Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After almost two straight days on a plane, all Reki wants to do is pass the hell out. But for some reason Joe didn’t do the mobile check-in while they were on the bus. Meaning they have to wait an hour in the hotel lobby while he and Cherry check in and get their rooms arranged.

He and Langa are sitting on one of the benches in the lobby, Reki leaning on Langa’s shoulder while Langa runs his fingers through his hair. Miya’s beside them, headphones on and focus fully absorbed in some apparently Disney-inspired visual novel. Shadow’s next to him, sitting the most still and silent Reki’s ever seen him and reading, and then on the next bench over are Oka and Tadashi, whispering quietly to each other.

Langa’s fingers hit a knot in Reki’s hair, and he flinches.

“Sorry,” Langa murmurs, running his hand over the spot again, soothing this time.

Reki’s about to tell him it’s no problem, but at that exact moment, Joe and Cherry finally make their way back over to them.

“Okay, it looks like we’re in the Nemo building,” Joe says, and Reki’s too tired to fully understand what that means. He knows Joe’s explained it to him before; he just doesn’t remember at the moment. “We have two rooms; everyone’s magic bands should have access to both of them.”

Cherry finishes for him: “Each room has three beds, one of which is separated in its own area. Hiromi, if it’s okay with you, we’d like you to stay with the kids while Tadashi and Oka will room with Kojiro and me.”

“I’m not a kid,” Miya snaps, and everyone rolls their eyes. It’s been a long two days of travel for all of them, but Miya’s taking it the hardest, and it’s messing with his temper.

“Yes, however, we still would like for you to have some supervision and an adult in the room in case you need anything,” Cherry says gently.

Miya huffs but seemingly acquiesces.

“I’m cool with it,” Shadow says, tucking his book back in his bag.

With that, Joe nods and turns on his heel to start leading everyone to their rooms.

Reki’s still leaning on Langa, though. He doesn’t want to move at all.

“Hey, you okay?” Langa asks, tapping at Reki’s shoulder.

“M’m tired,” Reki sighs. He turns his head slightly and attempts to burrow his head into Langa’s shoulder.

Langa chuckles. “The bed in our room will be more comfortable than my shoulder. Shadow, Miya, and I were gonna go to the boardwalk, but you can stay in the room and nap if you want.”

Reki groans and peels himself off of his best friend. “No, I’ll go.”

“Hm. If you’re all going, perhaps I will tag along.”

Reki jumps as he looks up and sees Cherry still standing in front of them. He’s looking at them like he knows something, but what he knows, Reki has no idea.

“Sure.” Langa nods as he stands up, helping Reki up as well. “The more the merrier. Plus it’ll probably help to have another person who speaks English in the group.”

Cherry hums and flutters his fan in front of his chest. (He didn’t have it in his hand before… When the heck did he get it out?) “Of course. Now, come along.”

And he pivots to follow the rest of their group, who are almost all the way out of the lobby building by now.

*~*~*~*

Reki hangs to the back of the group once they make it to the boardwalk, while Langa goes to the front to be the translator. It is unfortunate that of the four members of their group who speak English, the only extroverted one decided to stay back at the hotel, but Kojiro had wanted to call the kids’ moms to let them know they got to their destination safely, so Kaoru left him to it. 

(He doesn’t know why everyone always calls him the mom of the group when it’s so clearly Kojiro. But that’s not important right now.)

They wander through a few shops, not looking for anything in particular. Miya and Shadow each end up buying a pack of Disney Villains-themed pins. Kaoru takes his time looking through the art store, but he also knows that he doesn’t have much space in his luggage for purchases, so he doesn’t end up buying anything.

Eventually, they end up in a bakery, where they get a brownie, some cookies, and a slice of cheesecake to share. 

The combination of the sugar and chill from the cheesecake helps Miya’s temper cool down, and he’s as energetic as ever, just like Kaoru expected would happen. He drags Shadow off to go look for some more pins, and Langa hurries after them to help translate again, leaving Kaoru alone with Reki, who’s still munching on a cookie.

“How long ago did you and Langa make it official?” Kaoru asks, breaking off a piece of his own cookie and popping it in his mouth.

Reki nearly chokes.

“Me and… offic… Langa… what?!” he splutters.

Kaoru raises an eyebrow. “Well, with the way you were laying all over him in the hotel lobby earlier, I thought-”

“No!” Reki shouts, drawing the attention of several passersby.

“Apologies,” Kaoru calls out in English. “My nephew is just excited to be here, and he doesn’t speak English.”

“What did you just say?” Reki asks, more curious than defensive.

“Nothing,” Kaoru sighs. “Now, does that mean you and Langa are not dating?”

“No, we’re not!”

“You don’t need to yell so loud.”

“UGH. No, Langa and I are not dating. I…” Reki deflates, picking at the cookie still in his hands. “Yeah, I have a crush on him, but I don’t want to ruin our friendship in case he doesn’t like me back, y’know?”

Kaoru does know. It’s the same reason he’s never confessed to Kojiro, even though he’s been aware of his own feelings for him for over fifteen years.

But these two…

It’s so obvious Langa has feelings for Reki, and not even just when Kaoru caught them in the lobby earlier. He’s thought the two were at least aware of each other’s feelings since the very first time he met Langa. 

But it seems not.

Hm.

“If you can confess to Langa by the time we’re getting on the plane to go back home, I’ll cover part of your bill for the week.”

It’d be annoying to be in such close quarters with the two of them being oblivious here of all places.

Reki perks up. “Wait, really?”

Kaoru nods.

“Oh, heck yeah!”

He smiles. It seems his plan worked. Perfect-

“Then, if you can confess to Joe by then, I’ll pay you back within a month!”

Kaoru blinks.

“WHAT?”

Chapter Text

The first day in the parks started hectically. Apparently Cherry had had Carla set an alarm for both of their rooms that went off at 7:00. All eight of them, except for Joe, are still bleary-eyed and exhausted by the time they make it to the skyliner port almost an hour and a half later. (They get to watch the sunrise in the skyliner, but Reki finds it really hard to look away from the way it makes Langa’s pale hair shine.)

Joe had insisted that they needed to get into EPCOT right away, though, saying that apparently the line for the crepe restaurant gets super long, super fast, and it’s the best place in the park to get breakfast. So, not long after 8:30, they’re following along with the early admission crowd and head straight for the France pavilion. They get their crepes and split up to sit at two tables overlooking the lake in the middle of the park.

“Holy shit, Joe was so right,” Reki moans around a mouthful of crepe and chocolate sauce. “This was so worth it.”

“You’re gross,” Miya scoffs, but he really shouldn’t be one to talk. He’s already eaten two-thirds of the berry crepe he’s supposed to be sharing with Shadow. 

Shadow doesn’t seem to mind, though; in fact, it almost seems like he’s asleep again as he silently nurses his coffee.

Langa, surprisingly, hasn’t really eaten much of the chocolate crepe he and Reki are sharing, but then again Reki had overheard Langa and Joe talking about their plans to check out as many of the festival food booths as possible the night before during dinner. Langa’s stomach may be a black hole normally, but even he does have his limits, and he’ll probably be pushing them today.

Eventually, everyone is done with breakfast, and they regroup by one of the light poles. After a quick discussion of what to do before their reservation for the Ratatouille ride, they decide to check out some of the international pavilions.

After a little while exploring the UK pavilion, they make their way over to the Canada pavilion.

“So, do you feel like you’re home?” Reki asks, nudging Langa’s side with his elbow.

Langa stares at him for a second, confused. “Yeah, but it’s not because of the park.”

The two blink at each other in silence for a bit. Langa’s clearly expecting some sort of reaction from Reki, but Reki has no clue how to respond. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say in response to that; he barely understands what Langa means by it!

Finally, Langa sighs and drops his arm from where it had been looped around Reki’s shoulder. “I mean, it is pretty accurate. The rural part looks a lot like some of the places my dad and I would pass through when we’d go up into the mountains for weekends to snowboard, and the bigger buildings look like pretty exact replicas of some I can remember.” A wistful look crosses over Langa’s face, the same one Reki has come to understand means he’s remembering the good things about Canada, the times before his dad got sick.

“That’s awesome!” Reki says, hopping a bit. He jumps up and wraps his own arm around Langa’s shoulder, switching their positions from earlier. “I love hearing you talk about Canada, dude; you always get so happy, and it makes me happy when you’re happy!”

Langa huffs a laugh and ducks his head in an unsuccessful attempt to hide the soft blush starting to spread across his cheeks. “I get happy when you’re happy too,” he murmurs.

Suddenly, Cherry’s voice breaks through the little bubble they’ve built around themselves. “Kojiro and Miya have both mentioned wanting to see the informational video about Canada. Would you two be interested in that? Or do you want some… private time?”

Suddenly, Reki’s face feels extremely hot, and he instinctively jerks away from Langa, which sends him nearly careening into Miya.

“Watch it!” Miya shouts, shoving him upright again. Reki can tell it’s not out of anger, though. He can hear the concern laced into the words.

And now everyone is staring at him. Both the other five members of the group (where the hell did Tadashi and Oka go?) and several of the people walking past them.

“Reki?” Langa asks, taking a hesitant step towards him.

“Uh.” It takes a second for Reki’s brain to remember what Cherry had mentioned. Other than… that. “Uh, yeah, I wanna watch the video. If you’re cool with it, Langa?”

Langa is silent for a long while before he finally steps back and nods. “Yeah, okay.”

They get to the theater right as the doors open, so they get to walk right in. As soon as they’re lined up in the theater to watch the video, Reki’s brain starts running a mile a minute.

Why did he react like that when Cherry had suggested he and Langa get some ‘alone time’? They’re alone together all the time! It isn’t anything weird; they’re best friends!

Although, if Reki wants to take Cherry up on the bet…

They have to be… more than best friends by the end of the week.

Oh.

That was why.

Because now he knows that Cherry knows. He knows that Cherry was suggesting it on purpose.

“Are you okay?”

Reki has to bite the collar of his shirt to keep from yelping when he feels Langa’s breath against his ear.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he whispers, and he can hear the strain in his own voice. “Why?”

“Your face is really red.”

“Oh. Uh.” Shit. “It’s probably the heat? I’ll drink some more water.”

Langa levels a blank look at him, and Reki knows he doesn’t believe him. Why would he? Reki’s lived in Okinawa his whole life. If any of them were to get heatstroke, it’d probably be Langa himself. Although all of them definitely learned their lesson when they went to the beach that one time and are all constantly on the lookout for the signs of it from him.

A part in the back of Reki’s brain starts whispering, ‘Here, now.’ He should confess in a place that’s meaningful to Langa, right? And how much more meaningful do you get than in a theme park inspired by Langa’s home?

He doesn’t even know what he’s going to say, just opens his mouth and gets ready to say something, but then Langa’s eyes widen and he looks away, back up to the screen.

“That’s where I’m from!” he whispers, a wide smile spreading across his face.

And Reki’s barely disappointed that he didn’t get the words out.

Not when the alternative is seeing Langa smiling like this.

*~*~*~*

“Those two are up to something,” Miya mutters. He eyes Reki and Langa as they pick up their glasses for the Ratatouille ride, talking quietly to each other.

“You know, I can’t help but think you’re right,” Shadow replies. His gaze follows Cherry Blossom as he shoves his water bottle and fan into Joe’s backpack, Cherry’s hand lingering on Joe’s shoulder just a second longer than would be considered ‘casual’.

 *~*~*~*

"It's too early in the day for that, don't you think?" Oka laughs, watching Tadashi pick up a bottle of champagne.

Tadashi just raises an eyebrow and silently walks to the counter of the French wine shop.

Chapter Text

Kaoru hadn’t particularly expected EPCOT, of all four parks, to be the best place to confess his feelings to Kojiro.

But Kaoru also knows himself.

He’s hesitated to confess for fifteen years. If he hesitates any longer, he’s not going to at all. Even with a large amount of money on the line.

So, he resolves to get it out of the way on the first day of their vacation.

How hard can it be?

 *~*~*~*

It turns out to be very hard.

Their next venture after leaving the French pavilion is to continue around the World Showcase, stopping every so often so that Langa and Joe can get a small snack from the festival booths.

They’d planned on skipping the booth in the Italian pavilion apparently, which honestly makes sense considering Kojiro normally spends all day every day around Italian food. But as soon as the booth is within sight, Kaoru is the one who splits off from the group to head towards it, a plan forming in his mind.

He orders the salad so that, unlike the other two, he doesn’t spoil his appetite for lunch or dinner.

When he catches back up to the group, everyone is clearly confused, especially Kojiro, who looks almost angry at the dish in his hands.

“I thought you weren’t going to try any of the festival food?” Miya says, although it sounds more like a question.

Kaoru just huffs and flicks his hair over his shoulder. “I got curious.” And he turns to face Kojiro directly, who’s still staring daggers at the small styrofoam bowl in his hands, as he loads up his fork and takes a bite.

Kojiro’s gaze follows the fork up to his face, lingers on his lips for just a moment, and then flicks up to make eye contact with Kaoru.

An awkward silence hovers over the group as Kaoru chews and then swallows.

Surprisingly, Langa is the one to break the silence. “How is it?” he asks.

Kaoru hums, trying to make it seem like he’s thinking for a moment, and then says, “I’ve had better much closer to home.”

At that, Kojiro’s expression melts, an almost smug smirk forming on his face. Kaoru almost regrets taking this path now.

Luckily, before Kojiro can say anything, his phone chirps, reminding them that they have another reservation in a few minutes that they need to start making their way to.

Kaoru sighs and dejectedly finishes off the rest of the salad as they walk.

*~*~*~*

The lights dim for just a second, and then flash bright white. A familiar horn riff plays, and then they’re shooting backwards into outer space.

Kaoru and Kojiro share a grin when they realize the song is ‘September’ by Earth, Wind, and Fire. It’s their favorite option on the tracklist for Cosmic Rewind. It’s hard to tell who’s being louder, the kids screaming or the two of them singing along.

Kaoru doesn’t know quite why Kojiro likes it so much, but it’s always reminded him of their summers traveling together. It had been playing that time they’d gone to a restaurant in L.A., and both of them had quickly added it to their playlists. The nostalgia, the youthful love. Even if it hadn’t played in that specific instance, he’s sure he would’ve felt a connection to it.

He’s definitely imagining the blush on Kojiro’s cheeks.

Right?

It’s so dark in here, after all…