Not much time had passed since Beat met and subsequently recruited Yoyo. In that very short time, however, something had become overtly obvious: Yoyo liked to hip-bump other rudies, regardless of crew. It would have been mostly a non-issue, not much more than an annoyance, except for the black splotch on Beat's right hip.
He'd had it since birth, just as most people have a splotch somewhere on their body, a spot that remained pitch black until the moment one's soulmate touched them for the first time, which would always be right where the spot was. The placement of Beat's spot meant it was easier to hide than some people's; Gum had a handprint on her shoulder, while most of Tab's right side was marked, indicating he was most likely going to run into his soulmate on accident. But Beat's mark was hidden to the world, he was the only person who knew where his was, or that he even had one at all.
Beat had considered before what might lead to such a strange place for a mark, but just under two months ago he was suddenly struck with a possible reasonable explanation for it, and it made his stomach turn in a strange way. Suddenly there was a man whose go-to action was slamming the side of his left hip into people's right hips. And suddenly, Beat truly understood just what the mark on his hip meant. Sure, he'd always known, but it had never really clicked as reality.
It didn't take any time at all for Yoyo to feel comfortable enough in the crew to start his assumedly playful assault. Beat watched, over the course of a week, as Yoyo managed to knock over almost every member of the GGs, as well as every enemy he could reach. It only took nine days for Yoyo to try and topple Beat as well.
Beat, already prepared for this moment, maneuvered away easily. "Nice try."
Yoyo stumbled, having not expected Beat to move, but recovered quickly and spun around on his skates. "Aw, man, what's the prob?"
Beat put his hands on his hips and smirked. "If you really wanna get me, prove it."
Yoyo's mouth dropped for a second, before he matched Beat's expression. "Is that challenge?"
"Maybe," Beat kicked himself back, gliding backwards just long enough to wave teasingly, then turned and took off down the street.
After a short moment of stunned immobility, Yoyo began skating full-speed after Beat. There was a massive smile tugging at the corners of his lips, the rush of air and the excitement of a chase pushing him on more than anything else in this moment. He kept his eyes on Beat as best he could, and came to realize that they were headed to Benten-Cho. A surge of confidence coursed through Yoyo and he picked up the pace.
Beat pumped his arms as he swayed, pushing himself through 99th Street. The bright neon lights all around him were somewhat comforting. Despite the sun being down, it was just as bright and busy as you’d expect of a daytime shopping district. As he glided through the streets and between the bustling people, Beat almost forgot what he was even doing here.
Almost.
Beat took a quick glance behind himself and confirmed that, yes, Yoyo was tailing behind him. There wasn’t much distance between the two, and Beat wanted to remedy that. He slowed slightly, and Yoyo nervously slowed as well, even more than his opponent; it was suspicious that Beat would slow down during a race. When Beat jumped onto a rail and started grinding around a corner, however, Yoyo growled to himself and had to take a few seconds to get back up to grinding speed. Truly Beat was not only technically skilled, but excellent at predicting and using his rival’s moves against them.
By the time Yoyo had rounded the corner, Beat was out of sight. Yoyo cursed quietly to himself, huffing as he pushed himself up the rail to get a better viewpoint. He grinded up Benten Tower and stood at the top. He looked down over Benten-Cho, watching the lights blink and feeling the breeze on what little skin was exposed, listening to the cars in the distance and the incoherent conversations below him. Even though he was so familiar with the area, it had been a long while he’d really taken a step back and truly appreciated it. The serenity didn’t last long, however, as he spotted Beat skating towards the bottom of the rail to Yoyo’s left. Yoyo spun around once and jumped onto the rail, following it down. When he reached the bottom, he was full-speed barreling after Beat. Then, all of a sudden, life seemed to play out in slow motion.
Without even looking behind him, Beat drew his left arm to his chest and extended the other out as far as it could reach. He swung his right arm in time with his ankles turning, resulting in a near-flawless on-a-dime turn that Yoyo had nowhere near enough time to replicate. All Yoyo could do was follow Beat’s movements with his eyes, and watch as Beat’s threw a peace sign with his still-extended arm and stuck his tongue out. He’d lost almost no momentum thanks to the maneuver, which means that when time sped back up to normal, Beat was zooming almost full-speed in the exact opposite direction of Yoyo.
Beat didn’t bother looking behind himself to see if Yoyo was following this time. He kept his eyes forward, towards the garage. He was huffing, exhausted, but he was also exhilarated beyond belief. Despite the burning in his lungs and limbs, the adrenaline pushed him on and kept a smile on his face. As Beat jumped into the garage, he threw both of his arms straight up in the air.
“I won!” Beat cried hoarsely.
Beat slid directly into Gum’s arms, collapsing into a giggling mess. Gum met his laughter heartily, holding him up since he clearly wasn’t stable enough to stay standing on his own.
“Beat!” Gum said through laughter. “What’dya win?”
Beat only responded with more giggling that devolved into wheezing laughter. He slipped, gripping to Gum for support. Finally, Yoyo burst into the garage. He landed on the floor beneath the window and didn’t hesitate to explode into his own giggle fit.
“I-I won!” Beat yelled again once he’d regained some control of his breathing.
Beat let go of Gum and she helped aid him to the ground so he could sit.
“Damn, cuz!” Yoyo called back. He wiped his face off. “Don’t-Don’t think this is over!”
“Never,” Beat’s laughter died down and he put his head in his hands sleepily.
For the next few months, their races became routine. Almost every night, Yoyo would chase Beat through another area, and more than once he came dangerously close to bumping Beat’s hip against his own, but Beat had managed to avoid touching Yoyo at all for the time being. Logically he knew it would only matter if Yoyo touched his hip. Still, something in Beat warned him against letting Yoyo touch him at all. Moreover, Beat had only recently noticed that Yoyo was hip-bumping other people much less frequently than when they first met. It almost seemed like both of the boys were equally hyper-focused on the apparent competition. Beat sort of liked the attention, if he were being honest.
One day, about half a year after meeting, Beat was chilling in the garage, blasting music and dancing with Gum and Tab. The trio were unwinding for the day, a successful day of tagging and evading police together. Tab was mostly showing off as Rock It On blared, Beat just vibing to himself while Gum danced around the floor and cheered for her family. Over the music, the trio could hear someone climbing in through the window.
“Come dance with us!” Gum cried over the song.
From behind, Yoyo let out a hearty laugh and skated over to where the other three were centralized. Gum grabbed his wrists and lead him around the floor, and he happily followed her around. As Concept Of Love queued up, Gum spun around. She lost her grip on Yoyo, who stumbled into Beat, his left hip connecting to Beat’s right hip. Beat fell to the ground, having lost his balance from the surprise and anxiety of what had just happened.
“Oops, sorry,” Yoyo laughed. “Does that count if it was an accident?”
Beat scrambled up to his feet in a visible panic. He shot Gum a look quickly, and Gum took the hint. She didn’t know what exactly was happening, but she knew Beat well enough to usher Tab and herself out of the room.
Beat swallowed hard and leaned against a wall to keep himself stable. He pushed his pants and shirt away just enough to see, but Yoyo didn’t need to look at the mark to understand.
“Oh, fuck,” Yoyo mumbled and quickly copied Beat’s action.
The two boys didn’t even bother looking at their own marks, only at each other’s. On Yoyo’s hip was a large, colorful mark. Not black, but vibrant with reds and yellows and greens. And on Beat’s hip, the same thing. Beat let out a breath and slid down the wall. Yoyo skated over and sat beside him silently.
Understand, understand
Understand, understand
Understand, understand
The concept of love
“Yo, Beat,” Yoyo spoke up. There was a smile on his face.
Beat looked up.
“Wanna hear somethin’ dumb?”
“Sure,” Beat answered.
“I’ve been going around bumping into everyone for, like, years, bro. ‘Cause I knew what that black, uh, spot thing meant,” Yoyo started. “So like, I mean, I wanted’a meet ‘em. Only, after I started racing with you, droog, I stopped bumpin’ around so much!”
Beat scooted closer to Yoyo, so they were shoulder to shoulder. “Why’zat?”
Yoyo’s face scrunched into a massive, dorky grin. “‘Cause I didn’t want anyone else to be, ya know, the one!”
Beat snorted, a small laugh, and rested his head on Yoyo’s shoulder. “Damn, Yo, that was dumb.”
“I know, right?” Yoyo placed one arm around Beat’s shoulder gently. “Totally bogus.”
“Real bogus,” Beat said.
He closed his eyes. Now that he was here, now that this moment was here, he realized it wasn’t so bad. After spending so much time avoiding Yoyo’s touch, Beat realized how much he’d been hoping for this; how much he actually wanted Yoyo to touch him. He turned his head and pushed his face into Yoyo’s neck. They stayed there like that for far longer than either knew they probably should, the only reason either stirred was because of Gum coming in and advising them to sleep. Beat knew Gum would question and bully him tomorrow, but for tonight he just enjoyed Yoyo’s company.
We got up to Bogus Basin this last week and the Bogus Basin Diggers have ben putting in work pushing up all sorts of new features. The jump line is open at the top of Claimjumper with larger jumps after recent storms as well as new rail features in there. Down lower in Mambo Meadows there is a slew of rails to slap AND... A BRAND NEW KICK ASS HIP. This thing is super fun for blasting and planting. Here's some photos of UNHLYFOLK Loren Exon and A.J. Ogden playing around on it.
