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Reki paced his workshop, chewing on the end of a pencil as he thought. Langa’s birthday was coming up in just a few days, which in and of itself would have him worrying over a present normally. But add to that the fact that they’d only recently got together, officially? Yeah, he knew there was no way he could risk screwing this up and potentially ruining their relationship. He had to get everything exactly perfect- Langa didn’t deserve any less.
“Maybe I could… no, that’s not good enough,” he mumbled, flipping through his sketchbooks. Sure, he could always make him a new board, but something about that felt like it wasn’t… enough. He felt like he had to step up his game, somehow, but he had no clue how to do that. What did normal people do for their partner’s birthday? Go on fancy dates? He didn’t think he had enough money to go to an expensive restaurant, other than Sia La Luce. But they went there all the time, so that wouldn’t work either.
“Why does coming up with the perfect birthday present have to be so hard,” he huffed, slumping down into a seat.
“Don’t tell me you’re complaining about your boyfriend again,” a voice said from the doorway behind him, making him jump and whirl around.
“Koyomi!”
“What? Am I wrong?” Reki didn’t respond, only turning back around and looking despondently at his notebook again. Koyomi walked up next to him and looked over his shoulder.
“Don’t tell me these aren’t good enough for you,” she said, and Reki gave her a flat look.
“He’s my boyfriend now!”
“Trust me, you don’t need to remind me,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Look, if this isn’t romantic mushy-gushy enough for you, why don’t you ask someone who’s already in a relationship?” Reki wrinkled his nose.
“I’m not going to ask Mom!” he complained. Koyomi shrugged.
“Then find someone else to ask, or sit here and suffer. I’m not going to tell you how to live your life,” she said, before leaving. Reki sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back, lost in thought. Someone else in a romantic relationship… Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he jumped up. He knew who to ask.
-
“So you want advice for what to do for Langa’s birthday,” Cherry said, tapping his fan against his chin. “You know him best, so I don’t fully understand why you felt the need to ask me.”
“Nothing I can come up with is good enough! I don’t know what to do now that we’re dating, it makes things, I don’t know, different.”
“That does complicate things, I suppose,” he conceded. “Navigating romantic relationships is unfamiliar territory, and so it follows that you would struggle.” Reki huffed.
“So are you going to help me, or...?” Cherry seemed to consider it for a moment.
“It’s not like I have anything else to do. Now, be quiet. Carla, where’s the nearest florist?”
“I can’t get Langa flowers!” Reki protested, speaking over Carla as she read out an address. “That’s too, I don’t know, cheesy! And besides, what if he’s allergic? Or if he hates them?” Cherry gave him a flat look.
“That boy is head over heels for you, it’s impossible for him to hate anything you get him. But if you insist…” He looked off in the distance for a moment, lost in thought.
“There’s that park that just installed a couple of skate ramps,” Joe called from the other room. “You could pack a picnic, make a cute lunch date out of it,” he added, walking in. Reki frowned, unconvinced.
“As if you could plan a date, you blundering gorilla. Do I have to remind you of last Tuesday?” Cherry scoffed.
“Hey! It’s not my fault there was construction!”
“If you had talked to me instead of trying to surprise me, I could’ve told you that road’s been-” Reki cleared his throat awkwardly, not entirely sure if he should leave or not. He’d long gotten used to their fights, but that didn’t mean he knew what he should do during them. So, instead, he did his best to steer back onto the original topic
“But wouldn’t going to the park just be the same as us hanging out? It doesn’t feel like it would be very… date-like. We go to parks and eat lunch together all the time!” he pointed out.
“If you want it to be a date, then you have to act like it’s a date,” Cherry said. “Even if it is a walk through a construction zone,” he added, with a side eye at Joe. “Wear nicer clothes, find a spot that’s more secluded to walk. Compliment his outfit, hold his hand, flirt with him. Tell him you love him. And most of all, follow his lead. If you try to do something and he doesn’t like it, don’t force the matter.” Reki felt like he should’ve been taking notes as Cherry continued talking, outlining some of the finer details of the date. His head was spinning with the sheer amount of detail he was going to and- wait, was he just describing one of his dates? Would that even work for him?
“Kaoru, I think that’s enough. You’re overwhelming him,” Joe interrupted, putting a hand on Reki’s shoulder and squeezing gently. “Hey Reki, why don’t you and I come up with a lunch menu for Langa’s birthday? We can make a bunch of things and then you can pick whichever ones you want, and I’ll show you how to make them,” Joe offered, and Reki nodded.
“That sounds great, thanks Joe. And thanks for the advice Che-” Reki froze at the look on Cherry’s face. He was suddenly struck with the memory of the last time he’d called him Cherry outside of S, and had to quickly backpedal. “Uh, sorry, I- I meant Mom- I meant! Bye!” he squeaked, quickly running out of the room, his face burning. Why had he said that? Why did he have to say that? He had just been so scared of him being mad at him for calling him Cherry outside of S that he just blurted out the next thing that came to mind! But why did it have to be Mom? Of all of the possible names? How was he going to face him or Joe again now? He slumped down on the floor of the kitchen and groaned, burying his face in his hands. If only he could become part of the wall to escape his embarrassment.
“Hey kid, you okay?” Joe asked, walking in and crouching down next to him. Because of course he had followed him.
“I’m never going to be able to look Cherry in the face again, but other than that, I’m just peachy,” he mumbled. Joe laughed, not unkindly.
“What, because you called him Mom? Nah, he doesn’t care. He’d die before he’d admit it, but,” Joe lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “he probably likes that you see him as a parental figure.” Reki blinked.
“Really?” he asked, disbelief mixed with traces of hope in his voice. Joe nodded.
“You’re a good kid, Reki,” he said, ruffling his hair affectionately, “And he’s proud of you, even if he’s too much of a dumbass to say it. We both are.” Reki… didn’t know what to say. So he didn’t say anything, instead just staring at his knees. Joe and Cherry were proud of him? His heroes, the people he’d looked up to for so long… not only did he meet them, he had made them proud .
And then he had gone and called one of them Mom-
Before he could start spiraling back into a pit of embarrassment, Joe slapped him on the back lightly.
“Why don’t we get started on that lunch?” he offered, breaking Reki out of his thoughts. He paused, before giving him a grin. It was better than having to think about this situation any longer, at the very least.
“Yeah,” he said, determination in his voice as he got to his feet. He could be embarrassed later, but for now, he was on a mission. For Langa.
Several hours later and with armfuls of groceries, he managed to open the door to his house, smiling. He had a plan.
-
Reki straightened the collar of his button down nervously, carefully looking at himself in the mirror for any small flaw or imperfection. Today was the day. He and Langa had agreed to meet up for a date in the park, and now he was about to go and meet up with him. He just had to stick to Cherry’s plan, and make sure absolutely nothing went wrong, and this whole day would be just as perfect as he wanted it to be. He just had to make sure he didn’t screw anything up. No problem. He could do this. He could do this! He just had to keep telling himself that and everything would go exactly as planned.
He let out a deep breath, checking his reflection one more time before heading out.
As he took the food he’d made early that morning out of the refrigerator, he happened to glance at his watch, and felt his heart sink. If he didn't hurry now, he was going to be late, which would ruin everything and-
He haphazardly threw the rest of the food into the basket before grabbing his skateboard and rushing over to Langa’s house.
He arrived, all the care into making sure he looked presentable gone, ruined by the wind as he had rushed over. He was still two minutes late, but surely that had to be fine, it was fine, he was fine. He rang the doorbell, and frantically tried to make it not look like he’d gone at top speed almost the entire way over. As he was desperately trying to get his hair to look mildly less windblown, the door opened.
“Langa! Hi!” He said, trying to act casual. He couldn’t help but notice that Langa was dressed like he usually was, which meant that Reki was over dressed, as if this whole situation wasn’t enough of a mess as it was.
“Hey Reki. You look nice,” Langa said. Damn it, that was supposed to be his line!
“Uh, you too!” Reki said, his voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat, hoping that he looked calmer than he felt. “Are you ready to go?” Langa gave him a strange look, but still nodded.
“Great! Uh, okay, follow me,” Reki said, holding out his hand for Langa to take. That, at least, he knew how to do.
They couldn’t keep holding hands though, not unless they both wanted to fall off of their skateboards, so unfortunately Reki had to let go of Langa’s hand before he wanted to. So again, he just ended up looking like a fool, great -
When they finally did get to the park, it was far more crowded than he had anticipated. Children were running around left and right, making it impossible to find a place where the two of them could have even a semblance of privacy. After a while and several failed attempts to find a quiet place to sit down, Reki managed to find a spot that was off to the side, and hopefully far enough away that they could actually have a quiet moment together.
“Sorry it uh, took so long to get here,” he apologized, giving Langa a sheepish grin. Langa gave him a curious look.
“Why are you apologizing? I like spending time with you, however that ends up happening.” Reki huffed.
“Yeah, well, it’s your birthday and-”
“Watch out!” Langa suddenly shouted, his eyes going wide. Before Reki could even respond, Langa had grabbed him out of the way as a massive black dog jumped out from behind a tree, almost knocking Reki over. Though, while Langa had gotten him out of the way of the dog, that didn’t mean that he was free from disaster. As the dog ran away, chased by its owner, Reki could only stare at the basket of food he’d been so careful to keep steady and even on the entire trip to the park. He had been holding it when that dog had almost knocked him over, and now… Half of it was spilled out on the grass, a completely ruined mess. And even what was left surely couldn't be edible.
Reki felt his heart sink as he looked at the disaster that was the lunch that he had made for Langa. He’d spent so long on it, making it taste and look as good as he could, and now all of that effort was for nothing. He kneeled down on the grass, staring dejectedly at the half empty basket.
“Did you… you made all of this for me?” Langa asked, with surprise and joy in his voice. Reki couldn’t look him in the eye. Why was he so happy, when their date was completely and utterly ruined? This was the final nail in the coffin for sure. The most he could hope for at this point was that Langa would forgive him for completely ruining his birthday.
“Yeah, but it’s all ruined now.” He couldn’t believe this had happened. He had put so much of himself into this to make it as perfect as he could and yet in the end-
“It’s so good!” Reki’s head snapped up. Langa was currently talking through a mouth of poutine, his eyes shining. Reki paused, having to piece together what was happening. What? How could he say that mess of ruined food was anything close to good? And was it even safe to eat at this point? And where did he get that fork from?
“But-” Langa shook his head, his mouth too full to say anything. So instead, he just handed Reki a forkful of poutine, and, well, who was he to object when his boyfriend looked at him with those puppy dog eyes?
Reki took a bite, and… it actually wasn’t bad? It might not look the best anymore, sure, but it still tasted decent. And was surprisingly grass free.
As he chewed, he leaned against Langa’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry this has all been such a disaster,” he mumbled. Langa turned to look at him.
“A disaster? Reki, this has to be one of the best birthdays I’ve had!” Reki sighed, not making eye contact.
“You don’t have to lie to me, I know it was a complete catastrophe. Honestly, I’m surprised anything is even still edible,” he said, gesturing at the basket. Langa gave him a smile.
“Even if it is a mess, so what? All that’s important to me is that I got to spend the day with you.” Despite the kind words… part of Reki felt like that still wasn’t enough. Like he wasn’t enough. If he had just tried a little harder, maybe asked Cherry to help him make some back up plans for the whole thing, then maybe it wouldn't have all gone so horribly.
A gentle hand touching his shoulder abruptly brought him out of his thoughts. “Hey, why don’t we go back to my house. We… could make some more poutine together?” Langa offered, catching Reki off guard and making him laugh slightly. Of course that’s what he’d suggest. He gave Langa a small, tentative smile, accepting his help as he got to his feet. As soon as he was standing, he pulled Langa into a tight hug, ignoring the sound of surprise he made.
“I love you, Langa. Happy birthday,” he mumbled. It only took a moment for Langa to squeeze him back, pressing a kiss under his ear before he whispered,
“I love you, too.”