~Old Clown Man~

Time skip to the middle of the night

You and Miya both headed home -for the 2nd time,- and decided to meet outside your houses at 11:55 pm. You didn't have any trouble sneaking out, since both of your parents sleep much too early, and were deep sleepers. It couldn't have been any easier. You head out the door with your skateboard and see Miya waiting.

"Hey. Ya ready?" they ask, already hopping on their board.

You mimic his actions and match his speed. "Yeah, I guess. I don't really know what to expect though."

"The races get a little heated from time to time, but there's nothing really to them. They can be exciting sometimes."

"Okay."

You continue making conversation, on varying topics such as school, skateboarding and trends. You've now been skating for about 20 minutes, and you think that you'll be getting there soon. It would really be a lot faster if you guys could've gotten a ride.

"How much longer until we get there?"

"Mmm, I'd say about 15 minutes."

"15 Minutes too long but okay."

They laugh at your complaint, knowing that you could surely handle skating just a little longer. Of course, you could, since you did competitions that were much more high intensity than this, but you simply didn't want to wait that long to get there.

You finally make it to 'S', and see the same males you last saw at the entrance. You, once again, show them your pass, and they let both you and Miya enter.

You look around and see many more skaters than before. It looks as if a lot of them would be spectating instead of participating in a race. You look down to the ground and notice all of the graffiti that had been spray-painted on. Finally, after waiting a few minutes a woman in a rather revealing outfit shows up, holding a flag.

You see the guy who Miya was supposed to be racing against and hear a few mutters around you.

"If he's up against MIYA, there's no way he'll make it."

"Is that the snowboarding dude?"

"He doesn't have duct tape today."

"More like he doesn't have his board!"

'I'm sorry- duct tape?? Why would he need duct tape? That makes zero sense. This is skating we're talking about here. Not some commercial for sealing broken things. And where even is his board? He's making himself look pathetic.'

<A/N- If you know, you know. That's a reference to a meme- >

"NO WAY!!"

You look over and see a grown man with orange hair, whose makeup makes him resemble a clown that got fired from a circus because he made the children cry. How wonderful.

"I'm so beyond disgusted that I can't even laugh. Are you mocking me?" The words you had been expecting finally slip out from Miya's mouth. They face the light-haired boy, looking for an answer.

"I didn't forget. It's being made right now."

"It's being made right now??? Why would you leave such a thing until the last moment you dumbass? Y'know, you should work on your responsibility, 'cause to me, it seems like you have none!" you say in utter shock at the skater, who you were now sure was a beginner. Who in the world does that? Is he not even going to give it a test ride to make sure it works? Is he just going to cross his fingers and hope he doesn't die?

He ignores your remark. You look him dead in the eye, and stick your tongue out at him, being the pouty child you are.

Just while you said that all to him, Miya reacted to his own, "Huh?"

You then see the familiar red-haired teenager running towards the Miya and the other guy, with a strange-looking board in his arms.

"Here it is!" He says, a small smile on his face as he saw the redhead approach, "Reki!"

"Sorry, I'm so late." He apologizes.

"This is your board! Go skate to your heart's content." He says, shoving the board onto the blue-haired boy's chest.

"Mhm!"

"Using that for the first time on your actual challenge?" Miya mentions, knowing you were thinking the same. You both thought quite alike, you noticed.

"Power of friendship? How embarrassing!" He scoffs.

"I decided what to wager.."

'Wager? Do they wager on these things? Hm. Well, I guess I shouldn't have expected any less from this.'

"If I win," He continues.

"you'll become.." They pause for a more dramatic delivery. "my dog!"

He points his hand and the Reki.

"Pfft- MIYA- I- YOU'RE GONNA MAKE HIM YOUR DOG- " You burst out laughing, thinking that it was a rather stupid wager to put on this race.

"Hey- shut up!" He says, half-joking, half-serious.

"HEY! LANGA WILL WIN! I'M SURE HE WILL!" Reki says, patting his best friend on the back. He was probably saying that because he didn't particularly fancy becoming a kid's dog. It didn't seem very fun.

"Okay~... Sure!" You say, your voice coated with sarcasm.

'So that's his name. Langa.'

"Your precious friend is going to become a dog because of you!" He taunts. He really wasn't scared of them, even though they were nearly a foot taller and about 4 years older by the look of it.

"In the unlikely event that I lose, I will be a cat or a dog or whatever. How's that?"

'Overconfident much.' You think, wondering how you quickly became fond of his cocky personality.

"That's fine."

"DON'T SAY IT'S FINE! Why are you replying without asking me?!?!? You just want to hurry up and skate, isn't it???" The boy with the headband latches on to the taller boy, trying to attack him but causing little damage.

The boy didn't reply, and his friend soon stopped his (failed) attack.

You look at the old traffic lights and notice them flashing.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!! The lady with the questionable outfit begins to wave the checkered flag around, signalling the start of the awaited race.

Miya gets off to a good start and is a few meters ahead of his opponent. there then comes a car honking behind you, and seems like the driver wants to follow the race. You quickly run-up to it, and begin banging on the driver's window.

"LET ME IN!! I WANNA SEE MIYA RACE!" You yell, giving him no other option other than to let you in.

"Why are children like this-" The clown man asks himself.

"I don't know." You say offhandedly, as you hop on the back seat.

The red-haired boy then swings the front door open and hops in with no regard for what the driver has to say.

"Ah, so I see you're coming to see your friend too?"

"Of course I am!" He replies.

"Wait why are you hopping in without asking!?!?!?" He says, seeming as if he were about to snap.

"Follow them." He says, not answering his question. He's wearing a serious look on his face which you hadn't seen before.

They continue bickering, and you make the clown dude hurry up so that you could see them. They were already quite a bit ahead of the car.

You guys speed up just enough, to catch the sight of the ex-snowboarder doing some kind of flip in the air.

"Holy shit!" You say, in surprise that the guy did that. Was he really a rookie?

You hear the two in the front, walking about the board that Reki custom built to suit Langa's style.

"I remodelled the wheels so that they could spin in the direction of movement, so that when he can skate sideways like when snowboarding!"

"Y'know...Next time I need a new board I'll be coming to you.." You say, impressed at the teenager. It was rather impressive that he was able to make such changes to suit his style, so you figured that he must know a lot about skating.

"Hell yeah!" He says, showing a thumbs up.

"Are you insane? If you did that, you'd never go straight!" The old clown man says in shock.

"Normally, yeah. Only Langa can ride a board that insane."

"Hey, old clown due? You should drive more carefully. I would really rather not die in an abandoned mine. That wouldn't look good on my gravestone, would it?" You say, teasing the guy.

"OLD CLOWN DUDE?" You hold back a laugh at his reaction.

"GOOD GOING REKI-L2S!" Reki yells out the window, praising his creation.

"The slime combo...Well- Y/N isn't a slime, but those two.." Miya says, noticing that you, SHADOW and Reki were in the car.

You see an odd, nostalgic look in his eyes. It doesn't look like he's thinking about something very positive...

The two skaters keep going down the hill, each swerving past every corner flawlessly. You noticed that Langa's form was much too good to be a beginner...You think back, and remember all the times that people had mentioned his snowboarding back round. Even though they were quite similar, they still had major differences.

'It's probably the board that's doing most of the work..' You though.

You bring your attention back to the race, and suddenly see Miya get a whole lot more determined.

'I wonder what he was thinking about that made him try harder..'

He quickly gains speed, and skates swiftly by Langa, leaving him surprised. He's hunched down low so that he can go faster.

"He's accelerating even more?"

"Yeah. I think I've seen them go just a tiny little bit faster than this though...I'm not sure though. It's hard to tell when I'm not by him." You say, thinking back to one of the many times you and he skated home, seeing who could be the fastest.

"Langa has something beyond that too!" Reki mentions.

Just as if Reki's voice had signalled

something, Langa too begins to accelerate, but he passed Miya quickly. He seems to be staring at the tree, and you get a hunch of what he's gonna do. He gets his feet in the correct position, and that confirms your suspicion.

'There's no way he can pull that off..' You think doubtfully.

He then goes off into an ollie, and it is high enough for him to rebound his board on the old brown tree that was on the curve of the concrete ground. His calm composure is still intact, even with having to do a trick as such. He pushes himself in a way that makes him do a sharp turn whilst in the air and continues to be ahead of Miya.

Shadow then decided it would be a good idea to take a very sharp turn, completely ignoring what you last told him.

"HOLY SHIT- YOU OLD MAN I TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT THIS CAUSE OF DEATH ON MY GRAVESTONE! IF YOU KEEP THIS UP THEN YOU'RE CAUSE OF DEATH WILL BE ME!" you say, genuinely scared for your life.

"I- I don't think I should be this intimidated by some scrawny 13-year-old.."

"Well excuse you, I'm not scrawny. For your information, I participate in skateboarding competitions."

"Yeah, yeah screw you anyways, kid."

You then see Reki attacking Shadow, and messing with your hair. You stare at him, with a black look in your eyes but a smile as creepy as can be.

"Oh. I see. You want matching gravestones with Shadow, don't you? If not, then stop before we all die here!" You say threateningly.

"I'm not going to lose!" You hear Miya say, determination laced through his voiced.

His brown hair flowed with the wind, and his green eyes sparkled in the moonlight. You took a moment to look at him.

'He's kinda cute, not gonna lie. And he's really nice..Y'know, under all the layers of being a little bit of an ass...Not to mention his green eyes...Holy shit do I have a cru-'

Just before you can finish a coherent thought, Shadow takes another sharp turn.

"I swear I am this close-" You say, putting your thumb and index a little bit apart.

Your eyes trail back to the race, as Miya begins a new trick.

He swiftly flips his board with the tip of his feet, steadily landing on its side. He uses the other side of it to slide on the concrete, resulting in a simple, but effective, turn.

'Amazing...' You think, in awe of how effortlessly he pulled that off. You were gonna try and convince him to teach you that trick, that's for sure...

You hear him yell something, but you couldn't understand what it was.

"What the hell!" Shadow says, surprised by the green-eyed boy's high skill level.

"That is how good Miya is. Y'know, sometimes he still surprised me with all of his tricks." You say.

"Yeah well? Who in their right mind wouldn't be surprised? He's still only 13...And he's skating at this level?" Reki says, his mouth hanging in shock.

It seems that they were more shocked than you were.

'Well, they better learn not to underestimate him. He's full of surprises, that's for sure."

"Get ahead of the old man!" Reki says, catching on to the nickname you had given the clown.

"I'm only 24!!!!" He complains but still does as he was told to.

"Miya is up ahead!" You hear an unfamiliar voice yell out to the crowd. You hear the people surrounding cheering for him, as you were doing so too (but internally more than externally).

Langa slowly gets closer to him.

By now, they were skating in the elevated metal area of the mine, nearing a staircase. They speed through the course, the lights pointing at them as the crowd cheer on them. You, Reki and the clown were the below, outside of the car, watching as they skate.

You then see Langa slide down the rail, on the tail of his board.

"Oh my god, he's gonna die or something!"

"No. He's Langa. I'm sure he can pull it off." Reki assures you.

You see Miya thinking the same thing, coming to a stop and giving the blue-eyed boy a warning. Though, the warning was ignored.

'I thought that Miya would care more about winning than about some opponent. Guess I was wrong.'

"YOU'LL FALL!" Shadow yells, doubtful about the boy's abilities.

He then manages to flip his board, so that he is facing another way and its tail is not at the front. You see the clear shock displayed on Miya's face, as well as your own.

"Okay yeah- Now I have to get a board from you Reki.." You say, praising his board design.

"Heh." He brings his hand up to the back of his neck.

As Langa continues sliding down the rail as if nothing happened, the crowd went wild. Miya ollies off the staircase, and continues riding, but is now behind Langa.

"Nooo, Miya please fucking catch up." You mutter to yourself.

Just as you say that another staircase comes. As Langa does his weird rail slide, Miya ollies, and matches the older boy's speed.

And with that, they were now on flat land. They speed to the end line, neck to neck. Their stress was visible on both of their faces, each wanting to win badly.

But, in the end, Langa ended up winning by a few centimetres...

"AW MAN!!" You yell out.

They both come to a quick stop, as the crowd gets even louder.

"THE ROOKIE WON!!!"

"MIYA LOST??" The crowd yells in shock.

"LANGA!" Reki runs up to the skater with a wide smile on his face.

"Reki.." Langa says, still out of breath from the race.

"You're amazing!" He says, embracing Langa in a tight hug.

'Well- he sure likes to hug him a lot.' You think as you jog towards Miya.

You're standing in from of Miya, with a small smile on your face. You let the smile grow just a little wider, before saying, "Holy whit Miya. I didn't know you were this good! You NEED to teach me that turn on the side of your board you did back then! It's amazing! I can't let myself fall behind so you better teach it."

His only reply to your praise was silence.

"To think I would lose..." They say, in deep shock.

"I think I know the reason you lost," Reki says.

"Damn you really eavesdropped on us- ?" You say, then realizing, "Sorry! Not the time..heh."

Miya's expression then morphs into an angry one, and he faces his opponent's friend,

"What?" He bites back.

"Skating is something you have fun doing."

'Oh. So he noticed that too. How Miya doesn't seem to enjoy skating..'

Miya brows that furrow even further, his eye's glare becoming even more threatening.

"Fun? It was fun. It was really fun, indeed. In the beginning."

'Man I really just want to do something not so nice to the kids who left him..'

"But...Everyone disappeared...They all disappear in the end anyways.." His voice shook.

He hung his head, his expression changing once again but this time it changed into a softer, much sadder one...

You then see Reki reach towards his forehead and give them a nice and painful flick.

"HEY! What the fuck are you doing??" He says, hands on his now red forehead.

"You're a dumbass, you know that right?" They tell him.

"What did you say to me?" He says, his anger coming back, though this time it was more lighthearted.

"Y'know that not everyone is like that, right?" Reki says.

"Yeah. Look! I know how good you are Miya. You're actually fucking AMAZING! But I'm here, aren't I?'" You chime in, trying to reassure him.

You then hear a voice come from behind you.

"Miya...That was fun. Let's skate again sometime."

He looks up, anger diminished from his face.

'Damn he really changes moods a lot- Not the time-'

"We'll never leave your sight," Reki says.

Miya looks up in surprise, tears threatening to fall from his beautiful green eyes, and his lip quivering.

"You don't have to worry about me leaving Miya. I know I won't leave you." You chime in.

"But- You're weak, your no match against me! Wait- not you Y/N, the other guy." They say, facing away from Reki.

"Don't get so cocky just 'cause you're a little better at tricks."

"Shut up, Slime." And there he goes, with the usual nickname they give people. How nice.

Reki then goes up to pinch the smaller boy's face and starts stretching his cheeks.

"Gooey gooey gooey!" He says, stretching Miya's cheeks in a way that looked a tad painful.

"Jeez, Reki! You're gonna rip his face apart!" You say as you flick his forehead multiple times.

"HEY!" He says with a small chuckle, stepping away from the boy.

"Reki. He's always making weird faces."

"HEY! What did you say about my face!" He demands at Langa.

"Nothing."

"YOU SAID I HAVE I WEIRD FACE!"

"I said it's unique."

"DON'T TRY AND FOOL ME WITH SOME ENGLISH WORD!!"

You notice Miya starting to giggle, as you do too. You drag him away from Reki, and whisper, "I wonder if they're always like this."

"Probably." They say, giggling some more at the foolishness.

You both then burst out laughing, not being able to keep it as a small giggle anymore. Miya's face was bright, radiating happiness. You're also laughing, facing Miya as you do so.

"You have a nice laugh, Y/N," Miya says.

"O-Oh, thanks." You say, blushing.

'What the fuck why did I blush- No. No. NO. Do I really have a crush on him? Well, shit.'

Then, a mysterious man begins to walk through the crowd, wearing an even more clown-like costume the dude who drove you here had...