Chapter Text
It was summertime in Okinawa, and it was unbearably hot. Practically everyone in town had left for far away beaches or the cool comfort of the ocean, but not the S skaters. And especially not the S skaters too young to transport themselves to said beaches or ocean.
It was a hot, sticky day in Okinawa, and the skate shop offered no relief. Miya had insisted on staying in town when his parents went on a vacation, so he switched between staying with Reki and Langa. This meant a nonstop 13 year old tag along for the new couple, who were both 16 and awkward and still figuring out. Miya did not care about this.
On this particular day, Oka had had the mercy of scheduling both Reki and Langa, so they could at least suffer together in the heat. Miya had insisted on going with them, but only on the grounds that he could complain the entire time.
“When’s Oka coming back in?” Miya groaned, “I’m so bored. All you guys do is sit around,” Miya leaned further back against the counter lightly knocking his head against his tablet.
Langa shrugged, a gesture Miya didn’t notice, “At least it’s very busy here today. I don’t have to worry about messing up my Japanese with customers.”
The buttons on Miya’s tablet beeped dismally as his character died, “Ugh! Why don’t we go skate? The next S is coming up and none of us have even practiced. This is what being friends with you is doing to my skills. I’m becoming a slime!”
“Okay, catboy,” Reki said lazily, draped across a spinny chair, ignoring Miya’s indignant “HEY”, “It’s summer break, the air conditioning barely works, and no one is coming in to buy skateboards. I think I don’t want to move from this chair ever again.”
“Me either,” Langa sighed into a chair, practically wilting in the heat. They were two weeks into summer vacation, and somehow Langa was as pale as he was when he first arrived. This was a constant source of discussion at S, with some fringe theories that his skating ability came from his vampirism. Of course, Langa did nothing to disprove these vampire theories. They were all hilarious.
The three boys had settled into a lazy summer heat-induced stupor when they heard a loud “SHIT!” echo from the backroom. Reki shot up from his seat, while Langa remained partially fused with his.
“Was that Manager Oka?” Langa asked, craning his neck to see what could have happened.
Reki shrugged, “Probably?”
“You don’t seem very concerned, slime,” Miya observed.
“I’m not, Oka would come out here if it was serious,” Reki dismissed, “it’s probably fine.”
It was of course, in absolutely no way fine. Reki, Langa, and Miya only began to realize that as they began to feel the air grow heavier around them. The small stream of cold air from the ancient shop air conditioning had died quietly. And with that stream of air, any hope for the heat being bearable died.
Shokichi Oka burst out of the back room and began to rummage in the boxes behind the counter, “Reki, where are the tools I kept here?”
“Oka, those were rentals, you didn’t get to keep them,” Reki reminded Oka, making a face at Langa, who had had the sense to get up and look like he was busy in front of his manager.
Oka cursed again, although not as loudly. He pulled out his phone, searched the nearest tool shop and set his phone on the counter beside Reki, “I’m going to buy what I need to fix the air conditioning. You’re in charge until I get back.”
“In charge?” Reki asked slowly, barely containing his glee.
Oka sighed heavily, “Yes in charge, please don’t set the shop on fire or give away anything for free. I’ll be back in an hour,” Then he turned and began to half sprint towards the door, his phone on the counter.
“Wait, you left your-” Reki stopped as Oka fled the building out of earshot.
“Hmmm,” Miya said, peering at the phone carefully, “He left it unlocked,” He palmed the phone and began scrolling through Oka’s apps casually. Miya’s hand froze as he noticed a particular app, his eyes widening.
“I’m in charge, give me that!” Reki snatched the phone from Miya’s hand before making the same exact expression.
“What is it?” Langa called, having sat back in the same chair. Reki and Miya were frankly surprised he hadn’t melted from the heat yet.
“It’s- it’s,” Miya began.
“Oka has Grindr!” Reki burst out, “The gay, app,” His voice lowered conspiratorially as he said the word gay.
Langa sighed, “Reki, why did you say gay like that? We’re gay.”
“Oh, right,” Reki looked mollified, “Well, what do we do?”
“Nothing?” Langa suggested, “Tell Manager Oka we snooped and know he likes men?”
“You guys are boring,” Miya huffed, grabbing the phone back, “Let’s mess with his profile,”
“Aw yeah,” Reki cackled. Langa sighed again, loudly, from across the room.
Shokichi
29, Okinawa
Looking for something serious, so I may be out of luck on this app
“Wow, that’s depressing,” Miya commented, “I’m not even sure what I could change to make it worse,” He began to scroll through profiles in the area. “Hey, like half of the S skaters are on here!”
Langa and Reki nodded in agreement, “That’s not surprising,”
“I wonder…” Miya mused quietly, scrolling with lightning speed, “No way!”
“What is it?” Langa finally got up, walking over to crowd Miya’s view of the phone with Reki.
That’s when they all saw it.
Hiromi
Flower Shop Worker in Okinawa, 24,
I skate both ways ;)
“Huh,” Langa said after a moment of startled silence, “I don’t think any of us saw that coming,”
“Nope,” Reki and Miya echoed.
…
Oka still hadn’t returned, and Shadow’s profile was still open. Once they got over the initial brief shock, it felt very obvious. Shadow’s demeanor and style, his costume, even his new eye makeup, smeared pink and blue with a soft purple center, was glaringly obvious. No one had picked up on it though, because up until recently he had been pining over his coworker, a woman who was lucky enough to have a man strong enough to take a baseball bat for her and also a boyfriend.
Langa had stayed standing, looking curiously at the profile while Reki had gotten himself water.
“Okay, so I have an idea,” Miya said as they continued to stare at Shadow’s profile, “What if we set them up?”
“What?” Reki spat out the water, “That’s insane,”
“Slimes have no imagination or creativity,” Miya said smugly, “That’s why I always win.”
“Take that back!” Reki threw the water bottle at Miya, who caught it and set it down.
“Reki,” Langa cautioned, walking forward and placing a hand on his forearm, “He’s only 13.”
“He’s really mean for a 13 year old,” Reki grumbled.
“Yes,” Langa said reassuringly, “He is.”
“Anyways, as I was saying,” Miya continued, “We should set up Shadow and Oka on a date. Maybe Joe’s restaurant? Imagine how funny it would be,” He grinned, reminding Reki and Langa of a small and very evil kitten. Miya opened the “Direct Message” section of the app and prepared to start texting.
“Wouldn’t Oka notice when Shadow texts him back?” Langa asked, “Not that I endorse this in any way.”
“Not if I turn off the app’s notifications first,” Miya said as he swiftly accessed the settings before turning back to Grindr. “Okay, what should I say?”
“Hey. Date at Sia La Luce?” Reki suggested, “You know, Joe’s place?”
“Oh, that would be so funny,” Miya cackled again, typing in the characters carefully, “But how do we get Oka there?”
“You can count on me for that, I have a plan,” Reki said confidently. To be fair to Reki, he did have a plan. Of course, it mostly involved begging Oka to come to Joe’s restaurant on time for “it’ll be fun, please come on you’re my manager not my dad I just want you to pay for dinner for me you make me work long shifts it's only fair”. Surprisingly, it would work. Another inkling of an idea began to flash in Reki’s brain.
“Oh, oh, wait,” Reki burst, “Did you send the text yet?”
“No, why?”
“Say, “Hey, sexy” with an emoticon,” Reki begged, and in that moment Miya understood the true joy of messing with people’s lives with zero fear of repercussions.
…
Across town, Shadow was driving home from work where he heard the notification.
“I wonder who it could be…” he mused, half to himself.
As he pulled into the garage, he snuck a look and let out a small gasp of surprise.
Grindr: One Notification from: Shokichi
Hey sexy, date at Sia La Luce at 6 pm tomorrow? :)
“Shokichi…” Shadow repeated the name, “Wait, Reki’s manager?”
I guess so, he thought to himself as he looked at Oka’s profile, and he isn’t half bad looking either.
“Sure, why not?”