Work Text:
Mom
When Reki brought Langa home for the first time, he was a little nervous. His mother had always been super protective over her children, especially after their father left, and he was almost certain she'd be a little wary over her son's new friend who was seemingly taking up all of his spare time.
Needless to say, he was a little shocked when, two minutes into introductions, his mother burst into tears.
“Have I stepped into an alternate dimension??” Reki shrieked, rushing to his mothers side. “What’s wrong?”
Langa remained by the front door, clear anxiety clouding his gaze as he worriedly bit at his lip, wringing his fingers together.
Once Masae finally got a hold of herself she laughed loudly, waltzing over to Langa and pulling him into a bone crushing hug.
“I’m sorry if I worried you dear. I’m just so happy to meet the boy my son can’t stop talking about! Thank you for being there for him.”
Reki didn’t have enough time to be embarrassed as he watched his best friend shyly move his arms around his mother, a soft smile playing at his lips. “It’s easy to be there for him. He’s always there for me.” He whispers, just loud enough for Reki to hear.
As his mother pulls away, Reki notices the soft look in her eye as she watches her son and the boy he loves (although they don't know it yet- these boys are so oblivious!) interact throughout the night.
It doesn’t help that Langa is ridiculously polite. Weren’t Canadians supposed to be rude? Maybe not. Reki knew nothing about Canada.
“Do you want some help with dinner Kyan-san?” Langa had asked his mother, practically drooling just at the thought of food.
Masae laughed at his enthusiasm. “No thank you dear. Why don’t you and Reki go do something in the garage? I know Reki was talking about a new skate magazine that came out yesterday.”
Reki’s eyes instantly sparkle at the mention of the magazine, happy to have an excuse to pull his best friend away from anything embarrassing his mother might think to say.
As soon as they were in the safety of his garage-turned-workshop, Reki instantly plopped down on one of his skateboard stools, pulling Langa along with him. He pulled out the magazine, quickly flipping through the pages till he got to the section about wheels.
“Dude look at these! I think they’d be a nice addition to the Reki L2S! Don’t they look awesome?”
When he heard no response he raised his head to look at his friend in confusion, only to see that Langa wasn’t looking at the magazine, but at him instead.
“Yeah. Really awesome.” Langa breathed, not looking away from Reki’s face.
Reki squeaked, feeling heat creeping up his face, and flailing so hard he managed to knock himself completely off the bench.
“Reki!” Langa yelled. “Are you okay!?” He kneeled on the ground, supporting Reki’s back as he helped him to sit up. Quickly, Langa moves his hand underneath Reki’s headband, checking his temperature. “You don’t seem to have a fever…”
Reki flinches back, feeling his skin heat up more despite his friend's cold hands. Langa shoots him a worried look before standing up and holding his hand out to pull Reki up after him.
Reki begrudgingly places his hand in his, and is shocked when Langa pulls him up so hard their chests collide. Reki looks into Langa’s kind blue eyes and almost forgets for a moment. Forgets where they are, forgets that he’s not supposed to be terminally in love with his best friend who can never love him back. Despite this however, he feels himself beginning to fall.
A loud cough is heard from the garage door, and Reki instinctively shoves himself away from Langa, managing to fall on his butt once again.
Masae smiles at them from the doorway, a knowing look in her eyes as she holds back a laugh. “Dinner is ready boys.”
Langa doesn’t hesitate to start making his way into the house, mind clouded by the prospect of food. Reki however, is stopped just before he leaves by his mother’s hand to his shoulder.
“You should invite Langa over more often.”
Reki openly gapes at her. “Uh… okay, I will.”
HIs mother smiles. “Great! Just make sure to leave the door open from now on.”
For probably the hundredth time that night, Reki’s face ignites into flames.
***
Step-dad
Reki hadn’t always been close to his step-dad, especially not at first.
He had been eight, and Koyomi had just turned four when their father had left them. It hadn’t been a pretty fight, and most of what Reki remembers is holding Koyomi close to his chest as they both cried, watching their mother hysterically trying to stop their father from leaving them for good.
To put it simply, Reki’s biological father had not been a great guy. For as long as he could remember, there had always been the shouting coming from his parents room. His father had been fired from his job again, and was staying out too late in bars, coming back more and more violent. The oldest memory Reki had of his father was hiding under his bed, blanket covering his tiny head after he had slapped him for the first time, calling him a “stupid, worthless child.”
Dad had wanted to leave then, when Reki was three. But then, Koyomi happened. Money was tight, and mom was thrilled to have another baby, but Reki could tell his dad wasn’t too keen on having another mouth to feed. His violent tendencies got worse, and he was out of the house more often than he was in it- sometimes spending the whole day at a bar. Mom was forced to work overtime to be able to afford to live, and Reki was left with his grandmother more and more often.
He loved his grandmother and his mother so much. It hurt him when he saw them so upset over his fathers actions, and so he started taking responsibility at an early age. He would help his grandmother out with her sewing, learning how to make himself and even her some new clothes. He would do anything to put a smile on his mothers face those days, and everytime he presented her with a new article of clothing she would drop everything, scoop him up into her arms, and pepper kisses all over his face until he was a squirming, giggling mess.
After that, he kept finding more and more opportunities to help around the house (despite his mothers claims that he was doing too much, he should be outside playing!). He did more housework while his mom was at work and started cooking lessons with his grandma so he could help out with lunches and dinners. His mother and grandmother were so stressed out, he was glad to lend a hand.
When Koyomi was born, Reki had hoped his father would step up, act more like a dad to the both of them and be a better husband to his mom. More often than not however, he’d have to sneak into Koyomi’s crib late at night, holding her tightly in his tiny arms as their parents' shouting reverberated through the house. Reki knew it would get worse if Koyomi started crying- it always got worse whenever he did.
Despite his fathers lack of care towards his family, Reki was usually happy. He didn’t have a lot of friends in school, preferring to always go home right away rather than play with the other kids. He wanted to be there for his mom and grandma, and he had to make food for both him and Koyomi. He had also started working harder on his homework after seeing his mom's distraught face after he brought home his last report card (he was prone to getting distracted and not completing assignments- too busy taking care of Koyomi or sewing with grandma).
Years went by like this, his father growing more absent through the years and his mother more depressed. Then, after Reki had just started third grade, a big fight happened. There was screaming and things being thrown across the room. Reki’s last image of his dad was him slamming the door loudly, a duffel bag over his shoulder. He hadn’t said anything to Reki or Koyomi before he was gone.
Things were hard for a little while in the Kyan family. Grandma was getting less and less commissions for her sewing projects and mom was pulling double shifts almost everyday. Reki would take Koyomi to and from school, doing the housework when they got home and making sure to help Koyomi with her homework. Despite this, Reki couldn’t bring himself to hate his father (why don’t I hate him?).
Then, one day, about halfway into Reki’s first year of middle school, Reki’s mom met a guy. Suzuki-san was nice, and mom seemed happy around him. Reki was a little apprehensive, but he was glad his mom and grandma had taken a liking to him, and Koyomi absolutely adored him. Plus, since mom was able to be home more often (with Suzuki-sans added income), Reki had met manager Oka (he had done an ollie right over Reki’s head and he was instantly hooked) and was introduced to his love of skating as he had more free time than he was ever used to.
They got married almost a year later, when Reki was thirteen, and his mom became pregnant with the twins shortly after that. Reki was still fairly awkward around Suzuki-san, despite Koyomi’s unfettered affection for him (he did however love the twins with his whole heart- he loved being Nanaka and Chihiro’s big brother just as much as he loved being Koyomi’s).
It wasn’t until his big fight with his first- and, really his only- friend Eiji that he started seeing Suzuki-san as his dad, rather than a man his mom married.
He had been sitting outside of the hospital after Eiji told him he never wanted to see him, or a skateboard again, when his step-dad found him. It was a little embarrassing, seeing as he had been crying on the curb for the better part of an hour- but Suzuki-san just reached out for him, awkwardly lifting him off the ground and into the car, letting Reki cry on his shoulder as he whispered reassurances.
The next day, Reki had surprised Suzuki-san by saying “Have a great day at work dad!” and promptly leaving for school without looking at his step-dads utter look of shock.
Long story short, Reki’s step-dad had become ridiculously protective over Reki, and thus his first meeting with Langa did not turn out the greatest.
It didn’t help that the two of them didn’t officially meet until after Reki and Langa’s fight- during which Reki had come home crying more than he’d like to admit (both Suzuki-san and Koyomi were not particularly happy with Langa because of that).
It had been a Thursday night, one of the days Suzuki-san got off work earlier than normal, when both Reki and Langa had stepped inside and found him sipping coffee at the dinner table.
“Uhh Hi dad.” Reki began eloquently. “You know Langa, right?”
His step-dad’s eyes narrowed. “The Langa who made you cry last week?”
Reki froze as he risked a glance at Langa, who looked on the verge of tears himself.
“Reki, you cried?” Langa asked, with distress visible in his voice.
Reki laughed awkwardly. “Um, well, yeah I might have- but it's really okay man-”
“It is NOT okay!!” Langa all but shouted as he draped himself over Reki’s shoulders, squeezing him so tightly Reki started seeing spots. “I’m so sorry!!”
Reki tried peeling the taller boy off of him, to no avail. “Stop Langa, it’s really okay! We both apologized, remember?”
Langa reluctantly let go of him, sniffling as he did so. “Yeah.”
Reki’s heart squeezed in his chest at the ridiculous display that was his best friend. “Oh my god you big baby! We’re good, alright?”
After he saw Langa’s begrudging nod, Reki didn’t hesitate to flick him straight in the middle of his forehead, laughing at Langa’s disgruntled “Reki!”
It was only when his step-dad cleared his throat did he remember the presence of the older man, and he promptly turned as red as a tomato.
“Um yea so anyway me and Langa are gonna go hang out in the garage, um bye dad!” Reki grabbed Langa’s wrist as he started dragging him away, cutting off Langa’s startled “Bye Suzuki-san!”
After that, his step-dad started making him bring Langa over for thursday night dinners, and Reki couldn’t help but feel a spark of pride as he watched his best friend and step-dad talk (the rate at which they bonded over worrying about Reki was frightening to say the least- he swore he saw Langa texting him “weekly updates” the other day!).
***
Koyomi
Koyomi was considerably harder to convince of Langa’s awesomeness.
“She hates me.” Langa groaned, hanging upside down off of Reki’s bed.
Reki couldn’t help but laugh. “Dude, you’re being so overdramatic right now, it’s not like you.”
Langa smirked. “That’s right, it’s more like you.” Reki promptly threw a pillow at him, laughing as Langa lost balance and tumbled to the floor from the force. In retaliation, Langa got up and threw his entire body on top of Reki’s prone form already on the floor, making the shorter boy gasp and weakly hit at his back.
“Langaaaa get off of me! You’re so heavy!!” Langa clumsily put his hands on either side of Reki’s head, lifting himself up.
“Stop whining, I’m not that he-” He cut himself off as he noticed their position, faces inches apart and legs tangled together. Reki felt his face, neck, even the tips of his ears warm up. He prayed Langa couldn’t hear his heartbeat with how fast it was beating out of his chest.
They were frozen there for almost a minute until the door to Reki’s room was roughly thrown open, and in Reki’s haste to sit up, he knocked his forehead hard against Langa’s nose.
“DUDE OH MY GOD ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!?” Reki screamed, watching as his best friend clutched his nose on the floor.
Langa grimaced but nodded at him, moving to sit up and looking towards Reki’s open door where Koyomi stood, standing there with an unimpressed look on her face.
“You should get that checked out.” She said boredly, barely acknowledging Langa. “Mom says dinner's ready Reki, and I also need you to braid my hair before school tomorrow.”
Reki looked to Koyomi and then Langa, and then back to Koyomi again. “Um sure, we’ll be right there.” He said at the same time Langa curiously asked him “You know how to braid?” stars practically shining in his eyes.
Koyomi scoffed from the doorway, whispering “some great friend you are” as she turned and left, leaving the door open.
Langa collapsed onto the floor once again, hurt nose long forgotten.
“See Reki? She hates me!”
Weeks go by like this, Langa awkwardly trying to get Koyomi to like him, her adamant distaste for him shutting down his every attempt.
“Koyomiiiiii” Reki whined. “You’re killing Langa! I swear he’s been pouting for four days straight now.” He didn’t have to say that he actually enjoyed watching Langa pout (why was everything he did so cute??) as Koyomi shot him an unimpressed look.
“I’m sorry that I don’t like your little boy toy after how upset he made you last month! Me and dad made a pact that we’d kill whoever had hurt you and now they’re acting all buddy-buddy! I am not backing down from this!!”
Reiki stared at her wide-eyed for a few seconds, dramatically clutching his chest as he cried out “Ohhhhh Koyomi!!!My precious baby sister cares about meeeeeeee!”
He practically tackled her on the couch, laughing as she squirmed and kicked at him. “EW! No, I don’t care about you, loser- get off of me!”
Reiki laughed, but ultimately decided to pry himself off of her- Koyomi could be super scary when she felt like it (both her and Miya were notorious brats- seriously what were they feeding these children??).
“Look Koyomi, you may not like him, but Langa’s my best friend! At least try to get along with him.”
Koyomi smirked at him. “We both know you’ve got a little more than friendship on your mind, Cindereki.”
Reiki’s entire face exploded into heat as he started whacking his sister repeatedly with a couch pillow. How dare she bring up his embarrassing dream- he had told her that in confidence! (Well actually, he had kind of burst into her room at 4 am and complained loudly for about an hour- but hey! Her job as his sister was to listen to him vent and preferably not bring it up to torture him later!)
“Okay, okay! I’ll be a little nicer to Hasegawa, I guess.”
Reki smiled slightly. “Good! Because I’m getting him to walk you to school tomorrow so I can help the theater kids make their set for the school play. Have funnnnn!” He exclaimed before running as fast as he could out of the room- Koyomi’s protests being heard throughout the house.
The next morning, true to his word, Langa knocked shyly on the Kyan’s front door, wringing his fingers together as he watched Koyomi open it, a bored look on her face.
“Uh hi. Reki told me you needed me to walk you to school?”
“I don’t need you to do anything.” Koyomi scowled.
“Uh, right. Well, I promised Reki I would and um, I don’t like lying to him so uh, I’m gonna walk you, okay?”
Koyomi scoffed, but stepped outside anyway, closing the door a little more harshly than necessary.
“You didn’t seem to mind breaking your promise last month.” She grumbled, just loud enough for Langa to hear.
Langa paused in his tracks. “Uh… How much of mine and Reki’s fight did you hear about?”
Koyomi glared at him, walking faster and in turn forcing him to run to catch up to her.
“He didn’t want to tell me at first. It took a week for us to let anyone know what was going on. Reki likes to pretend that he’s fine when he isn’t- he has for as long as I can remember.”
Langa sighed. “I’ve noticed.”
“Yes.” Koyomi began, finally turning enough to look him in the eyes while they walked. “He’s always kept me and mom and the twins safe and cared for. As his best friend you should be the one looking out for him, God knows that he doesn’t bother to do it himself.”
Langa paled at her harsh tone, hands clamped into fists at his side. “I was an idiot.”
Koyomi snorted but didn’t say a word.
“I was so caught up in the whole skating thing- I didn’t even notice when he started to pull away. Which makes sense I guess- Reki tells me I’m a ‘space cadet’ all the time.”
“He’s got that right.”
“Look, that week while we were fighting- I was miserable too. Mostly because I knew I made him so sad- I never wanted to see his face like that ever again. Reki deserves to be happy because he makes everybody else so happy! He’s smart and kind and good at everything and he’s so pretty it makes my heart wanna burst andIthinkI’minlovewithhimwhichissoscaryand-”
Langa was thankfully stopped from his word vomit at the sound of Koyomi’s startled laugh, her eyes scrunched up as she held her stomach. Langa felt his face warm at his confession, but couldn't bring himself to deny it. It was the truth anyways- although maybe it wasn’t the best idea to spill your guts to a girl who hates you and just so happens to be the sister of the boy you're in love with.
“Alright Hasegawa,” Koyomi began after her laughing fit ceased. “You’re on a trial basis. If you show me you’re taking better care of Reki- I’ll hate you significantly less.”
Langa’s eyes sparkled like stars. “I can do that.”
“Hey Reki, are you hungry?”
“Langa for the third time, no I am not hungry! We literally just ate lunch dude.”
Langa pouted at him, having already moved to go get some food from the (Reki’s!) fridge. “Are you sure?”
There was a soft laugh coming from the couch, and both boys looked curiously over the top of it to see Koyomi pretending to be engrossed in her phone, a hand clamped over her smiling mouth.
Reki grinned a little.”What’s so funny Ko-yo-mi?” He asked, over pronouncing every syllable.
Koyomi finally dropped her hand, choosing to direct her smile at Langa of all people. “This is how you take care of people?”
Langa looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck tentatively. “Um...yeah?”
Koyomi laughed once again, mirth clear in her eyes. “Alright Langa. Maybe I don’t hate your guts all the time.”
Langa gasped at his name, smiling brightly.
“But you’re on thin ice.” His smile instantly faltered.
Reki didn’t know what was going on, but he laughed anyway, happy that two of his favorite people were finally getting along (kinda!).
***
Grandma
Langa stood outside the Kyan’s front door, a huge smile already plastered across his face as he waited eagerly for his best friend to let him in. Reki had promised him they would start learning this sick new trick that they had seen on youtube the night before, and Langa was itching to try it out- to fly.
“Reki!” Langa greeted instantly as the door opened, only to come face to face with the eldest Kyan in the house- Reki’s grandmother.
“Oh- Hello, Kyan-san, is Reki here?”
The old woman let out a grin that seemed to be a characteristic of their entire family. “My daughter and grandchildren are out grocery shopping my boy, but you’re welcome to come in and wait for them if you like.” She responded kindly.
Langa felt the familiar anxiety bubble up in his stomach at the prospect- he had never really spoken to the woman, after all. However, she was important to Reki, as was his entire family, and Langa wanted nothing more than to get to know every aspect of Reki’s life.
He gave her a tentative smile. “If that’s alright with you, I would like to.”
She smiled wider at him as she ushered him through the door, closing it gently behind them both.
“They should be back soon dear.” Reki’s grandmother said sweetly, sitting down at a small desk in the corner of the living room, a sewing machine and a bundle of yellow and blue fabric perched atop it.
Langa cautiously made his way towards the couch opposite of the woman, not really sure how to hold a conversation with her. “Are you making one of your commissions?” He asked politely, remembering the time Reki had told him about his grandmother's job.
She peered at him over her glasses, a soft smile stretched across her face. “Yes! I recently got asked to make a cat themed hoodie for one of Koyomi’s friends, so I was doing a test run by making one in Reki’s size. He had promised to help me with it tonight, but I know how busy he is with school and helping with his sisters…”
Langa smiled a little at her enthusiasm for her work, it reminded him so much of Reki when he was working on a new board. “Um,” He began shyly, looking away when the woman made eye contact with him. “If you need a model or something, I’d be happy to help you while I wait, Kyan-san.”
The older woman’s eyes began to sparkle as she nodded at him graciously. “That would be wonderful, dear. Thank you.”
Reki smiled as he walked back with his family from their local grocery store. His mother and Koyomi were a little ways ahead of him, holding the bags tightly as they chatted away about Koyomi’s dance recital that was coming up.
Reki had been left with his little sisters, Nanaka perched triumphantly on his shoulders and his left hand being occupied by Chihiro, who, for some reason had brought a blue marker out of her pocket at some point during their walk, and was focusing intently on Reki’s hand as she drew.
Reki didn’t mind of course- between all of his sisters, some kind of makeover was a daily occurrence.
“Look nii-san!” She presented his hand to him, two tiny stick figures drawn with a heart above their heads.
Reki smiled at her. “It’s beautiful! Who is it supposed to be, mom and dad?”
Chihiro pouted at him. “NO nii-san!! It’s you and Langa-chan!”
Reki snickered at the nickname that had apparently stuck- Langa had pouted at him when he had introduced him to the twins like that, grumbling that it was embarrassing. But then, Reki thought about the implications of the drawing of the two of them with a heart above their heads, and his face lit up in flame instantly.
Since when did Reki’s extreme crush on his best friend become apparent to his four year old sisters? Was everyone aware of it? Was Langa???
Chihiro’s little giggles interrupted Reki’s internal panic, as she pointed out pieces of the drawing to him.
“Look, that’s your headband! And Langa-chan’s hair!! And- and skate!!” She babbled excitedly, pointing to two identical blobs at the stick figure’s feet.
Reki, through his freaking out, still managed to pat her on the head and provide a weak “It’s wonderful” to his little sister before she ran around him and commandeered his left hand too.
Reki just hoped this drawing wouldn’t be as embarrassing. Really, he was sure his stupid crush on Langa would be going away soon- all of his crushes before had lasted barely a week before his feelings had fizzled away.
But then again, Langa was different, wasn’t he? The crush had lasted an embarrassingly long four months at this point- he wasn’t even sure he could classify it as a crush anymore.
That was ridiculous, though! He wasn’t in love with Langa- romantically at least. Even if he did have soft and flowy hair, a brilliant smile, the prettiest eyes he had ever seen…
Those were all objective aspects of Langa that everyone agreed with! Everyone knew he was unbelievably kind, and that he pouted at the end of lunch time- perpetually hungry, that he would stick his tongue out slightly as he concentrated- especially that one time when he was helping Koyomi with her english homework last week.
Of course Langa was beautiful, kind, an amazing skater, and sometimes he looked at Reki like he had personally hung the moon and the stars but- it was just a crush, right?
His crisis was interrupted as he felt Nanaka yank on his hair in excitement, pointing at Langa’s board outside their front door.
Reki’s heart began to beat wildly in his chest.
Oh. Maybe he was just a little bit in love with Langa.
But as he stepped into the house and was greeted with a slightly embarrassed- albeit happy Langa in a yellow hoodie with cat ears, his grandmother standing proudly beside her creation- he allowed himself to think that, yeah, maybe he was a little more than a little bit in love with his best friend.
***
The Twins
The first time Langa had met the twins, he had been awkward.
He sat stiffly on the floor, back pin straight and his eyes wide as the two toddlers clambered over his legs, their little feet digging into his thighs harshly before Reki took pity on him and grabbed one of them, forcing the other to sit more naturally in Langa’s lap. It didn't stop either of them from staring at Langa in wonder.
Nanaka- the one on his lap- reached a tiny hand to his face, her little fingers touching his cheek lighty. “Pretty.” She whispered in awe.
Langa’s entire face turned red as Reki burst into laughter, his grip loosening on Chihiro which allowed her to climb into the taller boy's lap again, her hand coming to rest on Langa’s other cheek and squishing it almost painfully.
Reki, taking pity on him once again, swiftly picked up both girls, one on each hip. “I think you guys might’ve broken Langa-chan.” He snickered.
Langa squawked in disapproval of the nickname, his face turning somehow redder as the twins began excitingly chanting “Langa-chan! Langa-chan!” over and over.
Reki gave him a sly grin before looking down at his sisters cuddled up in his arms. “You know what? I think Langa-chan wants a makeover.”
Both girls instantly scrambled from their brothers arms, running off at the speed of light to get the supplies, while Langa stared at Reki, utterly betrayed.
Needless to say, Langa had suffered through a fair amount of makeovers since that day- starting with hair clips and stickers, and after a month of his weekly makeovers courtesy of the two girls, he can confidently say it never got any less mortifying.
It got worse when both Reki and Koyomi started assisting their little sisters, Koyomi painting his nails in expert strokes of red, while Reki sat behind him, practiced fingers french braiding his bangs away from his face. One twin was at each of his sides, this time sticking tiny little bunny stickers all over his face.
Langa had accepted his fate at this point, coming to terms with the fact that he could not say no to the Kyan siblings even if they wanted to- after all, they all seemed to inherit Reki’s puppy dog eyes, and Langa was a weak, weak man.
The twins weren’t always so rambunctious though. In fact, a lot of the time they just plopped themselves into Langa’s lap, usually falling asleep on top of him as some random Studio Ghibli movie played, Reki taking pictures of the three of them and whispering about how it was the “Cutest thing I have ever seen, oh my god.”
In fact, Langa had become sort of an expert babysitter by now (with copious amounts of Reki’s help of course, he still didn’t know what to do when they started crying). Which brings him to today, where he finds himself slumped against Reki late on a saturday night, exhausted from chasing the girls around and being forced to scoop them up and throw them up in the air, giggling about how they were “flying Langa-chan!!!”
They had just managed to get them to fall asleep with an expertly told bed-time story by Reki, and Langa had never been more tired in his life.
He whined into Reki’s chest. “How long until Koyomi’s recital is over?”
Reki laughed, petting his hair lightly. “We’ve got another hour dude. You can head home if you want.”
Langa pouted, pushing himself up slightly so he could look into Reki’s eyes. “I thought I was spending the night?”
Reki blushed at their proximity, Langa’s nose only a couple inches from his own. “Well yea, man, you can if you want. You just seemed tired.”
“Yeah, so let’s go take a nap!”
Startled, Reki laughed at him. “Maybe you’re spending too much time with the twins dude, you’re starting to sound just like them!”
Langa punched him lightly in the arm. “Come on Reki, it’s cold and I’m tired, let’s go sleeeeeeeeep.”
Reki sighed at his best friend's antics, checking the clock on his phone. “Alright, I’m gonna take a shower and then we can sleep, okay?”
Langa frowned slightly. “Can we cuddle?”
And okay- Reki knew he was extremely physically affectionate with his friends (especially Langa!) and they had woken up snuggled together more often than not at this point, but it was still embarrassing to hear Langa say it so bluntly.
Reki told him as much, face burning at the prospect of hugging his best friend who he’s not-so-secretly-in-love-with, alone, in his room on his bed.
“Is that a no?” Langa asked, a frown still playing on his lips, and Reki had to hold himself back before he did something totally stupid, like grabbing his face and slotting their lips together.
Reki squeaked slightly, his face burning even more at his intrusive thoughts. “It’s- It’s a yes! We can cuddle after I shower- which I'm gonna do right now BYE!”
Reki sprinted as fast as he could to the bathroom, locking the door behind him as he willed his heart to stop beating so loudly. Shakily, he turned the faucet on cold, and tried desperately to think of anything other than the fact that he wanted to grab Langa and kiss him until he couldn’t breathe- and god, when had he become so whipped?
Ten minutes later Reki walked back into the living room, hair dripping onto his purple hoodie and only marginally calmer than he was before, when he stopped in his tracks at the sight that awaited him.
Langa was fast asleep on the arm of the couch, Chihiro asleep on his chest and Nanaka asleep with her head on his legs. It appeared Reki wasn’t the only Kyan that had wanted to cuddle with Langa that night.
Reki held in a laugh as he spread a blanket over three people who he loved dearly- because there was no doubt about it, Langa had weaseled his way into Reki’s family and into Reki’s heart, and Reki absolutely loved him.
***
Reki
After Reki realized the true extent of his feelings for Langa, he was actually kind of sad. He could have handled a crush- feelings that would go as fast as they came. But Langa was not a crush, and that was scary.
It was harder to be around him now. Reki had to keep reminding himself not to stare, but Langa didn’t make it easy. Seriously, he could be a freakin’ model and it was driving Reki crazy.
Less than a week after Reki had come to terms with his true feelings for Langa, and they still went to the skatepark everyday after school, and usually crashed at each other's houses more often than not. It was killing Reki.
Just then, Langa did one of his crazy gravity defying tricks off of the halfpipe and Reki figured he must have finally died because Langa was an actual angel.
“Hey Reki, did you want to have dinner with me and my mom tonight? I told her you had never had poutine before and she took that as a personal offense.”
…And in moments like these, Langa was a devil. Honestly, Reki wanted nothing more than to have dinner with the Hasegawa’s, but he had promised himself he would cut back on spending time with Langa in the hopes that his stubborn feelings for him might just decide to evaporate.
Obviously, he hadn’t had much luck. He couldn’t avoid Langa completely- seeing as he promised he would never do that again after their fight- but, he figured a little time away might be the best thing for both of them. Reki gets some distance from his heart-crushing pining, and Langa gets to have a couple blissful hours of Reki-free peace.
“Sorry man, I can’t tonight. Promised my mom I’d be home for dinner.”
Langa’s face fell instantly. “But you still want me to pick you up for S later tonight, right?”
Reki chewed on the inside of his cheek, knowing that if he said no Langa would want to know why. He sighed. “Yeah, pick me up at the usual time!”
Langa smiled as he grabbed his skateboard and turned to leave. “Great! See you later Reki!”
Reki stayed frozen for a couple of seconds, watching Langa’s retreating back until it became a speck in the distance- before finally turning and skating away as well.
Reki had almost forgotten what the implications of Langa driving him to S was. Essentially hugging the boy he was in love with for the entire ride to the abandoned factory didn’t seem like an ideal way to get over said boy, but knowing how Langa drove he would literally die if he didn’t hold on as tightly as possible.
Still, Langa must have sensed his hesitance as he grabbed Reki’s wrist before he could go through the gates, his eyes overly round and worried.
“Are you okay Reki?”
Reki sighed, pulling his wrist away from his best friend and giving him his best fake smile. “I’m fine Langa! Just excited to skate!”
Langa looked at him quizzically. “Are you racing tonight?”
Reki laughed a little sadly. “Definitely not, I don’t feel like losing right now.”
Langa pouted even more. “I thought we were over this Reki. You’re an amazing skater! Also, you promised you wouldn’t start avoiding me again.”
“What makes you think I'm avoiding you?” Reki asked, looking anywhere but at Langa’s face.
Langa huffed at him, reaching out to entangle their fingers and squeeze pleadingly. “Reki, you won’t even look at me. What’s wrong?”
Reki squeezed his eyes shut. “Can we just- can we please just go skate?”
Langa smiled sadly before dropping Reki’s hand. “Okay. Let’s skate.”
S was busier than usual, since Cherry and Joe were racing each other today. Reki was kind of happy about this, since seeing their obvious flirting was becoming too much for his Langa-deprived brain to handle.
They spotted Miya and Shadow easily enough, seeing as the younger boy was skating lazy circles around Shadow as he screamed about not wanting to babysit. Miya instantly perked up when he saw them approaching, flipping his board into his hands instead.
“Looks like the Slime Combo decided to join us!”
Reki laughed, far too used to the insult as he ruffled Miya’s hair. He was still stunned by how quickly they had bonded again following Adam’s competition, to the point where he thought of Miya like another sibling.
Miya must have felt the same, as he squawked his disapproval but did not pull away from Reki’s hands. Langa smiled at the two of them, and Reki quickly looked away because if Miya saw him blushing right now, his life would probably be over.
“Soooo,” Reki began, itching to break the uncomfortable silence. “Who do you think is gonna win the beef?”
Shadow scoffed. “Definitely Cherry this time. He came in screaming about ‘stupid Gorilla’s’ and ‘scratches on Carla’, I swear I have never seen Joe look more terrified.”
Reki laughed. “Ah, I see. So what will Cherry be winning tonight?”
Miya was quick to respond. “I believe he asked for a plate of pasta and some wine- which is pretty lame considering Joe is whipped and would have given that to him anyway.”
Langa looked puzzled at that. “Joe is whipped? Like whip cream?”
“Dude no it means he's got it bad for Cherry.”
“He does? You mean like a crush?”
Reki rolled his eyes fondly as Miya smiled deviously. “Something like that. I’m pretty sure they’ve been in love this whole time.”
The confusion cleared off of Langa’s face. “Oh, so I guess that means I'm whipped for Reki?”
Reki barely registered the sound of Miya and Shadow cackling in the background as his brain completely shut down, a bright red “error!” sign blinking before he finally decided to reboot. Langa once again looked confused.
“I- dude- what? You- whipped- me?” Reki spluttered out, his brain still failing to compute the meaning behind the words. “I think you might still be confused bro, ‘cause that definitely doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
Miya looked between the two of them. “You both are so dumb.”
The rest of S passed by in a blur, as Reki had mentally checked out after the whole “whipped” fiasco. He already anticipated being awake half the night thinking about how dumb he had been to hope, even for a second, that Langa felt the same.
He was expecting to skate up the ramp and not have to face Langa until the morning, but apparently Langa had other plans as he followed him up and planted himself on the edge of Reki's bed.
“You don’t have to go home tonight?” Reki asked him, hoping he wasn’t being too obvious about wanting to be alone so he could cry all night, as that would just be embarrassing.
Langa pouted, staring at him sadly for a few minutes before finally speaking. “Are you mad at me for earlier? Because I said I loved you?”
Reki wanted to bash his head into the wall. “Whipped refers to romantic love Langa.”
“So?”
“So, obviously you’re not in love with me! You could have literally anyone in the world.”
Langa looked on the verge of tears. “I want you though.” He said quietly.
Reki finally brought himself to look into his eyes. “You can’t be serious man! There are plenty of people out there who are far more amazing than me!”
Langa glared at him, reaching out and gripping his shoulders tightly and forcing Reki to look at him.
“You are amazing Reki. You’re so good at skateboarding and building skateboards and drawing! Your hair is super nice and fluffy, and I really really wanna touch it like, all the time! You have so many freckles and they are literally so cute I want to kiss them all!! Your eyes are probably the prettiest things I have ever seen, they get all sparkly when you’re excited and they shine gold in the sun, I think I could stare into them all day. Also, like, you’ve got really pretty lips- they're super pink and they look really soft and I have to physically hold myself back from kissing you on a daily basis- you have no idea. And, and, and you also have a really nice body? I literally stared at your ass for like thirty minutes at work the other day and-”
When Reki finally comes to his senses he quickly slaps his palm over Langa’s mouth, his face redder than it's ever been in his entire life. “Oh my god, you are so embarrassing! Where did all of this even come from?”
Langa looked a little embarrassed about his outburst as well. “Uh well I asked Koyomi how I could tell you how I feel about you, and she said I should compliment you more!”
“What the hell you talked to Koyomi about this????” Reki almost shrieked, only managing to control himself because it was 3 am and his mom would kill him if he woke up the twins.
“Well I wanted to be prepared.”
Suddenly the ridiculousness of the situation caught up to Reki and he struggled to hold in giggles over how dumb the both of them are. Once his laughing fit had died down, he slowly brought up his hands in order to gently cup Langa’s cheeks.
“I love you.”
Langa’s eyes went wide, his smile became huge as a pretty pink blush adorned his cheeks. “Really?”
Reki laughed again. “Yeah dude! I’ve been trying to distance myself from you because I thought you’d never feel the same!”
Langa laughed, holding on to Reki’s wrists while the shorter boy continued to stroke his cheeks with his thumbs.
“Can I kiss you Reki?”
Reki barely had enough time to nod before Langa was surging forward, pressing his lips securely against Reki’s as his hands drifted lower to hold his waist. Reki sighed into the kiss, tilting his head slightly to get a better angle, his hands finding the strands of hair at the base of Langa’s neck and tugging slightly, causing him to let out a low groan. Reki smiled against his lips as he finally pulled away, laughing slightly as Langa tried to follow him and pull him into another kiss.
Langa grinned, a smile brighter than anything Reki had ever seen as he pressed their foreheads together, squeezing Reki impossibly closer. “I love you so much Reki. You’re beautiful.”
He marveled at how quickly Reki turned red, trying to squirm out of his grip, but Langa held on tightly, laughing softly as he whispered more praises. “Rek, my love!” He places a kiss on his forehead. “You’re so cuteeee!” Another kiss to the tip of his nose. “You’re amazingggg!!!” Langa peppered more and more kisses onto Reki’s face, being spurred on by the boy he loves laughter.
Langa eventually stopped his kiss attack to quickly brush their lips together one last time, and then collapsed backwards onto the bed, pulling Reki down with him and entangling their legs together.
“Are we going to sleep now?” Reki whispered.
“Mmm unless you want to kiss some more.” Reki punched him lightly on the shoulder, and Langa begrudgingly noticed that his eyes were starting to close from the sheer tiredness he was experiencing.
“Yeah, let’s sleep. I love you Reki.”
Reki smiled and curled himself more fully around his new boyfriend's body.
“I love you too, Langa.”
***
The Kyan Family
When Reki told his family about his and Langa’s new relationship, he had expected surprise, but mainly for them to be happy for him.
Instead, he was met with confusion.
“Wait… you weren’t dating before?” Masae finally asked her son, her head cocked to the side in wonder.
“I- no mom, we confessed last week!”
Koyomi burst into loud, obnoxious laughter. “Don’t worry mom, they’ve been in love this whole time- they were both just too stupid to notice.”
It took everything in his power to not launch himself at his sister- and also the fact that he would have to let go of Langa’s hand, which was out of the question.
Reki’s grandmother was the next to speak up. “Well, I’ll admit I had assumed you were already dating but now that it’s all official I was going to ask if Langa wouldn’t mind helping me out again? He really is an excellent model.”
Before Reki or Langa could answer, Koyomi started to complain. “Sorry Grandma, that’s gonna have to wait. In exchange for free advice on how to woo Reki he promised to help with my english essay.”
Langa looked away sheepishly from Reki’s open-mouthed expression.
“Also he told me we’d catch up at dinner tonight.” Suzuki-san explained. “My weekly texted updates have been severely lacking.”
Before Reki could even begin to respond to that one, both Nanaka and Chihiro chose that moment to come barrelling down the hall screaming “Langa-chan! Movie time!” at an extreme volume.
Reki was shell-shocked. “My own family likes you more than me Langa, what the hell?”
“Nonsense sweetie,” Masae began “We love you both equally!”
Langa just laughed sweetly and pressed a kiss to his temple as Reki rolled his eyes fondly. It made sense that his family had grown to love Langa as much as he did, but he still decided he was allowed to pout about it.
“Jokes on you guys, I get first dibs on my boyfriend's time, thank you very much.”
And with that, Reki stuck his tongue out at his family and quickly pulled Langa into his bedroom, closing the door behind him to the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen.
***