Chapter Text
Humanity has turned the miracle of reaching the skies into a relatively affordable commodity but Sho was too busy being pissed at his middle seat in their third class flight.
He, like other respectable passengers, especially those with frequent flier cards like himself, know and understand the stress of a long flight―from Narita to Honolulu, no less and not to mention one that departs at the earliest possible time.
Therefore, simple rules would have at least made it a lot easier to endure. Window seat gets the window, middle seat gets both armrests and furthest seat from window gets one armrest and the ability to go down the aisle without needing to bump on anyone's legs.
Satoshi at the window seat and was very much invested in cloud shapes, laughing at ones shaped like odd things ("That one looks like a daruma doll with a big open mouth!"). The pleasant old man beside Sho however, not only claimed his armrest but also wouldn't stop talking in English about the good old days of Honolulu.
All Sho would have wanted was to sleep, but he enjoyed listening to Satoshi's ridiculous imagination. At times, Satoshi would recall a bit of their past from just what Sho would see as a blob of water vapor.
But the other man joined in; this time speaking Japanese, and Sho felt rather suffocated by the friendly conversation on either side of himself. It seemed that the friendly old man was reminded of his son or grandson or something by Satoshi and they had a full storytelling time about it. Sho was conditioning himself to let it be until the man asked.
"So what brings you to Hawaii?"
Before Satoshi could even open his mouth, Sho interrupted, punctuating the sudden answer with his palm between the two new friends. "Vacation, it's better to go when it isn't peak season and all that."
"Son, I've lived in Oahu all my life and I know this time of the year is when it gets quite rainy," The old man seemed concerned.
Sho felt a weight drop in his stomach. Weather was the one factor he forgot to check, with all his other worries.
"Oh, a little rain isn't going to stop our anni―" Satoshi began, but Sho was quick to speak over him.
"Our annual vacation!" Sho clapped his hand once. Satoshi looked bewildered.
"Ah, I get it. Strict bosses, can't find any other time...just gotta get away from it all," The old man said the last bit in English.
"Yeah," Sho said, also in English. Now that the conversation was out of his understanding, Satoshi just smiled and nodded, echoing Sho's "yeah."
While the old man went back to storytelling in English, Sho was about to distract Satoshi with the clouds but it clicked in his mind at last why Satoshi stopped paying the window any attention anymore.
It was raining like the gods were furious. There was lightning and a lot of turbulence. Some of the passengers were looking rather uneasy. Sho's job had him traveling to other countries often so he wasn't the least bit fazed by the turbulence; he had barely noticed.
Sho hadn't realized how close they were to landing as well, because of the old man's many stories in both Japanese and English (and sometimes a mix of both that made Satoshi nod in utter confusion which in turn made the old man laugh).
"So you often travel together? It's nice to have a travel buddy," The old man said fondly.
"Travel buddy," Satoshi repeated and looked at the other two, asking in Japanese if it had something to do with one's health*. (トラベルバッデイー＝バッデイー=body=体)
"A friend that travels with you," Sho said. He was admittedly an intellectual snob, and can't help but secretly look down on people who proved themselves to be uneducated, especially those that are outspoken about illogical things. But a willingness to learn always softens his heart, and Satoshi, despite his prestige as a world-class artist, had an open mind and a pure soul of a true learner even in the Zen perspective, Sho could say.
"How do you say 'travel boyfriends' then?" Satoshi asked.
Sho's mouth went dry.
"Oh even better!" The old man said cheerfully.
This time Sho choked on pressurized cabin-air.
"You two did strike me as a handsome couple." The old man looked twice as fond of them. Sho was still speechless and Satoshi looked giddy. "And I'd have introduced you to my husband but he's knocked out."
He discreetly pointed to a dark-skinned man on the opposite window seat. Sure enough, he was fast asleep, with his head leaning comfortably on his neck pillow.
Sho looked from that man to the old man next to him, finally managing a croaky "Oh."
"He's tired from the reunions he had to go to and is just glad we're going home." The old man chuckled.
"Reunions?" Satoshi said as Sho still hadn't located where his vocal chords had hidden themselves.
"Yeah, he was invited to his high school reunion, and his family all gathered because he was coming home to Japan." The man looked at his husband again then back at Sho. "To answer your unspoken question, yes, he's Japanese and I'm from Hawaii. I met him when his family came to my hometown on vacation and now he's my forever travel buddy."
"That's cool," Satoshi said with a soft smile.
They were interrupted by the pilot announcing they were delayed by thirty minutes and such, and the old man decided he'd sleep the rest of the way.
"Don't think I can handle more of the turbulence anymore." He chuckled and shut his eyes.
"Yeah," Satoshi said in English, then added in Japanese, "me too."
Satoshi gave Sho's hand a squeeze and closed his eyes.
Sho sat with the turbulence in his mind for the rest of the flight.
---
Murphy’s law, Sho thought as the receptionist made what felt like the fiftieth call on his landline phone speaking to god-knows-who. Of course.
Sho had a salesman smile plastered on his face as their reservation was being clarified. There was so much confusion about their booked room that it was wearing down Sho’s patience, but mercifully, Satoshi was beside him and his soothing presence kept Sho from screaming and pulling his hair out like a madman. Whenever Sho looked at him, Satoshi would make a dumb face and chuckle, making Sho instantly recharged enough to listen to several more apologies and excuses.
But he was getting worn down, he had a schedule to follow. Sho signed them up for a tour that was starting in less than 30 minutes (exactly 28.3 minutes) and Satoshi got distracted, favoring staring at nothing or possibly everything somewhere in the distance. Satoshi couldn’t really help as English was a hurdle for him still.
Everything must be perfect. If anything upsets Satoshi in the slightest, his mission would fail.
“Please, ah,” Sho bowed several times and gave the receptionist his best apologetic look. “We’re on a schedule.”
Just as the receptionist finally looked relieved and seemed to be done with whatever he was trying to do, Satoshi tugged on Sho’s sleeve and pointed to a framed poster. Sho nodded to the receptionist, listening in on the details as he waved to Satoshi for him to wait.
When Sho received their room keys and the bellboy came over for their luggage, Satoshi tugged on Sho’s sleeve again. This time, Sho looked but he still didn’t see the poster. He saw the large clock on the wall behind it.
“We’re late!” Sho cried, massaging his temples. He pushed his tongue on the inside of his cheek, distracting himself from the very strong urge to curse aloud.
“No, look! We’ll make it.” Satoshi said excitedly, pulling Sho toward the framed poster on its stand.
Loud and Proud at Pride Parade! Join us to celebrate love…
“But…” Sho did a double take, reading the poster’s headline several more times and blinking dumbly at Satoshi. “That’s—”
“Let’s go, please?” Satoshi beamed at Sho excitedly. There was no way to say no to that face. Sho rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips, but he was curious too. He thought about it for a moment, frowning and massaging his chin.
“This is gonna be exciting,” Satoshi turned to the poster with a small smile, looking at the group of colorfully dressed people at the bottom of the headline.
Sho chuckled at his words, but understood that he had lost the battle of wills. “Alright.”
---
Loud was definitely loud and very proud indeed, Sho and Satoshi had never seen anything like it. Perhaps the energy of the crowd at the pride parade was a lot like that of a pop star’s concert, only so much more . More color, more vibrant, more people—everything to the highest degree. There was a contagious kind of joy in everyone, making Sho forget all about schedules and plans.
There were rainbows everywhere—flags, clothes and even face paint. The excitable air got to both Sho and Satoshi as they made their way through the crowd to see the floats and the performers. They were handed some rainbow themed lei and small flags to hold by total strangers and Satoshi was doing his best to pick up as much English as he could, every so often asking Sho about what some words meant.
While explaining the meaning of “pride” to Satoshi, Sho noticed a tall pair of men trying to take a picture together. He was going to pull Satoshi away but it was too late—Satoshi’s head collided with the hand of the wavy haired one of the couple making him fumble his phone and nearly drop it.
The black haired man beside him caught it in the quickest and smoothest reflex Sho had ever seen, but he nearly lost balance so Sho helped him straighten up.
“That was close!” The black haired man laughed into his hand and gave the phone to his companion. “Thanks, mate.”
“Oh my god, sorry about that,” The wavy haired one said. “I have terribly lanky and uncoordinated arms.
Satoshi looked completely dazed. Between the accent and hitting his head, he wasn’t sure if it was still English that the two men spoke.
“It’s alright, it’s alright.” Sho waved at the men and Satoshi just gave them his best smile. If Sho spoke in recognizable English, that meant his brain was fine—this thought somehow reassured Satoshi although it would have made no sense if he had said it aloud.
After the three—Sho and the two men—made sure Satoshi wasn’t injured, Satoshi decided to show them how alright he was by trying his hand at English.
“ Are you pride? ” He drew repeated circles around the two men and gestured to the floats.
“Oh, he means—” Sho started automatically but the two men exchanged confused looks as Wavy hair responded.
“Like, organizers? No, we’re just participating.” He said with a smile but he had to yell over the noise. “It wasn’t exactly our plan to come but Phil here saw the poster somewhere. No regrets, though!”
“Dan and I haven’t participated in pride before, so I thought it’d be fun!” Black hair—called Phil, added.
Sho’s and Satoshi’s brows shot up as they too exchanged looks. That sounded like a familiar story. On the other hand, Satoshi was just confused.
“You are?”—Satoshi decided to change the topic to a yes or no question so he could at least understand. “Together?”
Sho gave him an incredulous look. Satoshi grinned at him, knowing that the string of words just now was a good sentence because he had heard it only minutes ago.
Wavy hair—Dan—laughed, flushed. “Yeah, I mean...”
“Sorry!” Sho bowed blurted from beside Satoshi. “We’re Japanese, he can’t speak English well.”
“No, it’s okay!” Phil said. “You’re alright!”
Satoshi looked confused at Sho’s apology, but Sho was awkwardly checking his pockets.
“Everyone is welcome at pride,” Phil went on, “Well, everyone who wants to celebrate.”
“Love wins!” Satoshi said, wanting to be positive. He had memorized some things from the signages people were holding, too. “I am happy!”
“Yeah,” Dan laughed and looked at Phil.
“That’s really all that matters,” Phil agreed, meeting Dan’s gaze and looked back at Sho and Satoshi
“Let me help you take a picture,” Sho said immediately. “We interrupted your selfie.”
“Oh! Yeah, that’s cool, thanks!” Phil said, giving Sho the smartphone in his own hand then he and Dan stood together.
When that was done, Phil offered to take a picture for Sho and Satoshi with which Satoshi excitedly agreed, understanding based on context and Phil’s helpful gestures.
Sho noticed that Satoshi was completely bubblier than usual too, and that suited him as much as his languid demeanor. He smiled fondly, patted his pocket one last time and put an arm over Satoshi’s shoulders, both of them holding up their flags.
When they’ve thanked the couple and said their goodbyes, Satoshi immediately set the new picture as his wallpaper.
“Now this is ‘love wins’.” Satoshi said, showing his phone.
Sho could only laugh shyly and distract Satoshi by pointing to the next float, but he agreed.
---
Tired from the yelling, pushing and partying, Satoshi and Sho made their way back with little smiles. Sho was feeling peaceful, his hand in Satoshi’s, the warm breeze flipping his hair. It hardly mattered to him that they were being eyed by some hotel guests for whatever reason as they made their way to the elevators with two women who were also holding hands.
But Satoshi let go of Sho’s hand, and it suddenly felt naked and empty. Sho looked at Satoshi but he jogged ahead to catch press the call button and Sho decided to brush it off, albeit being distantly saddened by the loss of touch. The two women looked a little irked and the one with bright orange lipstick gave the other a kiss on the lips, making Sho look away quickly.
The elevator chimed and the woman who kissed her girlfriend smiled at them and stepped in. Sho and Satoshi followed suit.
“You were at pride?” The other woman said kindly in Japanese, adjusting her monochrome blouse.
“Ah, yeah!” Satoshi was glad to hear his mother tongue. “It was awesome.”
The women giggled. Sho was so surprised that he spoke in English. “You too?”
“Yes, us two.” Orange lipstick said with a wink as the elevator halted. Satoshi pressed the open button and stepped out, waiting for Sho.
Sho stepped out, still somewhat unable to wrap his mind around the whirlwind of a day they had. He wanted to say something to the ladies, but it was too late, the doors had closed and they were gone. Satoshi tugged on Sho’s fingers to lead him to their room.
Satoshi smiled softly. “Let’s rest. I know you’d like to be up early so we can go with your plans.”
That was all it took for Sho’s heart to skip a beat: Satoshi’s smile and a few words that meant how thoroughly Satoshi knew Sho. He decided then and there.
“Wait.” Sho said, slapping the elevator call button. “I want to walk by the shore. I still feel a little excited.”
“Oh.” Satoshi turned and followed quietly when the elevator on the other side came and opened for them.
Satoshi continued to keep quiet and Sho went on, patting his pockets. “Don’t—don’t you feel excited?”
Satoshi grinned, “Actually, yeah! I’m glad you want to walk at the shore, we’ve never done that.”
The silence stretched on until they were at the shore in front of the hotel. The sea was dark, the waves were strong and the wind was perhaps as ‘excited’ as Sho. Before they knew it, they were hand in hand.
“I have something to say...about today and all.” Sho said.
“Me too.” Satoshi replied, stopping in his tracks where the water slightly touched his feet. He let go of Sho’s hand. “I’m sorry about today, I know you had a lot of things planned, I went against your schedule and all that.”
Sho was flabbergasted to say the least. He gaped at Satoshi, closed his mouth and tried to speak again but no sound came out of him, or at least, none loud enough to be heard over the wind and waves. Satoshi was definitely speaking more than usual.
“I know you prefer things that way, planned and proper. I’ve been selfish today. So tomorrow and for the rest of our tomorrows, we’ll plan everything!” Satoshi grinned.
“N-no!” Sho stepped closer and grabbed Satoshi’s upper arms as if the latter might get blown away by the wind or carried away by the waves. “I find it hard to say sometimes but I-I—”
“Sho-chan, it’s okay.” Satoshi touched Sho’s cheek. “You don’t have to say ‘I love you’ to say ‘I love you’.”
“S-Sato—”
“I see it in your eyes. In your laugh lines.” Satoshi closed his eyes and felt the corners of Sho’s eye. “I smell it in the fabric conditioner you meticulously chose and kept buying when I said I liked it.”
Sho couldn’t believe his ears.
“I hear it in your booming laugh when I make dumb jokes...I feel it in your beer belly.” This time, Satoshi patted Sho’s midriff and laughed. Sho swatted away Satoshi’s hand and laughed along.
“Damn it, I knew there was a catch.” Sho kicked some sand at Satoshi who laughed harder and retaliated. “Rude!” Sho added.
“Still,” Satoshi deftly entwined their fingers. “All I need is you.”
Sho fell to his knees on the sand and laughed. He tugged Satoshi down and said, “Ohno Satoshi, listen to me.”
When Satoshi was kneeling too, Sho held his face and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
“For all the presents.” Sho said, making sure to speak through the lump that formed in his throat. He kissed Satoshi again. “And the years. Thank you. I need you, forever.”
Sho pulled out a box from his pocket, the thing he had been patting the whole day.
“I give you my whole life—” Sho opened the box but Satoshi burst out laughing.
Sho stared at Satoshi as he put his hand in his own shorts pocket and pulled out a beautiful ring that looked like woven strips of black rock-like around a thin, gleaming red band.
“Wait what?!” Sho cried out. “Are you serious?!”
“This is my greatest masterpiece.” Satoshi finally said, recovering. “Wanted to say something cool like ‘for the greatest muse’ but you—” He laughed a little more and slipped the ring on Sho’s finger. It fit perfectly.
Sho opened the box in his hand and slipped the ring he had bought for Satoshi, silver band inlaid with a band of sapphire. “Blue and silver always made me think of you—wait, did you make this?!” Sho looked at the ring Satoshi put on him.
“Yeah, it was really hard, keeping it a secret all this time.” Satoshi chuckled.
He leaned closer and they simply sat, holding each other’s hands and looking at the rings.
“Well this whole trip certainly went as planned.” Sho chuckled.
“I’m sorry about the tour package you paid for.” Satoshi said quietly. Sho nudged him.
“You’re exactly what I need, a reminder that the world doesn’t have to be planned.” Sho smiled.
“It just has to have you.” Satoshi agreed. Sho pushed him again and he got himself a faceful of seawater.
---
“Good morning, my cute ex-disciple! This is your wake up call!” Okada’s voice came loud and clear from Sho’s phone, a few hours later.
Sho pulled away to check the time on the phone and then put it back on his ear. “It’s 2am, Okada-kun. I need to sleep because our flight back is later.”
“Ah but you must know that I have plotted your schedule for you!” Okada sounded very cheerful.
“Thanks, I almost forgot to.”
“—you have the whole month off!”
“What?!”
“Use it wisely. Say hi to Ohno-kun for me! He gave me some really good banana cake!”
End.