet them." Sora's voice came out strained, his smile fake. Raigh didn't pick up on it, his own grin only widening as he drove onward, turning off of the highway onto the exit.
They both fell silent after that, Sora unable to think of anything to say. He was too afraid to ask to be taken to the competition. He couldn't even remember the name of the city, much less where in the city it was held. If he mentioned it to his dad, he'd only be scolded for being stupid and forgetful. Hardly responsible at all. He'd ask me when I was going to grow up and learn to take care of myself... I can take care of myself just fine...
x x x
Rikku let out a dramatic groan, turning her head towards the sky and shaking it furiously as she whined, "I can't believe him! He missed the train?!"
Paine, Leon, and Cloud were seated only several feet away as the blond girl received the news. Riku was pacing frantically nearby, a tiger in a trapped cage, able to do nothing but worry about his boyfriend. They'd reached Destati University only an hour ago and after checking every car on the train, they'd realized that Sora had indeed been left behind.
"It doesn't make sense. Even Sora isn't that irresponsible," Paine mused, her crimson eyes narrowed as she tried to sort through all this. Pieces just weren't fitting together, that much was obvious. There was something they were missing.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Riku didn't stop pacing, his hands fidgeting at his sides, occasionally tucking them into his pockets or pulling them through his hair only to swing them back down to his sides once more. "Sora doesn't have any money, he doesn't have any way to contact anyone here... Wait! The chaperones! They have cell phones!"
The brilliant look of hope Riku had at the idea was suddenly dashed to pieces as Leon drawled, "It's not like Sora has the number..."
"Wait, okay, just hold it a sec." Cloud stood up from the bench they'd been seated on, crossing his arms as he thought things through out loud. They had to be able to think of something. At the very least, they had to be able to figure out if Sora was okay. What had happened back there?
"We've got three hours 'til competition time, but only one hour 'til we have to put on our uniforms and start warming up and preparing..." He sighed, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "There's no way we can make it all the way to Traverse Town and back in time. Even if we had a car and even if there wasn't any traffic, there's just no way. Who was the last person to see him?"
"We were, as far as I know. We went and got food while Sora bought some souvenir for his mom and went to the bathroom," Riku stated. The entire ordeal was painfully frustrating, especially for Riku who had long since looked at himself as Sora's sort of... protector. The only who would always be there to watch out for the younger boy's welfare. Well, he'd managed to royally screw up this time.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that..." Paine was now looking past their group, further into the crowd of the band. A familiar throng of boys stood in a circle, laughing heartily and joking amongst themselves.
"Does Cid kn-- Paine? Hey, Paine! Where are you going...?" Rikku jogged to catch up to the older girl who had swiftly risen from her seat, making her way through the band with such a focused walk that no one dared stand in her way. The blond glanced nervously around, sensing the distant anger that pulsed from Paine like a sick heat. "Hold on, Paine, just wait a minute..."
"Kosha!"
"Hn?" Kosha looked turned away from his friends momentarily, a lazy smirk stretched across his face as he saw Paine and Rikku, their friends trailing close behind them, wondering what was going on. "Oh, the local lesbos. What's shakin'?" The boys around him let out great whoops of laughter, clapping Kosha on the back and doubling over from their own mirth and laughter.
Rikku's previously confused expression turned to one of anger in a flash, her hands balling into fists as she unconsciously stepped forward, one hand already drawn back ready to spring forward at any second. Though Rikku surely wanted no more than to punch the boy's lights out, Paine nonchalantly stepped between her and Kosha, arms crossed and a scalding edge to her gaze.
"Paine!" Rikku adamantly shoved at her girlfriend, clawing to get at Kosha and rip the jackass's eyes out with her teeth. Paine simply glanced over her shoulder and shook her head, causing her girlfriend to pout and bitterly cross her arms.
"Come on, Paine, let your little kitten out of her bag," Kosha sneered, causing only more hilarity to burst out around him. "We all want to play with her too."
Crrrack!
The next second, Kosha was howling as he found himself sprawled across the concrete, cradling his jaw in his hands as Paine flexed her fingers, glaring icily down at him.
"Oh yeah, so you get to punch him, but not me," Rikku muttered.
"Listen up, punk. If you want to go looking for trouble, keep right on going. Get your ass kicked in front of the entire school for all I care. But before I make you piss blood, how about you telling me where Sora is, hm?"
"He... he..."
"Come on, Kosha, we don't have all day." Paine's voice was laced with poison sugar as took a step towards the fallen student who promptly proceeded to scramble backwards as rapidly as he could, one hand still clutching at his jaw.
"It was just a joke! We... we... A buncha the guys and me, see? We just wanted to get back at the little squirt is all! We didn't hurt him or nothin'! J-Just locked him in the bathroom, that was it! We didn't hurt him! We just wanted to get even!"
"Get even? What'd he ever do to you?"
Silence followed, thick and impenetrable, drawing some of the nearby band members into the feud, completely oblivious as to what was going on. Finally, Paine simply let out a dry and humorless laugh, shaking her head at Kosha.
"You're nothing but a coward, are you? Nothing but a coward." Turning back towards the two drum majors and her girlfriend, Paine said, "Alright, let's go. We have to find Cid in all this mess and let him know what's happened. Maybe there's something he can do..."
x x x
Raigh couldn't help but beam with excitement as he pulled onto his street. This could be it! Who knew? Maybe if Sora had a good enough time, if he like his new family enough... Perhaps Sora could choose to stay with him. Raigh could fix him, he could teach him how to be a real man. None of this girly flag-spinning business. None of that. Sora would grow a backbone, he would be strong.
"Sora, do--"
"Dad... I... um..." Sora was looking out the window once more, thoughts racing through his head, making him feel dizzy and slightly ill. What was he doing there? He had to get to the competition! It won't look right if there's holes, the judges might count them down... I told them I'd be there, I need to be there... But as he looked over at Raigh, who was still listening and waiting for Sora to continue his thought... Sora was torn. His dad looked so happy to see him.
Forgiveness was embedded into Sora's nature, and though he wasn't quite sure when it had happened, he realized that he had forgiven his father for everything that had happened. Really, it was no one's fault that his parents marriage had played out the way it did. Sometimes things just happened for no reason at all and all you could do was roll with it, take it in stride and try to understand it and learn from it as best as you could.
"Oh, do you have a girlfriend, Sora? I'd like to meet her, sometime, you know. And you used to have that friend... I remember them! Your friends, Kairi and Riku! How are they doing?" Excitement, eagerness. Raigh really did want to know about him. Sora just... couldn't understand.
Did he really want to know? Sora didn't have the answers his father wanted to hear. Would he want to know the truth?
"That's... Dad... um..." Sora felt his breath hitched in his throat, refusing to give him more oxygen. It hurt. It hurt so much knowing that he was on this one way road to disappointing his dad. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right. Not after having silently fought with him for so many years, pointlessly and stupidly.
Raigh was a good man, but Sora didn't want to let him down.
"I'll bet Kairi's a really nice girl now, huh? And Riku? He's a year older than you, isn't he? He was always real smart, wasn't he? Good athlete, too. You guys are still friends, right?" There was something odd here... Raigh was beginning to pick it up and his words were growing frantic, his questions tinged with worry. Why wasn't Sora answering? He still had friends, right? He'd always had friends, right? So what was wrong??
"Um... Dad, can you pull over?"
"What?"
"Please? I just..."
"We're almost there, Sora, what's wrong? It'll just be a--"
"Please pull over, Dad."
Raigh did, his fear growing by the second as he pulled to the side of the road, stopping in front of a large white house, trimmed lawn, neat flowerbed, the whole nine yards. Sora could be so happy here with him and his new family, he could amount to so much here... But something was wrong... Come on, just a few more blocks, please, Sora...
"Dad, I... don't have a girlfriend."
...That was it? "Well... ah... There's nothing wrong with that, son. You've still got years left ahead of you and..."
"Mgy."
"...Excuse me?"
"'Mgay."
"What? Sora, you have to speak louder, I can't understand a word--"
"DAD, I AM GAY, OKAY?! GAY! ME! HERE!"
Raigh's mouth dropped open, a sound while seemed to be something between a choke and a gasp coming out in a mangled, tangled constriction of vocal cords and internal confusion. Other than that, the car was utterly silent. Across the street, a squirrel regarded them curiously, the dog stopped barking, and the birds ceased to sing for a just a split second, wondering what the strange ripple of disturbance had been that had just rushed past.
"I... I... I'm sorry," Sora murmured before he knew he was speaking again, words pouring from his mouth like water, the rest of his body frozen like a statue amidst the fountain of words and silent noise. "I didn't want to make you upset or anything dad, but you asked and I... I... I'm gay, gay, gay and Riku's my boyfriend and he's gay too and I know you're probably really upset and I'm really, really sorry, Dad, I didn't want to ruin your day or your life or anything like that it just... it just... it... happened."
"It just... happened," Raigh repeated, his normally smooth voice coming out strained and coarse.
"...Yeah."
"When... How long ago... How did...?" Words couldn't seem to make their way out in complete sentences, only coming out in fragments of thoughts and speech, only making Sora worry more and more, wondering if he'd pushed his perfectly sane father all the way to insanity.
"It's... sort of a long story, I guess. I mean... I dunno. I just got a crush on him. It just happened, I told you. I don't know why, but it did. And then he made this bet with me about joining the color guard... He um..." Sora broke off and decided to leave that thought unfinished. Mentioning Riku's promise of 'making it worth his while' probably wouldn't do much to help his case as far as his father was concerned. "Well, basically, it just turned out that way... You know, he liked me back and, uh, now I guess we're... you know... boy...boy... boyfriends."
"...Oh."
"...Um... Dad...?"
"...Yes?"
"...You're, uh... You're sorta... strangling the, uh... steering... wheel," Sora pointed out lamely.
"...Oh." Raigh released the poor steering wheel from his death grip, his hands moving to his lap where he nervously clenched and unclenched his fists.
"...It's okay if you don't want me to meet your family or... anything. I understand, ya know," Sora said, looking at the floor of the car and wishing and praying that the chair would swallow him alive... anything that would just get him away from his dad right then. He couldn't bear to tear him apart again. Not now. Not here in some stupid expensive car...
"No."
"Yeah, I figured..."
"No, I mean..." Raigh took in a deep breath, his lungs eagerly gulping in every bit of oxygen they were able of holding before releasing it all in an enormous sigh. He tried again, forcing himself not to falter. Not now. Not here in his stupid expensive car. "I still want them to meet you, Sora. You're still my son."
"...Huh?"
Clearing his throat, Raigh tried yet again. It appeared Sora still remained the same carefree island boy he'd always been... Did Raigh mind? Did he still want to change his son? There was so much he didn't know...
"I... I..."
One look at Sora nearly drove his father crazy. It was ripping him to shreds, everything he'd hoped for the boy, every dream he'd thought of... everything he'd been praying for from the moment he'd found Sora at that ruddy old train station. It all looked like it was just fading away, just like the passing dream that it had really been.
"I'm not ashamed of you, Sora," he finished. I've said it... Please let me mean it. "I... It... It's just... who you are. Part of you. But before that, you're my son and... I've always... missed having my son be a part of my life. Regardless of whether you choose to love girls or boys or... I don't know... Regardless of all that, I still want you to meet them. I... I've missed you."
"What about color guard?"
"What?" Raigh couldn't help but be slightly annoyed. He'd just made this huge decision and given up all his great plans for turning his son into a real man, and here Sora was asking about some stupid girly--
"You still think it's girly, don't you."
...Caught in the act.
"Well, Sora..."
Fate chose this moment to make herself apparent, taking pity on Sora and his very confused father. From outside the car, a piece of paper drifted sluggishly across the street, out of place in the clean and trim environment of the upper-class neighborhood surrounding them. It swished and swooped with each small breeze of wind, the air gently picking it up in its arms, cradling it almost tenderly as it drifted towards the car, the only movement that Sora or his father could see.
Soundlessly, the paper came to rest on the windshield, both of the car's occupants instantly looking at it. A flyer.
Regional Band Competition
--May 15th, Destati University--
--Free admission for local residents, food and beverages available--
"Dad..." Sora started, unable to finish as his eyes widened, gawking at the flyer on the other side of the glass. It was impossible, it was just simply too good to be true...
"I had no idea..."
Whether Raigh had been talking about the band competition or the plain and simple truth that his son was quite gay, Sora didn't know. But as the wind pulled the paper away from the car once again and Raigh started the vehicle, pulling out into the road and turning on a dime, headed right back the way they came from... one thing became very, very clear to Sora.
No matter what, his father still cared about him.
No more words were exchanged between the two, Sora's eyes glued to the window, desperately looking for the turn off that would take them to the university, Raigh's focus entirely on the road and the speedometer in front of him. They were men on a mission, father and son finally bonding together though in the strangest of ways.
The past was forgiven, buried for the moment as they pressed onward, surging down the highway, weaving in and out of mobs of other cars. There would be time for family, there would be time for catching up, explanations, and talk. There would be time for all of that. But not now.
Now Sora had a competition to get to.
Raigh and Sora both spotted the exit sign at the same instant, the car pulling off to the far right lane and turning onto that exit, drawing closer still to the band and the university, the distant hum of tuning instruments already reaching their ears, soaring through the air and bleeding through the glass, tantalizing their ears and teasing them, egging them on.
Hurry up, the music said. You'll be late.
But as Raigh jerked the car to a halt and Sora leapt out of the car, time slowed just for a moment, just for them. Sora looked back at his dad and smiled.
"Thanks."
Raigh nodded firmly, businesslike. So very much like him, but so very different from Sora. But that was the way it was. Like a lot of things, it had just happened.
With that, Sora closed the car door and turned on his heel as he heard his father pull the car away. Part of him was hurt that he was leaving, but part of him doubted he really was. But all of it was overruled as he heard his heart beating loudly, felt it pounding against his chest as his sneakers hit the ground, carrying him towards the university and towards the competition.
(x) (x) (x)
Three chapters left... I can do this. I'm just gonna need lots more caffeine. If you paid very close attention to seemingly unimportant details throughout this chapter, you might be able to figure out the importance of Raigh's character in the future. ...Pronounce his name however you want, by the way. He appeared too late in the story for it to matter much. Personally, I just say it as 'ray,' but really, whatever floats your boat.
...Don't you just love his character? I love his character. He just feels sort of real-ish, you know? He's far from perfect, but he's learning and that's what's important.
XD And don't you just wanna cheer for Paine?
--Ori