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It all began at the skateboard park just down the street from Reki’s place.
It also involved some blood and a small fainting spell.
Langa buried his pale face in between his knees as his best friend gently brushed the bits of rock and dirt from the wound on his forearm.
Reki clicked his tongue in disapproval as he took a napkin from his lunch and soaked it with water from his canteen.
“I said you weren’t ready,” he scolded mildly as he wiped delicately at the edges.
Langa winced and looked up pitifully from his slouch.
With his eyes watering at the sting from his arm, it only accentuated the kicked puppy look he portrayed.
“Miya does that move all the time!” he said stubbornly.
“I don’t see why I can’t.”
Reki laughed, shaking his head slightly to displace the crimson locks of hair that were falling into his eyes.
“Miya is a professionally trained athlete,” he deadpanned.
“So am I!”
Langa’s pout grew bigger, and his brow furrowed as he grasped at Reki’s hands currently tending to his arm.
Reki swallowed thickly as he fought to keep a blush from blooming on his cheeks.
Based on how Langa acted at school, S, or pretty much anywhere else, Reki was the only one that got to see this side of Langa.
A hint of satisfaction, triumph, and maybe a bit of possessiveness rolled about in Reki’s chest as he stared down at Langa’s pretty features.
A gentle wind carried strands of soft blue hair to frame his face, and in the afternoon sun Langa’s baby blue eyes contained an almost unearthly glow to them.
Reki reached to rest a hand on top of Langa’s head, the other still grasping at Langa’s wrist to keep it still, lest he got more dirt or something else into the large cut.
“If this was snowboarding, it would be a different story,” he reminded his best friend.
“and while it was awesome and you looked super cool- like honestly I don’t understand how you can look cool even when you wipe out-“
He shook his head again, failing to hide his blush this time around.
“Besides the point!” he digressed.
“you’ve told me countless times that I need to be patient and go through all the steps before going all out, and if you don’t follow your own rules then you’re being dumb,” he huffed.
He threw the napkin to the side and reached for his bag where he kept a small box of bandages.
Langa groaned quietly and allowed his head to fall back, pale throat on display as his hair moved back with the rest of him.
Reki fumbled with the box, suddenly unable to look away from Langa’s sharp jawline and the soft, soft skin on his neck.
It didn’t help that just then the shift of his hair and a small gust of wind carried the clean, incredibly attractive scent that always seemed to follow his friend.
He didn’t know if it was the shampoo Langa used, cologne, maybe fabric softener; all he knew is that he wanted to yank his best friend to him and bury his face into the side of his neck.
A sigh softly escaped from Langa as he breathed in deeply, finally relaxing since the wipeout.
Reki’s eyes flicked up and landed on Langa’s lips; his delicate, pink, pretty mouth that always glistened slightly from the chapstick he constantly applied.
He wanted to run his fingertips across that plump bottom lip, he wanted to nip at them with his teeth and sooth the sting with his own lips.
‘Stop that!’ He snapped at himself—Langa was his best friend, and would probably be disgusted if he could hear his thoughts.
His brow furrowed as his mood plummeted.
Glancing up to Langa’s eyes, he realized belatedly that Langa was now focused on him intensely, eyes narrowed slightly like they did just before he figured out a new trick or analyzed someone else’s.
Reki snapped his attention back to the box of bandages, embarrassment making his hands shake slightly as he fumbled with the opening fold.
Did Langa see him staring at his lips?
Was he grossed out?
He laughed loudly in an attempt to direct Langa’s attention to something else than his pathetic pining.
Holding up the bandages, he shoved them in Langa’s face.
“You want Elsa or toy story?” he asked jokingly.
Yeah right would his gorgeous, kind, talented best friend go for someone like him.
Langa could go national with his skill on a skateboard, he could get any girl he wanted, he could walk past and people would just offer him opportunities, because that’s the kind of person Langa was.
Reki couldn’t offer him that, Reki was…just Reki.
Langa didn’t answer, eyes still darting across Reki’s face like he’d get the answer to whatever he was thinking in the breeze if he stared long enough.
Reki shrunk away slightly, shaking the bandages back and forth.
“My arm is getting tired,” he complained, voice a little too loud to sound genuine.
“Whichever one you like,” Langa finally murmured, entire attention still focused on Reki.
“You’re the one that’s gunna be sporting this in school,” Reki scoffed, grabbing the Elsa one out of spite that was mostly aimed at himself and his feelings.
His fingers continued to tremble as he starting applying the bandaid.
“Are you okay?”
Langa’s cool hand had come up to cover and still Reki’s own, squeezing slightly as he gently rubbed the bandage into Langa’s skin.
Reki shrugged lackadaisically.
“‘Course I am,” he mumbled, determinedly avoiding eye contact.
“Reki.”
The boy in question stood to his feet jerkily, and made to pick up his board, but thin, cool fingers had slotted themselves between his own, and tugged roughly to pull him down to the other’s side.
“Langa-“ Reki gasped, entire side pressed up against the blue eyed boy’s chest.
“Something’s bothering you,” Langa stated firmly.
Reki swallowed hard, unable to meet Langa’s eyes as shame swirled in his chest.
He shrugged, his arm and side tingling from where they lay in contact with Langa.
“It’s nothing, dude,” he blustered. “I’ve just been thinking about things.”
“What things?”
“I don’t know, it’s just-“
He leaned back and turned to face Langa, sitting criss-cross on his legs.
He rubbed a hand over his eyes which had started burning with held back tears.
He shrugged again.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” he finished, feeling small and angry at himself.
Langa let out a sigh, a soft breath of air that would’ve been unnoticeable if they hadn’t been sitting so close.
“You always say that.”
There was a thick quality to his voice that made Reki jerk his head up to look at Langa.
To his horror, tears were brimming those gorgeous crystalline eyes, Langa’s face scrunched up in distress.
Reki gaped in horror.
Hasegawa Langa, so-called Ice Prince from his lack of emotions, was shedding tears, because of him!
He was actually the worst!
“You always brush off your own feelings and act like they don’t matter,” Langa muttered, roughly wiping his tears with his sleeves.
Reki reached forward instinctively and pried Langa’s arm away from his face.
“Stop,” he protested, threading their fingers together before he could think about it. “you’re gonna ruin your perfect skin.”
A pretty blush stained Langa’s cheeks as more tears rolled down his flushed face.
“Why don’t you trust me?” he pushed with a frustrated air about him.
Reki blinked in shock.
Trust him?
There was no one else alive that he trusted more than Langa…how could he think that?
“I do-“
“You don’t.” Langa interrupted, now looking very upset. “You never tell me when you feel bad! You always say things like ‘it doesn’t matter,’ or ‘it’s nothing,’ I’ve told you everything that’s ever bothered me, I’ve opened up to you more than my own mum!”
He tugged angrily at his pale hair.
“You have always been there for me, comforted me, listened to me, and never shown even the slightest impatience or irritation when I can’t get the right words out, or-or-“
He was crying more now, turning his head to the side to hide his face.
All Reki felt was panic.
How could Langa think like this?
He was a horrible friend, no wonder no one stuck with him, when all he did was hurt his friends and made them cry!
And now, Langa was probably gonna leave him too.
That couldn’t happen, he didn’t think he’d be able to handle the heartbreak, not after all they’d gone through and experienced together.
Langa filled every part of his life, and he couldn’t even remember how he had lived before he’d met him.
This stress was really too much, leaving a cold pit of despair in his stomach.
Was he going to leave him?
He couldn’t, he couldn’t lose him!
He couldn’t, he couldn’t-
He burst into tears and lunged forward, wrapping his arms tightly around Langa’s shoulders and burying his face into Langa’s neck.
His body shook with sobs as he clung to his best friend.
Langa had stopped crying, body stilling with surprise, his arms lax at his side, and he wasn’t holding Reki back.
Reki recognized the stiffness through his distress, and made to pull back, humiliation coursing through his body.
As he starting pulling away, Langa seemed to startle out of his frozen state, and his strong arms curled firmly around Reki’s waist, pulling him flush against his chest.
Reki’s body trembled with relief, and he gripped back even tighter as tears fell onto Langa’s neck.
“Reki,” Langa murmured, his voice still thick with tears.
He moved his cool hands up and down Reki’s lower back in a gentle, soothing manner.
“Reki, please tell me what’s wrong.”
Reki couldn’t stop trembling, his body shivering and quaking with every sob as he pushed closer till he was curled up in Langa’s lap.
Langa seemed frantic at Reki’s state, holding him as tightly as he could while leaving firm kisses up the side of his flushed face.
“Reki, reki, you’re going to make yourself sick,” Langa pleaded, rubbing softly at the exposed skin just under his sweatshirt.
Reki shivered at the press of Langa’s lips to his head and cheek, hope warring with despair even as he cling tighter still, not willing to leave even a millimetre of space between them.
Langa wouldn’t be acting this way if he was disgusted with him, would he?
Maybe, maybe there was a small possibility that he felt the same?
“Langa, p-please—“ Reki gasped into Langa’s neck, fingers digging into his shoulders.
Langa shushed him gently, rocking his body in a soothing motion, wrapping his arms steely around Reki’s waist; holding Reki to himself like he was trying to melt the two of them together while Reki sobbed into his button up.
Reki shivered as Langa’s all encompassing warmth seeped through his clothes and gently calmed his fried nerves, the deep rise and fall of Langa’s chest shifting Reki’s body slightly with each breath.
The two of them stayed like that for a long time, long enough that Reki’s swollen, sore eyes felt heavy lidded, his head falling to rest on Langa’s chest as he breathed in Langa’s fresh scent of sunshine and pine needles.
As his heartbeat settled, he released a deep shuddering sigh and slumped bonelessly across Langa’s sturdy chest.
Langa shifted under him and a hand found it’s way to the back of Reki’s head, cradling it like he was something precious.
It was almost enough to make Reki start crying again, but he stayed quiet and still, not wanting to do anything that could spook Langa into drawing away from him.
Now that he’d had a taste of this deeper intimacy with Langa, he didn’t know how he was going to manage with fist bumps and back pats.
He felt a small tickle on his cheek where wisps of Langa’s longer hair brushed against his skin, and Langa’s other hand was still softly stroking his lower back beneath his sweatshirt.
“Reki,” Langa whispered finally after a coupe of minutes.
Reki startled, pulling back in embarrassment, unable to meet Langa’s eyes.
“Sorry!” he blurted, shifting to get up. “I shouldn’t have done that, I probably made you super uncomfortable, I-“
He was pulled down firmly to continue sitting in Langa’s lap.
Langa’s fingers cradled his face, guiding him to look Langa in the eyes.
“Stop,” Langa muttered, still looking upset. “you’re pulling away again, I never said I was uncomfortable or anything like that.”
“But still-“ Reki stuttered, dazed by the steady attention Langa was giving him.
“Something’s been bothering you for months,” Langa stated it like a fact, no room for dispute.
He bit his lip and gently rubbed a thumb over Reki’s cheekbone.
“Please, Reki.”
Reki’s lip trembled and he gritted his teeth, struggling not to look away.
“You’ll hate me,” he bit out.
Langa looked offended at the very idea.
“Never, I could never ever hate you,” he asserted angrily.
Reki choked up, unable to speak.
Langa softened, that pleading gaze from earlier making a reappearance.
“I could never,” he repeated tenderly.
Reki shut his eyes tightly and focused on breathing evenly.
This was it wasn’t it?
He’d vowed to himself to never let Langa find out, and yet here he was, about to spill his guts and officially push his most important person away.
‘I’m not ready to lose him!’ he mentally screamed.
But in reality, he’d never be ready—losing Langa was going to ruin him.
He’d lost countless friends and bonds with people, but this was one he’d never recover from.
‘Suck it up,’ he snarled to himself, on the verge of sobbing again.
He opened his eyes—Langa was still gazing at him, ever so patient and attentive.
‘I don’t deserve him.’
Reki sucked in a breath.
“I’m in love with you.”
Silence.
Langa blinked, his face blank like he’d not processed the words.
Then it seemed to hit him, incredulity washing over his delicate features.
“That’s not funny,” he whispered, but his face was doing something strange.
His eyes were flashing with something untamed and deep.
Reki was suddenly very angry.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not joking,” he snapped, voice thick and unstable from his crying session.
He made to up and leave, ready to run away and move countries, change his name, etc.
One of Langa’s hands moved in a blink and locked around his wrist, preventing him from going anywhere.
“Langa-“
“Say it again.”
Reki jerked at his wrist, but Langa’s grip was an immovable force.
“Why should I?” He lashed out, humiliation and anger warring inside of him.
“Just reject me and let me move on already!”
Langa stumbled to his feet, lips trembling and face scrunched up like he was in pain, but his eyes—his eyes were glowing with a desperate longing.
Reki started backing up, and Langa followed, still gripping Reki’s slim wrist.
A shock reverberated through his spine, and he realized he’d stumbled into the cement backing of the half pipe behind the skatepark.
There was nowhere to go.
“Why-“
Langa closed in on him, and Reki turned his face down and away, eyes tightly closed as if he could transport out of the situation with pure force of will.
“Why would I reject you, when you’re all I’ve ever wanted?”
What.
Reki jerked his face up to look at Langa.
“That’s not funny,” he repeated Langa’s earlier words.
Langa was flushed, eyes gleaming with something wildly intense.
His lips were parted in awe as he stared down at Reki.
“Langa, don’t mess with me—it’s not funny!” Reki hissed, his body swaying dizzily.
Langa swallowed roughly.
“I’m-I’m not joking, Reki,” he maintained firmly.
Then Langa was backing away, a hand covering his eyes that were tearing up again.
“Fuck,” he bit out.
The curse was a shock to Reki’s system, a word full of frustration and misery.
And Langa…Langa was laughing.
“Reki, Reki,” he uttered Reki’s name like a prayer, body quaking as he struggled to get himself together.
“Langa,” Reki murmured back.
Langa dragged a hand down his face, eyes flashing up to look at him.
“You really didn’t see it at all did you?” he asked, still laughing a little.
Reki stared, face wet and cheeks rosy as he took in this side of Langa.
Langa was beautiful, so full of emotion and vibrating with life, he’d never seen him like this before.
“I don’t understand,” he ventured, still in disbelief and so, so afraid that this was a cruel joke.
But he knew Langa would never do that.
“You do,” Langa replied, a smile lighting up his face. “I know you do.”
He moved closer to Reki till he had him pressed up against the cool cement.
Langa’s hands gently held his face again.
“I’m so in love with you it hurts sometimes,” he confessed, wide eyed and earnest.
Reki’s trembling hands lifted to grip Langa’s wrists as he took in the painfully honest whispered words.
“Langa, please please don’t be joking, I can’t handle it if you-“
“I’m not.” Langa asserted, gently nudging his forehead to rest against Reki’s.
“I would never joke about something like this…you, you mean everything to me.”
Reki must’ve pleased a god in his past life to have this now.
He gasped out a sob.
“Please kiss me,” he begged.
And then Langa’s lips were on his.
A tender, soft caress that made him tremble with need.
It was so loving and careful he wanted to break down, but it wasn’t what he needed right now.
He needed a real kiss.
He pulled back and grabbed roughly at Langa’s collar.
“Kiss me!” He demanded.
Langa’s eyes lit up with fever and he crushed their mouths together, hands moving to curl possessively into the soft flesh of Reki’s waist.
He groaned, pressing his body flush against Reki’s, and gently nudged a knee between Reki’s thighs.
Reki gasped into his mouth, and Langa took the chance to deepen the kiss, tilting his head to the side into order to slot their mouths together, squeezing and massaging Reki’s waist simultaneously.
Reki let out a weak moan, a gentle sigh that seemed to strike something feral in Langa.
He slipped his hands down and grasped at Reki’s upper thighs, lifting him like he weighed nothing and pressing their groins together in an instinctive, sensual slide.
Reki wrapped his legs tightly around Langa’s waist and moaned again into his mouth, nails digging into Langa’s tensed up shoulders.
“Reki, Reki, baby,” Langa panted into his mouth.
Reki tossed his head back at the endearment, and Langa immediately latched his mouth to Reki’s exposed neck.
He licked and bit up and down his throat, pausing when Reki shuddered as he passed the spot just under his ear.
“Don’t-don’t stop,” Reki stuttered, mind blank except for the overwhelming heat and pleasure.
With renewed vigour, Langa sucked hard on the spot, nipping roughly at the skin till a blooming reddish purple bruise formed.
Langa pulled back, a pleased, possessive glint in his glacial stare.
Reki blushed to the roots of his hair, and Langa watched in fascination as it travelled across his neck.
He leaned forward again and left a trail of kisses up Reki’s throat and across his face.
He finally returned to Reki’s aching lips, and left a hard kiss that left a pleasant squirming in Reki’s stomach and a weak thrum in his legs.
Weakly, his legs slipped from Langa’s waist and he grasped at Langa’s shoulders, trying not to fall.
“Langa-!” he gasped.
Langa firmly guided him till he was back on his trembling legs, pressed securely between the cement wall and Langa’s solid, warm body.
“Shhh, I got you, sweetheart,” he murmured soothingly.
His arms wrapped around Reki and held him tightly, hands rubbing firmly up and down Reki’s quivering body.
Reki breathed heavily as he buried his face into Langa’s heaving chest, his fists tightly clasping at the shirt on Langa’s back.
“I love you.” he whispered again, unable to hold it in.
Langa choked out a laugh, and pressed a kiss to the top of Reki’s head.
“I love you too,” he immediately replied, his words muffled by Reki’s wild, ruffled hair.
“Reki, you make me so happy, I can’t even begin to explain how you make me feel.”
Reki couldn’t help himself and he laughed, full of joy.
“Well it’s not a competition but I’m pretty sure I love you more,” he teased.
“Not a chance,” Langa snapped back playfully, giving Reki’s body a gentle squeeze.
“Should we have a beef to settle this then, boyfriend?” Reki replied, too quickly to realize what he’d said.
Langa stilled.
Reki felt like smacking himself in the face.
Sure they’d confessed and kissed, but it didn’t mean they were boyfriends now.
‘Foot in mouth disease,’ Reki thought mournfully.
As if sensing the way his thoughts had gone, Langa guided Reki’s face up, and pressed a gentle, lingering kiss to his lips.
“I would, but I have a lunch date later today with my boyfriend Reki,” he quipped.
Reki couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face.
“What a shame,” he sighed, nuzzling at Langa’s cheek.
Langa hummed smugly.
“Speaking of, any restaurant suggestions?You know the area better than me,” he admitted.
“Anywhere will do,” Reki grinned.
“from what I’ve heard, Reki cares more about the company he’s with.”
Langa cracked up, body shaking with delight, and the look on his face sent Reki into hysterics too.
“I’m really hungry,” Langa complained through his laughing fit.
Reki giggled madly, smacking at Langa’s shoulder.
“Better get going then before we both starve to death,” he teased again.
Langa drew back gleefully and threaded his fingers together with Reki’s.
“Let’s go,” he said, smile lighting up his face.
The End 😀💀