Chapter Text
God, everything is just so nice. Langa’s arms are wrapped around Reki’s middle just as they’d been when they’d first toppled over, and he’s leaning against him with the biggest smile on his face because he’d actually won . Reki grins up at him, because even though he hadn’t been up there himself, he’s happy for Langa and he’s happy for his friends and he’s happy for everybody except Adam . Reki pays little attention to his fellow skaters scooping Langa up into a hug and pulling him in with them, because he’s too caught up in the sound of the looming crowd cheering Langa’s name.
Langa, who had been almost all on his own when he’d first come to Japan. Langa who, a couple of months ago, hadn’t even been able to
stand
on a board properly.
Langa, Reki’s best friend-- or at least, Reki likes to pretend that Langa is only his best friend and that any feelings he has for him end exactly there. He’s deemed it impossible to buy completely into it, though, because best friends just don’t see their best friends the way that Reki sees Langa. Best friends don’t feel all fuzzy when they accidentally move a bit too close. Best friends don’t feel the urge to scoop the other up into their arms and hold them there forever. He dismisses these feelings, too, because Langa is supposed to be his best friend. His best friend and nothing more.
Langa smiles down at him through their group of friends, eyes shining, and Reki smiles back, heat climbing to his freckled cheeks as he ignores the post-injury throbbing that resides in his shoulder blades.
“You did it, you big dumbass!” Miya cheers, reaching up to ruffle up Langa’s already messy hair, and they all laugh. None of them pay attention to Adam sauntering away, Tadashi following reasonably behind him, because there’s no reason for them to. He isn’t some big scary man to them anymore; he’s just a lonely guy that has no sense of boundary and lost a dramatic underground skating match to a lanky seventeen year old.
“You guys feelin’ up to an after-party at the restaurant? Drinks for the occasion,” Joe offers, winking, and Shadow nods enthusiastically.
“Hells yeah! Can’t say no to booze!” He says, pounding a fist to Shadow’s shoulder. Cherry rolls his eyes, but nods nonetheless. They all turn to Langa and Reki.
“Actually,” Langa says, scratching at the nape of his neck. “I’m pretty tired and I already told Reki he could come home with me after the tournament. Maybe another day, though.”
Reki flushes red as Langa relays their plans. He knows that it’s sort of unreasonable, but hearing Langa choose to hang out with him over the group makes him feel sort of special, even if Langa is only exhausted. It’s like Langa really likes spending time with him, likes spending time with him more than he likes spending time with anybody else, and that makes the butterflies in Reki’s stomach squirm.
“Looks like it’s just the three of us,” Joe says, and then he frowns. He looks down at Miya, raising a brow. “Sorry, kid, I think we’re going for a grown-ups only kind of night and it’s a little past your bedtime.”
“I’ll have you know that sleep schedules are dire for athletic improvement,” mumbles Miya, dryly. He pulls up his hood. “I wasn’t going to come anyways.”
He turns to leave, but Reki glances from Miya to the group and then takes a step forward, reaching a hand out.
“Miya, wait!” He catches a glimpse of Langa’s confused stare before Miya turns to look at him, brow raised. Reki laughs awkwardly, reaching to scratch at the nape of his neck, because he’s never had to do this before. “I’m sorry for what happened the other day, Miya. I didn’t want to hurt you and, and it won’t happen again.” He chokes out, messing with the cuffs of his sleeves. Miya stares at him for a beat, but then he smiles, lurching forward and pulling Reki into a hug. Reki laughs, patting his hood.
“Thanks, Reki.” Miya says, and Reki nods, grinning. He knows he’s kind of like an older brother to Miya, and he’ss cool with it, too, because even though he loves Langa, most people only really see Reki as Langa’s shadow. He never really gets that from Miya, and he thinks that maybe it’s because Langa seems sort of cold to people that don’t try and get to know him very well. At that, Reki’s glad that he does know Langa pretty well, because otherwise the boy would probably spook him. He’s glad that he knows Langa well, because for Reki, Langa is warmth and laughter and moonlight shining through his window on a cloudy night.
Miya shoves Reki away, swatting playfully, and Reki waves Miya and the rest of the group off before moving to stand next to Langa with his hands in his pockets. They stand there for a beat, silently watching the crowd shuffle away, and then Langa starts walking toward the exit. Reki exhales, glancing at the track one last time before moving to trail behind Langa.
“How’s your back?” Langa asks as they pass through the gate, boards tucked under their arms and backpacks hanging on their shoulders as they shuffle under the night sky. Reki raises a brow at him, laughing.
“You’re worried about me ? I’m fine,” He says. It’s a lie, a big one, because god his back hurts. He hasn’t really gotten to getting a good look at it since his beef with Adam, especially because even the task of taking a quick shower had been difficult and stung like a bitch. He does know that it’s scraped up pretty badly, though.
“You wince almost every time you move one of your arms. I’ll look at it when we get back, okay?” Langa says, and Reki feels his skin burn hot at the thought of removing his shirt for Langa. He doesn’t try to argue, though-- he guesses that since Langa had made it out with only a few bruises, he’s the victim of inspection now. Besides, it’s nice to know that Langa cares for him.
“So, how was it? Being in-- in the ‘ zone’ , or whatever.” Reki asks, deciding to change the subject. Langa turns to meet his eyes for a second, frowning.
“Honestly? It was pretty weird,” He says after a minute, exhaling. “He told me to forget, and I just… forgot. It was only me and him and my skateboard for a while. And then I saw my board as I was falling and I thought of you and I snapped out of it.”
“Oh,” Reki says, because for a second that’s all he can think to say. Langa had thought of
him
down there. “Yeah, that… I mean, that sounds pretty rough. Jeez, I hate that guy.” He expects Langa to laugh or something, but doesn’t. He just looks at Reki, eyes calm, and he says,
“Me too.”
For a second, Reki falters, wracking uselessly over words in his own brain. Langa hadn’t seemed to hate Adam while they were skating, not really, but maybe that was just acting. Maybe he’d just needed the emotional advantage.
They walk in silence for a couple of minutes, Langa turning every few seconds to make sure that Reki is still following close behind. He doesn’t have to, Reki is fast enough on his own, but he would admit that sometimes he checks out into his own head and trips up on his feet or forgets to stop at a corner.
This isn’t one of those times, though, because Reki is with Langa and being with Langa makes him want to pay attention to things, like how his injuries don’t hurt as bad when they’re close or the fact that his legs don’t ever really tire out when they’re walking together. He thinks that with Langa, he could walk to the edges of the universe, maybe, and still feel completely fine.
It's not until they’re at Langa’s door that Reki realizes he hasn’t been here before. He’s not necessarily nervous about it, especially because Langa often tells him about how empty it feels sometimes, even when his mom is home. Maybe, once he gets a good look inside, he can help out a little bit and make it so Langa can feel less lonely.
“I’ve never been to your house before,” Reki voices as they walk through the front door. Langa kicks his shoes off in the front hallway, and Reki watches him before deciding to do the same.
“There’s nothing really special about it,” Langa says, gesturing to the lack of decoration on the empty walls. Reki opens his mouth to answer, but a voice coming from the kitchen interrupts.
“Langa, honey, is that you?” Nanako asks, peeking out into the hallway. “Oh, and you must be Reki! I’ve heard all about you.”
“Mom!” Langa tries to interject, but Reki is already laughing, bouncing forward and holding out a hand for Nanako. She smiles, gripping Reki’s hand tenderly in her own and shaking it.
“Glad to know that I’m being talked about. All good things, though, right?” He asks, moving his hand back to his hoodie pocket. Nanako smiles, nodding.
“Oh, certainly,” She says, looking past Reki to meet Langa’s eyes. Reki looks back, too, and oh jeez, Langa is actually flustered .
“Oh, come on! No need to be embarrassed, I know I’m the coolest!” Reki grins, sauntering over to Langa and grabbing his arm. “Alright, we’ll get out of your hair now. It's great to finally meet you,” He bows respectfully, waving his hand around before Langa reaches up and grabs him by the wrist, pulling him back.
Huffing, Langa leads Reki to his room, closing the door behind them. Reki peers around with an eyebrow raised, setting his backpack on the ground and handing Langa his board so that he can set them side by side against the dresser.
“It’s not all bad,” Reki says, tapping his fingers against his chin and humming lightly in his throat. “It is a little bland, but only because there’s nothing that really screams Langa. Here, hang on.” Grinning, Reki moves to his backpack, pulling out a sheet of paper and a big orange marker. He presses the paper against the wall, leaning over it and scribbling something down. Then, he grabs a roll of scotch-tape (is there anything he doesn’t have in his bag?), tearing a piece off with a grin and using it to stick the paper to the wall by Langa’s bed.
“...Reki was here?” Langa reads questioning, and Reki laughs, nodding as he tosses all of the stuff back into his bag.
“The most important thing about someone is their best friend,” Reki explains with a wink, and then Langa is laughing too.
“Okay, okay, it can stay.” He says, sighing. They stand there for a beat, admiring Reki’s work, and then Langa asks, “Can I see your back, now?”
Reki frowns, cursing himself under his breath for hoping that Langa had maybe forgotten. Langa peaks an eyebrow at Reki’s mumbling, and Reki exhales, poking around the little trinkets on Langa’s dresser.
“Do I have to?” He finally asks, shifting uncomfortably, but then Langa shoots him this look that sort of says ‘ don’t make me beg you,’ and Reki sighs, standing for a beat. Then, he tugs his hoodie and shirt over his arms with difficulty before tossing them to the side. Langa steps forward, moving to gently turn Reki and swallowing down a gasp as he scans Reki’s skin with his eyes.
“Holy crap, Reki, how do you walk around like that?” He asks, and Reki shivers as Langa’s finger traces down his shoulder, and he inhales, trying to ignore the soft buzz of his skin where Langa is touching him.
“Is it that bad?” He asks, his voice crackling on ‘bad’. Frowning, Langa nods.
“Yeah, it's… it’s bad, Reki. It’s really bad.” Langa says quietly, furrowing his brows. “That has to hurt, and you’ve just been dismissing it this whole time,” His tone is growing frustrated, and Reki grimaces, shrinking down a little and rubbing at his bare shoulders. The band-aids wrapped tightly around his fingers scratch at his skin, and it helps him stay grounded.
“It can’t be that awful,” Reki says, gulping, but Langa only shakes his head. He grips Reki’s wrist, tugging him out of the room and pulling him down the hallway. Reki can’t help but wonder why he’s so cool with Reki walking around his house shirtless. They walk into the bathroom, and Langa looks at Reki’s reflection blankly as Reki twists in front of the mirror, peering at his back with one eye open.
“Jesus Christ,” he mutters under his breath, because it is bad. Rows and rows of scratches run across his shoulder blades and down his back where Adam had dragged him, scabbing around the edges and shining an angry red toward the middle. Wherever his skin isn’t sliced, it's either scraped raw or badly bruised, turning his back into a disgusting palette of reds and purples and greens. “Yeah, okay, that’s pretty bad. But it doesn’t hurt as bad as it looks!” He blabs, hoping to god he sounds convincing, but it stands obvious that Langa doesn’t believe him.
“Reki, you don’t have to lie.” He says, leaning against the sink. Reki huffs a breath, turning away from the mirror and crossing his arms over his bare chest.
“Okay, yeah, It hurts. Pretty badly, too, I mean, he literally dragged me across the track.” He says under his breath, hoping that maybe Langa can’t hear, but when he looks up Langa is just staring at him with a sort of concerned look. “But there’s nothing you can do about it, alright? It’ll heal soon enough.”
Langa hums, and then he steps forward and wraps his arms loosely around Reki’s waist, and oh god , Langa’s wearing a T-shirt and his bare skin is touching Reki’s bare skin. Reki’s flush deepens and his breathing goes shallow, but he melts into the hug anyways, his muscles losing their tension as he wraps his arms around Langa’s chest.
“What’s wrong?” He stupidly asks, and he curses himself for saying anything because Langa pulls away. Reki has to choke down a noise that tries to escape his throat as he stops himself from chasing Langa’s affection.
“Nothing. I just, I don’t like it when you feel like you have to lie about stuff.” He brushes against Reki’s shoulder as he reaches up into the cupboard, rummaging through a pile of bottles before finally grabbing one and popping open the cap. “You’re not allergic to Tylenol, right? It should help with the pain.”
Reki shakes his head, stifling a yawn as Langa hands him a small white pill. He stares down at it for a moment before shrugging and popping it into his mouth, swallowing it down dry. Langa stares at him, almost horrified, before exhaling a quiet laugh and putting the bottle back in it’s place.
“Come on, lighten up. It’s just a few scratches, man. You won against Adam tonight, remember?” Reki asks as they walk back to Langa’s room, reaching to grab his hoodie and toss it over his head.
“Yeah, I know.” Langa says, and then he pauses, looking around the room. “We can both sleep on my bed, if you’re okay with that. We do it at your house, anyways.” He says, and Reki swallows against the sudden dryness of his throat.
He decides that maybe, just for tonight, he can pretend that maybe Langa actually wants him there, that it isn’t just some solution to a common inconvenience.
Carefully, Reki crawls into Langa’s bed, scooting to the side and pulling the covers over himself while Langa shuffles around his room.
“What are you doing?” Reki asks, tugging his headband down and over his eyes.
“I’m just, um. I’m trying to shake off everything that happened today. Thinking about it is kind of overwhelming, you know?”
“Then stop thinking about it and come pass out,” Reki groans. Langa sighs, nods, and then moves flick off the light. Reki swallows, screwing his eyes shut, because damn , it’s so dark in Langa’s room. Reki’s room is never this dark. But then Langa climbs into bed next to Reki and his warmth is so familiar and comforting and Reki feels safe again.
“Night, Reki.”
“Night.”
Reki inhales, because the bed smells like Langa and it feels like Langa and when he’s with Langa he’s at home .