literature

The Shooting of Memories

Deviation Actions

Published: May 10, 2017

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Literature Text

Mamo sighed. He had told Roen he was working in the tattoo shop today. He even hand on his dark wash blue jeans and a white tank top to prove it. Along with a brown leather jacket. But usually, he rode the bike to work, instead today, in his hand, he was holding the keys to Princess, his black classic jaguar. Nori, his nephew and manager, would kill him if he came to a photo shoot on his bike. Just then however, he got a text.

This is going to sound weird, but bring the bike.
Sei will drive Princess over, so leave the keys
out for him.

                                                                                Run that by me again?

Don't make me repeat myself. You know how
much I hate repeating myself.

                                                                                All right, but don't complain if my hair's a mess

I won't. See you soon.

                                                                                Wait. Where am I meeting you?

Wanderlust Studios.

Mamo hung the keys back up on a thumbtack on the bulletin board, under the the piece of paper that said, 'Princess.' He then grabbed the keys for his bike, named 'Amaranth.' He then exited the garage and hopped on the red and black beauty. He looked at his phone. 5:30 pm. It was still early, and Roen would probably kill him for leaving so early again, but he had no choice. But leaving this early, meant taking the underground roads. He hoped traffic wasn't bad, after all Nori AND Anthony would kill him if he was late again. He backed the bike out of its parking space and then drove around and down, till he was below the ground level, and sped out on the underground roadway.
It was on the other side of town, so it would take him about forty five minutes to get there by bike. Since it was an underground roadway, there wasn't any wind to speak of, but the breeze created by the speed with which he rode was amazing, and it made his ponytail fly out behind him. Mmm, it felt good to be on his bike again. Yesterday, Grandmother had made him take Lucy, Sato's car because, 'It was more roomy. And he doesn't always have the top down like you do.' He had told his grandmother that he could easily put the top up, but the woman was stubborn and insisted the T-bird was roomier.
Who the hell did Grandmother think Sato got his habits from? Who did she think taught Sato how to ride a motorcycle? Who bought Sato his first biker jacket? Who convinced Sami, Chi, and Jace to buy Lucy for Sato? He grumbled. Wait... what the bloody hell was he getting worked up about? He took a deep breath. He had to be calm before he arrived for the shoot. He finally arrive a few minutes later, parking in the underground lot, and then took the elevator up to the lobby.
As he expected, Nori, looking amazing as always, stood waiting for him by the elevator. High black boots with... was that a peep toe? Mamo made a mental note to ask Nori wear he got those. Roen would love them. Denim skinny jeans tucked into the boots, and a really interesting white tank that buttoned in front, with Nori's trademark scarf draped around his neck. Today's choice, purple. Mamo's eyes next went to Nori's accessories, purple bangles, bangles were always a nice accessory to almost any outfit, but what drew his attention was the clip Nori used to hold his bangs back. It was silver, with a purple and silver butterfly, was the perfect way to top off Nori's perfect outfit. Damn, Mamoru wished he could pull that outfit off. Was just a little too cutesie of an outfit for him though. He preferred sassy over cutesie.
'Mamoru, stop staring at me, and focus. Where's your bike?'
'Underground parking lot of course. Why?'
'Did you really not think there was a reason I asked you to ride your bike today? Ugh, your helmet hair is horrible. Thank goodness for stylists.' Nori shook his head and rubbed his temples. 'Specifics on where you are parked and hand Anthony your keys. He'll bring it up for you.'
Mamo looked at the wind elemental standing next to Nori, and rolled his eyes. Anthony, the guy who handled all the logistical aspects, and who also blew everything out of proportion. He also had a tendency to yell loudly on mics and phones, deafening them. Mamo reluctantly handed over his keys and said, 'Fourth floor right next to the elevator. And I better not find a single scratch or dent on her.'
'Are you an idiot, Uncle?' Nori grumbled as he pressed the elevator button again. 'That's Anthony, the one who freaks out if the speaker is one inch to the left.'
'Doesn't matter, I don't like anyone touching my baby. Hell its hard for me to even let Roen ride it with me.' Mamo folded his arms and entered the elevator as the doors opened.
'Whatever.' Nori pressed the button for the second floor, and then tapped his foot impatiently. It was only one floor but it seemed like an eternity. It'd take a decent amount of time to cure his uncle's helmet hair, get him dressed, and then do his makeup. Why did they decide to do a shoot with his bike? Nori was going to kill Sei for suggesting it. But he was right, it would make a good spread for the feature the Blood Rock Magazine wanted to do on each of the band members. Mamoru loved that bike. He sighed. He just hoped that it would be dark by the time his uncle was done with hair and makeup.
Finally the elevator doors opened, and Nori took his uncle's wrist, all but dragging him to the dressing room. He grabbed Mamo's first outfit from the rack, well at least the red tank top with a black heart and black dark wash ripped skinny jeans. 'Hurry up and put these on, Mamoru. We've kept your stylists waiting long enough.'
Mamo rolled his eyes and quickly pulled on the clothes he was handed. 'What's the plan for today, and I'm really going to wear EVERYTHING on that rack?'
Nori waved for the stylists to come over and work on Mamo. He took the chair across from Mamo and then nodded. 'Yes. Since you guys have a new album coming out, all the major magazines are requesting various things from you guys. Blood Rock Magazine in about a month will be putting out a special issue devoted entirely to the band. There will the article talking about the upcoming album, various interviews with the members, but the big thing that will be the money maker for the magazine is they are trying to get exclusive features and photos with each band member. So we'll be taking photos with Princess and Amaranth today.'
'And what about Roen? Shouldn't he be in some of the pictures?'
'Of course, but those are tomorrow's pictures.'
'WHAT?! I'm doing more photo shoots tomorrow?'
'Yes. After the underground concert BRT is doing.'
'And a concert? Why wasn't I informed about this?! Don't you guys have better planning? Tomorrow is the day I was going to propose to Roen.'
'Yes. I know. And I've got that all figured out.'
'YOU'VE got it figured out? Nori, I know you're my manager, but you're not supposed to manage my proposal to MY boyfriend.'
'Actually, it was really Seiichi who came up with it.'
'You've got to be fucking kidding me!'
'Hold still Mamoru! You're making it difficult for the stylists! Besides, you basically broke down in the store yesterday! Sei decided to take things in hand so that you wouldn't freak out again!'
'Its MY proposal. MY boyfriend!' He was seething, and he was quite certain any second now, the steam would be coming out of his ears. What did it matter if he couldn't fuckin' choose a dress yesterday? Everything still would be fine if they went with his original plan.
'If you keep throwing a tantrum, and don't shut up and listen, I swear to the Gods that you'll be hogtied to that chair and fed bread and water, and that's it.'
'NO! That's torture! You'll make me need to feed sooner!'
'Then shut up and listen if you want you food to come with blood in it.'
'FINE!' He grumbled something completely unintelligible and then folded his arms. 'So what's my proposal plan. And please tell me the pizza parlor is still happening.'
'Yes. It is. But it's not where you're proposing.'
'WHAT?!'
'Shut up and listen, I said. What part of that did you not understand? Actually don't answer that.' Nori gave a dismissive wave of his hand. 'Anyway, as you know, we have a tendency to do surprise shows now and then when we can get the four of you together all at once. Well, Sami has tomorrow off from the Ministry already. And then, he decided he would hold off another day from business matters due to your proposal.'
Mamo stopped actively listening at that point. Nori had this uncanny ability to droll on and on and change topics about six or seven times before he actually made some sort of logical sense. Sometimes Mamo wondered how it was that Nori even passed for a man at all. He thought, talked, dressed, and acted like a female. Hell the guy's triplet sister was more masculine than he was. Although, he supposed it didn't really matter either way.
'Mamoru, are you listening?'
'Yes. Concert. Underground shopping mall. Go on.' Mamo had of course picked up on the important points, just waiting for Nori to be done.
'So you'll propose before the concert.'
'Got it.' Mamoru sighed. Not what he planned at all, but it could still work. He'd have to wring Seiichi's neck though, and then probably later thank him. The guy had gone to great lengths to make the proposal as grand as Mamo had planned, yet not get Mamo all nerve-wracked again.

* * *

About an hour later, Mamo leaned against his car, the hood down, and he had his head turned, as if he was looking off into the distance and daydreaming. The white leather jacket that Seiichi bought him hung open, giving him a rather bad boy appearance. Though the silver bracelet with hearts he wore, the pendant that hung from his neck, and a new addition to his collection of rings, a silver ring that was shaped with a number of roses and diamond amidst them, added a dash of feminity. This was the look the photographers wanted to capture, the feeling that truly seemed to be Mamoru.
The interesting part to this pose was merely the fact that Mamo really was daydreaming. Ever since his manager told him how to propose, he'd been in a dreamlike state. All he could think about was Roen. Roen had already told him that no matter what, even though he was afraid, he'd say yes. But still, it seemed all surreal that it really was going to happen. Would it be good enough? Not to mention, proposing underground didn't really seem all that romantic to him.
'MAMORU MASAHIRO!'
'Huh?' He said looking toward the voice of his manager.
'Pay attention! You were asked to get in the damn car.' Nori hissed at him.
'Oh. Sorry.' He opened the car door, but immediately was told to stop. He sighed. There was a reason he didn't pursue modeling. Didn't these people know that?
'Now look to your right as you get in, as if someone called your name. Give me that searching for someone expression,' the photographer ordered him.
'And people think rock stars are high maintenance,' he mumbled.
'HOLD IT!' Nori shouted.
'WHAT NOW NORI! I swear you're more high maintenance than the lot of us!' Mamo growled.
'What the bloody hell is that gleaming thing on your finger. That was not run by me as an accessory option.'
'It is my ring. If you don't like it, then I'm not doing this shoot, because its not coming off. Is that clear?' Mamo stormed off the set knocking over one of the lighting fixtures as walked away. He arrived at his dressing room moments later, and placed his hands on the counter in front of the mirror, staring at himself. What the hell was this makeup? Didn't Nori say that these photos were for a feature on him? Then why the hell was he wearing red lipstick? Why did he have on red eyeshadow? And what the hell was with the heavy rouging on his cheeks?
'Oh, you're back. Is the first segment over already? We were told it'd be a couple hours before we got you ready for the next photo scene,' his makeup artist said to him when she noticed he was in the room.
'Don't touch me.' Mamoru said with a glare over his shoulder. 'And who said you could emphasize my face with red? With these eyes and this hair? Are you idiots? And isn't this shoot supposed to be about me? I don't fuckin wear red makeup. It's black. So get out. And tell Nori I need new stylists if he wants me to continue, and I expect an apology from him.'
The stylists backed out of the room like puppies caught with their tails between their legs. They had never seen Mamoru like this. He was usually quite cheerful, little phased him. So they didn't know how to take it. The girls looked at each other, and then just decided to do as they were told.
Mamo sighed. What the hell was wrong with Nori today? So he was wearing a different ring than usual, it wasn't like it would ruin the photo. He took his right hand and brought it to his left, spinning the ring around his finger. 'Roen...' He mumbled to himself. 'I wish you were here right now with me.' He reached under the chair where his clothes he had come in were,and pulled his phone out of his pants pocket. He then sat down in the chair and opened his text messages.

Roen. Just wanted to text you. See how you're doing.
I'm not sure when I'll be home tonight, I'm sorry, I told
you I was only working a half day, but Nori dragged me
to a photoshoot.
n
Its not going well though. Everyone's being bastards.
Wish you were here to make everything brighter.
Tomorrow though, we're spending the whole day together
So don't make ANY plans, okay?

Mamo then pressed his phone to his forehead and sighed. He was being a bit of a bitch himself, wasn't he? He had just fired his hair stylist and makeup artist for doing their jobs. He probably broke whatever it was he knocked over. Who knew, he wasn't paying attention. He was just mad. He was about to get up and apologize when he heard his door slam open. Well there goes any sort of apology to Nori. He wasn't going to apologize to that asshole in a million years.
'Really, Mamoru? Firing your staff? On what grounds? Breaking one of the light fixtures? Throwing a temper tantrum in front of the photographers? All for a tiny little ring?'
Mamoru glared at Nori. 'Look, you and Seiichi took it upon yourselves to rearrange the entire proposal I planned. I get Sei was trying to help, so fine. And then there was this last minute photo shoot. You think I don't know that this is all Seiichi's idea? Well fine. I can handle that too. Or the underground concert tomorrow that I didn't know about until today? Fine. I'll deal with that. But this ring? Its my engagement present from Roen, so fuck off.'
Nori sighed. Well that explained a lot. But still, he hadn't ever seen his uncle this way. 'I'm sorry.' He turned Mamo's chair to face the one next to it, and then turned it to face him. He then took a seat, and took Mamo's hands in his. 'We should have talked to you about everything first. You were a nervous wreck as is yesterday, and surprises probably don't help matters much either.'
Mamo shook his head. 'Its not that...' He looked at his nephew and said, 'I hope you never experience what I and my siblings had gone through, what my mother went through. What so many others have gone through. It breaks even the strongest.' He then stared off in the distance for a long while silent.
'Uncle?' Nori looked at his uncle confused. Did Mamo not have a happy childhood? Seiichi never said anything to him about what he learned on the case about their family. There were dark secrets that loomed over all the old folks' heads.
Mamo looked at Nori and said, 'You were raised by people who love you no matter what, who you are. By people who were the first to spread their wings from tradition, no matter what it took.' He said, 'You like men, do you not?'
Nori nodded. 'Yeah, though, I've yet to find the one who'll accept me for all that I am without taking advantage.' He paused and said, 'They always want my money. My fortune. My fame.'
Mamo sighed, 'The plague of being not only an aristocratic family but related to the most famous rock band probably in the 'underground' community.' He sighed and then said, 'What I mean though is, its not that I'm getting cold feet. I still to this day fear what people will think of me. Growing up with a dad who couldn't accept that one of his sons was attracted to men, not to mention a daughter who got pregnant before marriage by someone he considered to be a 'bad boy', it takes its toll. Every day I am grateful for the fact Father... Err Kyoko... forced Sami to be betrothed to Chi, and that they grew to love each other. Chihiro saved Sami from the same kind of father issues I had. That sounds awful, but, he got to experience love without having to be threatened, beaten, and...' He trailed off again. 'I'm not afraid to marry Roen. I'm just afraid of --'
Nori pursed his lips for a moment. He then nodded. 'I get it. I think. Do you still want to do this the way Sei came up with?'
Mamoru nodded. 'Yes. He went through all this effort to make it not only something that caters to me, but that I'd not feel so nervous doing.'
Nori nodded... 'All right, lets get the girls back in here, and get you all cleaned up. You gotta get on that bike of yours after all.'
'Her name is Amaranth.'
Nori smirked and started walking out. 'Masahiros and treating their cars and bikes like they're people,' he said, a laugh in his voice.
'Hey... You're a Masahiro too you know... Even if you have the Himura name.'
'Yeah yeah whatever,' he replied with a certain amount of sass that was unmistakably a trait he got from his mother.

It wasn't long before Mamo was back doing the rest of the car and bike part of his shoot, and Nori was chatting with the photographer about how to present Mamo's identity to the public. And then he took another break to change clothes and makeup. When he came back out, the first dress on was a pinkish lavender dress, with a light flowing skirt, that was decorated with similar colored flowers. The dress' bodice was a sleeveless deep V cut neckline, and beaded. The artists led him out to a set designed to be more like a garden with a gazebo in the center. They had a fan going to make his skirt flow out as he stood on the gazebo staring off into the distance.
'Look like you're in love.' The photographer said to him.
'I am in love...' Mamo said, a little confused.
'Okay, I mean, look like you see your boyfriend off in the distance.'
'Oh... okay, that's easy.' Mamo immediately gave a soft smile as he looked off into the distance, eyes tender. He had a genuine loving expression, all he had to do was think one thing about Roen, and he could do anything love related.
'Perfect. Now look down at the railing on the gazebo, give me a dreamlike gaze. No... lift your chin just a bit, close your eyes... There that's it. Perfect.' He took a few pictures in this pose before ordering Mamo to step out of the gazebo and look up at the sky.
'What?! There's no sky...' Mamo hissed.
'That's what the green screen behind you is for, and you get to use your imagination.'
Mamo rolled his eyes and then did as he was told. 'Nori, are you sure this isn't an acting audition?'
'Quite certain, Uncle. But modeling is a lot like acting you know.'
'So I can see.'
The then continued on with four more dresses, and four more scenes. Mamo wasn't sure how they managed to create so many scenes, but in the end, once he got more used to it, he thought the photo shoot was pretty fun. He couldn't wait to do this tomorrow with Roen. Though he had zero clue what tomorrow's shoot would entail.

The last dress was one that completely surprised Mamo. It was a black one shoulder dress with a beaded shoulder, and beadwork at the left side. On that same side the skirt had a slit up to the thigh, with a bit of pink to accent it. Mamo covered his mouth with his hand and then turned and walked out of the dressing room. He closed his eyes as he just sunk down against the wall, outside his dressing room. He put his face in both of his hands to hide the tears. That dress...
Nori soon found his uncle and whispered, 'Its the dress, isn't it?'
Mamo nodded. 'I... I... picked that dress out 27 years ago for your mother. She was still pregnant with you two, but the moment your dad proposed to her, I wanted to make sure she had the perfect dress. I spent forever looking for the perfect dress for her, and then finally, I found it. I knew it isn't purple and black like most traditional dresses are, but that one just was perfect for your mother.'
Nori handed him a notebook. 'This is the notebook that your brother and my dad were given, that had my mother's songs and words in it. There is one song she wrote just for your wedding.'
Mamo opened the notebook, flipping through each of the pages, trying to keep the tears that fell from his cheeks from staining the pages. Finally he stopped on a page.

Mamo,
You once told me, that you didn't think you could ever get married after the way father treated you. To be honest, I never even thought I'd have a future, the perfect family either. But, I do. I have the best siblings anyone could ask for, a loving fiance, and soon to be the best children I could ever imagine. Though if you're reading this, it means I'm no longer in this world. But know this, I have faith that you WILL overcome the feelings Father made you feel. You are worthy of the best love, and I hope one day, you find a man worthy of the amazing man I know you are. I know I don't act like it, I don't say it nearly enough, but I love you. You are a great example to me, little bro. I can only hope one day I'll be singing these words at your wedding, but even if I'm not, I will be there with you. Just wear the beautiful dress you bought for me. That is my only request. Okay? I love you baby brother.
Forever your sister,
Mariko

Mamo then read the words of the song, and then looked at Nori. He looked back at the journal and then nodded. 'For Mari.' He kissed his nephew's head, and then went back to get changed into the dress. Mari would be a part of his wedding after all. That was good. And he now felt like he could conquer the world. With Mari supporting him, even in death, he felt complete. His family would be whole again, even for just one day. The rest of the shoot went well, and in the end, he even ended up with some proofs that he could show Roen. Roen would love them, and probably not let him sleep until he was so sore he wouldn't be able to walk for a week after seeing these photos. Hell, even HE thought he looked sexy in them.

biker classiccar family love memories model proposal rockstar vampire yaoi sentimentalfool crossdressing photography

The second part in the mini-series where Mamoru proposes to Roen. As a side note, the chocolate story coincides with this story. So while Mamo's at the photo shoot, Roen's making and delivering chocolates.