Work Text:
“Reki,”
“Reki.”
“Reki…”
“Reki! Reki fucking Kyan!”
Reki stopped suddenly from the brisk yet dejected pace he’d been walking at, causing Langa to nearly crash into him running. Reki made no other reaction to Langa’s presence, staying still as a concrete wall, not looking up from the ground as rain continued to drizzle down upon his hair, flattening the usually fluffy mess of red hair.
A minute passed in silence as Langa fought over his own tongue to try to figure out what exactly he wanted to say, to get the words to escape his lips without tripping over his tongue.
Another minute.
And another.
If anyone had seen the two simply standing in silence, they’d probably thought something was wrong with them, that they were stupid for simply standing there becoming drenched for no reason.
Finally Reki spoke, but he never once looked up. “What do you want, Hasegawa? If you don’t need anything, I’d rather just go home.”
Langa blinked, pain seeping deeper inside him, feeling like his heart was pumping ice through his veins instead of blood. “Hasegawa…? Reki, it’s me, Langa. Your… your friend.”
“Friends don’t break promises.”
Another pause.
“Friends don’t fly so high above each other while leaving the other alone and forgotten.”
This time, there was no pause. Langa immediately spoke up, his voice increasing in volume but threatening to break at any second.
“I never tried to leave you-”
“Yeah, well you did. And you broke the promise that meant everything to me in the process.”
“Reki… Reki, look at me.”
Honestly, it was hard for Langa to speak those words. Right now his face was crumpled with pain- something he never wanted anyone to see- but he needed Reki to see him right now.
And Reki needed to see him right now. Finally the redhead turned to face the taller boy, his amber eyes filled with a mixture of pain, anger, and loneliness. Miya would understand how he felt right now- he felt abandoned by someone he cared for deeply and wanted to hold close to him. Even though Langa hadn’t purposefully abandoned him- he’d just climbed higher and higher and higher until Reki was left out of sight.
Langa’s heart broke a little more when he saw everything in the eyes that used to hold so much light, so much joy and so much admiration no matter what was going on. Shit, he’d broken Reki, hadn’t he?
Before he could think about what he was doing, Langa had taken Reki’s hands gently in his, allowing a few tears to spill over his cheeks.
“Reki, I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you behind… I got caught up in everything, the adrenaline was addictive and I just craved more and more and I wasn’t thinking straight but today when I was skating I realized I didn’t feel the rush unless you were there with me, watching me, cheering me on. I… I need you, Reki, I need you.”
“You need me, huh? You need me so you can get a rush. What am I to you, Langa, a drug that you can use to make yourself feel something and other than that you’ll just forget about me and let everyone else forget about me too?”
Reki was speaking loudly now, angrily, but he didn’t pull his hands away from Langa’s. In fact, his grip tightened around them, as if scared that if he let go Langa would leave him behind forever. Langa’s face crumpled further, and he felt like the ice in his veins was growing colder.
“No! No, Reki, no. I just… please, I…” Langa’s words faltered in his throat. He’d never been good at communication even in his first language. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, aware that Reki was still watching him carefully. “Reki… what I meant was that I… I miss you. So much. I can’t handle being without you because I… I love you.”
Reki blinked, all emotions draining from his face as his eyes became blank with shock.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
Take a deep breath. In and out.
Inhale.
Exhale.
It’s gonna be okay. Calm down.
Reki opened his mouth to speak, but his tongue couldn’t form a reply. His throat was dry as fuck, and before he knew it, tears were forming in his eyes for the second time that day but all he noticed was the way his heart was pounding in his ears at a million miles a minute.
Meanwhile, Langa had all but shut down. How could he say that? He hadn’t been planning to confess- ever- seeing as he was someone who much rathered to keep his feelings to himself. But even if he had been, he wouldn’t have planned to say it in a time like this. What the hell was wrong with him? He couldn’t really think about that though, seeing as he was pretty much frozen solidly in place by fear and just as much shock as was pulsing through Reki’s veins. But what shocked him more was what Reki said next.
“I love you too.”
Another minute passed in shocked silence before the ice in Langa’s veins shattered and melted, and before he could stop himself, he was falling against Reki in a ravenous hug, a hug that felt as if Langa was clinging onto Reki for dear life.
“I need you because I love you, Reki. I want you… more than anything.”
“You fucking idiot,” Reki laughed lightly through a few choked sobs, his head resting on Langa’s shoulder. “You’re so stupid. I love you so much.”
Somehow, impossibly, Reki’s grip on Langa became even tighter than Langa’s, and he dug his fingers desperately into Langa’s waist where his arms were wrapped around.
“Stay with me,” he pleaded, his tone breathless with the need for Langa to stay by his side. He never wanted to leave Langa’s side. Never, never again.
“I’m always gonna be here,” Langa promised in response. “I’ll never leave you behind. I’m never gonna leave your side. I’m so, so sorry Reki. I know I hurt you and I promise to make it up to you, because I need you, I want you, I love you. And fuck Adam- the feeling I get when I’m with you is way, way better than the feeling I get around him, which- is only a feeling that’s there when you’re there anyway. Promise me you won’t walk away again… please. I can’t live without you. I’ve lost enough, I can’t lose you too.”
Finally, Reki released Langa, pulling away and looking up at his best friend and the boy he was most definitely in love with.
“Walking away from you just because you were too high out of my reach was the biggest mistake of my life, Langa. I’m making the same promise to you- I’ll never leave your side.”
And that was when the shorter redhead stood on his toes so that he was face to face with the Canadian, being able to see his reflection in the narrow blue eyes. He then took a deep breath, leaning in and pressing a feathery light kiss that still held worlds of emotion to Langa’s lips, before pulling away, taking Langa’s skateboard so that he could fix it back at home, and wordlessly excusing himself in the direction of his house.