Chapter Text
Langa didn’t know when he fell.
From the day he first met Reki, he thought him a star, shining brighter than the sun. Each day he spent with him, that dark feeling that had gnawed mercilessly on his heart since his dads death, that feeling of falling into an endless abyss, gradually went away. Replaced by something warm and bright.
Reki taught him to have fun again. He had helped Langa to finally start moving on. All without asking, without expecting anything in return.
Reki gave him so much, so much more than Langa thought the other boy knew.
Langa truly didn’t know when he fell. He only knew he had even fallen when he finally made impact.
It had been the night of his beef with Miya, right after it had finished. Langa had won—a victory he would have never had if not for the genius board that Reki had made just for him. No, he would have had no hope of ever beating a future pro like Miya if not for Reki.
Miya hadn’t taken the loss well, though, not at all, and Reki being Reki, well…
He made everything better. He restored Miya’s shattered confidence and when it would have been easy for the younger boy to declare them enemies, eternal rivals, cry out that he’d win the next beef and despise the two teens, instead Reki had forged a friendship between them.
All Langa knew was that Reki had shined brighter than any star as he hooked an arm around a flustered Miya’s shoulders, smiling and laughing, looking wonderful and beautiful and—
Oh.
“I know that look,” Joe said softly, and Langa wasn’t sure where he had come from, though he easily recognized him as one of the elite skaters Reki had pointed out. The large man had a gentle, knowing smile on his face as he looked at Langa and then to Reki.
The crowds had begun shifting their attention from Reki and Miya to Langa and Joe, perhaps having grown tired of Reki joking and playing around, or perhaps drawn in like moths to a flame when they realized that Joe was there. Noticing the eyes, Joe’s smile grew and he laughed loudly, smacking Langa on the back hard enough to almost knock him over. “Congrats on the win, Snow. That was pretty tight.”
Langa felt his face warm up, but smiled, embarrassed and shy as it was, “Ah, thanks,” he said softly, and that smile grew as his eyes met Reki’s, who was quick to move on from Miya to latch onto Langa, praising his skating and agreeing with Joe. Telling Langa that he had been awesome in the beef.
His heart was beating fast, faster even now, and Langa knew it was more from Reki than any remaining adrenaline.
Joe smiled at Langa again, that ‘I know’ look on his face as he began to walk away, leaving them be. Langa saw his expression change into a warm, soft, loving expression as he walked over to a pink haired man—one who Langa remembered seeing during his beef against Shadow, who he was also certain he had tried applying to work for but was rejected. ‘I know’ Langa thought as he saw the two adults share a look.
Those two soon ceased to matter, however, as Langa’s focus zeroed in entirely on Reki and only Reki. Reki who was pressed close to Langa with an arm wrapped around him in a side hug, making Langa’s face feel warm in the night air and hist stomach do more flips than he had done on the track.
“Come on, man. We got to go celebrate,” Reki declared, not letting go of Langa—not that Langa wanted him to. “I know this great ramen shop that’s still open this late that we can go to, my treat! You too, Miya, you’re joining us!”
Miya spluttered out some indignant response, but he didn’t refuse.
Butterflies filled his stomach, warmth radiated in his chest. Langa looked at the shining light beside him and could do little more than to smile back. “Sure.”