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If there was one word Reki could use to describe the Hasegawa household, it would be cold. Colder than convenience stores, fall breeze, and vending machine sodas.
Usually, this wasn’t much of an issue, because Reki tended to dress for 20 degree weather in the middle of June, but on some occasions it was.
Late one Friday, the pair of exhausted teens were both headed to Langa’s apartment after an afternoon of skating. They both happened to “lose track of time” and decided to skate to whoever’s place was closest. Which was an occurrence that has happened more times than Reki can count, but neither of the two ever commented on it.
Reki was slow to remove his shoes once he made it inside, trying to see if Langa’s mother was home by peaking around the front wall. Reki wouldn’t say he was afraid of her, but he had made an embarrassing first impression of himself when he and Langa stumbled into her home soaked and laughing from a sudden downpour a few months back. He still gets a shiver down his spine every time he remembers the horrified look on Nanako’s face when she saw the state of her floors.
“She’s cooking,” Langa said, easily reading Reki’s curious expression, “I told her we ate at Sia La Luce earlier so… we can head to my room if you want to be alone?”
Reki smacked Langa lightly on the arm and stepped around him, grumbling something about him being obnoxious. Langa snickered and padded off behind him as they made their way to Langa’s bedroom, both exchanging a polite greeting to Nanako along the way.
She smiled warmly, but seemed busy enough to let the two move along.
The second Reki opened Langa’s bedroom door, he was assaulted with a wall of cold air.
With the door being shut all day, and Langa’s blinds being closed off from the sun, his room traps in all the frigid air. Which is probably great for the boy who used to basically breathe snow, but horrible for Reki, who had only experienced temperatures as low as 50 degrees.
“Jeez… I always forget you like to live in a freezer”
“I’d live in a real one if they came in bigger sizes”
Reki rolled his eyes at the endearing response Langa gave. He was being awfully silly today.
Immediately, Reki flopped onto Langas bed face first. He buried his face into the pine fabric softener that lingered with the scent of Langa’s shampoo. Langa came and sat near him, the bed shifting with his weight.
“D’you know you do the same thing when you get here?”
“What do you mean?” Reki asks, turning his head to look at Langa. His eyes were softer than usual, his expression calm rather than blank like normal.
“Every time you come in here you flop onto the couch or the pillows” Langa teased, Reki pouted.
“I don’t do that,” Reki grumbled, smacking his hand against the side of Langa’s thigh.
“Mhm,” Langa smirked, and flopped down over his friend.
Rekis legs got tucked underneath Langa’s back, as he laid on top of him. Langa let out a content sigh as Reki adjusted his upperbody to look at him. Reki appreciated the shared body heat, but he couldn’t lie, the constant proximity they’d been having recently was making him antsy. Mostly because, well—
Reki’d been... hiding something.
Something sort of, kinda, maybe, super crucial towards his thoughts and actions around his best friend.
Reki had it bad for Langa.
Real bad .
It was abrupt when he’d first realized it.
They were lying in the middle of a vacant skate park, their favorite one, shoulder to shoulder. Langa was saying something about how he liked the view of the stars here in Okinawa. Something about his old city’s light pollution. Reki doesn’t remember.
What he does remember however, was the sudden rush of fulfillment that swept through him when his body finally relaxed against the pavement. A certain sense of, “Oh man, I really hope I never lose this” which led to, “God, I really hope I don’t lose Langa ”
It was a feeling that swelled beyond a wish they would skate together infinitely like Reki said, embarrassingly, in those first few weeks they knew each other. Beyond a hope they’d just stay friends either, beyond something platonic.
Reki wanted Langa to be his.
He felt selfish for a while after those thoughts bubbled up. Like it was wrong for Reki to want so much from someone who had already given him everything he wanted. Like he wasn’t supposed to be thinking that way about his best friend.
But eventually, Reki came to accept it. Not exactly that he was, well, in love with Langa (he was already very aware of that), but more that it was a feeling he wasn’t going to be able to push down. If he wasn’t going to be able to force his face not to flush every time Langa threw himself at Reki after a sweaty race, he was just going to have to accept it.
He wasn’t ready to say anything about it, but he wasn’t going to be ashamed of it either. There were so many reasons to love Langa, and Reki had experienced all of them first hand. He liked the bubbly feeling he got in his chest when Langa cheered for his skating. And he definitely didn’t hate the warm swoop in his stomach whenever Langa dipped his head close to whisper something to him.
He liked a lot about Langa, and probably loved a lot more.
Reki was definitely too anxious and insecure to do anything about these feelings, but he would take the solid acceptance over the anxious confusion any day. (Even when that clarity meant his mind decided to plant little daydreams of them in his head constantly—
Like waking up in an apartment they shared and eating breakfast,
Or falling asleep in a car while Langa drove,
Or… kissing him after a day spent on the beach,
It was always real cheesy and embarrassing, but Reki had a couple years to catch up in the dating department anyways, so he usually let the cliche fantasies slide)
“Rekiiii” Langa sang, poking —jabbing— him in the shoulder.
“Hm?” Reki hummed, focusing back on the present.
“I’m going to help my mom clean up in the kitchen,” Reki nodded along as Langa talked, “And I was thinking you could shower if you wanted”
Reki nodded again, probably too quickly, but he was still trying to bury the embarrassment of being caught daydreaming by the muse of said daydream.
Langa just smiled at him, and reached his hand out to tug at Reki’s headband.
“Your so in your head lately,” Langa said, shifting off the bed, and sauntering over to his closet, “I would be worried if your face wasn’t an open book” Langa tutted.
Reki flushed.
“Huh?” He blurted.
Langa glanced over his shoulder, and tossed Reki a towel.
“Your very expressive with your face is all I’m saying” Langa said with a kinder expression, “your all… smiley”
Reki grumbled, yanking a pillow away from Langa’s headboard and launching it straight at Langa’s head. Langa’s eyes popped open, and he dodged with a burst of airy laughter, as he quickly squeezed out of his room. Reki snickered.
————————————————
Reki wasn’t in the shower very long. He wasn’t sure if he approved of Langa’s choice in soaps, but he managed. Maybe he was too used to using his sisters citrusy shampoo every time he ran out.
He toweled off quickly, changing into some of the clothes he left behind at Langa’s a while ago. He also decided it would be smart to brush his teeth while he was still in the bathroom.
And if Reki was thinking about how they would arrange their soap bottles together on a bathroom caddie in their hypothetical apartment, only Reki needed to know.
When he walked back into Langas bedroom, Langa was sitting comfortably on his bed with his phone in his hands. He had a tiny stack of clothes and a towel sitting next to him. Langa smiled when he noticed Reki, and stood from the bed.
Grabbing his things, Langa gestured to his bed, “Do whatever, I’ll try to be quick,” He said, brushing his hand on the small of Rekis back as he walked out into the hallway. Reki shivered.
“Don’t fall asleep before me” Langa said, closing the door to the thoroughly steamed bathroom. Reki replied to the quiet, and tried to tell himself that the shiver that rushed through him was from the cold.
Which, happened to not be so far from the truth. It would take a real warrior to bare Langas bedroom in a T-shirt and shorts when your hair is wet.
Reki tossed his towel into Langa’s hamper like he always did, and quickly tucked his feet under Langa’s comforter. He leaned over the edge of Langa’s bed, and fumbled around for his phone charger. It was dim in his room, with his nightstand lamp being the only current source of light.
Reki plugged in his phone, and opened the unread message in his notifications. It was from his mother.
Your sister wants to go skating tomorrow morning, but I assume you’ll end up staying over at Hasegawa’s tonight. I let her know you won’t be back until lunch. Love you sweetheart, stay safe.
Reki smiled at his phone fondly. His mother had a way of caring when she needed too, while also giving Reki the freedom to make his own choices. He wondered if she had any idea how much Reki liked Langa. She always seemed to see right through him.
Reki set his phone down on Langa’s nightstand, and fell back into the pillows. His mind immediately caught on the thought from earlier.
Would Reki’s mom approve of a relationship between him and Langa? Would Nanako?
Would Reki even ever get to the point where he had enough self confidence to believe he was worth Langa’s love in the first place?
The thought made Reki’s stomach twist uncomfortably, but he tried to keep his focuses elsewhere. Reki was really good at daydreaming, but that’s often where his mind liked to keep those thoughts. As simple, unreachable dreams; Pleasant thoughts.
Reki felt himself frown at his own brain for being so… Reki. Overthinking so hard he wasn’t sure what thoughts of his were reasonable.
Reki brought his hands up to his face to muffle the groan he needed to let out. His palms warm agains his cheeks, but his fingertips cool to the touch.
Reki didn’t move when he heard the bedroom door open, he just tried to regulate his body back to normal. Even through the cold trembling in his fingers.
Reki heard it more than saw it as Langa ruffled his own hair with his towel before tossing it along with Reki’s into his hamper. Langa opened one or two drawers in his dresser, and Reki tried not to think about the simple domesticity of nights like this being so normal for them.
“Scoot” Langa said, bringing a knee to the bed and nudging Reki with his hand. Reki let his hands fall to his sides as he pushed himself up and over to the other side of the mattress.
Reki bristled, at a whooshing sound coming from the ceiling, and frowned dramatically as he felt a breeze on his face.
“Did you just turn on a fan?” Reki asked, his tone incredulous and dry with disbelief.
“Yeah,” Langa said unbothered, pulling the blankets over his middle, and settling in, “It was warm”
“I can’t believe you” Reki muttered with a grin.
“You chose to come here”
“You asked me to stay over”
“No, you asked to stay over”
Reki frowned.
“I thought you wanted me over”
“I never said I didn’t”
“You get mean when your tired
Langa”
“I can’t deny it”
Reki laughed softly to himself, as Langa reached over his side table for the lamp. He switched it off with practiced ease, shrouding them in darkness except for a soft light that peaked from under Langas bedroom door.
If Reki was given another chance to describe Langa’s apartment with a word, he would change his answer to cozy. It was always cozy, even if it was too cold sometimes. Reki thinks it was less of the apartment itself, and more the people living in it.
Reki felt his body trembling continuously as the cold seeped through his fabric armor. Langa, was unaffected. He turned to the side he usually slept on, facing away from Reki as he got comfortable.
Which would be fine, if Reki wasn’t so damn cold that all his previous drowsiness had been washed away.
He was going to be a good house guest, and he wasn’t going to bother Langa, whose breathing was already leveling out. He was probably exhausted from the tests they took this week, and the skateboarding, and the stress of the beef he raced in on Wednesday.
Reki wasn’t going to annoy the guy who would fall to his knees and throw a fit over spilt milk with just one less hour of sleep than usual.
Reki wasn’t going to wake Langa up.
But, after what Reki swears was an hour (but was no longer than 45 minutes) the cold only got worse. Rekis hair was too thick to dry as quick as it needed to, so his head was freezing, and his fingers refused to warm up no matter where Reki tucked them. His little trembles had turned into shivers, and soon he was at teeth chattering levels of shake.
“Reki“ Langa mumbled in a groggy tone, probably because he was about a minute away from reaching a deep sleep. Reki was definitely the reason he just woke up. Shit.
“Hm?” Reki tried to hum nonchalantly, attempting to sooth the goosebumps hidden by the blankets.
“Are you cold?”
Did he even need to ask?
“No, I’m alright” Reki said, before he could think better of it.
It was quiet for another few minutes, until a shudder ran through Rekis body, and he had to yawn along with it. Langa groaned.
It wasn’t until he was halfway out of the blankets that Reki noticed Langa slipped out of bed. A tiny bubble of guilt coiled in his stomach.
Reki tried to strain his eyes to see through the darkness of Langa’s bedroom, but he couldn’t. So he listened quietly as Langa went through his closet. He was making a whiney groggy noise in his throat, like a kid, that would be annoyingly childish if Reki didn’t feel so bad.
Langa returned to the bed, and set something down, before switching his light back on. He lifted Rekis phone to see the time.
“It’s almost twelve Reki” Langa mumbled, his eyes half closed. Clearly the light was an inconvenience for him.
“Sorry” Reki murmured. Langa frowned.
“Don’t apologize” Langa said, reaching a hand out to tug Reki up. He sat up from his laying position, “It’s not your fault you’ve lived in tropics your whole life” Langa teased, but it came out weird with his gravely voice.
Reki glanced away, to what Langa had brought back in his hands. Langa was giving him a dry washcloth, while rubbing his eyes.
“For your hair” Langa said, as Reki lifted an eyebrow. Using an arm for leverage, Langa leaned over his side of the bed and flipped the pillow Reki was using so the dry side was facing up. Reki felt a mushy warmth settle deep inside somewhere. Langa didn’t need to do all this when Reki was just a little chilly (A lot chilly, but whatever).
Reki lifted the towel to his head, and started soaking up as much of the left over moisture as he could. Once he was finished, he looked back to Langa, who was waiting expectantly with his hand out.
Reki handed him the towel tentatively, and Langa blindly tossed it behind him towards his hamper with the rest of his laundry. Reki finally glanced to the bed, seeing what Langa had grabbed out of his closet.
It was a sweater. Thick, and pastel yellow in color with pops of orange leaves along the striped fabric. Reki looked back up to Langa who had an eyebrow raised.
“Wh… what?”
“Are you not gonna put it on?”
Oh
Reki huffed an embarrassed laugh and reached forward, while Langa was lifting the sweater by the hem at the same time. Reki stuck his arms through, and Langa helped him pop his head out, and tug the oversized fabric down his torso.
Reki immediately felt the wool fabric warm his skin. As well as the fond smile Langa was giving him.
“What’s with the face?” Reki asked, feeling a little flustered. The sleeves pooled at his wrists in a way he liked in his own clothes, and yet the sweater was so Langa.
“It’s just,” Langa paused and shook his head softly, “Its like, I’ve got both reminders of home in one place”
Reki looked down at the sweater again, realizing it was probably so warm because it was something Langa wore in Canada where clothing this warm was a daily nessecity.
Despite how much Reki’s brain was trying to tell him that Langa only said that because he’s loopy from waking up so late, Reki blushed.
He liked being home for Langa. If that’s what Langa meant anyway. The notion made his heart giddy and warm.
“You can’t say stuff like that Langa”
“You just don’t like that your competition for favorite is with a sweater”
“This one’s your favorite?” Reki asked as Langa shifted back under the blankets. He was choosing to ignore that Langa just said Reki was if not completely, almost Langa’s favorite thing.
Langa paused, reaching for the light while looking directly at Reki.
“Yeah” He said with a smile, and clicked the light off again.
Reki was glad I was dark, or else Langa would have more fuel to tease him with by how red in the face he was. Reki shuffled back under the covers, which were still pretty cold.
Reki shifted so his back was against the mattress, and his legs were stiffly straight. His arms were warmer, but he could still feel the bite in his fingers and toes.
“C’mere” Langa mumbled.
“What?”
“Come here” Langa said again, more coherently.
Reki just stared at Langa from his side of the bed. Langa moved a hand around under the sheets in search of the freckled red head, and ended up having to tug him to the middle of the mattress after Reki flinched away.
“Langa—“ Reki was just about to protest, when he was being wrapped up in Langa’s arms. Both hooking around his waist, and tucking Reki to his chest.
Reki was certain he’d never tensed up so quickly before.
Affection was often displayed physically between the two of them. Hugging and leaning on one another was probably more common than their dap. But this felt,
Different.
They were in Langas bed, and Reki was already being swaddled by Langa’s sweater (His favorite sweater???). And now he was being pulled so close to Langa he could hear his heartbeat, and feel his breaths pool around Langa’s skin.
“Too weird?” Langa asked, after a few too many moments of tense silence. He didn’t sound offended really, but more like he was really tired (and kind of sick of Reki’s nervous fidgeting).
“Uhm, no, uh not really” Reki sputtered softly into Langa’s collar. He slipped his arm around Langa’s side, attempting to reciprocate the touch. His fingers were still shaking with a soft tremble, even though he wasn’t cold anymore.
It was easier to melt into the other boy when Langas breathing started to slow. He was getting comfortable, and that left Reki to rest in his body heat.
He was warm.
Really warm.
Reki had never really thought about how hot two bodies would get when huddled together under layers of blankets. He was almost too warm, just on the cusp of comfort, and relishing in the soothing calm that brought. He wanted Langa to hold him like this more often. Which had him thinking, because when does Reki not.
“Langa?”
“Hm?” Langa croaked.
“Did you ever have sleepovers with your friends in Canada?” Reki asked, his voice extra quiet as his mouth was nestled close to Langa’s ear.
Langa hummed in thought, pressing his nose to his pillow. Reki could barely make out his profile in the dark. He swallowed when Langa looked over to him.
“Once,” Langa said, “With a friend I had for a year or so, but it was right before I left because he knew he probably wasn’t going to see me again. I think he liked me more than I liked him”
“Were you close?”
Langa took a breath, choosing his words.
“No. I never really… got close with anyone in Canada. I spent a lot of time with my parents, and sometimes my grandparents. I had school friends, but we never really hung out outside of school”
“Why?”
“I don’t really know. I guess I didn’t feel like I needed to,” Langa said slowly, like sleep was leaking into his words, “Why are you asking?”
“But we sleepover all the time?”
“Reki,” Langa reiterated, his tone firm but not intimidating, “why are you asking?”
Reki pursed his lips, and shrugged his shoulders enough to jostle Langa’s arm a bit. He curled his fingers into the back of Langa’s shirt and shook his head slightly when Langa opened his mouth to speak.
“It’s…” And Reki huffs, changing his sentence entirely, “I don’t want to keep you awake”
“I don’t either” Langa says softly. His hand rubbing Rekis back slowly, “you can tell me”
Reki was finding he didn’t really mind being cold if it meant when they fell asleep, they got to lay like this.
“I just wanted to know if like, I was the only one you did this with,” Reki cleared his throat, his face warming, “I mean like, sleepovers ‘n stuff”
“Your the only person I have sleepovers with”
Reki frowned. Not at Langa, but at the answer he knew Langa was likely to give, in which Reki had already reasoned around.
“Well, there isn’t really anyone else you could have sleepovers with, so I mean, you would probably do it if there was, uhm, someone else” Reki mumbles, twisting the fabric in his fingers.
Langa huffed a soft laugh through his nose.
Reki wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
It was a good thing.
He knew because as Langa stirred slightly, warm lips were pressed to his hair, and sweetly, Langa whispered,
“Your the only one I want to have sleepovers with Reki”
And then,
“That’s probably not gonna change any time soon”
And also,
“Go to sleep”
Oh
“Oh”
Langa hummed an amused noise, before settling again.
“I mean it Reki, I’ll be grouchy all day tomorrow if you keep me up” Langa said, with no malice whatsoever.
“Okay” Reki muttered in a breath.
Reki let his fingers relax from their death grip, and settled deeper into his pillow.
His skin was buzzing with the phantom press of Langa’s mouth to his forehead. His anxiously strung up body had finally paused for a second, as it processed.
If Reki hadn’t been so rowdy today, he might not have gotten any sleep at all. Instead, he would have spent the next few hours tucked away in he and Langa’s little corner of the world, thinking about everything Langa could have meant with his actions.
But, thanks to the previously frigid temperatures in Langa’s apartment, he’s getting the most relaxing night he’s had in a while.
And it’s not long before Reki’s eyes are drooping, as the hand rubbing his back slows as well.
And Reki falls asleep dreaming,
Of an apartment he shares with Langa,
With cool but not quite cold temperatures,
And a bathroom full of both woodsy and fruity scented shampoo.