Stay (Reki x Langa)

Chapter 3

Darkness consumed the room as players slept. The room was silent and all that could be heard was everyone deep in sleep. Everyone, but Reki.
Reki was feeling restless, scared and above it all, Guilty. He couldn't help but feel as though this was all his fault. Dragging Langa into all this because of his selfish desires.
As much as Reki tried to pretend that he was doing everything with the intent to benefit Langa, deep down he knew that he was doing all this to benefit himself. All because he couldn't bear to see Langa leave. Just the thought made Reki's stomach tighten.
But the realization of knowing that he put Langa into complete danger, which could lead to death, made Reki feel physically sick. Reki sat up holding his mouth, feeling nauseated. He swiftly pulled the covers off himself and ran to the door where the guards came out.
Reki tried to pull the door, but it wouldn't budge. He knocked on the door, hoping he might get a response from someone. After a countless amount of banging, the door was opened.
"What do you want?" One of the guards questioned.
"I need to go to the washroom." was all Reki couldn't get out as he held his mouth.
The more Reki stood at the door, the more ill he felt. The guard noticed how pale Reki's face was becoming. The guard began to motion Reki over but stopped when they noticed someone standing behind him.
" And what do you want?" The guard began to question them as well.
" I need to use the washroom too." Langa stated with a dry response.
The guard lead the two through a hallway and showed them to the washroom. Once inside, Reki ran to the nearest toilet and began to puke. After placing a hand on Reki's back, Langa gently rubbed his thumb against it, in a way to comfort him.
" I'm so sorry." Reki kept repeating in between his heaving.
Langa remained silent as he continued to rub Reki's back. It wasn't that Langa didn't want to say anything, he just knew it was the best for Reki at that moment. Reki was trying his best to keep his emotions to him for so long. Langa was a bit relieved to see Reki being more vulnerable.
" This is all my fault. I should have never convinced you to come. I should have never brought you here. I hate myself for doing this to you. Langa, I am so sorry." Reki's voice cracked as tears blurred his vision.
Langa pulled Reki into an embrace, causing Reki's tears to escape his eyes. Langa still didn't say a word, but just hugged Reki tighter. Reki hesitated at first, but slowly hugged Langa back.
" I won't lie to you by saying that I'm neither upset nor terrified. But, I will say that I don't think you should be blaming yourself like this. It's not your fault Reki. How were you supposed to know?" Langa tried to reason with him, " Please Reki, talk to me about how you're feeling instead of hiding it. I'm your best friend, I would have with you if you liked it or not, you don't need to keep apologizing to me."
The boys sat on the bathroom floor together, neither of them not knowing what to say. Reki Looked up at Langa whose face looked so relaxed. Langa noticed Reki's staring gaze and just smiled at him in response.
"How are so calm right now?" Reki wondered as he watched the blue-haired boy.
"I always feel calm when I'm by your side. I find being in your presence calms my nerves." Langa openly admitted.
Reki could feel a soft shade of pink kiss his cheeks. He stood up out of embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head. Langa followed Reki's pursuit.
"Don't say stuff like that, it's so cheesy," Reki said, not able to look at Langa.
"Oh, how would have you preferred I said it?" Langa asked sounding genuine.
Reki thought for a moment and then let out a light sigh. Reki didn't respond. He just grabbed Langa's arm, pulling him towards the bathroom door.
"where are we going?" Langa wondered, noticing Reki's hand begin to shake.
"We are getting the hell out of this place." was all Reki said, before opening the bathroom door.
A knot formed in Reki's stomach when they were immediately greeted by a guard. The guard looked at the two boys, before telling them to for him. Langa and Reki made sure to keep their distance between the guard and them.
As they were escorted back to the rooms, Reki took that opportunity to observe his surroundings. There weren't any easy escape roots that could be spotted. As they entered back into the room consumed with darkness, Reki finally let go of Langa's arm.
"I think I'm going to try to get some rest, good night Langa." Reki said as a yawn escaped his mouth.
"Wait, that's it?" Langa sounded confused, "What happened to get the hell out of here?"
"I was being arrogant. There's no easy way to get out. It's best if we just wait it out." Reki vaguely explained.
Langa clenched his fist in frustration but quickly relaxed it. Reki stretched as he walked back to his bed. a small sigh left Langa's mouth as he followed Reki, after grabbing a pillow off of his bed.
"Can I sleep here with you?" Langa asked as he crawled onto Reki's bed, "I don't want to be alone right now."
"Yeah, of course, I honestly don't want to be alone either." Reki admitted as well.
The two lay side by side. Both of them were quiet, but neither Reki nor Langa could sleep. They remained silent, thinking the other was asleep.
Reki turned his body to face Langa and noticed Langa had already done the same. Langa just studied Reki as darkness swarmed around them. Reki couldn't help but observe Langa too.
"Can't sleep?" Langa asked, but it was more rhetorical.
"I'm too anxious to sleep. what about you?" Reki questioned.
Langa's breathing became more shaky and uneven. His eye finally trailed off of Reki's own, not able to look at him. Reki just shuffled closer in response.
"Every time-every time I close my eyes, I see Miya. Miya's death is constantly playing on a loop and I still can't process any of it. It all just feels like a sick joke." Langa finally got out, "I keep thinking he's going to walk through those doors and we'll get to go home, you know?"
When Langa looked back at Reki, his pillow began to dampen from his tears. Reki nodded his head in response, not knowing what the right thing to say. He tried to wipe Langa's tears away with his thumb, but they were just replaced with fresh ones.
"I can't get the betrayed look he had on his face when he looked at me. Every time I think about him, that's the only face I can see. Right before his death, I told him that we would both make it. The way he looked at me was like I shot him..." Langa confessed, his once was relaxed face now expressed a great deal of sadness.
"Langa stop. You did everything you could to help him, don't blame yourself. It's a lot to process. Quite frankly, I still can't. But I know he would never blame you. He was just scared, like the rest of us. We need to stay strong, for Miya's sake, okay?" Reki tried his best to comfort Langa.
Langa nodded as Reki wipe away any new tears that tried to escape. Silence filled the air again. Both of them focused on the other.
"We'll stick together right?" Langa asked queerly.
"What of course, Langa. We'll stick by each other, right till the end." Reki reassured.
At some point without realization, the two boys fell asleep. They were woken by two voices quarreling back and forth. A small yawn escaped Reki's lips as he woke. Langa groaned as he tried to cover his face with blankets when the arguing voices got closer.
"But what if the next game is something with math?" Joe questioned Cherry.
"If it's something that involves you having to use that brain of yours, we are fucked." Cherry said with a snarky undertone.
Before Joe and cherry's arguing could go any further, Reki suddenly caught their attention. The two stared at the half-awake boys for a brief moment. Cherry nudged joes shoulder, hinting for Joe to follow him.
"Hey boys, how are you feeling?" Cherry asked worrisomely.
"They are probably feeling just splendid. Especially after everything they just had witnessed" Joe sneered under his breath at cherry's sad attempt to make small talk.
"I didn't quite catch that. Would you like to say that a bit louder for us?" Cherry requested as he jabbed Joe in the ribs.
"Why were we the only ones who voted to stop the game?" Langa wondered as he sat up.
Cherry sat at the end of the bed, getting a closer look at the cheerless expression that rested on Langa's face. Reki nodded his head in agreeance, feeling a bit confused himself. before Cherry could answer, Joe let out a light sigh before answering.
"When it comes to money, people tend to lose their sense of morals." Joe responded in honesty, "the best thing we can do now, is work as a team to try to survive. Cause at the end of the day, we will only have each other in here."
"As much as I hate to admit it, Joe is right. We will have to work together. We won't be of any use to each other if we just sit here moping around. So let's get out of our heads and think of what the next game might be." Cherry added on.
The four of them sat in silence a moment, thinking of what the next game could be. As they sat, Joe overheard one of the players mention sugar, which caused him to wonder. Joe remained silent in case his hunch was wrong.
Before any of them could come up with an answer, the doors were opened. Guards rounded up the players to escort them to the next game. Joe, Cherry, Langa, and Reki tried their best to stay as close to each other as possible.
When entering the game room, there were four doors with different shapes on each of them. One was a circle, a triangle, a star, then an umbrella. Joes' eyes widened in the realization of what game they were about to play.
"Since there are four doors, do you think we should all pick one of them?" Reki suggested.
They all looked at each other, then scanned each door. Joe kept an eye on the door with a circle. Cherry nodded at Reki's request.
"That might be a good idea, I chose the door on the far right and-" Cherry was cut off by Joe grabbing his arm.
"No, I think you should do the door with the triangle. Langa takes the last door instead." Joe demanded more than suggested.
Cherry felt confused, but Langa and cherry ended up agreeing. Joe took the door with the circle, cherry took the triangle, Reki took the star and Langa took the Umbrella. After everyone grabbed their container, the rules were explained.
"Players may begin now. Good luck."
Langa sat down as he stared at his umbrella-shaped honeycomb, not moving a muscle. Reki sat beside Langa as well as Langa remained frozen. All at once, Langa began to panic.
Langa's breaths sound short and shaky. Tears formed in his eyes as he struggled to breathe. Reki grabbed Langa's hand, causing Langa to look at Reki amongst his panic.
"Hey, you can do this. I believe- no, I know you can." Reki tried to calm him down.
"Reki, I can't." Langa disagreed, resting his forehead against Reki's shoulder.
Reki placed his hand on the back of Langa's head, glancing at the clock. Reki needed a way to calm Langa down quickly because time is of the essence.
"We'll walk out of this place together. I won't finish my shape until I know you're done." Reki suggested, "How does that sound?"
"That sounds good." Langa answered as he lifted his head exposing his now red eyes.
"Okay. But, you'll need to start. Time is starting to count down. " Reki stated eyeing the clock again.
"I'll try."
Langa and Reki began to work on their shape, carefully breaking off pieces as they worked. People's shapes began to break and guards began to eliminate players. Causing a knot to form in Langa's stomach.
"You're almost there." Reki comforted him, noticing Langa beginning to panic again.
Langa glanced at Reki's shape. Reki only needed to remove one more side of his shape, but stopped to give Langa more time. Reki sat patiently for Langa to finish, causing Langa to relax again.
"You don't need to risk your own life by waiting for me." Langa said out loud, as he worked on his shape.
"I told you we would stick together, didn't I not?" Reki reminded him.
A small smile crept its way onto Langa's face. It immediately vanished by the sounds of gunshots around him. As the time counted down to the last minute, Joe and Cherry both finished their shape.
Reki looked at the time, then at Langa's umbrella shape. Langa took a deep breath, taking his needle to apply pressure to the last side of his shape he need to do. Reki began to work on his shape.
But the two boys finished, with only fifteen seconds remaining. Two guards escorted the boys back to the room. When they got in there, Reki felt himself being embraced by a blue-haired boy.
"I'm so thankful for you." Langa said, hugging Reki a bit tighter.
Reki gently hugged Langa back, feeling relieved that Langa was okay. Joe and cherry called the two boys over, causing Reki to glance at them. Langa looked at Joe before grabbing Reki's hand.
"Joe knew what game we were going to play." Langa told Reki, "I don't think we should go over there."
"I'm sure it was all just bad judgment. If you think about it, I was the one who suggested for us to split up the first place." Reki said as he dragged Langa in Joe and cherry's direction.
Langa didn't seem happy with the thought of being around Joe. Reki sat down beside Cherry and Joe and Langa followed his lead. Cherry let out a sigh of relief, knowing they were safe.
"I'm so glad to see you both are okay!" Joe said with a smile.
Reki gave Joe a weak smile before looking at Langa from the corner of his eye. Langa didn't even look at Joe. He had his head turned unamused, staring at the nearest was.
A sour expression never left Langa's face. Tension in the air was so thick, it couldn't even be cut with a knife. Reki bumped Langa's shoulder with his attention with his own, causing Langa's expression to soften as he looked at him.
Langa forced a quick smile at Joe before turning to look away again. Cherry shoved Joe's shoulder, causing Joe to shuffle to his feet. Before Langa could protest, Joe picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder, and carried Langa away to talk things out.
"He could have easily said, 'hey come with me.' " Cherry said shaking his head, watching Joe and Langa walk away.
"Well if we are being fair, Langa was pretty upset about the whole thing." Reki pointed out, "I never seen Langa act like this before. It's so out of character for him."
Cherry and Reki rambled to each other as Langa and Joe worked things out. After time passed, Joe and Langa came back. Reki smiled at Langa, getting a smile back in return.
"You okay?" Reki asked, seeing how he was suddenly pulled into a hug.
Langa places a hand on the side of Reki's face, moving closer to Reki. Still smiling Langa, whispered something into Reki's ear. Reki bolted to his feet, his stomach tightening in the process.
"I need to use the washroom..." Reki said, dragging Langa with him.
Cherry sat puzzle at what just happened, as the boys scurried away. Once in the bathroom and out of sight, they both let out a big sigh. Langa sat on the bathroom sink, watching the red-heads worried expression.
"We can't trust Joe," Langa stated, leaning against the sink mirror.
"Langa, Joe didn't-" Reki was quickly cut off by Langa.
"I truly don't believe that. But again, that's not why I said it. " Langa clarified, " He told me he felt something was off and thought cherry was better off with the second door."
"Maybe he just said it the wrong way?" Reki tried to come up with a solution.
"Reki, Joe only cares about Cherry. He wouldn't care if we died, if that meant that Cherry was okay. We can't trust him!" Langa snapped, hopping off the counter, "God, if you don't stop being so boneheaded, you are going to get us both killed. why can't you see that?!"
In a blink of an eye, that thread that kept them so close was cut in one swift motion. Langa's eyes widened as he covered his mouth. Reki just stood there, not able to recognize the person who stood Infront of him.
"Reki, I'm-" before Langa could even finish, Reki was already out the doors.
Langa quickly ran after him, which only made Reki pick up his pace. Cherry looked just as confused as before, watching the two boys running back into the room. Reki ran to his bed, and Langa sat at the end of it.
"Reki please-." Langa was cut off by a pillow hitting his face.
"Do you think I don't know what boneheaded means?!" Reki became furious, "And for your information, I'm relatively smart. Sorry that you just can't see that."
Langa's heart felt heavy from that comment. His lips sunk into a frown, as he saw how hurt Reki appeared. Langa
"You're not stupid. You're far from it. I'm sorry Reki, I don't know why I said that." Langa apologized.
Reki just flipped him off in response. Langa grabbed Reki's hand, causing Reki to roll his eyes. Reki wouldn't look at Langa, which made upset Langa even more.
"Reki you're being childish right now. I'm trying to apologize." Langa reminded, squeezing his hand a bit.
"And you're gaslight, girl-bossing me right now," Reki said with a straight face.
The look of confusion on Langa's face made it hard for Reki to stay mad. Reki began to laugh uncontrollably, causing others to look in their direction. Reki's laugh was so sincere and real, Langa couldn't help but smile.
"It's a joke. God, don't hurt yourself, Langa." Reki said in between laughs.
Langa's cheeks became pink from Reki's last comment. After a few little laughs, Reki became serious again. Reki played with his fingers as thought of the best way to approach them again.
"In all honesty, everything you said in there was true. I'm being too trusting. Seeing how Joe made you both switches was the biggest indicator that he cares for Cherry. That could be dangerous for either of us." Reki admitted, "We should only stick by each other for a bit."
As darkness took over the night, the sound of people sleeping filled the air. Everyone but Langa. Langa found himself sleeping in Reki's bed again. Well, trying to that is.
"He Reki are you awake?" Langa whispered hoping to get a response.
"Of course." Reki said as he rolled over to face Langa, "I'm too anxious. what about you?"
"I have this song stuck in my head. But I can't remember what it's called." Langa said as he sighed.
Reki looked at him in disbelief, before trying not to laugh. Langa looked at him with a confused expression. Reki just waved his hand dismissing any future questions.
"Sorry, that just caught me off guard." Reki said, "How does the song go?"
"it goes like, We dance the night away. baby we could try to, make the world spin slower. " Langa quietly hummed.
"Oh, I think I know what song you're about." Reki added, "We could take our time and, get to know each other over, 'cherry wine'."
They both quietly laughed at each other when realizing the song was called cherry wine.
"It's crazy how easy it is to forget what's going on around us, as I'm Laying here with you," Langa said as he stared at Reki.
Reki smiled as he stared back at Langa. The two of them relaxed in each other's company. Langa began to hum a melody.
"That's another great song that I can't remember the name of," Langa said as he thought.
Reki's face heated up, as he rolled back over. Langa turns his head to look at Reki, to ask him a question. Before Langa could say anything, Reki cut him off.
"Figure it out yourself!" Reki demanded as he covered his face with blankets.

(Chapter 4 coming soon, writers block is killing me.  Ideas appreciated)