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The sky was painted in shades of orange and violet, the last light of the sun stretching lazily across the empty skate park. The ramps cast long shadows, and the air smelled faintly of warm asphalt and the distant salt of the sea. It was late—later than they should be out—but neither of them had brought up leaving.
Langa didn’t want to. Not yet.
Reki was perched on the edge of the half-pipe, grinning at him, his board resting on his lap. His red hair was even messier than usual from skating, strands sticking out from beneath his headband. His cheeks were still flushed from exertion, and his laughter lingered in the air, blending with the hum of cicadas.
Langa’s heart had been doing this thing lately—ramping up, dropping, flipping over itself—whenever Reki smiled at him. It was worse now, with the sunset turning Reki’s freckles golden and his amber eyes watching Langa like he was waiting for something.
“Dude, you okay?” Reki’s voice was light, teasing. “You’ve been staring at me for, like, a whole minute.”
Langa swallowed. His grip on his board tightened.
He had planned this—or at least, thought about it long enough to call it a plan. The perfect moment, the quiet, the way their boards were side by side like they always were. It should have been easy.
But it wasn’t.
Not with Reki looking at him like that, head tilted, eyebrows raised. If he kept staring at Langa, there was no way—
Langa moved before his thoughts could stop him.
He reached out, fingers brushing Reki’s forehead, and yanked his headband down over his eyes.
“Wha—hey!” Reki squawked, hands flying up to fix it. “Dude, what the hell?”
Langa didn’t give him time to adjust. He leaned in, grabbed Reki’s jaw, heart hammering, and pressed his lips against Reki’s.
It was a slow, tentative kiss and it was everything Langa had imagined—warm, soft, electric. A shiver ran down his spine, his hands hovering near Reki’s shoulders as if grounding himself.
When he pulled away, Reki was frozen. His hands had stopped midair, gripping the edges of his headband. The air between them felt charged, thick with something unspoken.
“…Did you just—?” Reki’s voice was unusually quiet.
Langa exhaled, his face burning. “Uuuuh.. yeah.”
Silence.
Then, Reki let out a breathless laugh, adjusting his headband back up to reveal wide, stunned eyes. His lips were slightly parted, as if he was still catching up.
“You totally just kissed me.”
Langa rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at his board. “Yeah.”
Reki blinked, then grinned—bright, dazzling, Reki. “Dude. If you wanted to kiss me, you could’ve just done it. No need for the dramatic headband grab.”
Langa peeked up at him, hesitant. “You were staring.”
Reki snorted. “Well, yeah, I like looking at you, man. Didn’t know it made you that nervous.”
The tips of Langa’s ears burned. Reki liked looking at him?
Before he could process that, Reki nudged his arm with his board, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You gonna do it again, or do I have to cover your eyes this time?”
Langa felt his lips tug into a small, shy smile. The answer was obvious.