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The combined force of all four of her children, begging her to let Langa stay for another movie, softened the heart of Reki's mom enough that she relented. The fact that it was a weekend probably helped their case. However, before allowing them to watch, she ushered all of them into the bathroom to get ready for bed first. The twins would be fast asleep within the first fifteen minutes; Reki didn't look particularly awake either, his eyes drooping as he emerged from the bathroom, clad in dinosaur-patterned pyjamas. He had been out skating with Langa for hours, though you wouldn't know from looking at his best friend, who – aside from a couple of new bandaids – looked no different from usual.
Langa sat amidst the hectic commotion with a small smile, nibling on the crumbs that remained of the snacks, and watched as the others ran around the house to get washed and changed as quickly as possible, lest their mother change her mind. He was left in charge of picking the final movie, though he could only choose from a selection previously approved by Koyomi. Too lazy to try and read the summaries, he picked the one with the prettiest shade of red on the cover. After he had slid the disc into the old DVD player, the title menu theme started playing. A loud yell resounded around the house; Koyomi whooped, throwing herself on the cushions next to Langa.
"You have good taste after all!" she said with a big grin. "This is my favourite."
Reki, Langa's favourite, came into the room next, one of the twins on his hip and a grimace on his face. It turned comically worse when he read the movie's title.
"Oh man, do we have to?" he whined.
Koyomi stuck out her tongue. "Langa picked it!"
Instead of acknowledging her, Reki turned to Langa with a long-suffering sigh. "Hey, don't you think that it's getting late? You should probably head home."
His mother laughed as she stepped into the living room, the other twin clinging to her. "Reki, you asked the loudest to have Langa stay longer. Be glad he's here, hm?"
A blush crept onto Reki's face and he relented. He positioned Chihiro in Koyomi's lap before he plopped on the ground next to Langa, away from his sisters. Nanaka waddled over to her sisters while the boys got comfortable. Once everyone was ready, Langa hit play.
True to Reki's mother's prediction, the twins didn't make it past the exposition. Langa had tugged Nanaka into his side so she wouldn't fall over, and her small hands had immediately wrapped around his fingers. It was cute, honestly, and her older siblings had cooed at her. Chihiro was drooling over an unimpressed Koyomi, who was nonetheless invested enough in the movie that she allowed it. On the other hand, Langa found it hard to pay attention. Though he didn't want to admit it, his focus was slipping; it wasn't helping that he was still wearing his binder, which took up what remaining focus he had.
Perhaps halfway through the movie – Langa's eyes were glazed over at this point – Reki's head hit his shoulder. As the story progressed, Reki had grown increasingly quiet, needing to stifle yawns more than he could talk. Now he was slumped against Langa's side. The sudden contact grounded Langa in the there and now, and his breath hitched slightly. Nanaka grumbled in her sleep, which made him realize that he had unconsciously tightened his hold on her, so he forced himself to relax.
"Reki?" he whispered.
No response, only Reki's even breathing. His warm hand rested on Langa's thigh now, so Langa gently intertwined their fingers. They stayed like that until the credits played.
Koyomi stretched her arms over her head with a yawn. "That was good, right?" she asked.
Langa mustered a small nod (truthfully, he hadn't paid attention), and tried to straighten his back as much as he was able to without waking either Kyan sibling. Thankfully, neither of them stirred at all.
"I'm gonna put the little ones to bed, just a sec," Koyomi said. She hefted Chihiro on her hip, then untangled Nanaka's hands from Langa's. He helped her lift Nanaka – quietly impressed at her strength, being able to carry both of them – before she trudged down the hallway with both twins.
That left him alone with Reki. He pressed his cheek against Reki's soft hair and took a deep breath. He really needed to get out of his binder soon. For now, though, he closed his eyes and listened to the muffled sounds around the house.
"Langa?" Reki mumbled. Perhaps the lack of noise had woken him up.
"I'm here," he answered, squeezing Reki's hand, who squeezed back before his hands went slack and his breathing slowed again.
Reki was asleep once more, like he hadn't woken up in the first place, and Langa chanced a glance at the clock. He should head home soon, night had already fallen. He knew the way back by heart, the darkness no obstacle, but he didn't want to overstay his welcome any more. Plus... even if he was comfortable right now, Reki would wake up with a crick in his neck if he didn't move soon. He carefully gathered Reki in his arms just as Koyomi came back into the living room.
"Oh, Langa!" she said, a bit louder than intended judging by her wince right after.
Before he answered, he stood up and adjusted Reki so that his head rested more comfortably on his shoulder. Reki didn't stir. "What is is, Koyomi?"
She fidgeted, shuffling closer. "Well, uhm... he still needs to change."
Langa looked at her quizzically. Reki had put on different clothes earlier, the material fuzzy under Langa's hands.
"I'll take care of him," he said.
"Yeah, just..." her eyes flickered down and her hands waved uselessly in the air, like she might try to take Reki from his arms. "It's not good to sleep in those clothes."
"They look comfortable to me."
She started gnawing at her bottom lip now – Langa wasn't trying to be difficult, but her weird behavour was confusing him, especially since part of his attention lingered on his binder and- oh. It hit him what she was really worried about and a small smile tugged at his lips.
"I'll check if he's taken off his binder," he assured her.
"O-oh? You know?" she laughed nervously, or maybe relieved. "Sorry, I thought..."
He cut her off with a shake of his head. "It's fine." It was sweet that she was so considerate. "Goodnight, Koyomi."
"Goodnight, Langa."
She waved, somewhat awkwardly, and disappeared down the hallway again.
With quiet steps, Langa snuck into Reki's room, forgoing the light switch for the direct way to the bed. The stars provided just enough light that he didn't trip. As he bent down to lay Reki on his bed, Reki's hands curled into his sleeves. With a sleepy groan, Reki blinked his eyes open. Good, then Langa didn't need to feel bad about waking him up himself.
"Binder?" he whispered.
Reki nodded, pointing to where he had thrown it on his desk. Langa gave him a small smile and ruffled his hair, chuckling at Reki's weak attempts to swat his hand away.
"I'll be going, then," he said, but Reki frowned and tugged him closer.
"Can you stay?" he pleaded, which was unfair when Langa wanted to do just that.
"I can't, you know that."
Reki pursed his lips, clearly displeased. They went through this every time that Langa stayed this late.
"Then at least take your binder off. You dork will forget it otherwise," he said, pulling at the hem of Langa's shirt.
You fall asleep in your binder once and never hear the end of it. Langa rolled his eyes but obligingly took off his shirt, wiggling out of his binder afterwards, not much concerned by the nudity. It was just Reki here. Still, he chucked the garment in Reki's face before he pulled his shirt on again and took a careful breath.
"Satisfied?" he asked, one hand on his hip.
Reki grinned and shook his head. "Breathe with me?"
"I know what you're doing," Langa said.
Still, when Reki scooted backwards to make space for him, he slid into bed with him, sharing a smile. Reki's hand was warm when he put it on his chest, over the shutter of Langa's heart.
"Ready?" Reki whispered, to which Langa nodded.
Together, they started with slow breaths, gradually deepening them as Langa's rib cage accustomed itself to its new old freedom. The whole time, Reki's hand remained on Langa's chest, firm and grounding. The only sounds in the room were their quiet in- and exhales, a soothing rhythm. With the light so sparse, Langa couldn't tell when his eyes had slipped closed. It was only when sleep gently took hold of him and tried to pull him down that he jerked awake, and remembered that there was more to the universe than Reki and him. Though now that sleep had looped around his wrists and laid its cool hands over his eyes, rolling out of bed required a gargantuan amount of effort. So much effort, that he stayed sitting on the edge of the bed for another moment.
"I see through your plan," he told Reki, who didn't have the decency to look ashamed.
"It almost worked," Reki said with a smirk. Then his expression softened and he gently bumped his fist against Langa's chest. "Sleep well."
Langa bumped his own fist against Reki's chest before he got up. He grabbed his binder and walked to the door, turning back to Reki at the threshold. "Sweet dreams," he replied, lingering there.
He wanted to stay.