Chapter Text
Reki was pumped for this competition. Like, kid in a candy store type excitement. It was his first time in Canada. He had never been somewhere so cold before. And now he and his beloved pro-skating team were here, right in the country’s capital. Shivering in his thin hoodie, he smiled wildly at the team's manager, a stressed, middle-aged man that stuck strictly to business. The man only offered a tight-lined purse of his lips and a glare through his thin-framed glasses, a look Reki knew all too well as don’t get yourself into any trouble.
Reki wasn’t too perturbed, however. He was in Canada for the first time in his life, for god’s sake! He was determined to have fun on his own time without his pesky team manager or coach breathing down his neck. Or that annoying child prodigy who had recently joined the team, either. After all, the tournament was only set to span across three days in the latter half of the week, and they were here a whole week early, specifically for tourist-y things! Kojiro (or Joe, as he requested they call him), their team’s head coach did say it was for some team bonding time, but that was beside the point. Reki was intent on getting some time alone to explore and skate through the city.
Right as he began sneaking away from the group, who had all huddled around a map in the middle of the airport the team had recently landed in, Miya, the teams rookie and annoyingly intelligent child prodigy skater just had to open his loud mouth, loudly inquiring on Reki’s whereabouts with a sly grin spread across his stupid face.
Reki groaned loudly, pulling himself back in the direction of the group, dragging his feet like he used to when his mom made him come in for the night.
“Dude you seriously suck” He whined, lazily punching Miya in the arm.
That’s when the boy hissed, like actually hissed like a cat, his eyes narrowing.
“Keep your hands to yourself, you man-child.” The boy spat out
“Yeah, whatever you say, kid”
“I’m not a kid! I’m 16!” Miya squawked, his voice raising up an octave.
“Like I said, a kid.” Reki responded, a shit-eating grin spreading across his freckled face and he brought his arm up to push Miya—playfully, of course.
Annoyingly, Miya swiftly dodged Reki’s attempts and opened his mouth to come back at Reki with some stupidly smart sly remark, but before he could, their team manager, Sakurayashiki cleared his throat, zeroing in on Reki and Miya specifically.
Reki swore this guy had it out for him specifically.
“As I was saying, we will be transported to the hotel via a team shuttle bus here in a couple of minutes. Make sure you have all of your things, including all skateboards. We don’t need another New York incident. I’m looking at you, Kyan.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Reki muttered under his breath as the men around him snickered lightly. You forget your skateboard once and suddenly you’re the prime example of who not to be.
“Anyways, I just received the message that the bus is here for us. Seriously, make sure you have all your shit.” With one final pointed look in Reki's direction, the group was off for the bus, Reki lagging behind in the back.
Seriously though, he knew he was forgetful, and clumsy, and loud…and honestly probably the team's weakest link, but he really just wanted to have some fun while he’s in Ottawa.
“You know Kaoru is hard on you because he cares about you, Reki.” A tired voice spoke from behind him.
“But Okaaaa, why am I always the bad example? When can I be the good one?”
Oka, the team’s mechanic, and the person Reki considered himself closest to on the team, laughed softly at Reki’s childlike whining.
“You’re the bad example because you’re the one who makes the bad decisions”
“Rude.” Reki scoffed.
“Suck it up, listen to what he has to say, and then go break the rules anyways. Just be smart about it.” This reignited a bit of Reki’s spark, and he turned back around to offer Oka a genuine smile.
“You know I will.” the redhead responded before jogging to catch up with the rest of the group.
Reki would never admit it aloud, and Oka kept the information to himself for the sake of not embarrassing the boy, but Reki truly viewed Oka as a father figure. Oka had taught him how to fix and make his own skateboards at a young age and always cheered the boy on when he started having doubts of becoming a professional skater. Oka remembered consoling Reki as he sobbed about not being good enough to make the team, that those who had tried out with him were “so much better” and that Reki “had no chance of making it.”
The next day, Reki had made the team. Oka treated him to dinner.
–
Sitting on the bus, Reki put on his headphones and drowned out the rest of the team. He liked them all, except maybe that little brat Miya, but sometimes it was just too much. He appreciated having times like these where he could drown out the rest of the world and only think about what he wanted to think about.
Oka sat down in the seat next to him with a grunt but knew better than to bother Reki once he had put his headphones on.
Pulling out his travel sketchbook, Reki began to occupy his hands with a new board design. Despite making the national team, Reki still had a real passion for art and making skateboards. In the off season, he would return to work at Dope Sketch with Oka and make his boards then. For now, he could only come up with ideas.
So Reki got to work, doodling nonsense at first and then coming up with fully fleshed ideas. He found himself designing a new board for Miya, God knows why.
By the end of the ride, Reki had a full concept for a better board for the team’s resident asshole. He knew for his own pride and the boy’s ego that he shouldn’t show Miya the design, so instead he folded his sketchbook closed and slid it into his back pocket.
Maybe he would revisit the idea once he was back in the Dope Sketch workshop. Maybe.
For now, he was ready to crash in the hotel’s no-doubt fancy queen-sized bed in a suite all for himself. God, Reki was just drooling at the thought. One of the best parts of traveling as a national sports team? The luxury hotels that he didn’t have to pay for.
–
Once through the doors of his hotel room, he realized the possibility of this being less than ideal. The lodge, at least on the outside, was gorgeous. As for his room, however…
Setting his stuff in the corner of the room, Reki took in the room around him, his eyes first falling on the heater, which was rattling annoyingly in the corner.
As Reki continued to survey the room, he realized a couple of things. First of all, the shower nozzle was broken and dangling limply from the hose. Not a big deal, Reki preferred baths anyways, especially after long days competing or training. Second, the room felt quite small. Reki wasn’t one to complain about a free room, but seriously. There was no room to actually unpack, instead he awkwardly propped his suitcase and skateboard up on the wall next to his bed. And of course, the heater was still buzzing annoyingly, driving Reki half insane.
Flopping down on the bed, Reki noted one more thing. The springs. He could feel the springs of the mattress through the bed. Defeated, Reki groaned loudly, flopping over to his voice was muffled by the pillows.
Whatever, it’s only a week, and you’ll only be in here to shower and sleep anyways.
With that, Reki dozed off, stirring uncomfortably occasionally in the unfortunate room he had found himself in.
Tomorrow, he will explore the city. On his own terms.