Renga

Sick day

Langa woke in the darkness of night in a cold sweat.  His head was spinning and his mouth was watering.  Oh god no.  Why him? He stood up abruptly from his bed, running to the toilet to throw up his dinner.  He was sick.  Oh so definitely sick. 

He leaned against the wall of the bathroom, sitting on the cold tiles in his cropped pajama pants.  He tilted his head back and sighed, sweat glistening at his temples, making the stray strands of moonlight blue hair dampen and stick to his skin.  He couldn't get back up.  There was no way. So he laid down on the bathroom floor, his head and body aching, and fell back to sleep.

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When Reki didn't get any texts from Langa the next morning, he had a suspicion something was wrong. Typically they started their days with simple texts, making sure the other was awake for school, or organizing a place to meet so they could skate to class together. But today: nothing. He went ahead to their usual spot and when langa didn't show up, he decided to go to his house to get him.

Ms. Hasegawa answered the door and upon seeing reki there, a knowing smile crossed her lips, "Good morning reki, dear, shouldn't you be headed to school by now?" She had one hand on the side of the doorframe, leaning slightly against it, as if she were tired.

"I was just looking for Langa, he usually meets me before we go to school," Reki explained.

"Oh, honey I figured he would've texted you but he has been pretty tired. Langa is sick. We think it's just the flu, fever and nausea, but he is asleep right now so we're hoping some rest will do him some good."

"Oh," reki replied, "well I could stay! If langa is sick I want to help," reki reasoned.

"I appreciate the offer, and I'm sure langa would as well, but you need to go to school. Bring langa his homework for me though, okay? He will need it," she winked at reki and shooed him away, telling him again to go along to school.

Reki reluctantly got on his board and pushed off towards the school, "I'll be back after classes are over!" He yelled as he skated away.

She chuckled and waved and then returned back inside the house to check on her son.

Upon arriving at school, reki realized he'd received two text messages:

Mama Hasegawa: I'll be headed to work soon, but you have a key, so let yourself in after school. Make sure to lock the door behind you.

Reki subconsciously fiddled with his keychain, holding his house key, and langas.

The other text was from his favorite human.

Langa ❄️🛹: Mom said you came by, are you coming back? I miss you.

Rekis face heated up at that. There he went, being blunt as ever. Of course they'd been openly flirting for a while, but it was hard to tell if it was serious or not. Reki was probably just overthinking it, like he often did when it came to langa-related things. There was something about the blue haired boy that absolutely drove him mad.

He decided to send a reply to langa before class started.

I did stop by. I wanted to stay but mom made me go to school. I'll be back later, promise.

...

I miss you too.

He hesitated before sending the second text, wondering if it sounded too sappy. He felt sappy. He liked langa. It seemed that langa liked him too.

He hit send.

In his stomach was a butterfly colony slowly migrating to his heart. He'd only ever liked one other person before and it was nothing like this. He couldn't wait for classes to be over.

Langa spent the day crawling from his bed, to the bathroom floor, to the living room couch, and back again. Getting bored and moving around, then feeling too sick and having to lay back down. He hated this. He had woken up from another long nap and was shuffling around in the blankets, restless, when he heard someone unlock the front door.

"Reki," he croaked in a hoarse voice.

He heard footsteps and then his favorite redhead was entering his bedroom, "Langa!" His arms were filled with books and papers from school and he was still wearing his backpack. He looked overwhelmed but a little relieved as well, "how are you feeling?" He carefully placed the books and papers on langas desk and dropped his backpack to the floor, kneeling next to the bed so that their gazes were level.

"Like crap."

"I bet," reki whispered as he reached out to brush langas hair back from his forehead, then checking his temperature with the back of his hand, "you still feel pretty warm," he rested his chin on the edge of the bed, pouting.

"Why is your face like that?" Langa accused.

"I just feel bad for you, I guess."

"Reki... you're worried about me, aren't you?" langa said this with a feeble smile creeping onto his tired features.

Reki buried his face in the blankets, "of course im worried about you. I care about you," he let his fingers trace the edges of langas face, brushing a stray hair back every now and again.

Langa reached up with one hand, wrapping his fingers around rekis wrist. He pressed his face against rekis palm. It was so good to have him here.

Even though langa was sick, he still looked so pretty. His pale periwinkle hair fall all around his face, framing his delicate fae-like features. His cheeks were dusted pink from the illness and his forehead glistened slightly with perspiration from the fever. He was wearing a black sweater and had the blue comforter tangled up all around him. It was adorable. Reki tried not to stare and this beautiful, beautiful boy nearly dozing off in front of him while still clutching his wrist, holding rekis hand to his chest as he fell asleep.

Reki climbed carefully into the bed and scooted in close to langa, wrapping his free arm around him. Oh well. If he was going to get sick, he would face it. He held langa close until he too fell asleep.