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“Go to Canada with your boyfriend” they said.
“It’ll be fun!” They said.
Well everyone who said that definitely didn’t expect and avalanche to appear out of literally nowhere.
And they also probably didn’t expect that Reki would be a victim of it.
So there the boy lays, under the snow, after being knocked over by previously said snow.
And it sucked.
First of all, Reki was freezing. His right glove was missing so he was desperately trying to shield his bare hand from the snow, and he couldn’t feel his right leg. At all.
Reki shivered as he groaned. This was definitely NOT how he wanted this vacation with his boyfriend to go.
They were supposed to enjoy snowboarding today and tomorrow they were going to visit a hot springs!
But Reki can assume that the hot springs trip isn’t going to happened unless he finds a way to get out of the snow.
So with a sigh, he slumps back down against the snow. He can’t dig himself out or else the snow would take up what little air pocket he had.
He just hoped someone would find him soon.
…
Langa he stressed out.
He should’ve double checked the weather to ensure that the slopes would be in prime conditions for his new-to-snowboarding boyfriend.
But of course, you can’t predict an avalanche.
And he genuinely thought that Reki was behind him! They both heard the avalanche alarm go off, and like and idiot, Langa began to race down the slope.
Without checking to see if Reki, the beginner to snowboarding, was behind him.
Once he realized this he immediately began to walk to the lifts where two ski patrol officers were.
Langa awkwardly cleared his throat to get their attention.
One of them noticed Langa and smiled, “What’s up? Did you need help with something?”
Langa nodded, “My boyfriend got caught in the avalanche.” His tone was surprisingly calm when internally he felt like he was gonna explode.
The two patroller’s faces instantly morphed into one of shock as they immediately began to talk into their radios before turning back to Langa.
“Thanks for telling us, we’re gonna head up and find him. Any idea what trail you guys were on?”
“Wait! Take me with you! My boyfriend doesn’t speak English very well and I don’t want him to be alone!” Langa exclaimed, the panic in his body releasing in his voice.
The two ski-patrol officers looked at one another before one shrugged, “I don’t think we can put you at risk if an injury like this. You can wait down here and we will bring him back as soon as we find him.”
Langa shook his head, becoming for forceful. “Please! Reki doesn’t like being alone like that! Plus, I’ve been snowboarding since a was a kid, I know these trails as well as you do!”
One officer mumbled about how time to find him was running out before the other sighed. “Fine. You can tag along, but don’t do anything that can hurt yourself, us, or your boyfriend.”
Langa nodded as he walked towards the Skilift the other officers.
They got on without an issue and that’s when the women began to speak. “So, what trail were you guys on?”
Langa thought for a moment before responding. “We were on Optimistic. I believe we were more in the middle-ish.”
The guy patrol officer nodded. “What does the person we’re looking for look like?”
Langa smiled a bit, thinking of how cute Reki looked all covered in his gear. “He has bright red hair, he’s wearing a yellow ski jacket, blue ski pants, and a yellow helmet.”
The woman suddenly spoke up, “What about his gloves? No you remember what color they were?”
Langa thought for a bit before responding hesitantly, “I’m pretty sure they were red?”
“Alright, that’s a good profile of who we’re looking for.”
Langa nodded before he realized that they were almost at the top of the slope.
They all got off with ease and Langa nodded alles towards the slope he and Reki were on before the avalanche hit.
He quickly strapped in as the ski patrol officers grabbed a toboggan.
Langa shoved in fear at the sight of it. Getting flashbacks to his dad.
He shook those thoughts away though. He couldn’t think of that when Reki needed help.
As soon as the toboggan was set up and Langa got a thumbs up, he raced down the mountain, following almost exactly the movement Reki did.
About halfway down, he saw a familiar looking red glove.
And Langa’s heart sank. He frantically turned his head to see any indication of the red headed boy but he saw nothing.
Not even a second later, ski patrol was right next to him and they pieced together what Langa had discovered when they saw the lone glove.
Immediately jumping into action one said, “Hey, let’s try scouting the area for him.”
Langa nodded before the other scouts took his head. He looked confused.
“What’s wrong?” Langa asked anxiously. Already strapping himself out of his snowboard completely.
The woman shook her head before responding. “It doesn’t make sense. He can’t be anywhere around here, there’s no footprints.” She explained.
Then in Langa’s mind a horrible idea popped in. If he wasn’t above the snow, could it be possible that he was under it?
The other two seemed to come to the same conclusion as they searched the snow. Looking for any indication that someone was trapped under it.
As they searched, Langa went back to the original spot where he found Reki’s glove.
A little off the trail there was an unusual lump in the snow. Langa cautiously approached it and he could tell that something was off about it.
He lightly called out the boys name, “Reki..?”
Of course there was no response but Langa still trekked over before he was above the lump.
He went down on his knees and began digging.
After the initial lump was removed he frowned as there was still no sign of the boy. But something told him to keep digging.
So he did.
And after the third handful of snow he saw a tuff of red hair peak out from the snow.
Langa shrieked as he began to shovel the snow up as quickly as he could.
The sudden yell alerted the ski patrol as they found where Langa was and helped him uncover Reki’s cold body.
Langa had felt his heart stop as he saw Reki laying in the snow he looked at the two ski patrol officers who quickly began to safely transport Reki onto the toboggan.
But as soon as his whole body was above the snow, Langa realized something quickly.
Not only was Reki’s skin pale and cold, his leg was bent at an angle.
An unnatural angle that definitely guaranteed it was broken.
Langa winced I’m sympathy as Reki was fully strapped on the toboggan.
The ski patrol officers, wasting no time, began to head on the original trail, with Langa following close behind them.
The whole time, the blue haired boy felt like he was on autopilot. He just saw what happened but didn’t really process it.
It wasn’t until he saw Reki’s face peaking out of the bag covering him did he realize.
He didn’t know if Reki was alive or dead.
This fact shook the boy to the core. He focused in on his boyfriend’s body as they all approached the bottom of the mountain.
Once safety down there was already an ambulance waiting for the boy.
Langa unstrapped his shoes and grabbed his board before rushing over to join the conversation the EMT’s were having with ski patrol.
“—We need to transport him right now.”
“I need to go with him!” Langa yelled with a crazed expression.
The EMT raised an eyebrow as her colleagues loaded Reki into the ambulance.
“What’s your relationship with the patient?”
“He’s my boyfriend. He also doesn’t speak fluent English.” Langa felt that if he mentioned this he would be more likely to join the transportation group.
With a nod, the woman gestured to the back of the vehicle where there was a small stool.
“Thank you.” Langa said as he left the ski patrol officers behind. He didn’t have time to properly express his gratitude but he couldn’t wait. Not when Reki was unconscious and being taken to a hospital.
The trio passed by in a blur but the only thing that Langa registered what that Reki was alive.
He was alive and that’s all that mattered.
So when they finally arrived at the hospital and Reki got put into one of the normal room and not the ICU, Langa felt a small bit of dread that had piled on his heart dissipate.
Reki was sleeping and Langa had no plan on disrupting the boy’s much needed sleep, so he only put him arms down on Reki’s bed and slumped his head down, hoping that too, could get some sleep.
…
Reki was very confused when he woke up.
He opened his eyes and saw white everywhere. And when he moved his arm there was an intense soreness in every joint of his.
His leg also hurt like hell.
He could register much of what was happening, but he saw the familiar head of blue hair.
Reki tried to push the boy’s head but his arm wouldn’t corporate so he only managed to move his fingers.
But that was enough to make Langa’s head shoot up.
“Reki!?” Langa called, still half asleep.
Reki laughed. “Yeah?”
Langa instantly woke up when he heard a response. He wanted to cry his eyes out and tackle the boy in a hug but he could only manage to grab his hand and bring it to his lips.
“You’re okay…”
The redhead flushed at the others action before giggling a bit. “Of course I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?”
Langa looked up hesitantly. He looked anxious and any humor Reki once had faded.
“Langa, what happened.”
The Canadian sighed before grabbing his hand and holding it tight. “You were caught in an avalanche. I found you and you were brought to the hospital.”
Reki’s eyes widened before hazing over a bit. “Oh yeah, I sorta remember that…” he paused for a moment before speaking up again. “That doesn’t explain why my leg hurts more than my other body parts?”
Langa glanced at Reki’s leg. The redhead couldn’t look down since he was laying completely flat on the bed. So it was Langa’s responsibility to inform Reki about what happened.
“Reki… It’s broken…” Langa said solemnly.
The other shook his head in disbelief. “What do you mean? How am I supposed to do everything we had planned now? How am I supposed to skate!?” Reki exclaimed, getting panicked as he thought of all the thinks he couldn’t do with a broken leg.
Langa shook his head, trying to calm the other down. “We can still do most of those things! This isn’t a permanent injury, so you’ll recover!”
Reki wanted to cry, but he just couldn’t get any tears out as he weakly complained. “Recovery takes a long time though…”
Langa just stayed silent as he rubbed Reki’s hand. Then he suddenly spoke up, “You’re Reki so that means that you’ll get through this.”
Reki smiled at that as he responded. “And you’re Langa so you’ll help me through it.”
Langa smiled before leaning up to kiss Reki on his cold, chapped, lips.
Reki smiled as he asked a quiet question.
“Is there anyway we can still go to the hot springs though?”