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Langa and Reki, as usual, were in Reki’s bedroom at the moment.
They had created a habit of going there after they finished practicing, so much that Reki’s mother already expected Langa to stay for dinner most days, and didn’t even ask anymore. She just put an extra plate on the table and called the two boys downstairs when dinner was ready.
Right now, though, they were laying in Reki’s bed. Langa had his head propped on the pillow, Reki’s feet right beside him as the red headed boy laid in the opposite direction, so they were facing each other.
Not that they needed to – they weren’t even talking about it, they both were on their own phones, watching skating videos. When they were not together, Reki tended to send him videos about cool tricks he thought they should try, and Langa usually didn’t watch them until he got here and they did exactly this, because Reki always had commentary ready for him when he watched them. How he knew exactly what video he was checking when he couldn’t even see the screen, Langa didn’t know.
He was in the middle of one of those videos, when Reki reached out and pressed pause on his phone. Langa looked away from the little screen and turned to look at his friend, who had by now shifted positions and was sitting right in front of him, legs crossed, with a smile on his lips.
“Can I ask you something?” he says. Langa frowns a little, but nods. “People speak French in Canada, right?” Langa nods again.
“Not everywhere, but… yes, in some parts of Canada French is pretty common too.” he explains.
“Do you speak French?” his friend asks then.
“Uhm. Yes. I do.”
“That’s so cool, dude.” Reki whispers, his bright eyes fixed on Langa’s and his smile growing wider. “Say something! Say something!” he asks, and Langa drops his hands to his sides, pursing his lips.
“What should I say?”
Reki shrugs, and shifts again, laying back in the bed, on his side, his hand supporting his head, not breaking eye contact with Langa for a second. “Whatever your heart desires.” he replies.
Langa hums. Well, that’s easy . He thinks. There’s only one thing my heart desires right now. It’s you, Reki.
Reki, with his red, wild hair always swept out of his face by that blue headband. Reki, with his excitement for life and his shining eyes. Reki, with his passionate conversations about the sport he loves so much. Reki, with his worried eyes and all the concerned words he says to him whenever Langa makes a hot headed decision. Reki, Reki, and only Reki, in any way, in any form, is all Langa’s heart desires.
Reki keeps looking at him, expectantly, as Langa takes a deep breath and starts talking.
“Reki.” he whispers, and the accent is clear from the moment his lips start moving. Reki is grinning at him, like he likes this version of his name. “Tu me rends heureux. Faire du skate avec toi me rappelle le snowboard avec mon père, et je n’ai jamais été aussi heureux qu’alors. Je n’ai jamais ressenti quelque chose comme ça avant. Je ne sais pas ce que c’est, mais… j’aime ça. J’aime qui je suis quand je suis avec toi. Après la mort de mon père, je n’ai jamais pensé pouvoir être ainsi heureux, mais je le peux, je peux l’être quand je suis avec toi. Faire du skate, ou simplement rester ici en train de regarder des vidéos, ou quoi que nous fassions, je suis heureux. Alors, merci, Reki. Merci de me donner une chance. Je te dois beaucoup.”
Reki stares at him, still grinning, after he stops talking. Then he chuckles. “I literally didn’t understand anything of what you just said. But it sounded cool.” Langa smiles softly, shrugging. “So what did you say?”
“Uhm. Just… that I’m happy we’re friends.”
“Sap.” Reki says, punching his arm. “I’m happy we’re friends too, either way. Now come on, I have to show you this incredible video. I had to watch it a few times to understand how the girl was doing it, but I’m sure you’ll get it sooner than I did.” he says, putting his phone out of the pocket of his hoodie and moving closer to Langa, so that he can place the phone above them and play the video.
Langa glances at Reki as they watch the video, smiling when Reki says something about how crazy it is that anyone could pull that move.
He was really happy Reki was his friend.
So, it became a thing.
Langa had never been the kind of person to share his feelings. Even after his father died and his mother insisted they both should get therapy, it took Langa a long time to open up to his therapist. It had helped, in the end, but it had been a rocky path anyway.
And since he knew Reki could not understand what he was saying, and it left a dumb expression on his face whenever he did it, Langa had taken to speak more French around his friend.
Anytime he wanted to say something he didn’t want Reki to understand, he would just say it in French, and if Reki asked, he could get away with saying it was just a curse word or a saying. Reki didn’t believe it, if the look on his face was anything to go by, but he didn’t try to argue either.
Like that time when Reki had slipped off the skate, falling on his butt, and Langa had chuckled and said “Tu est tellement mignon”, and Reki had rolled his eyes because he had thought Langa was laughing at him.
Or the time Reki was telling him about the new trick he had learned, one of the times they were laying in his bed, looking up at the ceiling, and Langa had whispered “Je pourrais t’embrasser right now.”, making Reki look at him with a pout.
But, eventually, he was caught. Of course.
Reki had insisted they went to Joe’s restaurant to have lunch that day, and Langa, unable to say no to his best friend, had eagerly been dragged there.
When they arrived, the restaurant was empty except for Joe and Cherry – Langa was convinced Cherry spent more time here than at his own workplace.
“Hey guys!” Reki greeted the two adults, waving with his left hand. “Fancy meeting you here!”
Joe chuckled at that, while Cherry rolled his eyes, taking another sip off his cup.
“Hey, kiddos. What can I offer you on this fine morning?” Joe said, as he leaned forward on the counter.
“Uh…” Reki said, looking at the menu. He tugged at Langa’s sleeve, looking at him as he pouted. “Do you want to share a pizza?”
Langa smiled. “Of course.”
“Cool! Pizza, then. Surprise us, we like anything.” he told Joe, who shrugged as he went inside the kitchen.
Reki turned to look at Langa again. “I need to use the restroom. Will you wait here?”
Langa nodded. “Sure, mon coeur.”
Reki scrunched his nose at the French words, then turned to walk to the bathroom.
Behind him, Cherry cleared his throat. “So, I take it that Reki doesn’t speak French? Or have you finally stopped tiptoeing around the other?”
Langa turned, frowning. “You speak French?” he asks. Cherry chuckles.
“No. But Carla functions as a translator too, of course. So, what is it? Does Reki speak French or not?”
“No. He doesn’t.” Langa sighs. “It’s just… it’s easier than bottling it all up.”
“I understand. But maybe you should tell him how you feel. In a language he understands, if you will.”
“But he’s my best friend. If he doesn’t feel the same way, or if it goes wrong… I don’t want to lose him. He’s the best thing that has happened to me, ever since my father died.”
“I know how you feel.” Cherry says, placing his hand on Langa’s shoulder. “That’s why I think you should tell him. And if I’m not wrong – and believe me, I’m usually not. He feels the same way. It’s written all over his face.”
Langa blinks twice, before the sentence is finally processed in his brain. Reki feels the same?
“Are you sure?” he asks. Cherry rolls his eyes.
“You two are perfect for each other, I swear to God.”
Langa is about to speak again, but Reki comes out of the restroom right then, so he bites his tongue. The redhead sits beside him, and elbows Langa’s side softly, giving him a smile.
“So, Cherry.” Reki says, leaning forward so he falls into Cherry’s vision field. “Have you finally professed your undying love to Joe or are we still going to have to wait for the wedding of the century a little bit more?”
Cherry looks away, blushing under his glasses, and mutters: “I’m not even going to dignify that question with an answer.”
Reki laughs, winking at Langa, and the taller boy can only bite down on his lip and smile. His brain can only think about one thing. Reki feels the same way .
Langa takes Reki back home that night on his motorbike. When the redhead gets off, taking the white helmet off his head and handing it to Langa, he turns the bike off and looks up at Reki.
“You want to come inside? It’s a bit late, but I don’t think my mom will…”
Langa cuts him off. Grabbing him by the collar and pulling him down to press their lips together.
Oh, God, that can’t be good.
He’s just pressing them, waiting for Reki to do something, anything. He’s about to lean back and ask for his friend’s forgiveness when Reki’s left hand raises to his left cheek, and his lips start moving and – okay, now they’re kissing. Really kissing.
When Reki splits them apart, leaning back so he can look at Langa, he’s grinning, wider than Langa has ever seen. “Took you long enough.”
“Could say the same to you.”
“I’m not the one who has been saying romantic shit to you in a language you don’t understand.” Reki says, playfully tapping Langa’s pointy nose.
“Wh- You knew?”
“Today was not the first time Carla translated what you said. Remember the other day at S when you said… whatever it was, right before the beef started?”
“Souhaite moi bonne chance, mon amour.” Langa sighs, making Reki chuckle.
“I wanted to see how long you could keep this up. Three weeks. That means Miya wins the bet.”
Langa groans. “There’s a bet? Everyone knew?”
Reki chuckles again, leaning down to peck his lips. “Yeah. Sorry, dude.” Langa sighs, shaking his head. “Anyway, I meant it when I said it was late. We’ll talk about this tomorrow, okay?” he says, grabbing one of Langa’s hand and massaging it with his thumb. “You still have to explain to me what all these things you’ve been telling me mean. I’m not going to call you my boyfriend until you do.”
“I will. I promise.” Langa says.
“Cool.” he kisses Langa again, making him sigh against his lips. “I have to go before my mom starts yelling at me. See you in class?”
“I’ll be there.”
Reki nods, grinning. “Okay. Oh, and Langa?”
“Yeah?”
“Je t’aime.” Reki scrunches his nose. “Did I say that right?”
“It was perfect. Je t’aime aussi.”
Reki laughs. “Okay, now go, before I kiss you again.”
“Doesn’t sound like a threat.” Langa shrugs, but he starts the bike. Reki waves at him as he disappears down the road, and once he’s out of sight, Langa lets out a giggle.
He loves Reki, and Reki loves him back.
Reki loves him back.