Foolish Games

Prologue

"Dad?" the boy spoke in a sweet tone. He stood at the kitchen's doorway and slowly made his way further in, towards the table where his father sat. The man looked up and smiled at the sight of him, both hands still holding the morning newspaper.

"Yes, Joni?" He knew that look. He knew it well.

"I need you to sign one paper," his son explained, coming closer still until he stood close beside him.

"What paper is it?" He asked, warily almost, looking at the paper and the pen in the boy's hands.

"It's just a small thing really, mere formality if you will," Joni smiled. "About this one gig they've requested me to," he continued, setting the paper on the table in front of him. He then gave the pen to him and pointed towards where the signature should be written.

"Hold on there, I want to know what this is about..."

"It's nothing important, they're just being overly careful." The man gave his son a look of doubt, he knew him all too well by now and...

"An underwear shoot!" he practically shrieked, and the boy sighed.

"Yes, as I said nothing big..." he spoke with an almost bored tone.

"Nothing big! You are seventeen!"

"I'm almost an adult, dad. It's just a gig among other gigs, this just pays really well. "

" Well, I happen to find it very dubious to ask a minor for a photoshoot like this," he snorted. "What is this for anyway?" he asked, looking at the paper more closely.

"For an ad that will appear in a magazine." Joni rolled his eyes.

"Look here, you don't know what kind of pervs are reading and looking at these sorts of ads. I'm sure that they can find an adult model for it,"  he spoke firmly. "No, I will not sign this," the worried father pushed the paper farther away to emphasize his words. "I will not have my seventeen-year-old son posing himself, practically nude! For some perverts to drool on!"

"Dad, come on, you're overly paranoid! This is about me being gay, isn't it?!" the boy huffed.

"It's not about that," the man shook his head, "it's about you being far too young to pose in a magazine dressed next to nothing."

"First, you take away my chance to go to Paris, and now this! I wouldn't be naked for God's sake; I wouldn't be posing in some porn magazine and...!"

"Enough Joni!" he gave his son a stern look. "I am your parent, you are still under-aged and yes, whatever you will say, will not make me change my mind. You will not be doing any gigs, photo shoots, or any other, wearing so little. I am forbidding it, only your best in my mind."

"Bullshit! I'm almost an adult! I should be free to make my own decisions!"

"I'm sorry, Joni, but an adult you are not and until you are, you will obey my word, understand?"

"God, you're so annoying!" the boy bawled, took the paper, and left the room with hurried steps to upstairs. A loud bang of the door to his room soon followed and the man released a heavy sigh.

He missed the time when his son had still been a child, the time when he had had him under control without much effort. This teenage period, all this angst and drama, was slowly wearing him out.

"What was it about this time?" his wife asked, stepping into the kitchen, carrying their two-year-old daughter in her arms.

"I refused to sign a paper with my consent of letting him do an underwear shoot to some...well, whatever it was," he explained tiredly. His wife cocked her brow and lowered the little girl to the floor next to her, before opening the fridge. "Tell me, Katja, do you think that I'm wrong in this matter?"

She looked at him, softly shaking her head. "I would have forbidden him too," she answered, pouring a glass of juice for her youngest. "What kind of people ask a minor for a photoshoot like that?" she wondered with obvious confusion.

"It is iffy, that's what it is", the man agreed. "He's too young to see that and now he's upset at me." 

Katja smiled at him with sympathy. "Asko, he's a teenager. Just give him some time to sulk in private, and I'm sure he'll soon get over it."

"I hope so," he sighed and got up. He walked over to his wife and planted a soft kiss on her cheek, before kneeling to talk to his daughter.

"Will you let dad go easier when you're that age?" Asko asked and his small daughter smiled brightly at him.

"I want in daddy's arms!" the girl reached out her small, adorably chubby arms towards him.

"Is that a yes?" he chuckled softly when he took her and got up.

"I certainly hope so," Katja said and smiled warmly as she looked at them.

Yes, she certainly hoped their other children would end up having an easier teenage than what her stepson had. Luckily they would have some time to breathe in between, they would surely need it!

Whoever said boys were easier than girls in this age, was very wrong indeed! At least as far as Joni was concerned...