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Reki was once again home alone, due to his mom and sisters going to the park. He was offered to go along, but he could not find the energy to even get out of his bed.
He knew his mother was worried about him. Every time someone asks him a question and he gives a blunt answer, she furrows her brows and has a worried look in her eyes. The same look she gives him when he'd broken bones from skateboarding.
Reki would tell her that he'd be okay and that bones were made to be broken, though everyone knew that wasn't true. Either way, he always assured his mom that he would heal soon, and he never lied once about that.
Except for this time. I mean, his heart hurts like he's broken a bone. But he'd always tell his mother he was fine when she asked, and she'd give that same look. Koyomi even asked him once, which he knew took a lot of courage from her. He even almost told her what was wrong, but no words came out.
He still feels bad about that moment because he knows she doesn't do well with handling others' feelings. He'll apologize soon.
Maybe.
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Reki was half asleep when he hears his doorbell go off. He thinks nothing of it, he just assumes that his mom left her keys somewhere and needs to be let in. But when that happens, she'd usually leave a text.
There was no text.
So his mind goes straight to Langa. He's the only person who has ever shown up at his home unexpectedly. He stands frozen at the door, his hand already twisting the knob. He doesn't know why he's this scared, but he's also hoping that there's some chance Langa is not behind his door.
"God, can you let me in already? It's 96 degrees out here," a voice says.
But the voice is not Langa's, it's Miya's.
Reki visibly sighs and decides he should open the door, but the door is already being forced open, nearly hitting his face.
"You're so slo-," Miya starts. "Woah, you look like shit."
"Wow, thanks. Wait why are you even here? You've never come to my house before," Reki asks, closing the door behind Miya as he walks in.
"Because you need help."
Reki gasps, "You know I can kick you out of my house, right?"
"Shush, I was just kidding. Kind of," Miya says, lowering his voice during the last part.
"What was that?"
"Ahem, anyway, I'm tired of seeing you mope around because of your boyfriend so I'm here to help," he says walking over to the couch. Reki silently gives in and sits down as well, rolling his eyes at the boyfriend part because Langa is in fact NOT his boyfriend... unfourtunately.
They're both silent for a minute, not really knowing what to say until Miya starts talking.
"I was at Langa's house before I came here."
"WAIT WHAT?" Reki yells, turning Miya towards him by his shoulders.
"First of all, don't touch me, you slime. Secondly, I just had to ask him something before I came here. And before you ask, no, I'm not telling you."
Reki let out an exaggerated sigh and let go of Miya's shoulders.
"He told me what happened last week when you both fought. In the rain, really? Dramatic much." Miya snickered.
"Wha-" Reki scoffed, "You're acting like I can determine the weather."
"Yeah, obviously your dumb ass can't. You can barely even arrive at work on time."
"Okay are you here to make me upset or wha-."
"Okay, okay I'll stop for real this time." Miya sighed, mocking Reki's sigh from a few seconds ago.
"Well get on with it."
"Just to be clear, this is the ONLY, and I mean ONLY time I will ever talk to you like this so don't get used to it." Miya sternly said to Reki. He nodded at his stern words, but noticed Miya looked unusually nervous, considering he never even looked nervous in the first place.
"Okay, I know you both are not talking and all but I need to know what's going through your head so this can be fixed, and so I can not have to watch both of you glare at each other from across the room every 5 seconds."
"And why should I tell you of all people?" Reki scoffed.
"Do you want to talk to Langa again or not?" Miya asks, crossing his arms. "Besides, it doesn't matter why I'm doing it so shut up."
"Fine. I made the promise because I was scared he was going to get hurt but I was also scared he was going to get farther ahead of me than he already is. Nearly everyone has asked him to skate yet I don't get that treatment and I started way before him. Hell, I even taught him how to do it! And it's just unfair, you know?" Reki sighs at the end of his sentence.
"Uh, not really." Miya says quietly, but loud enough so Reki can hear him.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I've never really understood how that feels because of how others see m-"
"OHHHHH I get it now," Reki says cutting Miya off. It's a known fact that he doesn't like talking about his old friends.
"Yeah," Miya says, letting out a quiet but forced laugh to break the awkwardness.
"I guess it just feels like your stomach drops every time you hear someone talk about them. I've always looked up to Langa but it feels weird when other people do in the way that I have ever since I met him."
"I guess that sort of makes sense. I think the best thing you can do is," Miya clears his throat, "TELL HIM HOW YOU FEEL DUMMY."
"What?! How is that going to help my situation?"
"Just trust me, plus I'm not the one who's been pining over him for the past 6 months so I've seen and heard everything," Miya smirks, exaggerating the last word.
"Ugh, I guess that's good enough reason," Reki lays more into the couch, looking at his hands.
Silence fills the room as both Reki and Miya don't know what to say next. I mean, Miya doesn't even know how he helped all that much. All he did was tell Reki to express his feelings.
"Can I ask you a question Miya?" Reki asks, breaking the silence.
"Oh my gosh I thought we were done, but what is it," Miya rolls his eyes and looks at Reki.
"Um, I know you don't like talking about your old friends, but I'm kind of curious as to what happened I guess."
Silence again fills the room, and Reki really regrets asking Miya that question. But before he frantically apologizes, Miya starts talking.
"You're so nosy, but I guess I'll tell you."
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"That's really fucked up," Reki says with a sympathetic tone. Miya doesn't respond to this.
Until he does.
"Heh, this is kind of funny, isn't it? You think your best friend is better than you and my friends thought I was better than them," Miya asks, chuckling.
"Yet we can still talk about it like we went through the same thing."
Both boys make eye contact and smirk at each other. Neither of them really thought of it in this way until now. They never realized how similar they both were, which made them feel closer to each other, regardless if they were going to mention it or not.
"Alright let's stop with this sappy shit because that's... weird," Miya tells Reki, bringing back his original personality.
"Before we stop, um..." Reki starts.
"Well? Spit it out slime."
"Ugh, no need to be rude considering what I'm about to do right now. But I'm sorry for that day I kind of pushed you out of the way on the elevator... especially since I broke the promise that I gave you. I'm glad you came here to help me realize how to fix things even though you're a little bitch someti-"
"Okay okay, I get it, jeez," Miya stops him, covering his own face with his arm. Reki looks at him with wide eyes and a teasing smile.
"Wha- are you blushing!? Aw, do you feel speciallll-" Reki abruptly stops when Miya hits him on top of his head forcefully.
"OW- okay fine I'll stop."
"Yeah, you better or I'm not gonna keep helping you," Miya smirks.
"Okay jeez," Reki smirks back.
"Well, I guess it's time to do what we were talking about. So GET UP and let's go," Miya yells, pulling Reki up.
"Last one there has to buy dinner!" Reki says, running out the door.
"Hey- no fair! You got a head start!" Miya complains.
"Make sure to lock the door behind you!" Reki laughs, throwing Miya the key.
Reki was glad he has someone like Miya, even though he can be hard to deal with sometimes.
He really thinks he and Miya really are the same person.