langa has always struggled with socializing and expressing his emotions. truth was that he never actually wanted to speak to other people, so his inability to socialize never bothered him that much.
until he met reki.
that was the first time he fe...
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langa had began to feel a lot more comfortable around reki than he'd ever felt around anyone in his life. he was coming to reki's house almost everyday, they ate together, skated together and studied together.
the boy had become better at skating than he was a few weeks ago. the only thing that kept him from letting loose while skating was the fact that he was not used to his feet not being glued to his board, but thankfully reki made sure that langa didn't have that problem anymore.
he made langa a custom skateboard with some special holders that made him feel safe, he also added a drawing of a (what reki wanted to be) polar bear which langa wasn't so pleased about, but he found reki's efforts to make langa's skateboard feel safe really endearing, so he didn't mind the poorly drawn polar bear. in fact, he grew attached to it.
langa found himself in the classroom, staring at reki who was eagerly drawing something in his notebook instead of taking notes in the class. he was admiring reki, his determination and his way of being so opened towards the world. he thought reki was awesome.
"what're you looking at?!" reki whisper shouted at langa. he had an amused face, studying langa's in an attempt to find out what was unsettling the latter. but langa's face showed no emotion. he didn't want reki to find out what he thought of him.
the bell rang and the two of them followed their routine, taking their backpacks and heading towards the skate park. not many people came there, so langa and reki recognized each of their faces whenever they came, but this time they saw a new face.
it was a girl. and she was skating amazingly and gracefully. she did an amazing trick that langa couldn't recognize, to which reki gasped his mouth and said a "woooooow."
he elbowed langa and said "look at her! she's pretty and she knows how to skate! she's the perfect girl!" langa's attention now stopped being onto the unknown girl and was focused on his friend's words. he didn't know why they bothered him so much, but they did. "right?" reki said before taking his eyes off the beautiful girl and looking at his pale friend. his face was expressionless, as usual, but the eyes gave him away. a glimpse of hurt made its way into his eyes, saying what langa couldn't.
reki speculated that langa might have felt left out, so he decided to make a joke to lighten up the mood: "oh come on, i'll let you have her!!" he said and nudged the latter. reki understood that his friend needed reassurance and that he needed to direct his whole attention at him. and he didn't mind that, he actually wanted to be there for langa. he subconsciously held his breath when langa opened his mouth to speak, hoping that langa didn't find any interest in the girl:
"i...am not interested..." he said and jumped on his skateboard to take some distance from reki. "...in girls." he softly whispered after he felt sure that reki wouldn't hear.
reki hurried to catch up with his friend, and they spent the rest of the day skating.
as the night had set, the skatepark had emptied and the only sound coming from it was their rolling wheels on the concrete and their small laughs. the only movement was that of their swift moves across the park and the occasional pink flower petals that floated around it, being pushed around by the cooling wind.
everybody that was there had left the park a few hours prior and even that girl had left, leaving the two boys alone with each other yet again. langa was acting more distant than usual, and reki knew that it was because of the incident with the girl earlier, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly why that bothered him.
even though he couldn't understand why langa felt uncomfortable that day, reki knew he had to do something to make langa feel safer around him again. the two boys headed home, and just as langa was about to take a right to go to his house, reki blurted something out without thinking: "you should sleep over."
he widened his eyes after he realized what he just said, and langa did the same. he was about to open his mouth but reki added:
"i mean, it's friday. we don't have school tomorrow. come!" he grabbed his friend's wrist and pulled him a few blocks away to the house that langa knew all too well.
they greeted everybody and headed upstairs, just after reki announced that langa was sleeping over.
they took a seat onto reki's bed, both not knowing what to say to each other.
"...i should call my mom." langa said as he reached for his phone. he had a quick chat with his mother, telling her that he would stay over then hanging up. reki was now standing up, putting a blanket and a pillow onto the floor.
he announced that he was going to sleep on the floor, but langa insisted they switched because he felt bad.
"okay fine. i'm going to hand you some of my clothes wait a second." he said before searching quickly through his closet. he found a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt and handed them to langa, who carelessly took off his shirt to get changed.
reki's eyes searched his friend's exposed featured, admiring his lean body. he looked at his faint abs and how his skinny arms reached over reki's clothes, towards his shirt. only after, to reki's disappointment, langa pulled on his shirt he realized that he was still in the room with reki.
"oh yea...sorry." langa said as he was about to go to the bathroom to change his pants.
"ah, it's my fault, i should have let you have some privacy." and left the room, carrying his pajamas, which consisted in another pair of shorts and a green shirt, with him.
reki didn't know why he found his friend's body so intriguing, for he had never been so interested in another male's form, but he felt so dissapointed when he saw langa's abs disappear beneath the shirt.
after he got changed and asked langa if he could enter his room, he came in only to see his friend on his phone, dressed into his clothes.
the shirt reki gave him was big on him too, but langa had a skinnier body than him so it looked even bigger on him. it was strange, reki had never felt like this before, not even when seeing a cute girl in school or in the skatepark. he thought that langa looked...cute in his clothes.
meanwhile, langa had realized that when he was around reki he had always felt safe and happy, but today he learnt a new emotion. jealousy. he had never felt something like this before, but he knew he disliked it. he hated the idea of reki looking at somebody else, and even though it seemed irrational of him, langa wanted reki to be by his side always. so when he walked into the room, mumbled a good night and sat himself onto the bed that was near the blanket he was sleeping on, langa felt amazing. he felt like he was truly welcomed into reki's life.
and as he closed his eyes, letting himself get taken over the sleep's charm, he felt truly comfortable and vulnerable.