Disclaimer: none of this is mine. None of this will EVER be mine. Unfortunately…
A/N: and due to extreme boredom and a horrible case of insomnia, I have been able to complete yet another chapter in a short amount of time, earlier than I had previously expected so... be sure to thank the gods of insomnia and the gods of caffeine.
I was in the apartment cleaning up the house to surprise my mother when she came home. It was a mess from books to empty take-out cartons scattered throughout the place. It's amazing how much junk a family can leave spread around in just a short time. Damn, my mother was going to have a coronary when she walked through that door to find a spotless home. I was just wiping down the counters in the kitchen when the phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked, wiping sweat off my brow.
"Hey sexy," Yama's voice purred, "how would you like to be my date this evening? I've got a couple extra tickets in places my fans would kill for."
"I would love that. Am I gonna be the only one?"
"No," he sighed, "I was hoping it would be okay if you invited up Takeru for me. Last time I saw him, he told me that I had better get him to one of my concerts or else. That's okay, right?"
"Yeah, fine. He's family, after all, right?" We parted and I called up his brother who was more than happy to drop his plans to go see his big brother perform. When we arrived at the stadium, it was already jam-packed and screaming fans were desperately shoving each other aside in hopes to get in first.
"What a mess." Takeru groaned and I silently agreed.
"How the hell are we supposed to find backstage? We don't have any passes or shit and I know for a fact those guards won't allow anyone through without a pass or special permission." How many times had I been to one of his concerts and tried to get backstage only to realize that my pass had been left at home or lost somewhere in the mob of people. I always hated the suspicious looks those guys gave me when I explained and it was only when Yamato greeted me and pulled me inside that I was actually allowed through the doors. "Watch it!" I snapped as a girl shoved past me, almost knocking me over in her haste to get through the doors. She threw me a disgusted look and tossed her long black hair.
"YOU watch it, bastard." She rolled her eyes and strutted away. I stuck my tongue out at her, a rather immature thing to do, but it made me feel better.
"Oi, you there!" A burly bodyguard came charging at us through the crowd. "You Taichi?" I nodded. How had he known? "Takeru? Fine, follow me."
"Um, sir?" I began tentatively; he didn't look like a person you would want to get angry. "How did you know who we were?"
"I had a description. Someone tall and quite gangly with a load of bushy brown hair and—what was it?—oh yes, really sexy eyes." I blushed and the man winked at me. "He's pretty fond of you. The way he goes on and on about you..." He pushed through the mob of girls (though there were quite a few boys also) and led us to a room at the back of the stadium. There a small group of girls, skimpily dressed, were begging the security guard to let them through.
"Please, sir? I'd so like to see my boyfriend." I recognized that voice. It was Sora and she appeared to be the leader of the group. "He'd want to see me too and I'm sure he will be most displeased that you, fine security personnel that you are, didn't let the most precious person in his life to get backstage." She batted her eyelids at the bouncer and sashayed over to him, making sure to swing her hips and show off the fact that she was wearing a thong under a miniskirt that twirled as she moved. The man gulped; his resolution was weakening.
"Hold on there, Mark. Remember you can't let anyone in unless they have passes." Our bodyguard stepped in front of the girls. Takeru and I hesitated but he beckoned us forward. "Come on then."
"But THEY don't have passes." Sora whined and the bodyguard gave her the evil eye.
"Yes, but I have express orders from Mr. Yamato Ishida that they be present backstage before the concert. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will carry out those orders." He answered icily. I flashed a taunting look at Sora and she glared daggers at me. Huffing angrily, she turned and stalked away, leading the rest of her posse to the packed doors where she had almost no hope of getting through now.
"There you are!" and I was attacked by something golden and soft, smelling of something indescribably good.
"Hey to you too, Yamato." I pushed away, laughing. "You're choking me!" He let go, an apologetic look on his face before he noticed Takeru.
"Hey!" he said and gave his brother a hug too. "Follow me. The seats are right there." He led us down some stairs and we gasped. We were right in front of the stage with perfect views of the band. I gripped the camera I had brought. Yama was never as sexy as when he was playing his electric guitar, eyes twinkling with joy as he sang his heart out. We were seated and after a few minutes of waiting, the band themselves came out, beaming at the thousands of screaming fans. They stood in their positions and eventually, the crowd quieted. "Hello and welcome to our concert! I am so glad that all of you could make it and I suppose you don't want us to keep you waiting, right?"
"NO!" roared the crowd but Yama arranged his face into an expression of confusion.
"You want us to keep you waiting?" He asked, making his voice sound as perplexed as he could, but never the best actor, his question was broken up by little chuckles.
"NO!" they roared, louder than before and with a small nod to his band members, Yama broke into song.
Hope, dangles on a string
Like slow spinning redemption
Winding in and winding out
The shine of it has caught my eye
Roped me in so mesmerizing
And so hypnotizing
I am captivated
I am...
Vindicated
I am selfish, I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
Swear I knew it all along
And I am flawed
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now
The things you swore you saw yourself
His eyes never left mine, his soft smile was all for me and in between bringing up my camera to my face, I beamed joyously at him. He was mine and while the world didn't know, I knew and that was all that mattered. His voice was crystal clear and soft and beautiful and I found myself loving him so hard that it hurt. It felt that my heart was about to burst in my chest from the love and joy that I was feeling at that exact moment. It didn't matter that he'd come from a dark past haunted with shame and anger and betrayal, didn't matter that there would always be emotional wounds, all that mattered, all that I cared about was that the man standing on that stage was mine and mine forever.
So clear
Like the diamond in your ring
Cut to mirror your intention
Oversized and overwhelmed
The shine of which has caught my eye
And rendered me so isolated
So motivated, I am certain now
That I am..
Vindicated
I am selfish, I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
Swear I knew it all along
And I am flawed
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now
The things you swore you saw yourself
So turn up the corners of your lips
Part them and feel my finger tips
Trace the moment, fall forever
Defense is paper thin
Just one touch and I'd be in too deep
To ever swim against the current
So let me slip away, so let me slip away
So let me slip away, so let me slip against the current
So let me slip away, so let me slip away
So let me slip away, so let me slip away
Vindicated
I am selfish, I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
Swear I knew it all along
And I am flawed
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now
The things you swore you saw yourself
Like hope, dangles on a string
Like slow spinning redemption
As his beautiful voice faded away with the last note, he grinned ear to ear and bent down. Before I knew it, he'd grasped me by the arm and had pulled me up on stage and I was looking out at the arena from his point of view and it was magnificent and electrifying and terrifying all at once. I would never know how he never had stage fright in front of all those people.
"I, Yamato Ishida, proudly present to you, my fine, fine audience," at this the crowd screamed and stamped, "Taichi Yagami, my boyfriend and the love of my life!" Before I could say anything, he grabbed me round the waist, brought me closer and pressed his lips against mine and the throngs of people melted away, the band members, gaping at us, disappeared and it was just us. Just me and Yama. When we pulled away, reality came crashing back down on us and I blinked into the faces of many, many shocked fans, stunned to near silence. Embarrassed, I jumped off the stage and pretty soon, the shock wore off and the mob got wilder and it was as if he had never said anything. Yama began to play again and I watched him, knowing him like no one else had ever known him. It meant the world to me that he had risked his career and doing what he really loved to do just to tell the truth about him and me. They acted as if it was nothing but it was something. It was what it was. Yamato Ishida, lead singer of a world-famous band, and Taichi Yagami, aspiring soccer star, was a couple and there was nothing anyone could ever do about it.
A/N: The song above is "Vindicated" by Dashboard Confessional. I love that song and the first time I ever heard it, I just thought that the singer's voice sounded like how I had pictured Yama's voice in my head. I couldn't resist adding it here somewhere. So now I've added it and I'm happy with myself. smiles proudly ahem, yes, I happen to be pretty hyper at the moment, don't ask me why. It's much too late to be hyper but I'm babbling. And now, I leave you to click the oh-so pretty review button and… yup, you guessed it, review!