Work Text:
It happened one morning when he was walking home from the grocery store.
He and Reki had stayed up all night skating, and then when they got home they cuddled on the couch and watched movies all night— mostly rom-coms, which Reki had pretended to hate, but Langa had definitely caught him crying at a few too many cheesy moments, and laughing at a dumb joke one too many times to believe that Reki actually hated them. Reki had fallen asleep during the third movie, and Langa carried him into their bedroom and gently tucked him in before curling up next to him and pulling him in close, nuzzling his face into Reki’s impossibly red hair.
He woke up early, way earlier than what was normal for him, especially since Reki was still asleep. It had become a habit for them, almost, Reki waking up early and cooking them both breakfast, Langa waking up only when he could smell the bacon sizzling in the frying pan. He’d drag himself out of bed, still half-asleep, and walk into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Reki and leaving small kisses all over the back of his neck. Sometimes he’d even fall asleep, still standing with his arms around Reki, only being woken up when Reki would gently nudge him because he needed to grab the eggs or another pan.
But since he woke up earlier than Reki, Langa was determined to be the one cooking breakfast this time. They had only lived together for a few weeks now, but he felt bad that Reki was the one constantly doing all of the cooking in the house. Granted, Langa knew he wasn’t that good of a cook, but it’s the thought that counts, right? I mean, he could probably make scrambled eggs decently. Maybe.
So he had gently slid out of bed, careful not to wake Reki up since that would just ruin the surprise, quickly putting on the clothes he was wearing the night before— because opening the closet and rummaging around for clean clothes would definitely be too loud— and slipped on his shoes, hoping it would muffle his footsteps as he snuck out of the front door as quietly as possible. He knew they had run out of bacon and eggs the morning prior, Reki had complained about having to go grocery shopping again even though they just went last weekend. Langa had whined about it too, he hated grocery shopping, but he really wanted to make breakfast for Reki.
Langa decided that he’d go shopping at the store closer to their house since he wanted to get back before Reki woke up. They never went to this one, because their selection of food wasn’t as good as the grocery store that was a little further away, but time was Langa’s most important deciding factor. Besides, all he needed was bacon, eggs, milk, and some butter. Sure, it was more of a convenience store than a grocery store, but he was sure it would at least have what he needed.
Turns out though, it did not. He found the eggs and the milk, but he couldn’t find any bacon or butter no matter how hard he tried. At first, he assumed he might have just been misreading labels, since he still hadn’t improved his Japanese reading skills all that much, but when he asked the woman working at the counter if they did have any bacon or butter that he wasn’t finding, she confirmed that they didn’t.
Langa sighed, and decided he’d purchase the milk and eggs here, but look up the next closest grocery store. His GPS told him it would be about an eight minute walk, but he made the walk take only about four minutes considering he practically ran— while cradling the milk in eggs in his arms since he didn’t want to risk breaking them.
Thankfully, this store had what he needed, and it only took him about five more minutes to finally leave with what he needed to cook Reki breakfast— and a very clear understanding of why Reki insisted that they go to the grocery store that was further away. Going to multiple stores just to buy four things was exhausting.
Having no idea where he was, Langa pulled out his phone and looked up the directions to get back to their apartment. Only ten minutes away if he took a shortcut— good.
Langa was on his way home— arms piled high with the groceries he didn’t want to risk dropping— when it happened.
He passed by a window hidden in some back alley he had never seen in his life, despite how close it was to home. If he hadn’t been so focused on making sure the eggs that were tediously balanced on his arm didn’t fall, he would have missed it.
But there, in the small little window, was a puppy staring right at him. And he probably would have ignored the puppy, wouldn’t have even considered going into the shop, had the puppy not had the exact same amber colored eyes that Reki did.
Looking at the groceries in his arms and back at the puppy, Langa had to make a decision. He could go home, cook Reki breakfast like he was planning on doing anyways, and maybe bring the puppy up in conversation. But maybe, knowing his less-than-great luck, by the time he and Reki had decided that they should get the puppy, it would already be adopted. Gone, forever, with no chance of Langa ever seeing it again. That alone is what spurred him on when he walked into the small little shop in the alley.
“How much is that puppy?” Langa asked as soon as he stepped foot into the shop. The employee currently cleaning a rabbit cage snapped her head up at his abrupt, loud entrance.
“Which one?” She asked, wiping her hands on her apron and setting down the bag of rabbit food.
“The one in the front window,” Langa gently set his groceries down on the counter, the woman looking him up and down in the process.
“Oh, the chocolate lab. He’s— well you know, uh,” the woman paused, giving Langa another once over, “you know.. puppies aren’t something you should really buy on a whim,” she glanced at his groceries that were now sitting on her shop counter.
“It’s not— I mean, I know. I’ve had dogs before. It’s a surprise for my boyfriend, so..” Langa looked back at the puppy. The puppy resembled Reki so much that he felt an instant connection with it, and he knew that Reki would take one look at the puppy and love him, just like Langa did with Reki. While Langa hadn’t actually had a dog since he was a child, he knew how to take care of one. And he and Reki could learn how to actually train a dog together. They had their own apartment now, and Langa would be lying if he said he didn’t get warm and fuzzy on the inside thinking of adding a puppy to his and Reki’s own little family.
“Well, if you’re sure you’ll take the best care of him..” The woman seemed hesitant, but she went up to the crate the puppy was kept in and gently took him out, letting him run around Langa’s feet. He sniffed at Langa’s shoes and then barked at them, lowering himself to the ground and frantically wagging his tail, which made Langa smile so hard his eyes crinkled up in the corners. “His adoption fee has actually been lowered a lot. He’s the last of the litter that someone abandoned here. No one wanted him, since he’s the runt.”
Langa picked up the puppy, cradling him in his arms and scratching behind his ears.
“He’s perfect.”
The woman smiled as Langa handed her his card to pay for everything, including a red collar and leash that Langa had picked out solely because it matched Reki’s hair. She also handed Langa all of the paperwork for the puppy’s vaccinations and vet appointments that had already been taken care of, telling him that the puppy wouldn’t need to see the vet until he needed his next round of vaccinations.
Langa walked, with his groceries somehow balanced in one arm, and the puppy and a bag of dog food in the other. He didn’t want to let the puppy walk on the ground right now, solely because he was still a baby and it was incredibly hot— Langa was smart enough to know that the pavement would probably burn his paw pads. Once he reached his and Reki’s apartment building, he walked through the front door of the lobby and set the puppy down on the ground, letting him sniff everything around, while Langa maintained a tight grip on the leash— he may be overly panicked about the puppy somehow escaping, even though he was holding on to the leash so tight his knuckles started turning white.
Finally, with some gentle coaxing tugs on the leash, Langa and the puppy managed to make it up to the third floor of the building where his and Reki’s apartment was, and opened the door. Langa could hear music playing softly from their bathroom, which meant that Reki had just woken up and was currently in the shower.
Right. He really, probably, definitely should have asked Reki before he just.. brought a dog home. Were they even allowed to have dogs in their apartment? Langa had no idea, since when they were looking for apartments they really just wanted the cheapest thing that wasn’t totally falling apart, not caring about anything else.
Amidst Langa’s panic about bringing home a dog without consulting Reki first, the bathroom door opened, and Langa could do absolutely nothing but stand there, frozen, eyes flitting back and forth between the puppy currently winding his way around Langa’s legs, and Reki. Reki glanced down at the puppy, back up at Langa, and down again. Langa could physically see the gears turning in his head, before Reki made a loud squawking sound— which resulted in the puppy barking at him.
“Langa! What the hell?! Where did you— I mean, how did you— what!” Reki rushed over to the puppy, picking him up and immediately cradling him in his arms.
“Are you mad?” was the first thing Langa could blurt out, worried that he had done something terribly stupid.
“Of course I’m not mad! Look at him! He’s so cute with his little paws and his ears and, and—” Reki trailed off, too busy cooing over the puppy. The puppy seemed fond of him immediately, licking Reki’s cheek and letting him pet his belly. “Where did you even get him?” Reki looked back up at Langa, his eyes nearly sparkling, and Langa could cry at the sight of it. Seeing Reki smiling so hard that his eyes scrunched up in the corners while holding a puppy that Langa had bought for him was nearly too much for his heart to handle.
“Well, I woke up early this morning and I wanted to be the one to cook you breakfast for once,” Reki giggled at that and gave him a knowing smile before Langa continued, setting the groceries that he had purchased on their dining room table, “so I wanted to go to the grocery store and get the stuff to do that before you woke up! But then the closest store didn’t have everything I needed, so I had to find a second one, and then I was lost!” Reki lost his composure at the last part of his statement, doubling over in laughter and wheezing for breath, “Shut up! It isn’t funny!” Langa cried, pouting when Reki laughed even harder at that.
“You, you — hah! — you got l-lost!” Reki snorted, which made Langa cover his mouth to suppress his own laughter, because Reki absolutely hated whenever anyone pointed out that he snorts when he laughs.
“Yes, okay! I got lost! So I had to use my GPS to get home, and I passed by this little animal shelter on the way home that I had never seen, and the puppy was in the window, and, and I couldn’t just leave him there!” Langa plopped down on the ground next to Reki, burying his face in his hands.
Reki sat next to Langa, the puppy still cradled in his arms, and bumped Langa’s shoulder with his own, “Hey. I’m not mad, I’ve always wanted a dog. Besides, he’s really cute,” Reki smiled, putting the puppy in Langa’s lap.
Langa groaned, picking up the puppy underneath his arms and holding him in front of his face, “He’s so cute. He has your eyes.”
Reki snorted again, flopping onto his back on the floor and clutching his stomach, “Langa, man, you’ve gotta quit making me laugh. You know that’s literally not possible, right?”
“But he does! Look!” Langa shoved the puppy directly into Reki’s face.
“I guess they’re kinda the same color,” Reki smiled, taking the puppy from Langa and setting him on his chest, the puppy quickly curling up and falling asleep, “What’s his name anyways?”
“He didn’t have one,” Langa replied, laying down next to Reki on their uncomfortably hard kitchen floor, “The woman at the shop said that we should pick a name for him.”
“Hm,” Reki furrowed his eyebrows, looking down at the puppy and then back up at the ceiling before his eyes widened in excitement, “We should name him Skateboard!”
Langa barked out a laugh so loud that the puppy woke, barking at him before settling back down on Reki’s chest, “We are — pffft — we are not naming our dog Skateboard.”
Reki pouted then, lifting up one of the puppy’s ears and rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger, “Well then what do you think we should name him?”
“Poutine.”
“If we can’t name him Skateboard we are not naming him Poutine.”
“Why not?”
“It's food!”
“Cherry and Joe’s cat is named Burnt Lasagna!”
“We aren’t naming the dog Poutine!”
“Fine!” Langa huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his head away from Reki, pretending to pout before chancing a glance back at Reki and giggling when he did. “How about.. Moose?”
“Moose? Like those terrifying deer things back in Canada?”
“They’re way bigger than deer.”
“I know! But that’s what you’re talking about?”
“Yeah,” Langa smiled, picking up the puppy’s paw, his smile growing impossibly wider when the puppy cracked his eyes open for a split second before falling back asleep.
“I like it,” Reki declared, fiddling with the puppy’s collar.
Langa looked down at Moose and then back up at Reki. He had his own apartment with the love of his life, and now they have their first dog together. In the first few months of knowing Reki, he could have never imagined a life like this with him. He knew he loved Reki from the start, but he never chanced the thought that his feelings would be reciprocated. But when Langa had fumbled his way through a very poor confession when they graduated highschool— he was too nervous about being rejected to even attempt to do it properly, but he just was not able to hold in his feelings any longer— Reki had returned his feelings tenfold, tackling him in a hug and kissing Langa’s face all over. And now, Langa couldn’t imagine a life without Reki in it. Working all day, skating all night, and going home to their bed, falling asleep in each other’s embrace. And now they have a new addition, one that Reki will insist should sleep in the bed with them despite the already limited space. Langa let his eyes linger for a while longer on the sight of Reki and Moose laying together on the floor, Reki’s eyes beginning to drift shut.
“Okay, I’ll make us breakfast now.”