Chapter Text
“You’ve looked a lot happier lately,” his mother comments over dinner.
“Reki and I made up,” Langa says casually while picking at his vegetables. He can feel the small smile on his face just thinking about it.
“Oh that’s great, sweetie! Why don’t you bring him over for dinner? I’d love to meet him.” Something about the way his mom says it puts Langa on edge. She sounds happy for him, almost too happy.
“Alright, I can ask him,” Langa agrees hesitantly.
“Great.” She claps her hands together. “I’m excited to meet the guy that makes you so happy all the time.” She gives him a knowing look and he flushes.
“Just don’t be weird about it,” he mutters, looking away.
She laughs. “Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you.”
Langa nods even though he doesn’t believe her.
---
“I’m kind of nervous.” Reki fiddles with his board as Langa unlocks the door.
“Don’t be,” Langa says despite probably being far more nervous himself. His mother has a way of meddling even when she promises not to. Which she did. But, the assurance doesn’t comfort him much.
“Gee thanks, I feel much better now,” Reki says sarcastically. Langa rolls his eyes and they shuffle inside.
“I’m home,” he announces.
“Welcome back,” his mother calls from the other room.
Reki clumsily steps out of his shoes and neatly sets them aside.
“Here’s some guest slippers. You can put your stuff in my room.” He can hear his mother cooking in the kitchen, which they unfortunately have to pass by to get to his room. It’s not that he doesn’t want her to meet Reki, he absolutely does, Reki is important to him but he knows in his bones that it’s going to be embarrassing.
Taking a deep breath, he leads the way into their living room slash kitchen. “Reki, it’s so good to finally meet you! Langa’s told me so much about you.” Nanako turns to greet him from the kitchen.
It smells like teriyaki. “Thank you for having me.” Reki smiles.
“Dinner will be in half an hour,” she says while mixing something in a bowl.
“Okay,” Langa says and begins to lead Reki to his room.
“Leave your door open,” she calls out once they’re already down the hall. Langa cringes and hurries the rest of the way to his room in case she decides to elaborate.
“What was that all about?” Reki says, dropping his backpack on the ground.
“No idea.” Langa knows he’s bad at lying but he's betting on the fact that Reki will be too distracted by his room to notice.
It’s a good bet to make. “Huh, your room’s a lot more plain than I expected.”
Langa flops down on his bed. “I guess so. I haven’t really bothered with decorating.” He’s never really thought much about his room until now. He feels a little embarrassed by it when Reki’s room is so obviously a reflection of him. What does it say about him that his room is so empty?
"You’re not planning on leaving anytime soon, right?” Reki asks, flicking at one of his few knick-knacks on his dresser. He glances up to see one of the mini skateboards that Reki gave him.
Langa pulls back as he turns to look at Reki confused. “No, of course not.”
“Then next time we go out I can help you pick out some posters!” Reki smiles.
It makes the tightness he hadn’t yet acknowledged in his chest loosen. “Okay.” A silence settles over the room but it’s comfortable. Langa trusts that Reki will fill it if it gets awkward.
When Reki’s done looking around like it’s some kind of inspection he sits down next to him on the bed.
“What do you want to do?” His headband has gotten loose and his hair spills partially onto his face. Langa wants to fix it but thinks that might make Reki uncomfortable so instead he sits up and puts his hands under his legs.
Langa hasn’t had to be a host for a long time. Not for at least two years, and certainly not since coming to Japan. What he really wants to do is hold Reki’s hand but he doesn’t for obvious reasons. He needs to think of an actual co-op activity because thinking about wanting to hold your best friend’s hand isn’t really on the table.
“I don’t know, we could watch some of those skate videos you were talking about earlier,” he eventually suggests. “Or I think I might also have my old console around here if you want to try and play some games,” he adds just in case Reki’s bored of youtube.
Reki’s face lights up. “Awesome! What games do you have?” He didn’t think Reki was all that interested in video games but now he’s glad he suggested it.
Langa walks over to his TV and turns on his old PlayStation. He set it up when he moved in and hasn't touched it since. “I have COD and Bioshock, but I also have Portal 2 if you’d rather play that.”
“Whatever you think is best. I don’t play a lot of video games but everyone’s always talking about them.” Reki grins.
“I don’t think anyone talks about these games much anymore.” The most recent game he has is at least five years old and he feels a little embarrassed that he doesn’t have anything newer to show him. He also gets weirdly competitive about shooting games and COD is fast paced if Reki doesn’t play much. “Let’s play Portal.” He plugs in two remotes.
“Okay!” Reki sits down on the floor next to him.
The game loads up and Langa realizes that Reki probably has no idea how anything works because all the explanations are in English. “You can press this button to jump and this one to shoot.” He says holding up his own remote.
“Like this?” Reki asks, somehow hitting neither. His character walks off the edge of the platform. “Oh, my bad.”
Langa laughs. “Uh, no. This one.” He clicks on the X a few times on his own remote. The new level loads up.
Reki’s tongue pokes out of his mouth as he focuses on the screen. “This.” His character jumps up, and then keeps jumping forward until it falls off the platform.
“You’re really bad at this,” Langa snickers.
Reki blushes. “It’s not my fault, I’ve never used this kind of remote before.”
All at once Langa is hit with the image of holding Reki hand over hand and showing him which button to click. It’s justifiable, isn’t it? Reki is really bad at it and clearly needs all the help he can get. Langa takes a deep breath.
“Here.” He brings his right hand to rest lightly over Reki’s. Reki doesn’t pull away which is a good sign. “You press this to jump, and use this to walk around and then this to shoot,” he explains while pressing down on Reki’s thumbs. He looks up at Reki’s face, which is staring down at the remote like it holds the answers to the universe.
Langa pulls back, not allowing his hands to linger even though he wants them to.
“Okay,” Reki’s voice cracks and he coughs. “I mean, yeah I got it.”
“Prove it.” He grins at Reki, hoping to pull away from the awkward mood that’s settled on them.
Reki exaggerates puffing out his chest. “You got it, boss.”
Langa watches as he shoots the portal gun and walks through only to fall directly off the platform on the other side of the room. The level restarts.
Reki turns to look at him seriously. “Langa, I think I might actually suck.”
Langa laughs. “Yeah, you might.”
“Dinner’s ready!” His mom calls from down the hall.
Langa stands up. “Guess we can try again later if you still want.”
Reki chuckles. “I’ll try my best.”
---
“Reki, Langa tells me you helped him a lot with adjusting here. Thank you for always taking care of him.” His mom says as soon as they’re all sitting.
“It’s no trouble. Hanging out with Langa’s the best.” Reki smiles. Langa wonders if it’s normal to be enchanted by a smile.
“You’re both in the same class, right?”
“Yep! And we also work at Dope Sketch together.”
“Wow, you two sure spend a lot of time together. It’s a wonder you don’t get tired of each other.”
Langa doesn't think he’d ever get sick of Reki even if they spent every waking moment together.
Reki shakes his head. “No way! Langa’s so chill, it’s impossible to get tired of him.”
Langa feels his chest heat up. He likes it when he and Reki are on the same page.
“Langa, your boyfriend is so sweet!”
He drops his chopsticks.
“Boyfriend?” Reki chokes out.
His mother looks confused. Before he can jump in she continues, “Yeah, it’s the first time Langa’s brought anyone home who he's dated.”
Langa didn’t know his face could feel this hot. “Reki’s not my boyfriend.”
“But I thought-”
“Why don’t you go grab something to drink?” He says too loudly.
Langa notices then that none of their cups are empty. He quickly chugs all the water in his glass and hands it to his mother. “I’m thirsty.”
“Of course, sweetie. My mistake.” She takes his cup and heads to the kitchen.
Langa knows he should clarify things to Reki, but alternatively, they can sit in awkward silence until his mother comes back. If there’s one thing Langa is exceptionally good at it’s sitting in silence.
He glances over at Reki at the same time Reki looks at him. Reki’s cheeks are red and he quickly turns back to shovelling food into his mouth.
The rest of dinner is not nearly as eventful. When his mother returns, he purposefully directs the conversation to the much safer subject of skateboarding, although they don’t mention S.
“I can do the dishes,” Langa volunteers when they finish. He dreads returning back to his room.
“It’s alright, go hangout with your friend,” his mother says, giving him a knowing look.
He grimaces. “Fine.”
---
As soon as he and Reki have crossed the threshold and closed the door Reki turns to him.
“Hey, so why did your mom think we were dating?”
Langa knows there’s no way he’ll be able to distract Reki with random trinkets long enough to get him to drop the question, but he’s sure as hell going to try.
“Don’t know. You like these right?” He says holding up the first thing his hand touches on his dresser, which just so happened to be a miniature ramp for the miniature skateboards.
“Yeah, I guess. But, what do you mean you don’t know?” Reki sits down on his bed.
Langa sets down the ramp and goes to sit on the floor by the controllers. “I don’t know. I talked to her about you when we were fighting and I guess she got the wrong impression,” he mumbles.
“Oh.” Reki glances between him and the empty wall. “But, isn’t that- I mean, does your mom think you like guys?”
Langa feels his blood pumping in his ears and throbbing in his hands. He knows that Japan isn't like Canada. That a lot of people aren’t as accepting. He thinks Reki is. He hopes Reki is. “Well, yeah.”
“So, you’re into guys then?” Reki asks. Langa’s bad at reading people, like spectacularly bad, but Reki’s normally easy with his expressionate faces. Right now, Langa can’t tell what he’s thinking at all.
“Uh, yeah.” He feels a little like the only thing he can say is ‘yeah.’ He fiddles with the controller in front of him even though the TV’s not even on.
“Oh.” Reki looks like he’s trying to reevaluate his life.
Langa hums in acknowledgement. What the fuck does “oh” mean? Langa feels a cold dread take root in his stomach. He looks up at Reki again who is staring intently at his legs.
“I don’t care about that!” Reki announces suddenly. Langa startles, flinching back.
“Uh.”
“I mean, oh man, I am really messing this up.” Reki runs a hand through his hair. “That’s totally cool, that you like guys. I’ve never thought about that before. You liking guys. Not me liking guys, cause we’re not talking about that. Not that I like guys. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking guys! Because you do. Like guys.” Reki looks as red as his hair as he gesticulates.
“Yes Reki, I think we’ve established that I like guys,” Langa says, trying not to think about the fact that Reki just declared definitively that he does not "like guys." Crushing Langa’s dreams. Which is fine because realistically, he didn’t really have a shot to begin with.
“It doesn’t change anything, you know?” Langa feels the need to add.
“I know that. You’re still my best friend, obviously. It’s just sort of taking a minute to click," Reki explains. It eases Langa’s worries when Reki calls him his best friend.
Reki’s eyes widen with realization. “This actually makes a lot of sense. No wonder you turn down all those confessions.”
“Yeah, though I don’t have much interest in dating to begin with.” Unless it’s with Reki.
“And your pick-up lines are really bad, that would never work on a girl,” Reki adds unnecessarily.
Surprisingly, he takes offence. “Hey! They could totally work.”
“On a guy maybe, if he’s never heard of romance before.”
“What’s wrong with ‘are you hungry?’ it’s the perfect segue into getting food.” Langa lets the controller drop from his hands.
“But not into having a conversation! In this situation, you’ve never talked to the person before.”
“Why would I try to pick up someone I’ve never talked to before?” He tilts his head to the side in confusion.
“To date them! That’s the whole point of a pick-up line.”
Langa sniffs haughtily. “I don’t know about that.”
“Oh my god Langa, do not make me look up the definition of pick-up line.”
Reki sounds so exasperated that Langa can’t help but snort. Then Reki’s grinning back.
“So, you want to play some more Portal?” Langa suggests.
“You just want to watch me fail,” Reki complains but he’s smiling. “I don’t even know what the objective of the game is.”
“We don’t have to play it,” Langa pauses, “if you’re a coward, that is.”
Reki jumps off the bed and sits next to him on the floor. “Oh, you are so on. I am going to make so many portals and walk through them.”
“To be fair, that is actually the point of the game.” Langa subtly tries to give him some more space as he reaches to turn on the PlayStation.
Reki does not get the memo and scooches closer anyways. “Then I’m already kicking your ass.”
“It’s a cooperative game.” Langa loads it up.
“Oh, well, then I’m going to make so many portals, I’ll be the best co-op player there is.”
You already are, Langa thinks to himself. Reki’s knee presses into his own. A subtle reassurance that everything between them is fine. It's comforting, even if his palms are still sweaty from nerves.
Reki does, eventually, figure out how the game works.
Then, apropos of nothing he says, “If you were my boyfriend I think we’d probably have to dress nicer.”
Langa’s mouth falls open. “What.”
Reki looks shocked, like he can’t believe he spoke aloud.
He flushes red. “I just mean, like if I was what your mom thought I was, you know, your” Reki hesitates, “boyfriend, I wouldn’t have come to dinner in my old hoodie.”
“I think it looks nice.” He does. Reki’s hoodies are so distinctively him it’s hard not to like them.
“Oh, thanks.” Reki rubs the back of his neck. “But, like your mom probably thought I was some sort of delinquent, you know?”
“You are a delinquent.”
Reki smacks the back of his head lightly. “I go to class!”
“We’ve been chased by the cops at least three times. The P.E teacher legitimately hates us.”
Reki huffs. “Okay, fine, but your mom doesn’t know that.” Then suddenly panicked, he adds, “Wait, you didn’t tell her about that, did you? Oh man, what if she thinks I’m a bad influence?”
Langa chuckles. “Obviously I didn’t tell her.” He wants to tease him more but, this once he lets him off the hook.
They play for another hour before Reki starts to yawn.
“I should go.” He sets down the remote and arcs backward cracking his back.
Langa stands up, stretching briefly. “I can walk you downstairs.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it, I know how to ride an elevator.” Reki grins and grabs his backpack.
Langa walks him to the front door and hovers while Reki puts on his shoes. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Reki stands awkwardly for a moment then jumps on him, wrapping Langa tightly in a hug
Langa has to take a step back to steady himself. But then hesitantly wraps his arms around Reki too. He doesn’t want to hold him too long and make it weird but Reki is really hanging on. It’s the comfort he didn’t even know he needed. His hands unsqueeze and he places them softly on Reki’s back. He lets his head fall onto Reki’s shoulder.
When Reki starts to pull back he lets him go. Reki smiles at him
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Reki repeats back. Then he’s leaving.
Even if he can’t date Reki he can still be his best friend. It’s enough. It has to be.