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Langa sighed in relief when the pale blue strands of his hair were swept from his face as he pulled off his helmet.
He blindly felt for the cold metal of the keys and flicked it with nimble fingers. The crackling rumble of his motorcycle clicked off into silence and he could only faintly hear the soft lapping of gentle waves brushing against sand.
He blinked as the scarlet rays of the setting sun washed over the horizon. It spilt into the ocean and melted into the water like lava. He blinked for a few minutes, surprised how quickly the sun was setting. He hadn’t allowed himself to do much that day since he knew he would be spending most of it with Reki. He hadn’t wanted to be exhausted beforehand. He quietly chuckled trying to imagine what Reki had planned for them. It never ended well but it always was entertaining.
As Langa slipped his helmet strap around the side mirrors of the motorcycle, he frowned when his eyes swept over the esplanade. The pavement areas were quiet and there weren’t even any cars driving past. Not a single soul was out. Even the birds were strangely flying away.
He pulled out his cellphone from his back pocket and quickly thumbed open the message from Reki. Langa was sure he was right about where Reki had said to meet. He re-read the message with pursed lips and pouted when he realized he was correct.
Which just meant Reki was simply late. Again.
Langa breathed out a long, drawn out sigh. Then knocked out the kickstand. He slithered off the motorcycle seat like a snake and smiled softly when the familiar feel of cool winter evening air flicked up into his striped shirt. It crawled up his torso and licked across the back of his neck like a hug. He didn’t bother tightening the loose cardigan left open at the chest. His father would have chuckled at him if he’d shivered from just that after being born and raised in Canada. Then proceed to bury him under a snowbank.
It wasn’t the first time Reki kept him waiting. So Langa shuffled to the ground and sat on the low concrete steps leading to a narrow beach. He stretched a leg over the stairs and tucked the other under his chin.
He watched as the water continuously licked at the sand, as if taunting him. He fingered open his phone to check on the time and forcefully drew his bottom lip between his teeth when his eyes peered at the date displayed below the time-stamp.
February eighth.
His eyes narrowed at the date and his breath turned shallow. He scrunched his face and forced himself to rapidly blink. He swiped the back of his arm across his face and shot up.
Langa quickly smashed open the phone settings and clicked on the option to remove the day and date from his lockscreen. Then shoved the phone back into his pocket.
He grazed his fingers against cold black steel of the skateboard rack he had installed to the side of his motorcycle five months ago at Reki’s suggestion, after having his ears bleed listening to the redhead complain for five weeks straight that it was getting ridiculous ‘forcing’ him to hold onto both their boards whenever they rode together.
He lifted the skateboard up and flipped it on the ground. He moved to sit on it and stared out into the sea, drawing his knees to his chest. He rested his elbows on his knees and tried slowing his breaths. He felt slightly light-headed and bile was slowly collecting in the back of his throat.
Just as he swallowed the bitter taste and coughed into a dry heave, he heard the scratching sound of skateboard wheels scraping against concrete. He snickered gently under his breath, watching Reki roll towards him and frantically waving his left arm, screeching his name.
“Langa! Langa! Langa~!” Reki repeatedly yelled as he drew closer.
Langa weakly waved his right arm whilst keeping his left fisted under his chin. Mercifully that had Reki kick off his board before running the last few steps forward til he stood beside him. Langa grinned watching the board roll towards him and bump to a soft stop against his skateboard.
Reki threw his arms behind his back and partially bowed at the waist. “Sorry, I’m late.”
Langa merely motioned him to sit but then he arched a brow when Reki shuffled in place and a large grin erupted on his face. Langa was tempted to arch back a little at the sheer beaming enthusiasm radiating off the redhead. He could already anticipate his energy seeping out his pores.
Reki kept his head levelled with Langa. “Close your eyes,” he said.
Langa squinted at him, skeptical. “Why?”
Reki huffed and hopped in place with three adorable thumps. Langa pushed his fist into the side of his cheek to keep himself from laughing.
“Just trust me,” he said, then repeated, “Close your eyes.”
Langa allowed his shoulders to shake with small chuckles before he dutifully followed the order and closed his eyes. He listened as something rustled and was placed in the crook of his elbows.
He opened his eyes when Reki’s cold hand patted him delicately on his cheek. He wrapped his arms around a pale blue coloured paper bag matching the stain of his hair. It was light enough that it didn’t unbalance him on the skateboard.
He lifted a brow and felt his shoulders stiffen when Reki opened his mouth and wished him, “Happy Birthday.”
Sweat pooled at the back of Langa’s neck and his fingers crushed into the grooves of the snowflake pattern on the paper bag. “How did you...?”
Reki swiped a finger under his nose pretentiously, grinning. “Amazed, aren’t cha? Be in awe at the great detective skills of the Amazing Reki~”
Langa blinked wordlessly at him and Reki huffed before moving to sit down on his own board. He swiveled and bumped shoulders with the blue haired teen.
“I managed to find out,” Reki murmured. He eyed Langa and especially at the way the taller boy’s hands were shaking. “I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, but I would’ve liked to learn about your birthday from you.”
Langa pressed his face into the paper bag. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. It’s just...” He took a deep breath and lifted his head to look at the rapidly fading red glow of the sun in the distance. “It doesn’t feel right celebrating my birthday yet,” he mumbled. “Sorry.”
Reki shook his head and wrapped his arm around Langa’s shoulders. “Why?” He ran a hand softly through Langa’s hair, twirling the soft strands between his fingers. “It’s your birthday. Isn’t it the one day you should be allowed to be happy?”
Langa took several deep breaths and smiled at Reki when he held Langa by the back of his neck, gently brushing his thumb back and forth in a soothing rhythm, waiting.
“Dad used to make a big deal for my birthdays,” Langa explained slowly, his breath hitching at the mention of his father. “Granted he was always excited to celebrate every holiday. Even the Japanese ones that he didn’t grow up with because it made mom happy.” Langa’s voice trembled. “He was just that much more excited when it was my birthday.”
“Because he loved you.”
“Of course,” Langa snorted. “I was born in the middle of a massive snow storm. Dad had been worried since mom was feeling uncomfortable for a few days already but it wasn’t time yet so she wanted to be home instead of waiting in an unfamiliar hospital bed. But Dad’s a worry-wart. So he begged my mom to just be safe and go to the hospital until she finally agreed. She had just settled in for an hour when the beginning of the storm hit. If mom hadn’t listened to dad, they wouldn’t have been able to reach the hospital safely. I would’ve been a home birth and that really scared my mom because I wasn’t really planned. Mom felt she wasn’t ready to have kids yet.”
“So your dad was the reason you were born?”
“Safely, at least.” Langa laughed. “Mom definitely put in the most effort making sure I was born.”
Reki grimaced. “Mom never let me forget it took sixteen hours to get me.”
Langa stretched out his legs until the tips of his shoes hung over the edge of the first staircase step. “Dad always made sure he was around for my birthdays. We never went out to do anything. I suppose the sudden snow storm on my actual birthday made him very superstitiously cautious on that day. We’d spend the whole day in pajamas and play Mario Party. Mom cooked my favourite foods for dinner and dad would bake a cake.” Langa ran a hand over his face. “We never did much for presents but he was always there on my birthday. Every year. From morning; putting a plate of pancakes drenched in maple syrup besides my pillow until I woke up. Til night; when he’d tuck me in. No matter how old I got.”
Reki rolled his skateboard closer and Langa let him slip their hands into each other. “I’m sorry...”
“This isn’t even the first year without him. I had a birthday before we moved back to Japan.” Langa whispered. “But it still...”
“Hurts.”
“Yeah...”
Reki threaded his fingers through Langa’s and squeezed firmly. “I’m the last person who’ll give you shit for missing your dad, man.”
“I know...”
Reki pressed closer and leaned the sides of their heads together. He turned until his forehead was buried under Langa’s soft hair. “You’re important enough to me to deserve a present on your birthday.” He pressed his lips against Langa’s neck, just below his ear. Langa shivered at the touch but didn’t push him away. “We don’t have to do anything today, if you don’t want to.”
They stayed pressed together for a few minutes until Langa turned his head and kissed Reki’s forehead softly. “Thank you.” He pulled away and Reki uncurled himself from him.
Langa opened the bag at Reki’s quiet urging and pulled out two small narrow pieces of paper. They were simple printed black and white coupons to a resort.
“Haku...da?” Langa’ eye twitched trying to read the kanji.
“Hakuba,” Reki corrected. “It’s a village just outside the city of Nagano. Just a little under an hour away from here.” When Langa merely looked at him with squinted eyes and confusion, Reki excitedly flung his arms around him and elaborated, “It’s a village in the alps. A winter sports hub. It was the place that hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics.”
Langa jolted and stared at Reki with wide-eyes. “Wait. You mean...?”
“Yeah!” Reki grinned. “The mountains around Hakuba are the perfect terrain for hiking in the summer. Skiing and snowboarding in the winter.”
Langa looked back down at the ticket and stared at it. A warmth spread in his chest at the thought of snowboarding again after so long, but then his breath hitched when his dad’s face flashed in his head.
“I’m...” he shuttered and tried to pull away. “I’m sorry, Reki. I’m not ready yet.”
“That’s ok. There’s no expiration date on it so we can go whenever.”
“What?” Langa snapped his head back to Reki. “How?”
Reki cheekily wiggled his eyebrows. “I got my mom to pull in a few favours with Auntie Hiroko. I’m her favourite non-blood nephew so it wasn’t a hard sell.” He puffed out his chest and Langa snorted into his hand. “She owns a resort so she knows people. She got in touch with an old classmate or something that owns a resort in Hakuba and ranked in a favour for me.”
Langa’s gaze bounced between staring at Reki as if he’d never seen the boy before and the pieces of paper being drenched by the sweat in the palm of his hand. “This has to be expensive though.”
Reki shrugged. “Not... really?”
“Reki.”
“Well...”
“Reki.”
“We just gotta help out around the resort a bit at night,” Reki’s shoulders slumped. “Sorry. I wanted to be able to give you a full relaxing vacation get-away, but yeah, you’re right. It would’ve been too expensive for them to give away for free. So the compromise Auntie Hiroko managed to get for me was that we’d be allowed to stay there for free in one of the smaller rooms and have the days to ourselves, but we’d be expected to help around the resort doing whatever tasks they’d need of us at night.”
Langa chuckled watching the way Reki progressively drooped to the ground as he explained.
“I kinda like that.”
Reki flung himself upright. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. It’ll be like we’d be doing a work-exchange or something. It’ll feel less like we’re trying to take advantage of them.”
“Yeah. Yeah! Exactly!” Reki jumped up and pumped his arm to the sky. “It’d be loads of fun and we can learn all sorts of things about what it takes to run a resort.”
“You trying to get into the resort business or something?” Langa looked up at the redhead fondly.
Reki scratched the back of his neck and laughed. “Nah, but mom is always on my case about finding something else to do outside of skateboarding. Besides,” Reki bowed and thrusted his face into Langa’s and pressed their foreheads together. “The ache from not having your dad around will never really go away.” Reki closed his eyes, breathing in deep. “I would know.”
Langa waited until Reki blinked and looked at him again. The two of them stared into each other’s eyes. Langa felt the warmth of Reki’s breath on his face and breathed in the scent of tangerines clinging to Reki’s hoodie.
“I understand and I want to be here for you,” Reki said. “Snowboarding is apart of you just like skateboarding is apart of me. Don’t throw it away completely. You don’t have to do it right now but maybe one day.”
Langa’s lips pulled into a smile. “One day.”
“And you can teach me how to snowboard one day. It’s only fair since I taught you how to skateboard.”
Langa rolled his eyes but nodded again. Then pressed a soft kiss to Reki’s lips that had the redhead blushing and pulling away suddenly til he fell on his ass on the stairs.
Langa moved to stand up but the paper bag moved and he felt something else jostled in the bag. With a confused tilt of his eyebrow, Langa emptied the bag.
A medium sized frame spilled onto his lap. It was a simple black frame, similar to the one his mother had in their house. He turned the frame around and snorted when he saw a traditionally developed photograph of Reki and him.
They were sprawled on Reki’s bed, dressed in simple pajamas. Langa wore a simple white shirt and Reki had on a vibrant purple hoodie. Reki was holding up his cellphone and they were both watching something on it. They looked very comfortable with their shoulders pressing into each together and a sweet smile on Reki’s lips.
“When did you take this?” Langa asked. “How did you take this?”
Reki groaned and sprawled more deliberately on the stairs. Langa gulped as he watched Reki’s hoodie ride up his stomach in his shuffling.
“I didn’t,” Reki huffed. “Nanaka’s been sneakily taking photos of us from the doorway.” He sat upright and frantically shoved his hand through his hair. “I don’t know when she started but she has loads of photos of us! A whole album’s worth!”
Langa grimaced at the thought. “For what?”
“For your mom!” Reki screeched. “For my mom!”
“What?” Langa gaped. “How do they know each other?”
“Apparently they bumped into each other at the supermarket. Or rather,” Reki ran a hand over his face. “Nanaka ran into your mom at the supermarket and a whole pile of photos dropped out of her hands she had just gotten developed. She had just the one of us at that time but your mom saw it and was very shocked to see you with me because,” Reki straighten his shoulders and shoved a finger accusationarily into Langa’s face. “Apparently you never talk about me. Like, ever.”
Langa flushed and nervously leaned back. “Well...”
“Your mom said she didn’t even know you had friends. Excuse you. I talk about you all the time to my mom! Why doesn’t your mom even know my name?!”
“I... never got around to it?” Langa felt the heat in his cheeks spread up into his ears. “She’s been very busy with work. I didn’t wanna...”
Reki grabbed the photo frame, only to then thump it right in the center of Langa’s chest with enough force to make Langa cough. “You’re taking that home right now and putting it proudly right next to your bed.”
“W-what?!” Langa spluttered.
Reki grinned, crossed his arms and nodded decisively as if he had just thought of the most brilliant plan. “I already have my copy in my bedside table drawer. I’ve just been waiting til your birthday to give you yours.”
Langa snorted and leaned back against his motorcycle, looking at Reki with a gentle smile and a soft look in his eyes. “You’re a dork.”
Reki spluttered, affronted.
He grabbed Langa by the collar, dragged him forward and they play-wrestled down the stairs into the sand.
They spent the rest of the night laying on the beach in each other’s arms, watching the stars and talking softly into each other’s necks.