Infinity, Taken Literally

Acceptance 11

"Reki?" Langa's face is dusted with a light pink tinge, as he stares at Reki with wide eyes and parted lips. It does nothing to hide the confusion and hesitation behind them. Both of their boards lay forgotten on the ground behind them.

"I'm sorry,"

"It's okay, but why did you drag- "

"Not for that," Langa stills, confusion slipping away as he realises what Reki is referring to. "I'm sorry for how I acted the other night." It takes a lot of willpower to maintain eye contact and not look away in shame. No matter how much he wants to, Langa deserves to be looked in the eyes for this. "I don't know what came over me, but I shouldn't have done what I did."

Blue eyes widen slightly before looking away. A pained look crosses Langa's face and Reki's heart grows heavy at the sight, stealing away his next sentence. Instead of talking, Langa reaches up to tug at the sleeves on the arm where Reki's hoodie hides the cut. Reki lets him pull the arm down from the wall, searching Langa's half-hidden face for any indication he should pull away, that the close proximity is too much. Langa's face does nothing to convey his emotions.

Slowly, he pulls up Reki's sleeve, careful to lift it over the bandages to bunch at the elbow. Frowning at the messily done bandaging, he untucks the visible end and slowly begins to unravel. Reki had been in a little bit of a rush to get to school in the morning and hadn't done a proper job.

Still, Reki doesn't object as slender hands undo his handiwork. He watches Langa as Langa's eyes stay trained on his hands.

The bandage falls away and a droplet of water hits the broken skin underneath it, making Reki shiver and actually look at the injury. The cut is still red and sore, but it hadn't been deep enough to cause any issues. With a little bit of luck, it won't even scar. Another drop of rain hits the skin and he glances up at Langa's face, a crease in his brow is the only indication of his thoughts as he inspects the wound.

"I'm sorry for trying to force you into something you don't want to do," Taking a deep breath, Reki continues through the nerves. "It wasn't fair of me to ask that of you without at least knowing your reasoning first, or at all. It wasn't my place." Langa is still looking at his arm. Pulling out of the gentle hold, Reki grabs Langa's hand and squeezes it, dropping his other arm from the wall to take a step closer. He may not know what Langa is thinking, but he does know it can't be healthy.

Langa's head whips up in alarm, taking in how close Reki had stepped. "I can't watch you go up against Adam knowing that he has the upper hand." Finally, Langa goes to say something. "No," Placing his free hand over Langa's mouth to stop him from interrupting, Reki holds his head in place so that he can't look away. They both know that if he wanted, Langa could pull away easily. He could push Reki away and leave before the redhead even had the chance to get another word out.

But he doesn't move, stilling under Reki's touch as he meets the serious expression pinning him in place. Reki takes this as a sign to continue, letting the seriousness of his words convey themselves through his body language. "Don't say that you'll be fine, don't. He's a centuries-old vampire and you're," His voice cracks and a cold drop of rain runs down his face, coming down harder now. "I can't let him hurt you, not like he did to me, and I know that I can't stop you. So, if there is something I can do to help you, then I'll do it. I don't care what it means for me." Langa frowns, trying to disagree with his eyes. "You're better than me, you're better than Joe and Cherry and your talent is far brighter than Adam. I know you can win against him, but I don't want you to have to sacrifice your love of skating to do so. Because that's what Adam does, he sucks the joy out of it and breaks you down until you're nothing but a shell of yourself."