writetomyheart | [Team 1] Little Langa Mermaid

~2700 words of G-rated Reki/Langa merperson canon divergence... kinda sorta!

"What’s the point of a class trip without ghost stories?”

“THIS ISN’T A CLASS TRIP!” Reki screeched, not wanting to hear another ghost story. Especially if told by Joe. Joe’s ghost stories were the worst. In that they were definitely not real and did not scare Reki at all. His clinging onto Langa for dear life was purely coincidental.

And definitely not because he was scared of ghosts. Because ghosts do not exist.

“Ehh, class trip, skateboarding field trip. Same thing,” Joe said with a smirk.

“It’s not a field trip either, you gorilla!” Cherry grumbled, elbowing Joe in the gut, causing the muscular man to double over.

“Why… Are your elbows… so bony?” Joe wheezed out, glaring at Cherry who ignored him.

“Maybe we can skip the ghost stories for now,” Langa compromised. “At least until after dinner.”

Reki made a note to maybe coincidentally fall asleep after dinner.

“Speaking of dinner…” Cherry looked pointedly at Joe who groaned loudly.

“Why is it even on vacation I’m still the cook?”

“You’re the one who suggested camping,” Cherry huffed, “I suggested the hotel nearby, but noooo. Camping was ‘more fun.’ So start cooking.”

Joe leaned in close to Cherry’s ear. “Only if you help me light my fire, baby.”

Cherry was unimpressed. “Carla, light a fire.”

“Yes, master.”

Joe yelped as Cherry’s skateboard extended a lighter and lit it, the flame coming a little too close to Joe’s ankle. “What the hell Kaoru? Who puts a lighter onto their skateboard?!”

“If Adam is going to take the ‘no rules’ part of S a little too literally, I figured next time he can burn.” Cherry stood up and walked away to where Joe stashed the cooking supplies and food, his skateboard following behind, still trailing a tiny flame. Joe followed soon after, still yelling at Cherry about the safety concerns of a fire on his skateboard.

“It’s hard to believe sometimes those two are actually married,” Miya grumbled.

“Just think what would happen if they were married to other people though,” Langa said, and Reki nodded in agreement.

Joe had been the one to suggest the camping trip to the large forest preserve to the north of Okinawa. The area had plenty of paved trails for them to skate, Joe and Cherry giving tips and pointers where they could. The only reason Shadow couldn’t join them was because he was still recovering from his injuries, his manager helping out where she could. Reki had to smile at the memory of Shadow’s face when his manager kissed his cheek for protecting her. Even though Shadow could no longer participate in the tournament, Reki felt like he had proven something to himself anyway. By Shadow’s own set goals, he had already won.

But the best part of the trip was the escape from the media circles currently going on in Okinawa. Some up and coming politician had come into some major corruption allegations, and though neither Reki nor Langa were told the specifics, even they could put together the dots when Adam disappeared from S entirely around the same time Shindo Ainosuke was sent to prison for corruption and other crimes.

Reki couldn’t help but be a happy that there were no skateboards in prison.

“Reki, are you okay?” Langa asked, raising a hand to lay it on Reki’s shoulder, distracting him from his thoughts. “We promise no ghost stories until later. I know you don’t like them.”

“It’s not that I don’t like them! It’s—”

“Well, since we aren’t doing ghost stories until after dinner…” Miya interrupted with a smirk.

Reki frowned, releasing his hold on Langa’s arm just a bit. “No ghost stories Miya.”

“Exactly, no ghost stories.” Miya’s smirk widened. “But this story doesn't have a ghost at all… Promise!”

Reki frowned, still not trusting Miya. “What kinda story is it then?”

“Oh just a legend my classmate told me about this place,” Miya waved his hand as if the details didn’t matter. “I just thought I’d share.”

“Oh?” Langa tilted his head in curiosity and Reki cursed. Now they’d have to hear it.

“Yeah!” Miya grinned, glad that someone was interested. “So apparently a few years ago a girl disappeared from this area!”

“Miya!” Reki grabbed Langa’s arm again. “You promised no ghost—”

“She didn’t die stupid,” Miya grumbled. “She just disappeared. But that’s not the cool part. Apparently, she was out camping with friends, you know? And she kept hearing a voice out near the beach nearby. Like, singing, I guess? But none of her friends could hear it. In the middle of the night she decided to follow it. And then… she disappeared!”

Reki groaned, tightening his grip around Langa’s arm. “This sounds like a ghost story…”

“I didn’t say she was dead, slime.” Miya huffed, crossing his arms. “It’s just a warning not to go following any weird sounds at night.”

“Who would do that anyway?!”

Langa remained curiously quiet after the story, his only response being a tilt of his head and leaning a little into Reki’s grip.

The gesture confused Reki, used to Langa asking more questions after such a scary story.

What was up with his friend?

—

Reki bolted straight up out of his sleeping bag, his heart still racing from the nightmare.

This is why there should never be any ghost stories any time of day.

“Ahh… so scary…” Reki murmured, turning to his side to see if he had woken anyone else from his nightmare. Cherry and Joe had their own tent, so it was only Miya that Reki really had to worry about. But his sleeping bag was still pulled over his head and Reki could just make out the soft snoring from that side of the tent. Langa though tended to wake after one of Reki’s nightmares, so Reki turned to apologize and—

Langa was gone.

Reki’s heartrate spiked. The sleeping bag looked slept in, and but Langa’s shoes were gone and—

Somewhere just outside, Reki heard a voice. A voice that was singing.

He instantly thought back to Miya’s ‘legend’. About weird voices…. Weird voices that were singing.

Reki pinched himself, flinching when the pain indicated that he was, unfortunately, awake. “Okay, okay okay no problem, we’ll just… ignore that shall we. Yep. we’re just gonna ignore—”

But Langa was gone. Reki stared at the sleeping back, listening to the voice singing some song he couldn’t understand.

What if Langa—

Reki hurriedly slipped his shoes on, his hoodie and sleep shorts plenty of protection against the cool summer air. Then he ducked out of the tent, trying to see if Langa was nearby, maybe near the remains of the campfire or near the treeline to go to the restroom?

No such luck. Langa was no where in sight. And the music seemed to grow louder, drawing reki towards it. Towards the paved pathway through the trees that led to the beach.

Swallowing around his dry throat, Reki grabbed his phone and switched the flashlight on. Then he grabbed his skateboard just inside the tent and took off.

“Langa?” Reki called out, his voice shaking. “Langa, where are you?”

The flashlight on Reki’s phone also shook as he skated down the pathway to the beach. Where was Langa? Did he—

Suddenly, Reki heard the voice singing again and he shivered, remembering Miya’s story from earlier.

“She woke up to follow the voice, insisting that it was out there and it was calling to her.”

It was only the memory of Miya’s story that made Reki feel scared though. The voice itself sounded… warm. Comforting even. It sounded safe. Surely a voice like that couldn’t be bad.

But what if it was? What if it was the same voice that led to the girls disappearance?

What if Langa woke up to follow the voice? What if Langa disappeared too?!

“Langa!”

Reki skated faster down the hill, jumping off his board as soon as he reached the pebbly beach. “Langa!”

“Reki?”

The voice stopped singing as soon as Reki shouted.

Reki ran to the shoreline, staring out into the water until he spotted Langa’s hair glowing in the moonlight. “Langa!”

“Reki!” Langa waved back, though he didn’t swim closer to shore.

Reki frowned. “What are you doing out there? Isn’t the water too cold?”

“Uhhh… no?” Langa did move a little closer, looking a little nervous.

“Well c’mon. I’m cold just looking at you. What’d you swim all the way out there for anyway?” Reki shivered, now from the chill that passed through the air.

“Um, no reason. I—” Langa was cut off as a wave suddenly went over his head.

Reki gasped. “Langa?!”

“I’m okay!” Langa said as he emerged once more, not even sputtering.

“Are you okay?” Reki’s mind was already racing with worry. What if Langa was too tired to swim to shore? What if he had a cramp or something. “Hang on! I’ll come out and get you!”

“Reki no! It’s okay!”

Reki wasn’t listening though, sure his friend was in trouble. Taking off his shoes and socks, and shimming out of his hoodie, Reki waded into the water until he could swim out. The current was a lot stronger than he thought it would be. How’d Langa even swim out that far?

“Reki, don’t! Go back!”

“Langa!” Reki shouted, finally able to reach his friend’s hands. “It’s okay Langa, I got you.”

Langa huffed as they treaded water. “I think it’s more I got you, huh?”

“Huh?”

Another wave broke over both their heads and Reki went under. He kicked hard, trying to resurface but he would have struggled if it wasn’t for Langa’s grip on his hand pulling him up. “Woah! The current is really strong Langa! We should—”

“Here,” Langa swam, pulling Reki along with him into an area of water that seemed much calmer. “Just hold on to me while you catch your breath.”

“Yeah,” Reki coughed out water he had accidentally inhaled. “I thought you lived in the mountains. How’d you learn to swim so well?
You barely went into the water on our beach trip.”

“The water was different and I didn’t—” Langa cut himself off with a huff. “Are you okay here for a bit? I want to show you something.”

“Umm…” Reki trailed off with a questioning gaze. Langa only smiled in return and swam away. Not too far, but enough.

“Just… please don’t scream.”

Reki became even more concerned and confused at Langa’s words. Scream about what?

Langa dove under the water for just a second. And then, with a light splash, he emerged, leaping into the air. His whole body was illuminated by the moon, blue hair and a pale torso and—

And a long sparkly fin where Langa’s legs should have been.

Reki gasped as Langa descended back into the ocean with a splash, not sure what he had just seen. It looked real, but… was he dreaming maybe? Or—

He shrieked when something pinched his arm. “What the— Langa!”

Langa pinched his arm again. “You’re not dreaming.”

“Fine fine, I’m not dreaming then I—” Reki blinked. “So then… you… you have a tail?!”

“Yeah.”

“You’re a mermaid?!”

“Merperson,” Langa corrected.

“Mer— whatever, dude!” Reki swam closer, reaching out for Langa’s hands again. “This is so cool!”

“You think so?” Langa’s face turned a bit red. “I thought… with Miya’s story, you might… freak out a bit.”

“Oh well… I mean…” Reki reached out with his feet, meeting smooth the smooth scale of Langa’s tail. “It’s a bit… odd. But like… you don’t seem freaked out so I guess this is… normal?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve always been a mermaid?”

“Merperson,” Langa corrected again with a sigh. “And yeah. Half merperson I guess. My dad was from a tribe up near Canada. Mom’s still human. She was born here… so that part wasn’t—”

“Dude, it’s okay,” Reki reassured Langa. “I get it, you couldn’t exactly tell me all… that.” Reki waved at the tale that he could make out just below the surface.

“Yeah…”

Langa trailed off, seemingly content just to swim there. But, now that the adrenaline had worn off from the worry, Reki was starting to feel the cold water seeping in. “Can we uh… continue this conversation back on the beach? You may not feel the cold but I do.”

“Sure.” Langa took hold of Reki’s wrist again and half dragged him to shallower waters until Reki could stand and wade back to shore. He continued to shiver, thankful that his hoodie was still warm as he slipped it on.

Langa remained in the water, the waves gently lapping at his tail. Now that Reki could see it clearly in the moonlight, he gasped at how beautiful it was, and now it seemed to naturally belong to his beautiful best friend. Long and graceful, what had appeared white scares at first, Reki now realized were really a light blue, reminding Reki of the pictures of glaciers he had seen once. There was an iridescent shine to them, twinkling in the moonlight.

Twinkling exactly like the snow Reki associated Langa with.

“Wow…” Reki breathed, holding a hand out. He wanted to touch. To make sure this was real. “Uh… can I?”

Langa’s face turned red, contrasting nicely with all the blue. “Um… sure?”

Reki’s hand shook in both the chill and the excitement as he held it over Langa’s tail. “This is so cool…”

Carefully, he placed it on the smooth scales, stroking downwards. Unlike the few fish Reki had handled when he was younger, Langa’s tail was warm. With a blush, Reki realized that, had Langa been fully human, Reki would be stroking his upper thigh.

Suddenly it became a bit weird.

He jerked his hand away. “Sorry… I suppose that’s a bit—”

“It’s okay!” Langa reassured him. “I just… no one really ever touches. I mean, to merpeople it’s not a big deal. And my mom doesn’t really count so—”

“Your mom…” Suddenly Miya’s story from earlier made sense. “Is she the one from the story?”

Langa nodded. “Yeah… she told me she met Dad here when I told her about the camping trip. And she didn’t disappear… exactly. Dad just took a liking to her and she moved to Canada shortly after he left to return home. I’m sure she’ll find the legend more amusing later.”

“Oh…” Reki tilted his head. “And was that you singing?”

“You heard that?!” Langa looked surprise. “Reki… only a merperson’s true love can hear that.”

Reki’s face turned hot. “T-true love?!”

Was this some kind of joke? Did Langa know how Reki felt? Did he suspect?

But Langa looked just as surprised as Reki, his own face slowly turning red. “Reki…”

“Langa… I’m so—”

“I’m glad!” Langa interrupted. “I’m glad it’s you… Merpeople only fall in love once, and I had already fallen in love with you. So I’m glad!”

This… was alot of information to take in.

Langa seemed to understand that Reki was having trouble processing a bit, so he used his elbows to slide further up into shore. Reki watched in surprise as the fish tail seemed to melt away, revealing a pair of legs clad in the PJ pants Langa had on earlier.

“That’s… It’s… This is alot.” Reki finally said, but he leaned in to Langa. “You love me?”

“Yeah.”

“And… you know I love you too then right?”

Langa’s face turned pink but he nodded. “I do now.”

“Oh…” slowly, Reki allowed a grin to overtake his face. “So… So we can date and kiss and stuff?”

Langa kissed him in answer, a chaste sweet thing that seemed perfect for Reki’s first kiss. “If you want.”

“I do want.” Reki grinned and leaned in again, kissing Langa for more than a second. Langa’s lips were warm and soft, and his hand reached out to cover Reki’s own on the sand, striking his wrist softly.

Finally, after a long moment, Langa pulled away. “The merperson thing doesn’t bother you though?”

Reki shook his head. “Nah. I guess we’ll just be looking forward to a lot of finny fun.”

Next up is knittenkitten! You're words are "I guess we'll just be looking forward to alot of finny fun."