If all else fails, I still love you. | Renga

[12] Her Confrontation

X days prior / Day 12

There hadn't been any talk about yesterday, and Reki didn't know how to feel about it. On one hand, thinking about it took a lot of energy, and so ignoring it could be better, as if it'd never happened. On the other hand, talking about it could maybe clear up some understanding that he'd never known was there, and then he'd be at ease.

He didn't know what had brought him to think that taking the offer would be a good idea, but he'd gotten into Yua's car, and now he was at the theatre. Maybe it was that "other hand" which had led him to this point-maybe it was a chance to talk it out sometime.

The theatre was cold to him, and though Langa had seemed to disagree with that, Reki caught him shivering a few times. That was probably because of the jumpscares in the horror movie, though.

They were sitting next to each other, him and Langa, and the distance that the armrests created was almost irritating. Sure, he'd willingly put space between them at the park, but having it pushed onto them was different, especially when he wanted to hold Langa's hand now that he couldn't hold all of him.

He looked over to Yua and saw her holding Azumi's right arm, staring at the screen, frozen in fear. She'd occasionally yelp and accidentally yank their arm, but Azumi couldn't care less, considering they'd somehow fallen asleep with their head on Yua's shoulder.

Reki had learned that Azumi was the friend who Langa had mentioned before. They were probably just an inch or two shorter than Reki, putting them between him and Yua, with a long face, dyed blonde box braids, and bronze skin. While they didn't have anything like Yua's pendant, their keychain was attached to a belt loop, which seemed to have a silver puzzle piece on it among the keys.

Seeing her holding them so closely without caring what could happen-was it foolish, bold, or did it just mean they trusted her that much? Why did she feel like she could do that, and why...?

Reki turned his gaze down to the left, seeing their hands just an inch apart, and when he looked back up to Langa's face, he was imagining their arms wrapped around each other for comfort, or maybe even one in the other's lap. The thought made him blush, but if Yua could do it, why couldn't he?

Take initiative, he told himself. But then he thought that putting on a pretentious show wouldn't help any. And then he thought of Miya's advice to make moves, and everything was screaming at him to just do it, just the slightest thing, at least hold his hand, it's not even a big deal because you've done it before.

At some point, he'd have to do it, like he'd done at the lunch table weeks ago. Because just looking at Langa's hand wasn't helping any-it just made him more tempted.

And then Langa leaned over to him and asked, "Remember when you offered to hold my hand if I'm scared?"

"When I was teaching you how to skate at school?" Reki whispered back, keeping his eyes on the screen, "Yeah."

"Offer's open for you."

"Like mine ever ended."

He said it teasingly, but now Langa was gripping his hand, hard. So hard that it hurt, and his bones were probably going to break, but that was fine, because there was less pain than there was-what was it, embarrassment? Shock? If it was, then it was a good kind, because then it made him more aware than ever of Langa's presence. They'd been by each other for so long that the feeling of him being there was just the default, but now it was more than that; if it could be put on a percentage, it'd be over 100 at that point.

As long as it was easing to Langa, it was easing to him as well; it was just one of those small things that he'd have to grab onto.

Considering there wasn't much else to take, of course.