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Langa was so excited for Christmas this year; this was his first one with Reki as his boyfriend and he couldn’t wait to spend it with him. However, his mom just broke it to him that they had to go back to Canada this year, to spend some time with his dad’s side of the family or something. Langa stopped listening after she said ‘go back’.
He knew he was being unreasonably upset, but he really wanted to be with Reki this year, no one outside of his family had made him this happy before and he couldn’t wait another whole year to experience this with him. Regardless, he decided against arguing with his mom because he knew that he should see his family as it had been two years since they’d been over there last. Instead, he went and silently sulked in his room, laying on his bed staring at the ceiling before typing out a message to Reki, breaking the news.
Nanako must’ve noticed his disappointment because just as Langa was about to send the message, she poked her head around the bedroom door, with a gentle smile on her face, like she had a plan.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hi,” Langa responded, a hint of confusion in his voice as he sat up to look at her.
“You wanted to spend Christmas with Reki, right?”
“Yeah,” Langa grumbled, frowning slightly and averting his gaze towards the floor.
“Well,” She began, stepping fully into his room and perching herself on the end of his bed, “I spoke to Masae and she said she’s happy for Reki to come with us to Canada.”
Langa’s eyes lit up like a town during a Christmas switch on, filling with excitement and joy, his previous moping completely forgotten, “Really?!”
With a light chuckle, Nanako smiled at Langa, “Yes, really.”
“Does he know? Or can I tell him?”
“You can tell him, dear.”
Langa smiled widely at that, giving his mom a quick hug before picking up his phone and deleting the earlier message he planned to send and instead replaced it with a much more positive, excited invitation.
“Langa, it’s fucking freezing,” Reki whined as the two of them stood outside the entrance to Saskatoon airport, waiting for Nanako to come back with a taxi ordered. He was bundled up in the heaviest coat they could find in Okinawa — which certainly wasn’t warm enough for how bad the weather could get during this time of year, but it would suffice for now — as well as a thick, matching dark blue scarf and woolly hat, which used to be Langa’s, who was faring much better in this weather.
He giggled to himself, it made a nice change, being the one who can actually handle the conditions, “This is mild, Reki, you don’t even know cold yet.”
Reki glared at Langa, keeping his arms crossed and close to his chest. He took that as an invitation to pull Reki into his arms, hugging him tightly in an attempt to keep him warm. Reki melted into the touch, resting his head on Langa’s shoulder, happy to just stay in his embrace.
“The taxi will get here in five minutes, boys.” Nanako said as she approached them, noticing the position the two were in and gave Langa a knowing, proud look.
Just as Nanako had said, the taxi arrived shortly and Reki clambered into the back as quickly as possible, desperate to get out of the cold. Langa climbed in beside him and rested his head on his shoulder, planning to sleep for the entire hour’s drive to his grandparent’s home. Flights were so exhausting for him; he was incapable of sleeping on planes, so a 24-hour flight was horrific, leaving him impossibly tired and irritable. This time, however, was just a bit more bearable with Reki there too, effortlessly bringing him joy and comfort.
Before he knew it, he woke up as they were pulling up on the driveway to his grandparent’s house, as if his body instinctively knew where he was. He gently shook Reki awake, and planted a soft kiss on his forehead, looking at him with a deep love in his eyes as he came to.
It was starting to settle in that he would finally get to introduce the love of his life to the rest of his family and share the parts of his past that he always longed to but was so frightened of doing. Memories of the weeks after his father’s death and the emptiness that filled it still haunted him, but he knew the joy that Reki and Okinawa had brought to his life were stronger than any feelings of depression that tried to force their way through.
“Nanako! Bubblegum! It’s been so long, we’ve missed you so much!” Langa’s grandfather exclaimed in English as he pulled the two into a tight hug and his grandmother lingered behind, smiling endearingly at the reunion before turning to Reki.
“Ah, you must be the boyfriend,” she said and shook one of his hands with both of hers.
“Nice to meet you!” Reki replied, as enthusiastically as he could’ve with his broken English.
“Please, please, come in, all three of you!” Langa’s grandfather encouraged, trying to grab all their bags at once.
The five of them made their way indoors, and Langa watched as Reki’s eyes glittered with awe at the Christmas decorations lighting up the cozy living room. A large, real christmas tree stood in the back left corner of the room, colourful baubles and lights painting the scene with a warm glow.
Langa knew that his grandparents always hung the mistletoe in the doorway to the kitchen, and he longed to catch Reki under it, so he began plotting.
“Reki, I’m going to go to the kitchen to make some food, do you mind taking our bags up to our room and then joining me?” He smiled sweetly, hoping his reason was believable and his excitement didn’t come through too much.
“Of course! I won’t be long.”
Reki picked up their suitcases and took them up the stairs with Nanako behind, telling him which room him and Langa were to share.
Impatiently, Langa stood in the kitchen, pretending to look through the cupboards until he heard Reki coming down the stairs. There was a wall blocking the view from the stairs to the kitchen entrance, so he took that as the perfect opportunity to catch Reki off guard just as he came around the corner, grabbing his waist and pulling him close.
“Hey,” Langa whispered, softly smiling at him.
“Hey,” Reki whispered back, happily returning the smile despite the lack of reason for the sudden affection.
“Look up,” Langa said, still keeping his voice low.
Reki quickly spotted the mistletoe hanging above them and a grin formed on his face as he realised what Langa’s intentions had been all along.
“Convenient, hm?” Langa teased as Reki just looked at him with love filled eyes.
“You do know you can just kiss me whenever, right?” Reki giggled.
“Well, yeah, but this is different. I’ve always wanted to do this, but you can’t really find mistletoe in Okinawa.”
Another flustered giggle was pulled out of Reki as he shrugged and nodded his head in agreement, before leaning up to leave a soft peck on Langa’s lips.
Enthusiastically, Langa pulled Reki even closer, deepening the kiss. In return, Reki slid his hands up, resting one on Langa’s chest and the other on the back of his neck. He parted his lips slightly to let Langa slide his tongue between them. He glided his tongue along the roof of his mouth, pulling a low groan from Reki’s throat which was quickly returned as he tugged lightly on the hair at the nape of Langa’s neck.
Langa spun them both around and pushed Reki up against the wall, forcing another small whine out of him as he leaned down to kiss his neck.
“Langa…” Reki groaned as he squeezed his bicep, “Langa, remember we’re not at home.”
Reluctantly, he pulled away and looked Reki in the eyes, smiling at him with content.
“Plus, its supposed to be ‘kiss under the mistletoe’, not ‘tongue each other under the mistletoe’” Reki teased.
Langa rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance.
“Whatever, smart ass. Let’s get to bed, that flight killed me.”
Two days later, it was already Christmas Eve, and the temperature had plummeted drastically.
“Oh my god, Langa, I think I’m going to freeze to death.” Reki complained as they stood in the busy high street, trying to spot a good stall to get food from. It had become tradition in the Hasegawa family to visit the Christmas market on Christmas Eve every year. They always spent an appalling amount of money, but it was also a lovely, bustling atmosphere.
Langa laughed, very amused by how poorly Reki was taking to the weather. “You’ll be fine, Reki!”
“At least it's supposed to snow today! The beauty of the snow always makes up for how horrible the cold is.” Nanako piped up.
“I’ve never seen snow before,” Reki murmured in anticipation.
As if right on cue, a single snowflake fluttered down and landed on Reki’s nose. He gasped and smiled brightly, “Was that snow?!”
The sky had clouded over, and flurries of sparkling white flakes fell and settled all around them.
Langa didn’t care much for the snow, he’d seen it countless times before, instead he stared intently at Reki, whose eyes were wide with delight.
“Reki,” he whispered as he grabbed his hand, “come with me, I know a great spot for watching the snow.”
Having grown up here, Langa knew the town like the back of his hand and therefore knew all the best spots around. He pulled Reki along, taking him up an old, abandoned tower.
They stood at the very top and looked over the rooftops of the town that was being dusted by the gentle snow. The Christmas lights strung across the town lit up the view like stars in the night sky. Reki gasped at the sight, his eyes wide with awe and admiration.
“It’s beautiful,” Reki whispered, turning to look at Langa with pure happiness filling his eyes, “just as beautiful as the snowflakes you brought to Okinawa.”
“What do you mean?” Langa asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion.
“I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you jump off the railings in the abandoned factory, during your first race with shadow. It was incredible, I could’ve sworn I saw snowflakes falling around you.”
Langa felt his cheeks flush pink as he stepped closer to Reki and grabbed his hands, “I didn’t realise it was so soon for you too.”
“Too?”
Langa hummed in confirmation, “Mm, I think I fell for you when you ollied over my head for the first time.”
“That was the first time we met!” Reki exclaimed, pulling a smile from Langa.
“So? You’re not much better, my first time at S was only two days after we met!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Reki rolled his eyes, but grinned anyway, before placing a soft kiss on Langa’s lips.
“I love you, Reki,” Langa whispered, “You’re so beautiful, even the snow couldn’t compare.”
“Oh, hush, you sap.” Reki giggled as his cheeks turned a deep pink, a lovely contrast against the snow, “I love you too.”
Langa pulled Reki into a tight embrace, before pulling back slightly to leave enough room to lean down and kiss him. Reki hung his arms around Langa’s neck as he wrapped his arms around Reki’s waist and kissed him softly. They mouthed gently against each other, keeping each other warm amidst the chill of the snow.
As a kid, Langa would spend a lot of time atop this tower with his dad, just looking out onto the town, so to now be here with the love of his life felt so incredibly special. He was infinitely grateful that they found each other, otherwise Langa would still be in the deep hole he found himself in during his grief.
Langa pulled away again to smile at Reki, “Thank you, Reki. Sharing this part of my life with you means so much to me.”
“Of course, Langa, it means a lot that you want to share it with me,” he smiled in return and kissed Langa once more.
“Merry Christmas, Reki.”
“Merry Christmas, Langa.”