Chapter Text
Ethan wasn’t new to this whole illegal underground skating ring thing. It had taken him weeks to muster up the courage to even trial it, accompanied closely by a friend who he hadn’t let out of his sight throughout the whole ordeal. And yet somehow, somewhere along the line, he’d managed to become a regular spectator to the races.
The sticker he owned - a stylised red-and-white S on a bold yellow background, which blended in perfectly with the colourful decal on the bottom of his skateboard - was a testament to his belonging.
He’d even managed to find a favourite to watch amongst the regular racers.
Cherry Blossom was one of the most renowned regulars that frequented S. There were several things that had garnered him this fame: Being one of the founders, being the designer and engineer of his intuitive AI board, even being the only few to be able to go toe-to-toe with Joe, another regular - but what drew Ethan to him was the ruthless efficiency with which he skated.
Not a millisecond was lost in every purposeful movement he made. In the races of his that Ethan had been able to catch, not once had he messed up a trick, or missed an opportunity to pull one over his opponent. Every action was fuelled by the desire to become more efficient - and each action was carried out with an immeasurable amount of thought behind it.
It was almost mesmerising.
So when Cherry Blossom showed up on a Sunday night, just as Ethan was about to head home and turn in, he altered his plans immediately. He did head further down the track, though, as him staying didn’t necessarily mean that he was capable of handling large crowds, exhausted as he was.
Rubbing his eyes, Ethan settled at a bend around a quarter of the way down. It wasn’t too deep into the complex, so when the race ended, he’d be able to leave quickly before the crowd from the factory area could make its way up. He leaned against the rough mine wall, too tired to stand upright, and pulled up S’s live camera feeds on his phone.
It wasn’t long after he’d done so, comfortable in his spot, that he was joined by another person. Ethan looked up curiously at the newcomer.
Most of their features were obscured behind a face mask and a pair of sunglasses that seemed oversized on them, along with a dark hoodie, and they were ridiculously tall. For a guy, Ethan wasn’t that short, but this person towered above him.
The person cocked his head to a side when they noticed the attention trained on them. “You alright?” He asked, revealing a voice with a distinctly British accent, while pushing his hood down to reveal a head of seemingly untamed, short curls.
Ethan flushed when he was called out. “Yeah, I’m good, dude. What’s a British guy doing so far from home?” He queried.
He received a nonchalant wave. “Well, you know, this and that.”
Ethan nodded along, unperturbed by how little information he was getting. He hadn’t expected much from someone who was going out of their way to obscure their appearance, so he quickly shifted the topic onto the race about to begin.
“Mhm. Who are you rooting for in this race?”
“Cherry, of course.” The tall man replied.
Ethan grinned. “Of course. Cherry Blossom is a wonderful skater - I loved the frontside 180 he pulled off in the middle of the last race in order to-”
“Wait, wait, slow down.” The man laughed softly. “This is my first time at S, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even do skateboarding.”
Ethan startled. That was two times in a few minutes that he’d acted without thinking. “Right, my bad. Sorry, I got ahead of myself.”
“That’s alright. So, I’m guessing that you’re a fan of Cherry?” The man prompted.
Ethan gasped. “Of course! If this is your first race, you’ve definitely made the right choice to root for Cherry. He’s the most relentlessly methodical skater I’ve ever seen on a board! And we don’t have as many male fans as compared to female fans, so that’s all the more reason for you to join the club.”
The man seemed to find this hilarious, the slight shaking of his shoulders and a slight forceful exhale of air making its way through the mask indicative of his amusement. Before Ethan could begin to second-guess himself, he spoke up again.
“Sorry, it’s not anything you’ve done. I’d be glad to join the Cherry Blossom Fan Club. I daresay I’d even,” and he paused here to snicker again, “be Cherry’s number one fan.”
He felt his cheeks grow slightly rosy. “If you don’t want to, you don’t need to make fun of me…”
Shaking his head almost violently, the man vehemently denied the notion. “No, no, I’m sorry! I didn’t intend to make my words come off that way! It’s just an… inside joke I have with my friend, who’s a pretty big... Cherry fan. I genuinely think he’s an amazing skater, and I’d be perfectly fine with being called a Cherry fan.”
“Ah… Alright then.” Ethan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Apologies, in that case. Is this fan the one who introduced you to S?” He asked, diverting the flow of conversation away.
“He was!” The man said, and by the tone of his voice, Ethan suspected that if he could see through the mask, he’d be greeted by a sunny smile. “He told me about it about a week ago, but wouldn’t let me come until today.”
“Why’s that?” Ethan queried. It seemed like a strange thing to do.
“Probably because Cherry’s race is today.” He said offhandedly. “Cherry’s skating and tricks are by far the best I’ve seen in my life - even though I haven’t seen many, I don’t doubt that he’ll be able to beat his opponent.”
Ethan nodded. Of course, if a fellow Cherry fan was introducing their friend to S, they would have to choose a night where Cherry was definitely racing. “I see. Well, if that’s so-”
The unmistakable sound of the countdown echoed from Ethan’s phone.
“Hold that thought.” He rushed out, quickly waking up the device and unlocking it. “The race is about to start.”
And from there, he was lost to the race, the stakes and adrenaline pulling him in as easily as a black hole devoured everything in its path. In his rapture, the conversation he had been holding was easily forgotten. By the time the race was over - Cherry had won by a huge margin, as expected - the man had drifted away.
It didn’t occur to him until he was on the way home that Cherry hadn’t performed any tricks since his arrival at S that day, meaning that there was no way that the man had been able to judge them.