Chapter Text
The first thing Langa could feel when he was waking up from slumber was a headache and the need to throw up. He had never felt so nauseous in his entire life. Even opening his eyes felt like he could puke any moment, but he did not want to so he held it in.
Langa could not recognize the room he was sleeping in. It was a small room with a few shells for books and clusters, the room also had a table that had a lot of tinkers on it. It was kinda a messy room from what he could gather.
Just as he was trying to scout the room he was in, Langa felt a small movement from beside him. He had not realized someone else was sleeping in the same bed. He could not see clearly who it was, but whoever they were, they were still asleep.
Langa had no memory of coming here. He had no memory of the person who was sleeping next to him.
‘So, what happened last night?’ Langa pondered to himself.
He remembers that he went to this college party after a long school day. His Japanese tutors wanted to bring Langa along with them to the party. They had said something about people wanting to speak with him more? Or getting to know him since he was a foreigner. At first he had not really been excited about the idea of partying in the middle of the school week, but his friends from the tutor group had been so excited about going out with him for once that he could not deny them.
With some courage from his friends, he decided to go to the party. It was the first time he had ever gone to one. Langa remembers meeting with his friends at the place around 6 PM in the evening. After everyone got there, they went to the store to buy some drinks and snacks. Langa himself bought a few drinks he knew he liked a lot and had drank before. They also bought in a group a few bags of chips.
After the store they started to walk towards the place where the party was supposed to be. When they got there it was already full of people from different departments, grades and even schools. It was a really big student event, or more of a party, since everyone around them was already drinking and dancing.
Langa and his group of friends had gone to meet with other people from different departments. Langa could see a few people from his classes around them, but not one he personally knew. He could only recognize their faces but could not remember their names.
Langa could recall that they had played some cards and drinking games with some people from different classes. Langa actually had some fun with his friends and the people who he was with. They were sitting in a big circle and playing games and just speaking with each other. They laughed a lot and joked around. They passed drinks around the circle and gave shots to each other.
But then Langa got too drunk.
Everything is blurry in his mind after the Uno game they had started. He remembers someone explaining to him the rules for the game and playing a few rounds, but after that everything is hazy in his mind.
He has some memories of going to find a bathroom with someone, and laughing with them since they were definitely not walking in a straight line. Langa could remember a moment where they had stumbled and almost ended up in a bush.
He could also remember this person with a red head. If his memory is right he could remember arguing with him about something. Langa could not remember the topic of the argument, but he knew he was laughing a lot with this person. It had been something stupid, certainly.
Oh, now Langa could remember the person. It was definitely Reki Kyan from one of his elective classes! They were in different departments but had one elective class together. Before this party he had only spoken once with the person. It had been because they had to do some pair work in the class and he had happened to sit next to Reki. Because of that they had worked together on the assignment. After that they had not spoken again, it had already been over three months.
From what Langa could gather, Reki was an outgoing person who always seemed to smile. He had a loud voice and was always surrounded by people. He seemed to have a lot of friends from different grades and departments. Overall he seemed like a good person, someone anyone could feel safe with.
Now that Langa was thinking, he could remember a moment where they had walked somewhere. It was dark outside and no one else had been with them. Langa could recall that Reki had helped him when he had almost stumbled on his own feets. He could still feel the arm around his waist.
Just as he was thinking that the person next to him turned towards him with a groan.
The person definitely had red hair and the same build as Reki did.
So, Langa is at Reki’s place, sleeping next to him, in the same bed.
‘Do not panic’, Langa thought to himself. He had to take a few deep breaths. His mind was going crazy. He felt nauseous and the already bad headache was increasing with every thought he had about what had happened. Thankfully he had clothes on.
The best thing he could do in this situation was to go back to sleep. Maybe it was all a weird dream he had. Or maybe this is really happening, it was for his later self's problem. Next thing he knows is that Langa is already falling back to sleep.
Langa wakes up again to extreme nausea.
‘Hangover sucks’, Langa decided to never get drunk ever again.
This time when he wakes up he decides to find his phone. Thankfully it was right next to his head.
7.04 AM, reads on the phone.
‘It’s really early’, Langa thought to himself. Maybe he should get some sleep, since he still was really tired and had no motivation to try to get away from here.
After that he closed the phone and put it under the pillow he had and tried to close his eyes again. It was really hard to sleep. He felt uncomfortable and sick. The raging headache was only getting stronger by the moment. He really wanted some pain killers, but Langa did not want to get up to try and find them. The best thing he could do was to try and fall asleep again. Even if he really could not.
Eventually the darkness found him and he fell asleep.
This time when he opened his eyes he could feel some motion from beside him.
The person next to him was awake.
‘What should I do? I don’t know what to say or do, I don’t want to make things awkward between us. I’m already an awkward person to begin with!’ Langa was now definitely panicking inside of his head. He then felt a light touch against his shoulder, a small tap.
“Are you awake?” The rough voice came from behind his back. The person sounded like had screamed a lot and had lost some of his capacity to speak.
“Yeah.” Was the only thing Langa could answer.
“You good? Because you were quite drunk last night. I brought you to my place since I did not know where you lived.” Reki started. “Oh, you by the way puked a lot last night. I had to change your clothes, sorry.”
Langa could feel the embarrassment that was coming from Reki. Langa had not even realized that he was not wearing his own clothes. But now that Reki said it he could feel that he was not wearing the clothes he had on last night.
Finally having the courage, Langa turned around to be face to face with the person he was sleeping next to.
‘Oh, Reki is beautiful from up close.’ It was the first thought that came to Langa's mind. Reki had slightly tan skin with messy red hair. His eyes were brown and he had a lazy smile on his face.
Langa could feel his own heart skip a beat. It was weird. That had never happened before to him.
“I’m sorry I caused so much trouble to you last night” Langa apologized with a slight bow. After he said that he could feel the nausea strengthening. Now he really felt like puking his gut out.
“You good, man? You look like you could puke.” Of course Reki would notice.
“Sorry, where is your bathroom?” Langa got up quickly, stumbling on his own feets. The clothes he had on felt slightly small on him.
“It’s on the left, after you leave the bedroom.” With that Langa hurried to the bathroom. Quickly he opened the door and fell to his knees before the toilet. Bringing his head down the toilet in the case he pukes. A few times he gags, but nothing comes out of him. He really did empty his stomach last night, there was nothing left to puke out other than some salvia.
Langa held his head down, bringing his arms up to keep his head up. After a while he got up and looked at himself from the bathroom mirror. He really looked like a van had driven over him. Langa had deep dark undereyes from not sleeping well because of the hangover. His blue hair was messy in every direction and looked totally tangled. It even had some of his own puke on it.
He looked absolutely disgusting.
“I wonder if I can take a shower?" Langa wondered quietly to himself. He really needed a shower if he wanted to get away from here. He smelled really bad and had his own puke everywhere.
Picking up courage and energy for a moment, Langa finally decided to go back to the bedroom to ask Reki.
Opening the door to the bedroom, Langa could immediately feel Reki’s eyes on himself. The red haired young man was laying on his own bed with a phone in his hand. He was watching videos on his phone, the sound of talking came from the video he was watching.
“Um, can I use your shower?” Langa asked from Reki.
“Sure, I don’t really have any spare towels but if you don’t mind using mine you can use it?” Langa really did not mind, not when he was this dirty and disgusting. He would even use a small rag if that was all the other could offer.
“It’s fine.” He answered quietly.
Reki got up from his bed and went to the other side of his bedroom. There he opened a small drawer and took out a bright yellow towel. Reki passed it over to Langa who took it quickly.
The shower area in the bathroom was small but it was good enough to take a quick shower. He used some of Reki’s shower gel and shampoo to get the puke out of his skin and hair. After standing a while he felt nauseous again. He could feel the gag that was coming. Langa quickly squatted so he would not fall down or slip.
Once more nothing would come out.
“This really is the last time I get this drunk.” He said to himself quietly. He now understood why his mom had always reminded him to not drink too much, this really is hell. Why would anyone do this to themself voluntarily? He had heard stories from his classmates how they had gotten drunk almost every weekend since school had started. How they did it, don’t ask Langa.
After a while of squatting on the floor he got up and finished his shower. He quickly dried himself and put on the clothes Reki had dressed him on. Langa left the towel to dry on a stand that was on the wall.
After he got out of the bathroom he was met with Reki’s face.
“Sorry, I came to see if you were okay. You were quite long in the shower.” Reki said with a worry on his face. He really was a kind person, worrying about a strange classmate.
“I’m okay.” Langa said to Reki. They stood there for a moment. The air had this awkwardness in it. Langa did not know how to speak to other people, and Reki did not know how to speak to someone so quiet.
“I probably should leave now, I don’t want to impose anymore than I already have.” After a small moment of silence that was what Langa said to Reki. Avoiding eye contact with him.
“I will come with you. I need to go to the store anyway.”
After that Langa went to the bedroom one more time to collect his own clothes and the bag he had with him last night. But as he was looking around for the bag, he could not find it anywhere. Had he lost it last night? Or left it somewhere? Langa could not remember.
Shit, was the only thought he had right now. The bag had everything he had with him last night. His ID, keys to home, wallet and his train card. If he did not find them then he would need to walk home. And by what he could see outside from the small window in the bedroom, he had no idea where Reki lived. This neighbourhood did not look familiar at all to Langa. It could be a long ride home, for all he could know.
“Maybe I can ask mom to come and get me?” Langa quietly pondered to himself in panic. He did not want to impose his mom, by now she would be at work anyway. It’s not like she could leave the work to come and get him from here. Langa knew he could always rely on his mom, but ever since his dad had died he had not wanted to rely too much on his mom. She already had enough on the plate, with their move to Japan and all.
“Are you ready to go out?” The voice came from the bedroom door. Langa could only nod his head to the other person. With that they left the small apartment together. Walking the stairs down was quite a work for Langa, he really did not have the energy nor the mood for walking.
To his surprise the bag he had with him was on the ground level of the building. It was left at the building's entrance. Langa took it from the ground and opened it to see if anything had been stolen from it. Thankfully nothing had been stolen.
“Uh, Reki?” Langa quietly asked.
“Yeah?” The other person next to Langa answered.
“Where is the closest train station from here?” Langa asked Reki, since he still had no idea where he was right now.
“It’s close to the grocery store where I’m going. I can take you there?” Reki said truthfully. To that Langa could only nod his head. It was a small walk from Reki’s apartment. They were mostly quiet and kept to themselves. The air was still somewhat awkward between them. Thankfully the day was beautiful and Langa could see this new part of Tokyo.
He had only lived here for a half a year now, before that he had lived his whole life in Canada. His mom had wanted to move to Japan after his dad died, while Langa was still in high school. Together they had decided that it would be a better idea to wait for him to graduate from high school. Langa had applied to some Universities in Japan, and for some reason he had been accepted into one in Tokyo.
His Japanese was still somewhat broken and he did not always know what people were talking or how to pronounce something, but he got by with what he knew. People were always kind enough to him and spoke usually a bit slower to him so Langa would understand them. Thankfully he met some kind people at the University who were interested in learning English, so they would in exchange tutor Langa in Japanese. After a while of tutoring the emotionless Langa, they got him to hang out with them after school. By now they have been a group of friends for a year. Or if you can really call it a group since it consisted of two people and Langa.
After they had been walking in a silence for a while Reki broke the silence.
“So you like to play video games?” Reki asked from Langa, which surprised him since he had no memory of telling that to Reki.
“Yeah, I used to play a lot in high school but I don’t really have time anymore to play.” Langa was kinda embarrassed to talk to Reki about his interests. His friends did not really play anything so he did not know what to say about his hobby.
“I totally understand what you mean. I haven’t been able to open my PC for a while now.” Now that perked Langa’s interest. He had seen the PC on the table in his bedroom. It looked quite a good PC. Langa’s own was not that good since it was his dad’s old one.
“What do you play?” Langa asked Reki. He really was interested to know what the other plays.
“Oh…It’s kind of embarrassing to say since I don’t play the usual games you would expect from a guy.” Reki said to Langa.
“It’s fine. I mean, I play Stardew a lot.” Langa found the courage from somewhere to say that to Reki.
“I have that game too!” Reki said excitedly. He looked like an excited puppy with stars in his eyes. “But I also like to play some story and RPG games!”
With that the rest of the walk no longer went in silence. After Reki escorted Langa to the train station they went different ways.
The ride back to home was hell since Langa still felt like a shit had hit the fan, but quickly after he got home he took some painkillers and went back straight to bed.
“-With that we have covered today's lecture.” That woke Langa from his slumber. He had not been able to concentrate at all at today's lecture. It was only a day after waking from Reki’s place, and Langa still felt horrible from the drinking. His mom had laughed at his misery after she had gotten home after work. What kind of parent thinks their child's misery is an enjoyable thing!
Thankfully he only had two lectures today, in the afternoon. He had been able to sleep as long as he had wanted, but even sleeping in so long he still felt tired.
“You good there, Langa?” One of his friends asked from Langa. Langa took a look at his friend who was clearly finding Langa’s tiredness amusing. Langa gave him a stern look with his eyes. With that, he gathered his things from the table and put them inside his toteback.
That was their last class today, but they are now revising for midterm exams that are coming up next week, so they do not have a lot of free time. It will be a busy week and weekend for Langa. He had an exam coming up in six different classes. He is definitely not waiting for them to come.
They had promised to study together for the exams. They are seeing their friend at the cafe they had promised to study at. It was a good cozy place and it had some tasty patisseries. Also it always had a lovely atmosphere and this time of a day it was usually quiet.
When they got there Langa could see their friend wave at them from their usual table. It was in the back of the cafe, a small quiet corner. Perfect to study at. Langa ordered his usual order, a sweet ice tea and a ham sandwich. With the goods he went to the table that already had some books and notebooks on it.
For a while it was a quiet study moment, but the silence was broken when Langa noticed that his friends were clearly fidgeting a lot.
“What is it?” Langa asked with a sigh. He was usually not the person to speak first.
“What happened at the party? After you went to the bathroom you never came back? And you never contacted us after it either!” Oops, now that she said that Langa remembered that he really forgot to text back to them.
“I forgot, sorry.” Langa continued. “But nothing really happened, I mean it’s not like I really remember either.” Langa said casually, not seeing his friends' surprised faces.
“You don’t remember? How much did you drink then?!” She screamed at him. His other friend looked at Langa with a worry in his eyes since he had seen how Langa had not been able to concentrate at the lecture either.
“Just a bit too much, but don’t worry I had someone who took care of me kindly.” Langa said to them, trying to ease their worry but clearly that was the wrong thing to say.
“Huh!” Both of them screamed simultaneously. They got some stern looks from other customers that were around the cafe eating peacefully. The owner too looked at them like she wanted to throw them out of the shop if they don’t keep it down.
“No need to scream. Nothing bad happened, I swear.” Langa tried to assure them. But they really did not look assured at all. His friends really were protective sometimes about him since he is still new to Japan.
“Who was it?” She looked like she really wanted to know for some reason.
“It was someone from one of my elective classes, Reki Kyan, if you know him.” Langa said casually.
“You mean the same Reki Kyan who is with us in the class?” His friend asked him. They after all had the same elective class.
“Isn’t he the red haired boy with the weird headband? And he always carries a skateboard with him.” She clearly knew who they were talking about. With that Langa could only nod his head to them, since they were right about the person.
“Yeah, it was him.” Langa answered them with a quiet voice. For some reason he started to feel embarrassed about speaking about Reki. After all, he had been so kind to Langa. He had tried his best to not look at Reki at today's lecture since he still feels awkward about what had happened. It’s not like Reki would either talk to Langa, they had nothing to say to each other. For some reason the thought of Reki made Langa feel something new. Something he had not felt ever before.
“So? What happened after?” Why are they so interested in this topic? Should they not be studying for the exams that are coming up. They definitely had a lot of materials to go over.
“Nothing interesting.” Was all Langa said to them, to their disappointment.
After the study session at the cafe, Langa forgot about the drunken accident for a while. He had been so busy with school and exams that he had not been able to think about it anymore. That is until one night, two weeks after the party, Langa got a notification from Discord.
It was an account he could not recognize.
“Are you alive?” Was the only message Langa got from the account. When had he added someone new on Discord? The only accounts he has are the ones from his friends and a few people from high school.
The profile picture did not give away the person. It was a picture of a cat that was laying on the floor. The username did not help either. S_master_sk8. He had no idea whose account this was.
After a few minutes he finally decided to reply to the person.
“Yes.” A simple answer. Seriously, who asks someone if they are alive?
He instantly got a reply from the mysterious person.
“Cool. Want to hang out w me someday?” Seriously, who is this person? For a while Langa did not know what to answer to the person. He stared at the message for five whole minutes before he finally had the courage to ask the person's name.
“Sorry, but I have to ask, whose account is this?” Go Langa, make everything awkward for them! Langa self-pityed himself for a moment, until he got a new notification for a message.
“It’s Reki, from the class.” Huh?! When did Langa give him his account?! Langa could not remember a moment he had given him his account. Maybe it was when he had been drunk? But why had he given his account anyway? Langa was definitely not panicking right now.
“Do you remember me?” Read the new message he got from Reki. How could he not remember Reki? Of course Langa would remember the kind person that Reki is.
“Sorry Reki, I just didn’t recognize the account.” Langa replied to Reki quickly so he would not think that Langa is ignoring him.
“Ah don’t wry about it! But about the earlier message, do you want to hang out w me someday? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Does Reki really want to hang out with him? Langa was stunned for a moment until he wrote quickly.
“Yes! I would like to.” Langa replied to Reki. After that they decided when to meet and where to meet. After deciding, Reki wrote Langa that he was going to sleep and went offline.
“Did that really happen just now?” Langa wondered to himself. Why would Reki want to hang out with someone like Langa? He was a dull person and nothing to be fun around, all while Reki was the opposite of him. Outgoing and easily made friends all around himself.
To Langa, speaking with Reki had felt like how kids feel on Christmas night waiting to open their presents. He fought the urge to kick his feets. Ever since waking up next to Reki, Langa had felt this weird attraction towards Reki. He was an interesting person and someone Langa would like to be close with. But since Langa was a quiet person, he did not know how to start a conversation with Reki.
For the past two weeks, Langa had secretly watched Reki from a distance. Langa had tried his best to not stare at him, but for a few times they had made eye contact across the lecture hall. Langa would quickly stare at any other direction than the one where Reki was. It probably looked extremely stupid for Reki. Because of that, Langa was surprised it was Reki who texted him.
They had decided that they would meet over at a cafe to study for the class they were taking. They had this one assignment that had a deadline coming closer and closer. Langa had already started the assignment but Reki had not known how to start it, so Langa offered to help with it. Because of that, they had elected to meet at a Cafe this Saturday.
It was currently only Thursday, so Langa had to wait a few more days until he got to meet with Reki again.
Langa was already starting to panic about meeting with him. What should he wear? Or how should he talk with him? What if Reki gets bored quickly because of how boring a person he is?
Langa closed the computer after a while of staring at the messages they had sent to each other. They talked for a few hours after deciding what to do. It was surprisingly easy to talk with him. But Langa was still worried about meeting with Reki face to face again.
Saturday came faster than Langa had anticipated. It was currently only 8.07 AM, but Langa was unable to sleep anymore because of nervousness. They were meeting at the station at 1 PM. There they would walk together to the cafe where they were about to go to study.
Langa decided to get up and dress himself. He put on a simple outfit, blue jeans and white button up shirt with back turtle neck shirt underneath the button up. When Langa went to the kitchen to make some breakfast for himself, he was greeted by the figure of his mother.
“Langa! You’re awake unusually early. What's up, going somewhere today?” His mom asked him with a grin on her face. She had her hair tied back with the usual loose ponytail, she also had a cooking apron on.
“I’m going to study with a friend today at a cafe.” Langa answered to his mom.
“A friend? Don’t tell me you are lying about studying and you are going on a date?” She really did like to joke around, but because of what she had said Langa flushed a bit, for some reason. Langa put his hand on his chest, it felt like his heart had skipped a beat or something, maybe he is getting sick?
“Wait really?! You are going on a date! Ah, my boy is so grown up now.” She faked some tears and wiped them away with her sleeve.
“It’s not a date!” Langa protested. “We really are only meeting to study.” He really tried to assure his mom.
“Fine, have fun on this not-date-study session.” She really liked to tease her son. Especially since it was so easy to tease him. He really always looked like a stone wall, but Langa actually had many expressions if you knew where to look and how to look. As his mom, she of course knew how to read her son like an open book.
In their small house, the one they had moved into after Langa had graduated from high school, the pair of mother and child ate their breakfast in a peaceful manner. The apartment was quite small, it was only a two bedroom apartment with a one bathroom. But it was enough for the family of two.
The house was filled with their new furniture that Nanako, Langa’s mother, had bought excitedly after their move to Japan. Nanako had mostly sold the furniture they had had in Canada, thinking it would be a good start for them to buy new one in Japan. Of course they had pieces of Langa’s dad in the apartment. Like the one Langa was currently looking at, a picture of a child Langa with his dad, both of them covered in snow. Both of them had a big smile on their faces, it was taken after Langa had successfully snowboarded the hill completely alone without a fall or help from his dad.
Maybe Langa had stared at the picture a bit too long, because suddenly his mom said in a quiet voice.
“You know your dad would be so proud of you? He would want to see you live your life to the fullest with a big smile on your face.” Nanako said Langa. She had this quiet smile on her face. Both of them miss him a lot, especially since his dad's death anniversary is coming soon.
After Langa’s dad, Oliver, had died, Langa had shut himself in. Langa felt like he could not speak nor say anything. Everything had felt too much, especially since everyone in school constantly asked him about it. It’s not like Langa could blame them for asking, they were only high schoolers, but it felt too much. Langa knew his mom had been so worried about him, it was the reason she had wanted to move. To make a new start for Langa, some new place where he could possibly find a purpose again.
Canada felt too small, even if it is a large country. The constant reminder of snow and snowboarding felt too much. Langa had not been able to regulate his emotions at all. He knows he scared his mom a few times when he was deep in depression. He had broken his snowboard, the one dad had given him. Now it is forever broken, maybe he and the board had a lot more in common than he had thought before.
“Yeah, I know.” Langa answered after a while. He picked up his plate from the table and put it in the dishwasher.
“I need to leave for work now, but have fun today with your study-date. Promise to tell me all about it later!” Nanako said to him. Just as he was about to protest again, she slammed the door shut in hurry.
“Great, what a mom I have.” Langa remarked to himself with a small shy smile on his lips.
After the breakfast, Langa waited and waited until it was the time to leave for the meet up with Reki.
Langa took a train to the station he was supposed to meet up with Reki. The whole time he was, for some reason, sweating buckets. His heart rate was high too, he felt like he could puke from the nervousness alone. The train announced the station he was supposed to get up.
Langa was at the meeting place before Reki, which was a good thing, so he could work his nerves. Langa checked his phone for the time, it was 12.55 PM.
“Reki should be here soon.” Just as he said that to himself, a shadow came before him. The shadow was shorter than him. Langa put the phone away and greeted the person before him.
“Hi.” It was a simple greeting, so why did it sound so wrong? Is his voice weird? Does it sound right? While Langa was freaking out, Reki greeted Langa with a big smile on his face.
“Hi! I hope you have not waited too long?”
“I just got here myself.” Langa answered to Reki truthfully.
They had started to walk toward the cafe. Langa had actually never been at this cafe before, so hopefully it was a good place.
The cafe was a small place. The outside of the cafe had a few seats, which were occupied by some old ladies. By opening the door to the cafe, the bell rang over the door. They were greeted by the smell of pastries and coffee. It was thankfully not over crowded, a few people here and there, some alone and some with a friend.
After both of them ordered something, they went over to a table that had enough space for both of them laptops and books. It was a tight fit with both of them, but the table had just enough space for them. The studying started in silence, neither of them knew what to say to the other person. The silence was awkward to both of them.
“What should I do here?” Reki asked after he got stuck on one question for a long time. Langa snapped out of his head at that. He looked over to Reki.
“What question?” Langa asked from Reki.
“This one,” Reki showed the question to Langa. Langa found out it was a problem he had already answered himself. He could understand why Reki got stuck on that question, it was kind of hardly worded. He explained to Reki how he got the answer to the question and how it should be answered, in his opinion.
“Wow, you’re really smart Langa!” Reki said to Langa with awe. Hearing that from Reki made Langa’s heart beat faster and his face felt warmer too.
“Nonsense.” Langa responded to Reki, with a small shy smile on his face. Reki’s smile was too blinding to be around with. They went back to work with their own assignments, but this time it was not in complete silence. They had started to get a bit comfortable around each other and had started to talk a little while working. They could discuss their answers freely without a judgment from the other person, it was a comfortable situation.
After a few hours of working on school work, Reki stretched his arms over his head. Langa watched quietly as Reki yawned, he really looked tired. Of course it was tiring to do school work for two hours straight.
“Are you tired?” Langa questioned the other, Reki looked like he was ready to take a nap.
“Hm. I’m no genius, it takes a lot of brain work for me to get through my assignments.” Reki answered genuinely. They gathered their things from the table and were getting ready to leave the place.
“Ready to go? Do you want to go get some drinks and sit somewhere for a while, or do you have something else today?” Reki asked from Langa. Langa turned to look at the other. Reki was wearing a simple outfit of a yellow hoodie with some black pants. To Langa, he really looked cute right now. His red hair was a bit messy from leaning with his head on his hand while working on his questions and his face looked like a pit flushed from the heat, it was kind of too warm inside right now.
“I don’t have anything else to do today.” Was what Langa said to Reki. With that, Reki perked up, already looking less tired with the answer Langa gave to him.
“Cool! Wanna hit a store? I really could go for some soda and I know this park close by.”
“Sure.”
With that they left the cafe. The walk to the store was not long, and for once they were not silent. They talked about some new games they have seen in store and seen others talk about. It was a comfortable conversation that both of them enjoyed a lot. Reki was really excited for once to get to talk about his games with other than his sister. His friends from school really didn’t play games so it would be pointless to talk to them about it. Reki had once tried to ask them something related to games, but his friends had not known what he was talking about. After that, he had not talked about them again.
They entered the small corner store. There were not any people besides them and the employer, so they could in peace find some drinks for them.
Langa watched as Reki picked an energy drink from the shell. It was a flavor he had not tried before.
“Is that good?” Langa asked from Reki in interest. He was curious about the drink since the can for the drink looked really cool. It was light blue with some white details, Langa could not see from here the flavor of the drink.
“Yeah, it’s super good!” Reki threw the drink towards Langa, showing the can for him. Now Langa could see the drink, it was lemon-ginger flavored. Not his first pick of choice, but he still wanted to see if it tasted any good. With that, they bought their drinks and Reki showed the way to the park.
It was a small park with a few benches. It had a small skateboard ramp area. Now Langa could remember that his friend had mentioned that Reki always carried a skateboard with him. Langa looked over to Reki, but it seemed he had not taken his skateboard with him today.
“You skate, right?” Langa asked curiously from Reki. With that question, Reki perked up and looked over to Langa.
“How did you know? Do you also skate?” Reki looked like a kid with the promise of some candy. Eyes big and glimmering with excitement.
Langa shaked his head.
“No, I don’t. I’ve seen you carry a skateboard on campus.”
“What a bummer, it would be fun to ride with someone,” Reki started, “Now that you mentioned skating, do you have any hobbies?” He asked from Langa.
“I used to snowboard, but I stopped a few years ago. And there is not really snow to board in here Tokyo” Langa felt sad when mentioning snowboarding. He had not gotten on board after his dad had passed away. There was no point in it, if his dad was not here to give him feedback and tips. It’s not like Langa really needed it, since he was a top athlete, but it still felt pointless to him. His mom had tried to pursue him to try it again at least once, but he has not tried.
Reki looked at Langa with worry, since Langa looked like he was inside of his head. He looked really sorrowful and because of that, Reki felt like he asked something he should have not asked. Just as he was ready to apologize from Langa, Langa turned to look at Reki.
“Sorry I…”
“It’s fine, you don’t have to explain.” Really, Reki did not want to make Langa any more downcasted than he already looked.
“It’s not that I don’t want to explain. I just don’t know how to talk sometimes.” Langa explained to Reki, in hope that the other one would understand what he meant. It’s true that Langa has a hard time explaining himself sometimes, because of that, he had lost some friends in high school after his dad’s passing. People tended to just leave him be after it. It was easier to them than just waiting when the other would again be the same person he was before.
“If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here for you man.” It was the first time anyone had ever suggested that to Langa. It made him feel incredibly happy and warm at the same time. He could not utter any words out of himself, so he could only nod his head to Reki. And he really meant the nod. From the bottom of his heart Langa wished they could grow closer to each other and he really hoped that the other one felt the same.
“I’m home.” Langa shouted after he opened the door with keys. His mom should be back from work by now. He and Reki had taken longer than he had anticipated. They had talked about everything and nothing at the same time, getting to know the other person better. For instance, Langa now knows that Reki is actually from Okinawa, but had moved to Tokyo for school. He had many younger siblings, who he really loved, and they had a small house with just enough space for everyone.
It felt warm, to be able to get to know a new person. Being able to speak freely with someone who seemed to understand you and your thought process. And to Langa’s surprise, he got to know that Reki does not really have a lot of friends after all. Just like him, he knows people here and there, but not many of them actually know him. Everyone seemed to be attracted to the sunshine person that Reki was, but it was only that, a friendly acquaintance. He spent most of his free time building new skateboards and going to his part-time job he had.
It felt good to be able to know someone like that. Taking time to know the other person, know their thoughts.
“In the kitchen!” His mom screamed. It smelled like curry, the strong scent was carrying all the way to the hall. Langa left his shoes there and went towards the kitchen.
“Are you making curry?” Langa asked his mom. It’s not like he was really hungry, but it had been hours already since the cafe so he was starting to get a little hungry.
“It’s about to be finished, so you had good timing.” Mom turned to look at Langa with a big grin on her face. Langa knew already that she would be grilling him about the new friend and their study session. ‘Ugh, kill me please.’ He thought to himself with a groan, not waiting for the interrogation he most certainly would get from his mom.
They ate in silence, but Langa could see the curious looks that his mom sent to him. Clearly wanting to ask something from Langa. After had eaten and put their plates to the dishwasher, his mom finally took a deep breath and asked from Langa.
“So, how did the studying go?” She looked genuinely interested.
“It went well. We studied for a few hours and hung out after it for a pit.”
“Can I ask, who was the person you were with?” Nanako asked from Langa.
“Someone from school, we have one course together, but we’re from different departments in the uni.” Langa said to his mom. It was true that they were from different departments, but it was normal that elective glasses would have people from all over the university. Langa was only taking this course because he needed the credits from it.
It was already starting to get dark outside. Langa went back to his own room, he had to study for the upcoming exam he has in the next week again. He felt tired from all the studying he had done with Reki, but for some stupid reason he had taken for this semester seven courses.
Time went on with the studying, but just as he was closing his computer he got a message from Reki’s account.
“I had fun today with you!” Was what read on the text he got. Langa did really have fun with Reki, and hopefully wished they could hang out again together soon.
“Yeah, it was fun.” Langa wrote back to Reki. Almost as soon as he sent the message, he got a new text from Reki.
“Wanna meet up again?”
Langa checked over his calendar. The next two weeks would be extremely full, he had lectures everyday from morning to afternoon. Then he would need to meet up with his group for this project for one glass. He also has the exam coming up, which almost makes up for the whole course. Not to mention he has many deadlines coming up next weekend.
“Why am I so busy right now?” He muttered the words to himself. Disappointing.
“I’m busy for the next two weeks, but after that I will have some time. Would that be good?” He did not want to seem like he was making excuses for not meeting up with him, since he genuinely wanted to meet up with Reki.
“Yeah, obviously! I too will have a busy schedule for next week or so with school and work.” Reki was still typing something. “Would you be interested in learning to skate?”
Huh, him learning to skateboard? Would he be any good at it? He really didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of Reki. It would make him so self-conscious if Reki were to see him fall and utterly fail at it.
“Sure, why not.” Langa typet to Reki.
“Cool!” Reki wrote back.
It’s already been about two weeks since they hung out for the first time. Langa has been so busy with his school work that he has not had any time to even think about it. Reki too have been busy, but they have taken a habit of texting to each other daily.
They usually just speak about their daily lives and what they had done that day. For instance, Langa got yesterday a message from Reki where he said he was making a new skateboard, he had asked from Langa an opinion about the colour of the board. After finishing the skateboard, Langa even got a picture of it from Reki. It had been a blue skateboard with this white monster on it, its arms were up and it looked like it was screaming. To Langa it looked really cool, even if he did not know a lot about skateboards.
Right now Langa was with his group at a school library. They were trying to finish their presentation that was scheduled for next week. Thankfully they were almost done with it.
“Let’s take a break for a moment. I’m totally beat up and in need of some energy drink!” Suggested one of his groupmates. Everyone from the group agreed to take a small break from the work.
The first thing Langa did was to take his phone out of his jeans pocket. He checked the time, it was already 7.43 PM. So late, Langa thought to himself. Just as Langa was about to close his phone he got a new message from Reki.
“Work sucks, I’m tired as hell!” Oh, right. Reki had said to Langa that he usually works after school for a few hours.
Langa decided to take a picture of the mess his group left behind. The table was full of notes, notebooks, pens, and books. It really looked messy, but they really needed a good grade from the presentation. Langa sent the picture to Reki.
“Same, it’s tiring to do school work so late.” Was the text he sent to Reki.
“See what I did today at work.” Reki sent Langa a picture of a coffee drink he had made. He had told Langa that the only work he found when he moved to Tokyo was this cafe that was close to the campus. He could easily go there after his lectures had ended. It takes only about 10 minutes to walk there from school.
The picture that Reki had sent to Langa, was a picture of a drink. It seemed to be some type of sweet drink based on the whipped cream it had on with some chocolate sauce on it. It looked like it would be extremely sweet and you would get a stomach ache after drinking it. But it really did look good.
“Maybe I should visit there sometimes?” Langa remarked to himself. While typing to Reki.
“Visit where?” A voice came from behind him. He turned to look at the person, it was one of the people from his group project, Aya. She had a smile on her face which reached to her whole face.
“Just a place.” Langa answered vaguely to her.
“No need to look so cold. Who are you texting so intensively anyway?” Why was she so interested in knowing? It’s not like Langa was embarrassed saying that he was texting to his friend, but it still felt wrong to say that. Were they friends? They had talked a lot to each other for the week. Constantly typing and sending pictures. Even his mom had questioned him about it, since he normally is not that much on his phone.
“Just a friend.” Langa responded.
“Oh? Does this ice cold prince have a girlfriend?” It seemed that everyone from his group had come back already with their drinks.
“Even I could see the smile on his face from afar!” At that, Langa did not know what to answer them. He and Reki were friends, quickly growing closer and closer, but calling it just friendship felt wrong to Langa, for some reason.
“Stop teasing Langa, look at the guy. He looks really uncomfortable right now.” Finally they stopped asking questions from him, finally being able to breathe some air. Langa could still see the curious looks people from his group sent to him, but they knew better than trying to pursue Langa to answer to them.
That night Langa really thought of Reki, and their blossoming friendship. Even if they really had only known each other for a few weeks now, a few months if you can count the time they had talked at the lecture for once, but to Langa it felt like he had always known Reki. He felt so drawn to this person, he had this feeling of wanting to know everything about him.
Is it really only friendship?
It’s not like Langa knows anything about romantic feelings, since he had never before felt that way about anyone. For a long time he had thought that there was something wrong with him since he could not relate to the guys from his high school or middle school. They always talked about girls and their attractiveness, but to Langa they just looked like normal people. Like how you see anyone, whether they are a girl or a guy, old or young, attractive or not.
Everyone was just the same, but Reki was not just everyone. Not to him anyway.
Reki made him feel something even he did not know he could.
Getting a message from Reki made him feel warm.
Seeing a smile from Reki while passing him in a glass made Langa’s heart skip a beat.
Langa could feel that the more he thought, the more his heart rate rose. The warm feeling he got over his face. Bringing his arms to his face, he could feel the heat from his cheeks. Langa just knows that if he were to look in the mirror now, he would look red. Red like a tomato.
“Langa stay calm,” He had to repeat to himself.
This is such a weird feeling. Langa doesn’t know what to do with them. He did not know what Reki thought of him, but Reki was kind to everyone. Would he feel weirded out by Langa’s growing feelings? Would Langa lose Reki if he were ever to know about them? What would he think about Langa?
The people from his group project made him extremely aware of his growing feelings that he had for Reki.
“Is this how it feels to have a crush on someone?” Langa uttered to himself quietly. The next thing Langa realised was that Reki is a guy. He knew that there were people who were interested in the same sex as they were, but it’s not like Langa had ever before paid any attention toward it. He had not even paid attention to girls, so how could he have paid attention to other sexualities?
He knew that Japan was a lot more conservative when it came to sexual orientations than Canada. Many people would have something bad to say about it and same sex marriages were still illegal in Japan.
Langa took his phone from the charger. He wanted to research some stuff.