Work Text:
Langa sat on his living room couch, phone in hand, watching a video Reki sent him from his last beef at S. His best friend had tried out a new trick to outsmart Shadow and it finally paid off. He made it to the warehouse in record time and mostly unscathed. Langa smiled at the big, dopey grin Reki was wearing in the video as he held his board over his head cheering.
“That’s a throwback.”
Langa raised a brow, looking up from his phone to see his mother also on her phone. “What’s a throwback?”
Hasegawa Nanako smiled at her son, turning her phone to show him a picture that popped up onto her screen. “Just this old picture of me wearing Heelys.”
Langa scrunched up his brows at his mother in confusion. “Heelys?”
His mother pursed her lips. “You’re really making me feel old, kid. Heelys are like skateboard shoes. They’re sneakers that have a single wheel in the heel and you roll around in them. Here, watch.” She tapped on her phone, pulling up a video of someone rolling down the street in a pair of red sneakers.
Langa’s eyes widened in surprised delight. “Do they still make them?”
“I haven’t seen them since I was your age, but it looks like you can still buy them from the company’s website.”
Blue eyes sparkled and Langa stuck his tongue out between his lips as he tapped on his own phone, opening his texts from Reki.
[Langa]: What size shoe do you wear?
[Reki]: 10. Y?
Langa closed the messages without responding, rushing to the company website to order each of them a pair. Reki would love the shoes. He just knew it.
The wait was killing him. If he still lived in Canada, it would have taken no time at all, but since they were in Japan now, it was almost two weeks before the package finally arrived. Reki had pestered him at first, wondering why Langa needed his shoe size, but as time went on, he forgot about it. When Langa came home after school one day to see the brown box on the front steps of family home, he was over the moon.
Langa ripped open the box, pulling out two identical shoe boxes, one with red sneakers, and one blue. He kicked off the pair of shoes he was wearing, and slipped into the new ones, using the hook that came with the shoes to pull the plugs out of the heels and replace them with the matching blue wheels. Retro.
He walked down the sidewalk, stumbling at first. “Okay. It can’t be that difficult. I can snowboard and skateboard. Two wheels should be a piece of cake.” It wasn’t. Langa would take off running down the street and try to kick out his feet to lean back on his heels and trip over himself repeatedly. It’s almost as bad as when Reki was trying to teach me to skateboard. It hurt a lot less than back then. Langa pulled out his phone, watching videos of people explaining how to balance when rolling on the heels.
“Okay.” He shoved his phone in his pocket and gave it another try. Langa could get one foot going, but it was a challenge to start rolling on both for more than a few seconds. It took him a few hours to really get the hang of it. When he was able to successfully roll his way up and down the street with minimal effort, he deemed it time to finally call Reki.
“What’s up?” Reki asked, answering the phone.
“You want to come over? I have something to show you,” said Langa. He bit back a grin. Reki would love the red shoes with white trim. He just knew it.
“I’ll be there in ten.” Reki hung up the phone without a goodbye and Langa carded his hand through his hair, smoothing out his disheveled locks. All that practice had worked him into a sweat, and he could only imagine the sorry state of his appearance.
Langa heard Reki before he saw him, the distinct sound of rolling wheels from the redhead’s skateboard let Langa know he was close. Reki came to a rolling stop in front of Langa, kicking his board up and catching it in one hand. “Hey,” he greeted, a bit breathless. Reki must have been in a hurry.
“Hey,” Langa returned. “I have a surprise for you.”
Red brows waggled curiously. “What kind of surprise?”
“A present. One sec.” Langa ran inside the house grabbing the box of red sneakers off the counter and bringing them back outside to Reki. He held the box out for Reki to take who was eyeing it curiously.
“Shoes?” asked Reki, taking note of the obvious shape of the box.
Langa smiled at him as he watched the small redhead open the box. “Yeah. My mom told me about them. They’re really cool.”
Reki peeled back the tissue paper that the shoes were wrapped in and inspected the shoes. “Why are there wheels in here?” He lifted his head, meeting Langa’s gaze.
“They’re these old things called Heelys. You put the wheels in the shoes and then you can roll around without a board.”
Red eyes lit up with enthusiastic delight as Reki looked back down at the shoes in the box. “That’s awesome! Thanks, Langa!” He pulled the shoes out of the box and immediately proceeded to kick off the pair he was wearing. “Is that what you have on; those blue ones?” Reki pointed to the pair on Langa’s feet as he slipped the red ones over his heels.
“Yeah!” Langa lifted his right foot, revealing the wheel sticking out of the heel of his shoe.
“So cool.” Reki tied his shoes and took a couple tentative steps. “These are like the perfect fit. Wait, is that why you asked my size a couple weeks ago?”
Langa nodded. It had been hard to not confess everything to Reki, but he was glad that he managed to keep the secret. Seeing the delighted look on his friend’s face was well worth it. “Let’s go to the skatepark to practice with them. There’s more room than in front of my house.”
With the plugs in place on the new shoes, they hopped on their boards to ride to the skatepark. Once there, they set the boards aside and used the hook to pull the plugs out of the shoes, replacing them with the wheels. “You have to get a running start, and then lean back on your heels. It’s kind of scary at first, since you have to lean back so your center of gravity is a little off kilter.”
Reki stood up, tilting back to feel what it’s like to have the wheels on the shoes. “How long have you been practicing?”
“A couple of hours, though I’m still getting the hang of it.” Reki bobbed his head and did as he was instructed, rushing forward before leaning his body back. He wobbled and his foot slid out from under him. He was about to hit the ground when Langa reached out a hand, catching him by the elbow and bracing the small redhead. “Careful,” he said, smiling at his friend.
They locked eyes, blue meeting amber, and Langa helped Reki right himself. “Do you want to hold my hand?” He asked gently, reminded of when Reki had asked him the same question when Langa was first learning to skateboard.
Reki blushed, embarrassment clear in his face. “I’m good.”
“Mm.” Langa bit his lip and glanced down at Reki’s posture. “Here. Try this.” He stepped behind the redhead. Langa placed his hands firmly on Reki’s hips and breathed into his ear. “Lean back.”
“What are you doing?!” Reki spluttered, snapping his head to the left to look over his shoulder.
Langa pressed his thumbs firmly into Reki’s lower back and furrowed his brows. “Helping you get your balance. Here.” He gave the redhead a push and released his hold on him.
Reki started to roll away, wobbling at first, before getting a steady flow going. “Oh. Oh! Yes!” He fist-pumped into the air, cheering excitedly. He leaned forward, pushing off the ground with his right foot to gain more momentum, then leaned back again. Reki was rolling down the skatepark smoothly, at least, until he hit a rock and went tumbling forward.
“Reki!”
Langa rushed after him, crouching down beside the redhead and helping him up. “Are you okay?”
Reki blinked a couple of times before finally nodding. “Y-yeah. I guess this is gonna take some more practice.”
“Pfft.” Langa laughed, the corners of his mouth touching his eyes. “Yeah. I think we’re both gonna need more practice.”
They smiled at each other, both laughing, and pressed the tips of their fingers together to form their infinity symbol.