Chapter Text
“Welcome to Reskate! Anything specific you’re looking for?”
“Hi, my name is Langa Hasegawa. I’m looking for a board, I heard yours are pretty good.”
Reki choked. “L-Langa? The Langa Hasegawa?”
The voice on the other line laughed. “That’s my name.”
“Wow!” Reki squealed. “You’re like- one of the best skaters in Japan! You’re head of the national team!”
“Hm, last time I checked that’s me. You’re not free from praise either, Reki Kyan.”
The way Langa said Reki’s name made him shudder. He was actually getting an order from the best skater in all of Japan, how crazy was that? It had taken him years after college to start up a proper shop, and knowing Langa would be using his board would propel him into the skating world like never before.
“You’re one of the best skateboard builders I’ve heard of from my teammates.” Langa continued. Reki’s blush crept on his cheek from the compliment.
“Oh, uh, it’s nothing really!” Reki chuckled nervously. This was not how he was supposed to act with a customer, especially such a special one.
Reki cleared his throat. “But, back to business, you’re looking for a board?”
“Yes.”
The blunt answer made Reki sweat. He wasn’t really giving any details of what he wanted, and the notepad in front of him was left blank.
“Well- do you have any specifics in mind?” Reki asked.
The voice on the other line paused for a moment.
“I think I’d like to meet you in person to discuss that.”
Reki froze, sweat dripping down his headband.
He was going to meet Langa Hasegawa.
Better yet, Langa wanted to meet him.
“Uhm, we can plan that! My shop is on the third street in Okinawa, right next to the calligraphy shop. We can meet any time you’re free, I have a free schedule!” Reki stuttered. God, he probably sounded like an idiot, not the master skateboard builder Langa saw him as.
“That sounds great. I’m free tomorrow at noon, could we do that?”
Tomorrow. Langa is coming over tomorrow.
“Sure! That’s perfect.” Reki replied through weak knees. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to pass out.
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow. It was wonderful talking to you, Reki.”
And with that, the call was over, and the beeping sound of the call ending was ringing through Reki’s currently blown head.
I am going to meet Langa Hasegawa tomorrow at noon. The sentence repeated through his mind for several minutes as he stood, leaning against the counter of his shop. How was he going to do it? His shop wasn’t exactly the cleanest, and he probably needed a haircut. His clothes weren’t too good-looking either. He’s seen pictures of Langa, he’s always so good-looking, even after a hard beef. Thousands of fan-made accounts and art all dedicated to him. How was he even supposed to hold up to that standard?
The pressure made Reki sweat, and his headband holding his wavy mullet back suddenly seemed very sticky. The fan at his side seemed to not be doing much.
Breathing in, he calmed himself, palms on the counter. He still had time to get ready.
“Miya!” He called, yelling to the back room behind the counter.
“What?” A smaller voice yelled back.
“Come here for a second.”
A loud sigh was heard and footsteps were heard leading up to Reki’s position. Out of the room popped up a tall, black-haired teenager who was clearly annoyed by Reki’s call. Although Miya was three years younger than 21-year-old Reki, he was much taller. His face was surrounded by messy black bangs and a green hoodie around his head. He surprisingly wasn’t holding a game in his hands like always. He and Miya had been friends since Reki’s high school years. Now that Miya was training for the national team and graduating high school in a year, he needed a part-time job. Reki’s shop was the best option, and he had been working at Reskate ever since.
“What is it, slime?”
Reki cleared his throat. “Langa Hasegawa is asking for a board from us.”
Miya’s eyes went wide. “What, did you hypnotize him or something?”
“No! He asked himself. And that’s not all…” Reki grinned, eyes sparkling. Miya cocked his head to the side and folded his arms.
“He’s coming tomorrow!”
If Miya was drinking something, he would have spit it out in one of those comedic cartoon scenes. But instead, his eyes went wide and he froze, the same reaction Reki had.
“Really?”
Miya grinned (which was very rare in and of itself) and took Reki by the shoulders, shaking him. Since Miya was so much more trained and taller than Reki, he was shaken by the arms until Miya finally let him go.
“Do you know what this means?!?”
Reki looked at him, dizzy. “Uh, we get recognition from the best skater in Japan?”
“Psh, that’s that sure. But this means I get to talk my way into the national team! Knowing Langa personally would get me in for sure!”
Reki’s sparkling eyes turned dull and he rolled them. Of course, that’s what Miya was thinking of.
“Well, he’s not gonna give you that unless you put in the work. This place is really messy, can you clean it up while I’m gone?”
Miya groaned. “Where are you going?”
Reki smiled and threw on a jacket, hoping over the counter.
“I have some errands to run!”
🔥❄️
“Joe, how’d you get Cherry to marry you?”
Joe furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Reki sat on the stool, sipping a beer from Joe’s counter.
“Well, you aren’t exactly his type. You two never seemed to get along.”
Joe chuckled, bending over the stove in his restaurant's kitchen.
“We never did, but we could always count on each other, ya know? Even if the world was ending, you’d have that one person who you know would be with you till the end. Kaoru was that person for me. Eventually, things just happened.”
Reki nodded slowly, taking another sip of beer. Joe still didn’t like him drinking, even if he was allowed to. But at least he was better about it than Cherry was.
“Why are you asking anyway?” Joe looked him up and down. “Are you seeing a girl, Reki?” He said suggestively. Reki blushed and shook his head quickly. He hadn’t dated a girl in… well ever. He hadn’t really found the appeal. His lover was a skateboard and a good ramp, not any girl.
“No, but well… if I tell you you’re not gonna believe me.”
Joe put a hand on his shoulder from over the counter. “Let it out, I’m sure it can’t be too bad.”
Reki breathed in and took another sip of beer for good measure. Just saying it sent shivers down his spine.
“Langa Hasegawa wants a board from me and is meeting me tomorrow.”
Joe whistled, returning back to the oven.
“That’s a lot of pressure.”
“I know! And I need to impress him. I figured out from anyone, you’d know how to do that.”
Joe paused, keeping his elbows on the counter, his face scowling and scrunching in thought.
“I think you’ll be just fine.”
Reki blinked. “What? This is Langa I’m talking about, the Langa!”
Joe snickered. “I know. But Langa’s the one who wanted to meet you. All you’re going to focus on is doing the same thing you usually do for boards. He’s not coming over to hang out, just to get a board, remember?”
Reki paused, nodding. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
'He’s not coming over to hang out, just to get a board, remember?' The words hung around his head. He supposed Joe was right. It was just business, like normal. Why should he act like it was anything different?
But he found himself smiling at the thought of being friends with Langa. He’d have fans and parties and girls and a best friend, which he’s been missing for a while. He’s been so filled with work he accidentally cut off most of his friends other than a few old skating partners like Miya. But it was a foolish fantasy at best, and it was unthinkable for that to even happen. Langa probably had too much work, being a part of the National team. Naturally, he must be busy with fans and work. Reki couldn’t expect more than a 20-minute meeting.
After a few more beers and small talk, Reki was giddy and drunk and ready to leave Sia La Luce. Going into the cold wind of Okinawa’s fall, the beer inside him felt happy and warm. He was just going to clean up a little, that’s all. And he was going to make an awesome board for a National team member, and get publicity. That was the plan.
Nothing more,
Nothing less.
🔥❄️
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The noise slowly woke Reki out of his sleep, groaning and turning over to face the ceiling. He grabbed his phone. What time was it?
Turning on his phone he saw it was only 8 in the morning and so he scrolled through his socials. Finding Langa’s page, he read through his bio.
‘Langa Hasegawa :)
Member of the Japanese National Skateboarding Team
Japanese-Canadian
❄️’
He stared at the final snowflake at the end of the bio. Langa’s whole aesthetic was blue and whites, looking through his pictures. It was pictures of him happily smiling with the other members of his team, eating food, and seeing sights and overhead shots and videos of him skating. He was amazing, with flips and turns almost looking like dancing. Imagining him doing those on Reki’s board lighted up something inside of him. Refreshing the page, he found a new picture posted. Clicking on it, it was an adorable selfie of Langa with half his hair pulled up in a ponytail and a tiny kissy face. He could tell why so many girls went crazy for him.
But reading the caption, he almost passed out.
‘Meeting with @re.sk8 for a new board today! Looking forward to it <3’
That was the name of his skate shop page. His page. His measly 2 thousand followers and 20 pictures. The little heart put at the end of the sentence nearly made Reki die, right in bed. He could imagine his body being put in a gravesite with the gravestone reading, ‘2000-2021. Cause of death: Langa Hasegawa.’
Screenshotting the post, he turned off his phone to avoid seeing his face anymore. Langa cared about their meeting so much that he decided to post about it. And he wasn’t any small page either, he had nearly 300k followers, and each of his posts got thousands of likes. He turned off his notifications since he was sure his phone was going to blow up now.
Well, the last part of his plan was already finished before he even met him. He had publicity just like that. Being shoved into the spotlight made him so uncomfortable, it was almost scary.
But he didn’t have time to dwell on these things. He had a very important business meeting coming up.
🔥❄️