Neverland | TOMORROW X TOGETHER

1

'Did you bring your shin pads?' My friend asked as I picked my backpack up from his bedroom floor.
'Yeah, I don't want a repeat of last time.' I chuckled. Soobin smiled at the memory. The last time I skated I ended up with a broken elbow and a scolding from my mum and sister. The itch that came with the cast did not make life any easier. Sometimes I can still feel my elbow click when I straighten it. I threw my backpack over my shoulder, 'you should have a helmet too.' Soobin snickered. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
'In my defence the only reason I fell was because I didn't want to hit that 5 year old coming straight at me.' I slid out his room. Soobin followed after me.
'What a big hero you are Beomgyu.' He teased and grabbed his keys from the kitchen counter. His phone buzzed and he pulled it out from the pocket of his sweats. 'Its Taehyun, he says theyre waiting for us at the skate park already.' He locked his phone screen and put the phone back in his pocket. 'Better start heading over there before they start complaining.'

I headed towards the corridor, a woman's voice in the TV grabbing my attention. I turned my attention towards it.
'A staggering 10 extra cases of the Moavirus have reached our country after the first two arrived from the US. The first two affected patients have been observed to have oleander flowers growing out of their self inflicted wounds.' I cringed at the information.
'How weird.' I muttered.
'Whats weird?' Soobin stood up from tying his laces.
'The patients have flowers growing out of their wounds, self inflicted too.' I scratched my arm, feeling the itch that must have come with the virus. 'That's horrible.' I frowned.
'Flowers? That must be a joke, surely?' Soobin pondered, his eyebrow and top lip lifting. 'Did they say what flowers?' He turned the TV off.
'Oleander, why?' I turned to look at him.
'They're some really poisonous flowers from the US. During Covid some people tried using them to try and 'cure' it, idiots.' Soobin's mother was a florist with her own shop, of course he would know what an Oleander flower was. 'But there's no way they could just grow out of someone's body like that, especially if they're still breathing.' He shook his head in disbelief. 'They probably planted them for attention, stupid move, the whole plant's poisonous.' He let out a cackle. I grabbed my shoes and in a few swift moves I was out his door and following him to the skate park.

'Do you think we'll have another lockdown like last time?' I asked him, reminiscing on the past lockdown. I didn't do anything but lay in my bed the whole time and play games during zoom classes. Either my school didn't care enough or my teachers were gullible enough to trust in me when I said my camera nor microphone worked. Life saver. Soobin sighed and stretched his arms out.
'I hope so, I need a break from life. It's been too hectic.' He pulled the hem of his white t-shirt out from the waistband of his sweats. 'What about you?' He turned his head to face me.
'I need one too, university is kicking my ass.' Getting into med school definitely was unexpected for me especially with my performance during lockdown. My acceptance letter was a shock to my whole family, I was the first to finally go to university since my sister tried out her luck in auditioning for entertainment companies as an actress. She hasn't been successful yet but I believe that one day she'll get a role she will shine in. Soyul has always been good at facial expressions, especially when it came to us getting in trouble with our parents.

We slowly approached the skate park, already hearing the sound of wheels against smooth concrete with the occasional smack of a skateboard because someone fell over due to a failed trick. Approaching our friends, I watched as Yeonjun slid down into the bowl, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Taehyun jogged over to us, a welcoming toothy grin on his face, 'We thought you bailed on us!' He teased. He lifted his arm and clasped Soobin's hand into his then pulled him into a hug, moving onto me after. I let out a small chuckle.
'Come on, it's only been a week since you last saw me.' I pulled away from his embrace.
'Still, it's hard to pull you out your house, you're always studying or playing games.' He moved away to let Kai greet me, who had already greeted Soobin. I pulled him close and rubbed the top of his head, messing up his now aquatic-blue hair. Kai groaned and pulled away.
'I even used hair spray today.' Kai huffed, 'All that coughing and choking for nothing.'
'You still look good,' I paused and looked around the skatepark 'Any reason you decided to be elegant with your hair today?' I tilted my head. 'A girl perhaps?'
Kai's eyes widened, 'No!' He shook his hands in panic. 'I don't like anyone! I just wanted to look nice today, for myself.' He muttered the last part.
'There's nothing wrong with wanting to look nice for yourself, you look handsome.' I patted him on his shoulder, seeing the smile on his face slowly creeping out. Kai used to struggle with his confidence and self-esteem for a long time due to bullying in middle school, ultimately he moved schools after his mother snapped and reported the bullying to the headteacher, fearing that the bullying might get worse. Kai is one of the most strong-willed people I know, he's always been there for us when we needed someone and in turn we are there for him whenever he needs someone to listen to his troubles. Him along with Taehyun are like younger brothers to me, I love them to bits. I looked down and noticed Kai's shoes. 'Oh my god are those the new run star hike converse?' Kai lifted his foot so that it rested on his toes and slowly moved his foot from side to side.
'Yeah! I got them cause I heard they've got good grip on boards.' He shuffled in his spot to show off.
'I might need to get a pair for myself, they look sick.' A shadow rapidly flew out the bowl and onto the ground in one swift motion. I turned my head towards it. A tall, lean man stepped off his skateboard and brushed his hair back, sweat dripping down his jaw.
He cheered, 'Did you see that? I finally managed an ollie!' Yeonjun headed towards us, greeting Soobin who gave him a high-five and then towards me. The corners of my mouth lifted as he walked towards me, my eyes glistening.
'Sup Gyu!' He pulled me into a hug. The scent of his perfume flooded my nose, he smelled of zesty lemon mixed with casis and clove, an unusual yet pleasant scent. It reminded me of a starry, summer night.
'Hey.' I hugged him back, pulling away after a few seconds. 'How long did that ollie take you?'
'About a week to master, I've got a lot of bruises on my knees now.' Yeonjun smiled sheepishly and brushed off the dirt from the scraped patch of skin on his knees, hissing gently when touching a clearly new scrape, still a bright red.
'I have a bottle of antiseptic in my bag, want me to take a look?' I asked, already pulling the bag off my shoulder and pulling on the zipper. Yeonjun considered it for a second before nodding. I beckoned towards a bench and ushered him towards it.
'You're acting like I just got bitten by a shark, Mr. Soon-to-be Doctor.' He teased. I rolled my eyes and waited for him to sit down before kneeling down and pulling out a tissue and the antiseptic out of my bag. I unscrewed the child-safe cap and dribbled a bit of the alcohol onto the tissue. 'This will sting a bit.' I explained before applying the tissue to his knee. Yeonjun winced a little, his hand gripping the edge of the bench then straightened back up to look tough. I looked up at him, 'You wont fool me with that tough guy act.' I chuckled. Yeonjun huffed.
'It's not for you.' He shook his head, 'It's for the ladies.' He blew a raspberry. Right, the ladies. I blew a small puff of air on his knee.
'That should help, you should really wear knee pads.' I lectured him.
'Knee pads are for the weak.' He protested.
'And yet you wince at a small, makeshift antiseptic wipe.' I raised an eyebrow. Yeonjun waved his hand in a whatever motion. I stood up. 'I wanna try a 540 today.' Yeonjun turned to look at me.
'You sure about that? You can barely stay on a bike.' He stood back up, I jokingly pushed his shoulder away.
'Look, I was just trying to teach myself to ride one, no one ever taught me.' Yeonjun opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Soobin.