Yukio stubbed out his clove cigarette on the balcony railing and turned to lean back against it, staring into his apartment, lost in thought. He'd been rehearsing the tale he was going to tell his parents for the last several hours, just to make sure it was seared into his brain so he wouldn't accidentally slip and spoil the lie. With a sharp sigh, his mouth tightened. He hated lying to his parents, despite the fact he'd been lying to them for nearly four years now. Instead of attending Destiny City University as a computer science major, he'd dropped out in his freshman year (over a girl, how high school was that choice) and had been doing programming gigs as a freelance contractor; he was getting more "education" through that and his 1337 h4xx0r side hack than if he'd stayed in school. Plus there were the gigs as a DJ – another side hack that was turning into a full-time job, much to his delight. No, he had little need for going to classes at DCU.

But his parents didn't know that.

This was the day he was going to put all that to rest, though. He wasn't going to confess – he had fabricated yet another lie, whereby he had opted to avoid the whole graduation ceremony due to being offered a contract for a gig (for which he'd use one of his actual clients), so his parents wouldn't have to fly all the way out from San Francisco to watch him. It was a fairly common practice to skip graduation for a job, not unprecedented at all, and he felt confident that they'd believe him. After that, he wouldn't have to lie to them any longer – a massive load off his mind, and his conscience.

Going back inside the apartment, he sat down on the floor in front of his laptop, put on his headset, and took a deep breath. He was as ready as he'd ever be. Still, when the incoming video call alert went off, the sound startled him. Sighing heavily, he steeled his will and hit the Join button. "Hi Mom, hi Dad," he greeted when their faces appeared. He even managed a small smile for them. "How are things in California?"

"Hello, Yukio," both his father Daniel and his mother Konomi said in unison. "Things are going really well," Daniel continued with a grin. "We have a release candidate on the project I've been working on, and everyone's excited to get it pushed out into the wild. And your mother is off for the rest of the term at work, so she's been cooking up a storm."

"Let me guess," said Yukio. "Natto?"

Konomi laughed. "How did you guess? Am I that predictable?" His mother's expression softened into a proud smile. "How are you doing, Yuki? Getting excited for graduation?"

Yukio tilted his head. "That's what I want to talk to you two about," he began the lie that would seal everything once and for all. "I got offered a contract gig already, and I've accepted it. They want me to start working right away, so I spoke to my advisor and opted to forego the graduation ceremony. The school will send my diploma to me, so yeah. So as much as I'd love to see you, you won't need to fly out here for that."

"Contract? With who?" asked Daniel.

"Can't say, I'm under an NDA for the time being," Yukio said smoothly. "Let's just say it's a good-sized company, one you'd recognize." Which was true – he did have a contract gig with a major company that he couldn't talk about.

On the screen, his dad nodded, then he and Konomi glanced at each other. "Yukio," his mother said, her face suddenly serious. "Honey, we know."

Blinking in surprise, Yukio shook his head in confusion. "Know… what?"

He fully expected them to say something like 'about the company', but instead Konomi followed with, "Everything." The expression on her face and on Daniel's was one of mild disappointment.

Yukio felt his heart sink into his stomach and a cold feeling washed over him. "....Everything." He stared at the screen blankly. "For how long?"

"Since the end of your freshman year. Your advisor at the time contacted us to see if you were all right. They said you'd stopped going to classes." Konomi looked heartbroken. "Yuki, why? Why did you drop out of college? Was it the pressure? Were we expecting too much from you?"

"No, Mom, no, nothing like that. It…" Yukio sighed. "It was something stupid," he said, completely resigned to confessing. "Something I was too embarrassed and ashamed to say anything about. So I lied. And the lie took on a life of its own, I guess." He looked at them, feeling tears begin to well up in his eyes. "I'm so sorry… I ******** up really good, didn't I?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, you did. What I want to know is what have you been doing instead of going to school?"

"I've been doing programming gigs as a contract freelancer. Started out small, then got some bigger clients. Those 'homework' questions I asked you all the time? Mostly work-related." He didn't mention the hacker sideline, or the DJing gigs. Not yet, at any rate. This wasn't the time.

There was silence for a few moments, then his father said sternly, "You had better be getting a damn good rate as a contractor, Yukio. Because if you've been doing all that work, you deserve it. You're probably a better coder than I am at this rate."

With a gentle snort, Yukio half-smiled. "I learned from the best." He drew himself up, fully ready to face the metaphorical music. "So. There it is. What's my punishment going to be?"

"Well," began Daniel, "I'm afraid we'll have to stop sending money for 'school.' You're hopefully making enough to support yourself."

"We bought your apartment for you," Konomi blurted out with a nod. "Earlier this year. So you won't end up in a dump somewhere." Glancing at Daniel, she added, "It was a wise investment! Do you know what downtown real estate is going for in Destiny City??"

Yukio's mouth fell open. "You… bought the apartment for me? In my name?" This was unbelievable. Was that their idea of 'punishment'? He wouldn't have to worry about getting kicked out, ever. Or lying any more to his parents. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders; he should have come clean years ago. "Thanks, Mom and Dad."

"You're welcome," Daniel said, the smile returning to his face. "Just… don't lie to us like that again, okay?" Konomi nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Don't worry," Yukio said with an honest smile."I won't."

(wc=1136)