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It was three months ago when Langa complains that there’s soreness on his gums. Now, Langa has always had a track record for having great teeth. He’s never gotten his teeth filled (his mom made sure that his teeth were sparkly clean, practically drilled it in him when he was young), never had to get braces (there was a time where he really wanted them, even begged for braces, and his dentist, the traitor, had said that there was no need for them.), he’s never even had gingivitis.
Langa has always had perfect teeth.
It was quite alarming that his teeth were feeling sore. It happened while he and Reki were together–when are they ever not these days. Reki had been showing him some of the local sweets around. A kind older woman had flagged them over while they were skating.
“Hi Reki!” She calls out enthusiastically. Reki came to a stop in front of a house and held his board in between his hips. Langa followed and stopped as well. The older woman was wiping her hands with her apron. She wore a soft pink ruffled apron as well as a matching bandana. There was a smell of something sweet that filled the air. It smelled familiar like fresh pancakes he would have as a child back when they were in Canada, like the ones his own grandmother would make for him.
She was smiling brightly, this was the thing in Okinawa that he noticed, everyone was smiling. They were familiar and so close to each other.
She turned her attention to the both of them, “Wait here boys, I have something to give to you.”
“Oh!” Reki exclaims excited, “Thank you Grandma Iki!”
She waves her hand in dismissal. When she came out, she was holding five bags filled with sugar-coated peanuts.
“Just made these peanut brittles today!” She handed one to Langa and gave the rest to Reki, “Make sure you share some with your sisters and your boyfriend!”
Langa blushed at that, he spared a look at Reki, who for the most part laughed it off.
She was already walking away, not waiting for a reply, the two of them bowed and yelled ‘thank you’.
On their way home, the two of them were munching on the peanut brittle. Langa bit into it and immediately regretted it. It wasn’t that he didn’t like sweets, but it had been uncomfortable.
“Ouch,” He mumbled, holding on to his cheek. Instead of biting into the brittle, he started sucking on it.
Reki looked him over, “What’s wrong?”
“I think,” Langa sucks air tiding away another painful throb in his jaw, “I think it’s my tooth?”
“Huh,” Reki walks over in front of him. Too close. He can feel Reki’s breath on his skin. He was an inch taller than Reki but now, it felt like Reki was towering over him with how he scrutinised every inch of Langa’s face.
Langa feels a blush make its way to his cheeks, his ears, his neck. God he wishes Reki wouldn’t notice.
Instead because whoever was up there had mercy on him, his best friend and current crush replies with, “You sunburnt again?”
And Langa exhales mentally and shakes his head externally.
Reki sighs. He taps on Langa’s jaw, “Did your filling happen to chip?”
Langa shakes his head, “I don’t have any.”
“What?! For real?” Reki cups Langa’s cheeks trying to pry his mouth open. Okay, totally not invasive at all.
Slurred, Langa tried to say, “Yeah, I’ve never had to need them.”
It all came out gibberish, but because he and Reki happened to share a brain cell, Reki was able to understand all of it.
“You lucky bastard,” Reki’s eyes are still solely focused on him whilst letting go of Langa’s cheeks. Langa, feeling shy, has to avert his eyes elsewhere, “If I even forget to brush my teeth once, my teeth start to decay.”
Reki backs away and walks forward. Langa follows and the two of them settle into a comfortable silence. The sun was setting and it coloured Okinawa in an orange-red hue. The air was cooler these days. Summer was ending soon it seemed.
Langa kept running his tongue on the back of his left molar. The gum line, even if he couldn’t see it right now seemed to be swollen.
Guess that meant a trip to the dentist.
---
“It’s an impacting wisdom tooth.” The dentist says.
His mother was still at work and Langa came to the dentist office by himself. His mother had offered to drive, but he was quick to shoot it down saying that he would skate to the office.
“We’ll need to take it out,” Langa’s mouth is wide open as the dentist probed on his gums gently, “It’s going to be a quick surgery. Do you have anyone with you right now?”
The dentist took out his dental probe. Langa shook his head, “No, I’m alone.”
“We’ll have to get consent from your guardian.”
Langa sighs and calls his mother mentally apologising for calling her at this hour knowing that she would be busy with work.
“Hello?” She answers, “Langa?”
“Hi mom,” He says, “I need your consent.”
“Oh!” She perks up, “What for sweetie?”
Langa sighs, “The dentist says I have an impacting wisdom tooth. So, they need to perform emergency surgery.”
There was the sound of rustling papers on the other line. His mother must be busy in the lab then.
“Oh of course!” She replies more rustling, “Have them send over the forms and I’ll sign them immediately with our insurance policy.”
“Okay.”
With that, he hangs up.
Seventeen years of not having a single cavity and here he is having to tide over an impacting wisdom tooth. Just his luck.
Well, at least he has a free pass for school today.
---
Langa is really hazy.
The room is spinning. He thinks this is what it might feel like to be drunk. He’s so nauseous that he might actually puke.
He blinks a couple of times but the lights around him are so offending he wants to hurl something at it.
There are voices, but for the life of him, he can’t understand. His brain is short-circuiting for sure. Is this what it feels like to sit on a marshmallow? It’s so soft and warm, but also everything is displaced and it keeps spinning.
“ I’m gonna puke, ” He says in English .
Immediately, there’s the cool feel of metal as a trash bin is pushed to his hands. He puts his head in it, but then it’s too dark and he sleeps so well in the dark, so he just ends up staring into nothingness, huh, that feels really nice, he might fall asleep–
“Langa,” someone, he’s not sure who nudges him, “Langa, it’s Dr Sawada, can you hear me?”
“Huh?” He intelligently replies, his brain has not caught up, and it takes a minute for him to comprehend that he’s speaking in Japanese.
Right.
He’s in Japan right now, he moved with his mom half a year ago. He met this red head, no scratch that, the love of his life here, oh and the love of his life doesn’t know, he skates, that’s right, oh and where is he right now?
“ Where am I? ” He says in English before he remembers; Japanese, he has to speak Japanese. And so he repeats, “Where am I?”
The Doctor, he’s going to call him Doctor with a capital ‘D’ because he can’t remember the doctor’s name all he remembers is Reki and who he wants to get the–
Oh. Reki. Yeah. That’s right.
With his red hair, his nice fingers, his cute freckles, what Langa would do to kiss each of the freckles on his face. What Langa would kill for to kiss Reki.
Oh yeah, wait the Doctor is saying something, “You’re at the dental clinic right now.”
Huh.
But he could have sworn he was on a marshmallow, “Okay.”
“We had to give you some anesthesia.”
“Not good?”
Doctor Doctor laughs, “Someone is here for you, his name is Kyan Reki?”
“My boyfriend?”
“Sure.” Doctor Doctor walks out of the room with a smile on his face.
Oh my god, his boyfriend Reki is here to pick him up. He could cry. What a good boyfriend. His boyfriend .
Reki comes in yellow hoodie and all, red hair, he’s so beautiful Langa could cry, “Langa, hey, your mom called me to pick you up.”
That’s when Langa cries because Reki came to pick him up, he’s the best boyfriend Langa has ever had.
Langa has fat tears coming down from his face and he groans covering his eyes with his arm.
“Langa?” Reki’s voice is panicked and he reaches over to touch his shoulder, “Are you okay?”
More tears come down, it’s a waterfall at this point, he’s just so overwhelmed with everything. Reki, his boyfriend, is here to pick him up and he can’t stand up from the marshmallow, and Doctor Doctor is nowhere to be found.
“Uh,” He can hear Reki coming closer trying to pry his arms out of his face, “I don’t know what to do.”
“He’s gonna be out of it for a couple of hours because of the anaesthesia, but he’s going to be okay.” Oh, that’s where Doctor Doctor is.
“Oh,” Reki says because he’s so good, he’s the best Langa knows, “That’s fine. Alright buddy, come on.”
As gently as he can, Reki is pulling him up to stand up, but his legs, oh my god where are his legs?
He cries even harder, “My legs!”
“What? What’s wrong with your legs?”
“It’s gone!” Langa wails, “It’s gone and I can’t find them.”
Reki laughs. It sounds like the best thing Langa has ever heard, but this is hardly the time to be laughing.
“Don’t laugh at me,” Langa protests, “A good boyfriend would help me find my legs.”
“Boyfriend?” Reki asks like it’s news to him, they’ve been boyfriends since Langa woke up and that felt like ages ago, years even. Langa has it in good account that they have been destined for each other, he knows this because he said so, “If this is your way of asking me out then it sucks.”
His boyfriend thinks he sucks.
“You know what sucks even more?” Reki says his face so close. Oh my god Reki has a freckle under his nose, it’s so cute, he could kiss it, “Is that you won’t kiss me.”
That does suck.
He has to fix that.
He’s the worst boyfriend ever.
He cries even harder.
“I’m the worst boyfriend ever.”
Reki laughs and pulls Langa’s arm around his shoulder, “Yeah you are. You better ask me out again when you can remember.”
That strikes a chord into Langa’s whole being. He turns to face Reki and as serious as he can get, he wanted to say that he won’t ever forget about Reki but all that comes out is, “I won’t remember.”
Nailed it.
---
He will know a little bit later that he did not, in fact, nail it.
---
It’s not like he forgets about the whole thing.
In fact, he remembers the whole thing in clear picturesque quality, like 1080p 4K quality.
Langa remembers Doctor Doctor (now Doctor Sawada), remembers the marshmallow, and how he has made a fool out of himself in front of Reki.
He’s in his room, covered in his black and blue striped blanket and all he can do is duck further into his bed and scream as loud as he can into his pillow.
He also remembers that Reki technically told him to give him a kiss.
---
It happens like this.
All of them are at ‘S’.
Miya, Shadow, Cherry, and Joe all witness as Langa challenges Reki to a beef.
“Terms?” Reki says leaning onto the wall of the ramp.
“If you win, I get to kiss you.” Langa says and he calls it a triumphant win as he witnesses Reki turn as red as his hair, “If I win, I get to take you on a date.”
“This is all too one-sided.” Reki counters without any real bite to his words. There’s a blush sploshed on his face, “It’s a win-win for you.”
“It’s a win-win for the both of us.” Langa says.
“Why can’t you two be normal for once and just do things normally?” Miya, his face contorted in disgust.
Reki laughs, “You’re the worst boyfriend ever.”
Despite this, they gear up to get ready for the starting point.
At the end of the night, it didn’t really matter who won (Joe says it was Reki).
At the end of the night, both he and Reki were holding hands.
At the end of the night, Langa has given Reki about ten kisses.
---
Reki never lives Langa’s wisdom tooth extraction story down.
“And that’s how he asked me out, he’s so lame.”
---