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“Wait Oka, what the hell did you just do?”
Oka turned toward Shadow who was skating behind him. They were heading to S together, something they found themselves doing more and more often these days. “What do you mean?”
“The trick you just did. Can you do it again?”
It wasn’t even a hard one. Oka had done it so often, he didn’t have to think about it to do it flawlessly. And for some reason it caught Shadow’s eye.
Shadow paid attention to Oka in a way he was not used to. Most people’s eyes passed right through him to land on skaters like Joe or Cherry.
Oka was the manager of the skateboard shop and a reliable dude, sure. But no one really thought of him as a skater.
Shadow, however.
Shadow did.
So Oka showed him the trick again. And when Shadow overenthusiastically asked him to teach it to him, Oka did.
*********
Oka was waiting for Shadow to join him. They had a specific spot now. One where they would meet up before S every night.
Oka tried the new trick he was trying to master for what felt like the hundredth time that night. He failed for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Is that the one I did last time at S?”
Oka sighed. “I feel like you always arrive when I’m falling on my ass, Shadow.”
Shadow laughed at that. He laughed but he still extended his hand. Oka took it and let Shadow propel him to his feet. He squeezed Shadow’s hand and he smiled at him, eyes fond, before sticking his tongue out and showing Oka the trick again.
They missed the start of that night’s beef.
*********
“You know a lot of very weird tricks.”
“Well, you made up a lot of very aggressive ones. I feel like we just have widely different styles.”
“You’re good.”
Oka lost his focus. Next thing he knew, he was on the floor. “You think so?”
Shadow looked genuinely puzzled. “Of course. You have to, to come up with all these weird moves.”
“I don’t actually come up with them. It’s more like I take easy parts of other skaters’ more complicated tricks and then I stitch them up together.”
Shadow shrugged. Like it was settled in his mind. “Well, that’s clever.”
Was it? Oka had always thought that only doing what was easy made his tricks not that impressive. He wasn’t sure he didn’t still think that.
But having Shadow holding him in some kind of esteem did feel nice.
*********
“I can’t believe you draw that thing on your shoulder every S night. Man, the dedication.”
Oka had been ready to go for a full hour already but Shadow was only now starting to resemble his usual skater self.
“I can’t show up at the flower shop looking all cool and scary like in S. The customers would run away in fear.”
Oka snorted but his eyes were fond. “Oh yeah, sure. All grunge at night but cute as hell during the day.”
Shadow looked him straight in the eyes. “You think I’m cute?”
“Nope. Haven’t you noticed? It’s night already.”
Oka couldn’t keep the smile off his face long enough to be convincing.
*********
Oka was not exactly sure when it happened. He just knew that somewhere along the last year, his outings with Shadow started feeling more and more like regular dates.
The shop was packed with flowers these days. Langa didn’t notice a thing but Reki kept giving him knowing glances. And Oka knew, he knew there was something other than flowers blooming there.
And he knew it wasn’t one-sided.
That particular night found them skating hand in hand. He couldn’t feel Shadow’s skin through his glove but he could feel the warmth of it, the gentleness. And if Joe winked at them when they arrived at S, it didn’t have to be a big deal.
But still, he liked the balance. He liked how things were at the moment. It made him feel warm and appreciated. He didn’t feel like needing to change anything about them. The time they spent together was precious to him.
And when he looked at how content Shadow looked when they were spending time together, he thought that maybe Shadow didn’t need more either.
*********
“You know, Oka, I hate to admit it but I’ve tried so hard to become better, stronger, all that shit for a girl before. And yeah, it got me nowhere. But spending time with you... I feel like I’m enough.”
Oka pushed himself away from where he sat cuddled against Shadow’s side on the couch to look at him.
“Shouldn’t that be my line? You're a way better skater than me. But you’re always taking me seriously.”
“Maybe as a skater I’m best,” he stuck his tongue out at Oka. “But you’re like, I don’t know. So much better an adult than me? And helpful and nice? People can go to you for stuff. They only come to me to get destroyed by my tricks. I was kinda surprised you wanted to spend that much time with me.”
Now Oka was just looking at him in shock.
“What do you mean, you were surprised that I wanted to skate with you? Everyone admires you at S. Of course, I wanted to spend time with you.”
“But it’s not just skating, is it? Like, yeah sure we’ve done a lot of that. But we’re hanging out even when we aren’t skating. Look, you didn’t have to stay at my place today, it’s raining. We haven’t even gotten our boards out.”
Shadow looked so casual and confident. Like he was just stating the obvious. And in a sense, he was. Oka hadn’t doubted the care between them either.
But still, “I like you. Like, I like you. Hiromi. Not just you as Shadow. I like helping you draw your ridiculous fake tattoo before S and I like being stranded inside with you during rainy days and I like when you show up with flowers at the shop and I just- like you. So much.”
Hiromi was watching him with that fond look again, as if he would be content to just look at Oka until the end of time. Maybe he was. “I know.”