ImmediatelyWriting's One Shots

#72. Sk8 The Infinity - Renga) Being Called Names

Summary:
Moving to a place where no one knows your name.
After having dealt with people calling him all sorts of offensive names, this had become a silent dream for Langa. Moving to Japan sounded like a new start. It sounded like it would make a world of difference. It would be magical if no one knew about Langa's past.
And for a little while, it was.
Until it wasn't anymore... and the name calling started again, this time right in front of Reki.

A trans Langa AU

Fandom: Sk8 The Infinity
Ship: Reki/Langa
Genre: angst, emotional hurt/comfort, fluff

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Moving to a place where no one knows your name.

To some, this might sound like a nightmare; they would be the odd one out, the stranger in a town where everybody knew everyone but you. But to Langa, it sounded like a magical opportunity to leave the town he grew up in. And never come back.

For a long time it was just a daydream he kept for himself as he bit his tongue and sustained his role as the silent kid that would never snap, no matter how often people called him names. It was like they could smell it from miles away that Langa wasn't like them. Maybe it was the way he remained mostly silent all throughout elementary school. Maybe it was how he always seemed uncomfortable when wearing the girls' uniform in middle school. Maybe it was the way his hair got messily cut short with a pair of kitchen scissors before being dyed blue somewhere during his first year in high school, and not much later a binder joined the mix. Maybe it was his love for being all alone in the snowy mountains where no one could hurt him. Maybe it was the passing of his dad.

Maybe it was all of those things. Maybe they have a different reason for chunking paper balls and mean comments to Langa's back. While he'd always known he'd been different, Langa never really understood why that always drove everyone around him to start picking on Langa of all people.

They could've chosen everyone, yet it was always Langa whose pens were chunked out of the window

and whose dead name could be used as the biggest cuss word. It was always Langa who was called a "nasty faggot" and "tranny" like they could tell from afar that he wasn't cis and straight.

Langa had dealt with it for long enough and when his silent dream of moving to a place where no one would know his name – his old name – became reality one day, it sounded like a fairy tale to Langa. It sounded like a new start, far far away from the place that never felt like home.

It sounded like it would make a world of difference. It would be magical if no one knew.

And for a little while, it was.

Until it wasn't anymore.

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Backlit by the slowly setting sun is someone Langa never thought he'd have by his side.

A friend. A best friend.

Standing at the top of the slide with one hand on the front of his skateboard and his head held high, like he's the king of the world. Just like always, there's not a hint of fear in Reki's voice, not even when he calls Langa's name and tells him he's actually going to do it. He's about to skate down a slide, it's bound to go wrong, and yet he's fearless.

"Are you watching me?" Reki shouts down as he readies himself to do this brand new trick.

"Yes," Langa replies, probably barely loud enough for Reki to hear. He's always watching, there aren't many moments that Langa can take his eyes off of Reki. Not because he's objectively attractive like various movie-stars on television, but because he's got this air of excitement and hope around him.