rekd | knock me down like a heavyweight

[ a click of his tongue is what reki gets for his whining, and then qi fang is reaching around to pluck that can right out of his hand. ]

Make a mess on your bed after I use it, huh?

[ he sets it on a nearby bedside table after taking his own swig from it (omg 😳 indirect kiss). that second slice of pizza? tossed back into the box, to be devoured some other time. ]

C'mon, you're taking up all the space.

[ from where he's sitting he can very easily pick up and drag reki from under his arms, but the other boy's dead weight definitely makes maneuvering them around a tad clumsy. he does manage to get them laying on the bed the right way, at least, announcing his triumph with a heavy sigh and drop of his head on the pillow. he closes his eyes, and suddenly it's like his body has just remembered how tired it is. ]

Set an alarm...

Stooooop, I can move myself.

[ he says, and then doesn't. he fucking hates being displaced—usually because it means he's about to a. get a broken arm and another L on his competitive skating record, or b. get shoved into some lockers, but it doesn't feel as humiliating with qi fang. right now, at least. he's way more content to just keep his eyes closed and land where he's put, curling right back up into the same little ball—

—and then groaning when qi fang mentions an alarm. right. he cracks open one eye long enough to set an arbitrary alarm for sometime tomorrow, which looks perfectly fine to him, no use wasting anymore time on this being conscious shit. ]

Done.

[ it's qi fang's fault for trusting reki would wake him up at a reasonable time, but that's going to be a problem for him to deal with in the future. in the present his current problem is trying to make himself comfortable as fatigue is starting to settle into his bones. all the adrenaline from the day feels like it's been zapped right out of him, and in its place is this heavy exhaustion that has him two seconds away from knocking out completely.

he sighs softly, rolling onto his side. reki is facing away from him, curled into a little ball, and he barely resists the urge to reach out and curl around him in turn. instead, he lets out a long yawn, drawn out dramatically as a warmth envelopes him like a blanket. he blinks sleepily at the back of reki's head a few times, finds himself smiling despite himself. when he finally drifts off, it's to thoughts of his hand combing through reki's hair and the gentle weight of his head on his hip. ]

[ when reki finally wakes up, it's with a start, the heart-pounding realization that it's way fucking later than he meant to sleep. he knows exactly how late too, even before he levels his gaze at his traitorous phone and checks the clock with his bleary, light-sensitive eyes, groaning to himself as he—

carefully climbs over the body in his bed. fuck. he's gotta go, but now this is something he needs to deal with. while he gets changed, he debates just going and taking a chance on qi fang not waking up. it's not like he'll be gone for long. but his anxious brain nervously supplies a multitude of nightmare scenarios that could come of that, so once he's made himself halfway presentable, he leans on to the bed, softly rubbing qi fang's shoulder. ]

Hey... Uh, hey... Don't be mad at me, okay? It's late.

[ qi fang is dead asleep as reki moves throughout the room, stirring only once to curl in around the space reki's body had left. the lingering heat there is a small comfort, so much so that when he's finally roused he's reluctant to even turn away from it.

the room is a lot darker than it had been when he fell asleep, and for a second he's disoriented enough to forget where he even is. then reki speaks and he's blinking up at the other, his words settling in. ]

Shit.

[ slowly he pushes himself up, rubbing at his eyes and combing back his hair a few times. he fishes out his phone from his pocket, frowning at the missed messages. fortunately none of them were from his parents. they must have just assumed he'd been in bed by the time they got home. he peers at the time and groans, rubbing his eyes again. ]

Shit, yeah, I gotta go...

[ he trails off, noticing finally that reki is fully dressed. he blinks a few times, brow furrowing. ]

Did you go somewhere?

Nah. I gotta run out real quick though.

[ the frown on his face is twisting, tortured. it's late. qi fang said it himself that the walk between their homes is a long one. the thought of him heading out now, with those sleepy eyes and his bed-ruffled hair— ]

Look, it's so fucking late. You might as well just stay. I'll wake you up when I get back and you can leave then.

[ he checks his wallet, his phone—on the verge of death, but it's in his pocket, rumbling away with messages from oka. reki dashes out a quick reply and glances back up at qi fang plaintively, leaning in a little closer, not bold enough to completely close the distance. ]

It'll only be a little while longer.

[ a couple more sleepy blinks, but each one is less sleepy than the last. he feels like he's a lot groggier, though, if only because he's struggling so hard to figure out what reki's even saying. ]

You have to... what?

[ what the hell is reki up to this late at night?

he starts to move without even thinking about it, swinging his legs off the bed. it brings their faces even closer, but he doesn't close the gap either. ]

I'll go with you.

[ it feels a better option than waiting here, wondering. ]

Nah, uh...

[ he can feel his phone buzzing irritably against his thigh. fuck. all right. now he has to lie to this poor guy. he probably should just let him go. ]

I'm gonna skate there. It'll be faster if I'm alone.

[ which is fucking wild. why should he feel bad? it's not even something he can talk about. but he does anyway, giving this rumpled, cute boy half truths, his stomach twisting as he reaches out to brush a few messy strands of hair out of qi fang's face before he finally forces himself to step away. ]

Gotta run. Do what you want, but... Stay.

[ he's silent a moment, just watching reki, hearing the faint buzz of an incessant phone. suddenly, all at once, several things crop up in qi fang's mind — the whispers from classmates about reki's after school activities, how even other delinquents steer clear of him unless it's to give him a hard time. recollections of reki falling asleep in classes, more than any other teenager would from just normal boredom, the number of times he's shown up to school sporting a new injury...

reki stands, and qi fang's hand shoots out. he wraps his fingers around reki's wrist, fingers lightly brushing the bandages there. ]

Reki — you're okay, right? You don't have to tell me anything but. But you're okay?

[ it takes him a second. he's too surprised by the hand grabbing his wrist for what he's asking to sink in immediately. but then it does, and his heart shatters.

oh. he like. gives a fuck. reki's not sure at all what to do with that. ]

Yeah, dude.

[ well that's not entirely true. joke and put on a smile, that's always the answer. ]

Not much that can happen to me in the two seconds I'll be gone. Jeez, have a little more faith in me than that.

[ it's just hard to maintain when qi fang's touching his bandages like that. again. he swallows roughly, his voice softening. ]

I'm good. I'll be good.

[ qi fang doesn't know if he really believes that, but what else can he do? so he just puts on a smile too, hoping it's enough, and nods. ]

Alright... I gotta — make some calls. I'll probably still be up when you get back.

[ better to just tell his parents he's staying over at a friend's than risk them realizing he hadn't been home all day. sun jing will cover for him.

he sits back on the bed, fishing his phone out. he still keeps an eye on reki, as if worried the boy will just up and disappear without a trace. ]

Good luck.

Yeah. You too. Uh, charger's plugged in behind the nightstand, if you need it.

[ man, he should just. tell him. it's so stupid to have this weird vibe hanging around over something as simple as a delivery.

but that conversation would begin a whole host of others he has exactly negative time for right now, so he swallows it down too and hops up on his desk, dragging his board along. ]

See ya. Soon.

[ he doesn't take his eyes off of qi fang, either, until he's ducking through the window. ]

[ "soon" is pretty relative, in the grand scheme of things. "two seconds" isn't, but neither of them really believed that anyway. in the end, qi fang's calls hadn't taken long at all, and with nothing else to do he'd just settled back into the bed that isn't his and tried (and failed) to get his thoughts in order.

truthfully, it's a testament to his tiredness how he actually managed to fall asleep despite how wild his mind is going. wondering, worrying. convincing himself he's just curious, that's all. that reki is simply a fun mystery to solve.

by the time reki returns, he'll find qi fang passed out on his bed, occupying way more space than he should. at least he looks like he's sleeping soundly... at least reki won't have to have any uncomfortable conversations with him just yet. ]

[ thank god for that because it turns out everything he fucking said was a lie. it's hours later now. he fumbled what was supposed to be a simple enough delivery and got pulled into someone else's drama. couldn't even text about it, because his phone was dead on arrival. and now he's gotta crawl back home after getting the absolute shit kicked out of him, still smelling of gunpowder and singed skin, kicking himself for not just letting qi fang go home when he said he should.

not that he would've been able to do that. the streets feel so much meaner tonight. it would've been worse if he had to do all this over again with that too weighing heavy on his mind. at least he has some measure of peace knowing qi fang's safe and warm in his bed—which is a fucking trip of a thing to think about, but it is what it is.

he just leaves his board in the grass. it's busted beyond repair anyway, and he wants to be quiet coming in, more so than usual. it's been such a shitty, shitty fucking night that just seeing someone there is a comfort he can't even handle. everything feels so heavy and raw and he's really pretty scrawny no matter his protests to the contrary, so it isn't too hard to fit himself into the meager space qi fang isn't occupying, carefully burying his face against his warm chest and going still. he'll wake him up soon, just... not right now. ]

[ it's a wonder he sleeps through that. not that reki had made much noise, but the movement, the smells. he sleeps through it all, but he pays for it in his dreams. it's a jumbled mess of red, flaming hair and smoke and gauze, and this weird, winding hallway whose exit just keeps getting further and further away the more he makes a run for it.

when qi fang finally wakes up, it's because his internal clock is screaming at him to. there's sunlight filtering into a room he doesn't immediately recognize, but soon enough the previous day's events start to trickle back into his brain. as is the realization there is a body tucked in close against his.

he looks and all he sees is red. harmless red hair, thankfully, rising and falling against the steady breathing of his own chest. qi fang looks again and he sees his own arms wrapped snug around that body, cradling it close.

he sighs, settling his head back onto the pillow, and spares a few moments just getting himself back in order.

...

ah shit. he has morning wood. ]

[ there's really no sleeping after a night like that one, but reki's managed to drift in and out of something close. it helps when there are arms around him, even though he's not sure when that happened, not sure whether or not he should let it happen. but he feels too shitty to care that it isn't really him qi fang's holding, just a warm body his subconscious mind reached out to for whatever reason, so he just keeps himself still and drifts off again.

and then he's right back, qi fang's sigh amplified a thousand times by his guilty ears. he swallows down a groan and starts to move away—and only then does he realize he's been bleeding on qi fang's shirt this whole time. fuckfuckfuckfuck. fuck. now what?

his gaze drifts lower and he's practically assaulted by the worst idea he's ever had. like, it's exactly the kind of idea he needs to have right now, but it's awful. but it'll make for a good distraction. ]

Gotta wake up.

[ he says softly, making sure to keep his face turned, that stain covered up, as his fingers drift down qi fang's stomach. slowly, carefully, he slides his palm over the tent in his shorts and starts rubbing. ]

The rest of the way, anyway.

[ considering reki's night, what's one more bad decision, right?

now if only qi fang were cooperative... don't get him wrong, there's nothing nicer than waking up to a warm body tucked in close against you, and to then have said warm body touch you were you're more sensitive. it earns reki a sharp intake of breath and an unconscious bucking of qi fang's hips— but then the rest of his brain catches up to him and he's reaching down, curling a hand around reki's wrist to still him. ]

Pretty sure I already heard people getting up, [ he murmurs. it's mostly a lie, because he's not really sure what he has or hasn't heard, what are still remnants of a weird dream. still, it's probably not a good idea to start off the day staining reki's bed, when there's a nagging in the back of his mind that tells him they should probably... talk? you know, the thing they're both so bad at. ]

When did you get back...?

It's fine.

[ he doesn't want to answer that other question. he wants to do what he was doing and figure out a way to get this shirt off qi fang before they have even more shit to talk about.

but qi fang's got his wrist and it would be terribly fucking wrong to do anything about that, so. foiled again. he sighs and lets his hand go harmlessly limp in qi fang's grasp. ]

... A little later than I meant to. I would've texted, but my phone was dead.

[ trust that qi fang's body already hates him for stopping it; the fact the tenting in his shorts hasn't dwindled at all is testament to how much he was enjoying that, and he'll probably be berating himself for this long after they part, but.

but?? honestly, he doesn't even know. ]

Looks like I passed out anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered.

[ he stifles a yawn, turning his head away in case of any bad morning breath. as comfortable as it is to stay curled up like this, he really should probably get up before any of reki's family members realizes they had this impromptu sleepover... but just as he begins to get up, he suddenly notices the dampness in his shirt — was he sweating?

he tries to sit up, glancing down, and finally notices that reki's hair isn't the only red thing on his chest. ]

...What the hell?

Don't be mad.

[ reki's reply is immediate, a gunshot of guilt after all this tension's been building and building on the trigger. he doesn't even know what he looks like, especially now, after discovering this horrifically embarrassing new development, so he keeps his head bowed. ]

I'll fix it, I didn't mean to, like— I don't know what— I'll fix it. Sorry.

[ probably now would be the best time to do that. especially since he feels like just bolting out of his room and never coming back. he eases himself up, ignoring the way every muscle in his body is screaming for him to lay right the fuck back down. ]

Hold on, just— I'll get you something else to wear.

[ don't be mad? he's furious! but not at reki — at himself, for missing something that feels so fucking obvious now. ]

Reki— [ his hands shoot out again, this time coming to settle on the other boy's shoulders, bearing down just enough pressure as if to say stay still. he hunches, trying to meet the other boy's eyes, hell trying just to see where all that blood's come from, ] What the fuck. What happened? Do you [ need to go to the doctor... probably. but can he, is the question, fuck— ]

What do you need? Just tell me where to get it, I can be quieter than you right now.

[ oh. oh, this is worse somehow. at least reki knows what to do if qi fang's mad at him. it didn't feel great, but that's his own fault for getting into stupid shit last night. this feels really bad.

his left eye aches and it's probably bruised, but that's not the source, he thinks. he runs his tongue over his lip, his brows crumpling at the sting. it's definitely swollen and that's probably where the mess came from. probably put his tooth through it when he bailed, which isn't that bad. still, those two things together feel like too much right now and he turns his face away again. ]

I'm all right. Really. It's no big deal. Looks like your shirt already took care of it.

[ qi fang knows, he knows that he is in no way privy to the shit that reki gets up to. snooping around reki's room while he was gone was already a pretty big breach of privacy there. reki doesn't have to tell him anything, and qi fang shouldn't ask. and he won't. but that doesn't make the not knowing feel any better, especially now that he's getting a good look at the damage on reki's face. there's... no other way to describe how fucked up he looks, like he'd fallen on someone's fist. repeatedly. qi fang can't help the stab of worry in his chest, but he can at least help himself from saying anything too stupid. ]

Blood's easy enough to clean, and I got a spare.

[ hell, he's bled on his jersey before. running into someone's elbow in the middle of the court had him looking pretty similar to how reki looks now. but he doubts whatever reki did the night before had anything to do with a friendly game of basketball.

he sits back, opting to give reki some room so he doesn't feel too crowded. then weakly gestures to the pizza box left on the nightstand. ]

Hungry?

[ funny. reki was dying for some space—and now qi fang's moving away and he wants nothing of the sort. too bad. he can't even trust himself not to bleed on the poor guy. this is so torturously embarrassing.

and he doesn't ask, which somehow feels worse than if he did. it means something he's not ready to think about right now. instead, he sets his sights on that pizza, recalling he did not, in fact, have anything to eat yesterday except the lunch that qi fang gave him. ]

Yeah, fuck, I'm starving.

[ he manages to lean over and flick the box open with one hand, retrieving a slice and settling back into his spot. just out of instinct, he pulls out his phone—still dead. with a sigh, he tosses it on to the bed. fucking sucks because now he has nothing to look at but qi fang, who looks even hotter than usual right now for some reason he can't quite explain. something in his eyes, he thinks. ]

... You sure you don't want me to...

[ cold pizza is better than nothing, so qi fang helps himself to his own slice. he's not particularly hungry, but he figures he might as eat now while he can. besides, it gives him something to do other than give into the urge to reach out for the other again. clean off his face a little, tuck a few strands back into place. ]

Blood and pizza grease aren't really my preferred lubes, but I appreciate the thought.

[ he's smirking, showing reki no harm down, no foul, no worries. ]

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