365 Days

15

Reki laughed as he turned with Langa down the trail, gaining more speed. Langa smiled, motivated to go further to catch up to Reki.

"Hey, wait up!" Langa called out and Reki turned slightly, showing his side profile, with a confident look on his face. "Catch up then." He said, hoarsely. Langa's breath hitched at the sound of Reki's rough voice and he lost his balance, falling backwards. Reki widened his eyes and stopped, turning around and running to Langa's side.

"Oh my god, dude are you okay?" Reki said as Langa slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head in slight pain. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just lost my balance for a second." Langa nodded and Reki smiled slightly, sitting down next to him.

"Did you run over a big rock or something?"

"No, I just got a little distracted." Langa responded, dusting himself off. On numerous occasions, Langa felt nervous around Reki, especially when he gave him smug, confident looks. It had a weird effect on Langa and the worst part was that Reki somehow had the ability to calm Langa's unknown feelings down just as easily as he'd induced them.

"Hello? Earth to Langa." Reki shook Langa, who turned to him, with his mouth gaped open from thought. Reki laughed and Langa felt his heart jump again. "What?" He asked and Reki shook his head, looking away.

"Nothing, you're just so..." Reki trailed, making Langa anxious, keeping him on his toes. "I'm what?" He asked, leaning forward. Reki turned back at him, causing Langa to sit back up.

"You're so good." Reki smiled and Langa felt taken aback. The redhead noticed Langa's anxiety and chuckled softly. "I mean it, dude. You're like this ball of something that I can't explain. You just make life better, you know?" Reki had a soft expression on his face and it was overwhelmingly beautiful in the best way possible. It was like a sunset with a thousand shades of reds and yellows and it was hard to fully process it, but at the same time, impossible to look away from, even for a second.

"I... uh... w-well, um..." Langa stammered, struggling to find the right way to respond, without processing Reki's words. Reki nibbled on the inside of his cheek, keeping a friendly face that seemed to be fooling Langa. On the inside, however, the regret he had for speaking was a true and utter hell.

Reki, you idiot! Go ahead and tell him all your secrets then—and kiss him while you're at it. He thought, keeping his outer shell somewhat calm.

"Reki!" A voice said and Reki and Langa turned around, seeing Shiro running to them, with his board in his hand. Reki clasped his hand into a fist, collecting some of the gravel into his palm as Shiro approached them. "Hi, Langa." Shiro smiled simply and Langa waved awkwardly, shrinking in slight discomfort.

"Hey, what's up?" Reki asked making Langa relax again and Shiro shrugged, budging Reki's legs with his feet, playfully. "Nothing, I was just looking for you." He responded, causing a red flush to rise in Reki's cheeks and Reki looked away, hiding himself from Shiro.

"Why?"

"We haven't hung out in a minute and I thought we could skate around or something? Maybe we could watch those skating videos you used to find a few years ago?" Shiro suggested and Langa froze. It was still odd to him that there was another person that knew Reki better than he did, and a boy he loved at one point no less. Langa had to hold back laughs as he watched Reki converse with Shiro, feeling ridiculous for being so bothered; he had no reason to be upset, especially over something as trivial as Reki's unbreakable bond with Shiro.

Langa thought to himself, watching Reki laugh playfully, filling the damp air with his little voice cracks at the end of every laugh, feeling agonizingly out of place. Reki's laughs seemed to be louder and his grins seemed to take up more of his face and the fact of it is that Langa knew deep in his bones that he had absolutely nothing to do with it.