Work Text:
“Valentine’s Day is tomorrow!” Reki exclaimed stretching his arms up into the air. School had just ended for the day, and he and Langa were walking to the nearby skate park. “Hopefully I’ll receive chocolate this year!”
Langa cocked his head to the side. “Chocolate?”
“Eh? Do you not have chocolate in Canada?!”
Langa giggled and Reki’s heart skipped a beat. “Of course we have chocolate, stupid. I just don’t really know what it has to do with Valentine’s Day all that much.”
“Oh, I see.” Reki nodded enthusiastically. “In Japan, you give chocolate to people that you like for Valentine’s Day! And then a month later, on White Day, you give a gift back to people who gave you chocolate to kind of show that you like them back, you know?”
Langa hummed in response. “Ah. I’m more used to giving candy for Valentine’s Day. Do you receive chocolates a lot then?”
The red-haired boy looked away sheepishly and scratched under his headband. “Well, I mean, I’m so focused on skateboarding all the time and it kinda puts people off sometimes. But that’s okay! I don’t need chocolate or anything, right?”
“Oh. So you’ve never gotten chocolate for Valentine’s Day then.”
“You don’t have to rub it in!” He shoved Langa’s shoulder, earning a laugh out of the other boy. He felt heat rising in his face and stared down at his shoes. “Well then? What do you Canadians do for Valentine’s Day?”
“Hmmm…” Langa tapped his chin for a second. “Honestly, I don’t think we really do anything unless you’re, like, dating or something.”
“Oh, like with Christmas?”
Langa stopped dead in his tracks and gave Reki the most baffled look. “I’m sorry what?”
“Christmas is a couple’s holiday, right? You usually don’t really do anything unless you’re dating, like with Canadian Valentine’s Day, am I wrong?”
“Christmas isn’t a couple’s holiday though??” Both boys had stopped walking by this point, and they stared at each other, confusion clearly written on both of their faces.
Waving his hands in front of him, Reki said, “Okay, wait, what do you do for Christmas in Canada? Do you not, like, go on dates or whatever?”
“I mean you could,” Langa responded, “but most people visit their families to exchange gifts and spend time together and whatnot. My family usually traveled to see our relatives and stayed at my aunt and uncle’s house for a few days. I guess you wouldn’t really do that in Japan because Christmas is a pretty western holiday.”
“Yeah, we only really celebrate Christmas because of western stuff. The only people that I know of that actually do stuff for Christmas, though, are couples who go on dates or whatever. Most people don’t really do anything else.”
“Huh.”
“A lot of people eat KFC though.”
They stared at each other for a long second before bursting out into laughter. Langa placed his hands on Reki’s shoulders to steady himself, sending another wave of heat to the red-haired boy’s face. When Langa finally pulled away and wiped a tear from his eye, Reki felt butterflies erupt in is stomach as he gazed into the boy’s light blue eyes. “Race you to the skate park?”
“Ah, sorry,” responded the icy-haired boy. “I, uh, I have something I need to do.”
Reki tried his best not to seem disappointed, but he still ended up looking like a kicked puppy. “Tomorrow then?”
“Tomorrow.” Langa raised his hand for a high-five, to which Reki happily obliged. But before he could pull his hand away, Langa interlocked their fingers and pulled Reki in closer.
Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, thought Reki, his stomach doing flips. Are we about to kiss right now?
Langa gazed into Reki’s eyes for a second, but it felt like an eternity to the other boy. They leaned in closer, faces only about six inches apart. Reki took a deep breath, glancing down to Langa’s lips before flicking back up to make eye contact again.
“Your face is red,” said the blue-haired boy, poking him in the cheek and breaking him out of his trance.
“Wh-what? No it isn’t.”
“You look like a tomato.”
“You look like a tomato, idiot.”
Giggling again, Langa lightly punched Reki in the arm. “I really should get going, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” He jumped on his skateboard and started heading in the direction of his house. “Good luck on Valentine’s Day tomorrow, Reki!”
“See you tomorrow, Langa!” Reki waved at the retreating figure of the blue-haired boy, a dopey grin on his face. Dang, he thought to himself. I’ve really got it bad.
---
Reki wasn’t jealous. Nope, nuh-uh, he wasn’t jealous at all. He wasn’t at all irritated when he and Langa walked into the classroom to find no less than four boxes of chocolate on Langa’s desk, all four of which had accompanying letters.
“Oh,” said Langa as he sat down in his chair and stared down at the gifts.
“Oh?! Oh?! That’s all you have to say??” Reki grabbed the other boy’s shoulders and shook him. “You just got four boxes of chocolate! That means at least four girls have a crush on you!!”
“Four girls have a crush on me…?”
Reki groaned. “Wow. Must be nice being so pretty all the time.”
“You think I’m pretty?”
“No! Well, no I don’t mean to say that you’re ugly, but… I mean, like, objectively you’re pretty. Like in a completely ‘I am able to acknowledge that your face is very aesthetically pleasing’ way, you know? I don’t personally think you’re pretty; I mean I do, but not in that way you know?” He screamed internally. Might as well just admit that you’re basically in love with him while you’re at it.
Langa smirked. “Aww. That’s stupid.”
“You’re stupid.” Reki punched the other boy in the arm. “Well then? What are you going to do about the chocolates?”
The icy-haired boy flipped through the four letters, quickly skimming them. “Well, only one of them has a name signed at the bottom, the others are all anonymous. They all say something like ‘come to this place after school to meet me’ or whatever.”
“Are you gonna meet them?”
He stared at him, face blank. “No, of course not. I promised yesterday that we’d go to the skate park.”
“Are you kidding me? Are you actually kidding me??” exclaimed Reki.
Langa cocked his head to the side. “What?”
“You have four girls who like you and you’re just not going to do anything about it?!”
“I mean, yeah, I’m not really—”
“Langaaaaaa.” The redhead dramatically flopped onto the other boy’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you. You get confessed to by four girls and you don’t even want to do anything.” It’s definitely not because if you go out with a girl then I have an excuse to get over you. “You had to have had at least one girlfriend in Canada, right?”
“No, I’m—”
“L-Langa?” A girl from their class stood in front of the boy’s desk, blushing madly. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, eyes flitting from the ground to the window and occasionally to Langa. “Um, here, take this!”
She thrust another box of chocolates into his hands. The sweets were clearly homemade, with decorations shakily piped on with white icing. Four of the chocolates spelled out “LOVE.”
“They’re, um…” the girl took a deep breath. “I’ve always really liked you and, I know you probably don’t really know who I am but… will you go out with me?”
Reki’s heart pounded in his ears. Dangit. As much as he loathed himself for it, a part of him wanted to grab Langa and run out of the room, just so he could keep him all to himself. Please don’t say yes.
“Ah.” Langa looked down awkwardly at the chocolates. “Thank you, I’m flattered. But…”
The girl gripped the edge of her shirt. “Oh, no, I understand. Thank you for hearing me out.” She booked it out of the room.
Oh thank god. Reki let out a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding. “I guess someone’s popular today.”
Langa sighed and rested his head on his arms. “It’s weird to have girls confessing to me.”
“Ah, yes, the universal struggle of being handsome and well-liked by the opposite sex.”
“Reki, it’s not like that.” He pouted. “It’s just weird for me, since I’m—”
Ding, dong, ding, dong! The teacher waltzed into the classroom. “Everyone, in your seats!”
The two boys scrambled to sit down and put away their things before making eye contact and giggling. I shouldn’t say this, thought Reki, but I’m glad he rejected that girl. I know he won’t ever look at me that way, and that one day he’ll move on, but it’s nice to hope.
He just prayed that there wouldn’t be any more confessions to his best friend, because he wasn’t sure if his heart could handle it.
---
Ding, dong, ding, dong! The bell finally rang, signaling the end of the school day. Reki and Langa took one look at each other before immediately cramming their things into their bags in an effort to get to their skateboards as soon as possible. They raced out the door and out into the school yard, laughing and shoving at each other.
“Still, I can’t believe you got so much chocolate today, it’s not even fair!” Reki exclaimed.
“I can share it with you, if you’d like.”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep rubbing it in that I didn’t get any chocolate today.”
Langa looked away awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. “No, I didn’t mean it like—”
“I’m joking. You’re fine.” The redhead smiled and ruffled the other boy’s hair affectionately. “I’m just glad that my best friend over here has enough simps to fill both his and my stomach with chocolate.”
Laughing, Langa grabbed Reki’s hand off his head and held it close to his chest. Time seemed to slow as Reki gazed into Langa’s eyes, getting lost in the swirl of icy blues. His breath hitched and his hand burned where Langa was touching it. “W-well, we should probably get going to the skate park! After all, you promised, right?” he managed to stammer out.
“Oh. Yeah. Let’s go.” Langa blinked once before heading out, motioning for Reki to follow.
They had almost made it out of the gates and to freedom when yet another girl came and tapped Langa on the shoulder.
“Hey, Langa? Can I talk to you for a second? Alone, please,” she added, side-eyeing Reki.
“Geez, this is the third time today,” the red-haired boy muttered under his breath. “I’ll wait for you here.”
Langa nodded and followed the girl a little way’s off towards a tree planted near the side of the school. The crowds had more or less thinned, with most people leaving to go home or heading to their after-school clubs.
“Since today is Valentine’s Day, I… I made you these.”
Shoot, thought Reki. I can hear them. I know she wanted privacy, should I move? But I told Langa I’d stay here… He paced back and forth a bit. It wouldn’t hurt if I listened, right? Yeah, it’s to make sure Langa is okay, not because I’m jealous or anything. He stopped pacing and “casually” leaned against the school gate, pretending that he wasn’t latching on to every word that he overheard.
“Oh, um, thank you for the chocolates.” Reki could hear the awkward yet patient exhaustion in Langa’s voice from having to do this multiple times in one day.
“Langa, I’ve always thought you were so cool ever since you joined our class. And you are really handsome and I… will you be my boyfriend?”
“Oh, I’m sorry… You’re great and I’m flattered, but I don’t feel the same way,” Langa responded clumsily.
“Oh.” The girl stood in silence for a few seconds. “Then… is there someone that you do like?”
Reki nearly yelled when he heard her question, but he stopped himself and held his breath when Langa started to answer. “Well… yes, I do. Sorry.”
Reki’s heart stopped in his chest. He suddenly felt hyperaware of the blood pounding in his head. I’ve lost. He likes someone. Running his hands through his hair, the boy let out a soft chuckle. Ah, who am I kidding. Of course he likes someone. It was only a matter of time before he found someone better than me. I never even had a chance. He’ll get a girlfriend and stop skating with me, just like everyone else has. I’ve lost. It’s over. He’s leaving me behind.
“Reki? Are you alright?” Langa’s voice snapped him out of his self-deprecating spiral. His blue eyes were narrowed with concern.
He laughed stiffly in response. “Yep! I’m doing great!”
“Are you sure?” asked Langa, tilting his head.
"Of course, of course. How did the, uh, thing go. What did she say?”
Scratching the back of his neck, Langa responded, “Oh, she just confessed to me. I rejected her, though.”
“I see. Race you to the skate park?”
Langa smiled. “Loser buys the winner a drink.”
They both hopped on their boards and sped off.
---
“Ha! I won!” Reki exclaimed, sounding a lot faker than he intended.
“Yep. You won.” Langa stopped his board next to Reki’s, uncharacteristically calm about the loss.
“Hey man,” said Reki, nudging the other’s arm. “You good?”
“I could say the same to you,” he retorted. “You barely talked on the way here, and you keep avoiding my eyes. It’s not like you, Reki.”
The redheaded boy laughed nervously, staring off to the side. “Wh-what? I’m doing great! I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“No, something is definitely off. You’ve been acting weird since that last girl confessed to me.” Langa grabbed the other boy’s face in his hands. “I don’t like seeing you all upset. I’m here for you if you ever want to talk.”
Reki stayed silent for a second, still not meeting Langa’s gaze. He took a second to suck in a deep breath. “I overheard you and that girl from the school gates.”
“I see.” Langa’s hands dropped from Reki’s cheeks. “Do you… do you like her? Is that why you’re upset?”
“What? No! I—” He sighed deeply before muttering, “You said you liked someone.”
“O-oh. Do you… do you know who it is?”
Reki groaned loudly, messing up his hair and scrunching up his face to hold back his tears. “No, I don’t know who it is! And that’s what makes it even worse! No one’s ever stuck around as long as you have, and I’m scared, okay? I’m scared that one day you’ll leave me behind for someone else, just like everyone else has. I know that I’m really loud and annoying and difficult to talk to, and I know that I’m doing a really terrible job of hiding the fact that I have a massive crush on you, but I just don’t want you to leave me behind!” Ah, crap. He was definitely crying now. Dammit, I just told him that I liked him, he thought. There’s no way he’d want to stay after this. I’ve ruined it.
“Reki, you…” Langa glanced around, at a loss of what to do. After thinking for a few seconds, he dug through his bag and pulled out a small box of chocolates. “Here, for you.”
“You realize giving me the chocolate that girls used to confess to you isn’t gonna make me feel better,” he mumbled.
“That’s not what this is,” Langa responded shyly. “Yesterday when you told me about Japanese Valentine’s Day, I wanted to make you chocolate. So this isn’t from a girl. It’s from me.”
Reki blinked slowly, as if moving too quickly would somehow make Langa run away. “Is that why you couldn’t come to the skate park yesterday? You were making chocolate?”
“For the record I initially thought the chocolates were just, like, a friendship thing since that’s the way it is in Canada, so I made it for Miya and Shadow and Cherry and Joe, too. But then when we got to school I realized that they were a romance thing and I wasn’t sure if you felt the same way I did so I didn’t give them to you but…” he trailed off, gesturing awkwardly with his hands. “What I mean to say is that the person I like is you, Reki. You’re my best friend, but you’re also my crush.”
“You… what. No, you’re messing with me.”
“Why would I joke about something like this?”
“Langa…” Reki immediately grabbed the other boy’s shoulders and started shaking. “Do you have any idea how many nights I stayed up trying to figure out if you were into guys? And yet, apparently, you’ve liked me back this whole time! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Well why didn’t you tell me?”
“…Dang. You got me there.” Wiping the remaining tears from his face, Reki made grabby hands at Langa, prompting him to hand over the box of chocolates. “Gimme. I might be crying right now but I’m not gonna pass on my first ever Valentine’s Day chocolates. Aww, you drew a little skateboard. That’s sweet.”
“I still don’t believe you’ve never received chocolate before. You’re so nice! You’re like a puppy.”
“Hey! Well then I guess some people just don’t like puppies.”
Langa laughed, the sound warm and melodious to Reki’s ears. “Well I like puppies. A lot. But I can’t believe you didn’t realize I was gay either, though. I thought it was kind of obvious.”
“Well it wasn’t obvious to me!”
“Everyone at my school in Canada knew, so I guess I kind of forgot that it wasn’t just common knowledge I guess. Or maybe you’re just an idiot.”
“I am not an idiot!”
The blue-haired boy smiled and poked Reki in the cheek. “Yes you are.”
“Well I’m your idiot, which means my idiocy is now your problem.” He pouted and stuck his tongue out at Langa.
“Ah. Maybe I don’t like you all that much after all,” he responded, tone monotonous and sarcastic.
“Hey!!! You don’t get to give me chocolate and then decide that we don’t get to be boyfriends!”
Langa blinked at Reki before tucking a lock of the redhead’s hair behind his ear. “Well do you want to be? Boyfriends, I mean.”
He sucked in a breath and nodded. “Yeah. I would.”
Langa’s hand lingered on Reki’s cheek, both boys blushing furiously and not daring to move. Slowly, Langa brought his other hand up to Reki’s face and asked, “Can I kiss you?”
“Yeah.”
Langa leaned in closer to Reki’s face, close enough that he could feel his breath. The redhead screwed his eyes shut, unsure as to what he should be doing. All of his attention was focused on the feeling of Langa’s cool hands on either side of his face and his breath mingling with his. Slowly, Langa leaned forwards and pressed his lips to Reki’s. The kiss only lasted a second, but it felt like an eternity.
As Langa pulled away, Reki’s eyes fluttered open and he let out a squeak. “Cute…” whispered Langa, not realizing that he said that aloud.
“Hey, that was my first kiss, you’re not allowed to make fun of me,” Reki said with a pout. Langa’s face immediately reddened, and he turned away, pressing a hand to his mouth. “Hey, I said no making fun of me!”
“N-no! I’m just… I’m happy that I got to be your first.”
He’s adorable. Reki grinned wide and threw his arm around Langa, who yelped in surprise. “Well, we came here to skate, didn’t we? I wanna skate with my new boyfriend!”
“Idiot. We skate all the time.”
“But we’re dating now, it’s different. It'll be like a date! Now it won’t be weird for me to kiss your injuries when you get hurt.”
“Hmm. Only if I get to kiss yours.”
“Deal.” Reki grabbed Langa’s hand and brought it up to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of his knuckles. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Langa.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Reki.”
---
Bonus:
Reki threw open the door to Joe’s restaurant, panting from skating there all the way from his house. “Help I tried to make poutine for Langa for White Day tomorrow since he’s Canadian but I think I messed up because it’s all burnt now and I don’t know what to…! Oh.”
Cherry was sitting on the counter, yukata half undone. His arms were thrown around Joe’s neck, who’s shirt was on the floor next to them. His knee was pressed between Cherry’s legs, and both of them had various bruises and markings around their necks. Their lips were red and swollen, and they were both panting and sweating a little. Reki thanked the gods that he didn’t come at a later time, or he might have seen something even worse than this.
“You idiot! I thought you said you closed the restaurant?!” Cherry yelled, yanking on the back of Joe’s hair.
“I did close the restaurant! The sign clearly says ‘closed.’”
“Did you not lock the place?!”
“I would have, but someone was so desperate to fuck me that I got a little distracted and didn’t have time!”
“Language! Reki is right there!”
Joe groaned and bent down to grab his shirt and put it back on. “Ugh, fine. Well then? What do you need?”
“Dang it. I owe Langa and Miya a drink now,” muttered Reki.
“What was that?”
“Nothing! Nothing…” He nodded awkwardly, not wanting to look at the two men. “But could you help me make poutine? It’s for Langa, since it’s White Day tomorrow.”
“So you finally worked up the guts to confess to him?” Joe said, grinning knowingly.
“Well technically… wait hey! You knew?”
Cherry sighed. “Everyone knew, Reki. It was kind of obvious.”
“Dang…”
“Well, who confessed first?” asked Joe. “I need to know so I can win my bet with Cherry.”
“He doesn’t need to know about the bet!” The other man responded, slapping Joe in the arm.
Reki laughed sheepishly and said, “Well, we both really confessed at the same time, but technically I went first.”
“Fuck.”
“Language,” laughed Joe, ruffling the other man’s pink hair. He stretched his arms out and groaned before dusting himself off and turning back to Reki. “Good job, man. Now what was it that you said you wanted? Poutine? I can probably help with that.”
Reki beamed and followed the man into the kitchen. I’m so excited to give it to Langa tomorrow.