Archive of Our Own ^beta

Rain fell hard across Okinawa, an unusual sight, as most days the small tropical island received clear blue skies with an unrelenting sun. Chihiro and Nanaka are probably ecstatic about this weather, Reki thought. Too bad for me, though. He couldn’t use his umbrella, since his idiot sister Koyomi went and lost hers; “I blinked and it’s like it was taken away by some mud slime monsters…” he remembered his sigh of exasperation at her insistence. “It’s going to be so cold today too oniisan…. You wouldn’t want your poor sister to die an early death, right?”

She was right. Screw his big brother responsibilities— now he was left without an umbrella. Plus, he was also supposed to bring home groceries, as his mama was preoccupied with the twins; their day care closed down for the day because of the terrible weather.

He was so screwed.

Reki hoped Langa had an umbrella they could both share. Flutters filled his belly at the thought, but he shut that down immediately. He refused to let his mind wander to comfortable mundanity, snuffing away the image of running errands with Langa, filling up a small shopping cart full of junk food and drinks and household items and damn it he told himself not to think so domestically about him— Speaking of the devil, the redhead thought after seeing a familiar light-haired boy coming in his direction. His stomach flipped the same it did when he hit his first ollie, seeing the unfortunate absence of an umbrella.

“Hi Reki. Ready to go home?” Langa lifted his hand out for their signature dap. Reki returned it, albeit less energetically than usual, which piqued his best friend’s attention. “Did you forget something in class?”

Langa peeked at Reki through his fluttering eyelashes. Reki mused at his best friend becoming one with the rain, his eyes, a stunning watercolour blue and his hair transparent against the storm clouds. Reki realised that he’d been staring far longer than what a so-called ‘best-friend’ should be staring at their best friend.

"Nah, it’s not that.” Reki told him about his umbrella-less situation, to which Langa asked.

“So, you left it at home?”

“I gave it to Koyomi this morning.” A questioning look from Langa urged Reki to continue. “Yeah, she lost it the other day chasing her friends in the woods— actually, it probably got stuck in a tree. We should probably go look for it later, don’t you think? I think she said it was near the forest behind her school so maybe after this weather clears up a bit we could go and search for it. If it hasn’t been stolen away already,” he muttered that last sentence underneath his breath. “What was I saying? Oh yeah— plus, it would be raining when she would have to walk home, and I think all the stores near our house were sold out of them and… I didn’t want her to catch a cold, y’know.”

“Ah.” Langa processed this as he always does whenever Reki goes on his tangents, as if he savoured every word Reki said whilst thinking of the most optimal response. “You’re a good brother, Reki.” He nodded in finality.

Reki noticed that his best friend had been giving him more compliments since their friendship… mishap a few months ago. He made sure to express his appreciation for his actions, regardless of their size or meaning. An odd, but not unwelcome, change for the redhead.

“That- that’s just what any good older bro would do.” He tried to keep the blush from erupting, but he knows he's failed after seeing the triumphant smile on Langa’s face.

Okay, so maybe the compliments were a bit of a nuisance.

“You admit you’re a good big brother, then?”

“I- I guess…”

Langa hummed in approval. He looked to the boy beside him again, eyed his bag contemplatively and asked, “What about that umbrella I gave you for your birthday?”

"Haha… I forgot about that…” Langa shoots him a deadpan expression. “Don’t look at me like that! I had a really busy morning today!”

“Busy doing what? Sending me 53 TikToks about skateboarding?” Langa has a slight tilt to his smile, and it charms Reki to no end.

“Dude, you don’t understand! I just saw one and thought it was cool so y’know, I wanted to show you, and then I got all distracted because there was another one where they did this cool kickflip combo move with like a slide down this supposedly impossible― and we should get going, the rain isn’t getting any lighter. What about your umbrella?”

“…No comment.” Reki snorted, slapping Langa on the shoulder. The red-haired boy noted its increased sturdiness, his shoulders filling his uniform perfectly. For a split second, he wondered when the hell he got so broad, and then proceeded to drape himself across his back. Perks of being his best friend, of course.

“You can chew me out for not bringing an umbrella, but I can’t?” Another perk was having the ability to pinch his cheeks anytime. Reki usually pulled this trick whenever he was trying to coerce an answer from the taller boy.

As per usual, it worked.

“I gabe ib tube my mawber!”

“What?”

The paler boy escaped his captive’s hands, rubbing his red cheeks fitfully. “I gave it to my mother. Didn’t want her to get rained on to and from the hospital.”

“Aw, Langa, what a good son you are!” Reki’s hands reached up to help soothe Langa’s pinched cheeks (that he caused!) and found that the redness just wouldn’t go away. So odd… he didn’t even think he pinched him that hard. “This is payback for that good brother compliment earlier, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Why is it payback if it’s a compliment? Isn’t payback supposed to be bad?”

“I mean, it could be both. Just call it positive payback.”

“… Isn’t that just a compliment?”

“Hush, slime,” Reki silenced him by doing a poor impression of Miya. “I refuse to discuss the etymology of that stupid word any longer.”

Langa chuckled, low and pretty. “The fact that you’re picking up Miya’s slang is only proving my point. All that teasing is very ‘good big brother-like.’”

“Langaaa~ shush. Let- let’s just go.” Reki walked ahead of Langa, hiding his flushed face. Then, he remembered his eldest-son-grocery-duties and turned back to Langa hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Can we stop by the convenience store though? My ma asked me to buy the groceries cuz’ she’s busy with the twins at home.”

His best friend nods his head. “My mom’s got a late shift again so no curfew for me. Sort-of. We can take our time.”

"I’d rather get there with the sun still in the sky.” A clap of thunder decided to resound at that exact moment. “Well, whatever’s left of it anyways. It gets dark way too fast now.”

“Aw, you scared that the pantu are out to get you?” The gang’s Miyakojima trip from a few months ago still sent chills down Reki’s back. Them being chased by a bunch of walking piles of sticks, grass and mud at night was definitely not on his list of top ten fun, relaxing activities. It took so long for the smell to wash out too…

“Don’t act like you weren’t scared too! You clung to me like a scared cat.”

“Last time I checked, I was focused on how gross it was. It was you that said you were ‘so freaked out.” Reki playfully smacked Langa’s mocking quotation mark-shaped hands down. Both boys continued their debate towards the school entrance, until Langa halted in his steps. Reki could picture a lightbulb turning on above his head at that second. “I know what we should use for our umbrellas.”

Reki furrowed his brows when Langa detached his skateboard from his backpack. “I think if we run fast enough, our boards will take up most of the rain.”

The red-haired boy clicked his tongue in disagreement. “Dude… I dunno about that. Our bearings and trucks and shit are gonna get really messed up if we get them wet. As in, the board might get super waterlogged and basically un-skateable because of the warping; once, I had a skateboard with only 3 wheels touching the ground cuz’ the rain made it a weird shape and it was not fun to skate with. Plus, they might get real rusty if I don't take em’ apart to dry them and reapply the lubricant to make em’ all spinney again, which is a bit of a drag, but―” Reki caught a glimpse of a pouty-faced Langa, ”—but… maybe… maybe we can make today an exception.”

His eyes gleamed with excitement again, and a fuzzy feeling filled Reki in the midst of the chilly weather. This big, adorable, stubborn idiot.

“Are you sure Reki? You did say our boards would get messed up…” The redhead was getting used to Langa’s cheeky side coming out more often, exhibit A being the pantu discussion and exhibit B being this. It was a welcome change.

"You’re on drying duty, then.” Reki huffed. “Leave the disassembling up to me, you're kind of helpless with that stuff.”

“Hey!”

"You can only plead your case once you find my 5/16 Wrench, my custom T-tool with the cats on it, my―”

"―Yeah, yeah, you’ve made your point.” Langa was a certified toolbox with… well, tools, which is why Reki tended to keep him away from that section of his shed.

Reki retrieved his skateboard from his backpack. They readied themselves into a running stance. “Last one there has to pay for the other person’s meal.” Amber eyes squint menacingly towards baby blue eyes.

“You’re on.” A brazen grin meets an eager smirk. They both get their boards ready at the top of their head.

“Okay, so from the count of three…”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Thr— HEY!!!”

And so they went, Langa leaving behind a soaked and astounded Reki at the footsteps of their school.