- reader is gender neutral
"(Name)!"
You hear your name being called from afar and squint, holding your hand above your eyes. You make out Reki beckoning you over, but you politely refuse by holding up your arms to form an 'X'.
Although the beach is a nice holiday resort for you and your friends, you don't particularly feel like playing around today. The journey to get here included far too much walking, so all you want to do is rest on a deckchair next to Cherry.
"Are you not going to join them?" asks Cherry, tapping away at his tablet.
You shake your head. "Not today, not right now. I don't feel like it."
Cherry nods, understanding how tired you are. "That's fair, we can relax here together."
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, you hear two approaching voices shouting over each other — something about how Reki loves strawberry flavoured ice cream with mint sauce and Shadow's objection to that — so yes, you can safely say that the skate quartet is heading your way.
"—disgusting! How the hell can you enjoy something as bad as strawberry ice cream with mint sauce?!"
"—is a god's blessing and I am so distraught to hear you say how much you loathe it. If you add a drizzle of mint sauce and a dash of chocolate flakes, you are in for a treat, my friend."
Shadow makes a nauseated expression and moves to sit down on the blanket you prepared. He grabs a cup of noodles from the bag (that you also provided) and begins wolfing down the contents in a heartbeat. Sometimes, you can't tell if Shadow's mannerisms are worse than Reki's unusual love for strawberry-mint-chocolate ice cream.
"(Name), why didn't you join us?" the redhead asks as he lies down on the mat.
"I'm very happy sitting here on this splendid deckchair. Cherry has great taste in outdoor furniture."
The pink-haired man nods again, accepting your compliment.
"What?! It's so fun when you hang out with us!" Reki whines, clinging onto your legs like a child.
"You have Shadow, Langa and Miya."
"Yeah but, Langa wouldn't stop complaining about how you didn't play with us," Reki blurts out.
The half-Canadian teen lets out a squawk and coughs on his drink. He shoots Reki an embarrassed glare and quickly turns his head around to avoid the comments he might receive because of the prominent blush on his face.
"He did?"
Miya yawns and leans back. "He did. He was very slow at tossing the ball too, he was distracted the entire time."
"Oh yeah, that's why you lost against me and Shadow."
Miya furrows his brows. "Uh, no. You clearly cheated. Shadow threw me out of the water."
"I saved your ass by doing this," Reki presses his fingers together and jabs the air sharply, causing you to snort and almost drop your drink. (a/n: naruto reference: one thousand years of death)
Shadow throws the cup away. "That hurt."
"That was the point."
"That was not saving my ass, you didn't do anything to help me," Miya says and looks around to find his game console. "(Name), do you have my thing?"
"Yeah, here."
"Thank you."
"Anyway! Back to the topic of Langa boohooing, (Name), we're going to leave your guy here so you can have some 'private' time."
Cherry holds up a hand. "Please refrain from being intimate around me, I truly do not feel like witnessing a moment."
You throw your hands up in the air. "I haven't even said anything; I don't even know what's going on—"
"That's not what I was implying!"
"What are we talking about—"
"Miya, Shadow! Let's go, uh, let's drop Langa here!"
They race off, leaving you, Langa and Cherry under the beach umbrella.
As much as you secretly appreciate the privacy with Langa, it's a little awkward now that Cherry's obstructing your way of talking to him. He's just right next to you, you can't start a solid conversation with Langa without him eavesdropping.
Then, it's as if God heard your worries because Cherry gets up and takes a parasol.
"(Name), I must make a sudden phone call, will you look after my seat?"
"Yes, of course."
Once Cherry leaves, Langa immediately sprawls himself out flat in front of you, exhausted from playing with the others. He sighs and reaches up to hold your hand.
"Were you really that distracted back there?" you ask, raising a brow. "That's what Reki said."
He flushes and breaks eye contact for a few seconds. "Don't trust what that guy says, he's mad. I also didn't make Miya lose the game. That was a lie."
"Right... because you have a great attention span."
"I do, what are you talking about?"
"You have a habit of zoning out when you're engrossed in something. That's probably why you got hit on the head by a beach ball," you lean down to tap his red forehead and he responds with a groan.
"That's not because I got hit by a ball, the sun was too hot and I had like... sun fever for a few minutes."
"Sun fever?"
"Yeah."
"I think you mean heat stroke..."
"..."
"Sun fever."
"I forgot the name of it, okay?!"
You let out a loud laugh while Langa goes red for the third time — well, fourth if you count his 'sun fever'. He turns his back on you and rests his head on your knees.
"Are you feeling a little better now, Mr Sun Fever?"
"Stop."
Lowering the volume of your laugh to a small wheeze, you weave your fingers through his soft blue hair and he loosens under your touch. Normally, Langa wouldn't really allow you to do this in public, but luckily, there aren't a lot of people around where you're sat.
"Is that why you were lying down over there with Reki and Miya fanning you?"
"Yeah, only for a few minutes."
You ruffle Langa's head. "Should've come to me, I have a lot of cool drinks you could've had."
"Cool drinks? Not that weird one with the platypus cover, right?"
"No, you idiot. I meant fresh drinks!"
"Oh, oh. Yeah... I was totally joking."
"Work harder on your jokes, young man. That was atrocious."
You stay in silence after that, watching everyone swimming in the sea. You spot the trio playing with the beach ball Reki brought and you and Langa simultaneously snort when Shadow tumbles into the water headfirst. Miya and Reki double over too, you can hear their laughter from anywhere.
You feel a tug on your leg and looking down, you see Langa's hand wrapped around your ankle.
"What?"
"Join us."
You make a face. "It's so hot, I feel a lot safer under this umbrella."
Langa doesn't react, but instead, he stands up and dusts the sand off his shorts. Without a word, he jogs back towards the sea, leaving you to observe from where you are. It's a little blurry because of the heat waves, but you eye Langa grabbing a bucket out of nowhere and scooping the seawater into it.
It doesn't take long for you to realise that Langa is about to come back and dump cold salt-water over your entire body.
And your prediction was right. The teen makes his way over again with Reki, Shadow and Miya in tow. They giggle between themselves as they know what's about to go down.
When the group finally gets closer, you practically throw your sunglasses at Langa and point a threatening finger at the bucket full of evil.
The male stops and cocks his head to the side in confusion.
You press your knees up against your chest. "If you pour that over me, Hasegawa."
"Do it, Langa. Do it. Don't be a coward," Reki encourages, earning a harsh glare from you.
"Yeah, show (Name) what happens when they leave us all alone," Shadow cackles.
The three surround Langa menacingly, but he sits down and scoots closer towards you. All three of you watch in utter confusion when Langa takes a hold of your foot and gently dips it into the bucket. He does it so elegantly that you almost feel like you're re-enacting the shoe scene from Cinderella.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Reki shrieks, disappointed at how his best friend didn't agree with his plans.
"Hey, newbie! I thought you were going to dump it all over (Name)!"
Now, it's Langa's turn to look puzzled. "Why would I do that? I thought they would want to feel the water because they've been under the umbrella this entire time."
You're at a loss for words as your feet slosh around the bucket. You weren't expecting such kind intentions from Langa, you really thought he was going to throw the water at you.
"Oh, man... Langa! You need to have some fun!" Reki snatches the bucket and holds it up above his head.
"Reki, I will—"
"Say hello to the fish!"
And with that, you're instantly hit by a chill rush of water, freezing the tips of your nose and fingers. Droplets of water trickle down your face to your legs, making you look as if you returned from a rainstorm.
One thing for sure is that you do not look happy.
You might kill Kyan Reki.
"Reki!" Langa huffs and takes a towel from Cherry's chair. He offers you the towel, but you politely push his hand away and rise from your soaking seat.
"Oh, you're going to join us now?" Reki grins, sensing his nearby death. He begins to run back to the sea with a hand tugging on Miya's wrist.
"You're coming?" Langa asks excitedly.
"Langa, my dear, bring that beach ball with you, we are going to kick ass."
"Aye aye, Captain."
"Don't say that."
"It was a Spongebob reference!"