Chapter Text
Langa’s eyes flutters open—only to squeeze shut again as a harsh beam of sunlight hits him square in the face. Groaning quietly, he rolls onto his side and reaches for his phone.
The lock screen lights up with a familiar photo: him and Reki at the skatepark. Reki was grinning widely, flashing a peace sign beside his cheek, while Langa stood next to him, watching with a small, fond smile he hadn’t even realized he’d been wearing at the time. His eyes leave the photo to check the time.
7:43 am
Langa isn’t meeting with Reki till 8 so he can wait a bit in bed but with a large growl his stomach decides otherwise.
Langa crawls out of bed with a long stretch and drags himself to the bathroom, still half asleep, he passed by the kitchen. Based on the smell, his mom is making pancakes. He still likes pancakes but the syrup here is for sure not as good as the one in Canada. Though he'll miss the syrup, he'll be fine without it.
“Good Morning Langa! Sleep well?” Nanako says from the kitchen.
“Yeah.” Langa replies “I’m gonna go shower.” He heads to the bathroom and turns the shower on.
“Alright! Breakfast should be ready in 10!” Nanako shouts so Langa could hear her over the shower.
“Sounds good!” He takes his shower and goes to get dressed. Unlike Reki’s signature hoodies, Langa doesn’t really have a distinct style other than skinny jeans. Especially since his mom picks out all his clothes. He grabs a random t-shirt, and skinny jeans as normal.
Langa makes his way to the kitchen and sees pancakes lying on the counter. About to sit down and dig in, he checks the time.
7:55
“Crap…”
“At least grab a pancake and eat it on the way!” Nanako shouts as Langa grabs 2 pancakes and made his way out the door.
Langa grabs his board and headed to the skatepark. Knowing Reki, he would probably be late, but Langa decides he should be there on time anyway.
Seeing the skatepark in the distance. He munches on his pancake as he searches for Reki. As usual he’s not there yet. Langa rolls into the park, stopping at a curb and sitting down. Langa continues to munch on his pancake and checks the time.
8:02.
Langa looks around the park searching for anything really to keep him entertained. There’s nobody here other than him, but nobody is usually there anyway. Reki and him use this park 24-7 and rarely see people here. Probably because all the graffiti doesn’t give off a very welcoming vibe. Didn’t matter to them though. If it’s a good place to skate, it’ll do.
At long last Reki finally skates in. “Hey Langa!” Reki says smiling. Langa smiles back. Reki could do basically anything and Langa could smile at him. That’s just how it is when he's with Reki.
“Hey Reki, I brought you a pancake, though it’s been in my hand for a while-“ Reki snatches the pancake and gladly eats it. Leaving Langa initially shocked but soon grinning with him.
“What, did you not eat this morning?” Langa laughs out.
Reki, still with his mouth full, “Mo m gust hundry”
“You’re what?” Langa asks.
Reki swallows and clears his throat. “I’m just hungry”
“Even though you ate?”
“Can’t a guy just eat a pancake?” Reki pouts while stuffing the rest of the pancake in his mouth.
“You can’t be talking anyway, you’re the one who could down 12 hamburgers in one sitting”
Langa shrugs. “You’re not wrong.”
Reki finishes his pancake, licking each one of his fingers. “Alright let’s get to skating then!” He exclaims. For hours, Reki and Langa skate. As well as skating, Reki and Langa knew a few tricks as well. When tired, they stop for a bit to watch skateboarding videos. Looking at major bails, tricks and even professionals.
“You think we could ever get that good?” Langa asks, looking at a skater being given a gold olympic medal.
“For sure bro! If you keep improving at this rate, you'll be a pro in no time!” Reki grins. Reki was always pretty happy-go-lucky a lot of the time, though he could still be emotional at some points, especially during the big fight they had a few weeks ago, Around Langa, he always had a smile.
Langa glances away, a little embarrassed.
At around noon, they decide to skate into town.
_____________________
“Are you hungry?” Langa asks.
“I could go for some food.” Reki replied. Looking at all the shops, they decide on just getting ice cream. They go inside and sit in a small booth.
“What are you thinking about getting?” Reki asked, peering over at the large selection of ice cream. “You’d think that ice cream would be a lot simpler but this place had shakes to sundaes galore.” Langa ignored the chaotic deserts and would stick to something simple.
“Probably just vanilla”
“That’s it? Not like chocolate syrup or sprinkles?” Reki asked, shocked.
“Nope”
“Have it your way dude. I’m gonna get a mint chocolate chip sundae!” Reki exclaims. “Oh but I need to go to the restroom real quick. Don’t order without me!” And Reki rushes off.
Langa continues to look at the menu as a bell rang and the door to the shop opened.
Langa takes a peak at who came in. Though he doesn’t know their names. He does recognize them. They’re classmates. Before they could make eye contact, Langa quickly turns back to the menu. Langa doesn’t really talk to people in his class, He really only talks to Reki. Unfortunately that didn’t stop other classmates from talking to him though. When Langa looks up, he sees the group of students hovering over him.
“Hey Langa!” One says. Langa can’t tell if they were genuinely trying to talk to him or if they were talking to him for laughs.
“Hey…”
“Are you here alone?” One of them asks.
Another replies, “No look, there's two menus!”
Before Langa can say anything, the other classmate perks up. “Are you on a date?”
Langa's face turns bright red. “N-no!”
With Langa’s blush, the group is convinced. “So you are! Who’s the lucky girl?”
Langa looks down in embarrassment as the group of friends continue to tease him.
“Awww, someone has a girlfriend!!”
Langa is quietly pleading for this unskippable cutscene to be over. Someone up in the sky must have heard him, cause Reki finally came out of the bathroom. He notices the group gathered around Langa and hurries to the table.
“Hey, what’s going on?” He says to the group. His voice seems nice and friendly but you could hear the tone start to shift. Like a dog barking to protect their owner.
The group, seeing that Langa was indeed not on a date, their faces wallow in disappointment.
The group is still standing there awkwardly. Not knowing whether to stay or walk away.
Reki speaks again, trying to ward them off. “So we’re about to order…”
The group finally decides to run off, taking the hint. “Oh yeah- um let’s go.” One of them says.
Langa watches them walk away and sighs in relief.
Reki turns around to face Langa. “So what was that all about?”
Langa tenses up. “T-they thought I was on a date…” Langa stutters out, blushing.
Reki looks at him for a moment and starts to laugh. The laughing increases to the point that multiple people turn around, and Langa seems to notice. Embarrassed, he stutters, ”wh-what’s so funny!?”
Reki chuckles fade, though he’s still slightly giggling. “I don’t know! I guess I just can’t imagine you dating a girl.” He responds.
Langa pauses. To be perfectly honest, he couldn’t really imagine dating a girl either.
Reki face drops. “I didn’t mean to insult you or anything, I mean you could get a girlfriend pretty easily. Girls confess to you, like constantly, but you always reject them.” Reki gives Langa a small smile.
Langa looks down. “I mean yeah I get confessed to, but almost all of those girls I barely know. Why would I like any of them, let alone date them?”
“So what are you into then?” Reki asks.
Langa looks back up at Reki and pauses again. “I guess someone funny. Maybe with the same interests. Oh and someone who cares about me.”
“Ok, what about physically?” Reki replies.
“Physically?” Langa says confused.
“Y’know like a girl's hair color, eye color, body shape?” Reki confirmed.
Langa thinks, and thinks again. He has no idea what he’s into. And thinking of a girl's ‘body shape’ felt genuinely repulsing.
“Uhh..” Langa sighs. “I uhh… don’t know?”
“Ah. Well I guess that part doesn’t really matter anyway.” Reki mutters. “Anyway. We should probably order now.” Reki says, Changing the subject.
Langa and Reki head up to the counter to get their ice cream. It’s only been a few minutes but a line has started to form. Langa and Reki give the lady what they want and pay. It’s not long until their names are called and they're back at the booth enjoying some ice cream.
Sitting in the booth, it's mostly quiet. Reki’s sundae is mint chocolate chip, with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. He’s happily eating it and offers Langa a bite. “You want some?”
Langa looks up from his plain vanilla ice cream.
“Sure” Langa reaches for the spoon only for Reki to snatch it and spoon it into his sundae. Langa is still not sure what's happening. Reki takes the spoon and brings it toward Langa's lips. Reluctantly, Langa eats it. He’s still a little surprised, blushing as Reki moves the spoon back to him.
“Is it good?” Reki asks.
“Hm” Langa somewhat replied. Not like he could focus on the taste anyway.
“Do you want anymore?” Reki asks
“No!” Langa shouts. He’s still red from being fed the first time, Who knows if he could handle another. “I’m good…”
“Your loss, more for me!” Reki continues to eat until they are both done. Heading out, they grabbed their skateboards and just as they were about to skate back to the park, it started to rain.
“You gotta be kidding me.” Reki whines.
“Wanna go to my house? Langa replies. Reki nods and puts his hood up. It didn't do much though because by the time they both got to Langa’s house they were soaked.
_____________________
Langa grabs smaller clothes for Reki. Langa is somewhat slightly bigger and taller than Reki, so though they might be a bit big, Reki is only be wearing them till his clothes were washed. They both change and as suspected Langa’s clothes are a bit big on Reki.
“Wanna play some video games?” Langa asks. They didn’t play video games too often, they were mostly outside skating, but when they did, the video games always somewhat involved skating.
Reki agrees and they walk to the living room. Because Langa lives in an apartment, the living room is connected to the kitchen, so Nanako could see them while making dinner.
“Reki, Will you be staying for dinner?” Nanako asks.
Reki looks up from the controller. “Ah, is it that time already? I should probably be heading back soon.” Langa looks down, disappointed.
“I’ll walk you out.” Langa says as Reki gets up.
Langa goes to grab Reki’s clothes and hands them to him. “Oh, but what about your clothes?” Reki says looking down at the big t-shirt he’s wearing.
“You can keep them. They don’t fit me anyway.” Langa replies. “It’s also still raining so take an umbrella.”
Reki takes the umbrella and his board and heads out. “Bye Langa. See you later.”
Langa walks back into the living room. In the background, music is still playing from the video game. He sighs, flopping on the couch staring at the pause screen.
“Dinners done! Nanako sets two plates of food on the table. Langa sits down, only to poke at the food.
“Are you not hungry?” Nanako looks at him concerned.
“No it’s not that…” Langa sighs. Not only was he bummed Reki had to leave but he was still hung up on the conversation they had at the ice cream shop.
“Hey mom…do you think it’s weird I’ve never had a crush on a girl before?”
Nanako panics. She wasn’t quite ready for such a deep question. She turns to a photo set nearby of Langa, her, and Langa’s late dad Oliver. “𝘖𝘩 𝘖𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰??”
Nanako takes a deep breath. “That’s ok Langa! You’re still so young! It's only a matter of time before you find someone special. They might just be a lot closer than you think…” Though Langa didn't realize it yet, Nanako had a feeling he might have a little crush on a certain red head.
Langa looks down. “But what if they aren't? What if I never meet anyone and I'm alone for the rest of my life? If I've never had a crush on a girl what’s to say that I’d get a crush on a girl now? Or anytime in the future?” Langa says, trying to hold back tears.
“Oh honey…” Nanako stands up from her seat running over to Langa’s side. “What if it didn't have to be a girl?” Nanako says in a comforting tone.
“N-not a girl?” Langa looks confused. “Are you saying-”
“Just some food for the thoughts alright?” Nanako says, still hugging Langa and brushing her fingers through his light blue hair. “Just think about it.”
And Langa did. All night.
“What could mom have possibly meant?" Langa thought, laying in his bed awake. Its around 11 pm, and there was no way he is gonna get any sleep without getting this burning question out of his head. Reaching for his phone, he hesitates to search anything up. His fingers linger over the keyboard. Well it's not like his mom goes through his phone anyway, Langa types, ‘So what does it mean if I don't like girls?’ Into the search engine.
And down Langa goes into the rabbit hole of the LGBTQ+ community, with hundreds of terms, definitions, labels, and more. He’s scrolling through website after website just trying to learn them all. He starts with the basics like L for Lesbian and G for Gay, but quickly find lots of different sexualities under the umbrella. Langa has to pause every few moments so he doesn’t get too overstimulated.
Langa pauses looking at a recent post made by some rando on the internet. The post states, "𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦. 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘮 𝘪 𝘨𝘢𝘺?” Langa rereads this post over and over. He doesn't exactly know why, It just felt so… relatable? No, that can't be right. Sure he's had a similar experience, like never liking a girl, and being happier around guys, especially Reki, but maybe he just enjoys a guy's company more right? Right? Langa scrolls down to the comments, and is surprised to see that every single comment is giving this random support? Some were giving advice while others were relating to him. In all, everyone was so kind. Even though Langa had nothing to do with this post, he felt seen.
Langa puts his phone down. He wasn't completely sure what he had discovered about himself, but he knew he didn't need to rush into it.