Chapter Text
Sixteen Months Later.
“REKI, I AM GONNA KILL YOU!”
“Miya’s up,” Joe comments. Nanako laughs as she sets down the coffee and tea she’s made.
Cherry sips at his own cup, sighing.
“What did you do now, baby?” Langa asks, voice still groggy from his sleep. He rests his weight on Reki’s shoulders, stealing a sip of his coffee. He grabs Reki’s free hand so their bracelets match up and the redhead presses a kiss to Langa’s wrist.
Ever since they had gotten here, he’s been freezing .
“Tucked Miya in really, really tight. Your Canadian beds make it so much easier. They’re heavier,” Reki snickers.
It’s only fair payback for the plane ride over to Canada. Reki doesn't break Langa’s hand anymore every time they get in the air, getting better with the help of whatever Cherry shoved in his mouth. But it doesn’t mean he wanted to have some little toad shake him awake and scare him half to death, making him think the plane was crashing.
“I’ll let him out in an hour” Reki shrugs, pulling Langa around him further as he tries to suck up some of his body heat.
Seriously, why did Canada have to be so freaking cold? The whole snowboarding thing had better be worth it (well, that and Langa spending time with his mother for Thanksgiving).
The concept still confuses him, but he is happy for the giant feast Nanako said she has planned, and he’s very excited to see what sweet potato casserole is.
But before that, Langa has planned on taking them all snowboarding. They spent their first day buying the right type of board and Reki realises just how different the sports are, now he was up close and personal, which makes Langa’s feats back in the days of S all the more amazing.
Shadow immediately eats snow the secnd he tries to stand on his board, somehow managing to whack himself in the head with his board in the process. Reki felt bad for laughing, but karma had swiftly graced him with his own face full of snow. Langa had called it there, happy that they all fit their boards well.
It’s also fascinating to be in Langa’s childhood home, so lively compared to Langa and Nanako’s old apartment. With warm wooden furniture and photos everywhere, a literal fireplace that Reki had lived in front of last night, taking child-like joy as they roasted marshmallows and made smores, it feels so much like home that it astonishes him.
There’s a few new pictures lining the walls with Reki in some of them– just like how Langa’s face has dawned Maese’s mantle.
“Eat up boys, and go free Miya before he eats my bed sheets. By the time you come back, dinner should be ready to go and we can start celebrating,” Nanako insists after they’ve finished their morning coffee.
The woman claps her hands together in excitement. She had practically squealed Langa deaf in one ar when he had told her he would be coming home for thanksgiving, babbling non-stop since they got there. It’s kinda cute, actually, making Reki realise just how similar his and Langa’s mothers are. When they were comfortable with someone, they practically never shut up.
Joe is the one to do it since everybody else wimps out. It’s something Reki might be ashamed of if he didn’t know what a little shit Miya could be.
Miya gives Reki the devil eyes as he eat his toast, promising to get Reki back for it. Thankfully, before he can, Cherry and Joe force Miya into layer upon layer while Langa takes the band snowboarding. Joe and Cherry are going on some fancy snow ski tour to get home sooner and help Nanako in the kitchen.
Whatever floats their boat, Reki supposes.
Finally, everybody is ready to go, grabbing their boards and heading out the front.
“Hey, snowflake, I’ll be out in a second. I think I have something in my boot,” Reki says, urging his boyfriend out the door where the others are waiting, talking excitedly. Langa nods and leaves, doughy-brained as ever, only focusing on snowboarding. He has no room for anything else. Cute .
Reki finally does what he had wanted to since he had gotten there, stopping in the lounge room to kneel in front of Oliver’s shrine. He lights the candles as he speaks.
“Hello, sir. I, uh...I just wanted to thank you for sending me, Langa. I guess we both needed each other and I never would have found him, if it wasn’t for you. Uh...” Reki breaks into a nervous laugh as he scratches the back of his head.
“Well, that’s probably not… I… wish you were still here for him, but I hope that I’m taking enough care of him for you. I eally do love him, so much. He's given me the world, and I hope that as long as I give him even a fraction of that, he loves me back for it. You raised a really, amazing, strong man. You’d be so proud of him, just like I am. And I get to be lucky enough to be loved by him.”
Reki stops himself when he realises that he’s been rambling. He stands and turns, only to jump out of his skin when he comes face-to-face with Langa.
“I wanted to grab you a scarf. I know how cold you’ve been getting,” Langa explains, holding up said scarf.
“I...” Reki starts, but he can’t get any words to come out, relaxing when Langa smiles.
“He really would have loved you, you know that right? Now, come on. The snow will thin if we stay inside any longer, and then I can’t teach you,” Langa wraps the scarf around Reki’s neck as he speaks, using it as leverage to pull Reki close enough to kiss him.
Reki smiles as Langa drags him out to where the others are waiting. When Shadow grumbles about him taking forever, Reki just shrugs him off, clicking himself in place and praying to God that he doesn’t do something stupid. Feeling terrified that his feet were connected to the board as Langa lines them up on the bunny hill near his house. A brilliant smile on his face. There’s a hint of melancholy there, as there always is when Langa thinks of his dad. He must be dealing with so many memories. Especially because this was where his father had taught him how to snowboard. But seems to power through for their sake.
“Langa, if you're not up to this, we don’t have to,” Reki promises, catching his hand and forcing him to slow down for a second.
“You showed me your passion, let me show you mine. You're gonna be so great at it,” Langa reassures him, pressing a kiss to his temple.
“Do I get a kiss for good luck?” Shadow teases.
Langa pushes him down the hill, laughing as Shadow yelps.
“ Dude ! You never told us how to stop !” Shadow yelps.
Langa pushes off easily, gliding through the snow just as easily as he soared down Crazy Rock.
“Keep up and I’ll show you!” he calls back to them, passing Shadow without breaking a sweat and leaving him covered in a spray of snow. Langa laughs as Shadow vows revenge, half-hopping, half-weirdly sliding down the mountain. Reki can already see him turning into one of those cartoonish snowballs.
Of course, Reki and Miya have no choice but to push off the cliff and send themselves hurtling down a mountain with a death trap stuck to their feet.
But Reki knows everything will work out. It always does, after all, he has Langa by his side.