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Theo yawned. His position right next to the window was extremely comfortable, and the cloying heat of the summer was making him sleepy.
His teacher had entered the classroom, judging by the drop in the noise level. Theo didn’t bother lifting his head up, and therefore did not take notice of the new presence in the classroom. It was only after hearing hushed whispers that he lifted his head up, curious.
A blue haired boy was standing at the front, next to the teachers desk. He looked around, as if unsure of his surroundings. His teacher entered the classroom and informed them that they would be having a transfer student this year. He asked the student to introduce himself.
“I’m Keeho.”
“We’re all delighted to have you this year. Could you tell us more about yourself?” their teacher said, smiling.
“I’m from Canada.”
“I see” the teacher said, who was clearly confused because bro spoke exclusively in words from the Sesame Street dictionary.
“Was it not good enough?” Keeho said, looking genuinely confused.
“No, you may take your seat, Keeho. I hope you enjoy your new school!” chriped the teacher, seemingly regaining his composure.
Keeho nodded and plopped down right next to Theo.
-
Keeho sighed and and exited the calligraphy master’s homely base of operations. He had been hoping to get a part-time job there, because he could pick up on the work relatively easy, it had a high hourly wage, and it was close to his house. To his dismay, the man did not give minors jobs. Keeho was seventeen, and fate refused to smile upon him.
“Hey man, can you stop the board?” someone yelled.
Keeho turned around and saw a skateboard hurtling towards him. He caught the board and turned it around in his hands. It was battered with use, decorated with vinyl stickers and spray paint.
“Thanks,” smiled a boy with vibrant red hair and tanned skin. He was dressed in typical street fashion. A blue headband kept his long locks out of his face. He had a boyish charm, which captivated Keeho.
“You were totally checking it out, right?” The boy asked, grinning.
“Huh?”
“My board. It’s great, isn’t it?”
“I guess.”
“Do you recognize me? You’re in my class.”
Keeho was sure he would’ve remembered someone with neon red hair. He blamed it on his nerves.
“How do you even ride on that thing? It doesn’t look like it was made for riding on.”
“Of course it was made for riding,” red haired boy laughed easily, throwing his head back. Keeho stared at him. His hair caught the sunlight so that the reflection looked like a golden halo on his head.
Before he could say anything however, skater dude grabbed his board, ran a few meters ahead, and placed a leg on his skateboard. He pushed with his other leg, and all of a sudden, he was speeding towards Keeho at a dangerous pace.
Keeho would have never imagined that his life would end like this. A hit and run by a fire themed skateboard nerd in the middle of a street, next to a calligraphers house. It might make a bomb obituary, though.
As quickly as he had imagined his certain demise, the boy jumped over him with his board, accompanied by a flash of light when he blocked the sun. It was quite dramatic, Keeho would give him that. Except he was pretty sure his heart had stopped beating and he couldn’t really process what had happened.
“How did you do that?” Keeho managed to choke out, well after boy™️ had stopped laughing.
“It was an ollie.” He said cheerfully. “Do you want me to teach you how to do that?”
“Yeah.” Keeho blurted out without thinking. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Theo.”
“I’m Keeho.” he said, smiling.
“I know.”
Keeho felt awkward. He was usually great at conversing, but Theo didn’t say much, and didn’t expect him to say anything either.
“Are you coming?” Theo asked.
“Right now?”
“Yep.”
Keeho allowed himself to be lead away. He quietly marvelled at the scenic streets, embraced by the late afternoon sun. The fast pace of events disoriented him, but the sense of awe and giddiness accompanying the newness of everything dwarfed it.
-
After a few minutes of walking, they reached a playground overlooking the sea. Theo led him to a sparse area at the back of the playground, with only a few swings and seesaws. Keeho thought they’d go to a skate park, but this made more sense, since his feet had never had the pleasure of kissing a skateboard.
“Okay,” Theo said brightly. “First you keep your rear foot on the ground while you put your other foot on top of the deck, right around the screws on the nose.”
“Right.” Keeho said. He placed his foot on the board just as he would when he snowboarded, coming as easily as walking.
“Goofy?” Theo said, referring to his choice of positioning feet.
Keeho did not know that skateboarding had a similar terminology to snowboarding. It made him feel more comfortable, and took away some of his apprehensiveness.
“Yeah. I used to snowboard in Canada.”
Theo seemed impressed. His eyes glittered. “Whoa, that’s insanely cool! I wish it snowed here.”
“The sea seems to make up for it,” Keeho said, smiling.
“I’ll take your word for it. Now, ride the board, Keeho.”
Keeho took in a deep breath, and attempted to balance both his legs on a strip of wood. Almost immediately, the board started wobbling dangerously. His feet were off the ground for approximately a second.
“C’mon, it’s not that hard. The trick is to not be scared. It feels impossible, but your fear will only make you press down on the skateboard harder. Relax.” Theo drawled.
Keeho wished it was that easy. After a few more attempts, Theo offered to hold his hand. Keeho obliged immediately. He successfully placed both his feet on the board. It felt like walking on a tightrope.
Theo led him along, with Keeho desperately trying to remain stationary on the skateboard. He was failing miserably.
“Okay, now push with your foot,” Theo coaxed. Keeho did. Theo slowly took his hand away, and Keeho gently glided along the length of the playground. He felt like he was gliding on air. Rocky, irregular air, but it felt amazing, almost like snowboarding. Spurred by his momentary success, Keeho pushed harder.
Keeho tumbled. Quite literally. Because Yoon Keeho was a fucking idiot.
He rolled like a barrel down the path overlooking the sea, and finally rammed into a bush.
Theo ran over to him, howling with laughter. He seemed to have no concern for Keeho’s well-being, oh no, the redhead (literally red, not orange) thought it was amusing to have Keeho roll into a bush. He was unharmed, but still.
“Are you alright?” Theo choked out. Without waiting for an answer, he started examining Keeho’s limbs.
Keeho was flustered. He managed to say that he was fine, although he could feel his ears change color to a beautiful strawberry red.
“You have a few scrapes, I’ll patch you up”
Again, Theo started slapping brightly coloured Hello Kitty bandages onto Keeho without waiting for an answer.
Before he knew it, Keeho was decorated with luridly pink bandages. Joy and happiness.
“Do you wanna continue learning or?” Theo asked.
Keeho said no so quickly it was embarrassing. He never really had a brain to mouth filter around pretty boys.
“Alright, wanna come over to my place? I’ve been working on making a new board.”
“You make your boards?” Keeho asked, stunned. He got up and started walking with Theo.
“Yep. Sometimes they’re not as sturdy as the ones you would buy in a store. But it allows me to customise them better.”
“That’s insane.”
“Thanks. What’s your favourite song?”
“Fortnite Balls.”
-
They continued to make small talk, and occasionally bicker. Keeho, a self proclaimed people’s man, marvelled at how easy it was to talk to Theo. Keeho had his fair share of talking to reclusive individuals, clingy, overbearing teens, and exhaustingly smart people. Theo was a perfect balance of funny, intellectual and made sure to never overstep his limits. Keeho and Theo clicked so well it felt like he was talking to a long lost friend.
They finally arrived at Theo’s house. It was a traditional house by modern standards, but the abundance of lights gave it a homely look.
Theo didn’t take Keeho into the house. Rather, he took him to a small shed, constructed out of wooden logs in the backyard.
Keeho stepped in. It was brightly lit, and the makeshift shelves were positively overflowing with colorful mechanical parts, paints, and wood. There was also a machine to cut and sand wood.
“I didn’t think you were this passionate about skateboarding.”
“Yeah well,” Theo smiled sheepishly. “A friend of mine got me into it a few years ago, and I was never really able to let go of it.”
“I can see that.” Keeho smiled.
“This is the board I’ve been working on” Theo said.
They both stared at a tastefully painted piece of wood in the shape of a skateboard, with the underside depicting a cute, bright blue monster in the shape of a blob.
“It’s frightening, you might jumpscare an unsuspecting person with it.” Keeho said.
“Hilarious.” Theo deadpanned. “But seriously, how is it?”
“It looks great.” Keeho said honestly. It really did. The lines were clean, and the colors complimented each other. It was simple, not overcrowded, and easily visible from a distance. It was first-rate workmanship, Keeho said. Not that he had much experience in painting.
“Thanks!” Theo said, grinning. The more Keeho thought about it, he realized Theo’s personality resembled the sun. He was a teletubby, because teletubbies were infinitely cooler. Pun intended, because only the real ones intended the pun.
“I think I should go, my mom wanted me to help her look for furniture.” Keeho said. He was very sad he had to leave, because he genuinely enjoyed Theo’s company. He would never admit it out loud, though.
“Okay, see you tomorrow?”
“You bet.”
-
The adrenaline in Keeho’s stomach felt like poison. It would kill him before the coach.
Their gym coach was chasing Keeho and Theo, because they were skateboarding on the grounds of the school. The coach resembled a furious bull, and had the speed of a raging bull too. Keeho said his prayers, because Theo seemed to be intent on providing Keeho with the finest near death experiences known to mankind. To each their own, Keeho thought.
“Don’t get caught, newbie! A boy yelled from the second floor of the school building. There were a lot of student spectators, all cheering Theo on. This seemed to be a regular occurence.
He was desperately trying to keep one leg on his skateboard (Theo’s skateboard, but he claimed it), and the other was pushing furiously. “Don’t be scared, keep your other foot on the board!” Theo yelled lazily, skateboarding ahead with ease. Keeho did as he asked. For only a second though. His foot returned to its original position again. He scrunched up his face in concentration, took a deep breath, and put his other foot on the board. It took him a moment to process that he was now skateboarding, not flailing his arms about helplessly. He grinned, and slammed face-first into a wall.
His hands had decided that their owner would surely get himself killed, and decided to take matters into their own hands. They sort of grappled with the wall, trying to push Keeho away. It worked, and only Keeho’s stately nose (as he liked to call it) was particularly unlucky. His nose was bleeding profusely. From a distance, it probably looked like Keeho slammed into the menacing mound of cement like a cartoon character, since his hands were splayed on the wall. A sight to behold, truly, Keeho thought, and peeled himself away from the wall. The coach and some dude caught him, and he promptly passed out.
Sometime later, when Keeho’s mind was going from I’m-not-conscious to I-can-make-out-fuzzy-colours, he heard a familiar voice say, “You have a penchant for getting into trouble, don’t you?”
“Fucking imbecile,” was all Keeho could come up with.
-
And thus Keeho settled into his new life. He met up with Theo everyday to skate, and they played video games at Theo’s place. He occasionally had dinner at Theo’s house, and Theo’s mother had taken an immense liking to Keeho. Keeho and Theo (a fitting name for a children’s show) had the genius idea of strapping Keeho’s feet to the board with duct tape. He proved to be extremely agile with this new contraption, and Theo simply fell face first into the dirt. A welcome change.
Now, Keeho’s mother was growing extremely concerned about the numerous wounds Keeho was receiving. They were all scratches and bumps, normal injuries for someone who started skating. It may have looked serious, because Theo had an adorable habit of slapping bandaids onto any visible scratch on his skin. He personally enjoyed it.
His mother thought he was in a gang, and she had looked at Keeho with almost comical worry in her eyes. It took him days to figure out what was bothering her, but he assured her he was not involved in any illicit activities as soon as he found out.
This was just one of the numerous hilarious anecdotes that had followed after befriending Theo. He felt like he was alive, because everyday was different. He was enjoying life. Simply thinking about Theo and what they would get up to that day made him feel rejuvenated. Keeho was genuinely happy. Fooling around with Theo, exploring the city with Theo, skateboarding with Theo, going to school with Theo, it was all great.
He made a mental note to say that to Theo, because Theo had an aversion to mushy stuff.
Keeho kinda felt attracted to Theo too. He didn’t know if it was a crush, though. Maybe Theo was simply good looking. He almost always thought he had a crush on his friends, only to find out that it was not the case. It frustrated him too. Why did he think he liked them? Was he really that desperate to have a crush?
In the tangle of intrusive thoughts, one jumped out to him.
‘I’m falling for him,’ it said.
“I will bury you under a supermarket. Alive.” Theo said menacingly.
As he walked back home from a grueling day of avoiding the afterlife (he scraped his knee) Keeho was in high spirits. He had pinched Theo’s cheek, because he looked like a little (six-foot tall) dumpling, causing Theo to threaten his innocent soul.
As predicted, Theo immediately recoiled. He tried to bludgeon Keeho with his bottle of Minute Maid. Why anyone would voluntarily drink Minute Maid, Keeho would never know.
“But your cheeks are so pinchable,” Keeho said, reaching out to pat Theo’s face again. He had very soft cheeks, and they just looked pinchable. It was simple.
Theo punched Keeho in the stomach. Keeho cried out in pain, and decided to drop it. For now.
“Where are we going?” Keeho asked.
“To the store I work at.”
“You have a job?” Keeho asked, thoroughly confused. He had sometimes spent days with Theo, and never had he had been occupied with something else.
“Yeah, I work there during the summer. Because the vacation’s ‘round the corner, thought you might want to check it out. You’ll be spending a lot of time there soon.” Theo said nonchalantly.
“That’s insane”
“You’re addicted to saying ‘insane’. You should stop before you go insane, Keeho.”
“Insane. Can I tag along?”
“Only if you promise to stop saying ‘insane’,”
“Can’t count on that,” Keeho said, and followed Theo.
They reached a store close to the calligrapher’s house, where Keeho had unsuccessfully tried to get a job a few weeks ago. It seemed to be a specialty store for skateboards. Figures, Keeho thought.
It was brightly painted, and it gave off very Theo vibes. As soon as Keeho stepped in, he was greeted with a blast of cold air, and the chorus of ‘Fly-day Chinatown’. Maybe they were sick of vocaloids. He couldn’t blame them, they sounded like broken food processors. He made his way over to the counter with Theo.
The owner was a pleasant, middle-aged man, who seemed to be very fond of Theo. That wasn’t what caught Keeho’s eye though.
A very furry critter was snoozing on the counter. It didn’t look like a normal pet, and was very foxlike.
Keeho made his way over without thinking. On closer inspection, it seemed to be a fennec fox. He only knew because his neighbour in Canada had somehow procured one as a pet when he was younger.
Theo had also made his way over, without Keeho noticing. He cooed at the fox, and attempted to touch it. Almost simultaneously, the creature bit Theo and hung to his finger, as if he had sensed it.
“Beautiful,” Keeho said, grinning.
“Shut up,” Theo said.
The dude at the counter laughed. “Theo, who is your friend?” he asked.
“Keeho. Keeho, this is the manager.”
“Hello.” Keeho said politely.
“Why aren’t you acting up? This isn’t like you, you’re never polite.” Theo frowned.
Keeho kicked Theo under the counter. He awarded himself ten points for subtlety.
“Lovely!” The manager grinned. “We have a vacancy, would you like to work here? Only three hours a day, and Theo can keep you company.”
Keeho was just waiting for him to finish speaking so that he could say yes. Everything the dude said after offering Keeho a job had gone into one ear and out the other. His mother had been pestering him to get a part-time job ever since they moved, to get to ‘know the place and language better’. She might finally get off his case.
Keeho agreed, but Theo seemed annoyed.
“I can do the work on my own, manager,” he frowned.
The guy smiled. “Theo makes it sound like he does not like your presence, but he simply thinks that I do not think he is capable of handling the work. He hates being underestimated, you see.” he said, adressing Keeho.
“Oh.” said Keeho, because he kinda knew that already, and it was getting too parent-y. Also, Theo looked like he was going to explode.
“Yeah. See you on the first day of the holidays!” he chirped.
-
Contrary to Canada, his mother’s country of birth did not seem to have summer vacations after the end of school. Rather, it was smack dab in the middle of the school year. It was kind of nice, he had to admit it.
Keeho and Theo were out the entire day, exploring, skating, eating. Keeho had gotten very good at skating, and he was able to perfectly execute ollies. He was improving at a rapid pace because of his previous years of snowboarding experience.
They were both almost on par with each other when Keeho duct taped his feet to the board. It was thrilling, and they cruised through the clean, empty streets everyday, lazing around at their job, which provided relief from the scorching heat with their powerful air conditioner and a very nice pay check. They then settled at dusk with the sun to eat ice cream by the sea.
On one such day, they had found a deserted, quaint road perfect for skateboarding. They spent the entire day on it, and exerted themselves immensely. They had never been more deserving of an ice cream break.
They both got popsicles, because they both agreed that they had a refreshing lightness that ice cream couldn’t provide. Keeho had the grape flavoured lolly, and Theo an orange flavoured one.
Keeho bit into his popsicle, because he was based. The same couldn’t be said for Theo though, because he was gently licking all sides of his popsicle. Today, they were unusually quiet. They were content staring at the gentle smattering of stars across the sky.
Keeho laid his eyes on Theo’s popsicle as soon as he finished his(37 seconds). In a very stealthy move, he bit a huge chunk out of the popsicle before Theo could react.
Keeho experienced the worst brainfreeze ever, while Theo got ready to fight back. In the midst of this silent, slow chaos, the remainder of the frozen treat fell onto the sand with a plop.
On pure primal instinct, they both dove down to catch it. However, gravity defeated them.
They froze simultaneously. They were so close to each other.
Keeho felt all the clever quips in his mind wash away. Theo didn’t move an inch either.
Keeho’s stomach, possibly the most emotionally diverse character here, felt like a boiling cauldron being used by a witch in the alps to concoct a potion to curse her neighbours. Hesitantly, he moved closer. Just a little, mind you. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if he tried.
Apparently, that was all Theo needed to close the gap between their lips.
Keeho’s stomach juices were begging to splash out. Their lips were still numb and dry from the popsicles. But he was elated. Theo pulled away.
“Y’know, it would’ve been better if it didn’t last for, like, three seconds,” Keeho said, trying to regain his bravado.
“I might just drop a shipment of skateboards on you tomorrow”