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A deafening din of explosions and frustrated groans seemed to echo endlessly from the speakers surrounding Reki’s television, the flashing sequences of the dramatic film projecting strobes of light onto his and Langa’s faces.
Reki certainly enjoyed watching action movies- it was his favorite genre, after all. But he found that there was an aggravating sort of inevitability to every occasion he decided to watch a movie.
The only problem for the brown-eyed boy was that he had quite the short attention span- he never could quite recall the endings of movies, and he always found his mind wandering to what else he could be doing at that moment.
It was nothing new to the boy, he’d experienced these feelings since he was a little boy in primary school. Laughing loudly the moment he was outside with the world at his fingertips, and constantly wishing he could be out there again when he was forced to study, or take tests, or sit still for much too long.
And, right now as well.. Reki could have his skateboard underneath his feet, couldn’t he? He could be feeling the wind whip through his hair, the bottoms of his feet perfectly sore from propelling himself across the pavement. He could be turning his neck to stare over at Langa, to offer him a toothy smile and a wordless invitation to race to their next destination. He could be-
An especially loud curse came from the protagonist’s mouth, and Reki felt his gaze fall back onto the movie, shaking his head to clear it up as he attempted to focus on the high-speed chase scene unfolding on the screen.
The redhead felt his hands begin to twitch in his lap, lacing and unlacing his fingers repeatedly and rubbing his hands over one another, attempting to move in some sort of way so that his subconscious wouldn’t continue wandering to the thought of not sitting.
Reki forced his eyes to wander across the screen, smiling in an imitation of satisfaction when the plot of the movie began to somehow make sense in his mind. All the while his jittery fingers continued to rub against one another as he found comfort in the feeling of the pads of his thumbs tracing over his palms.
Fixating his gaze upon one thing did not seem to be very beneficial for his awareness, however, because Reki’s normally perceptive nature did not seem to catch the way that Langa was thoughtfully eyeing him.
The blue haired boy felt his features soften when he noticed the continual fidgeting of his best friend’s hands, biting his lip to keep down a smile as he understood, pieces falling together in his mind.
Feeling his heart flutter up into his throat, Langa took a shallow breath and scooted a few inches closer to Reki, feeling a wave of satisfaction wash over him when the boy seemed to take no notice.
Staying static for one more moment, Langa watched as Reki began to rub the pads of his thumbs against his palms, and observed as the fidgeting of his remaining fingers seemed to die down substantially.
And then the taller boy reached his left hand across the much smaller gap in between them, feeling his fingers come in contact with Reki’s smooth palm and finally allowed that smile to creep onto his lips.
Reki’s eyebrows raised in surprise and he immediately looked away from the TV in order for his eyes to fall upon Langa’s face, a small smile adorning his face as he saw Langa staring at the screen as if nothing had happened, aside from the wistful smile filling out his cheeks.
Reki settled back into his seat as he felt Langa’s spindly fingers begin to draw patterns across the front and back of his palms, intertwining his digits with Reki’s and giving them the occasional tug.
An amplified sense of comfort settled into Reki’s limbs, seeming to weigh him down onto the cushions of his couch as Langa continued to wordlessly trace his fingers across Reki’s own.
It was infinitely easier for the redhead to sit still now- he felt as if he would never even want to get up. However, focusing on the plot of the film in front of him seemed even more impossible than it had before. How was he supposed to fixate on something so trivial when he had Langa’s hand practically in his own?
If any soul in the world had asked Reki Kyan what had happened at the end of that movie, he would not have even been able to tell you its name.
It became a familiar gesture between the two boys, probably unsurprisingly. Unfortunately it was impossible to do during exams, or long lessons at school, but any other time Langa noticed Reki begin to fidget, he would simply reach over and catch the younger boy’s hand in his own, holding it still.
Evenings, when Reki’s mother invited Langa over for dinner and seemed to interrogate the blue-haired boy minutes too long for Reki’s comfort, or the few times that Langa and Reki ever decided to actually sit down and study.
Each occasion was memorialized by the telltale twitch of Reki’s hands, which then led Langa to simply remove his hand from its previous place and reach to hold Reki’s in his own.
It was easy, comfortable. Just like everything seemed to be between the two boys. An immediate secure bond between the two of them that felt nearly impossible to break.
That same sensation of solace seemed to settle over the two teens as Reki and Langa sat in the former’s bedroom, Reki lay spread out on his bed and Langa sitting upside down on his desk chair.
“Ahhh, that was fun.” Reki sighed, a familiar ache resounding deep inside his scuffed knees.
Langa chuckled, looking up at Reki from his upside down position, the tips of his blue hair just grazing the floor of his friend’s room. “Can I sit on your bed?” he asked. “I think all the blood is rushing to my head.”
Reki cracked a smile and nodded quickly, pushing himself over to one side of the bed, leaving the remaining portion for his best friend. Langa smiled gratefully and then collapsed onto the mattress, one of his legs draping across Reki’s.
The red-haired boy found the weight of Langa’s leg against his provided him with a sort of heavy comfort, almost keeping him weighed down to his mattress- just as he had felt that first time on the couch.
“Y’know, you’re getting really good at skating.” Reki mumbled tiredly.
Langa smiled weakly. “Yeah, all thanks to you.” he replied.
Reki’s face contorted in confusion. “What are you talkin’ about? You have natural skill, Langa. I’ve got nothi-”
“You made my board.” Langa interrupted. “If it weren’t for you I’d still be taping my feet onto it.” he said, softly smiling.
Reki’s cheeks tinted pink and he stared over at Langa with a smirk. “Yeah, I guess I am a genius, huh?”
Langa scoffed. “Okay- I didn’t go that far.”
“Might as well’ve, ‘cause it’s true.” Reki grinned playfully.
Langa rolled his eyes and slumped further into the mattress, adjusting his legs against Reki’s as he did so. “Okay, whatever. Anyway, you’re still fantastic at skating, Reki. You’re the one who taught me, remember?”
Reki felt as if the shade of his cheeks now matched that of his hair, yet there was still an underlying frown tugging at his heartstrings. He felt his fingers begin to curl around each other and quickly moved to intertwine them. “I guess. I didn’t do much, though. You’re like 99% natural talent, Langa.” he said sweetly, though a note of yearning seeped into his tone.
“Just because I snowboard doesn’t mean I’ll be automatically good at skating, Reki. It was you that even got me into the sport.” Langa said with confusion. He wasn’t sure why Reki was feeling so down.
“Exactly. You’re just naturally talented, Langa. I didn’t do anything for you.” Reki said quietly, staring down at his lap.
Langa had never heard such a dejected tone overtake the sound of his normally effervescent best friend’s voice. “Reki, like I said. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be here right now, talking about skating. You-”
“I don’t do anything, Langa.” Reki said, turning his head to finally look at Langa. The blue-haired boy found Reki’s brown eyes blown wide and full of an unfamiliar emotion- and he could’ve sworn they were swimming with tears?
“Reki, what’re you talking about?” Langa said quietly. “You’ve done everything for me.”
“You don’t hear the way they talk about me, do you?” Reki said bitterly.
“What? Who’s ‘they’?” Langa questioned softly, this time feeling his own hand twitch in a response to the emotion clogging Reki’s voice, wishing to reach out to the boy.
“Miya, and Shadow, and these random fucking guys at S.” he mumbled. “All everyone ever does is talk about you.”
“Am I not worth talking about?” Emotion rose in Langa’s voice as well, though not nearly matching the same one that painted Reki’s words.
Reki shook his head instantly. “No- do you know just how much I..” he trailed off, collecting his thoughts. “No, Langa, I don’t mean it like that. I promise.” he said softly.
Langa stared at his friend in concerned silence as he waited for elaboration.
“It’s just.. hard.” Reki began. “Skating is my everything, y’know? I fell in love with it the moment that I found it, and I started customizing my board, and making everything my own. It was nice, feeling confident in myself, for something.” Ironically, this was punctuated by a twitch of Reki’s hand.
“And then you came along. And I think I ..” Reki trailed off again. “It was insane, seeing you skate competitively for the very first time in your life, and doing something that crazy. I was so inspired. But as we grew, the gap between us did too. And, I dunno.” he shrugged.
“I guess I just feel sometimes, like.. I’m never going to be able to catch up to you, Langa. Like everything I did was wasted? And I hate feeling like that, because I know I should be proud of you, and- and I am, Langa, I’m so proud of you. But I guess it just stings, a little.” he paused for a moment. “I want the best for you, I have since the moment I saw you. I just wish I knew how to combine that with my own happiness.” he trailed off.
Langa stared at him, dumbfounded, painfully aware that his own cheeks were tinted pink. Silence continued to ring through Reki’s bedroom.
The red-head nervously laughed, lifting his spasming hand to scratch awkwardly at his neck as he awaited Langa’s words. “Sorry, that was-”
Langa said nothing, still, but instead reached out quickly and took Reki’s trembling hand into his own, a gesture that supplied endless comfort, unknowingly, to the both of them.
Reki felt his breath catch in his throat as he stared at the wistfully adoring expression Langa was staring up at him with. “Yeah?” he breathed.
Langa shook his head, pursing his lips and staring up into Reki’s eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything? ..Until now, at least.”
“I thought you might be angry.” Reki said quietly.
Langa immediately shook his head, drumming his fingers against the palm of Reki’s hand. “No, Reki. I want you to tell me how you’re feeling. That’s part of a good friendship.” he grinned shyly at Reki. “I- I understand, why.. you feel like that. And I’m sorry, really. I hope you know that I have never looked down on you, though. And I never ever will.”
The gentle caress of Langa’s thumb against the back of his palm combined with his soft-spoken words sent Reki’s thoughts flying out of his head and into some abyss that was hopelessly beyond rationality. As his eyes twitched downward to his and Langa’s comfortable intertwined hands, he found himself wondering if that could also be part of more than a friendship, too.
He felt his fingers spasm around Langa’s hand, turning red as he realized the nervous reaction directly correlated to his newfound idea.
Langa looked up at him curiously, wondering why this time was the only one that his touch seemed to do the opposite of soothing Reki. “What’re you thinking about?” he whispered, shuffling closer to Reki so that both of his legs stretched over the redhead’s, and their shoulders were nearly brushing.
Reki leaned his head back against his wall and considered all of the different things he could say to explain himself. However, nothing really felt right. Reki knew he wasn’t especially skilled with words, as well, so he instead decided to go for the one thing he knew he did well. Diving right in.
With a slow turn of his neck, he nudged his face forward so that his lips were barely millimeters from Langa’s. Even with his own lidded eyes Reki could see the way that Langa’s hesitantly fluttered shut. He took it as a sign to continue, and closed the minimal gap between the two of them.
Langa’s lips were soft, and somehow warmer than Reki anticipated. The younger boy lingered with his own, his heart dropping to his stomach when he felt Langa stiffen against him. Reki immediately went to pull away, but instead felt Langa’s other hand raise from its position on his bed to smooth a few fingers over Reki’s jawline, keeping him in place.
The blue-haired boy sent a light squeeze to Reki’s twitching hand, to which Reki felt his nerves dissolve almost instantaneously. He lingered on Langa’s lips a few short moments longer before pulling away.
Langa leaned forward and bumped his nose against Reki’s. “That was unexpected.” he whispered with a smile.
“I wanted to know what it would be like,” Reki blurted out truthfully.
Langa chuckled under his breath, slowly beginning to stroke at the side of Reki’s cheek with the hand that remained on his face. Reki leaned into his touch. “And what did you find out?” he asked.
The younger boy flushed, and just nodded silently.
Langa laughed under his breath and traced a finger against Reki’s jaw. “Mhm. Me, too.” he whispered.
The smile that split Reki’s face mirrored Langa’s, yet he could not halt his hands in their twitching of nervousness. He knew Langa knew that as well, based on the way he was currently shuffling his hand inside the grip of Langa’s.
“I thought me touching you was supposed to relax you,” Langa laughed aloud as he stared down at the redhead's hand, quite literally trembling against the skin of the blue-eyed boy’s palm.
“Shut up,” Reki grumbled under his breath, tracing a trembling finger over one of Langa’s knuckles.
The older boy just laughed as he gently tightened his grip around Reki’s hand, tugging him down into a laying position. “I’ll dislocate your arm like this if you don’t follow.” Langa warned, smiling teasingly.
Reki narrowed his eyes playfully and succumbed to the pull, slumping down onto his right shoulder as Langa mirrored him.
As the two boys laid facing each other, Langa could swear he saw the stars reflected into Reki’s deep brown eyes. He smiled softly as he leaned closer to the younger boy, bumping their noses together once more. He attempted to count each of the stars mirrored in the pool of umber, but it soon turned into a fruitless task. However in such proximity, Langa realized he could see the ever-so-faintly scattered freckles on Reki’s face, which he thought were much more beautiful than the stars in any case.
The blue-haired boy slowly raised his hand once more, this time pressing the pads of his fingers softly into each sun-spot painted on Reki’s face. He felt the younger boy twitch beneath him each time, and struggled not to laugh loudly so close to his eardrums.
He soon began to punctuate each tracing of his finger with a faint dusting of a kiss across Reki’s lips, his heart softening at the way Reki’s eyes fluttered shut, and how he no longer twitched nervously at the feeling of Reki’s touch.
“Tired, huh?” Langa whispered with a smile, pushing his face forward so that the tip of his nosed shoved against Reki’s cheek.
“Yeah,” Reki breathed, keeping his eyes closed, yet the fluttering of his eyelashes told Langa that he was struggling to not fall into slumber.
“Go to sleep, I’m not going anywhere.” Langa mumbled, rubbing his thumb faintly overtop Reki’s eyelid, as if to punctuate his statement with truth.
“Thank you,” Reki whispered.
“For what?” Langa said truthfully.
“For always helping me, 'n for telling me that you’re proud'f me.” Reki murmured, his slurred speech fading softer and softer with each syllable he spoke.
“Of course, Reki.” Langa breathed, finalizing his words with one last soft kiss against Reki's lips. When he pulled away, Reki’s breath came in slow unlabored drawls, and Langa knew then he had finally drifted off to sleep.
With one final familiar caress of his thumb, Langa extended his finger and brushed it down the slope of Reki’s nose, tracing softly over the patch of stars there illuminated by a strip of moonlight. And although Reki’s eyes had fallen shut, no longer reflecting the glimmering stars- as Langa reached out to trace a finger over his smooth skin, he found that the beauty of the sky was still perfectly preserved on his face.
Reki was peacefully asleep, his chest rising and falling with each lackadaisical breath that passed through his nostrils. His fingers no longer twitched subconsciously, and neither did his face, resting under the soft tracing of Langa's thumb. The older boy gradually slowed the pace of his finger, until it reached a complete halt on the apple of Reki's cheek. "'M proud of you, Reki." he breathed. "Always."
And with that, Langa allowed his own eyes to slip shut as well, finding solace in the sensation of Reki's forehead resting against his own. Because of their spaceless proximity, the older boy could feel each sigh of Reki's breath washing over his cheek. The lulling rhythm soon brought him to the familiar crossroads between waking and slumber, and as Langa felt a comfortable darkness succumbing all of his senses, he realized he could still pinpoint each of Reki's stars that painted the sky.