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Over the following months after Adam and Langa’s beef, the sk8 gang had gotten even closer to each other. From only seeing each other at S and when they occasionally saw each other at Sia la luce, to hanging out as often as they could with each other, and having game nights at Sia la luce. They had become a little group of people who understood each other on a level no one else ever would.
They had all survived the same deranged shell of a skater; Adam. They never ended up talking about what they had all experienced from him. They didn’t feel the need to. They had all been affected in a way, but it was over and Adam hadn’t shown up at S since his beef with Langa. None of them truly processed what had happened to them, but they all found comfort in each other.
They all would hang out as much as they could, but it proved a little difficult with all of their different schedules. Both Kojiro and Kaoru worked a full time job, Miya had school and his skating competitions, Shadow had whatever was happening with his manager, and Langa and Reki both had school and their part time job at Dope sketch. Even with how much they all had on their plates, they saw each other almost everyday. If they weren’t able to, they always had S every other night. Until they didn’t.
They all had been extremely busy the last few weeks. Reki had been watching his sisters because his mom had a long project she was assigned to at work, and Langa of course was helping Reki. Joe’s restaurant had been visited by a food critic and was given an extremely good review, causing him to have a lot of customers. Shadow was helping his manager with an injury she had acquired when tripping over a flower pot. Kaoru had been busy with interviews by those interested in his work. Miya had multiple back to back skate competitions, and now that he enjoyed skating again his skating improved a significant amount. They really hadn’t had time to hang out with each other at S either.
Although tonight was finally the day they would be able to! Their lives had finally calmed down and they could keep hanging out at S as well as outside of S!
Langa, Reki, and Miya entered Sia la luce around eleven at night, leaving just enough time to get to S before it got too crowded. Joe was standing at the bar wiping down the counter already in his S outfit. Kaoru walked out of the kitchen in his S uniform as well, excluding his mask. His facial piercings could be seen. He only wore them to S and under his mask so they don’t close up, because his job isn’t exactly the most accepting of piercings.
“Hey kids, go ahead and sit. I still have to finish wiping down the bar.” Kojiro explained without looking up from cleaning. “We can leave when I'm done.” Miya walked to the booth they typically sat in, “when is gramps gonna get here?” he mumbled, pulling out his switch. Miya started playing his game, as Reki and Langa talked about a board Reki was making. Well it was more Reki talking at Langa then them both talking, but that's how it normally is.
“Shadow should be here already, but as usual he’s running behind. Kojiro, where did I leave my mask?” Kaoru asked.
“It’s on the table in the break room.” Kojiro answered.
Reki stopped talking to Langa and stared at Kojiro, laughing slightly. Kojiro finished cleaning the bar and looked up at Reki. Reki was laughing at him, and Langa was trying not to laugh. “Hes laughing because you and mom are really obvious.” Miya added when he saw the confusion on Kojiro’s face. Kojiro put the rag he was using to clean in the dirty laundry, and turned to retort what Miya had said. “What doe-”
Shadow– who was out of breath– roughly opened the door. They all turned to look at him. “Damn you really do breathe like an old man.” Miya laughed. Shadow turned his head towards him and made a face that can only mean ‘im going to rip you limb from limb’. Shadow caught his breath and finally spoke.
“I had to get here before you all left. S is closed tonight. They said something about needing to clean the track because of some accident? I'm not too sure.”
They all groaned at the new information. Shadow sat down at the booth with them,and Kaoru leaned against the table. “Well this sucks.” Miya grumbled. “You all just want to have a game night?” Kojiro asked. They had game nights often but as of recently they hadn’t because of their schedules. The winner of the last game night usually brought the game, but no one had brought a game.
Everyone agreed and they all headed up the stairs to Kojiro’s apartment. Miya jumped on the couch and set his switch aside. Langa and Reki followed and sat next to Miya on the couch. It wasn’t the biggest couch, but they didn’t really mind. Shadow sat at the fluffy chair next to the couch, and Kojiro and Kaoru pulled up two chairs from the dining room. “So, none of us has a game. Reki you won last time, what do you want to do?” Kojiro asked.
Reki thought for a second before answering, “maybe one of those stupid games that people play at sleepovers. What are they called again? Oh yeah, never have I ever or like two truths and a lie or something.” Reki explained. “Let's do two truths and a lie, never have I ever is boring.” Miya groaned.
No one disagreed so they decided to play two truths and a lie.
Kojiro started. “Hmm. I’ve always wanted to be an italian chef, my favorite food is acqua pazza, and I enjoy sitcoms.” He was sure none of them would get it right, maybe Kaoru but not the others.
Kaoru laughed, “You wanted to be a panda nanny when we were kids.”
“WHAT?!” Miya shouted as everyone–excluding Kojiro– bursted out laughing.
“I was a kid! Plus who doesn’t want to get paid for watching pandas?! They’re cute and fluffy!” Kojiro explained trying to defend his already bruised pride.
“Ok ok, my turn old man.” Miya laughed. “I'm not your old man, kid!” Kojiro exclaimed. “Yeah sure. Anyways…Hmm. I’ve been skating since I was a little kid, my favorite animal is a cat, and my best subject in school is math.” Miya stated. This one seemed to stump them all a little. Miya had to have been skating since he was little because of how amazing he is at it. They all knew that Miya was good at math because he flaunts it over them all the time.
“Theres no way…. The animal one was a lie. You’re dressed as a cat at S, so how is it not your favorite animal?” Langa questioned.
“I don’t have a single favorite animal, in fact all fluffy animals are my favorite.” Miya explained
Kaoru scoffed before saying, “That was sneaky of you brat.”
“Yeah, tell him mom!” Reki teased.
Kaoru gave Reki a dirty look before speaking, “I believe it's your turn Reki.”
“Uhm yeah I think so, I need to think.” Reki explained. Reki sat there making that face he always makes when he’s thinking deep. His face scrunches up slightly and he puts his hand to his chin. It makes Langa smile at it. Reki’s face lights up and he finally talks. “I have four sisters, I got hit with a car, and I got beat up by a street gang of posers.” Everyone stopped moving and just stared at Reki.
The first to break the silence was Shadow, “It’s TWO truths and ONE lie, Reki. Not THREE lies.”
“I did two truths and a lie, Shadow. Jeez, I'm not that slow.” Reki slouched onto the couch.
He couldn’t believe Shadow thought he was that dumb. ‘No, I'm making it up in my head. He doesn’t think I'm that dumb. I’m just being dramatic.’ Reki thought
“Carla, call the police.” Kaoru said in shock at what Reki had just admitted. “What?! No, don't call the police.” Reki exclaimed. Carla was in the other room, and didn’t hear the command she was given. Kojiro had his head in his hands spaced out, and he looked like he was trying to calm down. “What do you mean ‘don't call the police’ Reki?! What you just said happened to you is illegal.” Langa added. Reki looked at Langa, and he immediately could tell he was pissed. It was hard for most people to tell what Langa was feeling, but Reki could tell easily.
All of them were in shock, and looking at Reki like he was losing it. Reki just sighed before speaking, “Ok let me tell you all what happened. I don’t get why you all are acting so worried.” Reki rolled his eyes.
“Ok so when I was being stupid and fighting with Langa-” “you weren’t being stupid.” Langa cut Reki off. “Yeah yeah, anyways I had walked past an alleyway and I saw this old group I was in. I left once I found out they were posers though.” Reki laughed. No one else did. “They were mad I left, and I was not in the mood. I guess they took it as a sign to beat me up.”
Reki looked up to see that they all were genuinely worried about him. He didn't really think they cared about him, or at least this much. He started fidgeting with his hand. Langa noticed and snaked his hand through Reki’s. “I really didn’t want to fight so I just let it happen. I got knocked unconscious at some point, and when I woke up I was left in the alleyway with my face feeling like it was melting off.” Reki looked at his lap. They all look so worried for him. For HIM. He never thought anyone would.
Reki could feel Langa tighten his grip on his hand. Langa looked like he was going to kill someone.
Reki coughed slightly before continuing. “Oka found me in the alley. He said some things to me, but he also told me Shadow was in the hospital. I picked myself up and headed to the hospital to see him and make sure he was ok.” Shadow made a noise that sounded close to holding back tears, “you did?” Reki smiled a little before looking back at his lap. “I almost did. I ended up seeing Langa and Kojiro, so I started to panic and leave. I ran into Miya in the elevator.”
Miya gasped. “That was when-” He stopped himself. He brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them, “I’m sorry Reki.”
“I’m not mad, Miya.” Reki told him, looking up from his lap to smile at him.
“I had run away from the hospital, and didn’t look where I was going. Then I saw a car coming and I just froze.” Reki looked up and smiled. “It was fine though because it was just Snake!”
Kojiro and Kaoru looked at each other then asked, “From S?!”
Reki nervously answered, “Uhh, yeah from S. I got knocked out again when the car hit me. Thankfully Snake didn’t leave me in the road, and took me to a love hotel.”
“WHAT?!” Everyone but Langa yelled. Reki and Langa flinched from the loud yelling. “What is a love hotel..?” Langa questioned. “It’s uhm…” Reki tried to answer, but couldn’t find one that didn’t make his face red.
“It's a sex hotel. SNAKE, A GROWN ADULT, BROUGHT REKI, AN UNCONSCIOUS TEENAGER, TO A SEX HOTEL.” Miya yelled, his eyes red from silently crying. Shadow rubbed Miya on the back, in an attempt to calm the kid.
“Ok you make it sound really bad. He brought me there because it was private. He works for Adam, who is a political figure. He couldn’t have anyone find out Adams' assistant hit a kid with his car!” Reki explained.
“Reki, that really doesn’t make it better.” Kojiro said.
“Well it doesn’t matter. It’s over and I'm ok. I forgave Snake and we even talk sometimes at S.”
Reki was about to cry. This was supposed to be funny to them. He didn’t think they would care about him enough to be worried. Why do they care about him? What's there to care about? Reki started shaking slightly, trying his hardest to not cry. ‘God, how could I be so stupid and selfish? I ruined the mood.’ Reki thought.
Reki scratched his wrist through his jacket sleeve. He was panicking, and he accidentally scratched one of his bandaged wounds too hard. He winced in pain. He looked up to see that nobody seemed to notice. Although Kojiro was looking at him weird. Maybe he did, but Reki doubted that any of them cared enough to notice how he flinched. To be fair he didn’t think any of them would care enough to be worried about him.
Reki could feel his bandage getting damp with his blood. The good thing was that it didn’t seem to be bleeding too much.
“Reki, did you ever go to the hospital?” Langa asked. Reki shook his head no. Reki couldn’t stop shaking. He was about to cry. God, they would all know how pathetic he was. He had to get out of there. “I uh. I need to go to the bathroom.” Reki stood trying to walk to the bathroom. Kojiro stood, blocking Reki from leaving.
“Please don’t run from this Reki. We all care about you.” Kojiro pleaded. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Reki. Reki was shocked. He didn’t think he was going to hug him.
Reki couldn’t take it anymore. He started crying. “Why- why do you guys care? I just- I” He wrapped his arms around Kojiro. Miya, who was still crying, hugged Reki as well. “Reki, why would you think we wouldn’t care?!” Reki could feel Miya shaking.
“Im just– im not” Reki tried to speak, but he was choking on his tears. “You- you’re all so a-amazing, and I'm just not.”
They all looked at Reki, and hugged him. Langa and Miya were silently crying, Shadow’s makeup was running down his face, and Kaoru and Kojiro were trying not to cry. “Reki, you are amazing.” Langa whispered.
They had all let go of Reki and he was feeling slightly better. “Kiddo, we all cared about you and you are just as amazing as us.” Kojiro explained. Reki started crying harder at being called kiddo. Reki would never admit it, but he did see Kojiro and Kaoru as parental figures. Shadow as an uncle. As well as Miya as a brother, and Langa as.. Well more than a friend.
“Thank you guys…” Reki whispered. “Reki, You’re bleeding?!” Miya yelled.
Caught up in the moment, Reki didn’t notice he bled through the bandage and was now bleeding onto the floor.
He froze. What else could he do?
“I must have scratched myself on something.” Reki said, rubbing the back of his neck.“Kid, that didn’t come from just a scratch. You’re bleeding a lot..” Shadow mumbled.
The bandage started to loosen and felt like it was going to fall off. It wasn't made to hold this much blood.
Reki pushed past Kojiro, “I have to go to the bathroom..” Reki felt dizzy. He stumbled slightly and Kojiro grabbed him. Not rough, but just enough so he couldn’t fall or run, and his face looked serious. Kojiro sat Reki down in a chair. Kaoru grabbed a rag and the first aid kit that Kojiro kept in his kitchen.
“Please just let me go..” Reki felt too weak to fight back, but he couldn’t let them see his arm. Miya clung onto Langa, both unaware of what was happening. Shadow, and Kaoru had an idea, but were almost as unaware as the kids were. Kojiro pretty much knew though. He wasn’t 100% sure, but he could almost tell by the way Reki wanted to get away.
Kojiro started to pull up Reki’s sleeve, and Reki just froze. He was still crying, but it was silent. He couldn’t get away from this. They would all know how pathetic he was.
Reki was almost fully unconscious from panicking and blood loss. When his sleeve was fully pulled up, they all saw the bloody bandage almost falling off. Kojiro gently unwrapped it.
They saw it. Deep lines carved into Reki’s arms. Miya made a gasp choking sound and started loudly crying. Langa was frozen. “Shadow, take the kids outside.” Kojiro said calmly. Shadow reluctantly led Langa and Miya outside.
Reki was more awake now after hearing Miya cry like that. “I’m so..sorry..” Reki said weakly.
Kaoru was crying and looked like he was going to throw up.
Kojiro was assessing how bad it was. They were deep, but they didn’t need stitches. Kojiro used the rag to clean them off quickly and applied a new thicker bandage with pressure. “Reki…” Kojiro choked out a sob. “Im so sorry you’re going through this.” he cried hugging Reki.
Kaoru knelt down and hugged Reki as well. Kaoru was crying, “We care about you so much, kid. Please don’t scare us like this.” Reki broke. “I-Im so sorry. If I was strong enough you wouldn’t have had to help, and- and I wouldn’t have scared Miya… I'm so sorry.” Reki was crying so hard he felt like he was going to pass out again.
“Reki, you are so strong and brave. Please, I can’t see you go down this road too..” Kojiro cried, hugging Reki tighter. Kaoru got up and got Reki a glass of water. “Here you lost quite a bit of blood.”
Reki took a sip of water, and felt less dizzy. “I'm sorry I did this, and that you both have to deal with it..” Kaoru looked at Reki and smiled, “Don’t be sorry. We would do anything to make sure you’re ok.”
The door busted open and a crying Miya and Langa ran in with Shadow following behind. “Sorry, I couldn’t keep them out much longer.”
Miya and Langa ran to Reki and hugged him. “I’m ok guys.” Reki reassured them. “Reki, I thought you were dying.. Please don’t scare me like that again!” Miya cried into Reki’s shirt.
“I think it’s time you all go home. It’s late and we're all tired. We will talk about this soon though.” Kojiro said. They all nodded and agreed. Shadow and Miya left for his car, Reki and Langa took their boards and left, and Kojiro and Kaoru cleaned up and went to their room.
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When Kojiro and Kaoru got into their room they were silent. They both were still crying slightly, but Kojiro seemed the most out of it.
Kaoru walked up to Kojiro and hugged him from behind. “I hope he’ll be ok..” he whispered.
“Yeah.. me too.” Kojiro responded. He started crying harder after that. Kaoru walked him over to the bed and sat him down holding his hand and rubbing circles onto the back of Kojiro’s hand.
“Kojiro.. What did you mean by, ‘you can’t see him going down that road as well.’” Kaoru asked, kissing Kojiro’s hand.
Kojiro cleared his throat before answering, “When we were in high school and a few years after as well, I had a problem with self harm..” Kojiro brought his hands up to his face. “Oh sweetheart..” Kaoru hugged him till his crying calmed down.
They both got into bed holding each other. “Kojiro, I really care for those kids.” Kaoru confessed.
“Yeah me too, I really don’t hate it when they call me dad.” Kojiro responded. Kaoru laughed, “At least you got dad, I got mom! Although, yeah. Me too.”
“I love you. Goodnight.” “I love you too, goodnight.”
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When Miya and Shadow got into the car they had been silent. That was until Shadow heard Miya crying. “Hey kid, Reki will be ok. Don’t worry too much about it.”
“I hope so. I don’t mean to be sappy, but I think of him as a brother.” Miya said as he gripped his seatbelt. “Yeah. I would say they were kind of all like a family.” Shadow mumbled. Miya heard and smiled to himself.
“I really don’t have the best relationship with my parents. They don’t know me at all. They think I'm some perfect kid, but I'm just a normal kid. I have to try and be better than everyone else or they’ll be disappointed in me. I just want to be myself, and with you all I can.” Miya messed with his hands. “I know I do it as a joke, but I really do see Joe and Cherry as parental figures.”
“I get that, Kid. At S I get to be my authentic self. Even more so when I’m with you all.” Shadow explained.
“If you tell any of them this I’m going to deny it.” “Ditto.”
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Reki and Langa had told their parents they were staying over at Langa’s. When they got into his room Reki had started to walk to the bed when he was hugged from behind by Langa. Reki had immediately turned red and froze. “Reki, I know you don’t think you’re amazing. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.” Langa rested his head on Reki’s shoulder. “You are the only reason I know how to skate, as well as the only reason why I continue to skate. You made me feel happiness again after not feeling it for so long. You made me feel so many things I haven't ever felt.”
Reki was getting redder by the second and his heart was beating so fast he thought it was going to explode. He took Langa’s arms off him and turned around to hug him. Langa continued.
“You’re so kind and you’re the reason why living is fun again. You’re extraordinary, and I know you think I’m lying but I’m not. You’re so beautiful and-”
Reki stopped hugging Langa and looked up at him with wide eyes and a reed face.
“Reki you’re everything to me. You’re so handsome too, and I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship but..” Langa leaned closer to Reki, looking for any discomfort on his face and seeing none he leaned in the rest of the way.
Reki felt like he was going to pass out again.. Langa was kissing him.. LANGA was kissing HIM! Reki kissed back and closed his eyes. When they pulled apart they just looked at each other. No words were needed.
They got ready for bed, and this time they didn’t pull out a cot for Reki. He climbed into bed with Langa and they held each other till they fell asleep.
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Over the following months after Adam and Langa’s beef, the sk8 gang had gotten even closer to each other. From only seeing each other at S and when they occasionally saw each other at Sia la luce, to hanging out as often as they could with each other, and having game nights at Sia la luce. They had become a little group of people who understood each other on a level no one else ever would.
They were each other's family.