#langa likes to take any chance to hold rekis hand

[faynke]

It’s probably really busy at S tonight hehe

original

[mcwscollective]

There were no words to describe how he felt in that moment. With fingers tracing the board in his hands, Reki could barely contain himself; his breath catching in his chest while his heart began to race. With the stranger's step forward, he finally let out the breath he'd been holding. It took everything within him to not let his knees give out then and there.

"Me too," Reki mumbled without thinking, and licked his lips. It wasn't until then that he noticed how dry his mouth and throat had become -- and yet, his palms had become quite sweaty. He made a mental note to wipe them off on his jeans once he was behind the counter again. "I... mean... I like Sanrio characters too! That shouldn't be any problem." He'd have to make some minor creative changes to claim it as his own, but extra thought was a small price to pay.

"--!" He faked a cough into the collar of his hoodie to cover the noise that had escaped him at seeing something being written down for him. Let him know when -- he was giving him his phone number?! He felt like his heart would pound its way out of his chest at the idea of receiving a personal, private way to contact him. What followed would tint the rest of his day in a brilliant rose tint; daydreams and fantasies filling his head from that sweet wink he'd been given.

"Ainosuke," he read the name as amber eyes finally had the chance to take in the beautiful penmanship and the most incredible phone number he'd ever had the opportunity to read. Impulsively, he ignored every shred of common sense he had in favor of blurting out "This is more than enough," with a small wave of the scrap of paper. He scrambled to put the board down against the counter (he wasn't putting away the one this gorgeous man had touched!)

"Ughhh," Reki groaned, shaking his head a bit more forcefully. "Sorry. I'm... having a little trouble concentrating I think. That won't still be a problem when I'm working on your board, though! Don't worry!" He stuffed the phone number into his pocket and rubbed his hands against his jeans to rid himself of the warm slickness of his palms. "Uh... lemme get you the total." A fresh wave of nervous laughter later, he'd finally managed to figure out the key patterns he'd memorized long ago.

"You think I'd know how to do my job after I've been here for I don't even know how long anymore," he said more to himself than the strang-- Ainosuke. He knew his name now, and it was just as appealing as the rest of him. At least... compared to what he could see of him in that moment. As the total popped up on the screen, he decided it was now or never. He'd missed so many chances before -- and he was probably forever stuck in the friend zone with Langa.

What was the worst that could happen if he asked a simple question?

"Actually... It'll cost you one dinner--" and then, to quickly correct himself and brush it off as a joke. "Is what I would have said if I wasn't taking this seriously.... Shut up, Reki." He printed up a breakdown of all the charges and set it on the counter (of course he'd made sure to mark the customization as his treat, as promised.) "How's that look to you? If it seems right, go ahead and use your card."

          𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄  𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓  𝐈𝐍  𝐑𝐄𝐊𝐈'𝐒  𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄  𝐖𝐀𝐒  𝐔𝐍𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐘  𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆  ;      Ainosuke  wondered  if  he'd  feel  the  same  if  he  knew  who  he  truly  was  ━━━━━━  it  was  not  a  secret  that  the  redhead  hated  his  S  persona,  though  not  long  ago  he  was  a  face  among  the  crowd,  cheering  for  him.  Still,  that  excitement  made  butterflies  flutter  in  Ainosuke's  stomach,  and  he  could  not  really  stop  himself  from  chuckling  again.  A  delicate  sound,  head  once  more  turning  to  the  side  as  to  politely  hide  his  amusement.  ❛      Oh,  I  am  most  certainly  lucky  indeed...        ❜    He  agreed,  crimson  eyes  glittering  with  mirth  as  they  followed  Reki.

            Pretending  not  to  know  a  thing  about  skateboarding  was  interesting,  and  proving  to  be  much  more  amusing  than  he  had  accounted  for.    Ainosuke  paid  attention  as  Reki  explained  their  options,  he  could  see  the  practicality  of  the  bundled  sets  ━━━━  children  tended  to  grow  fast  and  outgrow  interests  even  faster  from  what  he  had  been  told,  so  it  would  be  a  smart  decision  to  opt  for  something  cheaper  at  first.  Money,  however,  was  not  an  issue  for  him,  and  so  he  was  thinking  of  something  more  personable,  custom  made  perhaps.  He  was  glad  Reki  seemed  to  agree,  and  he  smiled  softly  at  the  younger  male,  face  softening.

            ❛        I  see,  well  I  think  I'll  take  you  up  on  that  offer,  Reki-kun,        ❜    Ainosuke  began,  fingers  delicately  tracing  the  board  the  young  man  had  offered  him,  holding  back  the  urge  to  tap  dance  at  the  excitement  of  buying  someone's  first  ever  deck.  ❛      I  came  in  to  see  if  you  guys  worked  with  custom  requests,  so  this  makes  me  very  happy!      ❜    Ainosuke  practically  purred,  he  took  a  single  step  closer  to  the  shorter  male,  lashes  fluttering  down  at  him.

            ❛        I  hear  this  young  lady  is  very  fond  of  sanrio  characters,  so  if  you  could  design  something  keeping  that  theme  in  mind,  I  would  be  eternally  grateful.      ❜  So,  he  might  have  been  flirting  a  little  bit,  but  as  Tadashi  liked  to  point  out,  that  was  his  natural  state  of  mind.  Surely,  there  was  no  harm  in  it.  A  warm  chuckle  left  his  throat  as  Reki's  next  words,  he  was  too  cute  and  Ainosuke  was  definitely  endeared.

            Ainosuke  reached  into  his  pocket,  pulling  a  small  piece  of  paper  and  a  pen.  He  walked  to  the  counter  and  wrote  down  his  phone  number,  penmanship  perfect  as  he  spelled  his  given  name.    ❛        Well,  Reki,  please  let  me  know  when  everything's  ready.  And  I'll  let  you  upsell  me  helmets  and  pads,  and  who  knows,  perhaps  even  a  skateboard  for  myself?      ❜  He  winked,  delicately  offering  the  piece  of  paper  to  the  younger  man.

              ❛        Oh,  goodness,  I  almost  forgot.  Should  I  pay  upfront?  And  how  much  will  it  be?      ❜

[kyofsonder]

Find the Word

I was tagged twice by @on-noon to find two sets of words in my WIPs, so I’m combining both sets into a single post. Thank you for tagging me, and giving me a chance to play my favorite writeblr game after being away for a few days.

My Words: train, trying, stressed, intricate, translate, front, frame, freeze, free, friend

I’ll tag: @wynter-of-dusk, @houndsofcorduff, @junypr-camus, @aohendo, @365runesofwriting, @calicojackofficial, and as always anyone who wants to join in the game can use the following words and say I tagged them!

Your Words: skate, stall, brush, crave, veil

With so many words to find, this post is going to get long – so I’ll put the WIP exerpts themselves under a cut as usual. If I can’t find a word, I’ll share a fun fact related to the word instead.

I found train(ed) in my novel WIP “A Place to Return”:

Still... he takes a moment to read more recent entries instead of the script itself. Owen sounds so excited in them. He's been having so much fun figuring out how to hunt, how to refine his fishing techniques, how to use weapons so he can (shakily, according to his mentor) replicate the skills Leo had trained in before leaving home, how to use magic items. Every other sentence asks a new question, not only curious but also clearly eager to make it so that when they do swap back Leo returns to the best conditions possible.

I found trying in the same WIP, a little before the last excerpt:

"I can... ask her to transfer some money... if you need it?" Kelly is trying so hard to act like the responsible older brother. It's like he's standing there with a handful of sunset berries, dropping a few as he struggles to hand them over. Wait. Not that. On Earth it's an olive branch, isn't it? Like he's holding out an olive branch, whatever that looks like, and hoping his little brother will take the other end.

I found stressed in the script draft of my Sk8 the Infinity Matchablossom fic “Flipping a Switch”, in a scene where most of the Sk8 cast is having a meal at Joe’s restaurant:

Miya: (rolling his eyes): Give him a break, guys. He might be an idiot, but it's not like he controls how busy this place is.

Hiromi: He controls how many employees he has serving people!

Miya: Oh, so now you know what it takes to run a restaurant?

[Hiromi and Miya devolve into an argument about restaurants in general, completely ignoring their friends.]

Reki: Seriously, though, Joe, I was just messing with you. We came here to hang out, not to get you stressed.

Langa: I really am hungry, though.

Reki: Yeah. That's true. But Joe's got work to do, so...

Langa (only a little sad): Yeah.

Kojiro: Thanks, but I don't want to leave any customers hungry. Especially when they're my friends. Just let me get these last few people at the counter, and I'll take your order myself.

I didn’t find intricate in any particular WIP, but I did find it in some worldbuilding for a world in my story collection WIP “Love as Indicated”:

The year on Ait'kulith KIT 1B, in many countries, starts in May because that is the month when common Nightingales, known to have particularly complex/intricate mating songs, begin advertising for mates. Birds in general are seen as heralds of the Goddess of Fate, and nightingales in particular embody the importance of music in this world. Their mating season ends in late August, and so the first 4 months of the year are marked by their singing.

I didn’t find translate in any particular WIP, but I did find it in some worldbuilding about one of my magic systems, Soul Magic:

There are materials available for studying the basics of Soul Magic. These usually recount what other Soul Mages have found useful in the past, like materials that have worked well as vessels for spirits and techniques that have kept souls themselves from losing focus or misinterpreting a mage’s requests/orders. However, there are no materials to translate the language of the dead, which is at the core of Soul Magic itself. Souls speak in a way that simply cannot be translated unless you've learned directly, through sustained exposure to their language – especially from a young age. If you can't speak their language, then trial and error is your best chance to figure out how to communicate. Good luck.

I found front in my novel WIP “To Be Honest”, in a scene containing a brief mention of blood:

"You can't even see what's right in front of your face! This is what you want!" Micah opens his eyes and immediately regrets his decision. The shadow walking towards him glimmers with magic and the reflective shine of liquid, only the barest semblance of a human being beneath a coat of blood. There's no trace of David here. He probably hasn't been talking to his actual brother at any point. Just this. It stomps its formless feet across the dirt and reaches out its arms until there's a squish against his chest and a pressure that pushes him toward the ground.

I found frame in an unfinished, untitled short story from back when I was trying to write a complete story every day back in February – about a guy asking a dragon for an insomnia cure:

He catches himself looking around at the source of that blue-green glow, surprised by the sheer size of some of the holo-screens that fill up every open space on every wall in the room. They're not all the exact same size, but a few of them take up so much space that he wonders how they hadn't blinded him the second he'd arrived. The largest screen sits across from the couch, stretching to the corners of its wall. The display itself is either frozen or paused on what looks like a still frame from a movie. The scene shows two people offering wound up circles of flowers and clovers to a third person under a tree in a meadow. Everyone's smiling. The one being offered flowers even looks like they might be laughing. If he could stop holding his breath and make the scene un-pause, he knows he'd hear words and sounds that would... that would... he's not exactly sure what they would do or how long he's been holding his breath, but nothing happens when he starts breathing again and he can't help feeling disappointed.

I found freeze in the second draft of my Danny Phantom fic "Lingering Scars":

She's probably feeling some of the same things he'd felt in that bathroom, watching the marks of his own emotional turmoil disappear and reappear as he'd transformed. Shell-shocked and horrified, realizing that the things they'd thought were simple paths from infliction to recovery are actually more winding trails with forks that lead to unwanted places. He doesn't let his clone linger in that space, turned around at the road behind her and letting its twisting maze overwhelm her. The first time you see it can be a paralyzing and heavy moment. It can freeze you in the most literal way -- even without ice powers.

I found free in my short story WIP "Kiyo":

"Sure thing," I get my own words out as steadily as I can manage. I'm not really sure what else to do, so I place my free hand over the vines on my wrist and gently pat them. "Thank you, too," I realize I'm still talking before I know what I'm trying to say, "I probably didn't do a good job keeping you healthy, but you've done a really good job at... I guess I never said it to you before, actually. Thank you for keeping me alive. That's what you've been doing these past few months, but I didn't say it until now. So. Thank you, Kiyo. You've helped me with so many things, just by being there. I'm grateful for that. I'm glad I got to know you."

I found friend in my novel WIP "To Be Honest":

"You went all quiet. Oh. Oh, did you see a friend and not want to be seen talking to your cousins in front of people you actually like?" Finn gasps, drawing the sound out so Micah can imagine them holding their palms dramatically over their mouth -- vivid enough to make even Micah roll his eyes at the phone involuntarily, "Micah! You're making friends in college? That's amazing!"

This ended up being a really long post, as expected, but I found more of these words than I'd expected. This was a really fun challenge!

[norimiya]

Seaside Recognition

Loverboy! Chapter 12.

Masterlist Prev

warnings: weird transitions, a curse word at the end, food/eating mentions, brief talk of a scar. 1.9k words if ur wondering!

"So cute." Reki jolts at the new voice beside him, an embarrassed blush on his face when he turns his head. "That's what you're thinking, isn't it?"

You turn your head towards them, Reki avoids your gaze while Langa gives you a pointed look, flickering his eyes between you and Reki.

Good grief. You thought. Ever since Langa found out Reki stays the night at your house he's been sending you cryptic texts about the two of you.

"It's not like that." He says, crossing his arms.

"Is that your type, Reki?" He turns his head to you when you chime in, you don't look amused. He panics.

"What? No! No, of course not!" He laughs enthusiastically, too much. "I just like their dress, that's all! I think my sister would like it, I mean, it's not for me."

You catch a glance at Langa, he looks amused. "Reki, I was just asking." He turns away from you, holding his face in his hands, if you look hard enough you can see the smoke wafting from his ears.

"Not like you have a chance with them anyway." Miya chimes in, not looking up from his game. "It'd be like beauty and the beast but worse."

"You shut your trap!" Reki shouts, the heavy blush on his face not doing him any justice. "And you!" He turns to you this time, you're giving him an innocent expression. His fingers pinch your cheeks, he ignores the skip of his heart when your fingers clasp around his wrist and pulls lightly at them. "You've got to stop flustering me!"

You manage to pull his hands away, grinning up at him. "I make you flustered?" He rolls his eyes, shoving your face to the side.

Langa comes up beside you, nudging your bicep with his elbow before pointing towards something. You deadpan when you see Kojiro with two girls linked to his arms, the guy just doesn't take a break.

There's a break of silence when Kaoru is revealed, your sunken to the floor with a dejected expression permanently settled on your face. They find it amusing.

You watch them skate off one by one once you're off the ship, teetering on your heels as you look at Shadow. He's expecting you to leave him behind too. He fails to hide the shock when you pick up the luggage, twirling the rental car's keys on your finger.

"You're not leaving?" He asks, he sounds like he's near tears.

You throw the bag into the trunk, looking at him over the side of the car. "Consider this as rival bonding time. Unless you want to leave and have me take this."

He purses his lips, he clearly wants to go. "I'll help with the luggage, then leave." You shrug in response, moving to pick up another bag.

He's quick when putting them in the trunk, taking off on his board with a loud thank you. That's the first.

A loud sigh escapes your mouth when you pull into a beach parking lot, you assumed they stopped here considering Langa, but no one texted you about it.

Maybe you should've left them there.

"Hopefully Y/n knows we stopped here." Langa mumbled, taking his phone out from his pocket, it's wet. Reki lets out a nervous laugh when Langa shows him.

"Wait." Kojiro stops the five behind him from walking any further, pointing to where you're standing by the car. A family is standing with you, a little boy standing on your board while you hold him up and spin him in a circle. "Oh my god."

"Capture this moment!" Kaoru shouts, surprising everyone but Kojiro. "Don't let this go to waste you imbeciles!"

Reki's eyes are trained on you when you bend down to imitate the board doing an ollie. The little boy holds onto your shoulder tightly, Reki can't explain the emotion he feels when he sees you beam, hugging the boy quickly whilst yelling out praises.

Langa nudges him to break him out of his trance.

"You're staring."

"So is everyone else?" He pressed his lips to a straight line when he saw the five of them staring at him with teasing grins. "Really?" He crosses his arms with a huff, "I'm offended."

"Whatever you say, loverboy." Shadow snickers, ignoring Reki's glare. "Hey! You parked crooked!" He yells out when he walks towards you, pointing an accusing finger.

The smile on your face that lingered even after the boy had left wiped away instantly at the voice, a scowl immediately replacing it. "Huh? You wanna do it then? I should've left you idiots here!"

"They look like delinquents." Miya snorts, paying half attention to you two, he has a game to beat after all.

The rest of them hummed in agreement, watching you butt heads with each other.

—

You watched Reki and Miya toss and hit the beach ball to one another, smiling to yourself when you noticed Langa spinning in circles on a tube.

"Are you growing comfortable around them now?" Kaoru asks from beside you, keeping his eyes closed. "You're not wearing a shirt or anything to cover the scar." He clarifies, peaking an eye open.

You glance down at the scar, tracing your finger over the line crossing from your stomach to your back. "I guess so. I know they wouldn't say anything that would hurt my feelings, or at least I think they wouldn't."

He hums in response, "I'm glad."

"Who knew you were such a softie." You tease, shoving his knee.

He gives a condescending smile, "I'll pour ice cold water down your back."

You don't bother suppressing the laughter that follows, falling over when he lets out a snort. Reki watches from afar —Kojiro does as well but for a different reason— a small smile on his face when you keep doubling over in laughter.

Langa comes up beside him, nudging Reki's arm with his elbow. "Can I ask you something?" Reki hums, he knew what he wanted to ask, it was clear on his face. "Do you like—"

"I don't know." Reki interrupts, there's uncertainty in his voice, and it's obvious he's tearing himself up about it. "I just, I didn't notice anything until after you guys brought it up. Now I'm all confused."

Langa wants to be sympathetic but he knows Reki wouldn't want that, he only makes a noise of acknowledgment, turning his head away from him.

The air between them feels thicker than ever. —

"What are you guys doing for dinner?" Kojiro asks, handing you a water bottle he'd bought from the machines outside the inn.

You shrug in response, "Probably nothing honestly. Don't think food was in the budget."

He hums, patting you on the back. "We're going to bother Kaoru." He leans down to whisper, "I went in as his manager and told them to order six more plates in his name."

You raise a brow, nearing the room you'd be staying in. "Isn't that a crime?"  He shrugs as you open the door, looking down when Reki's head falls to your feet with a thud. "Hey."

He looks up at you with a pained smile, "Hi."

"Come on," Kojiro says, watching you tug Reki up. "We're gonna go to Kaoru's for dinner." Reki shoots up at that, he must've been really hungry.

Kojiro bursts through the doors after waiting for the two to leave, grinning when Kaoru looks up at him in shock. "Food tastes better with company!"

Kaoru sports a betrayed expression the entire time he eats, you can hear him grumble beside you, 'damn Kojiro that gorilla, I wanted to eat peacefully. Ah, well at least y/n is here, someone slightly competent.'

You jolt when you pick up your name, choking on the bite of food you'd taken. 'I was mistaken' Kaoru! How could you!

"So, how was the cat cafe?" Kojiro asks, tilting the cup in his hand in your direction. "Any attractive people there?"

You flick a piece of rice at him, scowling at his words. "That is exactly why I didn't want you to go, you'd just flirt with anyone that breathed in your direction." You shake the ice in your cup when it clumps together, murmuring, "other than that, I think it was pretty fun."

Miya nods his head at your words. "I got a photo of Y/n fawning over a cat." He says, taking out his phone.

Kaoru and Kojiro lean over to see it, smiling at the photo. There are tears coming from their eyes. "Send it to me."

You're engrossed in a conversation with Miya about your next excursion, Kaoru chiming in a few times to suggest places. Kojiro slips out during that time, you ask him to bring you back a cola.

"By the way," Miya starts, "Apparently there's something that happens tonight." You raise a brow. "The hostess said not to go outside after sunset."

Reki sighs, "Yeah, well, you don't have to tell me not to go outside at night. I don't have anything to do." He rises from his spot with a huff, "I'm gonna get a drink."

—

"I think I might sit this one out." You announce after Kojiro mentioned the idea of a race, rubbing the back of your neck when they turn their heads towards you. "I'm not really in the mood for it, that's all." You didn't want to be shirtless again.

"Are you sure?" Kojiro asks, he can sense your unease. "If you want I can stay back with you."

You wave your hands quickly, "No, it's alright. I can take a nap or something to occupy myself. Or call Abuela." He hums in response. "You guys have fun, okay?" You wave as you say goodnight, sliding the door closed before making your way to the other inn.

"Y/n!" You turn around at the shout of your voice, stopping in your tracks when you see Reki.

"Did I forget something?" You ask, looking down when he clasps his hand over yours. "Reki?"

He shakes his head and drops your hand, "No, it's nothing." You tilt your head. "Tomorrow, do you want to go somewhere? Just me and you?"

Your lips part as he looks at you expectantly, is this a date? Surely not, right? "Sure." You smiled, patting his cheek. "I look forward to it."

"Cool." He replies, backtracking to the other inn, "I'll see you when we get back, yeah?" You nod in response, waving to him as he leaves.

Why was he so nervous to ask though?

—— bonus!

Your eyes shoot open the moment the doors slide open with a snap, fingers flying to your nose to pinch it closed. "You guys reek!" The four walk into the room one by one, lifeless eyes, and shoulders slumped. Reki staggers to you, dropping down to his knees in front of you before he curls into your lap.

Miya sits on the other side of you, leaning against your shoulder, he's cold. Langa situates himself behind you, laying his back against yours while staring up at the ceiling. Shadow remains frozen at the entrance.

"Can someone please explain what happened?"

They don't answer for five minutes. Shadow curls himself into a ball in the corner.

Simultaneously, they answer with: "They came."

It took a second before it clicked in your mind, deadpanning as you looked down at Reki. You could see his soul flying away from his body. "You've got to be shitting me."

A/n: if any of you goblins say "oh saiki yare yare" I'll write angst for the remainder of this series and the next one as well.

loverboy should be done by September, I want it to be done. Then the next one will start.

Taglist (send an ask or reply to be added or removed); @scentedcandlesandcookies @thebiggestnaturaldisaster @hallothankmas @akuri-shinsou @leuki @kronavis @tremenjules

[that-was-anticlimactic]

sk8 headcanons because i am Bored

autistic langa likes frozen fruit a lot—strawberries are his favorite—because he likes the cool texture

reki has lip freckles that really stand out after he’s been in the sun a lot ! there’s like four or five of them :)

just thinking about “all those friday nights / under the lights / under the bleachers together / you and i were meant to be something more than a faded memory / till you and i / something divided us” but matchablossom,,,

“but i’ve already lost it once / what i already won / i’ve lost too much now to care / but i know that something’s still there” ,,, matchablossom,,, ahhhhh

miya and shadow being besties,,, shadow being miya’s parental figure and miya being his adopted nb child,,,

shadow being the first person miya comes out as nonbinary to,,,

adam going to jail,,,

reki having a stuffed animal collection and letting miya name some and then realizing that miya never had a stuffed animal growing up so reki gives miya one of his older ones that he loved as a child and then buys them a new one too… and miya asks reki to name it for them because sentiments,,,

after seeing the girl he had a crush on kiss someone else, shadow takes out his feelings on the only thing he knows how to—skating at s but he’s not in a good mind and he feels sick because he thought he thought he thought he had a chance and he doesn’t pay close enough attention and gets hurt and miya calls him an idiot and patches him up and shadow feels like a kid again but it’s kind of nice to have someone else actually help with his wounds instead of just attempting to wash them and then cover them with makeup by himself,,,

joe and shadow bonding over hating the feeling of loneliness so they make up for it the only way they know how which is being loud and being extra because they don’t feel as lonely if they’re loud

reki, miya, and cherry = adhd club

cherry and reki drawing together… and reki teaching cherry how to be more loose and carefree when he draws and cherry teaching reki how to add more structure to his art,,,

langa stealing and wearing reki’s headbands,,,

langa with glasses

reki’s sisters doing cherry and joe’s hair,,, or even reki, langa, and miya doing their hair and shadow just watches and takes pictures and reki puts cherry’s hair in fishtails because he had practice with his sisters and cherry secretly likes it (and so does joe) and miya and langa just. completely messing up joe’s hair and putting hair clips in it and langa attempts a ponytail kind of like how cherry does his hair at s (and no cherry did Not find it very attractive shut up)

shadow being a scrapbooker and having like ten scrapbooks from his life,,,

shadow not being as good of an artist as cherry or reki but he does it because he enjoys it and when cherry and reki find out they invite him to draw with them

the crew / sk8 fam all going to shadow’s house and doing a couple scrapbook pages together and it’s a mess but it’s them and it’s one of shadow’s favorite pages because he’s never scrapbooked with anyone before

langa is just naturally beautiful and photogenic so the art squad always asks him to model for them if they want to draw people

joe has depression because i want him to

and shadow has anxiety

because i do Not want any of them to be neurotypical

yeah so joe has depression, shadow has anxiety, cherry has add and anxiety, miya had adhd and separation anxiety, langa is autistic, reki has tourette’s and adhd and depression ✌🏻

when miya gets old enough, shadow gets them a part time job at the flower shop

miya likes a lot of pillows

langa sleeps with no pillows (unless reki is partially his pillow)

thinking about after reki’s second beef with adam,,, joe after he tells adam off and they’re away from the crowd, he passes out because let’s be real—there is absolutely no way he didn’t get injured and the worse one is probably a broken nose and a huge gash at the back of his head with like skin peeling and stuff like need stitches so the gang all goes to cherry’s and they help patch reki up

somewhere in that time the love hotel gets brought up and by extension getting hit by the car and getting beat up and joe and shadow are on the verge of slamming their heads against the wall at reki’s nonchalantness

and reki’s p injured so he’s laying in the couch with his head resting in langa’s lap,,,

joe tells everyone embarrassing cherry stories from school like all the time (but joe was a foolish child so cherry gets revenge)

miya likes crime documentaries

joe unironically watched supernatural and that’s part of the reason why he and cherry broke up

(maybe joe just thought dean was attractive—sue him!)

lol wait what if cherry sued adam to pay for reki’s medical bills since they inevitably had to take him to the hospital

cherry constantly tells joe that he will sue him

joe may unironically watched spn, but cherry unironically watched glee

langa wrote destiel fanfiction once upon a time

langa wrote cas bakes dean a pie--

miya is carla’s favorite (after cherry)

cherry and langa with weighted blankets also

sometimes reki steals langa’s but only if he stays the night or langa brings it over and usually if he “steals” it, it’s them sharing it or reki needs the comfort of the weight if he’s not having a good time mentally lol

joe with depression,,, i just think about that a lot sometimes,,, sometimes cooking feels meaningless and, like langa, he only feels something when he skates but it’s only this temporary feeling of joy and life,,,

and shadow with anxiety,,, over-compensating his anxiety by being shadow at night and being over the top and sometimes mean because internalized ableism,,, and if he pretends he doesn’t have anxiety then maybe he won’t feel it late at night or when everything seems to go wrong during a shift at work and he keeps dropping flowers because his hands are shaking and girls don’t like guys with anxiety, right ??? so shadow thinks that he CAN’T have anxiety :/// poor dude

miya with separation anxiety pushing people away before they get attached because if they push them away before they become friends, then they wouldn’t be able to leave them,,,

langa always bouncing his foot in class and all the time because it’s his main form of stimming (look at that boy and try to tell me he doesn’t bounce his legs like there’s no tomorrow i dare you) and sometimes it makes his legs sore and cherry and joe once recommended using a heating pad if it got really sore and langa does sometimes and it makes him happy

reki with ts having anxiety when he has to speak in front of the class / do presentations because he’s hyper-aware of his tics,,, so he always meets langa’s eyes and watches langa the whole time and langa sometimes mimes taking deep breaths which really helps but honestly just seeing langa makes reki feel like he can do anything (because he would do anything for langa)

cherry doodling to stim as a child and always getting in trouble for it because teachers used to like get pissed when students doodled (or maybe they still do and it’s just always been pissy teachers and not specifically teachers when our parents were kids) and eventually cherry got fed up with getting points docked for doodling so he started writing lists and stuff and been realized he had impeccable handwriting (also joe let cherry doodle on his hand during classes they had together so cherry wouldn’t get in trouble)

cherry once had a dream that he was rachel berry and joe was finn uhh *insert last name here* from glee and joe had a beautiful voice when they sang duets in his dream so he managed to convince joe to sing in reality and turns out joe cannot sing and cherry’s glee dreams were never the same (look i am tired lol)

joe likes being the strong one in the group and he enjoys being able to mess around / show off by just casually picking people up (he also does it as an expression of love because they’re basically hugs depending on how he holds you) and one day cherry is like… done with it ??? and just strolls up to joe and just throws him over his shoulder or something and joe combusts because he did Not know cherry can do that and no his face isn’t red shut up he doesn’t find this attractive what’re you talking about

miya wants a sword and keeps trying to convince everyone to get them one for their birthday but no one will agree because ‘they’ll hurt themselves and everyone else it does not matter that all your favorite characters have swords that does not mean You should have one’

langa is the kind of person that puts peanut butter on a cheeseburger

reki’s love language is a mix of gift giving and acts of service, but he tends to lean more towards giving gifts. his receiving love language is words of affirmation but he does Not know that yet (langa does—hence his constant “you’re amazing, reki”—and eventually so does the rest of their gang lol)

shadow likes theatre

miya has internet friends,,, so does cherry,,,

joe posts those affirmations on his story all the time

reki’s texts are sometime hard to read because a) his hands get injured a lot and b) tourette’s but langa (and soon the others) learn how to read reki texts

langa sleeps with a fan on for white noise

shadow was worried (and feeling a little left out but if he doesn’t acknowledge it, then that emotion is not real… that’s how that works, right???) since he was in the hospital when reki skated against adam the second time, so when they all went back to cherry’s to tend to reki’s numerous wounds and also celebrate friendship, miya kept shadow on a face time call the entire evening

langa has an android phone

reki is super comfortable with periods because he lives with five girls—he also usually has a couple of pads and tampons on him at all times because he’s the older sibling lol

langa wears socks with sandals,,, so does shadow,,,

shadow’s feet get cold easily so he wears fluffy socks a lot

cherry keeps his fingernails at the perfect length to dramatically tap them against the table (also to freak people out by doing that)

miya is Not a morning person

miya also likes having the windows to shadow’s car rolled up because their hair gets in their face otherwise but shadow likes them down so it’s this constant struggle

i still stand by cherry suing ad*m and using the money he won to pay for reki’s medical bills (… and shadow’s… and langa’s if he needs any)

i just feel like many people have reason to sue ad*m

ponytail langa rights

joe had really bad acne as a child and teen and cherry helped him feel less self-conscious about it and helped him embrace having acne and that’s one reason why he exposes so much skin as joe because it’s a reminder of personal growth <3

also joe has acne scars on his chin and cheeks

joe has cherry’s calligraphy all over his walls

ik i already said so in reki with ts headcanons but he doodles pictures for everyone in the sk8 fam and they all keep each and every one and shadow even puts them in his scrapbook

let langa punch adam 2k21

let reki punch adam 2k21

actually they All deserve to punch adam 2k21

miya’s favorite movie is coraline

langa can’t snap his fingers

joe and cherry always argue over whether even numbers or odd numbers are best

miya does esports

joe was in marching band and was in drumline

cherry stays up late to look at the stars and he had those plastic stars taped to his ceiling as a child

reki eats tomatoes like apples and it makes joe want to cry

okay if the atla & and the sk8 characters became internet friends… these are who i think they’d be internet friends with…

cherry: katara

joe: suki

langa: sokka

miya: aang

reki: zuko

shadow: toph

note: suki, joe, miya, and aang are all actually besties. aang is the kind of person that would usually annoy miya but they just can’t dislike aang no matter how much he may want to and they somehow find themselves attached

but suki and miya would also get along really well because I know they would and aang and joe would just have fun and like it’s what they deserve so they are interchangeable / all besties

also sk8 characters if they were benders...

cherry: fire or waterbender,,, cannot decide

joe: earthbender

langa: waterbender

miya: firebender

reki: resident nonbender

shadow: earthbender

[lemons3ason]

SK8 THE INFINITY (Late Valentines Special Headcannon

(A/n: I HAVE BECOME A SLUT FOR THIS SERIES SK8 THE INFINITY GIVES ME SO MUCH LIFE EVEN THOUGH ITS STILL SO NEW! DIDNT HAVE TIME YESTERDAY SO HERES THE LATE VALENTINES SPECIAL WITH THE MAINS FROM SK8 THE INFINITY)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Langa Hasegawa

-Sweet clueless child is a complete idiot when it comes to love and to make it worse you’re dense to his advances.

-Met you at school with Reki and would try to be as close to you as possible, letting you borrow his board so he could enjoy your smile as you skated.

-Due to personal reasons you were extremely touch starved and Langa was more then willing to hug you all day long but he’d find himself staring at your lips in want.

-Once Valentines came around he felt like finally confessing to you despite the holiday being a total cliche.

-Decided to make you chocolates, unfortunately he kept burning the batches so he had to ask his mom for help which resulted in her finding out about you.

-Wrote a message on the chocolates himself despite his terrible penmanship and hoped you would appreciate it and accept him.

-Almost forgets the chocolates the next day since he overslept and was late for school, wishes you a good morning over texts and asks you to meet him at the front gates to talk to you.

-Was bombarded by fan girls at school that wanted to give him gifts and found himself bumping into someone, just so happened to be you, but he realizes that he knocked something out of your hands and it got crushed under another girls foot.

-For the first time ever he actually saw your face pale and tears prick the corner of your (e/c) hues, he growled under his breathe shouting at everyone to leave as he wrapped his arms around you.

-You didn’t hug him back, you just silently cried somehow not making a sound and he sighed seeing you upset.

-“I’m sorry they crushed your gift, were you giving it to someone?”, he tried to hide the jealousy in his voice as he wiped away your tears.

-You nodded your head before explaining that they were meant for him. He blushed of course but a goofy grin plastered itself on his face as he cupped your cheeks and slammed a kiss against your sweet warm lips.

-He pulled away leaving you a stuttering mess as he presented you his little pink gift box. You took it and opened it giggling at what he had wrote, “We’re already friends Langa.”, you giggled showing him his incorrect kanji.

-“N-no I-I meant boyfriend, can I be your boyfriend pretty please?”, he begged as if he still had no chance with you.

-You giggled and smiled again before cupping his cheeks and returning his sweet kiss from before. Successful Valentines Confession.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reki Kyan

-Y’all already been dating but this was your first Valentines together so he wanted to make it special.

-“Gotta head to work bye Reki.”, you hummed kissing his lips sweetly before you skated away on your board.

-He smiled watching you disappear into the sunset but once you were out of sight he bolted the rest of the way home.

-He’s not your ordinary guy and he loves skateboarding so he wanted to protray his feelings for skateboarding and you into his next project.

-Stayed up day and night in order to finish it and rushed to your house Valentines morning to spend the day with you before he presented your gift to you.

-Treated you to your favorite ice cream shop and a shopping spree at the plush store where you excitedly bought all the cute anime and animal plushes you had been dying for.

-You presented his gift to him around noon by taking him to a very special skateboard shop that your dad owned, he got first dibs at all the latest equipment and parts he needed for future projects and you couldn’t help smiling as he gasped at your father for letting him keep everything he had picked out and wanted.

-Your dad dropped you both off at Reki’s house in a pick up truck since Reki and gotten so much and helped unload it while you went in to greet his mother and sisters.

-He ran to his garage to get your gift but started getting nervous thinking that you wouldn’t like it.

-“S-she’ll like it I know she will. (Y/n)’s always spoiling me so this will pay her back for being so wonderful to me.”, he thought hugging the board tight to his chest as he ran back in to see you.

-“H-hey (Y/n), can you come here for a sec?”

-He could hear you running towards him and smiled nervously as he hid the board behind his back.

-Has you close your eyes and places the board deck side down in your arms so you can see the custom design he made for you on the back.

-You absolutely screech in joy seeing the new board in your arms, you couldn’t believe it was actually yours. Reki has to grab you by the cheeks hold you in place and tell you it was yours like five times just for you to believe him.

-You can’t help but throw yourself against him to hug him and kiss his pudgy face all over while chanting ‘I love you’ over and over again.

-He’s so happy you like your new board, he’s so overwhelmed by your affection but he absolutely adores you and kisses you one more time before dragging you off to his room for a movie and cuddles.

-A dorky sweetheart you can’t tell me otherwise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miya Chinen

-YOU ARE VIDEO GAME BUDDIES!

-Met during an online gaming tournament, you actually beat him, you became rivals for each other.

-When you both met in real life he absolutely adored you, sweet, kind, outgoing, and obviously taller than him, he couldn’t help the blush that rose to his face upon meeting you.

-You two were a match made in heaven but he couldn’t bring himself to confess to you no matter how hard he tried and then he found out you had a crush on a boy from your school.

-Helps you shop for the perfect gift for your crush despite it breaking his heart and finds himself still buying you something in hopes of confessing to you first.

-Has a little Bunny plush holding a single sunflower in its arms in his room since he couldn’t bring himself to confess to you the day of Valentines.

-Doesn’t hear from you about your confession until the day after when your both playing online against each other.

-“Come on (Y/n), you could’ve easily deflected that! Don’t become a slime on me now player two.”, Miya yells into his mic regretting it immediately when he hears you sigh.

-“Sorry Miya I’m just not feeling it tonight, I’m gonna go to bed see ya later.”

-Your sad he can tell instantly from the sound of your voice, calls you on the phone to demand an explanation on why your sad and you burst into tears on the other side.

-“S-sorry...hkk...i-it’s just that I let myself get played. I got heartbroken yesterday by the guy I liked and I realized that I’m pretty much a weirdo that no one wants to be with. He laughed at me and tossed my gift out the third story window of the school and walked away with a prettier girl in his arms.”

-You don’t hear anything from Miya and sigh hearing the call end unbeknownst to you Miya was skating his way to your house as fast as he could to comfort you, his Valentines gift in his arms.

-You jump when you hearing tapping on your window and watch as Miya sneaks in with a little rabbit in his arms.

-“Then be my weirdo! Stay by my side and we can be weirdos together, you don’t need that slime ball when I wanna be the grand knight that protects my princess!”, Miya screamed extending the gift to you in hopes that you would accept his feelings.

-He feels the rabbit leave his hands and opens his eyes to see you smiling through your tears, he kinda panics and wipes away your tears with his sleeves and just holds you.

-He presses his for head against yours and sighs, “You don’t have to answer right now it’s just that...I-I umm...I want to be the Link to your Zelda i-if you know what I mean.”

-You giggle and hug him thanking him for his kind words and softly whisper, “I love you, Miya, and thank you.”, into his ear making him smile against your shoulder.

-Sweet baby boy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaoru Sakurashiki

-This dipshit works Valentine’s Day and forgets about it due to all the orders for custom calligraphy messages for couples.

-Annoyed by all the sappy messages and honestly putting half his effort in any of them.

-Forgets he has an interview that day until he hears a knock at his office door and you nervously enter.

-His heart races seeing you for the first time, you look so adorable in your business casual outfit, and your nervous smile has him falling over himself.

-“H-hello my name is (L/n) (F/n), I-it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Sakurashiki.”

-“She’s beautiful like a cherry blossom.”, he thought to himself.

-Overall the interview goes great, you’re just a year younger then him looking for a new job to pay for your new home.

-Loves you a lot and asks you to start immediately as his new secretary, you accept and start getting right to work. Eventually he notices you running around in your socks since your feet were hurting from the heels.

-Treats you to dinner once the shop is closed to welcome you to the team and falls in love with you more as you talk more about yourself.

-You are playful but still you have a calm and collected mind something he admires greatly.

-Waits till next Valentines to properly confess to you since he found it extremely hard to put his feelings into words.

-You surprisingly accept and he treats you to a rooftop diner where you both share a sweet dance under the moonlight.

-Dubs you his Blossom and spoils you with sweet gestures and shy kisses until he’s confident enough to kiss you properly.

-Laughs when he finds out you are jealous of Carla (his skateboard), you fume and decide to race him at S which shocks him because he didn’t know you could even skate.

-Absolutely loses it seeing you in your S wardrobe, a rather revealing kunoichi styled outfit that showed all the right parts leaving him wanting more.

-“Well Cherry Blossom let’s see what you can do.”, you smirked behind your fox mask.

-You end up slaughtering him in the race just from pure skill alone, Karla couldn’t keep up with your calculations and you won by a landslide.

-Gets jealous of the fan boys that suddenly accumulate over you once the race is finish, takes off both of your masks so he can kiss you silly.

“I won jealous cherry.”

“Shut up and kiss me little blossom.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kojiro Nanjo

-This large himbo had a whole plan to make you extremely jealous by flirting with other women until you were furious with him before surprising you with a special hotel room that he rented out for just the two of you for Valentines.

-Unfortunately he was unaware of some bullying and self esteem issues you were having because of work so you patience with him dried out fast.

-“Huh baby cakes what’s the mat-“

-“If they’re so pretty why don’t you just stay with them instead of someone useless and ugly like me!”

-Regrets everything he said as soon as he sees you running away in tears, ditches the fans immediately and skates off to find you but you’re already long gone.

-Calls Cherry who has you weeping in his arms and groans as his old friend starts scolding him for being a ‘Heartless Dumbass Gorilla’.

-Hugs you as soon as he sees you practically tackling you and Cherry in the process and begs for your forgiveness.

-You pout and refuse to forgive him which in turn makes him sigh, he scoops you up in his arms and tosses you over his shoulder to carry you away despite your protest and skates off to the hotel.

-“I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you, I wanted to make you jealous and then spoil you rotten. This wasn’t how I wanted today but if you’ll let me I’d still like to spoil you and make it up to you.”, Joe admits in a soft voice.

-You agree hesitantly and he puts you down, cups your face, and presses a tender kiss against your plump lips. Smiles against your lips when he feels your cheeks heat up.

-Takes you to the hotel, chuckles at your shocked expression to the huge lavish room and invites you for champagne in the jacuzzi.

-Leans you against his chest and wraps an arm around your waist, whispers sweet compliments and praises into your ear until a goofy smile is plastered over your face.

-Smothers you in kisses and cuddles even if you playfully try to escape his strong arms.

-Watches sappy movies with you and holds you tightly until your glowing with joy. Kisses you good night as he snuggles his head into your adorable chest and happily nods off to sleep as you play with his curly green hair.

“Happy Valentine’s Day love, I’m sorry and thank you for today beautiful.”, Joe hums kissing your cleavage sweetly.

“I’m sorry I ruined your surprise, thank you handsome.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiromi Higa

-Meets you the 13th when you come in to buy flowers, there’s such a sad aura about you that he can’t help but gift you a fresh pink rose that brings a sweet smile to your face.

-Instantly falls for you as you ask for an arrangement to take to a funeral of a dear friend.

-Makes you a beautiful arrangement himself and let’s you take it free of charge despite your argument to pay.

-“Just try to be happy for me and that’s enough, you look beautiful when you smile.”, he simply says making a blush roll across your face.

-As nightfall hits the city he dawns his Shadow look for S and starts heading over but he stops after hearing a scream and finds you being attacked by a small group of idiots.

-Instantly picks a fight with them in order to defend you and wins just from knocking one out with a single punch and scaring the others away with a glare.

-Sees you trembling on the floor with a hand covering your left arm and sighs seeing the blood, you had been slashed by one of their blades so he carefully wraps it with an extra cloth that he had and picks you up carrying you to the train station.

-“Stay safe little flower, I won’t always be able to save you.”, he grins at you making you blush for some strange reason.

-“T-thank you for saving me.”

-He smiles at you and leans forward leaving a purple lipstick mark on your cheek as he disappears from sight.

-He skates his best that night at S while thinking of you.

-You appear again in the flower shop the next day, a bandage wrapped around your arm and a shy smile on your face as you walk up to him.

-He’s surprised to see you again so soon and prays that you didn’t recognize him from last night.

-You smile and press a kiss to his cheek, leaving a red stain on his cheek that has his face flaming up in embarrassment.

-You hand him back his cloth and a note and rush out of the store while shouting, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

“H-huh well seems she did notice m-ehh... i-is this her phone number?”

[sisterofsomeone]

Hi! I saw that you had your requests open and I wanted to make one! I was wondering if you'd be up for making a part 2 of the matcha blossom x gnreader angst!

Where it still ends up being angst in the end, or fluff, whichever you prefer! But I'd love for it to be that Joe finally realized that the reader loved him for all those years and felt guilty and all that.

If you could, if the ending you choose to be fluff could you possibly make it a poly relationship between the three! If angst then you could choose!

I'm sorry if this is a bad req. Or sum, it's my first time! And you dont have to of course! But I'd love for a part 2

Hey, thank you so much for the request! It’s a fantastic one, no need to apologise, you’re always welcome to request stuff! I’ve been thinking of doing a part 2 for Alone, like always for a while now so this was perfect timing! I think the poly idea is so cute, but like the evil bitch I am there will be a little angst beforehand hehe... I hope you enjoy it anon! :) 

Requests are open!

Part 1 here!

Alone, no more.

- Poly!Matchablossom with gender-neutral!reader

- Warnings: angst, swearing, jealousy

- Summary: After years of one-sided love you decide to give up on Joe, leaving him and Kaoru alone. 

--------------

Hours had passed, by now the boys might be worried about you, but you doubted it. You played with the stone in your hand, one of the hundreds you'd been trying to skim across the surface of the lake. They all kept falling to the bottom. The air was colder now, the night closing in quickly as the dusting of stars scattered themselves across the sky. It would be a perfect night if he were there with you, but he never was, and you’d come to terms with that. 

You wandered aimlessly through the streets, hands tucked deep into your pockets and your hoodie covering your head so no one could see the tears staining your face. You tried to make it home, but your body seemed on autopilot as you approached the gates to S. You cursed yourself, knowing Joe and Kaoru would both be there tonight. You turned to leave, but your body collided with someone much bigger than you. 

“Y/n? Where have you been all day?” You fidgeted in front of him, feeling his gaze burning into you. 

“Just got caught up with some old friends.” You managed out, voice wobbling. 

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, his voice soft. You didn’t notice the movement until your eyes were locked on his. Joe had placed his hand beneath your chin and moved your face so he could see you more clearly. That meant your puffy eyes, the tears threatening to spill and the stains from tears already shed were all now in perfect view for the man. You pushed him away, Joe losing balance and falling into Kaoru’s waiting arms. You heard his shouts as you ran, but you couldn’t stop your legs as they pushed you further away. 

Two months had passed since that night, and the missed calls were adding up. It wasn’t just Joe now, Kaoru, Mia, Reki, Langa and Shadow were all trying to contact you. You’d blocked Joe’s number at least, and sent the others a short message just saying that you wanted to stay alone, like always. It was petty sure, but a part of you wanted them to understand your pain, even if you couldn’t bring yourself to tell them the whole truth. 

Joe had tried to speak to you in person, coming to your work and asking the manager for a moment of your time. But your manager had sensed the way you tensed up after spotting him walking into the store and turned him away. He looked hurt, his chest falling and him giving a silent nod in response. You hated seeing him like that, but you couldn’t be near him now. 

The night was cold as you made your way out of the house and towards the skate park. You and Joe used to go there together for years before Kaoru convinced him that it wasn’t cool enough. You hated those memories, the pain attached to them still raw as you pictured Kaoru’s smile as he dragged Joe away from you. It was childish sure, but you hated how Joe just went along with whatever the pink-haired boy said. You settled yourself on the top of the bowl, legs swinging underneath you as the breeze danced across your face. The loneliness wasn’t any less painful now, but more familiar. You stood, dropping into the bowl and skating for a while. This feeling was nice, the natural movement of you and the board, almost as if it was just an extension of your own body. You got cocky, doing some tricks here and there and eventually grew tired of playing around. You climbed out, making your way towards the halfpipe that stood tall above the rest of the skate park. It was quiet and peaceful, the perfect opportunity to just let your feelings out. You cried there, sitting upon the halfpipe like some child but you didn’t care. Your body shook with the ragged sobs ripped from your chest and as much as you wiped your eyes, you could still feel the cold tears rolling down your face. 

You had experienced heartbreak before, but nothing like this. You had years of pining over Joe and getting your heart broken hundreds of times along the way, but none of them felt like this. The piercing finality of it all. This wasn’t something you could ever come back from, and as much as you didn’t want to admit it, a part of you, deep deep down, knew there was nothing you could do to get him to notice you like you noticed him. That was it. Joe was out of your reach and you needed to get over a man you loved, but who never loved you in return. That is the hardest heartbreak to heal, the mourning of a relationship that never even existed. The death of what-ifs and maybes. 

You heard his voice quietly at first, a whispered, tentative call of your name danced in the wind and you could have sworn he was there beside you. But your mind must have been playing tricks on you. 

“Y/n?” It was louder this time.

“Is that you?” You were shaking even harder now, you hadn’t realised your imagination could be so spiteful.

“Please, don’t cry.” 

“Oh fuck off brain! I’m already hurting enough! Just... just stop...” You screamed into the wind, your tears falling freely now. 

“Y/n? What happened?” You opened your eyes, heart racing as you followed the voice. There stood Joe, all alone and looking so desperately scared. It wasn’t in your mind. He had come to you.

“A-are you...?” Your voice drifted off, the trembling betraying you as you scrambled the wipe the tears from your eyes. 

“Am I what Y/n?” Joe said, moving towards you. You flinched backwards in response, so scared that if he touched you the illusion would disappear and you'd be left with an even bigger hole in your heart.

“Real?” It came out as a whisper, nearly too quiet to hear, but Joe got it. 

“I’m real. I promise.” He said stretching out a hand for you to hold. You pushed him away, but the pain in his eyes made you want to take the action back instantly. 

“What happened? Please tell me. I know you’ve blocked me, told your manager not to let me in. Even your mother hung up on me, and she’s never done that before.” Joe sat beside you now, and on instinct, you pushed your body away from him. He didn’t make a move to follow you, allowing the gap between the two of you to grow. 

“Nothing happened.” He sighed at this, running a hand through his hair. 

“I promise you nothing-”

“Cut the bullshit Y/n. The last time I saw you, you were covered in tears, and now you’re avoiding me and crying alone at midnight in a skate park. Something happened.” His eyes met yours, the tears in his own threatening to spill.

“I can’t lose you. You’re my best friend.” There it was, all hope gone in a second. You felt your heart shatter again, your tears spilling over and the air sucked out of your lungs. 

“I don’t want to be your friend.” You said it before you even thought, the words tumbling out now. 

“I don’t want to be your fucking friend! All these years I’ve been so desperately in love with you, watching you break and cry over Kaoru and Adam, but the second he snaps his fingers you’re all puppy eyes and I can’t take it!” He was silent, staring at you in pure bewilderment. 

“I’ve been here for so long, so utterly in love with you but you didn’t even notice. Too wrapped up in your own mess that you left me high and dry. Don’t want to lose your best friend? You lost me years ago when you chose to chase him rather than stand by my side. I could have done it you know, been quietly in love with you and been happy, but you just left me alone all the time. Every chance you got, it was him over me and I can’t take it anymore. I don’t care how selfish I sound, I don’t care if you hate me now. But seeing the two of you together? It hurts more than anything else.”  You were quiet now, but the silence between the two of you was deafening. 

“You...” Joe began, the trembling in his own voice growing louder as he suppressed his tears. 

“You love me?” You knew he couldn’t see you, but all you could muster was a pitiful nod. 

“All this time? Really?” You nodded again and he turned his gaze to you. Heat rushed to your cheeks, the flush paired with your thumping heart. 

“I’m so sorry. I’ve got to go.” He pushed himself up, and with one last look, he left you alone. Why should I expect anything different at this point? You let out a shaky sigh, the tears beginning again. 

You spent the next few days wrapped up in your bedsheets, calling in sick to work. Your mother visited your house, seeing you miserable and tried her best to cheer you up, but nothing worked. She could tell something was up with you and Joe, worried that the torch you’d carried for him throughout the years had burnt you out. She tried, she really did, but you were so broken. 

Eventually, you pulled yourself away from the pile of quilts and blankets, making your way towards the bathroom to shower. You noticed the photos of you, Joe and Kaoru as kids that used to hang upon your wall were taken down, probably your mother’s doing. You didn't really mind. Your reflection caught you off guard, the dark circles and sickly looking frame sticking out from the clothes you'd been sleeping in. The shower was warm enough for you to get lost in thought, your mind racing back to the argument. No, it wasn’t really an argument, more you just screaming at him, letting out all of your pain. You winced, embarrassment bubbling in your stomach and chest. But you pushed it down, you couldn’t allow yourself to wallow on this anymore. You needed to move on. 

Work was hard, seeing the happy couples coming into the bakery to order wedding cakes or baby shower treats. It was sickening. Your manager seemed to notice you weren’t yourself and allowed you to just focus on baking, instead of piping sickeningly sweet love notes onto cakes or moulding tiny prams out of fondant. It was a nice rest bite, all you had to do was follow a recipe and mix some batter. 

Life became easier after a while, and the love you had for baking came back. You felt comfortable decorating again, your manager thankful you’d come out of whatever it was okay. You agreed, feeling okay for the first time in a long time. Life was getting its shine back, the colour returning. But then it all came to a halt again. 

It was raining heavily as you rushed home from work, the store closing later than usual so you could finish a delivery for tomorrow. But as you approached your house there were two familiar figures blocking your doorway. You didn't want to see them, not again. Not now you were finally starting to feel better. It was Kaoru who spoke first. 

“Could we please come in?” 

“S-sure.” You stammered, your hand shaking as you tried to unlock the door. Finally, you pushed the door open and stood aside to welcome the men in. They stepped out of their shoes and padded towards your living room. You squeaked something out about towels and rushed off, locking yourself in your bathroom. Your breathing was getting erratic, your body shaking. Why were they here?

You calmed yourself after a while, gathering some towels and joining them in your living room. It was surreal, watching the two men dry themselves off as you wrapped the plush blue fabric around yourself. You sat across from the both of them, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights before a crash. 

“I want to go first if that’s okay.” Joe said breaking the silence. You nodded in response and Kaoru quipped something about him, but you took no notice. 

“I’m sorry. To be honest, I wasn’t sure at first if I understood where you were coming from. You sounded so jealous and I instinctively got defensive, that’s why I left. But now I see that I played out exactly what you were miserable about, I chose my feelings for Kaoru over listening to your pain and I’m so sorry.” He cleared his throat and Kaoru placed a hand on his shoulder for support. 

“I’m sorry as well Y/n. I knew about your feelings for Joe years ago, but I childishly tried to break that bond between the two of you out of spite.” Kaoru said, dropping his gaze to the floor. “I feel like such a fool, and after what happened with Adam I got some perspective. I realised how much I must have hurt you, but I selfishly didn’t apologise, thinking just trying to be your friend was good enough. But I realise now it wasn’t” 

“It’s okay. I mean, I understand. You don’t know how many times I tried to do the same thing to you and Joe.” You played with the fabric in your fingers. “I hated seeing him cry over you, but it was even worse seeing you two falling in love.” The air was heavy now, the tension thick.

“Y/n. We’ve spent the past few weeks trying to figure out what to do because you mean a lot to the both of us.” You met Kaoru’s eyes as a blush rose on his cheeks. “I came to terms with my feelings on the matter.” He said, breaking away from your gaze. 

“Y/n I care about you, more than a friend, honestly? I think I love you too.” Joe said smiling softly at you. 

“Y/n, I was always jealous of not only you but Joe too. I wanted your attention as much as I wanted his.” Kaoru joined in. “I didn’t understand it myself at first, but after talking it through with Joe, I realised that I care about you both deeply.” He stammered out, the blush burning brighter now. 

“I-I don’t...” You said, mouth agape. 

“We’re not totally sure about any of this either. But we realised that just us being together wasn’t gonna make all of us happy, and we were done leaving you all alone.” Joe said, moving around the table between you all and coming to sit beside you. He took your hands in his, as delicately as you had imagined that day. 

“Y/n, we want to be with you too. We won’t be happy if you’re not with us, and I can’t stand seeing you hurting because of us anymore.” He said kissing the knuckles on your hand. 

“What are you saying?” You stammered out, blushing almost as furiously as Kaoru across from you. 

“We want you to be a part of this.” Kaoru motioned between the two men in front of you and your blush burned even brighter, feeling it spread down to your chest. 

“We don’t want to ever leave you alone again.” 

You spent that night figuring out your feelings for the two men, laughter slowly creeping its way back into your life. With them, it felt easy, and the soft kisses shared between the three of you had your head reeling. It was nice like this, no more jealousy ripping the three of you apart, just love. Or at least, it felt like love between the three of you, you were happy just being here with them, three bodies curled up together in your bed, legs intertwined and breathing calm. This was how you all spent your nights now, skating with friends and sharing soft kisses and not-so-subtle glances, then returning home together, content. You were alone no more. 

[heartsywritesthethings]

Nosy Little Miya

Author: GA!babe

Fandom: Sk8 the Infinity

Summary: Miya likes to step away from the little skate fam in order to people watch and eavesdrop. Everyone’s favorite clown punk babysitter ain’t too happy and decides to mess with the kid a little. (Word Count: 1881 words)

~~~

One week before the sleepover

Knowing the gossip and secrets around S was kind of Miya’s whole thing. Before he had met Reki, Langa, Shadow, Cherry, and Joe, he had just slunk around the illegal skating area. Sure he would skate a few beefs every now and again, but it was much more interesting to learn about every little hidden detail about the skaters’ lives.

When people were around their friends, they tended to let their guards down. They would talk about their crushes, their work, their goals in life. Everything under the guise that they were just chatting to a friend. No one seemed to notice or care about a little kid with headphones innocently playing a game just a few feet away. 

Headphones were a great way to subtly eavesdrop on a conversation. After all, most of the time he didn’t even have sound playing through them. The amount of S gossip that he has heard is kind of ridiculous, and now, Miya made it a point to know everything about everyone at S. It didn’t matter how new or old they were, he made it his business to know. 

What did he do with all of this knowledge? Well, sometimes it was helpful during bets during beefs down the course. Sure, someone could look tough enough to beat a smaller skater, but no one else knew about a recently dead family pet that might affect the mentality of the projected winner. Miya knew. And he always won.

Tonight was a little different. Two relatively new skaters had begun to frequent S, so Miya needed to know as much as he could about them.

“And what are you going to do about it, little lee?” A skater purred to their partner one night, making the other turn a very bright shade of red.

“Sparky! There are people around.” The other skater whined. The first skater, Sparky, moved forward and squeezed the other’s side, making them jump. 

“What? Afraid people will notice me tickling you?” Sparky continued to tease while their partner turned this way and that, eyes darting around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. 

The only one within earshot was a small boy with bulky headphones on, and he looked pretty preoccupied with his game.

“Stop saying that word.” the partner whined, covering their face with their skateboard. Sparky chuckled and shook their head. 

“What word? Tickle? Tickle tickle tick-” Sparky teased before they saw someone walking their way. They hopped on their skateboard and waved for their partner to follow. 

Miya glanced up to see what had scared them off when he saw the familiar painted face of Shadow, one of the best skaters at S. 

“There ya are! We were lookin’ everywhere for ya!” Shadow announced as he made his way over. He noticed the two new skaters still lingering and made a scary face at them, causing them both to hop on their boards and skate away as fast as they could.

Shadow chuckled at himself before plopping down on the bench next to Miya. 

“Why’d you do that? I was watching them. They’re new.” Miya grumbled, turning his attention back to his game. Granted, this was just animal crossing and he could play this in his sleep, but he was pouting.

“What? Those two? They’re harmless! I think one of them just learned how to skate too. Why do you need to know everything about everyone anyways?” Shadow asked, leaning back and sighing dramatically.

“If you’re not gonna tell me why you’re here, then just go away so I can do my job,” Miya huffed.

“We were just wonderin’ where you went is all. One minute you’re making dumb jokes next to Reki and the next – poof! – you’re gone. Can’t have you wandering around on your own,” Shadow said and ruffled Miya’s hair. Miya snapped his head over as if he were a cat about to bite the hand of someone who had just gotten too close.

“I can take care of myself. I was hanging around here before you slimes decided to show up and bother me anyways.” Miya snapped. He saved his game and began to put it away in his bag.

“Yeah, okay, well, Cherry’s weird skateboard said something kinda concerning about the amount of kids going missing every year. I don’t wanna take any chances.” Shadow said, getting up as he noticed Miya was getting up as well. 

“That pink-haired slime can make his board say whatever he wants. Leave me alone, I’m working tonight and you stick out like a sore thumb,” Miya said, standing up and getting ready to leave —

When Shadow easily scooped him up and tossed him over his shoulder as if he were nothing more than a bag of flower seeds.

“Hey! What are you doing? Put me down! Help!” Miya screeched, kicking his legs and waving his arms around randomly. It wasn’t the most dignified way for him to fight back, but surely someone would notice a large scary man carting away a small wailing kid.

Pretty soon, people began looking over at them. Whispers and murmurs began amongst the skaters of people trying to decide whether or not to call the police.

“You are just a little troublemaker, aren’t you?” Shadow growled, taking Miya by the hood and holding him out at arm’s length so that they could glare at each other. Miya smirked before sticking out his tongue at the clown-looking skater.

“Alright, you’re asking for it.” Shadow said, a look of complete mischief on his own face. Miya didn’t have enough time to process before he was hugged close to Shadow’s chest. Before he had time to crack a joke or flail around, Shadow’s fingers began to wiggle against Miya’s sides. 

Miya squeaked and squirmed, only to find that he could barely move against Shadow’s broad chest. And those fingers just kept moving and wiggling on his sides and Miya couldn’t handle it anymore. 

Giggles began to pour out of his little mouth and all fight completely drained from his little body.

“Are you going to behave, Miya? You can become my little giggly accessory. Every clown needs a creepy laughing kid with them.” Shadow teased, trying to get a good look at Miya’s laughing face.

“Ihihihhihihi am nohohohot crehehehehehehepy!” Miya giggled, pressing his forehead against Shadow’s chest, trying to hide his smile from both Shadow and the people who were looking. 

“I couldn’t quite hear that,” Shadow teased, taking Miya by the hood and holding him out again. Miya kicked his feet out again, trying to get away from Shadow in any way he could now. One of his kicks gets dangerously close to Shadow’s family jewels.

“Woah! Alright, now you’re really in for it!” Shadow growled. He lets Miya drop to the ground for one second before pushing him down to the ground.

“No no no no no no!” Miya giggled, shaking his head as he looked at the evil clown faced tickle monster descending down on him.

“Oh yeah. I’ll make sure you’re too tired to make any more trouble for me tonight.” Shadow said, lifting Miya’s hoodie and undershirt, exposing his soft tummy to the cool night air.

“You crazy slime clown! Gehehet away from meHEHEHEHEHE!” Miya stammered before loud cackling laughter erupted from his little body. Shadow had blew a raspberry on Miya’s stomach and the ticklish vibrations had made the little cat boy feel such an intense wave of ticklish energy that he had never really felt before.

“Are you going to behave?” Shadow asked, his free hand poking and prodding around Miya’s stomach. 

People were looking at their antics, but neither Shadow nor Miya really cared at this point. No one was going to mess with Shadow and at this point…that poor little kid definitely looked like he was having fun.

“Miya?” Shadow asked, still smiling as he waited for a response from the giggling kid on the ground. 

“I…Ihihihi…” Miya giggled, not quite sure if he actually wanted this torment to end. He was actually…enjoying himself? Sure, it was a little embarrassing to be seen like this, he knew he could easily slide back into the shadows whenever he needed, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

“You waited too long!” Shadow said demonically before blowing another huge raspberry against Miya’s stomach. 

Miya, once again, cackled, his eyes squeezing shut as he was once again overwhelmed, but it was definitely welcome. So often, he knew that others thought that he didn’t want to be there. Honestly? They were kind of right. Only sometimes, he found skating fun. He kept skating and staying around S, of course, for those rare times when skating brought him that happiness he so often craved.

That was, before he met his ragtag group of skating friends. Some of them seemed as if they hated each other, but it was all in good fun. This? This tickling session? Definitely fun.

But now it was too much. A moment of panic struck through his little body as his brain announced “Okay, done here!”, but it went away as Shadow pulled away.

“Y'all watchin’ something funny? What the hell you lookin’ at? ROAHHHHHH!” Shadow yelled, sticking out his tongue and outright roaring at the other skaters watching. They quickly scattered, the sounds of wheels against pavement the only thing left as they were all too smart to stick around.

Miya got up, putting his little hoodie down over his stomach and popping his skateboard up, catching one side with a hand.

“Race you to the others?” Miya said, as if he hadn’t just been tickled to absolute pieces two minutes ago.

“You’re gonna lose, catboy.” Shadow said, jumping onto his board and kicking off.

“In your dreams, you slime,” Miya snickered and kicked off of the pavement and racing down the hill.

~~~

“Yeah, I’ll take him home.” Shadow said to Cherry. 

Miya was curled up against his board, snoring quietly. It was pretty late in the night and the crew was beginning to pack up and each head to their own houses.

“That’s weird. He’s never fallen asleep like this before.” Cherry hummed, looking at the kid up and down. 

“Does someone have a sharpie? A marker?” Reki asked excitedly, patting his own pockets down and smiling mischievously. 

“None of that, kid. He has school tomorrow.” Shadow said, nudging the redhead in the shoulder.

“Oh come on, it’ll be fun.” Reki whined. 

“Don’t you also have school tomorrow?” Shadow asked with a raised eyebrow.

“We do have that test tomorrow, Reki. Maybe you should get some sleep before–” Langa said, placing a hand on Reki’s shoulder.

“A what? A test?” Reki exclaimed. He hopped onto his board, looking completely panicked. “Alright, bye guys! Gotta go!”

And just like that, Reki sped away into the night. Langa was quick to follow, giving the others a quick two finger salute. 

“I can have Carla call a car for him if you don’t know the kid’s address.” Cherry offered, holding up his board. Shadow shook his head then easily scooped the sleeping boy into his arms.

“I’ve got this.” He said. “This nosy little kid ain’t the only one who knows things around here. ”

[sleepingcrisis]

@aavaros-aaravos wanted to know the appeal behind Tadashi/Reki so here I am!

Also this doesn't have to be taken in a shipping way, but if you want to that is totally fine! I personally don't ship them but people can do whatever they want.

So where do I find the appeal of their dynamic? Well pulling from the show parallels show that Reki most likely shared a lot of similarities to Adam when he was younger. Of course Adam appears to be much younger in the flashbacks but if it wasn't for... everything I think he would have grown to be some sort of balance between Reki and Langa (after all I could totally see Reki growing into the theatrics Adam has going on).

This isn't really about their similarities though. Instead I'm going to present how I would go about writing their dynamic since outside of a shipping sense (which is mainly nsfw content :/ ) I don't see a ton of their dynamic.

So let me present this to you!

Reki and Tadashi formally meet in the Love Hotel which yknow... amazing content for the shipping side of this lol, but —

Tadashi says some stuff there. He tells Reki to drop skateboarding. He tells him about the reputation skateboarders have as delinquents (which I think that this is definitely a jab at younger Joe, Adam, and Cherry) and how people generally don't make money off of it and can get seriously injured. His entire conversation with Reki is very similar to what Joe says to Langa before their beef, but while Joe clearly loves skating, Tadashi holds resentment towards it (my Tadashi/Joe shipping heart adores these parallels).

Anyway they have taken a character (Reki) who is on the verge of giving up skateboarding — something that makes him so happy — and put him in a room with someone that agrees with him. Then Reki disagrees with him. I love that.

Reki disagrees with him and tells him how awesome skateboarding is and has a passion for it that clearly Adam has/had but also a passion that Tadashi probably had at some point too.

Tadashi doesn't change his stance (obviously) but I got the sense that their was a hint of agreement in his eyes. That, yeah, his experience has been less then wonderful, but there was a time when he loved this too.

When Tadashi is handing Reki his invitation for the tournament it is hard to say if he is worried for Reki’s sake or worried that Adam will do something that could gain press (I suspect that it has more to do with Adam, but maybe it could be seen as a bit of both?). Anyway he tries to get Reki to decline and we all know how that goes.

By the end of the race Reki lost but Tadashi dropped out and let Langa take his place.

Let me just say: I hated that. I understand that they didn't have the time to have Tadashi race Langa, but the impact on Tadashi and Adams relationship? It would have been crazy to watch the two race and when we do get new content I hope we get to see more of the two skating together. While Tadashi had different motives for trying to race against Adam (taking it away) by the end of Reki and Adam’s race he has decided that Langa could teach Adam how to have fun... so his motivations have changed yet he still believes that Langa is better suited for the job???? What?

Anyway side rant over (sorta?) because when you think about it. With Reki and Joe out of the race Langa was better suited for the job because Tadashi doesn't have fun skating the way Langa does. (I just would have loved to see the impact on their relationship/dynamic if they had raced 😅)

Anyway after the show it is very much up in the air if Tadashi would ever want to attend S again or be around the others. He doesn't seem all that invested outside of Adam’s happiness/reputation— 🤔😏

So I like to believe that as Adam gets better and all that jazz he wants Tadashi included more because he wants to see Tadashi have fun too. The problem is that Adam can't seem to get Tadashi genuinely invested the way they used to be. He asks Langa about it and — when by some miracle the two idiots decide that a beef isn't the answer here — Langa decides that if there is any chance of Tadashi enjoying skateboarding again it is going to happen thanks to Reki.

So Adam asks Tadashi to give Reki pointers since, "Sorry pup, but I can't be bothered with the little Red. Snow bunny isn't really a teacher and I would lose my patience!"

Tadashi agrees since who is he to disagree with his master?

It feels like a chore. It feels like more work because it is more work. Reki catches on quickly too (especially since as of right now he isn't interested in an actual teacher).

Reki makes the claim that, "you don't actually want to be here man."

For whatever reason Tadashi tries to disagree (the "whatever reason" being that Adam asked him to keep the boy happy).

Reki sees through his bullshit and while he doesn't fight on it he has a new goal in mind: "if you are going to teach me to skate then I want you to enjoy it!" His new goal becomes making Tadashi like skating again.

Maybe Tadashi does and maybe he doesn't, but being around Reki certainly can be... enjoyable.

Okay this was a long post so to make a long story short: Reki is to Tadashi what Joe probably was to Adam.

[jenanigans1207]

What You Gave Me

A chill creeps down Reki’s back as another breeze blows by,

He can see Langa glancing at him out of the corner of his eyes, can see Langa watching as Reki tries his absolute hardest to stifle the shiver that threatens to wrack his whole body, The sun was high in the sky, brilliantly bright and not doing a damn thing to warm him currently. It was one of those deceptive days— the ones that looked beautiful and warm and were actually far colder than they had any right to be. It had been so nice the last few days, too. Reki had just assumed that today would be nice too, another day filled with balmy breezes and the warmth of the sun soaking through the back of his shirt.

He had been wrong. Very wrong.

The shiver wracked its way down his spine.

“Reki.” Langa stops walking, his board tucked under his arm as he turns to look at Reki who continues to fight— and lose— a valiant battle against the chill that’s trying to sink all the way to his bones. “You’re cold.”

“I’m fine,” Reki says, despite the fact that he clearly is not fine at all. 

Langa sighs and it’s all the response he really needs to give. He fixes Reki with one of his patented stares— one of the patient ones that mean he’s absolutely willing to wait for Reki to break and just admit what’s going on. Unfortunately for Langa, Reki is well versed in this look by now, having received it from him plenty of times in the months they’d been friends, and he wasn’t about to crumble underneath it. Making his point, Reki plastered a broad smile on his face and met Langa’s gaze directly, holding his shoulders tight so the cold didn’t ruin the image he was trying to project. With a roll of his eyes, Langa relents. But he sets his board down and then drops his bag next to it, leaving Reki to just stare in confusion as he finally pulls his own jacket off and holds it out to Reki.

“Here.” 

“I’m fine,” Reki repeats, gently pushing the jacket back towards Langa. 

“You always say that,” Langa lectures, stepping close enough to Reki that he’s able to sling the jacket over Reki’s shoulders without any fuss. “And you’re always lying.”

“Why does everyone always say that?” Reki laments as the jacket settles across his back, warm to the touch. Already he can feel the chill of the early spring air dissipating, dissolving away under Langa’s touch, the softness of his jacket, the tenderness of the gesture. 

“Because it’s true,” Langa replies. He takes a step back and resumes staring pointedly at Reki.

“I’m just a little cold. But that doesn’t mean I’m not fine.” Reki concedes finally as he reaches for the collar of the jacket, intending to pull it off and offer it back to Langa. “Besides, I don’t want you to be cold, too.”

“Reki, I’m a snowboarder.” Langa’s hand shoots out to cradle Reki’s wrist, stopping him from removing the jacket. “It gets much colder than this in Canada. I promise I’m fine.”

They stare pointedly at each other, Langa’s hand still warm but gentle against Reki’s wrist. Reki wants to protest further but he knows that Langa has a fair point. In fact, it’s rare that Reki ever even sees Langa in a jacket at all outside of the one required for their school uniform. In all the time they’ve known each other, Reki really doesn’t think he’s ever seen Langa cold. It takes a long moment before Reki finally sighs, pulling his own bag off of his shoulder before slipping his hands through the sleeves of Langa’s jacket. Langa is taller than him so the jacket hangs loosely off of his frame, but it’s comfortable and warm like an embrace and Reki finds immediately that he likes the feel of it. The fit of it is even better than the fit of his own jacket and he thinks he’d gladly wear Langa’s jacket forever if he could.

And then he promptly cuts that line of thought off, ducking his head as he grabs his bag off the ground again, hoping the dusting of pink he can feel warming his cheeks can pass as a result of the cold air still biting as his exposed skin. “Thanks, Langa. It’s just colder than I expected today.”

“I see that.” When Reki shoots him a look, the corner of Langa’s mouth quirks up into a smile. “I was starting to think you didn’t actually have arms since I’d never seen them.”

“I don’t always wear a hoodie,” Reki interjects, both of them slinging their bags back over their shoulders and resuming the walk to their classroom before the final lunch bell rang. “I do have other shirts.”

“You do,” Langa agrees mildly, the smile still firm on his lips. “You just wear them over your hoodies.”

“You’ve definitely seen my arms before,” Reki replies, shoving Langa gently away.

Langa returns to his side immediately, like a magnet pulled back to its opposite half. He’s barely even gone and then he’s suddenly back in step with Reki again, the edge of his smile turning a little smug. Reki still likes it, though, and tries not to think about that fact while Langa is teasing him mercilessly. “I’ve seen you in short sleeves, but your arms are usually covered in bandages then.”

“I’ve broken my arm once!” Reki splutters as they head down the stairs, their shoulders brushing as they stand close enough to allow other people to pass on the other side of the stairs. It’s not technically true, he’s broken his arm more than once, but only once while Langa has known him.

Only once where Langa has had the chance to delicately bandage his arm for him, lecturing Reki the entire time about being reckless and not properly caring for himself. Only once where his fingers skimmed the inside of Reki’s wrist, right over his pulse, before the bandage followed, locking that touch in. Sometimes, like right now, Reki can still feel the electric jolt of that touch, the way it was filled with so much concern. He tries not to think about it often but it’s becoming harder with each passing day. Ever since they had repaired things, ever since Langa had really found his voice and started saying all the things that crossed his mind, Reki found himself unable to think about things that weren’t related to Langa in one way or another.

“When I met you, you had your arm broken,” Langa replies, reaching for Reki’s wrist again and holding his arm up between them as if that could possibly prove his point. Reki swallows, the inside of his wrist tingling at the memory of Langa’s fingertips.

Reki pulls his arm back out of Langa’s grasp and slides his hands into the pockets of Langa’s jacket, the tingling shooting all the way up his arm. “It was probably not broken anymore by that point.”

“Just how fast do you think bones heal?” Langa laughs, shaking his head. A few of the longer pieces of his hair fall into his eyes when he glances over at Reki, but they do nothing to block the brilliant blue of his eyes or the fondness that’s there, mixed right in with the affectionate exasperation that Reki is so used to seeing.

“My bones are very strong,” Reki says stubbornly, but he knows that he’s smiling, too. He sinks into the moment, lets it surround him and wraps him in a warmth that far exceeds that of Langa’s jacket. It’s been a while since Reki felt this at ease with anything— even himself— and he relishes in the fact that Langa is still here, still teasing him, still laughing at him but with absolutely no bite whatsoever. The only mark his words leave behind is a faint blush on Reki’s cheek. All the cracks that have been in Reki’s heart lately are completely repaired as Langa smiles back at him, his eyes sparkling with that mischief that Reki has found very intoxicating since the first day.

“That’s probably because you break them so often,” Langa replies, and he’s already pulling away to try and get out of Reki’s reach, his smile broad now. 

They round the last corner and by the time Reki is jamming his elbow into Langa’s ribs, Langa is already laughing again— a quiet huff under his breath that’s far more pleasant than the day outside. Reki’s so caught up in it, in his own laughter that comes freely, he doesn’t even get a chance to dodge Langa’s elbow as he returns the favor, nudging Reki in the ribs. And then they’re tripping over each other, falling together instead of apart, and Reki is nearly breathless by the time they finally stumble through the classroom door, the entirety of the class glancing up at their arrival. Reki doesn’t notice, his entire focus wrapped up in Langa as they finally manage to separate enough to sit down.

“You’re the worst,” Reki says as he slides back into his seat, depositing his board and bag on the ground at his feet.

“Ouch.” Langa slides into his own seat, his smile betraying the fact that he puts absolutely no stock in Reki’s words. 

It only takes a second for Langa to dig his notes out of his bag and straighten up and suddenly the two of them are dissolved into their own world again, completely oblivious of the things around them until class starts. So, if the rest of the class exchanged glances at Reki in Langa’s jacket, at Langa’s brilliant smile that they don’t get to see nearly as often as they should, well Reki doesn’t notice. He’s too busy leaning across the aisle that separates their seats and doodling something in the margin of Langa’s notes.

—x

The sun is barely still in the sky by the time Langa drops him off that night.

Reki climbs off the back of Langa’s bike, exchanging goodbyes quickly before hustling through the door because he’s definitely late for family dinner. Reki had tried to plead with Langa, to get him to attend family dinner too because there’s no way his mom could ever be mad at Langa, but Langa had already promised his own mom that he’d be home tonight for dinner and didn’t want to leave her alone. So, Reki’s only choice was to try to sneak through the door quietly and pretend he’d been there the whole time, distracted by something else and definitely not running around town with Langa until the sun was almost completely below the horizon.

He opens the door as slowly as he can, glancing over his shoulder at Langa who nods at him in good luck before taking off towards his own house, shrinking until he’s a speck that’s faded into the few remaining tendrils of red and orange that still paint the horizon in a beautiful picture. Reki creeps through the door, kicks his shoes off, and is just about to shut it behind him when he hears footsteps in the hallway that tell him he’s absolutely busted.

“Where have you been?” Reki doesn’t have to look at his mom to know she has her hands on her hips.

He lets out the breath he’d been holding and hangs his head, “I”m sorry mom, I—“

“And what are you wearing?” She asks, more kindly this time. Reki still isn’t looking at her, but he can hear the smile in her voice and the edge of something that he can’t quite place his finger on.

Startled, Reki looks down at his outfit only to realize that he’s still clad in Langa’s jacket. 

Langa had been right, he was perfectly fine in the cooler temperatures, and skating after class had certainly only warmed him up. A brief image of Langa, flushed cheeks and chest heaving as he cheers for Reki when he finally lands the newest trick he’s been practicing flashes through Reki’s mind, but he tries to stifle it. The point was that Langa hadn’t asked for his jacket back once and Reki hadn’t even considered giving it back because Langa hadn’t looked cold and— well, he’d actually completely forgotten he was wearing it. It was so comfortable that somewhere in the middle of class, Reki had forgotten that he wasn’t just wearing his own hoodie. Sure, this hoodie smelled like Langa and now that Reki was alone in his own home, he really realized just how true that was. But he’d been within a few feet of Langa all day long, he hadn’t really realized—

“Oh.” Reki glances up at his mom and hopes that he isn’t blushing, hopes his expression doesn’t betray all of his thoughts, He’s been having so many of them lately that he’d like to think he’s getting better at hiding them but he has a sneaking suspicion that he’s actually getting worse at keeping his thoughts off of his face. “I forgot my hoodie today so Langa let me borrow his jacket.”

The way his mom smiles in response is very fond and far too knowing and if it weren’t for the fact that Reki could tell just by the tilt of her lips that he was no longer in trouble, he’d hate whatever he thought she saw in his statement— or perhaps written across his face. “He’s a very kind boy. You should’ve invited him in.”

“I did.” Reki finishes shutting the door finally, just to have a reason to stop looking directly at his mom. He tries desperately to school his expression into something neutral and puts the questions he has about his suddenly racing heartbeat to the back of his mind, He can wonder about that later when he’s alone. Wondering about it now when his mom can see everything is a dangerous game that Reki has no intention of playing. “But he had to get home to his mom.”

“Well, let’s hope you didn’t make him late to his family dinner.” The bite is gone from her chiding and Reki knows he deserves it anyway so he just mumbles another apology and trails his mom into the kitchen, sliding into his spot at the table and not meeting any of the glances she throws his way while they eat.

—x

Once dinner finally ends, Reki escapes to his room as fast as he possibly can, barely putting the last dishes away before he’s all but sprinting to his room to get some distance from his mom and the looks she’s been sending him. He shuts his door with as little force as possible and finally flops down on his bed, letting out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding all night. His heart continues to thunder away in his chest, racing with just the mere thought of Langa and whatever dots his mom seemed to be connecting. He didn’t really have to work hard to dissect the meaning of his mom’s looks— she’d been sending them to him for a few weeks now, and only when he mentioned Langa. 

And yeah, okay, Reki knew what she was implying and if the way his cheeks constantly heated up under those looks was anything to go by, he’d say she was right. And if that wasn’t a good indicator, he could certainly look at the way he felt around Langa— the tingling in his wrist that he could call up at any moment with just a mere thought, the buzzing he felt throughout his whole body whenever he made Langa laugh.

He remembers it clearly— and often— the night at the skate park when they had finally reconciled things and had a chance to say their peace. When Reki had sat up, his body aching from the impact with the ground, only to find Langa laughing bright and brilliant, laughing in a way Reki had never seen before— well he had felt the entire world shift, then. It was like something inside of him had changed, like something had clicked into place and suddenly a lot of the answers he had been looking for were there in Langa’s laughter, in the kind words Langa said, in the touch of his hand. All the things Reki had been seeking, missing, longing for, all of it was there in Langa.

And it wasn’t that those things hadn’t been there before, but that Reki just hadn’t really realized it. 

So yeah, he knew what his mom was implying every time he said Langa’s name, and her eyes softened at the corner. He knew what she was thinking when she told him to invite Langa over more often, to let him get to know the family. It was a pretty clear line she was drawing and Reki couldn’t even deny it. The most he could ever do was duck his head and tell his mom that Langa was busy, but that he’d promised to come over as soon as he could. And then he would bring Langa home on days when they had homework to do instead of skating, or days when they were too tired or sore to stay out all night. And his mom would greet Langa at the door as if she were just greeting a second son as if he already had a solid place in this family— and he did. Reki’s sisters loved him and Langa was unbearably great with them, listening to their stupid stories that had sixteen detours before they got to the point. He’d ask questions, too, giving them a chance to say more. And when one of Reki’s sisters had given Langa a picture she’d drawn, Langa had taken it like it was the most precious thing he’d ever been offered and then later sent Reki a picture of it hanging on his wall.

It wasn’t just Reki that had these— these feelings about Langa, it was his whole entire family. 

It was like Langa just belonged here, right next to Reki. In that time that they’d been fighting, when Reki had felt entirely lifeless, nobody really asked him what was wrong. They saw the Langa-shaped hole in his life and they had all the answers they needed to why Reki had been behaving the way he was. 

Reki sighs and digs his phone out of one of the pockets of Langa’s jacket, clicking into his conversation with Langa out of habit more than anything else. He can agonize over these thoughts later, it’s not like they have a deadline. He’s been agonizing over them for weeks now anyways. 

Sorry, I forgot to give you back your jacket.

He sends the text to Langa and then closes his eyes, dropping his phone and waiting for it to thump onto his chest. It does, but it comes with the distinct sound of his phone hitting something else and suddenly Reki feels two things pressing into his chest instead of just one. 

Confused, he sits up and unzips the jacket, patting it down. Sure enough, over the left side of his chest, there’s something rectangular. Thin enough that he hadn’t noticed it all day but now that he’s aware of it, he wonders how it didn’t catch his attention sooner. Reki checks the outside of the jacket but there’s nothing there. Carefully, he pulls the jacket open and sure enough, there on the left side is a zipper practically hidden in the seam— a secret pocket. Confused and concerned that he damaged whatever was in here, Reki opens the pocket and reaches inside.

He hears his phone ding from where it’s now resting next to him on the bed, but he doesn’t care for the time being. His hand closes around cold metal and then he’s pulling Langa’s iPod out from the pocket and looking down at it. He remembers when Langa had first found his old iPod again. He’d been so excited to show it to Reki, offering Reki the second earbud as he played through the songs of his past and told Reki some of what those songs meant to him. He had an entire snowboarding playlist that he used to listen to on the slopes and when Reki listened to it, he loved every second of it. The entire feeling of the playlist was how Reki felt when he was skating next to Langa— the heavy beat of his heart, the weightlessness of going fast, the freedom, and the joy of sharing it with someone else. That was Reki’s favorite thing that Langa had shown him. And sometimes in the morning, when Reki first met up with Langa, he’d see Langa pull the earbuds out of his ears and tuck them away before raising his hand in greeting.

So really, it doesn’t surprise Reki to find this in here.

Smiling, Reki picks his phone back up and glances at the text from Langa.

It’s okay, you can keep it as long as you’d like.

Warmth blooms in Reki’s chest as he drops his phone without replying. Instead, he picks the iPod back up and reclines against his pillows, unlocking it and hopping into Langa’s playlists. He knows Langa won’t mind if he finds out that Reki was listening to his snowboarding music. Plus there’s one song in there Reki keeps asking Langa about and Langa can never remember the name of it. 

Reki’s smiling to himself, nestled in Langa’s jacket, the scent of Langa surrounding Reki in his own bed, the intimacy of that thought not lost on him, as he clicks into Langa’s playlists. He starts to scroll down by default, knowing that a snowboarding playlist has to be something Langa made a long time ago and therefore would be lower down on the list when something catches his eye. It takes Reki’s mind a second to register it and then he’s scrolling back up to the very top.

And there it is, staring back at him.

The first playlist on Langa’s iPod.

The playlist that’s titled simply: Reki.

Curious, and with his heartbeat in his throat, Reki clicks on the playlist. It opens up to a list of songs, a lot of which Reki recognizes as songs he’s mentioned loving before. He sees his top three favorite songs right at the start of the playlist, and that makes sense to Reki. Maybe Langa had just made this playlist to get to know Reki better or to help remember the kind of things Reki liked. It would make sense, and Reki couldn’t deny that he kept a similar mental list of all the things Langa had mentioned liking in passing.

But as Reki continues to scroll down the playlist, the songs start to change. Now he’s staring at a bunch of songs he’s never mentioned— some of which he’s never even heard of— but the ones that he recognizes all have one common theme: love songs.

For a moment, everything freezes and Reki thinks he must be seeing things. His finger trembles as it hovers over one of the songs, one earbud already in his ear. He can still feel his pulse in his throat, but now he can feel it in his fingertips, too, in his toes. Each breath feels like it’s shaking him apart completely. Carefully, he clicks on one of the songs.

And yeah, that’s definitely a love song.

Reki can feel his face turn as red as his hair as he listens to the warm melody of the song, as he lets the declarations wash over him. He closes his eyes, burying his face in the front of Langa’s jacket, and just listens, wondering how these singers managed to find the words for these feelings when they’ve been expertly eluding him for weeks now. How do people get up the courage to say these things? Reki thinks he’d never have the guts for that, thinks the mortification of it would be the sort of thing he’d never survive. 

But still, there’s something tempting about it. There’s something so honest and raw in these songs, something that strums all of Reki’s heartstrings and makes him ache. Just listening to them would’ve had him thinking about Langa anyways because he hears all of his own deepest desires, his most secret thoughts spoken aloud to the beat of these songs. But knowing that Langa picked these songs and put them on a playlist that was titled with. Nothing other than his name makes Reki feel— he doesn’t even know. But it feels pretty close to that mortification he was imagining earlier but it’s mixed with happiness and maybe a little giddiness. He suddenly feels like he could skate laps around the entire town and it would do nothing to dull the energy he feels pulsing through his veins.

He tries to calm himself down, tries not to let himself hope but, well— Langa’s a pretty direct guy. He may not have always been great at communicating his thoughts but the things he’s said, he’s always meant. And the fact that he would create a playlist like this, the fact that he had to hand-select these songs to be on here couldn’t mean nothing. It just couldn’t. Langa didn’t do or say things that were untrue or deceptive. If he crafted a playlist under Reki’s name and filled it with Reki’s favorite songs and love songs— that was deliberate.

Blown completely away by this, blown completely away by the fact that he didn’t see this, either, even though it was objectively right in front of his face, Reki can’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. 

It was just like with his own feelings— they had always been there but it had taken Reki a long time to see them. Langa and his feelings had always been there, too, and Reki sees that clearly now. He remembers all the things Langa said to him, thinks of the times Langa has worried after him and his injuries. Reki remembers the touch of Langa’s fingertips to the inside of his wrist, feels his pulse spike at just the thought of it, and immediately, he knows what he has to do.

—x

It’s Saturday, but that doesn’t stop Reki from getting up early and heading out to meet Langa. They have the whole day they can spend at the skate park and Reki absolutely intends to do just that. His fingers tremble as he slides his arms into the sleeves of Langa’s jacket, zipping it up over one of his T-shirts. His whole family is still asleep so he sneaks out the window, the wind whipping at his hair and his exposed neck as he rides down the ramp and heads to their usual meeting spot. 

As soon as Reki turns the last corner, he can see Langa already waiting there for him, dressed in his usual short sleeves. Reki tries to swallow around the lump in his throat, tries to hold onto the conviction he had found last night while listening to Langa’s playlist for him. It turns out it’s much easier to be confident in his decision when he’s alone in his room under the blanket of night. Because now, slowing to a stop so he can look up and meet Langa’s blue gaze, he feels all of that courage shriveling up.

What if he misread everything? What if Langa knew someone else named Reki?

“Good morning, Reki.” Langa smiles at him, raising his hand for a high five and Reki knows that he has to do this.

He raises his own hand, completing the high five, and offers his own smile that he knows is wavering a little around the edges. “Good morning.”

Langa scans down Reki’s body and Reki knows that he’s looking at the jacket. That’s the key to Reki’s plan, the lynchpin for how he’s going to bring up what he needs to bring up and Langa is taking the bait perfectly, “Keeping the jacket?”

“Yeah. Can’t let you know I have arms.” Reki jokes, his voice feeling unsteady. If Langa notices, he doesn’t say anything, but he does laugh at Reki’s joke and it’s just the right amount of encouragement Reki needs to follow through. Carefully, he reaches into the jacket and opens the secret internal pocket, pulling out Langa’s iPod. “But I’m not keeping this. I figure you’d probably like it back.”

“Ah,” Langa accepts his iPod, glancing at it. “That explains why I couldn’t find it this morning.”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to take it from you.” Langa shrugs in response, clearly unbothered by the whole thing, and goes to put the iPod in his pocket. And this is Reki’s moment, he knows that it’s his moment and yet he’s practically paralyzed by fear. 

What he has with Langa is too precious to him to ruin. Maybe it would be better if he just swallowed his words and left them unspoken. If Langa really felt the way that playlist implied, Reki could leave it to him to say something first, and then he could just kiss the confession off of his lips. That would be easier, and significantly less terrifying. But Reki had known he was a coward when it came to feelings last night and he’d put a failsafe into place, something to force him to act today. 

He reaches out and catches Langa’s wrist before he can finish putting the iPod away.

Langa looks up at him, the edges of his hair catching the light and making him look like he’s glowing. His beauty has always been ethereal, but it’s never been more true than this moment. “Reki?”

“I, uh—“ Reki swallows. The words stick in his throat. He needs to say something because he can’t risk Langa finding out on his own. He can’t let Langa just discover it and leave him with all these questions. The words are out of Reki’s mouth before he has a chance to overthink it any further. They come out clumsy and a little slanted, but he says them nonetheless and that’s what matters. “I also made a playlist on there.”

Langa’s eyebrows rise in surprise.

And that— that was Reki’s failsafe. He had made his own playlist and filled it with his own love songs. And he’d titled it with nothing other than: Langa.

It was the existence of that playlist that spurred Reki on. Because he really couldn’t let Langa find it when they weren’t together, when Reki didn’t have a chance to explain. And there was no hope that Langa wouldn’t find it at all. It would last until tomorrow at the latest before Langa went to listen to something and found the new playlist staring back at him. And he’d have a million questions, Reki was sure of that. Reki had been sure of that last night, too, which is why he’d made it. Because he knew it would be the only way to guarantee that he didn’t brush this off or try to avoid another conversation about feelings.

Because conversations about feelings scared the shit out of him and made him feel like hiding under a rock for a week, minimum, but he knew what he wanted— Langa— and he knew the only way to get it was to suck it up and talk it out. 

Langa pulls the iPod fully out of his pocket again, the movement dislodging Reki’s hand from his wrist. As Langa lifts the iPod to look up the playlist, Reki looks down at their feet, his cheeks burning, He hasn’t even said anything yet, Langa hasn’t even seen the playlist, and already the mortification is so strong that he wishes the ground would just open up underneath his feet and swallow him whole. 

Feelings have never been Reki’s forte.

Reki hears Langa’s intake of breath and then there’s a pause that lasts the length of three racing heartbeats. And then, finally, Langa says, “Reki?”

And now is the moment that Reki needs to explain, to lay it all on the line, to tell Langa what he probably should’ve told Langa that day in the skate park when they’d made up and Langa had said so many of the things that he needed to say. Now it’s the moment where Reki gets to tell Langa that his life changed for the better the day Langa picked up his skateboard, the day their paths officially intertwined. He gets to tell Langa that everything hurts when they aren't together and that Reki’s life is only complete when he has Langa by his side. He gets to tell Langa that his family loves him, that he loves him, that all he wants is to never be separated from Langa again.

Except, Reki’s not a singer or songwriter and words are not that easy. So he starts simple and really hopes he just gets enough momentum to say the rest.

“I’m sorry.” He starts with and he’s not sure if it’s the right or wrong way to begin this sort of thing. “I found your iPod last night and I went into it to find that song I’m always asking you about and then I found your playlist— the one with my name and all the— all the—“ love songs, Reki doesn’t say because he doesn’t think he’d be able to without losing whatever thin shreds of sanity he still had left. “And it just made me realize that maybe I really have been stupid this whole time because I—“

Oh god, Reki, come on. Just say it, just say the rest of it. Put an end to it and just put the words out there. Reki tries to encourage himself, tries to force the words to dislodge from where they’re trapped between his ribs but everything fails him. His sentence trails off into nothing, the meaning he’s trying to make clear hanging invisible between them, and Reki wishes he could kick himself.

The silence stretches on and pulls taut between them. One wrong move and it will shatter completely.

“I’m sorry, Reki,” Langa says finally, and there’s something in his voice that has Reki snapping his eyes up to Langa’s face, despite the overwhelming fear he feels about what he’s going to find written into the lines of Langa’s expression. “I never told you because I didn’t want to burden you with it. If you want to make fun of me, I understand.”

“Make fun of you?” Reki feels like he’s falling, like he has nothing to catch himself on. He feels dizzy. “Is that what you think I’m doing? You think I’m making fun of you?”

“Well, you made the playlist—“

“To try and tell you I feel the same way!” Reki cries, throwing his hands into the air. “I made the playlist so you would know that I feel all those things too!”

And, well, that’s one way to do a confession, Reki supposes, It’s a lot clumsier than he’d intended for it to be, absolutely no nuance whatsoever, but at least the words are out there. At least now, if nothing else, he knows that he was honest, even if it was a bit blunt and rough around the edges.

Langa is looking back at him, eyes wide. Reki stares back at him but all he sees is blue. Brighter than the sky, deeper than the ocean, the kind of blue that he’d let himself get lost in. The kind of blue he has already let himself get lost in because that’s the real truth of the matter— he’s been wrapped up in Langa since the first day they met.

Langa showed up in his life and filled a vacancy Reki hadn’t even realized was there. Langa had shown up and completed all the parts of Reki’s life that didn’t seem like they added up perfectly. It wasn’t until he met Langa, until he first saw Langa tape his feet to a skateboard with all the reckless abandon that Reki himself was known for that he realized all those parts of his life had been off balance because they’d been needing someone to complete them. All this time, Reki needed someone to jump into crazy adventures with him while also looking out for his safety. He needed someone to listen to him ramble on forever, someone who asked questions and added to his thoughts, someone who shaped him into a better, smoother version of himself. And Langa had shown up and done all of that without any hesitation, like it was what he was meant to do. Langa had done all of those things so naturally that Reki hadn’t even realized it was happening. 

“You—?” Langa is still staring at him and Reki still doesn’t have any additional words.

So, he does the only thing he can do, he repeats himself and hopes that Langa will read between the lines the way he always has. “I feel the same, yeah. And I— I didn’t know how else to tell you.”

Reki isn’t quite sure how he expects Langa to react to the confession, but he knows it’s not the reaction he gets. Langa’s free hand reaches out and tugs Reki forward by the collar of Langa’s jacket that Reki is still wearing, meeting him in the middle with a searing kiss. Reki tries to kiss back, to pour everything he needs to say into it, but before he gets much of a change, the board under his feet shifts with his changed stance and suddenly he’s tumbling into Langa and Langa is falling backward and they’re crashing to the ground together, a pile of limbs as Reki lands halfway on top of Langa. 

It takes a long second of groaning and throbbing elbows before they’re able to disentangle themselves enough to actually look at each other. Reki meets Langa’s gaze again, just in time to watch Langa erupt into laughter, throwing his head back and blinking his beautiful blue eyes closed as his shoulders shook with it. And then Reki was laughing too, full, deep laughs that took away all of the tension he had been feeling. Because this whole thing had been a certifiable disaster but it had also been perfect somehow, and even though his elbows still hurt, he found that he wouldn’t change a single thing about this moment. 

“Langa,” Reki says when they finally tone their laughter down enough to get actual words out. Langa opens his eyes again and Reki finds that this time, the words finally fit, finally come to him the way he’s been begging for them to. “I really like you.”

This time, when Langa reaches for him, Reki knows what to expect. He goes willingly, leaning in until their lips are practically touching, feeling the shape of the words as Langa whispers, “I really like you too, Reki. So much.”

And somehow this kiss is even more searing than the last as Langa pulls Reki down the remaining distance. With solid ground underneath him, Reki is able to actually lean back into the kiss, to pour everything into it that he’d been trying to put into the first kiss. This kiss is arguably so much better than their actual first kiss, but Reki doesn’t care. He loves both of them equally because both of them give him Langa, warm and solid pressed against him, Both of them give him Langa’s hand warm on his cheek, Reki’s fingers tangling into his hair, the racing heartbeat beating against his ribs like drums. He loves them both because both of them mean that Reki didn’t misinterpret the signs.

It may have taken him a while to get here, but he got here regardless and when he did, all he found was Langa waiting for him with open arms. 

When they finally separate and haul themselves off the ground, Reki dusting the dirt off of Langa’s jacket, the world feels different and yet exactly the same. Reki isn’t sure how to phrase it, but this time he doesn’t think he really has to. He’ll still spend a bunch of nights pondering over it though, he figures. For now, he’s happy to just climb onto his board again, to accept the earbud Langa offers him, and to listen to the playlist he made to express his emotions as he skates perfectly in sync with Langa to their favorite place, the place they share together. And as the day progresses, he’s happy to steal some kisses between tricks, to feel the brush of Langa’s fingers against his cheek, his neck, his wrists. 

For now, Reki’s just happy. And he’s pretty confident that he’ll stay that way for a long, long time. 

[machablossom]

I really want to rant about the ending. That was one wild episode 12 and I can't say I loved it, but I didn't hate it either.

Being honest, I think I'm mostly dissapointed things didn't go the way I wanted. I usually expect from a series to let me down in some aspects, but this time I felt like there was no rush of emotions like it happened during the past episodes.

I don't actually mind about the supposed queerbaiting, though I would have wanted Renga and Matcha Blossom to become canon. Alas, a girl could dream.

However, there were many things I believe could have been better, others which were just fine, and others which could have been different altogether from the very start of the series. Overall I feel like the main plot (Langa and Reki facing up against Adam) and the main theme of the anime (skating is a fun thing to do and it's better enjoyed surrounded with friends and people you love) were developed just right. However, the way they got to the results were not the best, in my opinion.

I would like to give my opinion on each character development, so this may take a while. Also, I'd like to point out what I would have wanted to happen, if things were up to me.

First and foremost, Adam is the character I had more trouble with. I didn't love the last beef against Langa much. I've had trouble with the entire Eve thing and the fact that he's a 30-something chasing after a 17 yr old boy, be it romantically or just skate-wise.

I know Adam's sexual preferences are never stated through the whole series but we can imply he does feel a certain attraction towards Langa beyond the skating scene and it is very uncomfortable, not to say wrong.

I loved the idea that he let go of the idea of chasing his 'Eve', to celebrate a wedding for a funeral. I am all for theathrics and drama, and his "final boss" outfit was nuts. The skateboard was awesome too! But the mere implications of him, turning into some sort of Grim Reaper whilst racing against Langa one last time are very bone-chilling, at least to me it was, again, very unconfortable.

I'd have loved for Adam to lose to Reki, OR, Tadashi and Langa to race so that the final encounter could have been Adam vs. Tadashi. That way, I think he'd have gotten to reflect on his actions and actually grow as a character rather than just be cured by the power of fun and friendship.

In the perfect scenario, he'd escape with Tadashi, he'd ditch his job and tell his aunts to go f*ck themselves, close 'S' for good and get some therapy somewhere where he could be happy skating with his beloved assistant.

On the other hand, I was hoping he'd get arrested. I hoped Kiriko got to put him behind bars and ruin his carreer both as a politician and as a skater, so that S would close. Maybe in some sort of epilogue we'd seen him come out of jail and make up with the gang, skating with them again as friends. Maybe Langa would go see him in prison to help. Idk, I feel like he needs retribution and punishment, but he was also a character who needed help.

The last part with Tadashi and the dog thing was weird and I didn't love it, but I think it works for their relationship. I won't complain, some other people here on tumblr have put it into words way better than I would have.

What I feel was the worst, worst thing they could do was have him crash their celebration party, falling ridiculously from a helicopter with a bouquet for Langa. No. No, just no. The creeps again. Ugh.

Then, I have to say the second in line who bothered me the most were Miya and Shadow.

It's silly: I really screamed in rage and pain about Shadow not getting together with the manager. I wanted all the other ships to be canon, but I knew it's Japan we're talking about and I know we'd get teased about it in the best case scenario, but the straight ship? The one they could totally go for? NO! Also, I think Shadow got played dirty, shoving him into the background after he was attacked in ep. 10. We didn't get to see any justice done to him against the dude that beat the crap out of him, if, perhaps, Shadow could beat him again at 'S', this time fair and square.

Miya, oh my poor catboy. Played so dirty as well. I liked the last time we see him when he meets with his friend again in school and they seem to reconect. But I wish we would have gotten to see them skate together again. This is very wishful thinking, but I wished we could have seen Miya a little bit older, when the others could have taken him a lot more seriously. I wanted him to do much more than just be a background character, because he deserved it.

Next is Joe and Cherry. Oh boy. Hold onto your horses, I have a LOT to say about my favourite duo.

Listen here, I wanted them to be canon. I hoped for the discreet rings on their fingers shot, or a sudden drop of any of them that they had been secretly married for the past two years or something like that. I wanted flashbacks to their trip to Paris. I wanted more of their teenage years. I wanted a date night at Sie La Luce. Man, I would have died for a kiss. But, alas, it's Japan we're talking about and I know I'm viewing the series from a western point of view.

But that's not what bothered me. What really bothered me was that all the tension that had been growing since ep. 7 between the two of them and then between them and Adam seemed to be just a stepping stone for Langa to win the tournament. We saw Cherry get slapped with a skateboard just for us, the expectators, to dislike Adam a lot more.

I would have loved for them to have the chance to reconect with Adam, be it by punching him or by accepting a heartfelt apology. Specially Cherry. Kaoru deserved MUCH better than what he got, and Joe deserved better than what we've got to see from him. The last scene we saw of them, idk, I thought it was funny and I loved how Cherry showed so little professionalism by drawing on his bf in public. LOL.

But I also didn't like it. I think they ended up being comic relief when they were two of the most wonderfully developed partners in the whole series, even if we've just got some crumbs of their relationship. Also, Joe's deep and caring personality, the whole pinning on Kaoru situation, feels like it matters so little when we see him back at the starting point, just being a shameless flirt. The advantage I see from all of it is that we've got a lot left to the imagination with them.

(Man, i would have loved to see Joe punch Adam in the face with a skateboard at the celebration party after his arrival on the helicopter).

And finally, Reki and Langa. Being honest? I actually loved them. I didn't mind there wasn't a explicit moment of romance or a confesion. That was never the point. The symbolism of their 'friendship', of their bond, is more than enough for me.

I think Langa was slightly too overpowered. As I said before, I think the beef was a little too over the top, but, mah, I've seen a lot of sports anime, its not that over the top. I'd have loved to see him snowboarding at some point, perhaps then we'd have seen Langa as a very talented athlethe and not just some random teenager with crazy skills he just pulled out of his pretty canadian butt. Then again, the little scene with his father's memory was really nice. Closure over mourning, that's a wonderful thing to do.

Reki, my boy, on the other hand, I loved him. Cheering for his bf and believing in him and waiting for him at the end of the line, *chef's kiss*. The part where Langa falls over him and they hug on the ground, perfect, hilarious. The insinuation that they are both happy when they are together, yes, yes, good. The last scene with Reki and his family, I love it! I have nothing wrong to say about Reki. I love him and I'd give an arm for him.

...

Overall, it was a good series. It could have been done better. The ending could have been better. I would love a sequel anyway, if only they could focus on the plotlines they left inconclusive and, for god's sake, they kick the creepyness down a notch. For what I conclude, the entire series was meant as fanservice and they didn't imagine it would grow so big. Anyway, I will keep writing Matcha Blossom, I really loved them and I hope this is not the last we ever see of them all.

[smoresasaur]

February 13th 6:15 pm

The flower shop

Seeing as it was the day before valentines day, the flower shop was mainly filled with roses, tulips, daisies, orchids and carnations. Seeing he was out of costume it always was a surprise to see any familiar face walk into the store. Maybe at around four one of the people he known decently came in requesting flowers, yellow roses to be exact.

So now the man known by the others as Shadow had a fair amount of band aids around his fingers after dethorning what seemed to be ten thousand roses.

It was no surprise hearing the little bell on the door ding. It was not the most popular flower shop but it was one of the better known ones by people who skated. Especially the five people he hung out with nearly on an every other day basis.

The only thing that he was surprised by was the subtle Canadian accent in the Japanese dialect. Not surprising of who it was. But just to see him this close to Valentines day was odd, especially when he was actually going to be working on the day of.

"May I get..." The blue headed male paused as he did the math, or tried to recollect how many roses he did wish to get. "Six yellow roses with red tips?"

It was a surprise that Langa ordered that many. Six roses did mean that somebody was saying 'I want to be yours' so he assumed Langa had a crush.

He did get working on that while Langa waited with everyone else. It was good to not see anybody he known there when he was giving and paid for the flowers.

It was a positive to have been out within twenty minutes for Langa. He got to go right home only to be stopped by Miya holding a yellow rose out to him. It was the only rose that didn't have a romantic meaning.

"Thanks for being a buddy." The male had said, he didn't want anything in return but as he wasn't affectionate like the older male Langa known he did wait to give a flower. "It's not needed to return it."

Langa thanked him and was surprised to see they were both going in the same direction. Curiosity was killing the cat as Miya saw the roses Langa held close.

"So I think you know what the colour of your roses mean but who are you giving them too?"

Langa did stay quiet as he had to think of how to phrase it. "Well you do know them."

Miya known exactly who it was by that answer, not even having to think. Both were heading towards Reki's house.

Miya did make his way to everyone's house to give them their respective roses. One to Langa then one to Reki. And then he made his way to the rests. Leaving one at Shadow's door with a note.

February 13th 7:00 pm

Kyan residence

They had spent fifteen minutes so far together before it finally dawned on Reki to ask about the flowers, "so who are they for?"

"You." It was a one worded response as he did offer them to the male beside him, they were sitting on his bed afterall so this was an easy feat.

Reki did blush, even if the male wasn't expecting it. He known of the rose meaning. Falling in love.

They did hug for a bit. No concern of the sisters walking in as they cuddled and watched videos all the time. They said the happy valentines day thing early, just in case their boss caught on at work.

February 13th 9:55 pm

Flower shop

It was right before closing time for the day. The day before valentines they always went a longer day so any last minutes didn't happen to deal with no flowers being available.

Kaoru was one of the last costumers to show up but he did request for a sunflower but also three red roses. He was well aware of that meaning behind the colour and the amount of roses.

February 13th 10:15 pm

Joe's house

It did take a bit for the male to arrive but eventually he was there. Flowers in hand and a box of chocolates in another. They have been dating for just over three months now in secret.

Sure their instragrams respectively known that the. were taken. But not by each another.

Nanjo's mainly consisted if the other was shown of him from behind. It was nice as it did promote the restaurant as well, most people would come to him for relationship advice most were good.

Kaoru didn't really have much posted rather than random drawn things on the others back so he could zoom in. Sometimes it was calligraphy but other times it was simple things that he just got bored and started. Elephants and suns were frequently featured.

But Joe did answer the door, a little bummed as to how late the other shown up. But he did clean up well, wearing a deep v cut shirt so yes his chest was on display, no surprise. Jeans and socks as who wears shoes inside the house.

Kaoru did spy a vase that Joe had set up. Two vases to be correct. One was filled with water and waiting for flowers. The other had lavender roses. Ten to be exact and a branch with cherry blossoms on it.

They did decide not to do anything too grand. No pre valentines day dinner. But they did decide to bake this late at night.

Cupcakes were simple and they could have them done before eleven.

So that is what the decided to bake. Cupcakes, Cherry was in charge of dry ingredients as last time there was a fair amount of eggshells.

An idea did spring into his head as he coated his hand in flour. It was practically the only thing to do and a smirk did form on his face while he placed his hand on the males lower back to see how the food was coming along for the taller. That hand did trail down as he patted the males backside in a playful manner.

It took Nanjo a second to realize what exactly has just happened. So a grumble came out. He could change when the cupcakes were in the oven.

But they decided to make the icing early and listen to music from the radio. Slow dancing in the kitchen while the music played. Kaoru's hands now did not have any flour any more as they bits there transfered to the males back.

February 13th 11:30 pm

Joe's still

With the cupcakes now decorated they shared two on the couch. Joking a bit as they did watch a horror movie, occasional jumps from Cherry at the jumpscares.

When the cupcakes were gone that they brought to the living room, they did cuddle under a blanket. Letting the clock tik and tok while the night shifted to early morning.

February 14th, 9:35 am

Joe's Place

It being so early in the morning Joe was cooking while Cherry slept in a bit. He did get breakfast ready which was only something sweet And fruity so a bigger breakfast didn't do so much.

After waking the pink headed male up and presenting him with food. He did go off to set up the other surprise while Kaoru ate.

That other surprise that the male did get set up was in the bathroom as hey he did know a fair amount of what Kaoru liked but also what woman liked in general. So he could put that into the efforts to serenade more than he already has done.

The male did draw a bath, making sure it wasn't too hot or too cold, rose petals were added as well as a cherry scented bubble bath. It was one that Kaoru jokingly talked about once with the others while practicing that Joe overheard. So of course he made a note to pick up something similar. Or exact.

Either way a glass of wine had been poured up each for the two respectively, before he set them up to go and get the other male who gladly was finished his meal.

He did set the stuff aside as he could clean later, when he got the chance that wasn't snuggling with the other.

They did go to the room, sharing a bath and some wine. There were occasional splashes as they adjusted or insults they just had to throw at each another. They did have affection mixed in with them, practice for another time. When they would be skating at S again.

But it was a highly enjoyable time for both. Joe wasn't spending Valentines day with anyone but Koaru, refusing to go with the hoard of girls he had.

It was a nice time with the other male, kisses were stolen as they both needed affections. Some of them more than others. But the day was spent at home until Joe had to go to work.

The day was good, Kaoru was staying over the night again for more affections as he was a light weight with alcohol. Cuddles, kisses and scary movies was a lovely way to spend the day of hearts and flowers.

[cheritsundere]

reki/langa and 16 for the writing prompt?

Thanks for this, Noelle! I’m gonna have fun with this one:

“If you want, we could go together?”

Post graduation/Winter break after highschool

❄️

Reki isn’t a wimp. He’s broken his arm more times than he or his mom would care to count, has busted a lip, takes shots at the doctors without blinking, and overall isn’t scared of much. He’s even grown past the nightmares of the dance of death at ‘S’ so long ago.

No, Reki wasn’t a wimp. But this was gonna take him a minute.

“If you want, we could go together?”  Langa says, not a hint of mockery in his calm voice. He holds out a gloved hand, and the irony of the action is not lost on Reki. It wasn’t all that long ago that Langa was the one fumbling on a board with Reki offering his hand instead. 

Reki stares at it, baffled.

“So, like, I get you are trying to be supportive here, but trying to slide down a mountain while holding hands is just going to make it worse, dude.”

Langa's mouth opens slightly at that and he recalls his hand only to place it on his chin in thought, as if the idea of the difficulty increasing when factoring in joined hands had never occurred to him. Of course, knowing Langa, Reki wouldn’t be surprised if it hadn’t. Then, as if coming to a decision, he looks up with a smile and Reki can swear he can see sparkles twinkling around him. “We can go at the same time. That way, if you start to lose balance, I’ll be there to catch you and keep you upright the whole way down. Like when you fell at the beach that one time, remember?”

Oh, Reki remembered that night, alright. A little too well if he was honest with himself, daydreaming about it once or twice the week they got back before he caught himself and pushed the memory to the far back of his mind to unpack at a later date (never). 

He clears his throat. “Yeah. That, uh, that could work. You sure you don’t mind?”

Langa’s smile only widens and he shakes his head. “Not at all. Ready?” He angles his body in a tried and memorized position, the action most likely second nature to his friend after having done it his whole life. 

Reki tries to follow suit, doing his best to mimic the stance but finding it’s not even remotely close. Oh well. If snowboarding was anything like skateboarding, he was only going to get the hang of it after screwing it up a few million times. He might as well just take the plunge. 

And there was snow to cushion the blow here, unlike with skateboarding, so how bad could it be?

“Ready. One,” Reki started.

“Two...” Langa matched him.

“Three!” 

Reki leaned forward, trusting gravity to do its job and carry him downwards, unlike the flat and level surfaces he was used to pushing off of to propel him forward like on his wheels. The difference was jarring, but Reki was adaptable if nothing else and he tried to will his body to stay focused on remaining upright and-

“Reki!” 

He looked up to see a break in the pure white blanket, a decently sized rock poking up right ahead and Langa never explained how to turn or stop and yep, great, this was how he was going to die. He sent a thought up to the heavens, to beg that his mother wouldn’t cry for too long and that the twins should let their big sister have his headphones and that he never got a chance to kiss Langa before his untimely demise, before he felt a pair of grounding hands along the back of his waist and suddenly he was moving to the left, avoiding the obstacle with ease before he could even register it. 

Langa’s clear green eyes twinkled at him. “I got you.”

Oh. Well, fuck. How was he supposed to not fall after that?

“Crap.”

Confusion crossed Langa’s face for a second but was quickly replaced with panic when he realized what was happening. “Rek-”

He fell backward, munching onto the snow and coming to an unceremonious stop. He groaned. 

Langa stopped a lot more gracefully, he was sure, the sound of the snow crunching and parting with force as Langa’s snowboard twisted to a stop to slide up next to Reki’s unmoving form. “Are you okay?” If Reki didn’t know any better, he’d almost say he sounded amused.

Reki opened his eyes and met the blue sky above along with Langa’s pretty face looking down at him and yep, Langa was definitely holding back a laugh, look at his stupid wobbly mouth-

“I hate snowboarding.”

Langa covered his mouth but his crinkled eyes betrayed him. “Sorry. Want to try again?”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before sitting up. Then, despite his better judgment, held out a hand and looked up at his instructor. “Don’t let me fall next time, Langa-sensei.”

Langa tugged him to his feet with a laugh. “No promises.”

---

If anyone would like to send me some writing prompts, they are still open!

[fandomsnfluff]

a lee reki and ler langa fic with them playing a game of tag or hide and seek (chasing and hiding)

aww this is adorable!! i can definitely see something like this happening between them aghhh <333 (this also got a bit long so i put part of it under a cut)

you’re it!

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

Langa was pretty sure that Reki was just messing with him.

It had been three hours since Langa had arrived at Dope Sketch just to hang; neither of them had shifts on that particular day. However, Reki kept running back and forth, hiding behind a bookshelf or a piece of furniture in the back room for a good twenty minutes before re-emerging, only to go back a few moments later. What on earth was he doing?

Turns out that Reki had to tell him straight away to figure out what was going on.

“Come on,” Reki whined, tugging at one of Langa’s sleeves. “We should play hide and seek tag!”

“In this small space?” Langa responded, not taking his eyes off of the comic book he was reading from one of the shelves.

“Yeah, that’s what’ll make it fun!”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause I remember only playing hide and seek tag in larger outdoor spaces or in a big building with lots of places to hide.”

“But it would be fun to at least try, right?” Reki began to bounce all over the place. Langa rolled his eyes, but deep down he thought the redhead’s energy was really cute. He found himself unable to resist the temptation to play a game with his boyfriend, so he stood up with a long sigh.

“All right, I’ll try. Do you wanna hide first or should I?”

“Why don’t I be the seeker first?” Reki suggested. “I’ll turn around and we can both set our timers for thirty seconds. Once it goes off I’ll come and find you.”

“Okay, sounds good.” The two of them opened up their phones and, as soon as both of them set their timers to thirty seconds, they started at the same time, and Langa immediately ran off to find a good hiding spot.

Of course, the first place he went to was the back garage, since it was the place other than the main floor that he was the most familiar with. Behind the space where the door swung inward was a small table with a spinny chair; he could never remember Reki ever using this one. He always used the bigger one facing the window opposite of the door.

He tried to close the door to the room silently, but it let out a squeak as it almost closed; there was no way Reki didn’t hear that. He let out a sigh, hoping that his plan would work as he squeezed his way under the small and weak desk that led out a loud squeal when he twitched a muscle the wrong way. He was much, much too big for this little space, but he would have to make do.

His timer went off, and Langa slowed his breathing so he could barely make a sound that would alert Reki. And, of course, but much too quickly, Langa heard the footsteps pounding towards the doorway, and he sucked in a final breath, not daring to breathe anymore. The door opened slowly with the same squeal that it made when Langa closed it earlier, and within seconds, Reki’s face had popped down to glance under the desk, letting out a loud “BOO!” as he did so. The sound and gesture made Langa jump backwards with an alarmed noise, hitting his head against the bottom of the desk and the wall behind him. Reki, of course, immediately burst into laughter.

“You’re so funny!” the redhead exclaimed, clutching his stomach in a desperate attempt to control his laughter. “You’re that big and you try to hide under this little thing? And you close the squeakiest door in the whole building to try to hide yourself?”

Langa found himself blushing at the comments. “Shut up,” he hissed. “I haven’t played this game in a while, all right?”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Reki then reached down to help his boyfriend out from under the table. “I guess it’s my turn to hide now!”

As soon as they made their way back to the main floor, Langa turned towards the bookshelf at the front right of the store so he couldn’t see any activity on the rest of the floor through his peripheral vision. They set their timers to thirty, and he could hear Reki bounding off immediately after they had started their timers. As the seconds ticked by, Langa impatiently twiddled his thumbs, desperate to try out his seeking skills from his childhood.

The timer went off, and it was finally his turn to pursue the hunt.

For some reason, Langa’s first instinct was to return to the room he had hidden in earlier. The door hadn’t moved, however, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to just check. He peeked under all the desks and other furniture in the room, but there was no sign of Reki anywhere.

Next, he checked the VR room. As he was heading over there, he just remembered that he had heard the redhead’s footsteps moving in this direction, so he decided that he would go check the room more diligently. He peeked behind every beanbag chair in the room, behind the TV, under the control desk, and even in every nook and cranny in the closet and shelves in the back of the room.

Now Langa was just confused, scratching his head. If Reki wasn’t in here, or in the back room, or on the main floor, where could he have gone off to?

Then when he turned his head he noticed a doorway on the wall perpendicular to the wall with the closet. Peering into it, he saw a staircase. Now he was really confused; how had he never seen this before? These weren’t the stairs that went up to the roof.

Curiously, Langa crept up the stairs; he would be lying if he wasn’t at least a bit afraid. The shop wasn’t particularly new, and there was definitely a chance that there were some spaces that the employees had yet to discover. However, when Langa reached the top of the staircase, there were just...shelves. And tables. It was almost as if the floor was a mini library.

Movement at the corner of his eye caught Langa’s attention, and he turned his head; he could have sworn he saw a mop of red hair to his right before it rapidly disappeared. Langa smirked. Gotcha. So he began the chase.

It was almost a maze up there, and Langa was amazed that Reki seemed to know the floor so well. The more he moved, the more he could have sworn he saw Reki’s shape darting in between bookshelves and under and around the desks and chairs. As soon as Langa spotted the figure move to turn around one of the shelves, he spun around and turned to he could enter the same row until he was standing to face Reki.

“Gotcha,” Langa hissed with a smirk.

Reki only let out a yelp of excitement and turned around to run away from Langa, but the taller teen was faster. Darting towards Reki, he flung himself at the teen until he was practically bowling him to the ground, being careful not to hurt him.

Langa held Reki in a playful headlock, rolling to his side so he was holding him to his chest. The redhead squirmed in an attempt to get away.

“I thought this was a game of hide-and-seek,” Langa said. “You can’t break the rules! You can’t run from me!”

“Yes I can!” Reki protested, squirming.

“Nope. Not while you’re with me. Besides, you never told me about this place before. What’s up with that?”

Reki grunted, attempting to squirm away, and the two spent a good few minutes squabbling on the ground. Reki had somehow ended up cornering himself under one of the tables, his spine pressed against the wall, and he made a poor move by grabbing Langa’s arm to pull him close to him. Langa, using this tactic to his advantage, decided to use his other arm to go in for the kill, squeezing at Reki’s fleshy stomach.

Of course, the redhead let out a squeal, energetic and screechy laughter quickly following the start of the attack. Langa smirked; perfect. This was exactly how he planned to win this game. He could only really switch his hands very sparingly due to the position that Reki was in; he didn’t want to end up hurting him. But it all still managed to work really well, since Reki was so incredibly hyper ticklish on every inch of his body.

“LAAAHAHAHANGAAAA!!” Reki screamed, letting out a squeal when the taller teen dug his fingers into his ribs. “STAHAHAPITICAN’TBREEEHEHEHEATHE!!!”

“Say you’re sorry,” Langa said. “Apologize for not telling me about this sooner.”

“I’MSOHOHOREEEHEHEHE!!!” Reki immediately complied, but he threw his head back with a loud, belly-deep cackle when Langa wiggled his fingers under the hem of his shirt. The redhead kicked out, missing Langa’s chest by a hair, but the bluenette decided to comply, since he so kindly obliged to his request.

Reki was left panting under the desk, arms and legs stretched out in every direction. Langa smiled; his boyfriend was so cute. There were so many cute things about him, but him being ticklish enough to die if it went on for too long definitely took the cake.

“Are you ready to tell me about this floor?” Langa asked as soon as Reki caught his breath.

Reki let out a huff before standing up, blinking at Langa’s request. Excitement shone in his eyes, and his face stretched into a huge smile. “Yeah, of course! In fact, I think there’s a book about it around here somewhere...”

[allmyhomieshateadam]

My friend forced me to post this, so here’s some Renga I wrote in my notes app.

Langa was sitting in Reki's bedroom again for the 5th time this week. It was a lot quieter than normal, and he had a chance to properly look around the room - Langa’s usually so enamoured with Reki himself that he’s only really noticed a few of the the big posters plastered on the walls.

So now Langa is lying quietly on Rekis floor, experiencing his bedroom. The window is open and it’s bright, he can see everything well. So Langa lets his eyes wander, taking in the details in Reki’s many (many) posters, and even trying to decipher the rolled up ones on the floor. Langa stares at the papers on the desk and admires Reki’s skill in drawing; he wishes he could just take those designs home and tack them up on his walls to appreciate forever. He spends a while gazing at the skateboards that Reki made himself too, and the bookshelf with about a million comics shoved onto it.

Langa lies back and leans on Reki’s bed, nudging his foot. He can smell the bedsheets - endearing and familiar, exactly like Reki.

It’s warm outside, and there’s a breeze coming through the window. There was no where else Langa wanted to be.

Then the door suddenly slammed shut. It drew both the boy’s attention, and revealed to Langa the acoustic guitar and music stand that hides behind his door. Reki got up to go open it slightly again.

‘You do music, Reki?’

‘Eh, used to.

Langa was curious, what did Reki sound like? Did he sing or did he just play guitar? Was he any good?

Well probably, Langa thinks. Reki’s incredible at everything.

‘Could you play something?’

‘Uhh, I guess?’ He turned around with his guitar and Langa could see his face going a little red. ‘What do you want me to play?’

Langa thought for a while. He really didn’t care, he just wanted to hear Reki.

‘Whatever you want,’ With that, Reki starts mumbling to himself. All Langa could catch was something about a Tiktok trend and musicals. Reki opens his mouth and breathes deeply while he adjusts his fingers on the fretboard to start.

He starts singing quietly, getting louder and more confident with each word.

-lovely eyes, and make me laugh, come out of hiding, what do I do with that?

Wow... he’s really really good.

O h god, but what if when he sees me, I like him and he knows it!? What if he opens up a door and I can’t close it~

If Reki’s laughter is like music to Langa’s ears, then this is a thousand times better. His voice is beautiful, Langa never wants it to end.

What happens then?

Reki tips his head back, and starts singing louder; pouring his heart into it.

If, when he holds me, my heart is set in motion? I’m not prepared for that, I’m scared of breaking open,

Langa’s heart does flips on every note. The lyrics seem so personal, and suddenly he’s drowning in his feelings. Every word hits hard as he’s staring at the redhead singing in front of him.

Still I can’t keep from hoping to find someone to talk to, who likes the way I am,

Reki sings this part softer - he’s smiling a little as he faces Langa. And Langa can see into his eyes, and they’re just as bright and beautiful as the rest of him. The hazel colour is illuminated by the sun so much so that they look golden.

Reki pulls back as he reaches the end of the song.

Someone who when he sees me-

Wants to agaaiin~

He starts belting the last note, and Langa is in absolute awe. Reki opens his mouth wider to let the sound come out better but he’s interrupted when Langa moves forward and kisses him.

It’s all so sudden. Langa’s eyes are shut tightly, and he can feel Reki going red and hears the guitar drop. He’s somewhat terrified to open his eyes, but when he does he can see Reki in front of him and it all seems worth the nerves. With the guitar on the ground, Reki’s hands are free and Langa takes the opportunity. He interlocks their fingers, and smiles into Reki’s lips.

Reki pulls apart, completely flustered. He goes to put his hand over his face and gets even redder when he realises that he’s still holding Langa’s hand. Langa laughs a bit, then smiles at him gently.

‘I- uh, why did you uhm, do that?’ Reki asks nervously, peeking through the fingers of his spare hand. Laughing again, Langa cups Reki’s face and presses their foreheads together.

‘Because you’re incredible, and talented, and I could listen to you sing for the rest of time, and-‘

‘Ok, ok! Geez, I’ll sing again.’

[orange-plum]

So I’m not really in SK8 anymore, so I doubt I’ll ever finish this. But I dabbled in some Renga post car accident episode. It’s going to collect dust in my folders, but y’all can have it if you want it. It is, I must emphasize, incomplete, though.

Either way, here you go:

Fandom: SK8 Pairing: Renga Status: Incomplete/discontinued

----------------------------

The off-white shell cradling his fractured appendage was as much of an eyesore as it was a nuisance. As if to prove his point, Reki gingerly raised his leg, ultimately forced to lower it a moment later with a bitter grimace. 

“I can’t believe this . . . ,” he quietly groaned into his hands. Bowing his head, Reki closed his eyes to will away the miserable reality he found himself in. And here he’d thought his current situation couldn’t have possibly gotten worse.

Reki had too much pride to accept that man’s money after being struck by his vehicle, but a broken leg was a broken leg. He wasn’t going to be able to hide it from his family, even if the futile idea had briefly crossed his mind while he had been manhandled out of the street in a daze. 

He wouldn’t ask for compensation. All he’d wanted was fast treatment and for the bill not to be sent to his mother.

Her worried face and flurried hands as he’d shown up after sunset, wobbling on crutches with less than no explanation wasn’t exactly something Reki wanted to dwell on, either. There was no changing what happened. But what did he really expect after running out of the hospital in a panic? 

In the end, it wasn’t too surprising a car had hit him. The mortification still heated his cheeks like hotplates.

Fingering the edge of a stiff piece of stationary, Reki frowned and flicked it back into his backpack. The man had paid for his casting and scrapes, giving him a blank card with a phone number scrawled hastily across.

Call me if there are any further complications and I will take care of it right away, he’d said.

“Fat chance,” Reki snorted, laboriously shifting his leg into the aisle to get more comfortable. 

Students had asked him about his sudden injury as they’d filtered into the classroom that morning, seeming to hone in on the hulking distraction that was so very out of place.

Finding the energy to muster a smile about a clumsy skating mishap had been one hindrance. Seeing Langa’s face when he stepped into the room, zeroing in on Reki’s leg, was another thing entirely. Reki didn’t know what to make of that expression, suddenly feeling very self-conscious, yet unable to hide the evidence of the fateful car accident.

“Reki . . . , ” Langa breathed, drifting forward like a ghostly wraith. Up close, Reki could see the slight tremble of his jaw as he searched for the proper words to illustrate his surprise. Langa’s gaze flickered away from the cast to the bandages on Reki’s chin, his lips soundlessly flapping.

Reki averted his eyes, unable to bear the concern bleeding onto Langa’s face. Under the loose sleeves of his sweatshirt, he felt the irritated sting of road rash on his forearms.

“What happened to you?” Langa asked in a rush. He ignored his seat in favor of hovering. Reki ducked his head and chewed at his lip, hating the sudden attention. As awful as it was, he’d gotten used to the quiet between them. This encounter was uncomfortable. “When did this - Are you alright?”

The alarm in Langa’s voice was somehow worse than the worry on his face. Damn.

“It’s nothing,” Reki muttered, hoping if he feigned nonchalance that Langa would dutifully follow suit. He careened away from the frantic static prickling his side, Langa’s concern a physical entity. It smothered him. If Reki had any luck left at all, Langa would catch on and drop it.

“It’s not nothing,” Langa countered. When he spoke again, his voice was lowered an octave, aware of the few eyes that curiously drew towards the two. “When did you break your leg?”

Running his tongue over his teeth, Reki managed to glance at him. There was an anxious energy about Langa. His hand reached forward, halting as Reki jerked his arm away. He regretted it instantly at the brief flash of hurt that flitted across Langa’s features.

“Last night.”

Pursing his lips, Langa reluctantly retreated the foot back into his desk. Thankfully, he sat down, but his torso shifted precariously close. Langa paused, as if to properly consider what he was about to say, not quite confident in his delivery. Reki wilted at the small torrent of hope in his words.

“At S . . . ?”

The instant flare of annoyance rekindled before Reki managed to suppress it. Chin in palm, Reki turned his attention to the window, muttering to himself before he could help it. “Of course not at S.”

“What?”

“I’m fine.”

Langa looked like he wanted to protest. His reflection in the glass drew their brows together, his mouth opening to fling more unwanted questions Reki’s way. 

The bell chimed for class, cutting Langa’s interrogation short. A small mercy.

Reki drew in a breath of relief, letting it go only when he saw Langa reluctantly retreat into his seat. 

He didn’t want to talk about this with Langa. He didn’t want to talk to him period. It was already awkward as it was.  He wasn’t properly equipped to put his feelings into words just yet. Adding this new shame to the mountain of contempt Reki already felt was far too daunting to tackle.

But if the continuous side glances Langa kept bestowing upon him throughout class were anything to go by, Reki knew he couldn’t run from him forever.

X x X

Avoiding someone was a lot more difficult on crutches.

With their friendship so out of sync as of late, Langa catapulted between seeking Reki out and giving him his space. It didn’t matter if they were sitting side-by-side in class together, or if Langa ran around the city to locate him. Reki and his words always evaded Langa’s advances.

The shock of spotting that bulky cast, however, might have turned the tides in Langa’s favor.

Giving Reki space to manage their fallout was one thing, but Langa couldn’t bring himself to ignore the dismal state of his body as he hobbled around their school on crutches.

How did I not know this had happened? Have I really not been paying attention? Langa thought to himself. His stomach twisted anxiously, sending his lunch riding on a nauseating wave. He trailed behind Reki towards the school gates, unsure how to approach him.

Reki hadn’t exactly been the most chatty as of late, but the short conversation this morning had somehow been worse than the silence. If Langa had thought he’d been sufficiently shut out before, he now knew he was gravely mistaken.

Reki clearly didn’t want to tell him about this. 

That hurt.

“Careful!” Langa warned, darting forward in time to steady Reki’s arm as he stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. Reki jerked in his hold, despite taking care to be gentle. Langa immediately pulled his hand away, his heart pounding in his chest at the sight of wide eyes and a wrinkled nose. 

“Sorry,” he apologized just as swiftly, taking a step away as Reki took a few steady breaths. “You just . . . I thought you might fall.”

It’s not just his leg? Langa silently realized, swallowing the building knot in his throat. How bad is it? Was this really not from skating, then?

Though Reki had gotten hurt before, even racing Adam hadn’t put him in such a brittle condition. Reki looked like shit boiled over. And now that Langa had a proper view, he could see the bandages peeking out from the hem of a sweatshirt sleeve.

“I’m fine,” Reki assured, turning away and staggering forward. He looked so strange, barely balancing on crutches when Langa was so accustomed to the vibrant flurry of motion that was Reki on a skateboard.

Langa was probably never going to grow used to the quiet, defeated way in which Reki seemed to speak nowadays. It felt like an eternity since he’d spoken any louder than a murmur.

“I can carry your bag if you want?” Langa offered, trotting beside Reki, his fingers flexing over the board in his hand. He hated this distance between them, but didn’t have a clue how to fix it. Reki’s rain-soaked words, how he no longer saw them as an adequate match for friendship, took that inopportune moment to play on a loop in Langa’s mind.

The palms of his hands turned clammy.

“I don’t need it,” Reki said, refusing to take his eyes off the street in front of him. As an afterthought, he mumbled a quick, “Thanks.”

It did little to abate the nervousness in Langa’s belly.

How could he get Reki to talk to him? How could he get Reki to tell him? Langa wanted to help, but he couldn’t manage to muster up the courage to fully pry.

Even so, there was never a more pitiful sight that he’d witnessed than watching Reki struggling to self-sufficiently make his way home, perspiration on his temples and frustration splintering that dismal mask of his.

“You don’t have to follow me. I can go myself.”

Langa hesitated. “I know. But I want to.”

“Well, I don’t want you to.”

“Oh.”

Langa shifted his feet, halting in his tracks. What was he supposed to say to that? While it was certainly painful, Langa knew Reki was making it clear where his boundaries were now set. He wasn’t exactly being subtle about wanting to sever their friendship.

Even so, Langa couldn’t bring himself to let go. That empty chasm growing in his chest by the day was already so overwhelming. If he fully gave into Reki’s wishes and let go of him for real . .  .

I don't know how to come back from that, Langa thought. Desperation flared and forced his feet forward. Reki flinched as he came by his side once more. He paused when seeing Langa, a curious expression fitting onto his face.

Langa wasn’t sure what he was thinking when seeing him persist, but he wasn’t going to let Reki brush him off this time. Not with something potentially this serious.

“Please let me take your bag,” he insisted. Langa wanted to kick himself at the small crack in his voice. He pressed forward, regardless. “Your house is so far, Reki. I won’t ask if you don’t want to tell me, so . . . ,” he faltered.

Langa averted his eyes as the silence loomed between them. He drew an arm up, then feebly dropped it to his side, unsure of himself. “I just want to help.”