Cabo // renga

Do what you can with me and do it quietly || three

1021 words

The sound of shuffling was enough to wake Langa up. He peeled his eyes open as sat up slowly, eyes trailing around the room until eventually landing on the boy sleeping on the couch besides him. His red hair was a mess, his head band crooked as it was practically falling off his head. Langa felt a smile adorn his face as he reached out, slowly taking the headband off and placing it on the table besides the couch. He let his eyes drift back towards Reki, the noise from earlier leaving his mind as his thoughts were consumed with the boy. At first, they were all about how adorable he looked, with puffed cheeks that were a light pink, hair strewn across his face and pillow, lips parted ever so slightly. And then they eventually wandered back to last night, how upset and shaky he had seemed. Langa realized now, that he had a mix of emotions, like he was internally battling himself over whatever happened that night. Usually Langa didn't like to pry, he thought it was disrespectful and that if the person wanted him to know they would tell him, but after a while, that mindset slowly fell away when it came to Reki.

Reki never liked to tell him about the things that genuinely made him upset, things that made him stay up until 3 am and think, over and over until his mind felt like it would explode. He realized this a couple months ago with the whole ADAM ordeal. Sure, Reki had eventually opened up, but that was because he had gotten to his breaking point. At first, he just ignored Langa. Langa fidgeted with his hands, his eyebrows furrowing as he stared at Reki's sleeping face, as if he could read his mind if he tried hard enough. Though eventually he sighed, pushing himself off the ground as he looked away from Reki, instead deciding to check out what the noise that woke him up was. As he left the living room, entering the kitchen, he was surprised to see his mom, as he would've assume she had been home by now.

"Mom?" Langa muttered out. Nanako jumped, dropping the item in her hand as she whipped around. Langa stared down at the skateboard that rolled into the counter. It was his.

"Langa!" She squeaked in surprise, her hair was soaked, as well as her clothes. Langa left the room, quickly returning with a towel and handing it to her. She smiled, taking it as she wrapped it around her body. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

Langa shook his head, leaning down as he grabbed his skateboard off the ground. "Did you go to Reki's?" He rose an eyebrow, not really expecting that from her. Nanako nodded, sending a small smile to her son before shaking her hair. Langa cringed at the wet droplets that landed on him.

"Mrs. Kyan called me and told me you left your skateboard there. Reki was supposed to bring it over but he must have forgotten, she said he rushed out of the house pretty quickly when he got back from his friends." She explained. About a month ago he told his mom about how he liked to skate, though of course, he left out everything about S. Langa frowned, thinking back to how Reki looked yesterday, his smile all wobbly.

"Thanks mom.." he mumbled, peering behind her at the digital clock on the stove. It read 5 am.

"You should head back to bed, Langa. Is Reki still over?" He hummed, nodding as he pointed to the living room. Nanako smiled before making her way to her bedroom. Langa grabbed a glass of water, making his way back to the living room.

He almost dropped the glass when he saw Reki was awake. He glared at the way Reki laughed at him, before setting his water down on the table and taking a seat on the couch besides Reki. The two were silent as the birds started to chirp, signaling the sun rising.

"I should probably go home." Reki muttered. Langa looked over, eyes trailing over his red cheeks and dried lips. His hair was a mess, he kept having to push it out of his face every five seconds, Langa now realized why the boy always wore a headband.

"It's still pretty dark out, and it's also raining." Langa mentioned, despite the rising sun peaking in through the blinds, and the way the rain sound was growing quiet. Reki hummed, eyes glued to his lap as his fingers twitched besides him. He looked exhausted, he was most definitely not a morning person. "But if you want to go home, I could walk you."

"But then-" he was interrupted by his own yawn, his face going a darker shade of pink afterwards. "- then you'd have to walk all the way back alone.."

Langa nodded, pulling his hair into a pony tail shape before letting it fall. Reki lifted his eyes up at the action, eye bags evident. Langa frowned, poking at his cheek. "You still look tired, and it's only 5 am, why not try and get some more sleep."

"Then you'd be alone." Reki argued, lifting his hand to poke under Langa's eye. "You don't look tired at all."

Sure, Langa was used to Reki touching him, as he always seemed to crave physical contact, but that didn't stop his face from heating up at the feeling of Reki's finger. He brought his hand back, playfully pushing Reki's finger away from his face as he smiled. "It's okay. I wouldn't want you to spend the entire day exhausted."

Reki hummed, falling back against the couch. Langa was about to get up and move out of his way before he was trapped by Reki's legs. He mumbled something, something Langa didn't quite understand.

"Huh?" Reki opened his eyes again, staring at Langa before repeating.

"Nao wants to meet you."

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Short chapter because I thought that would be a funny haha cliff hanger. Again, constructive criticism is always welcomed, just be kind!

- Noah