Work Text:
When Langa was growing up, he was never formally taught Japanese. His mother helped him learn enough so that he could understand and speak to his grandparents when they called or sent him birthday cards in the mail. He liked having that connection with his mom, as his dad was always horrible with the language and went red in the face every time he addressed Nanako’s parents, because as Langa grew up he worried that she might feel lonely or disconnected from him because he spent so much time snowboarding with his dad.
Both of his maternal grandparents passed away before middle school, and his mother stopped speaking Japanese as much in the home as she (though never admitted it to Langa) wanted to stop using the language as a crutch and really be able to hold her own without her husband’s aid. But Langa knew being biracial and bilingual was as central to his person as snowboarding was. So he took to watching anime with Japanese subtitles to keep his language skills sharp.
Most of the shows didn’t capture his interest a ton, and he devoted more and more of his free time to snowboarding after he locked in a professional coach halfway through middle school. But the one show he did really like was Beast Junction.
Beast Junction followed Norio Kusumoto, a fifteen year-old boy who accidentally stumbled into the secret of animal shapeshifters living amongst humans without anyone being the wiser. He gets to know a classmate, Chika, who belongs to a family of cat shifters. Chika’s one-year-older brother, who is also a cat shifter, Koji, finds out Chika has revealed her true nature on accident to her classmate and takes it upon himself to teach Norio what he needs to know to stay safe now that he knows this world exists. Chika’s form is unstable, however, so Norio and Koji work together in the human world and the shifter world to figure out how to help Chika so that she doesn’t have to be isolated from the only life she’s ever known.
After the plot was laid out in the first few episodes, which hooked Langa’s attention, each few episodes introduced a new supporting character, good or bad, and the three went on crazy adventures across Tokyo and always managed to escape unscathed. It was a bit cheesy, but the characters were all pretty fun, and the language wasn’t so complicated that Langa had a hard time keeping up with it.
The show was based on a manga, and Langa read the Wikipedia page that listed that it was still ongoing with nearly twenty volumes, and the anime kept up with it through Langa’s first year of high school.
Between seasons of the show, Langa was tempted to read the manga, but there was no physical or digital English translation, and it was expensive to ship volumes overseas. Langa didn’t have much of an allowance (any competition winnings of his went straight into a savings account for when he turned 18, as agreed upon as a family), so he went for the free options that he learned were much more interesting: fanworks.
Fanfiction was so accessible, and there was a fair collection of both English and Japanese fanfictions (though mostly the latter) for the series, so Langa indulged in the off-season.
When Langa moved to Japan, he had much more ready access to the manga (Reki even had a few of the early volumes in his room!) and was able to catch up to where the last animated season left off.
When the final volume left Langa still wanting more, he went back to the fanfiction.
With teachers, Manager Oka, Cherry, and his mother all wincing whenever they came across his handwriting and/or test scores, he challenged himself to only read Japanese-written stories. There were many that he enjoyed, but he especially liked the fics written as continuations of the series where the characters, now out of any danger upon their lives, could make mundane human mistakes in life and love, but with a sprinkle of shifter magic mixed in.
Open in one of the few tabs on his phone was one such story, which updated at least once a month, titled “Take it On” after the anime’s final season’s ending music. Initially, the first few chapters of the story were pretty general, low tension, the characters learning to move on and grow. But what kept Langa coming back was the way the author, riojijunction, wrote scenes between Norio and Koji. By the end of the series, the two now men and Chika had grown to be an unstoppable trio of friends, and the mangaka dropped hints that there was something more brewing between Koji and Chika. However, the way riojijunction spun it, that tension was not between Koji and Chika but Koji and Norio. And with each new update, Langa found that a lot of the feelings that Koji — the fic’s point of view — was experiencing he too felt for someone he was growing closer and closer to each day.
It was three days after Langa read the latest chapter — wherein Koji had finally come to terms that he had more-than-friendship-like feelings toward Norio — that Reki, expression bashful and eyes downcast, asked him on a date.
Enthusiastically, Langa said yes. Their first date was awkward, both of them trying a bit too hard to impress the other and do something they normally wouldn’t, which ended in a talking-to from Shadow, of all advice-givers.
After a few days of broken eye-contact and stilted texts, the two decided that they didn’t have to do anything special to call their alone time dates, because Langa liked Reki, and Reki, miraculously, felt the same, and that was the best place to start.
When Langa next remembered to check to see if Take it On had updated, he had missed three chapters. He’d been so consumed with skating, school, Reki, and having fun that he’d nearly forgotten all about it. What had reminded him to check was Reki mentioning that his sister had started watching Beast Junction alongside one other show on afternoon replays and he commented on how nostalgic it made him feel to watch the main trio stumble over the very easy (in comparison) first obstacles that they faced in the series.
When Langa got home from S later that night (morning), he kept himself awake so that he could get caught up.
After Koji came to terms with his romantic attraction toward Norio and grew determined to do something about it, he invited Chika out to talk to her about it. He started off without naming names, a-friend-told-me, but she eventually wore him down enough to the point that he fully confessed that it was him who was struggling with his feelings and they were for none other than their best friend. Chika acted as if this was not new news to her, which Langa snorted at reading. Throughout the show, many moments ended with Chika turning her nose up at the two boys and delivering the correct answer despite the two of them stumbling to even get halfway there.
“Of course you knew,” Koji grumbled with a deep sigh. “You always know.”
Chika leaned over the table and reached for Koji’s hand, squeezing his wrist, and he stared down at her skinny fingers that could snap his bones in a second, but in this moment showed such warmth and care that he was tempted to cry. He was so glad she was now able to express such emotions and didn’t have to be guarded from their family anymore.
“If you wanted to ask me if I think Norio would be mad at you if you confessed? I don’t think he has the capacity to be angry at you.”
Koji thought back to several times in the past three years where he swore Norio’s icy-blue glare would sear his skin from his bones, and only Koji’s supernatural healing would keep him alive.
“You sure?” he asked, half sarcasm.
Chika’s phone on the table buzzed, but instead of looking down at it she turned toward the entrance to the cafe, where a second later the bells above the door jingled as someone entered. When Koji clocked who the person was, his jaw dropped.
Norio stood in the entrance, eyes scanning the café, probably looking for Chika. He looked frazzled, nervous, and his hair stood a bit on end like he’d been tugging on it. He only did that when stressed.
“I’m pretty sure. My brother isn’t the only one who called me for help.”
Norio caught sight of Chika, a relieved smile brightening his pinched face, but it quickly froze when he spotted Koji across the table.
Norio looked at Chika like she’d betrayed him. Ah, there’s that famous glare.
Chika simply calmly let go of Koji’s wrist and beckoned Norio over as she stood from her seat.
“The table is yours, boys,” she sang, clapping Norio on the shoulder as he clearly hesitatingly stepped up to the table.
“Hi, Koji,” Norio murmured, flashing him a belated, tiny smile.
Chika whispered something in Norio’s ear. His cheeks went red. Koji separately wished he could have heard it, but shifting in a public place just to eavesdrop on something said by his sister would be reckless and stupid.
Chika wouldn’t betray his confidence. Would she?
The chapter ended there, and Langa was a little glad he’d gotten forgetful and not checked for updates sooner, because what a brutal cliffhanger!
The next chapter started with an author’s note apology for making people wait. The author mentioned that real life things (all good! they assured) had delayed time for writing.
As the continuation played out, Langa felt himself wince a couple of times, not because the writing was bad, but because it was a bit too good. They way riojijunction played out the awkward interactions between Koji and Norio — now both aware of the other’s feelings after Norio blurted out that he wanted to take Koji on a date after Chika totally had whispered to him that Koji would say yes — was reminiscent to how he and Reki acted on their first date. But they solved their issues before the night ended, much more quickly than Langa and Reki had, and it left the chapter on a hopeful note.
The most recent chapter update was Koji and Chika doing a visit home for the anniversary of the death of their older sister, which was a much more somber and less fun chapter to read at well after three in the morning, but still well written. Norio had offered to go with them, but Koji didn’t feel like their family home was safe enough yet for humans to enter, even though they had begun to lay down their defenses in light of all that Norio had done to help save not only members of their clan but shifters across the world in general.
“I’m just a call away,” Norio insisted, looking between the siblings, but eyes settling on Koji. “Any hour, I’ll answer.”
Koji squeezed their intertwined hands and didn’t let go until the train arrived.
Langa thought about that scene the following weekend when Reki gave him an especially long hug before they split off at their meet-up spot, Reki to Dope Sketch for a work shift, and Langa back to the apartment where his mom was waiting for him to drive to the airport and catch an evening flight to Canada. It was his grandmother’s 85th birthday, and the anniversary of his dad’s death was less than a month away, so they would be visiting both. Langa was excited to tell his grandparents and his dad about Reki and all of his new friends, and reassure them all that he was doing much better.
On the plane ride back, a week later, he read the newest chapter update which made him wish he could rush the plane home faster. And he realized then that Okinawa, that Naha and Dope Sketch and S, had become his home, and it didn’t feel like a betrayal to his family, because he had family there now too.
The flight got in very early, and dealing with the time change was tough, so It wasn’t until the following afternoon on Sunday that Langa got to see Reki.
The rest of the Kyan family was home, so they went straight for Reki’s room, Langa retelling Reki about his trip, the family he visited, and showing him the backpack full of Canadian snacks he brought back for Reki to try.
They both took a seat on Reki’s bed, their backs to the wall, but as Langa spread the various snacks out in front of them, his gaze drifted over to Reki and he stopped.
Reki was wearing his green hoodie with a vinyl smiley face across the chest, and the hoodie string was missing from the frayed eyeholes, a sign of how well-worn it was. Langa had borrowed that hoodie twice before, but he always thought Reki looked way better in it. He looked so comfortable, excitedly staring at the snacks and at Langa, back and forth.
“Langa?” Reki had stopped his flickering gaze, a bit of a worried stare crossing his expression, and Langa finally realized he was just kneeling with an empty backpack in his hands, staring at his boyfriend and saying nothing.
“Can we cuddle?” Langa asked, for the first time.
He and Reki had held hands and hugged, but they’d never cuddled more than an arm slung across shoulders. With each new boundary they crossed, they’d had a conversation about it to make sure the other was comfortable doing so, and in which situations. Langa was worried he would come on too strong, and Reki didn’t want Langa to feel like he couldn’t express himself, so they made sure to talk things out. Even, especially, when it was embarrassing.
They hadn’t gotten to talking about kissing yet, but Langa thought that cuddling was a good next step. Also, he really wanted to. Koji and Norio had inspired him.
Reki looked a little startled for a second at the sudden request, but he grinned a moment later and gestured for Langa to sit right next to him. They had to shove some of the snacks over to make room, but they made Langa a space right next to Reki.
They started with pressing their sides together, and Langa cataloged Reki’s reaction to be sure he was okay with it, but Reki was already reaching for Langa’s arm to sling it up and around his back so that it eventually settled around Reki’s waist. Langa shifted so that he was leaning his head against Reki’s shoulder.
For the first minute, it was stiff and awkward and honestly uncomfortable, but they slowly maneuvered so that Langa ended up with both arms around Reki’s waist, Reki with one arm around Langa’s back, and Langa leaning against Reki’s chest. They spent the afternoon like that. Langa passed snacks to Reki, eating all the ones that he didn’t like and then some of the ones he did, and then it was Reki’s turn to talk about how his week was. Langa requested detailed recaps of the beefs at S, because Reki was a great storyteller and always made Langa laugh with his impressions.
After that day, they start cuddling more. They sat even closer together during lunch, they shared the space behind the desk at Dope Sketch when there was downtime, and when they studied they often sat with one in the lap of the other, whoever was the tutor at the back to “oversee” the tutee’s work.
It was amusing, but other than when they weren’t together, the times they spent not cuddling were when they were skateboarding.
Miya was the only one to comment negatively toward the new closeness, but it was more of a Miya-neutral comment, so neither took it personally. The only other pointed reaction was Joe’s smirking, which oddly inflated Reki’s ego, which Langa considered to be a good thing.
Langa attributed part of the inspiration to invite cuddling into their relationship to Take it On, which only endeared the fanfiction to him more. It was almost becoming more important to him than the actual canon of Beast Juncture.
The next chapter released was noted by the author to be self-indulgent, and Langa understood why when the chapter started out with Koji waking up from a nap leaning against Norio’s side with his cat ears and tail exposed.
There was an episode early on in the show where Norio assured Chika that she didn’t look like a freak when she shifted into her human-cat-hybrid form, and this chapter spoke to that scene, but this time with Norio assuring Koji that he would still like him in whatever form took.
“Even if I went full tabby cat?” Koji asked sarcastically, but he knew there was hidden truth behind his words. There was always a worry, no matter how understanding a person may seem, no matter how good they are, that they could turn on you in a moment.
Koji hadn’t shifted in front of Norio since they started going out. Norio wasn’t acting any different, but…
“Even then,” Norio replied, interrupting Koji’s spiraling thoughts, and Koji’s breath hitched in surprise. Norio sounded dead serious, and his face said that too.
“I mean…” Koji choked out a laugh, “I don’t think I’ll get stuck that way again–”
“But if you did,” said Norio. “I’d still like you.”
Koji bit his lip. “That’s a bit too much to ask… but thank you.”
Norio cupped Koji’s cheek and his thumb raked over Koji’s sideburn. “Can I pet them?”
Koji felt his face go red. “Huh?!”
“Your ears,” Norio clarified. He, too, was a bit pink in the face. “Can I pet them?”
Unable to give a verbal response due to honest shock, Koji instead rolled his neck so that Norio’s fingers slid up to his hairline, a silent give of permission.
Norio’s touches were gentle and slow, but he eventually grew bolder, bringing his other hand up to Koji’s other ear and tracing the edge of it before rubbing the furry point of it between fingers.
The entire time, Norio wore a small smile, exuding contentment, and he continued to check in with Koji every few seconds, eyes flicking back to his expression to make sure he didn’t, what, look mad?
Koji didn’t think he could ever feel anger with a Norio who treated him so gently.
“How were your classes this week?” Norio asked.
Koji made a noise of confusion at the sudden conversation.
“We’ve barely seen each other all week. Tell me how your week was.”
Koji had to clear his throat twice before he requested, “You first.”
Koji paid close attention as Norio laid out how his morning math exam tried to ruin his Wednesday but he refused to let it. His fingers twitched in his lap, and his eyelids fluttered closed, letting the soft touches and Norio’s voice relax him.
“And because I knew I’d see you today,” Norio said of the day previous, “it was easy to focus on that and ignore the annoyances.”
Koji curled his claws into his palms.
Before Langa could finish the chapter, his mom called for him to help with dinner. Langa wasn’t able to read the rest until after another couple of hours because after seeing his mom, he decided to ask her how her week was going. Then she started crying because he was being so thoughtful by asking, and by the time she calmed down and they both had swapped a few recent stories it was dark out and Reki was calling for their nightly chat.
The chapter had a sweet ending that left Langa excited for the next installment and also wishing Reki was cuddling him right then.
“I’d still like you if you were a cat,” Langa assured Reki the next day.
Miya, who also met them at the skatepark, made a disgusted noise. “Reki could never be as cute as a cat.”
“Even if he wasn’t a cat, I’d still like him,” Langa revised.
“What if–”
A red-faced Reki shot a hand out between the two and begged, “Please stop. Langa, thank you. Miya, words hurt.”
Miya stuck his tongue out in reply. Langa missed it, though. He was watching Reki’s face steadily get redder and silently enjoying it.
“Stop grinning,” Reki snapped at him, without needing to look, and Langa spun on his heel and skated toward the ramp, out of noogie range. Miya was not so lucky.
Langa got a much more affectionate head pat when he reentered Reki’s reach, wisely once his boyfriend was in a better mood. The head pats had joined the various ways the two had found to show affection in public spaces. It was platonic enough that no one would ask questions, but the two of them knew, just like with their dap, that their touches meant more.
Nothing beat actual cuddling, though. Two days later, the couple was at Reki’s house after school, no shifts at Dope Sketch, and all attempts to study had just been forfeited. Reki’s mother had stepped out to get some groceries with the twins, so they were alone in the living room which was rare.
Reki pointed at Langa’s worksheet next to his, abandoned on the table. “Your reading comprehension and handwriting is looking a lot better.”
Langa glanced over Reki’s shoulder, as Reki was seated in his lap this time, to see what he was pointing at before he made a noise of agreement. “Yeah, I’ve been reading–Oh, Reki,” he interrupted himself as he remembered, “I forgot to look at that article you sent me last night.”
“Oh you have to see it. I’ll show you!”
Reki opened up his browsing app, and a familiar set of words immediately caught Langa’s attention, and he gasped.
“Oh, Beast Junction!” Langa exclaimed, then ordered, “Wait, Reki go back.” when Reki’s quick fingers had already navigated to a new tab.
He felt Reki freeze in his arms and Langa frowned and looked down at him. Reki’s jaw was dropped and he was staring at Langa with wonder and horror mixed together. “What?” he squeaked.
“Beast Junction,” Langa repeated. “That’s a Beast Junction fanfiction, isn’t it? Have you read it?”
How funny would it be if he and Reki were reading the same fanfiction and didn’t realize? He loved learning new things about Reki.
“I didn’t know you liked to read fanfiction,” Langa added. “Me too,” he assured, in case Reki feared Langa would judge him for it.
Langa watched Reki’s throat bob before he said, “I don’t.” Langa frowned, so Reki continued, seemingly a touch reluctantly. “That’s actually, um, mine?”
Now it was Langa’s turn to stiffen up.
When Reki got nervous, he rambled, and Langa must have made him feel nervous, because he began to ramble. “I really liked being able to use the characters to get in better touch with my thoughts and feelings, you know? Some people journal, but that never worked for me, and at first I just had a random idea and wanted to write it down, but then I started to kind of project onto the characters. Because they’re so relatable, right? I mean, I can’t shift into a cat, but–” Reki shook his head. “Anyway, so that is actually the one I wrote. Write, because it’s not done yet. I’ve been working on the next chapter but I’m not sure how to end it yet.”
“You like Koji?” was Langa’s brilliant response.
It worked, though. Reki relaxed against his chest, which helped Langa to ease the tension out of his own muscles. “He was my favorite, maybe because we’re both older brothers? I forgot you said you’ve watched the anime too.”
Langa took Reki’s phone from his hand, ignored his protest, and swiped back to the last tab. His eyes hadn’t tricked him. The tab was definitely displaying Take it On by riojijunction, and it gave options to edit the text, meaning Reki was logged into riojijunction’s account. So Reki must have been riojijunction, meaning Reki was the author of Take it On.
“So the relationship between Norio and Koji in this…” Langa said and trailed off, shaking the phone for emphasis, allowing Reki to fill in the blank.
Reki’s cheeks were stained with red and Langa wanted to press his lips to them, but he forced back the urge. “Wait, how did you know they’re in a relationship?”
A swell of emotion filled Langa and he grinned down at the phone. Of course Reki was the author, it made so much sense! No wonder he could see himself and Reki so well within the pages. He and Reki got together, and so did Koji and Norio. They supported each other through tough times, sought advice together, talked and worked their issues out, and navigated their relationships one step at a time. The only difference was that now Langa was given a glimpse of it all through Reki’s eyes, though admittedly through a filtered lens.
“Does that mean you’ve read it?”
If Reki uses his feelings for him as the inspiration behind Koji’s character, Langa came to a dawning realization, then that means…
Reki poked him in the side, hard. “Langa?”
Langa recalled the final line of the most recent chapter of Take it On:
I want to kiss him, Koji thought, but kept his hands to himself.
Langa reached forward, dropping Reki’s phone to the floor, and swallowed his boyfriend’s noise of annoyance with his lips.
Reki squeaked in surprise, so Langa pulled back.
“You wanted to kiss me,” Langa confirmed, “right?”
Reki’s tongue darted out to nervously lick his lips and he murmured, “You can read minds now?”
“No,” Langa assured him, “Just Japanese. Oh, and English,” then kissed him again because Reki’s response meant “yes” and Langa was a big fan of green lights.
Reki did not keep his hands to himself.