Chapter Text
“Come on, snowpoke,” Reki snickered at his own joke as he weaved around the dotted lines along the empty road, illuminated by only the streetlights as the moon barely peeked out from behind the clouds, “the store’s gonna close in a bit.”
Langa, who had decided to simply coast at a leisurely pace not too far behind Reki, yawned, “Remind me why you insist on going so late?”. The teenager had a mere few hours of rest after being with Reki all day only to be woken up by a multitude of messages mainly consisting of capitalized letters and exclamation points.
“Because the road’s empty this time of night!” Reki skated in zig-zags across and down the deserted street to showcase the space they had for themselves. Unfortunately, Langa, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he cruised, was much too tired to take advantage of the free skating space.
“Whatever you sa-” he was interrupted by yet another yawn. When his eyes focused in the dim light, Reki was already a considerable ways down the street.
With a sigh, he began to speed up before he’d turned the corner without him. He kicked at the ground to propel himself, his blue hair pulled back by the wind.
“Wait up, Reki,” he slowed himself down until he was right next to him and matched his speed, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were leaving me behind on purpose.”
“Oh,” Reki shook himself out of the daze he’d slipped into in the silence, “Sorry, man, I– uh, didn’t notice I got so far ahead.”
“No, it’s completely fine, Reki,” Langa gently furrowed his brow, “you feel alright?”
“Yeah, yeah! I just kinda spaced out, I guess.”
It was a habit they were both aware he had. He frequently slipped into daydreams, and more often than not, Langa would join him. A fair amount of the time they spent at the skatepark consisted of them just sitting together in silence, taking notice of the clouds that passed them by and absorbing the park’s surroundings and noises.
“I see,” Langa relaxed his face and smiled at his friend when they made eye contact, “Just don’t get too far ahead of me. I, uh, don’t think your mom would appreciate me losing you this time of night.”
They both snickered.
“She’ll somehow put the blame on me, she likes you way too much to be angry at you,” he said lightheartedly, his smile still lingering on his face, the dimples he’d expressed embarrassment at making an appearance.
“Well, I don’t wanna lose you either way, we might have to pick up one of those child leashes for you.”
“Woooowww, how about you speed up instead, Snow?”
“How about a compromise? Hold hands instead?” Langa’s voice wavered a little bit at the second question, but he quickly covered for himself by straightening up on his board.
“Oh!” If the lighting wasn’t so weak, Langa would have seen the light pink dusting across Reki’s face. “Sure, sure, great idea. So we don’t lose each other!”
“So we don’t lose each other,” Langa nodded more enthusiastically than he normally would.
“Hurry, before we turn the corner,” Reki’s hand shot out and opened for Langa’s. He grabbed it quickly enough and they turned the corner together, speeding up at the slight decline.
Their fingers weren’t intertwined, so they had to hold on relatively tight to keep a hold on each other. This part of the road had less streetlights, so they were clearly visible only when they were under the few that were there and functioning. Langa could see Reki's hair fluttering behind him as they sped down and vice versa.
Soon, they had slowed down and it was only 2 minutes until they’d reached the only 24/7 store in the area. They didn’t let go of each others’ hands until they reached the store entrance and leaned their skateboards against the wall.
Reki let go of Langa’s hand to pat his pockets, presumably to look for his wallet. He paused after he couldn’t find it in his right pocket. He then searched his left, then his back pockets.
“Uh, Reki?”
He stopped searching to look up at him, eyes panicked, “I think I forgot my wallet at home.”
“You, you wh-”
“Jokes! I really got you, huh?” he pulled his wallet out of his hoodie pocket with a satisfied grin at fooling Langa.
“You think you’re so funny, huh?” Langa asked, his lips slightly twitching, betraying the amusement at his friend’s antics.
“I do, actually, now let’s go!”