Chapter Text
For the first time in forever, Langa woke up earlier than usual on Monday morning. Instead of going back to sleep until his alarm goes off, he decided to get up and enjoy the fresh air and nice weather to stroll around the city on his way to school. Having school during summer was sort of a bummer for him, since he wasn’t used to it back in Canada, but the semester was almost over and he couldn’t wait until August. He and Reki had planned a trip to Canada for the Summer Break and to celebrate Reki’s birthday. Langa was excited to show his boyfriend his hometown where he grew up and his favourite places.
Langa’s phone vibrated in his pocket and the blue haired boy reached for it while rolling on an empty street. His face brightened up when he saw a good morning text from his boyfriend and quickly sent a response but before he had the chance to hit ‘send’, he bumped into something— or someone and lost his balance. As he fell, his phone flew a few meters away, his screen shattering with a heartbreaking sound on the concrete. He let a small complaining moan escape his mouth as he picked it up from the ground and inspected the damages. Langa didn’t even bother to look up at the person he bumped into until a familiar voice came up behind him.
“Oh shit, Langa. I’m so sorry.” Joe apologized with a sympathetic voice. “I didn’t see you coming down the street.”
Langa looked up from his almost dead phone and was stunned to see the tall, muscular man standing there. Joe was holding a cardboard box with the words ‘FRAGILE / KITCHEN’ written on it. Langa looked around, only to realize they were in front of Cherry’s place. Just as they were both about to say something, Cherry’s front door opened to reveal a very rare sight of Cherry. His long, pink hair were hanging loose over one of his shoulders and he was only wearing dark grey sweatpants and… one of Joe’s shirt? He looked slightly annoyed, which wasn’t so surprising in itself, but Langa has never seen Kaoru wearing anything else than his kimono or skating outfit.
“What’s taking you so long, bab—“ The pink haired man said, interrupting himself when he noticed the ternager’s presence. “Oh, hi Langa!”
“Uh, hi?” Langa said, feeling a bit disoriented by the situation. “What’s happening?”
“I’m moving.” Cherry simply said with a shrug.
Langa looked at them both with a lot of questions on his mind, but Cherry didn’t add anything else as he walked up to them. The man took the box from Joe’s arms and walked a few meters away where a fancy black car was parked.
“Carla, open the trunk of the car.” Kaoru asked his AI skateboard which was apparently leaning against the car.
A small beep was heard and the trunk of the car magically opened by itself, allowing the man to put down the box in it. Joe, who now had his hands free, helped Langa to get up from the ground and ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at the phone in Langa’s hands.
“I’m afraid there’s not much we can do about it.” Joe announced with a sad smile. “I’m really sorry about it.”
“It’s ok.” Langa sighed. “I guess I should’ve been more careful and paid more attention to my surroundings.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Cherry asked when he walked back to them.
“Langa accidentally bumped into me and dropped his phone.” Joe explained, pointing at the broken phone in Langa’s hand.
Cherry winced with sympathy when he saw the state in which the cellphone was. Obviously, it was still working, but the screen was shattered into millions of pieces like a spiderweb and the pixels were displaying a beautiful yet tragic dark rainbow.
“Why were you even in the middle of the sidewalk anyway?” Langa asked Joe after a second.
“I was waiting for Kaoru to unlock the car.” Joe said, looking sheepishly at the pink haired man beside him.
“I already told you, you could’ve just asked Carla.” Cherry said with an annoyed sigh. “There are still other boxes in the kitchen, why don’t you go and pick them up, please?” He added, putting a hand on Joe’s shoulder.
Langa looked at the two adults interacting with each other in a different way than they normally do, but Langa couldn’t put a finger on why it felt so weird. Joe rolled his eyes but sent a small, not-so-discreet smile to Kaoru before heading back into the apartment.
“I didn’t know you were moving.” Langa told Cherry, unable to hide his curiosity. “You could’ve told the group chat. We would’ve helped too.”
“Thank you for your concern, but Joe and I can handle this alone. There isn’t much stuff I need to move anyway.” Cherry smiled at Langa while reaching out to smoothen out some wrinkles on Langa’s shirt. “Aren’t you late for school?” Cherry asked, noticing Langa was wearing his school uniform.
Realization hit Langa like a bucket of cold water. He gasped and looked instinctively at his phone before remembering it was sort of dead.
“Crap. Can you send Reki a message for me please?” Langa looked up at Cherry with pleading eyes.
“Of course.”
“Tell him I’ll be late and do not wait for me at the corner. I’ll catch him up at school instead.” Langa said urgently as he stepped back on his skateboard, ready to go off.
“Sure.” The other man said with a reassuring smile.
With a simple nod, Langa propelled himself on his skateboard, hoping he’ll make it to school in time.
Langa wasn’t sure how he'd find the time to send his phone to a repair store before his trip to Canada, or what to think of Joe helping Cherry move, but the only certitude he had right now was that he couldn’t wait to see and hug Reki.