Falling (Reki/Langa)

-2-

Needless to say, the coming week was tough for Reki. The poor guy couldn’t seem to control his thoughts. Everytime he looked vaguely into Langa’s general direction, his cheeks flushed. And on top of that, everything reminded Reki of him. It was like he couldn't escape him. (Not that he was entirely sure he wanted to) And everytime, Reki couldn’t help but get flustered.

Another thing he had become painfully aware of, was their tendency to touch. Why he hadn’t noticed before was unclear, because it happened all the time. Langa would lean on his shoulders. When things didn't work out the way he wanted to, Langa would plop down on his lap to complain. And when he was excited, Langa would grab his hands. And Reki would flush, and stutter, and even trip on one occasion. Luckily school had been rather intense this week, so they hadn't had much time to skate. Which also meant, they hadn't fallen -at least not in the literal sense- and no healing kisses were required.

Naturally, Langa was oblivious to Reki's struggles. For Reki It had been a long week of stress and palpitations. But! it was finally Friday. Which meant he could finally rest. Have a weekend to himself, maybe.

So Reki was at home, staring at the blue cheese his mother served, wondering how in the hell this reminded him of Langa’s flowy blue-greyish hair. Meanwhile, the cause of his frustrations was happily making his way over.

For Langa, it had been a fairly normal week after all. He had worked hard, focussed on school and struggled with math. It was only natural that after such a long week, there was nothing he'd like more than hang out with Reki.

Langa had wondered why Reki hadn’t invited him over today, seeing as they basically spent all their free time together. Maybe Reki was very tired? Or maybe he just forgot. He’d figured that Reki wouldn’t mind him coming over, especially since he brought a new switch game. It was called “An untitled goose game”, which seemed a bit silly to him, since that was obviously a title. Maybe it was exactly the silliness they needed to relax.

He rang the doorbell, shortly wondering whether he should’ve said he was coming. Reki could be out, after all. Luckily, his mom opened the door. “Hello miss! Is Reki home?” She nodded, and quickly pointed him upstairs. “We just finished dinner, so he’s probably studying right now.” “Thanks miss!” Langa cheered.

“Hey Reki!” He stepped into the room. “Wanna play a game?” Reki was sitting at his desk, and turned around quickly. “Huh Langa?” Reki seemed a bit shocked to see him. “Hi!” Langa repeated. He dropped his bag on the bed, and made his way over to his friend “What are you doing?” He tried to sneak a peek, while resting his head on Reki’s shoulders. “Hey that’s me!” He pointed at the screen. “Uh- Yes! I was uhm, looking whether I could see where you make the most mistakes… When skating, I mean. To, uh, improve” Reki seemed quite fixated on the screen, not turning around to face Langa like he usually would.
“But I remember this.” Langa questioned, “I didn’t fall here.” He tried to reach over, to skip to a part where he did fall, before Reki interrupted him.
“oh well, it doesn’t matter.” Reki quickly got up, pushing Langa away from his shoulder. “What game did you bring?”

Oh fuck, oh fuck. Did Langa suspect anything? That was weird right. Yeah, Langa is probably weirded out. Damnit. Why did he even put on that video? Was it really the cheese that made him? THE GODDAMNED CHEESE? Only because it's called blue cheese? God I'm in deep. Why did his mom even let Langa in...
Well, I guess that’s normal though. Reki had also shown up at Langa’s a few times unannounced. Okay, okay. Let’s look at this objectively. Reki had been reminded of Langa, and wanted to see him. Then he pulled up one of the recordings, which they had made so that they could judge their own technique more critically. Okay, so far so good. Then Langa had walked in, and he had told him that he used the video for its intended purpose? So… technically there is no problem. Yep. we’re all good. Nothing weird going on here. Totally normal.

Reki looked over at Langa, who seemed very invested in being a goose. He was frowning a little, as he tried to escape from being caught. He almost looked as serious as when he’s trying to perform a new trick. Reki had never really been able to see that face from up close. Did he always slightly bite his lip when concentrating?

“Argh, damn it. It’s your turn.” Langa pushed the controller into his hands, and let himself fall back on the bed. “I guess I’m not cut out to be a horrible goose.” Realising he had been staring, Reki blushed. “I don’t feel like being a goose anymore either.” Reki wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway. He leaned back against the wall.
“Grab your laptop.” Langa instructed. “We’ll watch some more practice videos” Reki reached over, and handed his laptop to the boy. Langa opened it up, and clicked through the tabs. He frowned. "You should focus on yourself more, Reki.” he said. “I appreciate that you’re trying to help me, but you shouldn’t forget yourself!” Reki seemed confused. “What do you mean?” “Well, these are only videos of me!" Langs pointed out, "Like, you are completely focussed on me, but what about you?” Reki flushed. “Ah, well, uhm-” He coughed. “It’s because you’re still a beginner! And I want to help, haha” Langa shook his head. “Let’s just watch a movie, or something. I don’t think I really want to practice after all.”

Langa browsed on netflix a bit, before settling on some random movie they hadn’t seen before. He’d put the laptop on his lap, which meant that Reki had to lean in quite close to see the screen. Determined not to make his friend feel uncomfortable, Reki was hyper fixated on the movie. Well, at least his eyes were. His mind was racing. He was sitting so close... It was no wonder it took him a while to realise Langa’s breathing had changed.

“Langa…?” He leaned back, checking in on his friend. “Langa are you asleep?” A soft snore was the answer.
Reki leaned back a bit more, so that he could see Langa’s face. His hair had fallen into his eyes a bit, hiding Langa’s face. When the urge to tuck it behind his ear came, Reki didn’t really fight it. But when he tried, Langa’s hair kept falling back into his face. Reki couldn’t help but chuckle at his own incompetence, as he tried again. After three tries, he gave up.

“Well, I guess that’s fine..” ,he whispered to himself as he stared at his friend once more. He thought back about the kiss. About how his forehead had burned every time he remembered. How he had been thinking about Langa all week, but still hadn’t truly admitted what it meant. Maybe this was his chance? Reki swallowed, suddenly a bit scared. He was… Really asleep right? "I… probably shouldn't say this but…" Was he really going to do this?

“Langa.”, he whispered as he slowly leaned in, “I like you.”

He tried to tuck away Langa’s hair one more time, and pressed a small kiss on his lips. He held his breath while softly caressing Langa's face with his free hand. And as his blue locks slid back in front of his eyes, Reki pulled back.

He still had his eyes closed, terrified of what he might see when he opened them. A loud snore broke his train of thoughts, and let him sigh in relief. When Reki looked at his friend again, his blue eyes were still shut.

Reki wanted to feel guilty. And maybe he did. But for now, he was too distracted by the pounding of his heart. He stood up, and looked at Langa one more time. Then, as he hid his face in shame he left the room.
He definitely needed some time to process that.