Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The setting sun sparkled across the sea as the wind gently pulled at the water. A pelican flew through the air before landing near a seaside store. The tranquil scene came to a sudden halt as a chair scraped the floor as Baxter readjusted himself for the fourth time. His clients, Jude Eckert and Scott Adam, had left the table to greet the rest of their party all but twenty minutes ago. The itch of impatience loomed over Baxter, but he quickly waved the feeling away with a brush of his fingers through his hair—a habit he picked up over the years. He understood the importance of clients having their loved ones there with them during such a special occasion, so of course, there was no reason to get frustrated over waiting a few extra minutes.

He wasn’t frustrated.

Not entirely, anyway. Change came a step at a time.

Baxter sighed, lips quirking up slightly. He gently rested his chin against his hand as his attention returned to the sea. While he never got close enough to truly experience what it had to offer, he always admired it from afar. A seagull floating near the pier caught his attention with a flutter of its feathers, the subtle black and white patterning not failing to catch his eye. He never really liked the things; they were much too aggressive than they had any need to be, but he certainly couldn’t deny their beauty. Before his thoughts could wander further, a voice snapped him out of it.

“Here we are,” Scott announced.

Jude introduced the rest of the group to Baxter before sitting down next to Scott, and Baxter shifted his attention from the sea to his clients. As he scanned everyone at the table, his eyes narrowed, and his smile dimmed. He wasn’t expecting to see an old face during this meeting, much less the groom’s sister.

“Of course you two had to be related. Why wouldn’t you be?” Baxter asked sarcastically, almost to himself. It seemed that Jude was just as disbelieving as Baxter was about the situation, as he immediately jumped on the passing comment.

“You know Miranda?” Jude questioned, incredulous.

“Ah, well…” Baxter brushed off the question with the amount of grace only acquired through a lifetime of practice. He looked back at the sea as he combed his fingers through his hair again.

It wasn’t long before another voice cut through the tense atmosphere. Although their voice differed from what Baxter remembered, he could identify the person behind it. Terri—was it? So the two of them had finally gotten together. Miranda struggled to answer, unable to confirm. This didn’t surprise Baxter. After all, it had been five years, and he had ensured he played an impermanent role in their lives; a temporary friendship; a passing memory. He tapped his cheek and silently observed their interaction while he thought about his next move. He could add some quick, playful banter. Or perhaps he could just proceed smoothly to the main point of their meeting. Whatever it was, he was sure he could accomplish it. After all, it wasn’t necessary for anyone to recognize him. He had fulfilled his role long ago.

“Perhaps they would’ve recognized you if you were wearing black and white, huh, Baxter?” All Baxter’s thoughts dissolved after hearing those words. He cracked his palms against the tabletop and stood up so abruptly that he almost knocked his chair over. In but a moment, his poise completely vanished.

His heart leapt. As Baxter’s eyes wandered around the table, his suspicion was confirmed. There he was. Him and his raven-black hair, his golden eyes, his freckled face. It was Rei.

On one hand, Baxter was positively melting; it had been so long since he’d seen that face, let alone heard that voice. On the other hand, it was a sign of absolute failure; Baxter was never meant to see him again. Doing so meant digging up old memories. It meant hurting Rei again.

Rei’s expression remained stoic except for the faint smile he had after teasing Baxter. Before Baxter had a chance to respond, Terri had finally put the pieces together. “Baxter‽” they gasped. The restaurant had gone quiet, but the group didn’t seem to notice nor care.

“That’s him, yeah,” Jude confirmed. He turned towards Rei and asked, “How do you know this dude?” He didn't give Rei the chance to respond before turning his attention to Baxter. “How do you know my little sister?” Baxter was at a complete loss for words about the situation. He let out an unsteady breath as he looked at the person he had shared his summer with all those years ago—the person he tried to forget as time passed.

Baxter had left him so many years ago on his own accord, and he felt it was only necessary to try to erase Rei from his memory as well. After all, what good were the memories that would only weigh him down? That would only remind him of his own failure, as he had ruined everything, like always. But that was the fault in his mentality all those years ago. He could never forget everyone; he could never forget Rei. The thought of reaching out had crossed his mind several times, but he could never find himself able to do it. He couldn’t tear Rei’s wounds open.

Baxter plastered a grin on his face as he ran his hands down the silk edges of his jacket in an attempt to soothe himself.

“Life is full of unexpected coincidences, hm?” he finally said, voice cracking slightly. He smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Once he determined that there was no escaping the situation, Baxter decided it was best to explain, hoping to keep the group’s discomfort at bay. “As you might vaguely remember, my name is Baxter Ward. Five years ago, I stayed in Sunset Bird for a summer vacation during a semester off in college. We spent a bit of time together then. By ‘we’, I mean the three of you, along with one other. Cove was his name, I believe.

“Now, in hopes of starting off on the right foot, let me apologize for my younger self. I was embarrassingly immature in how I handled our acquaintanceships, and I understand entirely if this is awkward.” It certainly was for him. But he had a job to do, and in order for him to do it, he needed to get everything out of the way. “Just know that I’m open to any ideas on how to accommodate working together. I am fully committed to ensuring Mr. Eckert and Mr. Adam have a wonderful wedding.” He caught Rei’s gaze for a moment. It was unreadable. He looked away and added, “That is the only reason I’m here.” While his words were aimed towards the group, it felt more like he was trying to convince himself. It felt strained.

“Huh,” Jude muttered as he put the pieces together. “Will this affect anything?”

“Terri, Miranda, Rei?” Scott asked. Everyone turned their attention to the three of them. After Terri and Miranda gave noncommittal answers, Baxter focused on Rei. Baxter’s heart beat as he waited for Rei to answer. His was the only answer that truly mattered.

“All that matters is that the wedding goes well,” Rei finally said.

“I appreciate that,” Baxter responded. It was as much as Baxter could hope for at the current moment. It was good that Rei didn’t seem to be bitter about what happened before, so all Baxter had to do now was keep a professional distance. In utter coincidence, they had met again—something that was never meant to happen. As much as he hated to prolong things unnecessarily, whether he liked it or not, Rei was part of the wedding party. That just meant that he would have to work around that.

While his smile still didn’t reach his eyes, it was much softer than before. The rest of the group smiled with relief. Baxter didn’t want to waste a beat before moving on. “Here…” Baxter delicately placed a stack of cards on the table. They were in his signature black and white style, but that was just out of formality. “I’ve got business cards for you. It has ways to contact me. Email, phone, the usual.”

After getting the group’s attention, he pulled out his phone. “If possible, I could use your numbers. That will be useful for keeping everyone informed. There’s a group chat for the wedding planning. I won’t text you privately.” He had one person in mind with those words. It was already a blunder to discuss his personal life, especially so soon. After he secured Terri’s and Miranda’s numbers, he thanked them.

When he turned to Rei, he discovered he was already looking at him. His expression was unreadable. After all these years, Baxter still had Rei’s number saved. Part of him was afraid that Rei would bring this up, but to his relief, he simply read out his number to him. Was it because Rei no longer had his number, or because he wanted to save Baxter from embarrassment? Although he could never admit it, he hoped it was the latter.

“Thank you for your cooperation. It’s settled,” Baxter announced with a business smile. Now that he had everything taken care of, there was no need for him to stay any longer. In fact, he couldn’t bear to stay any longer. With the relationships of his past suddenly resurfacing, he needed the time to process everything. Without waiting any further, he pulled out a ten-dollar bill and set it next to his business cards. “Please use this to pay for my coffee. I’ll be leaving now.”

“Already? But we haven’t even ordered yet,” Scott exclaimed.

“I don’t want to intrude on a meal between friends and family.” And that didn’t include him. “We’ve met– Exchanged numbers, and the first official planning meeting was arranged before the others arrived,” Baxter continued as he tugged at his collar. “I’ll leave you to catch up and discuss the next steps on your own terms. I will see some, or perhaps all, of you soon. Have a nice evening.” Baxter nodded his head towards them politely before quickly taking off.

It wasn’t until Baxter got into his car that he let out a deep breath and relaxed. He sunk into his seat and ran his fingers through his hair. The black interior of his car helped to calm him down enough to gather his thoughts. First: he was planning a wedding. No matter what got in his way, he’d have to continue doing his job—and professionally. Second: his ex-boyfriend was part of his clients’ planning party. This fact made it undeniably hard for Baxter to fulfill the first item on his list. While Rei didn’t say much during the day’s meeting, Baxter knew he’d want to talk to him sooner rather than later. With a loud sigh, Baxter buckled up then started the engine. Soon enough, he was on his way back home.

When Baxter unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped inside, he was overtaken by a rush of relief. He put his back to the front door and slid to the floor, sighing. All he could think about during the drive home was him and his smile. Baxter couldn’t believe it had been five whole years since they had last seen each other. Rei had changed a lot since before, but he was undoubtedly still the man he knew all those years ago.

He thought he had gotten over Rei, but meeting him again in person after all this time proved to him how wrong he was. His chest ached. He was a fool.

Before he could get any more lost in his thoughts, he pulled out his phone. Tomorrow would be their first official day of planning, and he needed to ensure that everyone was on the same page. 

Baxter groaned at that. The universe was messing with him on purpose. Getting through this seemed more impossible by the second.

It was another few minutes before Baxter finally decided to get up from the floor. Despite his relatively short trip to the restaurant, he was exhausted. He had never had an acquaintance as a client before, let alone old friends. An ex-boyfriend, on top of all of that, was unheard of. He ran his hands down his face as he walked into his room to get ready for bed. “Why is this happening to me?” he lamented.

Soon enough, Baxter was tucked into bed. While he would much rather stay up later, he didn’t want to regret that decision when he’d have to be up early in the morning. As much as he tried, he would never find mornings pleasant, but he could at least make them more bearable. The pillow against his cheek was cool, and the blanket wasn't too hot either, so why was he finding it so difficult to fall asleep? The reality was that his mind just would not turn off. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t clear his thoughts of him. That was when memories flooded in.

🪼🪼🪼

Baxter had just arrived in Sunset Bird, the place he’d be staying for the summer. Since he had just arrived in California, he hadn’t had the chance to pick up his actual ‘rental car’ yet. If everything went according to plan, he figured he would have it secured by the next day, which would give him plenty of time to think about where to start his first adventure.

As his taxi pulled up to the house he’d be staying in, he saw two boys who looked around his age sitting on the sidewalk. One had seafoam-green hair while the other’s was as dark as a raven. He wondered if they were his neighbors. He couldn’t imagine it being anyone else, given the town’s small size. When the vehicle came to a stop, Baxter pushed open the car door and exited gracefully, finally making his presence known. He smiled at the onlookers. “Well, hello there. Who might you two be?” he greeted.

As they both stood up, the green-haired boy replied, “We’re the neighbors.” Aha, suspicion confirmed. Now feeling as if it were fate, Baxter vaguely wondered if the trip wouldn’t be as bad as he originally imagined. His smile widened.

“Is that so? Hallelujah.” Eager to greet his new neighbors, Baxter quickly grabbed his luggage from the trunk, thanked the driver, then walked up to the sidewalk where the two of them were standing. “My name is Baxter Ward. It’s a pleasure to meet you, neighbors.” He offered his hand to the one with black hair, as he was the closest to him. The boy looked down at Baxter’s hand, and after a moment of hesitation, shook it.

“Uhm… hi there. My name is Rei Last. It’s nice to meet you too.” Baxter made a mental note in his head. And although he couldn’t place it, something about Rei seemed familiar. Aside from that, upon closer inspection, Rei’s eyes seemed to be slightly different colors. One seemed to be a golden brown while the other was more of just– well, gold. Baxter thought they were captivating, especially in contrast to his dark hair.

“Nice to meet you, Rei. I’m quite keen on getting to know you better this summer. We could be good friends. And you have beautiful eyes.” Rei looked at him, a little shocked. While it was hard to tell, Baxter saw what may have been a slight smile on the boy’s face.

A sputter sounded beside him, and he turned to face the boy with green hair. “And what’s your name?” Baxter held his hand out to him.

Instead of taking his hand, the boy crossed his arms. He didn’t look too impressed. Baxter simply dropped his hand, not feeling any less deterred than before. “I’m Cove,” the boy finally responded. Cove? That was a unique name. Baxter lit up once he heard that, even more intrigued than before. He inquired as to whether that was a nickname, but ‘Cove’ was in fact his real name. “Cove, that’s a gorgeous name. It fits you perfectly.”

Cove seemed to be at a loss for words. “I– what? It’s– it’s really not.”

“I agree. It’s the perfect name for you,” Rei chimed in before he gently nudged Cove with his elbow.

Baxter chuckled. “Not bad. It’s nice to know there’s someone here who agrees with me. Its spark may have faded for you, but I can assure you that for anyone else, it’s truly a thing to behold.” Cove’s cheeks turned red, and he looked away from Baxter and Rei. “I’m sorry, Cove. I like your name, so I wanted to let you know, but it wasn’t my intention to make you uncomfortable. I didn’t mean anything else by it. I’m patently against stepping on anyone’s toes.” He quietly chuckled to himself at the joke he was so used to making. After a moment of silence, he knew he needed to elaborate.

But Baxter’s smile dropped. He stared at Rei for a few moments, unable to put his finger on the sense of déjà vu that suddenly trickled over him. He tapped his finger to the side of his chin as he continued to think, watching from his peripheral as Rei looked at Cove in confusion. And then his face lit up.

Baxter pointed at Rei before sharing his revelation. “We’ve met before.”

Both Rei and Cove looked at him, frozen with confusion. Cove was the first to snap out of it. “What‽ When?” Baxter’s smile widened even more.

“That’s the wonderful part,” Baxter said as he continued to study Rei with a tilt of his head. “It’s embarrassing, but I haven’t quite remembered that part yet.” But Baxter was sure he had seen Rei before. He could never forget a face. Baxter laughed as Cove’s confusion only increased. This trip was already proving to be an interesting venture.

Baxter looked up at Rei again. This time, the boy’s face was focused, eyes trailing off into the left of space—no doubt trying to recall if he had ever seen Baxter before.

“Don’t tell me,” Baxter blurted out. “I’m getting there. It’ll come to me.” Rei nodded slowly. It seemed that he still hadn’t figured it out either. He continued to look Rei up and down as the boy could only stand there, unsure of what to do. All of a sudden. Baxter’s eyes widened.

With a snap of his fingers, he revealed the piece of information everyone was waiting to hear. “The Cypress! At the Summer Soiree! Of course,” he said, as if it were obvious. Baxter turned away, continuing to ramble off the details as he put the rest of the puzzle together. “Mm, that had to have been before any regionals, so, ah, at the time I was about fourteen years old. That makes it… five years ago from now, right?” He looked back at the other two.

Rei seemed to still be scrambling his brain for the rest of the details while Cove voiced his disbelief. “What? Are you kidding me? Is he serious? Did you really meet this guy at the country club five years ago?” No matter how he seemed to put it, Cove just couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

After another moment, Rei’s eyes lit up. He gasped as he covered his mouth with one hand and pointed at Baxter with the other. “You!” It almost sounded like an accusation.

Baxter chuckled. “Yes, me.”

“You– Wait, but you– You were that guy?” Rei asked in complete disbelief. “I suppose it makes sense, now that I’m remembering more clearly, but…” He trailed off. “It’s unbelievable that we’re meeting again, after all these years. You were a good dancer.”

That got a chuckle out of Baxter. “Thank you. You were very much as well.”

Cove raised his hand slightly. “I’m feeling kind of lost here.”

Baxter began to explain. “You see, my parents are members of The Cypress, although not in California. They happened to be passing through the state when they caught wind of the event, which is how I ended up joining that night.”

Rei nodded in understanding. “That must’ve been it.” He turned to Cove. “You were there with me, too, remember? We spent all night trying all the food they had at the table.” Cove nodded a little, then smiled as if he were remembering all the treats they had eaten that night. Rei continued. “At one point, I left to go dance. I was looking for a dance partner when I ran into this one boy. That must’ve been Baxter!”

“Indeed it was,” Baxter confirmed.

“How could I forget?” Rei asked himself. He turned to Baxter. “You said I had nice legs.”

“What?” Cove asked in confusion. He turned to Baxter.

Baxter only chuckled. That did seem to ring a bell. “Mm, how precocious. But, hey, if it was as true then as it is now, I can’t see why I wouldn’t have.”

“Oh, uhm,” Cove started, not quite knowing how to respond to this information. “Uhm. Interesting.”

Rei was just as lost on what to say. “Well, uhm, thank you?”

“Of course,” Baxter said easily. He snapped his fingers again. “Oh! Yes, that’s what I was going to say. I’m a ballroom dancer. Hence, the phrasing,” he clarified on his previous comment. Cove’s face seemed to relax a little at that.

“Oh… I don’t know much about that, but it sounds cool.”

“Once you get to know the basics, it’s not too difficult. And, well, if either of you are looking for a partner, I’d be happy to share a dance with you. I’m available.” It was an invitation in two regards. While Cove seemed to decline, Rei took a moment to think about it.

“Maybe sometime. I guess it would be interesting for us to dance again, after all these years.” Rei offered a little smile.

“As do I. I look forward to it then.”

For a few moments, it was silent. Then, Cove asked Baxter why he had chosen Sunset Bird. Baxter explained that he wanted to go somewhere during his off-semester, and that Sunset Bird was the place that his parents had chosen for him to stay. “They intended to send me somewhere that wouldn’t be too exciting, but I have a feeling their plans have already been foiled, considering the two of you live here.” It was a blessing, really, that he had already met two interesting people before he even stepped foot into his condo, including one that he had danced with so many years ago.

“I’m not speaking to you this way to try to score a hookup or romantic fling,” he explained. “It would be wrong of me to disrespect you like that. Though, I wouldn’t mind if things ended up that way either.” Not that he thought Cove would ever take him up on that offer. He sighed before continuing. “I’m flexible, and I can reel back on my comments if it makes you uncomfortable. In the end, the only thing I’m aiming for is to be your friend.”

Cove didn’t seem to know how to take any of that either, so he looked at Rei as he tried to find his words. “Um… I’m not interested in any of that with you, but– I guess we can be friends.” With Cove’s response sorted out, Baxter looked over at Rei to see what he thought.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Rei answered simply, waving his hand gently through the air. Baxter’s eyes tilted with satisfaction. Rei seemed to have somewhat of a playful personality as well. He was glad they were all working things out with each other. If everything continued to go well, perhaps they’d even get the chance to get to know each other better. Well, as much as Baxter was willing to let them learn.

“I’m glad to hear that. If either of you are free, I’d love to get to know you over the summer. With that being said though, I should work on getting my stuff inside. Goodbye for today.” And with a wave, Baxter promptly left the two of them to continue with whatever they were doing before his arrival. He unlocked the door to his condo, then stepped in.

His memories of the soiree came back to him. To think the boy he had danced with was now his neighbor… At least, temporarily. He began unpacking his bag as he recounted the events of that night.

The dance with Rei had been extraordinary. He remembered Rei looking a little nervous, as he probably wasn’t used to dancing with people nearly as much as Baxter was, especially in public. While he could tell Rei was no professional dancer, he could tell that he was no novice either, so Rei must’ve taken lessons at some point. Rei was able to keep up with his steps, and he was pleased by that. He wondered if Rei had improved since their first dance five years ago. Perhaps he'd get the chance to see for himself, if Rei chose to take Baxter up on his offer for real.

Not even thirty minutes later, Baxter heard the doorbell ring. He put the clothes he was unpacking down before heading to the door to see who it was. It was Rei, he quickly found out. “Oh.” He wasn’t expecting to see the other until the next day, at the very earliest. Despite his initial surprise, Baxter’s features quickly smoothed out into his normal expression. He watched as Rei nervously shifted his gaze. “Rei, it’s a pleasure to see you again. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Rei finally looked over at him, then cleared his throat. “I uh– wanted to check in,” he said with a stiff nod of his head. “How is the condo?” He gestured at the building.

“It’s lovely, thank you. You’re welcome to take a look around another day, once I’m done unpacking, if you’d like to see for yourself.”

Rei’s eyes flashed as if he had remembered something. “Ah… maybe eventually.” He was cute, Baxter thought. The boy took a moment before continuing. “Anyway. I want your number.” And so the truth came out. Baxter figured Rei couldn’t have been that interested in the place he was staying, considering he seemed to have lived across from it his entire life. While a little surprised at the boy’s unexpected forwardness, he was pleased.

“Really? Of course, I’d love that.” He smiled at him, sparkling, and Rei’s demeanor seemed to lighten.

“Thank you.” Rei pulled out his phone, which was sporting a plain black protective case. Baxter figured he must’ve been either clumsy, the prepared type, or perhaps even both. In response, Baxter pulled out his own phone, which had a black and white phone case. Obviously. After tapping a few buttons on his screen, Rei handed his phone over to Baxter so he could enter his contact information, and Baxter did the same.

Once they were done exchanging numbers, Rei straightened himself out. He held his phone in both hands, as if he had just received a gift. It was possible that, for him, it was. While Rei’s facial expressions certainly weren’t the most apparent, Baxter could see a shadow of a smile on his face, which pleased him. It seemed like some of the apprehension that came with meeting new people was beginning to dissolve between them. Meeting before made it all the easier, even if that meeting was so long ago and so brief that the two of them could hardly remember.

“Of course,” Baxter responded. When he looked down at his phone, he saw that Rei had entered his contact as ‘Rei across the street!’ in case that somehow needed to be clarified. Baxter appreciated it. “I must admit, I wasn’t expecting things to go this well. Even with a generous estimation of my sociability, I imagined it would take at least a week or more to exchange numbers with someone. Instead, it’s been under an hour. I appreciate how welcoming you’ve been.”

Rei nodded. “Of course. It’s not often we get new people on the block. And we haven’t had someone of similar age since Cove first arrived.”

Baxter smiled. “I’m assuming that was quite a long time ago.”

“It was a whole ten years ago, so needless to say, everyone’s been curious about the new face.”

“Am I correct in my observations to assume that you and Cove were waiting for my arrival?” Baxter inquired.

Rei chuckled. “You would be. We were both happy to see that it was a young person for a change. I will admit, though… The first thing that caught our attention was the clothes you were wearing.”

This came as no surprise to Baxter. He knew exactly how he dressed and the effect it had on people. He knew it was unconventional, but unconventional fit him. “Is that so?”

“Yeah,” Rei said with a nod of his head before suddenly waving his arms a little. “Not to say that we thought it was bad! It’s just very…”

“Monochrome?” Baxter filled in for him.

“Exactly. People here tend to be much more… colorful with their choice in clothing, with it being a beach town and everything,” he explained.

“Of course. I’m sure I’m not what people were expecting, but I suppose that adds more to the intrigue,” he agreed with a nod of his head. “But anyway,” Baxter continued. “I don’t want to keep you for too long. I hope to see you again soon, and you’re welcome to text or call me whenever you’d like. Have a good day, okay?”

Rei nodded, then waved as Baxter closed the door. A few minutes later, he received a text.

As Baxter closed his phone, he chuckled. Rei had an interesting way of texting. With a renewed sense of energy, Baxter returned to unpacking.