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Warm, salty tears ran down his face as he handed his richly decorated pin that read ‘S’ to the man. ‘Are you sure you won’t need this anymore?’ he asked. Reki just shook his head, he needed to get out of there as fast as possible.
Langa had won the race against Joe, so why wasn’t he happy? Why was there a weight in his stomach that he just couldn’t seem to get rid of?
The only thing he could hear were his slow footsteps on the grit, the orange stones made little noises with each step he took, each tear that fell from his face. It was just him and his thoughts.
Another tear fell to the ground, he shouldn’t feel like this, he should be cheering for his friend, he shouldn’t be walking here, crying.
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His lungs burned but he just kept on running, he needed to find Reki as soon as possible. He didn’t care about the race anymore the second he saw his face in the crowd.
He ran and ran and ran until he eventually came to the gate. He didn’t find Reki? Was it just his imagination that saw Reki in the crowd?
‘Hey SNOW, are you with that red-haired kid?’ one of the guards asked him. Langa slightly jumped at the man’s loud voice. Langa nodded, who else could have red hair besides Reki?
‘Have you seen him?’ he asked, he needed to find his friend as soon as possible. The two guards looked at each other and then nodded ‘How do I place this’, The one who stayed silent the whole time spoke up, ‘he came up here and handed us his pin, so if you wanted to give it back to him that’d be good.’
Did he hear that correctly? Reki left and gave his pin to the guards? Why? Why would he do that?
He looked over to the guard who just gave him the offer, ‘that would be nice’ he said. He was still a little out of breath. He held out his hand as the man slowly handed it over.
Langa was about to start running again as he heard one of them say, ‘he went that way so maybe check there first.’ Langa thanked him and started finally running again, Reki’s pin in one hand, his broken board in the other.
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How long had he been walking? Did he have any idea where he was? Was it morning yet? Was his mom worried?
Reki kept asking himself questions that no-one will ever answer as he kept walking down the gravel road. His steps became slower and slower, his tears didn’t give any sign as to stop falling soon.
He was all alone on a dark, abandoned road. If the police caught him here, he’d for sure be in trouble, but he didn’t care. He slowly walked to the side of the road, where a big wall of massive stone stood proudly. He threw his body into the wall and slowly slid down.
He pulled his knees towards his torso and rested his head on his arms. If he didn’t stop crying soon his mom would ask questions.
He sat there for a while, trying to wipe off every tear that formed in his eyes again. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the lights coming towards him, or how they stopped right in front of him. He only noticed the presence of another human being when he was slowly lifted.
Reki was startled when he suddenly felt two strong arms lift him and put him in the backseat of a car he knew all too well. He didn’t look around, he already could guess who was in the car with him. Shadow and Miya were the only ones that were actually in the car, he hadn’t even heard what happened after he turned around and left S.
He didn’t bother to look back when the car stopped in front of his house. He muttered something that could be a ‘thanks’ as he walked up to his front door.
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After about 30 minutes of more running Langa finally gave up, he’d just look for Reki in school the next day.
Or so he thought, Reki didn’t show up to school the next day, or the day after, or the day after that, and with every minute that passed Langa grew more and more worried. He’d have to follow his mom’s advice then.
So that’s how Langa got here, in front of Reki’s house, the homework printout sheets were a lame excuse but the best he could find, so delivering homework it was. He rang the doorbell that leads to the Kyan household.
The door wasn’t opened by Reki, instead, he was greeted by the eyes of his little sister, the twins were yelling in the background.
‘Langa-Kun what are you doing here?’ she asked, even though he could guess she already knew. ‘I’m looking for Reki’ he said.
Her face was shaped into an unreadable expression, and then she just pointed upstairs. ‘I don’t know if he wants to see anyone though, he hasn’t left that room ever since he came home 3 days ago.’
Now that worried Langa, usually Reki was always so cheerful so this was a problem.
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His eyes were still red and puffy, his hair, clothes, and room an absolute mess. So you could’ve imagined the kind of panic he felt when someone knocked on the door.
He didn’t actually do something though, and just turned his back to the door. It was probably just his mom, trying to get him out of bed and let him eat a real meal.
After a while, the door creaked open and to his surprise, there wasn’t an angry mom walking through it. He listened closely to the footsteps and he heard not-his-mom place something on his desk. Reki was laying so still and focused that he nearly jumped when he felt the mattress dent in where another body was sat.
He desperately tried to keep his puffed-up eyes closed and his body relaxed, clearly, it worked because the person slowly tried to wake him. Reki didn’t react. ‘Reki, come on you know you can’t keep avoiding me forever, right?’
Now he really needed to watch his body language, it wasn’t just anyone in his room, it was Langa.
It was Langa.
As Reki didn’t react, Langa sighed but didn’t move.
It was only a few minutes later that he felt the mattress under him move again and heard the rustling of his blanket, that he realized what was happening. But he still didn’t react, the only thing that changed was his heartbeat going faster and faster.
He felt an arm sneak around his waist, and he felt Langa’s chest touch his back, warm breath in his neck.
This was kinda...nice.
Reki felt his cheeks warm up, he was sure his whole face was red and glowing. He kept still and slowly relaxed into his friends hold. He could actually fall asleep in here, he felt so safe and loved.
It was quiet for a few minutes, Reki started to wonder if Langa really just fell asleep until he suddenly spoke up again.
‘The next race was ADAM against CHERRY’ He started. ‘I think I finally understand what you said about him’
Reki felt all the warmth that was just there a minute ago leave his body, replacing it with something cold. That could only mean something happened to cherry.
‘He won’t be skating for a while I think, he hasn’t been released from the hospital yet. I thought you would’ve visited him if you knew, you didn’t so I figured you didn’t hear the news yet.’
Reki tried to keep his body relaxed, but he had a feeling that Langa already knew he was awake.
‘He hit him in the face with his skateboard’ That was it. What. The. Fuck.
‘He what?’ Before he knew it he had turned around and spoke. Langa’s face showed him he knew he was awake all along but still. Langa nodded, cuddling a little closer to him.
‘I think he’ll be fine though, Cherry is strong’ Reki had to agree with that. He muttered something along the lines of ‘okay’ and closed his eyes again.
Right here, in Langa’s arms, there was no time, no ‘hurry up’ or ‘calm down’, there was only warmth and something Reki couldn’t quite place.
He didn’t know when it happened but through the evening he had wrapped his arms around Langa too, now they were facing each other, Reki rested his head on Langa’s chest, Langa’s arms loosely draped around his waist.
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Warm fuzziness spread through his body with every breath Reki took, every little stir he did.
It was almost like… he was in love.
His face heated up, he suddenly didn’t know what to do with his arms, or with his legs, did he need to say something? He never experienced anything like this. Maybe it was platonic? Would Reki feel the same if he told him? Would he reject him?
His mind started racing, with no sign of stopping anytime soon.
‘Langa?’ Reki’s voice got him out of his thoughts. He looked down. Reki was looking at him. He slowly pushed himself a little higher up Langa’s chest, ‘you look like you’re about to explode’
Langa wasn’t listening, which lead him to just nodding. Reki made a weird face but then burst out laughing.
All the tension that was left between them disappeared.
Everything was quiet as they just looked into each other’s eyes, yup Langa was definitely in love.
Reki smiled, this was the first time in days, he suddenly remembered. He also remembered he was supposed to be mad at Langa, but looking into his eyes like this, he soon realized he couldn’t just stay mad.
Slowly, Reki moved his hands up to Langa’s face. He didn’t know what he was doing, it just felt like the right thing to do.
Langa watched Reki cup his face, gazing into his amber eyes. He could suddenly feel like they completely understood each other, just here, in their own little world.
He got completely lost in those eyes, so lost that he didn’t even realize they were both leaning in until he suddenly felt a warm pair of lips on his, and all that ever mattered in the world was gone. The only thing that really mattered was the boy right in front of him.
They didn’t want to pull back but he feared he’d accidentally choke if he didn’t get to breathe soon. Slowly, Reki was the first to pull back. He looked at him, a smile playing on his lips.
No words needed to be exchanged, it was natural, as if they’d been doing this their entire life.
A knock on the door pulled them out of their world immediately. ‘Reki? I heard Langa came over, will he be staying over for diner?’ It was Miss Kyan. ‘uhm I think he’s going to stay over’ Reki answered, blushing when Langa looked at him. Miss Kyan said ‘okay, I’ll send a message to his mom’ and left.
Only when they could hear her footsteps fade far enough, they looked at each other again. ‘Sleeping over huh?’ Langa asked. He’d done it countless times before, but this was different. They had kissed, it was clear there was going on something more than just platonic love.
‘Yea’ Reki answered, and buried his head in Langa’s chest again.
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The next morning, they were both too late for class. The teacher also gave them a weird look when they came in, hair in all directions but the right one and out of breath, uniforms crumpled and bags hanging half off of their shoulders, signaling they had run all the way here. But they were smiling, excusing themselves and maybe they were actually holding hands, maybe they also were wearing each other’s shoes.
It was still a mystery for their classmates if they were holding hands underneath the desk all day, maybe they even placed bets on it. None of that mattered to them, because they were happily in love. At least nothing could change that fact.