Chapter Text
Langa had a small problem. It was, to any other ordinary person, a simple one that could be fixed with a soft smile and a few excited words. However, when Langa was nervous, or when Langa was saying anything, really, he didn’t have the ability to put on a soft smile or speak in a welcoming manner. Whenever he tried to talk to Reki recently it felt as if he was trying to speak to a brick wall. Not because Reki wasn’t responsive, though. No, Reki loved talking to him and they would spend most of their time together talking about the myriad of interests he had divulged in that week.
Langa just kept getting tongue-tied. He would open his mouth to say something, but nothing would fall out, almost like everything he wanted to say was trapped in his throat and he couldn’t cough it up. A lump in his throat would form and all of a sudden, he had no idea how to put his wants into words and ended up too exhausted to say anything.
Reki didn’t seem to mind, or maybe he just didn’t notice because he hadn’t questioned Langa’s recently developed habit of choking on his words. It wasn’t hard to talk to Reki. At least, it usually wasn’t but when there was such a heavy weight on his shoulders, it was hard to say anything to him. It was hard to say anything at all recently. He didn’t understand why that was.
“Langa? Hey, Langa!” Reki shouted sternly at Langa. His harsh, worried tone brought Langa back to the real world and oh, yeah, he was skating. He was on a skateboard, not in his room and he couldn’t just zone out while he was riding a board barely as wide as his feet.
Langa turned to him, a worried look painted across Reki’s face as his hair whipped around his face. His hair was pushed up by the same headband he wore every day, the same one Langa was sure needed to have its monthly deep-clean. Not only did it keep his hair out of his face, but it also captured the sweat from his hairline that normally would trickle down his face on particularly hot days. Due to that, it was dirty and would cause Reki to break out soon. But then again, Reki rarely got flare-ups. His skin was beautiful, admittedly, but rather than being jealous, Langa appreciated it.
“Langa,” Reki said again, this time in a softer manner than before. He looked up at him again, seeing the concern written across his face, deeply settling into his facial features. It was written in the frown lines by his mouth and the slight wrinkles on his forehead as his eyebrows furrowed together.
“Yeah?” he asked back, deciding that he should probably answer him before getting lost in his thoughts again.
Rather than looking annoyed like he assumed Reki was, his facial features softened and the worried wrinkles on his forehead went away and his eyebrows relaxed. The slight downturn of his lips remained, though, as he continued to speak. “I asked you if you wanted to go to ‘S’ tonight. You don’t have to, if you’re tired.”
Langa assumed as much. Reki had a bad habit of asking Langa questions while he was clearly spaced out or if Reki was far away from him and Langa would obviously not be able to hear him. While he didn’t actually mind, it still made it a hassle on Reki’s part rather than Langa’s.
“No, I want to,” Langa said, voice distant. He knew he sounded distant, but he couldn’t help it. He felt like he was someplace else for the past few days and didn’t know how to shake it. He knew it was because he was dwelling on how to confront Reki about his shaky, uncoordinated and boyish last-minute plan, but it was causing him more anxiety than anything. At this point, he was seriously considering just trashing the plan all together to save face or to rid part of the anxiety bubbling in his chest every time he was left to his thoughts for more than five seconds.
“Why do I feel like there’s supposed to be a ‘but’ at the end of that statement?” Reki asked hesitantly, pulling a strand of hair out of his mouth. His hair was getting longer, Langa had realized. While Reki always had a full, thick head of hair, he had always kept it just below his ears. It was now snaking down the back of his neck and puffing out in a red aura around him. He looked like a red dandelion when he didn’t have his headband on hand and even then, his hair crowded around his head messily.
“I’m not sure. I’ve been-”
“Distant? Off? Weird?” Reki suggested in a biting manner. Langa frowned; had he really been that obvious? He didn’t mean to make Reki uncomfortable or angry. He had just been mulling over how he would approach Reki with a shaky proposal for the past few days.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, voice so low it got swept up by the wind that whipped around them. Langa was sure Reki hadn’t heard him and the only reason why his angry frown turned into a concerned downturn of his lips was because he was familiar with the way Langa’s shoulders sagged when he apologized.
“Don’t be,” Reki said, voice less angry. “I didn’t mean to come across so harshly. I’m a little worried, if I’m being honest. What’s up with you?” he asked. Langa stared at him, Reki’s eyes so wide and searching that Langa was able to see the passing scenery behind him reflecting in his eyes. He could see the earnest look he received from him, and he could see how much he meant it. How much he cared.
Langa took a deep breath as if to prepare himself for a long-winded speech. He closed his mouth and let out a sigh through his nose. “Nothing,” he said, looking forward to keep himself from looking at the disappointed look that was sure to sweep across Reki’s face when he finally processed his words.
“Langa?” he asked, voice loud enough to reach his ears but soft enough to hurt his heart. Reki looked at him with a hurt expression that in turn hurt Langa. He wanted to ask him a simple question, but he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth. The overwhelming fear of rejection racked his entire body every time he tried to ask him. The anxiety that flooded his body increased tenfold the moment the question popped up in his mind.
A smile crossed Langa’s mouth, the only friendly facial feature on his face was his lips. Even then, it was twisted and construed; it wasn’t real. “We can talk about it later,” he promised, although he wasn’t sure if he would be able to make do on his words.
Reki seemed to accept that answer because he fell silent for the rest of the way to the skatepark. The streetlights came on one by one, a few flickering due to the antiquity of the fluorescent bulbs. The skatepark, thankfully, was void of anyone. It was a small park, not busy past dusk and not busy before dawn. The lack of skaters could also be attributed to the minimal population of skateboarders in the suburbs where Reki lived.
Langa’s apartment complex was located further in the city where there were many skateparks littered around. If they went to one by Langa’s house, there would be a few dozen skaters, smoking pot and skating much past midnight under the dim streetlights. They both preferred an empty skating park, however, and almost always chose the one by Reki’s house.
The air was thick with moisture and the cicadas were chirping loudly from the dogwood trees. June was warming up the air and everyone in Okinawa could tell that it was going to be a hot and humid summer. Last summer, Langa had complained constantly about the humidity of Okinawa. However, this summer would surely give him a heat stroke.
The bugs were attacking Reki, who hadn’t put on bug spray before he left his house. The occasional wave of his hand and the huff of annoyance as he pulled his socks higher up his ankles humored Langa as he casually skated around the park.
“Do you need bug spray?” Langa asked him with a chuckle in his voice. Reki turned to him with a pout on his lips, arms crossed over his chest as he pushed himself with his foot to gain more speed as he passed Langa.
“Yeah, the bugs are biting my ankles. Why my ankles? That’s the most uncomfortable place to itch,” Reki said, more to himself rather than his best friend. Langa smiled at his remark, getting off his skateboard and going to the entrance of the skatepark.
“What are you doing?” Reki asked him, also getting off his skateboard and swinging it under his arm to carry it with one hand.
Langa looked at him oddly before he realized he hadn’t told Reki what he planned to do. “I’m going to the convenience store right down the street to get you some bug spray. You don’t have to come with me,” he told him. Reki, to not much of a surprise, shrugged his shoulders and kept his pace with Langa.
The convenience store was one you see in every suburban area, surrounded by a nail salon and a small, square restaurant that somehow kept afloat, menus yellowing and stained. The OPEN sign in the large windows of the store flickered on and off. As they both entered, the quiet buzz of the fluorescent overhead lights that inflicted headaches rang in Langa’s ears.
They didn’t seem too busy, not to much of his surprise. It was well past nine at night and usually everyone was in bed, preparing for a full day of work the next morning. The new moms and troublesome teens mostly took up the convenience store and Langa let out a breath of relief. He, a slight agoraphobic, hated large spaces with too many people and convenience stores just so happened to fall on the list.
“It’s gotta be somewhere in ‘Outdoor and Wilderness’,” Reki said as he walked towards one of the aisles. Langa followed closely behind, one hand in his pocket as he looked around the store.
Sure enough, the bug spray was in the aisle Reki had suggested. “Hmm…” he mumbled softly, tapping his finger on his chin absentmindedly as he looked through all the bug spray bottles. He finally selected one with a forest on it, promising protection against ticks, mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects. It seemed powerful and Langa didn’t know why he needed such a strong bug spray, but it was relatively cheap and enough to last for a while. Langa glanced at the other less expensive bottles of bug spray displayed on the shelves. There was a whole rack of less-potent bug sprays that would suit the summer bugs in Okinawa more than the heavy-duty bug spray Reki had chosen, but he supposed he had never been good at thinking about things thoroughly before he did something.
As Reki made his way up to the check-out, Langa asked, “Do you have money?” Reki stopped in his tracks and almost dropped the bottle to fumble with his pockets. When it was clear that he forgot his wallet at his house, his shoulders slumped and he turned to look at Langa with a cringe.
“Do you?” he asked softly, cringing away from Langa as if he was about to hit him. He would, of course, never lay a finger on him, so Langa was confused as to why he was reacting in such a way. Surely, he knew that Langa wasn’t physically violent. Did he make Reki feel scared sometimes?
“Yes,” Langa said, pulling his wallet out from his back pocket and holding it up for Reki to see. Langa hoped this would show him that he wasn’t going to hit him but instead he kept his defensive position.
“Could you, perhaps, pay for me?” he asked softly. Langa nodded his head and walked past him to the self-checkout lanes. There was no one monitoring them, so he picked a random one and tapped the screen to start checking out.
“Langa?” Reki asked from behind him. Langa turned around to look at him, raising an eyebrow at him as he scanned the bug spray and took his debit card out of his wallet. “Are you mad at me, dude?” he asked him. Both of Langa’s eyebrows furrowed at his question. Why would he hate him? Reki hadn’t done anything and even if he had, he would’ve told him that he was upset. Or maybe he wouldn’t have. He had never been good at expressing his emotions.
“What? No,” Langa said. That didn’t seem to be the right thing to say because Reki didn’t seem to be reassured and his demeanor didn’t relax. He figured Reki would eventually sort it out by himself and turned back to the self-checkout machine. He scanned his debit card and once the payment was processed, he grabbed his debit card, the receipt and the bug spray.
He turned around only to find Reki gone. He was instead standing by the exit of the grocery store, worrying his bottom lip with his top teeth. Langa walked up to him and gestured for them to walk out of the store. Reki followed and once they were out of the way of parking lot traffic, they both set their boards down on the ground and pushed off.
The ride back to the skatepark felt long and suffocating despite it being only two minutes away on skateboard. Reki didn’t once glance at Langa like he usually did. Reki always seemed lost in his own thoughts when he was skateboarding, but it was never this bad. Langa figured that he wasn’t okay, so he didn’t ask him if he was. The worry that went over his face as they rode down the road made Langa more and more anxious, however, and he wanted to ask how he could help. Somehow, Langa felt as if it was his fault for Reki being so worried.
As they finally got to the skatepark and Reki almost snatched the bug spray from Langa’s hands without saying anything, he finally realized why he was acting hostile towards him. “I’m not mad at you, I just have a question that I’m afraid you’ll say no to,” Langa said. Sure enough, Reki’s eyebrows raised and his chest seemed to uncoil itself. His shoulders dropped the weight they were carrying as he sprayed the bug spray along his arms and legs.
“Is that why you’ve been so off? Damn, dude, I thought I did something wrong and you were just going to brood about it instead of telling me,” Reki said, a small smile on his face as he set the bug spray down, out of the way of their skating path.
“No, that's more of a ‘you’ thing,” Langa said jokingly. Reki tightened up as he picked at the dirt under his fingernails. Langa instantly sensed the anxiousness Reki suddenly developed from him making such a joke. Reki never liked being reminded of when they almost stopped being friends even though it was two years ago. Langa knew this, of course, but sometimes he forgot it was a sensitive subject for Reki and joked about it anyway.
“Uh, yeah, so, what’s the thing you want to tell me?” Reki asked, feigning a cough as if to make everything less awkward. It didn’t help but it seemed to let Reki pretend it did.
“Well, I have saved up some money over the past year. I want to travel around Okinawan Island with you. Together. During the summer. This summer,” Langa explained, eyes looking up at Reki carefully. He examined the way Reki’s face started to twist into things he couldn’t identify nor understand. The only way Langa knew that Reki wasn’t mad was the soft noise of excitement Reki let out.
“Really? That sounds fun, dude! I can’t believe you saved up for this. Why were you scared to tell me? This sounds like a great idea. Have you got everything mapped out yet?” Reki asked him. Langa realized he hadn’t really thought that far. Doubt in his mind that Reki would reject the idea hovered over him so much that he hadn’t allowed himself to create an entire layout of the plan. The only proof of it existing would be the steady increase of money put into his savings account throughout the past year.
“No, not really. Maybe you could help me with that?” he asked. Reki was always the best at planning things, just like how he plans out skateboard designs in his free time.
The weight between them seemed to have lifted as Reki talked on and on about his ideas. He talked mostly about what he wanted to see, since there were a few festivals he knew of that happened during summer. He also talked about all the junk food he wanted to bring but Langa didn’t really care much about that. Reki was smart for thinking about food, though. They both had the appetite of two grown polar bears and if they didn’t restrict themselves to a normal food intake, all the money Langa saved up would be spent on food.
“I have some cash in my savings account that I think we could use,” Reki said suddenly, catching Langa’s attention. When all that Langa did was nod, Reki continued. “I saved up for college when I first started high school. I’m not really going to use any of that money any time soon so I could at least put it in a place that would help the both of us.”
Reki and Langa have both graduated from high school but neither of them had pursued a higher education. While Reki isn’t able to spend the money on college despite his savings, Langa genuinely doesn't know what he wants to do. His friends at ‘S’ have all encouraged him to skate professionally, especially since he’s now eighteen, but it feels like such an impossible goal to him. He wouldn’t admit it but the fear of failure and rejection had also been nagging at his brain every time he thought about trying out for a team.
“That would help a lot,” Langa said. They were now sitting on their skateboards, Langa moving the board back and forth with his hips and legs absentmindedly. Reki was fiddling with gloves Langa gave to him as a birthday present last year. They didn’t have any places for his fingers but they covered his palms. Langa was worried for him since he kept scratching up his palms from falling. He tried to convince him to plant his heel on the ground every time he felt himself start to fall but he didn’t seem to get the hang of it. A certain type of sting always passed through his heart when he saw Reki hurt himself.
The two boys spent the rest of their time at the skatepark trying to nail tricks they saw skaters at ‘S’ do during beefs. The increasing cloud of moths that buzzed around the streetlights indicated that they should probably start heading home. Reki was the first one to yawn and say that he was leaving.
Langa followed him, skateboard in hand as he walked behind Reki. He turned around, though, and quirked an eyebrow at him. “What, do you want to stay the night or something?” he asked with a laugh. Langa knew that it was a joke; almost everything Reki said was a joke. They had a playful relationship after all, not one that had them engaging in serious conversations often.
Despite the fact that his words were not serious, the butterflies that rose in Langa’s stomach were. He had never stayed the night at Reki’s home before. He didn’t know why that was, only that Reki had never offered and Langa had never asked. If anything, the quiet ride home on his skateboard at ungodly hours of the night was usually what he needed after a day full of adventures he usually had with his best friend.
The silence that followed Reki made him on edge, apparently, because he asked, “Do you?” His voice was more serious this time, tone soft and delicate, like if he said it too loud it would hurt.
“No,” Langa said instinctively. He didn’t want to say that, why did his tongue work against him? His heart sank even further as he saw the relief that washed over Reki and his shoulders dropped from their defensive position.
“Okay, see you tomorrow then bro,” he said. He held his hand out for their handshake and Langa did it without thinking, fingers bending in familiar ways as they flowed with Reki’s. He waved goodbye. Even though he never really smiled, part of him hoped that Reki would notice the sadness in his eyes. However, he was as dense as one could be and he turned away without another word.
Langa didn’t even have the energy to hop on his board to ride home and instead opted for walking. His feet dragged along the sidewalk and if his mother was there she would yell at him for scuffing his shoes. However, he was completely alone with his thoughts as he walked home instead of walking with Reki to his garage, or maybe even his bedroom, to spend the night.
He didn’t know why he wanted this so much. He and Reki had known each other for years and it might be a little weird, how Langa has walked home at four in the morning instead of just staying the night, but he never felt angry or sad about it. They both just recognized it as something that has always happened and it didn’t need to be changed.
Now, Langa realized that it wasn’t because they both never thought of the idea, it was that Reki didn’t like the idea. Reki didn’t want Langa to spend the night. Reki didn’t want to be in the same room as him. Reki didn’t want to wake up with him by his side.
Langa nibbled on his bottom lip, mouth curved downwards into a frown. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost walked past his apartment. He tapped in the pin to get into the apartment complex and opened the door once he heard the familiar click of the automatic lock.
The elevator ride up to his floor took an eternity. His ears perked up at every groan and screech of the old machinery that pulled the elevator up to the fourth floor. He didn’t like elevators but his limbs and mind were too exhausted to drag his body up the staircase.
He fumbled for his key that rested in his back pocket once he got to his apartment. The click of his front door opening was a little too loud and his shoulders jumped and he winced at the noise. The groan of the front door was even louder and he shut the door rather harshly, all measures of stealth thrown out the window as impatience replaced it. The clattering of him setting his apartment keys in the dish by the front door was just another noise that he didn’t care to make more quiet.
His mother had surely awoken but Langa didn’t care much. She never scolded him for sneaking out in the middle of the night. He was sure it was her way of letting him have his own freedom as an adult but part of him wondered how much that freedom could stretch. Would she allow Langa to go on this trip with Reki?
The light in his mothers room switched off and Langa chuckled to himself. She works odd hours so there was a possibility that she had just come home from work, but usually she would stay up until Langa got home. He felt bad and sometimes came home early to avoid this but she had just scolded him and told him to hang out with his friends more.
Even though his mother was probably still wide awake, he tried to be as quiet as he could when guilt washed over him. He took off his shoes and slipped on his slippers that were resting by the door, right where he put them that same morning. He walked over to his room and shut his bedroom door with a soft click. He set his skateboard down by the foot of his bed and changed into pajama bottoms. He never liked wearing a shirt to bed and with the humidity of the summer, he frankly didn’t need one.
He plugged in his phone and set it on his nightstand so that he would be able to use it with a full battery the next day. As he settled into his thin covers, his mind started wandered to undesirable places. The memory of the look of relief that crossed Reki’s face made Langa’s eyebrows furrow and frown deepen.
He forcefully pushed his racing thoughts away for later and instead settled himself in his bed, eventually opting for laying belly-down and arms and hands under his pillow. Even though he tried to not think about the unspoken rejection, a small frown found its way to his lips as he slept.
-oOo-
The sun was high in the sky by the time Langa woke from his sleep the next morning. His phone said that it was a few hours before twelve but the grogginess of his body made it feel like five in the morning. He groaned, rustled around in his bed and stretched a little before finally pulling himself out of bed and into the kitchen.
His stomach wasn’t growling yet and he was too tired to make anything at the moment so he opted to turn on the television that rested in the living room. It was a cheap thing that his mother got at the Walmart down the street. It constantly gave them problems and it was a hit-or-miss with the audio but it was a television nonetheless.
There was nothing much on, only football, Law and Order, a children's show here and there and the news. Langa wasn’t good at understanding Japanese when people were speaking so fast in shows so he turned on Law and Order, the only English show that was on. He didn’t really find it interesting and the sound wasn’t even working so he went to his room, slipped on a shirt that had been laying on his bed and grabbed his phone.
He hadn’t missed many messages and only had a few alerts and notifications from the apps on his phone. One text message was from his mom wishing him a good day and a few were from Reki asking what time he wanted to meet up. He even had one from Miya, which was rare. It was only a meme but he still appreciated it anyway.
Langa opened the chat with him and Reki and saw that it was a good morning text, a few rants and an inquiry as to when and where he wanted to meet up. Without thinking too much about it, Langa clicked on the ‘call’ button on Reki’s contact. It only took a few rings before the other picked up.
“Hey, what’s up?” Reki asked, voice as energetic as always. There were a few muffled voices in the audio background Langa identified as his younger sisters and possibly his mother. The chaoticness of Reki’s house always made Langa smile.
“Hey, do-” he started but then heard how raspy his voice sounded from sleep and took a moment to clear his throat before he continued. “When do you want to meet up?”
Reki hummed into the phone. “Maybe… in half an hour or so? I have to run some errands first. I actually have to go by the laundromat right by your house,” he said, a smile in his voice.
Suddenly, Langa was struck with an idea so awful and so advantageous that he wasn’t sure if he should even propose it. He wasn't sure how Reki would take it, what with what happened last night, but the idea of what could happen if Reki said yes excited him. “Hey, Reki,” Langa said softly.
“Yeah?” Reki asked into the phone when he realized Langa was going to wait until he answered him.
“Just come over.”
“What?”
Langa mentally kicked himself in the shins with soccer cleats when he realized he said nothing of what he actually wanted to say. He wanted to ask Reki if he wanted to come over after stopping by the laundromat since his house was so close to it and he could burn some time just hanging out at his house. Reki, however, had never stepped foot into Langa’s house out of the two years they’ve known each other. After such a long time of knowing each other, a normal person would assume this was for a reason rather than coincidence. Langa, too caught up in his own mind, didn’t stop to think of this.
“After you go to the laundromat, you can stop by and kill some time, you know? I don’t know, you don’t have to but it’s an option,” Langa said, the skin on his lips sure to rip off with the amount of wear and tear they were going through out of his nervous habit.
“Oh,” said Reki. Even though the chaoticness in the background of his line was enough noise in itself that it was hard to hear Reki, there was a certain type of awkward silence that radiated from the phone. “Well,” he started. “I’ve never been to your apartment.”
“No, yeah, I know,” Langa said. It sounded like he was going to say something else but he shut his mouth before his tongue moved against his will once again. He held his breath, waiting for a response from Reki even though he didn’t know what he even wanted him to say.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, okay. I’ve been wondering what your apartment looks like from the inside. Text me the address and I’ll be over in about fifteen minutes, yeah?” Reki said, rustling on the other side of the phone as the background noise started to dwindle.
“Okay, yeah, I’ll do that. See you soon,” Langa said into the phone, hunching close to it as if it would make him hear Reki’s voice better.
“Yeah, I’ll see you soon. Bye, dude,” he said before the line clicked and Reki’s contact faded away. Langa didn’t realize how harsh he was holding his phone until he released it from his grasp, the phone clattering to the table.
Suddenly, Langa’s apartment felt dirty and unkept to him. He didn’t remember the last time he swept the floors and the dirty dishes in the sink from last night were pulling at his eyes, forcing his attention. The apartment smelt slightly of cigarette smoke despite the fact neither him nor his mother smoked. He started to open some drawers in an attempt to find a candle to light, or maybe a few.
He found a halfway-burnt one and one still in its box in a drawer next to the sink. He searched for a lighter but only came up with a box of matches. He cut the top of the wicks off both the candles and lit them. He then placed them on the kitchen counter, smiling at his work.
Langa found the broom that they kept right next to the pantry and started sweeping. Surprisingly, the floor wasn’t too dirty and it only took about five minutes before he had collected every grain of dust, dirt and crumbs he could find.
He got so caught up in his chores that he gasped when he suddenly remembered he hadn’t sent Reki the code to get in or the apartment number. He quickly made that text and Reki replied almost instantly with a smiley face and an ‘almost there.’
Langa knew that Reki coming over wasn’t a big deal. He would come over for about a half hour, put the clothes in the dryer, come back, and they would continue talking or drawing or making up scenarios or just enjoying each other’s company. Hanging out with Reki had never been this stressful, Langa realized. Being with Reki had always been an escape from him, a way to forget about reality and just enjoy himself. However, inviting Reki into a very personal space only his mother and him have been in was putting him on edge.
Langa didn’t have the time to clean up his room before there was a knock on the door, scaring him out of his socks. He turned to face the door as if it was the antagonist in a horror movie. He scrambled to the door, broom still in hand and threw open the door.
“Hey,” he said breathlessly to a confused Reki. He tried to lean against the doorframe but missed it by centimeters, almost tumbling to the ground. He regained his balance, however, and stood up to face a laughing Reki.
“You’re so weird, man. Nice fit, though,” he said before he pushed his way into the apartment. Langa’s cheeks burned with embarrassment as he looked down and realized that he was still wearing pajama bottoms and a stained shirt. Reki slipped off his shoes and set his skateboard down by the front door. Langa stepped further into the apartment, gesturing around.
“This is my apartment,” he said softly, picking at the chipping paint on the broom stick. Reki noticed and raised an eyebrow.
“Were you… cleaning?” he asked, a smirk on his lips and all of a sudden Langa felt the urge to lie as if to avoid embarrassment. Cleaning up your apartment before a friend comes over isn’t that weird, right? He wanted to seem clean and presentable. His mother worked a lot and she didn't have much time to clean around the apartment so it was primarily his duty to clean. He didn’t want Reki to think that he wasn’t capable of taking care of himself or his living space.
“Well, yeah, I wanted to be clean for you,” he told him. The blush that covered Reki’s cheeks told him that what he said wasn’t right. Or, at least, it didn’t soothe Reki in any way.
“Shut up, Langa,” Reki muttered under his breath. He turned away from him as if to hide the blush that was so obviously painted onto his cheeks. Langa shrugged his shoulders and walked past him into the kitchen to put away the broom.
“Candles?” Reki asked suddenly. Langa turned around to see Reki ogling at the candles, both with interest and confusion. He turned to look at Langa, eyebrows furrowed together.
“Yeah,” Langa said. When Reki looked as if he was waiting for more, Langa delved further into his explanation. “I wanted the apartment to smell good.”
Reki turned away from him quickly and Langa thought that he had said something wrong for a second. He wanted to have a neat, clean-smelling apartment for Reki to see for the first time and he didn’t see anything wrong with that. Reki, however, was having a reaction to all of it that Langa hadn’t expected nor could identify.
“What do you want to do?” Langa asked when Reki didn’t seem as if he was going to say anything. He turned to him and pulled a sketchbook seemingly out of nowhere with a wide grin.
“I brought my sketchbook so I could doodle but recently I’ve hit an artist’s block so I was thinking you could help me with inspiration,” Reki explained, absentmindedly flipping through the pages of his sketchbook.
Langa walked to the couch, Reki following. As they both plopped down onto the couch, Langa held out his hand so that Reki could hand him his sketchbook. He noticed his hand and slipped the sketchbook into his hands gingerly.
He flipped through the pages but stopped on one that seemed relatively full of pencil marks. He opened it fully and found that it was mostly pictures of him. He knew that Reki liked to draw him; he had even stayed still before to let Reki sketch him out. He hadn’t any idea how much he drew him, though. It was, to say the least, flattering.
Reki must’ve realized what page he had stopped on because his hand reached out and he threw it onto the page. “Oh, yeah, I forgot I did that. Uh, that’s not- it’s not really, you know,” Reki stuttered but for the life of him couldn’t finish a sentence.
Langa just chuckled and shrugged. He started to flip through more of the pages, eventually landing on a page that was full of skateboard drawings. They were all prototypes, Langa could tell. Reki identified his prototypes with stars written by them with a red marker and the page was covered in red ink.
“These are good,” Langa complimented, fingers dragging along the graphite laid out on the pages. The intricate designs he had drawn out, probably late at night when the only thing he could think about was skateboarding, were covering the entire page.
“Nah, not really, that’s why they’re all prototypes. I can’t really figure out what’s off with this one,” he said, pointing to one covered in hibiscus flowers and bees. “But it feels as if it’s missing something.” Langa looked closer at the drawing. It seemed relatively fine to him but Reki was right; there was something off about it that he couldn’t put his finger on. Suddenly, it clicked and he tapped the paper with his index finger.
“It’s the color scheme that’s throwing you off,” he said, pointing to the vibrant pink on the hibiscus flowers and the equally vibrant blue on the bees. “The blue is too… blue. Try a softer hue, maybe,” Langa suggested, giving Reki’s sketchbook back to him.
He stared at it for a moment before he jotted something down on the paper with a pencil that had been resting above his ear. Reki seemed to have gotten lost in his thoughts because he became silent as he scratched more onto the paper. His tongue peaked out of his lips as he sketched. Langa switched between staring at the creations on his paper and Reki, not sure which was more entertaining to watch.
Langa and Reki did this a lot. Reki would sketch for hours and Langa would just sit and watch him for every single minute. It was a time where both of them were able to get lost in their own thoughts. Langa wondered why he had been so anxious about letting Reki over to his apartment; it was just like normal, only that they were in a different setting instead of being in Reki’s garage where they usually were.
“Hey, Langa,” Reki said, flipping the sketchbook so that it faced him. “Which one do you like better?”
Langa looked at each and every one of the prototypes Reki had sketched carefully. They were all so unique and intricate that Langa couldn’t really pick his favorite. He was sure a few were custom orders for people at ‘S’, too. He wanted to give Reki an answer to his question, though, so he picked one that had a cardboard box with nostalgic children’s toys coming out of it. There were arrows pointed to certain toys and areas on the board with a color name attached to it, showing that he wanted a certain part of the board to be that color. As Langa looked at it closer he realized that it was probably one of the most vibrant designs he’d come up with.
“That one?” he asked as he turned the sketchbook towards himself, eyebrows furrowed. “I didn’t expect you to pick that one.” Reki started to sketch some more and Langa continued to peek over his shoulder, not too distant but not too close to him as to give him space to work.
Time went by fast and soon enough Reki stood up from the couch and stretched, squeezing his eyes shut and groaning. Langa let out a small laugh at his dramatic display so Reki stuck his tongue out at him and rolled his eyes.
“I have to go get the clothes from the laundromat,” Reki said, setting his sketchbook down on the couch as he walked to the front door. Langa followed close behind as he slipped off his slippers and put on his shoes that were resting by the front door. Reki put his shoes on and grabbed his skateboard.
“You’re coming with?” he asked when he realized Langa had his shoes on. Langa nodded and Reki shrugged, apparently not minding. He twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Langa grabbed the apartment key from the dish that rested on the small table right by the front door and shut the door behind the both of them and promptly locked it.
Reki drove his mom’s beat up station wagon that looked like it just came out of an American 80’s movie. Personally, Langa had no idea how it was still operational by the antiquity of it. Reki threw his skateboard in the back seats and hopped into the driver’s seat as Langa took a seat in the passengers. He seemed to pray before he put the key in the ignition, pressed the brake pedal, waited a few seconds and then twisted it. The car thankfully came to life as it snorted and huffed.
Langa trusted Reki with many things, like letting him make his board or letting him help him with math that he’s insanely good at. However, Langa never truly trusted Reki on the road. The man didn’t know where he was going half the time and he was sure he never really went to an official driving instructor before getting his license. A normal driver usually goes five over the speed limit but Reki would go fifteen over on a good day. Still, Langa opted to get in the car with him even with his prior knowledge of Reki’s carelessness behind the wheel. A part of him still foolishly trusted him.
As Reki recklessly weaved in and out of traffic without even looking in his side mirrors or blind spots, Langa couldn’t help but think how he maybe trusted Reki a little too blindly. He knew he had a sort of childish faith that Reki would never allow anything bad to happen to him. He had always tried to avoid hurting him and when he had, it was because he himself was hurting, too. Langa trusted Reki infinitely.