sidelines then skateparks (sk8 the infinity x male oc)

chapter 14

"Can you believe it's happening?" Reki asked, working on something at Dope Sketch. "You're up against Adam."

"Yeah..." Nerine said slowly as he wiped down the windows with a rag as Langa swept the floor.

"Have you thought of a strategy yet?" Langa asked absentmindedly. "Don't you think you'll need one?"

"I don't know." Nerine slowly stopped moving the rag and looked at Reki. "Do you know why Adam got into skating?"

"Huh?" Reki asked, lifting his head up from a skateboard. Sketchy bit Reki on his hand which made his shout in pain. He grabbed his hand and gasped, looking back at Nerine. "I've never thought about it..."

"I heard he's been alone for a long time."

Reki picked up the skateboard and examined it closely, running his fingers over the smooth surface of the deck. "Makes sense with that personality."

"I was just wondering." Nerine mumbled.

Reki placed down the skateboard. "I guess he started because..." He looked over at Nerine and smiled. "Well, because it's fun. I mean, there's not really any other reason to get into it, right?"

Nerine stared out through window. "Well, I didn't exactly start because I thought it was fun."

Reki raised an eyebrow. "No?"

Nerine sighed. "I started, well, because you made me... and because I wanted to uh, I don't know..." he trailed off, looking to the side. "Prove that I wasn't scared. I feel like we had this conversation before." Nerine mused.

"But, you kept skating because it's fun, right?"

Nerine smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

┌─── ∘°❉°∘ ───┐

"Your injures healed suspiciously fast." Miya said, looking over at Shadow who's head was still bandaged but in his S attire.

"I can't sleep my life away in a hospital."

"Amen to that." Cherry mumbled, driving the van he, Miya, Shadow, Reki, Nerine, and Langa were in. The high schoolers were in the back. Joe was riding his motorcycle from beside the van.

"So, do we think Nerine can win this thing?" Shadow inquired.

"I thought he did pretty well in the match he was in the other day," Miya mused.

"But Adam wasn't fully invested then." Cherry stated.

Reki listened to their conversation, his mind wandering. He had been thinking a lot about Nerine lately, wondering how he was doing and how he was coping with everything. He knew that Nerine had a lot on his plate, and he hoped that he was taking care of himself.

"What do you mean?" Miya asked.

"You guys have probably seen him at his max a lot." Shadow said.

"Nope. Not once," Cherry said firmly, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. "He's never felt the need to prove himself to anyone."

He was confident in his own abilities and didn't care about impressing anyone else.

Reki held up Nerine's board and handed it to him. "Alright. That should do it."

Nerine took the board in his hands and looked over it. "Wow." he sighed out. "You're so talented. It's beautiful."

"Oh man." Reki chuckled. "Do you guys remember the first time you got on a board?"

Langa smiles softly. "We couldn't do anything unless both of our feet were duct-taped to the deck."

"The epitome of ridiculous, but still always an epic skater."