Work Text:
It was a warm midsummer evening, about 8 o clock at night. Langa had a beef scheduled at midnight against Shadow, so Reki was tuning up his board to save him from whatever embarrassing thing the clown of S wanted to force him to do.
Langa was such an amazing skater that he probably didn’t even need Reki’s help to win, but he insisted, watching intently as Reki swapped out wheels and fixed up the paint job. Reki didn’t mind, in fact, he was happy to have any excuse to spend time with his best friend.
If he was honest with himself, he still didn’t understand why Langa had chosen to hang out with him of all people. Langa was smart, cool, funny, attractive, and a godlike skater, and Reki was…well…Reki. But whatever the reason, Reki was grateful, especially on nights like these where they sat next to each other, shoulders barely brushing as they chatted about school, skateboarding, or whatever else came to mind. Reki wished every night could be like this; being around Langa just felt right, no matter what they were doing.
Once Reki finished touching up the paint on the top of the deck, he sat back and decided to have a snack while he waited for it to dry.
“What’s that?” Langa asked, gesturing to the little pink box Reki had pulled out of a drawer in his work bench.
“It’s just some pocky. Want one?” Reki popped open the box and held it out to him.
“Pocky…?” Langa repeated, looking thoroughly confused as he rolled the word around on his tongue.
“Yeah dude, Pocky... Do you not have these in Canada?”
“I’m not sure, what are they?”
“They’re like little cookie sticks. Try one! They’re good.” Reki shook one out of the box and handed it to Langa, who examined it with an intense curiosity. He cautiously took a tiny bite off the tip, and his eyes immediately lit up.
“That’s delicious!” Langa breathed, shoving the whole thing into his mouth. Reki laughed and handed him another one, which he ate with gusto. He always found it adorable how excited Langa got over food.
“I think cookies and cream is the best flavor, but my sisters like the strawberry ones the best, so I’m outnumbered. Every flavor I’ve tried is pretty good though.” Reki said as he popped one into his own mouth.
“What other flavors are there?”
“Oh they make a ton. Here, look!” Reki quickly googled it and showed Langa the list.
“Woah...” Langa said as he scrolled through the list. After a moment, he tilted his head to the side with a catlike curiosity. “There’s a game you can play with them?”
“NO!” In a panic, Reki snatched his phone away from Langa.
“Huh? Why don’t you want me to see?” Langa asked, looking kind of butthurt, Reki immediately felt guilty for reacting so dramatically.
“Dude, trust me, it’s not a game you want to play with me, okay?” Reki explained, offering him the rest of the now half empty box as an apology.
“Maybe I do, just tell me.” Langa pressed.
“Trust me. You don’t.” Reki insisted. Langa crossed his arms and pouted. Dammit. Why does he have to be so stubborn.
At this point, it seemed like the only thing Reki could do to get him to drop it was explain the rules. He groaned in frustration.
“Basically, the players each hold one end of the pocky stick in their teeth and take little bites out of it. The loser is the one who chickens out first.” Reki explained, trying (and probably failing) to sound casual about it.
“So yeah…It’s a game you play with girls. You don’t want to play it with me.” Reki reiterated.
The last thing he wanted was for Langa to think him pulling out the box of Pocky meant he was trying to hit on him. Surely if Langa ever found out about the massive crush he had on him, he would be freaked out and never speak to Reki again.
So Reki resigned himself long ago to keeping his feelings under wraps. Even though doing so made his heart ache with longing, nothing compared to the pain of being rejected and losing his best friend.
He turned his attention back down to Langa’s skateboard on his work table and began taking his pent up frustration out on a screw that was being stubborn. Langa didn’t say anything, so all Reki could do was pray that he hadn’t freaked him out.
“Anyways, I think these new wheels will really help with shock absorption, especially on rough terrain.” Reki said, both as a way to fill the deafening silence and to change the subject. “It’s a little bit of a sacrifice when it comes to raw speed, but if you’re not getting jostled around as much it’ll even out and-“
“Reki.” Langa said in a tone that was way too serious. Yep. I’m toast. Langa hates me and never wants to see me again.
Cautiously, Reki looked up, and his jaw almost hit the floor at what he saw. Langa was staring at him expectedly, the frosted part of the Pocky sticking out of his mouth.
“Dude! You can’t be serious.” Reki laughed nervously. Langa just shrugged.
“Why not? It sounds fun.” Langa said, lisping slightly from holding the cookie in his teeth. “Unless you’re scared.” He teased. Reki’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re on” He said, his competitiveness overriding his nerves. He leaned into Langa’s space and bit the very end of the pocky.
It was Langa’s turn, but he seemed to have a hard time figuring out how to bite the cookie without dropping his half. After watching him struggle, Reki took pity on him and laughed.
“Like this.” He said. Langa let go and watched how he moved forward without dropping the stick.
“Okay. I think I got it.” Langa said after a couple bites.
“Does that mean I win that round?” Reki teased, hoping that pretending to be confident would help him feel confident. Langa rolled his annoyingly gorgeous blue eyes and put another piece of pocky in his mouth.
Ever the fast learner, Langa got the hang of it this time. Centimeter by centimeter they moved closer to each other.
When their noses touched, it felt like electricity jolted through Reki. He jumped backwards in surprise.
“Alright, you win that round.” Reki said, once again trying to sound casual in spite of the fact that he was losing his mind
Langa smiled triumphantly, which didn’t exactly help Reki’s face feel any less warm. Stupid, smug, sexy bastard .
“Best two out of three?” Reki suggested before he could stop himself. Langa nodded and put another piece of pocky in his mouth. It didn’t take long for their noses to brush against each other again, and this time, Reki stayed, curious how far Langa was actually willing to go to win.
Apparently, the answer was pretty freaking far, because on Langa’s next turn, he moved in close enough for their foreheads to touch.
Reki bit off the smallest amount he possibly could, not wanting to back off, but also not wanting to push too far. Their lips were just a hair apart now, and his heart was pounding so loud he wondered if Langa could hear it.
Langa had to pull back, any closer and they would basically be kissing.
And yet, ever full of surprises, Langa pressed on. For the briefest of moments, their lips just barely brushed against each other. Reki bit down hard on the tiny piece of cookie left connecting them, causing it to shatter and Langa to pull back a couple inches in surprise.
“Guess I win.” Reki said breathlessly.
“The first round didn’t count.” Langa huffed.
“Bullshit.” Reki retorted, though there was no edge in his voice whatsoever. Something in the air had shifted between them. While the workshop was usually fairly cool compared to the rest of the house, right now it felt like a sauna. Suffocating, but also strangely soothing.
It took every ounce of restraint Reki had not to pout when Langa pulled back. He watched, entranced, as Langa pulled the last cookie out of the box and held it out for him.
“Rematch then” Langa bargained. “This time, you go first.”
“Kay.” Reki whispered, taking the stick and putting the unfrosted side in his mouth. At this point, he just wanted an excuse to keep playing, it was probably the closest he would ever get to actually kissing this boy that he was so hopelessly in love with. So as long as Langa was comfortable with continuing, so was Reki.
Langa leaned forward, getting back into the position for the game. Once they were settled, Reki went first, finding his confidence to take a slightly bigger first bite.
Instead of biting off a piece, Langa surged forward so suddenly that Reki had to grip the front of his shirt to keep himself from falling backwards off the stool. Langa’s arms wrapped around him to catch him, pulling them together more firmly.
Reki must have actually choked on the last pocky stick, because surely he had died and was now in heaven. For as many times as Reki had fantasized about this moment, nothing could compare to the real thing. Langa’s lips were just so… so soft, and the slightly sweet taste of strawberry only added to how addicting they were.
After a moment, Langa pulled back just enough to rest his forehead on Reki’s.
“I win.” Langa breathed. Reki shivered as he felt Langa’s breath tickle his skin.
“I knew you were competitive, but damn dude.” Reki said, feeling almost delirious from the euphoria of kissing freaking Langa Hasegawa : his best friend, the champion of S, and the person Reki wanted to skate with forever.
“So what do I get for winning?” Langa asked. Cheeky, beautiful bastard… .
“What do you want?” Whatever he said, Reki would do it. He would give Langa the Sun and the Moon if he asked.
Langa pulled Reki closer and leaned in again, their lips once against just barely touching. “I want to try all the other pocky flavors with you, like this.”
“You must really like Pocky.” Reki whispered, already making plans to go to the store in the morning and buy every single kind he could find.
“Not as much as I like you.” Langa said affectionately, finally erasing that last tiny shred of doubt on Reki’s mind.
Once it was gone, there was nothing holding Reki back anymore from closing the distance. All the pain, all the uncertainty, and all the self doubt faded away. It was just him and Langa in the quiet of Reki’s workshop, holding each other close and tasting Pocky off each others lips from now until the end of time.