“Gaku, come sit down,” the older man said, has he gestured to an adjacent chair at the small table. “I haven’t seen you in what seems forever. Come sit, come sit. I’ll pour you some tea.”

“Thank you,” the other said, taking the offered seat. Taking a sip from the cup the man slid to him, he closed his eyes and sighed.

“You look tired.”

Gackt nodded a bit. “Yeah…that’s why he brought me – get me away from work for a weekend.”

“Still working too hard,” the old man chuckled. “You always were running around, speed of light. Always busy. Never took a moment to just be still.”

“Force of habit.”

“Habits can be changed.”

“I’m not so sure about this one.”

He cocked his head to the side and Gackt was struck by how much he resembled his son. Or rather, he corrected himself, how much his son resembled him. “Why’s that?”

Gackt set down the cup of tea on the table and ran a hand through his hair. “Because I have to be busy. If I’m not…I feel like I’m missing something. Like I’m not living up to expectations.”

“Whose expectations?”

“Mine. Theirs. His.” He laughed darkly. “The expectations of my father. I feel like I have to prove him wrong, even now. I feel like if I don’t do everything I possibly can, he’ll be right.”

“About what?”

“He’ll be right that I’m worthless.”

“You’re not.”

Gackt thought for a moment. “I know. I know that, and I know it’s all irrational, but it’s still there. Trying desperately to gain the approval of a father who hates me.” He shook his head. “I wish it didn’t affect me so much. There are times that it doesn’t, that I’m doing things for myself or my friends because I want to, but there’s still that prickling in the back of my head…But then we come here,” he smiled up at the older man. “And I’m happy. But I’m jealous too.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“I know. But I am. I’m jealous of you and You. I missed out on that. The very fact that you considered me a son before all of this…” he smiled. “It means so much to me, to have some place to call home.”

“You’s loved you for as long as I can remember.”

Gackt looked up at that. “What?”

The older man nodded and shifted in his seat, getting more comfortable. “The day he brought you here I knew you two would be together, somehow. I didn’t know how deep his feelings ran, of course, not till he told me.”

“What did he say? When he told you?” Interest perked and tea forgotten, Gackt leaned on the table to get closer.

The older man laughed and shook his head. “I’m surprised he hasn’t told you himself by now.”

Gackt shook his head and balanced his chin against his palm.

“Well, one night he came up to me and asked what I would do if he turned out to be gay.”

Gackt bit his lip.

“I told him that I would love him. He was my son, how could I not?”

Gackt smiled.

“I told him that I would most likely care very much for whoever he found himself with too,” the older man added, taking a sip of his tea. “So long as he treated him right and honestly cared for him. But then I warned him about you.”

“‘Warned’ him about me?” That took Gackt by surprise. “Why?”

“I told him that you were a wild child,” he smiled. “That you could never ever be tamed by anyone.” He jabbed his pointer finger at the younger man. “Unless, of course, you wanted to be.” He leaned back in his chair. “So now the question is…are you ready to be tamed?”

The younger man worried his lip between his teeth for a moment, lowering his eyes to the table. When he brought his gaze back up, he smiled. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“Well that’s it then. That was my be-good-to-my-son talk. When’s the marriage going to be?”

Gackt laughed with the other man. It felt good – to be so open with another person, someone who he had regarded as the ideal father since his childhood. “Well, I don’t really think its legal here in Japan…”

“When’s that ever stopped you?” The older man laughed. “Go to the Netherlands. Or Belgium. Or hell, it doesn’t even have to be legally binding – God knows you’ve had him listed as ‘next of kin’ for years now. I just want a ceremony of some sort. With a cake. A big fancy one that you’ll foot that tab for. Oh, and then of course a very big vacation for the two of you.”

How could you argue with logic like that, Gackt wondered as he and the other man laughed together.

Time passed while the two plotted and schemed up an idea to get everyone important out to Europe and what songs to have the DJ play – or have friends sing, Gackt added – when the back door opened when You entered the room and started to unwind the scarf from around his neck.

“Oh hey, welcome back,” Gackt said as he smiled brightly at his lover. “Your father and I have been planning our marriage ceremony. You have any special requests for the guest list?”

You stopped in his tracks and looked warily between both his father and Gackt then back again. “Um…what?”

“Brilliant response, You,” his father chuckled and he pointed to Gackt. “He’s ready to settle down and start popping out kids.”

“Five of them, so we gotta get started pretty fast,” Gackt could hardly get the sentence out before dissolving into laughter.

Once again, You’s eyes jumped from Gackt to his father to Gackt… “Look, um…I’m all cool with that, but if you’re going to be having our babies, we’ve got some serious talking to do.”