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His mom isn’t really surprised. To be honest, Langa didn’t expect her to be. He’d never once in his life led her to believe he was interested in girls and he talks about Reki to her more than he ever talks about anything else.
The only thing she asks, after a short lull in conversation, is: “Did your father know?”
About his being gay, he assumes she means. He ducks his head. “Yeah.”
“Oh.” His mothers face is closed off, for once, though the way she’s pushing her food around on her plate leads Langa to believe she’s feeling a little hurt.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he says, guilty. “I didn’t even mean to tell him and—”
“It’s not that,” she interrupts. She sighs, placing her chin in her hand delicately and staring out the window. “I just miss him, is all." She meets Langa’s eyes again. “You two were so close.”
“I know,” Langa says. He doesn’t like talking about his dad much. It’s just a fact of life, that he’s gone, but Langa used to feel like there was no one else in the world who could ever really understand him.
Now he knows that’s not true.
He smiles, for his mom’s sake, and digs into the meal she’s prepared. “It feels good to tell you now,” he says, honestly, and this makes his mom smile despite herself.
“I love you, honey,” she says.
“Yeah, love you too.”
~
Reki climbs through Langa’s window with practiced ease that night before the clock even hits nine, and really, who’s Langa to complain? Reki kisses him as soon as he’s within distance to, and in a moment they’re a mess of tangled limbs on Langa’s double bed.
To each other, they’re the only two people in the whole world.
“I missed you,” Langa says against Reki’s neck.
Reki laughs. “You saw me like five hours ago.”
Langa pulls back to look at Reki’s face. “That is five hours too many.”
Reki’s eyes are warm and scrunched up at the corners. He cups Langa’s face in his hands.
“I missed you, too.”
They kiss for a while. Langa knows Reki could probably make out with him until the sun comes up, but personally Langa’s starting to feel sleepy by the time ten rolls around. He draws Reki close to his chest and kisses him slowly, softly, hoping to wind him down some so they can get some sleep.
Reki moans faintly against Langa’s lips before he pulls away, face red and lips swollen. Jesus Christ. Langa thinks to himself that maybe kissing Reki for a few more minutes can’t hurt.
Surprisingly though, Reki says, “Geez, I’m tired.” He pushes closer into Langa’s side and hums contentedly. “Let’s go to sleep.”
Langa’s inclined to do just that. He is, until he sees the little pride sticker on the side of his dresser and remembers something. He strokes his hand up and down Reki’s back a few times, a thought nagging at his mind.
“Reki?” He says.
“Mm?”
Langa swallows. “What do you think about telling our parents?”
Reki blinks his eyes open and shifts his gaze to meet Langa’s serious one. “You mean… about… this?”
He sounds nervous. It’s making Langa nervous.
“Yeah,” Langa says. “You know, just… well.” He feels now like he should have asked Reki before breaking the news to his mother. “I told my mom.”
Langa thinks Reki seems surprised. “Really?”
Langa nods.
“And she’s… cool with that?”
Again, he nods. He’s curious, so he asks, “What about you mom?”
Reki casts his eyes away, like he’s ashamed, or thinking about something, or maybe both? Langa can’t tell.
“What is it?” he says. He wonders if Reki’s mother is homophobic or something. Or his father, maybe? But Reki never talks about his father and Langa hasn’t met him so he doesn’t know. Reki’s mother seems so nice, but if she has a problem then they’re going to have a problem. Langa is already thinking of ways he can get his mother to adopt Reki or something when Reki says:
“My mom isn’t homophobic.”
Langa blinks. “What?”
“That’s what you were thinking.” Sometimes, Reki can be more perceptive than he lets on. “But I already came out to her like five years ago and it’s not like that.”
“That’s—” Langa allows himself a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
Reki giggles. Fucking giggles. Oh Lord.
“The look on your face was so intense,” he says.
Langa snorts and shrugs. He doesn’t want to tell Reki the things he was planning to do about his hypothetically homophobic mother, which, now that he thinks about it, was kind of dumb to even consider.
He realizes Reki got him completely off track. He clears his throat.
“Why don’t you want to tell her, then?”
Reki squirms. “It’s not that.”
“Then what?”
For a moment, Reki stubbornly keeps his mouth closed. Langa waits expectantly. In a second Reki breaks, sighs, and says, “It’s just… I don’t know how she’d feel about me… dating.”
Langa can’t help but be a little surprised. “You’re seventeen.”
Reki rolls his eyes and bumps his shoulder against Langa’s. “Like I don’t know that. She can just be a little protective of me when it comes to that stuff, s’all.”
Okay, so Reki has a protective mom. That’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
“You think she wouldn’t approve of me?” Langa says. He’s teasing. Mostly.
Reki flushes. “What! Langa, no, she’d love you! She already does!”
Langa laughs and buries his head in Reki’s hair for just a second.
“Well I’m glad to hear that.” He pauses, considers. “If you don’t want to tell her yet, that’s fine with me.”
Reki sighs in relief. “Thanks.”
“But,” Langa says, and Reki meets his eyes again, “I think you should.”
Reki nods. He tucks his face in the crook of Langa’s shoulder. “I know.”
Langa decides that, for now, it doesn’t matter. He’s happy just having Reki close to him. Reki seems to be on the same page because he leans up and gives Langa one more kiss, on the bridge of his nose, which makes them both laugh.
“Night,” Reki says, curling back into Langa’s side.
Langa hums a goodnight even as he hears Reki breathing start to slow. He realizes Reki’s still wearing his headband, askew from the night’s activities. Langa reaches up and slowly, carefully nudges the garment off and folds it up on his bedside table. He settles down next to Reki and thinks he couldn’t be any happier than he is now.
Presently, Reki’s even breaths lull Langa into a contented slumber of his own.
~
Reki’s mother is hands down the nicest person Langa’s ever met. Enthusiastic, passionate, sweet, she’s like Reki but less competitive and better at cooking. Langa feels like an ass for ever even considering she might be homophobic. He tries to make up for it by being extra nice to her when he’s over at Reki’s house after school on Wednesday.
“I can help you with dinner,” he says, trying not to sound too eager. Reki is in the garage somewhere. He left Langa in the kitchen, babbling on about a project and a surprise. Langa feels awkward just sitting at the table.
Mrs. Kyan waves him off.
“Don’t be silly. Although, that’s very sweet of you. I wish my son would help me with dinner.”
“Hey!” Reki says. He’s coming back through the door, something hidden behind his back. “You banned me from the kitchen, remember?”
His mother tuts. She jabs him playfully with a wooden spoon. “Fine, then. I wish my son weren’t such a lousy cook.”
Reki scoffs indignantly. “Anyway.” He steps further into the room and motions for Langa to stand up. Langa complies and crosses the kitchen. He tries to get a look at whatever is in Reki’s hands, but Reki leans to the side and blocks his view.
“Oi! No peeking, it’s a surprise, remember?”
“Right.” Langa steps back and allows Reki to move further into the kitchen.
Reki seems suddenly nervous. “It’s… not that big of a deal, or anything,” he says, “but I thought it would be fun to surprise you. And, uh—”
He meets Langa’s expectant gaze, which seems to snap him out of whatever mindset he was about to go into. He shakes his head and laughs a little at himself. “Just close your eyes,” he says.
Langa does. He notices the sounds of Mrs. Kyan’s cooking have stopped altogether. He feels Reki shove something smooth and stiff against his chest.
“Can I open my eyes now?”
“Yup!”
He’s met with Reki’s face, which is eager, if not a little anxious. Langa peers down to find his board sitting in his hands.
“It’s my board—” he starts to say, but then he looks closer. The dents and scratches all cleaned up and painted over, the trucks look shinier, and, when Langa tests them, the wheels spin more easily. The small blue hearts that have been painted above the yeti's head don’t escape his notice, either.
“Reki,” he says, a little lost for words, touched as he is by the sweetness of the gesture, “this is great.”
“Yeah?” Reki asks earnestly. His eyes are shining and Langa can tell he’s proud of himself.
Langa nods. “It looks amazing. Thank you.” His first instinct is to lean down and give Reki a kiss, an extra show of gratitude for the gift. He nearly does, forgetting himself, but then he remembers Reki’s mother standing a few feet away, watching them. He settles for patting Reki awkwardly on the shoulder and suggesting they go to his bedroom.
Reki locks the door, and then privacy isn’t an issue.
~
“I knew it,” Shadow says.
Miya rolls his eyes. “We all knew it, like, a month ago.”
“We haven’t even been dating for two weeks!” Reki protests.
Shadow and Miya give Reki and Langa both a look. The fact that Reki has decided to sit himself in Langa’s lap probably isn’t helping his case.
Langa, for his part, is just glad Shadow lost in their beef. Shadow had to pay for their 2am dinner and now Langa is in the middle of his fifth burger, with three more to go.
Actual. Paradise.
Reki would probably keep arguing, but Langa is tired and doesn’t want to listen to them all bicker. He lets his head fall forward until it’s tucked against Reki’s neck, and that effectively shuts them all up.
Until Shadow and Miya start laughing their asses off. Knowing Reki like he does, Langa can guess he’s probably bright red.
“Langa,” Reki whines, but leans back against Langa’s chest all the same. Langa abandons his burger, something he never thought he’d do, in favor of wrapping his arms around Reki’s middle and pulling him further back.
“Teenagers,” Shadow mutters.
Miya makes a sound of disgust.
“What are you, five?” Reki says.
“I hate PDA,” Miya retorts. “Especially between you guys.”
“It’s because you’re happy for us but your gremlin tendencies have stunted your ability to feel.”
“Fuck you.”
Reki just laughs and shifts against Langa’s chest. Shadow dismisses himself to get more ketchup.
“What about your parents?” Miya says. It’s a bit out of the blue, but Langa thinks Miya might actually have invested a little bit of himself in Langa and Reki’s relationship, even if he wouldn’t admit it with a gun to his head. They are friends, after all, though Miya would never admit that, either.
Langa lifts his head from where it’s been resting on Reki’s shoulder, angling himself to get a glimpse of Reki’s reaction. Reki seems hesitant.
“We’re… working on it,” he says after a beat.
“Working on what?” Shadow’s back, brandishing a hefty tub of ketchup.
“Telling our parents,” Langa says.
Shadow nods with understanding. “That there’s an awkward conversation to have. But a necessary one. No point in keeping anything from mom and pops if you don’t need to. Causes everyone involved a lot of grief.”
Reki sighs. He looks sad. Maybe even guilty.
Langa nudges him. He doesn’t ask what’s wrong outright, but he succeeds in conveying it in his expression because Reki groans and turns his body so that he’s hiding in Langa’s shoulder. Langa pets his hair and decides he’ll ask later, when they’re alone, what’s going on.
“Ew,” says Miya.
“You know, I am happy for you two,” Shadow tells them sincerely. Which is nice, because Shadow usually pretends they’re all nuisances and he’s only obligated to hang out with them because of his manager. “I may have been a little late to the realization party—”
“A little.”
“Quiet, catboy—But I think you’re good for each other.”
“Thanks,” Langa says.
Reki’s got a mischievous look on his face. “Careful, Shadow, your softie’s showing.”
Any kindness in Shadow’s face hardens and he grumbles indignant protests for the rest of the meal. Langa and Reki ignore him and cuddle in the booth. They’re both pretty tired. Miya gives up any hope of conversation and switches to playing video games.
Eventually, Shadow drives them home. They end up at Langa’s place, and Shadow is already at the end of the street when Reki and Langa’s fatigued brains both remember they left all their stuff at Reki’s house.
Reki slumps over. “Shit.”
“I suppose a walk won’t be too bad.”
“I’m too tired,” Reki whines.
Langa smirks. “Well then I guess I’ll have to carry you.”
“As if you could,” Reki says.
Langa proves him wrong by wrapping his hands behind Reki’s thighs and hoisting him up until his legs are wrapped around Langa’s waist. Reki flails and sputters and grabs Langa’s shoulders to keep from falling.
“See?” Langa says, smug. He definitely wouldn’t be able to carry Reki all the way to his house, but the fact that he can lift him at all is definitely a bit of an ego booster.
Reki seems to get over his initial fear of getting picked up after a moment and wraps himself more securely around Langa’s torso, nuzzling at his hair.
“Is it weird that this is super hot?”
“I will drop you if you get a boner.”
Reki blushes, but his laugh is genuine. “No, you wouldn't.”
He’s right. Langa doesn’t want to admit defeat, so instead he nudges Reki’s jaw with his mouth until their lips are flush and Reki’s hands are threading through Langa’s hair.
Langa loves him. He only ever said it once, that first night when they finally kissed, and he’s never quite felt it was appropriate to say it again. But there’s no one else in the whole world Langa feels more for than Reki.
Reki pulls away from Langa’s lips and instead noses at his hair, breathing deep.
“Hey, Langa?” he says.
“Yes?”
Reki is silent for a moment. Langa can feel him playing with his hair. It feels nice.
“Are you sure you’re okay not telling my mom?”
Oh. Langa thinks back to earlier that night, when Reki was clearly bothered by something in the restaurant. They’d been on the topic of telling Reki’s mother, hadn’t they?
Langa slowly, carefully, sets Reki down. When his feet are safely touching the ground Langa pulls him in for a hug. He wraps his arms around Reki’s shoulders and just holds him as close as he can. He knows Reki likes physical affection and he tries to remember to give it to him as much as he can.
“I don’t want to put you out of your comfort zone,” Langa tells him.
Reki’s hands are fisted in the back of Langa’s shirt. He sucks in a loud, shaky breath. When he speaks, his voice is quiet and rough. “You’re too good to me.”
“I could never be good enough to you, Reki,” Langa says, which is the truth. Or, at least, he feels it to be.
Reki hugs him tighter even though his words are sharp. “Shut up. That isn’t true.”
“It is,” Langa says. “Because I—” love you, “—care about you. And I wish I could give you everything in the world, but I guess we both have to settle for just me and maybe a box of chocolates on special days.”
Reki laughs wetly. “You say that like that isn’t enough.” Langa can’t see his face, but he thinks Reki might be crying a little bit.
Langa has no idea when this conversation turned so emotional. Maybe Reki had more pent up than Langa realized. He feels guilty about that.
And he thinks, fuck it, because, well, Reki deserves to hear what Langa has to say next. In fact, Reki deserves to hear it all the time.
Langa says, “I love you.” He wishes he could say more, wishes to convey everything he feels but there aren’t words, not in Japanese or in English. And even if there were, he doesn’t know if he’d have the courage to say them out loud right now.
Reki lifts his head from where it’s buried in Langa’s shoulder and studies his face, as if searching for a lie. His eyes are amber and watery.
Langa can’t quite meet his gaze; he feels sort of embarrassed, maybe because of the admission. Which is stupid, honestly, because he said it before and Reki said it right back.
“I… know,” Reki says finally, hesitantly, like he doesn’t entirely believe it. His next words are spoken with conviction. “And I love you.”
A smile tugs at the corners of Langa’s lips, his relief and joy flooding through him. He and Reki can work on the self-esteem part later. It must be nearing three-thirty by now.
“Bed?” Langa says.
Reki nods and yawns. “Bed.”
They skate home, facing each other, side by side. They’re equals, and the full moon shines down to illuminate them both, and Reki looks beautiful, and Langa loves him.
~
It’s probably a terrible thing, but Langa can’t help it when he thinks that detention is a lot more fun when Reki has it, too.
The detention supervisor, who is usually the PE teacher, asks them to clean something. Langa and Reki get left alone in a room together where no one will disturb them for at least an hour. It’s kind of perfect.
“I feel like you’re getting detentions on purpose,” Reki says, wiping down the chalkboard with as little effort as he can possibly manage to get away with. Langa is doing the same with the desks.
“I’m not,” says Langa, which is actually not a lie.
Reki still isn’t convinced. “You totally could have outrun the teacher today, though. I saw how fast you were going.”
“I was trying not to run over our classmates.”
Reki sets his wet cloth on the edge of the chalkboard and weaves his way through the desks to Langa.
“Uh-huh,” he says. “And somehow I managed to do it while you couldn’t?”
“You got caught, too,” Langa points out.
Reki sits on the desk Langa’s cleaning. “Yeah, saving your ass.”
“Or trying to, anyway,” Langa says.
Reki mocks offense, but he doesn’t have a comeback. Instead, he pulls Langa towards him by the lapel of his uniform into a wet, hot kiss.
The teacher is none too pleased when he finds them. Langa’s jacket is somewhere on the floor and Reki’s legs are wrapped securely around his waist. They’re so caught up in each other that they don’t even notice him until he's standing right next to them.
“Ehem.”
“Wuah!” Reki falls backwards off the desk in surprise and Langa has to stop himself from flailing.
“Boys, this has to do with cleaning how?"
They get detention the next day, too.
~
“Man,” Reki says once they’re safe in his bedroom at home. “My mom is gonna be pissed.”
Langa steps through the door and leaves his bag next to it, peeling off his jacket.
“I’m sure she won’t be too hard on you,” he says, though he really has no idea.
Reki tilts his head and grins. “She can’t resist my adorable face.”
Langa smiles, crossing the room so they’re standing face to face. “Who ever could?”
They lean into each other.
It’s an innocent kiss, hardly more than a peck on the lips, and that they have to be thankful for.
There’s a gasp. It takes Langa a moment to realize it didn’t come from Reki.
Reki’s already pulled away. He’s glaring daggers at the doorway.
“What the hell are you doing, snooping around!” He demands. His face is flaming red, and not from anger.
Langa has an oh shit, moment. The oldest of Reki’s younger sisters is standing there in the door, her mouth agape.
Reki’s sister puts her hands on her hips. “Your door was open!” She looks between Langa and Reki, and then back again. “I’m telling mom.”
“You’re not,” Reki says.
“I am.”
“Don’t you dare!”
“Mama!” Reki’s sister goes bounding down the hall, mischievous delight in her voice.
Reki leaps up after her. “You little shit! Hey!”
Langa hears a lot of swearing and what sounds like a struggle. He peeks his head out the door to find Reki’s sister, who’s pinned on the floor, pulling Rek’s headband over his eyes and elbowing him in the side. He coughs and rolls off her, and his other little sister, who’s joined the fray, takes the opportunity to start tugging on his hair.
“Oi!” Reki shouts, shrugging her off and righting his headband, “that’s not fair!”
His sisters are all laughing, the youngest two having not the slightest clue what the fight is about.
“Reki, don’t be mean!” Says the oldest of the girls.
“Me? You’re telling me—”
“What in the world is going on here?"
All commotion stops.
The siblings turn to Mrs. Kyan, who is standing in the doorway to the kitchen looking for all the world completely unamused.
“Reki was—” Reki’s oldest sister starts, but Reki quickly claps a hand over her mouth.
“N-nothing, mama!” He says, and man, that kid can not lie.
“Reki,” his mother says sternly, and he instantly deflates. He turns to look at Langa, who tries his best to give what he hopes is a reassuring smile.
Reki stares at the ground for a moment, kicking absently at the rug. “Um… mama, I—” He sighs harshly. “I have… something to tell you.”
His mother crosses her arms and leans back, as if to say, “I’m listening.”
Reki eyes his sisters. Langa notices how he’s nervously running his fingers along the back of his headband.
“In private,” Reki says.
His mother’s eyes are understanding. She waves him into the kitchen and Reki goes obediently. Langa has no idea if he should follow or not.
Reki’s sisters all turn towards him.
Langa clears his throat. “Um…” he says intelligently.
Fortunately, they lose interest in Langa and instead busy themselves with crowding around the kitchen door, hoping to eavesdrop. Is it Langa’s place to stop them? He should probably stop them, right?
He’s saved when a sharp, “Girls!” is heard from the kitchen, and the sisters scamper away. Only the oldest is left. Langa really wishes he could remember her name, especially when she marches up to him with determination in her eyes and Langa has to admit he’s a little intimidated.
“You were kissing my brother,” she says. She can’t be more than thirteen.
“Well—” Langa says, because she saw it and it’s true.
Reki’s sister is tall for her age. She’s still a good seven or eight inches shorter than Langa, but the face she’s making adds to her height, in a way.
“You were kissing him,” she reiterates. “Why?”
Langa doesn’t know how to answer that without betraying Reki’s trust. He swallows thickly and wishes very desperately that kids weren’t so nosy.
“I… can’t say,” he finally tells her.
Reki’s sister purses her lips. “I think you’re a liar.”
Geez. Langa just wants peace. He’s not in any way shape or form prepared to deal with this.
“Listen,” he says, “I’m sure Reki will tell you if he wants—”
He’s about to launch into a bullshit speech about trust and values and being sensitive to other people's boundaries, something he’s entirely certain he can’t pull off, when Reki and his mother come back through the doorway. Reki is smiling softly, some mixture between relief and joy, and his mother is ruffling his hair, a grin of her own on her face.
“Langa,” she says, “you’ll stay for dinner, won’t you?”
“Mom,” Reki gripes.
“What? I have to welcome him to the family.”
“Huh?” Reki’s sister’s mouth is agape. “What are you talking about, mama?”
“Langa here is a very lucky boy,” Mrs. Kyan says, which makes Reki blush. A sly smile spreads across his sister’s face.
“Oooooh.”
Reki’s other sisters troupe back into the room, eager for excitement. The oldest starts up a chant of “Reki and Langa, sitting in a tree…” Reki’s protests fall on deaf ears. His face is bright red.
Mrs. Kyan turns her attention to Langa, ignoring the chaos. “So, you’ll stay?” she says.
Langa smiles. “Thank you, Mrs. Kyan, I’d love to.”